Weekend At Disney. . .

[Dreamer & Wisher]

First off we are a typical family of four. Mom, Dad, Daughter 7, Son 3. I worked as a Paralegal Assistant before we had kids. Now I work in a Mother's Morning Out program at a church. DH was Sports Editor for a newspaper here in West Georgia, now he is a full time Student about to Graduate from Georgia State University.
I like to sew and scrapbook and read trip reports! You can usually find me on the DisBoutique clothing board or the Swap board. Swapping Scrapbooking Elements is Addictive so if you visit over there don't say I didn't warn you! The ladies there make some great elements and so it is hard to resist swapping with them.

So the basics of our trip are: 3 nights at All-Star Movies! This is our first time staying at a value. DH is a Hotel snob! Not that I mind! So we haven't ever stayed at a value. I was looking forward to it. I figured anyplace at Disney would be great. We got the dining plan and 2 day base tickets. DH was on spring break and DD wasn't so we planned on picking her up from school on Thursday afternoon and then driving down. We would arrive around 9:00 pm and be ready for Disney Fun first thing Friday morning. Leaving Atlanta the weather was gorgeous. DH checked DD out at 2:00 and she came out to our van. DS said, "We are going to Disney World!" DD was so surprised! I wished I had the camera out. Traffic was fine down I-75 south to Florida. DS took a little nap and DD watched movies.

It started to rain as night fell and we entered Florida. At the welcome center the juice ladies had gone home so we missed out on the free juice. They have the best juice there. Anyways, we just kept driving, stopping for dinner at Wendy's. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this hidden Mickey in the drive-thru.

It poured and poured the rest of the way south on I-75. Finally, we hit the turnpike. Then as it got near 8:00 we made it to FL Route 429. THis lovely toll road is like the back door to Walt Disney World. It was so nice and quiet, no big trucks. Despite the pouring rain we made really good time. We got off the toll road and turned right and soon enough we were driving under that beautiful arch! Suddenly a Possum scurried across the road. No worries though he made it safely across. It is so quiet coming in that way. We have seen deer in that location on previous trips.

 

[IATink]

Great start! Can't wait to read all about your trip!

 

[mom2girlsn1boy]

sounds like a great start can't wait to hear about more of your trip. I love the way DD was told you all were going to DW

 

[KatInHat]

Great Start !!! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[mla1977]

I wish we lived close enough for a weekend trip!

 

[suzimar57]

ok - ready for more!

 

[happybratpack]

Great start and love the Hidden Mickey! Can't wait to read more...hint hint.

 

[OhMari]

I didn't know Route 429 was a toll road. I just read on the DIS it is a new way into WDW.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

I didn't know Route 429 was a toll road. I just read on the DIS it is a new way into WDW.

It is a toll road, I think we paid about $1. It is a beautiful ride through a lot of orange groves. I first read about it here on the Dis too! We have taken it in and out for our last two trips. When you come into WDW you pass Coronado Springs Resort first so if you are staying there it would be really convenient. It is such a relaxing drive and so different from I-4.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

So lets see where were we? Okay, heading in to Disney through the back door in the pouring down rain! It wasn't letting up and we were going to have to run to our room in the rain. DS was sleeping in his carseat. Which is good of course, he needs to store up some energy for the Magic Kingdom. We navigate the signs finding the All Stars Resort. DH runs in to check us in. We cross our fingers for Dalmations or Toy Story section. Hmmm what section will we get. I hope not Mighty Ducks, my kids have no idea what the Mighty Ducks are and personally I think hockey masks are creepy.

Finally, DH comes out of the rain. We get. . . Herbie, the Love Bug. Hmmm, brings back memories of watching Herbie, the Love Bug at the Drive In Movie Theatre. My brothers loved Herbie! Herbie Goes Bananas seems to stick out in my mind as one of their favorites. We went to the Drive In my uncle managed for free. But we always had to wear our pajamas there. I hated that. When we went to the bathroom all the other kids would stare at us in our pajamas. I wonder why the imagineers picked those movies for the resort.

We drive around the resort and find our room. It is still raining hard, DH the dear soul, finds our room and thankfully it isn't too far from the parking lot. There are some teens hanging around down the hallway. We burst into our room and we are pleasantly surprised.

Mickey greets us. . .

I love the movie strip tile in the bathroom

If you are planning on staying at a Value Resort here is the nitty gritty,
There is only one sink,
There isn't a privacy curtain in the sink area like at the moderates,
The tv is smaller.

To us the room seemed just as small as a moderate, the beds are double beds like the moderates, we got the same toiletries as the moderates, and there was an iron and ironing board in the room. In general we were happy with our room. We did use our van to get around the resort. The room was quiet in the morning we did hear a few "flushes" but we heard "flushes" at the Wilderness Lodge. We saw a lot of teens and a lot of Charter Buses and a lot of cheerleaders. They were never noisy though and we didn't hear them in our room.

 

[Cherlynn25]

I love trip reports! Great intro so far! Cant wait for more, your dd is adorable

 

[scrapnmom]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Well so far our trip is going well. The kids have a bath and get their pajamas on. DH and I discuss our potential ADR's. This was a rather spur of the moment trip and we have no ADR's. We looked over the restaurants listed in our Passporter on the way down. We had several good ideas and the plan was to go to places where we hadn't been more than once before. We have visited WDW 5 times in the last 3 years prior to this weekend. We had been to a lot of restaurants in WDW. Many of them several times. We had our own personal favorites DH loved 'Ohana (visited 4 times) I love Boma (twice visited). We both wanted to go back to LeCellier we had only been there once.

I had been reading good things about 1900 Park Fare here on the Dis. So I offered that as a suggestion. So we had 2 good possibilities, LeCellier and 1900 Park Fare, now we just needed one more. DH read out possibilities, we both made suggestions. Finally he suggested Boma, I jumped on that!

We tried to call Dining from our room. The recording said Dining was closed. DH suggested we call the front desk. I said they will just tell me that Dining is closed. He insists I call the Front Desk. So I do. THey tell me Dining is closed. Somehow I manage to ask when they will open in the morning. (I don't think very quickly after 9 pm) THey open at 7:00.

I set up a wake up call for 7:00 am. Of course I am up and awake at 6:30 my usual wake up time. So I got showered and dressed. At 7:00 the wakeup call comes through. DH reminds me to call about the ADR's. I call and get right through to a very nice CM. I ask about some ADR's for the weekend. I start out with Boma, it's available at 5:30 perfect time.
THen LeCellier no dinner times available but they have a 1:30 lunch! Perfect.
The CM tells me it's my Lucky Day and asks about my third choice. We are hoping for Breakfast at 1900 Park Faire before we leave on Sunday Morning. Yes ma'am I have several times available! I choose 9:15 am.

We are all dressed and ready to head for breakfast at the food court and then The Magic Kingdom!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Sounds like a great start to your trip. I stayed in the Herbie section lf ASMo. I was disappointed that we didn't get Toy Story or Dalmations but we ended up really liking it.

Love your DD's shirt!