Welcome Home

[DSNY FN]

I miss hearing that allready yes we are finally home after the trip that seemed doomed in Ohio. We had ok weather till we hit Ohio on the night of the 28th and every bridge along the I-75 in that state was a skating rink yes we live in Canada and yes we know how to drive in the winter but HELLO when you are cruising along at 70MPH and your van decides to do the side step with a 4 wheel slide good morning to you all dance in the centre of a bridge. We did finally make it after being set back by over 5 hours in Ohio. But alas we are home no delays on the way home no just sunny skies and no ice or snow I will talk to you all later and give you more details of the entire trip.
Darren

 

[TimNDansMom]

Welcome home Darren, Lisa and kids!

I thought about you on the drive down when I heard the weather was bad. Wow, I'm so glad that everything turned out okay.

Looking forward to hearing all about your 2 weeks at Disney!

 

[DSNY FN]

Ok so we had a crappy drive down through Ohio that is untill after the Timmies just past Dayton then the roads cleared up and it was all smooth sailing mind you we were as I said earlier 5 hours behind schedule. We finally arrived in Valdosta Georgia at 7:30 PM we usually arrive there between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. Well we get some Pasta frm Fazoolies just next to the hotel and eat then settle in for the night and hopefully a much better drive on Sunday for the last leg of the trip to Disney. Get up and get dressed then off to the Florida Welcome Centre for our traditional glass of Florida Orange juice and pictured in front of the florida sign. We got talking to a couple from Toronto that arrived at the Welcome centre shortly after we did they were a few hours behind us getting to Ohio and they told us the I-75 was closed for quite some time due to the ice on the bridges we encountered. So off to our hotel well home actually Old Key West what a beautiful place I must say a little to quiet for my taste but what great accomodations DVC is a great investment after seeing this place. So we check in and go to the room Lisa and the kids go for a swim and I go to the front to pick up a small suprise for the girls Autograph books and pens to go in the suprise bag of goodies we picked up for them at the Dis store in Hamilton like matching bathingsuits and shirts and Paige recieved about 60 pins for her book and to trade we bought them all when they had them on sale. So I place the goodie bag on the table in the room and go to meet the family at the pool so we can get cleaned up and ready for dinner. The girls open the door and go in and low and behold there is a bag on the table with their stuff in it and a fruit basket on the table for Lisa and I from a friend of our in California saying he wished he could have made the trip to so he could visit with us. The girls go through the goodie bag and start asking who could have done this who knew they were coming and how did they get this into the room all we could say to them is well this is Mickey Mouses house you know and he knows about everything going on here and everyone staying at his place. So it made for a great first day and evening at our new home. I will talk more about the rest later just got done cleaning up all the stuff we seemed to accumulate from this trip.
Darren

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Darren and Lisa,

I'm glad to hear that you got home safely. I purposely came here this morning to see if you were back yet. I hope the drive wasn't too bad. I too love the atmosphere at Old Key West. We're still thinking about DVC seriously. I must call and get an information package sent to us.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

Rest up though because soon it's back to work!!

Take care,

 

[mbb]

a wonderful trip - once you got there!!

Can't wait to get home to OKW and BCV...call and get the info pkg Susan...the exch rate is pretty good, and we love having a vacation home in WDW!!

 

[DSNY FN]

We love being DVC members and now we have SSR on there to I like the room sizes at OKW but don't care for how quiet the place is it feels like a retirement community to me. Boardwalk is my favourite DVC resort to this point I will have to wait and try SSR and let you know what I think of it

 

[hockey mom]

Welcome back Darren and family. Glad to hear the drive didn't get you down. We were stuck somewhere along I-75 one year due to ice also.
Give us more details when you have time. One question though, we are trying to decide if we want to reserve 2 rooms at WL for next Dec. or rent points off a DVC'R like we did for OKW. Have you stayed in the WLV before?

 

[DSNY FN]

We have stayed at WLV and it was nice but the rooms are small my in laws just came back from there the end of Nov and said the 1 bedroom was less than desireable.

 

[hockey mom]

Thanks for the quick response. If we did rent it would be a 2 bedroom for the 5 of us but what I am after are the decorations in the lobby so I guess my best bet would be connecting rooms in the lodge.

I'm with you on OKW. As much as I liked the room size it was way to quiet and without that Disney feeling.

Take any pictures you want to share with us Disney folk? Did you and your family attend a Christmas party?

 

[maryliz]

Welcome home !!! How was your side-trip to the beach? Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

Mary Liz

 

[DSNY FN]

We have lots of pics from this trip and we will share them as soon as I get a day off I have done nothing but work since returning home. Hockeymom OKW is getting a pool slide for this year at the main pool so that should help liven things up and bring a little more Disney feel to the resort. We will let you know if it is there when we go back in Sept. We didn't attend MVMCP this trip we had done it on the 2 previous trips so we siped it this year. As for pictures we have 128 digital pics that we can send out and we have 14 rolls of film in for developing as I type this so they will be ready for the next meet.

 

[DSNY FN]

Ok so here is some trip report for you guys to read. Day one at Disney was a great day we get to OKW and check in the room is ready and we are in building 35 room 3530 actually 1 bedroom with a water view which we can also see the epcot fireworks from. We get all unpacked and the kids go to the Turtle Pond pool for a swim with Lisa while dad sets the suprise package plan into action. I run up to Conch Flats to get autograph books and fat pens for the girls then return to the room and put them in the mickey bag and on the kitchen table for them to find. I run down and meet them at the pool and we walk back to the room the girls walk in and find the bag on the table and ask who it was from we play dumb and tell them we don't know but Mickey knew we were coming to visit so it must be from him. The open the bag to find new matching bathing suits and books and pens and shirts Paige also recieved about 60 pins 30 for the pin book and 30 to trade she now has over 100 pins in her book. After all the excitement we get them all dressed and head to the front to catch a boat to DTD the air was brisk but not to cold we took the jackets with us but no one actually had to wear one. We get to DTD and do a bit of shopping and get some chocolate from Giradellis(sp) walk around a bit and trade some pins and listen to the carolers singing. We head back to the room and watch a couple shows on the Disney channel and then it is off to bed it was a great first day and no one was tired or arguing so that was a bonus.

Day 2 Monday Dec 1st Off to Animal Kingdom:
We arrive at animal Kingdom and pick up our passes for Paige and I then go in the first thing we do is get some autographs for the girls we got Donald and Daisey and Micey and Goofy we then head straight for the Kilamangaro Safari The grls loved it we saw lots of animals including both the male and female lions lots of Elephants and giraffe. Took some pics not to many though don't want to go crazy with the camera yet. We then head over to the Jungle Trek to see some tigers and bats and other such creatures then it is off to Primeval Whirl for a quick spin on that Paige loved it and had a blast. We went from there to grab some lunch at Donalds. We let the kids p;ay in the dig site for a bit but skipped alot of AK this time the kids are getting cranky and it was pretty warm so we went back to the room for a snack and a sleep first time we have ever left the parks early with the kids but they seemed to really need it. Didn't really do much else that day Paige and Lisa went to the little arcade at OKW to play some games.

Anyhow I( will write some more tomorrow after I get some rest talk to everyone soon and if anyone wants some pics just post here and let me now.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Darren, what time did you leave for the drive down on the Friday night? You must have been exhausted by the time you reached Valdosta on Saturday night especially after being held up in Ohio.

We had a similar experience in Ohio when we went down right after Christmas, for New Year's 2002. They didn't get their salters out soon enough and the storm hit around rush hour. What a mess! Fortunately, we had planned to stop for the night in Cincinnati, since I knew we would have a late start after all the festivities of the day before and the next day was clear. Our next stop is just below Macon, GA, we also stop at the Florida Welcome Center and arrive in Orlando around 3pm, just in time for check-in. What time did you finally arrive? I can just imagine the kids opening their surprise Mickey bags!

I love to visit DTD on our day of arrival too, to immerse myself in Disney. Looks like you started out with a couple of easy days. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DSNY FN]

We left London about 7:30 PM a little later than we usually leave so that didn't help at all either we started out from home an hour behind what we had hoped would be our scheduled departure. We didn't arrive in Valdosta till 7:30 Saturday night and we are usually there by about 2 or 3 in the afternoon on the Saturday.

Ok so now for Day 3 Magic Kingdom
So we get started around 9 AM on to MK the girls were bouncing off the walls wanting to go and after the good experiance we had with the carachters @ AK we knew it would be great fun. The weather was supposed to be a bit cooler so we all wore long pants and took our shorts with us well we arrive at the park go through bag check get inside and get a locker. First people we see are Daisy Duck and Aurora so off to the lines for pics and signatures. We also got pluto and Mickey and Baloo along with a few others after that the sun was so hot we went and changed into our shorts for the rest of the day. Madison really wanted to ride on the train so off we went to catch the train to ride over to MTTF and a ride on the Barnstormer and some fun on Donalds Boat they had Donalds tree lot set up at the boat so all the water was turned off so no spraying the kids this trip. from there we head on over to Mickey's house followed by a walk through Minnies place the girls loved all the stuff to play with in the houses. After we saw Goofy and Max we headed for the Tea Cups and I took the girls on for a SPIN Madison wanted me to slow down the spinning Paige wanted me to go faster I spun myself into a bit of a headache but nothing a couple Tylenol didn't fix right up. After the Tea Cups we went to let us big kids have a quick ride on Space Mountain Paige liked it but said she would wait till our next trip to ride it again. We did the kid switch which works just great one adult and the other rider/s go on the ride while the other adult and little ones wait outside once they come out you run up the fast pass line and hand them your kid switch pass you can take up to 3 others with you when you do it this way and you essentially get right on the ride MK seemed quite busy for a Wed all the parks we hit seemed busier than our usual Dec trips not more than a 15 minute wait for anything but we are used to walking right up and hopping on just about everything. From SM we went to Whinnie the Pooh the girls loved it except once we hit the Hefalumps and Woozles Madison wasn't to thrilled with this part and wanted off she didn't like that part she thought they were mean to poor Pooh Bear. From there we went and hopped on TTA for a quick spin around the people mover paiged also traded about 8 pins today for some really good lanyard pins exclusive to CM's The girls then wanted to ride the horses so we went on the carousel and then to ride Dumbo. We went and had a bite to eat for lunch at ghepetto's (sp) and went to IASW the girls loved all the dolls from all over the world Spencer just pointed and talked to them all he was suh a good id for his first ever Disney trip and only being 1. After we did this I took Paige on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion and over to Splash mountain we did kid switch for that one to and there was no line not even the regular line the longest you waited was if they had to load and unload a wheelchair guest. We made our way back around to the front and headed out just after 5 as it started to rain a bit but had stopped before we even made it out of the park. Tomorrow we are off to Typhoon Lagoon and Chef Mickey's for dinner.

 

[bunnyfoo]

Welcome back Great trip reports! I can't wait to hear about your day at Typhoon Lagoon. We were planning on going ourselves until I got a cold Were the parks crowded? This is my first December trip and I thought the lines were great but then we talked to some other guests there who also thought it was crowded. I guess I'll have to think about Disney in Dec 04 *lol*

 

[DisneyLisa]

Welcome back Darren...I enjoyed reading your trip report so far. I've been avoiding the DIS Board lately as it makes me want to go back to WDW so much...but I guess I'll keep checking back so I can read the about the rest of your trip. Sounds like you had a great time. I can just imagine the kids' faces when they got their goody bags...what a way for them to start their vacation.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report.

 

[DSNY FN]

I just uploaded some pics hopefully they will be viewable tonight if not tomorrow. I will write some more of the trip report tonight to have a good evening everyone.

 

[TimNDansMom]

I'm enjoying your trip report, Darren and the pictures of the kids are adorable!

 

[DSNY FN]

Ok a little more trip reporting to do.

Typhoon Lagoon:

We arrive about 9:30 to the water park it is just opening so we go in to look for changerooms like BB alas there are none so off to find the closest washrooms to get everyone changed into swimsuits. We all get changed and head out to find the perfect spot and having never been to the place before we are not sure what to look for but we know when we find it it will be perfect. We scoped out a shaded section by the kids splash area of the park not to far from the larger slides so we make camp fr the day there drop off all the stuff get the ids into the life jackets and we are off Lisa and Madinson and Spancer go into the splash area while Paige and I go off in search of the larger slides we find a couple small tube slides first and do thse now we want something bigger. We find the family tube ride and it looks good from what we can see of it so we go and grab a tube and haul it up the staris ok so I rolled it up the 10 or 12 steps but her you don't have to do that at all @ BB. We hop in the tube and we are off it is quite short but there are some fun things where you get just soaked on it so it was really nice to do we go from there to a couple other non tube slides and ride those a couple times. From here we head over to Shark Reef to look things over we walk all around the place and through the hull of the ship to look at the underwater view of what is going on in the shark reef pool. It was actually quite cool down in there you could see lots of fish and a few sharks we mae our way through there and cross the bridge that runs across the top of the water to view the swimmers we stood up there for about 15 minutes watching all the people and the fish it was quite nice actually. So from here we head back over to see what Lisa and the kids are doing and to grab a drink and a snack glad we were able to bring in a coler bag with snack in and drinks saved us a bunch of money. So we sit down and have our snack and drin and look for the little lizzard critters that run around all over the place we always like to see how many we can find. From here Paige and I head to the wave pool and it is perfect timing we arrive just as the large 6 foot plus waves start coming in we are our pretty far when the first one hits and it throws Paige around pretty good so after she regains her balance and composeure she moves to some shallower water to play in the waves. I stay out a little deeper to try and body surf on some of them. Mental note when choosing a swim suit to wear to this park make sure if you wear shorts they tie at the waist and are not just an pull type elastic it can get embarassing if anyone sees what can happen to you and your trunks. So we play in there for some time then head back to find Lisa so that her and Paige can go play in the wave pool and I will stay with the little ones for awhile now. I ge Spencer to sleep on the chair and Madison and I got to the little wading area of the kids splash pad part only about 25 yards or so from where Spencer is sleeping we play there for a good hour or so and then Lisa and Paige return we have a drink and some snacks as we don't want to eat to much because tonight is Chef Mickey's as Spencer wakes up we decide since I am burned and the kids are tired out from playing in the water all day we will head back to the room earlier and get showered and changed before dinner so off to OKW we go. We all get dressed and off to visit Mickey for diner we go the kids have bveen just great all day and are just in love with all the life size carton heroes they watch on the disney channels house of mouse. We arrive at CM's and get our family picture taken and get our table within 5 minutes of arriving so we see Donald in the foyer(sp) and the kids all run over for autographs and pictures. Spencer is pinching Donalds beak and pointing and talking to him. We get to our table and Mickey arrives within just a few minutes of getting our seat and the kids again go crazy for the big cheese. Dinner was great as usual we love to eat there on every trip. So then the kids get up for the napkin dance and spencer is talking and pointing to Goofy as they make their way past the kids young and old really get into this when we go it is great. We get visits from Minnie and Chip and Dale and then Daisy even shows up to say hi for a bit to it was a great ending to a great day. When we finally get back to the room the fireworks at Epcot are underway so Paige Lisa and myself sit on the balcony at the room and watch the finish to the show it was a great thing to see from our balcony and Paige though it was like our own special fireworks show. Well bed time now we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
Darren

 

[Jennie in TO]

Ok, all you Canadians. We will be doing our first Disney trip this January and we will be driving down from Toronto. Do you guys actually drive 24 hours straight.... How long does it take you if you do it in two days and where is a nice place to stop? Did you say if you left from ??? at 6:30 that you got into somewhere in Georgia at 2 or 3 in the afternoon? Check in is between 3 and 4, is that right...so there is no point in getting to Disney too early, am I right?

The thought of driving 24 hours, even though there are two of us driving, just makes me tired thinking of it. How do you do it? We drove straight through from Toronto to Hilton Head Island last year and it took us about 16 hours, but we had some wicked snow through Pennsylvania all the way to North Carolina. Man were we exhausted. We will be taking 3 kids 8 - 13 this trip and they are all excellent travellers. We really don't need to stop more than every 4 hours with them.

Any tips for driving and keeping awake for that long?