Will You Chill Out if I Sprinkle You With Pixie Dust? The End p136 *New TR Link* p138

[Captain_Oblivious]

Hi Mary Ellen! Found your report and I'm in!

We live in Delaware, but had an evening flight booked from Lehigh Valley (or Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) International Airport. It's a little over 2 hours from our home. We always fly from either Philly or BWI, but I found a $95 one way flight on air tran and it was the cheapest thing going. Flights have really gone up in the last year or so and I jumped on this fare while I could.

Interesting. I never even considered flying out of Lehigh Valley before. Sounds like I need to look into that in the future.

This really is an old steel mill town

My wife grew up in this area. I used to visit often when her parents still lived up that way. A little sad to see the factories so dead.

Denny was pretty freaked out about his cold and, on more than one occasion, he asked, "will they let me fly with this cold?". To which I replied, "No, I am certain they will quarantine your for 48hrs at which point you will be given two fully body scans and a pat down".

We had the funniest flight crew EVER. We had Captain Mark as our pilot. Assistant captain Mark, Flight attendant Marc, and flight attendant Markie Mark.

This sounds like the best flight crew EVER!

His comment was "If you have two chlldren and the oxygen mask falls out of the ceiling, pick the kid with the most potential".

 

[Tinker_Tam]

Yaaa!!!! Gotta join in this fun!!!

I had family that lived in the Easton area for a long time. They have since moved but I do think the abandoned Steal mills (?--is that what they are called) are scarey! I can't imagine what was living in them. I haven't been there though since the casino has opened.

 

[ireneryan]

Yaaa!!!! Gotta join in this fun!!!

I had family that lived in the Easton area for a long time. They have since moved but I do think the abandoned Steal mills (?--is that what they are called) are scarey! I can't imagine what was living in them. I haven't been there though since the casino has opened.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to take the mills over, they had been closed for a long time. But I've been in the casino and event center and everything is really really nice. Lovely in fact, I wonder what the hotel rooms look like. We got to see Alan Jackson in concert there, good times!!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay you started a new TR!!

Love the impressive list of statistics and looking forward to reading more about your trip :

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I just found your trip report. Still on day one so I'm not too late yet.

 

[chloe770]

Totally dropped the ball on your last TR so I'm going to try again on this one.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I can't even imagine being a kid and arriving in Orlando to be told I am going to Disney world. That's awesome. I admire parents who can pull off a surprise like that because I never could. I can't keep a secret like that to save my live!

Yeah I couldn't imagine it either. I do vaguely remember on a trip back in 1986 when my parents took just me and my oldest brother to the Magic Kingdom. I'm not sure if they told us where we were going or not that day. Some of the thing I remember are ridding on pirates small world eating lunch at Pinocchio's and I think we had dinner in the castle too and we also took the monorail back to the TTC and saw the torches being lite at the poly out the windows.

Now that probably caused a bit of confusion! Too funny!

Yes but one of the flight attendeds was laughing at it and told everyone he was only joking.

 

[MEK]

Sorry I'm not getting to replies tonight, but I'll get to them as soon as I can tomorrow. I'm already slacking!

 

[annmarieda]

I am here...can't believe I have never followed any of your reports. What is wrong with me?

I can't wait to read. I think secretly I have wanted to stay in the Treehouses, so I can't wait to read all about your stay there.


rental car... wow..great price

pick the kid comment... omg funny

airport... wow so small. I bet it makes it a lot less stressful. I know getting through security alone is enough to cause my family enough stress that we are about exhausted by the time we actually fly.

 

[kansasdisneygal]

Joining in! Sounds like a fun trip with a bunch of your family! Excited to read more!!

 

[Tink rules]

Sorry I'm not getting to replies tonight, but I'll get to them as soon as I can tomorrow. I'm already slacking!

Yeah.. Slacker...


(says someone who still has to finish a report I started in 2008.... )

 

[MEK]

I probably shouldn't be doing replies now. I probably SHOULD be getting ready for work, but here's a couple anyway.

Hi Mary Ellen! Found your report and I'm in!

Mark! So excited that you are here with 2 weeks to go until you leave!!!!!

Interesting. I never even considered flying out of Lehigh Valley before. Sounds like I need to look into that in the future.

I never seriously considered it until this trip, but it seemed to work out right because we had extra time to travel this trip and it was a really good excuse to go see Denny's mom!

My wife grew up in this area. I used to visit often when her parents still lived up that way. A little sad to see the factories so dead.

As far as I can remember it has looked that way. I think the whole area looks a lot more vibrant now with the casino. Odd, but definitely better.

Glad I made you laugh!

This sounds like the best flight crew EVER!

Definitely BEST FLIGHT CREW EVER!

I don't know what YOU would do since you have THREE kids!

Yaaa!!!! Gotta join in this fun!!!

Tinker Tam! So glad to have you along for this read!

I had family that lived in the Easton area for a long time. They have since moved but I do think the abandoned Steal mills (?--is that what they are called) are scarey! I can't imagine what was living in them. I haven't been there though since the casino has opened.

The casino looks pretty cool, although I have only seen it from the road. The steel mills remind me of one of those ghost chaser programs where they lock you in for the night and you have to go to different parts of the building to look for supernatural activity. :shudder: Although they are probably not safe for anyone to be messing around in there.

I can't imagine what it must have been like to take the mills over, they had been closed for a long time. But I've been in the casino and event center and everything is really really nice. Lovely in fact, I wonder what the hotel rooms look like. We got to see Alan Jackson in concert there, good times!!!!

Glad to hear the casino is so nice. I would love to see it sometime. It is literally 2 minutes from my MIL's apartment. I should tell Denny that we really need to stop it. Sounds fun! Maybe if we ever stay the night I should suggest staying there. I love seeing new places.

OK - well that's all the replies I have time for. Be back later!

 

[MEK]

Yay you started a new TR!!

Tanz!!! So glad you are joining me for another fun filled TR!

Love the impressive list of statistics and looking forward to reading more about your trip :

I was surprised when I counted up how many resorts we actually visited. That was kind of cool and seeing the new AoA was definitely fun!

I just found your trip report. Still on day one so I'm not too late yet.

Grumpy's Wife. Thanks for joining. You are definitely not too late. Right on time! I should be posting another update soon!

Totally dropped the ball on your last TR so I'm going to try again on this one.

Dawn! So glad to have you here. My last TR was a little choatic because of all the trips I tried to include. This one should be a little bit more manageable!

Yeah I couldn't imagine it either. I do vaguely remember on a trip back in 1986 when my parents took just me and my oldest brother to the Magic Kingdom. I'm not sure if they told us where we were going or not that day. Some of the thing I remember are ridding on pirates small world eating lunch at Pinocchio's and I think we had dinner in the castle too and we also took the monorail back to the TTC and saw the torches being lite at the poly out the windows.

That sounds like the perfect day at MK. I would have loved to have been surprised like that as a kid. We did spend an evening at the Poly during this trip and those torches get me everytime. I will probably never stay there because of being DVC, but if they ever do I will be first in line!

Yes but one of the flight attendeds was laughing at it and told everyone he was only joking.

Kind-of hard to keep a straight face when the pilot tells the whole plane they are going to Calgary instead of Toronto. Not exactly right around the corner.

I am here...can't believe I have never followed any of your reports. What is wrong with me? .

Ann Marie! So glad you are here. If you're like me, I tend to just pull up my user CP and I end up missing some great TRs that way. No worries - you're hear now!

I can't wait to read. I think secretly I have wanted to stay in the Treehouses, so I can't wait to read all about your stay there..

Well hopefully I will have told you everything you need to know if you ever decide to stay in one. And please feel free to ask questions. I hope to be posting pictures soon.

rental car... wow..great price.

I was so happy about that. Thanks to some DISer I scored big with the savings!

pick the kid comment... omg funny .

It really was funny. I bet every parent with small kids was snickering!

airport... wow so small. I bet it makes it a lot less stressful. I know getting through security alone is enough to cause my family enough stress that we are about exhausted by the time we actually fly.

I find going through security very stressful too because I am such a spazz and I can never put my things in the bin fast enough. Our return flight was an am flight through MCO and that was crazy. Usually we fly home later in the day so I was not used to the am crowds. Loved the small airport leaving. It was excellent!

Joining in! Sounds like a fun trip with a bunch of your family! Excited to read more!!

Kansasdisneygal So glad to have you along for the ride! Family trips are always a bit....interesting....shall we say?

Yeah.. Slacker...

My goal is two updates a week, but we'll see.

(says someone who still has to finish a report I started in 2008.... )

uh oh.....Well, I think the perfect solution to that is to just plan a new trip and write about that one!!!!!!

 

[jenseib]

I'm here...I just need to actually read now. LOL

 

[jenseib]

Wow...what a deal on the car...any tips on that one? We are booked with hertz...but if I can find a deal like that...I might switch

 

[MEK]

I'm here...I just need to actually read now. LOL

Jen! Thanks for joining in!

Wow...what a deal on the car...any tips on that one? We are booked with hertz...but if I can find a deal like that...I might switch

I think I booked that about 6 weeks before our trip. Someone started an excellent June rental car thread here on the DIS and a few people posted some excellent codes. I just stalked that thread and tried every code that was posted until I got that one. It was a combo Costco / AA Advantage code. I am so happy someone posted it!

 

[MEK]

Where’s the Disney Bubble?

Here’s something to ponder…….

A train leaves Lorton, Va at 4pm and is traveling south at 75 mph.

A plane leaves Allentown, Pa at 6:10pm and is traveling 550 mph.

Lorton Va is 200 miles south of Allentown Pa.

At what time will the plane fly over the train?



According to my estimates we flew over that train at about 6:42 pm. Any math whizzes out there care to differ?

At any rate, at approximately 6:42 pm I leaned toward the window of the plane and said, “See you later suckers”.

On arrival to MCO, since I didn’t have anyone else to announce my arrival to, I texted my brother, “We are in Florida and you are still on the train….Nanny, nanny, poo, poo” Well, actually, I left that last part out. Why irritate my brother already? There was plenty of time left to do that later, unintentionally, of course.

After our great flight, with our great crew, out of an awesome new airport, I sent Denny to pick up our cheap Alamo rental car. He was all too happy to oblige. In fact, before I knew it, he disappeared without taking any of the carry on bags or his cell phone. Nick had his phone because he had been playing games on it. DOH!

So Nick and I were left with 3 bags and my rolling carry-on, which is this odd back pack that really doesn’t roll all that well and tips over with the slightest breeze. When we arrive at the Alamo counter Denny is nowhere to be found. He was actually looking for us. Figures.

Fortunately, we met up quickly, crossed the street, and found the row of full size cars. Wow! I didn’t even realize my super great DIS board rate was a full size. All the cars in the row were white and most of them were Chevy Impalas. Nothing against Chevys, but I had to rent one of these once for 3 weeks while my car was having body work done, and compared to my Honda, the gas mileage suc…., stunk! Maybe they are more fuel efficient now, but we selected a Mitsubishi Galant just in case. I am sure there are some of you who don’t know, but Denny and I had a little trip planned outside of the Disney bubble, which made me more insistent on a fuel efficient car.

For those of you who rent cars and bring your own GPS, have you ever noticed how LONG it takes to find the satellite after you pull out of that garage? Of course, Denny is tied to his GPS and can’t go to the grocery store without it (OK, I’m exaggerating), so he immediately starts to panic. “Which way do I go?”

Seriously, how the heck do I know? Follow the signs to Disney World. Oh – Wait – We are not going to Disney World yet. We still have to spend the night outside of the Disney bubble.

When we arranged this trip, we add 3 options for our first night: (1) stay at a value ($140 – too high) (2) stay at a DVC studio (15 borrowed points) (3) Use up Denny’s Carlson club points and stay at a Radisson on I drive. Now I may not always pick the most cost effective solution to a problem, but this seemed like a no brainer to me. We obviously picked the Radisson. I checked it out on trip advisor and it didn’t look that horrible, plus it was FREE!!!!!!! See- No brainer!

But first we had to find it. No problem. The GPS started working after about 5 minutes of aimless driving and we were on our way to International Drive.

How many of you have actually been to I Drive? On a Saturday night? So NOT the Disney bubble. As soon as I saw that mess I longed for the confines of a Disney resort. But it WAS only one night and it WAS FREE!

It didn’t take long to find the hotel, which always looks different from the trip advisor pictures, even the most candid of shots. I checked in, got our room keys, didn’t lose the room keys (because I have been known to do that in 10 seconds flat), got directions to the room, and headed back to the car. The parking lot was full and Denny wanted to drive to the most inconvenient spot and unload before even finding the closest entrance to the hotel. I vetoed that idea.

Nick and I suggested that we first go get something to eat and THEN find the room. There are a million restaurants on I drive and several of them looked rather tempting, but it was already 9:30pm, I was tired, I was covered with a thin film of Florida sweat, and I hate going IN a restaurant when I look like crap. So I suggested we get something from the closest fast food joint. I hate fast food, but it does serve the purpose at times like this.

I bet you can guess which FF place was closest. If you can’t, well you are, and I quote, “distinctly un American”, which some of you are, and you can probably STILL guess what place was closest.

Yup – you’re right – Micky D’s. So NOT a fan, but they have decent salads, so Denny and I got one of them and Nick got a burger and fries. We also stopped at Walgreen’s for cold medicine and beer. Being from a state that does not serve wine and beer in grocery stores, I find this so convenient that I had to buy some just for the sake of buying it.

The traffic was rough, but we finally made it back to the hotel, unloaded the car, and sat down to eat at 10:30pm. After eating, I fell asleep while the boys continued to watch basket ball.

Here are some pictures of our room. It really was clean and a nice size. And the best part – it was FREE!

Oops - You're not supposed to be in the bathroom when I'm taking pictures. Sheesh!

There, that's better

Boring, blurry hall picture

When I woke up on Sunday morning I was as excited as one could be knowing that I was just hours away from entering the Disney bubble. If it were up to me, I would have loaded up the car right then and there and headed directly over to SSR for our treehouse check-in. But I had a sleeping teenager to consider. So I slipped away into the bathroom to make coffee. My first attempt was bad. I tore right through the single pouch thingy. That only left one more with caffeine. Poor Denny. Little did he know it but he would be drinking decaf.

After getting enough caffeine in my system to move, I changed into my running clothes and shoes and went for a quick run down I drive. I only ran about a mile before I turned around. I used the excuse that I needed to get used to the Florida humidity and the buckets of sweat that were running down my face and back.

I did stop to take a few pictures.

I think this place is called Wonder Works. I have to admit, I was slightly curious

Random street shot

The bus routes

The Peabody

Actually, this place was huge. It seemed like it took up 2 city blocks.

The outside of the Radisson

The buildings to the left (which looked older)

The building we stayed in (to the right) which was actually only attached to the check-in area by an outside path

When I returned to the room I showered and packed up. Now a decision needed to be made – Should we go check in at SSR and come back and get Nick and should we wait for him to get up???

Light bulb moment. We decided to go pick up some breakfast and then come back and get him up. Back to Micky D’s for pancakes. I know, I know – two trips to MCD’s in 12 hours. What was I thinking?

I had really good intentions of of doing the day number with my fingers, but I only remembered it on Day 2. Great Idea!

I have to admit that even a Micky D's drive though looks better in Florida!

Random palm tree picture I took because Denny had to go back to Walgreens for a pair of sunglasses.

The Convention Center. This place was also huge and took up both sides of the street. Wish I had a better picture.

Fortunately, Nick was ready to get up and eat when we returned. We finished packing up the car, put our new address in the GPS, and started the drive to the Disney bubble.


It was finally time for me to get out the “real” camera. I took a picture of this bus because when Denny first looked at it he thought it said EPCOT and asked, “why is there an Epcot bus here?”

Getting closer

I liked this building, so I took a picture

When we finally reached the bubble I was really hoping for a good shot of the Disney arches, but instead our route only took us past this. Really? REALLY? What a let down!

My disappointment quickly ended because I knew we were getting really close to DTD and SSR. In fact, I think seeing this might even be better than seeing the Disney arch!

Our GPS took us in the SSR entrance nearest to DTD. Imagine how giddy I was knowing we were almost home.

Check-in was a breeze and soon I was gifted 9 room keys. Oy to the Vey! Since we were on the Quick Service Dining plan we walked over to Artist Palette and activated our mugs. Pink for me, black for Nick, and blue for Denny. Mugs filled, we needed to decide on a plan. It was 9:47 am precisely when I texted my SIL to let her know we were checked in.

Continued in Next Post.........

 

[MEK]

Continued.....

Her response, “We are delayed. We have an hour left”.

YIKES!

I had read reports on the DIS that some people actually get off the train and make it to WDW by 9:30 am. I guess those are the lucky ones.

I asked Denny and Nick what they wanted to do now. I figured it would be hours before our treehouse villa was ready so I suggested DTD. They vetoed that idea and said they wanted to go see the treehouses.

Well, Ok then. Sure. Why Not? I've got the real camera out. Might as well take some pictures.

Here we go:

My first impression - Wow - its really woodsy in here. I immediately started longing for the pretty pastel colors of the main SSR resort.

I forgot to mention - SSR is actually my home resort and I haven't stayed there since 2009. I have been too busy doing the DVC resort rounds. But when I saw it for the first time in several years, I understood why I made it my first home resort (I also have a contract at VWL).

See what I mean......

Pretty, relaxing, ahhhhhhh.........

I know some people love the hotel-like DVC resorts with interior halls, but I really love wide open spaces so SSR is a good fit for me.

Anyway - back to the treehouse villas.

The pathway to the main resort

This whole area runs adjacent to the golf course

This way to the boat dock

For some reason I didn't get a good picture of the dock, but I did get a picture of this informational sign

and this one

and these guys having a great time on the water

The pool - small, but adequate

The frogs were not spurting water. Little did I know that this was an omen.

Believe it or not it actually got chilly enough one afternoon to use this hot tub

Foosball table

Here is the internal bus. There are two stops at the treehouse villas. This bus takes you to the springs where you catch another bus to go to the parks.

Our trusty rental car

BTW - There is technically only parking for one car per villa. Thanks to our exploration we discovered that there were several unmarked parking spaces near the pool. One of these became our unofficial parking space and several of them remained empty all week.

So when we had completed our exploration we decided to hang out at the pool.

How long would it take for our villa to be ready and what time would my brother’s family actually get off the auto train? Sorry – you’ll have to wait for the next update to find the answer to these questions and much more.

 

[marDgreen88]

"See you later suckers."

Glad yall had a nice free stay before you entered the Disney bubble!

Oh man... if I saw that sign "you never know what you'll see" I think I'd freak out at the sight of the bat. Oh no.

The Treehouse Villas definitely look rustic from the outside, but they look really cool too! Can't wait to see the inside!

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like y'all were off to a great start to the trip!

I can't blame you for choosing the free hotel room for that one night. We have stayed right off of I Drive a couple of times & the traffic can get quite thick.

I love all of your pictures of the treehouses & the rest of SSR. It really does look relaxing!

Can't wait to see when your brother & his family finally got there.