"You want to ride Dinosaur again?" - New 10/21 - The End!

[DisMomAmy]

So I want to know what everyone thinks...

Am I crazy to consider driving to Florida next time?? It's about 24 hours (that's without breaks)... but would save us at least $1000 on airfare plus the cost of a rental car ($300-800 depending on how many days & what deals might be available).

Am I crazy?? (Did I mention that my kids talk a lot??)

 

[dawnbu40]

Wow that is a HUGE savings! I'm sure I could never drive that far since I get claustrophobic in the car but if your family likes road trips...why not?

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Amy,

I'm benched today recovering from 2nd degree burns-my family is having a yard sale and then BBQ-so I have had xtra computer time-hmm-guess what I've been doing...?

reading and enjoying your trip report...

You have a lovely family-your boys are absolutely beautiful and seem like really great little guys...

I have a background in education and am currently working on certification in special ed adovcacy...you and your husband seem like really great and attentive parents who are very conscious of your sons needs-kudos to both of you...Alex seems to handle any sensory issues he has pretty well-Disney can be intense for anyone...he must be a real fan...

oh and by the way-I'm NT and I personally find those ducks that go after people's food creepy and aggressive-they freak me out too

Love NH-my dad used to have a home there until he relocated to NC...

We've been to both Storybook Land and Santaland-both are really sweet and well kept regional parks...love the mountains-been to the top of Mt. Washington (the drive up that mountain rivals any Disney thrill ride) and the lakes are lovely...

Anxiously awaiting the next segment...

 

[cjackearl]

Well, you know what I'm going to say about the driving. If it saves that much money I'd seriously consider it. You can do it if you plan enough distractions and then you have your car in WDW, which is an added bonus.

 

[KathyRN137]

So I want to know what everyone thinks...

Am I crazy to consider driving to Florida next time?? It's about 24 hours (that's without breaks)... but would save us at least $1000 on airfare plus the cost of a rental car ($300-800 depending on how many days & what deals might be available).

Am I crazy?? (Did I mention that my kids talk a lot??)

We did that last year and I survived!!

I will say, however, that I hated giving up Disney time to the road... It turned what is usually a seven-day stay at WDW into only five days. Yes, we saved money, but I think we'll fly from now on.

Kathy

 

[carissanboys]

Dang it! I wish I'd been around when you originally posted that mystery picture of The Great Movie Ride! I knew what it was right away. And the Wizard of Oz part is my favorite too.

Hope you guys had a lovely 4th!

And you know what I would say about the driving down.

 

[hellosunshinee]

Hello Amy! I'm new to Disboards, so this is the first TR I've ever read! I want to thank you for all the detail you put into it. I am going back to Disney for only my second time, and the first time was in 1995 so you can imagine my excitement! Your TR has been amazing for me, I sit at the computer with my notebook and every few seconds of reading I find something I have to jot down under my Must-dos!

Your boys are so adorable, that yeti cracks me up! I am taking so many pointers from you, very appreciated!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Wow that is a HUGE savings! I'm sure I could never drive that far since I get claustrophobic in the car but if your family likes road trips...why not?

I don't know what gas would cost us and we'd probably stay at a hotel one night on the road so it wouldn't quite save us that much money, but yes a significant savings.

Well, you know what I'm going to say about the driving. If it saves that much money I'd seriously consider it. You can do it if you plan enough distractions and then you have your car in WDW, which is an added bonus.

I just wonder if there are enough distractions in this world to keep my kids occupied for that long...

We did that last year and I survived!!

I will say, however, that I hated giving up Disney time to the road... It turned what is usually a seven-day stay at WDW into only five days. Yes, we saved money, but I think we'll fly from now on.

Kathy

The main objective of this visit would be visiting Jeff & Karen. J will be a senior in high school this coming year so we may not get much more time with him... I look at the money savings as being able to afford Disney tickets... we'll probably only do 4 days or so. (And this will be the last year Alex will be considered a child at Disney. $$ )

Dang it! I wish I'd been around when you originally posted that mystery picture of The Great Movie Ride! I knew what it was right away. And the Wizard of Oz part is my favorite too.

Hope you guys had a lovely 4th!

And you know what I would say about the driving down.

Sorry you missed the mystery picture- seems like you've been busy lately! We had a low key 4th of July - today is supposed to be perfect weather so we hope to celebrate a little more today!

I'm still VERY much on the fence about the driving thing... I brought it up with Tim a day or two ago and he didn't laugh at me... so that's a good sign.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Amy,

I'm benched today recovering from 2nd degree burns-my family is having a yard sale and then BBQ-so I have had xtra computer time-hmm-guess what I've been doing...?

Feel better soon!

reading and enjoying your trip report...

You have a lovely family-your boys are absolutely beautiful and seem like really great little guys...

Thank you!

I have a background in education and am currently working on certification in special ed adovcacy...you and your husband seem like really great and attentive parents who are very conscious of your sons needs-kudos to both of you...Alex seems to handle any sensory issues he has pretty well-Disney can be intense for anyone...he must be a real fan...

Zachary actually had more issues this year than Alex... they are both HUGE fans!! We didn't go to fireworks last night and they thought since we weren't able to do that we could go to Disney instead.

Congrats on the Sped advocacy training - We need more people like you!!

oh and by the way-I'm NT and I personally find those ducks that go after people's food creepy and aggressive-they freak me out too

(me too)

Love NH-my dad used to have a home there until he relocated to NC...

We've been to both Storybook Land and Santaland-both are really sweet and well kept regional parks...love the mountains-been to the top of Mt. Washington (the drive up that mountain rivals any Disney thrill ride) and the lakes are lovely...

We try to visit theme parks whenever we can - whether they are the little regional parks or Six Flags... we hope to take the kids for their first visit to Six Flags when we are in the Berkshires in August.

Anxiously awaiting the next segment...

Thanks for taking the time to read my report and to say hello. I love having new readers!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Hello Amy! I'm new to Disboards, so this is the first TR I've ever read! I want to thank you for all the detail you put into it. I am going back to Disney for only my second time, and the first time was in 1995 so you can imagine my excitement! Your TR has been amazing for me, I sit at the computer with my notebook and every few seconds of reading I find something I have to jot down under my Must-dos!

Your boys are so adorable, that yeti cracks me up! I am taking so many pointers from you, very appreciated!

Another new reader!! Thank you for reading!! I'm honored to be your first Trip Report!!

I hope you have an amazing trip!! Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Happy Planning!!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Just saw on the news that the driver of a monorail was killed at 2am this morning when two monorails collided at MK!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Just saw on the news that the driver of a monorail was killed at 2am this morning when two monorails collided at MK!

I saw that, too! So sad and shocking! Bad things aren't allowed to happen there!

 

[carissanboys]

Yeah, I first saw it on Twitter and posted it on FB. Sully saw me reading it and said, "I don't want to ride the monorail now." I wonder what happened?

 

[DisMomAmy]

I saw that, too! So sad and shocking! Bad things aren't allowed to happen there!

Yeah, I first saw it on Twitter and posted it on FB. Sully saw me reading it and said, "I don't want to ride the monorail now." I wonder what happened?

There's a thread on the Theme Park & Attractions board, but there really isn't any more infomration over there...

I'm glad we got our co-pilot licenses this year because I don't think we'll ride in the front anymore. Sorry Sully had to see that.

 

[hhockman]

Great update!

I like the TSM pictures.

We haven't been to the 50s PTC in a long time. I tried to put it on the list for our September trip, but DH insisted on Hollywood & Vine, so I had to take it off. H&V was the only restaurant he actually asked for (except Le Cellier, which we didn't get), so I had to give it to him.

I heard about the monorail accident this afternoon when we got home from our baseball tournament. My mom and I were both shocked. I have a feeling Disney won't allow people to ride in the front anymore. We've done it a few times, and I'm pretty sure both kids have done it, but I don't have any pictures. The whole thing is just sad.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Great update!

I like the TSM pictures.

We haven't been to the 50s PTC in a long time. I tried to put it on the list for our September trip, but DH insisted on Hollywood & Vine, so I had to take it off. H&V was the only restaurant he actually asked for (except Le Cellier, which we didn't get), so I had to give it to him.

I heard about the monorail accident this afternoon when we got home from our baseball tournament. My mom and I were both shocked. I have a feeling Disney won't allow people to ride in the front anymore. We've done it a few times, and I'm pretty sure both kids have done it, but I don't have any pictures. The whole thing is just sad.

We skipped H&V this year - but we've always been there in the past. Alex remembered and asked if we were going to have lunch with the Little Einsteins! So depending on his interest in the LE's we may have to go back to the Play & Dine breakfast or lunch...

I'll be curious to see if they change the rules about riding up front too...

 

[eandesmom]

So I want to know what everyone thinks...

Am I crazy to consider driving to Florida next time?? It's about 24 hours (that's without breaks)... but would save us at least $1000 on airfare plus the cost of a rental car ($300-800 depending on how many days & what deals might be available).

Am I crazy?? (Did I mention that my kids talk a lot??)

Well, only you know your kids and how they do on long road trips. You have some pluses.

You'd have your car
You'd save on airfare and rental car
You can easily do things like groceries and packing a cooler from home.

BUT 24 hours, IMHO is not doable in a day. You have to sleep. So at a minimum, not allowing for eating or rest stops you've got 4 12 hour days (there and back) and either hotel rooms on the way there and pack, or camping (which means packing more stuff). For us, 12 hours drive time, plus 2 meals and a potty break here and there quickly becomes 14-16 hours drive time.

It also depends on how long you want your trip to be. If you want a week there, do you have enough vacation to make it 11 days allowing for the drive time?

For me (and me only lol) if I did it (and we could, to DLR) I'd have to make both the front and back drive semi interesting with some sightseeing spots to make it worth it. Once I get past about 14 hours it becomes very chore like and hard on the kids.

That said we took ours on a 3500 mile road trip last summer over 2 weeks. It's definitely doable and they might talk less than you think. Ours read, it was crazy how much they read, ignoring all the packed electronics. I tried to plot it so that no day was longer than 8 hours drive time and that didn't always work. We had a couple of really brutal days and it "can" end the vacation on a different note if you aren't careful. Easier to power through it on the way down than back I think.

Just make sure when you factor in your savings you include your overnight stoppage costs, the extra meals out as you are extending your trip and gas. If you still save that kind of money...yeah, it's probably worth it!

 

[mousescrapper]

Hi Amy,

great end to your day at DHS....I love the Wizard of Oz part too, my favorite, I caught part of the movie on tv the other day and couldn't resist watching

Your gangster, kinda looked like ours...

Hope you went swimming at the new CB pool and it was awesome!

Love your Disney 4th of July wish for us all...very COOL!

looking forward to more of the trip!


As to driving....

we drove once our '95 trip w/ my parents (DH & I were just engaged then) so we did to Atlanta and then to WDW...so for 4 adults not too bad. I so agree w/ the savings on airfare and completely understand as we need 2 more seats than you scary price!!!

but as Kathy said if you only have a week to travel in you do lose Disney time to drive.

After our drive to Atlanta 2 summers ago it was rough to say the least, but then we had a six month old in the car too...

anyways that sealed the deal for DH always fly to Disney....and I happily agree. Maybe one day when we have lots of extra travel time and can stop at some other places on the way including a stop at my Aunt's in Atlanta.

Can you make it sure...just all need to be flexible and have the right attitide plus good distractions for the car ride.

I grew up doing the cross country road trip thing...so it doesn't bother me too much, but DH get's very anxiety ridden being in the car too long. and I don't know if this any common thread in HFA or autistic children, but Michael can only do small bursts in the car so that requires lots of stops and need for energry bursts from him.......if $ wasn't an issue, if we make it to Atlanta this summer, I'd love to fly him out as to not worry about the drive.

happy pre-pre planning for the next one if that is what you are doing!

J-

 

[DisMomAmy]

I'm sitting on the front porch waiting for Alex's bus to bring him home from his first day of summer school/camp. My laptop battery is about to die and I'd like to get my next installment posted so I'm going to be brief...

Well, only you know your kids and how they do on long road trips. You have some pluses.

You'd have your car
You'd save on airfare and rental car
You can easily do things like groceries and packing a cooler from home.

BUT 24 hours, IMHO is not doable in a day. You have to sleep. So at a minimum, not allowing for eating or rest stops you've got 4 12 hour days (there and back) and either hotel rooms on the way there and pack, or camping (which means packing more stuff). For us, 12 hours drive time, plus 2 meals and a potty break here and there quickly becomes 14-16 hours drive time.

It also depends on how long you want your trip to be. If you want a week there, do you have enough vacation to make it 11 days allowing for the drive time?

For me (and me only lol) if I did it (and we could, to DLR) I'd have to make both the front and back drive semi interesting with some sightseeing spots to make it worth it. Once I get past about 14 hours it becomes very chore like and hard on the kids.

That said we took ours on a 3500 mile road trip last summer over 2 weeks. It's definitely doable and they might talk less than you think. Ours read, it was crazy how much they read, ignoring all the packed electronics. I tried to plot it so that no day was longer than 8 hours drive time and that didn't always work. We had a couple of really brutal days and it "can" end the vacation on a different note if you aren't careful. Easier to power through it on the way down than back I think.

Just make sure when you factor in your savings you include your overnight stoppage costs, the extra meals out as you are extending your trip and gas. If you still save that kind of money...yeah, it's probably worth it!

We definitely wouldn't be able to do it in one day - we know that! I just hope we could do it in two?? If we are seriously considering it, I'll have to do some more planning about places to stop. And yes, gas, lodging & extra meals on the road are things to consider. Thanks!!

Hi Amy,

great end to your day at DHS....I love the Wizard of Oz part too, my favorite, I caught part of the movie on tv the other day and couldn't resist watching

Your gangster, kinda looked like ours...

Hope you went swimming at the new CB pool and it was awesome!

Love your Disney 4th of July wish for us all...very COOL!

looking forward to more of the trip!


As to driving....

we drove once our '95 trip w/ my parents (DH & I were just engaged then) so we did to Atlanta and then to WDW...so for 4 adults not too bad. I so agree w/ the savings on airfare and completely understand as we need 2 more seats than you scary price!!!

but as Kathy said if you only have a week to travel in you do lose Disney time to drive.

After our drive to Atlanta 2 summers ago it was rough to say the least, but then we had a six month old in the car too...

anyways that sealed the deal for DH always fly to Disney....and I happily agree. Maybe one day when we have lots of extra travel time and can stop at some other places on the way including a stop at my Aunt's in Atlanta.

Can you make it sure...just all need to be flexible and have the right attitide plus good distractions for the car ride.

I grew up doing the cross country road trip thing...so it doesn't bother me too much, but DH get's very anxiety ridden being in the car too long. and I don't know if this any common thread in HFA or autistic children, but Michael can only do small bursts in the car so that requires lots of stops and need for energry bursts from him.......if $ wasn't an issue, if we make it to Atlanta this summer, I'd love to fly him out as to not worry about the drive.

happy pre-pre planning for the next one if that is what you are doing!

J-

I love The Wizard of Oz - haven't seen it in forever though.

Still VERY MUCH on the fence about driving. It could get really ugly with our crew. I'm a MAJOR back seat driver. Tim gets really stressed - the kids talk too much... we'll see! Yes -Alex is the same way in the car - after two hours he is very antsy. Zachary's bladder is about as small as mine - and when he has to go- he has to go!

I was very surprised that Tim didn't laugh me out of the room when I mentioned the idea. I'm still waiting for him to snap out of it and tell me I'm crazy! He knows it's my way of being able to get back to Disney.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Mystery Picture 14: My feet... not Tim's...

Lisalonglash guessed the what... swimming!
Mousescrapper guessed the where... CBR pool!


After spending the day at DHS we were heading back to CBR. However, I forgot to mention in my last installment that we stopped at one of the shops and each of the kids picked out a snow globe. This will be important later on… Our plan for the afternoon had been to rent Sea Raysers for J&K today but since they weren’t with us we spent about an hour swimming at the pool before dinner.

The CBR pool:

Zach:

Tim & Alex:

Tim & Zach:

Zach with his Toy Story guys:

Zach with Karen & Jeff:

Jeff & Karen offered to watch the boys so Tim & I could go out for a while. So after swimming we grabbed a couple kids’ meals at OPR and fed the kids in the room while we got ready. This is probably a no-no, but we gave Jeff Tim’s KTTW card so he could pick up dinner for him and Karen using our CS dining credits. We were hopefully going to eat at a TS place for dinner so we didn’t need them and it was a nice way to thank them for staying in with the kids. It all worked out fine but they didn’t show up at the room until almost 8pm. I was getting very antsy, knowing we weren’t going to eat until very late without an ADR somewhere. We weren’t even sure where we were going at that point. Epcot had EMH that night or we could go to DTD or the Boardwalk. We decided to jump on the Epcot bus and walk to the Boardwalk.

Our photopass picture:

We trecked through Epcot knowing very well that we weren’t going to get in anywhere for dinner without an ADR… but we stopped at Le Cellier to check – just in case. Of course, we were denied. We continued over to the International Gateway and walked to the Boardwalk area. We checked in at Big River Grille and were given a beeper and were told that it would be 45 minutes. It was already 9:00. Illuminations was starting so we stood and watched for a bit. I was fading fast. I told Tim I wanted a pretzel so we decided to pass on BRG and I got a pretzel for dinner. We decided to head back to Epcot and find something for Tim. On the way back I mentioned to Tim that if I could stay anywhere I would probably choose the Beach Club. He asked me why we weren’t staying there now… We finally found Tim some food in England at the Fish & Chips place. Tim had a delicious deep fried dinner. (I’m not a fan of seafood.) With our bellies full-ish we decided to do a little shopping so we headed to MouseGears. We knew we wouldn’t be able to get any meaningful shopping done with the kids so we wanted to take advantage of the moment.

We purchased :
2 reuseable shopping bags – one for me, one for my MIL

2 pins for my neighbors daughters – a MM pin & a Hannah Montana pin – they were feeding our fish & frogs. I really wanted to get the older daughter a Jiminy Cricket pin, but the CM I talked to told me that they are hard to find. More on that later…
A “Mine, Mine, Mine” T-shirt for Zach

A “Mine, Mine, Mine” coffee mug for Tim

Notice the black marks near the rim… that's what is left of the words. I’m a little disappointed with how it’s held up in the dishwasher. It’s only 2 months old and he doesn’t even use it every day.

After departing MouseGears we headed for the buses. We rode a full bus back to CBR and arrived around 10:30. Jeff & Karen took right off because we had another early morning ahead of us.

For those keeping track, here’s where we stand on dining credits at the end of Day 5:

12 TS left (started with 16 – used 4 at 50s PTC)
8 CS left (started with 13 – used 5 – 4 for dinner (Alex, Zach, Jeff & Karen’s dinners & 1 for Tim’s dinner)
20 snacks left (didn’t use any today)


Up Next: Can anyone guess where we have a lunch ADR?

Next Update: Teppan Edo