First attempt at a pre trip report. Sep 9 to 17

This I my first attempt at a pre trip report, so please be gentle.

As you can see by my signature below, this trip is taking place a full two years sooner that we thought we would be able to go again. :sohappy::sohappy:

I guess Introductions are in order. First there is Me(Kevin), a 50 yr old widowed Dad.

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The other person on this trip is my Daughter(Tabitha).

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I totally blame my daughter for getting me hooked on everything Disney world. This will be our third trip to the World. The last two trips were for 10 days each, this time we are only staying for 7 days. Previous stays were at All Star Movies (Toy Story) and Pop Century (80's) This time we will be at All Star Sports (Hopefully Surfs Up)

We are on the DDP and have the following ADR's

Sat 10 Sep. Sci-Fi Lunch
Sun 11 Sep. O'Hana Breakfast
Mon 12 Sep. Donalds Safari Beakfast
Tue 13 Sep. Crystal Palace Supper
Wed 14 Sep. Yak & Yeti Supper
Thu 15 Sep. Cinderellas Royal Table Breakfast
Fri 16 Sep. Akershus Breakfast


I know, most of these are character breakfasts, but I figure what better way to fuel up for a day at the Parks?

One thing that will be diferent about this trip is that we will NOT be using DME. We will in fact be using PME. What is PME you ask? I just happen to have a picture (or 6) of it.

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As seen in the above photo the first three characters of our licence plate are PME (Personal Magical Express). And Yes, it has been Disneyfied.

Pasenger side window

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Drivers side window

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Front Licence plate

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We also have this little guy as our co-driver.

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For those of you wondering what type of vehicle this Personal Magical Express is.

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The trip down should take 3 day and two sleeps in a hotel. We are comming from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I enjoy driving and it is actually saving us about $1000 over flying.

I think that covers just about everythig, if I thik of more I will post later.

Thanks in advance for reading.
 
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PartOfYourWorld

PartOfYourWorld

Well-Known Member
Definitely should be a fun trip for you guys! All the ADRs you have are really good! And I have to ask your PME that is a Smart Car??? I've always wondered how good those things are!
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tanks for stopping by, PartOfYourWorld.

Yes it is a Smart Car. It is one of the best cars I have ever had, plus it gets about 50 MPG, that is why we are saving so much over the air fare.
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just want to update. My daughter got us our MNSSHP tickets today. We got them for the first party of the season, the 13 September.:sohappy:
 
dave&di

dave&di

Well-Known Member
I am so jealous, my BF and I were at WDW last Sept, and are going again Sept 2012 :( a long time yet. Sept is a great time to visit, I love MNSSHP. I wish your daughter and yourself a great trip, keep us posted! :wave:
 
Sarabell

Sarabell

Well-Known Member
Nice plan! nothing better than WDW with family. I'm sure you'll have a blast! I'm probably going around that time also, no firm dates yet but september definitely.

I'm still thinking about going to the MNSSHP and I would love to be there on the same day as you. It's my mom's b day and I can't think of a better way to celebrate! I hope you enjoy your trip and be thankfull with your daughter for making you love WDW so much :wave:
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another update.

Our MNSSHP passes arrived yesterday.:sohappy:

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Can you guess which one is Mine? For a hint, check my avatar.

I will update with daily plans as we get closer to our departure date.
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Down to double digits.:sohappy: It's time for more updates.

Our check in day is the 9 Sept. but our trip actually starts a few days before that. As noted above we will be driving down to the World from Edmonton Alberta.

Day 1 5 Sept.

We will be leaving Edmonton after my daughter gets off from work. We will have the car packed up the night before and I will pick her up at work and we will be on our way. This first leg of the trip won't be too long. We will be going as far as my niece's place in Eatonia Saskatchewan. About 6 hours.

Day 2 6 Sept

After a visit with my niece , her husband and their adorable 2 yr old son and a good nights sleep we will start our trip in earnest. This day will be longer, about 12 to 14 hours. This day will see us entering the USA. We will stop for the night somewhere between Carrington and Fargo ND., find a motel and crash for the night.

Day 3 7 Sept.

Day three will find us on the road bright and early again. Again we will be driving about 12 to 14 hours. We will probably stop somewhere between Quincy IL. and St Louis MO., again find a motel and get some sleep.

Day 4 8 Sept.

This may start sounding repetitive, but it is getting us closer to the World. We will be up early again this day and on the road after some fast food breakfast somewhere. (Looking forward to trying some of the fast food places that we do not have in Canada) Again, this will be a 12 to 13 hour day on the road. We should make it to somewhere in the area of Macon or Tifton GA. Time to find a motel again for the night. Maybe not such a good nights sleep this night. The reason being that we will arrive at WALT DISNEY WORLD tomorrow.:):)

Day 5. Last day of driving/Check in Day:sohappy: 9 Sept.

Just a short Drive today. Depending on where we get to on day 4, we should have between 4 1/2 to 6 hours on the road today.

Then comes the happy time.:sohappy::sohappy::):) Checking into All Star Sports for 7 fun filled days.


I will update with some touring plans in the upcoming days.
Running out of time now because I've got to pick up daughter at work and then off to the SUPERTRAMP concert.

See you all later.
 
PeoplemoverTTA

PeoplemoverTTA

Well-Known Member
Congrats on your trip - you're gonna have a blast!

I'm strongly considering a Smart for my next car...how does it hold up in bad weather (we get a lot of snow here, and although I don't have a great "snow car" now, I'm just curious)?
 
mickeysshoes

mickeysshoes

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you have a great trip planned and I give you 2 all the credit in the world. We are only 14 hours away and I will never drive again if I can help it. Never really minded the drive down its the return home that I hated. Good luck!!!
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
PeoplemoverTTA said:
Congrats on your trip - you're gonna have a blast!

I'm strongly considering a Smart for my next car...how does it hold up in bad weather (we get a lot of snow here, and although I don't have a great "snow car" now, I'm just curious)?
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About our Smart; it is just about the best winter car I've ever had. I have driven it through 3 Edmonton Alberta winters. Very light, rear wheel drive, traction control, and anti lock brakes. If you do happen to get stuck, its very easy to get out. Snow tires (not all season) are a must.

I grew up, and learned to drive, in Ontario, so I am very familiar with your winter weather. You should do alright with a Smart car.
 
LeafsFanNL

LeafsFanNL

Active Member
Congrats on the trip.

I don't know how you can drive that far. Four days is exactly how long it would take me. I know people who have brought vehicles back from FLA to St. John's and it is a four day run.

If I was to drive down it would look like this

Day 1 St. John's to Port aux Basques, about 10-11 hours, then grab the midnight ferry to Nova Scotia 6 hours and lots of money.

Day 2 North Sydney Nova Scotia to Portland ME, about 10-11. hours.

Day 3 Portland to Fredericksburg, VA

Day 4 Fredericksburg VA to Disney.

The ferry would eat up a lot of any potential savings
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It's been a while, but I was waiting for more stuff to happen before posting again.

Big news. Wednesday of this week we finally got our trip payed off. :sohappy: After 2 years without a profit sharing bonus, my company is finally doing well enough that we got our bonus this year, so was able to pay the balance in full.

Now on to more trip details. When I left off we were on the 5th day of our trip and just arriving at All Star Sports.

Day 5.(continued) Last day of driving/Check in Day 9 Sept.

We will not be going to a park this day. The planning we have done has us in the Parks for a full 7 days, starting on the 10th. After checking in, we plan on going to DTD to do some shopping and looking around, and taking pictures of course!

A note about pictures: While on road trips, which ever of us is not driving keeps the camera handy for interesting roadside things. I will probably post some of them in the trip report when we get back.

After we're done at DTD we will head back to A.S.S., hopefully our room will be ready by then. Time for a swim and a meal and some relaxing. Also time to get ready for our first day in the parks.

Some notes about our Park prep:
I have a Lowepro camera bag/backpack that we use when in the parks. In addition to the camera portion and the pack portion, there is a place for a laptop as well.
Although I bring the laptop with us on trips, I don't carry it on day trips, makes the backpack too heavy. So the laptop will live in the safe while we are in the parks. This leaves that pocket of the backpack for our must do list, photo list and any other lists and loose paper that we may need.
Here is a shot of the backpack

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The must do and photo lists are not really a touring plan as such. We use it as a reminder of what we really want to not miss. I tend to take a lot of photos and I don't have the greatest memory for the specific shots that I want, so it's kind of a memory jog.
The rest of the prep is just getting our clothes ready for the next day so that we can get an early start.

Next post. Day 1 in the parks. Disney's Hollywood Studios.
 
BuzzGoofy

BuzzGoofy

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Parks Day 1. Disney's Hollywood Studios

We plan on getting up early enough to get to the Studios for rope drop.

Our two biggest must do's in this park are Toy Story Midway Mania and Star Tours. We will probably follow the herd to the fast pass for Toy Story, then see how long the stand by wait is. If it's reasonable, we'll ride now and again at our fast pass time

For our Star Tours holiday we Got the Galactic Passports on-line. Does anyone know if they are still stamping them?

Once we have secured our times for the two must do's we can take our time to tour the rest of the Studios. Some highlights will include the Muppet's, Animation Studio, One Mans Dream, RRC for me, Indiana Stunt Show, Beauty and the Beast etc.

Our ADR for the day will be at Sci-Fi Dine in Theater at 12:05 for lunch.

Fantasmic is also on the schedule today. Daughters favorite.

We are going to slow down this time while touring the parks. As it is our third time to WDW we have a fairly good idea of what we want to see and do. We will probably even go so far as to go back to A.S.S for a swim and/or a rest if we feel that we need it.

Only a few must get photos at this park. TSMM queue, ST queue, characters etc.

Tomorrow is the Magic Kingdom.
 

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