The Christmas & New Year's parties are over; the guests have all gone home; the decorations are all put away. Football season is almost over as well. The good news is that we are only 47 days from the start of our Florida vacation and 50 days from our return to Walt Disney World.
Who are we? The Zolnowski family: Dave, Andrea (Andi), our son Kevin & our nephew Richard Stevens, who for several years has travelled and vacationed with us as often as possible. We are WDW enthusiasts who have visited every even year since 2004 (when Kevin was 5). Only Dave was there previously in the 70's & 80's (twice each), and yes, he found some pictures from April 1975!
This, however, will be our first WDW trip report. We've enjoyed reading others', & decided it was time to get in on the fun.
Dave is a Purchasing Manager for local a equipment manufacturer and a former part-time Magic creator (home-based travel agent for AAA working only on Disney vacations, something that our local AAA club and Disney started, and he did this for 2-1/2 years). So he is a Disney "college of knowledge" graduate and the family's Disney expert.
Andi has worked in banking for the last 16 years. Kevin is a high school senior who is headed to the University this fall to pursue degrees in computer science & electrical engineering. Richard is a lance corporal in the USMC, and we've long considered him our "other kid" & Kevin's "big brother". Our best vacations, both to WDW and otherwise (we're also camping/ hiking enthusiasts) have been when we could all go together. As Richard will be deployed this coming June, he's trying to arrange leave to be able to join us on this trip: one last time before both the boys go off on their own.
We,( Dave, Andi & Kevin), first went to WDW in April 2004 with Dave's mother(who met us there). We've been there every even year since. Richard joined us in 2008 & 2010. In 2011 we stay in Cocoa Beach and drove in 2 days to Universal as well. During some years we did combine some beach time to relax first, then hit the World! We have made stops at Gatorland and the Kennedy Space Center as well, seems we always do our beach time @Cocoa Beach.
In 2015 Kevin's Senior class trip was to WDW where he acted as tour guide, and his group was the only one with dining reservations which Dave made for them back in June. They stayed at the All Star Music for 4 nights.
We have always driven down to Disney from the Buffalo NY area. Our last trip in 2014, we got 6 feet of snow 3 days before, so we had a little detour to get around the 100 miles of closed interstate. It was an early storm, and we were going down for Thanksgiving that year. We do drive down in Dave's F150 quad cab 4 x 4, but the road was closed.
So for this upcoming trip, the only thing we don't know yet is if our nephew is going with us. Guess we are either going I90-I79-US19-I77-I26-I95-I4 which is the fast way for us, or US15-I81-I66-US17-I95 getting on I95 in Fredericksburg, VA, avoiding Washington DC, with a detour to Camp Lejeune in NC. We drove this way in 2014 'cause I90 was closed from beyond Buffalo to the PA line. Going the long way to Camp Lejeune will add 350 miles in both directions. Driving will be easier no matter what since everyone finally has a license, so Dave and Andi don't have to do all the driving. Kevin is looking forward to the highway driving for the first time, and we do drive straight through!
Dave is a photographer from way back in the days of film! Over the years (35+) he has had hundreds printed, so I'm sure there will be plenty of photos to post as well.
TRIP DETAILS:
We will start driving after work on March 22nd , arriving in the afternoon on March 23. Staying at the Clarion Inn & Suites outside Universal. The plan is for Kevin and guest to go to Universal on Thursday and Friday and we will go to the beaches. Meeting the boys for dinner at Citywalk. On Thursday we would be at Daytona Beach and on Friday we would be at Cocoa Beach. On Saturday March 26, drive into WDW for 5 nights, staying at the All Star Sports. Detailed plans to follow shortly we do have all dining and fast passes booked!
Who are we? The Zolnowski family: Dave, Andrea (Andi), our son Kevin & our nephew Richard Stevens, who for several years has travelled and vacationed with us as often as possible. We are WDW enthusiasts who have visited every even year since 2004 (when Kevin was 5). Only Dave was there previously in the 70's & 80's (twice each), and yes, he found some pictures from April 1975!
This, however, will be our first WDW trip report. We've enjoyed reading others', & decided it was time to get in on the fun.
Dave is a Purchasing Manager for local a equipment manufacturer and a former part-time Magic creator (home-based travel agent for AAA working only on Disney vacations, something that our local AAA club and Disney started, and he did this for 2-1/2 years). So he is a Disney "college of knowledge" graduate and the family's Disney expert.
Andi has worked in banking for the last 16 years. Kevin is a high school senior who is headed to the University this fall to pursue degrees in computer science & electrical engineering. Richard is a lance corporal in the USMC, and we've long considered him our "other kid" & Kevin's "big brother". Our best vacations, both to WDW and otherwise (we're also camping/ hiking enthusiasts) have been when we could all go together. As Richard will be deployed this coming June, he's trying to arrange leave to be able to join us on this trip: one last time before both the boys go off on their own.
We,( Dave, Andi & Kevin), first went to WDW in April 2004 with Dave's mother(who met us there). We've been there every even year since. Richard joined us in 2008 & 2010. In 2011 we stay in Cocoa Beach and drove in 2 days to Universal as well. During some years we did combine some beach time to relax first, then hit the World! We have made stops at Gatorland and the Kennedy Space Center as well, seems we always do our beach time @Cocoa Beach.
In 2015 Kevin's Senior class trip was to WDW where he acted as tour guide, and his group was the only one with dining reservations which Dave made for them back in June. They stayed at the All Star Music for 4 nights.
We have always driven down to Disney from the Buffalo NY area. Our last trip in 2014, we got 6 feet of snow 3 days before, so we had a little detour to get around the 100 miles of closed interstate. It was an early storm, and we were going down for Thanksgiving that year. We do drive down in Dave's F150 quad cab 4 x 4, but the road was closed.
So for this upcoming trip, the only thing we don't know yet is if our nephew is going with us. Guess we are either going I90-I79-US19-I77-I26-I95-I4 which is the fast way for us, or US15-I81-I66-US17-I95 getting on I95 in Fredericksburg, VA, avoiding Washington DC, with a detour to Camp Lejeune in NC. We drove this way in 2014 'cause I90 was closed from beyond Buffalo to the PA line. Going the long way to Camp Lejeune will add 350 miles in both directions. Driving will be easier no matter what since everyone finally has a license, so Dave and Andi don't have to do all the driving. Kevin is looking forward to the highway driving for the first time, and we do drive straight through!
Dave is a photographer from way back in the days of film! Over the years (35+) he has had hundreds printed, so I'm sure there will be plenty of photos to post as well.
TRIP DETAILS:
We will start driving after work on March 22nd , arriving in the afternoon on March 23. Staying at the Clarion Inn & Suites outside Universal. The plan is for Kevin and guest to go to Universal on Thursday and Friday and we will go to the beaches. Meeting the boys for dinner at Citywalk. On Thursday we would be at Daytona Beach and on Friday we would be at Cocoa Beach. On Saturday March 26, drive into WDW for 5 nights, staying at the All Star Sports. Detailed plans to follow shortly we do have all dining and fast passes booked!
