Pre-Trip Pre-Report 3/9 - 3/13

Just like our last trip in early January, it happened quickly. Last trip was scheduled within 24 hours. Same with this one. Wife and I were working from home in PA during an ice storm and my daughter texted from work down in Jacksonville, FL. "Check out Frontier prices....super low." Didn't take me long before I was calling my mom and convincing her to join us and telling my daughter to make dining and park reservations. My sons who are 22 and 19, have not joined us for a FL trip in three years. I convinced them to join us too so I'm really looking forward to that. We were upgraded to Saratoga Springs five years ago and my youngest son saw the treehouse villas and said he'd love to stay there someday. We were in a two bedroom. We're booked for the villa for this trip ! Super excited for this one because we have the entire family and my mom who is 72 is coming along. Just got a new IPhone so I'll be able to take some really good pictures this trip. Really hoping that we can get into a RotR group because it will be my sons' first time to the Star Wars part of the park.
 

Darstarr

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Yay! Yay! And Yay!!!!

I love the treehouses! If you need specific room numbers (tree numbers) to request let me know. Also, there are a few “tricks” with the transportation that took me a few days to figure out but if you want to save the time DM me!

BTW, what are your dates? I think I saw them in the how many days for you thread and we may have some overlap.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay! Yay! And Yay!!!!

I love the treehouses! If you need specific room numbers (tree numbers) to request let me know. Also, there are a few “tricks” with the transportation that took me a few days to figure out but if you want to save the time DM me!

BTW, what are your dates? I think I saw them in the how many days for you thread and we may have some overlap.
We're flying out of Philly around noon on 3/9. Flying back on Saturday evening 3/13 at 9:00 PM from MCO. Transportation shouldn't be an issue because our daughter will pick us up at the airport and I'll end up being the chauffeur for the trip. Any advice you can provide regarding preferable tree houses would be fantastic since we have a few weeks before departure. We'll be boarding our daughter's dog at the Disney kennel close by.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
One week from now we'll be on the road to the Philly airport. We have some good ADR's. First night is going to be California Grill. We have a lunch scheduled at Mama Melrose, and we have a Friday night dinner scheduled for Boathouse, but we're not sure we can keep it because we have to pick my daughter's dog up from the kennel. I'm sure we'll squeeze some other places in. We can take my daughter's dog to dinner with us if we go to Rock and Brews in Kissimmee. They're pet friendly, and it's a super-cool laid back place.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
No longer a pre-trip report. Will be a post trip report in about three hours. It was a great week with lots of fun and laughs and I'll get to pics and stories next week. Currently sitting in the dark at the Saratoga Treehouse Villas while some of the family shuffles out of their rooms to get ready for the day. After checking out we're heading to Disney Springs for brunch at Raglan Road. We need to head back to the resort by 6:00pm to catch the Magical Express for our 9:15pm flight to Philly. Going to be a long night with a 2 hr drive home from the airport and no Starbucks open at that hour.
 

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So, here we go. I was so excited for the upcoming trip that I took Monday afternoon off. I would have been too unproductive anyway. My daughter was off on spring break from her school in Jacksonville as a speech therapist so we decided to plan the trip around her schedule. My wife and I had a fresh slate of vacation to burn, and my sons also had vacation from their jobs. My mom has all the time in the world since she's been retired for 20 years. We flew out of Philly on Tuesday, 3/9 on a 12:10 PM flight putting us in Orlando at around 2:30 PM.
We stayed at the Treehouse Villas in Saratoga Springs and we were staying until Saturday, 3/13 with a 9:10 PM departure. This gave us most of the day to head over to Disney Springs. We chose the Treehouse Villas because my youngest son saw them several years ago and commented on how cool they looked. I told him back then we'd stay there someday. This was pre-DVC. So here we are. You can see the excitement on my youngest son as we embark on a family adventure...
IMG_0864[1].JPG
 
Last edited:

macefamily

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This was our first time using the Magical Express. We usually rent a vehicle because 90% of the time we stay off site at my friend's condo in Kissimmee. So this was a new experience for all of us. We found the location at MCO easily, although I must say it was a haul from the monorail to terminal B Magical Express pickup pulling a 50 lb suitcase.

IMG_0865[1].JPG
IMG_0866[1].JPG
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom