I stumbled across WDWMagic during my family’s preparations for our recent trip to the World during Easter. After pouring over various parts of the site I found the trip reports. I enjoyed, just about on a daily basis, living vicariously through the various members’ stories. And so, now with our most recent visit behind us, I’m going through the post-visit phases – the joy of spending time at The World with my family; the happiness of reliving the trip when showing the pictures to folks back home; the realization that the trip is over; and finally the grief that we won’t be going back for at least a couple of years. I figure that maybe writing a trip report will prolong the joy that we shared on our recent trip, so here goes my first every TR!
The reason we were going on this trip was because of some great news we received – we’re going to have our third child! DW was already nearly half way through her term, so we realized that taking the summer vacation to Tennessee that we were planning may not be the best idea. After coming to that realization, I looked at DW and said, why don’t we go to Disney World? It was really a no-brainer. We had gone the year before for a conference at the CR, but I was in meetings for half of every day. Fun, but not great. A short backstory – the conference was our second trip with the kids. Our first trip with the kids was during Mardi Gras in 2003. During that trip, DS8 had a febrile seizure resulting in our spending a day at the ER. Then, on the way home, DS3 started with a stomach bug that spent the next week hitting all of us in the house. So, the stage was set for an illness-free, conference-free magical family trip!
We were treated to a discounted room at the CR on our prior trip and since we decided that this one would be a bit of a splurge we went ahead and booked a room there again. Our original plan was to drive through the night (it’s about an 11-hour drive from our home) on Good Friday and return the following Thursday. When I went online to book our package, I noticed that there was a 30% room discount beginning the day our trip would have ended. I attempted to move the trip back a couple of days to take advantage of deal. I couldn’t get the reservations online, so I called WDW travel to see what could be done. As the CM began asking me for my information, she tells me that she has good news – we had a PIN discount available for free dining, and we were able to keep our original dates! This was beginning to look like a good trip!
Last time around, we surprised the boys about a week before we were leaving with the news. This time, we decided to include them from the beginning. It was so much fun planning the trip on a daily basis. DS8 would look up YouTube videos every night on the various rides he wanted to go on when we arrived.
The weeks passed, then days, and before we knew it, it was the day before we were leaving! DW and I were like kids on Christmas Eve. We barely slept that night. After making some early Easter visits and getting in a good nap Friday afternoon, it was time to load up the family roadster! Our original plan was to leave around midnight, which would have us arriving at about noon. We finished packing things early and decided to get going. We left home three hours earlier than we planned, putting us at the CR at 9AM the next morning. I’ve had friends that have done the overnight driving thing before, but this was my first time. I have to say, outside of flying , it’s definitely the way to go. No morning or evening rush hours… no bathroom breaks at every rest stop… just a nice smooth uninterrupted drive. I’m a night owl, so I drove for about the first 9 hours or so and then handed the wheel to my DW and mother in law, who are both early birds. After a short nap, I took over again and we were soon seeing those purple road signs!!
We pulled into the CR at 9AM sharp. I checked in online a couple of days before and went into the lobby to pick up our keys to the world. Amazingly, our room was ready! The next thing that happened was kind of strange. After traveling for 11 hours straight, we wanted to clean up a little before having a full day in the parks, so we were very excited that we’d be able to do it in our room. I grabbed one of the available luggage carts and began unloading our truck. One of the valets came over to give me a hand, which was greatly appreciated. However, when I started to the lobby with the cart, he began taking my information and indicated that a bellman would have to bring the cart up to our room. Unfortunately, it was going to be a twenty minute wait until someone was available. After driving overnight, we were not interested in waiting around for 20 minutes until our luggage would be delivered and, being a little tire and frustrated with the situation, I simply unloaded the cart right there and everyone carried as much as we could up to our room. The explanation that we received was that the valets work for a contractor, and are not allowed to bring luggage into the building. Huh? Note to Disney: DME is fantastic if you’re flying, but please provide a more efficient experience for your drive-in guests.
Since our trip seemed charmed so far, we quickly put this hiccup behind us because it was off to MK! One of the things that I was selfishly looking forward to on this trip was that, since DW was pregnant, I was going to get to spend plenty of time going on all of the more thrilling rides with DS8, who was finally tall enough to ride everything in all of the parks! There’s nothing quite like walking under the train station onto Main Street for the first time in your trip….the sights, the sounds, the smells…
In the all the reading I’d done leading up to the trip, it seemed that the weeks around Easter and Christmas are the busiest of the entire year. I really expected us to have 30+ minute waits for even the shortest of lines, but I was pleasantly surprised – the crowds and lines were not nearly what I’d anticipated, and Soarin’ was the only attraction that we weren’t able to ride the entire trip. Having two young children, our touring style tends to be to let them decide what they want to ride and, if the line is 20 minutes or less, we’ll go on it. Otherwise, we grab a FP and hit their second choice.
After taking a stroll down Main Street, we made a beeline for HM and POTC, our boys’ two favorites (at the beginning of the trip, at least)! The new interactive queue at HM had recently opened, and DS8 was really excited about checking it out. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and went through the other line. Oh well, he was disappointed for a while, but we made up for it somewhere in the next 5 or 6 times that we rode! We spent the rest of the day wandering the MK and just generally enjoying ourselves.
We had a 5:25 ADR at the Liberty Tree Tavern, which we hadn’t visited since our honeymoon in 1999. We really enjoyed our meal then, and it was no different this time! Although, I was a bit disappointed when the host mispronounced our name. I was always so impressed with the way that they seemed to get even the most difficult names correct but, in their defense, we don’t spell anything the way we pronounce it in South Louisiana! After a long night’s drive and a great day in the park, it was time to call it a day. After hitting a couple more rides on the way out of the park, we hopped the monorail to the CR. By the time we’d unpacked and bathed the boys, it was time for Wishes. There is nothing better than being able to walk out on your balcony, enjoy a spectacular fireworks show and then collapsing into your bed 5 footsteps later…especially after being awake for the better part of 24 hours!
The reason we were going on this trip was because of some great news we received – we’re going to have our third child! DW was already nearly half way through her term, so we realized that taking the summer vacation to Tennessee that we were planning may not be the best idea. After coming to that realization, I looked at DW and said, why don’t we go to Disney World? It was really a no-brainer. We had gone the year before for a conference at the CR, but I was in meetings for half of every day. Fun, but not great. A short backstory – the conference was our second trip with the kids. Our first trip with the kids was during Mardi Gras in 2003. During that trip, DS8 had a febrile seizure resulting in our spending a day at the ER. Then, on the way home, DS3 started with a stomach bug that spent the next week hitting all of us in the house. So, the stage was set for an illness-free, conference-free magical family trip!
We were treated to a discounted room at the CR on our prior trip and since we decided that this one would be a bit of a splurge we went ahead and booked a room there again. Our original plan was to drive through the night (it’s about an 11-hour drive from our home) on Good Friday and return the following Thursday. When I went online to book our package, I noticed that there was a 30% room discount beginning the day our trip would have ended. I attempted to move the trip back a couple of days to take advantage of deal. I couldn’t get the reservations online, so I called WDW travel to see what could be done. As the CM began asking me for my information, she tells me that she has good news – we had a PIN discount available for free dining, and we were able to keep our original dates! This was beginning to look like a good trip!
Last time around, we surprised the boys about a week before we were leaving with the news. This time, we decided to include them from the beginning. It was so much fun planning the trip on a daily basis. DS8 would look up YouTube videos every night on the various rides he wanted to go on when we arrived.
The weeks passed, then days, and before we knew it, it was the day before we were leaving! DW and I were like kids on Christmas Eve. We barely slept that night. After making some early Easter visits and getting in a good nap Friday afternoon, it was time to load up the family roadster! Our original plan was to leave around midnight, which would have us arriving at about noon. We finished packing things early and decided to get going. We left home three hours earlier than we planned, putting us at the CR at 9AM the next morning. I’ve had friends that have done the overnight driving thing before, but this was my first time. I have to say, outside of flying , it’s definitely the way to go. No morning or evening rush hours… no bathroom breaks at every rest stop… just a nice smooth uninterrupted drive. I’m a night owl, so I drove for about the first 9 hours or so and then handed the wheel to my DW and mother in law, who are both early birds. After a short nap, I took over again and we were soon seeing those purple road signs!!
We pulled into the CR at 9AM sharp. I checked in online a couple of days before and went into the lobby to pick up our keys to the world. Amazingly, our room was ready! The next thing that happened was kind of strange. After traveling for 11 hours straight, we wanted to clean up a little before having a full day in the parks, so we were very excited that we’d be able to do it in our room. I grabbed one of the available luggage carts and began unloading our truck. One of the valets came over to give me a hand, which was greatly appreciated. However, when I started to the lobby with the cart, he began taking my information and indicated that a bellman would have to bring the cart up to our room. Unfortunately, it was going to be a twenty minute wait until someone was available. After driving overnight, we were not interested in waiting around for 20 minutes until our luggage would be delivered and, being a little tire and frustrated with the situation, I simply unloaded the cart right there and everyone carried as much as we could up to our room. The explanation that we received was that the valets work for a contractor, and are not allowed to bring luggage into the building. Huh? Note to Disney: DME is fantastic if you’re flying, but please provide a more efficient experience for your drive-in guests.
Since our trip seemed charmed so far, we quickly put this hiccup behind us because it was off to MK! One of the things that I was selfishly looking forward to on this trip was that, since DW was pregnant, I was going to get to spend plenty of time going on all of the more thrilling rides with DS8, who was finally tall enough to ride everything in all of the parks! There’s nothing quite like walking under the train station onto Main Street for the first time in your trip….the sights, the sounds, the smells…
In the all the reading I’d done leading up to the trip, it seemed that the weeks around Easter and Christmas are the busiest of the entire year. I really expected us to have 30+ minute waits for even the shortest of lines, but I was pleasantly surprised – the crowds and lines were not nearly what I’d anticipated, and Soarin’ was the only attraction that we weren’t able to ride the entire trip. Having two young children, our touring style tends to be to let them decide what they want to ride and, if the line is 20 minutes or less, we’ll go on it. Otherwise, we grab a FP and hit their second choice.
After taking a stroll down Main Street, we made a beeline for HM and POTC, our boys’ two favorites (at the beginning of the trip, at least)! The new interactive queue at HM had recently opened, and DS8 was really excited about checking it out. Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and went through the other line. Oh well, he was disappointed for a while, but we made up for it somewhere in the next 5 or 6 times that we rode! We spent the rest of the day wandering the MK and just generally enjoying ourselves.
We had a 5:25 ADR at the Liberty Tree Tavern, which we hadn’t visited since our honeymoon in 1999. We really enjoyed our meal then, and it was no different this time! Although, I was a bit disappointed when the host mispronounced our name. I was always so impressed with the way that they seemed to get even the most difficult names correct but, in their defense, we don’t spell anything the way we pronounce it in South Louisiana! After a long night’s drive and a great day in the park, it was time to call it a day. After hitting a couple more rides on the way out of the park, we hopped the monorail to the CR. By the time we’d unpacked and bathed the boys, it was time for Wishes. There is nothing better than being able to walk out on your balcony, enjoy a spectacular fireworks show and then collapsing into your bed 5 footsteps later…especially after being awake for the better part of 24 hours!
