Who: Myself - Travel agent
Dh - Air Force Officer
Ds 14 - Teenage Boy
Dd 11 - Tweener girl
When: August 1st -7th – We haven’t been to Walt Disney World in almost 2 years.
This past year we have lived in Rhode Island and our vacations here were spent on Disney cruises. :sohappy: We were in different parts of California for three years before that and we spent most of our vacation time there at Disneyland. So it’s been too long!!
Why: Well because it’s Disney of course. Also, we were moving from Newport, Rhode Island to Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer, and had some extra time. The Air Force has created a yearly tradition of moving us every summer. Dh has been having a harder time scheduling leave in recent years, and about 4 weeks before we were supposed to leave, when they told us they didn’t need us as early as expected in Colorado, we took advantage of our extra time. We also took advantage of our DVC points and the military salute program for tickets.
We have generally avoided Disney World like the plague during the summer crowds and heat, but hey, this was an unexpected opportunity, and we wanted to take advantage. We committed ourselves to a relaxing trip, we weren’t going to see everything and weren’t going to try. We wanted to enjoy our villa, and we wanted to take breaks. We knew we’d be back, we bought DVC on our last trip 22 months ago. We could catch the things we missed on our next trip. So that was our motto for the week. No commando style touring, this was the “Relax Trip”. (We also wore undergarments, in case something different came to mind when I said, “commando style”
).
We called DVC to see what they had, and they only had Saratoga Springs left. We’ve never stayed there, so that was fine, but we waitlisted a one bedroom at Boardwalk, just in case. About 2 weeks later, our waitlist came through, Woo hoo!! We picked up our tickets on base, and we were set!
July 31st – Friday
Today was moving day. Well actually the whole week was full of movers, cleaning the house, saying goodbye to friends, etc., but today we actually left town. Dh finished at 1:30 so we were off. 5 days of driving doesn’t seem quite as bad when there’s a trip to Disney in the middle of it.
Unfortunately, leaving Rhode Island at 1:30 puts you in the biggest city in America during rush hour. On a Friday night. In the summer. In a rain storm. We tried to go around New York City, but it still took 11 hours to go less than 500 miles. Our first test for the “Relax Trip”, and we weren’t even at Disney!! We pulled into a Homewood Suites in Fredericksburg, VA at about 1:00 in the morning. I love Homewood Suites, I have never been disappointed in one. If you’ve never stayed in one, give them a try. All suites, hot breakfast in the morning, awesome.
August 1st – Saturday
We got the kids up after only about 6 hours of sleep, but hey, we were going to Disney and everyone was happy. We ate breakfast, and got back in the car. All this time in the car led me to try something new - scrapbooking in the car!! I’ve been dabbling in digital scrapbooking for my last trip, (Disney Cruise in May), and I’ve really enjoyed it. I downloaded a ton of elements before we left, and passed time in the car by scrapbooking. I made several pages. It was great! If you want to see some, come join us in the scrapbooking forum on wdwmagic. You’ll see a great collection of talent on this board.
Lunchtime was something I’d been anticipating for many days. We were finally, after a 4 year drought, back in the land of Chick Fil A!!!!! Hallelujah!! I had missed it so!! We found one for lunch. Best. Fast. Food. Ever.
We stopped later to fill up at South of the Border in South Carolina. There was a sign saying there was a great white shark next door. I wanted to go see, but dh was antsy. He reminded us that every minute we wasted was a minute not in Disney World. Okay. We were sold.
We had originally planned to spend another night on the road close to Orlando, but once we realized we could make it, we made reservations at Pop. I’ve stayed there before, dh has not, so it was fun showing him around. We arrived at 8:30, checked in (online check in was awesome) and then wandered around.
When we reached our room, we had a magical moments certificate!! We were the housekeeping family of the day!! Woo hoo!! We got a refrigerator magnet and this awesome little souvenir:
We were planning on an early morning, so we went to bed around 10:00. The real pictures tomorrow.
Dh - Air Force Officer
Ds 14 - Teenage Boy
Dd 11 - Tweener girl
When: August 1st -7th – We haven’t been to Walt Disney World in almost 2 years.
This past year we have lived in Rhode Island and our vacations here were spent on Disney cruises. :sohappy: We were in different parts of California for three years before that and we spent most of our vacation time there at Disneyland. So it’s been too long!!Why: Well because it’s Disney of course. Also, we were moving from Newport, Rhode Island to Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer, and had some extra time. The Air Force has created a yearly tradition of moving us every summer. Dh has been having a harder time scheduling leave in recent years, and about 4 weeks before we were supposed to leave, when they told us they didn’t need us as early as expected in Colorado, we took advantage of our extra time. We also took advantage of our DVC points and the military salute program for tickets.
We have generally avoided Disney World like the plague during the summer crowds and heat, but hey, this was an unexpected opportunity, and we wanted to take advantage. We committed ourselves to a relaxing trip, we weren’t going to see everything and weren’t going to try. We wanted to enjoy our villa, and we wanted to take breaks. We knew we’d be back, we bought DVC on our last trip 22 months ago. We could catch the things we missed on our next trip. So that was our motto for the week. No commando style touring, this was the “Relax Trip”. (We also wore undergarments, in case something different came to mind when I said, “commando style”
).We called DVC to see what they had, and they only had Saratoga Springs left. We’ve never stayed there, so that was fine, but we waitlisted a one bedroom at Boardwalk, just in case. About 2 weeks later, our waitlist came through, Woo hoo!! We picked up our tickets on base, and we were set!
July 31st – Friday
Today was moving day. Well actually the whole week was full of movers, cleaning the house, saying goodbye to friends, etc., but today we actually left town. Dh finished at 1:30 so we were off. 5 days of driving doesn’t seem quite as bad when there’s a trip to Disney in the middle of it.
Unfortunately, leaving Rhode Island at 1:30 puts you in the biggest city in America during rush hour. On a Friday night. In the summer. In a rain storm. We tried to go around New York City, but it still took 11 hours to go less than 500 miles. Our first test for the “Relax Trip”, and we weren’t even at Disney!! We pulled into a Homewood Suites in Fredericksburg, VA at about 1:00 in the morning. I love Homewood Suites, I have never been disappointed in one. If you’ve never stayed in one, give them a try. All suites, hot breakfast in the morning, awesome.
August 1st – Saturday
We got the kids up after only about 6 hours of sleep, but hey, we were going to Disney and everyone was happy. We ate breakfast, and got back in the car. All this time in the car led me to try something new - scrapbooking in the car!! I’ve been dabbling in digital scrapbooking for my last trip, (Disney Cruise in May), and I’ve really enjoyed it. I downloaded a ton of elements before we left, and passed time in the car by scrapbooking. I made several pages. It was great! If you want to see some, come join us in the scrapbooking forum on wdwmagic. You’ll see a great collection of talent on this board.
Lunchtime was something I’d been anticipating for many days. We were finally, after a 4 year drought, back in the land of Chick Fil A!!!!! Hallelujah!! I had missed it so!! We found one for lunch. Best. Fast. Food. Ever.
We stopped later to fill up at South of the Border in South Carolina. There was a sign saying there was a great white shark next door. I wanted to go see, but dh was antsy. He reminded us that every minute we wasted was a minute not in Disney World. Okay. We were sold.
We had originally planned to spend another night on the road close to Orlando, but once we realized we could make it, we made reservations at Pop. I’ve stayed there before, dh has not, so it was fun showing him around. We arrived at 8:30, checked in (online check in was awesome) and then wandered around.
When we reached our room, we had a magical moments certificate!! We were the housekeeping family of the day!! Woo hoo!! We got a refrigerator magnet and this awesome little souvenir:
We were planning on an early morning, so we went to bed around 10:00. The real pictures tomorrow.
, still enjoyed it though. The kids rode Star Tours while I waited. Afterwards, we shopped a little and then went back to the room.
