Pre-Trip Round Five! Twelve months of shenanigans ends with a family Surf n’ Turf Spring Break.

So here we are again! Seems like only yesterday I was finishing up my last TR… The title kind of says it all, this will be round five for us in less than twelve months. This has been, by far, an atypical year for our Disney Family. For those with a lot of time and maybe a grain of boredom you may find the following chronology of interest, it sure was fun making it!

Round one, May: Not even first world problems can hold us back
Round two, July: Anything can happen on Castaway Creek
Round three, September: The “who told him about the panoramic setting on his phone?” Surf n’ Turf Anniversary trip
Round four, December: The “Let’s see if this dumb thing works” Treat Yo Self Christmas trip report!

So really the genesis of this story began literally one year ago today when we came to a contract agreement on our first DVC purchase which subsequently led to another purchase a few months later! We quickly found ourselves with a fair amount of banked points that had to be used and use them we did! This trip will host a few firsts for our family; most notably will be our DDs first cruise! The DW and I may be more excited for her than she is but I also think she may not be letting on how excited she may be to save face, crazy teen logic. Additionally, this will be our family’s first time at the Poly. We are all still armed with valid APs and a TiW card, really maximized both this year will continue that this trip! So there ya have some back story. Here is the happy crew:
May:
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July:
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September:
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December:
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The plan:
Wed/Thur:
It is our intent to head down from gold city to Macon after class on Wednesday night and catch some sleep part way down before an early rise and shine departure for The World. We’ve got our room reserved in Macon already at La Quinta so that’s set. We are aiming to be at the Poly by noon on Thursday for some R&R by the pool before our ADR at the Grand Floridian Cafe then some evening FPs at MK. This will be our first time at the Poly and we are both excited about trying it out and a little worried we may love it and want to buy more points there. I do think the lack of a 1-bdrm option may ultimately prevent us from buying there but stranger things have happened.

Fri-Mon:
As has become our cruise departure day tradition, all two of them, we have our Kona breakfast planned bright and early before we head for port. One nice thing about being at the Poly is we don’t have to get up as early to drive for breakfast! After a press and a Big Kahuna we’ll be off for port and The Dream for a few days. I’ll let @imahistorygeek expand on the funtivities that will ensue at sea. Castaway 5k is still up in the air for the family but I think I may like to have another go at it solo to see what I can clock. The island is so flat it felt like running downhill the whole time in September I’m accustom to things like this:
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The flip side of me running is what are the ladies going to do? So, that’s still in the air. I do know the DW and I have a Palo night planned but as for the rest I’ll let my better half outline the details.

Mon:
So we disembark and plan for some more R&R poolside at AKL while our 1-bdrm at Jambo house gets ready. We hope to take it mostly easy this day and have a dinner Yak & Yeti ADR before a few FPs at HS.

Tue:
We have some early morning FPs planned at AK on this day and NOTHING ELSE outside of an ADR at Jiko. This will probably end up being a big R&R Maji pool day with the possibility of us catching Wishes or the Star Wars fireworks that night. After learning about pitchers of Golden Monkey at Maji in December I would say the odds of a repeat are strong!

Wed:
Nothing planned in the AM so far but do have evening FPs planned for MK. We are still up in the air on what our final dinner will be. We’ve gotta get cracking on planning the final dinner. Since we have yet to designate a Sanaa meal, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did lunch there on this day, or maybe on Monday, or both…. TBD. Still lots of planning needed for this day, or not…

Thur:
As is our tradition, the final day is always rope drop at AK for a journey through time, a whirl or two, and a few dances with at Club Disco Yeti.

So there you have it! Some TBDs include dinner on the last night and just what is going to happen on The Dream for three days with an ornery teen and two Disney dorks! We got our first round of MBs yesterday and I’ll post some comments about them soon along with, hopefully, more details about that finals dinner!
 
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MinnieM123

Premium Member
5 days!!! Started pulling together a few things for this trip, still have a bit of packing to do.

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@coachwnh ever have this brew? I know you're a fan of Victory. I've never seen it before and someone gifted it to me this week, it's pretty awesome, 13%ABV!
20160325_183609.jpg

Happy to see that you enlisted the services of your cat to "supervise" your trip organization! :cat:
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What….a….MONDAY!!!!

The days leading up to a WDW trip are never easy. These final 3 days leading up to our trip are not going without a fight! So Friday we come home to a recall notice from Honda stating our CRV was just included in a recall of driver’s side airbags that can and have KILLED PEOPLE!!! The CRV is the vehicle we’ve taken on most of our trips and what we planned on using this trip. I mean I just had new tires put on and it was ready to go! I have to drive down to Honda tomorrow to turn the CRV in and pick up a rental I’ll have for the next 2-3 months. I was informed we’d be getting a “Compact” car. I explain how we are heading on vacation and would like something larger and was told it would have to be on our dime as Honda is only required to provide us a car to get around, fair enough. This, however, means we need to take the DWs car down, no biggie as we’ve used it for other trips as well, BUT this car is also in need of tires, UGH! I purposely did the CRV tires this month and planned to do the Volvo next month because of this trip. Thankfully the DW had some flexibility and was able to take the car down this morning and after 2+ hours of waiting the Volvo is ready for the trip. But WHAT A MONDAY!!! I still need to exchange my car tomorrow morning. One big drawback, other than losing the leg and luggage room, is our SunPass is still on the CRV window which means I can’t just cruise through those tolls like I like to, I know I know, first world problems…but it was sooo nice!

Anyway, less than three days until we head down and life is trying to squeeze every bit out of us before this trip!! Oh, and I have an awesome DW.
 

Tuvalu

Premium Member
My daughter's old 2003 CRV was recalled numerous times (once for airbags) but all the recall repairs were made in a couple days...you will be without your car for 2-3 months??!! She just purchased a new 2016 CRV in January, hope that model is not under your same recall!

We've never used a SunPass and never had to wait more than a minute or two to pay the tolls, even at the first booth which always looks uber-crowded.

Cheer up...only 3 more days...and think of all the joy you'll find when you leave "your" world behind :).
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My daughter's old 2003 CRV was recalled numerous times (once for airbags) but all the recall repairs were made in a couple days...you will be without your car for 2-3 months??!!
The large number of vehicles affected by the recall (28 million cars spanning 14 manufacturers), has the manufacturer of the airbags giving an estimated delivery time of the parts as "Summer 2016". While my local Honda wouldn't come out and say it, I think it's pretty serious as they will actually have my CRV for just a few days then have it towed to my house, 45+ minutes away, since their facility lacks enough storage, then have it towed back to Honda over the summer rather than just having me or someone else drive it to my place.

Here is the latest list of Hondas being recalled:
http://hondaairbaginfo.com/

We've never used a SunPass and never had to wait more than a minute or two to pay the tolls, even at the first booth which always looks uber-crowded.
In truth it may save us 5 total minutes total it was just so nice zipping on through...

What a bummer about the car! Luckily all these trials and tribulations will be behind you as soon as you enter the Disney bubble.
I know!! Wednesday cant get here fast enough I think!
 

coachwnh

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
What….a….MONDAY!!!!

The days leading up to a WDW trip are never easy. These final 3 days leading up to our trip are not going without a fight! So Friday we come home to a recall notice from Honda stating our CRV was just included in a recall of driver’s side airbags that can and have KILLED PEOPLE!!! The CRV is the vehicle we’ve taken on most of our trips and what we planned on using this trip. I mean I just had new tires put on and it was ready to go! I have to drive down to Honda tomorrow to turn the CRV in and pick up a rental I’ll have for the next 2-3 months. I was informed we’d be getting a “Compact” car. I explain how we are heading on vacation and would like something larger and was told it would have to be on our dime as Honda is only required to provide us a car to get around, fair enough. This, however, means we need to take the DWs car down, no biggie as we’ve used it for other trips as well, BUT this car is also in need of tires, UGH! I purposely did the CRV tires this month and planned to do the Volvo next month because of this trip. Thankfully the DW had some flexibility and was able to take the car down this morning and after 2+ hours of waiting the Volvo is ready for the trip. But WHAT A MONDAY!!! I still need to exchange my car tomorrow morning. One big drawback, other than losing the leg and luggage room, is our SunPass is still on the CRV window which means I can’t just cruise through those tolls like I like to, I know I know, first world problems…but it was sooo nice!

Anyway, less than three days until we head down and life is trying to squeeze every bit out of us before this trip!! Oh, and I have an awesome DW.
Nothing a nice brew or two won't fix! Good luck.
 

LindsayLoves

Well-Known Member
I know...so very close!

Old Chub Scotch Ale :hungry:

Chiming in to say that I love that beer, I am a scotch ale fan but that one is awesome. I am "LindsayLoves" on untappd if you want another friend.

Have a great trip! I can't wait to see how much your daughter enjoys the cruise. As a former moody teenage girl I would've been all over my parents taking me on a cruise to afford me the luxury of getting away from them while on vacation. A win-win for both parties.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Chiming in to say that I love that beer, I am a scotch ale fan but that one is awesome. I am "LindsayLoves" on untappd if you want another friend.
Honestly, I've stayed away from beer in cans for the longest time until this month when I had to by some Dieselpunk Porter in a can for a dinner recipe and really ended up liking the beer, the recipe...not so much. I'm a fan of Scotch Ales too but always passed Old Chub b/c its in a can here. Well I went for it this past week and really enjoyed it and would get it again.

Have a great trip! I can't wait to see how much your daughter enjoys the cruise. As a former moody teenage girl I would've been all over my parents taking me on a cruise to afford me the luxury of getting away from them while on vacation. A win-win for both parties.
Thanks! I was honestly very surprised she wanted us to sign her up for teen excursions on CC and have more teen time on the boat, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. It really has some win-win potential.
 

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