DeLisi's First DVC Vacation Trip Report

[jrbdad]

Awesome start! I was the oldest with two younger sisters -- I feel for your son . Our trips were always in station wagons.

Great pictures -- looking forward to more.

[lsm1123]

Have a wonderful trip. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[Brian5581]

Off to an excellent start, Jeff! Very cute pictures.

[tomandrobin]

Originally Posted by jrbdad

Awesome start! I was the oldest with two younger sisters -- I feel for your son . Our trips were always in station wagons.

We didn't take vacations, but grew riding everywhere in the family wagon. Back in the day, before seat belts....riding in the back, hanging out the window.

[Brian5581]

Originally Posted by jrbdad

Awesome start! I was the oldest with two younger sisters -- I feel for your son . Our trips were always in station wagons.

Originally Posted by tomandrobin

We didn't take vacations, but grew riding everywhere in the family wagon. Back in the day, before seat belts....riding in the back, hanging out the window.

We went to Albany (my mother's parents) at least once a month. In the backseat of a sedan, it was me, my sister, and the dog, with his crate in the middle since it wouldn't fit in the trunk. Oh, and with the poodle being excited the whole time running back and forth and scratching us up as he scampered around. Fun times...

[beansprout]

Originally Posted by tomandrobin

We didn't take vacations, but grew riding everywhere in the family wagon. Back in the day, before seat belts....riding in the back, hanging out the window.

Tom and I had the same childhood!
Loving your TR. It would be nice to drive to WDW but we're 9hrs north of you Jeff. Your family is adorable, enjoy your first DVC owned vacation and thanks for taking us along!

[disneyridleys]

Congrats on your first trip! Your kiddos are real troopers! We did our first trip with the babies (DD2 and DD3) in March. They handled it okay, but they got a little restless. The next time we will travel at night and see how it goes.

Can't wait to see more!

[PAJD]

Ok, I'm back. Thanks for the compliments everyone! During my childhood, we only went to the Jersey shore once a year. Loaded up whatever car we had and had to listen to Oldies all the way down. Boy, how things have changed.

And yes, Luke is a trooper with the two sisters. It can be a real challenge for him at times. They needle him to no end. They're lucky he's a calm kid.

August 25th (Drive Day 2 and OKW):

So I wake up at 6 to hit breakfast at 6:30. I need to pack the car back up, and would like to be on the road before 9. By the way, if you ever buy that roof bag, it is great, but plan to shower AFTER you pack it. You work up a real sweat packing and unpacking that thing. Especially during the summer, and even moreso in Georgia and Florida.

Take my son down to breakfast. An extemely nice, older, Southern lady is manning the pancake maker. She's real impressed by the size of these two pancakes that are coming out of the maker and is convinced Luke should have them. They look burnt to a crisp to me, but I didn't have the heart to turn her down. So I take the pancakes, put a pound of butter and a packet of syrup on them, and practically saw them into pieces with the dull plastic knife. It actually took a very long time to cut them, they were so burnt. Give them to Luke and hope for the best. What do you know, he LOVES them. Kids are so hard to figure out sometimes.

I wolf down a toasted piece of french toast and soem fruit, and then the band rolls through the quiet breakfast room. Alli and Lauren come barging in screaming "DADDY DADDY DADDY!!!" Like they hadn't seen me in weeks. At least 3 people jumped, or woke up, from their quiet breakfast, and now the place is fully alive. Those two can do that to a place. The girls eat their breakfast, my wife forces something semi-edible into her too, and I go off to pack up the car. 30 minutes later, I'm back upstairs, showered, load up the family into the car and we're off for the final leg.

In a little less than 2 hours, we see the first sign that we're getting close:

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2 hours later, after some traffic in Jacksonville and a restroom stop and fill up, we're about 20 minutes out. I turn around, and for the very first time on the trip down I see this:

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Typical Lauren. She's the best. With the Disney music on, 20 minutes later, at around 1:30pm, we quietly celebrate the moment we've all been waiting for:



Apologize for the quality there. Not sure why we couldn't get a clear picture. Maybe it was all the dead bugs on the windshield.

Within minutes, we're just about to pull in to our first DVC resort:



Check in was seamless. The CM's were so nice to the kids. Handed out a bunch of balloon toys, birthday pins for me and Luke, and some other pins. My wife, in the meantime, trying to keep a smile on her face worrying about the pins stabbing poor Lauren. She's just a walking accident. You should see her Disney pics from last year. Bruises from head to toe. So we take about 10 minutes to check-in. Meanwhile Luke and Alli are sword fighting with the balloons, and one pops. You would have thought someone came in and opened fire on the place, the way some of the people reacted. It was kind of funny, but it was the 3rd or 4th balloon I heard pop since entering the building, so you'd think they'd be used to it by now.


Next, we're off to our room. Looking forward to seeing an OKW studio. I pull up to building 43 in Turtle Pond, and our room is on the first floor. Open the door, and was really impressed. For a studio, it is HUGE. So much space to put your stuff, nice little area with the mini fridge, a place to eat, big bathroom, a nice spot for a pack n play, and really comfortable beds. I was very impressed immediately.

So while my wife and kids get their suits on, I unpack Roof Bag one more time. Sweating like a pig now. I've got to get to a pool. My kids saw the sand castle on the way by, so we went there instead of the Turtle Pond Pool, which seemed nice also. But I knew the kids would like the main pool. And with a car, we're free to do whatever we want! We liked the pool, although it was a little deep. Alli can swim, but she couldn't really stand anywhere. That would be an issue if we were going to be there long, but for one day, it's fine. Kid's loved the slide. I went on it too. And the CM's were leading lots of games and dances. We all had lots of fun. Nice way to start the vacation. Brief Florida sun shower, but other than that, weather was great. Here are some pics:

Luke on his way out the slide for the first time:

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Me and the kids. Mom does her best to stay out of pics, but I'll get her in some of these, I promise.



Alli and Lauren always looking for a reason to dance. Alli not all that certain about the CM just yet. She warmed up quickly:



And one more of Alli on the patio. Not camera shy at all.



After the pool, we went a got some pretzels, and headed back to the room for showers. Heading to DTD for dinner. No ressies. Thought we'd hit Wolfgang Puck Express, but parked next to the entrance to T-Rex. Decided to check it out. No wait! Great sign for the next 11 days. That told me the rumors might be true that Disney is dead this time of the year.

Had a good dinner at T-Rex, went to WOD to look for some things, and Ghirardelli's for some samples, and headed back to the room. I stopped by the store to grab some bagels for the next morning, and turned in for the night. It was a very comfortable night there. I had no problems at all with the accommodations, and the place was spotless. Woke up the next morning and said to my wife: "You know we could have saved almost 300 points if we stayed here the whole trip". That's how much I liked it. But that was before we checked into Kidani......

[Joel0917]

anxious to hear more..i'm guessing you LOVED kidani

[SSRFred]

Great trip report so far!