The DisneyGuy Clan Hits The World for a trip of celebrations! UPDATED!! 6/18/14!!

[DisneyGuy758]

Greetings fellow Disneyians.

This will be my first true trip report. I did one for our 2007 trip, but it was more of a live report, and I'd like this one to have more to it.

Of course I'll get the introductions underway.

Fisrt up is DS13. He's going into 8th grade this year, and had to take a summer school class this year...though he missed three days worth.



Here is DS7. He's a clone of his grandfather. Loves tractors, and working on the farm with Granpa.



And here we have DS2(ish). He's quite the little man. Always moving, Always into something. Did I mention he was always moving?


See...always moving...

DW. She just graduated from college this year, so we're kinda celebrating that as well as other things.


Hey look...DS2 is still...

And me. I've been to the World about eight times. The last time was in 2007. The times before were with my mother (who is as big of a Disney fan as I am), and once with my mother and father, where we stayed off site, and I don't remember much from the trip at all. I'm Irish. I like beer...a lot.



Our trip was from August 10 - 16, and then a few days at St. Pete beach afterwards to see some family. We stayed at the Art of Animation suites in the Cars section. Our last trip we had stayed in a regular All Star Sports room, but upgraded to a suite at Music. After that, I vowed to never stay in anything less than a Family Suite.



More coming....

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Our day started about about 7am. We ate, and got ready to leave. We had the car packed the night before, so it was just a matter of getting everyone in it to go. We were flying out of our local airport (Plattsburgh, NY) so it was only a short drive. We were out of the house by 8am, and when we got to the airport, they weren't open. The doors were open and all, but security was closed and there was no one at the check in desk.



We waited in line behind some people from Canada, and at 9am, they started checking people through. When we got to the counter, we thought we would not be able to use the car seat on the plane for DS2. After a small conversation, we were allowed through with it. We did have to check DS7's booster seat though, but that wasn't a big deal. We made our way to the gate and sat.



Our flight wasn't scheduled to take off until 11am. We waited, and waited, and pottied, and waited and played some games, and waited. Finally it was time! We found our seats and finangled the car seat into place. Got everyone into place and were ready for take off. I was sitting between DS13 and DS7 (who had the window) and DW was sitting with DS2.




DS7 boned up on the safety procedures of the plane...just in case.


We had an entire row on the plane, so that was nice. I read. DSs played games. DW sat and tried to keep DS2 quiet. He got loud a few times, but over all was pretty good on the entire flight.

Finally, it was time to land.

I'm going to hold up here for now.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along.

 

[nannye]

Joining in from the august thread!

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Wow. Am I a terrible Dis'er.

After we get home from our trip, I don't feel like reading anything Disney. I get in to a funk and just want to push it all out of my mind. I started this TR in hopes that I wouldn't get that way...but you see how that turned out. Hahhaha.

A lot has happened since we finished our trip. Shortly after, DW discovered she was pregnant. We were making plans as to what we were going to do (buy a house...larger car...all that fun stuff) when DW went to the doctor and found out she lost the baby. We were heartbroken. But, as they say, life moves on.

DW is this close to opening her own daycare (that's what she went to college for). I'm still pounding a way at my day job. DS2 is still moving. Always moving.

I'm hoping to get a new chapter in here today. Lets hop I don't tucker out like I did before!

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Oh! One thing I forgot about that happened in between.

I did this.

I was heading back to work after lunch, and while going down the road, a guy decided stop signs were optional...and I met him at about 55mph. My poor car was totaled. I was fine. I had some neck and shoulder pain. I wasn't going to go to the hospital until I called my mom to let her know what happened.

'You WILL go to the hospital.'

'Yes mom.'

So...that's about it for now.

 

[DisneyGuy758]

Here it is folks!

We landed safe and sound at Sanford Airport. As it wasn’t MCO, I had no clue where I was going. We followed some signs and made our way to the car rental building. The family waited while I checked in and got our van. DS2 passed out quick. All that seat kicking tuckered him out.

We found our van and I quickly got it started, cranked the AC and got the car seat locked in. We got everyone in, and then DW and I started working on the luggage. This is how it went down.

Me “It’s not going to fit.”

DW “It fit in our van, this one isn’t smaller.”

Me “Well it looks like it won’t fit at all. I thought this thing was supposed to have stow and go?!”

DW “It does. See. <pulls handle>”

Me “Hey, I think it’ll all fit.”

She rolled her eyes and helped me get the luggage and stroller in.

I programmed the best address I ever could into the GPS on my phone, Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, and we were off! I’ve never driven in Florida before, so I was wary. DW took some pictures of interesting buildings on the way in.

A cool looking castle/circus thing…



I saw this building coming up and told her to take a pic of it. No clue what it was.



And then we were there!



The kids were ecstatic! And our DS’s were too. It didn’t take long for us to make our way to the hotel. DW grabbed a bunch of pictures. I’ll only boreyou with a few.







We parked and all headed in to check in. Everyone ran around while I got us all settled. Check in was a breeze. We were asked if there were any celebrations going on. Three to be exact. DS7 had just turned 7. DS2 would be 2 in early September. And DW and I were celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary. Buttons all around!



The lobby was beaurtiful. I loved all of the concept to actuality pictures. DS2 loved the openess and how he could run and scream at the top of his lungs.

This was one of my favorite pieces.



Pit Stop.



He knew it was McQueen even though it wasn’t.



After we were all checked in, we started towards our suite in the Cars section. DS7 and DS2 are HUGE Cars fans. This was a dream come true for them.

Mine?



We were in room 1501. First floor, by the entrance door. Awesome.



DW went picture crazy again in the room. I will only post a few again.



The awesome murphy bed.



To the left was our kitchenette. DW used it to prepare a lot of DS2s lunches.



I was ready to lay down here and sleep.



After wer got cleaned up, we headed out to DTD. Where should we go first? We have three kids. Where do you think?!


DS7 looks perplexed by something.

After we got our fix (and some water) we moved on. Now, I need to preface this by telling you DS7 is a HUGE Lego fan. We have close to 100lbs of Legos. Birthday present? Legos. Christmas? Legos. Good grades? Legos. Lego books. Lego school supplies. He likes Legos. When he saw the Lego Store…I don’t know if he was in shock, or having an anyeurysm. He stood there and stared. He looked at me and said “Daddy, can we go in there?” I saw the look on his face. If I said no, I’m pretty sure he would have died. No joke. Of course we went in. The place was PACKED. He ran from one section to the next. I tried my best to keep up. Damn his little legs. He ended up getting a small set for the time being. I told him we couldn’t get anything too big as we had to bring it back home with us still. When we left, he turned and hugged me and said “Daddy, this is the best day of my life!” I couldn’t help but get a little choked up. Just wait little man. Just wait.