KYBelle
07-21-2003, 05:29 PM
This is the story of our "unplanned"(meaning I had less than six months to plan it) trip to WDW. We are DVC members, and after remodeling part of our home this year, we decided to rent out a portion of our DVC points and save on the cost of vacationing and just wait until next year. Well, once spring started rolling around, we couldn't take hearing about all those great resort rates and I just HAD to call and see what we could get....Contemporary for $149? WE gotta try it...and while we're at it, let's check out our home resort, Old Key WEst! Three nights planned at Contemporary turned into six, and, well, you guys know how it goes!
So here is day one...
Oh, and the cast:
Mom: my mom, 50's
Bear: my stepdad, not quite 50, but close
DH: my husband, Ben's daddy, Elementary school principal, Nascar fan, and disney fan thanks to me;33
Ben: 3 year old lover of WDW(thanks to his mommy)
Me:Ben's mommy, 30 year old Disney fanatic, Library Media Specialist
Dates: July 2-July 12(part of these dates are traveling days)
I do not enjoy driving. Especially long distances and through big cities--but since this was to be a "budget" trip we decided to drive and save a few bucks.
Okay, NOW here's day one...
Day One(Wednesday, July 2):
7:25 am: Leave Greenville, KY while listening to the audiobook Holes, by Louis Sachar. At 8:30 we stop for breakfast in Clarksville, TN at Burger King($7.53). Drive was pretty uneventful, Brent does most of the driving while I entertain Ben. 11:45 we stop outside Chattanooga at Wendy's for lunch($6.17). Keep on trucking...making good time around 1:00 switch over to Eastern Standard Time, so now we lose an hour. Atlanta traffic wasn't bad except for one truck driver who was dodging in and out of traffic like he was an Indy 500 driver. We stop somewhere along the way at a Circuit City for an adapter where we could plug in the PS2 and laptop in the van, but I'm not sure of the town. Somewhere around Brannen(?), Ga, we stop for a snack and gas...this was at 3:20.
Now, the plan was to stop somewhere around Macon, GA or Valdosta, GA for the night, but Brent kept feeling good on the drive and since Ben and I were just sitting and watching movies we were happy doing whatever. So Brent kept on going, and before we know it we were at WDW! This was at 9:42, and as we pull in to the Contemporary, the guard says,"Well, to commemorate your arrival, we have fireworks scheduled in about 15 minutes!". So we pull in to see if I can get another night added on to our reservation. Lo and behold, we can, and we won't even have to change rooms tomorrow! So off we go to find our room. We are in the South garden wing, and are pleased to see that we can park ourselves pretty close to the door. We are in room 5239, I think. It was not in the "back" part of the resort, but closer to the elevator, which we were glad of. The room was one of the refurbished ones, and it was large. We ordered a Papa John's Pizza(very yummy!) and then it was off to bed!!
Note: I had faxed the room controller, but I'm not sure if it made any difference, especially since we were there early. But when I told the CM that I wanted to see if we could get a room for tonight, I told her if we were scheduled to be in a 'great' room the next night, I would rather move. She told me that they hadn't even done any assignments for the next day yet. So who knows. I think we came out pretty good, though, we got a "garden view" instead of a 'standard view" which is what we had reserved.
So here is day one...
Oh, and the cast:
Mom: my mom, 50's
Bear: my stepdad, not quite 50, but close
DH: my husband, Ben's daddy, Elementary school principal, Nascar fan, and disney fan thanks to me;33
Ben: 3 year old lover of WDW(thanks to his mommy)
Me:Ben's mommy, 30 year old Disney fanatic, Library Media Specialist
Dates: July 2-July 12(part of these dates are traveling days)
I do not enjoy driving. Especially long distances and through big cities--but since this was to be a "budget" trip we decided to drive and save a few bucks.
Okay, NOW here's day one...
Day One(Wednesday, July 2):
7:25 am: Leave Greenville, KY while listening to the audiobook Holes, by Louis Sachar. At 8:30 we stop for breakfast in Clarksville, TN at Burger King($7.53). Drive was pretty uneventful, Brent does most of the driving while I entertain Ben. 11:45 we stop outside Chattanooga at Wendy's for lunch($6.17). Keep on trucking...making good time around 1:00 switch over to Eastern Standard Time, so now we lose an hour. Atlanta traffic wasn't bad except for one truck driver who was dodging in and out of traffic like he was an Indy 500 driver. We stop somewhere along the way at a Circuit City for an adapter where we could plug in the PS2 and laptop in the van, but I'm not sure of the town. Somewhere around Brannen(?), Ga, we stop for a snack and gas...this was at 3:20.
Now, the plan was to stop somewhere around Macon, GA or Valdosta, GA for the night, but Brent kept feeling good on the drive and since Ben and I were just sitting and watching movies we were happy doing whatever. So Brent kept on going, and before we know it we were at WDW! This was at 9:42, and as we pull in to the Contemporary, the guard says,"Well, to commemorate your arrival, we have fireworks scheduled in about 15 minutes!". So we pull in to see if I can get another night added on to our reservation. Lo and behold, we can, and we won't even have to change rooms tomorrow! So off we go to find our room. We are in the South garden wing, and are pleased to see that we can park ourselves pretty close to the door. We are in room 5239, I think. It was not in the "back" part of the resort, but closer to the elevator, which we were glad of. The room was one of the refurbished ones, and it was large. We ordered a Papa John's Pizza(very yummy!) and then it was off to bed!!
Note: I had faxed the room controller, but I'm not sure if it made any difference, especially since we were there early. But when I told the CM that I wanted to see if we could get a room for tonight, I told her if we were scheduled to be in a 'great' room the next night, I would rather move. She told me that they hadn't even done any assignments for the next day yet. So who knows. I think we came out pretty good, though, we got a "garden view" instead of a 'standard view" which is what we had reserved.