Family wins trip to favorite holiday spot
by Terri Pelger
The Review
“I screamed!” said Chris Baranyk describing her reaction when she received the news that the family had won a trip to Walt Disney World.
Chris said she returned home that day to find a message left on the answering machine from Channel 3 stating the the Baranyks had been chosen as the winners of a free trip.
“Bethany and I were the only ones home,” Chris said. “She thought somebody had broken in and was trying to kill me.”
Chris had seen the commercial on Cleveland channel 3 requesting entries be sent on a postcard. She immediately filled out a Mickey Mouse Disney World postcard and mailed it. In less than a week, she received word that they had won one of the two trips offered.
The package includes two plane tickets, hotel accommodations for five days and four nights; two five-day Ultimate Park Hopper passes and $100 in Disney Dollars. This will not be the family’s first trip to Walt Disney World.
Chris recalled a visit Thanksgiving Day 2000. They had arisen early and headed to board one of the many Disney buses. As they boarded the bus, the noticed the driver sketching a picture as he waited for passengers.
As it turned out, the Baranyks were the only ones to board that morning. Upon completing the color pencil sketch of an animated horse, he signed the pring and gave it to the Baranyks. “Have a nice day,” he said.
The Baranyks planned a return trip to Disney World in August of 2001. Not Disney World again. Nick said. So Chris and Nick offered the children a choice: Myrtle Beach or back to Florida. They all voted for Walt Disney World.
Though the rest of the family loves the tourist atraction, Nick is not as excited. Chris recalled when she arranged for a wake-up call one morning. Nick was awakened to the perky voice of Mickey Mouse wishing him a happy day. Nick answered the call with “Shut Up!” and slammed down the phone.
Chris continued, “Nick puts up this big front, but when we get down there he has his favorite things to do and has a good time.
Bethany said her favorite is the chef and the Polynesian Resort. “He would take fruit and make animals and dolphins out of it. It was cool!”
Mike prefers Space Mountain. “It’s a roller coaster you ride in the dark. It’s out of control. You don’t know where you’re going.”
Who Wants To Be a Millionaire was Matt’s favorite, an exact replica of the New York studio where the show is taped. “I never got into the hot seat,” he said, but there was audience participation.”
Every time we go down there, we discover something new”, said Chris. It’s like we’re addicted. We have to have our Disney fix every year. We’d go back once a month, if we lived closer.
The Animal Kingdom Lodge
After we recovered from the shock of winning the trip, we give Disney three choices of when we could come visit. They gave us our first choice. The last day of school was on Friday, June 7th and Monday, June 10th we boarded a plane at 6:40am and headed for Walt Disney World.
Because most of this trip was paid for by WKYC-TV3 we splurged and got Tiffany Towne Car to meet us at the airport in Orlando. We found out a long time ago, even when we drove to Disney, and stayed on site....we never drove our car...so we thought it would be cheaper not to rent a car....and just pay the $100 for round trip chauffer. We also upgraded to concierge service for $288 for our four day stay.
We did not have a choice in what resort we stayed ...Disney Travel picked the brand new Animal Kingdom Lodge for us. It's a beautiful hotel. You can look out windows and see wild animals grazing......some people really love it...but we didn't like being so far out...away from all the excitement. Our previous trips we had stayed at The Contemporary Resort and The Polynesian Resort. Both had monorail service, where the train drives right through the resort. The Contemporary is within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom and the Poly is within walking distance of the Ticket and Transportation Center which saves you a lot of time.