Party of 28, your table is ready!!! ***Update 10/11/08-- chapter 6 beginning**

[mommyofthreeboys]

Title #1 Everything happens for a reason.

That’s right. I firmly believe in that. Everything happens for a reason.

Let me take you back to August of 2003. 6:23pm. I just left work and I was at a stop light and once the light turned green, I proceeded. That’s when I was hit head on by a motorist who ran their red light. It was a life changing moment. At that moment, it was very hard to see any good coming out of the accident.

After months of doctor visits, shots, therapy, meds, etc… I can say I FINALLY feel better. I received a settlement from the other insurance company in January of 2006. The amount was nothing compared to the pain and suffering I went through, but it got a lot of bills caught up since I was off work for 5 months. Paying off the over-due bills was nice BUT I wanted to do something fun with some of the money. After all, my DH and 3 boys suffered right along with me. Many hours they had to wait on me, make their own breakfast, lunch or dinner, and lots of housework that I normally do, they had to chip in. It was tough but we got through it even stronger than before. So with the remaining money, I wanted to take a once and a lifetime trip to WDW. My DH fought me on this tooth and nail! He did not want to go. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to listen to me about it. After I had said that I was going with or without him, he decided he better go with us BUT let’s make one thing clear, he is NOT going to have fun.

So we took our first family trip to WDW in March 2006. We stayed at the POR, stayed 4 nights and 5 days- visiting 1 park per day with the DDP. (Yeah—I really thought that was a “trip in a lifetime”. Knowing what I know now, my trip of a lifetime wouldn’t be less than 14 days!) We had a GREAT time! All my planning was so worth it. We hadn’t even left Orlando yet and the boys asked “Can we come back next year?” and I smiled—wishing—hoping, right along with them but I knew it wouldn’t happen. This was the 1 time only trip and there was NO way DH would ever agree to this again. BUT then my DH said “Maybe in 2008!” WHAT? Did I just hear that right? 2008? I just continued to smile. You know that smile—the “I told you so” smile. I didn’t want to say those words so I just smiled. Smiled, because now I have 2 years to plan the next trip.

Here's us back in 2006:

Looking back, the last trip was thrown together—even though I thought I knew a lot going into it, it’s not until I have spent MANY (and I mean MANY) hours on these disboards that I now feel “knowledgeable”. (Sound familiar?)

That takes me back to my belief—“Everything happens for a reason.” If I never would have had that accident, I never would have the opportunity to learn that I have a passion for all things Disney. (well, not all things! I don’t have a passion for that new DDP but there’s a whole other thread for that discussion)

I didn’t want to immediately bring up the “2008 trip” but shortly after that trip, we went to a party and my DH talked about the trip and how much fun he had. He then said, “it would be even more fun to get another family to go with us”. We have a very close family so I asked my sister if she would be interested. She then suggested that we ask ALL of our brothers and sisters. (Mom and Dad had 2 sons and 4 daughters) So we did, and everyone said yes! A total of 36 people! In March of 2007, I began the massive undertaking of planning a trip of this size.

Every month, I send out a newsletter keeping everyone updated. From planning, tips, suggestions, ideas—the newsletter has it in there. That way, no one can say “you didn’t tell me that” or the “I didn’t want to do that” So far, it’s worked out great.

So through that newsletter, we have decided the important details:

•We leave for this magical trip on June 20th and return on June 29th. (Not every family member will stay the entire time)
•We decided to stay at the POP Century (even though DH loved POR and wanted to go back)
•We will be driving non-stop from Indiana (estimated time- 16 hours)
•Most decided to get the DDP
•Most decided to add the Water and More option since it’ll be June and the kids love water!

11 months have gone by since we first asked everyone if they wanted to go, like I wrote earlier, everyone said yes. In the last month, a couple of family members weren’t sure if they would be able to go, after all, Disney is expensive. With the news of the “economy plan”, it looks like everyone will be going. Ahhh, yes…. Everything happens for a reason.

We will be celebrating a lot of various occasions on this trip. My mom and dad will be celebrating their 45th wedding Anniversary! Bro and SIL are on the 20th year of marriage. Other bro and SIL AND my DH and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage this year. Sis and BIL will be married for 5 years in May and other Sis and BIL will make it to their first year in July. My niece will turn 18 on our first day there! I have 3 nieces graduating from high school a few weeks before the trip. Even though I might have just confused you all, know that we have a lot to be thankful for. We have a wonderful family!

Up next: the list of 36 characters that will be on this trip!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

I’m not sure where to start. Do I start with my family??? Let’s do this—let’s start with the 2 people that started this mess—my parents!!!

My mom (63) AKA: Miss Piggy (yes, she loves to eat but is not over-weight) She has never been to WDW. Not even after all the begging my younger sister and I did when we were younger to take us!

My dad (63) AKA: Kermit. (no, he’s not green but he is tall!) He also has never been to WDW or matter of fact, not very many places. He is really excited about this trip, especially EPCOT. They will be married for 45 years in June! (I can’t believe they made it this far!)
My oldest brother, his wife and kids. He also has never been to WDW--thinks that WDW is only for kids so he doesn’t want to go because his kids are “too old”. His wife has been to WDW once about 13 years ago.

(I was going to give everyone names-- like I did with mom and dad but I can't think of any right now!)

My other brother, his wife and their 4 kids—ages 18, 17, 13 and 10. My SIL took her oldest daughter last year for a few days when she was down there for work but besides that, they have not been to WDW.

My sister and her boyfriend and her 3 kids—ages 18, 17 and 9. Never been to see the Mouse either! The 9 year old loves High School Musical so she is really excited!

My other sister (the twin of the above) and her husband and 4 kids—ages 19, 15, and twin 13 year olds. My sister took the 19 year old when she was 5. They are very excited to go back as a family!

Then there’s me!

I’m number 5 out of the 6 kids. My husband and I have 3 boys—ages 14, 9 and 7. We went to WDW in March 2006 and now I am hooked!! DH is actually excited about this trip as well.

The love of my life:

Last but not least, my younger sister and her husband and kids—ages 12, 3 and 1. This will be their first time as well.

As you can see, we are mostly rookies!!! I think they are relying on me to do the planning—I hope I do okay!!!


Next up: preparation so far! Our ADR’s! Will everyone actually go? And our itinerary!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

DEPARTURE DAY June 20th—we are leaving Indiana via cars, vans and trucks around 4pm. We are going to try and follow everyone down. I think it would be fun to decorate all 6 vehicles with “WDW or bust”, “Disney Grand Gathering” and Mickey heads—what do you think?

We are driving through the night—only stopping for food and gas. I know this plan doesn’t work for other people but we have lots of drivers to rotate and a few family members who are used to working nights.

We hope to arrive at POP around 7-8am for pre-check in!!!

ARRIVAL DAY June 21st-- (This is my niece’s 18th birthday! She is so excited to be celebrating it here! Next year she will be a senior in HS so she wants me to take some photos of her while we are there for her senior pictures!)

Anyway, today is arrival day! We hope to arrive by 7 or 8am. I hope check in goes smoothly—and more importantly, I hope the POP honors are request to have all of our rooms next to each other. For some reason, I am worried about that. I think I am also going to request the 60’s building since my mom and dad got married in the 60’s and this is their 45th Anniversary trip—what do you think?

The arrival day itinerary is all penciled in at this point. There are too many variables to make too many plans. Will we get stuck in traffic? Will the kids and the non-driving adults be able to get enough sleep during the drive down? Will the drivers be too tired to do anything? (For me—I’ll be too excited to be tired—my adrenaline will be going!)

So, if all goes as planned—arrival by 8am, smooth check in, everyone is excited and not exhausted—we are going to head to MK. IF we arrive late, or someone needs sleep AND the room is not ready, we are going to go to the pool to sleep, relax and un-wind.

That reminds me—I should pack a separate bag for swimming gear because I’m sure our room will not be ready. (I know I am going to forget this! Maybe I should add this suggestion to the newsletter this month.)

After MK or swimming—whatever we do—we have an early ADR for 1900 Park Fare for dinner. My niece celebrating her 18th (and all my other nieces) wanted to eat with the princesses in the castle but it’s not in everyone’s budget AND the boys weren’t too found of that BUT mainly because I didn’t want to have a reservation of 36 people on MY credit card! Especially on arrival day! Remember—too many variables right?

After dinner, the plan is to go check in and get settled in the room (if we haven’t done so all ready) and probably crash for the night! Everyone needs to get to bed early because we have a big day tomorrow!

DAY 2 June 22nd-- This is our AK day. I know it’s June and it’ll be hot BUT I still wonder if we can make it all day in the park until our ADR at Boma in the AKL. If not, it’s not going to be much of a break because we have an early ADR. Only time will tell I guess! Do you know any good places that we can rest/relax/rejuvenate at AK or AKL if we get tired and we don’t have time to go back to POP?

After dinner, the plan is to go back to POP. Swim? Arcade? Shop? Whatever it is—I can’t wait!!!

DAY 3 June 23rd-- Today is the day that my dad has been waiting for—EPCOT!!!!

Dinner ADR at the Biergarten. I apologize in advance to anyone who will be stuck sitting with our family! We like to have a good time! Our whole family ate at a similar German restaurant in Gatlinburg TN when my oldest brother got remarried 10 years ago and we all had a great time. This ADR is supposed to remind us of those good times we had back then. I hope it goes as planned!

Same as yesterday—we have an early ADR. (you’re going to see a pattern here because for a group our size we had to choose the first available seating!) So the question remains, will we be able to last in the parks all day until our ADR? (That is—if we all make rope drop!) If we don’t take a break, I think we will be ready to head back to POP after dinner. BUT we do have a “relaxing” day tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes and what we do! Any thoughts?


DAY 4 June 24th—Break day! The family is on your own day! I think at this point we MIGHT need a break from each other so I planned this day as a “do what you want day”. My family and I are going to a water park. (I know- it’s still a park BUT it is relaxing for me!)
Hopefully we can make it there by opening to get a good spot. I think several family members are following my lead and going to the waterpark also. (Still not sure if we’ll go to TL or BB)

After lunch, I’m sure we’ll be ready for a nap! After our nap, everyone will meet up for our ADR at Chef Mickey’s! After dinner, we are going to shop at DTD and maybe even have some adult fun at Pleasure Island!

Day 5 June 25th—MK day! We have an early breakfast ADR for Crystal Palace. I am looking forward to seeing Main Street and the castle without a swarm of people around. I hope to get everyone there before our ADR so we can get a group shot in front of the castle. We’ll have to see about that!

After breakfast, we are staying at MK until after lunch and then we finally get a break on this day!!! We hope to return in the evening for the Spectro and Wishes!

***I think my one older sister and her family will be leaving this day

Day 6 June 26th—Finally—my favorite park day—DHS!!!!! My DH and I love this park. Not sure why but we do. We have dinner ADR at 50’s Prime Time. Not sure we’ll make it to Fantasmic or not.

***I think the other older sister and her family will be leaving this day as well as my brother and his family.

Day 7 June 27th—Today we get to “sleep in” and then head to EPCOT. We want to be there by 11am so my DH and BIL can begin the (beer) drinking around the world tour! I will be there to root him on! Hopefully we can stay for Immuninations—that is—if they are still standing.

DEPARTURE DAY -- Day 8 June 28th—Boo! This is another “wait and see” day. We may need to sleep in. Of course we have to check out.

What I want to do is go to the other water park that we didn’t visit on day 4. What do you think? Is that relaxing enough before our drive home?

We plan on leaving WDW around 4pm and drive straight through back to Indiana. We did this during our last trip and my DH drove the whole way. My mom and dad are riding with us this time, so with 4 drivers in the van, hopefully he will share some of the driving!

So, with this timeframe, we should arrive home on Sunday morning around 8am. The rental van has to be back by 1pm so hopefully we don’t run into any travel problems on the way back. I’m sure we will be exhausted! But hopefully we’ll be bringing back a lot of happy memories!


Next up: just more details!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

I love to take pictures! I just bought me a new digital and I can't wait to use it on this trip!!! In the meantime, here's a photopass pic of my youngest!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Maybe if I change my title I'll get my first reader!

Title #2-- my favorite quote from Dancing with the Stars "Don't touch what you can't afford Sunshine!"

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

A few updates:

I booked the rental van today. At first it was coming up to be over $900 BUT I would a corporate code through my work so I got the van with unlimited miles for $503 including taxes. Pretty excited!!!

2 of my siblings hadn't booked yet and they finally decided to book and guess what? THE POP is unavailable for those dates!!!! AGH!!! But we are going to keep trying and hope someone else cancels!!!! Cross your fingers!

And finally, I found a professional prographer to take a family picture on GF beach!!! Really excited about that!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Well, my 2 sisters got the POP booked finally. YEAH! I thought it would come available with other people cancelling. Great news!

Bad news: I don't think my oldest brother is going. That's the one who thinks Disney is just for kids. We were trying to talk my SIL into going without him. Don't think she's going to. Boo hoo!

I, especially my mom and dad, wanted everyone there. I hired a photographer to get our family picture taken on the GF beach. I guess we'll have to photoshop my brother and family in :-(


On a positive note: 41 more days until we leave!!!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Only 30 more days!!!! It's time for a coutdown chain!

While my niece was visiting over the weekend, we decided to make some countdown chains. She was so excited!!!!

I have started to pack all ready. The things that I don't want to forget: waterproof disposable camera, ziploc bags, power strip for hotel room, and a few other things. I can't wait!!!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Since Dancing with the Stars is over-- time to change the title!!!

Plan til you drop!!!! Inspired by the ad on the bottom of this page!!!!

 

[minniemee]

It sounds like you guys will be a large touring group! We will be 13 people going 6/6-6/12. So I can relate to the planning stages of your trip!
The more the merrier I say!!
I hope you guys have a perfect grand gathering!

 

[dominiki]

I just register to the board to share this trip with you. Sorry for my english, I speak spanish> your trip is a blessing for all your family, to have them at the same time with your parents is something tha's going to be with each of you for the rest of your life. Keep going.

 

[Jules3Kids]

I am enjoying reading your PTR and your large group you are traveling with! We are going for the first time to WDW in June with 9 of us, and I thought that was a lot! I am also the planner of the group, since I am the only one of us on the DIS and knows to do ADR's, etc. Even though I've never been...hopefully I plan a great trip for all of us!
Your plans sound great....I can't wait to hear more about it and also hear how it all comes out! And I love the idea of Mickey heads on the cars and "WDW or Bust" on the windows on the way there!
Good Luck!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

I am enjoying reading your PTR and your large group you are traveling with! We are going for the first time to WDW in June with 9 of us, and I thought that was a lot! I am also the planner of the group, since I am the only one of us on the DIS and knows to do ADR's, etc. Even though I've never been...hopefully I plan a great trip for all of us!
Your plans sound great....I can't wait to hear more about it and also hear how it all comes out! And I love the idea of Mickey heads on the cars and "WDW or Bust" on the windows on the way there!
Good Luck!

Thank you!!! I'll go check out your PTR and see all the planning you are doing! I think the planning is so fun!!! I can't believe my family doesn't want to have anything to do with the planning!!!

I just register to the board to share this trip with you. Sorry for my english, I speak spanish> your trip is a blessing for all your family, to have them at the same time with your parents is something tha's going to be with each of you for the rest of your life. Keep going.

WELCOME to the boards!!!! AND to my pre-trip report of course!!!

It sounds like you guys will be a large touring group! We will be 13 people going 6/6-6/12. So I can relate to the planning stages of your trip!
The more the merrier I say!!
I hope you guys have a perfect grand gathering!

Thank you!!!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

It FINALLY hit me this week!!! We will be in WDW in 2 weeks! I have so much to do yet so this weekend, I got busy. I got alot done! Yeah!!!

This morning, I got most of the shirts done.

Making these t-shirts was SOOOO fun and addicting! I want to make more!!!! Is it wrong to add days to your vacation because I want to make more shirts?


This is the shirts for Animal Kingdom.

These are for DHS. I still have to make my DH and mine.

Some of you might know our group size is somewhere between 28-36 people. My Bro still hasn't made a decision on going or not! These 2 shirts are for my mom and dad. I am also making them anniversary shirts.

And these are for my family!!! I wanted to use red shirts but my SIL had all ready bought white shirts. This will be our family matching shirt.

Here's the next set. One of my favorite designs.

Here's another one of my favorite!!! I still have to iron on mine-- the shirt I have is a paler yellow and I can't decide if I should use it. Does it really matter? My oldest son has a different last name so I made the 3 boys the sam with 2008 and mine and DH will have the family name.

Here's one my son picked out. He loves it since he LOVES baseball! No one will have this design to match.

Here's one my youngest son picked out.

And finally....the one that I am SOOOO happy that my son is proud to wear. Of course it helps that he loves Stitch.

I have a few miscellaneous-- non-matching designs to do but wanted to post this now.

Thank you to the DISigners who helped me make this trip a little more magical! I REALLY appreciate it. I'm off to make the journals now.....

 

[LLWDW]

I am enjoying your pre-trip report. I have always wanted to get all my family to go on such a trip, but I'd have to win the lottery to get them there lol.
I think trips with 3 generations are the greatest. Actually my solo trip was great too. Actually all trips to WDW are great
You're t-shirts are fantastic! I hope I can remember to do that ( and figure out how to do that)
Looking forward to reading more, and I hope you're brother decides to join in.

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

At my niece's grad party tonight-- my brother finally said he would go but only for a few days. Yeah!!!! BUT then my sister had some unexpected car problems ($1500) so now she has to cancel. AND she just found out she's expecting. So I think we are down to 26 people.....

Only 6 more days!!!!!!

 

[IlovemythreeC's]

Oh my goodness, I am so happy that I found your pre-trippie! You HAVE done an amazing job. I can relate so much to many of the things that you wrote- I also believe that everything happens for a reason.

Your shirts are AMAZING! How in the world did you do that? I am not very crafty.

I hope that you do a TR- it will be so much fun if you do!

I know ya'll are going to have an AMAZING time!

 

[queenof3]

Well, it looks like you should be back! I hope you had a fantastic time! I would love to find out about how that big of a crowd was! Please tell me you will be doing a trip report!!

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Growing up, I always wanted to go to WDW with my family. Never in a million years did I think my parents would be going for the first time for their 45th Anniversary. But they were….along with 26 other immediate family members.

Who’s going: Check out my pre-trip report to find out. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1714872
Honestly, it was quite boring. Heck, it didn’t even get to 3 pages.
Go ahead, put up the big L to your forehead-- I won't hold it against you.
But check it out if you want to know who was along for the ride.
So you know my family- I have 3 boys: Bradley 14 at the time, Brett 9 at the time and Nolan 7.

When we went: Left by car on June 20th through June 28th.

Okay, before I bore you with other details-- let’s get this trip report going!

Chapter 1 -- June 20th, 2008

That night, I didn’t sleep at all. Why is that?
Is it the excitement?
Are we afraid we are going to forget something?
Do we think that time will pass faster if we stay awake?
Whatever the reason—I was one of them. I didn’t sleep at all.

I had to work today. I like to torture myself like that. Working on departure day. Seriously. Did I think I was going to get any work done? Whatever my thoughts were that day, I can tell you, I didn’t get much work done that day.

DH took me to work early…..6am early….so I could leave work early. He dropped me off at 6 and then he headed to work himself.

Around 1pm, I had a friend take me to Hertz rental center to pick up the van. I was so excited! Picking up the van felt like the first step in getting this vacation started! I wanted to be home by 2pm. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I waited about 30 minutes for a van to be ready.

Hertz lady: We upgraded people all week to vans and now when the time comes when we actually need one, we don’t have one.
Me: silence

Seriously. What am I suppose to say? So after she radios to the garage again with an update on the van, I say:

Me: We our headed to vacation. Hopefully this is the worst thing that happens this week.

I finally get the van. I wasn’t very happy. I reserved the van to pick it up at noon. Not 1:43pm. DH texted me on the way, and I magically got in a better mood.

My parents were riding with us so I was REALLY nervous that all of our luggage would fit. When I got home, the kids checked it out. Yeah—we have plenty of room!!! Yippee!!!

I went and took a shower while DH packed the van. We were to meet at my sister’s house at 4:00pm. We got there around 3:40 and to my surprise, within minutes everyone is there. DH loaded my mom and dad’s luggage.

I then do a little exterior decorating.

Yup, that's me. (Does anyone else stress about trying to find a comfortable outfit for long drives like I do?)

I also made an activity binder for each vehicle—mostly for the kids. I also made a red folder with driving directions, disboards secrets documents, WDW info and lots of things they can read on the way down. Anything to get everyone more excited!

There was 5 vehicles total. How were suppose to stay together much less in touch? That’s a whole lot of cell phone minutes we would be “wasting”. Well—leave it to my DH!!!

DH works in the construction industry so he got 5 walkie talkies so everyone could stay in contact. He passed them out, gave a quick demo and made sure everyone knew what channel we could be on.

Finally, after 16 month of planning-- WE WERE WDW BOUND!!

And what? Did you say ahead of schedule?!?! Get out of town!!! Yep, we left at 3:52pm.

Hold on!!!!!!!!

Did someone say stop all ready?

Yep, we make our first stop at 3:54pm, about 3 miles down the road. At this rate, we might be in WDW next week!! Nah—no one seemed to mind cuz we were leaving early. My SIL wanted a Diet Mountain Dew. No one can deny her that. Seriously! Have you tried that stuff? That’s a good drink now! So once my SIL got her Diet Dew and a few others got a few last minute things, we are finally headed to WDW for the long haul!!!

As we passed each state “Welcome” sign, I got just a little more excited!

“One state closer” I would tell the kids.

Nolan was confused that we were back into Indiana after just being in Ohio. Grandpa tried to explain but he never grasped it.

Oh- the reason—the interstate 275 goes around Cincinnati, OH, put it goes through 3 states. We start off in Indiana, enter Ohio, but the loop takes us back into Indiana for just a few miles before we head into Kentucky.

Confused? So am I—that’s why I didn’t explain it to Nolan.

Ask Grandpa if you really wanna know.

After the state confusion, we were traveling along pretty well. We stayed together quite nicely. We cruised about 75mph and everyone kept up. Of course, we have to be a little silly and pass each other once in awhile.

Is it wrong of me to laugh at the people who had Disney Envy?
Even when they were little kids?
You remember my exterior decorating? Well, the cars screamed “WDW Bound” “Off to see the mouse” “Mickey here we come” and much more. I noticed little kids inside their vehicles saying:

“Look mommy, they are going to see Mickey Mouse!”

Seriously- I read their lips. Usually followed closely by a “Quick honey, get pass this car” by one parent to the other parent. Then followed by a “Good golly, how many people are going?”

I laughed, stuck out my tongue to every little kid and screamed “Nah, Nah, Nah…”

That was my favorite part.

Soon, that tongue was coming back at me because we came to a screeching halt. 5:31pm. Still In Kentucky. Nooooooooo!!!!! This isn’t suppose to happen! Where is this in my itinerary?

“Quick honey—give me my red folder. I know I didn’t add sitting in traffic to our plans”

Yep, you heard me right. 1 ½ hours into the trip, we were stopped.

Remember those walkie talkies? They REALLY helped pass the time.

We found out my niece Marissa said the first “are we there yet?” at 5:57pm.

We confirmed that my sister Mindy really is a ditzy blonde because she didn’t get any of the jokes we told.

I found out that LaLa is one talented gal. LaLa is another Diser who writes awesome trip reports. She can even knit while riding on back of a bike.

I then meet another Diser. I think that’s ZZUB over there by that wall. Hey—give the guy a break. When ya gotta go, you gotta go. Traffic or no traffic.

Notice he still won’t show his face.

We discovered we really are rednecks. Hanging out the windows and stuff. Seriously, what normal people do that?

And we also found out there are still some really nice people in this world. A trucker motioned me to roll down my window. Once I did, he told us about the wreck, where it was and what lane to get in. We relayed that to our caravan and everyone followed.
The trucker acted like it was going to be awhile. So we discussed stopping "early" for supper.

We have to stop. I know. We have been “stopped” for more than an hour but we HAVE to stop! We need gas. The parents are making the kids scream in the walkie talkies “I gotta go pee”. Like we were going to say no to them. And also, we were hungry. So at 6:35pm, we stop at Shell to get some liquid gold and then head to McDonalds.

(notice my mom-- she was really wanting that cigarette for the last 2 hours!)

I thought my sister would scream “Nooooo, not McDonalds” because that’s where she works, but she didn’t care where she ate. I honestly don’t think anyone cared at that point. We were happy to be out of the traffic.

We THOUGHT that if we stopped for a few minutes, it would help clear out the traffic a little bit. Just a little bit—that’s all we wanted!

McDonald's was crowded so we went outside and found several picnic tables. Smart idea-- the kids burned off some energy and the adults talked about the past 2 1/2 hours.



Up next: Will we ever leave McDonalds? Will someone drink too much Coca-Cola? Will we ever get past this accident?

 

[mommyofthreeboys]

Well, it looks like you should be back! I hope you had a fantastic time! I would love to find out about how that big of a crowd was! Please tell me you will be doing a trip report!!

Yes, I FINALLLLLLY started my trip report!!!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27317151#post27317151