Let's turn around. Magic Kingdom is open till 1AM! 3/23 Some Final Thoughts

[Colleen27]

I'm in!

 

[GoHerd1028]

Hope I havent missed much yet!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hi Andy! I'm joining in and looking forward to reading all about your trip!

Congrats on your new arrival

 

[khertz]

Marking my place.

 

[afwdwfan]

Great start, Andy. I didn't know that a new one would be arriving at some point -- congratulations.

I'm so glad you are doing a TR.

Thanks! We actually were supposed to find out what we were having on Monday, the day after we got home. Legs were crossed and there was a hand in the way.

Glad you stopped by!

I'm in... and you'll never be rid of me!!!


Bwahahahaha

I forgot the line about everyone, except my nemesis when I posted the shameless plug.

Puns! Puns! All good trip reports need puns!

You know, I think I'll just leave that to the Jungle Cruise captains and you.

Yo.....

I'll try to keep up better here than I do with Barry's TR.

See Barry, Tim doesn't like puns either.

Hey, Tim...that should be possible because I think Andy will update a lot quicker than you and Barry.

Well... maybe once I get rolling. I'm out of town from this afternoon till Tuesday afternoon so don't look for anything real soon.

I will give him some advice...

Andy, finish your TR before the baby comes or it will end up like mine!

Noted, and hopefully I can do that.

I said I was in....and let's get this TR going!!!!

Yes, yes you did. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm on board! Great start!

Thanks, glad to have you here!

It's got a good beat, and you can dance to it. I'll give it a 7.

Oh. Wait. Um. I'm in! Yeah, that's it. I'm in!

I thought it was the inconsistent beat of kids pounding on drums in Animal Kingdom. I guess that is kind of an enjoyable sound too though.

Can't read now - but am bookmarking to catch up tonight.

Love the title - perfect argument for Park Hoppers.

You know, we always get park hoppers... and we always use them. *Spoiler alert* I love having the freedom of just deciding at the last second to go eat lunch in the World Showcase.

Wow. It took until post #5 for someone to take the first shot at me.

What took you so long?!

I thought about doing it in post #1, but I knew someone else would step up to the plate.

Hi Andy! I've seen you posting on a few other threads, so thought I'd ride along on your TR here. Looking forward to it!

Hi! Glad you came by. I kind of lurked on your TR, but I was about a thread behind by the time I started reading it. Still haven't caught up, but what I've read looks good!

I'm in! And please take Barry's advice about the puns, and replace the word "puns" with "explosions".

We might fit a few of those in...

I'm kind of kicking myself now though. We were watching Holiday Wishes and DW asked me if I wanted her to take pictures or tape it. I told her to just put the cameras away and enjoy the show. Kind of wish we had taken some pictures now.

Let alone mine...

Tim has more excuses than Barry has puns though.

 

[afwdwfan]

I hang my head in shame..... I have a lot of catching up to do around here....

Now what thread was it where I posted my "Why I can't keep on the DIS' excuses?

I think I've seen them once or twice.

subbing.

Glad you're here!

It is now an Indiana gathering....I'm in

Hey, it's the guy who takes 2 to 4 hours longer to get there!

I'm in thanks to the [shameless plug].

Awesome! It worked! Glad to have you here!

Didn't know you had a little one on the way. Congratulations. I am in for the long haul.

I think I posted in DDC a while back, but we all know how that thread can get. Thanks, glad you're here!

I'm in!

Welcome! I've been lurking on your PTR as my trip approached and yours got farther away. Looks like you've got a fun one planned though.

Hope I havent missed much yet!!!

Not at all. But I'm at one day into this thing and already have a pirate on the second page. It is officially a DISdad Trip Report.

Hi Andy! I'm joining in and looking forward to reading all about your trip!

Congrats on your new arrival

Thanks for stopping by! ... and thanks for the congrats.

Marking my place.

Hey, glad you're here. I need to give you credit later on for an idea you gave me.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I forgot the line about everyone, except my nemesis when I posted the shameless plug.

Hay, it could have been worse…



I missed snagging the prestigious position of "first to sign on" by less then a minute.

Now “that”… would have been insulting.

 

[katoot]

DW isn't as big of a Disney fan as I am

Table of Contents:

sounds like my DW....

 

[CandleontheWater]

I'm here, I'm here! Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[petals]

joining in!

 

[khertz]

Hey, glad you're here. I need to give you credit later on for an idea you gave me.

Hmm, now I'm intrigued!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in !!

 

[afwdwfan]

I missed snagging the prestigious position of "first to sign on" by less then a minute.

Now “that”… would have been insulting.

Yes. Yes it would.

sounds like my DW....

At least I don't have to convince mine to fly halfway around the world.

I'm here, I'm here! Can't wait to read all about it!

I'm glad you came by!

joining in!

Good to see you. Maybe we can see if we crossed paths at any point.

Hmm, now I'm intrigued!

Joining in !!

Thanks for stopping by for my slow start!


Ok, I'm finally back at work and hopefully getting into a somewhat "normal" schedule. Between vacation and 2 conferences, I figured yesterday that I'd slept in my own bed for a total of 4 out of the last 20 nights. I used to work for the USDA and traveled all the time. I'd routinely be away from home 4 nights each week. I even got a Christmas card one year from Holiday Inn Express congratulating me on being in the top 1% of their customers for the year. Just being away for a couple of conferences over the past week has made me grateful that I've had a new opportunity come about. It took a bit of a pay cut, but for the last 3 years, I've been working about 10 minutes from home and I'm there every night. I don't know how I used to do all that traveling.

Anyway, now that I'm working my way back to a routine schedule, hopefully I can get an update in here soon!

 

[afwdwfan]

What the fog???

We spent Thursday afternoon doing all the traditional Thanksgiving driving around and stuffing ourselves to no end. We usually end up with my dad’s side of the family where we watch a Christmas movie and hang out until very late at night. This year, we left before movie time and I was in bed by 7pm while DW kept DS awake and played downstairs to ensure he’d be thoroughly worn out for the drive. I had my alarm set for 11:45 and we were going to be on the road by midnight.

We loaded up the truck and I backed out of the garage at 12:23 am. We were on the road and Florida bound.

We had talked about flying, but decided to drive. I don’t mind flying, I actually enjoy it. What I don’t like is the hassle of getting to the airport and onto the plane. Since traveling with a toddler means taking half of your worldly possessions with you everywhere you go, we decided that it would just be easier to drive while he hopefully slept. That and we didn’t want DS to be “that kid” on a plane.

We pulled out onto the road and that’s when I realized this might not be a fun drive. There was fog. Heavy fog. So heavy it was dripping off my mirrors and forming ice sickles. It was a heavy fog when we left and it only gained intensity as we approached Louisville. I was driving through downtown Louisville barely able to see anything in front of me. I was starting to regret the plan to drive through the night, because if that fog didn’t break soon, it was going to be a long, miserable drive. I pressed on and finally about halfway through Kentucky the fog cleared. I was extremely relieved. I have never seen such an intense, widespread fog like that.

We made it to Georgia after just one quick stop for gas in Tennessee. Atlanta is always the wild card of the trip and we wanted to make sure we had a full tank of gas and full stomachs before we hit the metro area. McDonalds did the trick for a quick breakfast and we sailed through Atlanta during the tail end of a Black Friday morning rush hour without hitting any traffic to speak of. It sure was better than the drive though Louisville!

One of the best things about a road trip is the fact that you get to see interesting things. I’m not referring to the numerous billboards for adult bookstores and strippers that line I-75 in Georgia. I’m kind of an Ag nerd. I live on a corn and soybean farm, but growing things fascinates me. Crop science was my minor when I was in college. This was the first time I had ever driven through Georgia during the fall and I was kind of excited when I saw mature cotton plants standing in the fields. Better yet, I even got to see them harvesting it. Not something you ever get to see in Indiana. I really wish I had stopped to take pictures, but we pressed on. I thought it was interesting to see something new though. Little discoveries like that make the drive worthwhile!

We arrived at St. Pete beach at around 4pm. DS was a very good passenger for most of the drive, but started to get a little bit whiny for the last hour or 2. Who could blame him though? We kept him entertained with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the DVD player and once we got checked in, we headed down to the beach to burn off some energy.

 

[Moodyzblu]

I'm not a huge fan of driving to WDW (we used to drive from MA to FL and t's just WAY too far) but I love seeing all the side things. Farms and little towns are fascinating to me. I definitely love stopping at beaches too !

Love the pic of your ds on the beach !!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

…I was in bed by 7pm
I had my alarm set for 11:45…
I backed out of the garage at 12:23 am…

This sounds like my evening the night before Thanksgiving (but there were a very different set of circumstances for that schedule)

That and we didn’t want DS to be “that kid” on a plane.

I understand that one. Our boy’s first plane trip was at the age of 2-months , but thank the maker, he slept the whole time. Good thing too… this was before the advent of Air Marshals, and I suspect there’d have been blood shed had we been the parents of “that kid”.

We pulled out onto the road and that’s when I realized this might not be a fun drive. There was fog. Heavy fog. So heavy it was dripping off my mirrors and forming ice sickles.

I have yet to drive to Fla without getting rained on at least once. I do believe that fog of that caliber would count as precipitation in my book.

…we sailed through Atlanta during the tail end of a Black Friday morning rush hour without hitting any traffic to speak of. It sure was better than the drive though Louisville!

Fog worse then Black Friday traffic?
What the fog!

One of the best things about a road trip is the fact that you get to see interesting things. I’m not referring to the numerous billboards for adult bookstores and strippers that line I-75 in Georgia.

They’ve got those in mass quantities along I-95 through GA as well. It must be something about Georgia. We may need to ask Fed about that one.

I really wish I had stopped to take pictures…

Me too. Then you could have thrown in a side discussion on the process.


Topic… we don’t need no stinkin’ topic!

We arrived at St. Pete beach at around 4pm. DS was a very good passenger for most of the drive, but started to get a little bit whiny for the last hour or 2. Who could blame him though? We kept him entertained with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the DVD player

Better then the “Barney” that mine was into at that age.

Awwww… who an I kidding… DVD players in vehicles wasn’t happening back then. Long trips were torturous until the advent of the affordable “Game-Boy”.

That… sir… is one great father-son picture.

 

[that's nice]

Andy, your DS is a handsome young man!

That is some crazy fog!

We flew when Juliana was almost 2. It wasn't bad though. We packed her carry-on with all kinds of games and activities and a portable DVD player. It is only a 2 1/2 hour flight from here so it wasn't too bad.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Don't worry- the "that kid" spot on the plane is usually reserved for Everett. I'm sure you would have been safe!

Widespread fog does not sound like fun! I don't like driving across town, let alone across states, so that just sounds like a nightmare to me! Glad you made it to St Pete in one piece!

 

[KatMark]

Love the update, Andy. We used to drive to Florida from Chicago all the time (we first started flying in 2000, so made about six or seven trips driving ). Atlanta is the absolute worse spot to drive through...I used to try to time it so I would be asleep when we went through Atlanta.

I love the pictures on the beach with your son...so sweet.

 

[amazingact21]

I'm joining in! Aside from the fog, the drive didn't sound too bad, which is a good start to any trip.