Well, this trip was....different. UPDATE - 4/3!

[TinksThree]

Originally Posted by amandaw

Thank you....I have to say that we actually had a pretty good drive to Tallahassee. Minus the detour in MS.

I had meant to comment that there seems to be bad wrecks a lot between the Gulfport area to Pascagoula. But it seems like so many people think the speed limit is 90 through there that it adds to the madness!

[Minnie&Nana]

All caught up -Thank goodness that stomach thingy passed before the trip began.

That Tabby Tray looks great...think I'll order one for the drive to FL Sophia, DD & sil make every winter to visit family.

Love road trip photos!

[fi46re129]

That really stinks about your stomach leading up to the trip.. I hope it doesn't come back during your trip... or worse Ed or Reid come down with it!

Loving the snazzy stroller lights and the car seat tray! Wish they had those when Nick was younger!

Your car looks like mine on the inside is it a chevy traverse? So in love with mine! lol

[firecracker725]

I'm here!

[hstrickland]

Hi there! Finally made it over...now I'll have to get caught up. We're on Fall Break this week, so I should have plenty of time.

Heather

[afwdwfan]

Originally Posted by amandaw

Well, I found that I really slowed it down this year. Or at least it was slow compared to our normal commando pace.

I keep thinking I'm going to do that. It never happens.

Originally Posted by amandaw

And I managed to put these battery operated LED shoelaces on our stroller

Wow, great idea! I might have to steal that one. I've been trying to think of ways to make ours more identifiable, especially since we have a City mini double and there are approximately 485,208,204,349 of them in the parks at any given time.

Originally Posted by amandaw

It took much convincing by myself and his teachers but he finally agreed to leave with me. When we got in the car, he finally let it sink in that we were really leaving right that moment for Disney. And he finally showed some excitement

Wow. I'm glad he enjoys being there so much, but I wouldn't think it would take too much prodding to head out the door to go to Disney World.

Originally Posted by amandaw

This took about an hour just to go a few miles.

The absolute worst thing about a road trip.

Originally Posted by amandaw

And there was another success with dinner - I was able to eat french fries without getting sick.

[t_daniels]

Joining in!

[amandaw]

Originally Posted by TinksThree

I had meant to comment that there seems to be bad wrecks a lot between the Gulfport area to Pascagoula. But it seems like so many people think the speed limit is 90 through there that it adds to the madness!

And what's crazy is I always feel like I see lots of cops on I-10 in MS. Maybe they're just out when I'm coming through.

What was really frustrating is that we stopped to get gas & potty when we were detoured off of the interstate. When I was loading Reid back in his car seat, I noticed cars going east on I-10. I showed Ed & we agreed that it must have opened back up. So, we go back down to the interstate. They still won't let us get on but they're no longer making people get off.

Originally Posted by Minnie&Nana

All caught up -Thank goodness that stomach thingy passed before the trip began.

Oh yes, I was so relieved to begin feeling better.

Originally Posted by Minnie&Nana

That Tabby Tray looks great...think I'll order one for the drive to FL Sophia, DD & sil make every winter to visit family.

I thought it was worth the $19. I liked that it was a hard tray & has a place for crayons and has a built-in cup holder.

Originally Posted by Minnie&Nana

Love road trip photos!

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by fi46re129

That really stinks about your stomach leading up to the trip.. I hope it doesn't come back during your trip... or worse Ed or Reid come down with it!

I kept fearing that one of the boys would get that yucky stomach bug. But, luckily, they never did!

Originally Posted by fi46re129

Loving the snazzy stroller lights and the car seat tray! Wish they had those when Nick was younger!

Thank you! I thought the stroller lights were fun! And the tray was really handy to have in the car.

Originally Posted by fi46re129

Your car looks like mine on the inside is it a chevy traverse? So in love with mine! lol

It is a Traverse! I love mine, too! My best friend also has one.

Originally Posted by firecracker725

I'm here!

So glad to have you here!!

Originally Posted by hstrickland

Hi there! Finally made it over...now I'll have to get caught up. We're on Fall Break this week, so I should have plenty of time.

Heather

So happy to have you here!!

We have Fall Break this week, too!

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I keep thinking I'm going to do that. It never happens.

You know....I can't tell you how many times in the past I've said that I would slow down & never did. I didn't intend on slowing down this year. But, once we were there, I just wanted to take it slow & enjoy the moments.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Wow, great idea! I might have to steal that one. I've been trying to think of ways to make ours more identifiable, especially since we have a City mini double and there are approximately 485,208,204,349 of them in the parks at any given time.

Steal away!! It was definitely a cheap & easy way to make our stroller a little different. We have a Maclaren, so it also gets lost very easily in the "Great Stroller Sea". We got lots of compliments on our little lights from other guests & CMs.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

Wow. I'm glad he enjoys being there so much, but I wouldn't think it would take too much prodding to head out the door to go to Disney World.

Right?!? I couldn't believe he was putting up such a fight to leave school. I just don't think he believed me that we were leaving right that moment. It literally took myself, 2 teachers & the director to convince him he should leave.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

The absolute worst thing about a road trip.

Indeed!!

Originally Posted by t_daniels

Joining in!

[Mickcruiser]

Gonna start following

[amandaw]

Originally Posted by Mickcruiser

Gonna start following

Thank you and

[amandaw]

Does anyone ever sleep well on vacation? I surely don’t. It’s rare that I sleep a full night without waking up when we’re on vacation. I don’t know if it’s the excitement of vacation, not being in my own bed/home or something else but I usually wake up about every hour or every couple of hours during the night. Once we’re towards the end of vacation, I may have a night or two that I sleep that whole night through. The only time I’ve slept peacefully on a vacation is when we were on the Dream last year. The beds are just heavenly! The thought of them makes me excited to get on the Fantasy in June.

But, I digress. Back to talking about our most recent trip. We had checked into our hotel room in Tallahassee for Thursday night. After much tossing & turning & waking up, my alarm went off at 6:30 am. I was tired and slow to get up but eventually all three of us were out of bed by 6:45 am. Reid was enjoying a little bit of TV time:





Everyone got ready for the day and then we headed to the lobby of the Wingate for the free breakfast. I thought they had a decent food selection: scrambled eggs, sausage patties, toast, french toast, English muffins, pastries, cereals, yogurt, milk and juices (apple and orange). They also had a “make-your-own-waffle” station. We chose this option. Reid and I got drinks while Ed made a waffle for himself and one for Reid and I to share. I have to say that the waffles were pretty good! And quite filling!

Once our bellies were full, we went back to our room to grab our luggage. The boys went to load up the car while I did one last room check for our stuff. Unfortunately, I think I didn’t do a very good job this day. I am almost certain that I somehow left my favorite LSU sweater here. Unless I left it at Beach Club. Either way, my favorite sweater that I wore all the time is now gone. But, anyway, I did my room sweep and went out to meet the boys at the car.

We were loaded up and on the road for 8:25 am. Someone was excited to be back in the car and on our way:



It was a really pretty morning and everyone was in good spirits. Until Reid started getting a little restless. So, I quickly gave out another goody bag:



He loves the Three Mouseketeers movie so he was very excited when he pulled out the book. He was quite content from this point out and was pretty much able to entertain himself. When we got around Lake City, FL we made a gas and potty stop. That was quick enough. Then Reid wanted something to drink. I put some Sprite in a lidded cup for him. Well, evidently that cup doesn’t like carbonated drinks & started spewing Sprite everywhere. So, we quickly pulled into a hotel parking lot so I could empty out the Sprite. I found some water to put in his cup instead. The cup was much happier with that choice.

We were finally back on the road! Only thing was that when we got back on the road, Ed and I realized pretty much right away that we had forgot to take out cash before leaving home. We never carry cash on us. Seriously. Not even change. But we knew we were going to need some sort of currency to get onto all the lovely Florida toll roads. We drove for a bit and then got off at an exit in Gainesville. Luckily, we were able to find an ATM very close to the interstate.

Cash in wallet, we were back on the road! And we were determined not to stop until we got to Disney World! However, Reid’s bladder had different plans. Right before we were going to get on the toll road, he told us he needed to potty. Okay, fine, we’ll stop. Only problem is that there were no exits with gas stations or anything. I really felt bad for him and was close to making Ed pull over on the side of the road for the little fellow. But, we were now at the first toll plaza. Thankfully, Ed thought to ask the toll booth operator how far the next exit with a bathroom would be. Her answer was, “16 miles”. She must have seen the look of horror on my face because she quickly added, “But, you can carefully cross all the way over to your right and pull into our office parking lot. There’s a public restroom there.” Thank goodness!

We made our quick potty stop and were, once again, back on the road! It wasn’t too long before we started getting closer to Disney. Someone, besides myself, was started to getting excited.



And excitement really started to grow when this sign popped up:





And then we finally came across the best sign in the world:



Excitement was at a full-blown high at this point:



One more picture because I just love that sign so much:



Reid and I were squealing so loud that I think all of Florida certainly heard us. I was happy to have my sunglasses on so Ed couldn’t see me tearing up. I knew he’d make fun of me.

Then it wasn’t long until we arrived at our first destination:



We were on our way to the Fitness Expo for the Tower of Terror races. Ed had to pick up his packet for the 10 mile race and I needed to get mine for the 5K. This was our first time ever going to Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

When we arrived, all you could see were cars everywhere. That place was busy! But there must have been some sort of baseball tournament going on because we saw lots of baseball players unloading equipment and such. We got parked and everyone hopped out of the car, happy to stretch our legs.....and to finally be in Disney!! Someone was being a little extra silly:



We followed the crowds and made our way towards the main complex:





We made our way to the Expo. It was crowded! Once we found the lines to pick up our race bibs, we split up. Ed went to stand in his line while Reid and I went to get my bib. My line was extremely short and we were done quickly. Unfortunately, Ed had hardly moved. At this point, Reid was starting to get really whiny and defiant. I knew I had seen a booth earlier that might brighten his mood: a Dannon yogurt booth. My child loves yogurt and especially the kind they were handing out: Dannon Light & Fit. That’s the kind I buy at home and he gobbles it up!

So, Reid and I made our way to the yogurt booth. I grabbed him a Strawberry Banana yogurt and we found a spot on the floor to sit where we (hopefully) wouldn’t be trampled. Right when Reid was finishing his yogurt, Ed walked up to us. He finally had his race bib. Now, we had to go stand in another line for our race shirts. This didn’t take long but I don’t understand why they can’t just give you a shirt when they’re giving you your other race stuff.

Once we had that in our hands, I was ready to get out of there. The place was really crowded. There were a few times that Reid got stepped on/into by adults. They had you exit near a food place, ESPN Grill or something like that. Reid said he was hungry. I couldn’t blame him, it was getting past our lunchtime. I offered up food from that place but he didn’t want anything there. I asked if he would rather just go to the resort for lunch and he said yes.

We made our way back to our car and were soon headed out of Wide World of Sports!

[KatMark]

Great update, Amanda. I'm sorry you lost your sweater.

Reid looks so excited in the car as you are getting closer.

And I usually put on my sun glasses too when we pull up to Disney. , Although Mark loves Disney, he hasn't quite figured out the tears.

[t_daniels]

Love that sign!

So nice of her to let you use their bathroom! Whew!

[marDgreen88]

I usually have problems the first couple of nights in a different bed on vacation or wherever, but this year it was the complete opposite. The beds at BLT are amazing (more incentive for you to stay there! )

I'm sorry you lost your sweatshirt!

Your sign pictures are so great! Reid is so cute with his little Mickey ears!

Oof, WWoS sounds too hectic and just not fun. Good idea for yall to get that done right away!

[Belle83]

Your son is ridiculously cute. I love that you had to convince him to leave for WDW