It has been over six months since our last trip to the World and we needed our Disney fix. Yes, I know we are lucky. Like a general, the invasion plans were well laid out. The biggest was nabbing a Grand Villa at the 11 month window. As other deadlines approached, think dining and the cruise, everything was set and we were ready to go.
When plans are made I also found out they also need to be flexible. And the drive up ended up needing to be just that. Partially my fault, others were an act of divine intervention. Per the plan, I met the kids in the morning at school to pick up their bags. 1 stayed the night with us and another mom dropped off her daughters bag the night before. The rest met me at the school drop off point on time and things went well. Looking good. For now.
Got back to the house and I have to admit that while I am a Disney trip planner extraordinaire, my personal packing ability is lacking. While the kids laundry was done earlier, mine was started when I got back from school. A big mistake. Plus I had some unexpected work to finish. Finally, I was able to drop the dog off at the vet and I was at the car place at 2:00. In the meantime, laundry is tumbling in the dryer. The car company is the one that will pick you up but I found out that they would not deliver the car and let you take the delivery driver back. So, I had to drive my car to the house and wait for the guy to deliver the van that I could see in the parking lot while I was there. Then he needed to drive me back so they could hand over the keys and say, Here is your car.
After all that, I finally got back to the house. Threw the clothes that were in the dryer in my suitcase and transferred the million bags from the car to the rental van. The idea was to pick the kids up at 3:00 but it was after 4:00 before I left the house. Finally picked them up at close to 4:30.
I knew it was going to be tight but not this tight. Wish I would have taken a pic of the back where there bags were. Every time I opened the tailgate, many things would fall out. We also had snacks, drinks and computers in the front of the van making getting in and out difficult.
Loaded them and their school bags and we were off. How we fit everything in, I have no idea. The plan was to take the Turnpike extension and zip up to Orlando. All was good except one thing. I FORGOT THE TICKETS. What an idiot. So we had to go back to the house and had to bypass the Turnpike. After picking up the tickets, we were back on the road, this time the Palmetto. Traffic was heavy and it took forever to get out of Dade County and hook up with the Turnpike. Once we got to West Palm, things again slowed to a crawl. Plus it was raining heavily. To make a long story less long, we finally made it to the Buena Vista Hilton a little before 10:00.
The plan was to go to Riverside and see Yeehaw Bob but I bagged that idea. All I wanted to do was to put up my feet and have a cocktail. Check-in was smooth. They assumed I wanted adjoining rooms. Thought about it for a minute and was about to ask if you could put them in another hotel, but said yes, adjoining rooms would work. All the kids took one room which meant some of them had to sleep on the floor. They loved it. There was some noise but after a couple of times chastising them, they quieted down and went to sleep. I was hyped up from the drive and stayed up later than they did.
I have to say, the Hilton was nice. Especially with the price that I paid. I also asked where I could buy a razor since I forgot mine and they gladly handed one over free of charge. They did charge $10 for self parking which was annoying. Here are a few pics of the resort.
The bed was real comfy.
The flat screen HDTV was really cool. Have to get me one of those.
The desk/work area was nice. They charge for internet service unless you are a Hilton rewards customer so that was my excuse not to log on and do some work.
Settled down to watch some TV and yell at the kids to keep the noise level down. Finally went to bed. Got up late the next morning, around 6:30. Normally I am up and about at 5:30. Watched the news and checked the weather. Today was going to be iffy, major chance of thunderstorms. Hope it will not ruin the Illuminations cruise.
Got the car and drove over to the Boardwalk. Ahh, home again. Charlotte checked me in with no wait and handed me my Welcome Home packet. Had a discussion with her and the CM next to her about the idiotic decision to take my daughter and 6 of her friends alone to WDW. They were sympathetic but thought it was funny. Gee, thanks.
Returned to the Hilton and after a bit, I decided to have breakfast. I went to the main restaurant, sorry, forgot the name. They had a buffet for $20 or you could choose from their menu selections. I opted to order off the menu and had the usual eggs, sausage and home fries. The meal was good but could have been hotter. My server was not very efficient and I had to wait forever for my drink, ordering the meal, food, refill of my drink, the check
It is vacation time so I did not sweat it. Total with tip came to about $19 dollars.
Still too early to wake up the munchkins so I walked around the resort. As an aside when they went to bed last night they asked when they were going to get up in the morning. Some suggested noon. I laughed my evil laugh and told them we needed to be out of the rooms by 11:00. First wake-up call will be at 9:30 and they needed to be ready to go at 10:45. That did not go over well.
Some pics of the hotel. They have an Edys Ice Cream place if you have a sweet tooth attack
This is their general store that is open 24 hours. Good selection of stuff. Not cheap, I would say Disney priced.
There was some construction going on where they had part of the lobby walled off
This is their sports bar. Had cocktails in the room so I did not visit it.
The
Disney store, so close but yet so far from the mouses house.
So I guess the place I had breakfast was the Covington Hill Restaurant. Prices for the character breakfast seemed reasonable especially when you get champagne and mimosas. Cindys place could use the mimosa idea.
The only negative I could find was transportation issues. The busses are supposed to leave every 30 minutes but a couple of people I talked to said that was a fallacy.
This bus was taunting the people waiting to go to the parks. The driver eventually got in and promptly pulled out without picking anyone up.
The view from the room. Nice, but not a Boardwalk view is it.
That is it for now. Up next, waking up the mob and tea.
because this one had me 
. Can't wait for the rest of the TR.
