One Crazy Redneck's Trip to see the Mouse and then off to Hogwarts

WyldLynx · Oct 24, 2010

Well here is the first half of our vacation Sept 11-15. The second half Sept 16-18 was spent at Universal so it will be listed in under the "Dark Side" trip reports. You can read the entire report on my blog listed at the end of this post.

Day 1- Saturday Sept 11
On a day ingrained in history for major drama :sad2:

our day started no different. We planned on driving down with about 5 people in our vehicle. Plans changed we ended up with 6 people in our vehicle, because the second half of our group had a family issue that came up ans they ended up flying down and we going to meet up with us on Mon or Tue depending on how their issues worked out.

We planned on renting a mini-van from Enterprise. Hubby and I went down to Enterprise to pick up our rental and got hit with new rules. I was going to use a debit credit card because that is where I had been putting our vacation savings instead of using our regular credit card but now Enterprise wants a utility bill or pay stub when you rent with a debit card. :scared1:

Which wouldn't have been an issue if I had known before we got there or they had ever asked for that kind of stuff at any time I had rented before. ( I had just rented a car from them maybe 4 weeks before this due to my SUV going into the shop) But of course I had scheduled to pick up at 11:30am on a Sat they closed at 12. :eek:

My house is almost a 20min drive one way from the closest Enterprise. :eek:

So we could not get the minivan. We got home and tried to call around to find something else but either places were closed or they did not have anything big enough for us. :confused3

The whole reason to rent a vehicle was to be able to change up drivers. My Ford Explorer is a 5-speed. I am the only one in the family that can drive a stick shift. :scared1:

I was extremely upset. :sad1:

I mean water works and total freak out mode for about 10min. :sad:

For a few minutes I thought we were going to have to wait until Monday to leave out and that was going to be a big IF we could get a big enough vehicle. But then I started looking at what local rental companies had available in this area and saw that my own Explorer was just as big if not bigger then most we found available, I got the crazy idea maybe we should just take the Explorer. :crazy:

Major Issue - I am the only one who can drive a stick shift. :scared1:

So I debated this for a good 30-45min. :confused3

I knew it would mean reconfiguring what all we were taking. I had everyone's luggage, a big cooler full of drinks for the trip down, a big box of snacks, and a couple bags of msc stuff. Plus making room in the cargo hold for my 18yr old nephew to ride. I just kept thinking "OMG :scared1:

it means a 12+ hr drive all on me". :crazy:

Well I decided to go ahead and do it. I wanted to leave out early so if I got too tired we had time to pull over somewhere and get a hotel room if needed. I told everyone lets go. This is about 2pm we were not planning on leaving out until 8pm. I know it is only 6hrs early but I figured that would give me at least that long if I needed to stop.

We had my nephew find a comfortable position near the back seats so he would be able to get out without us having to completely unload at every stop then we put up a net to keep the bags in place (we all packed in soft duffel/sport style bags and backpacks). Cooler got left behind, I didn't want to buy drinks on the road but that didn't happen. Big box of snacks got left behind. Bag of extra shoes (cut some of us down to one pair of sneakers and just water shoes) But we headed out about 2:30pm and first stop before we even get out of town is a gas station to fill up and grab drinks and a few 5hr energy drinks for me. I had laid out our stops and to go down but that was figuring on a late depart so plan A is long out the window. We had planned on stopping at a Cracker Barrel about 45mins out of town to eat dinner well it ended up being a late lunch. At least we ended up going over Monteagle Mountain in the daylight instead of after dark so that was a plus.

We made good time all the way to Atlanta, but after Atlanta we slowed down. We ended up with more "pit stops" between Atlanta and the Florida state line then the entire rest of the trip. :goodvibes

Got down into Florida and I was feeling pretty good considering so I called the hotel to see if we could check in a day early. I was feeling the long drive but felt like I could make it. I was never so happy though as when we turned onto the Florida turnpike. But when we finally hit Orlando I was exhausted and excited to find our hotel.

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites near Universal and Wet & Wild.

It is about 3:15 local time but our day is still not done. We got checked in and came back out to the Explorer to get the luggage only to find out we had a flat tire. :eek:

We were so lucky that we made it that far before it went, no idea what I ran over to flatten it but we were at the hotel and have AAA and a full size spare, so I was not to upset.

We got our stuff up to the rooms and I called AAA to come change the tire because guess what else got left at home (accidentally). We left the car jack and t-wrench at home. But still now big deal AAA was out in about 15-20min and had the tire changed in about 10 min. So it is about 4-4:15am I set the alarm clock for 8am so I could go get a new tire (on Sunday) not many choices but I found a place so now was time to at least get in a little sleep.

to be continued..................................

WyldLynx · Oct 24, 2010

Sunday Day 2

Alarm goes off way too soon for my liking but if I am going to get that tire changed I had better get moving.

So hubby and I put in the tire shop's address into the good ole GPS, and got a new tire put on. Not too bad and they only tried to shuck and jive me once. I'm sure it was the fact that I was a woman from out of town they thought that they might be able get me to buy 4 tires instead of just one. Oh well, can't dupe a woman who has extensive knowledge of cars so the joke was on them. Besides I had just looked at all my tires before I left and all were in good shape for the trip.

We head back to the hotel to get the rest of the group because we were heading for

I was wore out and the only wild ride I did was Disco H2O but the kids had fun. Hubby, my oldest and I cruised the Lazy River some and chilled in the wave pool.

It was ok. But then again I was wore out so I may be a little hard on the place. I know the kids had a blast.

Youngest son had a blast in the kids area.

Overall it was a cool start but we ended up calling it a day early.

We got to Wet & Wild around 11am and only stayed until about 3pm. By then I was just dragging and ready to go back to the room and relax.

So reluctantly the kids agreed to go with the promise of ordering food to the rooms. (major thing for my boys, major novelty because we don't travel a lot maybe once a year and usually short trips)

So we got back to the room and used deliveryandtogo.com and were able to get a food from 3 different restaurants so everyone was happy.
They were very prompt and the food was still really hot. Best part is that it came to us and I didn't have to drive out to get it. It was a little on the high side but I had the money I saved from what would have been used on a car rental so we were still sitting pretty.

It was a good meal after a very long day. So we hit the showers and shortly after the bed.

Next day is WALT DISNEY WORLD........

WyldLynx · Oct 26, 2010

We got up early and had a great breakfast at our hotel. They had an awesome hot breakfast that was included. Small buffet style but my crew was more then happy with it.

And we headed out to Magic Kingdom....FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!!

Yes we were uber excited. We arrived at the Ticket and Transportation Center and headed for the Monorail. But guess what Monorail was down, only thing running were buses. Not my ideal transport because we were really looking forward to riding the monorail but we were too excited to really care. That was until we got to the buses and saw the good size crowd waiting. When we finally got on a bus it was standing room only which was no fun (I have bad knees one that likes to go out on me on occasion.) I was concerned and was soon to find out it was justified. I was trying to hang on to my 6yr old who is no small child but had never been on a bus before. He was having a hard time holding on. No one would even give him a seat. But anyways we went around one corner and I got bumped by another passenger and had to take a half step back with my left leg only to feel and hear a loud POP from my left knee. It was loud enough that the lady and her small daughter who were sitting close to me heard it. All I could do was grit my teeth and hang on. We finally made it to Magic Kingdom and I limped over to the scooter rentals. I was not too happy but the mood didn't last long.

It has to be a magical place that is my hubby and my mom (his mother-in-law) LOL
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/wyldlynx/Vacation 2010/Vacation045.jpg
My nephew was the happiest I have ever seen him. But who wouldn't be happy if they got a graduation present like this.
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/wyldlynx/Vacation 2010/Vacation050.jpg
As I said it was our first time ever, and besides who can stay in a bad mood when waiting to enter a magical place. So we started with a few pictures while we waited.

Yes I made us matching t-shirts. They say "Celebrating...First Visit" (only regret is the black color - it was hot that day and we were not used to the humidity.)
It was soo cool, and when the train came around and they started welcoming everyone hubby and I both welled up with tears. It was very emotional for both of us because this trip was something we always thought was out of our reach financially. But actually it wasn't, it just took me doing a little research to see how affordable an Orlando vacation could be.
Yes I spent more time behind the camera then in front.

This was first thing in the morning right after opening we did the castle picture and headed left through Adventureland.

Can you tell how hot we were at about 9:30am???

We did the Swiss Family Treehouse well everyone except me. I had taken some alieve but it hadn't kicked in yet.

Hubby, youngest son and my mother then rode Aladdin's flying carpet.
We then headed for Pirates of the Caribbean which was amazing. No pictures from the inside I was too busy just enjoying the ride. Then we slowly headed into Frontierland and guess who we saw.....

My mom and oldest son rode Splash Mountain. I wasn't going to take a chance trying to get out of the boats with my knee already sore. But when they got done we (except youngest son and hubby) rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Which was very cool, I love rollercoasters and this was really cool even though it was a bit mild. We wandered around to the Liberty Square Riverboat, which was nice and relaxing. We then had lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern. And I hate to say that I was not impressed but at least it was air conditioned. Then our next stop was the Haunted Mansion which stalled on us while we were in the area where all doors were knocking. We sat there for about 5 min, my youngest was starting to wig out when it started back up again. But in the end even he said he wanted to do it again. But he wanted to see Mickey Mouse and get his autograph more then riding a ride.

Next we wandered around into Fantasyland where the kids and I rode the Mad Tea Party. Then hubby and youngest rode Dumbo. No we did not do "It's a small world" and "Peter Pan" was too long of a wait by this time.
Hubby and our boys went to ride Tomorrowland Speedway. And then we headed into the Toontown Fair to find Mickey ....

I was so worried he wouldn't go near the characters but as you can see here he was so not afraid.

While in Toontown Fair the two oldest boys rode Goofy's Barnstormer while youngest played in the playground there. After the boys got back we took a spin around the park on the Walt Disney Railroad. It was very cool and a nice easy cool ride. Once back in Toontown and getting back on my scooter we headed for Tomorrowland. Once there we did the Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Stitch's Great Escape, and the Monster Laugh floor. And last thing the oldest boys and my mom did Space Mountain, the boys liked it but my mom said never again but she is afraid of dark rides.

By then it was getting late and we were wore out so we voted on heading back to the hotel and skipping the fireworks. I now wish we had stayed but at the time my knee was swelling and everyone was pretty wore out. But next time we go we will see the fireworks in Magic Kingdom, but we have also decided to to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party so we will see then.

So we headed out Main Street taking our time to look into the shops and returned the scooter and finally got to ride the Monorail back to the TTC.

To Be Continued.....

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