WyldLynx
Crazy Disney Addict
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2009
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 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. 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. My house is almost a 20min drive one way from the closest Enterprise. 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. 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.
I was extremely upset. I mean water works and total freak out mode for about 10min. 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. Major Issue - I am the only one who can drive a stick shift.
So I debated this for a good 30-45min. 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 it means a 12+ hr drive all on me".
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.
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. 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..................................
Day 1- Saturday Sept 11
On a day ingrained in history for major drama 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. 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. My house is almost a 20min drive one way from the closest Enterprise. 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. 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.
I was extremely upset. I mean water works and total freak out mode for about 10min. 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. Major Issue - I am the only one who can drive a stick shift.
So I debated this for a good 30-45min. 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 it means a 12+ hr drive all on me".
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.
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. 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..................................