Last night Li Li wanted to have a serious talk. Now that Part I of our ONE YEAR OF DISNEY WORLD was complete we had to get down to business of figuring out which table service establishments we were going to do on our next trip in only 55 days we would try and knock out on her list. (Li Li has a list of all the food establishments we wish to indulge ourselves over this delightful year of the Mouse.) There are a lot of them. We did not get to as many as we first thought we would on this last trip. In part this was due to my weakened state with my Disney head cold and in part that we realized the combined price of all these table service establishments adds up fast. I think we have an agreed to food game plan for this trip, but we just love to second guess ourselves so stay tuned.
We decided during our recent trip to change from four nights at Pop in standard rooms to four night at POFQ for our January trip. This was for a number of reasons, but included was the nice bounce back deal available and we just really like POFQ when we stayed there in September of 2014. Also, since we won’t have a car this time relying soling on the Mouse’s transportation have access to a boat to Disney Springs would be handy. Also, I really enjoy the PO pools. We also booked five night in May at POP in preferred rooms. On this trip we will have a car as we need a rental to travel from Sanford to WDW, and we won’t have to rely upon the Mouse to get around. (I suspect this reservation will stick, I would not be stunned if this change to a moderate or DVC rental is the correct deal came our way.)
The Drive:
The drive down and back from Hershey to Walt Disney World was relatively pain free. Turns out our Honda Pilot is a good long distance cruiser. One the way down and back I took the first driving shift and lasted about four hours before switched divers. For an SUV we average about 22 MPG and with gas around $2.00 per gallon the wallet was not too terribly lightened. All in all it too about 15 hours of actual driving to get to WDW and about the same back. We took 95 all the way on the drive back, but took the more inland Washington, D. C. avoiding in land route of 81/77/29/95 on the way down.
I would do it again, although we might do a few things differently. On the return trip we left at 10:30am and arrived home at 2:30am. I would leave around 8am next time. There is just something about getting home after midnight that is psychologically depressing. For the drive down I wish we could have left about 2 or 3 hours earlier. We hit some significant rush hour traffic leaving Harrisburg that a start at 2pm or so would have avoided and we probably would have gain the net of an hour of travel time by avoiding such traffic. However, Li Li seems to think the better solution is to leave at 3 or 4am the next morning and do the drive in a single swoop down. Not sure what we’re do on our next driving trip.
When will the next drive to WDW be rather than flying? I suspect our September, 2016 will be it. As we plan to stay at Fort Wilderness in a rented RV. Not an RV than we rent and dive down, but an RV that we rent and skilled people set up for us. As with everything else this is subject to change but the rates for FWCG are significantly cheaper in September than in May, while the price of the RV rental seems to be static from what I can determine. I just like the idea of moseying around the camp ground and saddling up to the bar soak in the atmosphere and then take a boat to MK. It will be grand.
There is so much more to report on staying at the Clarion, AoA, WL,
MVMCP, FW, chowing down at Vicky and Al’s. Stay tuned.
Yes, we got some great pictures!
