amandaw
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2011
Does anyone ever sleep well on vacation? I surely dont. Its rare that I sleep a full night without waking up when were on vacation. I dont know if its 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 were towards the end of vacation, I may have a night or two that I sleep that whole night through. The only time Ive 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 didnt 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 doesnt 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, Reids bladder had different plans. Right before we were going to get on the toll road, he told us he needed to potty. Okay, fine, well 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. Theres a public restroom there. Thank goodness!
We made our quick potty stop and were, once again, back on the road! It wasnt 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 couldnt see me tearing up. I knew hed make fun of me.
Then it wasnt 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 Disneys 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. Thats 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) wouldnt 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 didnt take long but I dont understand why they cant just give you a shirt when theyre 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 couldnt blame him, it was getting past our lunchtime. I offered up food from that place but he didnt 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!