https://knewz.com/drive-disney-family-vacation-flight-new-jersey/
New Jersey Dad Drove 17 Hours to Disney World After Wife and Kids Had Flight Canceled. Then, He Turned Around — Without Even Stepping Inside the Park.
By
Richard Burkard
7/17/2023
Some people will do anything for a
Disney experience.
Knewz.com learned about one family which took an unexpected 17-hour drive.
Nathan Montanez simply planned to drive his wife and two children to an airport. He would stay home in New Jersey and work while they flew to
Orlando to visit
Walt Disney World.
But then came trouble.
United Airlines canceled the flight 15 minutes before takeoff from Newark Liberty International Airport.
Wife Jill Tobin-Montanez tried to explain the worst to her children, since tickets on other flights to Orlando were unavailable for days.
But then came a surprise. Nathan Montanez messaged his wife, reporting he was back outside the airport. The family climbed into the car.
And then came a bigger surprise.
“He asked if we were ready to go. We said ‘yup,’” Tobin-Montanez told
Good News Network. “Then he told us to get ready for a long drive.”
How long? From New Jersey to Orlando, with no overnight stops. The husband became a marathon man behind the wheel, driving more than 1,000 miles. He even had the song “On the Road Again” on radio.
Nathan Montanez dropped his family off in
Florida past midnight, after a 17-hour drive. The wife and children didn’t miss a scheduled
Disney day.
As for dad? He rested for a few hours, then drove back to New Jersey without them. He had to get back to work, but in the end, he only missed one day’s pay.
“Not many people in this world would do that,” his wife said. “The kids absolutely appreciate what he did for them.”
Tobin-Montanez went on to call her husband “our rock… wife to one amazing dad.”
Her Facebook posts are private, so
Knewz is unable to report on how the trip to
Walt Disney World went.
But that sort of loyalty to
Disney seems to be lacking this summer in other travelers.
According to CBS News, attendance at
Disney’s Hollywood Studios on Independence Day was the third-worst in the past 12 months.
Touring Plans, a company that watches amusement parks, found the average wait time at
Walt Disney World on Tuesday, July 4 was 27 minutes. On the holiday in 2019, the wait was 47 minutes.
The Wall Street Journal noted attendance at theme parks in general is in a slump. For
Walt Disney World, attendance on the long
Independence Day weekend was the lightest in nearly 10 years.
While
Disney did not comment on the numbers, several reasons could be offered for the decline.
Some people point to price hikes by Disney. A ticket to the Orlando parks now costs more than $100.
People with a political bent wonder if Disney is paying a price for taking on Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis, in the debate over gender identity laws.
There’s also a civil rights theory. The NAACP warned against any travel to Florida because of how minority groups are treated there.
