February in Orlando, You Never Know What You're Going to Get.

[chicagoshannon]

Hello!

Our trip to Orlando was February 5-14. We were hoping to escape the cold Chicago February we'd experienced the last couple of years. You'll have to wait and see how that turned out.

Cast of characters:
Shannon (that's me), I homeschool the kids as well as various other volunteer activities outside of the house.

Eric, my DH, a software engineer, the one who makes the money so we can go on these trips! He is a thrill seeker and was looking forward to more thrilling rides than the rides at Disney

Madeline, my almost 9yr old, she loves the thrill rides also. She is the adventurous one.

Duncan, solidly 5, and the ride chicken of the group. He says "if it goes higher than Dumbo, I'm not riding" and he means it!

On this trip we would be going to Lego Land, Sea World, and Universal. We also had an overnight stay at the Boardwalk since we are DVC owners.

Here we are with Bumblebee on one of our first days in the park:

 

[schumigirl]

Hey Shannon..........nice start!!!

Nice family picture too..........eager to start reading about your trip..........

 

[chicagoshannon]

To save money (we always like to save money) we were driving to Orlando. That means about 20 hours in the car when all is said and done. In previous years we would leave around dinner time and then drive straight through and arrive in Orlando around noon the next day. This time we were going to try something different and actually get a hotel for the night on the way down.

We planned to leave at about 1pm on Feb 4th. We couldn't leave any earlier because it was the last day of swimming lessons and that meant the kids got to play. So they got to do this:


While I sat tapping my feet waiting to get going. At least they were getting their energy out before the long drive.

After lessons, I got them quickly showered and we drove home to a quick lunch. We thought about just going through a drive through but my kids are so picky that I decided to just whip up grilled cheese for them to eat in the car instead. I don't think there are any kids as picky as my two.

We drove and drove and drove. My kids have a knack for needing to stop for a bathroom shortly after we make a stop for food. So about an hour after supper Duncan decides we need to stop. He actually chose a good time to stop because we got to stop here:


Metropolis, IL. I did not know there was such a place but boy did that gas station use that to it's advantage. They had a huge section full of Superman things. Pretty much anything you could imagine was there to purchase.

After the pit stop we continued to drive until we got into Alabama. This was a new way for us. We were pretty much skipping Georgia completely. It was a nice change. I believe we stopped at a Holiday Inn for the night.

next time: Are we there yet?

 

[chicagoshannon]

Hey Shannon..........nice start!!!

Nice family picture too..........eager to start reading about your trip..........

Welcome and thanks! I think it was the only family picture we have from the trip.

 

[dsmom]

Can't wait to read along! I too homeschool. I love your sons dumbo comment, he sounds just like me.

 

[tink1957]

Great start Shannon...you have a lovely family.

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your adventures.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Woohoo, a trip report! I'm in!

Great family pic with Bumblebee . Your kids are just adorable! I, too, can relate to your son's personal ride restrictions.......so I am looking forward to hearing what rides and attractions made him smile on this trip (I hope he loved ET as much as I do!).

Metropolis, IL was quite a cool find (I love those funky little unique places, though....I'm a sucker for a corny photo op). My guys would have been very impressed .

Looking forward to the next entry!

 

[schumigirl]

That is a long drive......wow.......

Nice pics..........

 

[gsikes]

Love trip reports!!! Can't wait to hear more of your adventures.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Day 2: Friday

We woke up in Alabama on Friday. We got ready and headed to the continental breakfast. I was very impressed with the service here. A very nice employee was stationed in the room and went out of her way to assist with anything needed. So far I was very impressed with the state of Alabama.

So with our bellies full we headed to the car. In my head I knew it was going to be hours and hours in the car but also in my head I was thinking "we just have to get through Alabama and then we'll be in Florida". I believe it was about 8am. Around 11am we decided it was time for lunch, well someone had to go to the bathroom so we decided to also eat.

We stopped at a KFC with a buffet. The offender used the restroom and then we decided to check out the buffet. Well, since it wasn't Sunday they don't include Mac N Cheese on the buffet. Ok, well we'll just order the kids a side of mac. Also, the buffet wasn't quite ready. (maybe I don't like Alabama anymore) We waited about 10 minutes and the employees finally decided to let people eat. All of a sudden massive hoards of people swarmed the buffet. Apparently we weren't the only ones waiting. Luckily we hadn't ordered anything yet so we decided to ditch KFC and travel down the road some more.

A few miles away we spotted a gas station/ Checkers. Well, kids don't like burgers but we decided to stop anyway. We figured they could just eat something from the gas station (I know, I know). Much to our luck, just around the corner we spied a Little Ceasers. So, the kids got the crazy bread they wanted and we had our Checkers.


And since we were already at a gas station we went ahead and filled the tank. I think that whole stop took about 45 minutes. We were behind schedule so LETS GET A MOVE ON!

Back on the road. Would we ever get to Florida? YES! And much to our surprise there was a Welcome Center on the Alabama Florida border too! We usually take the Georgia route so we weren't sure if there would be one. It is a smaller Welcome Center but they still had juice!





Back in the car to drive some more. Nothing else really happened on the drive. We rolled into the area around 6 or 7pm. Since it was Friday we decided to make the awesome decision to head to Crossroads(heavy sarcasm) and eat at Sweet Tomatoes. I knew it was busy but also knew it was a good food choice for us.

With our bellies full we headed left out of the Crossroads area to our hotel for the night, Fairfield Inn. It seemed to be newly remolded and was very large. There was even one little boy swimming in the pool. It was a pretty cold night!

Next, We're going to Disney World! Wait! What?

 

[chicagoshannon]

I'm anxious to get to the fun part so how about another update.

We woke up on Saturday morning to sunny skies. YAY! It's going to be warm today!? We got ready and headed to breakfast. For such a large breakfast space I was unimpressed with the selection. The breakfast room was HUGE but there wasn't a whole lot of variety. It was just the standard, bagels, oatmeal, cereal, make your own waffle. Not a big deal. We ate and then gathered our belongings and headed to our next destination.


Yep we were headed through those gates. But just to our destination for the day. You see we bought into Disney Vacation club last February( a 25 point resale contract) and were anxious to try it out.

We drove into our home resort:

The plan was to check in and spend the day at the pool and explore the resort/area. It was 8am, would our room be ready? Well, it wasn't so we gave them our cell number so they could let us know when it was. Now lets head to the pool. But that wasn't open yet either. So far I'm really winning in the mom department today. Well, lets head to the rec area ( I forget what it's called). That didn't open until 9. I think it was about quarter to 9 at the time. So we just hung around outside and played imaginary ping pong (the table was there just no ball or paddles) Madeline also got to stick her feet into the quiet pool that was right there. I'm sure the older gentlemen enjoying the hot tub thought we were nuts.

Did I mention we were also carrying around a rather large bag with all of our things for the pool? yep. haha

Finally at 9am, the door were opened. Swarm, swarm! The kids loved the clubhouse. They had a whole wall of video games, crafting things, a very, very large TV, bucket of Lego, and a tub of Disney Barbies.

At about 9:45 we pulled the kids away so we could swim. I knew rain was in the forcast and it was almost warm enough to swim. The pool is heated so I thought why not. It was maybe 60 degrees. We suited up and headed to

I think I lasted about 30 minutes in the pool. The air was just so cold. Eric was a trooper and stayed in with the kids for another half hour or so.



Duncan walked all the way to the top of the slide and then chickened out. Maybe next time.

It was then time to get to our ADR for lunch. Where were we going? You'll have to wait to find out!

 

[Kivara]

I'm here reading along and loving your report so far! We've driven before (takes us about 18 hours) and while I love road trips, I'm glad we fly now.

I can totally relate to the picky eaters...my middle child has food allergies and my youngest is the pickiest eater I know. They always make dining interesting! haha

 

[chicagoshannon]

Yes, I think the worst part about the pickiness is that they'll like something for a while and then all of a sudden not like it anymore. It's very frustrating. Madeline seems to be outgrowing it a bit so maybe there's hope for Duncan too.

 

[tortilla24]

I'm here to read along!

 

[chicagoshannon]

So we were heading to lunch at the Beach Club. I had wanted to try Beaches and Cream for a long time. I was pretty excited.

On the walk over it started to sprinkle. I thought, ok by the time we're done eating the rain will be finished. haha

We had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. When "they" say the place is small "they" really mean it. I think there were 3 booths and maybe 8 tables. Good luck getting in there if you have more than 4 people.

I forget what Eric and I ordered but it was nothing to write home about. The kids both ordered mac n cheese. When they brought it out I thought my kids would never eat it. They used those weird wheat noodles But, Madeline surprised me and actually said it was good. We took Duncan's home in a doggie bag. Then it was time for dessert.



The desserts were good but we won't eat here again. The ice cream at Ghiradelli in DTD is just as good or better and you don't need an ADR. The food at Beaches and Cream was just too expensive for what you get.

With our bellies full, we headed back to see if our room was ready. You see we still hadn't received a text to say the villa was ready. It was about 1pm so 5 hours after we checked in. Eric checked with the front desk and yes, the room was ready. We were on the 2nd floor which is the same level as the lobby. The pool and outdoor things are on level 1.

We headed to our room to see if it was renovated. You see, I had been telling the kids all about the cool bed that flips down from the tv cabinet. They were excited to try it out. We get to the room and, doh, not renovated. Just our luck. At least the kids wouldn't fight over who got to sleep on the new bed.

It was still raining so we decided to head to DTD. The kids always love riding the bus so we thought that would entertain them. It took a while to get there and boy has DTD changed since 2014! We wandered around in the rain.

We stopped in the shop that has Winnie the Pooh outside and saw this huge display of Precious Moment dolls dressed like Disney characters.

They were really pretty.

We walked around for a while and bought Duncan a souvenir. I think it was a Jake gun or something. Well probably not a gun since I don't think they sell those anymore but I digress.

We decided we had had enough of the rain and headed back for a bus.

When we got back to the room we decided to just stay in and get pizza from the Boardwalk. The kids ran to the clubhouse and checked out a movie for the night.

I was really disappointed because I had a whole plan for the day evening that involved outside activities. We couldn't do any of that. One other note, we planned to rent one of the surrey bikes that sat 4 people and ride it around. Well, when we tried to do that we were told we could only get the 2 person bike because all 4 people have to be able to reach the peddles. They said the kids could both ride in the "baby" basket in the front of the 2 person bike. Madeline was NOT amused. Needless to say we passed and had a very upset girl on our hands.

Next up: checkout day and our first glimpse at Universal in 8 years.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh want a shame the rain scuppered your plans.........pizza and a movie is a good plan B. Shame you didn't get a refurbished room.........

Although it was a long time ago since we were last at DTD, 2008 actually, we enjoyed Ghiradellis a lot...........

Looking forward to hearing about your Universal time..........

 

[Kivara]

That's a shame about the weather and the bike. I'm not a doll person, but those Precious Moment-Disney dolls are just too cute!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Ah, the best laid plans. So frustrating when you can organize everything so expertly and then have something so out of your control, like the weather, foul things up. I hope your trip embodied the "poor start, good ending" philosophy and things got better from there!!

A couple of random thoughts from your first pics and entries (which are awesome!!!)....

- the clown pool at the Boardwalk scares the crap out of me . I think I must have been traumatized by clowns as a child.
- your KFC's in the US have buffets? Please don't tell my guys . That will have to be our little secret .
- those ice creams at Beaches & Cream look simply delish. Oh my gosh.
- I adore all your cheesy vacation pictures....the kids with the astronaut and dolphin statues, the fun photos at DTD. You're a girl after my own heart!!

Bring on the next update!

 

[macraven]

I always have to read and post when someone from chicagoland makes a trippie.

and i enjoy reading them complain (like i used to do) about cold snowy winters up there.

i moved out of chicagoland two months ago to Georgia......
byw, it was 75 here today.


it is a very long tiring drive from northern illinois to florida.
only did the drive three times then started budgeting air fare.....

will stick around to read more of your adventures at the darkside.

i'm loving your pictures!

 

[chicagoshannon]

I always have to read and post when someone from chicagoland makes a trippie.

and i enjoy reading them complain (like i used to do) about cold snowy winters up there.

i moved out of chicagoland two months ago to Georgia......
byw, it was 75 here today.


it is a very long tiring drive from northern illinois to florida.
only did the drive three times then started budgeting air fare.....

will stick around to read more of your adventures at the darkside.

i'm loving your pictures!

The winter this year has actually been very mild. It was 71 here yesterday (that's the reason there was no update, we spent the entire afternoon outside) Today was about 60 and then it rained. So we are looking at an early spring this year.

Ah, the best laid plans. So frustrating when you can organize everything so expertly and then have something so out of your control, like the weather, foul things up. I hope your trip embodied the "poor start, good ending" philosophy and things got better from there!!

A couple of random thoughts from your first pics and entries (which are awesome!!!)....

- the clown pool at the Boardwalk scares the crap out of me . I think I must have been traumatized by clowns as a child.
- your KFC's in the US have buffets? Please don't tell my guys . That will have to be our little secret .
- those ice creams at Beaches & Cream look simply delish. Oh my gosh.
- I adore all your cheesy vacation pictures....the kids with the astronaut and dolphin statues, the fun photos at DTD. You're a girl after my own heart!!

Bring on the next update!

KFC's in the south generally have buffets at lunch time. There aren't any near me at home that have them though. I can't say I've seen a KFC in Orlando though. Pizza Hut here also has lunch buffets.