After all of the Disney Dreaming that I had done I was actually taken by surprise by how utterly unprepared I felt when we finally decided to go. Time was a wastin
I had no laminated cards or other discrazed tools ready. But since we were only doing one park day I figured we could wing it more than before. The family chose the Magic Kingdom for our park day and I am familiar enough with that park to know where to go/when to minimize wait times. I did a quick post on TGM to confirm my plan and that was that.
My parents wanted to come along to see the baby at WDW for the first time. I figured that they wouldnt camp with us, but put them on our FW reservation anyway, just in case. Having learned our lesson about doing too much in a day and then setting up camp, we decided to stay in a hotel our first night there. That worked out perfectly since the only reservation I could get for FW started on Halloween.
As the trip took shape we actually added in more activities my mom really wanted the kids to see Harry Potter Island after she had seen it on TV. My oldest son has read the books over and over again and the middle guy was just getting into HP. So we added a Universal day in to our plans. Also, our Busch Gardens annual passes include admission to Sea World so we thought wed try to get there, too, since we had never been. Still, there wasnt a whole lot I could do to plan those parks
so wed just have to play it by ear.
The bigger issue for this trip was that we would be camping, and that took loads of preparation, especially for newbie campers like us. Plus the months of September and October were just crazy, as they are for many families, with two of the boys being in school and my teaching three day a week preschool. And as luck would have it I had the opportunity to apply for a new job the first week of October and ended up getting an interview, a second interview, and yes the job
This was a great opportunity to teach at our local elementary. But it meant that October was even more wacky than usual between the stress of the interviews, spending my days off shadowing the teacher I would be replacing, briefing the teacher who would be replacing me, and of course getting all of the Halloween costumes ready for the boys, all of the planning and packing done Whew!
By the time October 29th rolled around we
needed a vacation. Bad.
Over the summer I had decided that my boys should have the fun of driving to Florida. I did it lots of times when I was younger, and its an experience that I didnt want them to miss. The exit watching, the billboards, the anticipation
Call me crazy, but I do love a good road trip!
Plus with all of the camping stuff it was practical. I was very excited about driving and I think that my enthusiasm rubbed off on my mom. A few weeks before the trip she decided that if we were driving shed have to come with us. She didnt want to miss the boys initiations as long distance road trippers
We decided that wed drive down in her van. My dad would fly, rent a car, and meet us there. We even bought a really nifty item to carry some of our stuff its called a Roof Bag and its a soft sided thingy that you strap to the top of the car. We would need the extra room with all of the stuff that was piling up in our packing pile. If you ever need more cargo space I would really recommend the Roof Bag it holds a lot and it was a lifesaver for us.
So the night before the trip DH and I attached the thing to the roof and shoved it as full as we could with tents and tarps and blankets and coolers. We packed the car and hit the hay for our trip day the next day!
I was scheduled to leave work early that day, and had tried to feel the boys out about leaving school early, but they both really wanted to be at school for their Halloween parties/parades. So we set our goal at leaving at 3pm when the kids got out of school. DH was at home that day to take the puppy to the doggie care place and finish up some last minute stuff. As the day wore on, tried as we might, it became clear that we werent quite ready to go. So DH and I just decided to take some deep breaths and get on the road when we could. We got to go together to the kids school parade, which was fun.
DS11 was a spiderweb with a giant spider on his head.
DS8 was a knight.
Next came a variety of comical (in retrospect) mishaps which included (but were not limited to) my van running out of gas after the school parade causing DH and me to have to walk ½ mile in the rain pushing the baby in the stroller, Oh, and an incident where my dad decided that the kids were too smooshed in the back seat and yanked my moms big suitcase out of the car as he declared that it made much more sense for him to lug it to the airport and pay to check it as baggage. Personally I thought he was just upset that he wasnt getting to drive 18 hours in a fully packed car with three kids , three adults, and a weeks worth of clothes, linens and non-perishable foods
Finally, at about 6pm, we were on the road. The good part about leaving late was that there was no traffic. We were all so excited. Ill say it again I love a good road trip! We stopped at a BK for dinner, and the little guy had a great time running around the restaurant in his paper crown.
All I could think was that we were FINALLY on the way and that if the baby was having that much fun at the BK he was going to go nuts at DISNEY !!!!
We had planned to try to make it to South Carolina and then stop for the night. But by the time we were getting through North Carolina DH and I just kept looking at the GPS , which said that we would reach Florida at 9:30 am, then looking at our sleeping (and super quiet
) boys and wondering aloud to each other if we should just drive through the night. We had talked about the possibility of going straight through before leaving, but worried that wed be too tired and it wouldnt be safe. We kept deciding to just keep going a bit more, and we took turns napping. Almost before we knew it the sun was rising and before too long we were having breakfast at a Waffle House in Georgia. This was big fun for all of us it seemed so southern, although I am pretty sure that they even have Waffle Houses in NJ now.
Another hour or so and we saw the WELCOME to FLORIDA sign. Wooooo Hooooo!
We then pulled in to what has to be the most elaborate welcome center in the country! I have one word for the Florida Welcome Center Wow! They have walls and walls of brochures of things to do in Florida, sorted by region.
They have comfy furniture for taking a load off.
And FREE orange juice J
I was excited to see this displayed:
The one strange thing that we noticed was that while the weather had been cool all the way down, even at breakfast in Georgia, as soon as we crossed the line to Florida it was HOT! Very strange. No worries though, we were packin an a/c for our tent
The baby was fascinated with the shrubbery.
And of course we had to do some "Florida" poses!
After some fun pictures and liquid sunshine we were back on the road and on the way to Orlando!
We finally pulled in to the Orlando area and we did hit quite a bit of traffic on I-4. But we crawled along and made it to Kissimmee by mid-afternoon. We went and checked my mom into her hotel where she could take a rest and wait for my dads flight to land.
DH, the boys and I headed over to the (outer edge of the) DTD area to check into our hotel. I had used Hotwire for the first time to snag the room for like $35 for the night. I have to admit I was a bit worried. We picked up a pizza and checked in. I cant even remember the name of the place now it is the one with the big pineapple in front. It turned out to be just fine for the night our room was clean and comfy. We settled in to have a bite, change, and head out to downtown Disney for some pre-Halloween Trick or Treating.
Next up
Haunting Downtown Disney
Anytime I venture over there I end up getting mad at those tools. Mean spirited I tell ya! 
I feel like I am hitting the big time now !!!! Thats great that you were a Scout, TCD. My boys do plan to stay in scouting 
We wandered around, getting into the candy lines as we went. At that point the lines were moving really fast just a few minutes and you would be up to the cauldron CMs. Sometimes they would give the kids a piece or two of candy, sometimes a whole handful. I have to say that I thought it was a very nice event especially since Disney was doing it for FREE we were impressed.
and FW 
