Hold my umbrella while I find your poncho! A May 2012 TR-- NEW-FINALLY! 1/17; pg. 29

[chocolateMinnie]

Gorgeous family - can't wait for your report

 

[kimbo0569]

I read your other TR's! Can't wait to read this one!

 

[Bridora]

I'm Here.
No, I'm literally here. At all star movies waiting for magical depress.
Can't wait for your report but I'm soggy, I mean sorry about your title.
Dee

Magical depress-- Love it!

I'm here for your TR and was also in Florida for all the rain--we were soggy at Universal though, unfortunately--I would have much rather been soggy at a Disney park!

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm here!! Great intros, can't wait to read more!!

Glad you're here, Jen!

Good news, you have started your report. I look forward to reading about your adventures in the rain.

Glad you're reading!

I'm here !!

YAY!

I'm here. Sorry to hear about the rain (my sister and I experience 2 days of nonstop rain on our trip last year). But hopefully you made the most of it. It is nice to have shorter waits. And hey, you were at the Polynesian too.

Thanks, Sarah! Of course being at the Poly makes everything more bearable!

Woohoo! You started your TR! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks, Alicia! It will be fun comparing our two trip to see how we handled certain rainy situations!

I'm here! And can't wait to hear all about the trip.

P.S. Such a lovely family photo!

Thanks, Shannon! Glad you're here!

Wonderful introduction! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Glad you're here, Lisa!

Followed you over! Can't wait to hear the details!!

Glad you're here!

 

[MHTeacher]

A very nice picture of you and your family! Me and my family left the day you arrived. We only had one day of rain on Thursday but only for about an hour. Sorry to hear you had rain. Can't wait to hear about your trip.

Thank you! Glad you've joined in to read about it!

Here!!!

Glad you're here, Jackie! You are getting SO close to your own trip!

I followed you over from your PTR after finding it only a couple of days ago.

Glad you're reading along!

The cheerleader beat me....again.....

but I am here and ready to read along.

Except that I have an excuse note for two weeks that I will be absent soon.

I will enjoy reading about all of your family's fun and seeing pictures of the 'oh, so lovely' Polynesian.

Glad you're here! I will give you a two week pass!

I'm Here.
No, I'm literally here. At all star movies waiting for magical depress.
Can't wait for your report but I'm soggy, I mean sorry about your title.
Dee

Glad you're here, Dee! Magical depress! Can't wait to hear about your adventure with eighth graders!

I'm here! I can't wait to read all about your trip, even if you did have less than stellar weather. It sounds like y'all made the best of it.

Beautiful family pic!

Thanks! Glad you're reading along!

Can't wait to read about your trip!!!

It was great getting to meet you for a couple minutes!

I don't think our ponchos have had that much use on a WDW vacation ever! But, you just have to go with it and laugh your way through it. I guess it did save time since I wasn't extremely worried about doing my hair each day.

So glad you're here! I enjoyed meeting you and your family, even if it was just for a short while.

I hear you about forgetting to try to fix the hair since it rained nearly every day. Please know that my hair can look better than it probably did that day!

 

[MHTeacher]

I'm in!! Just back today! Ready to read along!

Glad you're here, Brooke! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

Nice! I'm looking forward to reading. You just can't let that rain stop you, but living in the south we are used to that, aren't we?

Glad you're here! You're right--we are used to rain and heat, that's for sure. We just had to keep on keeping on!

Glad to see you've started your TR!
Can't wait to read about your trip, even though it sounds like it was a wet one. When I saw Beryl coming through on the news stations, I thought about all the DISers in Orlando at the time and hoped their trip wasn't being hampered too bad by all the rain.

Glad you're here, Alicia! It rained too much to let it ruin the trip. We just had to put on the ponchos and go on! I'll let you know all about it!

Gorgeous family - can't wait for your report

Thank you!

I read your other TR's! Can't wait to read this one!

Oh, wow! Glad you're here to read this one too!

I'm here for your TR and was also in Florida for all the rain--we were soggy at Universal though, unfortunately--I would have much rather been soggy at a Disney park!

So you experienced the sogginess, too? We'll have to compare stories!

 

[MHTeacher]

TIME TO GO!

Saturday, May 26

I was up by 5:30 that morning. I had the van all ready with blankets, movies, headphones, and snacks. Kevin and I made quick work of loading the luggage into the van, and we woke two kids (Reid and Rachel). No pictures of the loaded van---One day I’ll remember to take some. I guess I’m just always too excited to get on the road to remember! We were on the road by 6 a.m.

Normally, we would travel south to Montgomery by I-65 south, and then detour to a state highway that travels southeast toward Dothan, Alabama. However, since we had a child at the beach in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, we had to take a detour that took us a good 1-1 ½ hour out of the way. (For those of you who didn't read my PTR-our oldest daughter graduated high school the Sunday before we left. She traveled with three of her friends to the beach the next day for a week long trip. However, they weren't scheduled to leave until Saturday, so we had to detour to pick her up.)

Elizabeth’s friends were headed over to Destin, Florida to meet up with one of the girl’s moms to stay the weekend, so they agreed to try to meet us near I-10 to help us from having to travel too much more out of the way. We wound up meeting in Milton, Florida right off the interstate between noon and 12:30. We got Elizabeth’s luggage out and loaded into our van, and said good-bye to the other girls. They continued on toward Panama City/ Destin, and we got right back up on the interstate to head to Tallahassee.

We stopped for lunch in Crestview, FL---fast food---We went in just for the purpose of getting out of the car for a while. Then it was the longest stretch of the trip---I 10 from Tallahassee to Gainesville. To me, this stretch seems to take forever.

Finally close to 7 p.m., we arrived near the Crossroads area, close to Downtown Disney. We saw this welcome sight (only it was dark outside!)

We were all starving, so we first headed over to a shopping center we knew would have a lot of variety as far as restaurants. We found this

The kids had never eaten at one of these, so I think they liked it. We ordered and made quick work of our dinner. We had been on the road for over 12 hours, and we were ready for showers and bed.

We drove just around the block and checked in at the Courtyard.

We used Marriott reward points, so this night didn’t cost us anything. We had a two-room suite. There was a sitting area with a sofa and two chairs. The sofa folded out to a bed. Separated by French doors was a bedroom with two queen beds. Perfect for a family of 5! Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to take any pictures, so you’ll just have to go on my description.

I promise the next updates will have more pictures!


NEXT: CHECK-IN DAY ---WILL OUR ROOM BE READY? WILL WE GET THE LONGHOUSE WE REQUESTED?

 

[PixieMama]

Off to a great start!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Your stretch from Tallahassee to Gainesville sounds like our stretch from Macon to Valdosta. The LONGEST, most boring stretch! It does feel like forever!

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!

 

[BrerMama]

Bless you for driving. Sounds like everyone did well!

 

[cinderella crazy]

Fudruckers! Yummy! Glad you had a pleasant trip down. Woohoo for free hotel room!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great start...can't wait to read all about it!

 

[stace208]

I made it here Michelle! Your girls are beautiful, as always, and I can't believe how much Reid has grown!!

Like MeMom, I am going to need a pass here soon. 5 more school days with kids and 10 days until we leave for Vero and WDW!

 

[creativeamanda]

Joining in!

 

[MaryAz]

Whoo Hooo the TR has started!!! Glad the day of travel went well. Oh dear about the title-sounds like our May 2009 trip.....

 

[Nermel9]

Looks like your travel day went smoothly! Can't wait to see where you ended up at the Poly!

 

[MeMom]

I wanted to walk around and stretch my legs just reading about your travels! I have become so spoiled to being at MCO in less than two hours. Whenever we have to drive again, I'll probably be a worse passenger than any of the little ones.

Can't wait to see your arrival at Poly.

I don't remember ever having a Fuddrucker's burger, either. It's always fun to try new places.

 

[natebenma]

Great to have your travel day behind you. Sounds like you made the trip without any trouble, despite the detour drama.

 

[amazingact21]

Whoohoo! Departure day! It's always such an exciting morning...


I actually live in the Destin/Crestview area, so I giggled when I saw that you stopped there for lunch. Hope getting to a fast food place wasn't too bad. It's kind of common knowledge that the road system and the drivers (especially the drivers) are horrible in Crestivew. All of us locals feel for travelers, because we know you're there are you are all coming off the interstate trying to make U-turns to get to the McDonald's or having to get into the left lane in a short amount of space to make the exit.


Glad that Fuddruckers was a success and that the one night at the Marriott was free. I can only imagine how exhausted you all were having just driven 12 hours!