DAY -1 AND DAY 0: GETTING THERE
People always say that Getting there is half the fun. And sure, I guess that can be true. But more often than not, getting there is nowhere near half the fun. I mean, when your destination is something horrible, like the final exam for a class you cant understand, getting there is ALL of the fun. But when Walt Disney World is your destination, I wouldnt exactly say that getting there is half the fun. More like 1/80th of the fun. Or maybe 1/75th if you have a particularly enjoyable drive/flight. But half the fun? Nope, not even close.
WEDNESDAY JULY 21st:
[For the sake of being thorough, Im starting this report with the night before we left. Ive gotta include that OMG WERE LEAVING TOMORROW!!! excitement/stress, right?]
For me at least, Wednesday was UNBEARABLE. All I wanted to do was get in the car and start driving, but it seemed like time was moving at a ridiculously slow pace. I kept looking at the clock (which is never a good idea), and every single time it felt like time was barely moving. I mean, really, for how long can it be 5:00? Because it sure felt like an eternity.
Those of you who read my pre-trip report or followed along on twitter know that I am a notoriously late packer. Packing is the worst, and I tend to put it off for as long as possible. I really dont know how you people who pack weeks in advance do it. I cant even pack a day in advance. Ill try, but I end up getting distracted by something else. I guess I just dont see the point in packing that early when I still have so much time before I leave. [Sidenote: For me, so much time has included anything more than one hour. Yes, there was a time when I didnt finish packing until an hour before we left. Are you going to kick me off the DISboards now?]
So anyway, I literally spent all day Wednesday packing. I started bright and early around 10 (yes, thats early for me) and got like 2 shirts out. Then, I got distracted and did something else. And then around noon, I was like Oh, I should totally get to packing so I got a dress out of my closet and then got distracted again because Single Ladies came on the radio and I HAD to dance. I mean, it's "Single Ladies"...I just couldn't help myself. At one point I was debating whether or not to pack a pair of heels, and I ended up rearranging all of the shoes in my closet. So basically, no packing was accomplished while it was still light outside. But I did rearrange my shoes so um
not a complete waste of a day.
I told myself that I ABSOLUTELY MUST PACK right after we finished dinner, but (Im sure you can see where this is going) it turns out that Grease was on ABC Family and how could I pack while one of my favorite movies was on? So I did the Hand Jive with the students of Rydell High, only taking a break to quickly post a goodbye message on my PTR before I forgot, and I think by the time the movie ended, it was like 11:00. So that meant time to get to pack-
er
taking a shower.
I dont know about you guys, but for me the last shower at home is kind of a big deal. Its one final GLORIOUS high water pressure shower before I head off into a land of sucky water pressure. Plus, the water in Florida just feels harder than the water here. Instead of receiving a nice, watery head massage, I feel like Im being pelted with little pieces of plastic. And nobody wants that. Its no fun.
So I took a very loooong shower, savoring every second, painted my nails my favorite color- OPIs Paint My Moji-toes Red, and dried my hair, leaving only one thing left for me to do
Watch Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! I was a bit ambivalent on Jimmy at first, but lately his show has been hysterical. Or maybe Ive just lowered my funny standards. And because it was my lucky day, Jimmy sang my favorite thing ever- his Oil Spill protest song- and I laughed and sang along.
And then, FINALLY, I got down to packing. We were supposed to leave at 3:30 AM, so I had a two hour cushion, but I really didnt need it. Once I actually got serious about it, I packed in like half an hour. And I took this picture
Nice sandals, a pair of heels, and
Crocs. Im pretty sure WDW is the only destination in the world where packing all three of these pairs of shoes is completely normal. [Sidenote: I didnt even have to wear my Crocs this year! I bought them a few years ago because my feet/ankles were absolutely killing me, but apparently my weird foot issues are resolved. I attribute that to 2 years of hiking to class at Ohio State. Seriously, we have a GIANT campus. And Im pretty sure that after walking to class every day, I can handle anything.]
After packing, I still had an hour and a half to kill. I wasnt planning on sleeping at all until we got in the car, so I parked myself in front of my favorite thing, the TV, and flipped. After watching parts of several infomercials, I found vintage episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8 on Discovery Health. SCORE!! Those Gosselin kids are just too cute! Kate, I totally volunteer to be a nanny for your children! That way youll have plenty of time to do what you do best - not be around your kids.
Around 3:00, things started to go downhill. My mouth/jaw was absolutely killing me. Because Im the luckiest girl in the world, my wisdom teeth decided to start making an appearance in the days before we left. Or at least Im pretty sure its my wisdom teeth. I mean, I can feel a tooth poking through my gum. So anyway, Im in a ton of pain and I start freaking out. My parents were packing the car at the time and Im pretty sure I yelled out, JUST STOP PACKING! I DONT WANNA GO ANYMORE! I CANT! IM MISERABLE! at one point. It was not pretty.
And I dont know if Ive mentioned this before, but Im prone to anxiety attacks. Like, big deal anxiety attacks where my chest hurts and I feel like I cant breathe. So that started happening. At this point, in my mind, I absolutely cannot see myself getting in the car. I just cant. I was sucking on ice with my face in a pillow. And all I was thinking about was how could I walk around WDW like that? I couldnt.
But thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster, around 3:30 I was able to start calming myself down. Sure, my jaw hurt like hell, but I NEEDED WDW and I wasnt going to let anything stop me from getting there. So at
(That says 3:51 in case you cant read it) we locked up the house and headed out to the car for our 16 hour RIDE O FUN.
Heres a picture of Katie in the car.
And heres a picture of me.
At this point, I still had my face buried in my pillow. My jaw was so stiff. It was terribly uncomfortable. But I had Mickey Mouse's voice running through the back of my mind constantly repeating "WDW. YOU WILL BE THERE SOON. WDW. YOU WILL BE THERE SOON." And I tried to stay positive.
So anyway, we waved goodbye to our house and WE WERE OFF!!
THURSDAY JULY 22nd:
[Technically, it changed over to Thursday earlier in the report, but there wasnt really a good point to make this designation. So Im doing it now. Like I said before, this is my TR, I can do what I want.
]
It took me about an hour to fall asleep, but once I did, I slept through most of Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. It wasnt a constant sleep, but rather more of a sleep for an hour and then wake up for 15 minutes kind of thing.
Through North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia it was more of the on and off kind of sleeping, except it was more like be awake for 40 minutes and then sleep for 20. I passed my awake time by listening to the Broadway XM Radio station and counting down the mile-markers. Its a (very little) fun way to pass the time.
I didnt take any pictures during the ride down, but here are some pictures of the *exciting vistas* I took during the ride home.
There were A LOT of trees. More trees than anyone really ever needs to see.
There's a thrilling sign giving trucks instructions on how to safely drive down whatever highway we were driving on.
Oh, and theres actually a truck in this picture. I hope he was obeying the rules that the other sign laid out. Wouldnt want him to have to use those crazy runaway truck ramps in the mountains of (West) Virginia.
At a rest stop in Georgia, my dad found a brochure filled with these AWESOME paranormal ghost tours of Savannah. I totally want to go back sometime and take one. My friend and I are kind of obsessed with those ghost hunting shows, so I texted her and we both freaked out at the fact that they give you your very own EMF detector to use during the tour! THAT IS SO COOL. We are so lame.
Once we got to Jacksonville (woohoo for being in FLORIDA) we stopped for dinner at an Applebees and it took forever. There werent even that many people in the restaurant, so I dont quite understand why it took as long as it did, but whatever. Were on vacation. Who really cares when we get to Orlando anyway?
When we got back on the road, we plugged my ipod into the stereo and jammed out to some Glee tunes. Singing Somebody to Love and Dont Stop Believin when youre less than 2 hours away from WDW is quite exciting. Actually, just being 2 hours away from WDW is exciting in itself. I dont know how the people who live in Florida do it. If I knew that WDW was THAT close, someone would need to physically restrain me from getting in the car and driving there every morning. I have a hard enough time as it is, and I'm 16 hours away!!
Around 9, we hit the Orlando metropolitan area, and turned on some Disney music. Katie and I sang along to everyones favorite Disney song for singing along to, Ill Make a Man Out of You.
I tried taking pics of downtown Orlando, but this is what I got. Taking pictures from a moving car is hard.
This picture obviously doesnt show it, but the city looked really pretty at night. We usually arrive in Orlando during the day, so this was the first of many new experiences for us. But whether it is day or night, one thing Im always impressed by is just how many hotels there are in Orlando. I wonder how many hotel rooms there are. Its gotta be a GIANT number.
Before long we reached the Courtyard Mariott just outside Disney property where wed be spending the night. I was excited because our room keys were Summer Nighttastic themed.
I think I stared at them for 20 minutes thinking Oh, Disney, I AM ALMOST THERE!!!
I didnt take any pictures of the room, but it was really nice. The lamps were shaped like pineapples which thrilled me far more than it should have. Obviously it wasnt a Disney hotel, but we only needed a place to sleep for the night and it worked fine. My mom and sister did a little exploring, and I guess the place had, like, 3 pools. There were tons of people staying there, so if youre looking for a place to stay off Disney property, look into a Courtyard Mariott.
OH!! I absolutely have to mention this! Guess who appeared when we turned the TV on
.
STACY!!!!!
Stacy is a goddess and I missed her so much. There really is nothing better than watching her gallivant around WDW and deliver such classic lines as LOOK AT THOSE CHOMPERS!!! and the infamous TEST TRACK BABY!!! Oh, and the fact that she always says something along the lines of it being time to ride that puppy. I dont usually call things that arent baby dogs puppies, but when Im at WDW EVERYTHING becomes a puppy in honor of my girl. I dont just say, Oh, I am going to eat this Mickey Rice Crispy Treat. Its more of an I AM GOING TO DEVOUR THIS PUPPY!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Seriously, Stacy, if youre out there, will you be my best friend? We can stare at all of the yummy gelato guys in Italy together.
Anyway, I think I went to bed around 11. It took me a little bit to fall asleep because hotels/motels/whatever you want to call it make me feel weird. Like, sleeping in their beds makes me feel itchy. And its not like theres bed bugs, because it literally happens everywhere we go. Except for Disney. I dont know why, but Im always really comfortable at Disney. Probably because Ive been there so many times that it feels like home.
Well, thats all for now. I'm sorry that this update is SOOO LONG and kinda dull. But because I decided to cram all of the boring driving to WDW stuff into one update, we can just jump right into the good stuff with the next update!! So stay tuned!! And also, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." I don't know why I'm including that, but it seems like good advice.
I think you and your family were waiting around for the monorail and made a bet to see who could guess which monorail was coming. YOU guessed blue and as you saw the monorail pull up, you shouted "I'm coming and it's BLUE!" And then you may have added a celebratory "In your FACE!" 
), you can use my idea. 
I was just gonna wait to explain my TR title until we got to that part of the report, but I will say that you're very very close. Very close. Except it wasn't me who said it. 
I'm going to try to get a pair of the crocband ones they are selling down there now. 
So sorry about the jaw pain, trust me, I know all about wisdom tooth drama, it can RUIN anything, even WDW anticipation! 
She's just a part of WDW I guess!
I can't believe it got so bad that you said you didn't want to go! That's terrible. But I'm really happy you got it sorted out and I'm sure once you got to WDW all was forgotten. At least, I hope! Stupid stiff jaw 
I am glad you included the night/day that you left, I get so freaking excited just reading it!!!
) but thats just not for me.
