Our Last big extended family vacation we think Aug. 2025

[Becky2005]

Pre-trip report here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/p...-vacation-we-think-aug-2025-edit-8-6.3948495/
We survived 17 people at Disney although 90% of the time we were split up!
Travel Day 1

We were all traveling from different areas. My daughter and her crew went down a day early as well as my brother. We drove from the Chicagoland area and picked Calhoun, GA as our stopover stop. I wanted to leave around 4 AM CST and ended up leaving closer to 4:30 AM which was what I had figured would happen.

We had one snafu in our trip in that we always use somewhat backroads for the first couple hours of our trip before hopping on the interstate. It usually involves a stop at a McDonald’s that is about 2 hours away but an accident had closed the road, so they veered us the opposite way. We ended up having a detour through cornfields (it’s a running joke that I am always being told to drive in the cornfields by the GPS!) and ended up a completely different way to get to the interstate. Always an experience when you are doing a road trip!

The rest of the drive day 1 was pretty uneventful with just a few snafu’s such as delays and bathrooms that were unexpectedly closed. We ended up eating at Waffle House for lunch instead of dinner as planned and that worked out much better for us. My husband’s goals on this trip were to eat at a Waffle House and go to Buc-cee’s. LOL!

We ended up getting to the hotel around 8:45 – 9:00 pm EST which was a Home2 Suites. We had 4 of us who all wanted our own beds which is why I choose a place that was more spacious. We still had to do some creativity as it was 2 queens & a pull-out couch I thought the hotel was decent and would make this our stopping place again if we drive. I like that it had a mini kitchen with a full sized fridge/freezer so we could put take our drinks out of the cooler and get them cold again for the 2nd day of the drive without having to use a ton of ice, etc…. Probably more than is needed for just an overnight stay in general.

 

[Becky2005]

Travel Day 2/Arrival day

I knew we still had a ways to go but didn’t have a specific time to get up. I was thrilled that the hotel breakfast started at 6:00 AM as I thought it wouldn’t start until 7 being a Sunday. It didn’t matter in the long run as we didn’t really get up and going until closer to 7 anyway but the option was nice.

We were back on the road a little after 8 AM and our first stop was to Buc-cee’s to get gas, have DH check out the store, etc… We knew going into this trip due to my husband’s medical issues things would be slower and his back was starting to hurt him so we didn’t stay long. By 9:00 AM we were on the road again.

We hit so much traffic on the way down not in your normal expected spots like Atlanta but just in general, so many car accidents that slowed things down. I literally put my car in park on I-75 a couple times during the backup which you know is bad being on an interstate and traffic is stopped to the point you can put your car in park waiting for things to move!!!! Our original plan was to get there around dinner time and go to Disney Springs but that didn’t happen.

We did get there a little after 7 pm. We were staying at Ft. Wilderness Cabins and we had a handicap accessible cabin. We were in cabin 2819 which was a good location for going to the Outpost bus stop (you could easily walk it so you didn’t have to take a 2nd bus) but very far from everything else.

We rented a wheelchair (not ecv) from Scooterbug and it was waiting for us at bell services, no problem there. The problem was that I rented the larger sized wheelchair thinking it would be more comfortable for my DH! That was a mistake. It was too large for the ramp onto the busses and also too big to fit on any rides! We are lucky that my husband can walk short distances and could transfer but you would have been screwed if that was not the case. If you need to rent a wheelchair always go with standard unless you have no other choice. We did get it taken care of later in the week but it ended up costing me more and a big hassle. I had originally rented the wheelchair until 11 AM on Saturday but due to the snafu, I had to have it back by 8 AM which you will see later messed even more things up! This was totally on me though, NOT on Scooterbug. I know they get some bad reviews on here but I had no problem with them and would rent again.

We ended up going to Trail’s End for dinner instead of Disney Springs and that is all we did that night. We were on the dining plan, so we also got our mugs that night. We didn’t use them much as being in the cabins does make it more difficult to use.

Being on the dining plan, we used our mugs for dinner but went ahead and grabbed a drink to take back out of the cooler. I had read about doing that but forgot until the cashier told us to do that. It was helpful because this ended up being a very hot week (not unexpected in August).

 

[cassidy57]

I am enjoying you report and can't wait to read more!!

 

[oufpat]

I'm really looking forward to this. I've recently booked rooms for 17 of us for next June. Our ages will be from 75 to 2, so I'm excited to learn any tips from you!!