Day 1 & 2: Departure Day & Arriving at our Rental Home
The day had finally arrived, June 15th, and we were headed to Disney and nothing could calm my excitement! We had been counting down this trip for about a year, and it was finally here!
Now let me tell you that June 15th and 16th were the longest two days of my entire life! We traveled from Illinois to Disney by car...yes that is correct we drove 1190.31 miles, straight through 5 states of this glorious nation. We didnt leave until about 9:30 on June 15th, so I spent the entire day staring at the clock, wondering when DBF was going to come and pick me up so we could finally leave!
DBF had the day off of work that day so I probably called him 4 or 5 times (and IMed him about another 3 times) asking him if he remembered the walkie talkies, (we took two cars) bought the food, checked the tires, and of course the question I asked most: what time he thought he would be picking me up? His answer was usually 4:00 PM 5:00 PM, okay I can live with that, not too bad. Well 5:00 PM came, still no DBF. I was restless, I just wanted to leave and I knew we had a long drive ahead of us. Well DBF finally showed his face around 6:30, we were already behind schedule because we wanted to go have dinner at 7:00 and be on the road by 8:00. Yeah that wasnt happening, our cars werent even loaded and packed yet, and I live a good half hour away from DBF. Behind schedule on day 1 already? This was not putting me in a good mood. But then I remembered, oh yeah Im going to Disney, bad mood no more.
I helped DBF pack up all my stuff in his car, said goodbye to my mom, dad, and dog. We even took a trip down to our barns to say goodbye to my cat and her three babies. And finally we were off! It felt like we got every red light on the way to DBFs house, and I think we did, it felt like it took forever! I asked DBF what time he got up and what he accomplished today. He responded that he got up at 6:00 AM.
WHAT?
You have the day off and you know you are about to drive 24 hours straight through to Florida and you wake up at 6:00 AM? Not smart, I thought. He was going to be falling asleep behind the wheel by midnight. I probably scolded him for getting up way too early and he just brushed it off as not a big deal. I let it go...something I am getting much better at, just ask Justin.
What I didnt know then, but know now is that DBF didnt get up at 6:00 AM, he actually got up at 3:00 AM. Even better, right? The reason for his early morning had nothing to do with the fact that he couldnt sleep, or he believed the early bird gets the worm, unless of course you consider me a worm...
You see, he had never asked my dads permission to marry me, and in Italian families like mine, you do not dare ask someones daughter to marry you unless you ask daddy first. If you dont it is like an automatic disownment (is that a word) of a son-in-law.
Smart DBF knew this and decided to wait until the last possible moment to ask my dad his permission. So DBF was at my house, waiting in my driveway at 4:00 AM waiting for my dad to open the garage and go to work. Needless to say, seeing someone sitting in your driveway at 4:00 AM would sort of scare the (insert word of choice here) out of you, and that is exactly what it did to my dad. Of course I was sleeping all snuggly in my bed dreaming of castles, Mickey, and Splash Mountain, so I had no clue that DBF was even over.
The reason DBF decided to scare my father at 4:00 AM was not because he just enjoys doing that sort of thing, which sometimes I think he does, he really did it because my family has some big mouths. Not only are they loud but none of them can keep a secret no matter how big or how small. The way DBF saw it if asked any earlier than the day we left then I would know that a proposal was coming and he figured the conversation would probably go like this...
DBF: I am here to ask if I can marry your daughter. But please dont tell anyone that I have asked you.
Dad: Ok, thank you. (my dad is not a big talker)
DBF: Thank You
DBF leaves.
Dad calls my mom, my brother, my sister to tell them what just happened.
Mom then calls my grandma, and aunts in Illinois
Sister tells my brother in law.
Brother calls my sister (who already knows) and cousins.
Aunts tell their husbands and children (who already know)
Grandma calls Italy, Arizona, California, Florida, and anyone else who has even a name that sounds Italian.
Before you know it, every person in my family knows and would be acting strange and I would suspect something was going on. We know this because it happened to my sister. Everyone knew within an hour that my brother in law asked my dads permission.
So to avoid this fiasco DBF made sure to ask the morning we were leaving so that he could rest assured that even if the word did spread, I wouldnt be seeing really anyone that day and he would have me crossing the state line by 9:00 PM.
I should really have DF tell you how the conversation went, because obviously I wasnt there, but you could probably figure it out that my dad approved and the rest was history. But, do be advised that my dad did call my brother the minute DBF left...so I can only assume that everyone knew by that night, but good thing I was headed to Disney World already!
Anyways, back to the massive amount of red lights and DBF not getting any sleep. I guess he was running on pure adrenaline because it did not show that he was up since 3:00 AM, what a trooper. We finally made it to his house and we packed up the car. Meaning DBF packed up the car because I swear he wont let anyone do it. He claims he knows how to pack and make it all fit like a puzzle. I guess it is a good thing because we sure know how to lug a ton of stuff for a two week vacation. His brother, Jeff, helped out too though, especially with the car top carrier which magically had a gaping hole in the corner. Great, if it rains that would mean wet clothes & bags.
The solution...
Duck Tape.
It worked fine, plus it didnt faze me because all my belongings were safe in the mini van.
By about 8:00 PM we had both cars packed. Justins aunt, Jeanne, said goodbye to her husband since he was flying down to Disney later that week. With that we were off! But dont get too excited, we only drove about 5 minutes down the road to eat some dinner at Old Country Buffet.
We ate quickly, took our final bathroom breaks in Illinois, and loaded into the 2cars. We finally made it on to the highway when we encountered that great 9:30 PM Friday night Chicago traffic with the always lovely construction. Oh yes, we werent going anywhere fast, and we were still behind schedule, bad mood starts to return, but disappeared once DBF put on the Spectromagic song. We finally make it out of the gridlock and soon enough we are crossing the state line into Indiana.
Not much to really see in Indiana though, lots to smell though. I-65 is built on a bunch of factories and farms. Imagine if you would the smell of fumes, sewage, and cows all mixing together. Yes, that is pretty much what the first 2 hours of Indiana smelled like.
To keep entertained until morning, because you cant see anything even if you tried, DBF and I decided to play some car games. We tried naming Disney characters in alphabetical order. For example I would say Abu, and he would say Belle, and then I would say Chip, etc. Well I think we made it through the alphabet once before we got tired of that game. Then I decided we should play the music artist game but Disney style. None of you know what I am talking about because I do not know the name of the game, I just call it the music game. It goes like this, you say a musical artist or band name and the next person has to think of band that starts with the letter of the last letter of the band that the other person said. Got all of that?
Let me explain this better with examples:
Example A:
Me: Aerosmith (Aerosmith ends in H so DBF would have to think of a band/singer that begins with H.)
DBF: Hilary Duff (I would think of a band that begins with F)
Anyways we decided to take this concept and extend to the world of Disney, and not just characters. Anything Disney was valid for this game from movie titles, to resorts, attractions, etc. So we played that for a while but then decided that we kept getting the same letters over and over and it was getting too hard, by this point it was about 3:00 AM.
We finally get out of Indiana and make our way into Kentucky. Louisville, KY is such a pretty city and I am always so glad when it welcomes us into the state. It was still dark so there still wasnt much else to see excpet Louisville all lit up.
The sun finally came up somewhere between Kentucky and Tennessee. Tennessee is also a beautiful state, I love driving through all the mountains. I took some pictures with my camera phone, sorry if they are a bit blurry, but we were driving about 70 mph.
Sunrise in Tennessee
The open road ahead
Mountains in the distance
Approaching mountains.
Obviously mountains entertain us because we live in flat world over here where the highest point is probably some sledding hill in the suburbs.
After Tennessee we were welcomed into the never ending state of Georgia. It takes about 6 long hours to drive through this baby, but I swear it feels longer. When we started the road trip I decided to count the number of Cracker Barrel restaurants on the way, but I definitely lost track, but somewhere around Georgia I think I was up to 30 restaurants. At that point I was too tired to even care anymore, but it was fun while it lasted.
We stopped and had lunch at a Wendys and I think we had dinner at an Arbys. Both I think were in Georgia, that gives you an idea as to how big that state is since we had to have 2 meals there.
And finally, we made it into the state of Florida! The Florida state line is such a tease though because you think you are so close to Disney, but really there is still a good 3-4 hours before you really arrive.
We bought some oranges at some gas station (only in Florida can you do that and find it normal) and finally those Disney billboards were popping up. With each one I let out a yelp and poked DBF who was still driving, it was one way to keep him awake.
Me: Look! a Mission Space Billboard. *poke*
Me: Look! Expedition Everest, I can't wait. *poke*
Me: Look! Disney road signs pointing us in the right direction. *poke* *poke* *poke*
To tell you the truth, I am surprised he still decided to propose since I was being so annoying.
Once those billboards and road signs starting to pop up we knew were so close. We found the All Star Vacation Home offices with no problem. Since it was around 10:00 PM now we had to use the lockbox to retrieve our keys and directions to our rental. This was no problem either, their system is very easy to use and they give really good, clear directions. Once we filled out the paperwork we headed to very large and spacious 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom home. The house was about 2 minutes from the All Star Vacation Homes office, which was about 3 miles from Disney.
We found our subdivision which was called Oak Island Cove without a problem and only made a few wrong turns, after all, Florida homes all look the same to us. After nearly 25 hours in the car we were home.
The outside of our house.
Of course, it was nighttime so it didnt look like the picture, but you get the idea. We all unloaded out of the cars feeling achy but once those front doors opened we all ran in to check it out. We were not disappointed one bit with our home.
It was huge, two levels, and very clean. If you ever want to try renting a vacation home in the Disney area, I highly recommend All Star Vacation Homes. There is really nothing we can complain about and their staff is very helpful and friendly.
Matthews room on the first floor
Karens room on the first floor
Jeanne & Kens master suite on the first floor
Our room on the 2nd floor
Jeffs room on the 2nd floor
Jannas room on the 2nd floor
Arial view of the living room
Our pool
Kitchen with our boxes, see our gas station oranges?
After taking the tour we all helped to unload the car into the house. Within a few minutes we were finished and I was in dire need of a shower. I hate sitting in a car all day without a shower. I did not feel pretty at all. So I decided to try out the shower while some people decided to try out the swimming pool and some went to bed. I had no problems falling asleep that night because I had barely slept at all in the car and I was sleeping as soon as my little head hit the pillow at around 1:00. I fell asleep feeling happy and excited because we had finally arrived. Tomorrow would be our first Disney day at MGM and soon enough we would be riding Rock n Rollercoaster...
Or would we?
Up Next: MGM & ADR's at Hollywood & Vine - Find it on p. 5 #62 & 63
You big softy 
Now go and give my DBF some tips 
One time I attempted to count the number of McDonald's on a trip down to Virginia from New York. I gave up as it seemed like there was one every mile....
(I'm just south of Milwaukee, you probably drove right past me).
<-DBF
<- Cindy
<- cindy seeing Disney sign
<-Cindy annoying DBF
<-DBF
