Road Trip! (Into the Unknown…) - Mar. 2020 ~ Updated 4/2/21: Complete, One Year Later, Video Epilogue

[Dugette]

Hi, DIS-friends! I’m a little rusty at this – the last trip report I wrote was about a trip to Disneyland 5 years ago – but I think it’s finally time to tell the tale of our on-the-cusp-of-a-whole-new-world Spring Break 2020 road trip to Disney World. It was exactly one year ago today that we packed up the car and began our journey…and the whole world had changed by the time we returned home. So much can happen in a week. At least we had a fantastic week (for the most part).

So, who was on this road trip? Just our little family of three. I’m “Dugette”, married to “Dug”, and our daughter Izzy was 7 years old on this trip. It was, believe it or not, her 9th trip to Disney World. First time driving there for any of us, though, as we live in Minnesota and it’s quite a hike!

Here we are, enjoying our trip:



I hope you enjoy re-living this crazy adventure with me!


Chapter Links
Day 1 - Thursday, March 5th, 2020
Little Did We Know
Day 2 - Friday, March 6th, 2020
A Nice Day for a Drive
Day 3 - Saturday, March 7th, 2020
The Longest Day - Part 1
The Longest Day - Part 2
Day 4 - Sunday, March 8th, 2020
Sunrise Over Toy Story Land!
Breakfast Explorations
Rise!
Sunset Over the Studios
Day 5 - Monday, March 9th, 2020
Let’s Go on Safari!
Reunion!
Kevin!
Dream Home
ADR Stress
Day 6 - Tuesday, March 10th, 2020
Perfect Picnic
Oga's Cantina
Meet BR8KR
Day 7 - Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
Goodbye Villa, Hello Disney Springs
Fast Pass Frenzy
Pandora at Night
Day 8 - Thursday, March 12th, 2020
Epcot Morning
Topolino’s Brunch
An Amazing Patio
Soaking Up Every Last Bit of Fun
Day 9 - Friday, March 13th, 2020
What Will We Do?
Day 10 - Saturday, March 14th, 2020
Can We Make It Home?

 

[Dugette]

Little Did We Know

First, a little backstory on our plans for this adventure. Since having Izzy, we have always flown for vacations, aside from going to visit my grandma about 4 hours away in Wisconsin. But, as a kid, we both took many road trips and I love to drive to new places, so had always hoped to take some family road trips when Izzy was old enough to be a good passenger for the long stretches. Well, we decided to give it a try in October 2019 when we got invited to my cousin’s wedding in Texas. We didn’t have a lot of travel money set aside toward this, flights and rental cars were expensive, and we had a bunch of free hotel rooms and points to use up…so, why not try driving? We had just enough time to drive over Izzy’s Fall break from school and I was excited to show her the Kansas town my grandparents had lived in on the way. Well, that trip went really well and she was a great passenger – amused herself well and enjoyed the sights and stops. We decided then that another road trip would be in our future!

Also, we were missing Disney World by this point. Our last big trip was October 2017, with the exception of a crazy 1-day birthday surprise for Izzy in 2019 , so we had not yet seen some of the exciting “new” things like Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge! So, sometime in late 2019, we put together plans for Izzy’s Spring Break in March 2020. It was a nice, long break that would allow us to drive and still spend 6 days in the parks. We made all our touring plans, Excel sheets, Google Docs, ADRs and Fast Passes, as all good DIS-ers do. We just had no idea what March would bring.

Our plan was to leave the night before Izzy’s Spring Break began, on Thursday, March 5th. Sometime after we planned this, we found that the school district had removed the extra Friday as a vacation day to offset another day they added (Election Day, I think). Izzy’s 1st grade teacher approved a vacation day for Izzy instead, so we could still leave on time. Helps to have a teacher that’s a Disney fan. Little did we know that it would be Izzy’s last day at school – she hasn’t been back since! (She’s in a voluntary all virtual class this year for 2nd grade, which has been going great, with an amazing teacher! ) Our plan was to work/school that Thursday, then hit the road in the evening to get to Madison, WI (about 250 miles away) to get in a quick visit with my grandma before heading to the hotel for the night and hitting the road again in the morning.

I believe I went into work at the office on Monday and Tuesday that week and then worked from home Wednesday and Thursday (I was on a 3-day-a-week work-from-home schedule back then and Dug worked 100% from home). On one of those days I was in the office, one of my co-workers approached me and told me that I should cancel our trip because of this virus that was becoming a bit ominous, at that time. I remember telling her that we would be okay, we had too many reservations to cancel this, and that we were driving, so we could get home safely. Keep in mind, at this time, there were zero confirmed cases in Minnesota and only two in Florida, neither of which was near Disney (both from international travel, I believe). There was a sense of this being before the wave hit. We would not have intentionally planned a trip at this time, had we known about Covid far enough in advance, but it seemed reasonable enough to go ahead with the trip, taking some precautions. Again, little did I know that would be my last day in the office…I haven’t been back in yet (working 100% remote - we have been very, very cautious since this trip).

On Monday that week, I’d made a Target run after work. I guess we had some foresight at that point to purchase some possible-lockdown essentials. I’d grabbed some toilet paper for when we got home (just in case…) and I’d gotten a few little tubs of disinfecting wipes to bring along on our trip. I was surprised how few were left – I didn’t have any choice of brands. Luckily, I’d also grabbed a can of Lysol wipes over the weekend – I’d gone to Lowe’s to buy Disney Gift Cards (there was a credit card promotion where you get 10% back on purchases) and I had grabbed a tub of wipes off the display, just to be buying something besides gift cards, since I felt weird about it. Haha, I should have gotten more than one, but hindsight is 2020 and all that. Even at that time, there was no hand sanitizer to be found anywhere, but luckily we had a nearly-full bottle at home and also found a bunch of tiny ones that we’d accumulated from trips and fish extender gifts on Disney cruises. So, we brought all those and they got us through the trip, thankfully. Here was my Target haul that night (I only have a picture because I texted my success to Dug):



Tuesday was a pretty normal day, though we did hear about the huge tornado in Tennessee, which sounded awful and destructive. We had a night planned in Nashville, but it was far enough away from the touchdown that we felt like the hotel was probably fine (and it was).

On Wednesday, I stopped into Discount Tire to have my snow tires taken off my car and the all-season ones put back on for our trip. Found out in the process that my all-seasons were on their last legs, so ended up getting all new tires before the road trip. That night, Izzy had swimming lessons and, again, who knew it would be the last one for over a year? (we have a $300 credit to use up, so I still want to get her back there after we get vaccinated – she was loving swimming and had made a ton of progress). Just a normal Wednesday evening:



The next morning, Izzy got ready for school (her last in-person day!!!) and was so excited about our trip starting that evening:



Thursday, I also had my annual physical. I asked my doctor what she thought about going to Disney World with this “coronavirus thing” on the horizon. She told me about trying to keep six feet away from others (might have been the first time I heard that) and said to wash/sanitize our hands a lot. Dug ran back to Target that day to pick up some prescriptions and maybe get some extra supplies? At least some sunscreen, because I have a picture of the sunscreen display, lol.

Then, we both finished up work and Izzy briefly went to Kids Club (daycare) after school. We packed up my Camry’s trunk pretty impressively with two large wheeled bags and I think two small ones and a couple backpacks and a cooler, filled with frozen water bottles (for ice and future water) and snacks:



Picked up Izzy and we were off:





It does not take long at all to get to Wisconsin from where we live (maybe 15 minutes), so Dug soon snapped this picture after I drove across the bridge over the St. Croix River:



Apparently, we were not in full Disney vacation mode yet because that was the last picture we took for the day! It was pretty uneventful, though. We ended up getting some yucky weather – combination of rain and snow – that didn’t make driving so fun. We also kept seeing FedEx trucks (and were following one for a long time), which started a running joke that we have to this day – that spotting a FedEx truck means you earn road trip points. We are weird. I had no idea how many of them are out on the road at all times – literally never paid attention until this trip and since then, I see them everywhere! We made a stop for gas halfway and there was a Taco John’s attached to the gas station, so I grabbed some Potato Ole’s to share with Izzy while we drove. I don’t recall what we actually ate for dinner (besides that), but we must have done something to-go or in the car because we were trying to make good time to not show up too late to visit my grandma.

We got to her assisted living facility in time for a short visit (probably 9-something-pm). This was before they were closed to visitors, so we were able to sit down in her apartment and chat with my grandma a bit. So glad we made it in time to see her – because, again, we didn’t know it would be so long until we’d be able to again (we usually visit twice a year). By the way, she’s 93 and still doing fine, avoided Covid, and finished her vaccinations a few days ago! Hoping we can visit again this summer. But, we had a nice time then and I’m so glad we had that opportunity. We did have tentative plans to maybe try to stop by again on the way back from WDW, depending on the virus situation, but as you can guess, we didn’t end up doing that (and I believe they suspended visits sometime that week).

After our visit, we headed to our hotel. I had cashed in some leftover travel points from a credit card and we stayed at the La Quinta Inn & Suites, which turned out to be pretty nice (for cheap – I didn’t have many points). We had a Deluxe King Suite, which gave us some nice space. And then I guess we all settled in for a good night’s sleep.

Up next: More road trip!

 

[Bama Mom]

Following along. That's so funny about the Fed-Ex trucks. My oldest son was obsessed with Fed-Ex trucks when he was little so we always say "Fed-Ex" (or "Double Fed-Ex" if its one with a double trailer) really loud when we see one. He is 25 and we still do it HaHa.

 

[Dugette]

Following along. That's so funny about the Fed-Ex trucks. My oldest son was obsessed with Fed-Ex trucks when he was little so we always say "Fed-Ex" (or "Double Fed-Ex" if its one with a double trailer) really loud when we see one. He is 25 and we still do it HaHa.

Thanks for joining! Oh my gosh, that's awesome about the Fed-Ex tradition! I think Dug gets annoyed by it a bit, but Izzy and I still have a good laugh every time we spot one!

 

[tundra1]

Following along! It will be nice to see photos from the Pre-Covid era!

 

[Dugette]

A Nice Day for a Drive

We woke up the next morning (one year ago today!), ready for a little over 600 mile drive that day, from Madison to Nashville. I was excited because it would be the first time I’d driven through a lot of that territory. Most of my road trips have been within the central or western parts of the country, so it was exciting to see something new. We always fly over this part of the country on our way to Disney!

Anyway, Izzy was up and excited for the day, wearing her custom Disney Descendants dress and matching leggings:



A peek at the hallway of the La Quinta – I thought it was cute how it was an indoor hallway, yet had little glass block windows to the rooms:



The hotel had a breakfast area, so we headed down there and had a bite:



Um, speaking of bites, Izzy had a strange way to eat her apple, apparently :



Oh, here’s a better look at her outfit and how it coordinated with her magic band (custom cover from Etsy – we’ve since replaced it with a new one because she was wearing it every day and, as you can see, it was showing):



On the way back to the room, Izzy and I stopped at the sunny windows at the end of our hallway and spotted this cardinal:



And enjoyed a moment in the sun:



Then we hit the road! And before we knew it, we were crossing a state line:



It was a beautiful day for driving and an easy open road:



After a few hours, we stopped for lunch in Illinois at a place Dug had found that sounded tasty and fresh, called Core Life Eatery:





This was a nice little break from the road and a tasty meal. Izzy had macaroni and cheese, no surprise:



I think I had the chicken noodle soup:



And I think Dug had soup (coconut curry chicken, I believe) and salad:



After that little break, we were back on the road again until Dug wanted some Starbucks (perhaps was taking over driving? I can’t remember). Izzy was thrilled to get a Starbucks cake pop:



And then we were back at it:



Made it to Kentucky in the pretty sunset light:



We stopped for dinner in Tennessee at a place Dug was looking forward to, called Bar-B-Cutie. Izzy was being a bar-b-cutie, lol:



I even spotted a Disney touch on the wall:



Dug got some BBQ ribs:



Haha, my meal looks so strange. Okay, 1.) I’m a sucker for fried pickles and 2.) I was sure I didn’t have a pancake for dinner, haha. I looked it up and figured out that you are looking at a BBQ pork sandwich on cornbread, but from the wrong angle, lol:



Izzy had her second dose of mac and cheese for the day, along with a grilled cheese:



Mmmmm! Wish this meal could magically show up at our house for dinner tonight!

Oh, and here were the different BBQ sauces available:



We drove the last leg of the trip after that and arrived at our hotel around 9:30pm. Izzy chilling in the car while Dug went inside to check us in:



We had cashed in some Hyatt points for a King Suite at the Hyatt Place Nashville/Hendersonville and it was perfectly nice and out of the way of where the tornado had gone through. We had to rest up for a 700+ mile drive the next day that would end at Disney!


Up Next: The Longest Day

 

[Dugette]

Following along! It will be nice to see photos from the Pre-Covid era!

Thanks for joining! It's so strange to think that it was almost "normal" at Disney at that time (they did start adding hand sanitizer stations towards the end of the week), but it was so close to the end of that era, yet we had no real clue at that point.

 

[cindianne320]

I’m here!! What a surreal time. Can’t wait to read more!

 

[Imagineer5]

Here! Haven’t logged in in foreverrrrrr but so fun to read considering the timing especially!

 

[Dugette]

I’m here!! What a surreal time. Can’t wait to read more!

Thanks for reading, Cindi! It was so surreal. I keep thinking back on the week we were gone as the week that life as we knew it vanished. And we were slowly figuring it out as we went along.

Here! Haven’t logged in in foreverrrrrr but so fun to read considering the timing especially!

Hi!!! It has been forever, based on the ages of your kids in your signature! I actually read our joint trip report while I was on the treadmill recently (that long-ago trip where we met)...so fun, inspired me to get going w/writing again, and really makes me look forward to August! I'm assuming you have no issues with me showing off your house when I get to that part of this TR, right? Thanks for logging on!

 

[princessbelle2015]

Following along! I have lived reading all of your previous trip reports.

 

[Dugette]

Following along! I have lived reading all of your previous trip reports.

Hi, Kristin! Glad to see you here and following along again!

 

[Dugette]

The Longest Day

Haha, this title is sort-of ironic. It FELT like the longest day ever. But, in reality, we actually lost a couple hours – one due to “springing forward” with the Daylight Savings Time change that night and another by crossing from the Central to Eastern time zone that day. When we were over-optimistically planning this trip, we even thought there was a small chance we might make it to Disney before DHS closed at 8:30pm (no late hours at any park that day), so we booked some Fast Passes, just in case. Well, spoiler alert, we didn’t even arrive that same day.

Anyway, day started off at the Hyatt:



Here was Izzy’s bed for the night (it had been pulled out, but we folded it back up for space in the morning):



And then this was the other half of the room, with some nice separation:



We actually came back to this hotel on the drive home too. Anyway, we must have had the hotel breakfast, despite my lack of photographic evidence (I have no notes on this trip! ) And we were on the road around 9am, I think:



Hey, look, it’s the “Batman building”!

The scenery got a little less flat, which was nice (along with continued good weather):



And we made it to Georgia:



But not for long, lol. I guess there’s just a bit of Georgia there and then it’s Tennessee again. We stopped for lunch in Chattanooga, at a place that I think someone had recommended to us, called Frothy Monkey in the Chattanooga Choo-Choo complex. This was probably my favorite stop on the trip and we ended up spending some time enjoying the trains and gardens, in addition to our meal. Highly recommend this for a nice road-trip break!

We parked in a ramp and then walked across the street:







I don’t usually take pictures inside restrooms, but this building had such a cool-looking restroom (and I made sure it was empty):



We ordered at the counter up there and ended up with a seat in the back. Izzy really wanted to go up the second level, but every table was full:



Cool ceiling:



Another look at the ‘lil train:



And Izzy gazing adoringly at the balcony she wanted to be on:



Dug got some coffee:



I spotted a WDW sign, lol:



We apparently were still not on our trip reporting A-game because we didn’t take any food pictures at all. There’s a lot of deli sandwiches and salads on the menu, so I’m sure we had something fresh and tasty, but clearly not memorable enough a year later. What I do remember (and also have pictures of) is the courtyard gardens and trains. I think Izzy and I wandered out here while Dug was enjoying that coffee after lunch:









We didn’t do this, but I thought it was pretty cool that there was an escape room inside of a train car:









Back inside, Izzy found this phone booth, which is almost incomprehensible to a child that was born into a world where people have phones in their pockets and on their wrists at all times :





I think Dug made it outside and started taking some pictures too:



Oh, yes, Izzy discovered bocce ball and really enjoyed it:







Pretty scenery:





After some relaxing time in that garden, we hit the road again. Many more miles to go before we’d sleep!

Continued in the next post…

 

[Dugette]

Continued from previous post…

After our restorative lunch and recess break, it was more freeway:



Oh, also of note around this area, we kept seeing signs for Ruby Falls (which was not far from where we ate lunch). We didn’t go there, but we just kept making jokes about “Ruby” falling. It was hilarious after all those hours of driving, but you’ll have to take my word for it.

Also, sometime during this day (it all blurs together…), we got into more mountainous terrain, which was kind-of fun driving, right up until we saw a truck at the end of the “runaway truck ramp” to remind us of imminent danger. Must have been fairly fresh, as someone was walking around the truck. Yikes!

We got into the Atlanta area and spotted the Olympic Torch Tower:



And that was the last picture we took until dinner, probably because of the harrowing Atlanta driving and road construction.

About an hour or so from Florida, we stopped for another BBQ dinner, at Dug’s request. It was Pit Stop BBQ & Grill in Tifton, GA. I guess it was a pretty popular spot on a Saturday night, but we lucked out and got the one open parking spot. We also saw…a palm tree!



So happy to sit down and eat:



Dug had a plate of BBQ:



I went with a bowl of chili:



And it was a grilled cheese and fries night for Izzy:



It was a nice meal and we were all a bit wiped from the long day, but hopefully this new food energy could help us persevere! My eyes were wiped out, so I had to take out my contacts and put on my glasses when we got back to the car. I HATE wearing glasses while driving because my vision is really awful, so I lose some peripheral vision. Oh, well. I had been hoping we’d be further along by dark, but it was not meant to be on this day. Next to our parking spot, we noticed some kitties knew where they could find leftover meat at the end of the day:



And then we were driving in the dark. And had multiple deer sightings, with groups of them frolicking right off the shoulder of the interstate as we passed, so that was a little nerve-wracking. Luckily, we didn’t have any deer encounters, but we had to be on super-high alert.



About 9:45pm, we made it to the Florida Welcome Center. But no orange juice for us – they were locked up for the night. But, still, a place to stretch and use restrooms, so that was good. And more palm trees:



Izzy pretending that she was arriving at Disney World:



And Dug getting excited for Galaxy’s Edge:



Ready to ride the coasters:



Brrrr, lol:



Izzy was pumped for Flight of Passage:



Enjoying a slice of paradise, I guess:



And, once again, we had a roaming cat nearby:



I think Dug took over driving at that point, as I was exhausted from all the high-alert nighttime driving (I have since realized that I must have some degree of “night blindness”, which is apparently very common with people like me that are very nearsighted…I can see at night, just not as well as during the day). So, I got some rest in the passenger seat and Dug took us through Florida until we finally spotted some magic:



Our hotel for the first two nights was the DoubleTree Suites in Disney Springs. We got a King bed suite with sofabed. At the time, this allowed us to get onsite perks like early Fast Pass booking and EMH. With the bonus that we were able to use our Hilton points to pay for it. And, if I remember right, the parking wasn’t as $$ as other hotels in the area. Finally, time to sleep!



We checked in and found a photo op on the way to our room:



It was about 12:30am by now. We got in the themed elevator and headed up to our suite:



After that, it was time to take what essentially would be a little nap. My last photo is at 12:37am. We lost an hour that night. And my next picture is of Izzy all ready to go at 6:13am. Because boarding groups don’t wait!

Up next: Sunrise Over Toy Story Land!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following! Your daughter was a trooper during that road trip! I am impressed!!

 

[figment52]

Nice to see you back, I've looked for you are few times thinking I must have missed a report. Izzy has grown up so much from what I remembered.

 

[olafgypsy]

Yay, I’m so stoked you’ve started a trip report! I’m a long-time reader of your trip reports. As a fellow
mom of an only I find your reports super useful, since there are some unique dynamics and scenarios that arise when visiting WDW with an only. And I have to say, this feels like fate because last week I decided to book a last-minute WDW trip for my kiddo’s Spring break. He will celebrate his 8th birthday at Disney World in a few short weeks.

Your road trip sounds like tons of fun. Can’t wait to see what Disney adventures your first day has in store!

 

[DLo]

Following along. Read your last TR so happy to see a new one (even if it is from a year ago ) looking forward to reading more about your adventures.

 

[Minniedoc]

Just loving your trip report! Izzy is so photogenic too. Thank you for this virtual visit - have not been since Nov 2019

Coning down for a resort only DVC stay in April and I cannot wait to be back home.

 

[Woth2982]

Im here! Looking forward to your new report!