themepark
Wanted: Your trip reports!<br><font color=00cc22>I
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 1,469
Cast: Me, DH, DD (age 9), DS (age 7), DD's friend (age 10)
Yippeee! It's Thursday July 31 and it's time for our journey to begin. So we leave Knoxville with plans to visit family in Atlanta that night then head out to Orlando Friday morning. We left home at 4:00pm and had to make a few stops in town before heading out. Little did we know that our drive to Atlanta which would normally take 3 1/2 hours would turn into a 7 hour journeyl.. We didn't actually leave Knoxville until 6:00pm (long story that I will not bore you with). We had to stop in Chattanooga (part of the long story again). We drove through a nasty thunderstorm with traffic moving no faster than 35 mph. Got through that and things were moving right along until we were stopped in traffic for over an hour. When traffic finally got moving again, there was never any explanation for why it was stopped...no signs of a wreck, no construction barrels, nothing. Oh well. We finally arrived at 11:00pm.
We slept in the next morning and drove to Orlando making much better time. We had a scary moment in Ocala when traffic came to a screeching halt. Literally screeching. It had just begun raining and we had seen 2 wrecks in the northbound lanes. Traffic was heavy and suddenly everyone stopped. We were in the far left lane and had to swerve to the emergency lane to avoid hitting the car in front of us. The van behind me got stopped but the car behind them did not. The car slammed into the back of the van right beside us. The kids were scared and crying from witnessing that. What was causing everyone to stop? There was yet another wreck up ahead. Thankfully, we did arrive safe and sound in Orlando.
I had booked a room off Priceline at the Fairfield Inn on Jamaican Court just off Intl. Drive. They had free cookies (Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip...yum) in the lobby. We got checked in, secured a rollaway bed, and walked to the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. It was great fun and we had a excellent chef who really performed for us. He had the kids laughing about everything. Even my picky DD ate! That was amazing in itself. Walked back to the hotel and the kids swam for a short time before a thunderstorm rolled in. The Fairfield was a fine place for just one night and was an excellent value at $26. I would not want to stay there for much more than a night however. The beds were foam and not very comfortable. The rooms were small but we did have enough room for the rollaway. Our room was located on the 3rd floor so you could only enter the room from an inside hallway. The first 2 floors had outside entrances. I was happy with our location.
We got up Saturday morning, ate the complimentary continental breakfast which consisted of the usual muffins (individually wrapped), bagels, bananas, apples, oranges, cereals, juices, and they had waffle irons so you could make your own waffles. We packed up and headed over to Gooding's for supplies. We thought Gooding's was incredibly expensive. We bought 2 6-packs of water, 1/2 gal. of milk, 1 box of Special K, and 1/2 gal. of OJ, and 2 2 liter bottles of Coke and Dr. Pepper and it cost us $38. Oh well, it will still be cheaper than eating breakfast at the RPR. We drove approxiamently 2 miles via Sand Lake and Turkey Lake Drives to the entrance of the RPR.
Now that you have suffered through this review of getting there, let's move on to GREAT vacation at the RPR! Next post coming up!
Yippeee! It's Thursday July 31 and it's time for our journey to begin. So we leave Knoxville with plans to visit family in Atlanta that night then head out to Orlando Friday morning. We left home at 4:00pm and had to make a few stops in town before heading out. Little did we know that our drive to Atlanta which would normally take 3 1/2 hours would turn into a 7 hour journeyl.. We didn't actually leave Knoxville until 6:00pm (long story that I will not bore you with). We had to stop in Chattanooga (part of the long story again). We drove through a nasty thunderstorm with traffic moving no faster than 35 mph. Got through that and things were moving right along until we were stopped in traffic for over an hour. When traffic finally got moving again, there was never any explanation for why it was stopped...no signs of a wreck, no construction barrels, nothing. Oh well. We finally arrived at 11:00pm.
We slept in the next morning and drove to Orlando making much better time. We had a scary moment in Ocala when traffic came to a screeching halt. Literally screeching. It had just begun raining and we had seen 2 wrecks in the northbound lanes. Traffic was heavy and suddenly everyone stopped. We were in the far left lane and had to swerve to the emergency lane to avoid hitting the car in front of us. The van behind me got stopped but the car behind them did not. The car slammed into the back of the van right beside us. The kids were scared and crying from witnessing that. What was causing everyone to stop? There was yet another wreck up ahead. Thankfully, we did arrive safe and sound in Orlando.
I had booked a room off Priceline at the Fairfield Inn on Jamaican Court just off Intl. Drive. They had free cookies (Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip...yum) in the lobby. We got checked in, secured a rollaway bed, and walked to the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for dinner. It was great fun and we had a excellent chef who really performed for us. He had the kids laughing about everything. Even my picky DD ate! That was amazing in itself. Walked back to the hotel and the kids swam for a short time before a thunderstorm rolled in. The Fairfield was a fine place for just one night and was an excellent value at $26. I would not want to stay there for much more than a night however. The beds were foam and not very comfortable. The rooms were small but we did have enough room for the rollaway. Our room was located on the 3rd floor so you could only enter the room from an inside hallway. The first 2 floors had outside entrances. I was happy with our location.
We got up Saturday morning, ate the complimentary continental breakfast which consisted of the usual muffins (individually wrapped), bagels, bananas, apples, oranges, cereals, juices, and they had waffle irons so you could make your own waffles. We packed up and headed over to Gooding's for supplies. We thought Gooding's was incredibly expensive. We bought 2 6-packs of water, 1/2 gal. of milk, 1 box of Special K, and 1/2 gal. of OJ, and 2 2 liter bottles of Coke and Dr. Pepper and it cost us $38. Oh well, it will still be cheaper than eating breakfast at the RPR. We drove approxiamently 2 miles via Sand Lake and Turkey Lake Drives to the entrance of the RPR.
Now that you have suffered through this review of getting there, let's move on to GREAT vacation at the RPR! Next post coming up!
