Sleepless at Wilderness or Plan Shman 10/21 **PHOTOPASS Pics Flik!**

[TxRabbit]

Welcome to my trip report.

Grab a cinnamon dolce latte, or whatever your prefered drink might be, and sit back and be transported.

Through the following chapters, you will be taken on a firsthand journey. You will learn more than you ever wanted to know about my family and our recent Disney vacation, including, but not limited to:

Road tripping from Houston to the Wilderness Lodge
Celebrating a 12-year anniversary
Celebrating Father's Day
EMH: AM (at MK and HS) and PM (at MK, AK, and Epcot)
Disney Quest

I strive to bring you along with me. To tell a story, more than just report what we did. To truly recreate the moment. To write in such a way that your own memories are sparked. A momentary lapse back to vacation.

With my details, I hope to be educational. Informative. Give you a new perspective. An insight. Spark a fresh idea. Encourage you.

Our trip was far from perfect.

But it had that sprinkling of pixie dust that made for a great Disney vacation.

And I'd like to share it with you.

Because happiness shared is multiplied.

So I invite you to join me on my walk down memory lane.

Commentary welcome. Questions answered to the best of my ability/knowledge.

Twas the night before Disney...
Just a FEW more hours...
Where is America's largest river swamp?
How $0.76 saves the day
Yay for Starbucks!
Waking up in Chipley
A fabulous woods view room...or was it?
Arriving all over again
The Pool and the Water Pageant
Father's Day Morning
Heaven, I'm in heaven...Lego heaven that is.
Building our own lightsaber
Disney Quest: Take One
Father's Day Dinner
Mk pm emh
The Morning After...Animal Kingdom
AK PM EMH: Part I
AK PM EMH: Part II
I think we'll start today in Norway...
KP Missions in Epcot
Soarin' through the rain...

**********It's like starting over***********
Photopass Pics MK PM EMH
Photopass Pics AK AM & King Louie and Baloo Meet and Greet
More Character Pics in AK

 

[MrsSpratt]

YAY! Love your Dining Reviews, live in HTown, and can't believe I might be first!

Yeeee-Haw!

Mrs. Spratt

 

[TxRabbit]

YAY! Love your Dining Reviews, live in HTown, and can't believe I might be first!

Yeeee-Haw!

Mrs. Spratt

YAY!! I'm glad you're here!

It'll take me a bit to get to the pictures, so please bare with me!

Can you stand the heat? I've reverted. I'm hanging my laundry outside...dries faster there than in the dryer! That and my a/c is already working so hard...

 

[TxRabbit]

I couldn't sleep.

And I desperately wanted to sleep.

I NEEDED to sleep.

Tomorrow was such a big day.

And that was the problem.

I often have the inability to fall asleep the night before ANY big event.

Those nights before school started? The night before my wedding? The nights before my SON's school starts? The night before ANY vacation?

I just can't seem to relax enough to get to sleep.

This was one of those nights. The night before our big DISNEY vacation.

I had been planning this vacation for over six months.

We had made our reservation in December before the first deadline ended for the 4/3 deal.

Disney is where we genuinely forget about everyday life. It IS walking into a lifesized Fantasyland from the moment that you cross Disney property.

And boy did we need a vacation. We needed to forget about our everyday life, because our everyday life had gotten much more difficult of late.

DH got a new job the previous April. It is a GREAT job. Something of a dream job. A welcome career change.

By education, DH is a chemical engineer.

By desire, he entered the field of environment engineering, working on Superfund sites, cleaning up groundwater and contaminated soil. The dirty work that the EPA requires of companies that have poluted beyond the acceptable levels of part per million.

After almost a decade of this work in the consulting field, DH had had enough. It was a cut throat proposal dealing business. He was donating a lot of time to the company. And he had reached that point where those that continued climbing that success ladder began donating their LIFE to the company.

DH likes his life too much to work it away. He's not that kind of a guy. He's a family guy. He likes having fun. It was time for a change.

His path was directed into a fantastic opportunity with a government contracting/consulting company. This would represent a complete departure from the hope of engineering work and succombing to total project management. But what projects he would get to manage! Hardware projects that would eventually be installed on the space station.

His first project is working on a oxygen generator. How do you MAKE oxygen? With the retirement of the space shuttle, there's a need to make oxygen for the space station. Why? Because oxygen was a bi-product of operations on the space shuttle. When it docked at the station it would "dump its waste" and thus resupply the breathable air at the station. No more space shuttle. No more oxygen.

And the next generation space suit?

How fun is it to work on that?

A boy's dream come true.

It's generally low stress. Low pressure.

The worst part of the job itself is learning first hand about the wastefulness of government spending. DH gets a little frustrated by that.

There IS a catch. A big HUGE catch.

The new job is exactly 61 miles from our house.

We were right in the middle of major home improvement projects. (Still are, even.) Totally unprepared to sell. But even if we COULD sell, in the current economy, we couldn't sell the house for what we OWE on the house.

So DH is commuting. 61 miles each way. Every Monday through Friday. Through the parking lots of Houston that are otherwise known as Highways and Beltways. Bless his heart. He can be in the car for 4 hours a day.

And we are working on debt. Getting out of it that is.

And we are working on fat. Getting rid of it that is.

Those are my projects. I'm a homemaker. As I like to say, I do the things that transform our house into a home. I manage the finances. I shop. I cook. I clean. I do laundry, as much as I HATE laundry. I'm not really a great housekeeper. Even as I write, the kitchen counters are littered with dirty dishes calling my name, Clean me! Clean me!

I'm a better Momma. And DH is a FANTASTIC Daddy. DS is a pretty great kid. All in all, we think we are pretty hot stuff. Which is good stuff. You should like your family.

By and large, the thing most missing from our family seems to be a common lack. Time. Good, fun, relaxing, together time. Time where all your MUST DOs include only things intended to entertain and amuse. A vacation, by definition.

A vacaton would give us something to look forward to. A light at the end of the tunnel. A goal to motivate us to continue the everyday effort to drive, spend less, eat less, and be more active.

And now. FINALLY. It was the DAY before THAT vacation.

And I was wide awake in bed. Listening to DH sleep. Listening to DS sleep across the hall. I could hear their deep breathing.

I started composing a poem.

Twas the night day before Disney and all through the house,
The Momma was scurrying, just like a mouse.
The car in the garage had four tires brand new
For the old zero tread ones would never ever do.

Yes. It's true.

Our plan was to drive to the Wilderness Lodge. From Houston. Our first big road trip in a long time. Something that you definitely want your car to be ready for.

I kept looking at my tires. The months went by. The miles went by. They still seemed okay.

But the night before the day before we were supposed to leave. I was REALLY looking at them.

And that's how I ended up in Discount Tire on Thursday morning. At rope drop, if you will. Hoping that they had the tires I needed in stock. Upon measuring my tread to verify that I needed tires, I discovered that I had 0/32 of tread on EACH tire. No wonder the road noise was so horrible!

My car had new oil, new tires, a laptop, which would function as a DVD player, music CDs, audio book CDs, DVDs, surprises for DS along the way, all our luggage, snacks, beer, wine, the trip binder, pillows, blankets, Nintendo DSs, etc etc.

I wasn't worried.

I wasn't going over check lists in my head.

I was just REALLY excited. The adrenal was still pumping. It had been a go, Go, GO type day. All day. All was in readiness. There was a minimum of VERY last minute things to do in the morning.

It was BEFORE midnight. A personal record on the night before a long trip.

It had been my goal. Must get to bed EARLY. Big day tomorrow. Lots of driving to do. Must get sleep.

Finally, I do what I do. I prayed. Oh. PLEEEEASE. Please, let me sleep.

And thankfully, I did.

Our Disney trip was a night's sleep away.

 

[nittanyliongirl02]

I've read the Dining review....i'm in again!

 

[Happydog]

Okay okay okay, NOT first but at least the first page!!! I went off to do those household chores last night!!! That and sleep! Will read today! I will be BACK!

 

[Phelpsie70]

Count me in, I just read your dining reviews and I want more! Great start, thanks for bringing us along on your much needed vacation.

 

[Happydog]

Great first post!!!!!

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Shenanigoat]

I'm ready to be swept away with your family!

 

[TxRabbit]

I've read the Dining review....i'm in again!

YAY! I'm so glad you're along for the ride!

Okay okay okay, NOT first but at least the first page!!! I went off to do those household chores last night!!! That and sleep! Will read today! I will be BACK!

Those household chores...I did get dinner made. The kitchen's not clean, but we had a homecooked meal.

Count me in, I just read your dining reviews and I want more! Great start, thanks for bringing us along on your much needed vacation.

Thank you! Welcome aboard!

Great first post!!!!!

Looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you! It's coming right up!

I'm ready to be swept away with your family!

I'm so GLAD! Hang in there. It'll take a while for me to get to when I started taking pictures...we're in the mood setting stage... But I took over 1000 pictures, so there'll be plenty!

 

[Happydog]

But I took over 1000 pictures, so there'll be plenty!

wait. Let me try that again...



a THOUSAND pictures??!!
In some places I got gobs, in others, I took none! I have to work on consistency with photos this December!!!

Really looking forward to hearing about your trip, I am working on mine tonight, too!!

 

[TxRabbit]

DH likes his sleep. Not that he gets enough. Which could be why he has such a fondness for it...you know what they SAY about absense...

Neither DH nor myself is a morning person. We try though. To beat the worst of the morning commute, our alarm is set for 5:00 AM. It's best if DH hits the road BEFORE 6:00 AM. We don't always make it up after the alarm though. DH and I have an unhealthy habit of burning the midnight oil (which I seem to have in spades), enjoying some alone time after DS goes to bed.

So needless to say, we are a little sleep depraved.

But it's a well known fact in our home that while DH may struggle to wake up at 5:00 AM on a work morning, on a morning where FISHING is involved... Or hunting. Or SNOWBOARDING? He pops up out of bed raring to go! NO PROBLEM.

When we lived in Loveland, CO, DH would get the Cruiser packed up, me included, and leave well before 5:00 AM to try to get that fresh powder over two hours away. I would still be snoozing as he drove us away at o'dark thirty.

Because I do NOT pop out of bed for FISHING. Nor hunting. Nor skiing, which is what I do when DH snowboards.

But apparently, I DO pop right out of bed for DISNEY!

DH, on the other hand, was not quite as enthused. He still had to go to work.

Yes, it may be our first traveling day to Disney, but DH had to put in four hours of work before we could go.

I don't understand people who roll over vacation time. We are always scrambling to see if DH has earned enough to do some plan or another. Thus, we didn't want to take any more vacation time than necessary for our trip. DH had worked through lunch Monday thru Thursday so that he only had to put in four more hours on Friday to get that 40 hour work week in.

The last of the last minutes done...the announcement that if it wasn't with us, there are always stores in Florida...a prayer for our cats, who were left home alone while we were gone (which is better than a stranger's cage, as much as I hate the thought of them alone) and for our house...watch the garage door completely close...and drive straight to Starbucks for some wake-up juice.

We got DH to work at 7:04 AM! Yay! On time. Enough.

While DH worked, DS and I spent time with DH's family. DS was getting to play with his cousins, I was hanging out with my SIL who is getting married in August, and my FIL.

I painted my toes. I was a happy camper. Gotta have pretty toes for vacation.

DH was super busy. A same level PM had just been fired. Inappropriate use of company resources. DH got a sudden increase in workload and lost a back-up person for while he would be gone on vacation. He was scrambling to prepare everything as best he could for his week long absense.

The PLAN was to leave at 11:00 AM. Sharp.

Got the text that DH would be ready to go at 11:10 AM.

OK.

DS and I left the cousins house none too soon. DS was very unhappy. He was holding back tears. Sometimes the cousins have a great time together. Today was not one of those times. We decided to leave these unhappy, hurting feelings with the cousins and not take them with us on our trip.

At 11:10 AM, we were almost in the parking lot at DH's work.

"Just a little while longer Bebe, I gotta finish this up..."

No worries. DS was playing his DS. I was checking out the sweet trip binder that I had put together.

My binder contained the location of every rest area along the way. Every Starbucks along the way. (There weren't too many!) And several other points of interest along the road trip.

I was driving, so I was refreshing my memory about where I thought the first stop might be. If you read my PTR, then you know that I was planning potty breaks.

It wasn't too long before DH was changing out of work clothes into traveling clothes.

Now I had spent a bit of time the day before preparing food for our road trip. Something that we could eat on the road so that we could get going...

DH had a hankering for donuts.

OOO ooo. DS would like some too!!!

If you read my dining report, then you know my men have a thing for donuts. We didn't HAVE any donuts.

But there was a donut place right across the way...

It was almost 12:30 PM.

Most of the happy little white bags that had once contained a variety of what was left in the donut shop (You can't be too picky at twelve noon at a donut shop) were now empty. Happy men, young and younger, had partaken of the sugar rush and were now fixing on some protein, the things I had packed for a snack lunch. Summer sausage. Pepperoni. Salami. Cheese. String Cheese. Some fruit. Some veggies. And a happy momma was driving with Houston in her rear view mirror.

We were well over one hour late for departure. But, FINALLY, we were on our way to DISNEY!!

As my father used to say, "We were off like a herd of turtles!"

 

[TxRabbit]

wait. Let me try that again...



a THOUSAND pictures??!!
In some places I got gobs, in others, I took none! I have to work on consistency with photos this December!!!

Really looking forward to hearing about your trip, I am working on mine tonight, too!!

Now granted...I took pictures of ALL that FOOD!!!!

And I was experimenting with different camera settings...

So I don't have 1000 QUALITY pictures...but I do have some good ones!

 

[annnewjerz]

Count me in! Read through all of your dining reviews since we recently decided to go Deluxe and they were great.

Fantastic first few posts, can't wait to read more.

 

[Happydog]

I am so happy to hear that this herd of turtles made it out of texas...

Cant wait for the next installment! Hope the heat isn't soo bad there this weekend??!!

I'll be watching!



Oh, and I love that you had identified each starbucks location along the way... this would be me too.....

 

[WDisneyMom]

Again, I must say A*W*E*S*O*M*E!! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Alice28]

OK, I haven't even started reading yet, but SO EXCITED to see this up!!! Cannot wait!!!!!!

 

[MickeyReeds]

You're off to a great start--can't wait to read more!

 

[jenseib]

YAY! I'm in! Great start.

 

[TxRabbit]

Once upon a time ago, as my DS used to say, I used to aspire to the lofty career of truck driver. I thought there would be nothing better than getting paid to drive across the country. I was young. I liked road trips. I liked listening to music. I liked singing to the music. I could just picture myself, driving, seeing the sights, singing away to my heart's content.

I still enjoy a good road trip.

This particular road, Highway 146, had a feature that sent me into vacation mode right away. I was driving and didn't take a picture. DH was eating so I didn't even bother to ask him to take one. So this picture, and a few following, are borrowed off the World Wide Waste of time.

The Fred Hartman Bridge. 8 lanes wide. 2.6 miles long. 178 feet above the water. It took 11 years to build.

Maybe it's growing up in the Bay Area. The San Francisco Bay, that is. I love bridges!

Now granted, this bridge wasn't the Golden Gate, nor was it the Oakland Bay Bridge, but it was still a cable bridge that spanned a fairly significant amount of bay water. The views from it were great fun, as much as you can admire the view from the driver's seat.

It's like the bridge served to not only transport us physically from one side of the Houston ship channel to the other, it also was a mental transport from the hometown area to the vacationing area.

It's good that the happy mindset was goin' on, because construction on I-10 brought traveling to a complete and total stand still. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go.

DH was asleep.

DS was reading. He and I like to listen to books on CD. Our latest favorites include A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett. They crack us up. DS was reading book 6. We had heard books 3, 4, 5, and 7, which we had checked out before our trip to see if we liked the series. He was very curious to fill in the blank.

My clutch leg was getting a work out.

We finally hit that breaking point. It's like everyone on the highway is singing, "Booooorn freeeeeeeeeee!" Yay! Speed limit driving!

It didn't last long.

More traffic.

I think we were on the other side of Beaumont now.

DH woke up. "What's the deal?"

I know, right?

We weren't too far now from our first scheduled stop, the welcome center rest area just after crossing the Louisiana state line. I was able to get the street view on Google maps. It looked really nice actually. A lake. Lots of grass. Some picnic tables. And best of all. A POTTY!!

Unfortunately, the Louisiana Department of Transportation must be behind on updating their web site. The rest area was closed.

Not too far down the road, in Sulphur, LA, the lovely, green, informative highway sign let DS know that Wendy's was at the next exit.

The backseat spoke. "Can I have some Wendy's? I feel like some chicken nuggets. Mmmmm."

I felt like using a potty.

Works for me!

The Ruth Street exit in Sulphur is a fast food mecca. It would appear, however, that Wendy's was a popular choice on this day, because everyone and their dog decided to eat there around 2:00 PM that Friday.

Did I ever mention that I used to dance? In high school. A bit in college. I used the bars that formed the waiting line to stretch my legs. My clutch leg was really tight. I didn't mind the wait.

DH and I were drooling over the new Frosty-cinos. Audibly.

It's our irresistible, real dairy Frosty with coffee syrup from real-brewed coffee. We hand spin it, top it with real whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate to create an exciting, deliciously different Frosty Shake.

Oh my.

The lady in line in front of us used to work for Wendy's. She gave us the low down on the menu. Thumbs up on the new Frosty-cinos. In fact, she used to have too many of them. That's how she got into trouble. And why she no longer works for Wendy's.

She couldn't hang in the line though.

I guess she knew of another Wendy's. With a huff and an announcement, she bailed to go over there.

She obviously wasn't on her way to WDW and practicing her LINE patience.

Wendy's was now cruising on down the interstate.

The interstate was spanning more water. Lake Charles and the Calcasieu River.

This bridge was almost like a roller coaster ride. It may be difficult to see from these photos, but it has a serious incline and decline.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I was having a good time driving this interstate! Lake Charles looked like a fun spot. I noticed that there looked to be a good unofficial rest area/park type place right off the highway here. I looked it up and found the Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau, home of the Lake Charles Gator Pond. Just East of the I-10 bridge. We also offer non-living gators...in the form of sculptures...Gators on the Geaux, a city-wide exhibit features close to 70 uniquely decorated alligator sculptures designed by local artists.

This looks like a stop similar in quality to where we actually did stop.

We were now approachinig the elevated portion of I-10. Two lanes divided through the Atchafalaya Swamp. Maximum speed limit 60 MPH.

Here, also, was our next stop. Exit 121. The Atchafalaya Welcome Center. I can't tell you how much fun we had coming up with all the different ways you could pronounce, Atchafalaya. Pronounciation variation is one of DH's and mine's favorite pastimes on road trips.

It's more than just a potty and some vending machines. Although, they have those...

Which are located in a separate building to the right of the main building. There's a covered walkway between the two. Looking at these guys...

You might never suppose that seconds before they were engaged in a highly amusing game of pull my finger...

A game that Momma prefers to be played OUTSIDE her car.

This welcome center was opened in the hopes of raising eco-awareness for the Atchafalaya Basin.

It's more than a counter with brochures and pamphlets, although it has that too. Along with a nice sitting area...like you need to sit at a rest stop... The first item of note is the short informative film. I think it's about 5 minutes long. Go through the wooden doors that you can see to the right in this picture. DS is acting all surprised at the animals in the exhibit...

Because the animals in this exhibit are animatronic. They move and talk to you. They warn you that the doors will open and close automatically. On the other side of the doors, you enter into an octagonally shaped room. There is ledge seating all around the perimeter of the room. We were the only ones there when we visited, so I didn't hesitate to take some pictures, which didn't come out too well. The room was pitch black and I couldn't remember how to turn the flash off on my camera.

There is a bird above the main screen that talks to you.

At times, the entire room is a part of the viewing experience.

The film is well done. At the end of it, I was thinking to myself that there was a lot to see, do, and discover about this area. We continued to stretch and walk around. There are several exhibits which highlight different cultural, historical, and environmental aspects of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Many of the exhibits had screens filled with information that would periodically change. You can see the screen changing in this shot.

DS really wanted to TOUCH that alligator skin.

I LOVE the pelican. Maybe it's because I love to SAY it. Pel-lee-kin.

Outside the main building, there is a nice place to have a picnic lunch, if you had one with you.

We picked up a lot of reading material in the form of brochures, maps, and various other free informational literature. It was a great place to stop. Something entertaining to do that didn't take a whole lot of time. This welcome center offers the road weary traveler a much needed break, especially if you were stuck traffic, like the travelers you see in the westbound lanes here...