RVGal
Whaaa?
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2005
- Messages
- 3,806
For those of you that joined me on my CANCER SUCKS trip report, you have some idea of the difficult time that I've had lately. Add to that financial concerns (we own a business that is barely surviving), medical concerns (DS6 has epilepsy), guilt (from several directions), and a laundry list of other crud.
I thought many, many times that we would have to cancel this trip.
I finally decided to take the attitude that we were going, no matter what it took. It was a mental vacation for me and I'll admit that freely. I needed to check out of the real world for a few days and just be with my family away from all that stuff piling up. Okay, so here we go...
The Cast:
Me (Tricia, the planner of this vacation)
DH (Brad, the tolerant one who enjoys Disney because I do)
DS6 (Joshua, the quiet one who was so excited he couldn't sit still)
DS3 (Daniel, the whirlwind who was looking forward to another trip)
Day 1 - Saturday, October 18th
This is Travel Day. We were up around our usual time. As much as I would have loved to wake at the crack of dawn and start the drive so that we could be in Orlando by lunchtime, I have to keep Joshua on a fairly strict sleeping schedule because of his epilepsy. Brad dropped our dog off at the kennel and we hit the road around 9:30am in our fully packed van.
The boys handle long car rides really well. On this trip, they watched some DVDs, played with their Leapsters, and spent some time being silly.
Lunch was a Wendy's drive thru, and by afternoon we saw...
We stopped for dinner at a Steak 'n Shake near Ocala.
Don't ask me what the boys were doing. I have no idea.
We arrived in Orlando and found our "one night only" hotel. We booked the Days Inn Main Gate West through Hotwire for $29. This hotel used to something other than a Days Inn. The signs are all empty, and they just have a temporary banner over them with the Days Inn logo, so I'm assuming the name change didn't happen that long ago. The hotel looks like it has recently been refurbished, or they are in the process of it.
We were on the third floor, facing the parking lot.
If you can't tell from the pictures, there was a large flat screen tv, a microwave, a small fridge, a coffee maker, and a wetbar type sink in the cabinets along the wall. I really can't offer much more than that about the hotel. We slept, checked out, and left.
Day 2 - Sunday, October 19th
Brad noticed a restaurant across the highway offering $4.99 breakfast buffet. His frugal heart soared, so we headed there to eat. Here is a lesson to be learned from our trip. The buffets along the main drag in Kissimmee all offer cheap upfront pricing, but there is almost always a catch. This one had a $4.99 buffet, sure, but drinks cost $2.25 each... and they charged $3.99 for the kids to eat. So, our "cheap" buffet wound up costing almost $30 for the four of us.
Full and raring to go, we made the short drive to Disney.
Once on Disney property, we followed the signs to our Downtown Disney resort.
We parked in the small lot for check in arrivals and headed for the lobby.
There were several people in the lobby, but no lines, so we walked right up to a CM at the desk and were assigned our room. She told us that the room was ready and we could move in at any time.
Really? No waiting and calling the number to find out our room number later? We can go right to our room? Now? Really? She chuckled and assured me that we could go straight to our room.
We hauled our stuff in and then dashed for the bus stop so that we could officially begin our visit to the parks.
Up next, First Stop... Epcot!
I thought many, many times that we would have to cancel this trip.
I finally decided to take the attitude that we were going, no matter what it took. It was a mental vacation for me and I'll admit that freely. I needed to check out of the real world for a few days and just be with my family away from all that stuff piling up. Okay, so here we go...
The Cast:
Me (Tricia, the planner of this vacation)
DH (Brad, the tolerant one who enjoys Disney because I do)
DS6 (Joshua, the quiet one who was so excited he couldn't sit still)
DS3 (Daniel, the whirlwind who was looking forward to another trip)
Day 1 - Saturday, October 18th
This is Travel Day. We were up around our usual time. As much as I would have loved to wake at the crack of dawn and start the drive so that we could be in Orlando by lunchtime, I have to keep Joshua on a fairly strict sleeping schedule because of his epilepsy. Brad dropped our dog off at the kennel and we hit the road around 9:30am in our fully packed van.
The boys handle long car rides really well. On this trip, they watched some DVDs, played with their Leapsters, and spent some time being silly.
Lunch was a Wendy's drive thru, and by afternoon we saw...
We stopped for dinner at a Steak 'n Shake near Ocala.
Don't ask me what the boys were doing. I have no idea.
We arrived in Orlando and found our "one night only" hotel. We booked the Days Inn Main Gate West through Hotwire for $29. This hotel used to something other than a Days Inn. The signs are all empty, and they just have a temporary banner over them with the Days Inn logo, so I'm assuming the name change didn't happen that long ago. The hotel looks like it has recently been refurbished, or they are in the process of it.
We were on the third floor, facing the parking lot.
If you can't tell from the pictures, there was a large flat screen tv, a microwave, a small fridge, a coffee maker, and a wetbar type sink in the cabinets along the wall. I really can't offer much more than that about the hotel. We slept, checked out, and left.
Day 2 - Sunday, October 19th
Brad noticed a restaurant across the highway offering $4.99 breakfast buffet. His frugal heart soared, so we headed there to eat. Here is a lesson to be learned from our trip. The buffets along the main drag in Kissimmee all offer cheap upfront pricing, but there is almost always a catch. This one had a $4.99 buffet, sure, but drinks cost $2.25 each... and they charged $3.99 for the kids to eat. So, our "cheap" buffet wound up costing almost $30 for the four of us.
Full and raring to go, we made the short drive to Disney.
Once on Disney property, we followed the signs to our Downtown Disney resort.
We parked in the small lot for check in arrivals and headed for the lobby.
There were several people in the lobby, but no lines, so we walked right up to a CM at the desk and were assigned our room. She told us that the room was ready and we could move in at any time.
Really? No waiting and calling the number to find out our room number later? We can go right to our room? Now? Really? She chuckled and assured me that we could go straight to our room.
We hauled our stuff in and then dashed for the bus stop so that we could officially begin our visit to the parks.
Up next, First Stop... Epcot!
I can`t wait to see your next trip of yours.
)
But still wonder if it would be worth the hassle (I would hate to have to rent a car, travel back and forth during the day just to rest, etc.)
