The Mr. and the Mrs. Meetin’ Mickey in May 2010 ***Updated 5/2/2011***

[Cinderella16]

Hi everyone and welcome to my brand spankin’ new trip report. Some of you may remember me from my other two trip reports which you can find links to in my signature. Whether you are returning & loyal reader, a newbie, or just a lurker, I want to welcome and thank you for reading along!

The Mr. and the Mrs. Meetin’ Mickey in May. Doesn’t it have a nice ring to it? However, as with most trip reports, it took quite a while to conjure up a decent title. On our drive back home I toyed with some different titles and asked DH which ones he thought were the best. One of my grand ideas was: The Mr. and the Mrs. Making Magic in May, but we both decided that sounded too risqué, or maybe it is just our minds that our filthy. I also threw out The Mr. and the Mrs. Getting Wild at the Wilderness Lodge, but we soon found that that title gave the same impression as the other one. So that is how we came up with The Mr. and the Mrs. Meetin’ Mickey in May—just a good clean title for two newlyweds who had some good clean fun in the most magical place in the world. And for any of you who are wondering, yes, we did indeed meet Mickey.


Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

The Who?

Me – Julianne – The Mrs.

DH – Justin – The Mr.

The When?
April 30 – May 9, although we were in WDW from May 1 – 8

The Where?
The Wilderness Lodge, Woods View

The Why?
I am a teacher, and usually the only times we can go to WDW is June or July. However, thanks to the economy, my position was eliminated last year by my school, instead of leaving me high and dry, they allowed me to stay on the staff in a more limited Instructional Assistant/Science teacher role. Not having the responsibilities of a full time teacher, I was able to get time off to try Disney in May. Plus, we got a great 40% off pin code emailed to us. Finally, our original plan involved DMIL to join us on this trip since her birthday is on May 2, however the people she was going to go with could no longer go due to health reasons or work obligations. We begged her to still come, since we know how much she loves Disney, but she insisted that we go alone. DH and I went back and forth about just canceling the entire trip all together and go another time, but DMIL would not let us. Well, you didn’t have twist our arms...Disney here we come!


Ahh the month of May... It was a month that I always dreamed of for visiting WDW. I would read trip reports galore about how wonderful May was. The crowds were low, the temperatures were cooler, and there were less kiddos running around, a young couple's dream. My hopes were high. However, during this week in May we encountered much larger than expected sized crowds, extremely HOT weather, and while school aged children were seen less, their younger toddler aged friends were out in full force, and boy were they angry! It must’ve been the heat.

With that being said....... we had a FANTASTIC time and would definitely go back in May if the opportunity presented itself. We made a lot of memories, took tons of pictures (although this post doesn’t justify this fact), and ate way too much food!

I have so much fun writing these reports, and I hope you have fun reading them! Again, glad you are here and thanks for reading.

Up Next: We are going to Disney World!

 

[IluvXU]

I am in... interested to see what magic you encountered this trip and your thoughts on the WL....

 

[DisneyGal326]

I'm in too. Can't wait to hear more

 

[katiebelle21]

Welcome back! I loved your Honeymoon TR, and can't wait to hear about this one!

 

[Cinderella16]

I am in... interested to see what magic you encountered this trip and your thoughts on the WL....

Glad you are here!!

I'm in too. Can't wait to hear more

Thanks for joining in!!

Welcome back! I loved your Honeymoon TR, and can't wait to hear about this one!

Thanks & welcome! I hope it doesn't take me as long to write this one as it did for the honeymoon one!

 

[Cinderella16]

We Are Going to Disney World!

I must say time had flown by since we had booked the trip back in November. I don’t know if it was because we are still adjusting to married life or what, but it seemed May came in a blink of an eye! (And from what I hear, time doesn’t get any slower.)

Thursday, April 29th, I had to wake up and get my behind to work. We were dissecting owl pellets that day, and I knew that I couldn’t miss it, after all, I am the one who molded those young scientific minds. DH on the other hand, had the day off, lucky man. So while I was getting my hands dirty dissecting those pesky pellets, DH was home, eating bon bons and watching daytime television.

Just kidding. He was really at home preparing the car for its 2,400 mile round trip journey to the Happiest Place on Earth. I got home from work at around 3:00 pm and immediately finished off the last minute packing and cleaning because we all know you just cannot come home to a messy house after vacation; it just isn’t allowed.

The car was packed was ready to go and by 9:00 PM we were strapped in our seatbelts and out the driveway. Our first stop came at 9:02 when stopped for our first fill up of gas. We made it real far, lemme tell you.

With a full tank and two antsy adults we made our way to our next stop. DMIL’s house which is about 30 minutes from our house. Of course, she wanted to still come with us, and we joked about taking her with. We spent some time with DMIL and then said our goodbyes. The highways should be pretty clear by now and we knew we could make good time if we left. We were out of DMIL’s driveway by 10:50 and soon on the road to our first state the always lovely, Indiana.

Of course, not before encountering lovely Illinois construction traffic. In about an hour we were in Indiana and approaching I-65.

There wasn’t too much to see since it was extremely dark, but we did notice they had started building some wind farms along I-65 which were not there last year.

Obviously these were taken on the way home from our trip, but here is what they look like.

At 2:20 AM we stopped for another fill up, I got out of the car to stretch my legs, and when I opened the door the wind was so strong it took my google maps directions. For some reason we have not invested in a GPS yet and still print out our directions. Not that we need them to get to Disney, but it is one of those comforting things to have, plus we like to track how many miles we have to go on certain interstates. I tracked down our directions and couldn’t believe how windy it was in Indy, and you could definitely feel the wind pulling the car. In fact, the wind was so strong, there had been wind advisories issued for the state.

As we started off on our journey again, there was a whole lot more of nothing. DH ate one of the turkey sandwiches I made for the trip, although I had intended to eat them for lunch, he obviously had some early morning munchies going on. I, on the other hand, decided to save mine. Time was going by pretty quickly and by 4:10 AM we were in Louisville, Kentucky, a lovely looking city.

By this time we were both getting pretty tired, and I had nearly been up for 24 hours. We decided at 5:00 AM we would stop and break to rest our eyes, and that is just what we did. We stopped at a gas station combo McDonalds which looked safe enough and took a good hour and half snooze. Once we woke up, we realized the sun was coming up and it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day.

I apologize this is so short, but American Idol and Lost are on tonight and my laptop battery is about to die. More to come!

Up Next: More road tripping fun!

 

[KayBella]

I just happened to run across your TR and decided to read your honeymoon TR first since we're going on our honeymoon in August. Thanks for sharing!! Just wanted to let you know I'm joining in on your new TR and can't wait to hear more!

 

[Cinderella16]

I just happened to run across your TR and decided to read your honeymoon TR first since we're going on our honeymoon in August. Thanks for sharing!! Just wanted to let you know I'm joining in on your new TR and can't wait to hear more!

Congrats on your upcoming honeymoon! You are going to have such a great time!! Let me know if you any Disneymoon questions, I'd be glad to help. Glad you joining in!!

 

[Cinderella16]

...Continued...

After our much needed snooze, DH filled up the tank, and we continued on our trek through Kentucky. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day!

Not a cloud in the sky!

Soon, we were on to our new state, Tennessee.

It was about 8:15 by this time, and we decided we were getting hungry for breakfast. We knew exactly where we wanted to eat...Cracker Barrel!

After reading fellow DISser RachelNinja's TR I just knew I had to try a Cracker Barrel. I was so very excited to try it. DH and I actually live 10 minutes from a Cracker Barrel, but we had never stepped foot in one. We stopped at first one we saw, which happened to be right outside Nashville.

Oh my goodness, the parking lot looked busy! I love the country décor of the Cracker Barrel. There is so much to look at, I especially loved the rocking chairs that they had outside the restaurant.
Although it looked really busy in the parking lot, we were seated right away near a window.

DH and I browsed the menu.

Our server came quickly to take our orders, he asked if we were ready to order our breakfast, bt we both needed way more time, there was just too much to choose from!

DH and I both got orange juice.

Our server returned a couple minutes later to take our orders. I loved that he had a southern accent. Now I really felt like we were on vacation. I just love accents.

DH ordered Denver Omlette and I ordered the buttermilk pancakes. While we waited, we were entertained by the little peg game they had out at each table. We both were not very good at it, but at least it helped pass the time while we waited for our food.

We were both about ready to throw the little peg game against the wall, when thankfully, our food came.

Did you know if you order pancakes from Cracker Barrel, that they give you a little bottle of syrup?! It is the cutest thing and you can see in the picture of my pancakes. I was so excited by my little bottle of syrup, DH just thought I was weird, and you probably do too.

Both of meals were very good and we were now ready for a full day on the road. Before we left we browsed the shop, they had a lot of cute gift ideas in there and very nice smelling candles. Before we left, we tried out some of the nice looking rocking chairs and noticed that they were all handmade.

The weather was still perfect outside, which would not be the case about 24 hours later in this location. As you know, Nashville had those horrible floods and tornados, but thankfully we missed it by a day, but a lot of families were concerned if we had encountered the bad weather. More on that later.

Back on the road, we soon changed from Interstate 65 to Interstate 24, which is so beautiful because you drive through the mountains. We brought along an old Disney trivia book, so I quizzed DH on some of the classic movies. I think he did best on the questions about the Lion King.

We were so happy with the time we were making! At 10:45 we entered Georgia, and I missed the sign!

It’s behind that construction sign, I promise.

I did manage to get a picture of the on ramp for Interstate 75. Our final highway before the turnpike! Too bad we are on that one for about 400+ miles!

At 11:20 we stopped at Hardees because DH was in the mood for a milkshake. He got a strawberry shake and then took about a 20 minute nap in the car. We filled up the tank again and made our way toward Atlanta.

On this leg of trip, we started playing 20 questions, which was actually really fun! We had so stop though when got into Atlanta since people drive like maniacs there, it reminded us of Chicago.
There was also quite a bit of traffic in Atlanta, so DH needed to be alert! I took this time to eat my sandwich that I had made the night before, and it was very delicious!

Finally, we made it out of the traffic and DH needed to make a stop, well he chose the absolute worse exit! The traffic was so backed up because had stalled on the road in the right lane. To make a quick stop took nearly a half hour because of the traffic! As we were getting back on the Interstate we saw the poor guy was still stalled and a cop drove by him and didn’t even stop to help him, thankfully, it looked like he got some help from some nice people.

After what seemed like an eternity we were back on the road. We drove and drove and drove until our goal destination...Valdosta, GA. We were there by 4:30 central time and stopped at the same Country Inn & Suites as last year.

The skies had started to become dark and it started to rain. We ran into the lobby to find that they indeed did have vacancies. The manager told us that they were actually very busy, even though the parking lot was empty, he told us that there was a funeral in town and a lot of the family was staying here. We were just happy they had a room for us because we were tired and a bed was sounding real nice!

We asked the manager for a dinner suggestion, and he said to try our Texas Roadhouse. We decided that sounded good to us and as soon we got settled into our room, we drove to dinner which happened to be in a building right behind the hotel. Had it not been pouring, we would have walked.

We waited about half hour for a table. At this point, the night is kind of a blur. I was so over tired from being up for over 24 hours without real sleep. I know DH ordered ribs, and I had some kind of chicken which was too dry. They also gave us a free sample of chili because we had never eaten with them before, and that was good.

After dinner, it was still crummy outside, good thing our hotel had an indoor pool, so we decided to go swimming before showering and heading up to bed.

Up Next: Only 20 minutes to the Florida Welcome Center & We get to explore the Wilderness Lodge!!!

 

[RachelNinja]

YES YES YES YES YES!!! I'm so glad that you told me that you started this because I didn't know that you had! I'm thrilled that I can read from the start and follow along. Loved your other trip reports so much!

Wow! That's some crazy wind! I guess that's why they have those wind farms. I think it's such a great way to utilize something in nature.

I LOVEEE the state signs! Those are signs that I don't see, as you know, driving from NYC to Florida. It's so cool being able to go along on your trip!

YAY! I got so excited about the shoutout Hopefully, Cracker Barrel lived up to your expectations! I think I'd really like to try breakfast there too one day. I still wish I lived 10 minutes away from one!

And woohoo for Country Inn & Suites! AND Texas Roadhouse! I've only had that, I think, 3 times in Pennsylvania (in Lancaster, I think). My extended family and I drool over the thought of it. Two years ago when we were at our church retreat, the adults went out to dinner, but my cousins and I decided to hang back because we were tired. My mom called and said, "We're at Texas Roadhouse" (they had initially planned on going elsewhere), and my cousins and I all exclaimed, "What?!?!" Haha.

Can't wait for more!

 

[sstewart]

Can't wait to read the rest.....

 

[Cinderella16]

YES YES YES YES YES!!! I'm so glad that you told me that you started this because I didn't know that you had! I'm thrilled that I can read from the start and follow along. Loved your other trip reports so much!

Wow! That's some crazy wind! I guess that's why they have those wind farms. I think it's such a great way to utilize something in nature.

I LOVEEE the state signs! Those are signs that I don't see, as you know, driving from NYC to Florida. It's so cool being able to go along on your trip!

YAY! I got so excited about the shoutout Hopefully, Cracker Barrel lived up to your expectations! I think I'd really like to try breakfast there too one day. I still wish I lived 10 minutes away from one!

And woohoo for Country Inn & Suites! AND Texas Roadhouse! I've only had that, I think, 3 times in Pennsylvania (in Lancaster, I think). My extended family and I drool over the thought of it. Two years ago when we were at our church retreat, the adults went out to dinner, but my cousins and I decided to hang back because we were tired. My mom called and said, "We're at Texas Roadhouse" (they had initially planned on going elsewhere), and my cousins and I all exclaimed, "What?!?!" Haha.

Can't wait for more!

Yea!!! You made it over, thanks for joining in the fun!

Cracker Barrel lived up to my expectations!! Especially after they brought me my own little bottle of syrup.

Thanks again for reading along!! I will see over on your TR soon, I am sure.

Can't wait to read the rest.....

Welcome!! Thanks for joining in!!

 

[cmp1111]

Sounds like a decent drive so far! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Spartangirl]

Joining in!!! I've read and loved your other trip reports...

I'm excited to be reading about your road trip....DH and I are driving to Disney this summer....we usually fly!

That's great that you're staying at the WL......that's one of my favorite places to stay!

 

[JennisSilly]

*Subscribed*

So sad to hear that May was busy for you! DH and I honeymooned at AKL last June (the week before you =) and it was horribly hot, humid, and crowded, we plan on going next May (2011) to try it with a bit better weather and less crowds.

 

[MiNniEDrEameR]

Joining in for another Disney Adventure

 

[flickchick313]

I can't wait to read more! I found your last TR a few weeks ago and read the whole thing in one night!!

 

[Cinderella16]

Sounds like a decent drive so far! Thanks for sharing!

Welcome!! We were extremely lucky with our drive down. Had we waited an extra day, it would have been quite a different story with all the flooding in Tennessee.

Joining in!!! I've read and loved your other trip reports...

I'm excited to be reading about your road trip....DH and I are driving to Disney this summer....we usually fly!

That's great that you're staying at the WL......that's one of my favorite places to stay!

Glad you are back for the fun! Have a great time driving down! It really is a great way to build up the anticipation!

*Subscribed*

So sad to hear that May was busy for you! DH and I honeymooned at AKL last June (the week before you =) and it was horribly hot, humid, and crowded, we plan on going next May (2011) to try it with a bit better weather and less crowds.

Hi! I wouldn't worry about it for next May. Apparently, a lot of CMs and locals said it was very unseasonably HOT and crowded that week. It was so strange. I am sure you will have more luck!

Joining in for another Disney Adventure

Yay! My relationship twin is here! Glad you made it over!! Hope you are enjoying it so far.

I can't wait to read more! I found your last TR a few weeks ago and read the whole thing in one night!!

Hi and welcome!! I can't believe you read the whole thing in one night. You are a trooper. Actually, I can believe it, I have done the same thing before. Glad you joining for this one! Thanks for reading.

 

[klacey1]

Hi! Loved your Honeymoon TR, hope you continue this one!!

 

[nessz79]

I am here and looking forward to your trip report! I just spent the last hour reading through your DisneyMoon report- I loved it! What caught my attention was Naples- that's where we live and my DH and I are both teachers as well- so we have all that in common .

Don't you love Cracker Barrel?? We have them all along I-75 so we stop at one almost every time we travel or sometimes we visit the one in Naples (though we try to save it for special occasions). Our kids love playing the games and browsing the store. We love the low prices, too.

Looking forward to hearing more!