The Wilson's March Break Adventure, part 2 On too WDW

[abbyndrewmom]

WDW here we come, we are driving from Fergus, Ontario in our 2001 Surburban. We are going to Tallahasse first to visit Dh's Step sister then on to WDW.

The Cast:

DH 33 professional Chef and main driver
Me 30 Mom, tour consultant and planner
DD 6 Disney loving princess
DS4 Stitch loving disney boy

March 15th

After enjoying a wonderful weekend in Tallahasse we were all anxious to get on our way to Orlando. We packed up and left Tallahasse around 11:00 AM. The plan was to drive down the coast and see the Manatees at Homossa Springs before turning towards Orlando. However this drive took a lot longer then I had expected besides it had started to rain so we skipped the Manatees and headed straight to Orlando. We had a beautiful drive across middle Florida again I highly recommend getting off the interstate if you can and enjoying local scenery. We could tell we were getting close to Orlando as the sky was getting black and the rain was starting. This will be our fourth trip and we have had constant rain on the other 3. Not just afternoon showers but all day heavy rain!!! We continued onto Kissimmee and made a quick stop at LBV outlet mall. This is my favorite outlet and as usual it didn't disappoint. We got some brother bear twirlers for in the park, big pens, some scrapbook stuff for me, a journal and a lilo & stitch colouring book. I didn't have a great chance to look at the clothes but the park t-shirts they had were too small for my kids. It was about 5:30 pm at this time and we figured we better head to our hotel and check in to get ready for our 7:30 PS at Ohana's. Our first night was at the Quality Inn Maingate WEst, I had a great rate through hotel Kingdom $29.00. We had a bit of drive along 192 as we were on the east end and our hotel was on the west side. Once we finally got there it was at a great location. There was a big shopping centre across the road with a Winn-Dixie and there was a Wallgreeens just a few doors down. WE were only about a mile from the entrance to WDW. We checked in and went up to our room. It was a nice room, big, clean with a fridge and a microwave. We ended up with a smoking room, I knew this when we booked. I had brought along some frebeeze and after a liberal spraying the room smelt much better. We were on the 2nd floor. I had packed a small bag as we would only be here one night so we didn;t have much to unpack. I did dig out sweaters for dinner tonight. We got back in the car and headed to Ohana's. This is our favorite on site restaurant and a must do on every trip. Here is a link to my dining report:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=533595


We left Ohana's around 9:30 and headed to the Winn-Dixie to pick up some groceries. For anyone who loves ice cream if you get a chance there is a brand of ice cream called "BLUE BELL". Winn Dixie always has a great selection of flavours. DH like the mint chocolate chip and I like the fudge brownie & cookie dough. We also picked up our milk, ceral and a few other snacks for in the parks. We were back at the hotel shortly after 10:00 pm and everyone turned in as we had an early morning planned.

Part 3 MGM in the rain

 

[hockey mom]

Great rate for your first night. Hope the rain holds off for the rest of your trip.

 

[Canadave]

hey abbyndrewmom, give us enough warning as to when your going next time...so we can avoid the rainy season ...just kidding, I'm sorry that you've had so much bad luck with the rain

I'm curious about the manatees at Homossa Springs...what is it like and is there a time of year that is better to go? They are such magnificent creatures.

I like your 'frebeeze' trick, we'll have to remember that.

 

[TimNDansMom]

Thanks for the review on O'Hana's. I'd like to try a dinner and see Wishes at the same time and was thinking of trying this restaurant. During the couple of times that we went over to the Tambu Lounge there were a lot of people waiting for their ps's for O'Hana's, so I know how busy it was.

Luckily, we just had the rain for parts of Monday and Tuesday, wasn't it. Still, it was easier to take than the snow they got here!

Looking forward to reading about "MGM in the rain"! We ended up going to Orlando Premium Outlet Mall and then dealing with the car alarm problem in the afternoon.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Originally posted by Canadave
hey abbyndrewmom, give us enough warning as to when your going next time...so we can avoid the rainy season ...just kidding, I'm sorry that you've had so much bad luck with the rain

I'm curious about the manatees at Homossa Springs...what is it like and is there a time of year that is better to go? They are such magnificent creatures.

I like your 'frebeeze' trick, we'll have to remember that.

You have no idea, Dh and I have thought of renting our selves out to regions having a drought. it even rained when we went to Las Vegas last summer. I spent the whole day at MGM apoligozing to people for having the misfortune of planning their vacations for the same time as us. Luckily for us and everyone else the rain cleared up and we had great weather the rest of the week!!!

 

[maryliz]

How did you know you were going to end up with a Smoking room? Was it a last-minute ressie so they told you when you booked? We took a smoking room on one of our last trips ... front desk clerk said it had been recently refurbed and that it didn't smell bad. Said we could check it out, and come back and check-out if we didn't want to stay. I thought it wasn't bad at all when we went in. The next morning, I realized that the odour had infiltrated everything we took into the room (which wasn't much) and I cannot do it again.

I never thought about doing a Manatee side-trip ... I'll have to keep that idea in mind. Our problem is that we are 'park-a-holics' and even when we go for 12 days, we spend a minimum of 10 in the parks (not all full days mind you).

Mary Liz