Trip you just wouldn't believe!

[Disney Spaz]

Okay so we, DS, DD and myself, used our Developer Points for 1 bdrm stay in SSR and brought a close family friend who had never been to WDW before. It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime trip for him and boy was it something he will always remember.

So Friday June 19th we packed up our minivan (Big Mama) and headed out from PA around 9pm. DFF is a driver for a living and offered to do the 976 mile haul himself. We are cruzin along, laughing and having fun dozing on and off through the night. Around 9am we stop in a little town in GA for gas, turned Big Mama back on and head back onto 95. Only this time her temprature gauge is peaking out in the H. Not good. We limp to a little town at exit 3 in GA called Saint Mary's to eat and find out if we can get to a garage.

Well we found a great garage and proceeded to sit in their offices for 7 hours on a Saturday, with a 3yr old begging every 5 minutes to go to Mickey's house. They weren't sure what was wrong so they drove us and our 15 peices of luggage to Jacksonville Airport to rent a car and finish our drive to WDW. We ended up having a great week but when it was time to come home on Sunday June 28th Big Mama was still broken. So we drove a rental car home and now Big Mama needs a new engine .

So now my poor car sits in GA waiting to be fixed.

The garage will have it done on July 10th so it needs to be picked up right? So I talk to DS and DFF and he was so inlove with WDW that we all agree that since we are going to drive all the way to GA to get Big Mama might as well go the rest of the way to WDW for the weekend. So now I have used all my points through to 2010 so I guese was are going to have to do a value but I AM GOING BACK TO WDW IN 10 DAYS YEAH!!!!

 

[DVC Mike]

Sorry to hear about the car trouble but glad to hear you still got to enjoy WDW and may get to go back sooner than expected.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Okay so we, DS, DD and myself, used our Developer Points for 1 bdrm stay in SSR and brought a close family friend who had never been to WDW before. It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime trip for him and boy was it something he will always remember.

So Friday June 19th we packed up our minivan (Big Mama) and headed out from PA around 9pm. DFF is a driver for a living and offered to do the 976 mile haul himself. We are cruzin along, laughing and having fun dozing on and off through the night. Around 9am we stop in a little town in GA for gas, turned Big Mama back on and head back onto 95. Only this time her temprature gauge is peaking out in the H. Not good. We limp to a little town at exit 3 in GA called Saint Mary's to eat and find out if we can get to a garage.

Well we found a great garage and proceeded to sit in their offices for 7 hours on a Saturday, with a 3yr old begging every 5 minutes to go to Mickey's house. They weren't sure what was wrong so they drove us and our 15 peices of luggage to Jacksonville Airport to rent a car and finish our drive to WDW. We ended up having a great week but when it was time to come home on Sunday June 28th Big Mama was still broken. So we drove a rental car home and now Big Mama needs a new engine .

So now my poor car sits in GA waiting to be fixed.

The garage will have it done on July 10th so it needs to be picked up right? So I talk to DS and DFF and he was so inlove with WDW that we all agree that since we are going to drive all the way to GA to get Big Mama might as well go the rest of the way to WDW for the weekend. So now I have used all my points through to 2010 so I guese was are going to have to do a value but I AM GOING BACK TO WDW IN 10 DAYS YEAH!!!!

I'm so sorry to hear about the van. Our SUV overheated a few years ago on the way down. We stopped for awhile, and then drove slowly with no A/C for the rest of the trip.

I would love to have an excuse to just go to Disney, and to have my own personal driver to boot.

I'm glad you had fun, and hope you have fun for your next trip.

 

[DVCJones]

When life gives you lemons,
Make lemonade.


Have Fun!!!!

 

[madcoco]

This is perfect example of...

"When life gives you lemons,
Make lemonade."

Have Fun!!!!

Ditto!

 

[disneynutz]

Only this time her temprature gauge is peaking out in the H. Not good. We limp to a little town at exit 3 in GA called Saint Mary's to eat and find out if we can get to a garage.

Well we found a great garage and proceeded to sit in their offices for 7 hours on a Saturday, with a 3yr old begging every 5 minutes to go to Mickey's house. They weren't sure what was wrong so they drove us and our 15 peices of luggage to Jacksonville Airport to rent a car and finish our drive to WDW. We ended up having a great week but when it was time to come home on Sunday June 28th Big Mama was still broken. So we drove a rental car home and now Big Mama needs a new engine .

Sorry to read about Big Mama. I hope that you checked out the garage and got a second opinion before letting a stranger in another State tell you that you need a new engine.

The last time that I had work done in Georgia, the mechanic wired our trailer electric incorrectly. I had given him the instructions that came with the kit that we had bought. I asked him if he had followed the instructions and he told me no. When I asked him why, he told me that he couldn't read.

Good luck, I hope that everything works out OK.

 

[bobbiwoz]

disneynutz is giving us all something to think about!

OP, I'm sorry to hear about your car trouble. You have a great attitude about the whole thing.

Bobbi

 

[AnnetteF]

Wow, that's wonderful (I mean the part about the extra Disney weekend - not the van)!

Can you tell me where you were able to get a reservation with such short notice? we may be looking at more of a last minute trip later this year or sometime next Winter and I was wondering what kind of DVC availability we might be able to expect?

 

[Disney Spaz]

Thanks to everyone's positive comments. Now we are just trying to figure out who gets to go. I have never had so many volunteers to go pick up my car.

disneynutz - I have faith in the mechanic. When we got there on Saturday he actually called and spoke to our mechanic in MD and together they tried to trouble shoot the problem. They replaced the thermostat but it was still running hot. Then when he wasn't sure what else was wrong on Saturday he had a van drive us to Jacksonville Airport to rent a car. Then on Tuesday when he was still unable to identify the problem he towed it to a Mazda dealer in Jacksonville to have it checked out. He wasn't going to charge us because he felt he didn't desrve to be paid since he didn't fix it. Then the Mazda dealer diagnosed a blown head gasket and cracked cylander and wanted $5000 to repair it. The mechanic called around to find out if he could replace the engine for cheaper. He found an engine with 39K miles and a one year nationwide warrenty for $2600 installed. So he left it to us to decide if we wanted the dealer to fix it or him. We talked to our mechanic and he said replace the engine and get the warrenty in writing so we chose the mechanic. The guy is retired Navy and has his house right next to his garage so I figure if he screwed me I can always find him.

AnnetteF- I called and SSR is the only place with availability and I am out of points anyway so I am just going to get a value room with an AP rate instead.

 

[podsnel]

Talk about finding the silver lining!! You are AWESOME!! Have an EXCELLENT second trip!

 

[disneynutz]

disneynutz - I have faith in the mechanic.

Sounds like you covered your bases. I didn't want one of our fellow DISers taken advantage of.