WDW Drive and the 1st day of School

[LSUmom4kids]

We are driving to WDW to stay 7 nights. On the way there we plan to leave the day before and spend the night "whenever my husband feels like stopping..." He will NOT let me plan where we will stay coming and going. (it's a spontaneous "man" thing!)

Our reservations in WDW are Sat. 8/5 thru Sat. 8/12. I just decided to check the kids school calendar for 2006-2007. Yikes, the first day of school will be MONDAY, 8/14. We were leisurely going to come home "sometime" on Sunday 8/13.

SHOULD I PUSH OUR TRIP UP A DAY OR TWO so that we will have a little downtime before the morning rush on the 1st day of school and our 1st day back at work? We can easily change our dates, provided I can still get the same hotel rate, but I'd rather do this sooner rather than later.

(Sorry, but we won't even consider letting the kids "skip" a day or two of school. My daughter always likes to try to get "perfect attendance".)

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

I would definitely try to push the trip up a couple of days. The first day of school is such an exciting time, and you don't want to send them in on the first day totally exhausted.

We've always been exhausted for the first couple of days after a trip, and we felt like doing absolutely nothing but sit. Now, we've never driven back (but will for our next trip), so I bet you won't be quite as exhausted. BUT, you want the kids to be at their best for the first day. If it's not a huge issue to change the dates, I would go ahead and do that, just to be safe.

We're running into that issue for our October trip. It's not the first day, but we're returning on a Sunday. My son has a half day, and won't go to school until 1:00pm, so I'm hoping that, getting to sleep in and relax in the morning, will help him be able to function OK at school.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[rlovew]

It may depend a bit on the age of your child, as an elementary teacher the first days of school are all about learning our procedures but in a high school with block scheduling the first day has to start off with work. If you are usually exhausted after a trip and it is easy to move it then I would but if it will be financially hard to move it then your child will probably be okay, especially if it is not a new school. First days at a new school (even with the same students) seem to be harder on everyone.

 

[java]

Ok First off let me tell your DH a little story

Three years ago we went "spontaneous" to Disney. We'll just drive until we get tired...blah blah blah. Well he got tired around North Carolina- didn't say anything until he was really tired.... Hmmm where are the hotels? Oh there is one let's check....nope no availability..hmmm another nope all full.... an hour and half later(and only about 20 miles away) we found a hotel with rooms. Not so relaxing to be spontaneous when you can't get a room. Oh but that is not the worst of it. On the way back...we hit a snow storm in SC(nothing major only about 2 inches if that) Well SC SHUT DOWN!! I95 was not sanded or plowed- cars were wiping out everywhere. So now we try again to get a hotel- but there is no power in SC...so we have to drive to NC...but so has everyone else..no hotel availability horrible road conditions. Found a hotel around 3 AM(a Microtel scary dump- but we got the last room there!!)
Moral of the story we always make a reservation just in case. You can cancel it up until 6(most of those I95 hotels have that policy but check) That way if we are going further..we try to book a hotel a little further away. But so far we have always stopped at the booked hotel. It just works out better that way

Now after that long winded lecture I will get off my soapbox and say that I think you will be fine coming back a day before school starts. Just have backpacks packed before you go. If you get there earlier what will you do anyway? The first few days are usually pretty "light"(I guess it would depend on the grade- but even my 6th grader doesn't really do anything until week 2. Have fun!

 

[LSUmom4kids]

Ok First off let me tell your DH a little story

I will definitely show my DH your comments about spontaneous behavior!!!

But I know what he will say... It nevers snows in August in New Orleans! But we can't be sure another hurricane won't be any where near the gulf coast - the route we will be driving -Florida, Alabama, Mississippi & Louisiana.

But I'll try to convince him about the hotel reservations - August is prime time for vacations and I can certainly see there may be "no vacancy" signs along our route!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[pedro2112]

Ok First off let me tell your DH a little story

Three years ago we went "spontaneous" to Disney. We'll just drive until we get tired...blah blah blah. Well he got tired around North Carolina- didn't say anything until he was really tired.... Hmmm where are the hotels? Oh there is one let's check....nope no availability..hmmm another nope all full.... an hour and half later(and only about 20 miles away) we found a hotel with rooms. Not so relaxing to be spontaneous when you can't get a room. Oh but that is not the worst of it. On the way back...we hit a snow storm in SC(nothing major only about 2 inches if that) Well SC SHUT DOWN!! I95 was not sanded or plowed- cars were wiping out everywhere. So now we try again to get a hotel- but there is no power in SC...so we have to drive to NC...but so has everyone else..no hotel availability horrible road conditions. Found a hotel around 3 AM(a Microtel scary dump- but we got the last room there!!)
Moral of the story we always make a reservation just in case. You can cancel it up until 6(most of those I95 hotels have that policy but check) That way if we are going further..we try to book a hotel a little further away. But so far we have always stopped at the booked hotel. It just works out better that way

You could have been talking about me. Last March we drove to WDW during Easter week from near Chicago. I did make a reservation with a motel just south of Atlanta for the trip down there, but I insisted on "winging it" for the trip back. On the way back, around dinner time, my DW suggested that we try to get a room for the night. I would have none of it. I wasn't tired yet, and the more we traveled that evening, the less we would have to drive the following day.

At around 10pm, I started to feel a little drowsy so we pulled off the interstate to look for a room...... Nothing. The next town, nothing. It wasn't until after midnight that we found the only room available... and it was a smoking room. The stench was so foul, I'm sure my entire family's life expectancy decreased a few years from being in the room. The top sheets were stained, and there was no housekeeping around. my wife tossed all the bedding (except the undersheet, which looked "okay") off the bed and we used our coats for our blankets and we didn't have pillows. I slept for about four hours and then we left.

My DW will never let me forget that....

 

[dixipixi]

We always come home on Saturday because DH likes to have a day off before he goes back to work. We're going in June, so the kids don't have to be back for school, but oldest DS will have to go back to work on Monday.

You're right about the hurricane thing. Last year we were at WDW in June and were coming home as TS Arlene was headed into the Gulf Coast. We normally make the drive in about 10 hrs, but it took us over 14 last year. The traffic was terrible around Pensacola and Mobile.

DH said if we run into that again, we will stop. We were exhausted when we finally made it home. The traffic was really nervewracking. We were at a dead stop 3 times waiting for accidents to be cleared.

It's nice to have that extra day if you need it.