ChiefM
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2017
A little back story:
It was a crazy 2020 for us like everyone else. It's me, my wife and our 5 year old son, we also have a 20 year old married daughter. She is not going with us on this trip. Our cruise in April was cancelled, we regrouped and decided to take our motorhome and go to Panama City the weekend after Labor day. My mother passed away in May so we combined a quick vacation and doing her celebration of life. ( did not die of COVID). We ended up leaving early and fleeing for our lives from an approaching Hurricane. It's so much fun driving a 40ft motorhome in gale force winds. I am now changing jobs and have to start over on vacation time.
I woke up New years day to a rainy and dreary weather outside, what a way to start a New year. I pulled out my Ipad and saw Corey meets World was doing a live stream so I tuned in. Beautiful blue sky and warm, I sure wish I was there. I grew up about an hour from Orlando so now that we now live in North Georgia I miss the nice warm winters. My wife wakes up about 8 AM and lets the dogs put then asks me what I have planned for the day. I said I'm thinking we should go to Universal. I got a very stern: We are NOT going to Orlando today, you can forget it. Thinking I was kidding she went back to bed. About 2 hours later she got back up along with our 5 year old son. She again asked me what I had planned for the day. Again I said I think we should go to Orlando. Look dear it's in the low 80's for today and tomorrow with sunshine. Can't do anything here but sit around the house.
She said we can do something but it's an 8 hour drive to Orlando and it's already past noon. She threw in taking care of the dogs, I said our 20 year old daughter said she would take care of them for us. She said you are really serious aren't you. I was in a way but it was more like testing the waters to see how she would react to a spur of the moment trip. I could sense her defenses were coming down as I countered all her objections or excuses. I said I am dead serious. I threw in I am starting a new job on the 11th and have to start all over on saving vacation days. Here was a prime 3 day weekend for us to do something fun. She said she needed chicken food( some of my wife pets). I said I'll run and get chicken food and you go pack. She said I was crazy but it was a done deal!!
I am a planner. 32 years in the military has made me that way so a spur of the moment trip with no tickets or room reservation was totally out of character for me. I ran and got the food and filled up the SUV on the way back. We finished packing, loaded the truck and we were off. Fearing park capacity, no rooms or tickets as we headed out of town we called Universal. First pick was Cabana Bay, no rooms. The nice young lady on the phone got us a room in Endless Summer Dockside and year long military appreciation tickets with park to park option in a matter of minutes. We reached the Florida line at around 7:30 PM, I looked over at my wife and said: What did you say about not going to Orlando today? She said be quiet and watch the road!
Saturday was not as sunny as the forecast had said but the cloud cover kept the temps down and my wife really liked that. My son finally got the meet Spider-Man. We rode some rides and also tried the butter beer. Son got to see the Dragon spitting fire. Rode the train from Islands to Universal. Knowing we had a year long pass and we would be coming back so we didn't rush around. We have been to Disney 3 times but this was our first trip to Universal. So now that we have a year long pass we will be going again sometime this year. She said next time don't make it so spur of the moment!
It was a crazy 2020 for us like everyone else. It's me, my wife and our 5 year old son, we also have a 20 year old married daughter. She is not going with us on this trip. Our cruise in April was cancelled, we regrouped and decided to take our motorhome and go to Panama City the weekend after Labor day. My mother passed away in May so we combined a quick vacation and doing her celebration of life. ( did not die of COVID). We ended up leaving early and fleeing for our lives from an approaching Hurricane. It's so much fun driving a 40ft motorhome in gale force winds. I am now changing jobs and have to start over on vacation time.
I woke up New years day to a rainy and dreary weather outside, what a way to start a New year. I pulled out my Ipad and saw Corey meets World was doing a live stream so I tuned in. Beautiful blue sky and warm, I sure wish I was there. I grew up about an hour from Orlando so now that we now live in North Georgia I miss the nice warm winters. My wife wakes up about 8 AM and lets the dogs put then asks me what I have planned for the day. I said I'm thinking we should go to Universal. I got a very stern: We are NOT going to Orlando today, you can forget it. Thinking I was kidding she went back to bed. About 2 hours later she got back up along with our 5 year old son. She again asked me what I had planned for the day. Again I said I think we should go to Orlando. Look dear it's in the low 80's for today and tomorrow with sunshine. Can't do anything here but sit around the house.
She said we can do something but it's an 8 hour drive to Orlando and it's already past noon. She threw in taking care of the dogs, I said our 20 year old daughter said she would take care of them for us. She said you are really serious aren't you. I was in a way but it was more like testing the waters to see how she would react to a spur of the moment trip. I could sense her defenses were coming down as I countered all her objections or excuses. I said I am dead serious. I threw in I am starting a new job on the 11th and have to start all over on saving vacation days. Here was a prime 3 day weekend for us to do something fun. She said she needed chicken food( some of my wife pets). I said I'll run and get chicken food and you go pack. She said I was crazy but it was a done deal!!
I am a planner. 32 years in the military has made me that way so a spur of the moment trip with no tickets or room reservation was totally out of character for me. I ran and got the food and filled up the SUV on the way back. We finished packing, loaded the truck and we were off. Fearing park capacity, no rooms or tickets as we headed out of town we called Universal. First pick was Cabana Bay, no rooms. The nice young lady on the phone got us a room in Endless Summer Dockside and year long military appreciation tickets with park to park option in a matter of minutes. We reached the Florida line at around 7:30 PM, I looked over at my wife and said: What did you say about not going to Orlando today? She said be quiet and watch the road!
Saturday was not as sunny as the forecast had said but the cloud cover kept the temps down and my wife really liked that. My son finally got the meet Spider-Man. We rode some rides and also tried the butter beer. Son got to see the Dragon spitting fire. Rode the train from Islands to Universal. Knowing we had a year long pass and we would be coming back so we didn't rush around. We have been to Disney 3 times but this was our first trip to Universal. So now that we have a year long pass we will be going again sometime this year. She said next time don't make it so spur of the moment!
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