Whoa--How times do change!! A "BIG" kid trip report

[disneymom3]

Hi all
Okay our trip was waaayyyy back in Feb and I have been meaning to get the trip report together, but things have happened.

My first thing is that I am going to get out of the way the bad news part of our trip. We were there Feb 2-10 and on Feb 8 in the middle of the night, my mom passed away. Now, we knew she was sick when we went. She lived in CA as do most of my sisters and we live in MN. The week before we were to leave, one of the sis called me and said things looked bad and they were not sure how long she was going to make it. Nothing bad had happened, it was just basically that Mom decided she was ready to go be with our Dad and she gave up the fight. I stressed and cried and prayed about what to do. I had three little kids who had been talking about this trip for a year and a half. Should we cancel? But what if nothing changed with mom? Should we go? But what if she died on our way there? After a lot of talking with several of my older sisters, we decided to go and just deal with whatever happened when the time came. It all worked out okay in the end.

Okay, didn't want to shock you all with that news and ocme out with it in the middle of our trip so now we are ready.

Cast of characters is as follows:
Me--Also known as Mommy. Disney addict. Don't think I need to explain--you all understand what that means. Y'know...... said we wouldn't go back for two years but then Disney goes and offers free dining. WHAT is a girl to do???? Well, go back of course! Yeah, like that.

DH--Loves Disney but does not quite get my obsession. Still he is a good guy, all around easy going fun daddy who is ready to have a good time and is the most awesome overnight driver ever! He firmly believes that Mommy and Daddy should not have to share a room with children for a whole vacation or it does not qualify as vacation. That works for me He also knows where every Starbucks between here and WDW is located. More on that later.

DD9--The vast majority of the time this child is easy going and a great traveller. She has become a ride risk taker and is excited about trying out the rest of the Mountains as she did BTMR the last trip. Every once in awhile, she remembers however that she is a 9 year old girl and......well......you moms out there know what happens then. Two year olds pouting hold NO candles to 9 yo girls!!

DS5 (almost 6) Okay, this is our very gentle hearted, loving, cranky and whiny at the drop of a hat son. He is also what I lovingly call a "freaky boy" meaning he is paranoid about the stupidest things. Like riding Winnie the Pooh. Yes, really. He cried and covered his ears--but we'll get to that too.

DS4--This little trooper can make ya or break ya. He is by turns pleasant and ready to tackle the world and then will turn around and not want to do anything his bro and sis want to do simply because they want to do it. He is fired up to ride Buzz and Goofy's Barnstormer and is considering BTMR. He is way bummed because we know that Test Track is going to be closed and he has every intention of being a stunt dummy when he grows up.

So, the plan is that we are leaving at around 3:00 on Thurs, Feb 2. DH has the day off and will sleep for the day and then we will drive through the night. Yeah, I have heard the safety speeches. Spare me, 'kay. We do this pretty often, he used to drive overnight for his job ANNNNNDDDD we live a very long 1500 miles from WDW and airfare from our fair state is insane.

Anyway......that 3:00 keeps inching earlier in my mind and I find myself thinking, "Soooo, if we left at 2:45, where would we be for breakfast on Friday."........."Hmmmm, what if we left at 2:20" and so on. I do manage to get everyone on the road by about 2:45 so I am a happy girl. We have to drive from one side of the Twin Cities to the complete oposite side and my goal in life is to get through both sides before rush hour. We make it and hit Wisconsin at around 4:15.

Ohhhhh, those rolling hills. No offense to any Wisconsonites, but the hills between the border and the Dells are so dang boring, I could just cry!

More soon!

 

[WDWLinda]

So sorry to hear about your Mom...I can't imagine how you must have agonized over that decision, but I'm sure you made the right call and your Mom would have agreed.

Looking forward to the rest - you've inspired me to start my own trip report (we just returned 3 days ago, but I'm in end-of-vacation-denial).

Thanks,
Linda

 

[roberrl187]

Subscribing. We only live in CT, but people still think that it's nuts to drive strait through.

 

[disneymom3]

So, the question becomes how did the thread get this title. Well, the first answer to that question is answered on the first night.

As I said, we hit WI around 4:00 and then continued on our merry way until about 6:30 when we stopped for dinner at....well, okay somewhere in WI between here and Illinois--will that work for you? I don't know where we were. My job is keeping track of money and making sure the kids are at least somewhat entertained and happy. DH's job is knowing where we are. At any rate, we stopped for dinner at a Long John Silver/A&W type place. Everyone got A&W food except me. Turns out they were a lot smarter. That fish was gross. Or as Princess Aurora would say "Those dogs suck."

We got back on the road after our thrilling dinner and started up Aladin. Now, we have done this drive twice before with no DVD player in the car. I always scoffed at people who said you HAD to have one to do a long drive with kids. I still don't think you HAVE to have one, but my are they a beautiful invention! So, the deal was we would watch the movie and then it was time for kids to go to sleep. They were all wearing sweats and tshirts so would be comfy. The movie ended and....ta da!!!!! They all quieted down and WENT TO SLEEP! Oh my goodness.....a miracle had occurred right there in our car in Wisconsin!! This is the first lovely difference in a big kid trip. (I know our kids are THAT big.) The first time we did this drive our kids were 6, 1 and 2. DH had this lovely scenario in his head that he would be driving along listening to his own little tunes or talk radio or whatever and the children would peacefully be sleeping. I am not sure where I factored in that scenario.... At any rate, that soooo did not happen. First off it took for forever for them to go to sleep that trip and then when he stopped for gas, they all woke up. The baby cried and screamed even with me in the back seat with him unless I patted his tummy constantly and the older two woke up and chattered a mile a minute. They were happy, just really chatty.

So, we are driving along, quietly talking, I am reading my book with my book light etc and eventually after making sure DH is really truly awake, I drift off to sleep. I wake up around 2 a.m. just as we are driving under a sign that says "I-24 West" WEST?????? "Where are we going?" I quietly ask. DH says, "I think we need to go west on this for a little ways." I look at him and say, "Uhhh, I really don't think so. I have seen the map of the US and there is no reason one should go WEST from MN to get to FL. Really, I just don't think that can possibly make sense." Now, keep in mind that DH's job is to know where we are going. This is not my job. But that big old map is just hovering in my mind and it is screaming NOOOOOOOO! We are talking about a possible delay in getting me to WDW and that is just not cool. So, I pick up the AAA TripTik. Now the problem with these maps they give you is there are times when it actually does not tell you to go west or east or whatever. It just shows the red line on the road. Eventually I convince DH that we really need to go the other way. We get off the road and head back the other way, soon realizing that we are now headed in the right direction. Phew!! I really was not in the mood to go to Topeka or wherever we were headed! The beautiful thing here is that through all of this all three kids stayed asleep.

At one point during the night when we had to stop for gas we went through 6 exits before we found one with an open gas station. That was pretty freaky and there was some desperate prayer involved. Then around 6 in the morning, DH says he really needs coffee and I say I could use some too. We don't want to make a big production and don't need gas so we drive through a Burger King. Bleah. That coffee was pretty bad. Now DH who as I mentioned is really a great guy, is really really cranky about this bad coffee. LIke inordinately cranky. I decide to leave this alone and do my jobs. Kids are listening to a story tape and eating poptarts and juice. They are happy. Sugar high is on the way.

Next thing I know, DH is pulling off the Interstate in the midst of nowheresville Tennessee (or maybe Kentucky, remember this is NOT my job.)
"Where are we going?" Cranky voice says "There is a Starbucks over here." "HUH? HOw do you know this??? We are in the middle of nowhere!" I get no response. He is seriously cranky. Oooookaaay. Then we pull into a hospital parking lot. I say nothing. He gets out of the car and goes inside. The children want to know where Daddy is going. I tell them he went to get coffee. DD who is the only one who can read says, "In a HOSPITAL???" At this point she and I start to giggle. We are still giggling when DH comes back. Cofffee has not taken effect, so he does not see the humor. Give him time......

At about 9:00 we arrive in the area of Chatanooga where we are going to stop to go to Rock City. DH is no longer cranky which is good as the signage to GET to Rock City sucks. They have signs for 500 miles before you get there that it is coming, but then once you exit, there is NO info! We wandered around and up and down mountains and hills and did finally make it. Very cool,very fun, we all had a great time and got two hours of fresh air and excercise in after a night in the car. Really worth the stop. We got back in the car with a snack for the kids, another stop at Starbucks for DH and I and headed off for the Georgia rest stop to have our picnic lunch.

A bit later in the day, I asked DH how he knew that Starbucks was in that hospital. He then showed me a printout he had of Starbucks locations on our entire itinerary with....drum roll please.....approximate times we would be hitting those exits. To me this is the funniest thing I have ever heard and for the rest of the drive everytime we see a Starbucks sign, I ask him "Did ya know about that one?? Is it on your list??" Oh, I am lucky this man puts up with me. He did not find this nearly as funny as I did.

Next installment--the night the boys sleep and the girls don't.....

 

[Libade]

I'm hooked! Give me more more more!!!

please?

 

[nicolemarie]

So sorry about your mom...

The Starbucks location map is great! That's a man who needs him some good coffee!

Look forward to the rest of your trip!

 

[MagicMe]

So very sorry to hear about your mom.

It's really funny that he tracked where every Starbucks was on your trip!!!

Can't wait to hear more...

 

[OhMari]

OMG, my husband would do a search exactly like your husband did with Starbucks. Isn't it amazing how husbands have an interest in something and they will plan that out. We usually end up finding Tracks for racing or Trailer places.

 

[MamaLema]

Sorry about your mom

On a happier note, I'm loving this report so far

 

[disneymom3]

Thanks guys, both for the condolences and the kudos on the trip report. I have never written one before and am having fun with this. It's like reliving the trip all over again.

I have a big garage sale this weekend, so it may be Monday before the next installment.

 

[BlueBayou]

disneymom3 - great trip report. Looking forward to more!

 

[ArielDreams]

great report! my aunt is just like your dh with the starbucks - every city she travels to, she can tell ya exactly where the starbucks is! i'm looking forward to more!!!

 

[keri-k]

Sorry to hear about your mom...

Excellent trip report so far...

 

[DisneyFan09]

I love your trip report so far!! We are from Iowa and have thought about driving but so far we've been able to get decent airfare. You do make it sound kind of fun though. I have 2 dd's 11 and 9 so I totally know what you mean about the pouting. Terrible 2's have nothing on the moody 9's!!!

 

[disneymom3]

So, what we have discoverd about our kids is that they can make it about 24 hours in the car and then things start to get ugly. Have I mentioned the 18 hours of audio books we brought along on this trip? Yeah, my kids are waaayyyy into story tapes. However, long about 4:00, they really could not care less about Jack and Annie's latest adventure. So, we start trying to figure out where we are going to stop for the night. I really wanted to get within about 6 hours of WDW before we stopped and we are about there. We passed by a few exits without seeing much and then came to one that had many many hotels. Sorry, can't tell you where because, remember that is not my job. However it is my job to judge accomodations and hop out of the car to check availability. Here, however is where we come to a problem--I, you see, am a hotel snob However, I am also frugal. These things do not always blend well together.

We start the hotel hunt. I go into a couple of places and decide they are either icky or too expensive. We then come to a Days Inn/Ramada Inn right by a Chick Fil A. (That is as good as you are going to get for a location from me.) I go into Days Inn which has indoor corridors and free breakfast. (I forgot, part of the plan is free breakfast--gotta have that.) So, then we head over to the Ramada. They are connected, but the Ramada has outdoor entrances instead of indoor hallways. This is an important fact. I really don't like outdoor entrances. However, my frugal side wins out and I decide that we can handle it for $20 a night less. (This turns out to be a mistake.)

We get into the room--I have a bag packed for overnight and we have an airmattress for youngest DS to sleep on and a wonderful little purchase I made at TArget before the trip which is an inflator thing for the airmattress so that neither DH nor I pass out while inflating the darn thing! AFter we get the stuff into our room, we walk over to Chick Fil A and have a quick dinner. This is an awesome choice as it also has an outdoor playground. We let the kids play for about an hour and then head back to the room. We hang out and watch a little TV and then hit the sack. It is only like 7:30 but we are al wiped out. Then the problems start--NOISY!!! Suffice it to say that DD and I got hardly any sleep but the boys managed fine and DH konked out and was not heard from again for 12 hours. This is good for him and I am honestly glad that he got a good night's sleep as he is the one who drove the whole time down here.

Morning finally comes and we head to breakfast. It is actually quite good and we let each of the kids take a muffin or piece of fruit for the road and head out. As we are leaving the parking lot, we spy a Starbucks across the road. Hmmmmm.....I glance speculatively at DH Nope, he didn't know about this one. Must be new. We, of course, get coffee. Turn Jack and Annie back on and everyone is happy.

A word here about story tapes as we call them--they drive DH nuts. Half the time, the kids are annoyingly sweet or the stories are totally impractical. For instance, in A to Z Mysteries, the kids almost routinely get a reward of some sort that is totally unexpected. They also travel all over creation on their own--not just throughout their entire town but to different states and even to different countries. HOWEVER, as I have pointed out to DH many times, when they are playing, the car is quiet as can be. This is a good thing when you have 28 hours in the car!! Keep this in mind those of you who are considering driving with children. Story tapes are our friends!

Okay, so overall, this is a good day. We don't have far to go at all and we spend some time stopping here and there. Try to go to a Pecan store along the way but all we find is a gift shoppy type place. Feb must not be pecan season and it sure isn't peach season either. Oh well. We stop at the FL welcome center for our requisite Disney brochures and orange juice. We all could swear they used to actually make fresh squeezed oj there before but they now pour it out of Florida's Natural cartons into the dispenser thing. It's still good, but seems kinda silly. We have that in MN afterall.

By about 2:30 we are arriving at our resort (VIstana) The only other thing that happened on the trip is that we saw a car exactly like our on the FL turnpike that even had MN license plates. That was pretty funny. On the way down, I realize that I don't have the paperwork for our exchange into Vistana. I have not told DH this becuase really, why freak both of us out!? Thankfully, they do not even ask me for it and we get into exactly the area that I was hoping for in the resort. A nice quick walk to the pool, facing a beautiful pond area. Awesome. We get to the villa and go in, the kids are beyond excited about their room--there is a TV there and we try to figure out what to do next.

Next installment--waiting 2 full days to go to WDW is NOT a good idea! (Oh, and DH's birthday )

 

[DisneyWorld Delight]

So... lemme get this straight. DVD player, nothing special. But story tapes, well that's the golden ticket! Oh yes, and Starbucks!

 

[momoftriplets]

You are a brave soul, driving from MN to WDW. I don't know that we could do it with our three 9 year olds. Loving your report. Keep it coming. Barb

 

[Minniespal]

Sorry about your mom

Enjoying your report

 

[MagicMe]

Okay - loved the second installment and glad everyone made it. Can't wait to hear the rest!

 

[disneymom3]

I am back--sorry about the long delay in continuing our saga.

Sat eve is when we have arrived at Vistana. We have a few housekeeping details to get out of the way. #1--I need shoes. Keds to be exact. #2 We need some groceries. We try to conquer #1 first but cannot find the Keds outlet I swear was there before so we give up. DH is a wise man and can tell I am getting cranky. We also are not finding the Publix I am looking for and settle for WinnDixie. Icky. DH makes a command decsion and we leave WinnDixie and he decides he is going to find the Publix. He gets cranky about his coffee, I get cranky about dirty poorly stocked grocery stores. So, we find the Publix afterall and get our shopping done quickly. I hvae learned a lesson in our many stays in villas and eating at the resort. Do NOT buy as much as you think you are going to need. You are not going to need that much and the store will still be there if you run out of food. Our list is: a box of cereal, a box of PopTarts, a gallon of milk, a package of cookies, Sun Chips, a loaf of bread, Squirt and root beer in 2 liter bottles, a take and bake pizza, meatballs and hotdog buns (for meatball subs) and one other dinner thing that I can't remember. (Hey, give me a break--I don't remember what I served for dinner last week, let alone back in Feb.) We also had pb&j, cereal bars and fruit snacks from the car. And DH had brought coffee--I know, big surprise, huh? So, we must have bought cream.

After the shopping we decide to go to DTD and do a little looking around etc. This turns out to be a not so good idea. The kids want to shop and mommy is so not in the mood. We wander a bit, but go back to the resort pretty quickly. Get everyone settled adn into bed and talk about what to do the next day. We don't have big plans and we don't pick up our Disney tickets at Ticketmania until Monday.

Honestly, I don't remember all of what we did on Sunday. We went to DTD again and let the kids do their shopping. Boys pick out Buzz and Zurg both of which turn out to be stupid toys, but oh well, they like them. DD gets a totally adorable Minnie Mouse outfit for her American Girl doll. Heck, maybe I am just partial to girl toys. We also went to Goofy's candy co and had a grand time pickiing out apples and rice krispie bars with stuff on them. MAN! Are those bars with that boatload of chocolate and toppings sweet!! Way sweet! DD got a caramel apple dipped in chocolate etc that she seemed to really like, DS1 adn I both got RK mickey heads and DS2 got one of the already prepared Mickey RK bars as they were the only ones with Mickey sprinkles and that is what he wanted. DH gets nothing. This is odd. He is a sweets kind of a guy. I mean, the man lives on PopTarts. I later figure out that he is trying to be frugal himself--a rarity I assure you!!--and was rather shocked by the prices in there. Silly man. Does he not know me well enough to know that I had very thouroughly researched prices and allotted a certain amount of the budget for this treat?? In other words, I had enlarged a pic of the menu that someone posted on the DIS board until it was big enough to see the prices??? Yes, I had allotted $20 for Goofy's and we only spent $14. (Only... )

After DTD I have no idea what we did. None at all. Eventually we ended up asleep. Next day was DH's birthday and it was his choice what to do. He loves the beach on the Atlantic side so we were going there and then possibly to Beaches adn Cream for dinner. We also had to pick up our tickets at Ticketmaster--no Mania--whatever.....

Monday started out not too fab but ended up being a great day. Up til this point, DH and I really weren't feeling like we were in vacation mode. Just kinda hanging out but not really vacationing somehow. So, Monday morning I packed a picnic lunch for the beach while he got the kids breakfast and dressed etc. and we hit the road. We always go to Cocoa Beach when we are in the WDW area and heading to the beach so we know the drive quite well but it was complicated today by the fact that we had to go pick up those tickets. My advice? Pay the $10 or whatever delivery fee. Going to get them was a pain in the neck in an otherwise relaxed day. Eventually we got back to the part of the highway we like driving on. There were a few more tolls than we remembered but we had fun and enjoyed the drive. Took us awhile because I could have sworn that last time we went we parked somewhere that had a bathroom and sprayer deals to wash off the sand and we couldn't find it. DH still swears that this was a figment of my imagination, but I don't think I am that creative! EVentually we settled on a spot with parking meters and a short boardwalk to the beach.

It was pretty cold really--only like 70 which is not ideal beach weather. We figured we would only stay a little while due to the weather so just fed a couple of quarters into the meter. We headed on down to the beach and the kids were ready to head into the waves. Yeah, right. DD is a daredevil and has fire in her veins and never gets cold and even SHE thought teh water was dang cold!! DS1 was not going to get wet. Period. He was happy looking for shells and playing in the sand and did eventually go in up to about his waist. DS2 on the otherhand has decided that we all need to leave NOW. He is not being pleasant. That is an understatement. It's a good thing the beach is practically deserted because no one else wants to be around this little grouch. I don't either but figure I will be arrested if I leave him in the car. With a good deal of forced cheerfulness I convince him to deal with the fact that we are staying. He does perk up and is willing to get his feet wet while holding my hand. Then.....BIG wave comes. I try to convince him to back up and he won't. Oooookaaaayyy. SPLASH!!! DSs very calm reaction is "Cold. Muddy. Not good." I crack up. He does not find this amusing. Oh, I am not a nice mommy as I am finding this extremely humourous. In just a bit the kids have decided it is great fun to run away from the waves screaming and all that good beach stuff. We go back twice to put more quarters in the meter and finally decide we are getting hungry and since it is quite windy and none of us like sand actually in our sandwiches, we head for the car. Why do pb&J sandwiches always taste so good after you have been at the beach?

We stop for DH and I to get some Cokes and the kids have juice boxes that are nice and slushy from being frozen and enjoy the drive home. We write down exit names for future reference as there is a certain area I am bound and determined to live in someday and head back to the resort for quick showers.

Once we are cleaned up, DH and I decide what the heck, let's use those hoppers and go to Epcot before dinner. We had gotten the 5 day as they were hardly more than the 4 day and we are leaving on Saturday anyway so might as well, right? The kids have been wanting to go on rides and it is almost killing our middle one that we haven't been to WDW yet. This is not the way to arrange a vacation in his mind and in retrospect, DH and I didn't like it either. Particularly me. DH would go to the Orlando area and just vacation there without going to WDW. I think that is about the worst idea anyone has ever come up with. So, off to Epcot we go. The kids do the robot/plastics thing in Innoventions. MAN is that cool??!! We have never seen or done this before. Don't know how long it has been there and don't know how we have missed it. they all play the Toontown thing, e do a few other deals in Innoventions and then we hit Ice Station Cool which is DHs favorite thing to do at Epcot. Spaceship earth is closed at the time and we are all starting to get hungry. We head for the International Gateway and take a boat over to the BC. This is fun. Hey, we are easily entertained! Once we get off the boat however, we are not totally sure where to go from there. So, we walk aaaalllll the way over to the BC entrance and then aaaaalllll the way back over the B&C. Sheesh. We really need a sore feet smilie here! We have a short wait and an awesome meal. We splurge and let the kids all order their own meal. Last time here we split two meals between the five of us and it was plenty of food, but they are bigger now. Wait, no, the littlest one did not get his own meal. When all you are going to eat is frech fries, what is the point of spending $5 on a meal? We all split a banana split and a No Way Jose. Mmm, mmm. (Yeah, so I remember the desserts we ordered and not what we bought at the grocery store. Some things are just more important, you know?)

After dinner, we head back to Epcot. People are starting to line up for Illuminations and we contemplate this for a short time but remember that we have an early morning at the MK planned and decide to head out. Spaceship Earth is now open and DS1 points out that he still has not been on any rides. We decide he has a good point, so we go on it. As we are heading out we see some of the fireworks and all children cry that they didn't get to see it all. Whatever. Mommy is tired. Get in the car.

Tuesday....Magic Kingdom and one more BIG change with the big kids and some things that never change even when you are sure they do.