momof1princess
<font color=darkorchid>i feel like i'm going to ex
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Messages
- 7,686
okay, so, here's my first TR...(the title will make sense very soon)
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 - leave home (NE Alabama) for WDW just after 7:00pm. We took I20 to Atlanta, then 285 south to I75. DH drove until we were almost to Macon, then I took over and drove until we got just north of Jasper, FL...this is when the trouble started.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - approximately 1:45am-2:00am. We're just north of Jasper, FL, and DH and DD15 are asleep, and I'm trucking along, trying to see how far I can get before I have to wake DH to swap driving duties again. It's at this point that the battery light came on, then a bell started going off (you know, like the one you hear when you open your car door), and the coolant light came on, and a message flashed on the instrument panel that the coolant was low. I then realized that the engine was overheating! I quickly woke DH who started yelling at me to pull over, and I was trying, but the interstate with crowded with 18 wheelers, so it took me about 30 seconds or so to get pulled over. I could see the Jasper exit from where we were sitting, but DH said we couldn't risk it, and I pulled on over to the side of the road.
DH immediately got out and opened the hood (he's a mechanic), and tried to determine what was going on, while I called AAA. The Alabama office transferred me to the Florida office, who assured me a tow truck would be there within 45 minutes, as I'd been classified "priority", due to my location on the side of the interstate. They also advised me to call 911, which I did. About 20 minutes later, a Florida state trooper shows up, chats with us a minute, then takes off, leaving us sitting on the side of the interstate with 18 wheelers whizzing by every few seconds. I'll admit it, I was terrified we were going to be hit or sideswiped by a tired truck driver.
After about 1 1/2 hours, the tow truck FINALLY shows up, and the driver and my DH determine that the water pump has gone out. He hooks up to our car, and he drives us about 30 miles (give or take) south to Lake City, FL, and leaves us in the parking lot of Tire Kingdom. This place opens at 7:30am, and it is just after 4:00am by this point, so we've got a LONG wait ahead of us. I'm not ashamed to admit that I felt very vulnerable sitting in that parking lot in the middle of the night. There was a super Wal-Mart next door, so we walked over there and looked around for a few minutes, bought a few things, and went back to the car. it was pretty scary walking around at that time of night.
About 6:15am, a guy shows up at Tire Kingdom, and goes inside. I think "great, they're opening early" and I go up to the door, but he won't open it, and tells me I'll have to wait until 7:30am. By this time, DD15 has been asleep for about an hour, and DH and I sit and talk until 7:30am. At 7:00am ET, I called disney dining and cancelled our breakfast at Tusker House. About 7:15am, DH's aunt (who lives in tampa, and was meeting us at DTD that night) called to say she and uncle couldn't make it, because he wasn't feeling well. When Tire Kingdom opened, I go in and tell the guy at the counter what happened, he inspects the car and tells us they'll do their best to get us going as quickly as possible. So, we wake DD and go into the waiting area, which has coffee and TV, so it wasn't all bad. 4 hours and $714.00 (I looked it up, the water pump was $23.79, so we got SERIOUSLY gouged, but we had no choice) later, we were on our way to wdw. We stopped for lunch at a BK down the street, then went back to Wal-Mart to buy a gallon of anti-freeze, just in case, and we were on our way. We got into our room at POP about 4:00pm. Since AK was closing in a couple of hours, we decided to skip it and head to the Disney outlet and DTD. We did some shopping, had pizza for supper, and got back to our room about 9:00pm.
Thursday, May 30, 2013 - DHS! We got in line to enter DHS at about 8:15am, and, about 8:45-8:50am, we were allowed to enter the park, so we made a beeline straight for TSMM, along with everyone else, lol. The park was pretty crowded, and seem to get much more crowded as the day went on. We rode TSMM twice, hit the great movie ride, one man's dream, the backlot studio tour, the muppets 3D, and ate lunch at TSPP. I intended to ride ToT, but the line was all the way out to the ride entrance (by ride entrance, I mean the archway at the bottom of the hill where it shows the wait time), so DD and I decided to skip it. We had supper that night at WCC, and it was wonderful, we had the BEST waitress! I don't recall her name, but she was HILARIOUS! Well worth every penny. We considered going back to DHS for fantasmic, but didn't want to brave the crowds again.
Friday, May 31, 2013 - MK! We got to MK about 40 minutes before rope drop, and managed to get into the park pretty quickly when it opened. We stopped for a quick PP photo in front of the castle, then headed to fantasyland to ride PPF. After PPF, we did HM, BTMRR, and then it was off to adventureland for PoC and Jungle Cruise. The line for JC was shockingly long, so we got FP, and rode the flying carpets instead. While in frontierland, we noticed that splash mountain wasn't running, so we doubled back to it after the flying carpets, but it still wasn't running. We then walked back to fantasyland and rode IASW and strolled through fantasyland. we hopped on the little mermaid ride, which was cute, then went over to crystal palace for lunch with pooh and the gang. YUMMY FOOD! after lunch, we went to pete's silly sideshow to see Donald and goofy (the line for Minnie and daisy was too long). we then went to tomorrowland and got FP for buzz lightyear and headed to the monsters inc laugh floor. DD15 texted in a joke, and they used it during the show! we then rode the peoplemover, which had something i'd never seen before....a LINE! then, we waited around a few minutes for our FP for buzz, and I FINALLY beat DH! but I think the reason why is because my blaster malfunctioned and gave me a ton more points than it should have, lol. I had over 600,000 points! we then took the railroad over to main street, and waited in line over 45 minutes to see Cinderella, Aurora and Rapunzel. we ate supper at pecos bill's, and the burger was so big, I could barely get my mouth around it! we walked back up to main street and did some shopping, then searched, in vain, for a curb spot to watch MSEP. we got there an hour early, and ALL of the curb spots were taken on both sides of the street! after MSEP, we were going to stay for wishes, but we were all so worn out, and it was SO crowded (DH is sort of crowd phobic, and he's used to going to wdw in September, so may-june was a shock for him), we decided to take our purchases and head back to POP. the monorail line was unbelievably long, but it didn't take too long to get on one and get back to the TTC.
Saturday, June 1, 2013 - Epcot! We were very excited to get to Epcot, as soarin' is DH's favorite ride. We went straight there and got FP, rode standby with maybe a 5 minute wait, then did the nemo ride and captain EO while we waited for our FP. after our second trip on soarin', we went over to test track and got FP, then did some browsing in mousegears before our FP time. After checking out the new TT, which I loved, we headed over to the world showcase. we rode the ferry to Germany, then walked to liberty inn and had lunch. after lunch, we listened to the voices of liberty and watched the American adventure, then we walked to japan, where DD15 picked the rarest of all pearls - a SILVER one! I had read on here a while ago that the ugliest oysters often contain the prettiest/double pearls, so I told her to pick the ugliest one she saw. the girl in front of us got double pearls, but DD15 was super excited about her rare, silver pearl! we browsed morocco, france (where we saw a guy doing a handstand on a stack of chairs!), Canada and the UK. then walked around to mexico and did the boat ride, skipped the maelstrom due to the 45 minute wait, and walked back to Germany for our supper at Biergarten, which was great! my DMIL's pork schnitzel is better, but theirs isn't bad. we had FP to do test track again, but DH wasn't feeling up to it, so we went back to mousegears and bought a few things we'd spotted earlier in the day, then headed back to our room.
Sunday, June 2, 2013 - Home! We departed POP about 7:55:am for home, and walked in our front door about 5:45pm, with 3 stops for gas, 2 stops for food, and a stop at sam's club in douglasville, GA.
We had a great time, but i'm glad to be home!!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 - leave home (NE Alabama) for WDW just after 7:00pm. We took I20 to Atlanta, then 285 south to I75. DH drove until we were almost to Macon, then I took over and drove until we got just north of Jasper, FL...this is when the trouble started.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - approximately 1:45am-2:00am. We're just north of Jasper, FL, and DH and DD15 are asleep, and I'm trucking along, trying to see how far I can get before I have to wake DH to swap driving duties again. It's at this point that the battery light came on, then a bell started going off (you know, like the one you hear when you open your car door), and the coolant light came on, and a message flashed on the instrument panel that the coolant was low. I then realized that the engine was overheating! I quickly woke DH who started yelling at me to pull over, and I was trying, but the interstate with crowded with 18 wheelers, so it took me about 30 seconds or so to get pulled over. I could see the Jasper exit from where we were sitting, but DH said we couldn't risk it, and I pulled on over to the side of the road.
DH immediately got out and opened the hood (he's a mechanic), and tried to determine what was going on, while I called AAA. The Alabama office transferred me to the Florida office, who assured me a tow truck would be there within 45 minutes, as I'd been classified "priority", due to my location on the side of the interstate. They also advised me to call 911, which I did. About 20 minutes later, a Florida state trooper shows up, chats with us a minute, then takes off, leaving us sitting on the side of the interstate with 18 wheelers whizzing by every few seconds. I'll admit it, I was terrified we were going to be hit or sideswiped by a tired truck driver.
After about 1 1/2 hours, the tow truck FINALLY shows up, and the driver and my DH determine that the water pump has gone out. He hooks up to our car, and he drives us about 30 miles (give or take) south to Lake City, FL, and leaves us in the parking lot of Tire Kingdom. This place opens at 7:30am, and it is just after 4:00am by this point, so we've got a LONG wait ahead of us. I'm not ashamed to admit that I felt very vulnerable sitting in that parking lot in the middle of the night. There was a super Wal-Mart next door, so we walked over there and looked around for a few minutes, bought a few things, and went back to the car. it was pretty scary walking around at that time of night.
About 6:15am, a guy shows up at Tire Kingdom, and goes inside. I think "great, they're opening early" and I go up to the door, but he won't open it, and tells me I'll have to wait until 7:30am. By this time, DD15 has been asleep for about an hour, and DH and I sit and talk until 7:30am. At 7:00am ET, I called disney dining and cancelled our breakfast at Tusker House. About 7:15am, DH's aunt (who lives in tampa, and was meeting us at DTD that night) called to say she and uncle couldn't make it, because he wasn't feeling well. When Tire Kingdom opened, I go in and tell the guy at the counter what happened, he inspects the car and tells us they'll do their best to get us going as quickly as possible. So, we wake DD and go into the waiting area, which has coffee and TV, so it wasn't all bad. 4 hours and $714.00 (I looked it up, the water pump was $23.79, so we got SERIOUSLY gouged, but we had no choice) later, we were on our way to wdw. We stopped for lunch at a BK down the street, then went back to Wal-Mart to buy a gallon of anti-freeze, just in case, and we were on our way. We got into our room at POP about 4:00pm. Since AK was closing in a couple of hours, we decided to skip it and head to the Disney outlet and DTD. We did some shopping, had pizza for supper, and got back to our room about 9:00pm.
Thursday, May 30, 2013 - DHS! We got in line to enter DHS at about 8:15am, and, about 8:45-8:50am, we were allowed to enter the park, so we made a beeline straight for TSMM, along with everyone else, lol. The park was pretty crowded, and seem to get much more crowded as the day went on. We rode TSMM twice, hit the great movie ride, one man's dream, the backlot studio tour, the muppets 3D, and ate lunch at TSPP. I intended to ride ToT, but the line was all the way out to the ride entrance (by ride entrance, I mean the archway at the bottom of the hill where it shows the wait time), so DD and I decided to skip it. We had supper that night at WCC, and it was wonderful, we had the BEST waitress! I don't recall her name, but she was HILARIOUS! Well worth every penny. We considered going back to DHS for fantasmic, but didn't want to brave the crowds again.
Friday, May 31, 2013 - MK! We got to MK about 40 minutes before rope drop, and managed to get into the park pretty quickly when it opened. We stopped for a quick PP photo in front of the castle, then headed to fantasyland to ride PPF. After PPF, we did HM, BTMRR, and then it was off to adventureland for PoC and Jungle Cruise. The line for JC was shockingly long, so we got FP, and rode the flying carpets instead. While in frontierland, we noticed that splash mountain wasn't running, so we doubled back to it after the flying carpets, but it still wasn't running. We then walked back to fantasyland and rode IASW and strolled through fantasyland. we hopped on the little mermaid ride, which was cute, then went over to crystal palace for lunch with pooh and the gang. YUMMY FOOD! after lunch, we went to pete's silly sideshow to see Donald and goofy (the line for Minnie and daisy was too long). we then went to tomorrowland and got FP for buzz lightyear and headed to the monsters inc laugh floor. DD15 texted in a joke, and they used it during the show! we then rode the peoplemover, which had something i'd never seen before....a LINE! then, we waited around a few minutes for our FP for buzz, and I FINALLY beat DH! but I think the reason why is because my blaster malfunctioned and gave me a ton more points than it should have, lol. I had over 600,000 points! we then took the railroad over to main street, and waited in line over 45 minutes to see Cinderella, Aurora and Rapunzel. we ate supper at pecos bill's, and the burger was so big, I could barely get my mouth around it! we walked back up to main street and did some shopping, then searched, in vain, for a curb spot to watch MSEP. we got there an hour early, and ALL of the curb spots were taken on both sides of the street! after MSEP, we were going to stay for wishes, but we were all so worn out, and it was SO crowded (DH is sort of crowd phobic, and he's used to going to wdw in September, so may-june was a shock for him), we decided to take our purchases and head back to POP. the monorail line was unbelievably long, but it didn't take too long to get on one and get back to the TTC.
Saturday, June 1, 2013 - Epcot! We were very excited to get to Epcot, as soarin' is DH's favorite ride. We went straight there and got FP, rode standby with maybe a 5 minute wait, then did the nemo ride and captain EO while we waited for our FP. after our second trip on soarin', we went over to test track and got FP, then did some browsing in mousegears before our FP time. After checking out the new TT, which I loved, we headed over to the world showcase. we rode the ferry to Germany, then walked to liberty inn and had lunch. after lunch, we listened to the voices of liberty and watched the American adventure, then we walked to japan, where DD15 picked the rarest of all pearls - a SILVER one! I had read on here a while ago that the ugliest oysters often contain the prettiest/double pearls, so I told her to pick the ugliest one she saw. the girl in front of us got double pearls, but DD15 was super excited about her rare, silver pearl! we browsed morocco, france (where we saw a guy doing a handstand on a stack of chairs!), Canada and the UK. then walked around to mexico and did the boat ride, skipped the maelstrom due to the 45 minute wait, and walked back to Germany for our supper at Biergarten, which was great! my DMIL's pork schnitzel is better, but theirs isn't bad. we had FP to do test track again, but DH wasn't feeling up to it, so we went back to mousegears and bought a few things we'd spotted earlier in the day, then headed back to our room.
Sunday, June 2, 2013 - Home! We departed POP about 7:55:am for home, and walked in our front door about 5:45pm, with 3 stops for gas, 2 stops for food, and a stop at sam's club in douglasville, GA.
We had a great time, but i'm glad to be home!!
