Your travel traditions

[Jennasis]

Regardless of the method you use to GET to the most magical place on earth, what are your families traditions for traveling? DO you get up at a certain time, pack your bags in a specific manner, load luggage into the car in a special way, pack certain travel foods, play certain games, do anything special at stops along the way, Sit in the same seat in the plane, kiss the ground at MCO on arrival, play special music on the journey, stop at a specific Starbucks on the way or get a favorite drink from the one at the airport? Come on, we ALL know you have a stick-to-it way you like to travel to WDW, after all...getting there is half the fun right?



Just to get the ball rolling, here is how DH and I like to do it:

We wake up extra early (5am) with intentions of being IN the car and driving at 7am. We own a horse farm so we have to slog through morning chores first but they always go by extra fast when Disney is on the horizon! Then we pack the luggage in the car, put a cooler with plenty of water and Diet Coke in the back seat, make sure we have a bag of SmartFood cheddar popcorn, a box of Snyder's pretzels (the hard kind) and a box of chocolate chip granola bars, and off we goooo!

We hop on Interstate 77 south in NC and hope to bypass the stupid Charlotte traffic. We throw on a Disney podcast to get the juices flowing (we prefer Lou Mongello's WDW Radio Show) and settle in for the first leg of the ride. There is a Chik-fil-a along the way off 77 in S.Carolina we will swing through for breakfast to go. Right outside of Rock Hill exit 82A.

Then we hit our first milestone...the switch to Interstate 26 West in Columbia, SC. We're usually on this stretch of interstate for about 50 minutes or so, and by this time the podcast has usually wrapped up, so it's time to bust out the TUNES. We like to put something rockin' on...maybe The Beatles "Revolver" or our Best-Or Aerosmith collection. We'll also do a game of some kind here. We prefer "The Name Game" (where one person says the name of a celebrity like Emma Stone, and the next person had to come up with another celeb name that starts with the first letter of the last name of the celeb just named, like Steven Spielberg and so on).

Then we can do our first happy dance when we hit the end of 26 and make the jump to I-95 South! I know lots of people hate 95, but I kind of like the section of it that runs along the coast of GA. Very picturesque. This is the time to bust out the Diet Cokes for a little caffeine pick-me-up and to be on the look out for our gas stop in Georgia off exit 109.

BTW, the first one of us to spot a palm tree gets to control the musical selection. It's serious competition. At least until the first one spots a Disney billboard, the Welcome to Florida sign, any sign that mentions how much further to Orlando etc. We play hard core!

Then before you know it we're on I-4. Needless to say I've had my eye on the ETA counter on the GPS the whole trip and trying desperately to get the minutes to tick backwards...without speeding like a loon of course. It's like a personal victory if I can get our ETA to shave off a good 20 minutes.

Once we get to the WDW area, it's like two kids on Christmas morning and usually we're both teary eyes passing under the arch on our way to check in. A fun start to a magical vacation!

 

[Rhongepooh]

Ok we either leave the afternoon before the arrival or early, early ( about 3 or 4 oclock in the morning). We hit highway 98E to Hattiesburg then down highway 49 to interstate 10. . . we ALWAYS get lost somewhere in Mobile (seems like after 15 trips it would get easier! LOL).

When USUALLY get lost when first getting into Orlando trying to find our hotel. We always stay off site the first night and get up early and eat at IHOP before heading to the parks. We also hit IHOP somewhere on the way home.

 

[goofyernmost]

I cannot speak for anyone else in my group from time to time, but I always need to stop for a McDonald Egg McMuffin. Got into the habit of that from my first trip in 1983 and have done it ever since. Don't know why exactly, but things just don't feel right if I don't start that way. Otherwise...I don't do anything special.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Currently due to duty station we must fly( hoping to get stationed closer eventually )

we fly in to arrive late morning to mid afternoon. we do NOT hit the parks that day but instead pick a nicer restaurant in DTD or a resort to have our big meal at and hit the shops. we may not buy anything( too early, have to check out all the other shops in the parks first of course) but we get an idea of what the design du jour is on T shirts.

I am packed about week before we leave. nothing worse than absolutely NEEDING a certain pair of pants that you threw on three days ago because it was on the top of the pile in the drawer. I'd rather pack early and be nekkid( or in mismatched clothes) the last few days.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

The only tradition we have is we almost always end up running out the door late and fussing at each other. Well did you get this or that? What are you doing in there? Come on we are going to miss our flight! I don't see how you got up 2 horus ago, were already packed, and still don't have your shoes on and teeth brushed?!!! These are all phrases you will hear uttered (ok screamed sometimes) at our house when we leave for a trip.

IF we fly thru MCO we always stop at Nathans on the way back and grab a hot dog. We don't have them around here but lately we have been flying either really early in the mornig or going thru SFB so that tradition has been slowly dying out.

 

[hops&dreams]

our upcoming trip will only be our 2nd one, but many of the things we have planned are the same as our first trip - we will work a nearly full day, get off an hour and a half-ish early (thank goodness our bosses like us!), , pick up some Subway or something to eat at the airport, pack up the car, drop off the house keys with the neighbor/house-sitter. Then we pick DD up from school about 30 mins before it lets out, head to the airport, check our baggage, eat, then go. DD wore her Mickey Ears as soon as we got her from school last year. Our next trip is a surprise for her, so we're not sure yet when we'll break out her ears. It depends on how/when we let her know our final destination, which I'm hoping we'll be able to keep a surprise until we're at MCO, and DH is with us (might be meeting us down there, after a business trip).

After we get there, DH and I are both looking forward to putting our things in our room and going down to Roaring Forks (in WL, our resort hotel) and getting a HUGE burger to share between the 3 of us! Oh, I'm SO excited to go again - it can't get here soon enough!

The one thing that I have always done on my trip as an adult and when I was a kid, is to eat Skittles when waiting for the Indiana Jones show. I don't know why, but it's a small detail that I'll always remember from my trips with my parents.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Ho Gee.there are alot of them!

1. The 1st night always the HOOP De Doo, my family and parents.........love to show, food and a few beers with my Dad when he was alive!

2. Always the 1 day its the MK and 1st ride the POTC.

3. At least 1 Turkey leg per trip!

4. My son and I always did the Behind the scenes steam Train Tour and my Duagther and I always stayed to watech Wishes and the firworks show before Wishes, that how long we have been going to WDW.


My Folks are gone now and my kids up and out of the house, but we maybe grandparents in the not so far away future and well start the same things all over again!

AKK

 

[MinnieSummer]

If it's one of our last minute trips, it's always the same. Yell to DD that we are going up tomorrow morning and throw some stuff in a suitcase. Get up at 5 in the morning, eat breakfast, load the car and pull out of driveway. My DH asks if I have the tickets and of course I have to look. Then he asks if DD remembered her toothbrush, she usually hasn't and we have to run back. He goes through his checklist a second time and we are off. Once we are through I95 traffic in West Palm we hit the turnpike, turn on Radio Disney, and cruise. We make sure DD is awake when we hit the Osceola Parkway and we all wave to Minnie and Mickey as we go under the entrance sign. Then into the hotel, lunch at the hotel, and off to whatever park we decide.

If it's a planned trip we usually go up in the evening after school and work. Everything else is the same except we stop to eat at the second rest area on the turnpike. After check-in at the hotel we head to whichever park we can still make the fireworks. If its our Christmas trip, the first night is spent putting up our tree and decorating the room and then, if there is time we head to a park for fireworks

 

[RickyMouseMom]

We drive from upstate NY twice a year, and we have certain traditions that we do EVERY TRIP!!

1) always pack the car the night before. Every trip DH complains how much stuff we have, that it's never going to fit. Everytime it fits!

2) I make fleecy disney-themed blankets and disney themed pillowcases for my boys travel pillows. They are always waiting on their seats the next am, along with a new disney-themed toy. This happens EVERY TRIP! We have too many fleecy disney-themed blankets now, but they expect a new one every time to cuddle up with on the long trip down. I think they each have over 13 now. lol!

3) My husband and I always surprise each other with a little gift on each other's seats. Its always there for each other the next morning. I always get him beef jerkey, a diet coke, and gum for our summer trip. For our winter trip it is beef jerkey, a diet coke, and cadberry creme eggs!

4) We always get subway before we leave our town. Its messy and a sloppy meal to eat on the road, but its tradition!

5) We always get pictures of our kids at either North Carolina's rest stop off I-95 (1st stop going south) or GA rest stop off I-95.

6) We always stop at a specific exit off I-95 once we hit FL. I think exit 373? It has an old dilapidated closed gas station on the left. I always think it's funny that gas is posted at $1.25 a gallon. We always stop at the gas station opposite it, get snacks. We also always get the car washed right before we arrive at WDW. Who wants to arrive in a dirty car?!?

7) I always get teary eyed when we go under the welcome gates. I pass out paper mickey ears we all wear (from a party from years ago) and I take pictures. The boys think its funny to always do thumbs-down because it gets a rise out of me everytime. I always give them a lecture how lucky they are to be able to visit the happiest place on earth twice a year. They think its funny (so do I.... shhh don't tell them!). I always take a picture of them doing it!

8) on our departure day, Dh and I always take pictures of each other standing by our loaded, packed car ready to go home. I always have a super-sad pouty face, and DH always has thumbs up smiling - to annoy me! Its purely for annoyance and tradition... dh hates leaving wdw as much as me!!

 

[kirrrby]

We always drive. Haven't flown down to Disney since I was 7.

We wake up at 2:30 am.
Leave at 4:00 am.
Stop in Lumberton, NC for Cracker Barrel.
Stop in Walterboro, SC for gas.
Stop in Palm Coast, FL (exit 289 on I-95) for Publix . (We don't have publix up here, love this grocery store) and get pineapple and lunch items.
Arrive in Disney.

Simple, easy and good for getting up and stretching.

 

[may12th]

Ok we either leave the afternoon before the arrival or early, early ( about 3 or 4 oclock in the morning). We hit highway 98E to Hattiesburg then down highway 49 to interstate 10. . . we ALWAYS get lost somewhere in Mobile (seems like after 15 trips it would get easier! LOL).

When USUALLY get lost when first getting into Orlando trying to find our hotel. We always stay off site the first night and get up early and eat at IHOP before heading to the parks. We also hit IHOP somewhere on the way home.

We are making our first trip from the Jackson area in a few weeks. Just curios, why don't you take 98 to Mobile for I-10 instead of going down 49 to hit I-10 in Gulfport?

 

[chocovrdmicears]

We always fly out super early - need to be at the airport by 5:30am.
NONE of us have any trouble getting up that day (shocking, I know)
Always have breakfast at Dunkin Donuts at the airport. (savoring our last gulps of decent coffee for the week).
I always pack a surprise *bag-of-fun* for the kiddos for the plane ride. (I swear they look forward to that as much as the vacation.)
Arrive in Orlando - laugh at the people who are going through security to fly homelaughing - not willing to admit that will be us in 7 or 8 days.
Step outside and take our first breath of fabulously humid FL air. - get our car and head directly to our resort .
Have lunch at the food court, then hit MK!!!!!

 

[goofyernmost]

We drive from upstate NY twice a year, and we have certain traditions that we do EVERY TRIP!!

5) We always get pictures of our kids at either North Carolina's rest stop off I-95 (1st stop going south) or GA rest stop off I-95.

Interesting...when our family was all together we took our picture in front of the Welcome to South Carolina sign in the So. Carolina welcome station just past South of the Border. We lived in Vermont then. It seems so funny that I live now only about 2 hours from that location.

We always drive. Haven't flown down to Disney since I was 7.

We wake up at 2:30 am.
Leave at 4:00 am.
Stop in Lumberton, NC for Cracker Barrel.
Stop in Walterboro, SC for gas.
Stop in Palm Coast, FL (exit 289 on I-95) for Publix . (We don't have publix up here, love this grocery store) and get pineapple and lunch items.
Arrive in Disney.

Simple, easy and good for getting up and stretching.

I'm heading down to WDW the first week in December. How long does it take you to get door to door?

 

[poeticdiabetic]

Just went through this on another post, but it's a good system.

1. We always rent a car. Saturday morning at around 9AM. At Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Always. (Don't want the miles on my own car.)

2. We always hit up the Walmart and pick up sunscreen, breakfast bars and juice boxes (for breakfast), a Coke Zero, Snicker bar (8 Pack) and a bag of Sunflower seeds.

3. We always shower and put on "tomorrow's clothes" right before we leave.

4. We always leave around 2AM for the 7 hour drive.

5. When I get close (around 7:30AM or so), I always play "Summer Sun", by Koop.

6. When we get to the hotel (always Disney), we check in, get our KTTW cards, brush our teeth, eat our breakfast bar and juice boxes and be at the bus stop headed for a theme park by 9 AM.

 

[jnfr2424]

Take the first flight out of Jersey 6:45am
On the flight usually listening to Disney music or watching a Disney movie on the iPad
Get to Orlando by 9:30am
Pick out the rental from Alamo (either an Suv or convertible)
Attach the sun pass (drop the top) and off we go to Walmart for in room snacks/drinks
Check in our resort and then off to AK for lunch at Flame Tree


Our tradition when leaving:
We check out early and load the car have breakfast at WL
Get to rope drop at MK walk around and say Adieu! Go check the family brick
Off to DHS for a "see ya real soon" lunch at 50s Prime Time or Sci Fi
Walk around until 4:30ish and head on back to the airport
Hop on the last flight leaving Orlando

 

[Cap'nJack'sMum]

We always fly down, coming from MN:

I pack the car the night before.

I always buy the kids a new DS game, and I pack their special WDW backpacks with gum, candy, granola bars, Hawaiian Punch packets for water, and $20 for spending money.

We pick the kids up from school at noon, have lunch on the way to the airport.

At the airport, after security, we all buy a soda and watch planes take off and land.

When we get to the DME stop, we all take a giant breath of Florida air.

After check in, we get some dinner and investigate the resort...even if we've stayed there before.

We always go to bed early so we can be up for rope drop on our first day.

 

[danimaroo]

1. We always take a red-eye from Seattle-Orlando, in fact, the same exact flight we took last trip. It means we get in bright and early (we're talking like 6:30am here), and gives us an entire extra day in Disney World.

2. If this counts, I think it kind of does since we're "traveling"... It's tradition that on our first day, we MUST do the monorail loop, visiting each monorail resort, walking around each lobby, then taking the monorail to the next one, etc. Sometimes we even do one final big loop and then make our way to MK or EP, but it's a tradition that must be done.

 

[kirrrby]

I'm heading down to WDW the first week in December. How long does it take you to get door to door?

With all of our stops it takes about 12 hours. But that's stopping for an hour for Breakfast, and short stops along the way to stretch and fill up. Without the stops I'd say about 10 1/2 hours. We leave from Durham via U.S. 70 to I-40 to I-95 to I-4. It's about the quickest way we've found. If you're driving during any rush hour i'd add time for that because you'll hit it around Fayetteville,NC , Savannah, GA, Jacksonville, FL and Orlando if you're taking I-95 down.

 

[ebtbmom]

The only tradition that I can think of that we have is going to a Japanese steakhouse the night before we leave. We always pack our bags, clean the house, and drive to the next town for hibachi. When we get home we pack the car and try to get to sleep. We do this before every vacation though, not just WDW.

 

[Rhongepooh]

We are making our first trip from the Jackson area in a few weeks. Just curios, why don't you take 98 to Mobile for I-10 instead of going down 49 to hit I-10 in Gulfport?

Well 98 for a big part is still only 2 lanes and we have found that it takes longer going on it because you have to fight the traffic. The last time we went we went on the new road on highway 49 between Hattiesburg and Gulfport and it took a good 20 to 30 minutes off the trip.