You've got 3 hrs to plan/pack, 3 days at WDW & 50 hrs of driving...GO!

[Harters2WDW]

Love it!! Can't wait to read more. I could totally see my family doing this one day (right now it would be tough with a four month old). And, we only have about a 14 hour drive! Hmmm....

 

[PrincessGail]

WOW! Can't wait for the rest of the story ! Love it! I love to be spontaneous. However, for me is difficult because my husband tends to be the brick wall that won't be tumbled (mostly). What fun and enjoyment for your kids !! Yippee

 

[grstink]

Jen, those pics are terrific. Everyone's smile just says it all.

You will get to read all about my creative exercising in the TR once I get to the WDW parts!

Anxiously awaiting more...

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

I love seeing the route you took. We live 40 minutes east of Madison, 20 minutes west of Milwaukee. We have never driven to WDW, but would like to. I think I would take the route you guys drove. I HATE driving through Chicago.

I can't wait to hear more.

What kind of vehicle did you drive?

 

[dvc at last !]

Just found your thread --- and WOW !
You are my Hero !
What a great adventure. I can hardly believe you can
get ready to leave for WDW in 3 hours !

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hope you and your family are having a great weekend! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[WDWangela]

Great start on this trip. Can't wait to see what you do while at WDW. We have driven straight through, but it takes us "only" about 16 hours.

 

[Dobby]

I can't wait to read the rest! I'd love to just drop everything and go, but for me, it's a 34 hour drive

 

[Dugette]

I am SO excited that I stumbled upon your TR!!!
I think your family might be our long-lost Disney twins! And we live in Woodbury too!!! We are definitely Disney-spontaneous: just last night, we were considering booking another (weekend-only) trip sometime between now and our June 3rd trip. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, though, as we were hoping for <$200 airfare during Flower & Garden and it's not quite there...we'll just keep an eye out for something, I guess (darn Annual Passes burning holes in our pockets!) I wish we could drive w/o taking time off from work! I love to drive and would probably enjoy the road trip. And I work in accounting and am generally very detail-oriented with money, so I love all your stats! The gas costs were actually lower than my estimates! Cool!

Anxiously awaiting more!

 

[jenanderson]

Cute pics! I think that's the first time I've seen the gates with no other cars driving through! Great job

Seriously...it was so busy at WDW but when we drove in there was not one other car! DH and I actually wondered out loud where everyone was!

AH the gates love the picture and no cars!!!!!!!
Your kids have the biggest smiles love them
glad you made it

We were so happy when we saw the gates! Everyone had huge smiles and we were excited that it felt like we were the only ones there!

You've inspired me! Makes me wanna get up and go RIGHT NOW!!

then i think about how hot it is and i decide to be patient.

Maybe a spur of the moment thanksgiving trip!

Oh my...I thought it was cool and will stick with my August trips!

LOVE the pics!! Yes I am very amazed at people who can drive like that! 24 hrs is A VERY LONG WAY!!! I think my hubby would cap out at about 16 or so! HE has sciatic issues! He loves to drive though! We plan on doing the drive to Disney in a year or so!

We did not know how we would do and felt if we could not make it we would stop. Going down it was not so hard...we were excited to get to WDW!

I think about just taking off and driving to Disney but I'm too much a type A personality to do it. Yay for you all for taking the plunge! Looking forward to reading more

If you were to ask my friends, they would tell you I am totally a type A personality...don't know what happened!

Hi Jen,
Just wanted to say hello and how fun for your family to take a spontaneous trip to Disney. We're still on for August 2011 Dream Cruise, just been lurking on the trip thread. Congratulations on the weight loss and the running. I must say I'm a bit jealous. Can't wait to read more!

Gina

Hello Gina! It was so much fun to take such a spontaneous trip...we needed something to tide us over for to the Dream Cruise.

Thanks for the congrats...the weight loss and running has really made an improvement in my life and I am happy I have made the changes.

How I would love to pick up and go to Disney. My husband would never go for this however. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip

I never thought my DH would go for it either!

can't wait to read more!!!

It is coming!

Love the pics. Your kids are adorable, and they look so excited.

Thanks! I did not take a huge amount of photos but I will post several during the TR.

Thanks for being patient! It was a busy week but I am ready to post some more!!!

 

[jenanderson]

Great start so far!! You guys are an awesome family! My daughter found this TR and we are both hooked now. We are thinking of driving from MI in June and you made her feel better about driving, she has read less than desirable ratings. lol
Can't wait to hear how the trip went!!

Glad you are hooked! Tell your DD that the drive was not all that bad...even my kids would agree that we could do it again any time. Both kids had access to iPod (touches with videos and music on them), DD (13) had her cell phone with unlimited texting, DS (10) had his Nintendo DS, both had books and homework and we had our portable DVD player with us as well. We also spent time just talking and enjoying the scenery!

Very cool!

I can't wait to here about your trip. It would have been funny if we had bumped into each other.

That would have been fun! I agree about the AAA...always a safe investment and I do use their discounts.

AWWW !!! Jen, this is the craziest yet sweetest thing I've read in years !!!!


How happy a family you are !!! and how lucky your kids are - having such wonderful parents !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your first photos are INSPIRING !!!!!

Can't wait to hear more !!!!


Driving for 25 hours is far away from my "way of life" - but , knowing YOU , I bet you all had FUN as well !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

( YOU inspired me to ... maybe shortly ... decide and drive that same morning to a PARK here in Italy !!! I should be saving-saving for our trip to Hawaii ..................... but your "quickly-decided trip" sounds so fun !!!)

Waiting for more !!!!!!!!! laura

Hello Laura! I am so glad you found my TR and that you can hear all about our family adventure! I will also post photos and you can see all the fun we had and how happy the children were!

I can't wait to hear all about your trip to Hawaii!

I bet you were surprised to read about our last minute trip but now you can tell all your Italian friends about your crazy friend in the United States!!!!

Can we have more. . . .PLEASE?????

Yep...coming up in just a minute!

I'm typically a lurker but I have to chime in and say 'I'm in' your spur of the moment Disney trip is just so cool!

Welcome!

Love it!! Can't wait to read more. I could totally see my family doing this one day (right now it would be tough with a four month old). And, we only have about a 14 hour drive! Hmmm....

The first time we drove, DD was 5 and DS was 2...it was a bit harder but I think that was because we were in a car.

WOW! Can't wait for the rest of the story ! Love it! I love to be spontaneous. However, for me is difficult because my husband tends to be the brick wall that won't be tumbled (mostly). What fun and enjoyment for your kids !! Yippee

More of the story coming up!

Jen, those pics are terrific. Everyone's smile just says it all.

Anxiously awaiting more...

Thanks! I will try to upload some more photos tonight. You are right...a smile is worth a thousand words!

I love seeing the route you took. We live 40 minutes east of Madison, 20 minutes west of Milwaukee. We have never driven to WDW, but would like to. I think I would take the route you guys drove. I HATE driving through Chicago.

I can't wait to hear more.

What kind of vehicle did you drive?

We drove our Ford Windstar. If you would like me to send you a copy of the route...let me know. I could print it out and mail it (can't send the file because it is an online file that won't let me).

Just found your thread --- and WOW !
You are my Hero !
What a great adventure. I can hardly believe you can
get ready to leave for WDW in 3 hours !

I couldn't believe it took us 3 hours! I thought we would be ready soon!

Hope you and your family are having a great weekend! Can't wait to hear more!

It was a busy weekend but I am working on the next part!

Great start on this trip. Can't wait to see what you do while at WDW. We have driven straight through, but it takes us "only" about 16 hours.

16 hours is still a long trip!

I can't wait to read the rest! I'd love to just drop everything and go, but for me, it's a 34 hour drive

I don't know if I could do 34 hours!

I am SO excited that I stumbled upon your TR!!!
I think your family might be our long-lost Disney twins! And we live in Woodbury too!!! We are definitely Disney-spontaneous: just last night, we were considering booking another (weekend-only) trip sometime between now and our June 3rd trip. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, though, as we were hoping for <$200 airfare during Flower & Garden and it's not quite there...we'll just keep an eye out for something, I guess (darn Annual Passes burning holes in our pockets!) I wish we could drive w/o taking time off from work! I love to drive and would probably enjoy the road trip. And I work in accounting and am generally very detail-oriented with money, so I love all your stats! The gas costs were actually lower than my estimates! Cool!

Anxiously awaiting more!

Hello! How fun to have someone from Woodbury following along! I would love to be able to have annual passes but we have never reached a point where we would come out ahead by getting them. After this trip though...it might be dangerous for us to have them! Who knows how many times I would let us just get in the car and go??

 

[jenanderson]

Alright…back to the story!

As we were loading up our van, the phone rang and when I answered…it was my sister! Turns out, she was right by our house and wanted to stop by to see the family. After I told her what we were up to (followed by a bit of silence on her part), she asked if a couple of us wanted to ride with her. My sister lives in Madison, Wisconsin, which was right on our route. Since we don’t get to see her often enough, it was decided that DD and I would ride with my sister and DH and DS would be together in our van! It worked out great because as we were loading up the last of the things we wanted, my sister pulled in and it was time to go!

The trip to Madison passed quickly. It was great to visit with my sister for the 3 1/2 hours it took and all too soon, we were pulling off to get in our van as my sister went home. We did have one stop for super (Arby’s) and then filled up the tank when we got to Madison.

At this point, it was beginning to get dark and we knew we were beginning the real driving as it would not take us long to reach Illinois…which we named the state that never ends! Let me tell you about driving through Illinois: the speed limit is not fast enough (55 mph and 65 mph), the scenery is not real interesting, and you know it is going to take 9 hours to get through the state!

I will not get into all the details of the drive except to give a few highlights/low points.

Metropolis is the home of Superman and the gas station we stopped at had a cut out of Superman and Wonderwoman that you can stand behind and take a picture with your head on their body. Loads of fun…especially at 2 AM!

We were so excited that we did not really have to slow down anywhere for traffic. It seems that we hit all the big cities at off hours. We really were able to make good time the whole way to Florida.

One of the best decisions we made was to stop at the grocery store for breakfast. When we originally pulled off for breakfast, we had seen a McDonald’s sign. Turns out, the McDonald’s was under construction. Being on the diet made me really think about how I needed to try and make good choices (something that is hard to do on the road) and when we saw the grocery store…we all thought it would be great to have something that wasn’t fast food. It only took us a few minutes to get through the store and grab some bakery items, juice and milk.

One of the worst decisions we made was to pull off at the first exit in Gainesville, Florida. The traffic was horrible there. When we finally drove by the 2nd exit, there was no traffic there and we realized that we had wasted a bunch of time dealing with traffic when we would not have if we had just waited a bit.

Right before we had left home, I purchased AAA online. I did this for 2 reasons…first, our van is old and it has a bunch of miles on it. We wanted to know that if we broke down, we could at least get the thing towed. The main reason was so that we could print out a driving itinerary with detailed maps. AAA comes in handy for many things but at this point, the maps were most important.

Well, our maps had us take I-75 to Florida’s Turnpike (going south). We took exit 267A on 429 (we did have 1-$1.25 toll right at the start). We then took exit 8 on Western Way and into Walt Disney World! We had arrived!

So there we were, pulling into the entrance gate and there were no other cars around! We were so excited…when you actually drive under that arch and see the welcome sign, you know you have made it!

We had been driving a bit over 24 hours but we were there!

Our maps from AAA had more directions but once we passed under the entrance gate, we felt like we were at home and we could make our way with Disney signs. Ahhh….life was good!

Coming Up Next: Checking into the Pop (The good, the bad and the ugly all in one post).

 

[shellybaxter]

I am looking forward to seeing how your trip turns out - what a fun idea. Your children will remember this spring break forever

 

[maiziezoe]

Alright…back to the story!



At this point, it was beginning to get dark and we knew we were beginning the real driving as it would not take us long to reach Illinois…which we named the state that never ends! Let me tell you about driving through Illinois: the speed limit is not fast enough (55 mph and 65 mph), the scenery is not real interesting, and you know it is going to take 9 hours to get through the state!

I totally agree!! I live at the top of Illinois and used to date a guy who lived at the bottom of Illinois. It was such a long drive when I would visit him.

And people drive slow here... slower than the speed limit!

 

[DaisyLynn]

This is awesome! I'm so glad I found your TR - I really want to drive down in October (22 hour drive for us). If only I could get DH on board.

 

[dreamer03]

Iam sooo enjoying your trip report. I cannot wait for more. This is a dream of ours but it will have to be a planned thing for us. So I will live vicariously through you. You are my hero. LOL.

 

[graceesmom]

This is such an exciting and enticing trip report. I love the idea of just getting in the car and going. DH would probably prefer it to my near obsessive itinerary, park touring, and ADR planning -- the spreadsheets, the notebooks, the matching t-shirts for each day, and oh and let's not forget the resort changing sagas.

We're buying AP's for our upcoming trip, so maybe one weekend later in the year, we'll just get in the car and go.

Can't wait for the next installment.

 

[bluechic03]

How awesome that you just picked up and left! I joked with DH the other day that we should just pick up and go to WDW since I have a month left of maternity leave left....I just found out he went and actually booked it! We are going the 26-29th and I'm super excited! I am also a big planner and log stuff like you do. Im really excited for this trip since we are not doing the dining plan and I want to log all our food prices and really compare it to the dining plan, FUN I'm also excited since it will be my son's first trip, hell be just 11 wks old

 

[ljcrochet]

Wow! I can't believe you planned a trip in 3 hours hours. I can't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[burly]

This is so cool! I'm in too.