Jennifer_and_Chris
10-26-2011, 02:07 PM
4:30am – Very bad night’s sleep for me. I just can’t get comfortable and am waking up every 15/20 minutes. I wake up to Natalie sleep talking. She said to stop touching her leg. Who is she talking too? Haahaa… She’s sharing the bed with Isabel so, I get up thinking that Isabel is rolling all over the bed but, they aren’t even touching. In fact, there’s a pillow between them. And they are both snoring again. Chris is actually up in the bathroom already. I get up and just start getting ready and Chris does the same. Just might as well get up and go instead of sleeping for 15 minute increments.
6:00am – Kids are still sleeping and I go to the car to get it organized and Mickey leaves the kids a note with more stickers for the day. I get back up to the room with Honey Nut Cheerios and get the kids up and somewhat fed. We check out and go find Costco (w/in a half a mile) for gas.
6:56am we pull out of the hotel parking lot.
6:57am – 715.3 odometer – 50 degrees - we pull into Costco to gas up. Just a note that this Costco gas station opens at 6am everyday. It is $3.11 a gallon. We used gasbuddy app to find gas and the price was exactly what gasbuddy said. DH proclaims that gasbuddy is the best app ever. While he’s gassing up, I check my starbucks app and find that there are 3 starbucks within 1 mile from where we are.
7:19am – hit starbucks.... We go to the one that is .3 miles away and opens at 7am. DH wants McDonalds and we can’t find one using the McD’s app (that’s not so good). So, we just decide to drive until we are hungry since the kids are content w/ their chocolate milk we brought from home and the Cheerios that they had in the hotel room.
7:29am – we actually get on the freeway. I have been up for 3 hours already.
8:03am – We are out of the Atlanta area.
9:20am – mm 128 – 60 degrees- Construction south of Macon goes to 2 left lanes. Had no problems though as we are moving at posted speeds of 60 MPH. At this point, I internalize my excitement because I notice that I’m seeing more Florida plates than Georgia plates. We take the Macon bypass because it is truly shorter. There is a rest area on the bypass 2 miles before the bypass rejoins 75.
9:31am – 862.5 odometer – 64 degrees - mm118 – We hit our first rest area of the day. This one is YUCKY! GROSS! There are 2 attendents there and it’s still so dirty. And the BEES!! They are swarming every garbage can and car parked near it. They are swarming people that walk past unknowing. I make notes that if we have to stop here to park in back out of the sun and the bees are not so bad on that side. I did see a bee or 2 in the bathroom. I also put this on Intercot.
9:45am – back on the road. BFF calls shortly after we leave the rest area and they just left the hotel in Kennesaw. So they are about 3 hours behind.
11:23am – 979.5 odometer – 79 degrees – ENTER FLORIDA
11:25am – FLORIDA WELCOME CENTER – We take tons of pictures. Natalie calls my parents to tell them where we are. I changed them into their zebra themed clothes for arrival at AKL soon. We have our orange juice and grapefruit juice. Kids are talking about how close they are because it’s hot.
11:56am – 82 degrees - Back on the road – boy does that sun feel good! So sunny I’m squinting under my sunglasses.
12:35pm – 86 degrees – I just realized that traffic has definitely picked up. Still going at posted speeds but, cars are all around us. We are going almost 80 MPH and are being pushed out of the way… even Trucks are blowing past us. It’s like the Autoban.
1:39pm – 1103 odometer – 85 degrees – Rest area. We are 20 miles away from the turnpike. Chris and I have to go potty so bad. Darn coffee. Kids don’t have to go and Isabel is snoring soundly.
1:48pm – back on the road. We estimate that we should arrive around 3pm. I hope that online check in is going to pay off this trip and our room will be ready with an excellent location. Can’t wait to get into our room and over look the savannah from our balcony.
2:02pm – 1119.0 odometer – 85 degrees - Merge on to the Florida Turnpike. We’ve got 52 miles to E and need to stop at the Service Plaza.
2:10pm – Stop at service station for gas. At this point, we are so excited and yell at Chris through the window to GAS up like the wind! Gas here was 3.47/ gal - Much more than the 3.11 at costco early this morning. Another van pulls up with the same mickey bat antennae topper. Everyone seems to be wearing Disney shirts. Another sign we are closer.
2:19pm – Back on the road.
2:27pm – Our first toll – and we’re at a standstill. All the other rows seem to be moving but ours. It’s like the opening scene for the movie Office Space. AAAGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! Don’t these people know I’m trying to get to Mickey???? $2.50 toll
2:32pm – Through the toll road.
2:46pm – THE DISNEYWORLD EXIT SIGN!!!!!!!!!! Exit 267A for rt 429
2:54pm – 1165 odometer – 85 degrees – Toll $1.25 at exit 15. Kids are clapping at this point.
3:03pm – 1170 odometer – 84 degrees – exit 8 and we are there. I SEE THE WALT DISNEY WORLD WELCOME SIGN!!!!!! There is NO ONE on the road. Literally, we are the only ones in 6 lanes as far as the eye can see. Chris pulls over and I take pictures… I go to the middle of the lanes and take pictures. Still no car in sight.
3:11pm – WELCOME HOME TO ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE!!
3:40pm – we get into our room and check it all out. The kids are running around the room looking for an outlet for their energy. The outlet was jumping on the couch. We go down to the car to unload. Remember the bins? Well, we bought this portable dolly w/ wheels from costco earlier this year for about $20 and that is the best thing we ever bought. So, we brought it with us and were able to bring up all the bins and “stuff” in 2 loads. Kids filled their strollers with pillows and stuff and I carried some loose things while DH used the dolly for the bins. That was the best thing ever. When we get everything in the room, Chris disinfects everything with Clorox wipes while I’m unpacking kitchen items. The kids pick a drawer each to put their “treasures” in (toys, coloring books, gifts from characters, etc). The girls get their camping chairs and put them on the balcony (we never leave for any vacation w/o these chairs… so handy!). There are a few animals out and they’re watching them and generally freaking out that we are finally here!
5:20pm - We decide to change into bathing suits and get dinner poolside. On our way to the pool, we stop at Johari and get our refillable mugs. Once we staked out our spot by the pool, we realize that we really don’t want to eat anything from the pool menu so, I volunteer to go to Jambo to get dinner from Mara.
I figured I’d walk over to Jambo but, then decided to take the next park bus that showed up to Jambo. The next bus was EPCOT. And on I went. So, I learned that all park buses will stop at Kidani first and then Jambo. DTD bus will stop at Jambo first, then Kidani. But, now, there is a shuttle van that goes from Jambo to Kidani from 7am to 10pm (I learn about this after asking the front desk of Jambo house before going out and walking back to Kidani)
6:00pm – Mara. I had to talk to the chef about the menu for Isabel so, I had to wait about 15 minutes before our entire order was ready. I will be doing a separate review for all the restaurants. But, good was good!
6:28pm – On the shuttle back to Kidani. I get a text while on the van that Chris brought the kids back to the room because it was too cold for them. So, the girls were taking a shower. Perfect timing.
7:30ish pm – we get ready and start walking to the bus stop w/ a stop at Johari. We decided to go to DTD and get dessert at babycakes. We also decided against bringing the strollers for DTD. We have been walking almost every night all summer/fall to prepare for this vacation. So, the kids were used to walking about 1.5-2 miles. So, no strollers tonight. I don’t remember what time we actually got to the bus stop, but, we did have the longest wait of our vacation for the DTD bus.
8:15pm – Get to DTD. I couldn’t believe how busy it was. I think it seemed much more crowded because of all the construction walls in DTD. More than I’ve ever seen there before. So, it was very, very crowded. We went through some stores and the lego store before going to babycakes. Read my separate review for babycakes reviews. After struggling through a few stores and the World of Disney (only got through ˝ the store before escaping out a door), we decide to call it a night and get home for a good night’s rest for EPCOT the next day.
10:15 – we get back home and the kids hit the sack HARD. Everyone is snoring by the time I emerge from the bathroom after organizing the diaper bag, strollers, snack bags for the next day.
I finally hit the sack at around 12:30 after setting up a wake up call from Mickey at 5:55am. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
6:00am – Kids are still sleeping and I go to the car to get it organized and Mickey leaves the kids a note with more stickers for the day. I get back up to the room with Honey Nut Cheerios and get the kids up and somewhat fed. We check out and go find Costco (w/in a half a mile) for gas.
6:56am we pull out of the hotel parking lot.
6:57am – 715.3 odometer – 50 degrees - we pull into Costco to gas up. Just a note that this Costco gas station opens at 6am everyday. It is $3.11 a gallon. We used gasbuddy app to find gas and the price was exactly what gasbuddy said. DH proclaims that gasbuddy is the best app ever. While he’s gassing up, I check my starbucks app and find that there are 3 starbucks within 1 mile from where we are.
7:19am – hit starbucks.... We go to the one that is .3 miles away and opens at 7am. DH wants McDonalds and we can’t find one using the McD’s app (that’s not so good). So, we just decide to drive until we are hungry since the kids are content w/ their chocolate milk we brought from home and the Cheerios that they had in the hotel room.
7:29am – we actually get on the freeway. I have been up for 3 hours already.
8:03am – We are out of the Atlanta area.
9:20am – mm 128 – 60 degrees- Construction south of Macon goes to 2 left lanes. Had no problems though as we are moving at posted speeds of 60 MPH. At this point, I internalize my excitement because I notice that I’m seeing more Florida plates than Georgia plates. We take the Macon bypass because it is truly shorter. There is a rest area on the bypass 2 miles before the bypass rejoins 75.
9:31am – 862.5 odometer – 64 degrees - mm118 – We hit our first rest area of the day. This one is YUCKY! GROSS! There are 2 attendents there and it’s still so dirty. And the BEES!! They are swarming every garbage can and car parked near it. They are swarming people that walk past unknowing. I make notes that if we have to stop here to park in back out of the sun and the bees are not so bad on that side. I did see a bee or 2 in the bathroom. I also put this on Intercot.
9:45am – back on the road. BFF calls shortly after we leave the rest area and they just left the hotel in Kennesaw. So they are about 3 hours behind.
11:23am – 979.5 odometer – 79 degrees – ENTER FLORIDA
11:25am – FLORIDA WELCOME CENTER – We take tons of pictures. Natalie calls my parents to tell them where we are. I changed them into their zebra themed clothes for arrival at AKL soon. We have our orange juice and grapefruit juice. Kids are talking about how close they are because it’s hot.
11:56am – 82 degrees - Back on the road – boy does that sun feel good! So sunny I’m squinting under my sunglasses.
12:35pm – 86 degrees – I just realized that traffic has definitely picked up. Still going at posted speeds but, cars are all around us. We are going almost 80 MPH and are being pushed out of the way… even Trucks are blowing past us. It’s like the Autoban.
1:39pm – 1103 odometer – 85 degrees – Rest area. We are 20 miles away from the turnpike. Chris and I have to go potty so bad. Darn coffee. Kids don’t have to go and Isabel is snoring soundly.
1:48pm – back on the road. We estimate that we should arrive around 3pm. I hope that online check in is going to pay off this trip and our room will be ready with an excellent location. Can’t wait to get into our room and over look the savannah from our balcony.
2:02pm – 1119.0 odometer – 85 degrees - Merge on to the Florida Turnpike. We’ve got 52 miles to E and need to stop at the Service Plaza.
2:10pm – Stop at service station for gas. At this point, we are so excited and yell at Chris through the window to GAS up like the wind! Gas here was 3.47/ gal - Much more than the 3.11 at costco early this morning. Another van pulls up with the same mickey bat antennae topper. Everyone seems to be wearing Disney shirts. Another sign we are closer.
2:19pm – Back on the road.
2:27pm – Our first toll – and we’re at a standstill. All the other rows seem to be moving but ours. It’s like the opening scene for the movie Office Space. AAAGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! Don’t these people know I’m trying to get to Mickey???? $2.50 toll
2:32pm – Through the toll road.
2:46pm – THE DISNEYWORLD EXIT SIGN!!!!!!!!!! Exit 267A for rt 429
2:54pm – 1165 odometer – 85 degrees – Toll $1.25 at exit 15. Kids are clapping at this point.
3:03pm – 1170 odometer – 84 degrees – exit 8 and we are there. I SEE THE WALT DISNEY WORLD WELCOME SIGN!!!!!! There is NO ONE on the road. Literally, we are the only ones in 6 lanes as far as the eye can see. Chris pulls over and I take pictures… I go to the middle of the lanes and take pictures. Still no car in sight.
3:11pm – WELCOME HOME TO ANIMAL KINGDOM LODGE!!
3:40pm – we get into our room and check it all out. The kids are running around the room looking for an outlet for their energy. The outlet was jumping on the couch. We go down to the car to unload. Remember the bins? Well, we bought this portable dolly w/ wheels from costco earlier this year for about $20 and that is the best thing we ever bought. So, we brought it with us and were able to bring up all the bins and “stuff” in 2 loads. Kids filled their strollers with pillows and stuff and I carried some loose things while DH used the dolly for the bins. That was the best thing ever. When we get everything in the room, Chris disinfects everything with Clorox wipes while I’m unpacking kitchen items. The kids pick a drawer each to put their “treasures” in (toys, coloring books, gifts from characters, etc). The girls get their camping chairs and put them on the balcony (we never leave for any vacation w/o these chairs… so handy!). There are a few animals out and they’re watching them and generally freaking out that we are finally here!
5:20pm - We decide to change into bathing suits and get dinner poolside. On our way to the pool, we stop at Johari and get our refillable mugs. Once we staked out our spot by the pool, we realize that we really don’t want to eat anything from the pool menu so, I volunteer to go to Jambo to get dinner from Mara.
I figured I’d walk over to Jambo but, then decided to take the next park bus that showed up to Jambo. The next bus was EPCOT. And on I went. So, I learned that all park buses will stop at Kidani first and then Jambo. DTD bus will stop at Jambo first, then Kidani. But, now, there is a shuttle van that goes from Jambo to Kidani from 7am to 10pm (I learn about this after asking the front desk of Jambo house before going out and walking back to Kidani)
6:00pm – Mara. I had to talk to the chef about the menu for Isabel so, I had to wait about 15 minutes before our entire order was ready. I will be doing a separate review for all the restaurants. But, good was good!
6:28pm – On the shuttle back to Kidani. I get a text while on the van that Chris brought the kids back to the room because it was too cold for them. So, the girls were taking a shower. Perfect timing.
7:30ish pm – we get ready and start walking to the bus stop w/ a stop at Johari. We decided to go to DTD and get dessert at babycakes. We also decided against bringing the strollers for DTD. We have been walking almost every night all summer/fall to prepare for this vacation. So, the kids were used to walking about 1.5-2 miles. So, no strollers tonight. I don’t remember what time we actually got to the bus stop, but, we did have the longest wait of our vacation for the DTD bus.
8:15pm – Get to DTD. I couldn’t believe how busy it was. I think it seemed much more crowded because of all the construction walls in DTD. More than I’ve ever seen there before. So, it was very, very crowded. We went through some stores and the lego store before going to babycakes. Read my separate review for babycakes reviews. After struggling through a few stores and the World of Disney (only got through ˝ the store before escaping out a door), we decide to call it a night and get home for a good night’s rest for EPCOT the next day.
10:15 – we get back home and the kids hit the sack HARD. Everyone is snoring by the time I emerge from the bathroom after organizing the diaper bag, strollers, snack bags for the next day.
I finally hit the sack at around 12:30 after setting up a wake up call from Mickey at 5:55am. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ