3 Rapunzels and 1 Merida - LIVE TRIP REPORTING! 10/13-23

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 04:45 AM

Let the live reporting begin! It is 4:43am, and we're packing the last of our junk in the car.

Kids are screaming, not talking, and dying to get in the car to see if a character has dropped of their presents.

We are almost on time and I'll update from the road.

HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 05:20 AM

OMGOSH...I can not believe this is happening. Our minivan is dead. Battery is dead. WE CAN'T LEAVE!

Trying to find someplace open this early but,nothing opens for probably another 2 HOURS!!!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 06:05 AM

I can't believe this is happening. It's 6am and I'm sitting on my laptop at home.... YES AT HOME!!!!! Our minivan is dead. Battery is dead. Toast. Nothing.

Nothing opens for another hour and a half. THIS IS SO DISAPPOINTING. We would have already reached Ohio if we left when we should have. My husband wants to crawl under the car and just die! Poor guy has been saying he should replace the battery for the past few months but, never did. At least this didn't happen at some rest area on the way or something. There is that "bright side".

Kids are content to watch Saturday morning cartoons (which by the way is nothing like the Saturday cartoons I grew up with), we're having an oatmeal breakfast and, though I'm really, really trying hard not to, I'm festering about leaving late. Very late.

This is a vacation. This is a vacation. This is a vacation. Expect the unexpected. Expect the unexpected.

My family is safe. We are together. We are on our way to the most magical place on earth. No matter what time we get there, we will be there.

I must keep reading those last few lines over and over to keep perspective.

**Donald** · 10-13-2012, 06:59 AM

In the age of "open 24 hours", THAT is the one thing NOT open! Figures!

Good luck and travel safe! Enjoy your vacation!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:36 AM

Good Morning Sun.... While I should have been saying good morning to you through the windshield somewhere around Dayton, OH by now, I am saying good morning through the window of my home office. sigh.....

Chris left about 5 minutes ago to go to Auto Zone. Purchased the battery online and will hold the door open for the guy who opens the store. They will install the battery and do a quick diagonstic check (whatever that means... eyes glazing over...) with any battery purchase - so the website says.

Hopefully he'll be back by 8am (we are in Cinderella Castle Time Zone) and we will be on our way...

Just a little background on the cast members of this vacation....

My family
DH (Chris) 42
Me (Jennifer) Celebrating the 16th anniversary of my 21st Birthday

during this trip (you do the math)
DD1 (Natalie) 7
DD2 (Isabel) 5

Our BFF's that are coming with us...
Chris (yes the only 2 boys are the daddy's and both are named Chris! - we'll call him CE to tell them appart while reporting)
Mush (nickname for Michelle)
DD1 (Ava) 6
DD2 (Alexa) 18 months

**TexasRoni** · 10-13-2012, 07:39 AM

(((HUGS))) We got a tire blowout 5 hours into our 29 hour drive on our last vacation. 2 hours to get a tow-truck to come put our spare on (our jack failed to work!), 8 more hours to find a place open and that had the right tire for our truck (we were in the middle of nowhere East Texas) and $250 of our vacation spending money spent to fix it all. Basically, a whole day spent wasted in our truck with 4 kids and a very grumpy husband. I feel your pain, but in the end our trip happened and BOY did we appreciate the trip SOOOO much more once we got there!! And of course in hindsight I was grateful we didn't have an accident, etc. when the tire blew out..."Just" a one day delay.

Crossing my fingers that the rest of your trip goes as planned!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:43 AM

I forgot to mention that our friends are at their house napping and waiting for us. We will be pass by their house on the way. They are right off of I-75 about 15 minutes away.

I-75 ALL THE WAY TO THE FL TURNPIKE.

Now, if we could just get a working minivan...

back to reading trip reports to keep the magic on the brain.

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Donald

In the age of "open 24 hours", THAT is the one thing NOT open! Figures!

Good luck and travel safe! Enjoy your vacation!

Thank you! In my anger at the car not starting, I was INFURIATED that Meijers didn't carry any batteries! I remember long ago when they did.

**RedSoxFan** · 10-13-2012, 07:46 AM

How awful. I hope you are on your way soon!!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by TexasRoni

(((HUGS))) We got a tire blowout 5 hours into our 29 hour drive on our last vacation. 2 hours to get a tow-truck to come put our spare on (our jack failed to work!), 8 more hours to find a place open and that had the right tire for our truck (we were in the middle of nowhere East Texas) and $250 of our vacation spending money spent to fix it all. Basically, a whole day spent wasted in our truck with 4 kids and a very grumpy husband. I feel your pain, but in the end our trip happened and BOY did we appreciate the trip SOOOO much more once we got there!! And of course in hindsight I was grateful we didn't have an accident, etc. when the tire blew out..."Just" a one day delay.

Crossing my fingers that the rest of your trip goes as planned!

Oh, thank you for sharing your story. I can appreciate that we didn't even make it out of the garage. At least we are at home, warm (its 36 degrees outside at the moment), fed and have indoor plumbing.

I expect (and hope) that the kids will nap in the car since they've been up for almost 4 hours already.

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:50 AM

We are stopping in Kenessaw, GA (right outside Atlanta) tonight. We were hoping to be there by dinner but, we probably won't get there until 10pm or so.

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 07:55 AM

Chris is home. I repeat... chris is home.

We are finally leaving!!!!! Bye from home....

**tinkerbell04** · 10-13-2012, 07:58 AM

Good luck! Safe travels!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 08:36 AM

Hello from the road! We are officially on our way to Disneyworld!

It is 38 degrees and by tomorrow, I will transpose those numbers to at least 83 when we hit wdw property.

DISCLAIMER: I am now using my phone to report and can not be held responsible for my spelling, autocorrect or grammatical errors made by this microscopic fingertip keyboard.

**eam** · 10-13-2012, 09:24 AM

Are your friends following you and coming at the same time, or joining you later at Disney? I'm so glad you are on the road safely, as I was so looking forward to your trip reports starting today. Drive safely, and enjoy!

Also, wasn't there a traffic accident last year in southern Ohio/northern KY that held you up for a couple of hours? So you might be on the same timetable as last year.

Hear from you soon.

**Tri Minnie** · 10-13-2012, 10:32 AM

I am so sorry for your late start. I hope the remainder of your journey down is uneventful. Safe travels!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by eam

Are your friends following you and coming at the same time, or joining you later at Disney? I'm so glad you are on the road safely, as I was so looking forward to your trip reports starting today. Drive safely, and enjoy!

Also, wasn't there a traffic accident last year in southern Ohio/northern KY that held you up for a couple of hours? So you might be on the same timetable as last year.

Hear from you soon.

Yes, our friends are following us in their car. We just successfully completed our first rst area stop at mm179 in Ohio.

Last year there was the mega construction that we hit at the KY/OH border every year compunded with tailgaters! So far we have hit 2 construction pockets that slowed us down for a few minutes. More annoying than anything. We are hoping to get to our hotel tonight by 9pm. We really hope we make it that early!

So far all the girls are doing wonderfully... even the 18 month old - even though it apprears that she's sitting on a pile of cheerios and goldfish. She's still smiling and mumbling incoherantly at the dvd player in front of her.

**satchel01** · 10-13-2012, 11:47 AM

Wow what a start! I hope the rest of your journey down goes smoothly with sleeping kids. We'll be leaving shortly for our flight down. I like the idea of live trip reporting via iphone, thanks for that idea

. I'm off to start my trip report!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by satchel01

Wow what a start! I hope the rest of your journey down goes smoothly with sleeping kids. We'll be leaving shortly for our flight down. I like the idea of live trip reporting via iphone, thanks for that idea

. I'm off to start my trip report!

Wow - are you flying over me right now?

I'll be watching your thread! Its actually pretty fun reporting in real time. I'm a scrapbppker so, this, along with my disney diary, helps me to scrap our trip, remember moments and reasons for taking a particular picture,etc.

Can't wait to read yours!

**Jennifer_and_Chris** · 10-13-2012, 02:18 PM

First time ever that we have not hit construction traffic at the OH/KY boarder. Because of that,we are only 1 hour behind last years time. We stopped at the KY Welcome center and no we're almost to Lexington where we will be having lunch.

Kids are doing great. They are sick of watching movies and have decided on their own to write in their journals and do their math homework. I'm so proud.

Anyways, its 75 degrees, 15 degrees warmer than last year. We've driven 328 miles. Only 400 more to go.

At least tomorrow we only have 400+ miles to go. I estimate that by this time tomorrow, we will be unpacking the cars at our Treehouse Villa!

Now, what's for lunch?

Thread: 3 Rapunzels and 1 Merida - LIVE TRIP REPORTING! 10/13-23

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