Chapter 2: Planes, Condos, and Automobiles
January 28, 2011 – Day 1 (cont’d)
Does cheaper flight + cheaper car rental offset longer drive? That was the $64,000 question.
However, I didn’t realize how much longer a drive it was from the Tampa airport to Disney property, as opposed to the Orlando airport. I had heard others say it takes about 45 minutes from Orlando airport to Disney property, and Tampa is about an hour. Using that information, surely Tampa is the way to go, right? [Uh, don’t call me surely (or Shirley.)] Looking back, I realize the 45 minutes from Orlando airport must have been talking about some type of rush hour traffic, during major road construction, or pulling over for a short nap on the way. I live in the metro area that was just named “worst commute in the country” by some magazine – I don’t know which. I am used to driving in traffic. I am used to ‘rush hour’ meaning 6am – 10am and 3pm – 7pm. And the 'about an hour' from Tampa must have been someone with a DeLorean and a Flux Capacitor. Knowing what I know now, we will stick with the Orlando airport from now on.
Here is a little time line for you to show why:
8:05pm – flight arrives at Tampa International
8:15pm – flight arrives at gate
8:25pm – get off flight
8:50pm – pull rental car up at arrival area to load family and luggage
8:58pm – start driving to condo
9:15pm – DD asleep in car seat, realize we didn’t eat dinner
9:21pm – go through McDonald’s drive thru, sit in parking lot eating while DD sleeps
9:33pm – back on I-4 East towards Orlando
11:01pm – stop at Super Target (near condo) for supplies; realize Super Target closes at 11pm
11:06pm – stop at Publix for supplies; realize Publix closes at 11pm
11:11pm – stop at 24hr Wal*Mart for supplies; realize 24hr Wal*Mart closes at 11pm (not really, I went in for supplies while DW, DD, and DS slept in van)
11:35pm – drive to condo
11:45pm – arrive at condo
12:05am – finish unloading luggage and supplies (by myself while DW, DS, and DD sleep in condo)
12:55am – finish unpacking most items and finally get to lay down to sleep, prepared to wake up at 6:45am to get ready for RD at MK
Now that I found out (through my Universal Orlando training for my travel business) Universal offers a package with a one day 'park hopper' pass with free transportation to/from a Disney resort – we will be avoiding the car rental altogether and stay on Disney property next time. The condo was very nice, clean, spacious, and great… but we really missed the Disney buses from the Disney resorts. And we missed being dropped off right near the entrance to Magic Kingdom. And we missed being able to easily and conveniently take an afternoon break back at the room without the following: loading on ferry boat/monorail to the TTC, loading on tram to parking area, walking to parking space, getting loaded into van, drive to condo, unload and break, load back up and drive back to TTC, loading on tram, loading on ferry boat/monorail to Magic Kingdom. When staying at the resort it is short and sweet (like me): hop on bus to resort; break; hop on bus to MK.
In conclusion to the whole off site condo thing: the condo was great, but the logistics didn’t fit our family situation well. When you only spend time away from the parks to sleep, shower, and get ready to go back to the parks – all the space the condo affords goes to waste. It did come in handy when we left early one night and used the pool, but the Disney resorts have pools, too. We would have been just fine with a value or moderate resort instead with less overall hassle for us. That is why we are already looking into a return trip with an on-site stay this summer (DW feels guilty for recommending an off-site condo. Should I tell her that it was my idea? Nah, I’ll let her think… wait, she will be reading this eventually. Honey, disregard the previous two sentences, OK?) Overall it was a great vacation with the condo and rental car, but we really got spoiled by the on-site resorts the last few times we have been.
In the next chapter: MK day and a magical moment for DD! (And I will start putting in photos from the trip – and maybe more video.)
