Tuesday Feb. 3/ Wednesday Feb. 4
Getting Down there and Epcot
Today, was a first for me. Today, I attempted something I never thought I’d ever do ever. Today…I drove down to Disney World. I’m a flyer. I like getting on a plane and knowing I’ll be there in a few hours. But for this trip, we knew that if we’d have to rent a car if we flew in, since we were staying off property and with gas prices being cheaper now, it ended up being a lot more fiscally responsible to get in the car and drive the 16 hour trek down to the Sunshine State. So, since WHF really wanted to, I decided I’d try driving down just this once. I had a friend who constantly does it (since he’s afraid of flying) and swore it wasn’t so bad…I was hoping he’d be right. Plus, if I hated it, I’d could go back to flying next time.
We decided to leave on Tuesday night, after work, so that way we’d be taking one less day off work and we could drive overnight and not get stuck in any sort of traffic.
So, we hit the road at 8:15 pm, stopped off at Jack in the Box for dinner and sped off into the road unknown. I was really uneasy about this trek. This was the longest I’d ever been in a car and I really didn’t know what to expect. I’d been in a car to Chicago and that was a 6 hour drive, which felt long in itself. 16 hours, I was not looking forward to it.
I drove the first half…and tried like crazy once WHF took over to fall asleep at around 2:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, I guess my body doesn’t like to sleep in the car, because I could NOT get comfortable. Finally, once we’d finished passing through Atlanta, I got a little bit of sleep.
I woke up after we’d hit the Florida state line and we stopped at a Huddle House there. I did not enjoy it very much. It was only ok…even though I was STARVING!!! Guess I was too hungry to eat, if that makes any sense.
From there, I finished up the rest of the drive. We got to our first of 3 hotels for this journey…the Airport Hyatt. Now, many of you have seen this Hyatt, as it is the hotel that is actually IN the airport. It’s a very nice hotel…we definitely enjoyed our stay, even though it was only for one night. Our room had balcony with a view and we could see planes take off. Luckily, it was quiet there…we didn’t hear any planes or maybe I was simply too tired to care.
Our room:
Since I was so incredibly tired, I took a nap before we headed off to Epcot. Today was actually a bonus day for us. We hadn’t planned on going to Epcot until Saturday, but WHF really wanted to go to a park today (I think he was too excited to wait), so we decided to take the trip over there. So, around 6 or so in the evening, we got in the car to head to Epcot. (Keep in mind, I’ve only had about 4-5 hours of sleep total…nothing like going at it hard…)
First though, we made a stop at the place to get the best burger on property…Beaches and Cream. Oh…it’s so incredibly good. I had a burger with cheddar cheese and a No Way Jose, which I ate about half of. (Not bad for a tiny woman!) Trying to make this at home just isn’t as good as it is on property though. Must be something in the ice cream down there!
After our delicious meal (and being stuffed like a pig) we decided to go to Epcot through the International Gateway. Let me preface this next portion of the TR by stating it was cold…extremely cold for Florida. It was definitely low 30s that night. So, we bundled up and froze!!!
On our way through World Showcase to get to Future World, we stopped to hear Off Kilter…a band I’ve heard so much about from here, but had never seen them perform. They are really great. I only wished that we’d gotten to see more, but it was their last song. I’ll definitely stop and see them again sometime.
From there, we hit up and attraction that houses my good buddy, Figment!
From there, we froze our way over to the Land where at 7 pm, we managed to get Fastpasses for Soarin for 8 pm. That never happens…but as I may have mentioned…it was cold that day…everyone had gone home.
Then it was off to Find Nemo…he just keeps getting lost…we need to put a leash on that fish or something! We also had time to explore the pavilion a bit, looking at the manatees and exploring Bruce’s shark area. Ooh! I wanted to mention…on the ride, the jellyfish were moving up and down AND the fish that tries to attack Marlin was moving. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him move, he’s always been static when I’ve visited. It was cool to get to experience that part of the attraction.
From there, we hopped on SSE, in which I attempted to take pics, but not a one turned out. Boo…camera isn’t that good.
![Frown :( :(](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png)
Then we hurried on over to Test Track.
So, you want to know the best thing about going on Test Track when it’s freezing…the fact that there’s no one in line for it! We walked right into the preshow and walked right onto the ride as well. AND when our ride was done, since no one else was in line, we got to stay on Test Track for another lap! The bad thing about going on it when it’s cold…the 65 mile an hour loop…it’s freaking cold!!!!!
Then we ran over to Soarin so we could ride with our FPs, and then we literally ran to get a spot for Illuminations since it was starting in less than 10 minutes. We didn’t get the greatest spot, but it was sufficient enough that we could see most things. (There was a tree in the way, partially.) Illuminations is my all time favorite fireworks show though. Love, love, love “We Go On”.
After Illuminations, it was time to make the trek back to the airport to go to sleep. (how often do I get to say that?)