Hellllooooo, humans!
We've been back from WDW for a month, so it's time to get this trip report cranked out before I forget all of the details. Let's get down to business!
Who: Me (Katie), my husband Jason, and our 4-Year-Old, Lincoln
When: November 29th-December 6th
Where: The Holiday Inn at Disney Springs, followed by All Star Music
A little background on this trip. We live north of Atlanta and drive to WDW - it's about a 7-8 hour drive, depending on traffic. In 2023 and 2024, we got stuck in awful traffic on I-75, between Gainesville and the Florida Turnpike, delaying our arrival by 2+ hours one year. On our way home in 2024, I told J that I wanted to start driving part of the way down the night before checking in to WDW so that we would have less of a drive and hopefully less traffic getting to that area of Florida earlier in the day. We monitored hotel prices in Lake City and Gainesville about 2-2.5 hours north of WDW, throughout the year, and they rarely dipped below $200/night for the decent hotels. I had a hard time coughing up $200+ to stay at a Best Western in Lake City, but I was determined that we were going to make most of the drive the night before we checked in at ASM. About two weeks before our trip, I told J we need to make a decision about where we wanted to stay. On a whim, I decided to check prices of hotels around Orlando, thinking since it was a much bigger city than Lake City, we might find some more affordable options. Lo and behold, the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs had a room for $117. Sold! It still meant we'd be making the 7-8 hour drive all in one go, but we decided it'd be nice to wake up on our check-in day and already be in the bubble. How did we like the Holiday Inn? Stay tuned to find out.
We've been back from WDW for a month, so it's time to get this trip report cranked out before I forget all of the details. Let's get down to business!
Who: Me (Katie), my husband Jason, and our 4-Year-Old, Lincoln
When: November 29th-December 6th
Where: The Holiday Inn at Disney Springs, followed by All Star Music
A little background on this trip. We live north of Atlanta and drive to WDW - it's about a 7-8 hour drive, depending on traffic. In 2023 and 2024, we got stuck in awful traffic on I-75, between Gainesville and the Florida Turnpike, delaying our arrival by 2+ hours one year. On our way home in 2024, I told J that I wanted to start driving part of the way down the night before checking in to WDW so that we would have less of a drive and hopefully less traffic getting to that area of Florida earlier in the day. We monitored hotel prices in Lake City and Gainesville about 2-2.5 hours north of WDW, throughout the year, and they rarely dipped below $200/night for the decent hotels. I had a hard time coughing up $200+ to stay at a Best Western in Lake City, but I was determined that we were going to make most of the drive the night before we checked in at ASM. About two weeks before our trip, I told J we need to make a decision about where we wanted to stay. On a whim, I decided to check prices of hotels around Orlando, thinking since it was a much bigger city than Lake City, we might find some more affordable options. Lo and behold, the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs had a room for $117. Sold! It still meant we'd be making the 7-8 hour drive all in one go, but we decided it'd be nice to wake up on our check-in day and already be in the bubble. How did we like the Holiday Inn? Stay tuned to find out.
Last edited:
Thank you for reading! 
We knew it would be a late night, and we didn't want to wait until the morning to have to rush to pack up the car before breakfast. While we were at the hotel, I managed to grab us a LL for MMRR for 5:30pm-6:30pm. We got back to HS just in time for our return time to open. Hollywood Boulevard looked so beautiful with all of the lights turned on.
