Trip Report An Orlando Move and some Disney Fun!

Hi all!
I'm just back from another crazy great family adventure!!
This time the trip wasn't just for fun but to help my son Seth move to Orlando!
Yep, he and his partner decided they had enough of New York and chose to move almost as far south as possible.
Jake was a Special Effects Artist but decided to answer the call from Disney and got a job in the College Program that he hopes will swing to a permanent position. Seth works as a Game Development Artist and as he works remotely, was ready and able to get out of Dodge, I mean NY!

The travelers include me and Seth. (Gary wasn't up for the trip).
Oh, and I almost forgot, Satan the Cat, otherwise actually known as Athens.
Tell me he doesn't look like a Satan.
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This cat and his antics during the move increased our stress from probably a 5 to an 8.5. :cautious:

I left Pittsburgh May 17th to drive a Budget Cargo Van to Brooklyn.
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To me the most obvious question would be, "why are you driving a big honkin van an extra 400 miles?" Well that's because no one in NY would promise me this size of a van. I was told it could be bigger, and that's a big ole hell no. So off I went.

The first part of this trip report is the crazy of the move and you are welcome to scroll past to "skip to the good part". But, if you want to get a few laughs hang around during the first part. It was so much fun I would like to do it again next week!


And before I end this post I would like to thank @cgersic and @Zipadeelady for all of their Orlando move advice, and @Darstarr for her multiple offers of help on the NY end. (I couldn't take her up on them because she would have seen in person not just via txt what a hot mess my life is)! @Tuvalu and @riverside offered moral support and some helpful travel hints during the trip!
 
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And yes, it is pricey. And I am ok with it as long as I feel like I’m getting a quality product. Not happening in this case….
I'm curious. How many people were in your group with just the one piece of sausage? We saw a table of 4 next to us receiving 2 platters of the meats.

Happy Birthday to Seth

Sorry that the ornament broke - it is a beauty


Max
Thanks, I'll share your happy bday with Seth, and I was so bummed.
I have Seth on the search for another, but he hasn't found one since we saw that at OKW. :(
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I didn't realize when I posted this pic today that I forgot I had a little help redecorating with Una in town.
She couldn't resist playing with (and rearranging) the blue shredded stuff and was obsessed with the Lenox Mickey on the left. I should have put it up but she loved playing with it. She was gentle (as she's been taught) with it.
And I set up the little house with a remote on and off that she was allowed to use and the house lights were on and off for a week and a half! 🤣
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MAY 22nd Last day :(, but we're off to Disney Springs Downtown Disney!

Seth wanted to go to Gideon's as they release a collector card each month and he didn't have May's.
I had my stuff all packed and he came and picked me and my luggage up. The plan was to explore some of the Springs and then he would take me to the airport.

We were parked and in front of Gideon's (with 30 or so of our friends) by 9:55 am.
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They had the card he wanted and we both got one they were handing out while we were waiting in line.
Seth likes this place so much that for Christmas I got him a Gideon's ball cap.
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Eventually we were let inside, probably only a 10 minute wait.
I've never been in here before and thought it was super cool so I took a bunch of photos.
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Some of the cookie selection for the day. I don't see it here but I got Gary a peanut butter one that he really liked and a chocolate chip for me. They lasted 4-5 days.
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I forget what the thing was with the all black cake, but it was some kind of a big deal.
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After that we wandered around in World of Disney and surprisingly I didn't buy anything, and then headed to get some lunch.
 
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MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
MAY 22nd Disney Springs cont...

After we left World of Disney we wandered over to D-Luxe Burger.
I've not eaten here before and Seth said he has and liked it.
We opened the joint up at 11am.

I got a plain old cheese burger and Seth got something plant based, We shared some fries. I thought it was an excellent burger. But, I am also not a picky burger eater.
Sorry there are a few bites missing because I forgot to take a pic first.
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After that we went into a neat store (I think that it was called Disneystyle), that had a few unique items.
I can't remember, I think Seth got a hoodie because 1-you can't have too many hoodies and 2-you really need them in frigid Florida.:rolleyes:
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Very pretty area of the springs, but alas last photo of our trip.:(
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Thus ends Phase 12 of the Orlando move/Disney fun which included 2 great days at Disney!!!

I'll just tuck PHASE 13 here to save making another post.
I wanted to end the TR with the questionably lucky 13!🤣

Phase 13 was Seth getting me to MCO, making it through TSA and getting on a plane to Pittsburgh that wasn't delayed!
All 3 accomplished!!!!
I actually got there with too much time on my hands and had to hang out in the terminal for over 2 hours. But again, 4 pm flight was on time, no drama and I got home in one piece!!

Thank you all for following along. I really appreciated the pretrip advice from all of those mentioned and appreciated everyone's supportive comments as I traveled along the East Coast!!

I don't know when my/our next trip will be. Gary and I will have our 40th anniversary October 1 and if his health holds we are playing with a maybe California- Sacramento, maybe Anaheim:) trip. Aleisha begrudgingly admitted Una would probably love the princesses etc. at this point.
Till then...
Mickey Mouse Disney GIF
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
MAY 20th Phase 10 continues, let's ride Tron!!

We walked over to Tron and I'll give my opinion on a few things.
First there is a not clearly understood why, narrow walkway that you walk along to get to the entrance. It sort of makes for an anticlimactic entrance in my opinion.
There is a blue umbrella guest person at the bottom of the ramp for questions, etc., then you walk up the large wide ramp. There are people sitting all along this area on the ground and once you hit the top, it's the same, except here there are a few benches around.
I think it's kind of odd.

But, bright spot, there is a very nice large bathroom area up here too, that anyone can access whether riding or not.
Said bathroom. (Ladies of course.) 🤣
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We found the correct entrance for ILL riders and as we went past the virtual queue line I was surprised how long it was. It wrapped back and forth several times. (But hey, they weren't wasting their food budget on a ride either!)

I forgot to take a picture of the neat locker area but took one of the bathroom.:D
They work by putting your stuff in on the entrance side, then retrieve it on the exit side. Pretty clever.

After that we entered the inside of the ride area where initially you are above the cars and make your way down to the load area. Seth must have asked me 10 times if I thought I would be able to ride with my hip. We came up with a plan that I would ride whichever side permitted me to swing my right leg (the better hip) over the cycle. I told him he might have to help drag me off but, oh well.

As we watched people load I felt bad as there were several people who clearly weren't going to be able to get on the cycle and they had to do the uncomfortable walk to the last car. I'm not sure why because there were cycles prior to entering the line that you could try for comfort and fit.
I really liked that you can adjust the pressure of the back and leg clamps/braces yourself to a certain degree by pulling on the cycle handles.

We took off and it was so much fun!!
It is a very short ride as people have noted but I still loved it!
The photopass photo didn't show up but I called photo pass when we got home, told them the date, time and what we were wearing and they found it very quickly.
Very fun ride.
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I did manage to get off unassisted and we went to retrieve our items from the locker.

After that we hustle limped over to our dining reservation at the Jungle Canteen.
We were seated fairly quickly after we arrived and it was delightful to sit down in the nice restaurant and air-conditioning!

Seth had the curried vegetable crew stew that he liked.
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And I had the tastes like chicken which tasted like spicy chicken! Loved it.
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We strolled out of the park stopping at the Emporium first.
I want these for my house!!!!
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After that we took the monorail back to the TTC to get to the parking lot.

A few shots of the lovely construction site for the new Poly DVC building.
First shot shows the height of the building in relation to the Wedding Pavilion.
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It's not pretty but I'm holding out hope that they will somehow make this work.
As members of the Poly now I really want this building to be incorporated into the existing membership as supposedly it will have 1 and 2 bedroom options, but the rumor mill is saying it will be like Copper Creek and be a separate community. Only time and Disney will tell.

We made it to the car and as I was trying to climb into the front passenger seat of Seth's car he says, yeah you can ride Tron but can't get into my car!
My reply, priorities son, priorities. 🤣

After that he took me to Old Key West where I was advised by a few of my friends on here to only book a studio so we could hang onto some points to try to do a Poly girls trip one of these days!
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Phase 11, complete. Successful OKW check in. I'll post some room pics later.
I love your tron photo face. I can tell you are having fun!

And I totally agree with your priorities.
 

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loved this report! All in all, seems like move in went well!
Thanks for following, appreciate it very much.
And I think with all of the things that could have gone wrong it was quite successful! I had visions of vehicles breaking down, hotel rooms not available and all sorts of other potential calamities! 🤣
 

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