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.

This cat and his antics during the move increased our stress from probably a 5 to an 8.5.

I left Pittsburgh May 17th to drive a Budget Cargo Van to Brooklyn.

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!

 

[MickeyCB]

DC beltway sux!

This sounds like a stressful drive so I'm glad you made it to NC in one piece! You win "Mother of the Year" award for doing this for your son!

Could I get you to tell him this?! His address is...

How I miss Wawa. Let me count the ways...

Satan is adorable void kitties are the best kitties

Love Wawa!
And adorable?!
He was a shelter cat that had been returned once before for reasons unknown....

 

[Lilofan]

How I miss Wawa. Let me count the ways...

Satan is adorable void kitties are the best kitties

Approx 10 years ago when Wawa opened up the first FL location down the street from Sea World Orlando, even FL Gov. Bob Scott came for the grand opening.

 

[MickeyCB]

Approx 10 years ago when Wawa opened up the first FL location down the street from Sea World Orlando, even FL Gov. Bob Scott came for the grand opening.

It has always been a neat place. Every summer when we vacationed at the Jersey Shore it was where you would walk to in the morning for fresh bagels and other treats.

 

[ELeigh]

Following along, so many flashbacks to our move to Florida from CT last year with another little black kitty in tow

We were lucky enough to only need to move one small car with this precious cargo but we had similar luck in getting to NC on night one and even worse luck the next day.

 

[cgersic]

I'm finally getting to start this as I didn't want to start while out of town. Soooo glad you made it, especially with the NY craziness and crowds!! Agree that you are an A+ momma and I hope Seth appreciates this trip! Can't wait to catch up one of these days down here, but in the meantime, I'm on this ride with you!

 

[Pirate Magic]

It has always been a neat place. Every summer when we vacationed at the Jersey Shore it was where you would walk to in the morning for fresh bagels and other treats.

We went to the Jersey Shore too every year!! We always went to Wawa it was great!!!

 

[MickeyCB]

Following along, so many flashbacks to our move to Florida from CT last year with another little black kitty in tow
View attachment 721318
We were lucky enough to only need to move one small car with this precious cargo but we had similar luck in getting to NC on night one and even worse luck the next day.

Glad you're here!
What happened the next day?!

I'm finally getting to start this as I didn't want to start while out of town. Soooo glad you made it, especially with the NY craziness and crowds!! Agree that you are an A+ momma and I hope Seth appreciates this trip! Can't wait to catch up one of these days down here, but in the meantime, I'm on this ride with you!

Appreciate all of your premove help, it was really appreciated!
Since I'm going to "need to visit Seth more often" hope we will be able to bump into each other there!

We went to the Jersey Shore too every year!! We always went to Wawa it was great!!!

Such fond memories! But I will say Disney was the downfall of those shore trips, we definitely spend more time at Disney the last several years.

 

[MickeyCB]

Sorry for the delay in posting. The aforementioned babies were here for a week and a half and just left Wednesday morning.
A quick synopsis of that visit if I could.

They came into town on a redeye from SanFrancisco June 3. Una LOVES her sister! When you would try to pick Lana up to feed her, etc., Una would yell, "my baby"!

We went to the local flea market the next day where Una bought a guitar (well grandma did!)
And funny story that day. I had Una on the back of the stroller and Lana sitting in the front. Aleisha had taken Lana out to feed her and when Una turned around and realized Lana wasn't there she looked at me and said in a very concerned voice, where's Lana, where's Lana?!
She was looking at me with an expression that said you had one job and you screwed it up!

She dressed up as Elsa and ran through the woods (just like her mother did playing dress up many years ago!)
And grandma got to rock Lana to sleep on the porch. Just a little bit of heaven in my opinion.

Poppop spent some quality time with the kids too! They went for walks, watched Frozen (according to Gary 15 times!) and he took Una for a ride on his tractor. She about lost her mind since she loves all large trucks, planes, etc.

It was a fun, busy visit with all of the above and several playground, children's museum and ice cream store visits. I may have shed a little tear as they headed into the airport to go back home again.

And now to return to our last day (thank heavens) of moving to Orlando! Then the Disney fun finally begins!

 

[MickeyCB]

MAY 19TH-Phase 6 North Carolina to Orlando!

The plan if you may recall was to wake up at 5 am (again) and be out the door and across the street for gas, etc. and hit the road by 5:15.
Well we managed to LOSE the cat in the hotel room for 45 minutes!!!
We looked everywhere, lifted up the beds, around curtains etc.
Finally Satan was found up in the TV console that we had to move completely away from the wall to get to.

So the actual take off time was closer to 6 am. Argh!
I had to take a picture of this for Gary (sorry blurry photo) as we had stopped here one time on our way home from Savannah after seeing about 40 billboards advertising it, and it was quite the experience!

Somewhere just south of Savannah (Seth knew the area there since he went to school there) we stopped at a Wendy's for gas and food and kept plowing on.
The time stamp for this photo says 11:50 am. Seemed so encouraging, I didn't realize how long we had to travel yet at this point.

Consulting with the travel service of @Tuvalu, @riverside and @Darstarr they told me we needed to hit Daytona for my personal goal.
And we did around 1:40 pm. We made it!!
Literally the craziest quicky mart I've ever experienced!

Inside it had a slightly manic feel to it.
The Bucee dude was taking pictures with everyone and it had a ton of decor and merchandise. Seth got some kind of Bucee snack food, beaver nuggets that I never did get to try.

We made this another quick stop and hit the road for our first final destination. Seth's new apartment!
After wrestling with the I-4 traffic we made it there just in time for his 3:30 check-in appointment!
Yes, that's my son in front of his apartment complexes beautiful pool! (Annoyed with the picture taking but his grandmother would have my head if I didn't show her pics that proved her grandson would not be living in a scary place!)

Phase 6- NC to Orlando completed!

And completely unrelated to everything, I'm editing to add that during the entire 1600 miles my success rate on the weigh stations stopping was 5/8. (Still hoping I don't get some nasty gram in the mail pointing out I didn't have a 100% success rate!)

Up next, phase 7, what should have been a quick tour of his new apartment and shopping, but what turned into some not so fun evening trauma/drama. Once again involving Satan!

 

[lindawdw]

It's always an adventure driving down to Florida with all the interesting stops along the way! The apartment complex where your son is living looks very nice! Can't wait to hear about the trauma/drama involving Satan!

 

[MickeyCB]

It's always an adventure driving down to Florida with all the interesting stops along the way! The apartment complex where your son is living looks very nice! Can't wait to hear about the trauma/drama involving Satan!

It would probably be a neat drive if you could slow down and enjoy some of the sites available along the way.
And the drama coming up now!

 

[MickeyCB]

Before I start the move in festivities let me wish all of the fathers on here a Happy Father's Day!!

 

[MickeyCB]

MAY 19 commence Phase 7 (and 8)
Move the crap precious belongings into the apartment, do some shopping and check into my hotel. (phase 8)

Seth had an appointment with someone in the main office. They explained all of the rules, payment schedules and went over the amenities of the complex.
I have to say, this is a very nice complex. There are all different kinds of apartments, 1-3 bedroom, some with garages, etc.
It's gated and the amenities are crazy (in my opinion.) They have the pool as pictured above, a really nice large clean gym, and for Pete's sake a pet wash station and a car wash bay!
I think it's crazy because housing is apparently a huge issue in Orlando and this 2 bedroom they got is $400 less per month each, than they were paying in NY. (I get the geographics but still a lot for the money in my opinion.)
A few pics of the apartment.
You step into a full kitchen, with a very large pantry that leads out onto a really nice screened balcony.

There are 2 nice sized bedrooms each with it's own full bath and very large closets. And I forgot, a full size washer and dryer.
If Seth wouldn't lose his mind I might consider renting here!

And for @Darstarr pretty palms!

While we were waiting for the movers to show up, Seth took a few pics and opened the door to facetime Jake for a minute or so. It was then that he realized we hadn't seen Athens in awhile. There was nothing in the apartment except the few things he had brought in from his car. We couldn't find him anywhere. Seth went out into the hallway (it's like an open air corridor), and went up and down the steps looking for him.
By this time the movers showed up and this went really well taking up less than an hour.
I stood at the door to make sure if Athens was still in the apartment that he didn't try to book out.

They finished up and Seth was really upset because our concern was did he bolt when the door was open for the few minutes Seth faced timed Jake.

I felt so bad but we still needed to go to Ikea and pick up some furniture we ordered, get something to eat and make a Target run.
He set up the food and water bowls and his litter box hoping they would be used by the time we got back.

We did the all of our chores and it was almost 10 pm at this point. When we got back there was no evidence of use of any of the bowls or the litter box. Seth was so upset.
We went looking outside, in the dark, for a black cat, in probably snake ridden bushes, for the cat. Everyone we ran into we asked if they had seen a black cat with a red collar on. No one had.

I felt so bad leaving but it's about 10:30 at this point and I still needed to check into the hotel I booked for the night.
I told him to use his social media skills to put out some kind of alert for the cat.

I left and went to my hotel, the Rosen, about 5 minutes away.
After I checked in and got back into the beast (we would be returning in the am), Seth called me.
Mom, guess what?!
He was sitting in the quiet living room and heard a meow.
The little stinker had gone up into the kitchen cabinet in the corner of the toe kick. (An area I had checked myself earlier thinking Seth wasn't being thorough enough!)
Son of a b....!!!!!!!

How is this even possible!!! Jake said after this they're putting an airtag on him!

So, back to my trials and tribulations. I park the beast out back in a lot because it wouldn't fit into the garage. I hike myself through the back entrance of the hotel forgetting this is a conference center. It's probably 1/4 of a mile, but at this point felt like 2 miles.
I buy a coffee with the intention of heating it up in the am. Don't care if it's gross, I'm sitting in bed in the morning and not moving for anyone!!

I walk into the room and it's around 85 degree.
I try to use the thermostat and nothing would move. I called down to the front desk. They say, oh someone will be up to "reset" it. How long I ask. It's 11 pm now. About 10 minutes. Uh huh.
So I start unpacking my gear and I get a knock on the door. Nice guy comes in. Checks the thermostat. Tells me the problem is the unit and he has to bring me another one.
Say what?!
It'll only be about 15 minutes.
I said well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm getting ready for bed so I'm going to be brushing my teeth and whatnot while we wait.
He has the door propped open waiting for the other unit to be brought up.
I'm chatting with the guy across the hall who was just heading to his room who thinks all of this is hilarious.

20 minutes later this is what my room looks like.

Then his buddy shows up because they're switching out a freakin air-conditioning unit at 11:30 at night!!

They turn on the switch, nothing. Bupkis. I'm starting to get a little cranky now.
I inquire about switching rooms, you can they say, but wait....
If we bypass the wall unit and only play with this, this and this button it should work.
And viola! Air-conditioning!
You won't be able to control it from the wall mam. Whatever, I'll freeze, it's ok. Please let me go to sleep.

Finally around midnight we complete Phase 7 and 8. Holy Hell!

But, first I have to set my alarm for 6:55 am to try to get a virtual queue for Tron and buy an ILL for same.
Because d***it, tomorrow I'm going to MK come hell or high water!

 

[Swissmiss]

MAY 19 commence Phase 7 (and 8)
Move the crap precious belongings into the apartment, do some shopping and check into my hotel. (phase 8)

Seth had an appointment with someone in the main office. They explained all of the rules, payment schedules and went over the amenities of the complex.
I have to say, this is a very nice complex. There are all different kinds of apartments, 1-3 bedroom, some with garages, etc.
It's gated and the amenities are crazy (in my opinion.) They have the pool as pictured above, a really nice large clean gym, and for Pete's sake a pet wash station and a car wash bay!
I think it's crazy because housing is apparently a huge issue in Orlando and this 2 bedroom they got is $400 less per month each, than they were paying in NY. (I get the geographics but still a lot for the money in my opinion.)
A few pics of the apartment.
You step into a full kitchen, with a very large pantry that leads out onto a really nice screened balcony.
View attachment 724801View attachment 724803
View attachment 724799

There are 2 nice sized bedrooms each with it's own full bath and very large closets. And I forgot, a full size washer and dryer.
If Seth wouldn't lose his mind I might consider renting here!

And for @Darstarr pretty palms!
View attachment 724804

While we were waiting for the movers to show up, Seth took a few pics and opened the door to facetime Jake for a minute or so. It was then that he realized we hadn't seen Athens in awhile. There was nothing in the apartment except the few things he had brought in from his car. We couldn't find him anywhere. Seth went out into the hallway (it's like an open air corridor), and went up and down the steps looking for him.
By this time the movers showed up and this went really well taking up less than an hour.
I stood at the door to make sure if Athens was still in the apartment that he didn't try to book out.

They finished up and Seth was really upset because our concern was did he bolt when the door was open for the few minutes Seth faced timed Jake.

I felt so bad but we still needed to go to Ikea and pick up some furniture we ordered, get something to eat and make a Target run.
He set up the food and water bowls and his litter box hoping they would be used by the time we got back.

We did the all of our chores and it was almost 10 pm at this point. When we got back there was no evidence of use of any of the bowls or the litter box. Seth was so upset.
We went looking outside, in the dark, for a black cat, in probably snake ridden bushes, for the cat. Everyone we ran into we asked if they had seen a black cat with a red collar on. No one had.

I felt so bad leaving but it's about 10:30 at this point and I still needed to check into the hotel I booked for the night.
I told him to use his social media skills to put out some kind of alert for the cat.

I left and went to my hotel, the Rosen, about 5 minutes away.
After I checked in and got back into the beast (we would be returning in the am), Seth called me.
Mom, guess what?!
He was sitting in the quiet living room and heard a meow.
The little stinker had gone up into the kitchen cabinet in the corner of the toe kick. (An area I had checked myself earlier thinking Seth wasn't being thorough enough!)
Son of a b....!!!!!!!
View attachment 724810

View attachment 724811

How is this even possible!!! Jake said after this they're putting an airtag on him!

So, back to my trials and tribulations. I park the beast out back in a lot because it wouldn't fit into the garage. I hike myself through the back entrance of the hotel forgetting this is a conference center. It's probably 1/4 of a mile, but at this point felt like 2 miles.
I buy a coffee with the intention of heating it up in the am. Don't care if it's gross, I'm sitting in bed in the morning and not moving for anyone!!

I walk into the room and it's around 85 degree.
I try to use the thermostat and nothing would move. I called down to the front desk. They say, oh someone will be up to "reset" it. How long I ask. It's 11 pm now. About 10 minutes. Uh huh.
So I start unpacking my gear and I get a knock on the door. Nice guy comes in. Checks the thermostat. Tells me the problem is the unit and he has to bring me another one.
Say what?!
It'll only be about 15 minutes.
I said well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I'm getting ready for bed so I'm going to be brushing my teeth and whatnot while we wait.
He has the door propped open waiting for the other unit to be brought up.
I'm chatting with the guy across the hall who was just heading to his room who thinks all of this is hilarious.

20 minutes later this is what my room looks like.

View attachment 724814

Then his buddy shows up because they're switching out a freakin air-conditioning unit at 11:30 at night!!
View attachment 724815

They turn on the switch, nothing. Bupkis. I'm starting to get a little cranky now.
I inquire about switching rooms, you can they say, but wait....
If we bypass the wall unit and only play with this, this and this button it should work.
And viola! Air-conditioning!
You won't be able to control it from the wall mam. Whatever, I'll freeze, it's ok. Please let me go to sleep.

Finally around midnight we complete Phase 7 and 8. Holy Hell!

But, first I have to set my alarm for 6:55 am to try to get a virtual queue for Tron and buy an ILL for same.
Because d***it, tomorrow I'm going to MK come hell or high water!

I wanted to your post, but I am too empathetic and I just can’t get myself to do so.

 

[MickeyCB]

I wanted to your post, but I am too empathetic and I just can’t get myself to do so.

It's ok. I wanted to bang my head on the wall at various points of that day!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Oh gosh that air conditioning debacle would have SENT ME OVER THE EDGE. I hope you got some good sleep after all that.

 

[MickeyCB]

Oh gosh that air conditioning debacle would have SENT ME OVER THE EDGE. I hope you got some good sleep after all that.

It was close to the last straw for sure!
I did sleep well, chilly but better than sweltering!

 

[Zipadeelady]

The things we do for our kids! You're a very good mom.

 

[LSV]

That is a nice apartment! My middle child has lived in three different apartments in the last 4 years, so I have spent many hours perusing apartment sites. And cats! Why don't they come out from hiding when we are frantically searching for them! Scoundrels.
Why didn't they just give you a different room right away at 11pm???
Deep breath.

 

[lindawdw]

You have the patience of a saint because my "official" crankiness would have set in, and I would have demanded a full comp from the front desk for the room for that night! I'm glad you son found the cat after all the stress in finding him!