Nearing Single Digits

[sbkline]

...of weeks, that is. This Sunday, it will be 9 weeks until we hit the road for our long anticipated, first stay at a WDW resort! :sohappy: Sadly, we have had to modify arrangements a bit regarding who watches the baby. The original plan was to drop him by my Mom and Dad's on Sunday morning, then hit the road from there. Unfortunately, for those of you who don't know, they were in a car accident Nov 30 and Mom died in the wee hour of the morning Dec 1. So we now have to leave him with the wife's parents instead.

Anyway, let's see what you all think of my itenerary:

Sunday April 22: leave early in the morning. How early depends on how early we get up and how fast I can get the wife moving. I was originally shooting for around 8 AM (CST), but I'll probably be excited and unable to sleep (especially if we stay the night with Dad) and be ready to roll around 6 AM or so, if I can get the wife to cooperate. :lol: Then, put in as many miles as possible that day, probably not stopping to sleep until around 11 PM Eastern Standard time, as we will cross the time zone in Tennessee.

Monday April 23: Depending on how early we get up Sunday and hit the road, hopefully we will only be 3-5 hours away from WDW and can hit the road around 7 AM, so check in anywhere from 10 AM to 1 PM EST. If we check in early enough, hit Downtown Disney and use that 15 dollar meal voucher. If not, then get something to eat on the way down and then just enjoy the resort until Supper. Then head to Chef Mickey's for supper at 6 PM, and then play some mini-golf that night, either on property or off (we plan to do both during the week long stay)

Tuesday the 24th: EPCOT all day, beginning with morning EMH. Eat at Alfredo's at 7 PM. Either watch Illuminations or play mini-golf, or play mini-golf after Illuminations.

Wednesday the 25th: Animal Kingdom. Stay as long as we need to in order to feel like we've done everything we wanted to do, as long as we are done in time to get back to EPCOT for supper at Coral Reef at 5:40 PM. Then, watch Illuminations if we did not do so on Tuesday, or head out to play some mini-golf and or/enjoy the resort. Yes, we plan to play mini-golf 3 or 4 times this trip. Once or twice at the Disney ones and the rest of the time at our off property mini-golf places. Do you think we would have time to visit AKL that day as well?

Thursday the 26th: Magic Kingdom all day and night (open until 11 PM that night). On my previous visits, I've never been one to leave during the day and do something else, then come back, and I don't plan to start this time...although it is possible, since we are going back Saturday. Supper at Tony's Town Square at 6 PM

Friday the 27th: MGM, Disney Studios, or whatever in the heck they're calling it these days. :lol: Planning to stay until close and see Fantasmic for the first time, and have supper at 50's Prime Time at 5:55 PM.

Saturday the 28th: Magic Kingdom until 5 PM or so, at which time we will head over to the Grand Floridian for supper at 1900 Park Fare at 6 PM. Probably check out that resort and, if we didn't do so already on Monday, the other resorts on that monorail loop and, between that day and Monday, possibly check out Wilderness lodge. Then, head back to resort for the Carraige ride around POR and then play another round or two of...you guessed it...mini-golf. :lol:

Sunday the 29th: sleep in, then go to church in Kissimmee where we always go when we visit. Then, do some off property shopping at the Florida Mall. Depending on how much time we have between shopping and supper, possibly Downtown Disney, or possibly check out some other resorts. Then head back to EPCOT for supper at 6 PM at the Garden Grill. Stay as long as we feel like, then head over to Magic Kingdom for EMH.

Monday the 30th: sleep in. Then, depending on how eager we are to hit the road, possibly go to Downtown Disney and, if we haven't already done so, use the 15 dollar voucher on some lunch, then head home.

We are getting 10 day parkhoppers with no expiration, so we will have 4 unused days to take home and use next time.

 

[Glasgow]

Your trip sounds so awesome. Sorry to hear about your mum though -- that is so sad.

 

[JimboJones123]

Wow, I couldn't figure out if this topic was about cold weather or finding the Fountian of Youth on your Florida trip. Turns out it was neither. I love tricky thread names, esp ones that aren't meant to be. Great job Sbkline

 

[maxe14]

REALLY sad about your mom.....

Your trip sounds AMAZING! You will really enjoy Fantasmic, my family usually sees it twice when we go.

Let me know how the drive is. I am from Decatur, IL (well, actually Warrensburg) We have always flown.


Have fun!

 

[sbkline]

REALLY sad about your mom.....

Thanks.

Your trip sounds AMAZING! You will really enjoy Fantasmic, my family usually sees it twice when we go.

Let me know how the drive is. I am from Decatur, IL (well, actually Warrensburg) We have always flown.


Have fun!

We've been before, just never stayed on property, and we've driven every time. I love the road trip. You should do it sometime. The drive through Tennessee is pretty awesome.

Decatur is less than an hour from me. I have a friend who lives there now.

 

[JustPlainBill]

What route are you taking?
I have 16 weeks to go as of this Saturday till we make our trip down.
I'm on the Illinois side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border about 60 miles northwest of Chicago. We're leaving early Saturday morning and taking I-294 to I-80 into Indiana, to I-65 south through Kentucky into Tennesee. I figure we'll spend the night in Nashville, TN, then start out early the next morning down I-24 to I-75 through Georgia into Florida. We're going to stop a few hours before reaching Orlando and drive on property Monday morning.
I was curious because you mention about stopping on the Tennesse border and making it to WDW in about 5 hours the next Day. I wasn't sure if I read this wrong or did you have a secret way to fly through Georgia and northern Florida so fast.:veryconfu

 

[sbkline]

What route are you taking?
I have 16 weeks to go as of this Saturday till we make our trip down.
I'm on the Illinois side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border about 60 miles northwest of Chicago. We're leaving early Saturday morning and taking I-294 to I-80 into Indiana, to I-65 south through Kentucky into Tennesee. I figure we'll spend the night in Nashville, TN, then start out early the next morning down I-24 to I-75 through Georgia into Florida. We're going to stop a few hours before reaching Orlando and drive on property Monday morning.

We take I-57 down to I-24 in Southern Illinois. Then take I-24 through Kentucky, down to Chattanooga, TN, where we get on I-75 and take it all the way to the Florida Turnpike for the final stretch. I'm not sure if my way or your way would be quicker for you, but you might try going my way sometime. It's kind of a pretty drive down through Southern IL on I-57 and I-24

I was curious because you mention about stopping on the Tennesse border and making it to WDW in about 5 hours the next Day. I wasn't sure if I read this wrong or did you have a secret way to fly through Georgia and northern Florida so fast.:veryconfu

Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I actually said was that we cross into the Eastern time zone in Tennessee, but I didn't mean to imply that we will stop in Tennessee. I only mentioned that because I went from speaking in Central time, to speaking in Eastern time and I didn't want to confuse anyone, but it looks like I did anyway. :lol: I plan to drive from Sunday morning (whatever time we end up leaving) all the way to 11 PM or so, Eastern Standard time. In my estimation, that would put us in Southern Georgia, hopefully not far from the Florida state line. And then we would get up Monday morning and hit the road, and hopefully only be 3-5 hours away, depending on what time we hit the road the day before and how many miles we got in.

 

[JustPlainBill]

Misunderstanding cleared up, thank you! Unfortunate though, I would have liked to have known that short-cut!:lol:
I hope all goes well for your trip, I'm very excited about ours, it's been 17 years since I've made the drive down, it'll be the first with my kids, I'm curious to see what has changed along the way since. Like a nut, on my lunch hours at work I scroll the route on http://local.live.com/ using the hybrid selection to get a birds eye (real life picture) view.

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

We counted our trip down by weeks, too - 7 Mondays to go sounds a whole lot closer than saying 49 days!!!

So sorry to hear about your mom - one thing to be thankful for, though, was that she got to see your baby. My dad died before my daughter was born - she missed out on knowing a wonderful man.

 

[wdwpooh1027]

days

I just got into double digits...97 days :dazzle:

 

[sbkline]

We counted our trip down by weeks, too - 7 Mondays to go sounds a whole lot closer than saying 49 days!!!

I'm still trying to decide if 9 more sundays sounds closer than saying 63 days, or not. I'm almost thinking 63 days sounds sooner. :lol:

So sorry to hear about your mom - one thing to be thankful for, though, was that she got to see your baby. My dad died before my daughter was born - she missed out on knowing a wonderful man.

Thanks. I am thankful that she got to see the baby for the first 7 months, although I am sad to think of all the stuff she will now not be a part of. It was always a dream of mine that sometime, she and Dad would do a trip to WDW with us. I guess now I'll just have to shoot for getting Dad down there with us.

Sorry to hear about your loss as well.

 

[sbkline]

I just realized recently that there are a couple other things I was wanting to do, and I hope I can fit them in within that schedule I listed above:

On one of the days we visit EPCOT, I would like to exit out the International Gateway and stroll over to the Boardwalk and check it out.

I would like to take the boat from the Magic Kingdom and check out the Wilderness Lodge, assumming I don't do it on one of the days we eat at one of the Magic Kingdom Resorts.

I would like to walk or take the boat from Riverside to French Quarter and check out that place...all while still having time to enjoy the resort that we are staying at.

That almost sounds like a tall order, as packed as that itinerary looks.

Also, I was wondering about doing morning extra magic hours. I have heard that the bus ride can take as long as an hour. So I worry that if I intend to arrive at EPCOT at 8 AM instead of 9 AM on Tuesday (their morning EMH day) the bus might not get me there until 9 AM anyway. Would I be better off just driving my car?

And if I drive my car, and for example, we decide after Illuminations, to visit the Boardwalk, would the busses still be running to and from EPCOT, or would we have to just backtrack all the way through the park, which we probably couldn't do if the park was closed already?

 

[Mikester71]

I plan to drive from Sunday morning (whatever time we end up leaving) all the way to 11 PM or so, Eastern Standard time. In my estimation, that would put us in Southern Georgia, hopefully not far from the Florida state line. And then we would get up Monday morning and hit the road, and hopefully only be 3-5 hours away, depending on what time we hit the road the day before and how many miles we got in.

That sounds like my driving experience last time I went a couple of years ago too. I left from home, Sarnia, ON Canada (which is an hour northeast of Detroit, Michigan) around 2am, but had van problems on the freeway in the middle of Detroit and had to turn it around and sputter for home in order to switch vehicles with my parents (whom I had to call from out of town to meet us back in Sarnia - they were trip savers that morning for sure). We ended up embarking the second time (after reloading everything into their van) around 5 or 6 am the same morning and drove until we got tired that night (which ended up around 10pm EST or so). I think the town we stayed in was Adel, GA or something like that and it was close to the Georgia-Florida border. It took us around 5 hours of driving the next morning to get to Pop Century in WDW. I hope to make the same time in a few weeks when we go as well, minus all the car troubles I hope. Just to be safe, my mom and dad have already agreed to lend us their van again. Thank God for loving parents and I hope everything goes smoother for you on your trip down.
:sohappy:

 

[sbkline]

We ended up embarking the second time (after reloading everything into their van) around 5 or 6 am the same morning and drove until we got tired that night (which ended up around 10pm EST or so). I think the town we stayed in was Adel, GA or something like that and it was close to the Georgia-Florida border. It took us around 5 hours of driving the next morning to get to Pop Century in WDW. I hope to make the same time in a few weeks when we go as well, minus all the car troubles I hope. Just to be safe, my mom and dad have already agreed to lend us their van again. Thank God for loving parents and I hope everything goes smoother for you on your trip down.:sohappy:

I was trying to figure out how you could make it down that far in that amount of time, when you live probably a good three or four hours farther away than me. But not only did you leave a couple hours earlier than I was originally projecting, but I figure you must have gotten a little more road time than we have in the past.

I was basing my estimates off our previous trips (one of which I actually documented what time we left, what time we crossed state lines, etc), but we spent a while at a Walmart, as well as a sit down meal at a Shoney's. Did you pretty much plow straight through and do fast food, or did you stop off for a sit down meal?

 

[Mikester71]

I was trying to figure out how you could make it down that far in that amount of time, when you live probably a good three or four hours farther away than me. But not only did you leave a couple hours earlier than I was originally projecting, but I figure you must have gotten a little more road time than we have in the past.

I was basing my estimates off our previous trips (one of which I actually documented what time we left, what time we crossed state lines, etc), but we spent a while at a Walmart, as well as a sit down meal at a Shoney's. Did you pretty much plow straight through and do fast food, or did you stop off for a sit down meal?

I think we lucked out in that we missed all the busy traffic hours in the major cities. That was one of my main reasons for leaving at 5 or 6am, to avoid morning rush hour in Detroit which could cause you an hour or so delay on some days alone. We also didn't really stop anywhere, except to get gas a few times and at a Subway for lunch (we did go in and eat there though). I was thinking it might have to do with time of year and that too, but that was probably not the case as we went (and are going again here) at one of the busiest times for me to drive as a Canadian, our Spring Break. I don't know how many times we passed the same bunch of Canadian families in their minivans with their kids in the back watching the portable DVD players like ours were doing. :lol: I will have to keep track when we go next month again and let you know how we make out for time and where we end up at the end of the day (what city).

I know driving home, we left WDW at 5pm on a Saturday and drove straight through the night and were back in Port Huron, MI (across the river from Sarnia) between 10am and 11am on the Sunday. We surprised all our loved ones as they thought we would be home later that evening or the next morning. We just wanted to get home and get that extra day of rest before going back to work.

 

[sbkline]

Just bumping the thread in hopes that someone can answer the questions I raised about 4 posts up.