Trip Report Surprise Visit. 2 nights, 1day, 4 Parks?

Why wouldn’t it be, right?

For those who don’t know, we had a 2 week Disney Cruise/WDW vacay scheduled last year. Due to issues at work I had to cut the trip to 9 days. Gave my son the choice between the DCL Fantasy or Disney World.
Much to my surprise, he chose WDW. I lost a portion of my cruise fare to Disney, as I had already made the final payment.

Fast forward to this year’s “Disney Trip” it was also a cruise combo.. and then.. Irma happened. No, she didn’t mess with my trip dates, but she did mess with a region that is dear to my heart- the Florida Keys.

Talked to my son, we made the collective decision to cancel the WDW portion and go to the Keys instead. So I cancelled all Disney reservations, and made new ones for Key West. Contacted volunteer organizations in the Middle Keys so we could help out.

And Then...the drama...
One day last month, my kid comes home from school with a “Reconciliation” project for religion class. I look at the school calendar to remind myself of when he made his first reconciliation. And., my heart sunk in my chest. It was the day that we were supposed to arrive home from our trip.
How could this happen?? How did I not realize this???

I scramble to find earlier return flights and to somehow fix this. I think about doing a pre cruise instead of post cruise trip.. but... end of semester gets in the way.

However, If we can’t go to Key West then at least we can go back to a version of our original Disney plans.,. But there’s No Availability!!!

Then I debate just staying in Miami, or Ft Lauderdale,...book the W in Ft Lauderdale, and then a week later change my mind, cancel, and book our regular resort in Boca Raton.

Flights at this point are insanely priced., I have to eat the cost of the originals non refundable flights.. It’s like deja vu!

I kept checking Disney’s website daily, I kept checking flights daily..played with dates a bit.. booked a one way flight to MCO and a one way flight from MCO to FLL...and FINALLY late Friday Night, November 10th, I got a reservation at Disney!!
Even if it wasn’t my preferred dates.

Hooray, right?!?! I look at Disney’s Park Hours.. BOTH of our nights are MVMCP nights. BOTH. Back to Back.
Oh well, no Happily Ever After viewing for us . We’ll still be in Disney!

Sounds good now.. there’s a plan. All that’s left to do it book return flights the following Sunday evening.
Piece of cake.
But....

Which brings us to an hour ago. Sunday, November 12th. I. Can’t. Do. It. I can not bring myself to pay these stupid plane fares for a 2.5 hour flight. The times are also a mess, leaving Orlando super early. I just can’t do it. I’m far from cheap, but I’m not stupid.. and purchasing those flights made me feel like a complete idiot... Especially when I still couldn’t get the return time that we need...

Soooo... we’re driving!!!
Myself and a 7 year old. Driving from Ohio to Florida. Over 1200 Miles one way.

This Should Be Interesting.

Kiddo is not happy about driving.. I pitched it as a ‘Super Awesome Road Trip!” His response- “Uh, Mom, planes were made so people don’t have to drive to far places.”
“Sorry kiddo, we’re driving.”
“Ugh. Can I bring my tablet?”
“Yes.”
“Can I play it as much as I want.”
“Yes.”
“Ok, fine. But wait, can you really drive all by yourself? All the way to the cruise?”
“I’ll be fine, we’re going to stop at a hotel along the way so we can sleep.”
“Ok mommy. Sounds like a plan.”

Little does he know.. that “hotel” is actually at Disney World.. and we’re breaking up our drive with 2 nights of “magic”.
That part I’m keeping a complete surprise.

Btw- we leave Wednesday evening. As in THREE days from now.

My head is spinning.

I swear that I can not mesh with more than 1 week vacations the past 12 months.. no matter how well I “planned in advance”.

 

[21stamps]

I think we made it to 3 of the stops.. I wish we would have tried more. There isn't enough time at these parties to do everything you want to do!

There really isn’t enough time to do/see all of it.

 

[21stamps]

OK I’m getting back on the road now I’m finally a half a mile From I 75. The turnpike is ending! I’m almost out of Florida! Almost…

 

[21stamps]

Scratch that. I’m not going to make it to Georgia anytime soon. Stopping at a Rest Area near Lake City... I need a power nap.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Have a safe drive home!

 

[21stamps]

Have a safe drive home!

Thank you! I’m only 10 hours behind schedule. Looks like T will definitely miss his soccer game.. I’m the head coach and obviously won’t be there either.

We stopped at a hotel in Valdosta.. I thought that I set my alarm for 3am. Nope, pm.

 

[21stamps]

@epcotisbest -

I’ve purchased 3 bags of goodies.. had to stop myself from filling 5 baskets

 

[21stamps]

Went on a Caribbean cruise, but everyone is going to be getting Georgia preserves and sauces from me for Christmas.lol.

I bought my mom a salsa bowl in Costa Maya, the mango habanero salsa and pineapple salsa will go perfectly with it.

 

[21stamps]

We’re never going to get out of Georgia.

Too many great places too stop. Noticed a sign on the highway, decided to stop and give T a quick lesson on a slice of American History.

This courthouse is gorgeous.

 

[Pixieish]

We’re never going to get out of Georgia.

Too many great places too stop. Noticed a sign on the highway, decided to stop and give T a quick lesson on a slice of American History.

This courthouse is gorgeous.

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That IS gorgeous!!! There are a lot of people very angry in our town because they chose to let the historic courthouse fall apart and then tore it down to build a new one, rather than investing in preserving the history. History is what makes our town a tourist destination for Pete's sake.

 

[riverside]

We’re never going to get out of Georgia.

Too many great places too stop. Noticed a sign on the highway, decided to stop and give T a quick lesson on a slice of American History.

This courthouse is gorgeous.

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So impressive--I especially love the first monument.

 

[epcotisbest]

Wishing you safe traveling!

 

[21stamps]

That IS gorgeous!!! There are a lot of people very angry in our town because they chose to let the historic courthouse fall apart and then tore it down to build a new one, rather than investing in preserving the history. History is what makes our town a tourist destination for Pete's sake.

I agree! I hate to see old buildings torn down instead of restored.

So impressive--I especially love the first monument.

Same. They also had the pledge and a few other memorials. It was really neat.

Wishing you safe traveling!

Thank you! We’re at our second Cracker Barrel in the past 24 hours lol. At least we are in Knoxville. Only 5ish hours to go!

 

[21stamps]

We’re home!!! Got back around midnight last night.. T is at school. I’ve been doing laundry all morning.,

Time to take a break and write about this whirlwind visit.

 

[21stamps]

I’ll start in color now that the actual “trip report” is beginning.

First off, thanks everyone for following along with my never ending road trip. I don’t think I’ll ever be driving to Florida again.. but there was a few advantages to it.

Which brings me to the “surprise”, almost...But first, a little background on the resort selection.,

Availability was obviously slim, on top of that I had a certain monetary amount for lodging that I didn’t want to surpass.

So, I booked POR.

There was not any preferred rooms left. I have never had a desire to stay at that resort, and the more I drove down I75, the more I kept second guessing it.

As you know, the original(?) plan was to do MVMCP on arrival night ..most likely anyway. And the next day full of open to close park time., leaving in the mid AM hours on night 2.

The idea of having a room far away from the lobby was not at all attractive to me.

I messaged @Courtney6682 and asked for her expert advice...

Here was my 2 available choices for a “preferred room”-

Poly, obviously the property is relatively small, and most importantly- extremely convenient to MK and Epcot.

All Star Sports. I’ve never stayed at a Value, but the room location would be more convenient than POR.

I came up with a plan, with Courtney’s help... if Poly did not surpass a $X difference, then I would go with that. The phone rep said I had to make the switch when I arrived to POR, it was too late to switch thru the phone. MVMCP is out at this point due to the time, but if we stay at Poly then we could at least watch the EWP and Wishes from the beach or pool. This would be my best option.

T was sleeping soundly.

At 8:22pm (9 hours behind schedule), I see this sign.

Apologies for the blur.. quick pic while driving. Don’t worry, no other cars were around.

 

[21stamps]

Pull up to POR. T is passed out asleep. I left my car sitting there and look inside, no line for guest services!

Poly was a price difference that I wasn’t comfortable with.

I don’t know about you all, but I can’t justify certain prices for literally sleeping and running out of the door. We wouldn’t even have 2 full nights there, and with the time at that point, we were going to eat and sleep anyway.. my grand idea of walking around and enjoying the atmosphere was looking less and less like a probability, thanks to the clock.

I tried to get a “Preferred Room” at POR, or anything closer to the lobby.. No Availability.

So.... I chose All Star Sports.

I was nervous, but at this point all I wanted was a short walk from the car to a bed!

 

[21stamps]

The lobby was a madhouse. So many people! Giant line to check in.

However, T was excited for a foosball machine near the entrance door.

We finally check in and get our gray magic bands. Take our back packs to the room.. shower and decide to get something to eat before going to sleep.

Plan-
Eat something at the quick service restaurant.
Sleep.
Be on a bus to MK at 6am.

 

[Courtney6682]

I messaged @Courtney6682 and asked for her expert advice...

I do what I can whenever possible

 

[Rista1313]

The lobby was a madhouse. So many people! Giant line to check in.

However, T was excited for a foosball machine near the entrance door.

We finally check in and get our gray magic bands. Take our back packs to the room.. shower and decide to get something to eat before going to sleep.

Plan-
Eat something at the quick service restaurant.
Sleep.
Be on a bus to MK at 6am.

But was he surprised?

 

[21stamps]

I do what I can whenever possible

And I appreciate it!!

But was he surprised?

I wish I could post the video. He was surprised, but soooo tired.

When we were walking to the front door he asked “Are we at a different Disney World?”

I said No, and asked why the question.. he replied “Where’s the Monorail, and the Castle, and the Lake?”

I explained that there’s a lot of different areas in Disney World. Apparently he thought all of the resorts were near Epcot or MK.

 

[21stamps]

I guess that I didn’t take any photos of the lobby. The Christmas Tree was neat, it was all sports ornaments.

I didn’t take a photo of the room either, I was exhausted!! We didn’t walk around the property, but did pass by a football field that T thought was “epic”. Our room was in a building next to the lobby right near the busses. Perfect for me.

Re: Food- I’ve seen people talk about the “food courts” and couldn’t picture it.
Wow, what a mad house! Now I understand.lol

The food was terrible.. as in, we barely took a few bites. That was my one and only experience with it, don’t have any plans to revisit.

We got into our beds, fell quickly asleep.. and didn’t hear the wake up call!!!!

We over slept by 2-3 hours!