Riding the "monorail" at MCO!
Stepping outside into immediate humidity and going "Ahhhhhhhh...humidity!"
Palm Trees
Disney/Universal/Sea World billboards
I always get a rental car too so -
Toll Roads
Drivers/traffic on I-4
Depends on how we're getting there-
Driving: We come from Indiana so we have to deal with the wonderfully boring 8 hour trip through Georiga... it isn't coming into Orlando that causes me to realize we are almost there.. but after crossing into Florida from Georiga... those large, obnoxious Pink and Yellow neon signs screaming "Free Orange Juice" and "Cheap Disney Tickets"
No really... seeing those actually makes me realize I'm almost there. That and the Gatorland/Ron Jon/Disney billboards. (The Florida Welcome Center is good too... probably the only rest stop I enjoy stopping at now, I used to enjoy stopping at the Turnpike truck stop with the Dunkin' Donuts.. but... that place has fallen apart...
Flying: We do this more often now... but yeah, climbing onto the Disney Magical Express just makes you feel good.
We're from Indiana too (right across the river from Louisville, KY) and I couldn't imagine driving and making to Florida without hiring a divorce attorney. LOL It would be a Griswald moment for sure.
Oh, we used to do it for YEARS. Mom is heavily fearful of flying.... however, it's gotten to the point where the drive down was more unbearible than the flying.. so we've been doing that more. Disney has a strong pull.
I did, however, do the drive recently in June because we were taking a bunch of kids who had never been before and couldn't afford to fly. When you do the 5 am to 7-8 pm drive, it isn't so bad.. it actually feels worse when you stop for the night and continue the next day for some reason
Still, some of the old signs I remember from 10 years ago were still up during the trip.... yeah, they're that old.
Louisville and Kentucky haven't changed much. Nashville-which is a little short of halfway to Orlando itself from Chicago and as far south as I made it in January-is exploding growth wise. A lot of that area is building up quite fast and the growth is running up into Southern Kentucky now. It was just odd-some of that trip is the exact same trip as 10 years ago, other portions of it have changed quite dramatically. I imagine before much longer everything from Indianapolis to Nashville will be about fully built up.
Me too!
Yep, and it makes these old bones and joints feel sooooooo good!!
)
Wo
Wow, really!? I haven't made the complete drive down since 2002 (I'm just outside Chicago) so I was wondering if any of those old billboards have survived all this time or not haha.
I DID make half the trip back at the end of January-I was glad for that since I've been wanting to take the full drive again for quite a while. However, that trip I only went halfway..gotta take what I can get! Anyway, some of I-65 in Indiana hasn't changed at ALL, almost like time has stood still for a lot of the Indiana portion of 65. The biggest change by and far was downtown Indianapolis. Can't say I'm a fan visually of their new downtown
That drive never bothered me and here's why. Driving you see all those little towns that you miss flying. From what I understand Middle and South Georgia are really growing up..at one time a lot of those towns were still sleepy little towns. Now, Macon, and Valdosta are really growing up fast and will probably be among the next cities to get "large" status on the East Coast (not literally the coast but close enough!) The other reason I was glad for those years my family and I drove down is it helped me memorize a lot of the names of the Counties between here and there. I've memorized a large chunk of the names of the 3000 US Counties and those road trips were what got me interested in that
- But yeah.. those neon signs once we hit South Georgia and Florida are the major feelings I get that we're close. 
