Who? Paula, age 57 Many trips in my “previous life”. They were all written down on a now-defunct website, but I don’t remember them all. Most recent visit was December 2015
Gary, age 63. 2nd trip. First trip was the Dec. 2015 trip. While he enjoyed himself, he said it wasn’t something he would want to do every year…
What? A quick trip!
When? The whole trip is January 25 through March 10. The Disney portion is March 2-5.
Where? Cocoa Beach, Pop Century, New Smyrna Beach
Why? We had a 3-week Florida trip planned for January/February that we postponed due to Covid restrictions. We were going to pull our 5th wheel and stay at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks and then head over to the Daytona 500 for a week. While we knew postponing until next year was the right decision, we were really grumbling as we were shoveling and plowing after the 3rd snowstorm that we would have missed.
While out to dinner that evening, Gary suggested that we could still head south for some sun…
I said I didn’t know if I could go to Florida and not visit Disney property. Gary said he would agree to 2 parks and I jumped on it!!
We came home and within an hour had reservations for Cocoa Beach and WDW! We thought for a few days about where we wanted to head after that and then made the reservations for New Smyrna. We figured 10 days of sun and warmth would help
How? Driving. Since we were making these plans only 2 weeks before traveling and visiting 3 different areas of Florida, we figured driving was the way to go. We are both retired now, so we have the time J.
Thursday February 25 Travel Day
We left PA around 9 am. Around 11:30 we got to West Virginia. We stopped at a roadside rest and had lunch that we packed. We made good time today and got to North Carolina around 5:00 About 2 hours later, we stopped at a Quality Inn for the night. We just snacked in the room and relaxed. We got to bed around our normal time of 11.
Friday, February 26 Travel Day
Filled the gas tank (and our bellies at the free breakfast offerings at the hotel) and hit the road around 9. We arrived in Georgia around noon. Later, we stopped again at a roadside rest for lunch and to stretch our legs. We hit the Florida border at 1:30 and later stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and got some OJ J. We arrived at our hotel in Cocoa Beach around 5pm. We stayed at a LaQuinta Inn. Our room was a king room on the ground floor, steps from the pool.
Beach access was across the highway and about a block’s walk. Once we got settled in the room, we walked down to the beach and spent a few minutes there. Then we walked to a Denny’s that was next door for a late dinner. That was a mistake…
We really enjoyed our few days here and would definitely stay here again. (Much sooner than we thought!)
February 27 and 28 were spent on the beach!
Monday March 1: Kennedy Space Center. I had not been here since 1975 and Gary had never been. They were operating on reduced capacity and with basically the same rules as WDW, so we figured it would be good practice for us.
We really enjoyed our day here. We bought our tickets at a kiosk when we arrived and lined up for entrance. I believe they opened at 10 and we got there around 9:30. After we purchased the tickets and used the rest rooms, we went in the info center for a map and then joined the growing lines for entry. There were 2 lines. One was very long and the other was much shorter. We opted for the shorter line and they started moving within about 10 minutes or so. They had the temp screeners, then security at the head of the line, then a few steps later, we scanned our tickets and were in. While in line, we looked at the schedule and made a loose plan for the day. They were open until 4. We were able to see some shows and all the exhibits we wanted to and headed out shortly after closing. We stopped for dinner at Florida’s Fresh Grill. Yum! Then it was back to the hotel to pack up. The next few days will be spent at WDW!
Gary, age 63. 2nd trip. First trip was the Dec. 2015 trip. While he enjoyed himself, he said it wasn’t something he would want to do every year…
What? A quick trip!
When? The whole trip is January 25 through March 10. The Disney portion is March 2-5.
Where? Cocoa Beach, Pop Century, New Smyrna Beach
Why? We had a 3-week Florida trip planned for January/February that we postponed due to Covid restrictions. We were going to pull our 5th wheel and stay at Fort Wilderness for 2 weeks and then head over to the Daytona 500 for a week. While we knew postponing until next year was the right decision, we were really grumbling as we were shoveling and plowing after the 3rd snowstorm that we would have missed.
While out to dinner that evening, Gary suggested that we could still head south for some sun…I said I didn’t know if I could go to Florida and not visit Disney property. Gary said he would agree to 2 parks and I jumped on it!!
We came home and within an hour had reservations for Cocoa Beach and WDW! We thought for a few days about where we wanted to head after that and then made the reservations for New Smyrna. We figured 10 days of sun and warmth would help
How? Driving. Since we were making these plans only 2 weeks before traveling and visiting 3 different areas of Florida, we figured driving was the way to go. We are both retired now, so we have the time J.
Thursday February 25 Travel Day
We left PA around 9 am. Around 11:30 we got to West Virginia. We stopped at a roadside rest and had lunch that we packed. We made good time today and got to North Carolina around 5:00 About 2 hours later, we stopped at a Quality Inn for the night. We just snacked in the room and relaxed. We got to bed around our normal time of 11.
Friday, February 26 Travel Day
Filled the gas tank (and our bellies at the free breakfast offerings at the hotel) and hit the road around 9. We arrived in Georgia around noon. Later, we stopped again at a roadside rest for lunch and to stretch our legs. We hit the Florida border at 1:30 and later stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and got some OJ J. We arrived at our hotel in Cocoa Beach around 5pm. We stayed at a LaQuinta Inn. Our room was a king room on the ground floor, steps from the pool.
Beach access was across the highway and about a block’s walk. Once we got settled in the room, we walked down to the beach and spent a few minutes there. Then we walked to a Denny’s that was next door for a late dinner. That was a mistake…We really enjoyed our few days here and would definitely stay here again. (Much sooner than we thought!)
February 27 and 28 were spent on the beach!
Monday March 1: Kennedy Space Center. I had not been here since 1975 and Gary had never been. They were operating on reduced capacity and with basically the same rules as WDW, so we figured it would be good practice for us.
We really enjoyed our day here. We bought our tickets at a kiosk when we arrived and lined up for entrance. I believe they opened at 10 and we got there around 9:30. After we purchased the tickets and used the rest rooms, we went in the info center for a map and then joined the growing lines for entry. There were 2 lines. One was very long and the other was much shorter. We opted for the shorter line and they started moving within about 10 minutes or so. They had the temp screeners, then security at the head of the line, then a few steps later, we scanned our tickets and were in. While in line, we looked at the schedule and made a loose plan for the day. They were open until 4. We were able to see some shows and all the exhibits we wanted to and headed out shortly after closing. We stopped for dinner at Florida’s Fresh Grill. Yum! Then it was back to the hotel to pack up. The next few days will be spent at WDW!
So, did we get to see it or not...
…omg, how have I not had these before? (Because they aren’t in our area) It was a beautiful, sunny day and we had an easy drive. We passed under this beauty right after noon.
But, as we passed Splitsville’s outside bar, I saw they had Frose, so I suggested we stop for a drink. It was so good! Really hit the spot, as it was very warm and sunny. A perfect Florida afternoon. And, while we were sitting there enjoying our frosty drinks, I happened to look behind me and spied Everglazed! We decided to check it out and to our delight, we walked right in. A Maple Double Bacon for me and Peanut Butter Explosion for Gary. Yummo!! (I am so glad I listened to a podcast on a particular day! They discussed Everglazed, Gideon’s and Sprinkles.) It took us 3 days to eat our donuts!
I was pretty happy with mobile ordering. I had rewards from my Disney Visa to use, and it allowed me to add that to use. I had never used it before, but I thought it was pretty straight forward and user friendly for the most part. I should add that we only used it here twice. We didn’t use it at the parks at all as we were only in 2 parks and had an ADR in each.
I also thought about just trying out the booths for the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, but some of that food is a bit out of the “normal” for what Gary likes to eat. I knew we would be safe with pizza! We ordered an individual Margherita pizza and an individual Piccante. We enjoyed both, but wow, they were big for “individual”! We left a few pieces, as we didn’t want to carry it around.
