"I Hope You Have the Time of Your Life" Trip Report About This Page:

[Northwoods4]

Well, we're back already. How fast our time in Florida went We are already thinking of planning our next trip. Here are the details from day one of our vacation. We drove down, so this day is all about our journey. Hope you enjoy it!!

Dates: 04/20/08 through 04/26/08
Accommodations: Fort Wilderness Cabin
Cast of Characters: Renee (trip reporter), Chad (DH), Sam (DD1), Katie (DD2), Linda (DM, and Barry (DSD)
Experience: 2 regular visitors, 2 occasional visitors, and 2 newbies.

Trip Report Day 1 (Travel Day)

For those who don’t want to read through the details of our drive to WDW, the actual Disney action begins on the evening of day 2, so feel free to skip this part. Since we chose to drive to Florida, I thought it would be helpful to include details of this portion of our trip. (Especially for those who may be considering driving to WDW). Anyhoo, on with the show!

I woke up at 4:15 am (after going to bed at midnight) to finish loading up the rental car and to pack our cooler with the perishables. Our intent was to get on the road by 5:30 am. The girls got up with no trouble and were ready in no time. With only a few minutes delay, we were on the road at 5:40 am. We had to meet up with my mom and step dad at 6:15 am in Milwaukee. We got stuck behind a slow moving 18-wheeler on a 2 lane county road, and wound up not getting there until 6:25. Again, no biggie. We were officially on the road at about 6:40 am. (We met at my step-dad’s restaurant to fill our coolers with ice). We had our walkie talkies and we were off!!

The drive was smooth sailing from Milwaukee to the Six-Flags area north of Chicago (around Gurnee Mills). Then the traffic picked up, and the construction. It also started to rain. We were in a construction zone pretty much from the Chicago bypass to about 20 miles from the Indiana border. It was more nerve racking than anything else. It slowed us down a little, but we were soon on our way through Indiana. We also racked up $4.20 in tolls through the Chicago area, so be prepared with those change cups!

We stopped at the first available rest area on I-65 in Indiana to stretch our legs and let me take a deep breath after that construction. Then it was back in the car! Our trip through Indiana was rainy but uneventful. We were quite surprised at all the garbage and debris on the road side and even in the trees. We wondered if perhaps a storm had rolled through in the past few days. The landscape reminded me a lot of Illinois: lots of farms and small rural communities. Indianapolis was not as large as I had expected, and we had no trouble driving right through.

We passed into Kentucky through Louisville. About 40 miles outside of Louisville, we stopped at a rest area for a break and our picnic lunch. It was still cloudy and quite cool outside. I had not brought a coat (the optimist in me just couldn’t), but the girls and DH all had sweat shirts so they were ok. After lunch, DD1 picked up materials from the Rest Area for her state project on Kentucky. They had a beautiful booklet all about the Kentucky Derby, and another fold out pamphlet about Abraham Lincoln and his birthplace. We signed the guest book and were on our way. At this point, I had been driving for about 7-8 hours and turned the wheel over to DH.

The trip through Kentucky was smooth and uneventful. Everything was green and the rolling hills were a lovely change from the flat farmlands. Our next major city was Nashville TN. I had pictured it to be much bigger, but I found it to be very pretty. After going through Nashville, the scenery definitely started to change. All the trees were completely covered in leaves and the hills were getting bigger and bigger. As we approached south-east TN, I was completely in awe over the beautiful mountains. Everything was a carpet of varying shades of green from all of the different trees. The rocky mountain faces where the road had been carved out were incredible. Water was trickling down the sides in many places. It is here that we began to see a lot of wildlife as well. We saw a coyote running about 20 feet from the edge of the highway. We also saw deer, and a group of 10 vultures picking at something (probably a deer). That gave us quite a start to come around the bend and see 10 large black objects right next to the road. Once we realized what they were, our hearts settled down. They definitely have faces only a mother could love! LOL.

I did get a little nervous on this route (I-24) when we were about 40 miles outside of Chattanooga, TN. One of the mountains is so steep that they have a special lane for “run-away” semis on the down side. It’s basically a lane for semi’s to use if their breaks fail or the rig goes out of control as they go down the mountain side. It said it was only a 6% grade, but it had us up to 78 mph in not time. You had to pump the brakes every few seconds to stop the momentum. Still, the scenery was breath taking.

We reached Chattanooga at about 7:25 EST. This was our stopping place for the night. We checked into our rooms at the Quality Inn on Brainerd Rd. It was nothing fancy, but it was clean and a place to sleep. The front desk attendant was very pleasant. My mom and step-dad had an issue with their room (the curtain rod was broken as well as the lock on the door). My mom placed a call to the front desk and the manager came within 5 minutes. Within 10 minutes, he had a new room for DM and DSD. After that we headed out for dinner. We had a gift card for Applebee’s and we had found on the internet that there was one a mile from our hotel. We had no problem finding it and were seated immediately.

For dinner, I had the ½ Sante Fe Chicken Salad. DM and DSD had the Bruschetta Burger. The girls both had the Grilled Cheese kid’s meals, and DH had an appetizer trio with little sliders, bbq wings and onion rings. Everything was good and we appreciated the meal after picnicking all day. DD2 was falling asleep on my lap in the restaurant, but we had to make a quick stop at Wal-Mart for a few forgotten items. Unfortunately, DM and DSD forgot one whole bag at home that contained a lot of their personal care items. We also forgot a few things, but they were things we could live without. DH picked up a magazine and we were ready.

After the quick stop at Wal-Mart, we trooped back to our rooms and went straight to bed. It was only about 9:40, but we were all plenty tired. DD2 got a little silly, but she does that when she is overly tired. We were all asleep by 10:00. The beds were surprisingly comfortable and I slept well for the first 4 hours or so, then I tossed and turned the rest of the night (mostly from nervous excitement!)

Tomorrow-Day 2…the rest of our drive and our arrival at Fort Wilderness Resort.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Renee More please

[RobDVC]

Excellent start, Renee!
Glad you made it through that construction zone and down that I-24 mountain without too much trouble.

[tinker_me_happy]

Wow! Sounds like you made GREAT Time!! Awaiting the next installment....

[Hugmonster]

Great start....

[Jookiba]

Sounds like a pretty interesting start to your road trip-those mountains/hills can get a little scary (as can the wild animals you find along the way).

Glad day 1 passed safe & sound......can't wait to read about day 2!!

[B.M.]

Great start! The first time I drove seeing those run away lanes it flipped me out. Truthfully, I never got use to it.......any time I drive on that kind of decline , I basically keep my foot on the brake, it really scares me for some reason. Anyways.....looks like yall camped out for the night close to my neck of the woods. (We live a little south of Chattanooga in North north GA) Can't wait to hear more.

[Northwoods4]

BM...Yes, we were close to you. We really loved the scenery, but the trip down the mountain did freak me out, truth be told. We made it through though. I'm posting day 2 now.

Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback !

[Northwoods4]

Dates: 04/20/08 through 04/26/08
Accommodations: Fort Wilderness Cabin
Cast of Characters: Renee (trip reporter), Chad (DH), Sam (DD1), Katie (DD2), Linda (DM), and Barry (DSD)
Experience: 2 regular visitors, 2 occasional visitors, and 2 newbies.

Trip Report Day 2 (Travel and Arrival Day)

I got up at 6:00 am to grab a shower before waking up the rest of the troops. I don’t know why I always feel like I need a shower when traveling by car. Anyway, after that we all gathered up our things, threw them in the car, and headed down to the free continental breakfast. We all had cereal and juice, and I had a mini Danish that was actually pretty good. With that, we were back on the road by 7:30am.

I am a morning person, so I was the driver again this morning. I have to say that I was quite surprised at the beautiful countryside in north-western Georgia . It was still a lot of large rolling hills and lots of trees. I had dreaded this leg of the trip because Georgia is so long, but it really wasn’t that bad. We knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore when we stopped for gas and the gas station had hot boiled peanuts in crock-pots for sale (plain or Cajun flavored). LOL…we didn’t try any but it was interesting to see.

We finally crossed the border into Florida at about 1:30 and stopped for a picnic lunch at the Florida Welcome Center. It was now quite warm (mid-80’s) sunny, and breezy. Summer at last!! We all trooped inside for our free orange juice sample, and the girls picked up some Sea World and WDW brochures. We had our picnic lunch and enjoyed the bold little birds that were hopping about on the gazebo to see if we dropped anything. After a few pictures in front of the Welcome to Florida sign, we were on our way through the last leg of our trip. DH finally took over driving since I had taken on Georgia; bow to stern!

DD1 was pleasantly surprised as we rolled through the Ocala area. We have never seen so many horse farms in one location. She thought she would see more horses in Kentucky, but the Ocala area definitely had more. We saw ranches / farms with literally hundreds of horses in the fields.

The trip through Florida actually seemed like the longest part of the trip, since we were so anxious to get there. We did have one snafu on the turnpike as we came to the exit for I-4. We saw the I-4 /Orlando exit and jumped on. About 10 minutes later we realized we were on the “east” bound side. After a quick stop at a local gas station and help from a very friendly truck driver, we got back on the express-way and were on our way to the Orlando / Tampa / I-4 West bound lanes. My DM (as well as I) were getting a little nervous, as we had to be checked in and to the bike barn by no later than 5:45 to pick up our golf cart. It was now about 4:40. Soon enough though, we were on property and were following the signs to our resort. Can I get a big WOO HOO!!! We were shouting back and forth through our Walkie Talkies…LOL

We officially pulled into Fort Wilderness Resort and Campgrounds right around 5:00pm. The check-in building is a very cute little brown wooden building. It had many different blooming flowers out front, and we saw a lot of butterflies flitting around. We entered the front lobby and there were 3 CM’s waiting to assist guests. We went to the middle CM (Bernice or Beatrice??) from Queens NY. All I can say about her is that she checked us in. She wasn’t rude or anything, but she didn’t seem to have any of the Pixie Dust we were hoping for. We asked for First Visit buttons for the girls, and she grabbed them from under the counter, laid them down and said “here ya go”. No special Welcome or anything. She laid a map of the resort out, circled our cabin and the bike barn and sent us on our way. She really could have been a little more helpful, but we were so excited and anxious to be there, we didn’t care. We were here!!

We left one of the cars parked at the Outpost, and headed off to find the bike barn. This was a little tricky. We didn’t realize that it was behind a store, and drove by it several times. Time was ticking away towards 5:30 and we were getting nervous. We finally figured out where to park and got out and walked to the bike barn. After about a 15 minute wait in line, it was our turn. We soon had our little cart, and were free to get to the cabin. DM and I rode in the van, and DH, DSD and the girls opted to ride the golf cart. After 2 wrong turns (don’t worry-we get the hang of it later) we finally find our turn onto Peacock Pass, and cabin loop 2400. We have the very first cabin in the loop (2401) Our deck faces a bus stop and I can see the laundry and pool area abut a block down the road. We nicknamed our loop Hummer Row. Of the next 3 cabins we could see, 2 of them had Hummers parked in the drive way. Hope they didn’t drive from as far as we did!

The cabins were very cute and I loved how the area around each cabin was so rustic; lots of trees, brush, pinecones, and crackling leaves. We all ran up to the cabin to go in and look around. There was a wooden deck with a picnic table that you walked onto, and then entered the cabin. You walk into the Kitchen / Living room. We all thought the cabin was so cute!! The kitchen was great, and all of the rooms were nice and clean and cool. I know it will sound silly, but my favorite room was the bathroom. All of the ceilings are vaulted, so it made it seem bigger than it probably was. There were lots of fresh towels and mickey soaps. The girls loved the bunk beds in the bedroom, and were excited when they found 2 wash-cloth birds perched on the window in the living room. Unfortunately, these were the only towel animals we saw for our whole trip.

After our little tour, we helped DM and DSD unload the van. The girls began exploring in the yard and immediately started finding little lizards (I believe they are anoles) scurrying EVERYWHERE. They love that kind of thing, so they were delighted to watch them and try to get close to them.

After unloading the van, DH and I drove it up to the Outpost to get the things out of our car. You can only have one car parked at the cabin. We brought our things back and unloaded them, and then sat down for a little rest.

At this point, we were all starving, so we decided to go to the Trails End Buffet for dinner. We drove the golf cart down to the Marina and were quite surprised to find a absolutely huge crowd outside the restaurant. We learned that most of them were waiting for the Hoop-De-Doo show to start, but there was still an hour and a half wait for the restaurant. None of us felt like leaving the resort to find something else, so we decided to stick it out. We went to the Settlement Trading Post while we waited and the girls each picked out a Pluto jibbitz for their Crocs. Then, we walked over to the horse barn and met all of the draft horses. They were all very beautiful and their barn was so clean and well cared for. The horse drawn carriage also came out being drawn by a large black horse. You couldn’t pet him or touch him, but we enjoyed looking at him and the carriage.

After a 1 hour and 10 minute wait, we were finally called to be seated. Thank God it was a buffet as I don’t think any of us could have waited for an order to be made. After sitting just a minute or 2, our server came and took our drink orders and we were off to the buffet. It was a fairly good sized buffet with a salad bar, soup and chili, and a desert bar in addition to the standard food line. I immediately loaded up a salad plate and added 5 chunks of fresh pineapple to it plate. The girls went straight for the fresh cheese pizzas they had set out, and DH went for the fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

I polled everyone at the table, and our favorites in the buffet were the hot apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream (MMMMMM), the mac and cheese (very creamy), the cheese pizza (the girls vote), the fried chicken (crisp on the outside and juicy, not greasy), and the mashed potatoes (mashed “skin on”). We truthfully liked everything, but these were our favorites. The lemonade was also very good. We were all very full and sleepy, and headed back to the cabin to go to bed.

As I was getting the girls ready for bed, I heard the distinct sound of Fireworks. A quick check of the clock showed that it was time for Wishes at MK. Ahhhhhhhh…..Now I know I’m on vacation.

We all lay down and pretty much went right to sleep. I was worried about being next to the bus stop, but I tell you, I didn’t hear a thing. I set the alarm for 7:00 the next morning with the hopes of being to Sea World when it opened at 9:00.

Next up…Day 3 Sea World, Crocs, and oh no…..somebody’s sick!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day!! Glad you finally made it, got all checked in and got your cart Can't wait to hear about Sea World

[B.M.]

What a great first day! Dinner sounds yummy. I can't wait to hear more and see who gets sick?!

[mcc0313]

Loved hearing all about your drive...it was nice to read all about the different impressions you got as you traveled through the different states...

Glad you made it in time to get your golf cart.....what a long wait for dinner but it sounded like it was worth it....can't wait to hear about Sea World and I hope whoever is sick that it passes quickly....

[lablady]

Great start! I'd love to be able to drive to WDW! The flights are crazy from here but I guess it would probably take at least 8 days from here to drive!!! Glad everything went well on the way down....hopefully whoever is sick gets better quick!

[mickeycrazy]

Great start! The buffet sounds good. More please!

[Northwoods4]

Here are a couple of pictures from Day 2. The first is the girls hamming it up in front of the Florida welcome center sign, and the second is a picture of our little home away from home...Cabin 2401. This is my first time posting a picture so I hope it works!!

http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...1&d=1209612126


http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...1&d=1209612126