Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Happiest Vacation on Earth??

The boy clearly thinks this is the happiest place on earth!  And yes, the girl is wearing a KC Royals shirt.  Ohh the abuse!
As previously stated, we decided as a family, in lieu of Christmas and birthday presents this year, we would just go on vacation to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. The company I worked for offered great airline discounts for Southwest so I booked for round trip tickets. I was also able to purchase discount tickets to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure! Eat your heart out full price ticket vendors.  On top of my bargains, a close family friend allowed us to book her Timeshare resort for a fraction of the price of any other lodging options.  This was shaping up to be the BEST vacation ever! There was one catch with the airline; we had to fly standby. 

I did heavy research on flying standby before booking the tickets and talked to co-workers who had flown this way.  I heard all positive reviews!  We purposely picked the last week in September knowing that air traffic would be down due to school being back in session.  The only travelers we had to compete with were business flyers.  We followed all the rules.  We meticulously packed all liquids in 3oz containers, we arrived an hour early to go through security and we even followed the ridiculous business casual dress code only to find out the flight was completely full. You.have.got.to.be.kidding.  There had never, in the history of its opening, ever been a completely full flight (that I'm aware of anyway) out of Branson Regional airport. EVER.  Yet today, there was. The associate working the boarding counter informed us that she could get one of us to Dallas, but the rest would have to wait until the next day. Um, thanks, but no thanks.  The only reason for a full flight that I could think of is "One Hit Wonder Day."  There was no other explanation.

Hellbent on getting to Orlando and not ruining our vacation, we decided to drive.  We rushed home, grabbed the Garmin, some pillows and changed into appropriate road trip clothing and headed out.  We stopped in Troy, AL at 1 a.m. and paid $135 for 5 hours of sleep.  What a bargain.  Bright eyed and bushy tailed, we headed out at 6 a.m. only to find that we could have stayed five miles down the road at Americas Best Inn for $54.  Par for the course at this point!

After about 15 hours total in the car, the backseat looked like this:

The kids had all the essentials: Mt. Dew, sunglasses and Steak & Shake (you're welcome Steak & Shake for the free advertising). Three more hours went by and I started seeing signs on the interstate indicating that we were very close.  We arrived at the resort at 6 p.m. to a luxurious, clean, spacious room.  Thank goodness because if it had been a dump, I would have had a nervous breakdown right then and there! Since we had to drive we lost a day of theme park fun, but we took full advantage of four full days in a different park each day.  It was not the happiest place on earth 100% of the time.  There were tears, overpriced Minnie Mouse ears and rude tourists but all in all, I wouldn't trade our vacation for anything.  So, here it is in pictures, in no particular order:

Here we are being all touristy.  What you don't see is the lady I cropped out that had red on from head to toe.  She looked like a giant tomato. 
First ride: the trolley!  Oh the excitement on the boy's face.

Ralph & Vanellope
Star Trek 3D.  Girl child comes in peace.
We found the Delorean! 
Buzz Saw falls at Islands of Adventure.  Girl child loved this ride but was terrified of the Monorail at Magic Kingdom??
Eat my shorts children!
We came, we saw Mickey, we conquered, we went home. 



Best.vacation.ever!  There was one thing this vacation was not, and that was relaxing.  If you are looking for relaxation, Disney is NOT the place for you!  Much to my dismay, you also will not find a dollar menu.

11 comments:

  1. " Much to my dismay, you also will not find a dollar menu. " I'll bet.

    My only experience at the happiest place on earth was not too happy. Mainly because my lovely niece and I had sunburned on the beach to the point of blisters the day before, and the only fun places were shady ones. How many mile-long lines did YOU see that were in the shade? And I think my "dislike bordering on anxiety" of crowds started that day. Altogether, the stop at Disneyworld ranked on that vacation behind the Dairy Delight in Tennessee, the huge moth that flew out of the shower at me at Ormond Beach, the sandstorm that blew us off the Gulf of Mexico at Tampa...

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    1. Wow you enjoyed it that much huh! Actually the lines weren't bad at all when we went and the weather was perfect.

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  2. Uggg to all of that driving, but sounds worth it indeed. Never been there, all those lines would drive me up the wall, but maybe one day.

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    1. And to think we drove it straight through on the way home!

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  3. I remember being so frazzled when we took the kids to "The World" that, when they asked when we were coming back, I said, "When you're wearing a bra and when you're shaving."
    Dangit, how time flies.
    P.S. I woulda driven, too.

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    1. Long drive but sooo glad we didn't have to rely on public transportation like we would have had we flown.

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  4. That looks like a fabulous vacation and I'm sure your children will remember it for the rest of their lives. And you have a beautiful family, but I'm sure you already know that.

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    1. Thank you very much! I am pretty partial to them.

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  5. Great pictures. Glad you had fun. I live an hour from Disney and have never been. I hate crowds and lines. Your kids are do darn cute.

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    1. I'm not a fan of crowds and lines either but we times it just right! The lines weren't bad at all. And thank you, I love those little critters and think they are pretty cute too!

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  6. The husband and the kids are DYING to go back to Disney.... I can think of so many better places to spend the money. Alas... I think we may be in for a whirlwind trip one last time for the marathon weekend next January. That is if we can get registered in time. Last year the family 5k sold out in less than a month. Funniest part is I lived in FLA for 7 years and never went once. ;)

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Let's keep it PG around here!