[gcbdad]

Cast of Characters.

Myself
DW
DD 7
DD 5
DS 5
DD 1 Month

First of all I love to do all of the planning and packing. And since DW does not I get to do all of the running around the night before. On Thursday night I am gathering up all of the necessary items for our day trip. After a good night sleep we all got up, had a quick breakfast, loaded up the Van and headed towards the Interstate. We live only 60 miles West of WDW so it only takes us around 1 hour to 1 hour fifteen minutes to get there.
We hit the roads at 7:35 AM trying to get to the gates of the MK by opening. We got on I-4 and immediately a passing car drove up to us and waved me to roll down my window. He said that we were burning something really bad. I pulled over and sure enough there was black smoke coming out of my tail pipe. I hit the next exit in Plant City to try and find a shop. For those of you not familiar, Plant City is the Strawberry capital of the world. I love strawberries. Plant City even has a Strawberry Festival every March that is great. Anyway, I digress. Let's get back to the subject. Remember I was exiting the Interstate due to a car problem.
Of course, I immediately started thinking the worst. We drove to a GoodYear tire shop and they checked out the car. I went ahead and asked for an oil change while I was there because the time had just passed for a change. Of course I had to start preparing the kids just in case we couldn't make the trip after all. They were devastated. We tried to tell them that we could go the following day if the Van was unavailable but you know hoe kids are. While sitting in the waiting room we ran into a very nice Woman who DW struck up a conversation with. It turned out that she and her family were going to WDW the following day for a multi night stay outside of WDW. I started telling her about this site and she said that she would definitely check it out. Anyway back to the Van. I am always very skeptical about Car repairs. It always seems to be a big expense but they only charged me for an oil change. They checked it out and they said that there was too much oil in the Van causing the burn off. I am not sure what happened, but after the oil change everything was fine. We loaded up the Van again and off we went. Just past Kissimmee we saw our favorite power pole (Mickey Ears) and said our hello's.
We got to the TTC at 10:30 losing only 1 1/2 hours from car trouble. Unloaded the van and were still close enough to walk to the TTC. We decided to take the ferry over to MK. After getting our diaper bag and backpack checked and going through the gates, we stopped to look at all of the Mickey statues that were lining the front wall. Some of these were amazing. I had to take a few pictures with the kids and certain statues then DW took DD 1 month to the nursing station and the other kids and myself headed towards FantasyLand. We went to our usual favorite Peter Pan and the waiting time was 10 minutes so we Fast Passed Peter Pan and hit It's a Small World After All. When we got off we still had 15 minutes to kill before our Fast Pass time and we were trying to wait for DW so we decided to go on Cinderella's Carousel. By then DW was ready to meet so we all met at Peter Pan and rode together. From there we headed over to FrontierLand but first stopped at the shooting Gallery. DS 5 loves this. Then we headed over to Thunder Mountain Railroad. The past couple of day trips I have taken the kids by myself so we were limited to rides that everyone wanted to go on or not at all. This time DW was with us so she and DD 7 went on Thunder Mountain and I waited with the other kids. This was DD 7's first time on TMRR so she was really excited. Then it was time for lunch. Over the past couple of trips we found that we love the Columbia Harbour House. So of course we went there. I have to tell you we were highly disappointed with the food this time. The sandwiches were bland and the service was not good. Next we headed off towards TomorrowLand. DW decided she would stop a the Nursing station. I went on ahead and we walked right onto Buzz Lightyear. I mean it was around 1:15 and there were only 5 people between us and the actual ride. Did I mention that the crowds were very low. After taming Zurg for the Umteenth time we hit the TTA. My kids love this ride. I love this ride. Doesn't everybody? We rode TTA twice then waited for DW and DD 1 month to join us. We then headed over to ToonTown for the Barnstormer. DW and DD headed right on. On the second trip, DW convinced DS 5 to go on the ride. Now this is a monumental event. DS 5 has been kind of scared of everything for over a year . He went on it and loved it. Then he and I went on it while the girls hit Minnie's house. We had decided to head back to TomorrowLand but not before Dad and the bigger kids rode the Teacups. I don't know what came over me but I spun the heck out of the kids. Then we hit TomorrowLand and I let DW and the big kids go on Buzz LightYear. When they got off we decided to split up. DW and girls went on COP and I took DS 5 to the Grand Prix race cars. Another monumental event. The wait was 15 minutes. They didn't even have the Fast Pass lines available. Of course DS 5 loved it. He drives like his Mother. Pedal to the medal. He was so proud of himself when we met up with the rest of the gang. Well we had seen about everything that we planned on seeing and due to a prior commitment we had to leave by 4:30 to get home by 6:00. So on the way out I took the big kids for Ice Cream on Main Street while DW hit the nursing station one more time. When finished we made that walk up Main Street, much to the chagrin of the kids but we told them we would be back soon. We hopped on the Monorail and headed off to TTC. As always, while driving home, we passed the Mickey Ear Power pole and said our goodbye's.

See you soon Mickey.

[crystalrp]

Wow...what a great sounding day! Glad the car problems turned out to be minor. I must admit, I am very envious that you are so close you can go for a day trip. Thanks so much for sharing!!

[alextina]

Sounds like you had a really great time.:D I have to admit that I am soooooooooooooo Jelous (?sp) :cry: of all you DCer's that can just jump in the car and visit Mickey for a day, that is so awesome.

[Dana]

Another great day trip for you all. I am glad that your car troubles didn't ruin your day and everyone got to ride what they wanted without much waiting. Thanks for sharing another great report. It was exactly what I needed this close to a trip...:)

[LRTJS]

OHHHH you are so very lucky! I will be taking two day trips in March not from my home but from my son's in St. Petersburg. I am very glad you overcame the car problems. Sounds like a perfect day with no crowds. Were your kids out of school for the day?

[gcbdad]

Originally posted by LRTJS
OHHHH you are so very lucky! I will be taking two day trips in March not from my home but from my son's in St. Petersburg. I am very glad you overcame the car problems. Sounds like a perfect day with no crowds. Were your kids out of school for the day?

My wife Home School's our children. That being the case we can go during the week and make up the work on another day. It is really a godsend because we can usually avoid days that are really crowded.

[DougiesMommy]

What a magical day! To take your new angel for the first time and for your son to broaden what he would ride.

[mickaholic4077]

So what was your first-timer's favorite ride????:D :D :D (BTW,great report!!)