I took notes and pictures with the idea of coming back here and sharing. After several batches of wash and a few days back at work, I decided that know one would miss if I didn’t share. Then I remembered how much I enjoyed reading about others trips - no matter how short or how few pictures - and I’ve got a four day weekend to work on this!
A little background info for you: We’ve probably been to Disney close to 5-7 times in the last 13 years. (some of us more than others). Enough so that we are familiar with the Disney transportation and the kids are comfortable splitting up from us. I debated over flying and staying in two resort rooms, flying and staying in the cabins, driving (so we could take our bikes) and staying in the cabins - and finally decided to pull our own travel trailer. This allowed us to bring three of the bikes.
Because there are five of us: DH, myself, DS13, DD21 and DD22 - I made a few decisions for us thinking mainly of my sanity and comfort. I decided that DH and I would pull the camper and bring the dogs. It’s about a 13 hour trip for us. I decided the kids would fly Southwest and take DME to the Outpost. They have all flown before, so I felt they could do this. And I decided that the two girls would sleep in the camper and DH, DS13 and I would sleep in the tent.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that you would’ve made the kids sleep in the tent. My thought was that we could have our space for our clothes in the tent. We could get up early (early for vacation at least) and not disturb them. I didn’t want to hear any huffing, puffing and grumpy sounds coming from those pretty little mouths. I had a plastic bin that I put our ‘morning stuff’ in like coffee, the electric pot to heat the water, oatmeal packets, bagels, a ziplock bag with an assortment of plastic spoons, knives, etc. I had my bath house stuff in the tent along with my clothes. I could easily wake up, shower in the bath house, have breakfast and coffee before even going in the camper.
While this picture is mostly legs, you can see the plastic bin I used for our coffee, bagels, etc. The box on top of the burner had the dog food, leashes, etc. We put it up higher so the otters wouldn't get it - or the ants!
The plan was to work half day on Friday Dec 11th, drive as far as we wanted, rest when we wanted, and arrive at the Fort sometimes Saturday during the day. Usually the kids are traveling with us and we drive all night - less chance of hearing those noises that impatient teenagers make. Since they are flying down, we can do what we want, when we want.
I decided to take off the morning also. It gave me a chance to try and organize the camper instead of just throwing things in. I was also able to wash the dishes and my sheets so that would be fresh when we returned.
We loaded the dogs, my bag with snacks, maps and The Next Exit and pulled out at 12:30 p.m.(CST) When we travel with the camper, we usually have to stop every three hours or so for diesel. Take turns walking the dogs and running in for a quick bathroom break.. I think the GPS reported that we were stopped a total of 45 minutes before we pulled over for the night. I wanted to get on I-75 S before we stopped. That would get us past that very long, boring stretch of I-10 between Pensacola and Lake City. Ugh!
I had read different opinions regarding stopping at rest areas or truck stops. We found numerous rest areas in Florida - it seems one every 30 miles or so. This was such a welcome change from Louisiana. I don’t think we even have rest areas anymore! We pulled into a rest area around 11:00 p.m.(EST) and crawled into the 5th wheel to sleep. I think this is an o.k. idea if the weather is pleasant. Not sure how it would be if it were one of those very warm summer nights. For us, it was cold! We unzipped some of our sleeping bags and slept in our clothes. Even though we could hear the trucks on the interstate, as well as those pulling into and out of the rest area, it still felt good to sleep some - and helped us have a little more energy the following morning. Sleeping in the rest area or truck stop is something we couldn’t have done had the kids been with us.
Now, I’m one of those with short hair and have to wash it every morning when I wake up. It just doesn’t do right if I don’t. In the rest area bathroom I went with my face wipes and hair dryer. I used my hands to wet my hair as much as possible and the dryer to help calm it down some. It wasn’t a morning shower, but served it's purpose.
I mentioned to DH that it was very unlikely our site would be ready this early. We talked about what we would do and decided we’d pull into the overflow lot, board the dogs, and ride bikes around the fort. I was excited about this idea - just the two of us - at least until the kids arrived around 9:00 p.m.
We checked in around 10:30 a.m. The CM said it wouldn’t be long before our site would be ready. Pulled into the overflow lot, walked the dogs and changed clothes! The temperatures had risen a lot from the night before when we slept at the rest area. I proceeded to the Kennels to inquire about leaving the dogs for a little while. It never, ever occurred to me that I needed reservations. I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of that! While the dogs would sleep with us at night, I wasn’t sure how they would act during the day. My plan was to just board them on the days we anticipated being in the parks for long periods.
Anyway - the kennels were full all week. It was 12:30 p.m. before we received the text that our site was ready. It was so quite and peaceful in the overflow lot, I commented that maybe we should’ve driven all night and just slept once we arrived in the overflow lot! Since we couldn’t board the dogs, about all we could do was hang out in the camper (which was packed full of stuff!) Because it had warmed up so, we had the door opened as well as all the windows.
Our site was 334. This is on the back of the loop, about three or four sites from the entrance to the dog walk. All of 300 is tight and the sites are close together, but we knew this as we’d stayed there previously. After walking around the loop, I was interested in the sites on the right-side of 300 as you pulled in. Those sites backed up to the grassy area along the canal. I saw campers with their chairs, dogs and kids romping in this grassy area - just out the back door to their camper.