DAY 1
Sept. 20th, 2014 - Saturday
Travel/Arrival
After being up until the wee hours of the morning packing and cleaning my apartment, the day was finally here!
One of my two cats, Harley, thought he would help me pack my last-minute items... or try to stop me from leaving, I'm not sure which. But anytime the suitcase comes out... Every.Single.Time.
And so after almost a year of planning and saving and planning some more... It was time! My stomach was totally in knots from nerves and excitement.
Had my MagicBand, ready to go!
I have the fortunate luck of living within driving distance to Walt Disney World. Without any stops or traffic delays, it takes about 5 hours to get from my front door to Mickeys.
That being said, I don't have a great car, it's kind of a piece of junk. But it does it's job of getting me around town, and to work and back. So I love it. However, I don't trust it on a road trip. So for my Disney trips, I get a rental. (Besides, sometimes it's just fun to drive a nicer, newer car than your own!)
I had reserved a Compact back in July, spoke to the people at my local Enterprise multiple times, even called a few days before my pick-up date just to reconfirm. I'm there waiting as soon as they open the doors at 9am. Guess what? NO CARS. None.
Apparently none of the cars that were supposed to be returned the evening before ever showed up...
But it's cool! I'm going to Disney World, it's all good! I have a seat and patiently wait, and at about 9:45am they tell me they're getting my vehicle ready. Sweet! And just before 10am, they pull this around for me...
And so then I was all...
It was a Ford Escape. I love small SUVs. As a
travel agent, I recognized that this was about a FOUR category upgrade from the Compact I had reserved, plus I knew how much I technically SHOULD be paying for this class of vehicle. I was SUPER stoked, and thrilled that my trip was starting out with such pixie dust!
As I drive an older Toyota Corolla, this was a lot more car than I'm used to. I pulled it into the empty Lowe's parking lot next door, adjusted my seat, the steering wheel, my mirrors, and did a couple of laps around the lot to get the feel of it.
Then I was off! A quick swing into Taco Bell (because I at that moment, I needed a celebratory waffle taco in my life), and a stop for gas, and I was ON MY WAY!
Everything went swimmingly for the first 2.5 hours or so. And then... Jacksonville. Traffic. Rain. Construction. This is where I first learned that most Florida drivers are total buttholes. I managed to make it through after a few ugly boughts of road rage, but good lord!
About the time I hit Daytona and I-4, I had rumbly in my tumbly. I have a strict policy while on vacation to only eat things I can't get easily at home. So I immediately sought out this delight....
I sooooo miss living near one of these! Cheese Krystals are so gooooood! (And make excellent road food!)
Onto I-4! On... to... I-4.... and Orlando...
Traffic... Oh. My. God.
So, this was pretty much me for the rest of the drive...
The traffic and the people were AWFUL! Even once I got off on 192 to get to my Kissimmee hotel for that first night, I thought I was going to have a stroke... or a heart attack... or ball up in the floorboard and cry... it really was that terrifying.
Eventually, though, I did make it to my destination alive and well. I wasn't due to check-in at Pop Century until the following day (Sunday), but I decided to get a headstart on my trip and drive down a day early. I got a great deal on a room through work, here at the Clarion Suites Maingate in Kissimmee.
Check-in was a breeze, and was assigned to Room 114, first floor and just around the corner from the lobby, pool, etc. Got the King bed I requested, too...
My ONLY complaint about this place was the mattress. Either they don't flip them enough, or it's just old as hell. It had a hump in the middle, and two dips on either side of it. You could physically feel the sinkholes from people sleeping on either side of it over the years. Now back to the theme of this trip report... As a single girl, I'm used to sleeping ALL OVER the bed, quite often in the middle. Rolling in and out of other people's body craters wasn't very comfy!
But, like I said, everything thing else was wonderful. The pool area was big and clean and pristine. The breakfast area, while busy, was also clean and plentiful, lots of hot options. Honestly, for anybody in the neighborhood for an affordable pre- or post-night hotel, I would recommend them. Just if you get a crappy mattress like I did, ask for another room!
Since it was only about 5pm at this point, I wandered on down to the pool area for a couple hours, just to lounge in a chair and do me some people watching.
Here's my happy toes!
Finally I carried myself back to the room, polished off the rest of my Krystals (I had ordered a sackful, don't judge me!), showered, and crawled in bed for an early night.
Up Next... Checking in at Pop Century!