Road Trip Part 2: arrival to WDW and first Park Day 8/16-17

We drove all day Sarurday from Conover NC to Lake Buena Vista FL. We could tell partway through the day the change in temp as it got hotter and dense humidity hit. We were nearing FL! 

We drove through the Disney gates and got checked in our resort in the evening. We were staying at Disney's Boardwalk Villas this trip though Disney Vacation Club.  Pretty to arrive in the evening when things are all lit up. 

We didn't just chill at the resort though we were trying to get to Downtown Disney for a bit for late dinner and Guest Relations to get our Annual Pass vouchers activated and exchange some old Tickets my mom had saved up and see if they could get her matched to some of our booked Fast Passes. We got a wonderful Castmember at Guest Relations and got it all done. Love good guest service!! Quick late dinner at Earl of Sandwich and a couple shops then back to the resort after a very long day. Everyone was exhausted. 

We had been in touch with Brent's brother Cody and he was unsure of his work schedule so very last minute he added into our Sunday plans. He drove over from Sarasota (he moved there for work last November) and met  at Boardwalk Sunday morning and we packed up my mom's rented scooter into the car (highly recommend Orlando Scooter Rental scootorlando.com) and off we went to Magic Kingdom!  

Cody had never been to Disney before so had to get his ticket and show him the park. It was very hot and medium crowded but we got on quite a few things despite not an early start. Noah bought Uncle Cody a Goofy hat to celebrate his first visit and he was a good sport and wore it proudly. He was able to add into our dinner reservations also at the new Be Our Guest restaurant. It is in Beasts Castle in the new section of Fantasyland. They did a great job on the theming and we all liked our food too. The heat took its toll but we did have a fun day. 

Some shots from our park day: 

(Tradition to visit our brick outside MK turnstyles) 

Splash Mountain

7 Dwarfs Mine Train

Be Our Guest...we got seated in the beautiful ballroom. Looks just like in the movie. 

Desserts...try the Grey Stuff...it's delicious!

Road Trip!! Part 1: southbound! 8/13-16

Catching up....

We had been planning a 2014 FL trip to the "homeland" for quite a few months. Countdowns and reservation planning etc. We have not been since 2011. Countdown shrunk down to 0 and away we went! However the trip down was as much fun as the adventure planned. :)  We planned with the Rissell family to have a stopover in NC to visit our MN friends that got out of the tundra. 

We spent the first day on the road and got to Louisville KY by the first night. 

Day 2 was to get to Rissels in NC by dinner. Beautiful drive through the mountains at high elevations. We have never done this route before so it was fun to see some new things. We even stopped for lunch at the very first KFC, Sanders Cafe where it all started. Kind of a little museum too. Like hitting unique places. 

We got to Rissells by dinner! So happy to see our good friends. They moved away 3 years ago and we haven't seen each other much but everyone seemed to pick right back up like hardly any time had passed. Had a nice dinner and just hung out and chatted. The kids got along well. Noah and Sophia are only 6 days apart for age and we all used to hang out with the kids in MN. 

The next day we had a fun day of hanging out and we drove around to see their new area and hit a fun little water park with some of their local friends. We got to see where Don and Terry and Mick live too. After Josh got home from work Don, Terry and Mick came over and brought yummy dinner and we all got to just hang out and catch up. Sophia gave us a little flute concert too...fun to see the musical progress. It has been fun getting to see Abigail more grown up too...she was so little when they lived in MN.  Very relaxing way to start our vacation! 

Saturday morning we all got up early and packed up to head out before Rissels headed for their service meeting. Another driving day ahead!  Thanks so much for the generous hospitality!!!  We love you all!

On the road we went from the high mountains to low sea level. Fun to see the variety. 

Next.., arrival at Disney!