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Day 6

We spent the morning at the rental condo, mostly playing in the pool.

I didn’t take any photos of that, because I was in the pool. Being in the pool required a delicate balance of sunlight. The water was cool enough that I didn’t want to be in the shade, but my skin was pale enough that I didn’t want to be in the sun. Finally, I borrowed some sunscreen from a friend and I could stay warm-ish.

Here is our condo. We were on the first floor, which was great because of the kids and stroller, but also because then I didn’t need to worry about all the noise the kids made bothering the people below us. On the other hand, I could tell, around 5:15 am each morning, when the people above us were getting up.

Then we had lunch and headed out to Downtown Disney, getting there around 1:30.

Early afternoon is a much better time to arrive at Downtown Disney than is evening. If you’re thinking about going there in the evening, don’t bother unless you’re not driving. If you don’t need to park, it’s not so bad.

In the early afternoon, there are people milling about, but it is not crowded. In the evening, it is packed. So much so that you barely have room to turn around, especially if you’re pushing a stroller.

Our first stop was the Lego store. They also had life-size Lego creations in and around the store.

The kids liked looking at the Rainforest Cafe, because the volcano top was always smoking.

We found our way to the bus stop, which was just after the sidewalk mini-geysers.

The kids had fun not getting wet there. Then we went to the bus stop to catch a bus to a Disney resort.

Our plan was to ride the bus to a resort and hop on the monorail at the resort and see what we could see from there. We grabbed the first bus that came that was going to a resort on the monorail loop.

Unfortunately for us, and unknown to us, it also stopped at about 5 other places before it got to the resort. Over an hour later, the bus arrived at the resort (Grand Floridian) and we went up to the monorail area. Only to discover that the monorail was closed for maintenance for the next 4 hours.

We had heard the Animal Kingdom lodge was a good resort to see, since it has giraffes and zebras and other such wildlife. So we went back to the buses and found one for that resort. Not quite as long of a ride this time, but it didn’t go to the lodge – it went to the theme park. We had to transfer to another bus to get to the lodge. Which we did.

We hadn’t planned on eating dinner at this particular lodge, but after we had seen the animals, we knew the kids weren’t going to make it much longer without some sustenance. We found the map of the lodge, found a restaurant and arcade, and set off to find it.

But we couldn’t.

So we asked a worker, who apologized because she was new and all she could do was send us back to the lobby.

On the way back to the lobby, we found another worker. He, too, didn’t know how to get there and apologized because he had also just started this new job.

Back to the lobby, where we learned that to reach the restaurant and arcade, you have to go outside.

The meal was okay, and the kids enjoyed the arcade.

Then we went back to the bus stop and found a bus that went to Epcot. We made it there and rode the monorail from Epcot to the Ticket Center, arriving just in time for them to resume monorail service to the resorts. Unfortunately, by this time was getting dark, so our view from the monorail was not as scenic.

We did one time around the resort loop and ended up back at the Grand Floridian. I wanted to take the bus from there because I expected the buses would be on the same rotation and therefore any bus to Downtown Disney shouldn’t have any intermediate stops in that direction.

It didn’t have any extra stops, but it was still a bit of a ride, and it was crowded. I had Delta, and he was done. It was bedtime and he didn’t want to be held and he was letting me know.

But we made it back to Downtown Disney. Delta and I got to watch the Rainforest Cafe volcano spew fire and not just smoke, since it was not nighttime. The others missed it because they were picking something out at the Lego store.

Day 7

We packed up and left in the morning.

Florida had been sunny and 80 while we were there, but it was rainy and 70 about an hour into our drive.

We drove to Columbia, SC that night. The Hampton Inn and Suites in Columbia, SC was the best hotel of our trip. And it wasn’t the most expensive either.

Why was it great?

Clean bed covers.

Everything else seemed clean too.

And the pool used salt water, not chlorine. That is much more pleasant.

And the breakfast area was nice, too. Everything seemed new and fresh.

Day 8

After a full day of driving the day before, we drove for about 3 hours and stopped to visit some friends in North Carolina. They gave us lunch:

It was good to have a break from travelling.

But then we drove about 4 hours that afternoon/evening to Charleston, WV. The Microtel there was the worst hotel of our trip. Mainly because of the smoke smell. Despite an abundance of signs saying “No Smoking”, there was a strong smoke smell in the elevator and hallway. It wasn’t so bad in our room, so we didn’t make a fuss about it. But it was so bad that our kids would hold their noses any time we went into the hallway (to get ice, to get the continental breakfast in the morning, packing up, etc.).

Day 9

We left Charleston and headed back to Michigan.

After stops for gas and lunch, we ended up at home just before dinner. It was about 15 degrees, but the kids were glad enough to be out of the van that they didn’t care. They put on their snowsuits and played outside while I unloaded the van.

For our next road trip, we’ll pick some place a little closer. It was about $3000 cheaper than flying, plus I was hoping it would build some character in our kids, so I think it was worth it.

The End.

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