because I procrastinated it all away! We leave tomorrow for the big family trip. My little sister’s high school band is marching in the Disney World Light Parade. The family add-on packages were so “cheap” my mom couldn’t resist and decided we were taking our first ever family vacation (well, since the addition of my family, anyway). We’ve never all been able to go at the same time. Since she’s paying we all readily agreed to this one!
We leave at 11 tomorrow morning for the 3 hour drive to my parents’ house. My littlest sister will ride the bus with her band. The bus pulls out at 4, so we’ll go help my sister load up and see her off. Then it is back to the house to transfer our luggage to the parentals’ vehicles. I managed to convince them that my car was too little for a 13 hour drive (what I meant to say was too new!) From there we load into two cars (well, a car and a—gasp—SUV) with my mom, dad, brother, and sister. Stop for dinner—probably before we even leave town—then head out on our voyage.
My mother had the brilliant idea of driving straight through since there are 6 drivers. I’m thinking “bad idea” because the two non-drivers are 2 and 7 (well, almost). We’re stuck with it now because I’m too cheap to pay for airline tickets or a hotel room on my “free” vacation.
We’ll arrive Wednesday morning for a breakfast buffet. Then it’s off to Typhoon Lagoon (did someone forget to tell them it is November?) or Disney Quest. I’m voting for “none of the above” and plan to spend the day wandering Downtown Disney which should be all decorated for the holidays!
Thanksgiving Day will be spend at MGM where little one will get to see her very favorite character, JoJo, and her pet lion, Goliath. She’s excited, but I think only because Stacia trained her to cheer when we say “Florida.” We’ll have our feast at the hotel banquet hall with Mickey and friends.
The next day, I’ll get up in the wee hours of the morning to squeeze in at least a bit of Black Friday shopping before heading to Magic Kingdom. My sister is in the night-time parade so we have the day to ourselves. She has promised to walk in with us for the obligatory entrance photo. I also made her promise to meet up with us in Tomorrow Land for the Buzz Lightyear ride. It won’t be near as satisfying to kick my geek hubby’s ass at the video game (again) unless my whole family is there to witness the blessed event.
Saturday we’ll fit in all the little parks that are too lame for a whole day— Animal Kingdom, Epcot (we’d skip this entirely if not for something about Robotech), and maybe a few hours of Disney Quest. Then after the light show we’ll load up for our return trip. I’m sure by Sunday we’ll all be exhausted, but we will still have to leave my parents’ and come home. All in all, I’m excited—just completely unprepared!
Now I’m off to pack!
