A Supposedly Fun Thing...August, 2013 (update 11/10)

I've made it here :) Better late than never :lmao:Sounds like it was a wee bit of a stressful start to your trip but glad to hear it got more relaxing for you once you were checked in for the train. Love the 7 dwarfs theme and the reasoning behind everyone's shirt :)
The train seats look pretty decent sizes and the dining carriage looks lovely. Good call on the wine-life is often more relaxed with a decent glass of vino in hand :rotfl:
 
I've made it here :) Better late than never :lmao:Sounds like it was a wee bit of a stressful start to your trip but glad to hear it got more relaxing for you once you were checked in for the train. Love the 7 dwarfs theme and the reasoning behind everyone's shirt :)
The train seats look pretty decent sizes and the dining carriage looks lovely. Good call on the wine-life is often more relaxed with a decent glass of vino in hand :rotfl:

Welcome!!! The sleeper compartment was fine for seating but was, um, cozy for sleeping. Barely any floor space.
Life was much better once we were on-board. Yet another reason to fly next time. :thumbsup2

Amanda
 
Can't wait to follow along on this adventure! I am very intrigued by the auto train. It sounds like a nice way to travel!
 


Following along, we were there at the same time again this year, but we flew down on the 23rd. Train sounds like an experience, but we don't have the patience for it. :)

Can't wait to hear more!
 
Following along, we were there at the same time again this year, but we flew down on the 23rd. Train sounds like an experience, but we don't have the patience for it. :)

Can't wait to hear more!

Apparently I don't have the patience for it either! :lmao:

Amanda
 
Sounds like an experience.
Can't be worse than driving though. We did that twice this year. And will probably be doing it again in April.

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Sounds like an experience.
Can't be worse than driving though. We did that twice this year. And will probably be doing it again in April.

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I grew up in a family that took lots of road trips. My husband is completely against the idea. :roll eyes: I doubt that we will ever drive to Disney…

Amanda
 
The train arrived in Orlando although we stopped short of the station so they could un-hook the car-carrying train car and get ready to start off-loading our cars. We had paid a little extra to have our car be one of the first 20 off the train. That seemed like a good thing because there were many cars and I could see that some people would end up waiting an hour or more.
We hopped in the car and started driving to Disney. Sanford is North of Disney and it probably took about 15 minutes to go West to I-4. From there it's a straight shot Southwest to Disney World. I found this drive very interesting. We had stayed in the Sea World area in February so I was somewhat familiar with the theme park area of Orlando (Sea World, Universal, and then Disney is a bit further Southwest). What I hadn't fully understood that is that downtown Orlando is North of all of the theme parks. I had never seen downtown Orlando (although we are attending a medical conference in May and are staying at the Peabody which we could see from I-4). I enjoyed learning more about the geography of Orlando.
It was raining a little bit during the drive but nothing terrible or worrisome. Scattered drizzle. The drive was otherwise uneventful (no vomiting, for example! :lmao: ) and we arrive at the Boardwalk in the late morning.

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(required Disney-Addict picture)

I went to check-in while Tom got our bags checked with bell services. Our rental stroller was waiting for us as was our container from Owner's Locker (we just joined on this trip). Our room wasn't ready yet.
And here was the next little "issue" that happened. The original plan was to spend the afternoon at the pool at then head to Splitsville for some bowling and dinner. Tom somehow decided that he NEEDED to get to Epcot. Immediately. I had packed stuff in preparation for a day at the pool and not for a day at the theme park so it took some shuffling to re-organize. I wasn't thrilled with Tom was suddenly changing the plan and as we started to walk over to Epcot, the kids were whining that they wanted to go swimming.
Eventually Tom saw the light and we turned around and went back to Boardwalk. I had to get bell services to let me go through our bags (they were super nice) and find bathing suits for everyone. We changed in the bathrooms near the pool and enjoyed the pool and water slide. I thought the pool was nice but a little bit small and, for some reason, the water slide was very slow. I ordered lunch from the bar and we had pre-made sandwiches which were edible but not fabulous.
While we were at the pool, I got the text message with our room number. Tom and I headed up with the boys and Popsie but Jessica wanted to stay and participate in the pool activities that had just begun. Karin was happy to stay with her.

Amanda
 
I grew up in a family that took lots of road trips. My husband is completely against the idea. :roll eyes: I doubt that we will ever drive to Disney… Amanda

My DH said he would NEVER drive to Florida!
LOL. Never say never.
It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.
We also did lots of road trips growing up. The only time I flew on a plane was to go to Disney when I was 7.

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My DH said he would NEVER drive to Florida!
LOL. Never say never.
It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.
We also did lots of road trips growing up. The only time I flew on a plane was to go to Disney when I was 7.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I wouldn't say no to driving. Or at least I wouldn't absolutely say no. Tom has said no. I don't think taking the train helped to change his mind! :rotfl2:

Amanda
 
All caught up!

Wow, the drive down to VA sounds slow and stressful! I can totally understand the meltdown at the pizza place, but I'm glad to hear that was the low point of your trip. Good to get that over with. :lmao:

Thanks for the detailed info about the way the train and family sleepers are set up. Sounds, "interesting". I can barely sleep in a regular hotel room (or even that well at home for that matter), so I don't think this would be a very restful traveling option for me.

:woohoo: on your arrival.

Glad you got to spend some relaxing pool time.

Looking forward to seeing your room!!!
 
All caught up!

Wow, the drive down to VA sounds slow and stressful! I can totally understand the meltdown at the pizza place, but I'm glad to hear that was the low point of your trip. Good to get that over with. :lmao:

Thanks for the detailed info about the way the train and family sleepers are set up. Sounds, "interesting". I can barely sleep in a regular hotel room (or even that well at home for that matter), so I don't think this would be a very restful traveling option for me.

:woohoo: on your arrival.

Glad you got to spend some relaxing pool time.

Looking forward to seeing your room!!!

I really didn't sleep well at all on the train. And I slept less well on the way home. I never had trouble sleeping on the cruise ship so I think it was just the small size of the room. I should have brought Ambien!
I have lots of pictures of the room... Foreshadowing!

Amanda
 
We did the train once from Philadelphia to Orlando. Slept in our coach seats. The kids were younger and they loved it. Nice experience but don't think I would do it again. Back then it was cheaper than flying and we got a deal, buy one ticket get one free. But with air fares today it is cheaper to fly and much faster. My sister and father were with us and at some point my sister was looking out the window of the train at one of the many stops it makes to pick up passengers and she tells me my suitcase came off the train. I just said I'm sure many people have the same color as mine, I'm sure it wasn't. Yep it was. So when we got to Orlando and my suitcase was not one that came off the train we knew exactly where it was. I had to wait till the next days train got there to get my luggage.
 

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