Our trip home and final thoughts.
Thank you everyone for your kind words. Here are a few pictures from departure day and our trip home.
I didn’t have anyone help me load up the van, but I did check out a cart. You have to sign for it and if they don’t get it back, they charge your card $300. If nothing else it keeps them from being left all over the place like at other places. It was really helpful considering the distance between the room and the van.
After I got everything loaded we went and had breakfast, but first I dropped off a shirt at the laundry room that had gotten mixed in with our stuff. I thought this was a cute shot of dd and ds waiting when I came out.
Here’s ds at breakfast.
After breakfast we climbed into the van for the first day of our drive home. I stopped at a nearby gas station to fill up. Not bad faces considering we are leaving Disney World.
Unlike the trip down, ds actually took a nap. I had dd take this shot.
Didn’t seem like a long time before we made it into Georgia. I got a better price for the Red Roof Inn for the day of our return than the Baymont plus the pool looked better so I reserved it instead.
We brought more in this time because I thought they might want some pool time since it was only around 3 in the afternoon.
Here’s a few shots of the room. Ds really enjoyed the hardwood floors.
We had a nice flatscreen TV and underneath you can see the fridge and microwave within the set of drawers.
Dd takes her usual spot upon arrival and stretched out on the big bed.
Ds really enjoyed that floor. I would love to save up to get this in our house.
Here’s the bathroom.
It had ample closet space, plus some amenities.
It doesn’t look like I took a picture of it, but this room did have a very nice workspace by the window although you can kind of see it in one of the shots I took of ds enjoying the hardwood floor.
In the end we just ended up hanging out in the room resting that afternoon and evening. We ordered pizza from a local Dominos and I went downstairs to the breakfast area to get us some plates and napkins. By the time dd decided she might want to go to the pool it was almost 8pm and thinking about drying her hair at 9 at night, I vetoed that idea right away.
The next day we took advantage of the hotel’s included breakfast, which was better than at the Baymont. Overall, I would give the Red Roof Inn the nod because of the breakfast (they had that make your own waffle station and the Baymont didn’t). Plus there was the issue with the cell signal at the Baymont. But for $55 (on Priceline), I have no significant complaints about either one really.
Everyone was ready to get home, so went right up to collect our things after breakfast. Here’s dd at the elevator. Ds for some reason decided to run down the hall a ways.
And with that we said our good-byes to the Red Roof Inn.
We made good time on the way home. We stopped for a restroom break and stretch, then we stopped at a Wendy’s in Dillon, South Carolina for lunch. I think we made it to our house by 3:00.
In the end, dd said, “Mom, I still prefer to fly, but I am very proud of you for driving us all the way there and back home.”
That about sums it up. My mom even said later she would have been willing to help pay for plane tickets, but no. To each his own, but I made the decision for us to go to Disney. It might have been different if it was some big group going or a big event or something like that. But I could have just as easily decided on a different vacation. I told her I appreciated it, but if I was going to get financial help from her, it would be for something more important. Driving and flying each has its advantages. I’d choose flying too, but I’m glad I did the drive.
2013's Disney World adventure was the best yet for a variety of reasons. Not sure yet of our future Disney plans, but we've definitely decided we want there to be some.
Thanks again everyone for going along while I relived this trip.