The Miller Family: Day One - The Drive to Orlando

Saturday morning at 5:45am as promised we woke both kids, told them to quickly get dressed, threw a bag of kix at each of them and shoved them out the door into the car. As you can imagine, the first question Ethan asked was, "Where are we going?". Our answer to that was, "for a drive". So, we all packed in the car with backpacks full of disney items (pez despensers, goofy crayons, mickey and minnie coloring books, disney sunglasses, disney puzzles). You would have thought that would have been a clue but nope, they had no clue. Also joining us in the car was our dual dvd players and of course Ethan's Nintendo DS. Oh, and the only movies I brought were disney ones. Hmmm, still no clue where we were going.

We began heading south. We THOUGHT this was a good thing since it was raining and cloudy here (but more on that later). We told the kids we were looking for sunshine. Again, they were fine with that. Brian had told them that since it was Saturday and there was no school then we would just drive for the day. That meant that at naptime when they were sleeping we would turn around and head back home to the baby house. For those of you who don't know what the "baby house" is, that is the apartment in "the Burg".

As noon approached Ethan took a breather from his DS and Tabitha from her movies (that she was only half watching) for our lunch picnic in the car. That's right, we packed our lunch for the drive. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips and other snacks. A great CHEAP lunch with the added benefit of not having to stop! By the way, during the whole trip we only stopped for gas and potty 3 times I think. Pretty good for a 3 and 6 year old!

Once again we were asked by the kiddos if we would be turning around to go back home after lunch. Of course we lied (like all good parents should do) and said of course but the only way we would was if both of them went to sleep for nap time! Within 15 or 20 minutes both of them were asleep and we were noise and fight free!

The naps lasted about 2 hours. Ethan woke up first and of course started playing his DS again. He obviously hadn't been looking up the entire trip because in South Carolina we started to pass palm trees and you think that would have been a clue that we were no where near home. When they woke up both kids asked if we had turned around already. Of course the answer was yes. It really is ok to lie to your kids everyone. Especially when there is a great surprise in it for them. By this time too, Brian and I were having a difficult time keeping straight faces since they still weren't getting it!

At about 3pm we were getting into serious Disney territory. We were an hour away from "The World" and it was getting pretty obvious. Anyone who has ever driven to disney before would know what I meant. As you approach you pass Universal and Sea World. There are also numerous skyscrapers and city like things as well as billboards with disney stuff all over them. Obvious right? Noooo! Still no idea. Still clueless. Ethan did ask if we were almost back to the baby house. We said we would be there in about an hour. Well, our baby house is in Blacksburg surrounded by green mountains, sparse houses and lots of open land. Not exactly the CITY we were driving through. Oh, I also forgot to mention that as we drove by all of the huge billboards, Tabitha was pointing them all out and saying what was on them. This added more laughter and entertainment to Brian and I since they both STILL had no clue!

Alright, now we are essentially there. Brian and I can see Disney buildings and the huge entrance they have that has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto on it. We were approaching this huge signage, getting closer and closer. Brian and I were laughing harder and harder trying to contain ourselves. We still had no reaction from the backseat. Then, finally, we hear Tabitha from the backseat and she says, "Look!", and we think, this is the moment, she has figured it out! Nope, she was looking at something else and still didn't even see the huge characters in front of her.

Then it happened. Immediately she noticed Pluto and then the others. She started rattling off their names one after the other. Then we heard Ethan shut off his DS and say, What?, What is this? Where are we? Our response was, "Surprise! We're going to Disney World!". What did Ethan say, "I thought so.". Little liar! He didn't think so, he had no clue! Then Ethan asked if we were only staying for a day and going back home that night! So cute! When he found out we would be at Disney for 5 more days he was really excited. Then the screaming and the hyperactivity started coming from both of them. They couldn't contain themselves they were so excited! By 4pm or so we were in the parking lot of the Pop Century Resort.

The buses at Disney are a favorite for both of our kids. They just love riding on them. So, when they saw the first buses they almost jumped out of their skin!

Here are Ethan and Tabitha standing outside of our room. We had a great view of the lake and the creepy unfinished early years part of the Pop Century resort. We stayed in the 60's building.

We had an elevator but decided to "take the yo yo" as the kids would say, most of the time. The yo yo covers the stairs that go up the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. Luckily we were on the 2nd floor.

Here are some of the decorations on our building. We had lots of play-doh around and some characters. The Hippy Dippy Pool was also on the other side of our building. We never actually made it into that pool. If you read my later posts you will understand why!