2013: Crisis The Night Before Leaving

The day before departing For every vacation trip I can remember? My oldest son loses his video game the night before we leave. Holding true to that tradition, tonight he lost his Nintendo 3DS. We can't leave without it! The entire family turned the house upside down looking for 3 hours. We found it. Under the foot of his bed. It is now 11pm. No clothes are packed. We leave in the morning. I am sure this wont be a problem...

Visiting Universal

Our Disney 2014 trip will be 37 days long. Because it is so long we want to do something at Universal. We have year passes to Disney so it doesn't make sense to buy Universal tickets for a day because it will be very expensive. Instead, we are going to enjoy an afternoon at City Walk.

We have planned it out. We'll eat at Bubba Gump. See a movie at the theater. And then walk around and look at the shops.

Is there anything else to do? Would they let us take a boat to go see a resort? What would you do if you had a day at Universal with no park tickets?

Pin Trading

We do pin trading to give an extra dimension to our Disney trips. Pin trading can be a lots of fun and provide a souvenir and Momento for after the trip. With pin trading you can go up to other people who wear pin lanyards and trade pins with them. We restrict our kids to approaching only cast members but anyone wearing a lanyard is free game. Here is my advice about pin trading.

1. If you have your favorite pin on your lanyard and someone asks to trade for it you will have an awkward situation. Cast members will take whatever you give them. But other guests may want your favorite pin. Either don't put your pin on your lanyard or don't wear your lanyard everywhere.

2. Buying pins in the park is expensive. Instead, buy a five pack of pins online before your trip.

3. When you buy the five pack of pins try to buy ugly pins that your kids will not want to keep. It always happens: even though we buy ugly pins the kids love them and don't want to trade them.

If your kids don't do pin trading, I encourage you to try it on your next trip.

2009: Lost

Who can forget the day Tom Hanks, as a Fedex employee, was riding a jet when it crashed at sea and let him abandoned on a small deserted island. When the storm settled, Tom realized he was all by himself... And lost.

We arrived in the Disney hotel parking lot just moments in front of the plumb of gasoline vapor the trailed behind us. I swung the van into the lot going too fast because I was afraid to slow down and then need to hit the gas again. With a jolt, I hit the breaks to come to an abrupt stop in the van's final resting place.

Everyone in the van shot forward until their seat belts yanked them back into their seats. "We made it!" I cheered.

I looked around the van and rather than celebration, I saw fear on my family's face. So, to lighten the mood I jumped out of the van, dropped to my knees, and kissed the ground. "Dad!" My daughter protested.

Our hotel room at the resort was exactly one quarter of a mile away from the parking lot. This made the room very quiet and peaceful. But with 37 pieces of luggage, it meant a World Gym work-out for me as I made twenty runs to the van carrying giant suitcases, bags, rubber made tubs, coolers, and everything else a modern family of 5 needs to survive for a week. Why did we pack a bicycle?

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom late, but that was OK because it was open until 3am for resort guests, and we had a whole day to catch-up on!

As the evening turned to night, the long drive took its toll and I started to get tired. The family loaded onto the Dumbo Ride, a ride I can't do and keep my super. So, I wandered off to Airil's Cove where I found a comfortable chair. Too comfortable. I fell asleep.

When I woke, the scene looked very different. My family was no longer in line! How long had I been sleeping? What time was it? Was the park still open? Where the busses still running? My family didn't know where I had went and now I didn't know where they were. I was.... Lost! Oh no! I don't like where this is going....

"Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh ad.
Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh oad."

2012: Race To The Finish Line

I woke with a single purpose (leave early) derailed by only one thing (free hotel breakfast). I am normally not allowed to eat Sausage Gravy. And while I am not admitting that I did eat it, if I had I would report that it was simply incredible.

Just as you cross into South Carolina on i-95 you will find South of border. This was established 70 years ago when a county to the north had outlawed alcohol and people crossed the border to get their fix. The exit was also the main exit for Myrtle Beach, so their business grew to include a restaurant, camp ground, and hotel. When fireworks were illegal in North Carolina, they started a giant fireworks business and eventually grew to create an amusement park and other attractions.

When I was growing up, South of the Border was legendary. Then.. They allowed alcohol to the north, fireworks became common, and they opened a highway that goes most of the way to Myrtle Beach. South of the Border became a ghost town dump. But we still stop there and hit the souvenir stand every trip we make.

The race was back on. We sailed through North Carolina and into Georgia. The first family closing the gap and our stop at South Of The border only helped them. The further south we went, the less snow on the ground, the bluer the sky, and the warmer the temperature . Near the Georgia border we saw the first palm tree of our trip! We pulled off in Georgia for lunch: Linda ran into McDonalds to get lunch, I left her to go get gas. We didn't synchronize it very well and she was left standing at the curb for five minutes waiting for me, but we hurried!

I am proud to announce that we crossed the Florida first! Race results: The first family, who had started three hours back and in last place, had cut 140 minutes out of the gap to cross in second. The second family, who pulled off the road early last night but left their hotel early this morning? Was three hours behind us and crossed into Florida third.

To celebrate our victory we ate dinner at a Waffle House (we don't have these up north). Afterwards we decided the loser family should have ate Waffle House - it was horrible.

From Daytona, everyone was heading in different directions: Second family were going to Disney, First family to Cape Canaveral, and we were going to Boca Raton to meet up with a long time friend. The plan was to have all three families come back together and meet on Sunday at a resort in Ft Lauderdale. After a few days at the beach we would all head to Orlando. It sounds like a perfect plan, what could go wrong?

2009: Intro The Great Frontier

When Captain Kirk explored our galaxy, he left our solar system with a very weak safety net. He did have an engineer on board, but if the starship broke down, it could be a long time before a rescue mission could be mounted.

The van was back in our hands, so, I took it for a test run. By 11:30, I determined the van was slightly misfiring, but we had no choice – we had to push on. I decided to make a run for Florida to see how far we could make it. We would get up in 4 hours and get an early start.

"Are you getting up?" Linda asked. I looked at the clock and it was past 7am the next morning.

"What happened? Why didn't the alarm go off?"

Linda explained "You set the alarm to go off at 4pm, not 4am."

With a late start, we passed into South Carolina and then passed through Georgia. I tried to ignore the vibration from the engine by telling myself it was bumps in the road. But as we approached Florida, Linda could feel the vibration as well. After crossing the Floridian border, we pulled off for lunch. As we stopped at a red light, the plumb of unspent fuel coming out our tailpipe caught up with us. The smell was foul so Linda said "we had better not stop. Keep going!"

We pulled back on the highway and the vibration was getting worse - especially as we went up hill. The GPS displayed how many miles remained. I watched and counted them off by tens. "120 miles" and then "110 miles" and then "100 miles". "We will be OK as long as we keep going," I said. "We can't stop."

When an engine misfires, it means there is gasoline vapor that doesn’t get burned. That vapor gets pushed out the tail pipe. Our van clicked and sputtered down the highway with its plumb of unspent fuel vapor trailing behind. If anyone lit a match, they would blow up half of Jacksonville!

As we approached Daytona, the traffic started slowing. A blimp in the sky told me why. "I think the Daytona 500 is this weekend." Sure enough, the traffic was slowing to a brisk walking pace due to traffic for the race. This was just our luck!

When a friend had heard about our van problems, he jokingly warned us to "watch out for falling asteroids". He should have warned us about major motor racing events. The van didn't like the slower pace and complained loudly. "We aren't going to make it," Linda warned. We were stuck in the middle lane with bumper-to- bumper traffic - if the van died, I wouldn't be able to make it to the side of the road!

When we crept past Daytona, the highway opened up and we were able to return to our normal speed. As the van picked up speed, so did the rhythm of the knocking. On the bright side, we were within towing distance of Disney, so we continued nervously counting off the miles. "60 miles" and then "50 miles"As long as I didn't see a light on the dash, I was going to keep going. The Van's misfiring was vibrating the car terribly when a car passed by us, honked its horn and the driver made a motion about the front of our van exploding or something. He knew what we knew: we were in deep crap! I feared our van would break down just miles from Disney! Oh no.... I don't like where this is headed!

"Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh oh ad
Holiday Ro oh oh oh oh oh oh oad"

2010: Car Maintenance Before The Trip

It is very important to make sure the car is maintained before leaving for Florida. Lets take a trip back to 2010.
~~2010~~
We were making good headway toward Florida until the skies opened and we drove into a downpour. I flipped the wipers on high. The driver's wiper was doing an excellent job but the passenger's wiper was shot and my wife couldn't see anything.

After a short distance I pulled into a truck stop and parked under an awning so I could pump some gas while staying dry from the rain. "I am going into the truck stop to find a new windshield wiper," my wife said.

"No, don't." I warned. For whatever reason, wipers are the most difficult thing in the world to change. You would think they would be simple but I have spent many frustrating hours trying to change a wiper. "The wiper works a little. If you ruin it we will be stuck."

"Don't worry," she said, and went into the truck stop. I know exactly where this is going. The Family stranded at the truck stop due to a windshield wiper. This is going to be a perfect "told you so" moment!

Linda returned with the wiper and says "are you going to help me?"

"Nope."

By this time I had climbed comfortably back into the van. I wasn't going to be part of this mistake! "I'll help you," my teenage daughter says, and climbs out of the van.

Two girls in a rain storm attempting fruitlessly to change the wiper. I sit, arms folded, fuming. When what do you suppose I see? Two men come out of the truck stop, jog through the rain, and come over to help the poor damsels in distress. They are going to help the girls change the wiper! Obviously they don't know the jerk-of-a-husband is sitting in the front seat. I sunk down a little, hoping they might not see me.

As Our luck would have it, the good Samaritans broke the new windshield wiper! They told my wife to wait and they would be right back. When they returned they had a mechanic from the truck stop! We now had three men helping these poor stranded girls (and the good for nothing lazy guy sitting in the front seat). My pride forbid me from getting out of the van at this point.

The mechanic snapped on a new blade with ease and said there would be no charge. And with a thank you and a smile, my wife got back into the van.

And there I was left. My "told you so" opportunity blown. Instead, I looked like a schmuck.