We have decided to take a trip to Disney! Yeah, I know, so what else is new? Well, this is our first time going back as Disney Vacation Club members, and our first time to stay at our home resort, Saratoga Springs! We’re all very excited for that reason alone, and we have invited my stepmom to come along with us, so it should turn out to be a great trip!
The decision is made to leave very early on Saturday morning, stop late Saturday afternoon in Savannah. If we’re not too tired, I’d like to visit some of the shops in Savannah, and then head down to Ocala on Sunday to see Aunt Mary and Uncle Ted. At the last minute, we schedule John, the hardwood floor guy, to do our floors the weekend we come home, so we have to move all of the furniture out of our bedroom and dining room. That means Jim and I are sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor, and we are relying on Brighid to wake us at 3 so we can pick Ann up at 3:30. At 3:25, Brighid comes down to let us know it’s time to get up. Let’s hope things get better from here!
We make it to Ann’s and are on the road shortly after 4 AM. This should put us in Savannah about 4, which gives us the evening and Sunday morning to shop if we want to. The trip really isn’t bad at all. Granuaile, who spends most of these trips whining and complaining with the other two ignoring her, seems to sleep a lot headed down south, and when she is awake, she’s pleasant and entertained by Nanny. Ann can come with us on ANY trip, ANY time. Brighid and Eilis have TVs in the back and there are snacks and drinks, so we don’t have to make too many stops. We eat a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then hit Wendy’s for a long lunch. When we get near Savannah, we stop for dinner and make the decision to cancel the reservation in Savannah if we can get a room in Orlando. We are making good time, and may be able to make it to Orlando by 10.
Not only do we find a room available, but we find our 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs Resort is available! It will use a bunch of points, but it gives us an extra day at the resort and we don’t have to unpack stuff and move it. Unfortunately, the people at Ruby Tuesday’s are doing everything in their power to prevent us from making it anywhere any time in the near future. We spend more than an hour at dinner here – and I leave exhausted!
We eventually do a little switching around with the drivers, and Ann offers to take a shift so I can close my eyes a while. Holy cow, this is so nice of her to do! I am so tired and Jim can’t see this late at night to drive, so having a third driver is a big treat! We make it to the security gate at Saratoga Springs just about 11:30, and we are welcomed home by a very nice security guard, who directs us to the check in parking. We are home 🙂
I head in to check us in, and I remind the lady at the desk that we are celebrating Ann’s 60th birthday during this trip. I had ordered a birthday cake, since we missed her original cake back in August, and it is supposed to be delivered to our room tomorrow. I am hoping it is delivered while we are at Aunt Mary’s. The lady at check in is very nice, and it doesn’t take too long to check in – although with tired kids waiting to get out of the car, it seems much longer than it is.
We are soon in our beautiful 2 bedroom villa in the Congress Park section. Our view is of the quiet pool outside of our balcony, and we can’t wait to see what else there is to see. It will have to wait until morning, though.
We all decide not to unpack, but the kids are now wide awake and wanting to see every inch of the room. I end up unpacking all of my stuff and Jim’s. Ann graciously offers to take the room with the two beds, and share a bed with Eilis. She’ll live to regret that decision, and I feel badly that she didn’t take the bedroom to herself 🙁 We all end up in bed about 3 AM, but with no rush to get anywhere in the morning, we know we’ll have time to sleep in the morning.
Sunday morning comes, and Jim and I are the first awake. We take a ride down to where we checked in and find breakfast. We come back to the room with some croissants and some bagels, juice and coffee. By the time everyone else wakes up, there’s breakfast going and plenty of time for everyone to shower and get ready for a ride out to Aunt Mary’s. We even decide to go to Downtown Disney first 🙂 I like having the kitchen facilities – and this is a nice kitchen, equipped with pretty much everything you need.
Once we are showered and dressed, we head to Downtown Disney with plans to grab lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. We wander around a little, check out a couple of shops, and then we head over to the Earl of Sandwich. Everyone gets something – Ann, Brighid and Eilis opt for grilled cheese, and Jim gets the special Turkey dinner sandwich. I order the chicken soup, which is absolutely delicious! After we finish our sandwiches, we decide to head to the car to make the trip to Ocala to visit Aunt Mary and Uncle Ted.
The trip to Ocala should take about an hour – maybe a little longer. UGH. We are heading out of Orlando with everyone else who has spent the Thanksgiving holiday there. We take more than 2 hours to get to Ocala, but it is so nice to have this visit! Aunt Mary’s home is absolutely, Better Homes and Garden beautiful. We spend a little time chatting, and then we take a tour of their new community. There is just about every amenity there you could want – indoor and outdoor pools, a banquet facility, a gym, and much more.
We ended the tour at the miniature golf course, where Eilis and Uncle Ted played a quick round of golf. It began getting cold and dark by this time, so we headed back to Aunt Mary’s for a very nice dinner and a lovely evening of conversation and catching up.
Back at the hotel around midnight, we opened the door to see a lovely bouquet of balloons and a goodie bag put together by the Pixie Dust delivery service from The Mouse For Less list that I am on. Guess what? No cake! Jim and Brighid went to the restaurant this morning to check on it, and saw it, and we know of it’s existence. I call immediately to the front desk, and about 30 minutes later, we get a delivery of a cake no where near what we ordered. I phone again to the front desk, and after much pissing and moaning, at pretty darn near 1:30 AM, the correct cake arrives. We sing happy birthday and everyone enjoys a piece of the cake, which revs the kids up just enough to keep the rest of us up until about 3:30. Thank goodness, it’s a sleep in morning tomorrow, too!