It is nap-time on day one at Disney, so I thought I would catch y’all up on what we are doing.It started out innocently enough. Friday night was a late night getting to bed because I needed to get a few things done before leaving for Florida. My parents left to go home after lunch on Friday. After I got home that night, we realized that dad’s camera was still here, but he was long gone. Being a camera oriented person, I knew how he would feel lost come time to use it. I also knew that he would want it for an upcoming trip he was taking. So I headed up to get it shipped out at about 10:30 that night. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing I needed to do. While out to dinner to celebrate my mother-in-laws something birthday, I got a call about my ads that were going out in SHE magazine and Inner Views. I needed to ad some information to it. So while I am up at the studio late at night, I am doing several things that I didn’t think were going to be needed earlier in the day. No real biggie. 11:30, I am done with all that, the car is loaded, full of gas and ready to go to Disney.
DAY 1
We left a day earlier than needed so that we could explore the hotels and get Makgill situated before just going into the parks. GOOD THING! This is where the Clark W. Griswold part of our vacation begins. We are making great time. Linda has brought along headphones and a cd player for Makgill to listen to. He loves it, and looks good listening to it. 
He just looks a little older than 2. And it put him to sleep ;). Clara Beth and Aron are all the way I the back of the van. Clara Beth is asleep and doing great, too. 
Fred and I are amazed by how well the trip is going and start making predictions as to when we will get to GA exit one. Where we are going to get gas and call Abie, my grandfather, to meet him for lunch. Then, I start to hear a little while coming from behind. The right rear tire is going flat! By the time I recognized the sound, the damage is done. Tire is gone and we are going to need to unpack the van on the side of the road. 
Makgill doesn’t care, because it is cool. He is in a stroller on the side of the road watching the big truck go by and watching the van go up in the air. 
I called Abie and let him know we would be late.
Twenty minutes later, (no record pit stop here) the tire is on and the van is repacked. This is when I learned what it is like to be a ninety-something year old driver on I-95. A maximum speed of 50 MPH is a little scary on the highway. The nearest exit with anything to even consider fixing the tire was exit 3, we started at #22. IT TOOK FOREVER TO GET THERE! But he, not far off the highway is a Wal-Mart. No big deal, we will get it fixed and be on the road again soon. Well, Wal-Mart doesn’t carry the tire. But it only took them 25 minutes to figure that out. Across the street we go to another tire store. Advertising the largest tire selection in town things were looking good. The guy checks our tire, and it cannot be fixed. Checks his stock, and the closest tire that will fit is in south Jacksonville, and he could have it here in a few hours. We are headed to Jacksonville to meet Abie, and don‘t want to wait there. We said we would try our luck down the road. The next place says that it is a very new and odd size, but we will try. Wouldn’t you know it, they have one that fits. It is a different brand, but it fits. Makgill thought it was so funny to see our van lifted half way up off the ground to put the tire on. He made noises like the power tools and laughed really hard. There was also a little car that was completely off the ground! 20 more minutes and we are on the road full speed… Until we realize that it is WAY past lunch time and we need to eat before we get to Abie’s house. Call him and let him know that we are eating and will see him in a while. We ate a gross Wendy’s that served dried meats on their sandwiches.
At about 4:00 we made it to see Abie. We had a great visit for about an hour and headed on to Orlando.
Linda had made reservations for us to stay at a hotel in Orlando before going to DW. BIG MISTAKE to do this online. When we got there, two police cars pulled up to the building that we were booed in. Not only that, but they were questioning the people staying in the room four doors down from ours. HHMMM? But, before we learned that, we had to get past the “condemned†tape that was across the left side of the building, the side that our rooms butted up against. Well, once we got across the walkway that felt as though it was about to fall through, we checked out our rooms. Just a hint, when you stay at a hotel like this, ALWAYS!!!!ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check the sheets and blankets that are on the bed…without going into details, we did not stay there any longer. Nor did we take any pictures.
Back in the car, we decided to go ahead and drive to WDW for the night. We found a vacancy at the All Star Pop Century. When you go up to the counter at a Disney resort and say “I need a room for one night…no, I do not have a reservation…†you get a funny sort of look from the people behind the desk. But, they are very helpful. Fred and Linda had a room in one building, and we were six buildings the other way. We dropped them off and headed to our room, The 90’s cell phone building. Makgill loved that. The stairs were behind the phone cover and he wanted to go up the phone, so we did…
Up to the third floor…with all of our bags…we hadn’t had dinner yet…and we were tired…and our key didn’t work!! I called Linda, they had gotten into their room fine. She called the front desk for us and they said someone would be there soon. So, we ate dinner outside of our hotel room door. It consisted of fruit chews, cereal bars, and string cheese. (MMMMMMMMMMMM) When the guy arrived to le us in, we were very relieved to finally be in. But then, just because he must have been able to tell the day we had had, he lectured me on the proper care of the credit card type room key. I could have done without that.
Time for bed, the day is over!
(this was the next morning)
