Disney World Vacation- Day 1

First let me start our vacation blog by explaining what we were going to do on Day 1 (which was our travel day). Our original plan was to get up early (6:30) and leave for Disney World.  We were going to drive down which would take us somewhere between 8-10 hours depending on the kids and the traffic.  Once down there we would check into our first hotel, and then head to Downtown Disney for a fun dinner at Planet Hollywood and little bit of shopping.  Then head to bed to get ready for day 2. 
Well, that's the plan.  Or at least, WAS the plan!

Now, here's what really happened on day 1:

We woke up around 6:30, which was hard since I was up until 1:30am packing.  I had packed most of it earlier in the week, but had some last minute stuff to pack that took a little longer than planned.  Kenny also wanted to get most of the van packed up so we could leave early the next day.

Once up, we got ready, go the kids ready, finished getting everything (according to Kenny it was everything we've ever owned) into the van, and by 8:15am we were off!  The ride started off smooth, and the kids were all settled in.  We figured it would probably take us around 9 hours to get there, and 3 hours into our trip we had almost made it to Savannah, Georgia.  Almost- is the key word there.  We were driving along just fine when all of a sudden our 'Check Engine Soon' light came on and started blinking.  I checked the manual, and of course it said that if the light is ever blinking to pull over and have the engine serviced.  Well, by the time I stopped reading the manual a loud clunking sound started coming from the engine and everything was going crazy.  Luckily was just happened to be by an exit, and we took that and turned into a Home Depot right off the exit.  Once in the parking lot Kenny decided he'd had enough with our van (that's a whole other story that I share on another post) and it was time to buy a new car.  After laughing a little at the timing of it all I completely agreed.  So as I researched the nearest car dealership Kenny spotted a soldier and went to ask him if he knew where we could go.  As fate would have it, the soldier had recently bought 2 new vehicles at a Chevy Dealership down the road.  So, we headed off in the direction of the dealership with the soldier following us in case something happened, and we were able to make it there without breaking "completely" down.
Once at the dealership everything worked out really well, the dealer was great, everyone helped make the kids comfortable, tried really hard to speed things alot since they all knew we were on our way to Disney World.  We were very fortunate to find the perfect vehicle for us.  They had just happened to get a brand new suburban in that morning (it still had the stickers all over it, and only 5 miles).  It was black and had all the little extras we had wanted in a car.  It took a little over 6 hours to get all the paperwork done, unpack the van, repack the suburban, and finalize everything.  By 5:30/6:00 ish we were finally headed on our way to Disney World again!  And this time we were riding in STYLE!

The kids were alot more comfortable, and they were all loving the new tv system compared to our old one!  After our 6 hour delay we figured we would be lucky to make it to Orlando before midnight.  Our kids were great though!  They were amazing sitting around in a dealership all day and then stuck in a car for the rest of the part.  They even allowed us to keep driving on instead of stopping for dinner somewhere.  We powered through and made it to our hotel in Downtown Disney at 10:30pm!  Just in time to see a few fireworks as we pulled in!  It was great!  Most likely the most expensive vacation we will ever go on (if you include the new car)! 

A crazy start to an even more crazy vacation, but one we won't forget!