Saturday, December 14th -
Travel day is upon us. We were up early (as we always are) and had plans for breakfast at home before hitting the road.
First order of business was to locate Mac, our elf on the shelf. Yes, we partake in that fun (or silly, or stupid, or creepy, or ridiculous, or unnecessary, or overachieving, or... or... whatever your take on the elf may be) game.
He had landed right next to Duffy the Disney Bear on top of Daniel's suitcase, clearly indicating that he did not want to be forgotten or left behind.
After cooking, eating, cleaning up, cat-proofing the house, and loading the last of the stuff in the van (whew!) we were on the road before 9am. Not too shabby.
The boys settled in for the drive.
There was much playing of the 3DS going on back there. This was our first long trip without a portable DVD player. I was informed when the last one died that they didn't need anything like that anymore. They are more entertained by music or games now. I kinda miss hearing cartoons, but I guess this is part of the whole growing up thing. Sigh.
We stopped around Macon to fuel up ourselves and the van. After a quick bite at Zaxby's, we crossed the parking lot to fill up at Sam's Club.
That's about 20 cents less than it is at home. Why doesn't this trend head a few hours north? 
Soon we were at the state line and, since there came a request for a bathroom break from the backseat, we stopped at the Florida Welcome Center.
Orange juice always tastes better here, doesn't it? There is just something about that tiny free cup that is super tasty. 
The temperature kept climbing as we headed south and took a real jump once we got out of the rain.
It was 38 degrees and raining when we left home.
This is much better.
Around 5:30pm, we found our arrival night hotel. We usually stay somewhere cheap and close to the parks for our first night. I know in a perfect world I would be able to afford to stay at one hotel for the entire length of our stay, but in the real world where I live and pay the bills I refuse to waste a night of my Disney package on a late arrival where I get no park time. So, we picked a Radisson close to the back entrance to Downtown Disney (just off Hotel Plaza Blvd) where we could stay on reward points. In other words, this was a freebie.
After we checked in and took up our "one night only" suitcase, we went in search of dinner. We wound up at Fuddruckers just a block from our hotel.
Milkshakes for dinner? Sure. It's vacation! Okay, there was actual food that followed the shakes. Give me some credit. How much of the real food they ate after filling up on milkshakes probably cancels that credit out, but still. I did my parental duty and put food in front of them. Where is that Mother of the Year sash when you need it? 
Oh, and there was a guy walking around making balloon animals too.
Again, we're on vacation. Give the guy a couple bucks as a tip and let the boys have... weird twisty balloon swords. I think. Hey, they were happy, so whatever!
We enjoyed our meal and headed back to the hotel to rest and relax. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 9pm, which was a good thing since I planned to have everyone up early enough to switch hotels and still make park opening the next day! 
