timandlesley
<font color=darkorchid>The tag fairy may not but t
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2004
Hello again from the Tim and Lesley crew!!! If you havent read our trip reports before (Ive been writing them on here since the kids were itty bitty) please check out some of the links in my signature.
The cast of characters are myself (Lesley) and my amazing husband (Tim) and our two Disney obsessed children who are growing up WAY to fast for my taste: Luke (11) and Lauren (8) .
This trip did not start off as planned AT ALL. Im a teacher and Tim is a substitute in my building so we couldnt leave until Friday after school. We had the car all packed up and we headed out with Disney on our minds from our Northern Cincinnati home and were prepared for a LONG drive. It was raining and the highway was PACKED with Spring Break travelers. We made it about an hour into Kentucky and the rain was heavy, Tim was only going about 40 mph in the fast lane and he said OH MY GOD! and the car hydroplaned and we CRASHED hard into the car in the center lane causing us to do a 180 facing oncoming traffic and CRASHING into the median wall and Tim screamed God help us! I remember looking down at my feet and thinking we are going to die not knowing what car would slam into us from the oncoming traffic. The airbags deployed and Tim and I screamed as they came flying out at us. Ive never had airbags deploy but when they do they SMOKE and it smells like an intense burning smell. Luke from the backseat started screaming THE CAR IS ON FIRE!! That sent me into a panic thinking the car was going to blow up so I quickly tried to exit the vehicle and I had a hard time since my door was smashed against the median wall. I managed to squeeze out and in my panic, tried to get the kids out of the backseat and I slammed my finger in the door, OUCH! All of a sudden we were standing SAFELY on the side of the road in the pouring rain. There were amazing caring individuals seeing if we were o.k. and helping us calm the kids down. I kept saying its a miracle, the Lord protected us I couldnt believe we were o.k.!!! They shut the highway down, EMS and fire arrived and before I knew it we were on the side of the road watching it all happen:
The first words out of Laurens mouth was how are we going to get to Disney???
We made a ton of calls to insurance from the back of the police cruiser and we found out we could get a rental at the Cincinnati airport. The cop took us to the McDonalds and our brother n law came to pick us up. We sat at McDonalds in shock as we waited for my brother n law to arrive, we called loved ones and reported in, still so shaken up. I realized I had a big bruise on my arm from the seatbelt and my finger was really beaten up but we were o.k. There were some tears shed in that McDonalds as we held one another close, we knew this would be a Disney vacation like no other because were so so THANKFUL to be alive. Luke (MY BOY) looked up at me and said mom, just like the quote from Meet the Robinsons and Walt Disney, we just have to KEEP MOVING FORWARD!! I love that boy, soooooooooo true and so we did!
We got the rental car (after waiting for a while for my brother n law and the long drive back to the airport). Once we got it we had to drive a ways to the tow yard to get all of the stuff from our old car for the trip. I snapped a few photos of the car as Tim packed stuff into our new rental vehicle:
My view from inside the car:
When we got into the car and took off the song on the radio was Stayin Alive, UNBELIEVABLE, we all sang along loudly : )
We only drove for about 3 hours which took us until 2 a.m. and we stopped at a hotel in Tennessee. We woke up early the next morning and got in the car prepared for a LONG day in the car with Disney on our minds. We crossed the Florida line and we were SO excited!!
We stopped at the Florida visitors center for our free orange and grapefruit juice samples, it never tasted so good.
Around dinner time we were in Orlando and we all had smiles plastered on our faces:
We couldnt believe we WERE HERE!!!!!!
For this trip I had won a two night stay from my travel agency for being top agent in a sales contest and we could pick from any Disney hotel, we chose the Grand Floridian since we had never stayed there before and had always wanted to. We made our way through those beautiful gates to the Grand Floridian hotel:
We checked in and were told our room was in Boca Chica and a nice guy from Bell Services showed us the way with our luggage and while he unloaded everything from the luggage cart to the golf cart we checked out the beautiful beach area:
We made it to our room:
The room was beautiful:
I hadnt done a lot of research on the room and was pleasantly surprised to be reminded they had a trundle bed, the kids were thrilled theyd have their own sleeping space:
Luke was thrilled they had a phone in the bathroom:
Our view from the balcony (they were setting up for the evening movie by the pool):
Again, we were just SO happy to be there!!!
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!
The cast of characters are myself (Lesley) and my amazing husband (Tim) and our two Disney obsessed children who are growing up WAY to fast for my taste: Luke (11) and Lauren (8) .
This trip did not start off as planned AT ALL. Im a teacher and Tim is a substitute in my building so we couldnt leave until Friday after school. We had the car all packed up and we headed out with Disney on our minds from our Northern Cincinnati home and were prepared for a LONG drive. It was raining and the highway was PACKED with Spring Break travelers. We made it about an hour into Kentucky and the rain was heavy, Tim was only going about 40 mph in the fast lane and he said OH MY GOD! and the car hydroplaned and we CRASHED hard into the car in the center lane causing us to do a 180 facing oncoming traffic and CRASHING into the median wall and Tim screamed God help us! I remember looking down at my feet and thinking we are going to die not knowing what car would slam into us from the oncoming traffic. The airbags deployed and Tim and I screamed as they came flying out at us. Ive never had airbags deploy but when they do they SMOKE and it smells like an intense burning smell. Luke from the backseat started screaming THE CAR IS ON FIRE!! That sent me into a panic thinking the car was going to blow up so I quickly tried to exit the vehicle and I had a hard time since my door was smashed against the median wall. I managed to squeeze out and in my panic, tried to get the kids out of the backseat and I slammed my finger in the door, OUCH! All of a sudden we were standing SAFELY on the side of the road in the pouring rain. There were amazing caring individuals seeing if we were o.k. and helping us calm the kids down. I kept saying its a miracle, the Lord protected us I couldnt believe we were o.k.!!! They shut the highway down, EMS and fire arrived and before I knew it we were on the side of the road watching it all happen:
The first words out of Laurens mouth was how are we going to get to Disney???
We made a ton of calls to insurance from the back of the police cruiser and we found out we could get a rental at the Cincinnati airport. The cop took us to the McDonalds and our brother n law came to pick us up. We sat at McDonalds in shock as we waited for my brother n law to arrive, we called loved ones and reported in, still so shaken up. I realized I had a big bruise on my arm from the seatbelt and my finger was really beaten up but we were o.k. There were some tears shed in that McDonalds as we held one another close, we knew this would be a Disney vacation like no other because were so so THANKFUL to be alive. Luke (MY BOY) looked up at me and said mom, just like the quote from Meet the Robinsons and Walt Disney, we just have to KEEP MOVING FORWARD!! I love that boy, soooooooooo true and so we did!
We got the rental car (after waiting for a while for my brother n law and the long drive back to the airport). Once we got it we had to drive a ways to the tow yard to get all of the stuff from our old car for the trip. I snapped a few photos of the car as Tim packed stuff into our new rental vehicle:
My view from inside the car:
When we got into the car and took off the song on the radio was Stayin Alive, UNBELIEVABLE, we all sang along loudly : )
We only drove for about 3 hours which took us until 2 a.m. and we stopped at a hotel in Tennessee. We woke up early the next morning and got in the car prepared for a LONG day in the car with Disney on our minds. We crossed the Florida line and we were SO excited!!
We stopped at the Florida visitors center for our free orange and grapefruit juice samples, it never tasted so good.
Around dinner time we were in Orlando and we all had smiles plastered on our faces:
We couldnt believe we WERE HERE!!!!!!
For this trip I had won a two night stay from my travel agency for being top agent in a sales contest and we could pick from any Disney hotel, we chose the Grand Floridian since we had never stayed there before and had always wanted to. We made our way through those beautiful gates to the Grand Floridian hotel:
We checked in and were told our room was in Boca Chica and a nice guy from Bell Services showed us the way with our luggage and while he unloaded everything from the luggage cart to the golf cart we checked out the beautiful beach area:
We made it to our room:
The room was beautiful:
I hadnt done a lot of research on the room and was pleasantly surprised to be reminded they had a trundle bed, the kids were thrilled theyd have their own sleeping space:
Luke was thrilled they had a phone in the bathroom:
Our view from the balcony (they were setting up for the evening movie by the pool):
Again, we were just SO happy to be there!!!
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!
So glad you all came out of that ok and were able to get on with your trip! The GF is a great place to recover though. Looking forward to reading more!
I can't even imagine. Thank goodness you were all ok and able to get on your way relatively quickly. I have to admit a little chuckle escaped when I heard Lauren's reaction was "how are we getting to Disney?" and wow, talk about some sage advice from Luke with "keep moving forward." 
