Mickeystoontown's Cheers to 40 years! 18 days, 10 park days, 2 parties and a lot of fun! Updated 3/3 x 2

[mickeystoontown]

Welcome to the Mickeystoontown's Cheers to 40 Years! Trip Report

Hey! I'm me...I'm Lisa, writer of oodles of trip reports. As I was finishing up my last trip report, I noticed last week that my avatar had changed to Dis Legend. Yay me! How cool is that? I joined back in October of 2006! Dang, that's a long time ago. Over the years, I'm made so many friends on the Dis. I've had meet up with some of y'all and even had a few people who came to my hometown look me up so we could meet one another. I've had people recognize me and my family while at Disney and stop me to say hi. I love that. I love knowing that my trip reports aren't just me rambling but that people really like them. I remember one year that Mama traveled with us a family stopped and said hello and it kinda sorta freaked Mama out until I told her that everyone liked to read about the adventures she shared with us.

Let me tell you about us and then I'll move on from there.
First, there's me. I'm Lisa, a stodgy paralegal by day and a rip roaring fun person outside of the law office. If I'm not sliding down stair rails


I'm trying to ride Pumba for 8 seconds:



As you can see, I like having a good time and try not to take things too seriously. After years of helping others book and plan their trips, I decided to take the leap of faith and become a travel advisor myself. That was eight years ago and I am so glad that I took that leap. I get so much satisfaction from that career.

Next, we have John. He's one of the hardest workers that I know. He would work from sun up to sun down if he could (and often does). He is a cabinet maker by trade and a putter upper with me by day and night. John likes to pretend that he is just a tough old country guy and he is, but he is also one of the funniest people I know.




And one of our silly pictures together:


Maybe I should show you a good picture of us so you know that we really do clean up well




I guess I need to give you a little more background on our Disney history. Our first trip was in 1998. We were planning a week long trip to Florida and, us being the dumb and naive people that we were, said "if we are going to Florida, we may as well go to Disney". Like it was just a hop, skip and a jump from the Florida/Alabama State lines. Back then, you had to read actual books and maps to get information on a destination and how to get there. The internet wasn't as big of a deal as it is now. I mean, there was some information but not like it is now.

Our son, Hunter, turned one during our first Walt Disney World vacation and our daughter, Lacey, rode her first real rollercoaster that year. We never knew that we would get bitten by the Disney bug so hard and that we'd return time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and
time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and
time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Didn't count the "time"s? There's 32! This was our 32nd trip to Walt Disney World. Even now that our kids are grown, we still go to Disney without them because we love everything about it.


My favorite park is Magic Kingdom
My favorite character is Tinkerbell with a close second being Trixie of the Country Bears
My favorite classic attraction is Haunted Mansion
My favorite new attraction is Guardians of the Galaxy
My favorite snack is Dole Whip
My favorite restaurant is The Boathouse


John's favorite park is a toss up between Hollywood Studios and Epcot
John's favorite character is Big Al....definitely not Stitch. He can't stand him.
John's favorite classic attraction is Carrousel of Progress
John's favorite new attraction is Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
John's favorite snack is Dole Whip
John's favorite restaurant is LeCellier


This, our 32nd trip to Walt Disney World would include:
18 days (including drive time)
10 days in the parks
4 or was it 5 nothing planned but eating days
2 Christmas parties

Oh and our daughter, Lacey, would fly down and spend a few days with us at our most favorite place on Earth. If you are ready, hop in, sit down, and hang on because a Mickeystoontown trip report is always a crazy ride!




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[mickeystoontown]

Saved for links

 

[erinch]

Fist in! Wahoo!
You joined October of 2026. That is long ago! So long that it feels like the future!

 

[dizneeat]

I am here! Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[Bethislucy]

yay ready for another report

 

[mickeystoontown]

Fist in! Wahoo!
You joined October of 2026. That is long ago! So long that it feels like the future!

Oh my heavens! Thanks for catching that typo and congrats on being first!

I am here! Can't wait to read all about it!

Hey Karin! Thanks for coming along!

yay ready for another report

Yay! You are here!

 

[Noreen411]

Hi. Can’t wait to read all about it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Working on projects before we leave!

On one of our road trips, we saw a car with a sign in the back saying it was their honeymoon and to celebrate with them. I thought it was kinda neat so we set about making our own sign on November 10th which was the Sunday of our departure week. I pulled out the cute Mickey and Minnie themed letters and the laminator and got started. Don't pay attention to the messiness in the corner. I was pulling out things for our trip and making stacks here and there and then here again.




We put the letters onto a large piece of plastic and John got in the back of the car to attach it to the back glass.







Almost done. You can't see if very good because it was dark but we eventually got it attached.



I had a friend and client who were going to be at Disney the same time we were there and they had breakfast at Crystal Palace. I made them all ears to wear to breakfast. There's a pair representing Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.



Those two projects were finished on Sunday which was good because we both had to work on Veterans Day as well as Tuesday and Wednesday. Plus, I was going to see Mama almost every day while she was in the nursing home so I knew that I wouldn't have much time in the evenings to get stuff done.

On the morning of Veterans Day, I posted this on Facebook thanking all who had served.



I worked hard all day long as did John. He decided to meet me at the nursing home so that he could see Mama before we left. We were so thankful for the staff there. They treated Mama as if she were family. They would take her outside to see the ducks on the pond and the little flower garden in the back.



Mama was always so glad to see us because she didn't remember when anyone visited. So, to her, she felt like she had been alone there for hours and hours. It was always so hard to leave but I knew that we must. Sorry, y'all, this isn't what a trip report is about. Let me move on to better things.

We stopped and picked up something to eat on the way home because it was time to do some serious packing. By 11:00 p.m., I had three large bags done. The pink ribbons meant they contained my stuff and the white was John's. Don't be fooled people! There was still more of John's to pack. Even though he isn't a fashionista, he does like options when it comes to his shoes. He and I have every color Converse they make (well almost) and he was having a hard time picking out what pairs to take.



In addition to the bags above, I still had to deal with this conglomeration of stuff:



What is all that? The purple bag on the right is our snack bag that I keep in the car for our picnic lunch and then in the room so that we aren't having to purchase chips, mints, etc. while were are at the resort. What else? Let's play I SPY. I spy with my little eye: 1) an extra belt; 2) a Santa Mickey ear hat; 3) a knee brace; 4) a water bottle; 5) two boxes of magic bands; 6) extra cardigans; 7) a stack of ponchos. Just general "we may need it" stuff that I needed to put somewhere.

**Up next: Peace out!​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Peace out!

November 12th was just another work day and I found out that I would have to appear and testify in court on a matter for our office. It wasn't anything bad, actually something really stupid and needless. A client's husband was trying to get us off a case...again, just something stupid. I didn't really care other than I had to spend the day prepping for court and busting my buns off to get everything done that I was going to do the morning of our departure day. I was also worried that court would last past noon and then I'd be pissed because I was supposed to leave early afternoon. Oh well, if it ain't one thing, it is another. We all know that.

I worked hard. John worked hard at his job. I went to see Mama on my way home and we ate sandwiches for dinner so we could finish things up around the house. I didn't have a lot to do vacation-wise but I did want to make sure that I left instructions for our 30 chickens, cat, and two dogs. I also had a schedule made for someone to go see Mama at least every other day. At this point, the visits were only a temporary comfort for her as she would forget that we had been there not more than ten or fifteen minutes after we left. Even still, I wanted someone visiting her often especially since we would be gone and I was the one going the most.

I remember going to bed at a decent time which, for John and I meant, before 11:00 p.m. We had everything except for the snack tote, ice chest and backpack in the car. We were ready to go as soon as the two of us got off work the next day.

November 13th rolled around and it was our get the heck out of Dodge day. John went to work at 6:00 a.m. I got to work at 8:00 and was at the courthouse at 9:00 waiting to see how long this shindig was going to last. We sat and waited and then sat and waited some more when the Judge decided to talk with the attorneys in Chambers. Not long after, we were released to go. The opposing party had to admit that they had done everything just to be pester our client. Yay Judge for making them admit that.

Back at the office, I started making sure everything was done, I had notes on files that I was waiting on documents from clients, people knew how to get into my computer, etc. My boss kept telling me in front of the other bosses to stop and get out of there. I had a trip to take. At 12:42, I was out of there and on my way to the house. Peace out work! (yep, it was misting rain)






Oh I forgot to tell you that John had finished up his main project at his work so he left work a little after 10:00 a.m. He was showered and dressed by the time I got there. Once I got home, I changed out of my dress clothes and changed into my comfy driving clothes. In the meantime, John put the overnight bag and snack tote into the car. I put the sandwich fixings and other stuff in the small ice chest and, by 1:50, we were outta here! Annnnd, we went a whole 2 miles and had to stop for ice and John's tobacco.
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Purchases made and we really were outta here!



**UP next: Road trip!




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[Counting Stars]

Looks like the beginnings of a really great report! Looking forward to hearing more- I really love taking longer trips when we are able. its so nice to settle in and truly relax.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Yay another report! Can’t wait to read all about your trip!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Woo hoo! Another road trip report. Can't wait to hear all about it. I realize your trip is much longer than mine, but it is good to find another person who packs so much stuff. People are always telling me I over pack. I say a girl needs options.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hi. Can’t wait to read all about it.

Thanks for joining!

Looks like the beginnings of a really great report! Looking forward to hearing more- I really love taking longer trips when we are able. its so nice to settle in and truly relax.

Yes! I like the longer trips too! I save up all my vacation time and use it all at once.

Yay another report! Can’t wait to read all about your trip!

Hey! Welcome to the newest report!

Woo hoo! Another road trip report. Can't wait to hear all about it. I realize your trip is much longer than mine, but it is good to find another person who packs so much stuff. People are always telling me I over pack. I say a girl needs options.

Oh I am an overpacker extraordinaire! You never know what the weather will be like so I take shorts, capris, jeans, cardigans, hoodies, all the stuff!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Road trip!

The weather varied from misting rain to rain showers to hard rain. I felt like I was Forest Gump with all the different kinds of rain. We drove across the top of Louisiana and made it to Vicksburg, Mississippi which was about 80 miles from our house. You can see the cloudy sky. Yuck! At least it wasn't storming at this point.





Just a few minutes later, we received the official welcome to Mississippi. Squinch your eyes and you'll see the print on the sign:



Ready to squinch again? Over to our left, we passed by a sports stadium near Jackson, Mississippi that looks like the top of Spaceship Earth.



Around 6:00 p.m. or so, we stopped somewhere, I don't know exactly where, and got gas. I hate it when they ask if you want a receipt and there's no receipt paper. You know good and darn well they know there's no paper so why even ask me. I took a picture of the screen so I could check the charge to my credit card later.



Yep, I was right, it was a little after 6:00 p.m.





When I left work, we were at 22128 so we had traveled approximately 250 miles so far.


It was too dark to take any pictures at this point and we were busy following what Mapquest was telling us to do when we approached the Mobile area. As you may recall from an earlier trip report, the highway that we usually took entering Mobile was done away with and we entered a different way. We also went around the tunnel now and through an industrial type area. Before getting up onto I-10, we went under one bridge, around another way and then up a ramp. The Mapquest Siri told us that there was a warning/danger zone ahead and to take caution. What it didn't tell us was that water from the Gulf/Bay was covering the roadway. We had no choice but to drive through it and up the ramp. Kinda creepy.

Anyway, we stopped at a rest area somewhere between Pensacola and Crestview, Florida which was our stopping point for the day. At some point, the squirty cheese and crackers were taken out of the snack bag and John got busy making us a snack to hold us over until we stopped for the evening.



Continued in next post...I've reached my picture limit


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[mickeystoontown]

Road trip! continued
and
Get in Loser, We're going on a Madventure!

The rest of the drive to Crestview was uneventful and we were thankful for that. We were in Crestview before 9:00 p.m. which was stopping really early for us because we normally drive until at least Midnight or later. We both said that we had wished that we had chosen to drive further but we had a reservation in Crestview so we really didn't have a choice. Had we known that we were both going to get to leave work earlier than expected, we would have moved the reservation to another hotel further down I10. Oh well, it was what it was.

Before checking in at the Country Inn, we found a Whataburger nearby.




I took a quick picture of the Room Fee Notice that was in the room. People would be stupid to take any of these items from the room and I'm sure that's why they had these little signs in the room.


We went to bed early and said that we were going to sleep until whenever so that we would be well rested. We were only halfway to Disney so we still had another 400+ miles to cover.

When I woke up, I checked my emails to make sure my clients were okay. Of course, I had to look at the app because today was the day. Today, we would be at Walt Disney World!




We showered and dressed for the drive. I had found this cute shirt on Etsy and thought it would be cute to wear on our road trips.



We were both ready to start out madventure so we grabbed the overnight suitcase, backpack and did our final check of the room.




We normally don't eat breakfast in the hotels but we saw that it wasn't busy so we made a small plate for each of us.

The breakfast would tide us over until we stopped for our picnic lunch. We checked out and thanked the staff for another good stay. Country Inn isn't anything super fancy but it's always clean, it's conveniently located and the price is good.

Oh and it's close to restaurants and gas stations. Another picture of the pump because, you guessed it, no receipt paper and we were ready to go so no going in to get a paper receipt.



Continued in next post: Get in Loser, We're going on a Madventure!
​

 

[nascargirl]

Yay Another trip report. Looking forward to your new adventure

 

[DL1WDW2]

Let’s all send Cheers to 40 Years !

 

[mickeystoontown]

Get in Loser, We're going on a Madventure!

I took a quick picture of the time and the odometer because, again, I like knowing how far we have gone and how much longer we have to go. Plus, it helps me when I am writing my trip report. We said our prayer for safe travels and were on our way again.



We had traveled 400+ miles on our first day and we had that many more to go.



The weather was about the same. Rain off


And on


It was a long and boring ride but that was okay because our destination would be anything but boring! The time changed as we neared Tallahassee and it bumped ahead an hour. I can't remember where we were exactly but around 12:45, we stopped for our picnic lunch. We both took a restroom break first and then drove to the back of the rest area where the picnic tables were.

Notice the Easter plates? They were leftover plates and I was recycling them. I mean, you can't let perfectly good platter type plates go to waste! Ham sandwiches, chips and bean dip were on the menu. Exciting stuff huh? LOL





As we were eating, John called and checked on his Mama and Daddy. His dad had recently finished his cancer treatments and had been feeling a bit under the weather. They aren't the kind of people who want you checking in on them too often but we did anyway. It was pretty damp feeling outside so lunch wasn't a leisurely one. We ate, packed everything up, and made another walk to the restrooms so that we wouldn't have to stop for a while.

We got back on the Interstate and started driving again. At 2:33 p.m., I got this text.



Just minutes later, we saw the sign indicating we were nearing I75 and we'd start the drive down the State of Florida.




I hate I75. Just hate it. The semi trucks are supposed to use the two right lanes only and there was one that was going through all three lanes willy nilly. Like he didn't have a care in the world. Idiot! I am sure that we took a break at a rest area (or two knowing me) to stretch our legs and take a tinkle break. I have no picture proof though. Nothing to show the rest of I75, side highways or Hwy. 192 and the first Disney World sign. Guess you'll just have to take my word for it. Soon, very soon, we'd be at our home away from home.



**Up next: Hello! We're home!​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hello! We're home!

I really should check John's phone to see if he took pictures because I really can't see me letting us go through the gorgeous Walt Disney World arch without taking a picture or video or both. Once we are on Disney property, I never follow the map app directions. They take you all around the world and I like to go one particular way. The way that we have always gone to Caribbean Beach Resort, down Buena Vista Drive. I want to see the Swan and Dolphin, the signs to the parks, the Skyliner. I want to see as much as I can and suck in that Disney feeling.

We turned when we saw the signs to Caribbean Beach, Pop Century and Art of Animation and took a left into the gates of Caribbean Beach. I had gotten a text saying our room was ready and I knew that it was a 5th sleeper which would be fine since I needed a room with two queens. Sometimes Disney will give a couple an "upgrade" to a king bed room but, with Lacey coming later in the trip, we needed two beds. Before taking all of our things from the car, we wanted to check out the room.
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Hello, We're home! continued in next post
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[mickeystoontown]

Hello! We're home! continued

Everything in the room seemed to be fine. It was clean and stocked. Let's move in! And move in we did. I am such an overpacker! As we were putting things in the drawers, we realized that one of the drawers under the 5th sleeper wasn't working right. The cabinet maker in John wanted to fix it but I told him it wasn't his job. So, we called maintenance and they said they'd send someone to fix it. In the meantime, we were getting hungry. We needed food! Disney food! We look tired in this next picture and we were but it was a good tired. We were back at our home away from home and it felt so good!
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Hum, I see John's grilled platter in the back but I didn't take a a picture. I had the jerk chicken salad whichwas much better than it looks. It was very good.


For desserts, we got the brownie sundae and one of the Christmas themed ice cream desserts.





We hung out in the food court for a while. We called the kids and let them know that we made it alright. I text my sister too and she said that she was going to see Mama the next day. Again, we were just taking in the Disney vibe.

Once we were done and thought that maintenance had had enough time to fix the drawer, we made our way back to the room and, sure enough, the drawer was in working order. We finished unpacking and decorated our room window.





I thought that it turned out pretty cute.

**Up next: This place is a-Blaze-ing!​