Frugal disney mom: The beginning of my trip reports/February THIRD

I have been trying to write up my trip reports and did really well right when we got home but have not done so well since. I figured that I could at least get the first few up. I hope it's okay to do them this way instead of on the group page....

Driving South – we woke up to snow showers but nothing we couldn't handle. The boys got all their travel entertainment in the car and we were on our way!!Were on the thruway by about 7 and despite some yucky weather on I-81, we made awesome time through both NY and PA!! The sun started to come up and the falling snow stopped before we got to Binghamton.

The mountains in PA are so pretty - it's not a bad ride as long as the skies are clear and the wind isn't blowing!!

We were eating lunch in Maryland by 12:30!! I brought lunchmeat and pb&J from home along with sodas and chips so our lunch was free!! We try not to spend anymore than we have to on the trips down and back to make up for the rest of the time in between lol!! We took the risk of driving through DC and the beltways and sailed through without a hitch - those traveling north weren't so fortunate though.. It was getting to be dinner time when we hit North Carolina and we had decided we wanted to eat at Wendy's. One of my fellow co-op moms had told me how awesome their new fries are and I wanted to try them. I have to say that I was not disappointed!! We have tried to stop the McDonald's habit and wanted to avoid it as much as possible on this trip. Andy is a fan of Mickey-D's so I wasn't sure how well this would go over!! Of course, because we were looking for a Wendy's, there weren't any until mile marker 105, I believe!! We waited it out and finally got there. It was in a gas station with a Subway and a huge convenience store and that truck in the photo below.

After we ate, we continued on for another 125 miles or so until we stopped at a Best Western in SC at mile marker 181 – I don't recommend it as a Mickey's Mile Marker!! We got a good price by picking up the book at the Welcome Center, I think we paid $54. The room was nice but their staff was less than friendly and not readily available. THey did have free wifi in the room. The deluxe breakfast that they advertised was less than we hoped for (and we don't hope for much). They had cereal but no milk, lukewarm “grits”, and coffee that looked like amber colored water. The plus side was, we were in SC and there were palm trees outside our window!! Andy described the scene as paradise lol!!

We went from needing heavy sweatshirts, to short sleeves by afternoon on day 1!!
We got up early on the second day and drove the rest of the way through SC and all of GA without stopping – we were at the Florida Welcome Center having free orange juice by 11!! We continued on to our usual stop in St. Augustine for lunch at Sabaro's and a visit to the Disney outlet! I totally forgot to bring our ponchos with us and I hate them anyway. They had a bunch of them in the outlet that were actual jackets but they fold up inside of themselves and have a handle - $7.95 each, down from around $25 or 30, I believe. We grabbed 4 of them and some frames for $1.99 and 3.99 (I always buy last year's frames there, the one that was 1.99 was $19.99!! Andy got some legos of park rides (9.99 down from 19.99) and Austin decided to wait til we get to Downtown Disney to spend any of his money.

We always get a photo beside this fountain at the outlet!

We left the outlet to continue our trek south. We finally arrived in Orlando to 83 degrees!! I booked the mousesavers rate at the Best Western in Downtown Disney. It was a great room!! Queen sized beds, a balcony, fridge, coffeemaker, and a nice big bathroom area!

There is nothing like the feeling we get when we finally see this sign for the first time!!!We went over to Downtown Disney to get it in our system, do a little pin trading, and just take it all in. I am so glad that I got a pin deal off ebay – the boys had the best time trading on this trip!! They got a lot of them that they wanted for a simple trade, instead of $8 - $12 each!! The pin traders store in DD had the board open (the only time we were there for the whole trip that it was open while we were there!!) They each traded for 2 that they wanted and we moved on. For those of you that don't know, you can go in as a family and trade 2 pins or you can go in individually and trade 2 pins each. To me, that was strange but whatever.. We then headed to Walmart to get our snacks for the week, grabbed subs at Subway and brought them back to the room to eat them on the balcony. After dinner we went down to the pool. The water was very warm but it was a cloud free night and 83 degrees dropped pretty quickly so I chickened out and only put my feet in. It was a cold walk back to the room for those that were wet lol!! We went back to the room to try and get to sleep a little early but ended up watching the must dos channel til after 11!!! Why does that channel never get old?

One of my most favorite sights is the Mickey topiary and all of these amazing flower pots!! I love this fountain so very much!!! I even did a photopass picture here where I got Tinkerbell's wings!!!

We found this familiar sight in a new place this year - we assume because they are remodeling Pooh's corner

WOODY!!! How cool is a larger than life Woody made out of legos? We discovered him in the make shift lego store while the real store gets remodeled. I could not stand being in this store - the smell of that plastic top or whatever it is was nauseating to me!!!