Road Trip! Jan @ MK...

[wewantsdaredhead]

Well, we were trying to figure out what to do after a company gathering when they usually let you go a little early on a Friday...
Someone suggested WDW---what a glorious idea!
We live in NC and it shows exactly 600 miles on googlemaps--hmm that's 10 hours. 10 down, one day at MK, 10 back.
One guy offered to drive and said we could make it in 9. Hmmm this was sounding better and better.
Another co-worker offered up his hotel points so the stay would be free.
That was the clincher...
So:
Who: 5 guys from NC (We all work together) Two of us are vets/pros and the others haven't been since there was only two parks.
When: Jan 23, 2010
Where: The happiest place on Earth... MK!
The Plan: Leave around 3-4 after we get turned loose from work, drive all the way with one gas/potty break. Hit the MK all day on Saturday (9a-10p). Head back early Sunday. Sure we would be tired on Monday--but wouldn't it be worth it?!!

What Happened:

We got out of the meeting around 3, but we had to go pick up one guy who wasn't involved in the meeting who wanted to go, so we really weren't "on the road" in earnest until 3:30. 9 hours should put us in at 12:30!
After a (thankfully) uneventful trip, we rolled up to the hotel (605 miles away) at 12:15--most excellent. Some of us slept the whole way, and some of us needed to sleep as soon as we plopped down in the bed. (I was one of the latter.)
We set alarms for 7:00--my plan was to get up, take advantage of the warm and complimentary (!) breakfast buffet and leave by 7:30--be at the TTC by 8:00 and waiting at the rope drop at 8:30.
Well, guess what---it all worked out!
Some of us were "too excited to sleep" and got up early--getting the whole room moving a little early.
We immediately rode SM twice and hit everything in Tomorrowland.
We walked on Buzz and as soon as we sat down in the omnimover, it died...We sat for every bit of 5 mins--I could see the line backing up!!!
Then we went over and checked out Mickey and his house. We all had our picture taken with him.
We made our way to Fantasyland where one guy had to spend $8.50 on a box of Sudafed (sinus issues).
We visited a few attractions there and I was starving, so we popped into the Columbia Harbor House for some fried yumminess...
We made our way over to POC and it was closed for "Technical Problems."
So we wandered to the JC and after seeing the 60 min wait we grabbed some FP and made our way around to finish up the FL attractions.
We also did HM with a 30 min wait--it turned out to be just a bit longer...we got to the doors and stopped and waited and waited. Apparently some more technical difficulties. Then we got just to where you load in your Doom Buggy and the ride stopped again. It was about a 3 minutes wait. Hmmmm.
It was about this time that someone suggested a beer and after some quick thinking I suggested we hop on the monorail for a cold one at the Contemporary. I was sure they had to have a bar there, but I never stayed there. Everyone agreed and off we went.
Well, the bar was closed but we bought some $5.95 beers from the restaurant and chatted with a super funny CM working the register.
We kicked our feet up in the bar area and after about 15 mins, we were refreshed and ready to tackle the "rest" of MK.
Monorail back (we were all too tired of walking to hoof it back) and we only missed about 45 mins of park time.
We hit all of our "must sees" (probably the same as most peoples must sees) and moseyed over to BTMRR and saw a 70 min wait--Yikes!! FP all around.
We attempted to ride POC, but it was just closed with more difficulties. Arghh! I knew it wasn't good when people were going the wrong way in the queue.
So we went on JC and then BTMRR. I think we finished up FL with SWSA.
We ate at Pecos Bills and the delicious Fixins` Bar.
We attempted POC one more time and it was open with a 30 min wait posted. I was biting my nails the whole time hoping it wouldn't go down. Success!!
We headed over to TL to see if SM had a low wait time so we could ride it and then see Wishes---80 mins--no thanks.
So we rode the TTA (the Wedway to me) and saw Mike and his Monsters, Inc crew--always funny. By then it was 7:45, so we stopped on the bridge and watched Tink do her thing (always amazes me) and the awesome show (Illuminations is better, but this works also). I always choke up a little and get goosebumps when the Fairy Godmother talks...
Then we got stuck on the bridge with about 3,000,000 other people, none of whom knew which way to go...it took about 15 mins to get to Main St where we wanted to do a little shopping (and I wanted to pick up some Corn Dog Nuggets!)
I bought my wife some pants and some candy and reluctantly, we left.
We spent 12.5 hours (less the beer break) in the MK.

We got home even quicker and we were all whooped.
It was well worth it--it scratched my itch until our family trip in April.
We hit all of our must-dos and then some. We saw Mickey and gave him High Fives.
Some of us spent less than $200--I went over that a little bit with the gifts for my wife, but not by much...

What a great trip---thanks for reading.

[mindflipper]

Boy, did you get a lot done, travel time aside! I am a day-tripper too, but my distance is far shorter than yours - 2-3 hours depending upon traffic on I95 and I4. It allows to skip getting hotel room, travel down early in the morning, do the park, travel back late at night (imbide plenty of caffeine for the return trip).

[theBIGyowski]

That is awesome!

I wish I had a group of friends who would just drive down to WDW at the drop of a hat. I'm between 9 and 10 hours from WDW here in Birmingham, AL. That would be so much fun going down there like that. I did something similar when some buddies of mine and I went down to Daytona for the Pepsi 400.

[wewantsdaredhead]

Mindflipper: Yes, we did get a lot done--the lines were OK and we made the best of FP. We left there with no regrets that we missed something...

theBIG: It was fun--we just got lucky that we founf enough to make it all worth it (splitting gas, etc)

Good times!

[cccmouse]

Thanks for the detailed report. I also live in NC but have never done the whole round trip adventure in a single weekend. Sounds like it was a blast. Hopefully that will hold you over until your family trip in April. Smart move with the gifts for the wife.

[Len90]

Wow that is an impressive trip report. It is great to see that the group all pooled thoughts together to get a free hotel, split the gas, and make it 600 miles in under 9 hours (maybe a little speeding ). Sounds like you all really made the most of your day at the Magic Kingdom. I wonder what is going on with POTC. Seems like most of the recent reports that I have read mention Pirates being down. Have they forgotten to say goodnight to George?

Great job with getting up early to be at the park for the rope drop. You definitely made the best of the first hour or so after the park opened!

I look forward to reading your report after your April family trip.

[timekeeper]

Man, I wish we lived close enough to do that. Sounds like a fun trip!

[MmeLeota]

What a great trip! Sounds like you had a blast!

My DH and I did something similar in October (although we're closer to CA). A friend of his was going on a last minute trip to Orange County and asked if we wanted to go. My DH's first response was only if you drop us off in Anaheim! Sure enough, we got home from work, quickly booked a hotel room, packed a few things and we were off! We didn't get home til 1am Monday morning...and we had to be at work at 9...oh well! It made for a memorable trip!

[wewantsdaredhead]

Len: yes, we really got a lot done first thing. Then it really jammed up as everyone tried to get through FL.

MmeLeota: I would do it again this weekend---that's how much I enjoyed it!

TK: It was--and I agree-michigan is too far to do it over a weekend w/o flying---anyone have any free miles??!

[NaCler]

wewantsdaredhead - Don't know why I never commented on this one... That was awesome. Just like something that I would do. In fact, when we went down in May we drove roughly 30 hours for a mere 36 hours in the parks. It's all worth the time and effort when you have a satisfying trip like that. Next time you guys do it, you better pm me. I'll drive the 2 hours down to NC to hop on the guy bus for the weekend trip!

[wewantsdaredhead]

wewantsdaredhead - Don't know why I never commented on this one... That was awesome. Just like something that I would do. In fact, when we went down in May we drove roughly 30 hours for a mere 36 hours in the parks. It's all worth the time and effort when you have a satisfying trip like that. Next time you guys do it, you better pm me. I'll drive the 2 hours down to NC to hop on the guy bus for the weekend trip!

You can count on it----and yes, it was an awesome time.
I think you have us beat with the craziness factor---thats a lot of time in the car for a short time at the park (but it's so worth it isn't it??!!)

[Amy]

Wow, just now saw this ~ what an awesome weekend with a great group of co-workers. I'm not sure I have ever worked with some people that I would want to be in a car with for that many hours though much less spend an entire weekend with
Whirlwind trip = awesome fun-ness = much envy here in Michigan!

[wewantsdaredhead]

We do have a pretty tight Team in our Department.
We could have filled two cars, but not everyone is as Disney-fied as the two 'instigators' on this trip (yours truly being one of the two)