A seed was planted and here’s what grew....Magical Memories About This Page:

[CinderAbby]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Yes, it was a rough trip home but looking back on it, I wonder if it was so rough because we literally went right from the magic back to reality with Abby "losing" the postcard and everyone getting upset. There was no in between time to slowly work into reality - which for us is the time spent travelling. We usually spend the driving and train time talking about everything we had done and thinking about what we would do on a return trip and neither of those happened this time. I think the big reason why we didn't is because it was depressing to think that it would be at least 2012 before we could even think of a return vacation. And after 3 years in a row, to wait 2 years seemed like an eternity at the time (it's not much better now but at least we're having fun watching the progress of Fantasyland and the Art of Animation resort).

[CinderAbby]

Friday August 20th

I actually slept in this day and woke up at 8 am. It was the latest I had slept all vacation and I was tired but I got up and started cleaning the room right away. Even though we had a wonderful Disney vacation, I wanted to be home and I couldn’t wait to get there. Once everyone was up and everything was back in the truck, we headed to the lobby for the continental breakfast. The employee who sets up this one puts out quite a spread. There was fruit, coffee, juice, hot chocolate, sausages and hard boiled eggs over in the corner. On the counter in the middle there was waffles, breads, English muffins, bagels, small doughnuts, flavored breads and pound cakes, Danish, cereals and yogurt. And he was really hustling to keep it filled as there were quite a few people there at that time. I was kind of insulted when he got mad at us for not using the non-stick spray on the waffle iron but the can wasn’t where it should have been (courtesy of another guest) and in all the other Comfort Inns we’ve been in, there was never a need to spray it first. He walked away muttering our waffle was going to stick and make a mess but my thought was yeah, right. I don’t think so. Our waffle finished and as I thought, it didn’t stick and was a beautiful golden brown. Abby proceeded to put syrup on it for Lenny as she changed her mind and didn’t want it and I grabbed a yogurt for myself. Abby had some eggs for breakfast and part of a bagel. And as we sat there eating, we noticed how everyone else around us were making messes and leaving them for the employee to clean up. And worse, not a single one of them tipped the guy. I felt bad but it certainly explained why he seemed so stressed and upset. Maybe we’re just different, but we feel the people who keep the continental breakfasts going deserve a tip just as much as the housekeepers for the rooms upstairs or even a server at a restaurant so as we were finishing up, Lenny called him over and handed him his tip (we wanted to make sure that HE got it). You wouldn’t believe the smile he gave us. It was like that simple little gesture made his day. We even popped our heads into his little kitchen area and said our thank you and goodbyes to him as we were leaving.

Even though I didn’t need to, I went to the counter and left our keys so they knew we were leaving and we all got back into the van for the very last leg of our journey. It was 9:45 and if all went according to plan, we would be home around 3 or so. We didn’t really have any traffic trouble with the exception of Lenny. He was just so anxious to get home and stop driving that as he drove, he was a jerk. I asked him to stop driving like an idiot but he just kept ignoring me. It got to the point that my stomach knotted up and I had to take one of my nausea pills. Once I did he started to calm down some because he knew it was his fault I felt the way I did. We were finally in our home state of Massachusetts about 1:10 and it was at that point in time we decided to stop for some lunch. Not knowing how the traffic would actually be on our last two stretches of highway before home, we felt it better to stop than to try and wait it out and hope we didn’t get hungry.

We stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Sturbridge and despite a lot of people around, we were seated right away. Our happiness about getting seated didn’t last long though. We ended up with a server who was in the process of training. Just from working in retail, we know usually your better workers are the ones given trainees. Unfortunately this day, the service was pretty bad from both of them. We asked for sodas and while we did get them, we were told they would come back in a few minutes for our order. Those few minutes was something more like 15 or so. I know it was long enough for us to look at the menus and decide what we wanted. Then I was cold so I had the time to run out to the truck for my sweater. Then after a few more minutes Lenny had to leave for the bathroom. Thankfully I knew what he wanted so when the older server came back for our orders (minus her trainee) I ordered for all of us. It was quite a while before our food came out too. And when it did, it was minus the soup I had asked for. I think they both knew they were doing a lousy job - or maybe I had a ticked look on my face - because when I mentioned the soup, the trainee got it right away for me. Even though I had my main meal, I still wanted the soup too.

With the food in front of us, we all started to calm down. Everything was really, really good as usual so even though I can fault the service, I can’t fault the quality (or quantity) of the food. Once we were done though, we commented on the lack of seeing our server during our meal. We saw her once, something like 1 minute after we got our food but we didn’t see her after that. Not at our table or at any of the other tables she had been waiting on. I figured "oh great, either they left or they’re on break." I wasn’t happy because we were done with our meal, with all our dirty plates still on the table and ready to leave. But we couldn’t - we didn’t have the check. After sitting at the table for a few minutes (I think it was probably another 5 to 10 minutes) I told Lenny and Abby to leave and go browse in the store or go wait in the van for me. I figured a lone person sitting at a table full of dirty dishes would get someone’s attention eventually - and it did. Within 2 or 3 minutes tops, our server was at our table. She told me how it’s tough to train and how the trainee had to leave in the middle of the meal and put her behind, etc. She also apologized for the lack of attention and how she appreciated our patience, etc. She even had our check with her, so I didn’t have to wait for her to go get that. I’m not out to make trouble for anyone and because she apologized and sounded very sincere, I didn’t make an issue out of it. Even with all the things I think went wrong that day with her trainee, she was very pleasant to us so that and the apology did mean something to me. I thanked her for everything, wished her luck with anymore training and gave her an appropriate tip for our meal.

After we paid at the register, we got back into the van and couldn’t believe the time - it was already 3:00 so it hadn’t been my imagination that we were in the Cracker Barrel for a while. We really had been. Usually we won’t stop that long for anything on the way home because we can’t wait to get there so any stops longer than 20 to 30 minutes just aren’t made. Since it was so early and we were so close to home, we decided to do it this time. Plus too, we were tired of burgers and subs and we knew it would only take us about an hour to get home from there. And we were. Once we got back on the highway, it was a little too early for rush hour and traffic was moving at a steady pace. I hadn’t had a chance to call mom so when she called me, she couldn’t believe how close we were to being home. We got home about 4:00 and it felt so good to be there.

Mom came out to the driveway to see us and after saying hi and giving hugs, we started to move things from the van into the house. It didn’t take too long but it was still too long for Abby. She wanted right at the souvenirs to show grammy all of the nice things we had bought. Once we had that out of the way, Abby took her TS3 Wii game we had bought in Disney and started to play that. And with all the unpacking I was going to do for the day done and all of the souvenirs shown, it was time to bring up my Photopass account. I wanted to get started on editing all my photos. We had been gone so long, I had something like 14 updates waiting and my anti-virus software said it was out of date. Until all of that was done, I didn’t dare do anything on my computer. Needless to say, I didn’t get to Photopass that night. As we all got ready for bed that night, even though we were a bit sad that we wouldn’t be waking up in Disney, it really felt so good to be home - in our own house, going to sleep in our own beds. It didn’t matter that I woke up in the middle of the night and had absolutely no clue where I was - it still felt good to be home.

[B.M.]

Glad you guys made a safe trip home!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us; I really enjoyed reading it!!

[omd]

Sorry about your service at Cracker Barrel. I love going there and usually have great service. We always stop on our way to visit our DS in WV.
I agree that it is always nice to get home after vacation.
I'm sorry that your TR is finished as always I love following along with your adventures. I hope that you will have some parting words.

[CinderAbby]

I hope that you will have some parting words

I'll have some parting words to go along with the TR. I have a bunch written up already (actually they've been written up for some time just like the TR) but as Lenny and I have been talking about the vacation and maybe some things we'd do differently for next time, I want to get some of his thoughts in there as well this time.

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Darlene! Glad you made it home! Looking forward to your final thoughts!

[Cam22]

I'm the same way, Darlene, when it's time to be home I'm ready to get there. Can't wait for your final thoughts!

[ilovedisney247]

Glad you made it home safe and sound. Sorry the service at the Crackle Barrel wasn't up to snuff--its one of my favorite places to stop on a road trip since we don't have one near us. Hope the food was worth the wait! Can't wait to read your final thoughts and your plans for your next trip!

[chezp]

Glad you made it home!

[KMB733]

Glad you made it home safely! Looking forward to your final thoughts.

[WeRDisneyFanatics]

Glad you made it home safely!

[lazanya]

Glad you made it home Darlene!

[elisa1006]

Glad to hear you made it home safely! We stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home for dinner as well!

[CinderAbby]

These really aren’t in any particular order. It started to have an order but as I thought of things, I wanted to type it up before I forgot what it was I wanted to say. So here we go to my final thoughts on:

The trip to Lorton:

I don’t really have any problems with this leg of our trip. It’s a long drive and while part of me wishes Lenny would relinquish the wheel so I can drive and let him get some rest, the bigger part of me is happy that he doesn’t. I love our van, don’t get me wrong, but I’m just not comfortable driving it. I think a big reason for that is because every time I’ve tried to drive it, that’s when Abby wants my attention every 2 minutes. I sit in the passenger seat where she can see me and she barely says anything to me. I move to the drivers seat and it’s "mommy, I want you to look at this" or "mommy, can you help me find ______?" And being in the passenger seat gives me time to look over all our plans and possibly refine things if need be.

However, with all that being said, I think for the next trip, instead of taking 84 to 81 and then heading back to 95, we’ll stick a lot closer to 95. Going through New York and Pennsylvania is nice because there’s not a ton of traffic, especially on the weekends when we typically leave, but it’s just getting too much on the van. With this van being heavier than the old one and the way I pack it, it’s rough going up all those hills. It’s even worse when you get either slow drivers in front of you or people who don’t know how to push the gas on the hills. With a big, heavy van, once you slow down, it’s very tough on the engine to finish making it up the hill. If we stick to 95 (or maybe do the Garden State Parkway for some of the way) we’ll avoid all the hills and make it easier on the engine.

Another reason why I think we should stick to 95 is the possibility of actually making it to Lorton in one day. If we’re able to do that, we would still leave a day early but stay in the hotel in Lorton. It’s literally only 5 minutes or so from the station and for me, that would actually be a huge advantage. Going through NY and PA, we drive for about 8 hours and stop for the night then drive about 1 ½ more to the station. Staying on 95, yes we would end up driving for 9 or 10 instead but with the hotel so close to the station, we would have zero driving the next day. No driving means sleeping later and checking out of the hotel later. IMO it also means no crankiness from Abby in fear that we’ll miss the train due to heavy traffic, accidents, whatever could happen on the highway. And getting to know the area fairly well now, we know where our favorite restaurants are and where the local Walmart is in case it’s needed. So definitely a few big advantages in my thinking. In Lenny’s thinking, I don’t know but I’m going to try and get his thoughts for this TR as well.

The train ride to Disney:

Where to start. It’s kind of a drag waiting around the station but we’re learning to break that up a little. For this trip, we went to McDonald’s for lunch and ate there instead of getting something to eat in the station. We also took our time getting our things out of the van by parking in the visitor section instead of immediately checking in the truck. Those things did help so I would do them again but the part of the train that I need help with is taking less on. I try to go as light as I can but it never seems to work. Hopefully for next time, I’ll be able to sit down and really make a small list of what’s absolutely needed and not add anything to it. Of course part of the motivation for that is our attendant coming home actually had the nerve to say to my face that I pack too much. Needless to say, that comment really stung but I couldn’t deny it. No matter how hard I tried to hone it down, it didn’t work. Maybe next time with that comment being said I’ll finally be able to do it.

So I guess other than the wait time and my over packing, I really don’t have any problems with the train. For us, it’s fun and interesting to ride it. We like the roomettes we get so I wouldn’t change that and I really like the fact that while we’re having dinner and sleeping, we’re still putting miles behind us.

The drive to Disney:

With the exception of the cost in tolls, we don’t have any problems with this leg of our trip. We take 417 and for arriving on Monday mornings, the traffic is always light enough that we move right along. Whether we go 417 with the tolls or head over to I-4, it’s still about an hour away to Disney so we’ll take the "lesser" traveled route. We’ve gotten to know the route and the time passes fairly quickly so what more could you ask for?

　

[Cam22]

Great wrap up, Darlene! so much for sharing another trip with us!