The Schettler Saga: Disney World Road Trip Extravaganza Episode I

This trip was 2 years in the making! We started just discussing the option of a DisneyWorld road trip after our awesome Schettler - Biscamp Travel Trailer road trip to Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. 18 months ago, we locked in our reservation to the Campsites at Fort Wilderness over Thanksgiving and we were in!

Fast forward one year to the long drive home from Idaho summer 2019 and we were DONE with driving. The original plan was to work all week, Saturday drive 700 miles to Pensacola then Sunday drive 450 miles to Orlando....YUCK! We almost cancelled the trip, then Curtis said...”what if we leave Friday?” We researched our discretionary leave policy, applied for personal days and were APPROVED!!!! Disney is back on!!!!

Little did we know that an Artic Blast would bear down on Texas early November, and temps drop to 24 degrees, so we had to winterize our camper two weeks before the trip.

Three days before leaving, we went to flush the RV antifreeze out of the camper and water cane rushing down the floor....plumbing leak! Yuck!!! Curtis spent 5 hours that afternoon diagnosing and tearing apart camper walls to find the leak in the outdoor shower fixture. He cut out the outdoor shower, capped the plumbing, and we were back on...with no outdoor shower.

Ok, we can handle that. We woke up Wednesday, two days before leaving, Curtis went out the front door to go to work and SQUISH! Water everywhere!!!! Major plumbing issues at the house! You’ve got to be kidding me!

He called in a sick day and started digging! 3 feet down he found the nozzle to the sprinkler and turned it off. That’ll have to do for now.

Thursday, we woke up, water all over the sidewalk, big pool at the house and headed to our schools. Instead of stressing about things out of my control, I spent the day listening to the amazingly inspiring Tony Memmel perform at our school, and I spent my planning time decorating treat bags for the boys.

3:30pm, ready or not, we were going to Disney World darn it!

Day 1: The alarm went off at 4:30am, we turned off the main water to the house (that’ll have to wait til we get back) load up the truck and set off!

The boys immediately were surprised with treat bags #1: Star Wars: Episode 1 Phantom Menace and Disney Goldfish treats to share!

4 hours of rain later, it was time for #2!

Star Wars: Eposode 2 Attack of the Clones, Roadside Bingo, and Disney Fruit Snacks! See a theme here?!

Fast forward 4 hours, still going! Time for #3!

Star Wars Epode 3: Revenge of the Sith, more snacks, and brain teasers.

I wish I could take credit, but all these cute ideas are thanks to my amazingly creative coworkers, Melissa Gonzales and Michelle Young.

11 hours of the drive in with 1.5 to go we opened the last treat bag for the day!

Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope and Star Wars PEZ! It’s a rough day when you leave before sunrise and pull in to the site after sunset, but we did it! 700 miles, we pulled into Avalon Landing RV Park, Dominoes Pizza delivered to the site and we hit the hay....soooooo thankful for our rest day in Pensacola tomorrow.

Day 2: When you’re asleep before 7:30pm you’re up at 5:00am just in time to see the beautiful sunrise!

Yes, I think we’re going to like it here!

Carson was up and atom and ready to practice his fly-fishing while big brother Cole slept.

An hour or so later, one of the full-timer RVers popped by our site and said, “Y’all like fish? Would you like my catch from this morning?” 5 lb salt water striped seabass?!?! YES!!!! We’re going to have a feast tonight!

Curtis was not super excited about getting fish guts all over him at 8:00am....🤢

He fileted it clean and we were ready to hit the beach!!!

Curtis’s frown turned upside down! Toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry bout a thing, cold beer in the hand, life is good today!

The boys played in the ocean til the thunderstorm that chased us through Texas and Louisiana arrived.

Thanks for the amazing recommendation from my awesome Art Teacher, we headed for Flounder’s Chowder House for a tasty meal!

Everyone ordered the famous chowder!

Yum!!! And we split the crazy seafood nachos!

After our feast, we were stuffed, and it was raining, so we headed back to the camper for nap time. 3 hours later I woke up from the most peaceful nap ever! Not sure what everyone else did, but my afternoon was awesome! Our local fisher friend is also a crabber and has crab pods set up on the fishing bridge. He offered us 6 fresh blue crabs still squirming!!! YES!!! The feast is on!!!