Pike Family Vacation 2016 (Part 4)

On the fourth day of our trip, we got up, packed and checked out. Ready for the long drive back home. Jordan pulls the car around and we start loading everything and everyone in. By this point we had remembered that our air conditioner was broken. It was going to be a hot trip back home. Or so we thought... 

I happened to notice something hanging off the bottom of the van and pointed it out. 

We're not car people by any means, but normally it's not good news to see something like this. We search for a mechanic and land at a Pep Boys a couple of miles away. Jordan goes in to talk with them and explain what's going on. The mechanic informs us that he can't even look at the van for another few hours. He also lets us know it'll probably take several hours to fix, and that's if they don't have to order parts.

So, here we are. We've got a van literally packed full of kids, strollers, and luggage, and we're basically stranded. We search again and find a moderately priced hotel near Pep Boys. Jordan drives us to the hotel and drops us off along with all of our belongings and takes the van back to Pep Boys. He then has to walk back to the hotel. 

We spend the next few hours at the hotel. We watch TV, swim and order in pizza. It was a nice break in between vacationing and driving.  We get a call from Pep Boys that evening with good and bad news. Good news, they can fix it. Bad news, they have to order a part and it won't be in until tomorrow around noon. They also tell us that they won't know for sure if the air conditioner is broken until after they fix the other issue. 

We call down to the front desk of the hotel and ask if we can have the room for another night. They inform us that the entire hotel is sold out.

So, a small recap for you: Our van will not be fixed until sometime in the afternoon. We have to check out of our room at 11:00 a.m. We have all of our luggage and double stroller. We have no car seats so we can't get a cab to another hotel. 

The next day we check out of our room and head down to the lobby. Thankfully we're able to check our bags at the luggage station. We mull around the lobby for a few hours, waiting for Pep Boys to call us back. They do, with more good and bad news. Good news, they can fix it in a couple more hours. Bad news, the air conditioner is broken and it's going to cost literally the rest of our savings to fix. 

We bite the bullet and two hours later we're on the road home! Seventeen hours later we pull into our driveway. We're exhausted and filthy, but home. 

And then we have enough time to do a load of laundry, take showers and repack! Because we're now two days late leaving for our week long vacation in Texas! 

Part 5 coming your way, sometime :)

Pike Family Vacation 2016 (Part 3)

On the third day, we went to Animal Kingdom! It was a first for all of us. We got up bright and early and headed into the park. It wasn't as hot as it was the day before, so that was a huge relief!

We started with our first Fast Pass of the day for the Safari Ride. I'm not a huge fan of zoos and nature, but this ride was a lot of fun. 

After the safari ride we made our way to our second Fast Pass, which was Expedition Everest! Story was really excited about this ride. She's a roller coaster junkie and was disappointed that AK didn't have more thrill rides. 

What a fun ride! I was not expecting it to turn out like it did! It was a fun surprise. After the ride we booked it over to The Lion King! Luckily all of our Fast Passes were in the morning.

The Lion King was a great show! We were all amazed at the details that went into it! We left the show and went to lunch at Tusker House. It was a character meal and we go to see safari Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy! Again, the food was great!

Poor Oliver! He was not happy to see Daisy, hah. After lunch we wandered around for a bit. There was something wrong with Fast Pass and we couldn't make any more selections. We were getting kind of bored so we decided to head back to Hollywood Studios. And I'm so glad we did! We stopped in at guest services to see what was up with the Fast Passes, and to cool off, nurse, and change diapers. Disney staff are like the nicest people ever. The lady we spoke with gave us five Fast Pass cards that we could use at any time. She also made us a dinner reservation because we ended up with extra meal credits. She also gave the kids like 100 stickers!

While we missed the Disney Junior show, we were able to do a couple of Character Meets! Finley loves Sophia. She is like her favorite! She couldn't believe we were going to meet her. When it's finally our turn, poor Finley starts crying because Sophia is scary!

They eventually made up :) Finley talks about meeting her everyday. I framed her photo and autograph and hung it in the nursery. 

The girls also got to meet Jake. They're big fans of that show as well. Oliver was asleep in the stroller so we let him skip it. 

After that we made our way to Star Wars Launch Bay! Jordan and Story were so excited! Jordan especially was like a kid in a candy store. He loved seeing the Storm Troopers and was almost giddy when they spoke to him :)

We ended the day with one last ride on the Rock N Roll Roller Coaster. Since it was Story's favorite she was really excited to get to end with it!

And that concludes our Disney vacation!

Ha, jk. There's going to be a Part 4. No good vacation isn't complete without car trouble and extra days!