Travel dates: April 21-May 1
Travel method: Air, Rental car
Resort:off site, various
Accommodations: hotel, condo
Ages Represented in Group: Early 50's
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: WDW 1986, 1999 DL 1991
Comments:
Cast of characters: Rick, Lynn.
Day 3
Today's plan is to go to Daytona International Speedway and do the VIP tour. Drive to Orlando in the PM check into the hotel and maybe spend the evening at Downtown Disney.
We are both race fans and the chance to see the speedway up close was something we did not want to pass up. The tour was $50.00 each, which included access to the exibits in the Daytona 500 Experience including 2 simulator rides, an in depth 2 1/2 hr. tour of the track, the press box, one of the luxury suites,pit and garage areas and lunch. We started by touring the Daytona 500 Experience. They had this year's winning car on display just as it was when it crossed the finish line, win the race lose your car for a year. I guess the purse includes the rental. There was a chance to try changing a tire in a pit crew race. I thought our 18 sec. time was not bad until we walked by in the afternoon and another crew had done it in 6 sec.
We wound up being there from just after 9 am until about 4:30 so it was pretty much a full day. So after a day of high speed stimulation I have to get in a rented car and hit the freeway. The nice thing about being a little older is you start to learn some self control. I would like to come back sometime and do the Richard Petty driving experiece. I think after that I would try not to drive on public roads for 24 hrs. I'm sure Budget would appreciate that.LOL.
After an uneventful drive to Orlando we found our hotel, Travel Lodge East Gate Orange. I had wondered about the name, eastgate I could figure out, the orange part became clear just driving down 192. It is just behind a gift shop shaped like a giant orange. I could remember the gift shop from our first trip in 1986, so it has been around for a while. I don't know how long the hotel has been there but I would guess that it is of about the same vintage. Clean but worn. We had room #122 facing the pool which was not a problem noise wise and the 2 night total was $114.02 including taxes. There was a fridge & microwave in the room, the internet hook up was free and worked well, the continental breakfast was included so all in all it was not a bad value. Thank you Sheri for the tip.
After checking in we headed out for supper at a Chinese buffet west of I-4. I can't remember which one, take your pick there are lots to choose from. I had heard horor stories about the traffic on 192 but there were no problems with volume while we were there, the only thing as with any tourist area is you really have to watch out for the other guy, I saw a few quick and nasty cutacrossthreelanestomakemyexitbecauseidon'twantto havetocircleback. Watching the Disney busses I can see that some of the drivers have a fairly loose hold on the concept of what a red light means. But other than that the driving was easy with only a few wrong turns.
Just a note, I sure can see why Walt wanted to buy as much land as he could for WDW. I've been to Disney Land, and the way that the surrounding areas have been built up with tacky would make you want to have a buffer. I've read that this is something that bothered Walt a lot. In Florida he was able to keep it away from his door step, it's still there but some one staying on site would not know it. A strong arguement for staying on site.
The plan for the evening is Downtown Disney, So off we go. I love driving around here, just crossing under the sign makes you feel special. Turning into the DD parking lot we had to stop for a family of ducks to cross, the little ones still being small enough to have to struggle with getting over the curb.
Once parked we just wandered in and out of the shops and soaked up the Disney air. I know that sounds dumb but I have been known to go into a mall just to go into the Disney Store so I can be on Disney property. On past trips we have not had a chance to explore all of DD, so this was a good chance to just poke around. I like the way they have opened up Pleasure Island so you can walk through it with out a ticket unless you want to go into a club. We plan to spend an evening each at the Adventurer's Club and Comedy Warehouse on this trip.
About 11 pm we decided to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. We stopped into the orange and bought a 1/2 gallon of fresh OJ. Some thing to wash down the carbs in tommorow's breakfast. I think tommorow we will actualy hit a park. I know this was to be a bit of a laid back trip but this has been 3 days without actualy being in a park, this excommando can only take so much. The question is which park, we have not really planned day by day just going to avoid the AM Extra Magic hour park and MK on the weekend.
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