We woke up and did breakfast for the final time in Fort Myers for this trip. We were on our 8th day but not quite halfway into the trip so we would have a lot of breakfasts in our future.
Breakfast was noticibly busier than previous days. It was just two days before Christmas which is the likely reason.
Prepping for Orlando
We would be driving to Orlando once the kids were done with school. The previous day I had inquired about a late checkout at the front desk. Since that depends on availability and the hotel was filling up, the latest we could stay was noon.
That was going to be difficult, they were able to find a compromise and allow us to stay in half of the suite until 1:30 so they could clean the other half for the next guest. We could make that work very easily since it still have us the space and privacy we needed to do our last meetings and classes.
Once the boys were on their calls I went on one last run and ran even faster than the previous day. While wasn’t a personal record, it was the best time I’ve run in over a decade and it felt great! Being in better shape for all the walking we would be doing in Disney in the next week would certainly be helpful.
After the run I went to pick up the clothes from the wash and fold and packed what I could before lunchtime. Since this was our checkout day, we did not have the $50 credit allowance, but getting food for our youngest and myself made the most sense. Tomatico and my wife used our last precious voucher to Cool Beans to get sandwiches and a salad from there. Those coupons really came in useful and we maximized the value of all of them.
After lunch, Tomatico had finished his classes and he helped me check out from the bedroom portion of the suite and pack the car. We took our time making sure we got everytihng.
One one fo the trips back from the car we saw this car parked out front. Tomatico wanted to know why we didn’t rent one of those instead.
Once everyone’s classes were done we sadly packed up what remained said goodby to the room before checking out. While we had needed to work most of the time there, it was still a very relaxing and enjoyable stay.
Driving to Orlando
We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to get to Orlando. I specifically chose a route without tolls because we wanted to avoid the huge fees. Paying a toll would only save about 15 minute according to Google Maps so it was a no-brainer to avoid that route.
For the first half of the trip there wasn’t much traffic and we made good time. My wife got a frantic call from work and we had to find a place to pull off so she could get her laptop out to fix the crisis. The exit we took had a Costco. I parked and took the boys inside to fill the time.
It only took my wife about 15 minutes to sort out the issue and we were back on the road. Kind of… We found that in Florida we had the worst luck with traffic lights taking FOREVER. While the Costco was within sight of the highway, with the lights, it took us 15 minutes to get back on it. Oh well.
Between Tampa and Orlando we ran into some pretty serious traffic. It was backed up and slow for at least 20 miles and added an extra hour to our trip which was a definite downer, but we didn’t have any alternative.
While in traffic my wife had tried to make reservations for dinner for Christmas Day. We wanted to go to our favorite steakhouse, Ruth’s Chris, but there weren’t any available. We pivoted and found reservations for just a few hours after we expected to arrive in Orlando. We originally thought we’d have enough time to checkin at the hotel before going to eat, but with the traffic we had to go directly to the restaurant.
Yummy Dinner
We arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before our reservation with only enough time to quickly change into some slightly nicer clothes we had in our luggage.
Dinner itself hit the spot and was a great kickoff to the next phase of the trip. The kids were done with school and we’d be starting our Disney vacation tomorrow.
After dinner on the way to the hotel stopped at a Walmart to pick up a new Frisbee, just in case! We found what we were looking for and the boys found some cheap sunglasses they wanted so we got those too.
Hotel Checkin
Checking into the hotel was a part that I was a nervous about. About a year prior we had checked into a large resort in Palm Springs and has a horrendous experience. The hotel was overcrowed and understaffed and I’ve covered extensively how much of a fail that part of that trip ended up being. I had an irrational fear the same thing would happen during this stay.
When we arrived at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress resort, luckily I found I had nothing to fear. We were able to park the car out front while we checked in and there were very few other guests even though the hotel was mostly full.
The front desk agent was extremely friendly and informative. He answered all our questions and explained all the activites that we had access to on the resort… and there were A LOT. If we weren’t in the parks there was more than enough to keep us busy at the resort!
The agent also explained how breakfast worked since their lounge was closed. We each got one coupon per person per day to use at the restaurant. We could also use the coupon in the market as a $15 voucher. While we didn’t get extra coupons for things other than breakfast, we knew there were a few days we would be up and at the parks too early to grab breakfast at the hotel so we’d be able to use the coupons in the market to get snacks or my wife could get lunch since she was working from the hotel.
While I went to park the car, the rest of the family waited in the lobby talking to the resident parrot. It’s keeper and the valet were quite chatty and made the kids feel comfortable. It was a great start to this portion of the stay!
We made our way to the room which was an Executive Suite just as we had booked. While the room wasn’t as large as the one at Coconut Point, it would do fine. It was basically two connected rooms with one being made up as a living room with a sleeper sofa, dining room table, and a TV. The rollaway bed we asked for came quickly as well.
The only downside to the room was that it was at the opposite end of the hotel as the parking lot where we parked the car. We’d be getting lots of steps!
Before bed, we got everything set up and in place for our first day in Disney. We would be headed to the Magic Kingdom first thing in the morning for Christmas Eve Day and wanted to be there when it opened at 8am.
Since we’d be leaving the hotel before breakfast service began, we’d have to get it on the way. We found a Panera Bread on the way that was open early enough and would work perfectly for a quick grab and go breakfast.
I set the alarms and we went to bed hoping we could get to sleep despite our excitement!
Tomatico Travels 
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