Bad Holiday Travel Story: Massachusetts to Florida

If I had an inkling of what travelling by truck from Massachusetts to Florida would be like two days after Christmas, I would have cancelled my New Year's Eve reservation at the Disney World Resorts. This is a two-fold, light-hearted story of the worst holiday travel experience I ever had and a heads up about the gargantuan New Year's Eve crowd you will encounter at the fireworks at Disney's Epcot theme park.

Snow, Congested Roads and Time Stands Still

If my husband and I take a vacation, it is generally in January because that is the only window of opportunity we have due to our business. We rented a house in Florida for the end of December 2006 and into 2007. We decided to drive down in my husband's truck so we could take our motorcycle with us for some winter bike riding, which we sure cannot do here in New England.

My bright idea was to leave two days after Christmas, get to the rental house in Florida and spend New Year's Eve at Epcot. In advance, I booked us a room for the one night at Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter so we could indulge in the whole Disney holiday experience. The arrangement was perfect; however, some things just never work out no matter how much planning you do.

We hugged our daughters, kissed all the grand babies goodbye and headed off on our big adventure; the truck loaded with luggage, snacks and our big ole Harley safely bungeed down in the bed of the F350. We were actually like two giddy teenagers making their escape from the parents, except it was our kids.

Not a half-hour on the road, though, the sky turned black, snow and sleet started to fall and within 15 minutes, the road was slick and driving was already tedious. Optimistically I remarked that maybe the weather was better in Connecticut and certainly, we would get through the worst of it by the time we hit New York City.

That would not happen. Not only was it horrendous weather right into NYC, the traffic managed to quadruple along the way. In NYC it took over an hour to travel three lousy miles. Florida seemed a million miles away at that point and I wished we were on a three-hour flight instead. The heck with the stupid motorcycle I was thinking! So far it was a bad holiday travel memory in the making.

Eventually the bad weather broke, but jeez, not until a couple of states later. Making matters worse, the number of cars headed South on the highways swelled and swelled until we reached a top-speed of barely (and I do mean barely) 40 MPH in 65 MPH zones. On a major highways it was stop-and-go for endless miles on end. Our trip to Florida was going at a snail's pace and I wondered if I was going to miss New Year's Eve at Disney!

A desk person, at a hotel we stopped at in Virginia for a night, explained that traffic was always heavy at this time of the season anyway, but thousands more people were heading south to Florida, to a Bowl game scheduled for the upcoming weekend in Orlando. It was not just snowbirds making the annual trek south. Any future as a travel agent was out of the question, which my husband reminded me excessively many times during the rest of our trip.

The desk clerk's explanation made perfect sense about the wild traffic and something I will definitely check out when making future travel plans. I honestly would not make the trip from Massachusetts to Florida by vehicle again between the Christmas and New Year holiday span. It took us an extra day to get to the home we were renting, but we did have one day to spare before our big New Year's Eve at Disney.

New Year's Eve at Epcot - Hope you adore a Crowd

I know exactly what you are thinking! What was she thinking Disney was going to be like on New Year's Eve? I am embarrassed to say I was not thinking. After checking into our cool room in the French Quarters, we wasted no time shuttling over to Epcot. We have been to Disney six times and noted that considering it was New Year's Eve...certainly Disney was not packed by any standard, which drastically changed within an hour of that silly statement of course.

It was early and strolling around Epcot was still at a comfortable level. However, literally by the minute, Epcot grew smaller and smaller due to the massive insurgence of visitors who like us; were there to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks like only Disney can do. Epcot became so jammed with people in such a brief time, what normally takes my husband and I fifteen minutes to walk, took fifty-five minutes and it was steadily getting worse.

Epcot became so overwhelmed with people, my husband and I could not find one place to get some dinner, even at the places that boasted a "no reservation needed" protocol. The vendors scattered throughout Epcot were out of the question now because the lines were crazy long.

We talked it over and made the call to head back to our hotel. There was no way I could spend four more hours mashed together with strangers and not an ounce of space between us to breathe. Extremely overcrowded now, it was a constant battle to try to move from one place to another, even a foot in any direction. In retrospect, the key is to find a place to settle and just stay from start to finish put I guess. A lesson learned to be sure!

The night, however, took an upward swing once we shuttled back to the French Quarters. In the beautiful lobby, lavishly decorated for the holidays, a one-man band musical genius played fabulous jazz songs for the guests coming and going. Right behind the musician was a delightful New Orleans style bar and we found perfect seats to have drinks and appetizers and leisurely enjoy the wonderful music.

Within the first hour, quite a few people ended up back at the hotel from Epcot for exactly the same reason we did. We met some wonderful people at the bar from across the country and the world for that matter. We did not usher in the New Year with Disney fireworks; instead we toasted to the New Year with some of the nicest people we have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

My bad holiday travel story really does have a happy ending after all. Sometimes a disappointment can turn out to be a blessing in disguise!

Sources:

Epcot Theme Park (formerly Epcot Center)

Disney World Resorts