Disney World Thanksgiving Camping Trip - Days 1 & 2: Road Trip

I suppose it's finally time to begin posts about our Thanksgiving trip to Disney World.  I suppose I've been delaying because it wasn't a very good trip, and in hindsight it would have been better to stay at home and spend Thanksgiving with our families.  I'm not advocating against traveling during a holiday, but this particular excursion was not worth it.  In the end, I'm glad we went the year prior on a camping practice run as it was a much better experience.

Our plan this time was to spend two days on the road going to Florida, stopping at a hotel in Pensacola for the night, then six days of camping at Disney World.  That would be followed by three days driving home with overnight camping at the same campgrounds from the previous year:  O'Leno State Park in Florida and Buccaneer State Park in Mississippi.

Apologies in advance for any typos - I'm competing with Selkie, one of our cats, for control of the keyboard.  That cat, there:

An older photo of the perpetrator taken after a hard day's work of stomping all over the keyboard

Now, on with the show.

Packed and ready to go.  We were on the road at 6am.

Sugarcane in Louisiana

Burning sugarcane in Louisiana

We arrived at the Springhill Suites hotel in Pensacola, FL, at 6:15pm.  After our last trip where we camped on the way to Disney World, we decided it would be better to shorten the trip by a day and spend the night in a hotel so we're fresher and more relaxed at the beginning of the trip.

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse near the hotel, where it seemed every Pensacolan was also having dinner.  Luckily we didn't have to wait long.  Our table had a great view of the restrooms, kitchen, and this guy, but the food was excellent so who cares? 

The view out our window the next morning, and...

...there's our car.  At least the bus didn't back into us.

On the road at 6:40am, however we were delayed just outside Pensacola for over an hour.  I-10 is divided by a woodsy median and all eastbound lanes were shut down.  When we finally started moving again we saw why.  As we inched past the scene I saw a totaled black Kia in the median at the edge of the trees, debris everywhere, and 2 bodies on the ground covered in white cloths; one on the driver side and one on the passenger side.  The Medical Examiner was there talking to police as was the local news crew.  I'm not sure what happened, but it was a somber reminder that things can go wrong very fast.
We were back on our way at 8:30.

As we approached Orlando the turnpike,  FL-91, was shut down so we took an alternate toll-free route which delayed us further.  After several farm-to-market and suburban roads, and a lengthy corridor filled with strip mill after strip mall of sleazy knockoff Disney gift shops themed to giant mermaids, or eagles, the Statue of Liberty, etc (towels $3.99!, Disney T's $5.99!, clearance!, free gift with purchase over $25!, mugs $.99!, lowest prices in town!!!), we arrived at the Fort Wilderness campground at 6:15pm.  We were checked in and set up by 8pm.  It had been a long day.