As many of you know, we just got back from Disney! I decided to blog about it and share some tips and some great things I learned that helped us greatly during our trip. Yesterday, I shared with you 5 things to keep in mind when planning your trip in order for it to be successful! If you missed part 1, you can read it here. I think you will find todays story of how our “magical” vacation got off to a very bumpy start entertaining.  As individuals, we all tend to put a lot into vacations right?  Usually a lot of time planning, and a lot of money, goes into them so we want them to be perfect.  When something goes wrong, it can be extremely disappointing! Well, what happened to us 5 hrs into our Magical bound Disney Vacation could have ruined our entire trip!  But what turned out to be a 12 hr  hiccup in our vacation ended up being a huge blessing that was meant to be!

First, I am going to share with you a little back story that I find kind of funny.  As everyone knows that follows my blog, one of my goals this year was to FINALLY fix the cracked windshield of my suburban.  It has been there since we lived in California! And yes, I know, that was almost 4 years ago! Ha!  You also may know that I can be quite stubborn and I am kind of a scrooge when it comes to spending money.  What you don’t know is when my hubby read my goals blog, it started a tiny and friendly little war between us about the broken windshield getting fixed. Lol. I wanted a new windshield, he wanted to get rid of the Suburban all together! He declared that he didn’t want to put any more money into it because she wasn’t worth the money, that she wasn’t in good shape at all, and that she wasn’t going to last very long. He wanted to trade her in for something else before it was too late. I just always laughed and said, well, I’m gonna drive the “burban” till she dies!

Now this had been going on for quite a while and it had been in talks for quite a while, a year and a half to be exact!  We both knew that we needed to get rid of the suburban, however, I wasn’t ready to spend the money.  We hadn’t had a car payment since we got married which has been awesome!  I hate payments, I don’t believe in them!  I have never had a new car because of this!  I have always driven something at least 5 years old.  Anyways, you get it! I hate spending money! Lol.  In the past year and a half we have looked at lots of vehicles, so i knew exactly what i wanted when the time came.  I knew exactly what I wanted and in what price range, and of course with my lengthy list, it was going to be extremely hard to find! Well, February 21, 2 weeks before our trip, Tim sent me an email. He had found EXACTLY what I wanted!  It was the 1st in one and a half years of searching. It was my color (which is rare), it was the cloth interior I had wanted (because I hate leather), it even had a sunroof, bonus!  So what happened when I saw this beauty he had found? I laughed and said, its in Georgia! He laughed and said, well, we will be going right by there in two weeks if it is still there!  I laughed again and said, I love it, its perfect, but I’m gonna drive that suburban till it dies! Im not going to lie and say I didn’t secretly pull that auto trader listing up from time to time just to look at her. : )

Now, the Suburban did have major problems…water leaked through the seals, so i couldn’t leave any gear in my car EVER or it would get soaked if it rained, it had mold in the floors because of the leaks, when driving down the interstate it sounded like you were in a tornado because the door never fit flush for some reason or another, my antenna didn’t work, the kids could see the dvd playing but could never hear it, there was a strange ticking noise, the gears shifted strange and even jumped out of gear at times, it had locked my children in the car, twice, all on its own, etc. etc. etc!  Even though all these things were annoying and never made me happy, I am a scrooge! She still ran and so i told my hubby I was gonna run her until she died! So, after 4 long years, the cracked windshield was FINALLY replaced 2 days before our trip. Amen right! Thats the extremely funny part.

So here we are 4 hrs into our trip to Disney. We are in Southern Georgia and we pass Mt. Zion Road. And I think, man that sounds familiar! And Tim keys up and says, you know, thats where that vehicle is that I sent to you!  And I said, AGAIN, I know but I am going to drive this Suburban until it dies!  Even though every ounce of me wanted to get off that exit and buy this perfect vehicle for the perfect price that we had been searching for for a year and a half! But he said ok and we rolled on.  Well, we rolled on to hour 5 and then we rolled no further.  That was it, my Suburban died! Nope, not kidding. TRUE STORY! In the midst of our travels on our “magical” vacation, we were now sitting ducks!  In a packed tight Suburban loaded to the hilt with 6 people and all of our luggage may I add!

After 2 hours on the side of the road, lots of phone calls later, calling a tow truck to get the Suburban to the nearest Chevy dealer, and cramming into an itty bitty cab, we ended up going back the way we came, 20 minutes north. Now at this point, we are all sad, extremely sad. My husband is frustrated. My son is screaming, “we are never gonna get to Disney World!” My daughter is exhausted because she hasn’t had a nap.  And I am past frustrated and thinking money money money!

After getting to dealership, waiting several hours, and finding out what it was going to cost to get the suburban running again, along with having to pay over $600 for a rental car large enough to fit 6 people for the week, a tiny light went off in my head!  How far are we from that Toyota dealership?  Lol. Yep, there it was.  In the midst of sadness and almost nervous breakdowns because we were stranded in southern Georgia, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. I was more worried about making it to Disney because our entire trip was paid for!   I did not want to be stranded in Southern Georgia!  I did not want to pay this horrific bill and throw away all this money on a rental car! And of course Tim was with me, it just wasn’t worth putting all that money into the Suburban.  So what did we do? We called the Toyota dealership! The one my husband had tried to drag me to. The one we all wish we would have just stopped at 5 hrs prior! It was now, still, not very far away!   That Toyota dealership was AMAZING! If you are ever stranded in Southern Georgia, please call them!  Toyota South off Mt. Zion Road! We came to an agreement right over the phone… they took more money off an already amazing deal and gave more than what our Suburban was worth, 3 times what the last dealership we had talked to wanted to give us! They took over the entire repairs bill on the Suburban and everything! It was just too good to be true!  I was worried that when we saw the vehicle, something was going to be terribly wrong with it!  Here is the truly amazing part! They drove the vehicle to us, over an hour in traffic, to pick us up. She rolled in, was a complete beauty in perfect condition, and we took her!  We packed every ounce of our burban into the new yota, minus our poor jogging stroller that wouldn’t fit, and we were outta there!

We had broken down at 10:30 that morning.  At 10:30 that night, we passed the exact place we had broke down. We arrived in Orlando at 5:00 the next morning. My sister and I head banged the last 3 hrs of the trip to stay awake! Lol. Our 3 bedroom Condo was paid for in Orlando, and so of course, there was no way I was stopping and paying for 2 hotel rooms to fit us all for the night!  We crashed until 10:00 that morning until we awoke in lovely Orlando, thinking, how did we get here? Lol.  No, not really, but almost! It all felt kind of like a dream. Especially when we all went outside to see my shiny new Sequoia sitting there and I asked, is that really mine?  I love her. She’s beautiful. She isn’t brand new but she’s new to me.  It’s the newest vehicle I have ever had yet to date and there is nothing wrong with her! We also have a bumper to bumper warranty on her and don’t have to pay maintenance on her for at least the next 5 years.   It is wonderful! I won’t have to worry about leaving my gear in my car anymore to get rained on! Im so excited!  I will be driving her until she dies too! Lol. Best of all, I know that I was meant to have her.  I mean, had that suburban not died after passing her exit, I would have never been pushed to get her!  What we thought was a complete disaster at the time ended up being a total blessing!  Who knew we would go on vacation and come back with a new car!   Hope you have enjoyed this fun little story!  Everything definitely happens for a reason and we can’t ever let bad situations get the best of us! We eventually got to Orlando and had a fabulous trip! And now we have hilarious memories to laugh about like me son screaming, “I can’t take this anymore!” in the back seat! Lol.  Next up on part 3 of my Disney Series I will be sharing with you all my tips on how to save you money and plan an affordable and magical Disney Vacation that won’t break the bank!   Here is a late night iPhone shot of us with my new Sequoia after signing the papers!  And a little peek of the next morning when we had FINALLY arrived!