WDW Poly Princess
01-15-2005, 04:25 PM
Concerning Our Cast:
Crystal (WDW Poly Princess)- Turning 23 on this trip, my 5th trip to WDW, 3rd solo trip.
Kiki- Friend from Orlando who makes a cameo appearance as our superhero, Airport Transport Girl.
Katie- Twenty-something friend who lives just outside of Orlando. We met on an online horse message board about ten years ago, and have been in touch ever since.
JP- Katie’s brother, who I’ve talked to online for years, but have never met until now.
“Travel is only glamorous in retrospect” – Paul Thereoux
When I last left you, I was still sitting in the Springfield airport, waiting on my flight. I promise that at some point in this trip report, I really do make it to Disney World.
Shortly after everyone was off the plane that had just arrived at my gate, I was boarding, and slipping into my exit row (yay!) seat. I settled into my seat, and pulled out my notebook to jot a few things down. There’s my notebook, but oops! I forgot to bring a pen! I have crosswords, a book of various puzzles, and a notebook to amuse myself on this flight, and I forget a pen! Good thing I brought my CD player, at least I’ll have music. Let’s listen to M-I-C..K…J-a-g-g-e-r! (What? I like Mickey Mouse and all, but I don’t want to listen to him sing for two hours!)
Two hours is a really long flight if you, like me, can’t sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Add the fact that I’m on my way to Disney World to this, and it was all I could do not to climb the walls (which would really be quite the feat, since I’m 5’10, and the plane was only about 5’6 high… but I digress…)
So, two very long hours later, we landed in Chicago and I darted into the first gift shop I could find for a pen. $3 later, I was back out and speed walking to my gate. Why do they always make you go from one side of the airport to another to catch your connecting flights?
http://www.lovemanythings.net/WDW04/airport.jpg
I had about half an hour to go from the top star to the bottom one.
The sad thing was that the Chicago airport is really cool, but I had no time to stop and appreciate it! On my way from one gate to another, I passed a full-sized brontosaurus skeleton, a cheesecake kiosk (closed,:sad1: ), and a life-sized gold flying cow. Maybe on the way home I can stop to check things out.
Back on another plane for another too-long-to-sit-still flight. Finally, though, we were over Orlando! Is it just me, or does everyone else always search the ground below for WDW when you’re flying over? I have never, ever been able to see it, either! Of course, half of the time I’m flying in at night, which doesn’t help…
But back to the point: I was there!
Warning: I’m about to go off on a tangent here! I hate winter. I hate ice on the roads, and freezing cold weather, and the lack of sun. The thing I really hate, though, is how grey everything becomes. The grass dries up and is no longer green, the leaves wither and turn brown, and even the sky turns a sleepy shade of grey. It’s as if all of the color gets sucked out of the world for three months. This is exactly why I love going to WDW in the winter- I always feel like Dorothy when she arrives in Oz- stepping out of her black and white world and into Technicolor. All at once, everything is bright and beautiful and alive.
Because of this, I have a special love of the big Christmas trees that are always up in the Orlando airport this time of year. You step off of your plane, a little ragged from a day of travel, make your way down that grayish hallway that leads into the terminal, and there it is. Color, light, beauty, excitement, festivity. You’re stepping in to Oz.
http://www.lovemanythings.net/WDW04/01mcotree.jpg
Crystal (WDW Poly Princess)- Turning 23 on this trip, my 5th trip to WDW, 3rd solo trip.
Kiki- Friend from Orlando who makes a cameo appearance as our superhero, Airport Transport Girl.
Katie- Twenty-something friend who lives just outside of Orlando. We met on an online horse message board about ten years ago, and have been in touch ever since.
JP- Katie’s brother, who I’ve talked to online for years, but have never met until now.
“Travel is only glamorous in retrospect” – Paul Thereoux
When I last left you, I was still sitting in the Springfield airport, waiting on my flight. I promise that at some point in this trip report, I really do make it to Disney World.
Shortly after everyone was off the plane that had just arrived at my gate, I was boarding, and slipping into my exit row (yay!) seat. I settled into my seat, and pulled out my notebook to jot a few things down. There’s my notebook, but oops! I forgot to bring a pen! I have crosswords, a book of various puzzles, and a notebook to amuse myself on this flight, and I forget a pen! Good thing I brought my CD player, at least I’ll have music. Let’s listen to M-I-C..K…J-a-g-g-e-r! (What? I like Mickey Mouse and all, but I don’t want to listen to him sing for two hours!)
Two hours is a really long flight if you, like me, can’t sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Add the fact that I’m on my way to Disney World to this, and it was all I could do not to climb the walls (which would really be quite the feat, since I’m 5’10, and the plane was only about 5’6 high… but I digress…)
So, two very long hours later, we landed in Chicago and I darted into the first gift shop I could find for a pen. $3 later, I was back out and speed walking to my gate. Why do they always make you go from one side of the airport to another to catch your connecting flights?
http://www.lovemanythings.net/WDW04/airport.jpg
I had about half an hour to go from the top star to the bottom one.
The sad thing was that the Chicago airport is really cool, but I had no time to stop and appreciate it! On my way from one gate to another, I passed a full-sized brontosaurus skeleton, a cheesecake kiosk (closed,:sad1: ), and a life-sized gold flying cow. Maybe on the way home I can stop to check things out.
Back on another plane for another too-long-to-sit-still flight. Finally, though, we were over Orlando! Is it just me, or does everyone else always search the ground below for WDW when you’re flying over? I have never, ever been able to see it, either! Of course, half of the time I’m flying in at night, which doesn’t help…
But back to the point: I was there!
Warning: I’m about to go off on a tangent here! I hate winter. I hate ice on the roads, and freezing cold weather, and the lack of sun. The thing I really hate, though, is how grey everything becomes. The grass dries up and is no longer green, the leaves wither and turn brown, and even the sky turns a sleepy shade of grey. It’s as if all of the color gets sucked out of the world for three months. This is exactly why I love going to WDW in the winter- I always feel like Dorothy when she arrives in Oz- stepping out of her black and white world and into Technicolor. All at once, everything is bright and beautiful and alive.
Because of this, I have a special love of the big Christmas trees that are always up in the Orlando airport this time of year. You step off of your plane, a little ragged from a day of travel, make your way down that grayish hallway that leads into the terminal, and there it is. Color, light, beauty, excitement, festivity. You’re stepping in to Oz.
http://www.lovemanythings.net/WDW04/01mcotree.jpg