The alarm goes off at 5:20.. and I jump right up and get into the shower. A few last minute packing moments, and an EASY job of getting the rest of the family up, and we were off! My wonderful brother-in-law who lives 2 houses down from us brought us to the airport at 6:45 in the morning on a Saturday. What a great guy!
All is good.. until I start seeing the migraine flashes....
WHAT..?!?! A MIGRAINE?!!? On the morning I'm going to Disney World?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?
Folks, this is a scary thing.. but luckily, I have prescription medication with me at all times. I popped my Midrin and by the time we pulled up to the airport, about fifteen minutes later, its was gone.
Whew.. that was a close one!
After that minor glitch.. the pixie dust started flying! We assumed that the Saturday of a holiday weekend would be a nightmare, which is why we arrived a full two hours before our flight was to depart at 9:15am. But our assumption was wrong! There was NO line whatsoever!! We breezed right through check-in and promptly headed to McDonald's for some breakfast.
Our tummies were nice and full with greasy stuff, so we headed to security. I decided to stop and check the departure screen to make sure we were on time, and to check where our gate was... what...?... flight 822... to Orlando.. leaves at 8:15?!!?!? HUH?!?! My computer printout said 9:15.. of course, I didn't double check the flight before we left, and I DID print out the receipt way back in MAY. I guess the time was changed!
THANK GOODNESS we are freaks and got there two hours early!
It was all to our advantage, though. Our plane was going to board in 15 minutes. So we had time to stroll through security.. which we did AMAZINGLY well considering all of the carry-on stuff/kids/strollers, etc. that we had. ... then we took a bathroom break.. and onto the plane we went!
"How cool is that?" (By the way.. that will be my quote for the trip, and I stole it from Stacey.. the annoying girl on the "Top 7 Must See" station at WDW)
More pixie dust on the plane... we have a really friendly captain that made the announcement "Welcome to flight 822 on route to the house that Mickey built". What a nice change from the robotic voices I usually hear coming out of the cockpit. Once we were up in the air and were able to take out the DVD player, I was able to take a moment to relax. I HIGHLY recommend a portable DVD player when traveling with a toddler! Here are some shots of the plane ride!
My moment of relaxation (one of VERY FEW this trip)
Tyson looking out of the window (he enjoyed this very much)
Shaelyn not so sure about having to sit here for so long
Can I get an AMEN for DVD players? Anyone?
My happy little red head
So, the announcement is made to put away your portable electronic devices.. blah blah blah.. I'm starting to get excited because I know Disney is SO much closer to me! But then the pixie dust begins to exit the airplane...
There is bad weather below
They are rerouting us... I swear they took us to Cuba to go around this "weather" as they call it. We were "landing" forEVER!!! Shaelyn started to get really antsy. She never threw a full blown fit, thank goodnes.. but she was SO squirrelly! The awful thing about her toddler-ness, is that she wants NOTHING to do with Daddy when she's cranky or fussy.. so I have to deal with the brunt of it. DH tries to help, but just can't.
By the way, you probably noticed that Shae is not in a car seat. After flying to Iowa this summer, and looking at the "L" shaped seats that are in airplanes, and imagining us dragging that heavy, awkward seat through airports, I decided to leave it. It was a very good decision. She did just fine in the plane seat, and only opted for my lap towards the end of our flight as we were circling Cuba!
Okay.. enough about the flight, eh!? WE ARE HERE!!!
We hopped on the airport tram
and easily found our way to the Magical Express area. We did much better than our January trip when we had to (gasp) ASK for directions!! The lines were pretty long and they were only allowing one family member per family to get in line and register. So we found a big open area for Shae to run around in and waited for DH to finish.
The lines for the buses were long too, but as soon as we got in the Boardwalk line, it started moving onto the bus. SWEET!!!!..... oh.... wait... that CM is looking like she's counting people... and... oh no... it looks like we aren't going to..... DARNIT!! She pulled the rope right in front of us....
We had to wait at least 20 minutes for our bus...
It's free, I kept telling myself... it's free....
Luckily, we had a GREAT CM named James there to keep us happy. This guy was awesome. He had us singing Disney songs and told jokes. One time, a row emptied as the folks got on their bus. He walked up to the empty row and yelled, "NO PUSHING IN THIS LINE!!!" It was hilarious!
Here is a picture of James. He's the best!
Finally on the bus, we only had to wait a few minutes for everyone to get on, and we were finally off. Here are some happy boys
I'll finish this installment with the greatest view EVER!
Up next.. we arrive at the BOARDWALK!