Whomever said "getting there is half the fun" never traveled with me. I hate getting there days. They always go on forever and are super stressful.
We made our way into the parking structure at the airport. The sign said 1000 spots available on level 3. What it didn't say, was level 3 was being renovated and those spots were all roped off. Eventually, we found a spot…
What did people do before cellphone pictures? DH looked at me so weird when I took that picture, but when we landed, it took me 15 seconds to figure out where we were parked!
Car secured, we made our way into the terminal.
We printed out or boarding passes the night before, so we just headed into security. Milwaukee has the BEST sign ever in security. Someone has an awesome sense of humor.
It was still about 2.5 hrs before our flight time - normally we don't get there that early, but it's just how it worked… We weren't hungry yet, so we decided to get some Margaritas at Chilli's.
Omg was that a crazy mess! They had us packed into that chillis tighter than clothes in a vacuum-sealed bag. It took about 2 hrs to get 2 margaritas and an appetizer platter.
The margaritas were smaller than at a normal chilli’s and seriously a little more expensive! $50 later, we realized this probably wasn't the best idea… oh well - we're on vacation.
Waitress… where are you?? Helloooooooo?
Once we actually got our check, we settled into some seats at our gate and read our books.
DH was whining that there was nothing to read, so I told him to read the Hidden Magic book. He kind of scoffed at me like "why would I read that." I assured him he would like it. He went to the newsstand and bought a hotrod magazine instead. Whatever.
We got on the plane, I booked us on the side of the plane that has only 2 seats, but of course - we were over the wing. I can't ever seem to not be on the wing (except for last time when I was in the way way way back of the plane…but that doesn't count)
The flight was uneventful. We contemplated watching another movie, but opted to read and nap instead. About 1/2 way through the flight, DH started whining about nothing to read again, so again I told him to read the hidden magic book. He threw it open to a random page, I'm sure to protest and prove he wouldn't like it. Immediately he was entranced (Shout out to Sarah wdwgirl03 for the recommendation!) So he finally started reading from the beginning.
Sorry, no pictures - I didn't dare take my camera out on the plane again!
We finally landed in MCO and we sleepily headed to the ME counter. There was no problem not having the papers, and they were directing everyone to the counter anyway whether they had their books or not, so it worked out well. We didn't even wait in a line, we just walked right onto the bus, and waited a bit for a few more people.
Uhhh…. Where are we?
Since it was so late, the ME was basically empty
Eventually, we were pulling into Old Key West. Yay we were the first stop! On top of that, we were the only ones getting out at OKW, so double bonus - no lines checking in!
At this point we'd both been up for about 19 hrs, and we were fading fast! I had done online checkin, and it said it went through, but I never got the confirmation. It didn't go through, I have had the worst luck with that working! But there wasn't a problem. We checked in and were given a map and told to go to bell services. Well there was no one at Bell Services - there was only one person that late, and she was helping someone else. We ran into a friendly CM who saw us wandering aimlessly. I explained that we just got there and had no idea where we were, and showed him our map. He said that the bell services CM had just left to help someone, so it would be 20-30 minutes, but our room was walkable and gave us directions (thank goodness, we would have headed the wrong way on our own!)
So we headed out to find building #18. We couldn't see the path very well, so we ended up walking on the road - not super safe. Oh well.
Since it was after midnight, we really didn't see much of the resort as we were making our way to the room. We found our room, and headed in.
I was impressed with how big it was. Much bigger than our studio at the BCV in June, and fewer points too!
The one odd thing about this room for me was the bed. I'm a very short-legged person. I'm 5'1" and I have a long torso. The bed was on risers and came up to my waist. I had to get a running start to get on it! How do little kids handle it? I can't imagine…
We quickly unpacked and headed into bed. We were both exhausted!