Will You Chill Out if I Sprinkle You With Pixie Dust? The End p136 New TR Link p138

Hi Again DIS friends!

I can't believe its time to start another trip report. Yup, another saga needs to be written.

My name is Mary Ellen (MEK) and I've actually lost count as to how many TRs I've written and how many times I've visited Disney World. I kept trying to count up my trips on the plane, but I kept getting confused somewhere around 15. I thought my signature might help me, but I left a trip out somewhere, so I'm still not sure of the actual talley.

Anyho - my latest adventure started on June 9th 2012 and ended on June 19th. That's right - I spent 10 glorious (cough, cough) nights in Florida. I wracked up some pretty impressive statistics on this trip. For instance:

I flew in and out of a brand new airport.
I was a registered guest at two different Disney resorts.
I slept in four different beds.
I swam in 5 different Disney pools.
I visited 7 different Disney resorts.
I ate at 5 new Disney restaurants. No make that 6.
I made park opening 4 times.
I used my annual pass on 9 consecutive Disney days.
I tried the Quick Service Dining plan for the first time.
I watched Illuminations 3 times.
I finally saw the Main Street Electrical Parade.
I made my brother angry at least twice. (I did not make my SIL mad at me once!)
I left the Disney bubble on two separate occasions.
I met two new DISers and their son for the first time. I met one East Meets West Girl for the second time.
I am sure I had at least one alcoholic beverage on every day we were in Florida.

And I'm sure the list goes on.

So here's the cast of characters on this fun adventure.

Here's me on D (departure) Day as we are pulling out of the driveway (finally). I managed a fake smile, but I was actually getting irritated that we were taking so long to get on the road.

Here's Denny (the Denster) and I on our 20th anniversary trip a few years ago:

Sorry. I haven't uploaded any Denny pics yet.

Here's Nick. Thrilled to be on the fake monorail at MCO and probably already texting his GF.

Here's a picture of my awesome nephews, so obviously overjoyed to be taking their first trip to Disney.

That's LJ on our left (memba him from the 09 trip) and his youngest brother CJ

And here's Jason on the left and Matt on the right

(I made up all these names using their first initials). My nephews range in age from 5 to 12. That's one busy household.

I have very few pics of my brother and SIL and only one group shot, so I think I'll save it!

I'm really not big on the back ground story, but I'm sure you'll get to know us all (if you don't already), rather quickly!

So stay tuned for adventure, mayhem, and meltdowns as we embark on this 10 day journey!

Up Next: Departure Day!

MEK · Jun 24, 2012

Queenofallthings said:
I'm here I'm here

Woo Hoo! Welcome to first place! :cool1:

natebenma · Jun 24, 2012

YAY!!! You started!!! I'm in!

Dee

dawnbu40 · Jun 24, 2012

Wouldn't miss it :goodvibes

KatMark · Jun 24, 2012

I'm in....can't wait to hear all about it; great start. :thumbsup2

DisMomAmy · Jun 24, 2012

Woo hoo!

Did I make page one?

teekathepony · Jun 24, 2012

I'm in!

2xcited2sleep · Jun 24, 2012

Here! Can't wait to hear all about it and enjoy another report filled with your gorgeous photos.

Going back to read....

Impressive stats! 4 beds, 5 pools, 7 resorts and 6 new restaurants! Wow!! And of course you know I am pleased to hear you indulged in an adult beverage each day... vacation the way the universe intended it.

MEK · Jun 24, 2012

Really? Who doesn't LOVE D Day? Excitement and Anticipation Abound. It's almost the best part of the trip. Second, of course, to actually arriving!

If you followed my last TR you might recall that I am a DVC member and I was so excited when I booked a treehouse villa 11 months out for the expressed purpose of taking my brother, SIL, and their 4 boys to Disney world for their first family trip. Little did I know that at 2 months out they would still be undecided as to whether they were even going.

That's right ------ 2 months to D Day and I still didn't have a firm commitment from my brother's family. It seems that somewhere in the last 40 some odd years my brother decided he was afraid to fly. On top of that he didn't want the rest of the family to fly without him. At one point my brother completely backed out of the trip saying he would never want to go to a place like Disney. I put the guilt trip on him and, a few weeks later, they had their Auto Train Reservation.

So on June 9th, D Day, Day 1, whatever you want to call it, my bro and his family left their home in PA to drive to the auto train in Lorton Va.

We, on the other hand, wanted no parts of the auto train so we were scheduled to fly out that night. You can see that I was clearly the first one ready. Yup, all packed and ready to go....

We live in Delaware, but had an evening flight booked from Lehigh Valley (or Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) International Airport. It's a little over 2 hours from our home. We always fly from either Philly or BWI, but I found a $95 one way flight on air tran and it was the cheapest thing going. Flights have really gone up in the last year or so and I jumped on this fare while I could.

LVI or ABE or, whatever you want to call it, is a small regional airport, but I've heard great things about it and, since we have family that live a stones throw from the airport, it just made sense.

The plan was to visit Denny's mom and then head over to the airport for our 6pm flight. Unfortunately, Denny came down with a wicked cold on D Day and he was very worried about getting his 90 year old mom sick. A legitimate concern. So he procrastinated until we barely had enough time for an hour visit with her. We stopped and brought her a late lunch and his brother came over and offered to drive us to the airport.

This was huge and saved us $90 in parking.

Here we are arriving in Bethlehem to see Denny's mom

This really is an old steel mill town

This place used to spook me, but gradually the area is being renovated and refurbished and there is even a brand spanking new Sands casino in the midst of the old steel mills. (if you look hard you can see the sign in the first picture)

We left our car at Denny's brothers house and it was literally a 8 minute drive to the airport

Denny was pretty freaked out about his cold and, on more than one occasion, he asked, "will they let me fly with this cold?". To which I replied, "No, I am certain they will quarantine your for 48hrs at which point you will be given two fully body scans and a pat down".

For a split second he may have believed me. :rolleyes1

We had checked bags and there was literally no one in line to check in. The security area was also vacant. It was awesome. It all felt very VIP to me. The airport waiting area had some cute window box displays. The first one I came across was "Ode to the Martin guitar".

I had to take a picture of this since I have a Martin and they are made right in Nazareth Pa. Probably one of the few things I own that isn't made in China! :laughing:

This second shadow box was done by some budding artists at a local school.

When I came across this next shadow box I thought "why do they still have Easter candy out?", but then I remembered that the Just Born company is located somewhere close by.

All of today's flights can be found on just one board.

I thought the rocking chair near the window was a cute touch

Our plane

Hmmmmm? Let me think about this for a minute....

Finally on board and ready for an on-time take off

High above the clouds

My reading material

We had the funniest flight crew EVER. We had Captain Mark as our pilot. Assistant captain Mark, Flight attendant Marc, and flight attendant Markie Mark. :rotfl2:

These guys were a freakin' hoot. They were laugh out loud funny. Markie Mark was doing a little dance while he was showing us how to activate the emergency vest. His comment was "If you have two chlldren and the oxygen mask falls out of the ceiling, pick the kid with the most potential". Too freaking funny.

Oh, and if anyone is interested, the flight time from ABE to MCO is 2 hours and 10 minutes. Works for me.

In flight beverage. A whole soda can - SCORE!

I do think we had to circle a bit before landing due to weather over the airport, but we ended up on the ground right on time.

Finally - everyone's favorite first ride of the trip

The end of the line

We were off to claim our bags and get our rental car. I scored an excellent rate on a car through Alamo. $146 for 10 days - full size car! I have to thank the transportation boards for that.

Up Next....Where Will We Spend Our First Night Before Entering the Disney Bubble?

Oh - and one final thought - I LOVED flying out of ABE. It was awesome to avoid the whole big airport thing, have friendly people working, and depart right on time. So sad that Air Tran has pulled their ABE service. sniff sniff. I've been meaning to write SWA about that.

Wicket's Mom · Jun 24, 2012

I'm here! Going back to catch up! :happytv:

Tink rules · Jun 24, 2012

I'm in!!!

2xcited2sleep · Jun 24, 2012

Pick the kid with the most potential. :rotfl2:

Love when the flight crew has a sense of humor. Definitely makes a difference and score on the full can of soda (how sad is it that this is now one of the measures of a good flight?)

What did you think of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? I've heard good things about the whole series but tried and couldn't get into it. Wondering if I should try again.

Poor Denster with a cold. Hope it didn't slow him down once in WDW. I am crazy on planes with purell and emergen-C or airborne. Not his fault and would never want him to miss his vacation but don't want to catch the bug either. :upsidedow

eandesmom · Jun 24, 2012

MEK said:
I flew in and out of a brand new airport.
I was a registered guest at two different Disney resorts.
I slept in four different beds.
I swam in 5 different Disney pools.
I visited 7 different Disney resorts.
I ate at 5 new Disney restaurants. No make that 6.
I made park opening 4 times.
I used my annual pass on 9 consecutive Disney days.
I tried the Quick Service Dining plan for the first time.
I watched Illuminations 3 times.
I finally saw the Main Street Electrical Parade.
I made my brother angry at least twice. (I did not make my SIL mad at me once!)
I left the Disney bubble on two separate occasions.
I met two new DISers and their son for the first time. I met one East Meets West Girl for the second time.
I am sure I had at least one alcoholic beverage on every day we were in Florida.

And I'm sure the list goes on.

Love the list!!! I'm here

Wicket's Mom · Jun 24, 2012

I made the first page, wow! I like all of the chapters you have listed.

I like flying out of small airports, it's so easy.

Great score on the rental car. Bob figures it would just as long to park a car, then catch the parking lot shuttle as it would to ride a Disney bus. I don't see it because we go when the crowds are very low!

teekathepony · Jun 24, 2012

Can I just start by saying I'm so glad you started this? Because I am so glad you started this!
Heyyyy what a great travel day! So smooth. Other than Denny's cold! Yikes, hope that didn't last long!

My reading material

Oooohh how did you like? Was this your first time reading it? I loved it, but I won't say much more in case you haven't finished yet. :rotfl:

Your flight crew sound awesome! Pick the kid with the most potential, too funny. A great arrival day, can't wait to hear the rest!

Disneymoon09 · Jun 24, 2012

Woohoo! I'm in! I love our airport here, small enough to not feel lost, yet big enough to get a decent amout of flights in and out. Sorry about the cold, yuck! And that rental rate is amazing, I think we paid at least $120 for 3 days back in September!

Mndisneygirl · Jun 24, 2012

Wow! You are off to a flying start - you took up most of page one!!

I'm here and ready to read!
ETA: The flight crew is awesome!! LOL!

marDgreen88 · Jun 24, 2012

I'm here! Can't wait! Hahaha I'm glad yall didn't have to leave poor Denny behind! :laughing:

Will You Chill Out if I Sprinkle You With Pixie Dust? The End p136 *New TR Link* p138

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Will You Chill Out if I Sprinkle You With Pixie Dust? The End p136 New TR Link p138