How Much Do You Ladies Charge to Haunt the Castle? -- Departure Day up (See index

[heaven2dc]

I'm joining in! Can't wait to read all about your trip

 

[KatMark]

I'm joining in! Can't wait to read all about your trip

Welcome, Debbie. Thank you for joining...always delighted to have new readers.


I had an update all typed up, pictures inserted and then my computer did one of those lovely freezes.

I'm too tired to insert all the pictures again (fighting a scratchy throat and constant sneezing), so I'll do it tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone.

 

[that's nice]

Is that why you quit reading mine

Awwww..... Rosie.

Please don't take offense. I've fallen behind on quite a few TRs of people who have already posted on this thread. I can barely keep up with my own TRs.

 

[LuvvsMickey]

Hey Kathy. Thanks for the heads up. I am here and totally understand what you are going through with your mom. Such a horrible and mean disease. (aren't they all) I am truly very sorry you have to go through this, too.

I will try and pop in when I can.

 

[KatMark]

Awwww..... Rosie.

Please don't take offense. I've fallen behind on quite a few TRs of people who have already posted on this thread. I can barely keep up with my own TRs.

And probably why I responded to your post the way I did, Tim.

Hey Kathy. Thanks for the heads up. I am here and totally understand what you are going through with your mom. Such a horrible and mean disease. (aren't they all) I am truly very sorry you have to go through this, too.

I will try and pop in when I can.

my Pickle Friend is here. Welcome, Trac...so glad you came over.

It has not been a fun week since we got home dealing with the hospital, nursing home and my mom.

I am spending my lunch hour and doing my update...coming up shortly.

 

[lovethattink]

I hope you feel better soon!

Bummer about the freeze. I've had that happen alot lately. So I started writing the updates in word then copy and paste it to the DIS. I had quite a bit of problems with photobucket yesterday.

 

[LuvvsMickey]

my Pickle Friend is here. Welcome, Trac...so glad you came over.

It has not been a fun week since we got home dealing with the hospital, nursing home and my mom.

I am spending my lunch hour and doing my update...coming up shortly.

I SO understand, believe me. Did they tell you what type of dementia she has? Mom has Alzheimer's and it is progressing faster than anticipated. I am SO angry! MIL has frontal lobe dementia. Two totally different beasts. I hate it.

Looking forward to reading about your adventures at OKW. As you already know, we loved it. I hope you did again this trip, too.

 

[KatMark]

So moving right along (yes, I am moving at a snail's pace, I know).

The plan had been to go to the Nursing Home to see Mark's mom on Friday night to say goodbye in case she passed while we were gone. As many of you know, she passed that Thursday night/Friday morning when we got the call at midnight. So instead, Mark left work early (they yelled at him for even being at work) and we did a few chores, went to dinner and called his Dad to see how he was doing. We then put all of the luggage but our last piece in Andy's car and were in bed by 9:30 as we had to be up at the ungodly hour of 3:30 (or I did anyway) to leave for the airport at 4:30 a.m.

Saturday at 3:30 in the morning arrived quicker than I thought it would and I literally jumped out of bed because our day had finally arrived. I took a shower, put on my make-up, did my hair and then woke Mark up. While he was showering, I finished packing the last suitcase with my make-up, curling iron, etc.

At 4:20 a.m., I went to make sure Andy was up and ready to go by 4:30. Mark walked the dog while I snuck the last piece of luggage in the car, along with my computer, my purse and my carry-on bag (Mark would be carrying the computer at the airport). At exactly 4:30 a.m., we were loading in the car with Andy driving and heading to O'Hare Airport.

At exactly 5:00 a.m., we were pulling up to this:

Andy helped us unload the luggage, gave us both a kiss goodbye and told us to have a great trip.

We found the skycap, and checked in our luggage. Now, here is where my WONDERFUL boss comes in. For those of you who read my PTR, you know that my boss upgraded Mark and I to First Class for our going and coming home. Being that we hadn't flown First Class in at least seven years, we forgot that our luggage was free. This was great considering we had three pieces of luggage this trip.

A couple of pictures before heading into security:

We headed to security, and yet another perk of First Class: our own line through security.

So between arrival at the airport, checking luggage and going through security we were done in exactly 25 minutes!

We left security and headed to our terminal/gate (love these lights):

And, you my DIS friends, all know where we stopped first:

Mark doesn't like Starbucks, so we stopped at another location (I don't remember the name of it) and we got him a coffee and a muffin:

Soon it was time to board the plane. Once on board and sitting down and the plane loaded, we were offered a beverage before take off. I never say no to coffee...and don't you just love that it is in a REAL cup???

In no time at all, our chariot

was taking off and we were airborne (do you think someone was either overtired or just excited we were finally going?)

Once we were at our altitude, the Flight Attendant came and asked what we wanted for breakfast. I had cereal and fruit (Mark ate my fruit) and Mark had something similar to an Egg McMuffin and a banana and a bagel (the Egg McMuffin thing was just okay he said...nothing special):

The flight was so smooth that I actually slept for about 40 minutes. Before we knew it, we were making our descent into Orlando and our happy place:

Before heading over to ME, Mark had to turn his new phone off "airplane mode" (as you can tell by the picture, he doesn't have a clue what he's doing...and still doesn't ).

We always stop for one of us to get a picture here:

And, of course, the "fake monorail":

That taken care of, it was time to head to the Magical Express. I was so excited for Mark to do this for the very first time. There were only a few people in line in front of us and we only waited five minutes for a bus. Unfortunately, we didn't get THE ME bus, but the Mears bus.

But that's okay, because we were still on the bus

And we got to see this:

Before you knew it, we were passing under that beautiful arch. I had too many big heads in front of me on the bus, so I got this picture instead...and it still tells me we are at Disney:

Up next, will we have a magical check-in at Old Key West?

AND I PROMISE TO GET CAUGHT UP ON ALL OF YOUR THREADS I'M FOLLOWING BEFORE MY NEXT UPDATE!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay for your first update to your TR!!! Sounds like you had a good flight and everything went well. I feel your pain about the "fake" DME bus. In February I got a cruise bus. And we didn't even get the video, we just watched Toy Story 3.

Can't wait to hear about your actual arrival at OKW!!!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Whoo Hoo! First class! Is your boss hiring?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Woo Hoo for leaving the house and arriving at the airport on time! Way to start the trip!

 

[afwdwfan]

So moving right along (yes, I am moving at a snail's pace, I know).

It's alright, I wouldn't be able to keep up if you were going faster.

Being that we hadn't flown First Class in at least seven years, we forgot that our luggage was free. This was great considering we had three pieces of luggage this trip.

And the good news gets even better.

And, you my DIS friends, all know where we stopped first

Never would have guessed.

Unfortunately, we didn't get THE ME bus, but the Mears bus.

Well, it had better be going the same place!

AND I PROMISE TO GET CAUGHT UP ON ALL OF YOUR THREADS I'M FOLLOWING BEFORE MY NEXT UPDATE!

Don't worry. I kept things quiet on my PTR... just for you!

 

[lovethattink]

Great start! Nice to see some airlines still serve breakfast!

 

[luckylady]

NIce boss you have there. Great start to the trip.

 

[Terkina]

How nice of your boss. Sound like you had a great start to your trip

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

boo for the early wake up time,


yah for the free upgrade..

boo, for coffee in general

yah for muffins

boo for the fake monorail, but yah for the fake monorail because it means you are almost to disney.

yah for a short line

boo for the fake mears bus

yah for the movie,

boo for big heads blocking your view.

yah for arriving at your happy place.

 

[eandesmom]

what a great start to your trip! I just can't fly/leave that early. I'll miss the plane! Love all the perks of first class, it's probably been 5 years or more since I flew it but oh, I remember some of those little niceties.

I am so sorry (again) about Mark's mom. I hope in some way, knowing she had already passed let you not stress and dwell on that during the trip. lord knows you had enough stress in other areas.

Bummer that it wasn't a "real" bus.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am here hon, haven't read a word, but I'm here. Going back now to read....

 

[SoonerGirl]

I missed the part in your PTR where you told us your boss upgraded you to first class - that's awesome!!!

Bummer about the Mears bus, we had one too

 

[mommy2mrb]

great start Kathy! happy you didn't have any issues with your flight!

bummer about the Mears bus, hope you got the ME on the way home!