Quality Time at MCO
Once at MCO, we took a bit of time to rearrange the luggage and check the weights - just a bit of game of musical clothing was needed, and the bags were all between 47 and 48 lbs, which pleased me beyond what is reasonable.
There were some very nice undergraduate students there doing an assignment - this is at about 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday a.m., and since I know the pain of student life, I participated. They wanted to know why were there, where we were from, etc., and then they wanted to know if we would ever be interested in an app about Orlando for tourists, and how much I would pay for it, and would I buy it if I was told about it when I was renting a car. I really felt for them, so I just gently explained that I research everything 20 times over BEFORE I go anywhere, so being offered an app upon arrival would not likely tempt me - I need REVIEWS. I need BLOGS. I need technical analysis! I was nicer than that, though.
DH trundled off during this process to find a luggage cart, and when I finished with the students, we made our way to check in with our friends at Air Canada. After standing in line for about 10 minutes, a manager came out to ask if anyone was going on the Montreal flight - and then he asked those people to get out of line, as they weren't ready to check that flight in yet. After about 5 minutes, it finally occurred to me that our flight was due to leave AFTER the Montreal flight, so we were not likely to be able to check in either. We confirmed, and got out of line, bummed out that we would have to truck our bags around for at least another hour.
When the going gets tough, the tough head to Starbucks, which is what we did. Newly caffeinated (adults only) and victualed, we then took turns exploring MCO with Conor while the other adult babysat the luggage. Fortunately, MCO, like most airports is an excellent place for people watching, so time went by pretty quickly.
Space boy
Conor's memory is problematic in that he never forgets what we hope he will forget. So, he remembered the "Cool Space Store" that he had glimpsed when we arrived at MCO a week before, and he really wanted to go. DH braved the store with Conor, and, not surprisingly, they two of them succumbed to temptation, to get this:
At this point, I dragged them off to check in, already, before they bought more stuff I would have to get through security.
More MCO
Check-in once again required lining up - about 15 minutes this time ...or longer, and I've just blocked it out. We had a great debate at this point about Conor peeing, because it looked like the lines for security were long.
Adults prevailed, barely, and Conor was thrilled to see a built-in, folding down step stool in the bathroom at the sinks - brilliant, actually. Hey- I'll take whatever it takes for him to pee!
We organized ourselves to go through security, and braved the lines. They were, however, much better than the last time we were in Florida - 5 years before we flew home out of Miami on Superbowl Sunday. Let us assure you that the that was a trip - heightened security in a US airport is not something we felt like trying twice - we are simple Canadians from small-town Ontario. I think we were in line for 2 hours there before getting through security. It was definitely over an hour, and I was pregnant, so not fun.
Surprisingly, the lines moved fairly quickly - 2 lines - first, to get your passport (or photo ID, I guess) and boarding card checked, then, to clear security.
In the security line, I noted the scary body scanners, and dreaded taking Conor through, as I knew that would get ugly. When it was our turn, we filled our multiple bins with my laptop, other random electronics, Sockie, small bags, coats/hoodie, and other stuff. DH and I were taking our shoes off when a very nice TSA guy told me that Conor and I could go through the "normal" scanner, since Conor was too short for the big one. Yippee!
At this point, we noticed that Conor had taken off his shoes (despite having just been told he didn't need to - he was genuinely trying to help), and was trying to find a bin for them - nice TSA guy got him a little bin just for his shoes, and this totally made my morning. I'm sure that job isn't fun, but this small act of kindness actually improved his day too, because he didn't have to listen to me wrestle a weeping child through security. Yeah, TSA guy!
Lunch, and other people's children - in a good way
Having emerged unscathed on the other end of security, we assembled our gear and headed to the shuttle-train-thing. This time, the ride was in daylight, so it was even more exciting, in that one could see PLANES!!!! Imagine that at an airport.
We got to our terminal and found a Mexican place for lunch - something sorely lacking in small town Ontario. While we were waiting for our food, Conor asked nicely if he could play with his Space Shuttle, so I got it out for him.
He was almost instantly joined by Ben, who, in short order, reported that he was 5, had been to Disney, was flying home to New Hampshire on Jet Blue, and that he knew all this stuff because he was in Kindergarten. In short, we met Conor's kindred spirit. Ben's Dad was watching luggage and a younger sibling, and he was trying to get Ben back to the table, but we assured him that we didn't mind, and heck, we had a version of Ben. The two of them investigated the shuttle, the rockets, the astronauts, and exchanged views about school, flying, and space shuttles, but did not talk about Disney, interestingly. As Ben was persuaded to leave with his family, he and Conor agreed to speak again.
After lunch, we meandered off to our gate, while DH stopped at duty free to buy some old bottle of scotch or other, to join the collection of old bottles of scotch that live in my house. It came in a nifty container, that shall reappear later in this tale.
And, with that, dear readers, I shall retire for the night.
Well, once again I typed quite a lot about Vero Beach and lost it all because this site logs out if Im typing too long or somthing like that. So, if you do look into Disney's Vero Beach Resort, and have any questions, just let me know here on your thread and I will answer. 
