Disney845
I miss my custom tags
- Joined
- May 30, 2002
Just returned late Saturday night from our first ever trip to DL (and CA for that matter). We are regulars to WDW, but had never gotten around to visiting DL.
I set my alarm for 3am on Saturday April 25th, got up, showered, did hair and makeup, and then woke up SO (he can get ready in like 15 minutes, that kills me! ). We packed the last minute items in our bags and bid farewell to our kitty and turtle who would be checked on daily by SO's mother while we were away.
Here is our kitty enjoying the sunshine in her favorite place on our screened porch.
And our aquatic turtle, who has grown out of his 3rd tank upgrade and is currently having a backyard pond constructed for him.
We left the house by 4:15am and had an uneventful drive to the Orlando International Airport. We parked in our normal place, the North blue lot, and snagged a spot directly across from the shuttle bus stop (B21). By the time we had removed our bags from the car and crossed the street a bus was stopping to pick us up. Our bus had about 7 other travelers on it and stopped to drop some off at Terminal A before proceeding to the B Terminal where our Delta flight would depart from.
The parking lot shuttle bus dropped us right outside of the curbside check in which we utilized to check our 2 pieces of luggage ($25 each which was paid at the time of online check-in for our flight). I always prefer to check in curbside when it is available, even for those airlines that charge a curbside check in fee. There was no one in line ahead of us and the whole process to weigh our bags, print our bag claim stickers and send us on our way took less than 3 minutes. I had already checked in online for our flight and had electronic boarding passes on our phones, but the nice skycap insisted on printing us paper boarding passes as well. Once we headed into the airport we could see an already sizable line for the Delta ticket counter even at this early hour and were again glad we made use of the curbside check in.
After a quick bathroom break we proceeded to the security line which was a breeze (usually is at MCO for early morning flights, but I have stood in line for almost an hour in the middle of the afternoon, so plan accordingly). After the security check we hopped on the AGT to take us to over to our gate. After a quick look around the duty free shop to kill a few minutes we grabbed some breakfast at Burger King. I had a carton of milk and a ham, egg, cheese croissant, and SO had french toast sticks and an Honest Ice Tea.
After breakfast we proceeded to our gate to sit and wait for the flight to board. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:05.
When I had booked the flight there were no seats next to each other on the plane (with the exception of first class and the comfort class, which I did not want to pay extra for), so I booked us both window seats one directly in front of the other near the rear of the plane. I checked back repeatedly online to see if we could switch seats, but none became available. Eventually the flight appeared sold out of regular seats. Fortunately, first class did not sell out and the gate ended up upgrading people (I am assuming high frequent flier miles people??) so that the economy class of the plane was not completely full. Both SO and I had 2 people sitting next to us, but when it became apparent that a row in the far rear was empty, the couple seated next to me asked the stewardess if they could relocate, which they did, then SO was able to sit next to me and we had the row to ourselves!
Our view out the window before takeoff.
A full plane ahead of us.
Our flight ended up boarding and taking off about 15 minutes late, but we must have had good flight weather because we arrived about 10 minutes early to LAX, making us only about 5 minutes behind schedule (this was a treat for us, because three out of the last four flights we took in 2014 were delayed considerably - one by around 11 hours and the other two by about 1.5 hours each). The 5 hr 35 min flight was uneventful. This particular plane did not have individual monitors, but group monitors located every few rows. They played the movie Into the Woods which I was happy to watch as I had been wanting to see it. After the movie I read for awhile on my kindle. SO is not a fan of musicals, so he passed the time listening to music, resting and taking pictures out the window.
By the time we reached California it was very cloudy.
Deplaning and baggage claim at LAX were very simple. I was concerned based on so many people's comments on this board and other travel forums about not liking to fly in/out of LAX because it was so busy. I guess with MCO being our home airport, we are used to a busy airport and it didn't phase us at all.
We followed the signs outside for the rental car shuttle pick up and after about 15 minutes along came our shuttle to take us to the Alamo rental car facility. Alamo shares a large shuttle bus with National (which are located right next to each other off-site). We used one of the many self serve kiosks to check in for our car and were on our way to the lot to make our selection in minutes. SO, who is ALWAYS the driver, selected a Nissan Altima. I liked the white one, but he wanted black. After a quick look around the car to assess any existing damage we were on our way. This car was very nice. A 2015 with less than 5000 miles on it. It had a backup camera as well as usb ports for media connection.
I set my alarm for 3am on Saturday April 25th, got up, showered, did hair and makeup, and then woke up SO (he can get ready in like 15 minutes, that kills me! ). We packed the last minute items in our bags and bid farewell to our kitty and turtle who would be checked on daily by SO's mother while we were away.
Here is our kitty enjoying the sunshine in her favorite place on our screened porch.
And our aquatic turtle, who has grown out of his 3rd tank upgrade and is currently having a backyard pond constructed for him.
We left the house by 4:15am and had an uneventful drive to the Orlando International Airport. We parked in our normal place, the North blue lot, and snagged a spot directly across from the shuttle bus stop (B21). By the time we had removed our bags from the car and crossed the street a bus was stopping to pick us up. Our bus had about 7 other travelers on it and stopped to drop some off at Terminal A before proceeding to the B Terminal where our Delta flight would depart from.
The parking lot shuttle bus dropped us right outside of the curbside check in which we utilized to check our 2 pieces of luggage ($25 each which was paid at the time of online check-in for our flight). I always prefer to check in curbside when it is available, even for those airlines that charge a curbside check in fee. There was no one in line ahead of us and the whole process to weigh our bags, print our bag claim stickers and send us on our way took less than 3 minutes. I had already checked in online for our flight and had electronic boarding passes on our phones, but the nice skycap insisted on printing us paper boarding passes as well. Once we headed into the airport we could see an already sizable line for the Delta ticket counter even at this early hour and were again glad we made use of the curbside check in.
After a quick bathroom break we proceeded to the security line which was a breeze (usually is at MCO for early morning flights, but I have stood in line for almost an hour in the middle of the afternoon, so plan accordingly). After the security check we hopped on the AGT to take us to over to our gate. After a quick look around the duty free shop to kill a few minutes we grabbed some breakfast at Burger King. I had a carton of milk and a ham, egg, cheese croissant, and SO had french toast sticks and an Honest Ice Tea.
After breakfast we proceeded to our gate to sit and wait for the flight to board. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:05.
When I had booked the flight there were no seats next to each other on the plane (with the exception of first class and the comfort class, which I did not want to pay extra for), so I booked us both window seats one directly in front of the other near the rear of the plane. I checked back repeatedly online to see if we could switch seats, but none became available. Eventually the flight appeared sold out of regular seats. Fortunately, first class did not sell out and the gate ended up upgrading people (I am assuming high frequent flier miles people??) so that the economy class of the plane was not completely full. Both SO and I had 2 people sitting next to us, but when it became apparent that a row in the far rear was empty, the couple seated next to me asked the stewardess if they could relocate, which they did, then SO was able to sit next to me and we had the row to ourselves!
Our view out the window before takeoff.
A full plane ahead of us.
Our flight ended up boarding and taking off about 15 minutes late, but we must have had good flight weather because we arrived about 10 minutes early to LAX, making us only about 5 minutes behind schedule (this was a treat for us, because three out of the last four flights we took in 2014 were delayed considerably - one by around 11 hours and the other two by about 1.5 hours each). The 5 hr 35 min flight was uneventful. This particular plane did not have individual monitors, but group monitors located every few rows. They played the movie Into the Woods which I was happy to watch as I had been wanting to see it. After the movie I read for awhile on my kindle. SO is not a fan of musicals, so he passed the time listening to music, resting and taking pictures out the window.
By the time we reached California it was very cloudy.
Deplaning and baggage claim at LAX were very simple. I was concerned based on so many people's comments on this board and other travel forums about not liking to fly in/out of LAX because it was so busy. I guess with MCO being our home airport, we are used to a busy airport and it didn't phase us at all.
We followed the signs outside for the rental car shuttle pick up and after about 15 minutes along came our shuttle to take us to the Alamo rental car facility. Alamo shares a large shuttle bus with National (which are located right next to each other off-site). We used one of the many self serve kiosks to check in for our car and were on our way to the lot to make our selection in minutes. SO, who is ALWAYS the driver, selected a Nissan Altima. I liked the white one, but he wanted black. After a quick look around the car to assess any existing damage we were on our way. This car was very nice. A 2015 with less than 5000 miles on it. It had a backup camera as well as usb ports for media connection.