The characters, only two ... Janie (me) and Norb (my hubby).
We went to Disney World once, 17 or 18 years ago.
I admit we are not Disney addicts, we are Mexico addicts. We've been to Mexico 18 times, and we are going back next week.
But variety is the spice of life, so we decided to see what was going on in Florida.
A little background of our week before our trip ...
(don't fall asleep during this part)
Norb's sister, Helen, fell last June and broke her hip.
Helen was always very independent, and she was living alone in an apartment.
After surgery and rehab it was decided that she could not live alone anymore.
She was quite frail and weak.
She needed help with bathing and dressing, and she was no longer able to cook for herself.
We told her she had two choices, go into a nursing home or come and live with us.
Helen chose to live with us ... I think it was only because I serve wine with dinner.
My husband is retired, so he would keep her company during the day.
Nursing homes have "respite care" for when the caregivers want a break or a vacation.
When we went to Mexico in November Helen went to a nursing home for a week.
So we had made arrangements for her to go again while we went to Disney World.
We were leaving for Florida on February 3rd.
On January 27th, while I was at work, Helen suffered a stroke.
Norb called 911, and she was taken to the hospital.
She was in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit for 3 days, but it didn't look too promising.
On Sunday Norb and I sat with her for over 8 hours.
That night our dear Helen passed away.
The funeral was scheduled for Thursday, and we were leaving on Friday.
I kept asking Norb if he wanted to cancel or postpone the trip, but he insisted we go.
After the week we had, running back and forth to the hospital, and two days at the
funeral home, and then the funeral, he thought we needed a break.
So we buried Norb's beloved sister, and after the wake we returned home to quickly pack,
and take care of all those last minute details.
Our minds weren't really thinking about vacation, and Norb forgot to pack any shirts!
Mi amiga, Tricia (RVGal), emailed me lots of Disney tips.
She has been there 40 ... yes 40 ... times!
What a fanatic! I can't understand people who keep returning to the same place over and over
and ... oops! Never mind!
Tricia said to me, "I pay Mickey to make me forget the real world for awhile".
She was absolutely right ...Disney is such a fantasy world that we managed to forget our sadness for a little bit.

So ... on with my report ...
Friday morning we were up early and off to the airport at 6:15 a.m. in the rain.
We wore our Steeler jerseys, and we were treated like celebrities!
People at the Pittsburgh airport were hollering, "GO STEELERS" and giving us the thumbs up.
Some people were saying, "Have fun!"
Apparently those goofs thought we were going to Detroit.
I was wearing my Jerome Bettis jersey, and at the security checkpoint the guy said, "Hey, Mrs Bettis!"
OH LOOK! It's one of my favorite Steelers, Franco Harris, he's come to the airport to see us off ...
We had a terrible flight, it was the choppiest flight we've ever been on.
Lots of turbulence due to storms.
The lady sitting in back of us was hollering for a barf bag.
My stomach was in my throat, and there was no chance of sleeping.
Thank goodness it was only a 2 hour flight.
We landed in Orlando, and it was pouring rain.
What the heck is this? ... Isn't Florida supposed to be the Sunshine State?
When we arrived in Orlando we got quite a welcome,
people hollering, "GO STEELERS!"
and 'HEY, PITTSBURGH, GOOD LUCK!"
All through the airport people were giving us the thumbs up

and waving to us.
We loved all the support for our Steelers!
Disney resorts provide a Magical Express bus to take you from the airport to your hotel.
They also get your luggage, and it magically appears in your room ...
we didn't have to go to baggage claim ... NICE!
So we got on the bus, and in about 30 minutes we arrive at our hotel, Port Orleans - French Quarter.
The lobby ...
Checked in, room 3129 ...
Nice room with a small refrigerator, double sinks ... all the usual amentities, iron, ironing board,
clock radio, hair dryer, coffee maker, etc.
I loved the soaps ...
The wrapper was printed with Mickey's face and the phrase,
"Everybody neat and pretty? Then on with the show!"
(I repeated that phrase to Norb many, many, many times over the next few days in my
best "Minnie Mouse" squeaky voice, but he was not amused

)
Now, you probably have to be as old as me to remember THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB,
but I loved that show.
Good thing we had plastic ponchos from the Dollar Store.
Here's a helpful hint ... don't ever leave home without them!
We put on our ponchos, and took a walk around the hotel.
The Gift Shop, cause you're never leaving Disney World with any money left in your wallet ...
Here's the entrance to the pool, it's still raining ...
Decided to get some lunch.
The hotel has one restaurant, so it's an easy choice of where to eat ...
It's like a big food court, with different stations serving different things, one for pasta, one for desserts, etc.
I had chicken quesidillas, and Norb had a burger and fries.
It was okay. It was amusement park food, need I say more?
We decided to go to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island, and hopped the Disney bus.
Walked around for about 37 miles in the pouring rain.
A place to rent boats ...
These dogs are made entirely of
LEGO's ...
and, so is this creature in the water ...
We went to Wolfgang Puck for dinner, chicken fingers, fries and Sam Adams beer.
Then we walked about 37 more miles around Pleasure Island ...
Pleasure Island is where all the clubs are ... House of Blues, Planet Hollywood, Bongos, etc,
it's the Disney World for adults looking for alcohol.
Everywhere we went people were yelling, "GO STEELERS!"
It made us feel good knowing a lot of people were backing our team.
Still raining, so we got the bus back to the hotel.
We stopped in the lobby bar where there was an excellent singer.
He sang songs from the 50's and 60's ... Mustang Sally, Chantilly Lace, etc.
People were dancing and singing along, and it was a fun way to end the evening.
We were exhausted and went to bed at 10:30.
Tomorrow ... EPCOT, in the rain!