It was finally time for our trip. We had a 10 am flight out of Islip, so we loaded most of the suitcases into the car the night before. We had 2 big suitcases as well as one little suit case we were check. I love southwest. Everyone gets 2 checked bags for free.
DH had a back pack with his 2 laptops. One for work and one for doing his live dining reviews.
Both girls decided they need backpacks with stuffed animals for the plane. I had my DVC bag packed with the poncho and other stuff we would need for the parks. We had a carry on bag with snacks as well. So 3 checked bags and 6 carry on bags plus MILs bags (one checked bag, pocketbook and a carryon) but at this point we only had our bags.
I think we set the alarm for 6:15, I dont think we need it at all. Woke up finished loading the car, and turned off the water to all the toilets. Two of our neighbors have come home from vacations to find that the upstairs toilet leaked and destroyed the downstairs of their houses. We did not want to come home to that mess. We also unplugged most of the appliances.
Told Cloe (our English springer spaniel) it was time to go to petsmart.
Have never seen a dog move so fast. She loves to go to petsmart. Girls kept on telling her she was going to slipway camp. I think we left the house before 7. Girls wanted to come into petsmart to drop Cloe off. Cloe sometimes has a problem being boarded, since she loves to go on grass. PetsHotel has her go inside so she holds it. Will we get a call?
After dropping off Cloe, we start to drive to MIL. Turn on the road and the street is closed due to what looked like down power lines. Had to turn around and go another way. Good think we were early. :LOL:
Get to MILs and have to move our luggage into her car. Very tight fit, but we got it. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I squeezed in between the two car seats for the ten minute ride to the airport. Found a smart cart in the airports parking lot, so it was a snap to get everything into the airport. DH and I check the bags, while MIL sits with the girls.
I love Islip airport. There are never any lines. In fact we got to security and no one was in front of us. Just had to start to put our stuff on the x-ray machine. In fact I forgot to pull out my quart bag with the liquids, but it was not a problem.
Since we skipped breakfast, DH got the girls breakfast while MIL and I got us coffee at starbucks.
After the girls finish breakfast, we head to the gate for last minute potty time before boarding.
Plane landed early but we are waiting for a gate. I think we sat on the ground for almost a half hour waiting for our gate. Finally get off the plane and make our way to ME. They have changed how you check in since last December. Now if you have a ME booklet, you bypass the check in counter and go to a podium right before the different resort lines. We wait about 5 minutes behind one family at the podium. No clue why it is taking them so long, but they have a split stay, with a second ME for the return trip. Asking the clueless ME guy a ton of questions. DH sees the Animal Kingdom Lodge line start to go to a bus. We finally get to check in, and tell them we have 4 check bags. It only takes us a minute to check in but by this point, the animal kingdom line is gone. We have to wait a few minutes to get put on a bus. The girls were the first ones on the bus. I followed them on with my Magic express booklet in my hand, while DH gives the driver the stroller and some of the carry ones. He goes to get on the bus and the ticket person starts to give him a hard time about not having a ticket. I walk to the front of the bus to show them the tickets again. The ticket checker was not having a magical day. Bus fills up pretty quickly and off we go. We are on the last stop of the four stops. First the bus stops at Pop Century, Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach Resort before stopping to let us off at Animal Kingdom Kidani village.
Dani had a nap on the bus
We check into our 2 bedroom villa, except it is not ready yet. Girls watched a little TV while we checked in.
By this point it is passed time to check in for our lunch at Saana. We walked downstairs at 2:55 for our 2:50 ADR.
Had a great lunch. You can read about it
here.
We are still waiting for the phone call with our room number. It is after 4 at this point. We walk outside to check out the firepit and the animals
.
Sydney is saying she does not want to take any princess dresses but I will be packing them for her. Dani wants to take Aurora and Cinderella. I think I will pack Cinderella and Ariel (white dress) for sydney. I might also pack jasmine and Mulan since they both take up no room in the suit case.
