When we last met our adventurous duo they had just left home to hit the road.
Next scene has them....on the road.
Nothing much happened on the road, which I guess is a good thing. Dear ol' Dad is cruising comfortably at 71-72mph (and getting almost 35mpg in the process!) and heading south toward Savannah, GA. The iPod adapter is working great and Hannah is watching Gilmore Girls on the portable DVD player until the battery dies (a little over 2hrs) and then resorts to her own iPod. The playlist on mine consists of:
1)
Oh...I think I'll skip all that
Notice there aren't many people passing at a high rate of speed (being as we're traveling pretty much at the speed limit of 70mph I chalk it up to people being affected by the nearly $3/gal gas these days). There's still a larger % of SUVs vs. cars on the road, though.
Anyway, we're nearing Columbia, SC and I give an acquaintance a call (alerted her beforehand that we'd be in the area that day) and we meet for a quick dinner and dummy me doesn't think to get the camera out to snap a quick pic. We say goodbyes and it's back on the road and a few hrs later we pull up at the gloriously fabulous Fairfield Inn at Savannah airport (at least we're closer to WDW than we were this morning!)
I give my Dad a call and let him know we've gotten this far. The plan was to meet him and my stepmother along with my stepsister and her family (they were all vacationing in Dad's timeshare on the Florida coast). But, Hannah and I don't get moving until about 10am so just as I was about to call Dad to reschedule for later in the week, he calls wanting to know how close we were. I think back to the agenda and there was some spare time on Fri. afternoon and evening so we plan on meeting for dinner on Fri. At least Hannah will get to see the beach and ocean for a little bit (we go down with Dad just about every year but it's still nice to walk on the beach!) Question is, will those plans hold up? You'll just have to find out later!
We get to about Jacksonville and see a couple of really long backups on the
Northbound side (HA ha) and keep on down I-95 and see our exit for I-4 West (260B - time for a little 'inside joke', if you've seen
Elizabethtown and an early scene with Kirsten Dunst you might get it
)
We get into Orlando and follow the directions to TicketMania to pick up THE tickets! Find the place no problem but heading back out the route back to I-4 is a total parking lot. Time for winging it back north a bit and finding another way to I-4. Now, anyone who's spent a fair amount of time along I-4 past downtown and toward Disney knows that a few exits are fine to get off at but getting back ON I-4 is harder than scaling Everest w/o oxygen assist! Finally find a way back west and the exit signs start counting down the miles to the Disney exits.
Spot the one for Epcot and we're heading into the park!!!
Oh, and here's the turnoff for DTD and we go this way to head to POFQ. Hmm...this looks like it. (2-3 min. later and passing by SSR and it's obviously NOT it). End up somewhere in the Twilight Zone of Disney warehouses or something and end up backtracking back past SSR and to where we first turned off (ok, so I'm no Magellan). At least we got to see SSR and all of the new construction going on over there.
Finally, find the right entrance to POFQ and pull up in front of the resort. Oh, this is gonna be SWEET!
Now, I've read a gazillion threads on planning and packing and reservations and which bldg/room is best for which resort but, for some reason, which I still don't know what it is, after we pull up to the POFQ entrance, I start dragging all the luggage out of the car. I look around for a bellman or anyone from the resort. No one around. What the heck? What kind of service is this?! I carry and pull as much as I can and Hannah does the same (and we're sweating profusely at this point as it's about 3-4pm on a sunny Sat. afternoon). Trudge our way to the front desk and check in and are greeted by a warm and friendly face who informs us we've been upgraded to a room w/a courtyard view in Bldg 7. Hey, sounds great to me! That's when it hits me!
DOH!!
No bellman because the resort is spread out! You park near your bldg and *then* carry your luggage up!
*smacks self in head* (again!)
"sorry, Hannah!"
So, we lug pretty much everything we own that's been shoved into a few suitcases and duffle bags and put them back in the car and drive over to Bldg 7. Pick a parking spot that's pretty close (or so I thought) and grab a couple bags and start for the bldg. Ok, room is....this way. Ok, how far is this way going to be? Go a little more, ok, turn here and it's going to up there on the 3rd floor. <pant> <pant> <drip> <drip> "Why are we staying here again?! Oh, goody! The elevator isn't air conditioned! Joy! Hey, where's the pool? It's behind the main lobby, right? And we're how far? Sanford? Eustis? Great." This is "pixie dust"?
I go move the car to get closer to the room to make it easier to haul the rest of the luggage up (no sense leaving it in the car as we're checking out in the morning and we'll let Disney transport the luggage to the YC).
Finally get everything into the room and I have a chance to take it all in. It's actually a REALLY NICE room. I like the way it's decorated. Hannah's spotting hidden Mickeys. Outside the window is the covered walkway looking out over a courtyard. A bit too many trees but it does have the feel of the French Quarter (where I stayed on two separate business trips last year just before Katrina).
Plop on the bed and relax long enough to stop sweating.
Ok, Hannah. Are you ready for some fun?! Let's go to MGM! (we're about to experience our first *real* Pixie dust)
(to be cont'd again)
Can't wait to read more! 
