When I last left you I was in a fitful sleep, with my alarm set for 4:00 in the morning. My sister and I agreed that we would call each other immediately when we woke up to avoid any sleeping through the alarm drama. I woke up and called her and she let me know that our flight was delayed. It looked like we wouldn’t make our connection in Miami. I’m cursed when it comes to airplane travel, so this didn’t shock me. We decided to just proceed to the airport anyway and would figure it out when we got there.
She picked me up, and after a quick stop back at her place to make sure she unplugged the iron, we were on our way. My confused navigating brought us to an Air Force Reserve station. Whoops. Luckily the guards didn’t think we were terrorists and we made our exit and eventually got to the park and fly place. The shuttle picked us up immediately and then we were on our way. I used the short trip to the terminal to look up alternate flights on my phone. We prepared ourselves with some options and then got to the airport and made the humiliating trip through security. There’s something pathetic, but equalizing about seeing a horde of sleepy travelers trudging along in their bestockinged feet, clutching baggies of liquids and gels.
On our way to the gate, we saw one of the TV network political commentators. I almost bumped into him while trying to do the polite Minnesota thing and pretending not to see him. He must have been in town scoping things out before the RNC. At the gate, we walked up to the podium and talked with the gate agent about our connection dilemma. He was a bit grumpy at first, but we smiled and got him to put us on the flight through Chicago. Exit row seats all of the way. Woo hoo! I’m glad we just had carry-ons, because it made the whole flight switching thing less fraught with dramatic tension. This also saved us when our return trip was messed up by good old Hurricane Fay.
After some coffee and yummy breakfast treats from French Meadow, we were on our way. The flight and layover at O’Hare were uneventful. Soon we were on the plane again and on our way to see the Mouse! I got a bit giddy when I first glimpsed a swimming pool over Orlando. Once we landed, we entered the swampy, under reconstruction terminal and hopped on our first ride of the trip, the monorail.

The wait for the Mears shuttle was a bit painful. We watched in envy as Magical Express after Magical Express carried vacationers off to their pixie dusted holidays. 45 minutes later our buzzer went off and we boarded the van. The van was packed full of people, but the air conditioning was in full force and the driver very friendly. The first stop was the Dolphin, our hotel. At the check-in desk, my sister gave them the reservation information and a voice of an angel said, “You have a balcony room with a lake view”. I had convinced myself that we were going to end up posting on
the worst room views thread with a view similar to this one (poor TaraPA), so this was especially exciting! A room with a view (no Mr. Emerson though) and a balcony! He handed over a stack of Disney brochures and pointed the way to the Disney ticket counter (which closes at 5:30).
We purchased our 4 day passes and headed up to our room to unload our bags and change. Once in our room, we ran over and slid open the balcony door to see our view. Not only did we have a view of the lake, but we could see the Tower of Terror, Mickey’s sorcerer hat, and the very top of the Great Movie Ride’s Grauman’s theatre facade off in the distance.

I snapped a few photos, and maybe had a wee bounce on the heavenly bed.

After a quick fluff and buff, we headed to the first park of the trip, Epcot!
I’ll talk about our fun evening there in my next update. Thanks for reading!