The Cast: Me, 26 year old Disney fanatic from New Jersey
Kristen, my long time girlfriend who I gave the Disney bug years ago
Special Appearance: My parents who relocated to Florida 4 years ago (Lucky!)
Let me preface this trip report by saying this was not just an ordinary weekend at Disney. It was an extremely well planned adventure where I would propose to Kristen. I did this with the help of Jane at Gifts of a Lifetime. If you ever have a special event planned at Disney, please give them a call because they are well worth the price and extremely imaginative and helpful.
Day 1 (Not Disney ¼ )
We arrived in Tampa Airport at 5:33 PM. The trip over was pretty uneventful. We got to Philadelphia airport early and had virtually no lines. The new US Air E-Ticket kiosks are so efficient. I highly recommend them. I was a nervous wreck because I had Kristen¡¦s ring in my carry-on in my sunglass case. All I needed was for them to go through a full search and display the ring to her. Fortunately I played it cool and no search was done and Kristen did not suspect anything, first hurdle completed. OK, back to Tampa. My mom was picking us up by the luggage area and she had perfect timing. As our bags hit the carousel she arrived, could not have planned that any better. First nights meal was at Steak n Shake. Now if you live in the south and have these semi fast food restaurants around you probably think I am nuts, but if you are from the north these things are a piece of heaven. They have the best old-fashioned burgers and fries anywhere. I actually thank god they don¡¦t have them in Jersey or I would have to buy two seats on the plane º Oh, I forgot to mention my brother met us for dinner. He will never pass up free food. After pigging out we just headed to my parents¡¦ house to rest up for the big day tomorrow. Now my parents live in a town called Thonotosassa, which is pretty much in the middle of a bunch of orange groves. As we get close to the house we notice a bunch of cute dogs running around the side of the road. My brother declares that they are smart and do not go in the road, for some reason I believed him. Well we get home and are awaiting the arrival of my mother and Kristen. Low and behold, my brother¡¦s cell phone rings and they are both out on the road trying to rescue the dogs. My mom loves dogs, but Kristen would give her left arm to save an animal so I knew things were bound to get interesting. We hop back in the car and drive out to the spot where I see Kristen surrounded by 5 dogs. She is like the Pied Piper; they are following her everywhere. I pull off the side of the road and get out of the car to find out the full story. Apparently one of the dogs took off, so the crazy guy I am, I decide to walk down the road in search of the dog whistling hoping I would attract some attention. Well apparently all the dogs in the area, except the one that ran off, decided to bark and howl at me. After a long walk I headed back with bad news, no sighting. At least the other dogs were away from the road. They were obviously not strays because they were well fed and groomed, but of course they had no tags. My mom thought they lived at one of the houses at the end of the orchard we were in, so off she walked through the orchard with all the dogs following. My brother headed back and I hopped in the family SUV and headed through the orchard closely following my mom and the trail of puppies following her. She thought she found the house when the puppies ran off, but as soon as she hopped in the car they were back outside the doors wanting to play. This was not good. We could not take them home because my parents have an Akita who would use the dogs as play toys, plus they would not jump in the car. The only thing we could do was make a run for it and hope the dogs stayed in the orchard and find their home. I told Kristen and my mom to brace themselves and made sure none of the dogs were in my path and I floored it. The car took off bouncing all over the place, we were offroad and my mom and Kristen thought we were going to die. It was really a blast, I felt like I was in one of those Baja races. The silly dogs did chase for a bit but eventually gave up. I really hope they found their home. They were adorable. Finally we were back at the house. We all needed to get cleaned up after walking through orchards and playing with muddy dogs. We were all set to go to Disney tomorrow. Kristen thought it would be the two of us and my mom going and that we would be returning Friday night.
Kristen, my long time girlfriend who I gave the Disney bug years ago
Special Appearance: My parents who relocated to Florida 4 years ago (Lucky!)
Let me preface this trip report by saying this was not just an ordinary weekend at Disney. It was an extremely well planned adventure where I would propose to Kristen. I did this with the help of Jane at Gifts of a Lifetime. If you ever have a special event planned at Disney, please give them a call because they are well worth the price and extremely imaginative and helpful.
Day 1 (Not Disney ¼ )
We arrived in Tampa Airport at 5:33 PM. The trip over was pretty uneventful. We got to Philadelphia airport early and had virtually no lines. The new US Air E-Ticket kiosks are so efficient. I highly recommend them. I was a nervous wreck because I had Kristen¡¦s ring in my carry-on in my sunglass case. All I needed was for them to go through a full search and display the ring to her. Fortunately I played it cool and no search was done and Kristen did not suspect anything, first hurdle completed. OK, back to Tampa. My mom was picking us up by the luggage area and she had perfect timing. As our bags hit the carousel she arrived, could not have planned that any better. First nights meal was at Steak n Shake. Now if you live in the south and have these semi fast food restaurants around you probably think I am nuts, but if you are from the north these things are a piece of heaven. They have the best old-fashioned burgers and fries anywhere. I actually thank god they don¡¦t have them in Jersey or I would have to buy two seats on the plane º Oh, I forgot to mention my brother met us for dinner. He will never pass up free food. After pigging out we just headed to my parents¡¦ house to rest up for the big day tomorrow. Now my parents live in a town called Thonotosassa, which is pretty much in the middle of a bunch of orange groves. As we get close to the house we notice a bunch of cute dogs running around the side of the road. My brother declares that they are smart and do not go in the road, for some reason I believed him. Well we get home and are awaiting the arrival of my mother and Kristen. Low and behold, my brother¡¦s cell phone rings and they are both out on the road trying to rescue the dogs. My mom loves dogs, but Kristen would give her left arm to save an animal so I knew things were bound to get interesting. We hop back in the car and drive out to the spot where I see Kristen surrounded by 5 dogs. She is like the Pied Piper; they are following her everywhere. I pull off the side of the road and get out of the car to find out the full story. Apparently one of the dogs took off, so the crazy guy I am, I decide to walk down the road in search of the dog whistling hoping I would attract some attention. Well apparently all the dogs in the area, except the one that ran off, decided to bark and howl at me. After a long walk I headed back with bad news, no sighting. At least the other dogs were away from the road. They were obviously not strays because they were well fed and groomed, but of course they had no tags. My mom thought they lived at one of the houses at the end of the orchard we were in, so off she walked through the orchard with all the dogs following. My brother headed back and I hopped in the family SUV and headed through the orchard closely following my mom and the trail of puppies following her. She thought she found the house when the puppies ran off, but as soon as she hopped in the car they were back outside the doors wanting to play. This was not good. We could not take them home because my parents have an Akita who would use the dogs as play toys, plus they would not jump in the car. The only thing we could do was make a run for it and hope the dogs stayed in the orchard and find their home. I told Kristen and my mom to brace themselves and made sure none of the dogs were in my path and I floored it. The car took off bouncing all over the place, we were offroad and my mom and Kristen thought we were going to die. It was really a blast, I felt like I was in one of those Baja races. The silly dogs did chase for a bit but eventually gave up. I really hope they found their home. They were adorable. Finally we were back at the house. We all needed to get cleaned up after walking through orchards and playing with muddy dogs. We were all set to go to Disney tomorrow. Kristen thought it would be the two of us and my mom going and that we would be returning Friday night.
Krissy
