Escaping Irene: A NY family "evacuates" to Disney! *Update 7/7 WWoHP*

[Where'sPiglet?]

Wow...what a stressful travel day! I'm glad you all made it to Orlando!

The way some of those car service drivers drive around NYC, I'm not surprised Zachary got car sick! Poor kid!

I do hope the rest of your trip not so stressful!

 

[DrMomof3]

Wow...what a stressful travel day! I'm glad you all made it to Orlando!

The way some of those car service drivers drive around NYC, I'm not surprised Zachary got car sick! Poor kid!

I do hope the rest of your trip not so stressful!

Thank you! I agree about the car service drivers. He was definitely driving aggressively to get around rush hour traffic.

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

A few pictures from JFK:

Jessica wearing her "blankie" as a cape.

Showing off their new sunglasses! (Which cost less than $5 per pair from the Disneystore.com)

That batch was taken with the iPhone so not the best pictures ever!

The Hyatt at the Orlando Airport.

Round table with 4 chairs which was immediately to the left of the door of our room.

Sofa bed when opened. There is a tv in the "living room" area of the room.

Rollaway bed and then king-sized bed. Zachary watching tv.

Standing near door to balcony and looking back at front door of room. That's the sofabed and the "dining table."

Very dark picture of Tom standing on balcony with view of Orlando Airport.

Not the best pictures but I think it gives an idea of how lovely our room was! I would definitely stay there again. I think taking a late-ish flight and spending the night at the airport hotel is a great travel plan!

Amanda

 

[Mary Anne]

I was looking for a really good trip report to read and your title caught my eye!
As a NewYorker, I knew Irene well

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[starann]

When we flew on our last trip, we flew out of Philly (rahter than Lehigh Valley, which didn't have direct flights or early flights), so the night before we drive to Philly, and stayed at one of the hotels that offered a parking package. We still had to wake up early (who am I kidding, we barely slept!!!) but it was nice to be 10 mins from the airport.

Your plan worked out soooo much better!!! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[sstewart]

Subbing!

 

[Pills]

If we had booked JetBlue originally (which I did regret later on), we probably would've been on one of your flights. We changed our Sunday night flights to Friday to avoid Irene.

 

[natebenma]

Wow, Amanda! That is a stressfull travel day!

Between the shrinking packing window, a surly driver, puke, leapfrog with the bags and the less than comfortable travel attire- not to mention the thought of Hurricane Irene and the family members still needing to travel...

YOU DONE GOOD!!!

I'm so glad you found a great helping hand in that bellhop. Sounds like he is a shining star at Hyatt.

 

[DrMomof3]

I was looking for a really good trip report to read and your title caught my eye!
As a NewYorker, I knew Irene well

Looking forward to reading more.

Welcome! I hope I live up to expectations!!!

When we flew on our last trip, we flew out of Philly (rahter than Lehigh Valley, which didn't have direct flights or early flights), so the night before we drive to Philly, and stayed at one of the hotels that offered a parking package. We still had to wake up early (who am I kidding, we barely slept!!!) but it was nice to be 10 mins from the airport.

Your plan worked out soooo much better!!! Can't wait to hear more!

The Hyatt isn't cheap - at all - but the service was wonderful. We stayed in a junior suite and it was fantastic. I can't say enough nice things about the experience.

Subbing!

Welcome!!!

If we had booked JetBlue originally (which I did regret later on), we probably would've been on one of your flights. We changed our Sunday night flights to Friday to avoid Irene.

Too funny! I'll try to get caught up with you later....

Wow, Amanda! That is a stressfull travel day!

Between the shrinking packing window, a surly driver, puke, leapfrog with the bags and the less than comfortable travel attire- not to mention the thought of Hurricane Irene and the family members still needing to travel...

YOU DONE GOOD!!!

I'm so glad you found a great helping hand in that bellhop. Sounds like he is a shining star at Hyatt.

Dee - Thank you! It was a very stressful day but I think I did a great job managing all the curve balls. I guess I'm used to unexpected curve balls - it goes with my job - but it's particular hard when you're supposed to be on vacation! Last summer I flew to Florida with all 3 kids by myself but the travel was without incident and my nanny helped me get the bags checked in so I didn't deal with the leapfrogging. That was an easier trip than the stress I had with only 2 kids this time.
The bellhop was not the exception at the Hyatt but the rule. They've hired and trained some great people. Everyone we met at the hotel was wonderful!!! (More to come on that note.)

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

That may be one of the worst airport travel stories I've heard. The thing that is sad about it is without much effort at all that driver could have made it so much better. (Plus he probably would have gotten a bigger tip so it was in his best interest too.) There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Traveling with my kids is sooooo much easier these days. They all carry their own stuff, we have no car seats (we always just pick up a $20 booster at a local Walmart for the youngest), and I walk and they follow right behind. Your day will come too.

 

[DrMomof3]

That may be one of the worst airport travel stories I've heard. The thing that is sad about it is without much effort at all that driver could have made it so much better. (Plus he probably would have gotten a bigger tip so it was in his best interest too.) There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Traveling with my kids is sooooo much easier these days. They all carry their own stuff, we have no car seats (we always just pick up a $20 booster at a local Walmart for the youngest), and I walk and they follow right behind. Your day will come too.

There is some consolation in being the worst! And, I agree about the driver. I tipped the bellhop at the Hyatt very generously. And I kept tipping him more because he was so wonderful. If the driver had tried to help me - at all! - I would have tipped him generously also.
Nice to hear that things that better as the kids get older. Honestly, once we were through security things weren't bad. Having to carry Zachary off the plane was only a minor issue.

Amanda

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Yay for Jessica being a big girl and helping! Just think how much easier future trips will be minus the car seats and sleeping tot!

Glad you made it out before the storm.

 

[DrMomof3]

Yay for Jessica being a big girl and helping! Just think how much easier future trips will be minus the car seats and sleeping tot!

Glad you made it out before the storm.

Thank you! We wouldn't have chosen to take such a late flight but it was a blessing to get out of NY before the storm hit! My kids are really able to rise to the occasion in situations like this. I flew solo with the 3 kids last summer and they were troopers!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

Saturday morning my precious darling Zachary decided on a 5:20am wake-up. Needless to say I was less than thrilled since I had gotten to bed well after 11pm and had responded to some text messages from Tom after they landed around 1am. I also quickly realized that I had to prevent him from waking up the rest of the family or our entire day would be doomed.
First things first. I gave Zachary a bath. No matter how good a job I had done with diaper wipes, he still hadn't been properly cleaned after his vomiting incident. So into the tub he went. Once he was cleaned and dressed, it was time for me to rid myself of any residual vomit. Fortunately the bathroom was huge enough that he could sit in the chair at the vanity (is that what that thing is called - it looks like a desk but has a mirror?) and play my iPad while I took a much-needed shower. I found some clean clothes and all of my necessary toiletries and got ready to face the day.
At that point it might have been 6am. Maybe even 6:15am if I was lucky. And I realized that we needed to leave the room before I had 3 overtired, crabby children instead of one. And an overtired and crabby husband. (Ever notice that mom's need to sleep is rarely important to anyone but mom???? )
So Zachary and I headed downstairs into the airport for some early morning entertainment. We were headed for Disney so first things first!

Zachary needed to give his old friend a high five!

And a hug.

The nose didn't squeak...

And then we wandered past a book store. I must say my child has an uncanny ability to find his beloved characters. He found a Diego DVD. No amount of negotiating would get him to let go of this DVD. So I did what any sleep-deprived, slightly hysterical mom would do. I bought him the DVD. Sadly, our villa at BLT had a DVD player. And Diego was our constant companion.
On a more happy note there was an open Starbucks next to the book store. And they serve coffee. A slight improvement already. Zachary and I sat down for a few minutes so I could drink my coffee and try to get him to eat something (as I recall Nathaniel later ate the blueberry muffin that Zachary said he wanted). Eventually it became clear that Zachary wanted to go back to the room and there wasn't enough open in the airport at 6:30am to distract. So we went back upstairs to face the troops...

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Gotta hate those early morning wake ups! Hopefully everyone else is happy when they wake up (though it still sounds like they are going to get woken up early.)

 

[DrMomof3]

Gotta hate those early morning wake ups! Hopefully everyone else is happy when they wake up (though it still sounds like they are going to get woken up early.)

You must be a mom or something... It's like you KNOW my family!

Amanda

 

[DrMomof3]

As Jenny correctly guessed, Zachary and I returned to our room and slowly but surely his little voice woke up the rest of the family. I think I probably bought them at least an extra hour of sleep, if not more. Nathaniel woke up particularly cranky but he had only gone to bed a few hours earlier. Everyone got dressed (not in a particular hurry) and we eventually headed to the restaurant for our free AAA rate breakfast (we got 2 free buffet breakfasts with our room).

These were taken in the hallway outside our room using my iPhone so not the best quality pictures.

The breakfast buffet was nice and fairly simple. About what you'd expect: oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage, bread products, smoked salmon, potatoes, etc. Nothing super fancy but everything was good. The service was excellent. Kids were antsy and didn't really eat much. And they almost left my iPad on a seat at our table. Luckily the waitress came running out to me!

We got back to our room, packed up whatever needed packing, and called bell services to help with our stuff. Once again we got a fabulous young man who had been well-trained in service. He walked us down to the rental car counter (Budget) and noticed a very long line. He left the luggage trolley with us and ran to the other terminal to see if the line was shorter. Sure enough, no wait. So we ran through the airport to the other side and were first in line for our rental car.

This was our first experience with a rental car in Orlando and Tom wasn't so sure this was a good idea. I was excited to have a car. I got a good rate but we decided to add insurance (we've had a few fender benders and need to keep any accidents OFF our insurance for another year or 2). Our friendly bellhop waited with us and then walked us over to the parking garage until we found our rental car. He then put our luggage into the trunk of the minivan before leaving. Amazing!!!

Finally we were on our way to Disney!

Amanda

 

[firecracker725]

I am stressed out just reading about your harrowing airport adventure. Can't wait to read more about your Disney adventures!

 

[DrMomof3]

I am stressed out just reading about your harrowing airport adventure. Can't wait to read more about your Disney adventures!

I was pretty stressed! I guess I just put on my game face and did the best I could. I was pretty relieved when I got the text from my DH saying they had landed in Orlando!

Amanda

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Climbing aboard to hear about your trip! Whew, what drama in getting there. Bravo to you for holding it all together. I would have had a breakdown, for sure.

Hopefully now you are heading for nothing but fun ( and maybe some sleep!) for the rest of vacation!