February 28, 2010 - 4 night Wonder - Let the Fun Begin!

[labdogs42]

I can't wait to hear about your trip! I'm considering a Disney cruise for Dec 2010 and I'm also from PA! What airport are you flying out of?

 

[dthogue]

Hi Tammy,
I have been following your report. We too will be on the Feb 28th Disney Wonder!! This is our 6th Cruise (2nd for 3 year old son) BUT very 1st on Disney!! With all I have read we probably won't be going back to those "Other" Cruise Lines for a long time after this Trip.

I have started packing my clothes and getting my sons outfits ready to wash and pack, but my husband is a last minute packer!

We are driving down Friday the 26th from North Carolina and spending Saturday exploring Cape Canaveral.

14 days and counting!!!

Hi Amanda,

Great to hear from a fellow cruiser - come join us on the cruise meets thread - we have a great group ofr Disers on this cruise!

Tammy

 

[dthogue]

I can't wait to hear about your trip! I'm considering a Disney cruise for Dec 2010 and I'm also from PA! What airport are you flying out of?

We fly out of Baltimore Washington (BWI) - you will love the Disney Cruise. We have a 7-night Western Cruise planned for Nov 2010

Tammy

 

[dthogue]

The final countdown has began - we will be leaving on Friday night to drive to the airport for our flight out on Saturday. Most of our stuff is packed, the rest is just waiting to be washed and packed. Money has all been accounted for, reservations have been confirmed - now there is nothing to do but wait and read the DIS boards - oh wait, I forgot - check the weather every 10 minutes I can't believe how often they change the weather forecast. My DH tells me to stop checking, cause it's driving me crazy - they call for snow, then change it to sun, back to to flurries, than rain - geez make up your mind

It looks like it will be in the 60's in Flordia while we are there - I was hoping for a little warmer, but if it doesn't rain, I will be with that.

We notified my DD's teachers this week that they will be out of school - its always interesting to see what and how much work they send home with them before we leave - it could be an interesting week.

Well I'm off to do my morning exercise, then to my Weight Watchers meeting - I'm trying to lose a few more pounds before we get on the ship next week so I can eat a few extra

I will try to post some pictures later of our packing process - why does it always seem like we have to many bags?

Tammy

 

[dthogue]

Major snow storm hits the Northeast!!!! ​

Those are the headlines that have been on the news all week. Great, just what we need. The forecast was for a blizzard type snowstorm to come across the country and up the coast. We had the potential to get anywhere from 2 inches of snow to over 30 inches depending on the track. In addition they were calling for hurricane force winds - so needless to say, I spent the entire week worrying - trying to figure out what to do. Worse case seceniaro was that we would end up driving to Florida if our flight got cancelled.

Luckily the snow fall for us was minimal (the majority of the storm stayed to our east and north) - I think we got about 3-4 inches, but with all the drifitng it was hard to tell. The snow stopped about lunchtime on Friday and the winds subsided about the same time.

We left home for our drive to BWI about 3:00pm. We stopped at my Mom's to drop off the dog. We were on the road by 3:30pm. I wanted to get to our hotel while we still had daylight. I don't like driving in the dark, especially if the roads might be bad. Southwest had cancelled their am/afternoon flights out of BWI on Friday, so I was still nervous about our flight.

We arrived at the Microtel Inn, BWI about 5:30pm. We paid a total of $65.00 for the night - our room was nice enough - located on the first floor, just down the hall from the front desk. We went to Red Lobster for dinner. We returned to the hotel about 8:00pm. We watched the Olypmics. I think everyone was asleep by 9:30.

I got up this morning about 5:00am - after a long, sleepless night. I never can sleep in a hotel the first night, guess I was just too tired.

I'm spending some time on the hotel computer - checking our flight and waiting for the family to get up. Our plan is to leave the hotel about 8:30am.

Stay tuned for more...

Tammy

 

[b00kw0rm429]

We are in Northwestern PA, right on Lake Erie...Lot's of snow today. I so hope you make it out on time!

 

[Deffenm]

I hope you have a great trip. I am so sick of the snow. I cant wait to hear about your trip as I just booked our first disney trip on the Wonder 4 night cruise in Dec. This is the kids Christmas present. I hope I can keep it a secret that long.

 

[cmadara]

Have a great time! Isn't all this snow awful! I am so sick of it.
Had to bring an elderly couple to the Philadelphia airport this morning so they could go to a wedding in Charleston, SC. I know they were nervous about getting out, but they did so I am assume you are as well.

Can't wait for your report when you get home. Have a safe trip and a WONDERful time

 

[MassDisLovers]

Subscribing Bon Voyage!

 

[jlindemer]

I hope you're having a wonderful time!

 

[Simba]

Have a GREAT Time!!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

We cruise on the 21st of March on the same cruise. I look forward to reading your trip report. The more details the better!!

Hope you're having fun this week. As I type this, I realize that you're at Castaway Cay.

 

[poeticdiabetic]

subscribing.

 

[Dahly]

looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

I'm in!

 

[sallymomo]

Hey Tammy,
We were in the room next to your. We were in 1072. I thought we saw you guys the first day. And then as I passed by your room a 1000 times, I kept looking at all those pretty decorations on the door...and then I noticed your last name and then your and your Dhs initials....D & T...and realized that you were the person incharge of the Cruise meet. I kept looking to run into you guys to atleast say hi...but unfortunately we never saw you. Oh well...Wish I could have atleast said hi....LOL!
Cant wait to hear all about your trip report.

 

[dthogue]

Hey Tammy,
We were in the room next to your. We were in 1072. I thought we saw you guys the first day. And then as I passed by your room a 1000 times, I kept looking at all those pretty decorations on the door...and then I noticed your last name and then your and your Dhs initials....D & T...and realized that you were the person incharge of the Cruise meet. I kept looking to run into you guys to atleast say hi...but unfortunately we never saw you. Oh well...Wish I could have atleast said hi....LOL!
Cant wait to hear all about your trip report.

What a small world - what a shame we didn't get to meet up! Hope you enjoyed the cruise!!!

Tammy

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Joining in.

 

[dthogue]

Ok, when I last left you we were at the Microtel Suites near the BWI airport. We had breakfast at the hotel and left around 8:00am.

We drove down the street to the Airport Fastpark parking lot. Once in the lot we unloaded the car and boarded the shuttle to the airport. We were the first stop at the Southwest Terminal. Check-in for our flight was smooth - with waited maybe 10-15 minutes, but the line kept moving. The line to get through security wasn't too bad, again maybe 15 minutes - the majority of our bags made it through with no problems, but the bag with my FE gifts (the Hershey's chocolate) got pulled and the TSA guy searched it throughly. Once done with security we headed to our gate.

Our flight was to leave at 11:00am - our plane was at the gate, but the crew was delayed on another incoming flight so we had to wait for them to arrive and get the plane ready for departure.

We started boarded about 10:50am - I had purchased the Early Bird check in for Kaitlyn and I and we had boarding pass numbers A23 and A24. Doug and Brenna boarded after us with boarding pass numbers B7 and B8. Our flight departed about 11:20am - I was so happy to be in the air. We landed at MCO about 1:45pm, but had to wait about 10 minutes for our gate to be cleared. Once off the plane we made a quick stop at the restroom then headed to the monorail to the main terminal. Once in the main terminal the girls and I headed to baggage claim, while Doug went to Avis to get the rental car. It took forever for the luggage to arrive - there we at least 6 flights coming in at the same time and the luggage came out very slowly. Doug got the rental car and came back up to baggage claim to help us with the luggage.

A word on the rental car - we rented from Avis for one-way to drop off at the port the next morning. I reserved a mid-size car for $55.00 total for the day. I used the Walmart code from the Mousesavers website.

Once the luggage was collected we went out the parking garage and walked to the very far end to our car. We had entirely too much luggage and ended up having to put some of the bags in the backseat with the girls. We hooked up the GPS and set off for the Lake Buena Vista Comfort Inn - our home for the night.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Comfort Inn. I had reserved this hotel through Travel Zoo for $29.00/night. We arrived about 3:30pm and checked into our room. The hotel has been recently renovated (well they are still working on it), and our room was very nice for what we paid. We unloaded the luggage and got settled into our room.

Brenna and I were going to the Magic Kingdom for the evening, while Doug and Kaitlyn headed to Wide World of Sports to wathc the see 2 major league soccer games.

The Comfort Inn does provide a shuttle service to the parks, so we decided to try it out. The last shuttle to the Magic Kingdom left the hotel at 4:40pm - we made a stop at Downtown Disney and finally arrived at the MK about 5:30pm. I won't want to use this service everyday, but I was too tired at this point to really care. We were dropped off in the TTC parking lot. We went to the will call window to exchange our "Give a Day, Get a Day" vouchers. I was able to upgrade the GAD vouchers right at the window and received a $84 credit towards the purchase of our 5-day tickets. All went smooth and was very quick. We then took the monorail over to the MK. Through the security bag check and into the MK.

Ahhhh... we are finally here -I can relax. Our first stop was Space Mountain. The posted wait was 30 minutes, but it was more like 50 minutes til we boarded. Before we entered the line we did get fast passes for later. Once off SM, we headed to Pecos Bills for dinner, stopping to get a fast past for Peter Pan for later. After dinner we watched the Spectro Magic Parade, rode Peter Pan, then saw Mickey's Philharmagic, then rode SM just before 9:00pm.

Doug and Kaitlyn picked us up at the Contemporary about 9:30pm. We headed back towards the hotel, made a quick stop at the grocery store for breakfast supplies and a case of water. Everyone was in bed and sound asleep by 11:00pm.

Stay tuned for Day 2...

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, $29/night. Room looks pretty darn good for that low price.

Nice day 1 report.