travelin' tigger
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2001
- Messages
- 3,655
Thursday, Dec. 5 - Saturday, Dec. 7
Cast: Me - 4th time to WDW in just over a year (gotta love those APs), master planner
Phil - Been to DL once over 20 years ago, 1st time to WDW
(Both early 40s)
Pre-WDW (long):
After planning this trip for over a year (since my first trip in many years last Nov.), the day had finally arrived for our flight down. The weathermen had been forecasting a major snowstorm for almost a week now, which arrived full-force just before our departure. It had already shut down BWI for a couple of hours that afternoon which would affect our travel plans later.
When the snow started coming pretty steady, I left work earlier than scheduled to pick up Phil and head to TF Green. I love this airport its so much better than dealing with Logan. We had some slow going as it was snowing fairly heavily in RI, but made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We found seats in the lounge for a couple of hours, sipping some drinks and watching the news talk continually about the weather. It started making us nervous. Checked the Departure board to see our SW flight to BWI/Tampa was still listed as On Time, but others around us were dropping like flies. Well, with nothing to do except keep our fingers crossed, we headed through Security (no problems) and onto the gate. Close to our 7:45p departure time, we were informed wed been moved back to 8:20, then 8:50, eventually ending up with a 10p departure time. This was due to that fact that BWI had closed for a while that afternoon and they had so many planes already in the air waiting to land. In the meantime, a flight from Houston to BWI had been diverted to TF green to fly down with us at 10. It was so cute to see this group of kids from Texas seeing snow for the first time! Someone even managed to get them a snowball!!
Anyway, just before we started boarding, we were told the second leg of our trip to Tampa had been cancelled!! My perfect Christmas vacation was beginning to crumble before my eyes!!! I quickly conferred with Phil and decided we had nothing to lose getting as far as BWI and have 1/2 the trip behind us. Once de-iced, we were off, landing 2 hours later in Baltimore. Quickly gathering our things, we went in search of getting a new connection for the morning and finding a room for the night. I asked at the SW counter where the nearest hotel was and they laughed, saying I was standing in it. Oh no stuck in the terminal for the night!!! We left the counter with tickets in hand for an 8:15 flight to Jacksonville/Tampa to search for a patch of hard floor for the night. I found out later the airport had run out of de-icer so no flights were leaving until morning.
Well, we managed about 20 minutes of sleep (if you can call it that) and were back in line at 4:30a when the airport opened again to get our boarding passes. Killed time until we went through Security around 6:30 for more sitting around at the gate. There were so many people trying to get out of there!!! The gate across from us (1 gate mind you) had 3 different flights trying to get out. It was UGLY!!!
Around 7:50, people for A were starting to line up for boarding. I was pretty sick of sitting at that point, so went to join the group. Well, the plane never even showed up until 8:40 and we didnt get off the ground until 9 and then we had to make a stop in Norfolk, VA (more stranded people!!!). So much for making our connection in Jacksonville!!! I was really falling apart now with exhaustion and frustration!!! Phil saw me crying and felt really bad for snapping, but that little release was enough to get us back on track for the rest of the trip down. And things did start getting better!! Ten minutes before landing in Jacksonville, our pilot informed us that there were 14 of us continuing on to Tampa and they were holding the plane for us yeah!!!
After a mad dash from Gate 10 to 2, we boarded our final leg, hoping our luggage hadnt had the same trip we did or worse, ended up in another part of the country. Once landed, headed for SW Baggage Office and lo and behold, it was there!!! I could have kissed the guy!!
And only 12 hours behind schedule!!!
Got to National Rental, picked out a Tracker and hit the road to Brother #1 in S. Pasadena. Found his place no problem and after a short conversation, took a well-deserved 2-hour nap. Nice dinner that night and caught up on family news. It was an early night to bed and woke the next day feeling 1/2-way human. We had a nice breakfast, did a little shell collecting on the beach, then hit the road to the East Coast to Brother #2. Arrived in Ormond Beach with no problems, hung out, went to dinner and after another great nights sleep, hit the road Sunday morning for DISNEY finally!!!!
Next: Finally Here!! - Day One
Cast: Me - 4th time to WDW in just over a year (gotta love those APs), master planner
Phil - Been to DL once over 20 years ago, 1st time to WDW
(Both early 40s)
Pre-WDW (long):
After planning this trip for over a year (since my first trip in many years last Nov.), the day had finally arrived for our flight down. The weathermen had been forecasting a major snowstorm for almost a week now, which arrived full-force just before our departure. It had already shut down BWI for a couple of hours that afternoon which would affect our travel plans later.
When the snow started coming pretty steady, I left work earlier than scheduled to pick up Phil and head to TF Green. I love this airport its so much better than dealing with Logan. We had some slow going as it was snowing fairly heavily in RI, but made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We found seats in the lounge for a couple of hours, sipping some drinks and watching the news talk continually about the weather. It started making us nervous. Checked the Departure board to see our SW flight to BWI/Tampa was still listed as On Time, but others around us were dropping like flies. Well, with nothing to do except keep our fingers crossed, we headed through Security (no problems) and onto the gate. Close to our 7:45p departure time, we were informed wed been moved back to 8:20, then 8:50, eventually ending up with a 10p departure time. This was due to that fact that BWI had closed for a while that afternoon and they had so many planes already in the air waiting to land. In the meantime, a flight from Houston to BWI had been diverted to TF green to fly down with us at 10. It was so cute to see this group of kids from Texas seeing snow for the first time! Someone even managed to get them a snowball!!
Anyway, just before we started boarding, we were told the second leg of our trip to Tampa had been cancelled!! My perfect Christmas vacation was beginning to crumble before my eyes!!! I quickly conferred with Phil and decided we had nothing to lose getting as far as BWI and have 1/2 the trip behind us. Once de-iced, we were off, landing 2 hours later in Baltimore. Quickly gathering our things, we went in search of getting a new connection for the morning and finding a room for the night. I asked at the SW counter where the nearest hotel was and they laughed, saying I was standing in it. Oh no stuck in the terminal for the night!!! We left the counter with tickets in hand for an 8:15 flight to Jacksonville/Tampa to search for a patch of hard floor for the night. I found out later the airport had run out of de-icer so no flights were leaving until morning.
Well, we managed about 20 minutes of sleep (if you can call it that) and were back in line at 4:30a when the airport opened again to get our boarding passes. Killed time until we went through Security around 6:30 for more sitting around at the gate. There were so many people trying to get out of there!!! The gate across from us (1 gate mind you) had 3 different flights trying to get out. It was UGLY!!!
Around 7:50, people for A were starting to line up for boarding. I was pretty sick of sitting at that point, so went to join the group. Well, the plane never even showed up until 8:40 and we didnt get off the ground until 9 and then we had to make a stop in Norfolk, VA (more stranded people!!!). So much for making our connection in Jacksonville!!! I was really falling apart now with exhaustion and frustration!!! Phil saw me crying and felt really bad for snapping, but that little release was enough to get us back on track for the rest of the trip down. And things did start getting better!! Ten minutes before landing in Jacksonville, our pilot informed us that there were 14 of us continuing on to Tampa and they were holding the plane for us yeah!!!
After a mad dash from Gate 10 to 2, we boarded our final leg, hoping our luggage hadnt had the same trip we did or worse, ended up in another part of the country. Once landed, headed for SW Baggage Office and lo and behold, it was there!!! I could have kissed the guy!!
And only 12 hours behind schedule!!!
Got to National Rental, picked out a Tracker and hit the road to Brother #1 in S. Pasadena. Found his place no problem and after a short conversation, took a well-deserved 2-hour nap. Nice dinner that night and caught up on family news. It was an early night to bed and woke the next day feeling 1/2-way human. We had a nice breakfast, did a little shell collecting on the beach, then hit the road to the East Coast to Brother #2. Arrived in Ormond Beach with no problems, hung out, went to dinner and after another great nights sleep, hit the road Sunday morning for DISNEY finally!!!!
Next: Finally Here!! - Day One
Glad to hear that both of you and your luggage finally made it to Florida! Can't wait to read the rest.
