Trying to ignore everything going on in the world right now. So here's day one......just boring travel day.
Day 1 - Saturday, January 25th
Woke up at 5:15 which is much earlier than we're used to! We left the house just after 7am. We paid extra for closing parking again and our car was literally right by the door to the walkway. So great. We arrived at the airport at 7:40. Went downstairs to check our bags. Then back up through TSA pre-check. We were at our gate at 8:00. So we had about an hour to kill before boarding. I got some grapes to snack on and we just hung out. Our son did okay with the wait, thankfully. Started to get pretty antsy towards the end.
On previous trips, we requested to pre-board due to his autism and struggling with lines. But several times, the gate agents would give us a hard time about all three of us wanting to board. So we just didn't want to deal with the stress and headache of that. Which means....we purchased the upgraded boarding through Southwest. It cost us around $120 on the way there and I think around $130 or $140 on the way back. Was it worth it? I don't know. I mean, it was definitely helpful because we essentially board right after pre-check. Were were boarding positions A7,8, and 9. But it was so expensive! However, we feel it's important to not wait in a crowded line where he might have a meltdown before we ever leave. Plus it gets us in seats closer to the front which gets him out of the plane quicker. He struggles with waiting to exit the plane.
I'm nervous about flying in December because we'll have a layover each way. And I just don't know if I want to pay for an upgrade for each leg. So I don't know what we're going to do. But I guess that's a problem for future Me to figure out.
Once we were in the air, our son did pretty well. Started to get antsy about 2 hours into the 3 hour flight. He kept repeating "almost there" over and over. We landed at 1:05, local time. We went down to get our bags and they had 4 or 5 flights all using the same baggage claim area so it was a crowded mess of people. Pretty stressful. Once getting our bags, we went back upstairs and grabbed lunch at McDonald's. I basically had to stalk tables that looked like they were done so I could quickly get a place to sit.
Travel day really is the worst. We went back down to level 2 and ordered an Uber XL. This was a first for us. In the past, we have just done Mears and Magical Express. This was MUCH quicker. We waiting maybe 10 minutes for him to arrive. And were at the hotel 30 minutes later. It was 3:00. We hadn't gotten a text about our room so I just went to ask if they had any idea when it would be ready.
They did not. I told them we were hoping for a lower floor so we can get a murphy bed. So when she inquired with the room assignment people, she said we were on the first floor. My husband was hoping to be off the ground level so maybe next time I'll simple request "floor 2 or 3." Our son started to get a bit upset at this point, which I kind of expected. We've never arrived at a hotel without our room being ready so this was new for him. And new is often "bad" for him.
So we dropped our bags with bell service and decided to head over to the monorail. First, we went to the boat dock to get over to the Magic Kingdom area. After a fairly short wait, we saw the boat coming. As it got closer to the dock....we notice there was at man at the rear of the boat, projectile vomiting. And he was making loud, dinosaur-like sounds while throwing up. It was really gross and everyone was just trying not to watch. As he walked by, I said "you doing okay?" His skin was so pale. He was just like, "I'm so sorry you all had to see that." Needless to say, we chose to sit at the very front of the boat.
Around 4:00, we got on the resort loop for the monorail. We did the full loop. We were back on the boat towards Wilderness Lodge around 4:45. And right before we arrived, we got a text that our room was ready. Woohoo! We got our bags and groceries (we ended up using Instacart. More expensive than
Walmart but no issues otherwise.) We just asked to use the cart and take stuff ourselves rather than wait. We were basically in our room by 5:00ish. We did some unpacking and then placed a mobile dinner order at Roaring Fork. Brought it back up and ate it in our room.
After dinner, we went back down to buy refillable mugs. Then we went to the gift shop to get milk for my cereal I planned to eat each morning. They didn't actually have any in the gift shop fridges. I had to ask for it and a cast member went off to get it for me. Not sure why. But that's okay. Then it was back up to the room for showers, relaxation time, and then bedtime.
It was a really long day but our son held up pretty well. Only a few little rough moments but nothing awful, by any means.
I plan to block out my husband and son's faces in pictures since I'm not sure if they'd want to be posted here. (Though I have posted them in the past.) But here are a couple from our travel day. Didn't bother covering them in these since they are wearing masks that cover half their faces anyway.
On the plane....
When he started to get antsy, we gave him a tablet and he mostly just listened to music and then watched the Southwest flight tracker. (Yes, he's listening to Steely Dan.
)
He really likes the tram at the airport.
This was his first time on the monorail! He liked it. But after making a few stops without getting off....he was kind of over it. But I really enjoyed it. We haven't ridden it since 2008 or maybe 2010.
