Diznenut
Is it time to go? Is it? Huh Huh?
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2005
- Messages
- 101
Cast of Characters:
Me ( 38 ) - Lover of all things Disney and obsessive planner
DH ( 39 ) - Work-a-holic, hates planning anything
DD ( 8 ) - The Fuzzy Princess, the ruler of the roost
Extras:
Monster in law - sole job to make my life miserable and succeeds on a daily basis
Angel Number 1 - Desk Clerk at Holiday Inn Express Paducah, Ky
Inconsiderate employees and manager - Cookesville McDonalds
Angel Number 2 - Employee at Parking Lot in Nashville
Act 1: Getting There is Half the Battle
Scene 1
Following my misadventures with my car (see pre-trip), and the subsequent purchase of a new vehicle, I foolishly thought that my traveling troubles were all over. Silly Diznenut!!!
Wednesday at work crawled by at a snails pace. Finally, 3 pm rolled around and I was sprung for the day! I knew that the work-aholic hubby wouldn't be leaving work even one second faster than he could so I took my time making sure everything was packed and ready to go. I had my handy dandy list so there was no way we were going to forget anything.
Hubby gets home. Hey wait - it's only 3:30. What are you doing home at 3:30?????? Well, someone is ready to "get the hell outta dodge". I think he's had a rough day. But - who cares!! It's time to hit the road and go to Disney! We run our dog, Angelita Chitiqua Bonita Chihuahua to the vet, fill the tank and back to load the truck.
All the luggage is piled at the truck and DH begins using that mysterous Only-Men-Know-Packing-Formula. Team Goof has 5 suitcases (one of which is a duffle bag that has clothes only for the 2 days prior to boarding the plane so we don't have to break into the other ones), 2 bags, 1 computer, 1 purse and 1 pillow. (Diznenut goes NOWHERE without HER pillow. End of story. Enough said.) Monster in law has: 3 suitcases, insulin/medication bag, "ditty bag", purse, pillow, coat, walker and 3 huge garbage bags (we're talking 30 gallon size) full of DD's hand-me-downs to take to her people in Kentucky. It takes a full 30 minutes to get everything packed in and ready to go, but we finally do it. Whew. Are we there yet? Final run thru the house to make sure nothing is left behind and we are ready to roll!
We have an uneventful trip to Tupelo and check into the Holiday Inn Express in Tupelo - 2nd floor, room 204. Have to say - this is a really GREAT room. Very large and 2 queen size beds. We bring in the duffle bag and get settled in. Monster in law starts her nightly griping - it's too cold in the room. DD is too noisy. She can't find her stuff. What do I do? I IGNORE! It's my vacation and we are now in T minus 43 hours to lift off in that big bird Leaving on a Jet plane.. I'm never coming back again!
I get the fuzzy headed princess ready for bed and discover - i didn't pack pjs in the duffle for us. Send the hubby out to get them. He swears it really took 20 minutes to find said jammies but I think he was just leisuring it so he didnt have to come back for gripefest. Dose my crew with Nyquil (you'll take it and like it, Mister. No Sickies in Disney!!!)
Everyone in jammies and lights out.
Scene 2
Wake up is a nice early 7:00 am. Ooops, I think I've channeled Nikki's spirit. COME ON PEOPLE UP AND OUT OF HERE - I HAVE A MOUSE TO GET TO! MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!!!!!!!
On the way out the door, I have a rare moment of generosity and let them stop and have breakfast. Ok, who am I kidding - I LOVE the cinnamon rolls they serve at Holiday Inn. Next to Cinnabon, they are the best. I have 2 along with some nice lowfat milk - hey gotta watch that figu.. yeah right!!! they were out of the regular milk.
Stuff everyone back into the truck and head over to my moms. She's been cooking Thanksgiving lunch since 5 am. By 11:30, It's on the table and we're digging in. Thanks for lunch. Love ya. Gotta go. Mickey is waiting! Re-load the Monster in law with all her baggage and get everyone in. She decides that she wants in on the left side instead of the right because her right side is weaker and harder to get up in the truck. BUT she wants to sit on the right side becuase the seat on the left is split and it hurts her leg to have to sit in that seat. See the problem? That's right, we have to unload the back seat (middle seat here) so she can scoot thru.
Get her loaded, stuff everything in again, hop back into the truck in again and we are off!
I cat nap thru the *****ing - er I mean the trip north to Kentucky and we arrive at 5 pm at the aunt's home. A thing about Aunt's home - it's a 2 bedroom effeciency low income home. There's one couch and 1 chair in the living room and a small bistro type table with 2 chairs in the kitchen. There are 20 people STUFFED in this place. Holy Moly! Are we going to stay? Are you INSANE? I have a nice uncluttered room at Holiday Inn Express waiting on me, thankyaveddymuch. DH unloads all her stuff. WOW - There's a back seat here!!!!! The bags of clothes are pounced on like rabid rednecks at all you can eat night at Western Sizzlin. Thanksgiving night dinner is ready and we dig in, then step over the carnage and leave for the night. See ya tomorrow for about 30 seconds!
We locate the Holiday Inn Express and walk in. There's a nice cozy fireplace, big beautiful Christmas Tree and lots of happy smiling faces. I check in - room 219... We are right across from the Elevator. Open the door and OH MY HEAVENS! It's a suite. 2 huge comfy oversize queen beds. Couch. Enormous bathroom. oh yeah, baby. I'm happy. Hey look - it's free high speed internet. Hubby is really happy. We've found our new home in Paducah.
I called down to ask if they have computer printing services available. No sorry - it was costing too much in supplies so they don't allow any computer printing. Oh crap! How are we going to get our boarding passes. I don't want to wait until we get to the airport - it's a full flight. I demand A passes!!!!! DH says - ok what i'll do is VPN into work. Use the fax service there and print to a fax. Send the fax to the hotel. Bada Bing, its done. Uh - honey - you cant do that. THey don't accept fax copies. Oh yes they will and they'll like it. I sadly shake my head and envision the fight that will be going on tomorrow at the gate. He jumps online and does his little thing. I forgot that I didn't write down my friends phone number so I get on the boards and pull it up. I wrote the number down and the phone rings.
It's the front desk. We've got a fax, but he noticed it was boarding passes for Southwest. He said "I know they won't accept faxed copies, so I went online to SW and reprinted them for you. I hope you don't mind - just please don't say anything to my manager - we aren't supposed to be printing stuff out for guests"
Mind? OMG you are a life saver! Can I put you in my will? Hubby came out of the bathroom (I was getting worried and about to call a search party in), I tell him what happened and send him down to get the passes.
So, Mr. Angel who-ever-you-are at Holiday Inn, Paducah. I couldn't keep this piece of magic to myself. THANK YOU! and Mr. Manager, I'll not tell who it was or when it was, you'll have to figure it out for yourself. But you got yourself a keeper there - that little act of kindness sealed it for us. We'll be using your hotel for our visits to Paducah from now on!
I got everyone ready for bed, went over the plans for tomorrow one more time, dosed everyone with Nyquil again (YES YOU WILL TAKE IT AND I DON'T CARE IF IT DOES KILL YOU, NO SICKES AT DISNEY! )
Men!!!!!
Scene 3
The next morning dawned dazzling blue and... HOLY TOLEDO 20 DEGREES??? Who turned off the heat? Where are our jackets? Why in the truck of course. Packed in a suitcase. yeah I know. Smart of me wasn't it. We head north before heading south and I pack the jackets in the suitcases for the SOUTHERN part of our trip. Congratulations, DH, you got yourself a real winner here!
We get dressed and head downstairs. More cinnamon rolls (3 today, I gotta keep my strength up for all this traveling ) Pack up the stuff and get into the truck. We head back over to say bye to the folks before heading out. Bye, see ya, toodles, Zoom we are GONE!
We stopped at the first service station we come to so we can gas up. (Side note: while planning this massive event, it became known as Goof Quest 2005 - The Search for the Goof. It was so named because DD and DH both love Goofy and it was their one mission in life to see the said Goof and get His Picture. So, I had purchased a set of window paints and had them tucked in the truck, ready to doctor the truck windows.) While DH is gassing the truck, I pull out the window paints and get busy on the truck. "GOOF QUEST 2005" "LOOK OUT MICKEY, HERE WE COME", "DISNEYWORLD OR BUST", and"GWARSH, WERE ON VACATION" is plastered all over the back windows. ( I swear I have pictures somewhere. If I ever find them, I'll post)
That's it - we are officially on vacation. WAHOOO!
All along the way, people had been reading our truck and smiling. A few even
or gave us thumbs up. Anyway, we got to Cookesville, TN and pulled into McDonalds in for a bite of lunch. DD and I sat down on the side nearest the truck so we could keep our eyes on it. Two tables down, 2 McDonalds workers were eating lunch. One of them started reading our truck and commenting on how stupid it was. "Golf Quest - what the *#@ is Golf Quest" I leaned over and said "It's GOOF Quest. We're on our way to Disney." "Oh. Is that your truck?" "Um, no. I can read out the back of my head and decided to take it over as my own." 
DH brought lunch to the table and we started eating. About halfway through, i suddenly got a big mouthful of cigarette smoke. Through tear-filled eyes, I looked up and saw the big "MCDONALDS IS A SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT" sign on the wall right above the two ladies who were both puffing away. I was just about to say something when the manager came over and stood there talking to them both - right before lighting her own. I have no problem with smokers - you have your rights as well as I. I and my daughter are both highly allergic to smoke. It will shut down my respiratory system quicker than poop through a goose. However, I didn't expect to have to inhale someone's pallmall while eating in a non-smoking facility. Had I known I would have sat at another section of the building. Needless to say, I was suddenly full and went out to the car to wait on DH and DD. I think that was probably the fastest we've ever gotten out of a McDonalds in our life!
Back on the road, we got into Nashville and following the instructions, actually found Fly Away Parking. We pulled up and OH MY HEAVENS - the lot was packed tighter than John Travolta's pants. DH looks at me and says - now what? I told him we had reservations - and pulled out the paperwork. The lady met us at the window and said that the lot was full (duh) but since we had reservations for self parking, they would put it in valet for no extra cost. YEAH! They unloaded the truck for us, right there at the door, loaded the shuttle bus, took our key and dropped us off at the Southwest gate entrance.
I stuffed my purse in my carryon. Handed DD's to her along with my pillow. Handed DH his bag and laptop and headed to our gate - a full 2 1/2 hours early. I sat down to read, DD colored and DH found a magazine and read.
At about 3:45 - 45 minutes before takeoff, we noticed a couple in the A pass line. So we moved our operations over there. Second group in line! The gentleman's name was Mark and his wife is Becky. They go several times a year to Disney. Mark entertained DD with imitations of Mickey and the gang. Becky and I talked about our plans. They are also staying off site for the first two days, then moving onto property to Pop Century on Sunday. On top of that - they have the same flight back to Nashville as us!
It comes time to board and the pre-board line is HUGE! It's almost as long as the regular lines. RANT TIME: I know people with small kids and medical problems should load first. BUT, there were people in that line that had nothing wrong with them. 10 year olds are not babies. Get your butts in line with the rest of us! RANT OVER. We knew there was no way we'd be able to get one of the front sets of seats, which is a little larger. Oh well.
We get on the plane and - the front left side is empty! We plop down and claim them as our own. DH finds a hole to stuff our bags into and I hold my pillow in my lap. Right before taxiing to the runway, the flight attendant comes by and says we have to stow the pillow. DH looked him dead in the eye and said "Yeah you dont want a fluffy pillow flying around the plane. It might hit someone in the head and give them a concussion"
Whew - we didn't have to leave the plane.
Pillow stowed - all buckled in. And we take off.
Now I have a problem with flying. Well, no, not the flying part. I can handle that. My problem is the take off and landing. It scares the bejevies out of me. I have to have the window seat though or else I get claustrophobic and start
I'm holding DH's hand so tight he swears it'll never work again. My face is white as a ghost and DH has to remind me to breathe. We get safely in the air and i loosen the death grip on him. They serve sodas and crackers.. no booze for me - no matter how much I wanted it.
We start descending into Orlando and my ears stop up. DH says something to me and I can't hear him. I can't hear anything. It's perfect silence. I tried everything - fingers in my ears... swallowing.. yawning.. nothing is working. I'm starting to panic. I'M GONNA BE DEAF FOR MY VACATION - POSSIBLY THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!! DH's trying to calm me down - giving me chewing gum, miming me to try different things. and finally, i held my nose and blew. POP both ears clear up!!! YEAH BABY! I'm grinning and I look over at DD and she has tears running down her cheeks. Her ears stopped up too and only one side will pop. I get her to try what I did and it doesnt help. Gum, yawning, etc and she's still stopped up. I'm thinking - great, it'll be a trip to the dr for us tonight. I calm her down and tell her it'll be ok. Don't worry about it. I give her a couple of children's motrin (it's a little painful for her) and get her to quit crying. By the time all is done, we are back on the ground and I didn't have time to panic about the landing.
At Nashville, we go to find our luggage. While waiting on DH to fetch the last few pieces, DD screams MOMMA MOMMA MY EAR POPPED! People were looking at us - ok so I was jumping up and down with her in joy but still .
...
ANYWAY, we gather our luggage- all pieces made it - and go to Alamo for our car. They direct us over across the road to the parking garage, 2nd floor and to the row that says "economy". Just pick a car and go. So we drag all these suitcases all the way over to the Alamo economy row (it's not the very end of the parking area but it's awfully darn close!).. and empty spots. There's not one single solitary vehicle in the whole economy area.
Panic rising.. no car. How are we going to get around? DH looks at me and says "I thought you had a vehicle!" "I did see- and show him the paperwork. "See - economy car Alamo." He grumbles something about thats what he gets for letting me do the plans and stomps off to get the representative for Alamo. While he's gone, another couple arrive. They are from Germany and also rented an economy car from Alamo. I tell them my husband is talking to someone and will be right back. Meanwhile a woman from Alamo brings a car over and parks right in front of us. It's an economy car. I tell the German couple to go ahead and take it. No use in all of us waiting on my husband to get back. They thank us and leave.
A few minutes later, DH pulls up in a midsize car. They upgraded us for free! We loaded our stuff in the car, I pulled out the map to the hotel and we head over to Best Western Movieland on International Drive.
When we get there, they check us right in and give us a key for room 449. We park the car on the side of the hotel and lug all the luggage to the room. DH looks up to put the key in the door, and Cameron Diaz is smiling at him. The Movieland has pictures of movies and movie stars all over the walls. Our door is flanked on both sides by Cameron Diaz, who is one of DH's favorite actresses. "Look DD, it's your next mom!"
men.
We get in the room - very nice - large double beds. We dump the luggage and head downstairs for some dinner at the Black Angus Steakhouse. Stuffed mushrooms for appetizer, DH orders the Surf and Turf with sautéed onions and mushrooms, I got the same, and DD gets a cheese pizza - total 62.54 Food is excellent!! Cooked to perfection. We waddle back up to the room, DH throws a kiss to his girlfriend on the wall and I go in to rummage open the suitcases to get our clothes out. What the heck is this? There's black hard plastic all over the clothes. Well, all of the suitcases were crushed and the plastic is the hard sides on the inside. I dig it out, find our clothes, dose everyone on Nyquil (Don't give me that look, you'll take it and like it, you big baby!) and off to dream land.
Next stop - Fiddlefartin in Orlando.
Me ( 38 ) - Lover of all things Disney and obsessive planner
DH ( 39 ) - Work-a-holic, hates planning anything
DD ( 8 ) - The Fuzzy Princess, the ruler of the roost
Extras:
Monster in law - sole job to make my life miserable and succeeds on a daily basis
Angel Number 1 - Desk Clerk at Holiday Inn Express Paducah, Ky
Inconsiderate employees and manager - Cookesville McDonalds
Angel Number 2 - Employee at Parking Lot in Nashville
Act 1: Getting There is Half the Battle
Scene 1
Following my misadventures with my car (see pre-trip), and the subsequent purchase of a new vehicle, I foolishly thought that my traveling troubles were all over. Silly Diznenut!!!
Wednesday at work crawled by at a snails pace. Finally, 3 pm rolled around and I was sprung for the day! I knew that the work-aholic hubby wouldn't be leaving work even one second faster than he could so I took my time making sure everything was packed and ready to go. I had my handy dandy list so there was no way we were going to forget anything.
Hubby gets home. Hey wait - it's only 3:30. What are you doing home at 3:30?????? Well, someone is ready to "get the hell outta dodge". I think he's had a rough day. But - who cares!! It's time to hit the road and go to Disney! We run our dog, Angelita Chitiqua Bonita Chihuahua to the vet, fill the tank and back to load the truck.
All the luggage is piled at the truck and DH begins using that mysterous Only-Men-Know-Packing-Formula. Team Goof has 5 suitcases (one of which is a duffle bag that has clothes only for the 2 days prior to boarding the plane so we don't have to break into the other ones), 2 bags, 1 computer, 1 purse and 1 pillow. (Diznenut goes NOWHERE without HER pillow. End of story. Enough said.) Monster in law has: 3 suitcases, insulin/medication bag, "ditty bag", purse, pillow, coat, walker and 3 huge garbage bags (we're talking 30 gallon size) full of DD's hand-me-downs to take to her people in Kentucky. It takes a full 30 minutes to get everything packed in and ready to go, but we finally do it. Whew. Are we there yet? Final run thru the house to make sure nothing is left behind and we are ready to roll!
We have an uneventful trip to Tupelo and check into the Holiday Inn Express in Tupelo - 2nd floor, room 204. Have to say - this is a really GREAT room. Very large and 2 queen size beds. We bring in the duffle bag and get settled in. Monster in law starts her nightly griping - it's too cold in the room. DD is too noisy. She can't find her stuff. What do I do? I IGNORE! It's my vacation and we are now in T minus 43 hours to lift off in that big bird Leaving on a Jet plane.. I'm never coming back again!
I get the fuzzy headed princess ready for bed and discover - i didn't pack pjs in the duffle for us. Send the hubby out to get them. He swears it really took 20 minutes to find said jammies but I think he was just leisuring it so he didnt have to come back for gripefest. Dose my crew with Nyquil (you'll take it and like it, Mister. No Sickies in Disney!!!)
Everyone in jammies and lights out.
Scene 2
Wake up is a nice early 7:00 am. Ooops, I think I've channeled Nikki's spirit. COME ON PEOPLE UP AND OUT OF HERE - I HAVE A MOUSE TO GET TO! MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT!!!!!!!!
On the way out the door, I have a rare moment of generosity and let them stop and have breakfast. Ok, who am I kidding - I LOVE the cinnamon rolls they serve at Holiday Inn. Next to Cinnabon, they are the best. I have 2 along with some nice lowfat milk - hey gotta watch that figu.. yeah right!!! they were out of the regular milk.
Stuff everyone back into the truck and head over to my moms. She's been cooking Thanksgiving lunch since 5 am. By 11:30, It's on the table and we're digging in. Thanks for lunch. Love ya. Gotta go. Mickey is waiting! Re-load the Monster in law with all her baggage and get everyone in. She decides that she wants in on the left side instead of the right because her right side is weaker and harder to get up in the truck. BUT she wants to sit on the right side becuase the seat on the left is split and it hurts her leg to have to sit in that seat. See the problem? That's right, we have to unload the back seat (middle seat here) so she can scoot thru.
Get her loaded, stuff everything in again, hop back into the truck in again and we are off!
I cat nap thru the *****ing - er I mean the trip north to Kentucky and we arrive at 5 pm at the aunt's home. A thing about Aunt's home - it's a 2 bedroom effeciency low income home. There's one couch and 1 chair in the living room and a small bistro type table with 2 chairs in the kitchen. There are 20 people STUFFED in this place. Holy Moly! Are we going to stay? Are you INSANE? I have a nice uncluttered room at Holiday Inn Express waiting on me, thankyaveddymuch. DH unloads all her stuff. WOW - There's a back seat here!!!!! The bags of clothes are pounced on like rabid rednecks at all you can eat night at Western Sizzlin. Thanksgiving night dinner is ready and we dig in, then step over the carnage and leave for the night. See ya tomorrow for about 30 seconds!
We locate the Holiday Inn Express and walk in. There's a nice cozy fireplace, big beautiful Christmas Tree and lots of happy smiling faces. I check in - room 219... We are right across from the Elevator. Open the door and OH MY HEAVENS! It's a suite. 2 huge comfy oversize queen beds. Couch. Enormous bathroom. oh yeah, baby. I'm happy. Hey look - it's free high speed internet. Hubby is really happy. We've found our new home in Paducah.
I called down to ask if they have computer printing services available. No sorry - it was costing too much in supplies so they don't allow any computer printing. Oh crap! How are we going to get our boarding passes. I don't want to wait until we get to the airport - it's a full flight. I demand A passes!!!!! DH says - ok what i'll do is VPN into work. Use the fax service there and print to a fax. Send the fax to the hotel. Bada Bing, its done. Uh - honey - you cant do that. THey don't accept fax copies. Oh yes they will and they'll like it. I sadly shake my head and envision the fight that will be going on tomorrow at the gate. He jumps online and does his little thing. I forgot that I didn't write down my friends phone number so I get on the boards and pull it up. I wrote the number down and the phone rings.
It's the front desk. We've got a fax, but he noticed it was boarding passes for Southwest. He said "I know they won't accept faxed copies, so I went online to SW and reprinted them for you. I hope you don't mind - just please don't say anything to my manager - we aren't supposed to be printing stuff out for guests"
Mind? OMG you are a life saver! Can I put you in my will? Hubby came out of the bathroom (I was getting worried and about to call a search party in), I tell him what happened and send him down to get the passes.
So, Mr. Angel who-ever-you-are at Holiday Inn, Paducah. I couldn't keep this piece of magic to myself. THANK YOU! and Mr. Manager, I'll not tell who it was or when it was, you'll have to figure it out for yourself. But you got yourself a keeper there - that little act of kindness sealed it for us. We'll be using your hotel for our visits to Paducah from now on!
I got everyone ready for bed, went over the plans for tomorrow one more time, dosed everyone with Nyquil again (YES YOU WILL TAKE IT AND I DON'T CARE IF IT DOES KILL YOU, NO SICKES AT DISNEY! )
Men!!!!!
Scene 3
The next morning dawned dazzling blue and... HOLY TOLEDO 20 DEGREES??? Who turned off the heat? Where are our jackets? Why in the truck of course. Packed in a suitcase. yeah I know. Smart of me wasn't it. We head north before heading south and I pack the jackets in the suitcases for the SOUTHERN part of our trip. Congratulations, DH, you got yourself a real winner here!
We get dressed and head downstairs. More cinnamon rolls (3 today, I gotta keep my strength up for all this traveling ) Pack up the stuff and get into the truck. We head back over to say bye to the folks before heading out. Bye, see ya, toodles, Zoom we are GONE!
We stopped at the first service station we come to so we can gas up. (Side note: while planning this massive event, it became known as Goof Quest 2005 - The Search for the Goof. It was so named because DD and DH both love Goofy and it was their one mission in life to see the said Goof and get His Picture. So, I had purchased a set of window paints and had them tucked in the truck, ready to doctor the truck windows.) While DH is gassing the truck, I pull out the window paints and get busy on the truck. "GOOF QUEST 2005" "LOOK OUT MICKEY, HERE WE COME", "DISNEYWORLD OR BUST", and"GWARSH, WERE ON VACATION" is plastered all over the back windows. ( I swear I have pictures somewhere. If I ever find them, I'll post)
That's it - we are officially on vacation. WAHOOO!
All along the way, people had been reading our truck and smiling. A few even
or gave us thumbs up. Anyway, we got to Cookesville, TN and pulled into McDonalds in for a bite of lunch. DD and I sat down on the side nearest the truck so we could keep our eyes on it. Two tables down, 2 McDonalds workers were eating lunch. One of them started reading our truck and commenting on how stupid it was. "Golf Quest - what the *#@ is Golf Quest" I leaned over and said "It's GOOF Quest. We're on our way to Disney." "Oh. Is that your truck?" "Um, no. I can read out the back of my head and decided to take it over as my own." DH brought lunch to the table and we started eating. About halfway through, i suddenly got a big mouthful of cigarette smoke. Through tear-filled eyes, I looked up and saw the big "MCDONALDS IS A SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENT" sign on the wall right above the two ladies who were both puffing away. I was just about to say something when the manager came over and stood there talking to them both - right before lighting her own. I have no problem with smokers - you have your rights as well as I. I and my daughter are both highly allergic to smoke. It will shut down my respiratory system quicker than poop through a goose. However, I didn't expect to have to inhale someone's pallmall while eating in a non-smoking facility. Had I known I would have sat at another section of the building. Needless to say, I was suddenly full and went out to the car to wait on DH and DD. I think that was probably the fastest we've ever gotten out of a McDonalds in our life!
Back on the road, we got into Nashville and following the instructions, actually found Fly Away Parking. We pulled up and OH MY HEAVENS - the lot was packed tighter than John Travolta's pants. DH looks at me and says - now what? I told him we had reservations - and pulled out the paperwork. The lady met us at the window and said that the lot was full (duh) but since we had reservations for self parking, they would put it in valet for no extra cost. YEAH! They unloaded the truck for us, right there at the door, loaded the shuttle bus, took our key and dropped us off at the Southwest gate entrance.
I stuffed my purse in my carryon. Handed DD's to her along with my pillow. Handed DH his bag and laptop and headed to our gate - a full 2 1/2 hours early. I sat down to read, DD colored and DH found a magazine and read.
At about 3:45 - 45 minutes before takeoff, we noticed a couple in the A pass line. So we moved our operations over there. Second group in line! The gentleman's name was Mark and his wife is Becky. They go several times a year to Disney. Mark entertained DD with imitations of Mickey and the gang. Becky and I talked about our plans. They are also staying off site for the first two days, then moving onto property to Pop Century on Sunday. On top of that - they have the same flight back to Nashville as us!
It comes time to board and the pre-board line is HUGE! It's almost as long as the regular lines. RANT TIME: I know people with small kids and medical problems should load first. BUT, there were people in that line that had nothing wrong with them. 10 year olds are not babies. Get your butts in line with the rest of us! RANT OVER. We knew there was no way we'd be able to get one of the front sets of seats, which is a little larger. Oh well.
We get on the plane and - the front left side is empty! We plop down and claim them as our own. DH finds a hole to stuff our bags into and I hold my pillow in my lap. Right before taxiing to the runway, the flight attendant comes by and says we have to stow the pillow. DH looked him dead in the eye and said "Yeah you dont want a fluffy pillow flying around the plane. It might hit someone in the head and give them a concussion"
Whew - we didn't have to leave the plane.
Pillow stowed - all buckled in. And we take off.
Now I have a problem with flying. Well, no, not the flying part. I can handle that. My problem is the take off and landing. It scares the bejevies out of me. I have to have the window seat though or else I get claustrophobic and start
I'm holding DH's hand so tight he swears it'll never work again. My face is white as a ghost and DH has to remind me to breathe. We get safely in the air and i loosen the death grip on him. They serve sodas and crackers.. no booze for me - no matter how much I wanted it. We start descending into Orlando and my ears stop up. DH says something to me and I can't hear him. I can't hear anything. It's perfect silence. I tried everything - fingers in my ears... swallowing.. yawning.. nothing is working. I'm starting to panic. I'M GONNA BE DEAF FOR MY VACATION - POSSIBLY THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!!! DH's trying to calm me down - giving me chewing gum, miming me to try different things. and finally, i held my nose and blew. POP both ears clear up!!! YEAH BABY! I'm grinning and I look over at DD and she has tears running down her cheeks. Her ears stopped up too and only one side will pop. I get her to try what I did and it doesnt help. Gum, yawning, etc and she's still stopped up. I'm thinking - great, it'll be a trip to the dr for us tonight. I calm her down and tell her it'll be ok. Don't worry about it. I give her a couple of children's motrin (it's a little painful for her) and get her to quit crying. By the time all is done, we are back on the ground and I didn't have time to panic about the landing.
At Nashville, we go to find our luggage. While waiting on DH to fetch the last few pieces, DD screams MOMMA MOMMA MY EAR POPPED! People were looking at us - ok so I was jumping up and down with her in joy but still .
... ANYWAY, we gather our luggage- all pieces made it - and go to Alamo for our car. They direct us over across the road to the parking garage, 2nd floor and to the row that says "economy". Just pick a car and go. So we drag all these suitcases all the way over to the Alamo economy row (it's not the very end of the parking area but it's awfully darn close!).. and empty spots. There's not one single solitary vehicle in the whole economy area.
Panic rising.. no car. How are we going to get around? DH looks at me and says "I thought you had a vehicle!" "I did see- and show him the paperwork. "See - economy car Alamo." He grumbles something about thats what he gets for letting me do the plans and stomps off to get the representative for Alamo. While he's gone, another couple arrive. They are from Germany and also rented an economy car from Alamo. I tell them my husband is talking to someone and will be right back. Meanwhile a woman from Alamo brings a car over and parks right in front of us. It's an economy car. I tell the German couple to go ahead and take it. No use in all of us waiting on my husband to get back. They thank us and leave.
A few minutes later, DH pulls up in a midsize car. They upgraded us for free! We loaded our stuff in the car, I pulled out the map to the hotel and we head over to Best Western Movieland on International Drive.
When we get there, they check us right in and give us a key for room 449. We park the car on the side of the hotel and lug all the luggage to the room. DH looks up to put the key in the door, and Cameron Diaz is smiling at him. The Movieland has pictures of movies and movie stars all over the walls. Our door is flanked on both sides by Cameron Diaz, who is one of DH's favorite actresses. "Look DD, it's your next mom!"
men.
We get in the room - very nice - large double beds. We dump the luggage and head downstairs for some dinner at the Black Angus Steakhouse. Stuffed mushrooms for appetizer, DH orders the Surf and Turf with sautéed onions and mushrooms, I got the same, and DD gets a cheese pizza - total 62.54 Food is excellent!! Cooked to perfection. We waddle back up to the room, DH throws a kiss to his girlfriend on the wall and I go in to rummage open the suitcases to get our clothes out. What the heck is this? There's black hard plastic all over the clothes. Well, all of the suitcases were crushed and the plastic is the hard sides on the inside. I dig it out, find our clothes, dose everyone on Nyquil (Don't give me that look, you'll take it and like it, you big baby!) and off to dream land.
Next stop - Fiddlefartin in Orlando.
You are a riot!! Keep it coming!! 
