Dateline: March 9, 2007
OK, I know I said I was going to try to only update every 2 weeks. But something happened tonight. Something big.
Get home from work. Go on our daily 1 1/2 mile walk, my husband, myself and Kiah. And the dog. Talk a bit about Disney while we're walking, as we always do.
Before we left, I had slipped a ham and scalloped potato casserole in the oven. When we got home, there were still at least 20 minutes left.
I sit down in front of the computer and start surfing around the internet.
With about 10 minutes left before dinner, I pop some green beans in the microwave.
Somewhere in the next 4 minutes, I decided to check our flights. The link is there under my Disney bookmarks and I try to remember to check it every week or so. Airlines change flights routinely, even though Midwest isn't one known to frequently mess with flight schedules.
Go through the routine, expecting just to check and everything's fine.
Except I get a big red message that tells me that yes, our flights have indeed changed and I needed to call the flight scheduling desk. Or something like that.
So dinner is forgotten and I'm on the phone. Dan is sitting watching TV, cuz that's what he does.
First, the good news. Our original flight had us getting to Orlando at 7:15 pm. I'm a good Disney planner and I've read all the information that says that getting in later is bad. All the good rooms will be gone if you get there late. But what could a girl do? I wanted a nonstop, and that's when the nonstop landed.
New flight? Lands at 12:35. Yeah, that one is definitely doable. Leaves at 9:10 am, so we'd need to either spend the night close to the airport or plan to get up at 2 am. So you know I was on the internet as soon as I got done chewing, trying to find an airport hotel. Which was not easy, I might add. We're flying out on Memorial Day, apparently that's a busy weekend for hotels. I never would have guessed.
Then, the bad news. Originally, our return flight left Orlando at 8 pm. New flight is scheduled for 1:20 pm. Man, that's not good news at all. We gained a couple of hours the first day, but by the time you figure transportation to the resort, checking in, unpacking... not really equivalent to the full day we'd be losing at the end.
But I take it and begin thanking the nice lady. Then she tells me she has to offer me all my options. Since they're shortening our trip by a day, we could fly out the next morning at 7 am. Landing at 8:45 am in our home state.
What? We can add a night at Disney? In fact, you're practically begging us to do it, aren't you?
Sign me up and call me giddy!
I can't even remember eating. I'm sure I did. There was food on my plate and a few minutes later, it was gone. But I can't remember it. The gears in my mind were whirring too loudly.
I emailed my
travel agent and asked her to get us a room only reservation for our last night. Thought about trying to add another package night, but we really don't need the dining plan. Except she talked me into adding the dining plan. I mean, we're going to eat, right? So instead of having to mess with checking out and checking into a room only, we just added a package night after all.
Called my sister, to tell her that her flights have also changed and she needs to call. The changes actually affect her much more because they're not staying as long as we are and didn't have the luxury of adding another night.
A half dozen phone calls later, I'm not sure what she'll end up doing. As for us, we're debating going to a water park on our arrival day. I don't know... it's Memorial Day and I'm afraid of crowds. But will the crowds really be at a water park in the late afternoon? We can't do a real theme park because we've already got all those days planned. And now our final day will actually be a complete last day at a park. I'm thinking Spectro and Wishes that night. We'll have to get up ever so early to catch the ME bus back to the airport (4 am?!?), but we can sleep later, right?
Now, I swear no more updates for 2 weeks. In fact, 2 weeks from now is our Spring Break. We'll be on a short little trip to Branson. And I imagine I'll have some updates when we get back. After all, there's both a
Disney Store and a Disney Store outlet in town. I'm sure to add a little Disney to my life.
OK, can't post an update without a photo, right? So here's another layout with our 04 Disney photos. I actually just did this one recently (the one from the other day is a couple of years old). I wanted to use new product, but I was in a Disney mood, so this is what I did: