Arrival Day - In Transit
When last I pre-tripped, it was - hmm let's see - 8:54pm, and I still had several things left to do before bed. With our flight leaving so early (6am), the goal was to be completely ready and packed by a reasonable bedtime (9pm).
Do you think I was in bed 6 minutes after my last post?
Yeah, right! How could I continue to call myself a professional procrastinator if I wasn't still awake several hours after the planned bedtime? I'm not a seasoned traveler, and I'm the type that worries about forgetting something no matter how thoroughly I planned right up until I leave the house and there's nothing that can be done about anything forgotten. Needless to say, I kept finding things to do, and I think it was 11:45 before I was in bed. I was pretty tired, but the excitement was palpable and my brain wouldn't shut up... Lease conked out, but I didn't fall asleep until sometime after 1am
3 hours later ...
The morning was a delirious blur of last minute necessities and making over the cats before Lease's dad arrived and drove us to the airport. We arrived pretty early for our flight and security was deserted so early in the morning, so we breezed through with the only hiccup being the rolls of M&M Mini tubes filled with pennies and quarters in Lease's bag (a very strange look from the TSA employee while trying to explain).
Only a WDW trip could have me looking this chipper and happy at 4:52am after 3 hours of sleep...
Lease passed the time...
While we were boarding the plane, I forgot to duck stepping through the door and whacked my head pretty hard on the door frame
Lease drifted in and out of sleep for this leg of the journey, I tried to sleep but only managed about 15 minutes, doh! We had a 45 minute connection in Minneapolis/St. Paul, just enough time to grab a few pictures and marvel at the huge airport.
The second leg was longer and I wanted to try very hard to get some sleep. Little did I know, there wasn't going to be any chance of that happening. You see, apparently small pets are allowed in the cabin of the plane in a carrier if an extra seat is purchased just for the pet. Two rows back from us, someone had brought along their pet poodle, and it was the yappiest poodle I've ever heard. It yapped every 10 minutes throughout the whole flight. Every time I would get close to sleep, YAP YAP YAP. It wasn't particularly loud, but it was like nails down a chalkboard - it pierced my brain with every YAP YAP YAP, no matter how loud I turned up my iPod. We were both ready to fashion a muzzle made of scotch tape about a half an hour in.
Lease captured my frustration (homicidal rage) quite well...
During our descent to land I caught a glimpse of Spaceship Earth out the window, and the adrenaline started flowing freely. I was wide awake for the rest of the day. I knew I was tired, but I simply didn't feel it at all.
After landing, we both bounced happily through the airport.. I was floating on cloud 9 at this point. It was pouring outside, but it wasn't dampening our spirits one little bit.
I love the tram ride between the two airport sections, it sort of feels like a monorail.. I know, easy to please
The regular line at the rental car counter was about 10 people long, and in the time it took us to wait in the Dollar Express line for one person in front of us, sign our name, get our keys and be gone, the regular line didn't even move. Thank you DIS advice!
It only rained for about 10 minutes after we left the airport before clearing up for the rest of the day!
Excitement reaches a fever pitch when we pass under this!
Then this!
Hotel check-in was also quick, no line at all. I had made a request on the reservation when I made it for a river view King room (since you can't specify a view when you book a King room) and sadly they didn't receive the request. We were a bit disappointed, but we ended up with a wonderful room anyway - building 3, not far from the parking lot but without a view of said parking lot.
View from the room...
We dropped our bags and headed for the bus stop to the Magic Kingdom, a few pics on the way...
And finally on the bus to MK!
All the waiting, all the planning, all the hype and excitement..
we were about to be at the Magic Kingdom again!
Go to
Magic Kingdom At Last
We're anxiously waiting Lease & Code.......
I am sure the pictures are going to be great and worth the wait!
