Episode III: Up, Up, and Away
Like most travel day posts, this one is a little photo light until I actually got to Florida.
My flight was scheduled to depart the Green Bay airport at 6:30, with the boarding process beginning at 5:50. We left the house at 5:00, right on schedule and were greeted by some fairly icy roads. Lucky for me, my partner in crime, Eric, as in charge of delivering precious cargo (me) to the airport and is an expert winter weather driver - I, on the other hand, am not. I arrived at the airport at 5:20, and had checked my bag and made it through security by 5:26. Man, do I love Green Bay. We were off to a good start.
The boarding process was easy, and after a quick break to de-ice the plane, we took off about 5 minutes later than planned, but were still scheduled to arrive in DTW 15 minutes early.
When I landed in Detroit, I was FAMISHED, and knew there was no way I could wait for Disney food. I went to Plum Market (highly recommend if you're ever in DTW. If you have more time, check out the breakfast burrito at Long Horn Steakhouse. To. Die. For). Anyway, I ordered a breakfast burrito and called the nights special guest star to let them know all systems were a go. Not 30 seconds after I hung up the phone, did I get a text that my flight was delayed about an hour. Well...no big deal, and the good news was that the incoming plane was already IN the air, and the weather in Detroit was clear. I decided to take advantage of the great tables/charging ports at Plum Market and finish my much neglected pre-trip report with my Day 4 plans. I never got to Day 5 unfortunately. By the time I finished my update, it was time to go find my gate. By the time I arrived, the incoming aircraft had landed and passengers were deplaning. It was almost go time!!
I boarded with Zone 1 (I have lowly Silver status with Delta, and declined an 'upgrade' to a middle seat in Comfort+) for this little beauty...
My favorite seat on the plane is by far the Exit Row seat with no seat in front of it. As a side note, I was SUPER excited to be traveling for fun vs. work, because it meant I got to wear stretchy pants to the airport instead of business dress. The only bummer about this seat, is unless you have a REALLY long cord on your headphones, you can't take advantage of the in-seat entertainment. I planned ahead, and downloaded Moana for the flight. I didn't get a chance to see it in theaters. It was really hard to wait until my flight to watch it, but I LOVED it. What a beautiful movie.
About an hour and a half into my flight, something exceptionally rare happened, and I took. a. nap! I can NEVER sleep on airplanes, so this was GREAT! Maybe, it was the stretchy pants.
When I landed in Florida, I made the mad dash to the Fake-o-Rail...
And then made my way over to Side B...
Down the escalator and then the elevator to Level 1 where I followed the signs to Magical Express...
I tapped my MagicKeeper...
And was directed to Line Number 7 for Pop Century.
It was less than a 5 minute wait before I was climbing aboard...
Once on board, I let my guest star know I was on my way and they informed me they were already headed to the hotel. In hindsight, it would have worked better for them to pick me up from the airport, however, this was planned pretty last minute. It worked out fine in the end.
In what felt like no time at all, I was passing under this gorgeous sight...
Not a good picture, I know. I promise, they only get better from here.
While I was on the bus, I got a special text message:
(Ignore the timestamp, as I just uploaded it tonight).
I had already done online check-in about 30 days out, and two days before I arrived received an email that said I was eligible to receive my room assignment via text message on the day arrival and could entirely bypass the front desk. This worked great! So well, in fact, I never even went to the front desk until the last day of my trip when I paid my shopping tab with Disney gift cards.
Once we arrived at the resort (we were the second stop after Art of Animation), I headed towards my room, where my special guest was already waiting!
Up Next: Who is my special guest? Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. Drinks Around the Seven Seas Lagoon and Disney After Hours.
Aw yeah they wont do it during the parties and that's usually when we go maybe next year!
Excellent trip report so far...
Joining in here! Really enjoying your trip report. Congratulations on your remission, wishing you continued good health
Looks like a ton of legroom on that seat,I'm also waiting to watch moana till my next flight, I always save a new show/movie for my flights.
Thanks for the magical express pictures, I always screw up somehow when we land in MCO and wind up on the wrong side of the terminal, I'll use your pictures as a visual guide next time.
Yep, I can never nap on a plane either.
Looking forward to reading more, marina
Great trip so far! I look forward to reading more about it.
Joining in!! You got on so many rides in such a short amount of time! That totally makes it worth it, in my opinion. Just wondering what was the normal park closing time that night?
Great finish to your after hours review/update. If they are offering it during our trip we might do it since it will be more crowded than any other time we have gone.
I also found 7DMT much smoother than BTMR! I really like that about it.
Loved reading about your After Hours experience and your thoughts/review. You got so much done and it looked like the park was mostly empty! I'd definitely consider shelling out the money for a ticket someday if the timing is ever right on one of our trips.
Yikes we had to go to Walgreens on our first trip (needed cold meds and blister band aids, eyeliner had fallen out of the bag, etc). Our trip there came to almost $80! I've never been to a Walgreens at home (we have them but not too close to where we live) so I wasn't sure if that was the norm.
I would totally do this if it was in the budget. It sounds amazing!! Thank you for your thoughts. I hope they have it the next time my family goes.Final Thoughts on Disney After Hours
I know a lot has been said on the boards about the price tag of this event. We found that to be more than reasonable. Truthfully, I would have paid twice what we did to attend. We were able to ride everything we wanted to and had 30 minutes to spare. This is by far the closest I will ever be to being the only person in the Magic Kingdom.
We were actually at one nearish Universal. Maybe they're all like that around there?No, definitely not the norm. They aren't as cheap as say, Wal-Mart, but the one right outside the Main Gate (besides being a pain in the patoot to get to) has QUITE the price gauging racket going on. If I had time to waste, I would have put my items back and gone to one further off property.