Our day starts off like any other day... NOT! WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! Whoohooo!

I mean, can you believe it?!? We really are going to Disney today! I can hardly contain myself.

It doesn't even matter that it's 4:30 AM and I have about 20 minutes to get showered, dressed, and people in the car so we can drive the 20 minutes to the Norfolk International Airport. Our flight leaves at 6:30, and they always want you there early... but we like to push the envelope. Plus, the early flights seem to have lighter security lines... especially at our small little airport. Still not sure how ORF is an International airport... but I digress. We're going to Disney World!!
We manage to get ready in time and are on our way with no problems. Still going through the mental checklist as we (me, myself and I) are driving. All the important items like the vouchers, plane tickets, and various travel documents are in the laptop bag this time. Guess who is NOT forgetting to laptop this year?? Must have checked that thing 50 times in the trunk when packing. Anyway, we get to the airport and due to timing, I drop off DW, DD, and the luggage at curbside check in for Southwest and I head for the long term parking garage. I end up on the next-to-last level and WAYYYYYY far away from the elevator.

I write down where I parked... CHECK. No need for aggravation at the end of the vacation.
I meet back up with my clan at the security checkpoint at about 5:45. I'm starting to sweat at this point because the line is longer than I thought it would be. But, fortunately, the line moves at a good pace. So I have my shoes off and all my stuff loaded in the plastic bins and walk over to the metal detector... whew... no alarms. "Excuse me!" yells the jolly TSA worker behind the fancy x-ray machine, demanding everyone's attention. "Who placed this laptop in the bin??"

This sounds serious. Wonder who's laptop he is talki... uh oh. Peanut butter! That's my laptop. I walk over and claim responsibility for it. "Sir, you are going to need to go with this gentleman."

Ummmm... ok? So me and this other TSA worker - who is quite larger than I (height and width-wise... and I'm 6'2", 200lbs!) - commence to have a private meeting at a table at the end of the security line. Turns out that you have to take the laptop OUT of the bag and place it in a separate bin. (Insert face-palm here) Oops. A well-seasoned traveler I am not. After a well-deserved lecture about the PROPER way to submit a laptop for security screening, the kind TSA worker gives me a clean report and sends me on my way. Meanwhile, DW is giving me the "Why didn't you read about this BEFORE we got here and WHY are you making us late" look. As timing and luck would have it, DD's Carnation Instant Breakfast decides it doesn't like being held captive in the kid cup we used to transport it and subsequently leaks all over the inside of her carry-on backpack. Gee... this is beginning to be an interesting trip. We get her bag to the nearest restroom and DW manages to get the inside of it clean. Collateral damage included one teddy bear. Not too bad.
We arrive at the terminal just in time for the A group to begin lining up. That's us! I managed to score (3) "A" group seats the morning before as I performed the 24 hour lottery at the computer. Things should be OK from here... we saunter over to our place in the lineup and wait for the green flag. In the few moments we are waiting I notice the sun has surpassed the horizon and a beautiful, colorful sky was appearing beyond the windows. Uh oh. No, I didn't! I frantically search for the "perfect" sunglasses I spent weeks searching for this trip. On my shirt? No. In the backpack? No. Does DW have them? No. Has ANYONE seen them? No. This sucks. I left them on the kitchen counter. Really, this totally blows because my eyes are light sensitive. And you have NO idea how picky I am about my sunglasses (just ask DW). Oh well... guess I have something to look forward to buying from Disney World!
We receive the green flag and off to the races we go. I always enjoy seeing the smiling faces of the Southwest flight crew. Even got to say Hi to the captain this time!

Wait... the captain is stopping us. Great... what now? Can't be bad, he is still smiling. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a plastic set of pilot's wings and places it on DD's shirt!

How cool is that! DD was glowing with pride with her newly appointed "pilot" status. DW was more interested in finding seats close to the front. She always wants the very front seats but we can't grab them this time. Can't have any carry-on bags on the floor. Instead, we grab the second row and get settled in... DW gets window, DD in the middle, I get aisle.
As folks are still getting settled, a guy starts a conversation with me from across the aisle. Seemed like a nice, young man. Don't remember what we were chit-chatting about, but about 5 minutes later, a flight attendant comes over and sternly asks the man to come with her. Another uh oh. I watch as the pair walk up to the cabin area... and then off the plane. Strange. Not sure what that was about... but another 5 minutes go by and it looks like the plane has been finally loaded and is ready to go. Then another 5 minutes. And another. Then, wouldn't you know it, that same young man was being escorted back onto the plane. He didn't look as happy as before... and even appeared to be ashamed. I wasn't going to poke my nose into his business, but after he got buckled in, he leans over to me and tells me the story. Turns out that as he boarded the plane, he was trying to be funny and said the the captain something along the lines of "Hope you cleared the bombs off the plan."

He learned his lesson the hard way. Apparently you get a thorough talking to for comments like that... who knew? I didn't really talk to him the rest of the flight. But I sure kept my eye on him!
DD and I spent most of the flight watching the Tinker Bell movie

(original). I had one of those headphone splitters and we each had our own headphones to use. As I mentioned in my original post, DD is not that big of a movie watcher... and I RARELY get to watch movies with her. This was a very special moment for me with her. I showed her how the arm rest comes up and she moved over and cuddled while we watched Tinker Bell chasing the sprinting thistles. Now THIS is what vacation is about
Our flight is a short 1 1/2 hours in the air and I must say this one was very smooth and cloudless. We arrive at Orlando International Airport ahead of schedule and hike to the baggage claim area. We have never used the yellow stickers to have the bags delivered to the room... we're chickens! Besides, we're still young enough to tote around our luggage just fine, thank you. Fortunately, all our checked luggage made the flight with us and recovered them in the same condition we left them in. Off to Magical Express we go!
We are VERY spoiled people. I say that because when we arrive at the ME area... the same as last year... there are no other passengers waiting in line. Nothing but smiling CMs waiting to tend to our every need. We are quickly transferred to one of the buses waiting to head to Coronado Springs Resort. We board the bus and we see an empty bus... except for one lonely couple. Sweet! Another limo ride to WDW! Yeah... we're spoiled.
And here is a familiar view:
I tried to get a good picture of Goofy driving the DVC van... but it's not a very good shot! Reminds me of the DIS Dad's bus we dream about
And here we finally make it to our destination... Woohooooooo!
Next up...
Check in... or check out??