tc
<font color=blue>Miracles are amazing!<br><font co
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2000
- Messages
- 3,191
4:00 a.m., uhhggg!!! Two months ago when I booked this 6:30 a.m flight it sounded like a great idea. Get to Orlando at 2:30, plenty of time to make it to Epcot and then see Illuminations on our first day. However, at 4:00 a.m. on travel day, it wasn't the greatest idea. We had a wedding to attend the night before and laundry and packing and, oh I could go on, so it was a very late night. Kimmi was giving us a ride to the airport and none to happy to be up before the sun. Especially since she had 8 hours of school today starting at 8:30 a.m.
I ignore the grumbling coming for other parts of the house, and quickly put things in my carry-on. Stephen has the car packed, and it's off to DIA.
We arrive at about 5:15, kiss Kimmi good bye (with plenty of change for the toll road for her 35 minute trip home) and off to the Northwest counter. Empty, the terminal is empty. We self-check (there is no other option), check our bags, and head to our gate (with a stop at Starbucks for Stephen). Our plane is on time for our short hop to Minneapolis. We have an hour layover, then it's on to Orlando. This plane is half full. Many people move from their assigned seats once the doors are closed in order to sit alone. I continue my book. I hate to fly, so I immerse myself in fantasy until we land. Not real fun for Stephen, but it's better than hyperventalating and digging my fingernails into his arm, so he's okay with it.
We land around 2:15, Stephen waits for our bags while I run downstairs and get our Mears transfer vouchers. We are being dropped off at the Swan, but picked up at the Boardwalk and that confused the Mears lady. She finally just scribbles out "Swan" on the return voucher and writes in Boardwalk, and then tells me to call 24 hours ahead to confirm pick up. I promise to obey, and go to find Stephen. He is patiently waiting for me at the bottom of the escalators. We go outside, give our voucher to the outside Mears lady, and then sit in the glorious heat and humidity, while we wait. Yes, I said glorious heat and humidity. I love it. I am a warm weather gal, the hotter, the better. That's my biggest issue with living in Colorado. Yes, we have more sunny days than Orlando, but sunny and 35, is very different than slightly overcast and 90. I'll talk overcast and 90 any day. I am cold year round in Colorado, my heater is on at my feet as I type. Anyway, back to the report: 15 minutes later we are on our way to the Swan. Ours is the first stop (first time this has ever happened to us). We check in and our room is ready. And what a great room it is. A corner room looking out over the lagoon towards Epcot. We were only here for one night, so we really didn't get to enjoy it, but it was very nice. Tomorrow we are checking into the Boardwalk Villas using our DCV points. We opted for the Swan on Saturday night because it costs a lot more points to use them on Friday and Sat. Our home resort is the Beach Club, but they had no availability for this week, so we are trying the Boardwalk.
We freshened up, and then headed to Epcot. We first stopped at Guest Relations to purchase our Annual Passes. We are planning on returning in May for our 25th anniversay, so APs were the way to go. It's 5:30 eastern time, which is 3:30 mountain, and we had not had any lunch. So, where to eat? How about Yakatori House, I love their yakatori. It's being rehabbed on the outside right now, but the inside is the same. Funny thing, they don't have yakatori on the menu anymore. They have teriyaki chicken, but it's not the same. Still good, but not the same. It started to rain as we went in, but we found a nice table out back under an umbrella, and enjoyed our meal while we watched and listened to the rain pitter patter around us. By the time we were finished, so was the rain. Stephen likes Yakatori House because it's so close to the Kaki Gori cart, so that was his dessert (cherry, of course). I chose to eat a few bites of his snack due to being too full. We wandered around World Showcase, looking in some shops, but really just wandering. Headed to Future World and rode Test Track and Mission: Space. Then back to WS to find a spot for Illuminations. Found an empty bench across from the Off Kilter stage in Canada, enjoyed a coke and fries and people watched until the show. As always, the show was amazing. Epcot was fairly empty, almost like it was after 9/11. I assumed people stayed away due to the impending hurricane. It was a nice and very relaxing evening, enjoying the quiet atomosphere of Epcot after such a hectic few days and months.
After Illuminations, we slowly walked back to the Swan, stopping to get a crepe on a stick (I love the white chocolate one) on the Boardwalk. Then up to our room at about 10:00. We didn't bring any swim wear this trip. Due to our move and hectic schedule, neither of us have really exercised since May, and were feeling a little self conscious. I was wishing at this point that we had brought them. A swim sounded so good to both of us, but I just couldn't bring myself into buying new suits when we both had perfectly good ones at home. Oh well, we went back to the room and Stephen enjoyed ESPN, while I read a book.
An extremely relaxing and fun day, even if we got up at 4:00 a.m. The joy of traveling from west to east is that our bodies thought it was 8:00 instead of 10:00, so we weren't that tired.
Tune in next time for Ivan or no Ivan or Can I stay in this heavely bed all day? Day 2.
I ignore the grumbling coming for other parts of the house, and quickly put things in my carry-on. Stephen has the car packed, and it's off to DIA.
We arrive at about 5:15, kiss Kimmi good bye (with plenty of change for the toll road for her 35 minute trip home) and off to the Northwest counter. Empty, the terminal is empty. We self-check (there is no other option), check our bags, and head to our gate (with a stop at Starbucks for Stephen). Our plane is on time for our short hop to Minneapolis. We have an hour layover, then it's on to Orlando. This plane is half full. Many people move from their assigned seats once the doors are closed in order to sit alone. I continue my book. I hate to fly, so I immerse myself in fantasy until we land. Not real fun for Stephen, but it's better than hyperventalating and digging my fingernails into his arm, so he's okay with it.
We land around 2:15, Stephen waits for our bags while I run downstairs and get our Mears transfer vouchers. We are being dropped off at the Swan, but picked up at the Boardwalk and that confused the Mears lady. She finally just scribbles out "Swan" on the return voucher and writes in Boardwalk, and then tells me to call 24 hours ahead to confirm pick up. I promise to obey, and go to find Stephen. He is patiently waiting for me at the bottom of the escalators. We go outside, give our voucher to the outside Mears lady, and then sit in the glorious heat and humidity, while we wait. Yes, I said glorious heat and humidity. I love it. I am a warm weather gal, the hotter, the better. That's my biggest issue with living in Colorado. Yes, we have more sunny days than Orlando, but sunny and 35, is very different than slightly overcast and 90. I'll talk overcast and 90 any day. I am cold year round in Colorado, my heater is on at my feet as I type. Anyway, back to the report: 15 minutes later we are on our way to the Swan. Ours is the first stop (first time this has ever happened to us). We check in and our room is ready. And what a great room it is. A corner room looking out over the lagoon towards Epcot. We were only here for one night, so we really didn't get to enjoy it, but it was very nice. Tomorrow we are checking into the Boardwalk Villas using our DCV points. We opted for the Swan on Saturday night because it costs a lot more points to use them on Friday and Sat. Our home resort is the Beach Club, but they had no availability for this week, so we are trying the Boardwalk.
We freshened up, and then headed to Epcot. We first stopped at Guest Relations to purchase our Annual Passes. We are planning on returning in May for our 25th anniversay, so APs were the way to go. It's 5:30 eastern time, which is 3:30 mountain, and we had not had any lunch. So, where to eat? How about Yakatori House, I love their yakatori. It's being rehabbed on the outside right now, but the inside is the same. Funny thing, they don't have yakatori on the menu anymore. They have teriyaki chicken, but it's not the same. Still good, but not the same. It started to rain as we went in, but we found a nice table out back under an umbrella, and enjoyed our meal while we watched and listened to the rain pitter patter around us. By the time we were finished, so was the rain. Stephen likes Yakatori House because it's so close to the Kaki Gori cart, so that was his dessert (cherry, of course). I chose to eat a few bites of his snack due to being too full. We wandered around World Showcase, looking in some shops, but really just wandering. Headed to Future World and rode Test Track and Mission: Space. Then back to WS to find a spot for Illuminations. Found an empty bench across from the Off Kilter stage in Canada, enjoyed a coke and fries and people watched until the show. As always, the show was amazing. Epcot was fairly empty, almost like it was after 9/11. I assumed people stayed away due to the impending hurricane. It was a nice and very relaxing evening, enjoying the quiet atomosphere of Epcot after such a hectic few days and months.
After Illuminations, we slowly walked back to the Swan, stopping to get a crepe on a stick (I love the white chocolate one) on the Boardwalk. Then up to our room at about 10:00. We didn't bring any swim wear this trip. Due to our move and hectic schedule, neither of us have really exercised since May, and were feeling a little self conscious. I was wishing at this point that we had brought them. A swim sounded so good to both of us, but I just couldn't bring myself into buying new suits when we both had perfectly good ones at home. Oh well, we went back to the room and Stephen enjoyed ESPN, while I read a book.
An extremely relaxing and fun day, even if we got up at 4:00 a.m. The joy of traveling from west to east is that our bodies thought it was 8:00 instead of 10:00, so we weren't that tired.
Tune in next time for Ivan or no Ivan or Can I stay in this heavely bed all day? Day 2.
