Well, we made it back yesterday (12/12) even though it was supposed to be 12/11...but we'll get to that in a minute.
Flew NWA from MSP to MCO. Had a 3:30pm departure out of MSP and security was a snap. There were no pat down searches in our party nor did I see any going on at the checkpoint we went through. All TSA personnel were very professional, but those at MSP seem to have Minnesota nice.
Flight left a bit late and I think I personally am going to stick with the first flight of the AM when going to WDW. I was just so exhausted and such from getting there and I hated starting my vacation that way.
Had a minivan from National...none on the National side, as a matter of fact there wasn't a minivan category where I was (Side B I think) so I was told to just pick one out from the Alamo side. No troubles checking out, as usual.
MCO coming back we had a 1:15pm departure on a Saturday. Security lines looked terrible, but actually went almost as fast as MSP. Again, pleasant TSA personnel and I did not witness any patdown searches.
Now the interesting part. We took off from MCO on time, but on takeoff a bird hit the left wing. We didn't know this till later, but there was more turbulence than normal on takeoff that I had experienced. This was one heck of a bird as it put a hole in the wing and we had to circle around over the ocean (probably to dump fuel) and make an emergency landing at Tampa. Pretty cool as we had firetrucks and emergency vehicles meet us on the tarmac. My kids were crabby though as they were really ready to be home. As it was, they put us up in the airport Marriott (never again...) and gave us plenty of food vouchers but we had an 8am departure on Sunday. Turns out they flew down a specialist and materials from Detroit to repair the damage and we were good to go.
I have to say the crew on that return flight were so professional, yet friendly that I have ever encountered on any flight.
Well, that's all for this segment on the Transportation Board. I'll have loads of info on the Restaurants, Theme Parks, and DVC Boards at least. See ya.
Flew NWA from MSP to MCO. Had a 3:30pm departure out of MSP and security was a snap. There were no pat down searches in our party nor did I see any going on at the checkpoint we went through. All TSA personnel were very professional, but those at MSP seem to have Minnesota nice.
Flight left a bit late and I think I personally am going to stick with the first flight of the AM when going to WDW. I was just so exhausted and such from getting there and I hated starting my vacation that way.
Had a minivan from National...none on the National side, as a matter of fact there wasn't a minivan category where I was (Side B I think) so I was told to just pick one out from the Alamo side. No troubles checking out, as usual.
MCO coming back we had a 1:15pm departure on a Saturday. Security lines looked terrible, but actually went almost as fast as MSP. Again, pleasant TSA personnel and I did not witness any patdown searches.
Now the interesting part. We took off from MCO on time, but on takeoff a bird hit the left wing. We didn't know this till later, but there was more turbulence than normal on takeoff that I had experienced. This was one heck of a bird as it put a hole in the wing and we had to circle around over the ocean (probably to dump fuel) and make an emergency landing at Tampa. Pretty cool as we had firetrucks and emergency vehicles meet us on the tarmac. My kids were crabby though as they were really ready to be home. As it was, they put us up in the airport Marriott (never again...) and gave us plenty of food vouchers but we had an 8am departure on Sunday. Turns out they flew down a specialist and materials from Detroit to repair the damage and we were good to go.
I have to say the crew on that return flight were so professional, yet friendly that I have ever encountered on any flight.
Well, that's all for this segment on the Transportation Board. I'll have loads of info on the Restaurants, Theme Parks, and DVC Boards at least. See ya.
