that's nice
DIS Dad #330
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2008
- Messages
- 13,517
I lurked for months before making my first post here on the DIS in November of 2008. I have met so many nice and caring people who all have the same love of Disney that I ended up with. While I am not the greatest writer, I wrote my first trip report and I really enjoyed myself. It was so fun to relive the trip and also to write down our memories to have forever. It was also fun writing PTRs and telling about our plans and to have people's input to help plan.
For this trip, there was no PTR- I kept the trip a secret till 3 days before we left. I did contact a few DIS friends to set up a few meets while we were there. It was hard keeping the countdown calendar that Melody made a secret...
It was even harder staying quiet when we received Mickey Mail!
Saturday March 5th
Our Indiana friends (Dave, Branda, Alex & Victoria) had already made their drive to Florida by noon and spent the afternoon watching the Mets take on the Braves at the Wide World of Sports. They were renting a house with Dave's parents who arrived in the evening by plane.
At 6pm, the night before we were leaving, I hopped on the computer to print out our POP reservation when I noticed our room was booked from March 9-13. That had to be a mistake. When I originally called Disney reservations, I booked the room till Monday the 14th. Lets just say it got a little stressful in our house. I immediately called Disney and found out there was no availability at POP. The only rooms available were at AKL, the Poly, WL, and the GF starting at $540! If I booked one night there, it would of cost more than the 4 nights at POP!
I thanked the wonderful CM on the phone and told her I'd call back- I had to think this over. I opened the last Mousesavers newsletter and I found a room for $115 dollars. Score! It was right next to DTD and we wouldn't have to spend our last night in Florida sleeping in a rental car. LOL Crisis averted! We finished up packing and we were ready to go!
Sunday March 6th
We were up bright and early for our drive to the airport. Juliana was excited to pull off her last Mickey head.
Our CT friends (Bill, Jamie, and the girls) were leaving at 6am for their drive down to Florida. They were going to arrive in Disney on Monday while we were heading to Bradenton till Wednesday. We texted them and wished them safe travels.
Mel's father drove us to the airport and getting through security was a breeze. It wasn't long before we were eating a wholesome breakfast at McDonald's (wow that was hard to write with a straight face!)
The hallway to the terminal.....
Waiting for the plane.
Our flight to Tampa was on time and before we knew it we were boarding and ready to go! Of course, Puppy had to take the flight with Ana.
We flew on Delta, so we missed out on the TVs in the seats like Jetblue has but Juliana had her DVD player.
Besides a few minor bumps, the flight was smooth and before we knew it we were landing in Tampa.
The airport in Tampa has a fake monorail just like MCO.
Last time we flew into Tampa we had to take a shuttle to the rental cars but they have since moved them into the airport which was really nice. After picking up our bags, it was a walk across the street to the Alamo. (just like at MCO) Picking up the car was a breeze and we were off for our hour drive to Bradenton to visit with Mel's grandfather for the first few days of our trip. On the drive, we past probably the ugliest building in all of sports- Tropicana Field.
We continued on our drive and texted Bill & Jamie to tell them we had arrived in Florida. They had just gotten into Delaware and I think they were a little jealous we were looking at Palm trees while they were looking at close to 1000 more miles on the road.
Up next... Our 3 Florida days before we hit I4
For this trip, there was no PTR- I kept the trip a secret till 3 days before we left. I did contact a few DIS friends to set up a few meets while we were there. It was hard keeping the countdown calendar that Melody made a secret...
It was even harder staying quiet when we received Mickey Mail!
Saturday March 5th
Our Indiana friends (Dave, Branda, Alex & Victoria) had already made their drive to Florida by noon and spent the afternoon watching the Mets take on the Braves at the Wide World of Sports. They were renting a house with Dave's parents who arrived in the evening by plane.
At 6pm, the night before we were leaving, I hopped on the computer to print out our POP reservation when I noticed our room was booked from March 9-13. That had to be a mistake. When I originally called Disney reservations, I booked the room till Monday the 14th. Lets just say it got a little stressful in our house. I immediately called Disney and found out there was no availability at POP. The only rooms available were at AKL, the Poly, WL, and the GF starting at $540! If I booked one night there, it would of cost more than the 4 nights at POP!
I thanked the wonderful CM on the phone and told her I'd call back- I had to think this over. I opened the last Mousesavers newsletter and I found a room for $115 dollars. Score! It was right next to DTD and we wouldn't have to spend our last night in Florida sleeping in a rental car. LOL Crisis averted! We finished up packing and we were ready to go!
Sunday March 6th
We were up bright and early for our drive to the airport. Juliana was excited to pull off her last Mickey head.
Our CT friends (Bill, Jamie, and the girls) were leaving at 6am for their drive down to Florida. They were going to arrive in Disney on Monday while we were heading to Bradenton till Wednesday. We texted them and wished them safe travels.
Mel's father drove us to the airport and getting through security was a breeze. It wasn't long before we were eating a wholesome breakfast at McDonald's (wow that was hard to write with a straight face!)
The hallway to the terminal.....
Waiting for the plane.
Our flight to Tampa was on time and before we knew it we were boarding and ready to go! Of course, Puppy had to take the flight with Ana.
We flew on Delta, so we missed out on the TVs in the seats like Jetblue has but Juliana had her DVD player.
Besides a few minor bumps, the flight was smooth and before we knew it we were landing in Tampa.
The airport in Tampa has a fake monorail just like MCO.
Last time we flew into Tampa we had to take a shuttle to the rental cars but they have since moved them into the airport which was really nice. After picking up our bags, it was a walk across the street to the Alamo. (just like at MCO) Picking up the car was a breeze and we were off for our hour drive to Bradenton to visit with Mel's grandfather for the first few days of our trip. On the drive, we past probably the ugliest building in all of sports- Tropicana Field.
We continued on our drive and texted Bill & Jamie to tell them we had arrived in Florida. They had just gotten into Delaware and I think they were a little jealous we were looking at Palm trees while they were looking at close to 1000 more miles on the road.
Up next... Our 3 Florida days before we hit I4
We are stying at the Country Inn and suites our first night as the plane fare was cheaper on Thursday than Friday !!While we wont have long there , we will at least arrive at POP a whole lot less tired than our usual 4 am start day !!
Yay for an update! I'm sure it had nothing to do with all the gentle nudging here, huh?
.
I was going to write "I'll bet Kat is excited because she's awake to see your update!" 
Some day we"ll get back to the Bronx.
Molly beat me to mentioning about Mel's purse but I do hope we get to hear later on in the TR that she got something to match it. 
Thanks for the Easter wishes! I hope you had a great Easter too! 
Ana:
