northernmouse
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2001
- Messages
- 199
Took a while, but here's a reasonably recent Land & Sea experience. Cast: me, 40, DH 36, DSS 10. After almost 10 months of planning & help from the DIS, we were finally off to Disney. None of us have cruised before, & DSS had never been to WDW. Plan: arrive Friday night (May 17), add a night AKL to package (May 18); have 4day land/sea begin on May 19th at the Poly.
DH & I up at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning, drive 3 hours from Edmonton, Canada to Calgary to pick up DSS where he lives with his mom. Apparently, the lad was too excited to sleep. So were the 'old folks"!. Flight from Calgary left just after noon, changed planes in Toronto and finally arrived in Orlando at 10:45 pm. Spring in western Canada was late and dry -- so we were really hit with the warmth and humidity. Great to be south!! Spent the night at La Quinta near the airport. Little point spending those Canuck bucks when all we were going to do was sleep.
Up early and in the rental car to drive to Cape Canaveral to visit KSC. DSS loves all things space-related, plus a good chance to add in an 'educational' component since we'd taken him out of school. Trip is short (less than an hour) so we had to wait about 30 minutes before the gate opened to let us in. The first of many early mornings. Trip is also a good chance DH & I to test drive route to Port Canaveral -- DS has NO idea the holiday includes a cruise - just one of a few surprises in store.
It was hot & sunny -- a spring heat wave in Florida we didn't quite expect. Turns out, we were lucky temps were in the 80's all week. The week before & after our trip, they were in the 90's. Our summers get warm, but it was a quick adjustment. Not that we complained -- theme for the entire trip was borrowed from
Tom Hanks' character in 'league of their own' -- "there is no whining at Disney".
Took the bus tour around Kennedy. We were there early, and the crowds were manageable. The shuttle Endeavor was being readied for a late May mission. A few months before, the launch date was May 23rd -- the day we were scheduled to sail. Unfortuneately, our luck didn't hold and the launch was delayed, but it was impressive to see the shuttle from the observation gantry, even just sitting on the pad.
Most impressive was the Saturn V rocket display. Hard to believe anyone was brave enough to light that much fuel under their tuckus and get blasted into space! Had lunch at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Unfortunately, the International Space Station Center was not open because of security concerns.
Bought a few mission badges and posters as souvenirs and headed back to the car around 2:30 for the trip to WDW -- the lad thinks we're going to another La Quina -- he has no idea we're booked at the AKL!
Next -- the evening at AKL and MK.
DH & I up at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning, drive 3 hours from Edmonton, Canada to Calgary to pick up DSS where he lives with his mom. Apparently, the lad was too excited to sleep. So were the 'old folks"!. Flight from Calgary left just after noon, changed planes in Toronto and finally arrived in Orlando at 10:45 pm. Spring in western Canada was late and dry -- so we were really hit with the warmth and humidity. Great to be south!! Spent the night at La Quinta near the airport. Little point spending those Canuck bucks when all we were going to do was sleep.
Up early and in the rental car to drive to Cape Canaveral to visit KSC. DSS loves all things space-related, plus a good chance to add in an 'educational' component since we'd taken him out of school. Trip is short (less than an hour) so we had to wait about 30 minutes before the gate opened to let us in. The first of many early mornings. Trip is also a good chance DH & I to test drive route to Port Canaveral -- DS has NO idea the holiday includes a cruise - just one of a few surprises in store.
It was hot & sunny -- a spring heat wave in Florida we didn't quite expect. Turns out, we were lucky temps were in the 80's all week. The week before & after our trip, they were in the 90's. Our summers get warm, but it was a quick adjustment. Not that we complained -- theme for the entire trip was borrowed from
Tom Hanks' character in 'league of their own' -- "there is no whining at Disney".
Took the bus tour around Kennedy. We were there early, and the crowds were manageable. The shuttle Endeavor was being readied for a late May mission. A few months before, the launch date was May 23rd -- the day we were scheduled to sail. Unfortuneately, our luck didn't hold and the launch was delayed, but it was impressive to see the shuttle from the observation gantry, even just sitting on the pad.
Most impressive was the Saturn V rocket display. Hard to believe anyone was brave enough to light that much fuel under their tuckus and get blasted into space! Had lunch at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. Unfortunately, the International Space Station Center was not open because of security concerns.
Bought a few mission badges and posters as souvenirs and headed back to the car around 2:30 for the trip to WDW -- the lad thinks we're going to another La Quina -- he has no idea we're booked at the AKL!
Next -- the evening at AKL and MK.
