Lisa and Jason's DFTW TR, Sept 2nd, 2007: UK Pavilion & Living Seas

[jasonandlisa]

August 30, 2007: And We’re Off!

The alarm was set for 4:30am, but I was so excited I woke up about 15 minutes before it went off. Now I’m not at all a morning person, but I bounced out of bed, full of energy. After a quick shower, I was ready to go. I had dropped Harley off at the “doggie ranch” the day before, so we were all set to drive straight to the airport. Well, first a stop off at the bank:

Jason thinks it’s only fair that we take one of sleepy-me, too:

We get to Austin airport a little early, and I insist upon a photo of all our luggage, since I think it’s pretty impressive that we packed so little for both of us.

(My wedding gown and Jason’s suit were being driven down from NJ to Disney by my parents. That made things a lot easier!)

We get checked in and through security very easily, but learn that our flight’s delayed by about 20 minutes. No problem. We have nearly 2 hours for our connection in Atlanta. So we take some time to have a little breakfast and wander through the few shops that are open. Jason found a funny t-shirt that I don’t have a picture of It has a cowboy and a dog on a horse, posed so that the cowboy is slumped over and passed-out, and the dog looks like he’s competently riding the horse. Below the picture it says, “Designated Driver – Austin”. It may have been my early-morning sleepiness or just my giddiness about going to Disney, but I thought it was hysterical at the time and insisted that he buy it.

Anyway, the flight was pleasantly uneventful. But I was so excited and impatient to get there already that I was behaving just like a little kid! Jason insisted that I watch a movie on his iPod (so I’d stop babbling non-stop to him). So “Old School” it was. Pretty soon, we were landed in Atlanta about a half an hour late but still with plenty of time before our flight. So far everything was going great! It was almost too easy…

 

[tchan03]

congrats !! Look forward to view more about your TR and photos !

 

[oneyodafan]

Great start! Looking forward to more!

 

[caryndisneydiva]

oh yaaaaay!!!! i've been waiting for your trip report!!!

 

[Missy H]

I love reading TR's!

 

[IloveChip]

YAY!!! I can not wait to read more.. Hopefully by you saying it was almost too easy it stays that easy! LOL I can not wait to read more!!

SUBSCRIBING!

 

[BaBeeCee14]

YAY! I'm so happy you started you TR! I can't to hear more!

 

[shasess]

Great start! Cant wait for more!

 

[hmgolden]

I'm impressed with how little luggage you had!

Can't wait to read more

 

[jasonandlisa]

Thank you everybody!!! And now the next part of a rather long first day...

 

[jasonandlisa]

We’re in Atlanta! Getting closer…

By the time we get off the plane, take the necessary bathroom stops, walk over to another terminal, and find our gate, there isn’t really time for a sit-down meal. But it’s only about 10:30am our time, so we just snack on some candy and granola bars. We both decide to call our moms to let them know we’ve arrived safely in Atlanta. When my mom answers, she says they’re just arriving at Disney!! Way earlier than expected! And she sounds so excited and happy! Her plan is to drive around now and deliver all the welcome boxes to the various resorts. Nice parents We’ll meet them at our hotel and then go to Franck’s for a quick 4:00pm meeting with our wedding planner. Our flight is scheduled to arrive in Orlando at 1:58pm. Jason’s mom says they’ll arrive at Orlando around 3pm. We’ll try to meet up with them later for dinner. Everything’s still going well, and I’m all smiles:

Jason’s happy, too, but wondering if it’s really necessary to take pictures in the Atlanta airport:

O.K., now here’s where things start to get a little rocky. First, we notice that it’s past the time when we were supposed to begin boarding. No announcement. Then we notice that the flight next to ours that has the same departure time is almost completely boarded. Then an announcement: there’s a strange smell on our plane and they want to check it out before they board us. A few minutes later we get an update: they need to fix something related to an o-ring, and the smell seems like engine fuel. Now that doesn’t sound good… Finally, we’re given a time. The flight is delayed an hour. Now that’s going to make it tough to meet up at Franck’s by 4, but not impossible. At any rate, I call my mom to give her the update and then we decide we’d really better get something to eat now, since we won’t have time once we get to Orlando.

We walk to a nearby food stand and order a burger, hot dog, fries. It takes a little while to get our lunch, but we have plenty of time, so no worries. We walk back to our gate to eat and something’s not right… what happened to all the people waiting for our flight?!? Did they change the time and already board everybody? The sign still says Orlando, and they haven’t updated the time with the hour delay… Uh, oh, we pick up the pace to a brisk walk and rush over to the gate agents. Talking a mile a minute, we ask, “have we missed the flight? Are you still boarding? We just went to grab food. We thought it was delayed an hour. We must have missed the announcement…” The gate agent stares blankly at us for a moment and then says, “are you going to Orlando?” Yes! “Your flight has moved to gate G6.” Ohhh… o.k. We look over at the next gate and sure enough, there are all the people we’ve been sitting with. No need to panic! They just decided to give us a different plane.

The rest of our time at the Atlanta airport is uneventful. The flight is pretty empty, so we have a whole row to ourselves. Up next: we arrive in Orlando!!!

 

[oneyodafan]

Yikes, that must have given a small fright to think you missed the flight.

 

[jasonandlisa]

Yikes, that must have given a small fright to think you missed the flight.

Yep, there was definitely a moment of panic there! I generally have the worst luck with connections, so I wasn't at all surprised by the delay. But I would have felt pretty dumb if we missed our flight because of a hot dog.

 

[jasonandlisa]

Orlando!

We arrive in Orlando over an hour late, so I figured there was little chance we’d make it to our 4pm meeting with our wedding planner, and I HATE being late or making people wait for me. I immediately called her to tell her about our travel difficulties and delay. She wasn’t in, and I was told that she was going to be meeting with a bride. I said, “well, we’re supposed to meet in about an hour”. So the girl was like, “Oh, you’re the bride!” (Definitely a fun phrase to hear !)So I left a message about our delay and we made our way towards the Magical Express.

I had two new voice messages I listened to as we walked. Mom saying that All-Star Music had no record of a reservation for a couple of Jason’s guests who told us they were staying there. And my Uncle (dad’s brother-in-law) asking when we were getting in and what our plans were (even though all this info. has been posted on our website for months) and giving me a detailed description of their plans for the next day or so… I call my uncle back and leave a message, mentioning that he should be sure to ask the front desk for their welcome gifts/letters/itinerary. And I call mom back to tell her we’re running late and will ask Jason’s mom about the All-Star guests. They say they’ll be waiting for us in the Wilderness Lodge lobby when we get there.

We get to the Magical Express check-in area, and I’m very happy to see that there’s no line! Maybe we won’t be too late after all… Our resort information is correct in the system but they have us leaving on the 2nd (our wedding day) instead of the 6th. So we’re told we’ll have to call the Magical Express number to fix that. Add that to my to-do list… Just then, Jason gets a call from his mom, wondering where we are. He tells her, and it turns out that his parents are right there, just a few dozen feet away from us sitting on the couches near the Magical Express check-in, waiting for his sister and her family to arrive. Funny that we walked right by them and never saw each other.

So they come over to greet us, and while I’m still trying to finish up with the nice Magical Express cast member, we realize that Jason’s parents haven’t even checked in themselves and don’t seem to know what to do. As we start to explain how they have to go wait in the (short) line behind us, the nice cast member offers to check them in right then. (Gotta love when the first CM you encounter is one that embodies the “Disney” level of service! ) Since I know they’re in good hands with Jason and the CM, I take this opportunity to make a quick bathroom stop.

When I get back, Jason is explaining that we have a meeting to get to and really need to go catch the bus. Jason remembers to ask his mom about the missing All-Star reservation. She says they switched to Coronado Springs. Something to remember for later… Then we rush off and tell them that maybe we’ll all be able to meet up for dinner. Well, there’s hardly anyone waiting for the buses, and we’re the only ones in the Wilderness Lodge line. I take that as a bad sign, that we’ve probably just missed a bus. But at least we’re making progress!

(Sorry about the lack of pics… I’m generally awful about it and tend to forget about my camera whenever I’m rushing around and worried about other things. It would have been nice to take photos of meeting Jason’s parents in the airport, the nice CM, the Magical Express sign, etc… I’ll have to do better on our next Disney trip!!)

 

[figmentfan814]

It's great to see the start of your report. I'm glad things worked out with your flight; I hate when you're on a tight schedule and things don't work out as planned. I can't wait to hear more!

 

[jasonandlisa]

It's great to see the start of your report. I'm glad things worked out with your flight; I hate when you're on a tight schedule and things don't work out as planned. I can't wait to hear more!

Thanks!

 

[oneyodafan]

Oooo, I'm hoping you made your appt!

 

[jasonandlisa]

Oooo, I'm hoping you made your appt!

Well...

 

[jasonandlisa]

Waiting for Magical Express

Jason uses the wait as a chance to call Rev. Tim. We’ve been playing phone/email tag with him for a while now and still don’t know ANY of the details of our ceremony or even whether we even have a marriage license. Jason gets through to him and Rev. Tim says that he doesn’t have our folder with him, that Jason should call him later. Around 8pm Friday night is the agreed upon time. After the conversation, I ask Jason whether he confirmed that Rev. Tim has our license. Jason says Rev. Tim said he was sure he must have received it. Not the most reassuring response, but I’m not going to worry about it!

Just then, my wedding planner calls. She’s very friendly and upbeat. Says not to worry about getting to the meeting on time. She doesn’t have anything else planned until 7:30, and she lives really close to Franck’s so she’ll just head home now, and we can call her when we’re ready to meet. O.K., I’m relaxed again.

And then I suddenly remember and say to Jason (a little too excitedly), “I totally forgot, I wanted to brush my hair once we landed.” Now, I’m not usually a high-maintenance girl who travels with a brush in my carry-on, but I was thinking that I’m only a bride once, so I want to feel extra-pretty whenever possible. Jason thinks this is hysterical and insists upon taking a picture:

I’m sure this is one of those “you had to be there” moments. Hopefully, I’m not boring you too much with these sorts of details. I promise, we will be getting to Disney soon!! (Please feel free to skip over all this non-Disney stuff—seriously, I won’t be offended! Or even just wait until I get to the wedding day…)

We stood waiting for our Magical Express bus for what seemed like a really long time. Only one other person got in line behind us. At this rate, maybe we should have just waited for Jason’s sister & family?! Finally, we’re directed onto a bus by a CM who says we’ll be stopping at the Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary, in that order. Cool! We should be getting there pretty quickly. As we sit there a while waiting for the bus to fill up a little more, I notice it’s pretty warm. There’s not much AC at all. Well, maybe it’ll kick in once the bus gets moving…

Happy us waiting on the bus:

After the bus is about half-filled and everybody is seated, the bus driver stands up in the front and says, “We’re going to stop at the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Contemporary, and the Wilderness Lodge, in that order.” Oh no, now we’re last! But then I get a burst of inspiration: we can just get off at the GF and walk over to Franck’s. This idea makes me very happy again: I’m a big fan of efficiency . I call my mom again to tell her our change of plans. So they’ll just meet us at Franck’s. Since our wedding planner says she lives really close, I figure I’ll just call her when we arrive at the GF. That’ll give us some time to walk over to Franck’s and say “hi” to my parents before she gets there.

Well, the bus ride gets underway. Still very little AC. I’m feeling a little motion-sick because of the warmth and lack of air circulation, but another granola bar (never travel without them!) and a water helps some. I’m also disappointed that our bus driver never put on the movie. I had been looking forward to that, and not having it made the trip seem MUCH longer, especially when I was so excited/impatient! But, WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!! So really, nothing is going to ruin my happy mood!

 

[Belle_373]

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