Marathons, Resort Hopping, a Dis Meet! Oh My! My January trip report

[DWGal210]

Hiya gang!

Welcome to my trip report! I just returned this week from a FABULOUS 10 days in sunny, gorgeous Orlando! I am so excited to share the details with you, so let's get started!!

First, some introductions!

Me, Katie: soon-to-be 30 (gulp!) year old Disney lover. This was my 10th trip to the World and as usual, I had a marvelous time! (In the picture below, I'm 2nd from the right)

I had 2 sets of travel buddies for this trip. The first was my aunt, uncle and 3 of my 4 cousins. The eldest had Lasik surgery the weekend of the trip and so he did not join us. Once I can find a picture of all of them together, I'll post it. I joined them for the first few days of the trip, so my aunt and uncle could participate in the Disney Marathon weekend.

The second group of travelers was my brother, his girlfriend and her parents. Here are Stephen and Elizabeth!

The details of this adventure are:

January 6-15, 2012
Stayed at 3 Disney resorts
Went to all 4 Theme parks and Downtown Disney
Shopped
Ate
Shopped some more
Ate some more (ok, a LOT)
Had a Dis Meet!
And had a GREAT TIME making new Disney memories!!

I'm glad you're joining in! Chapter 1, coming soon!

 

[DWGal210]

Chapter Links:


Introduction - Page 1
January 6th, Part 1 - Page 1

 

[DWGal210]

January 6, Part 1: Arrival Day

To be truthful (and really, who DOESN'T want to be truthful? ) my trip actually started the day before, on January 5th. I had a VERY early morning flight out of Des Moines on Friday morning, and since I didn't really want to leave my house at 3 AM to drive across the tundra to the airport, I went to Des Moines the night before and stayed with my grandparents. I wrapped up work around 2:30pm and then I was on my way!!

After a quick and easy trip to Des Moines, I arrive at my GP's house. We went out to eat, had a nice visit, and then I went to bed. I was leaving their house at 4:30AM and I knew that would come EARLY.

And, of course, it did.

I arrived at the airport, easy breezy, and got checked in. After a quick security checkpoint I was at my gate and ready to go!

I sadly don't have any pictures of this part of the trip, but I do have 2 interesting stories.

Story #1: I was carrying one of my Vera Bradley cross body bags (actually, it's the purse you can kinda see in my Intro picture). I also have a VB wallet. I was at the magazine and book store in the terminal, getting some gum, pop and US Weekly, and the gal at the checkout said to me (hand to God) "Your purse and wallet are very loud." Just like that. I couldn't tell if if was a good or a bad thing. So I mumbled something, stuffed my magazines in my loud bag and left.

Story #2: On the flight from Minneapolis to Orlando (darn, no direct flights!!) the plane was full. The planes to Orlando mostly ARE full, and especially those that come from the Midwest in January. Anyhoo, I was sat next to a couple. I could tell the minute I sat down they were not happy to have a 3rd person in their 3 person row. For a good 15 minutes, they were talking to each other (not softly, might I add) and looking around to see if they could shuffle me off to another seat. I kid you not. It was the weirdest thing. I really wanted to say, "I can HEAR YOU" but I did just ignored them...and then passive-agressively posted the whole exchange on Facebook with my in-flight internet. Moral of this story: if you REALLY don't want someone sitting next to you, buy the third seat!!

So after an odd day of travel, we landed in Orlando! And of course, it was sunny, gorgeous and I was ready to have a great time!!

NEXT UP: O'Hana and MK at night (sigh )

(I promise, this is the most word-intensive and picture-light post of the whole TR. I promise. Pinky swear.)

 

[Lynn57]

Joining in!

How ridiculous about the VB bag! I'm not sure how I would respond!

I always find it amusing as a solo traveler to see who you end up sitting with on a plane. It definitely makes thing entertaining...

 

[Megablocks]

Yay, you started!

Okay, the comment about your bag and your wallet. Really? If it's not your thing, don't comment. I'm really not sure how I'd respond to that!

And...your seatmates? I can't imagine how weird that must have been for you to clearly HEAR all that! I had to laugh about passive-aggressively posting about it on Facebook...I did that exact same thing when I had a gentleman pressing against my back in a Fastpass line!

 

[DWGal210]

Joining in!

How ridiculous about the VB bag! I'm not sure how I would respond!

I always find it amusing as a solo traveler to see who you end up sitting with on a plane. It definitely makes thing entertaining...

Welcome!

It was SO odd - I just didn't know what to say!!

And it is very interesting to see who you're matched up with, I agree. Most times it's just fine, but they were just plain rude!!

 

[DWGal210]

Hi there!! Thanks for coming along!!

In both scenarios, the "if you can't say something nice..." adage comes to mind. Apparently, they all woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning!!

Yay, you started!

Okay, the comment about your bag and your wallet. Really? If it's not your thing, don't comment. I'm really not sure how I'd respond to that!

And...your seatmates? I can't imagine how weird that must have been for you to clearly HEAR all that! I had to laugh about passive-aggressively posting about it on Facebook...I did that exact same thing when I had a gentleman pressing against my back in a Fastpass line!

 

[MeMom]

Glad you got to visit with your grandparents. I'm sure they enjoyed that.

So the other travelers came from different places/at different times? Sorry you had to deal with rude people to start your trip. I hope that ended when the plane landed at MCO and it was all magical the rest of the time.

 

[pooh06]

Joining in!!!! You fly out of Des Moines too!!! How awesome!!!I thought I was the only member of this board who flew out of Des Moines!!!! Can't wait to read your report!

 

[DWGal210]

Glad you got to visit with your grandparents. I'm sure they enjoyed that.

So the other travelers came from different places/at different times? Sorry you had to deal with rude people to start your trip. I hope that ended when the plane landed at MCO and it was all magical the rest of the time.

It was very nice to see them. It's only a 2 hour drive for me but I don't get there nearly as often as I'd like.

It was MUCH better at MCO! I walked off that plane into the sunshine in the terminal and everything was ALL BETTER!!

 

[DWGal210]

Joining in!!!! You fly out of Des Moines too!!! How awesome!!!I thought I was the only member of this board who flew out of Des Moines!!!! Can't wait to read your report!

Another Iowa gall!! Woo Hoo!!

Where do you live? I'm in Cedar Falls, but I mostly fly out of DSM because of the prices. However, since this last time it was $120 to park my car for the week I am thinking I should do Cedar Rapids next time.

 

[scrappinDW]

I'm joining in!!! Can't wait to hear all about you trip!!! Pam

 

[gudrench3]

I'm in...ready for more of your report...waiting on pins and needles for the rest of it.

 

[MeMom]

It was MUCH better at MCO! I walked off that plane into the sunshine in the terminal and everything was ALL BETTER!!

And then what happened???

(I know you've been busy with house stuff. I just couldn't resist funnin' wif ya!)