The "Cast"
Me: 30 Year Old Disney-a-holic, librarian; 6 months pregnant with baby girl
DH: 34 Year Old NASCAR Loving Disney Enjoyer(he likes it, enjoys it, but isn't quite the fanatic I am) and elementary school principal. Great husband, great dad. 'Nuff said.
Ben/DS: 4 year old Disney fanatic already.
This was the trip that almost didn't happen. We had some airline vouchers that were about to expire at the end of June, but we could not find reasonable flights to Orlando, and dh had some construction that was about to start at his school, plus I am pregnant so we just don't think it's gonna happen this year. Well, I decide the first week of April to see if anything has opened up and I find $39 tickets! Which means we would only have to pay $60 total round trip for all three of us if we used our vouchers. Plus, we are DVC members, so the room is covered, and Ben still has his AP from last year, so once I find the cheap airfare Brent says he can take one day off from school so we decide on Memorial Day Weekend to get the most out of our days. So with less than two months to plan, we make the reservations!
We started out with every night but one at BWV--the Sunday night before Memorial Day. SO I waitlist that night at all the DVC resorts and make ressies at the Swan for that night. I changed this to Pop Century , then finally our waitlist came through and we got to be at BWV the whole stay. I'm really glad too, I'm usually one that likes to try out the other resorts, but since this was such a short trip I really didn't want to be checking in and out of hotels much. And away we go.....
Day One Youve Got the Keys, Right?:
Mom came and picked up Ben in the morning so I could finish packing and get some things done around the house. After she came and picked him up, I realized I had no food in the house and was pretty hungry myself. I ran up to the grocery and got a box of cereal and some milk and went back home and had some breakfast before I started on the house. Since the packing was almost finished, I just had a few last minute things to throw in, then I cleaned the house and finished the laundry that was in the hampers(hate coming home to dirty house and piles of laundry).
By then Brent calls me and says hes coming home at lunch(he is excited too, I think)! After I took a shower and got ready, got the bags ready to be carried downstairs(very proud of myselfonly two suitcases for all three of us, course it is only a 4 day trip ), and still had some time to do some last minute web-surfing.
Couldnt take it anymore and went and got Ben around 2:00. He had been playing outside, so we went home and he got a bath, then we decided to head on out and stop for some dinner somewhere nicer than a drive-thru since we had the time. After stopping for some gas($20.00), we drove to Clarksville, TN and had dinner at Cracker Barrel(used a gift certificate Brent had gotten for his birthday, so we got around $2.00 back!). Drove to Nashville, traffic wasnt bad at all on the roads we were on, but we could see other roads, exits were backing up.
Ben had developed a nasty dry cough, so we stopped into a Kmart and I went in search of Benadryl. After a short discussion with the pharmacist(Ben takes Singulair for asthma, so had to be sure what I got wouldnt counteract it) we decided on Robitussin and Benadryl. We were apprehensive at this point, because we could tell he wasnt feeling well at all. After some coercing, he took the Robitussin and the coughing stopped almost immediately. We drove over to the Express Park Fly at which the pace always seems to pick up for us. As we were trying to get bags transferred from our van to the limo, give our info to the attendant, etc. I saw Ben walk over to the van and touch a button on the door. I think hes hit the lock button and I walk over and hit it again. This whole time Brent is at the back of the van unloading it. I then take Ben and decide to go on and get in the limo.
As we are sitting there waiting for Brent, and wait a few more minutes, I hear him yell, Jennie, youve got the keys, right?. No. Now, why would I have the keys? He knows I am the navigator, he is the driver. When he is around, I never have the keys. It is just an understanding between us, but obviously when I went to unlock the door that I thought Ben had locked, I locked the entire van, then Brent shut the back door. Oh well, weve got a plane to catch, I cant be bothered with a minivan that Im not gonna see again for four days! Who cares about IT being locked up, get me on the plane to WDW! Actually, they told us theyd take care of it, that it happens all the time. So we happily pile in the limo and take off for the airport.
Ben loved the limo. He said it was a Crazy Car. Our driver was very nice and had us at the SW curb in less than 5 minutes. After checking our luggage we headed into the airport to go through security and find our gate. It is now just around 6:30, so we have plenty of time for our 8:05 flight we think.
Im a little apprehensive about going through the metal detectors since Im pregnant. When I was pregnant with Ben we flew to the Bahamas and they didnt make me walk through them. As soon as I mentioned I was pregnant they pulled me aside and waved the wand over me and patted me down. But this was before 9/11. This time I had to go through. They asked if I was in my first trimester and when I said no they told me to go on through. Anyway, when we get through security we get to the gate to see that there are scores of people here. It seems that the flight before ours is late, the one in the gate next to ours is late, and ours will be late as well. Okay, well no biggie, Bens got his Gameboy, he likes watching the planes, no prob. Well, I wasnt counting on the families who let their kids run wild(seriously, I can take wild kidsIm a teacher, but when kids are doing the things these kids were doing I believe the parents should stop them). First of all, they were extremely loud. Then they decided they wanted to sit next to me. Then one of them decided he wanted MY seat. He didnt tell me this, just tried to push me out of my seat. I had other people sitting around looking at me and kind of shaking their heads. These kiddos were pretty rude, they had their feet on me and everything. I dont think anybody could believe parents would let their kids treat a complete stranger like this. I figured the parents were sitting somewhere like across the terminal or something, but when the mother did actually call to her son, she was about 5 feet from us. Luckily, they were NOT on our flight and left soon after the seat incident.
After this I got Ben to take one of the Benadryl that I had bought, which made him extremely sleepy, but he was too wired to sleep(he was so excited to be getting to fly on a plane).
We finally boarded around 8:40. The flight was pretty uneventful. Ben enjoyed coloring, drawing and looking out the window. We arrived in Orlando a little after 11 local time and after getting our luggage we headed out to the EA of National. I have to say, I couldnt tell which was the Executive and which was the regular aisle. We picked a white Grand Prix from the left side of the aisle, which I think may have been Executive, but no one said anything, so maybe not. They were moving all kinds of cars around so it may have been a fluke. They also had a couple of PT Cruisers on the right side, and were pulling in a new Equinox as we were leaving. They had a bunch of midsized cars, but I dont remember what kind they were. There was a long line at the checkout of National. This was newwed never experienced a line before. They had three lanes open and were all 4 or 5 cars deep. I guess more people are catching on to the EA thing.
Drove to the BWV, DH was loving the Grand Prix. It is some kind of supercharged one or something(Im not much on car details .things like extras or keys escape me). We get there, and of course we are the only ones checking in. Our room was 2065(studio). I had requested a view of the Village Green(we had preferred view) and non-smoking, and thats what we got we were actually the first room off the porches, and our balcony was larger than the others. I loved our room. We could sit out and watch people and were very close to everything. Did a little unpacking and were off to bed!
Me: 30 Year Old Disney-a-holic, librarian; 6 months pregnant with baby girl
DH: 34 Year Old NASCAR Loving Disney Enjoyer(he likes it, enjoys it, but isn't quite the fanatic I am) and elementary school principal. Great husband, great dad. 'Nuff said.
Ben/DS: 4 year old Disney fanatic already.
This was the trip that almost didn't happen. We had some airline vouchers that were about to expire at the end of June, but we could not find reasonable flights to Orlando, and dh had some construction that was about to start at his school, plus I am pregnant so we just don't think it's gonna happen this year. Well, I decide the first week of April to see if anything has opened up and I find $39 tickets! Which means we would only have to pay $60 total round trip for all three of us if we used our vouchers. Plus, we are DVC members, so the room is covered, and Ben still has his AP from last year, so once I find the cheap airfare Brent says he can take one day off from school so we decide on Memorial Day Weekend to get the most out of our days. So with less than two months to plan, we make the reservations!
We started out with every night but one at BWV--the Sunday night before Memorial Day. SO I waitlist that night at all the DVC resorts and make ressies at the Swan for that night. I changed this to Pop Century , then finally our waitlist came through and we got to be at BWV the whole stay. I'm really glad too, I'm usually one that likes to try out the other resorts, but since this was such a short trip I really didn't want to be checking in and out of hotels much. And away we go.....
Day One Youve Got the Keys, Right?:
Mom came and picked up Ben in the morning so I could finish packing and get some things done around the house. After she came and picked him up, I realized I had no food in the house and was pretty hungry myself. I ran up to the grocery and got a box of cereal and some milk and went back home and had some breakfast before I started on the house. Since the packing was almost finished, I just had a few last minute things to throw in, then I cleaned the house and finished the laundry that was in the hampers(hate coming home to dirty house and piles of laundry).
By then Brent calls me and says hes coming home at lunch(he is excited too, I think)! After I took a shower and got ready, got the bags ready to be carried downstairs(very proud of myselfonly two suitcases for all three of us, course it is only a 4 day trip ), and still had some time to do some last minute web-surfing.
Couldnt take it anymore and went and got Ben around 2:00. He had been playing outside, so we went home and he got a bath, then we decided to head on out and stop for some dinner somewhere nicer than a drive-thru since we had the time. After stopping for some gas($20.00), we drove to Clarksville, TN and had dinner at Cracker Barrel(used a gift certificate Brent had gotten for his birthday, so we got around $2.00 back!). Drove to Nashville, traffic wasnt bad at all on the roads we were on, but we could see other roads, exits were backing up.
Ben had developed a nasty dry cough, so we stopped into a Kmart and I went in search of Benadryl. After a short discussion with the pharmacist(Ben takes Singulair for asthma, so had to be sure what I got wouldnt counteract it) we decided on Robitussin and Benadryl. We were apprehensive at this point, because we could tell he wasnt feeling well at all. After some coercing, he took the Robitussin and the coughing stopped almost immediately. We drove over to the Express Park Fly at which the pace always seems to pick up for us. As we were trying to get bags transferred from our van to the limo, give our info to the attendant, etc. I saw Ben walk over to the van and touch a button on the door. I think hes hit the lock button and I walk over and hit it again. This whole time Brent is at the back of the van unloading it. I then take Ben and decide to go on and get in the limo.
As we are sitting there waiting for Brent, and wait a few more minutes, I hear him yell, Jennie, youve got the keys, right?. No. Now, why would I have the keys? He knows I am the navigator, he is the driver. When he is around, I never have the keys. It is just an understanding between us, but obviously when I went to unlock the door that I thought Ben had locked, I locked the entire van, then Brent shut the back door. Oh well, weve got a plane to catch, I cant be bothered with a minivan that Im not gonna see again for four days! Who cares about IT being locked up, get me on the plane to WDW! Actually, they told us theyd take care of it, that it happens all the time. So we happily pile in the limo and take off for the airport.
Ben loved the limo. He said it was a Crazy Car. Our driver was very nice and had us at the SW curb in less than 5 minutes. After checking our luggage we headed into the airport to go through security and find our gate. It is now just around 6:30, so we have plenty of time for our 8:05 flight we think.
Im a little apprehensive about going through the metal detectors since Im pregnant. When I was pregnant with Ben we flew to the Bahamas and they didnt make me walk through them. As soon as I mentioned I was pregnant they pulled me aside and waved the wand over me and patted me down. But this was before 9/11. This time I had to go through. They asked if I was in my first trimester and when I said no they told me to go on through. Anyway, when we get through security we get to the gate to see that there are scores of people here. It seems that the flight before ours is late, the one in the gate next to ours is late, and ours will be late as well. Okay, well no biggie, Bens got his Gameboy, he likes watching the planes, no prob. Well, I wasnt counting on the families who let their kids run wild(seriously, I can take wild kidsIm a teacher, but when kids are doing the things these kids were doing I believe the parents should stop them). First of all, they were extremely loud. Then they decided they wanted to sit next to me. Then one of them decided he wanted MY seat. He didnt tell me this, just tried to push me out of my seat. I had other people sitting around looking at me and kind of shaking their heads. These kiddos were pretty rude, they had their feet on me and everything. I dont think anybody could believe parents would let their kids treat a complete stranger like this. I figured the parents were sitting somewhere like across the terminal or something, but when the mother did actually call to her son, she was about 5 feet from us. Luckily, they were NOT on our flight and left soon after the seat incident.
After this I got Ben to take one of the Benadryl that I had bought, which made him extremely sleepy, but he was too wired to sleep(he was so excited to be getting to fly on a plane).
We finally boarded around 8:40. The flight was pretty uneventful. Ben enjoyed coloring, drawing and looking out the window. We arrived in Orlando a little after 11 local time and after getting our luggage we headed out to the EA of National. I have to say, I couldnt tell which was the Executive and which was the regular aisle. We picked a white Grand Prix from the left side of the aisle, which I think may have been Executive, but no one said anything, so maybe not. They were moving all kinds of cars around so it may have been a fluke. They also had a couple of PT Cruisers on the right side, and were pulling in a new Equinox as we were leaving. They had a bunch of midsized cars, but I dont remember what kind they were. There was a long line at the checkout of National. This was newwed never experienced a line before. They had three lanes open and were all 4 or 5 cars deep. I guess more people are catching on to the EA thing.
Drove to the BWV, DH was loving the Grand Prix. It is some kind of supercharged one or something(Im not much on car details .things like extras or keys escape me). We get there, and of course we are the only ones checking in. Our room was 2065(studio). I had requested a view of the Village Green(we had preferred view) and non-smoking, and thats what we got we were actually the first room off the porches, and our balcony was larger than the others. I loved our room. We could sit out and watch people and were very close to everything. Did a little unpacking and were off to bed!
