No Day But Today- FINAL post on page 40!

[MA pigletfan]

yes hope you made it home safe and sound and FULL of pics and stories for us!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Home I am! I took about 3500 pics this trip, but I'm not sure yet how many are good enough to post!

I've got a lot going on the next two days with my brother in law's funeral, but after that, I should be able to sit down and share my stories! Today I'll be happy if I can just get unpacked!

Thank you guys for your support, and thanks for reading!

 

[truebelievers]

Glad you're home safe and sound, Crystal!

In light of the loss of your BIL, I can't help but think how aptly named this TR is -- "No Day But Today." Take as much time as you need to start; there are obviously much more important things that need your attention!

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Im glad you made it home safe Crystal. Take all the time you need, family is most important. My prayers go out to you and your family.

 

[__disneygirl]

3500, wow! Can't wait to see some of those. The more the better. Glad you are home safe and hope you can make it through the funeral OK. Again, i'm so sorry for your loss. I'm excited to read your report!

 

[nan1217]

I don't think I've ever posted on this thread but I check it daily because it's so funny and interesting and I love the enthusiasm of a confident young woman who loves to travel alone! I've read your website regarding your dad's death and I'm sorry to hear of your BIL's death as well. My thoughts are with your family.

 

[Belle Amy]

I always love reading your reports, they are hilarious!!

Sorry to hear of your loss, my thoughts are with you!

 

[newholidayx2]

Crystal - another lurker here anxiously awaiting your trip report. I'll be going on my first solo week this coming April, another planned for Nov.
Sorry to hear of your loss.
We'll be here waiting for you

 

[Velsignet]

Well, guess who finally remembered their Disboards login!

Crystal! I can't believe there's already nine pages of Trip Report! And actual report has yet to be posted! Do I still need to email you the pictures I took, or did you download ALL THREE of them that one night? I firget. Durr.

Oh... and... what's this guy doing? --->


*waves*

 

[Velsignet]

Oooh, see? I knew my pic was Red Fraggle! Yay, me.

...and in case I've been gone too long and ya'll have forgotten me, this is Katie... aka Trixie... aka Crystal's partner in crime.

 

[Velsignet]

I remember her from your previous reports... is something involving Botany going on?

Ahahahaha! I don't know! I'm not a botanist!

Wow, you guys and your sharp-as-a-tack longterm memory.

 

[Velsignet]

That pic Crystal posted was a celebratory, "OMG! WE FOUND THE CAR!" moment. Halfway through the fireworks, Crystal leaned over and said, "Do you remember where we parked the car?" To which I replied... something I can't utter on the Disboards since there are kiddies present.

Anyway... we found the car. Go us!

The moral of this story is... ALWAYS look to see what section you're parked in. The disney lot is very, very... BIG.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Holy cow, Katie, enough posts?

I did in fact download all THREE photos that you took already. I need to e-mail you the eight million that I took.

I do plan to actually start writing today! My sister has been here with her dog for the past two days, which means two nights of the cats waking me up every half hour, all "Mom, did you know there's a DOG on the back porch? Can you do something about that?" Tallulah (see my user icon) usually curls up and sleeps next to me at night- last night she curled up and growled. Hilarious, but resulted in NO sleep!

But yes, I'm working on sorting through day one's photos, so expect at least a beginning to this whole shebang tonight! Thank you guys for being so patient!

 

[jazzgirl]

Crystal-Just wanted to say that I absolutely LOVE reading your trip reports. I'm not sure if I've ever posted in any of them, but I wanted to be sure to this time around. You always take the best pictures, you have such an eye for all the great details. I always seem to miss out on them, especially this year with our 1 year old in tow. But it was fun. Anyhoo, I'm very sorry about your BIL and just wanted you to know that I look forward to reading all about your latest adventure!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Part 1- To Days of Inspiration

You guys have been so patient, so let’s get this party started!

A quick cast recap, since it has been nine pages since we were all introduced:

Crystal: Pet peeves include people who say “ATM Machine” instead of ATM, people who say “walla” or “wa la!” instead of “voila”, and people who let their really little kids answer the phone. Likes llamas, collecting pins she has no intention of trading, and a lot of sugar in her tea.

Stitch: Small, blue, fluffy.

Crocky: Small, green, travel sized for your convenience.

Katie: Hates people who drive slow in the fast lane, people who have no sense of humor (or worse yet, think they do, but don’t!), and the fact that it takes longer to get from a WDW resort to a park via the bus system than it takes her to drive there from her house. Enjoys sexy foreign accents, “diam” good chocolate, fine wine, or better yet, a combination of all three! And of course, the obvious: Disney, botany, pirates, and nuns!

Well, all of you fellow adventurers know about all of the crazy planning and anticipation that went into this trip. (Well, those of you who didn’t skip the pre-trip do!)

If you recall from one of my last pre-trip posts, the night before my trip, I found out that my flight was not at 6pm, as I had been thinking, but at 3:30pm! I spent a lot of those last hours trying to squish everything into my suitcases. I still can’t believe how much room it all took up!

Here’s a peek at my packing list. The mickey heads were all empty, and I colored them in as the item was packed.

After months and months of planning, the day had finally arrived! I stood in my living room, clicked the heels of my ruby red slippers together three times, and recited, “There’s no place like Disney!”

When THAT didn’t work, we threw the bags in the car and set off for the airport.

Travel writer Paul Theroux says that travel is only glamorous in retrospect, and I couldn’t agree with him more! I love airplane travel…in theory and in memory. In actual practice? I tend to be a little grumpy. I’m one of those people whose ears torment them on flights (although I discovered that taking Tylenol partway through the flight eliminates a lot of that landing ear pain!). I’m way too impatient to sit still for more than an hour, so hours at a time with no legroom suck. Overcrowded flights suck. Middle seats suck. Always seeming to be seated next to someone with the plague sucks.

But I love it.

And hate it.

I love the moment of takeoff. I love that I’m *going* somewhere. I love the idea that someone could look everywhere on earth for me and not find me, because I’m not on the ground.

Flight is a bittersweet, two-sided coin.

Leonardo DaVinci said that “Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward; for there you have been, there you long to return.” Al Gore reminds us that “Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo.” I think they’re equally true.

My mom rode up to the airport with me, so that she could drive my car back and avoid paying for parking. The trip up to the airport (about an hour and a half) was mostly uneventful, except for one scary bit when the car in front of us stopped suddenly, making me have to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting them at 70mph!

At the airport, as I checked in my bags, the lady working at the counter started to take off my Magical Express tags! (If you’re using DME, you attach a bright yellow strip to the handle of your bag so that the Disney people know which ones to grab). I stopped her, explaining that they really needed to stay on there! It made me worry that someone else would try to take them off, too!

I had my lip gloss with me in my carryon, since lips tend to get dry on the plane. Of course, with the new liquids/gels/etc rule, I had to put it in a zip lock bag to get through security. Beware, all, my dangerous, fierce, scary lip gloss!! It must be contained in this plastic bag! Run! Hide!

As usual, we killed time in the airport café (My local airport has a grand total of 10 gates, one café, and one gift shop. Oooh, ahhh!), and the time finally came to board. Hooray! As is always the case when flying out of Springfield, I was on one of those little planes that are just 4 seats across, and maybe 12 rows long. I had seat 1D, which meant nobody in front of me to put their seat back, but nowhere in front of me to stow my carryon (I just stuck it under my seat- luckily there was nobody sitting behind me!)

We had the fine dining experience of goldfish-like cheese crackers in the shapes of airplanes, approximately the same size as the plane I was on. At least on little planes, they give you the whole bottle of water instead of just a cup!

In Chicago, they did that thing that drives me nuts- instead of having one of those tunnels that takes you from the plane to the airport, they just throw down the stairway and make you walk outside. NOT fun in freezing weather!

I had about an hour in Chicago before my next flight, so I found my gate, plopped down on the floor (much comfier than the chairs! Room to stretch!), and made conversation with the guy sitting next to me about how long it was taking for them to start boarding. There was a couple sitting next to me who had obviously just had a big fight, and the woman was reading what she had written in her journal about it to the man. I found her so annoying after listening for three minutes that it took all of my willpower not to tell him to dump her already!

Funny enough, I called mom from Chicago while I was waiting for my plane, and she was just getting home from the airport. It takes me less time to fly halfway across the country than it takes her to drive home from the closest airport!

For no real reason, I was really grumpy on my second flight. I was so miserable that I had to keep reminding myself that Disney is totally worth all of the crazyness it takes to get there. Luckily, I finally made it to Orlando, and all it took was hopping on the airport monorail to lift my spirits!

I was the ONLY person at DME when I got to the counter! Nobody in line to check in, nobody in line for the busses, NOBODY! In fact, I ended up sitting on the bus for half an hour until they added enough people to leave!

Other than me, the bus (which was sadly plain white, not the usual DME bus, and had no movie- boo!) held a newlywed couple on their way to AKL for their honeymoon, and two ladies on their way to the same conference at Coronado. I was SO happy when I finally got to snap this picture!

I made it!

There was nobody in line to check in at ASMu (which was the first stop- hooray!), and the guy who checked me in was great. I ended up with a room on the ground floor of the Rock building, right on the corner (room 3411). I’d wanted Broadway, but since I’d never stayed in Rock, that was good, too! I even had a towel Mickey when I got in my room!

I stopped in the food court on my way from check in to the room, because there were only about 10 minutes left before it closed! Luckily, they still had pizza, so I picked one up and was on my way! There’s been more than one time when I’ve arrived so late that all of the food options were closed, and I went to bed starving. Yay for pizza!

The front desk guy had told me that since I was arriving so late, and my luggage wouldn’t arrive until after midnight, I would just get a message on my phone when it was ready, so if I was still awake, I could have them deliver it, or otherwise just wait till morning. Instead, there was a knock on my door a little before midnight, and there were my bags! Yay! ! I was really worried that my bags wouldn’t even get there, since the Springfield lady tried to take my DME tags off!

I was amused with the high-quality remote repairs that had gone on here:

Isn’t duct tape a little un-Disney?

I was pretty exhausted, but I took a little time to walk around outside before I fell asleep. Stitch also found a comfy spot for the night.

And so ends the first night of my trip, somewhere around 1am, with a Mickey wakeup call set for 7am. Who needs sleep at Disney?

 

[__disneygirl]

I already love this report Great job! I usually love your reports though.

I love the travel quotes, especially the DaVinci one, and I cracked up when I read about that couple who was fighting. Keep the updates comin!

 

[nan1217]

Yea, the trip report has begun!

"Voila" is a lesson that everybody in my house has gone through. It seems to be a virus spreading through this country that people have turned it into "walla" for some unknown reason.

Love your packing list and your reflections on airplane travel (I always say it's a young person's game and I'm not sure how long I'll be thinking of myself as young...so stressful!). Can't wait to hear more about what you did and see more pics.

 

[newholidayx2]

good morning Crystal - cant wait to hear more
so how much time were you solo? how long did your friend join you for?
I may need to think about "who's" coming along on my April solo trip. I "adopted" a Canadian bagpipe Pluto on our last trip - he may need to come along

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Awesome start I cant wait to hear about the rest of the days.

I really love your packing list! Its so wicked cute. Where did you get the disney font and the mickey heads to fill in? Thats such a great idea!

Also On my past two trips (2005, 2006) I never had a ME bus on the way to disney. Only on the way back. This time i really hope i can get one because ive never seen the movie for the way there, only the way back and that one is so sad lol because it means im leaving.

 

[jodistar]

I can't wait to hear more about your trip!