Rain, MapQuest, and Tiny Airplanes... OH MY!!! A March 2010 Trip Report

[BabyEeyore]

We're back from our Disney trip! It was fabulous and I'm already thinking of when we can go back! Honestly we might be going back for 1 day in September so I can kinda plan that trip just so I don't go through bad withdrawals.

Our cast of characters consisted of:

Christina (ME!):

Aaron (DH):

Grandpa Blake (my Daddy):

And Ashlyn (my almost 18-month-old DD):

This trip ended up being pretty last minute. I hadn't seen my dad for about 2 years. Last time I saw him I was about 7 months pregnant, which means he'd never met Ashlyn!!! We were planning on him coming to see us in GTMO (oh yeah, we live in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Aaron is in the Navy.) but things happened and he couldn't. So we decided we'd all meet in Florida and go to Disney!!! My dad is a HUGE Disney fanatic (hereditary, maybe? ). He lives in California and has been to Disneyland way too many times to count, but has never been to WDW. So we all just thought it would be the perfect place for Grandpa and Granddaughter to meet for the first time.

I can't wait to share our pictures and stories with you! But it's getting late (for us, at least!) and Photobucket is kicking my butt tonight, so I'll post more soon.

 

[DrMomof3]

I love the pics already! I can't wait to hear ALL the gory details!!!

Amanda

 

[reyasmommy]

Yay, you started a TR!! I can't wait to read about your trip! I know I've said it before, but Ashlynn is a real cutie. I definately didn't see you anytime during our trip because I would have remembered that sweet face. BTW, I knew that your dad lives in california, but what part? My dad livs in Sacramento.

 

[dellasgirl]

Aslyn is adorable
Can't wait to read all about your trip

 

[-Hope-]

I can't wait to here all about your trip!!

 

[shelbys mommy]

I am so in!!!

 

[lexmas]

Can't wait to read more, the pictures are so cute already! I was SO happy to see that picture of Ashlyn and her grandpa (maybe too happy haha but my kids don't have a grandpa anymore, so I have a soft spot!).

 

[BabyEeyore]

I love the pics already! I can't wait to hear ALL the gory details!!!

Amanda

Thanks for joining in! I'll post soon.

Yay, you started a TR!! I can't wait to read about your trip! I know I've said it before, but Ashlynn is a real cutie. I definately didn't see you anytime during our trip because I would have remembered that sweet face. BTW, I knew that your dad lives in california, but what part? My dad livs in Sacramento.

Thank you so much! I know, I kept an eye out for you guys just in case. My dad lives in Fresno right now. I was actually born in Sacramento!

Aslyn is adorable
Can't wait to read all about your trip

Thanks! I can't wait to write more.

I can't wait to here all about your trip!!

Yay! Thanks for following me over!

I am so in!!!

Cool! The more the merrier!!!

Can't wait to read more, the pictures are so cute already! I was SO happy to see that picture of Ashlyn and her grandpa (maybe too happy haha but my kids don't have a grandpa anymore, so I have a soft spot!).

I'll have more up soon. And I know what you mean... I get teary-eyed anytime I hear about a grandma and granddaughter. Ashlyn still has a grandma (my DMIL) but I will always wish she was able to meet my mom.

 

[BabyEeyore]

We wanted to fly out on Saturday and come back the following Saturday, but crazy stuff happened and we got bumped off the flight. They decided to have a smaller plane for some reason. So since there were 15 less seats, there just wasn't room for us. So at first we thought we were going to have to fly out on Tuesday and miss a full day with my dad! None of us were happy with that so we did a lot of research and Aaron made a lot of phone calls and we figured out that we could fly out on Sunday. It was going to be a little puddle hopper plane, but there were seats and we found a hotel room and rental car. So we flew out Sunday evening into Ft. Lauderdale. The plane was TINY! Here is a picture of the front of the plane from where we were sitting...

...and the back.

It was scary with all the turbulence when we had to fly threw a little thunderstorm, but it was okay. Ashlyn wasn't scared at all! She just went back and forth between watching Elmo, reading a book, and playing with a magnetic storybook thing we got her. She's been flying since she was 8 days old so this is old hat for her. We were still flying when it hit her bedtime so she just turned around in my lap and fell asleep. Everyone is always so impressed with how well she does on the plane.

There were some pretty sights out of the window and we got a few good pictures. Here's my favorite.

And flying into Ft. Lauderdale at night was amazing. All the lights were absolutely stunning. The pictures we took don't nearly do it justice.

We landed around 8:30pm or so and got our rental car very quickly and easily. We got a very nice Dodge Charger! Perfect for us! We drove right to the hotel in Pompano Beach. It would have been a short drive if MapQuest wasn't horrible and told us to turn down a road that didn't exist. Even the gentleman at the front desk said that we weren't the first and won't be the last to say that! Oh well. We decided later on in the trip that we are NEVER using MapQuest again. Anyone have any experience with Google or Yahoo Maps?

The hotel was really nice! I was pleasantly surprised because it was only $69 a night. I meant to take pictures, but completely forgot. The shower was the smallest thing ever, but we were okay since it was just for one night. It's called The Forum and caters to families and business people. I would definitely recommend it to anyone except it would have been really difficult to get in there with Ashlyn to wash her. I decided just to get in the shower with her once we got to Pop.

We went to sleep very quickly knowing that we had a very busy day ahead of us!

 

[-Hope-]

Oh.My.Goodness. That is a tiny airplane!

Ashlyn looks so adorable with those big headphones on- I'm glad she likes flying and it's so easy on you guys.

 

[patches07]

I'm so in, Can't wait to read more.

 

[lexmas]

That plane is so tiny! I'm glad Ashlyn is a good flier. DS is too. We'll see about DD!

What great pictures from the window! I'm not sure I've ever taken pictures from the window once we were up in the air like that. Beautiful!

Glad the hotel was okay...and such a great price!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Oh.My.Goodness. That is a tiny airplane!

Ashlyn looks so adorable with those big headphones on- I'm glad she likes flying and it's so easy on you guys.

I know! I knew it was going to be a small plane, but when I walked out and saw it... Ashlyn actually likes the turbulence. She thinks it's fun. I swear this girl is going to be a roller coaster junkie!

I'm so in, Can't wait to read more.

Yay! Thanks for joining!

That plane is so tiny! I'm glad Ashlyn is a good flier. DS is too. We'll see about DD!

What great pictures from the window! I'm not sure I've ever taken pictures from the window once we were up in the air like that. Beautiful!

Glad the hotel was okay...and such a great price!

Can't wait to read more!

I hope your DD is a good flier, too! I hope seeing your DS be okay with it will help her out.

 

[dellasgirl]

wow that was a small plane
the shot of Fort Lauderdale's lights is amazing
glad ya'll were able to rearrange your schedule so as not to lose a day with your dad.
i never use mapquest, i use goggle maps but even then they try to send me the long way around
I am seriously thinking about getting a garmin

 

[tigerdragon]

Love the TR! How precious that your DD gets to meet her grandfather at Disney for the first time!

We have a Garmin and it's no better than mapquest sometimes. But we still use it and get to where we need to be eventually, LOL. When I'm traveling I still have to have a map in front of me even with the GPS and mapquest. I'm a bit anal about it I suppose.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[BabyEeyore]

wow that was a small plane
the shot of Fort Lauderdale's lights is amazing
glad ya'll were able to rearrange your schedule so as not to lose a day with your dad.
i never use mapquest, i use goggle maps but even then they try to send me the long way around
I am seriously thinking about getting a garmin

That picture of Ft. Lauderdale's lights doesn't even nearly do it justice! I've never heard of a Garmin, actually. I'll have to go check it out, even just to be in the know.

Love the TR! How precious that your DD gets to meet her grandfather at Disney for the first time!

We have a Garmin and it's no better than mapquest sometimes. But we still use it and get to where we need to be eventually, LOL. When I'm traveling I still have to have a map in front of me even with the GPS and mapquest. I'm a bit anal about it I suppose.

Can't wait to read more!

I am HORRIBLE with directions (just ask Aaron! ) so I have to have step-by-step directions. Aaron does well with just a map but he does all the driving, really, so he has to rely on me. I felt so bad getting us lost more than once (oh yeah... MapQuest just did not want us to get where we wanted to go!) but when we realized that it was really MapQuest's fault I felt much better. Yep, it was ALL MapQuest's fault, and I'm sticking to that story.

 

[reyasmommy]

I used to work for the airlines. They specialized in those tiny aircrafts ((beechcrafts)) We would fly to all the small airports that the bigger airplanes couldn't get into. I think that's where most of my fear of flying comes from. Being in those tiny, loud planes are terrifiying to me. Especially when you hit any kind of turbulance. It's sad that Ashlynn is so much braver then me.

 

[BabyEeyore]

I used to work for the airlines. They specialized in those tiny aircrafts ((beechcrafts)) We would fly to all the small airports that the bigger airplanes couldn't get into. I think that's where most of my fear of flying comes from. Being in those tiny, loud planes are terrifiying to me. Especially when you hit any kind of turbulance. It's sad that Ashlynn is so much braver then me.

Oh, don't worry, Ashlyn is much braver than her mommy, too! I hope she stays that way. At one point going towards Ft. Lauderdale, when we went through a thunderstorm, the plane dropped a little bit. Scared the you-know-what out of me! It was all I could do to not freak out and scare Ashlyn! But we lived to tell the tale and I'll be happy with my feet on the ground for awhile!

 

[BabyEeyore]

Monday morning we woke up at our regular time. We didn't have to set an alarm because Ashlyn usually wakes up at, on average, 6:30 am. So we knew we'd be up at a decent time. We went down to the lobby for the free continental breakfast. On the way Aaron asked the front desk where the nearest mall was. We had planned on Sunday being our shopping day when we thought we were flying out on Saturday into Jacksonville, but since that didn't work out we just decided we'd hit a mall on our way up to Orlando. Anyway, we had muffins, bananas, milk, and lemonade. It wasn't bad for a free hotel breakfast!

After breakfast we packed up, got in the car, and headed to the mall. It was a pretty nice mall. It didn't have a Starbucks, though! CRAZY!!!! But that's okay, I got my coffee later on. We got Ashlyn a beautiful Easter dress and a super cute shirt that says "Rock Like A Princess" on it. LOVE it! We meant to have her wear it at Disney, but completely forgot. Oh well. We got it the next size up from where she is now so she'll have plenty of time to wear it. We walked around the Disney Store, but I was good and didn't buy anything. haha I went into Payless to look for some new shoes for Ashlyn but left with a Disney Princess bag for her (which actually really came in handy) and two pairs of shoes for me. SUPER cute shoes, though. Aaron also spoiled me and got me an absolutely beautiful Coach purse. It was a floor model and was 25% off, but the zipper stuck a little. So we took it anyway because we knew we could go up to another mall on our way and either exchange it or, if they didn't have the same one, return it. I said we shouldn't get it so we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle, but Aaron insisted because he knew we both really liked it. He's so sweet.

So off we went from the mall. Ashlyn was really good during the car ride, too. She had her moments, but we made enough stops so she could be changed, fed, or just stretch her legs. She played with some toys, including her little Eeyore.

She loves this Eeyore so I thought Eeyore would be one of her favorites and planned on getting her picture taken with Eeyore. I'll let you know in another post what she thought when we saw him.

We stopped for some lunch at Chik-Fil-A. We love that place and usually get some anytime we go to the states. That and Panera Bread and Starbucks. *drool* But we didn't get Panera Bread this trip. Next time. Aaron asked directions to the nearest mall. First we saw a Target and Aaron ran in to get a Starbucks. It was the BIGGEST Target I've ever seen! I stayed in the car with Ashlyn, though, because she was napping and I knew if I went in there I would stay in there. And we were running a little later than we wanted so I just avoided that. The mall was close by and it was a NICE mall. We went in (yay for Ashlyn waking up in time! ) just to go to the Coach store and in that little corner of the mall itself there was Gucci, Tiffany & Co., Michael Kors, Burberry, and more. Anyone have the song "Heaven, I'm in Heaven!" going through their head right about now? I sure did. We were able to exchange the purse for a brand new one from the back (without having to pay the difference) but Aaron went ahead and surprised me with a matching wallet so it pretty much broke even. lol While Aaron did that I had to go look around Gucci and Tiffany & Co. I would have gone into other stores, too, if we didn't have a mission that day. I fell in absolute LOVE with a gorgeous unenhanced, natural orange sapphire ring. ♥sigh♥ It's only $19,500. That's less than our Mustang, so that's good... right?

Anyway, back to the important stuff. After Aaron tore me away from that mall (I started talking about pitching a tent and living in that little corner of the mall... did I mention there was also a Saks Fifth Avenue there?), we finished our trip to Orlando. The trip took longer than we had anticipated, but soon we finally saw...

Yay!

I just think these signs are cool.

We've stayed here before and really enjoyed it. We paid for a standard room but I think we got a little pixie dust and got upgraded to a preferred room because it was in the 60's building super close to the main building and overlooked the lake. Or maybe it was just one of the good standard rooms. I don't know, but it was a great spot. When we got to our room, Towel Puppy was in the window waiting for us.

I'll talk more about Towel Puppy in my next post.

Oh, and I know I'm not the only one who takes pictures of our hotel room number!

The only bad thing was the fact that our neighbors were LOUD that first night! One lady just wouldn't stop screaming at the top of her lungs about her ex-husband and how much the lawyers were going to cost or something. Yeah, we could hear her whole conversation. There were young kids in the room, too, and anytime she would wake them up with her screaming, she would scream at them to go back to sleep. She even woke up Ashlyn at one point. We complained a few times, nothing was done, but they eventually went to sleep and it didn't happen again during our trip.

My dad was flying in this night, too, and was taking the Magical Express from the airport to the hotel. When it was about time for him to arrive, we headed downstairs. I had forgotten something I had wanted to do, so I stayed behind. I made pillowcases for all of us and wanted to put it on the hotel pillows while it was just me. Aaron didn't even see them before the trip.

While I was gone, Aaron took a super cute picture of Ashlyn when they were walking by the pool.

By the time I got downstairs to join them, my dad was there! It was so great to see him!!! Ashlyn wasn't too sure about him at first, of course, but she warmed up to him really quickly. Aaron didn't take any pictures of my dad and Ashlyn when he first arrived, and I was too excited to think about it by the time I got there, but there are plenty of pics from the rest of the trip!

We all stayed up just talking for awhile since the people next door were keeping us up, but all in all that was okay because it was nice to just catch up and joke around.

 

[reyasmommy]

Great update!

I love starbucks and panara bread too... Mmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmmm!! I usually go overboard on the starbucks during vacation but I didn't go once during this trip.

Sorry about the loud neighbors... I hate when that happens.

When Reya was a baby we shared a hotel room in SanFrancisco with my dad and his girlfriend. The people in the room next door were being pretty loud too.. But they weren't arguing or fighting. Quite the opposite actually, if you know what I mean?!? And we kept hearing their bed bang against the wall.. It was probably one of the most disturbing moments of my life, especially becasue I was with my Dad... We tried drowning out as much sound as we could by turning up the volume on the tv.

And this wasn't some cheap, dirty motel... This was a super nice Hyatt that we spent some good money on. Oh well....Reya slept well, that's all that matters I guess.