15 hours to Orlando, weve got 17 suitcases, half a pack of gum, its dark and were wearing sunglasses. Hit it
OR
Who the heck leaves for vacation at 2 a.m.!
Life in Alaska is full of quirks: Ive already covered volcanoes, but there is also ice skating down your street, recess canceled due to moose on the playground, 2 a.m. sunsets in July, statewide obsessions with dog mushing and oil prices, duct tape
you get the picture. One of the worst quirks of life in AK is flying out. You see, all flights between Anchorage and Outside (lower 48 to you non-sourdoughs) leave in the middle of the night. In fact, the only reason the Ted Patron Saint of Senate Earmarks Stevens Airport is open during the day is that every once in a while someone wants to fly between Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau and they can do that during the day. If you want to fly Outside, your only choices are Seattle or Minneapolis in the middle of the night. Its like we need to sneak out of the state. Come to think of it, maybe it is because we need to sneak back in. Were very picky about who gets to come in, you see we have a Permanent Fund Dividend up here, so every resident gets their annual $1,000ish share of the kagillion dollars worth of oil pulled out of state land every year (BP, the bin Ladens and Dick Cheney split the rest). It just about makes up for the $9 gallons of milk, $7 Big Macs, and the fact that every internet retailer charges like quadruple shipping to AK & HI, even if they send it USPS and the actual cost is the same as shipping it next door but I digress.
So it is midnight, DH and I are in the garage loading the family truckster. Just let me stop here and tell you that I LOVE my heated garage. It is mans greatest invention after the wheel and the Dole Whip. I grew up in Cleveland and we certainly could have used a heated garage, although I am not sure where we would have put the Thanksgiving leftovers. I love getting into my warm car in the morning and watching my dashboard thermometer roll back like some kind of demented roulette wheel as I back down the driveway. Step right up and place your bets
where will it stop? I think Ive missed my calling as a carnival barker.
ANYWAY, while we are loading the truckster, I have an epiphany
SUNGLASSES! You see, unless it is sunny when we actually leave, I ALWAYS forget to bring my sunglasses on vacation. My nice sunglasses sit lonely and sad in a parked car while I pay sucker tourist price for an ugly, less than functional pair. Remember kids: if you need to squint while wearing your sunglasses, they probably arent doing their job. But I remembered them this time! YAY me! In order to avoid the ever embarrassing forget-it-after-I-remember-it moment, I put my sunglasses on. Yes, it is midnight on a crisp 10 degree, March evening in Alaska and I am standing in my driveway wearing sunglasses and flip flops (I sure there will be an explanation/rant about the footwear later-stay tuned). Let the vacation begin!
We pile the Monkeys and more luggage than any self-respecting pioneer family would carry into the ol conestoga and head to Los Anchorage and the airport.
OK another quirk of life in the 49th state. Its 1 a.m. on a Thursday morning and I ran into 3 people I knew at the airport and we were all waiting for different flights. I love this place.
At this point, DS7 was very depressed for a kid who was leaving for 2 weeks with the Mouse. He has this little bean bag monkey that was a gift from his (fairy) Godmother when he was about 3 months old. When he was about 18 months, he started sneaking the monkey into his suitcase whenever we went on a trip and trying to convince us that the monkey climbed in by himself. When he was about 2 he named the thing Monkey-Do Jackson has always had a pretty sophisticated sense of humor for his age. It is a very small stuffed animal and easily lost in the menagerie that is the kids bedroom. This time, just for fun, DH & I kidnapped Monkey-Do and planned to have him appear in the kids carry on during the flight. We were talking about the missing monkey and DS7 pointed out that since he didnt come with us he was going to have to get on the computer and buy himself a plane ticket. I pointed out to my darling son that it might be difficult since Monkey-Do doesnt have any thumbs. DS7 looked at me very seriously and said, Uh, Mom, I hate to tell you this but he doesnt have any fingers. This was very funny at 2 a.m.
We had time for stupid tourist priced beer and southwest eggrolls at the faux Chilis. Just enough to induce a good beer nap on the plane. Luckily, Im a pretty small person & my kids are compact and cuddly, so when we travel, the boys and I sit in 1 row and DH sits across the aisle. This allows me to basically lay across 3 seats and the kids can squish in where they can, while 6 DH has a aisle seat to himself. Im not Mother of the Year, but it works for us. We all managed to sleep most of the way to Seattle & grabbed coffee and a stone (scone if you are not a 5yo) in the airport before our next flight. Note the math equation: Starbucks sucker price + sucker tourist price = dont even look at the total.
Our flight from Seattle to Orlando was delayed about 20 minutes because of
get this
a broken coffee pot! At least Alaska Airline gets it. They know better then to let an 8 a.m. flight full of Alaskans and Seattlites take off without a fully functioning coffee pot, or three. On the taxi way, we had one of the first magical moments of the trip. Alaska Airlines has two Disne-fied planes, they are both sky blue and one has Tinkerbell on it and the other has Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. We saw BOTH while we were taxiing for take off. Very cool! We also saw the controversial composite salmon plane. Alaska Airlines also has a plane painted like a giant salmon. Its a bit controversial up here since it isnt a specific salmon species. It is a weird compilation of a pink, red and silver salmon. This upsets Alaskans. We know our salmon and this one is a freak of nature. That and we have a lot of time on our hands during the winter.
The flight was uneventful, except for the flight attendant making announcements with the volume really loud every 15 minutes. Granted, it was daytime, but some of us had been trying to sleep, and none of us spoke jive.
We landed in Orlando at about 5 p.m., boarded the airport monorail and saw something we hadnt seen in months
the color green! DS5 commented: They sure do have a lot of nature in Florida! In order to understand the hilarity of this comment, you should know that at home we have mountain views out all of our windows, a river about 100 yards from the front door, beaver, moose, and the occasional bear in our neighborhood, we spend all summer hiking and fishing in glacier fed rivers, and we spend our entire lives on a fairly narrow strip of flat land between an inlet and a mountain range. But gosh darn it, the Orland airport has lots of nature! I think he just meant green. I hope he just meant green
Note to planners
if you are going to rent a car at the Orlando airport, DONT. The lines are really, really long. Ugly long. Maelstrom without a Fastpass long. With the end result being just as exciting. We did rent a car from Budget, but as a Fastlane member I was able to bypass the line and lug, roll, push, and drag our 17 suitcases directly to our awaiting car in the parking garage. Budget Fastlane is a highly selective program in which you need to fill out an online form and they mail you a card. If you have at least 1 finger, a drivers license and a credit card, you can do it. Its very selective in order to keep out the riff-raff. And Monkey-Do.
Now we need to get 17 suitcases into a mid-size car. HMMM. Well at least we got a Malibu with a hatch back. At least I chose a mate wisely. DH is a champion car packer. He takes pride in his car packing abilities. He has a method. My dad is a great car packer too. I have developed my own gender-based theory for this: women cant pack cars and men cant pack dishwashers. I can fit service for 8 plus pots and pans in the dishwasher after DH gives up because it is full. So could my mom. But give the man a Ford Aspire and 9 steamer trunks and he makes it work.
We headed to Shades of Green to buy our park tickets for later in the week. We hadnt been to SoG since the 04 renovation and WOW! The new SoG is beautiful and we are looking forward to staying there on our next trip. The new lobby is much more in line with Disney resorts. It seems like a great place to come home to after a day in the park. We spent roughly a gabillion dollars at the ticket counter and decided to have dinner at the Garden Gallery. I get why people think this is the best value (sorta) on property. We had soft drinks and buffet for 2 adults and 2 kids for $35, or about what we paid for coffee and stones in Seattle. We cant get Disney counter service for less than $35 unless we share meals.
After dinner we headed to Target for some essentials (beer, sunscreen, wine, film, beer, bottled water, wine) and our final destination of the Radisson at the Port in Cocoa Beach. Finally, 18 hours after we left our house, we have arrived.
Note: Day 2 through 9, Kennedy Space Center and
DCL Western will be on the DCL Trip Report board shortly
.) Ill be back here for the WDW portion eventually. What can I say, Im a tease. Talk amongst yourselves
