Angies1274
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
I know ev'ry mile, will be worth my while.
When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong.
April 12, 2010-Arrival Day!!
I rolled over and looked at the clock. The time read 1:00am, only 10 minutes had passed since the last time I had looked. I had to face facts, there was no way I was going to fall asleep, after all we were leaving for Disney in less than 6 hours. I was just too excited to sleep!! After tossing and turning for what seemed like another couple of hours I must have finally dozed off for a while because the next thing I knew DH was telling me that he was heading downstairs to make some coffee. It was 5:00am. Apparently, he was having trouble sleeping too.
About 10 minutes later, I decided to head downstairs to join him. He asked me, Did you sleep? Ha! I just laughed at him!The suitcases were by the door just as I left them the night before after I had finished doing some last minute packing. I had left my packing list on the counter and had wanted to do a quick check before he loaded them into the car. It wasn't long before the boys joined us, stuffed animals in hand. If you happened to read my last TR, you might remember they had gotten a little carried away with the amount of stuffed animals they wanted to bring to Disney with them. Ahh...Mommy, how can I leave so and so behind? UGH! and then with the additional ones they purchased during the trip. It took a whole carry on bag to bring them home. This time we set a limit. They could only bring 2 with them. They accepted that. I'm not sure if they liked it though.
I was finally able to get them calmed down enough to eat some breakfast. They were literally bouncing around the house they were so excited. They had pulled off the very last countdown chain. I was finally able to usher them in the living room, hoping a little Zach and Cody would keep them busy while I tried to do some last minute stuff. I checked my lists, ran around the house making sure everything was unplugged and filled Milo's dish with plenty of food. (oh...our cat, my brother was going to be watching him while we were gone.) Everything was done. DH had brought the suitcases to the car, of course the boys realizing what was going on, quickly joined him and off we went.
Someone was excited to leave!!
Our plan was to arrive in Syracuse around 10:30 am. We were hoping to stop and have an early lunch and then head over to the airport around 12:30pm. Our flight was for 2:25pm. We ended up arriving a little earlier than planned so we decided to stop off at the mall. We weren't going to buy anything. We wanted to save all our money for Disney.
But, we thought it would give us something to do while we waited for TGIFriday's to open up.(the boys picked it) Unfortunately, when 11:00am rolled around the doors were still locked...so we waited...and waited. Finally, about 11:15am we decided to head to the food court instead to grab something quick. We knew it was going to take another half hour to get to the airport, since we wanted leave by noon, this seemed like the best option. A few burgers and fries later we were on our way. We were making good time...early in fact. Until...we got to the dreaded parking garage. We must have went around and around 50 times trying to find a parking spot. We eventually ended up on the top level, not what we wanted but...oh well. We were here!! We grabbed our bags, got our boarding passes, went through security. One thing we did notice was that although parking was a nightmare. The airport was much quieter in the afternoon, compared to all the other times that we have left in the morning.
Waiting for Departure--
It was finally time to board the plane!!! We flew Jet Blue again! you can't beat the snacks and TV's.
Some more pics on the plane. Sorry, they are blurry, I had shut my flash off.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at Orlando International Airport!! We headed for the shuttle and held on tight. On the shuttle, a lady standing next to us must have noticed our very cool Disney luggage tags
, and asked us if we knew where the DME counter was and if she could follow us because this was her first time. Of course, we said yes! We finally arrived and proceeded to make our way to the line for Pop Century. Again, it was much less crowded in the afternoon!! YAY!! We were at the very front of the line!
Hmm....which bus will be ours?
Unfortunately, they started leading us toward a Mears bus and our hearts sank. We thought...oh no, we aren't going to be able to watch the video! One of our favorite things about DME. But, we soon realized as we stepped a board that they did have the TV's. YAY! If you remember from my PTR, I really wanted to get a picture of the Walt Disney World sign!! But...the boys had other ideas of course because they wanted to sit directly behind one of the TV's. We ended up sitting a few rows back, but I figured I could work with it. I would lean into the aisle if I had to.
So we're going...and going... Finally it's time! I get my camera all ready! I lean to my left...someone is leaning over talking to someone in the seat across from them blocking my view.
. I lean to my right, thinking I can try and sneak a picture in between the people sitting in front of us. I got it into view...I'm just about to snap and the lady stands up a little and completely blocks my view.
So...of course I missed the sign again. But, at least I was able to snap a few pictures on the bus.....
We sat back relaxed, enjoyed the video and soon we were seeing this.
And this...
We're finally here!! Hello Pop Century!! It's good to be back!!
Since I did online check in before we left, we went right up to the counter to get our information and room number. They had everything ready. They had assigned us a room in the 50's section, which was exactly as I requested. We didn't end up with a refurbished room but I was happy that we had gotten our request.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the room at this point. It was already 7:00pm and we were all starving! We hadn't eaten anything since lunch...well except for a snack on the plane. We dropped our bags and headed for the food court.
Nick had pasta, Noah had Pizza, DH had the Chicken Alfredo and I ended up having the meatball sub. (kind of tradition...I always get it on our first day.
) It was huge as usual so I ended up sharing with Nick and DH. Once our bellies were full, it was now time to decide what we wanted to do next. If you remember from my PTR, we had been able to add an extra days ticket for only $6 in case we wanted to do something when arrived.
But......it was already 7:30pm. We had a long day of travel...barely any sleep the night before, a 3 hour drive to the airport, 2 hour wait in the airport, and then an almost 3 hour plane ride. Did we skip it like we did last August and head to bed early to get up for Epcot EMH the next morning?
or
Did we head to the Magic Kingdom for the night? Hmmm....any guesses??
When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong.
April 12, 2010-Arrival Day!!
I rolled over and looked at the clock. The time read 1:00am, only 10 minutes had passed since the last time I had looked. I had to face facts, there was no way I was going to fall asleep, after all we were leaving for Disney in less than 6 hours. I was just too excited to sleep!! After tossing and turning for what seemed like another couple of hours I must have finally dozed off for a while because the next thing I knew DH was telling me that he was heading downstairs to make some coffee. It was 5:00am. Apparently, he was having trouble sleeping too.
About 10 minutes later, I decided to head downstairs to join him. He asked me, Did you sleep? Ha! I just laughed at him!The suitcases were by the door just as I left them the night before after I had finished doing some last minute packing. I had left my packing list on the counter and had wanted to do a quick check before he loaded them into the car. It wasn't long before the boys joined us, stuffed animals in hand. If you happened to read my last TR, you might remember they had gotten a little carried away with the amount of stuffed animals they wanted to bring to Disney with them. Ahh...Mommy, how can I leave so and so behind? UGH! and then with the additional ones they purchased during the trip. It took a whole carry on bag to bring them home. This time we set a limit. They could only bring 2 with them. They accepted that. I'm not sure if they liked it though.
I was finally able to get them calmed down enough to eat some breakfast. They were literally bouncing around the house they were so excited. They had pulled off the very last countdown chain. I was finally able to usher them in the living room, hoping a little Zach and Cody would keep them busy while I tried to do some last minute stuff. I checked my lists, ran around the house making sure everything was unplugged and filled Milo's dish with plenty of food. (oh...our cat, my brother was going to be watching him while we were gone.) Everything was done. DH had brought the suitcases to the car, of course the boys realizing what was going on, quickly joined him and off we went.
Someone was excited to leave!!
Our plan was to arrive in Syracuse around 10:30 am. We were hoping to stop and have an early lunch and then head over to the airport around 12:30pm. Our flight was for 2:25pm. We ended up arriving a little earlier than planned so we decided to stop off at the mall. We weren't going to buy anything. We wanted to save all our money for Disney.
But, we thought it would give us something to do while we waited for TGIFriday's to open up.(the boys picked it) Unfortunately, when 11:00am rolled around the doors were still locked...so we waited...and waited. Finally, about 11:15am we decided to head to the food court instead to grab something quick. We knew it was going to take another half hour to get to the airport, since we wanted leave by noon, this seemed like the best option. A few burgers and fries later we were on our way. We were making good time...early in fact. Until...we got to the dreaded parking garage. We must have went around and around 50 times trying to find a parking spot. We eventually ended up on the top level, not what we wanted but...oh well. We were here!! We grabbed our bags, got our boarding passes, went through security. One thing we did notice was that although parking was a nightmare. The airport was much quieter in the afternoon, compared to all the other times that we have left in the morning. Waiting for Departure--
It was finally time to board the plane!!! We flew Jet Blue again! you can't beat the snacks and TV's.
Some more pics on the plane. Sorry, they are blurry, I had shut my flash off.
Before we knew it, we had arrived at Orlando International Airport!! We headed for the shuttle and held on tight. On the shuttle, a lady standing next to us must have noticed our very cool Disney luggage tags
, and asked us if we knew where the DME counter was and if she could follow us because this was her first time. Of course, we said yes! We finally arrived and proceeded to make our way to the line for Pop Century. Again, it was much less crowded in the afternoon!! YAY!! We were at the very front of the line!
Hmm....which bus will be ours?
Unfortunately, they started leading us toward a Mears bus and our hearts sank. We thought...oh no, we aren't going to be able to watch the video! One of our favorite things about DME. But, we soon realized as we stepped a board that they did have the TV's. YAY! If you remember from my PTR, I really wanted to get a picture of the Walt Disney World sign!! But...the boys had other ideas of course because they wanted to sit directly behind one of the TV's. We ended up sitting a few rows back, but I figured I could work with it. I would lean into the aisle if I had to.
So we're going...and going... Finally it's time! I get my camera all ready! I lean to my left...someone is leaning over talking to someone in the seat across from them blocking my view.. I lean to my right, thinking I can try and sneak a picture in between the people sitting in front of us. I got it into view...I'm just about to snap and the lady stands up a little and completely blocks my view. So...of course I missed the sign again. But, at least I was able to snap a few pictures on the bus.....
We sat back relaxed, enjoyed the video and soon we were seeing this.
And this...
We're finally here!! Hello Pop Century!! It's good to be back!!
Since I did online check in before we left, we went right up to the counter to get our information and room number. They had everything ready. They had assigned us a room in the 50's section, which was exactly as I requested. We didn't end up with a refurbished room but I was happy that we had gotten our request.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the room at this point. It was already 7:00pm and we were all starving! We hadn't eaten anything since lunch...well except for a snack on the plane. We dropped our bags and headed for the food court.
Nick had pasta, Noah had Pizza, DH had the Chicken Alfredo and I ended up having the meatball sub. (kind of tradition...I always get it on our first day.
) It was huge as usual so I ended up sharing with Nick and DH. Once our bellies were full, it was now time to decide what we wanted to do next. If you remember from my PTR, we had been able to add an extra days ticket for only $6 in case we wanted to do something when arrived.But......it was already 7:30pm. We had a long day of travel...barely any sleep the night before, a 3 hour drive to the airport, 2 hour wait in the airport, and then an almost 3 hour plane ride. Did we skip it like we did last August and head to bed early to get up for Epcot EMH the next morning?
or
Did we head to the Magic Kingdom for the night? Hmmm....any guesses??
We were just going to walk, enjoy the atmosphere and ride anything that had a short wait time. A random picture on the way over.......
It is waaaaay better at night!
