I think to understand the departure day; I need to mention a few things that I have already previously mentioned:
1. We have already packed everything the night before departure day.
2. We have already done the check-in for the WestJet airlines online.
3. We will not be doing the online check-in for the resort (i.e., checking into the resort for the first time on April 30th).
Day 1 Saturday, April 30th 2011
So its the departure day and Im sure anyone who has ever been to WDW completely understands how one is feeling on the departure day. Id describe it as a feeling of mad panic as well as a feeling of excitement. Id even say that some years its a mixture of panic, excitement and tiredness from not being able to sleep very well the night before. I always find that the night before the departure day I say that I am going to go to sleep early but I end up waking up every hour wondering if it is time to get up to go to the airport.
Our plan is quite complicated for this morning, but I will explain it all (and hopefully make it less complicated). Ok, so for the departure day morning it is important to explain that we will not be driving our own car to the airport. Instead we will be using a service that I mentioned in a previous update, called the Red Car Service. Basically, they drive you to the airport and drop you off. That way you do not have to go through the hassle of parking the car, paying to park the car and we are able to have a little bit more time to check-in to the airlines.
But before we get there I have some other things to explain. But lets use a timeline to do this! Now for this timeline it is important to understand that Im not certain if these times will be exact. I just put down sometimes that I think might be approximately close to the actual time (i.e. for the flight departure times).
4:30am Get up, eat breakfast, and make tea for the family.
5:30am Get dad up, eat breakfast and make sure everything is ready to go.
6:15am Red Car Service picks us up.
7:00am Hopefully arrive at the airport by this time.
10:30am Plane leaves (hopefully on time).
12:58pm Arrive at the Orlando International Airport.
4:50pm Afternoon Tea at the Garden View Tea Lounge.
Im hoping this time the flight leaves on time. I dont think that weve ever had a flight that has actually left on time. Every one seems to leave a few minutes late or a few half hours late. The original time that the plane was supposed to leave at was approximately 10:15am, however WestJet changed the time so now the plane is leaving at 10:30am. I know its only a half hour difference but still
any time at Disney is valuable time.
Im not sure about the times of the other things during the day, because it all depends on whether or not we arrive on time and what we feel like doing at that time. But lets go into a little bit more detail for the trip.
We dont like the food on the airplane; weve tried a sandwich on the plane a few years ago. However, we didnt quite enjoy the sandwiches and felt that if we just got a little snack on the airplane and a drink. At home for breakfast we will be having cereal, yogurt and tea. We were going to get McDonalds but that seems like a hassle to drive all that way when we are going to be eating take-out food for 9 days. Well see if that changes later on in this PTR.
So after we eat breakfast, we would double check to see if we actually have everything. One year, I forgot to pack my shorts, so we had to make a run for the Florida Mall to buy some. Needless to say I triple check the suitcase before we leave (just in case). Although we prefer to lock the suitcases the night before so we dont have to worry about packing or anything the morning that we leave. Wed much rather have the suitcases ready in the front hall for the Red Car.
Once Red Car picks us up we will be on our way to the Pearson International Airport. It typically only takes 45 minutes to get to the airport, especially that early in the morning. So once we get to the airport, we get our luggage and enter the main building. There is usually a line up for the airport check-in and although they have two lines (i.e., one for those who did not do the advance check-in and one for those who did do the advance check-in) but everything ends up being the same amount of time.
Lets just hope this time we dont have to run through the airport terminal. So our plane is supposed to leave at 10:30am, and that is a good time because by the time that we get to the resort it will be closer to the expected check-in time.
I always like the airplane ride down to Orlando it feels so magical knowing that you will soon be driving your way to the Happiest Place on Earth. Although, the turning of the plane frightens me just a little bit, but that is always how I know that we are never too far from MCO.
This time we will be doing the following for the rental car while my dad waits for the luggage to arrive at the baggage claim, my mom and I will go down and do the Quick Serve Check-In for Alamo that way once we get the luggage we can just head outside to the rental car garage. I still have to find the map to get us to the resort although Im 99% sure that I know the way by now.
We have tea planned for 4:50pm and our hope is to get some kind of lunch between the time that we arrive at the hotel and the time for tea. Im not sure what our evening plans are, so I will update you all on that later on!