mickeyschickie
Disney Commando in Laid-back Mom disguise...heh he
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
- Messages
- 353
The McElwain Family Gets Welcomed Home
Day One: Our Journey Home
I could not believe our day had finally come, it seems as if we have anticipating and planning this trip forever. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Numan left there house around 4:30 pm for BWI...my parents (and I must say the pitiful victems of this little tale) agreed to drive us to the airport and pick us up next Saturday to save us parking fees and avoid any trouble that our stubborn vehicles like to grant us. So the guest stars of this story, Mom-mom and Pop-pop Sparks (the other DVC members of the family) picked us up at 5:00 pm to arrive at the airport for our flight.
I had finally finished packing when they arrived...my house was in a sorry state, but who cares says I , I am going to Walt Disney World...as I lock and close my door with quite some conviction. Doing so, our journey had begun. When I got the the van, Princess Charlotte was already in her car seat and ready to go, in a very pleasant humor I might add. And Ernie, dear soul that he is, was trying to keep the happy face that I had issued to him commanding that our vacation had indeed started, permanantly plastered to his face for the duration of our trip. Everything being shoved in and ready to go, we were on our way.
The ride to the airport was uneventful, Saturday evening traffic was slow on the beltway and we made it in record time. This could be due the the fact that whenever my father realized that we were going to be going to WDW without him (really not a problem, he says) and taking his darling grand-daughter (this proved to be the issue) he would violently speed up while yelling at my mother that she (because she was the one that said he could not leave this very second to join us on vacation) would not be coming between him and his grand-daughter (now, can you tell how little Charlotte came about to be the princess that she is today?) Now mind you, this was all done in good humor, as apparently the whole angry charade was just to keep my dear father from sobbing that his family was going without him.
(Just a side note about guest star Pop-pop Sparks...Disney fanatic, vacation fanatic, he works like a dog for the soul purpose of financing his Disney habit, or so it seems...They were supposed to be going to Disney in September of 2004 but cancelled trip due to a little storm that seemed to destroy a great deal of central Florida...cancelling was not the issue, not immediately resceduling the trip so he could have something to look forward to was the issue. Anyhow, had been working very steadily the whole fall season and had been away from home, working in New Jersey seven twelve hour days for approximately six weeks, as luck would have it, the poor man got laid off the very morning that his family, God forbid, was going to WDW without him...no wonder the poor man was vexed...so to all of those dodging the teal minivan on 695 around Baltimore the night of 12/04/04 never fear, this was not a case of road rage...merely a strong case of gottagotodisneyitis lol...)
We arrived at the airport and parked in the hourly garage, grabbed a cart that someone had left in a nearby parking spot and loaded up the luggage, or as Ernie calls it everything we own. We went to check-in and my father-in-law went up to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. We stood there chatting, checked our luggage and saying good-bye to my parents. We then gathered up our carryon items and headed to go through security...well, we could not even get to security because the man at the Southwest counter did not give us our boarding passes! So we had to go back and get them...he was just sending our luggage to Florida and not us...somehow, that did not seem fair. So, we got our passes, successfully made it through security and to our gate to wait...we grabbed a couple of Nathan's hot dogs on the way (yummm) and sat down to wait.
We pre-boarded with the stroller, the car seat and out many carry-on bags and got settled in the very first row of the plane. Lots of leg room, comfy seats, all seemed well and good until we were in the air and realized we had no trays to set our sodas, magazines, DVD player or anything else we needed to set down. The flight went well and fast, we arrived in Orlando about 15 minutes early, gathered up our luggage and picked up our van.
The van took my FIL a little while to get used to, he couldn't find out how to turn on the lights, roll down the windows, unlock the doors, but the really funny part happened when my MIL went to check us in at the hotel, she opened the door and did not close it all the way, and on this particular minivan, whenever the rear doors open, the turn signals come on, my FIL turns off the key and sits there, trying to figure out why the blinkers are on, he pushes the button for the blinkers, the door goes shut and the blinkers stay on, he tries to put the car in drive and the shifter won't move because the car is not running...finally, tired and frustrated he turns to my husband and yells, "Don't mess with me Ernie, I'm tired..." Ernie had not done a thing, no buttons pushed, but, this sent the two of us into fits of laughter as we tried to figure out how and why the blinkers got turned on. This phrase continued to tickle us throughout the rest of the trip, especially considering how much Ernie does love to "mess with" his parents.
We were on our way! The weather was very balmy for 11 pm and we relished it...tugging off jackets and hats. We found our hotel on I-drive and settled into our room. Our tiny little room, but enough for our first night. We walked over to Friendly's for a quick snack before bed and then retired for the night. Tired.
Day One: Our Journey Home
I could not believe our day had finally come, it seems as if we have anticipating and planning this trip forever. Grandma Gail and Grandpa Numan left there house around 4:30 pm for BWI...my parents (and I must say the pitiful victems of this little tale) agreed to drive us to the airport and pick us up next Saturday to save us parking fees and avoid any trouble that our stubborn vehicles like to grant us. So the guest stars of this story, Mom-mom and Pop-pop Sparks (the other DVC members of the family) picked us up at 5:00 pm to arrive at the airport for our flight.
I had finally finished packing when they arrived...my house was in a sorry state, but who cares says I , I am going to Walt Disney World...as I lock and close my door with quite some conviction. Doing so, our journey had begun. When I got the the van, Princess Charlotte was already in her car seat and ready to go, in a very pleasant humor I might add. And Ernie, dear soul that he is, was trying to keep the happy face that I had issued to him commanding that our vacation had indeed started, permanantly plastered to his face for the duration of our trip. Everything being shoved in and ready to go, we were on our way.
The ride to the airport was uneventful, Saturday evening traffic was slow on the beltway and we made it in record time. This could be due the the fact that whenever my father realized that we were going to be going to WDW without him (really not a problem, he says) and taking his darling grand-daughter (this proved to be the issue) he would violently speed up while yelling at my mother that she (because she was the one that said he could not leave this very second to join us on vacation) would not be coming between him and his grand-daughter (now, can you tell how little Charlotte came about to be the princess that she is today?) Now mind you, this was all done in good humor, as apparently the whole angry charade was just to keep my dear father from sobbing that his family was going without him.
(Just a side note about guest star Pop-pop Sparks...Disney fanatic, vacation fanatic, he works like a dog for the soul purpose of financing his Disney habit, or so it seems...They were supposed to be going to Disney in September of 2004 but cancelled trip due to a little storm that seemed to destroy a great deal of central Florida...cancelling was not the issue, not immediately resceduling the trip so he could have something to look forward to was the issue. Anyhow, had been working very steadily the whole fall season and had been away from home, working in New Jersey seven twelve hour days for approximately six weeks, as luck would have it, the poor man got laid off the very morning that his family, God forbid, was going to WDW without him...no wonder the poor man was vexed...so to all of those dodging the teal minivan on 695 around Baltimore the night of 12/04/04 never fear, this was not a case of road rage...merely a strong case of gottagotodisneyitis lol...)
We arrived at the airport and parked in the hourly garage, grabbed a cart that someone had left in a nearby parking spot and loaded up the luggage, or as Ernie calls it everything we own. We went to check-in and my father-in-law went up to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. We stood there chatting, checked our luggage and saying good-bye to my parents. We then gathered up our carryon items and headed to go through security...well, we could not even get to security because the man at the Southwest counter did not give us our boarding passes! So we had to go back and get them...he was just sending our luggage to Florida and not us...somehow, that did not seem fair. So, we got our passes, successfully made it through security and to our gate to wait...we grabbed a couple of Nathan's hot dogs on the way (yummm) and sat down to wait.
We pre-boarded with the stroller, the car seat and out many carry-on bags and got settled in the very first row of the plane. Lots of leg room, comfy seats, all seemed well and good until we were in the air and realized we had no trays to set our sodas, magazines, DVD player or anything else we needed to set down. The flight went well and fast, we arrived in Orlando about 15 minutes early, gathered up our luggage and picked up our van.
The van took my FIL a little while to get used to, he couldn't find out how to turn on the lights, roll down the windows, unlock the doors, but the really funny part happened when my MIL went to check us in at the hotel, she opened the door and did not close it all the way, and on this particular minivan, whenever the rear doors open, the turn signals come on, my FIL turns off the key and sits there, trying to figure out why the blinkers are on, he pushes the button for the blinkers, the door goes shut and the blinkers stay on, he tries to put the car in drive and the shifter won't move because the car is not running...finally, tired and frustrated he turns to my husband and yells, "Don't mess with me Ernie, I'm tired..." Ernie had not done a thing, no buttons pushed, but, this sent the two of us into fits of laughter as we tried to figure out how and why the blinkers got turned on. This phrase continued to tickle us throughout the rest of the trip, especially considering how much Ernie does love to "mess with" his parents.
We were on our way! The weather was very balmy for 11 pm and we relished it...tugging off jackets and hats. We found our hotel on I-drive and settled into our room. Our tiny little room, but enough for our first night. We walked over to Friendly's for a quick snack before bed and then retired for the night. Tired.
