There and Back Again: A Disney Tale- Part 2

[WDW Poly Princess]

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
The Road goes ever on and on
And I must follow if I can

Concerning Our Cast:
Crystal (WDW Poly Princess)- Turning 23 on this trip, my 5th trip to WDW, 3rd solo trip.

Kiki- Friend from Orlando who makes a cameo appearance as our superhero, Airport Transport Girl.

Katie- Twenty-something friend who lives just outside of Orlando. We met on an online horse message board when we were about ten years ago, and have been in touch ever since.

JP- Katie’s brother, who I’ve talked to online for years, but have never met until now.

The Photos- I should probably forewarn you that this report contains over 200 photos, thus making them almost a character in themselves!


Welcome back! Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?

In order to understand a lot of the jokes in this report, I have to show you the t-shirt that they came from. A few weeks ago, I was reading Robb & Alissa’s trip report from their Japan trip over on themeparkreview.com , and there was a photo of a shirt from a Japanese rollercoaster. I’ve got to share the photo for the full effect:

(Given that this is not my photo, here is where I will give lots and lots of credit to Robb! Go forth, my children, and visit themeparkreview.com !)

Just keep that in mind for later in the trip, okay? There will be a quiz at the end of the trip report.

I just realized that I totally neglected to tell you in the pre-trip Part 1 that this trip took place from December 5-14. All of that blabbing I did, and I managed to leave the dates out? Yeesh!

Because I had to cancel this trip so many times, something in my brain simply refused to believe that I was actually going. Although I kept telling myself that yes, I really AM going, it didn’t seem real. Due to this, I put off all of that important packing and stuff until the very last minute on the night before I left. Okay, so, truth be told, I probably would have procrastinated it anyway, but this version sounds better.

I only have one real suitcase, so I asked my mom, who lives upstairs from me, if I could borrow one of hers. When I went up there to get it, I found that my cat Tiger Lily had already packed herself.

Packing for a December trip is always a challenge. I’ve encountered everything from weather where it was so hot I didn’t feel like anything, to really chilly “let’s do indoor things today!” weather, to days of rain. I checked the Weather channel for info, but as you’ll find out, they lied.

I’ve always hated having to work on the day that I leave for my trip, but this year I left on a Sunday, and found myself wishing that I did have to work, because the time passed so slowly! At long last, though, it was Sunday afternoon, and my mom agreed to drive me to the airport so that I wouldn’t have to pay to leave my car parked there for a week.

I flew out of Springfield (SGF), but my flight included a layover in Chicago. Let’s take a moment to examine the stupidity of that, shall we? Just in case geography isn’t your thing, I have provided a visual aid:

I looked it up, and to fly straight from my airport to Orlando would be around 1140 miles. However, flying to Chicago and then Orlando is about 1700 miles! My kingdom for a direct flight!

Springfield airport is *tiny*- there is one gift shop, one café, and ten gates. Probably really nice if you’re switching planes there and want to get from gate to gate quickly, but not so much fun if you get there 90 minutes early to check in, and then just have to sit.

It was a dark, stormy, freezing cold kind of night, so mom kept me company for a while, but then I talked her into going home, since driving an hour and a half when it’s threatening to snow is really no fun. After goodbye hugs, I went through security, and headed up to my gate. After getting settled in, I was suddenly struck by an overwhelming sense of loneliness. What was I doing? What am I getting myself into? Do I really want to spend and entire week all alone? I’m going to go crazy! Maybe this trip was a bad idea!

I was just about to break out into an “I want my mommy!” when a flight arrived at the gate I was sitting at, so I got distracted watching people come off (people watching = fun!). I was watching a mother put her baby in his stroller (babies = cute!), and when she turned around, I was surprised to recognize her as a girl I went to school with! She came over to where I was sitting to chat for a minute, and I realized that it really is a small world, and no matter how far you are from home, you’re never really alone. I was ready to go to Disney World!

 

[exwdwcm]

looking forward to reading about your adventures, it sounds like a great trip with all the resort hopping!!

 

[IloveDMB]

I love the title of your report. It has to be a play on Lord of the Rings, right?

 

[Nanajo1]

I'm glad we're on the way. BTW when DH was trying to get home from Phoenix to Ft Lauderdale for the birth of our 4th child he had to fly from Phoenix to Chicago to Ft lauderdale. Not exactly a direct flight.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I love the title of your report. It has to be a play on Lord of the Rings, right?

Yup, the title and several refrences are all with apologies to Tolkien