Liz
Make a miracle!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 4,909
Our Family:
Me - 46, born & raised in Florida but have been gone since 1981. Love WDW, obsessive planner. Really want this trip to be nice because we're bringing a family of 1st timers! Writes trip reports with way too much detail but I just can't do it any other way!
Paul - DH 52 - Loves Disney but not as much as I do. He'd probably be happy to vacation some place else occasionally but as soon as we get home I'm planning our next trip before he has time to process what I'm doing!
Jeff - DS 17 - Raised on WDW and Disneyland and loves it all. Super friendly guy!
Laura - DD 16 - Loves WDW but doesn't handle the heat well. Gets tired easy but she has a good excuse. She had a heart transplant when she was 6 weeks old and had West Nile Virus in 2002. Doing really well though. Our sweetheart.
Our Friends:
MM - 40ish - Going to WDW for the wife & kids. Isn't really a theme park kind of guy. Really nice though.
JM - 40ish - My good friend! Been trying to get her DH to go to WDW for a couple of years now!
Mike - DS 16 - Jeff's best friend since probably Kindergarten.
Heidi - DD 13 - Laura's friend. Despite the age difference they get along great!
Our family left Utah on May 28th because we were spending a week in Jacksonville with my Mom before our Utah friends arrived. Here's the story of our travel day and then part 2 will skip a week and pick up again!
Usually we fly Delta from Salt Lake City and take the 6:00 AM flight, which means getting up about 3:00 AM. This year, for the first time, we flew Southwest (better fare - thanks DING!) and we had an afternoon flight. It was actually nice to leave home a lot less tired and a little more relaxed . . . until 30 minutes before we were to leave I was doing a final zip up of one of our luggage pieces and the zipper broke! So Jeff was sent off to Wal-Mart real quick to pick up a duffle bag. We did a quick switcheroo from one bag to another and we were ready to go! We were actually glad if the zipper was going to break that it broke when it did and not later.
At 2:00 we left home and for once I didn't cry leaving the dogs and cats. Mike was going to be house/pet sitting for the first week and knowing he'd be with them made leaving easier. Mike is like one of the family and having him there was almost as good as being there ourselves.
At the airport we ran into a guy from church who works for Southwest. He checked and said both our flights to Orlando had 25 empty seats! Yea! Room to spread out! Jeff, as usual, made a friend before we ever left Salt Lake.
Our flight was uneventful. Isn't that the way all flights should be? Lots of people were coughing on the plane. With Laura I have radar for anyone who may be sick. The nurse from the hospital said she always turns the air vents on full blast and keeps them on throughout the flight to keep the air circulating to help avoid getting sick (hopefully). We did that as much as we could but every now and then got cold and had to turn them off. The "Shamu" snack box given on the plane was really good. I was surprised to get peanuts and thought they didn't give them on planes anymore.
We stopped in Chicago/Midway but we didn't have to change planes. Just a quick stop (bye bye Jeff's new friend), we moved closer to the front of the plane and we were on our way to Orlando!!! The flight attendants were funny!
We were due to arrive in Orlando at 12:15 AM and we got in just a little before midnight. My heart was bursting with joy to be back in Florida and I just wanted to scream and shout HOORAY! I looked around at the other passengers. Surely they were feeling the same jubilation I was . . . anyone want to shout with me? Hmm, no one looked like they were in the shouting for joy mood. Oh well. My heart was silently singing a solo!
Our luggage arrived quickly and we went to find the National Emerald Aisle. This was our first time using Emerald Aisle and I was both excited and nervous! On our way to the garage we saw a Disney Magical Express bus! Wow, impressive and exciting!!!
After making our way to the garage we found the Emerald Aisle empty. I was surprised the EA was only about 15 spaces. I was expecting several rows of cars. As I was pulling out my paperwork, we were approached and told to take any car we'd like from Alamo's midsize or full-size section! Wahoo!
We spent way too long deciding on just the right car. Jeff wanted the sporty Grand Prix but we decided on a sensible Buick Century. Very nice!
No problems leaving the lot and we had very good directions to Jacksonville (thanks DIS). Last time we flew into Orlando and I drove to Jacksonville (with kids, without Paul) somehow I ended up by the Kennedy Space Center instead of going the I-4 route! This time, thankfully, we didn't end up taking the wrong route. At that time of night (morning) we didn't need to add an hour to our trip!
We arrived in Jacksonville at 3:30 AM after getting ever so slightly lost. We took some exit that put us in unfamiliar territory. At 3:30 in the morning in the dark it was easy to get lost. Amazingly enough there was quite a lot of traffic at that time of day. Weird.
Got to Mom's house, said our hellos and everybody went to bed!
Part 2 - Skips over our week in Jacksonville and picks up with our one night in Ormond Beach when our Utah friends arrive!
Me - 46, born & raised in Florida but have been gone since 1981. Love WDW, obsessive planner. Really want this trip to be nice because we're bringing a family of 1st timers! Writes trip reports with way too much detail but I just can't do it any other way!
Paul - DH 52 - Loves Disney but not as much as I do. He'd probably be happy to vacation some place else occasionally but as soon as we get home I'm planning our next trip before he has time to process what I'm doing!
Jeff - DS 17 - Raised on WDW and Disneyland and loves it all. Super friendly guy!
Laura - DD 16 - Loves WDW but doesn't handle the heat well. Gets tired easy but she has a good excuse. She had a heart transplant when she was 6 weeks old and had West Nile Virus in 2002. Doing really well though. Our sweetheart.
Our Friends:
MM - 40ish - Going to WDW for the wife & kids. Isn't really a theme park kind of guy. Really nice though.
JM - 40ish - My good friend! Been trying to get her DH to go to WDW for a couple of years now!
Mike - DS 16 - Jeff's best friend since probably Kindergarten.
Heidi - DD 13 - Laura's friend. Despite the age difference they get along great!
Our family left Utah on May 28th because we were spending a week in Jacksonville with my Mom before our Utah friends arrived. Here's the story of our travel day and then part 2 will skip a week and pick up again!
Usually we fly Delta from Salt Lake City and take the 6:00 AM flight, which means getting up about 3:00 AM. This year, for the first time, we flew Southwest (better fare - thanks DING!) and we had an afternoon flight. It was actually nice to leave home a lot less tired and a little more relaxed . . . until 30 minutes before we were to leave I was doing a final zip up of one of our luggage pieces and the zipper broke! So Jeff was sent off to Wal-Mart real quick to pick up a duffle bag. We did a quick switcheroo from one bag to another and we were ready to go! We were actually glad if the zipper was going to break that it broke when it did and not later.
At 2:00 we left home and for once I didn't cry leaving the dogs and cats. Mike was going to be house/pet sitting for the first week and knowing he'd be with them made leaving easier. Mike is like one of the family and having him there was almost as good as being there ourselves.
At the airport we ran into a guy from church who works for Southwest. He checked and said both our flights to Orlando had 25 empty seats! Yea! Room to spread out! Jeff, as usual, made a friend before we ever left Salt Lake.
Our flight was uneventful. Isn't that the way all flights should be? Lots of people were coughing on the plane. With Laura I have radar for anyone who may be sick. The nurse from the hospital said she always turns the air vents on full blast and keeps them on throughout the flight to keep the air circulating to help avoid getting sick (hopefully). We did that as much as we could but every now and then got cold and had to turn them off. The "Shamu" snack box given on the plane was really good. I was surprised to get peanuts and thought they didn't give them on planes anymore.
We stopped in Chicago/Midway but we didn't have to change planes. Just a quick stop (bye bye Jeff's new friend), we moved closer to the front of the plane and we were on our way to Orlando!!! The flight attendants were funny!
We were due to arrive in Orlando at 12:15 AM and we got in just a little before midnight. My heart was bursting with joy to be back in Florida and I just wanted to scream and shout HOORAY! I looked around at the other passengers. Surely they were feeling the same jubilation I was . . . anyone want to shout with me? Hmm, no one looked like they were in the shouting for joy mood. Oh well. My heart was silently singing a solo!
Our luggage arrived quickly and we went to find the National Emerald Aisle. This was our first time using Emerald Aisle and I was both excited and nervous! On our way to the garage we saw a Disney Magical Express bus! Wow, impressive and exciting!!!
After making our way to the garage we found the Emerald Aisle empty. I was surprised the EA was only about 15 spaces. I was expecting several rows of cars. As I was pulling out my paperwork, we were approached and told to take any car we'd like from Alamo's midsize or full-size section! Wahoo!
We spent way too long deciding on just the right car. Jeff wanted the sporty Grand Prix but we decided on a sensible Buick Century. Very nice!
No problems leaving the lot and we had very good directions to Jacksonville (thanks DIS). Last time we flew into Orlando and I drove to Jacksonville (with kids, without Paul) somehow I ended up by the Kennedy Space Center instead of going the I-4 route! This time, thankfully, we didn't end up taking the wrong route. At that time of night (morning) we didn't need to add an hour to our trip!
We arrived in Jacksonville at 3:30 AM after getting ever so slightly lost. We took some exit that put us in unfamiliar territory. At 3:30 in the morning in the dark it was easy to get lost. Amazingly enough there was quite a lot of traffic at that time of day. Weird.
Got to Mom's house, said our hellos and everybody went to bed!
Part 2 - Skips over our week in Jacksonville and picks up with our one night in Ormond Beach when our Utah friends arrive!
