(With a nod to Jimmy Buffet)
Heres a Love Story from a Slightly Different Point of View!
Love Story = our love affair with WDW
Characters Involved=2 women, hovering in and around middle age, who love to travel to WDW to let out the child within
This is trip #23 for me and having never attempted a trip report before Im not at all sure I wont bore you to death. Your feedback will be welcome. delswife, I know I am not!
I am the planner. Many of you out there will be able to relate to me. We are the people who sit in front of the computer, salivating while reading the WDW restaurant menus, and trying to determine exactly what our taste buds (and those traveling with us) will be hungry for in 90 days. We research and plan which park to visit in which order, and which park to avoid because of early entry and when and where to herd our group for optimal effects of Disney magic (i.e. where is the best spot in which to view Wishes).
My saddest day occurs when there is nothing left to plan. As the hours tick by, however, the vacation itself takes on a life of its own and joy is restored. My traveling buddy, by day a rather sober, controlled and rational psychologist, begins to call me with messages like please remain seated with your arms and legs inside the vehicle until it comes to a complete stop or Tiggers whoo-whoo-whoo-whOO (which she does very well by the way..it just translates badly in print) or the famous Downtown Disney store directions we received go past the Mickey Mouse and make a sharp left turn at the blue Genie.
And so the child within is soon screaming to be free .
Friday afternoon finally comes, the house pets taken care of, the plants watered and were on our way to Spring Break. Because we live a trek from the airport, we travel into the city the night before and try to relax with a nice dinner and an early-to-bed night in preparation for our early morning flight. Imagine our surprise when we found our normally quiet and peaceful hotel packed with giants. Noisy giants at that! Well, okay, perhaps I exaggerate, they werent giants, but some of the tallest basketball players in the country had congregated in the city for a National tournament. That, in conjunction with the Liver Disease Conference (I am not making that up) had filled our hotel to overflowing. It reminded me of the time my nephew was put in charge of our family reunion and he booked us into a hotel not knowing the worldwide Elvis Impersonator Convention was going on .my gosh, I never imagined there were that many Elvi (that is the plural of Elvis, isnt it?) in the world! I digress. We did manage to get in a Wisconsin tradition, the Friday night Fish Fry, and headed to our room. Sleep got easier once the basketball dribbling around us stopped. The alarm sounded at 4:30 a.m. and we were up and headed for the airport. The crowded hotel was apropos of our upcoming week.
The airport was filled with Spring Break travelers but we got checked in and breezed through security with little trouble. The direct flight was an uneventful and smooth one as we left the rain and cold behind and headed toward the sunshine. Our bags arrived in a timely fashion and, being members of Nationals Emerald Aisle club, we hot-footed it out of the airport and toward the rental car line-up in record time. For those of you not familiar with the Emerald Aisle club, a perk of membership is being able to completely by-pass the rental counter, picking any vehicle, throwing in your suitcases and taking off. But whoa, Nellie! This time, instead of having trouble choosing a car because there were so many, we had trouble finding one our suitcases would fit it. After a couple of tries in conventional vehicles, I spied a Saturn Vue. I work in the automotive industry and pride myself on being a woman who chooses a vehicle based on engine performance, comfort, styling well, you get the picture. So of course my choice of the Vue was based, not on any of the afore mentioned attributes, but rather .it was red and it had room for our luggage. As you will see, this choice would haunt me through the week.
We took off by way of 417, our usual route, and except for not being able to find the window switch at the toll booth (this was the beginning of the subtle grumbles from my trip mate), made good time to Disney property. More of our child within appeared as we whooped in celebration while passing through the Welcome to Walt Disney World arch. We were at our resort, Old Key West, by early afternoon. Check in went smoothly and the CM was able to grant our request of top floor and (hopefully) quiet. The request for quiet stems from my friends need for a good nights sleep and an afternoon nap because of a chronic illness. This schedule thankfully seems to keep her medical condition in check and shoot, at my age I can benefit from a nap or two! So off we went to our appointed building.
Have any of you purchased new luggage lately? If youre planning to do so, please take my advice buy small and buy two! I bought me a big, honkin suitcase and my strategy was to start packing a month in advance and then whittle it down to what I REALLY wanted and then whittle it down to what I really needed but by now I know well enough to just attach the HEAVY label to the suitcase and save the airlines the bother. As I struggled to catch my breath and get my heart back into some kind of rhythm I proceeded from the second to the third floor, where I didnt even attempt any pretense at normal breathing. At this point, a kind gentleman passed me and asked if he could help. I wanted to say, And where were you two floors ago but just mumbled a mantra-like, What you pack, you must carry. My friend (who, by the way, had NO HEAVY tag on her bag how does she do that?) was already in our studio as I came puffing up behind. The room was lovely, clean and bright with a nice view of water off the balcony. It was so clean, we even called housekeeping to compliment them!
More of Day 1 to follow, if you like...
Love Story = our love affair with WDW
Characters Involved=2 women, hovering in and around middle age, who love to travel to WDW to let out the child within
This is trip #23 for me and having never attempted a trip report before Im not at all sure I wont bore you to death. Your feedback will be welcome. delswife, I know I am not!
I am the planner. Many of you out there will be able to relate to me. We are the people who sit in front of the computer, salivating while reading the WDW restaurant menus, and trying to determine exactly what our taste buds (and those traveling with us) will be hungry for in 90 days. We research and plan which park to visit in which order, and which park to avoid because of early entry and when and where to herd our group for optimal effects of Disney magic (i.e. where is the best spot in which to view Wishes).
My saddest day occurs when there is nothing left to plan. As the hours tick by, however, the vacation itself takes on a life of its own and joy is restored. My traveling buddy, by day a rather sober, controlled and rational psychologist, begins to call me with messages like please remain seated with your arms and legs inside the vehicle until it comes to a complete stop or Tiggers whoo-whoo-whoo-whOO (which she does very well by the way..it just translates badly in print) or the famous Downtown Disney store directions we received go past the Mickey Mouse and make a sharp left turn at the blue Genie.
And so the child within is soon screaming to be free .
Friday afternoon finally comes, the house pets taken care of, the plants watered and were on our way to Spring Break. Because we live a trek from the airport, we travel into the city the night before and try to relax with a nice dinner and an early-to-bed night in preparation for our early morning flight. Imagine our surprise when we found our normally quiet and peaceful hotel packed with giants. Noisy giants at that! Well, okay, perhaps I exaggerate, they werent giants, but some of the tallest basketball players in the country had congregated in the city for a National tournament. That, in conjunction with the Liver Disease Conference (I am not making that up) had filled our hotel to overflowing. It reminded me of the time my nephew was put in charge of our family reunion and he booked us into a hotel not knowing the worldwide Elvis Impersonator Convention was going on .my gosh, I never imagined there were that many Elvi (that is the plural of Elvis, isnt it?) in the world! I digress. We did manage to get in a Wisconsin tradition, the Friday night Fish Fry, and headed to our room. Sleep got easier once the basketball dribbling around us stopped. The alarm sounded at 4:30 a.m. and we were up and headed for the airport. The crowded hotel was apropos of our upcoming week.
The airport was filled with Spring Break travelers but we got checked in and breezed through security with little trouble. The direct flight was an uneventful and smooth one as we left the rain and cold behind and headed toward the sunshine. Our bags arrived in a timely fashion and, being members of Nationals Emerald Aisle club, we hot-footed it out of the airport and toward the rental car line-up in record time. For those of you not familiar with the Emerald Aisle club, a perk of membership is being able to completely by-pass the rental counter, picking any vehicle, throwing in your suitcases and taking off. But whoa, Nellie! This time, instead of having trouble choosing a car because there were so many, we had trouble finding one our suitcases would fit it. After a couple of tries in conventional vehicles, I spied a Saturn Vue. I work in the automotive industry and pride myself on being a woman who chooses a vehicle based on engine performance, comfort, styling well, you get the picture. So of course my choice of the Vue was based, not on any of the afore mentioned attributes, but rather .it was red and it had room for our luggage. As you will see, this choice would haunt me through the week.
We took off by way of 417, our usual route, and except for not being able to find the window switch at the toll booth (this was the beginning of the subtle grumbles from my trip mate), made good time to Disney property. More of our child within appeared as we whooped in celebration while passing through the Welcome to Walt Disney World arch. We were at our resort, Old Key West, by early afternoon. Check in went smoothly and the CM was able to grant our request of top floor and (hopefully) quiet. The request for quiet stems from my friends need for a good nights sleep and an afternoon nap because of a chronic illness. This schedule thankfully seems to keep her medical condition in check and shoot, at my age I can benefit from a nap or two! So off we went to our appointed building.
Have any of you purchased new luggage lately? If youre planning to do so, please take my advice buy small and buy two! I bought me a big, honkin suitcase and my strategy was to start packing a month in advance and then whittle it down to what I REALLY wanted and then whittle it down to what I really needed but by now I know well enough to just attach the HEAVY label to the suitcase and save the airlines the bother. As I struggled to catch my breath and get my heart back into some kind of rhythm I proceeded from the second to the third floor, where I didnt even attempt any pretense at normal breathing. At this point, a kind gentleman passed me and asked if he could help. I wanted to say, And where were you two floors ago but just mumbled a mantra-like, What you pack, you must carry. My friend (who, by the way, had NO HEAVY tag on her bag how does she do that?) was already in our studio as I came puffing up behind. The room was lovely, clean and bright with a nice view of water off the balcony. It was so clean, we even called housekeeping to compliment them!
More of Day 1 to follow, if you like...
very funny. Great report, you are off to a good start.
We like to call each other and say "Por favor mantenganse allejado de las puertas."
