Figured I would add on one more post for today...
We made it to Orlando....YEAH
I forgot to add in a part of our "getting to" section...
As I mentioned my dad drove us and as we were pulling towards our terminal there are all these cops directing traffic around the terminal...and it was empty (now my heart dropped at this point - wait do you mean we are not going). He had to let us off in the middle of the road and we had to cross with all our luggage and walk through the parking lot to the empty terminal...I watched as everyone was walking around to the back where I guess they were letting people go in. I must also mention that my oldest hates to fly...so I directed her attention to me and not the group of cops in Hazmat suits that were entering the terminal...yes a whole group of them - now me the total optimist figured well if they give us the thumbs up at least I knwo we are on a safe plane.
They did let us in to the airport but most of the Jet Blue terminal was closed...only two lines opened but they were getting everyone through and upstairs and once up there we (or I) tried to put the memory of those austronaut looking detectives downstairs out of my head.
Back to the present...
So we landed at good ole' MCO at 12:45, my sister was landing at 12:55 and from the looks of the monitors her plane was on time as well...
We found our way to the monorail to take us to the other side of the airport when I hear someone say "Megan"....
I turn around to see one of our largest clients at work with his family...(he just has the cutest twins")...guess it is a small world, after some introductions and best wishes me and the girls are on our way...
We make it down to the DME desk and there is hardly no line...after a minute or two waiting they call me up and the next thing we know we are on a line...a very long line so we jump on it figuring hopefully my sister will make it down soon.
Sure enough I hear my name once again and here comes my nephew running towards us....(you can tell someone is excited about being at Disney).
After about a 10 minute wait we are on the bus...kids are all laughing and we are on our way...I can't tell you the excitement that I felt as we passed through those arches. It was a dream come true...one that I had been holding onto for so long...and now it was finally here.
Driving into the Port Orleans resort I could not believe this was a moderate...it was beautiful. We pulled up to the French Quarters first (definetly going on my to get to list) it was so beautiful. I would see how much more over the coming week as we explored the grounds a lot.
Next up...our resort the Riverside. We jumped off the bus, grabbed our carry-ons (did I mention I
DME, just the fact that I did not have to stand at the ariport searching for my bags and then trying to carry them truly made it so wonderful).
Walking in was magical...I mean we just walked in and I was ready to cry...this has been the moment I was waiting for and just seeing the kids smiling and running through the lobby made it even better.
There was a small line, nothing to crazy and we got all our stuff and surprise our room was ready...so after getting lost (yes guys we got lost, not once, not twice but three times - yet it was a great way to get to know our resort for the next 6 days) we found our room. Second floor in Alligator Bayou - Building 18 a nice walk to the pool and a five minute walk to the main building....I could not complain about the proximity (even more so once we walked around even more and realized how large this resort really is).
Now the plan was to get settled, change and head over to MGM (HS now). However, this is where my sister and I differ...I am on vacation and ready to run non-stop...my sister gets tired
.
So I sat with the plans that I had created so well...and figured that since we had 9:00 reservations at Boatright's for dinner (I had planned the late meal so we could enjoy some park time, however, now I woudl see if I could change our reservation for earlier and we would make it a resort day)...
No such luck...no open reservations so we head over to the food court and order a pizza to split and buy some refillable mugs....the kids munch down on the pizza and then we head back to the room. Now by this time my sister is cranky...so I tell her to go to sleep I will take care of the kids who are just like their mom and aunt....they are ready to go.
So me and the girls and my nephew head out to the Old Man's Island and enjoy some pool time, we then took a long walk over to the French Quarter with a stop on the way back at the arcade...the kids were having a great time but I figured my sister would be up by now.
Still sleeping and it is only 6:30...so off to the shower for the kids, figured that would waste some time. My nephew is getting lazy now and my little one once out of the shower and dressed sits down to color....this however does not keep her attention as you can see
http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...1&d=1200276831
We let her sleep and around 8:45 I wake her and the other bored children and get them out of the room....a few minutes later my sister (with new boundless energy makes her way out)....now in my opinion we had the more fullfilling day but to each their own...lol
We take a leisurely walk to the main building, check in at Boatright's and get a beeper. We go and explore the lobby and a few minutes later we are called back to go to our table.
Now this is our first taste of Disney Dining....(except for our pizza) and I fell in love with this place. The atmosphere was beautiful and I guess eating at a late hour, as we were entering a lot of people were filing out (yet there was still a nice crowd eating).
Excitement as we are on the dining plan (the old wonderful dining plan where appitizers were included, so was the tip and the kid's meals were much more exciting - sorry for the small tantrum but I know that I am going to feel the difference once we go back in June)
Everything looked so good and I love Southern cooking....we all ordered a salad, well not the two little ones but the rest of us. The brought out a basket of wonderful corn muffins - they were scrumptous (see I remember that becuase that is exactly how I wrote it in my notes....lol)
The two little ones (mine little girl was 5 at the time, and my nephew was 7) ordered spaghetti and chicken strips respectably....I was shocked at the size of the plate of spaghetti that they put in front of my child...she did pretty good though. Guess she was hungry...my nephew on the other hand played with his food (he is not the best eater but there will be more about that later).
Now for the good stuff...my oldest daughter (13 at the time) ordered steak with breaded onions and these wonderful scalloped potatos, my sister had the roasted chicken with potatoes and I....the Southern Pot Roast with root vegatables and collard greens...
Now I will say that we had a lot of fabulous, wonderfully delicious meals and this one stood out as my favorite...not that the others were not great, but this Pot Roast was amazing (and I am so sorry that I just saw that it was no longer on the menu
).
We were stuffed and had no room for dessert
....however eating at the resort made it easy to pack up our desserts (they were great about it...they brought us the dessert tray - had us make our selections and then brought us a little package to go).
It was definetly enjoyed later in the week....
With a new day ahead of us we took the kids for a brief trip to the arcade and then back to the room...
Once the kids were all relaxed I grabbed my phone and headed for a peaceful walk to the food court with our refillable mugs. There after refilling the mugs I sat down on a bench and called my mother. Well as soon as I heard her voice I cried (ok this was the first of many tears but they were all good tears). I wanted to tell her thank you for such a wonderful gift and how happy I was to be here with my kids....it truly was the most wonderful gift I had every recieved (well after the kids of course
).
I got back to the room and suddenly realized that I could use some rest...I guess I fell asleep fast becuase before I knew it I heard the alarm....
Up Next: Would we make it to Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom?????