[wdwlovers]

Tues, May 13th - Disney Arrival Day!!

The alarm went off around 4am I believe and snooze was hit at least once. After that second beeping, I was up and at'em. Quickly made my way through a shower and getting ready. Jason did the same. Finished packing the car with the last minute items we didn't want in the car overnight, like the camera, etc and we were on our way! We live about 15 minutes from our local airport, and it's a pretty small airport. We have one main terminal with only three airlines. We were flying Midwest and our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05am. We arrived about 5am and were able to check in right away. I hit a small glitch at security when I realized I had a tube of lip gloss in my purse I had intended to take out and forgot. I didn't have a baggie to put it in, but they let me keep it since it was just that. I had to put it in it's own bowl though, that was kinda funny looking. We found some seats and settled in until boarding at 5:40am. There was a woman with a baby sitting near us. Turns out she and her husband live near us, but work at WDW. They come down a few days/weeks a year to stay current. Her mom was with her and would watch the baby for the two weeks they were at Disney. She works at the Grand Floridian and her husband drives the monorail. We had a nice chat.

I was so happy that we were flying in the jet this leg of the trip and not the little puddle jumper. I was nervous about letting my luggage with the dress out of my sight. I was able to put it right above our seats on the plane. We settled in and it was a short ride to Milwaukee where our next flight took off just after 7am.

The flight times had changed slightly from what we have flown before. We always take this flight out as it's the first one and we get to MCO around 11am. That's a lot of Disney time the rest of the day. Usually we have to book it to our next flight though and our group from CWA is the last to board the plane. This time we had a new experience. We actually got to wait. As in sit for a while before boarding. It was so nice, much more relaxing. There were lots of kiddos running around and Jason & I talked about how the kids will do in Aug and that we can't wait to see Disney through their eyes. Before long, they were calling our rows. I had requested row 4 when I booked, but we got shuffled back to row 22 on this flight. It's not bad, but I feel a bit more claustrophobic in the back of the plane.

The flight down was pretty uneventful. Jason slept. I had my mp3 player on as soon as I could, jamming to tunes while I read. I had picked up "vacation material" from BN the week before. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult. Excellent book, BTW. Jason slept through the beverage cart and the granola bar, but I was the good wife and snagged something for him. He wasn't very appreciative later on though. He was very tired and cranky until we landed. I think the beer the night before was affecting him, no matter how hard he'd deny it.

Our flight landed at 11am promptly. I just love the rush that some travelers have at getting off the plane. And all the people who turn on the cell phone and call someone the second we land and are taxi'ing. It provides humor for me. Finally, we are off the plane and breathing free & clean (well clean as can be at MCO currently) air. The terminal is being redone so it's kinda creepy looking with all the ductwork exposed. Hopped the monorail to the main section where we were quickly sidetracked. The Universal Studios store is right there when you get off the monorail and Jason spotted Thing 1 & Thing 2 shirts. We ducked in to look at them, and yes....I purchased stuff just minutes off the plane. That was a funny for us the entire trip. The shirts are so appropriate for our kids, and Phoenix just looks adorable in his. Ariana doesn't wear hers as much. She'd prefer a princess shirt or a dress.

We made our way to baggage claim where we waited. And waited. And waited. (See a theme here?) I'm not kidding when I say that one bag came out like every 4 minutes. It took FOR-EV-ER. Then whammo, out came one bag of ours. Hooray! And then we waited some more.

(phew, I'm writing this as a reply (not in word) and I thought to myself..."Self, you better make this a reply now to save what you have" and then I get an error message. I'm freaking I just lost what I wrote, but thankfully it took it. I know better, but was saving time and just plain lazy)

I decided to visit the lil' girls room and when I came out, Jason had the bags and everyone who was waiting is gone. I wasn't in there all that long, but holy smokes things must have happened quickly. We made our way down to the car rental area. I had checked us in ahead of time, so all we had to do was walk out and select our car. Jason was fretting a bit, and couldn't remember where to go. I don't think he believed me when I said we head out across the street. Must be the leftover beer affecting him yet.

We rented from Alamo this time around, and I admit having a slight dismay at seeing they are up on the second level now. We have two big suitcases and two carryon suitcases along with a backpack and camera bag. This is going to be fun. We made it up with little to no problem, I think. And then we walked, and walked, and walked until we found Alamo and our row. We splurged on a convertible this trip and of course they are in the second to last row.

Picking out a car is always a treat for us. Jason and I always end up liking something different, and I usually just say "whatever" and he gets what he likes. I wanted the Sebring, but the trunk space was ridiculous on that car. I loaded bags into the back seat while he shoved one bag in the trunk. Then he says, "I'm not taking this car." And walks around to check out the other 8 convertibles there. Five are Sebrings. There is one bug and then two PT Cruisers. He picks out a black PT Cruiser and voila, more bags fit in the trunk. I wasn't too sure about the PTC, but it ended up being a really cute car. I'd get one in a convertible, but not a hardtop.

After getting things settled, Jason starts the engine and HAS to put the top down immediately. We get through the checkout station and are on our way to DISNEY!!!


Pics I took later of the car



Before long we were greeted by this

Seriously, that is just the best sight.



Up next: Do we get to meet Mo and baby Connor and I hear a margarita calling my name!