We’re BaaaAAAaaaack…. Pre-trip updated, plus Day 1, Part 1! Updated 9/20/04 About This Page:

[Jaya]

Pre-Trip Report Part 3

This will be pretty brief, since I’m really not 100% done with everything yet!!!

So Steve & I finally started packing this weekend. We dragged out 2 of the 3 suitcases that we’re going to be bringing with us. My older cat, Cory, knows what suitcases mean – he’s already made 3 cross-country trips in an airplane himself, and he’s also seen them come out many a time when we leave him at home, so needless to say – he hates them!! His favorite activity before we start filling them is to lie on top of them so that (he thinks!) we can’t open them. Once we start putting things inside, he will start to lie inside – like he wants to come, too!

This, however, is Sammy’s 1st experience with a suitcase. She just turned 6 months old last week, and her current favorite thing to do with them is chew – either on the zipper pull, or on the zipper teeth! She also loves to hide inside, and when Cory is not sprawled out on top of one, you can be sure she is!! We have them kind of off in a corner in our living room, and Sammy also loves to hide behind them and jump out at you when you walk by!!

And yes, you heard me right – there’s nothing inside the suitcases yet!!! I still have a bunch of laundry to do before we leave, and a lot of the clothes that I wear to work is the stuff I’m going to be bringing with me (work is real casual, lucky me!) so I will probably still be packing right before we leave!! But we have started to “gather”. Everything coming with us on the trip (that I’ve gathered so far!) is laying in our living room on our loveseat. The loveseat is now off limits to any non-Disney trip stuff!!! We’ve actually got most of what we need already. We just need to find our video camera … DM has a habit of putting things “away” in the most outrageous places, and not remembering where she put them!! An example – We have a laptop, and the laptop has a power cord … but we couldn’t find it. It wasn’t in the BAG OF CORDS (yes, we really do have one, we’re very electronics-friendly!! ) where it should be, and it wasn’t with the laptop and it’s other paraphernalia, so … where was it? Eventually we found it on the very bottom corner shelf of our DVD rack (picture a bookshelf with DVD sized shelves, it’s about 5’ H and 6’W) shoved in between some VHS tapes. Why? God only knows!! There’s NO other cords of any type on that rack!! Luckily, though, we found it. The video camera is proving more difficult though. We emptied out an entire closet last night looking for it, with no luck. If we don’t find it, it won’t be the end of the world – but we really wanted to take it!!

The only thing making us nervous now is stupid Hurricane Frances!!! It’s due to hit Florida around 8 AM on Saturday morning – and we’re due to land at 9:30 PM on Saturday night!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will swing north and hit the Carolinas (Sorry, guys, but I mean – this is my honeymoon! ) but in the event that it doesn’t, it will be okay. Hopefully, like with Charley, the airlines will let people switch their reservations with no fees. Steve & I are set to come home on Friday the 17th, but we both have Saturday and Sunday off from work – so if we get delayed on the way out, we can just tack it on to the end!! But everyone keep your fingers crossed and thing good, happy, non-hurricane thoughts for us!!!

Coming up next… Packing (for real this time!), Hurricane Updates, and a big Good-Bye!

[luvnwdwgal]

Thanks for the update Jessica! Hope you find your video camera cord and that the weather cooperates with your honeymoon!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update I hope you finish packing soon, and can find the camcorder

[Jaya]

We’re BaaaAAAaaaack…. Pre-trip updated, plus Day 1, Part 1! Updated 9/20/04


Well, I was SUPPOSED to finish this pre-trip report before we left, but … well, you’ll see what happened!!!

Alright, let’s see… last time I updated, we were still due to leave on Saturday, so here’s in (sorta) brief what happened…

All the airlines started letting people switch their reservations early in the week, so we called up Delta, and managed to get a no-fee switch to leave FRIDAY morning, instead of Saturday. I switched everything with Quicksilver, and Disney managed to find us a room at the Wyndham Palace in DTD (CBR was booked up) for the night of the 3rd. This flight would have gotten into MCO around 6:30 PM on Friday 9/3 – which we thought would be perfect, we’d just miss the hurricane!

Or, so we thought, because next thing we know on Thursday, they’re announcing a closing of MCO at NOON on Friday – this meant our flight was cancelled – and we had to scramble!!! I managed to get Steve & I on a red-eye leaving Thursday night, getting into MCO at 6:30 Friday morning – but that meant that we only had 7 hours to pack and get everything ready!!!

I left work around 11:30 (Don’t tell my boss, who was out of town!!) and headed home to start packing! Steve had done some of it before he left for work, but of course since I didn’t know what he’d done, I had to take it all out and start over. I was finding it VERY hard – I’d had a major adrenaline rush with all the panic over the flights, and now I was coming down after it, and it was like… the most amazing lethargy I’ve ever experienced. I’ve been tired and all before, but this was just amazing. I had NO energy. I’d get up to fold a few shirts and put them in the suitcases, and then I’d have to sit back down for 10 minutes, because my legs were shaking and I was out of breath!! Luckily I was feeling better by around 2. My mom came home from work early, too, and helped me with the packing. She also managed to (finally) find the misplaced video camera – she’d shoved it into a box and put it in storage down in the carport… why, I have no idea, but at least she found it!

The only things I couldn’t find were Steve’s clean socks, and the new deodorant I KNOW I bought myself – mom made a trip to Target to pick those things up. In all, we had 2 large rolling suitcases, 1 medium rolling suitcase, and 1 very small suitcase. We weren’t planning on taking so many, but I tend to pack tight, and everything was too heavy, since we were bringing LOTS of water! I figured it would be good to have extra room on the way home for souvenirs, anyway. J

At about 6 PM we headed off to Best Buy to pick up Steve, and then to McDonald’s for a bite to eat. Then, back towards the house to pick up some DVDs to play on the laptop, a stop to gas up the Taurus, and it was off to LAX!

We got there around 8 or so, said bye to my mom, and we were on our own!! I’ve flown alone plenty of times, but for some reason I was totally nervous and anxious about this flight! Probably because it was so last-minute, and because I HATE red-eyes. The last one I flew was to get home after my dad was killed, and so I guess I have an (obvious) aversion to them.

We checked our bags in at the curb – I love doing this, it’s so much easier than waiting in long lines, especially with a lot of luggage, I’d rather tip someone $5 than have that aggravation of waiting!! They checked us in there, gave us our boarding passes, and took our bags off for screening, and then told us where we needed to go.

At the first security point, they were only checking for boarding passes. We got through that one without any trouble, and then got to the real security point. They were making everyone who didn’t have sandals on take their shoes off and send them through the X-Ray machine. Luckily, Steve & I had our Land’s End sandals on! We had to take our laptop and camcorder out of our carry-ons and send them through in the tubs, as well as all the things we had in our pockets, and our wedding rings/other jewelry. Neither of us beeped going through, thankfully, but they did need to search one of our two backpacks. I’m a master packer, so things were pretty tight in there!! Plus, it happened to be the bag with tons of pockets. So they went through everything, and at the end it turned out to be a silly little book light, the kind that clips onto a book, that made it go off!! We repacked everything, and we were good to go!

Now we had about 2 hours to wait for the flight. We picked up a magazine and a couple of candy bars at one of the shops (I have a weakness for Milky Way Dark bars , and they are almost impossible to find in the west Valley!) and headed to the gate. We checked in at the desk, and waited, waited, and waited some more … The plane pulled up to the gate at about 9:30 PM and we watched all those people coming HOME from Orlando getting off. None of them looked very happy! We were seated in zone 2, so we were the 2nd group that got to board. It was nice to be in such a small section. I think only the first 10 rows were in the front section, with everything else in the back. This meant we got our own bathroom up front near the cockpit, even though as it was a redeye, the bathrooms weren’t really busy.

This was our first time on Song, so it was pretty cool to see the TV’s that they have in all of the seats. They pass out headphones to everyone as you board, and you can watch any of their stations. The TV is a touch-screen, and it has channels like Cartoon Network, CNN< Weather Channel, and ESPN. They also have a really cool real-time flight tracker that shows you on maps exactly where you are, like a GPS. It shows your flight path, current speed, altitude, and outside air temperature. It was pretty cool to watch. The other neat thing these TVs have is interactive music trivia. You get to play along with your fellow passengers! Steve won once, but it was about 3 AM and there were only 4 or 5 other people playing – so I’m not sure it’s that big of an accomplishment!!

Not long after we got into the air, they came around with food and drinks. Drinks are free, but you have to pay for the food. I bought us 2 turkey croissant sandwiches with mango jelly, and 2 fruit & cheese “plates”. The turkey croissants were REALLY good – I didn’t think I would like the jelly, but it was great!! The fruit * cheese was not so great. 2 pieces of cheddar, 2 of swiss, 4 sesame crackers and 2 butter crackers, some grapes, and some dried fruit that I could not identify. I think 1 of the fruits was cranberries, and the other might have been dried peaches. I don’t like red berries (except strawberries!) so I didn’t try the red ones, but I did try the orange ones – it was so gross that I spit it out!! I gave Steve my sesame crackers (don’t like those either) and just ate the grapes, butter crackers, and most of the cheese – the corners/edges were a little stale. The red grapes were really yummy, though. The sandwiches cost $6 each, and the fruit was $4 each, so it was only $20 for the 2 of us to eat, which wasn’t THAT bad.

The rest of the flight we just watched TV and I TRIED to sleep – I got maybe 30 minutes in. I flew about 3 years ago with a bad sinus infection, and both my ears did not pop until I had landed – ever since, I’ve had trouble with the pressure, so I was pretty nervous about that, and I kept waking up. I wear ear-planes now when I fly, but I still get nervous!! Also, a lot of people had their TVs on, so it was pretty bright. And, of course, airline seats are just NOT comfortable!!!

We landed in Orlando right on time, and Steve & I headed down to baggage after a quick bathroom stop to find our bags & driver. He was waiting right at baggage claim with our name on a sign, and he was very friendly. All 4 of our bags came out at the same time, right at the beginning, so we were on our way very quickly!

It was VERY muggy when we left the airport. Being originally from Massachusetts, we weren’t strangers to humidity, but living in SoCal for an entire uninterrupted year made us forget just how bad it could be! I was sweating like crazy, but then I’ve never done very well in the heat, anyway. Our driver got ALL our bags into the trunk of the town car (not an easy feat, I was very impressed!) and we were off!

I was looking around like a little kid the whole time we drove. I haven’t been to Disney in 8 years, and it was so exciting for me! I was probably most in awe of all the water – all my life, I have lived less than 10 minutes from a beach, but you just don’t see the water most of the time. The other thing that impressed me was the tall buildings. In Massachusetts we have a lot of tall buildings, especially around Boston, so I am no stranger to them. But on Cape Cod where Steve lived his whole life, and I lived for 2 years, there are NO tall buildings – there are no buildings over 3 stories tall, in fact. And you have to get special permits to even be able to build THAT high!

When we finally pulled into the driveway of the Wyndham Palace, my jaw dropped!! They had warned me that it was a tall hotel, but I had forgotten just how tall 27 stories was! I was pretty nervous that we would be given a room up high – when you’re from California, you worry about stuff like that, because you always have to think about the building crashing down beneath your feet in an earthquake!

We got inside and checked in, and everything was very easy and pleasant, even at 7:30 AM. They did indeed have a room for us that early, as I was promised, but the clerk said the only king rooms they had were on the 3rd (lobby) floor. I told her that was perfect!! She gave us a lake view, and we were off to our room.

I was VERY impressed by the room, and I am not easily impressed!! (Oooh, look, a blue car!) I’ve been in the hotel business, so I know “what to look for”, so to say. Okay, okay, fine, so I’m a hotel snob!! The room was very large. Inside the door to your right was the king size bed, looking very beachy with a blue & white striped bed skirt, and a blue checkered bedspread. Above the bed is a ceiling fan – I thought this was a nice touch. On the left was a large armoire that housed the TV, drawers, bookshelves, and the minibar. Next to that was a large desk with a lamp, phone, and internet connection, with a very comfy desk chair! Next to THAT was a pullout loveseat, with a coffee table in front of it. On either side of the bed there were nightstands, both with lamps, and one had the alarm, the other a cordless phone. Off the bed area was a dressing space with a mirrored closet and vanity with a sink. This is also where the safe, hairdryer, and coffee maker were. Off of that room is the bathroom, with the toilet and tub. The bathroom was pretty big, and it had nice wallpaper!

The best part was our balcony! I hadn’t realized that our room would have one. We had a beautiful view of the lake, a dock, and a gazebo. There was also a fountain outside! At 7:30 AM when we got in, there were 2 beautiful white swans sleeping under the fountain, just letting the water rain down over them. The sun was coming up over the far side of the lake, and I got a couple of great pictures of it, which I’ll post soon!

We went down to the nearby ice room to fill our bucket. This was the only really disgusting part of the hotel that we saw. The floor was really dirty, and there were 2 sopping wet towels laid out in front of the ice machine, which apparently was leaking badly. I mean, these towels were SOAKED. There was also some ice on the floor, but that could just have been from people spilling it. And all the ice we got from the machine was very wet, like it was in the middle of melting. We quickly filled the bucket, and headed back to our room.

We were both pretty tired, having been up for nearly 24 hours straight, so at about 8 AM we laid down for naps. Steve set the alarm for 2 PM and we settled in. The bed was very comfortable, although it was pretty firm. The sheets were amazingly soft, and there were more than enough blankets on the bed to keep us warm, despite the ceiling fan going and the A/C on high. The pillowcases were even softer than the sheets were! I was also very happy with the blackout curtain – even though the sun was shining DIRECTLY into our room, with the lights out and curtains drawn it was very dark inside the room. So, off to sleep we went!!

Coming up in part 2… A brief glimpse of Disney before it’s time to batten down the hatches – here comes Frances!!

[SharonK0527]

Sounds good so far Jessica! Can't wait to read the next installment!

[luvnwdwgal]

Can't wait for your next installment!!

[DrDolphin]

I am glad you arrived and got to the first hotel - I can't wait to read more.

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Jessica! The plane tracking on Song was my favorite part of our flight! So cool to see how fast you're going, the temp, and how much longer until you get there

Sounds like a great hotel! Hurry back with more

[sarah_belle]

Good job! Can't wait for more!

Sarah