Midsummer Magic Updated 2/5- IT's COMPLETE!! About This Page:

[statelady01]

I was going through some photo cd's today and came upon photos of our weekend at Disney in July. I was pretty busy back in June and July, taking summer session courses, work, and 4 kids at home so it's no wonder I forgot to even start one!

A few notes before I get started- for some reason this was not a good trip for photos. The first reason being it was so oppressively hot that I barely had energy to take pictures. The second reason is that my digital camera just wasn't working as well as it had in the past- so I became pretty frustrated with it and at times, gave up. I still will have some in the report but just not as many as I usually do.

And now, for your reading pleasure.. a pre trip installment... how did this little adventure come about? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img]

Rewind back to the beginning of July when Kevan tells me he has two vacation days floating that are in a use em or lose em category. That combined with a job promotion and a nice quarterly bonus got the wheels turning. And my birthday was looming around the corner.. even more reason to doing something mouse-ical, um, I mean magical. The kids were happy to have Nana all to themselves- which meant a steady diet of pizza, coke and Little Debbies whenever they felt so inclined. So a Mom and Dad trip this shall be.

Don't know how the conversation actually got to that point but the next thing I knew, we were talking Disney resorts. I suggested a moderate to begin with but then Kevan began male like pining for his beloved tropical oasis at the Polynesian. When I called up the good folks at CRO, the garden wings were completely booked but was offered a lagoon view at a good rate- so we took it.

The next issue and always the issue here in the black hole of competitive airfares (a/k/a Arkansas) was getting to MCO for something less than the price of the national budget. Lynn actually suggested Tampa- and with fares almost $125 cheaper per person than going to Orlando- we booked that. Of course, this meant renting a car- but I was happy to do that as it would be nice to have our own wheels. We ended up choosing Avis, onsite at Tampa International.

After all the details were sorted out, it was time to just wait it out- which luckily wouldn't be long.

Then a certain Emily has to cause trouble. Mind you, this was not my Emily but Hurricane Emily. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] Around my birthday (July 12th) I got very nervous- the early models were looking very ominous- as it headed towards the southern US coast. Up until the day before we left, we were on pins and needles- but in the end came out unscathed, with no direct impact to affect the trip.

The night before we left, we managed to get the house in order, stock up on movie rentals and popcorn [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/popc1.gif[/img] for the kids and get to bed at a decent hour. Yay, the weekend is coming and we are headed to the House of Mouse!!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great start Maureen!! I can't wait to hear about your trip!! We must have been down there at around the same time!

[MAria R]

Great start, can't wait to read more.

[ariel14]

Can't wait to read more!

[DrDolphin]

Great start Mo -- don'tcha just love it when a WDW trip comes together!!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img]

[bsblady01]

more please

[Tara O'Hara]

Excellent start, Mo!! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Can't wait to read more!!

[KandJluvdisney]

great start can't wait to hear more

[statelady01]

After a good night’s sleep, the kids woke us up early so it afforded us a good amount of time to make sure we had everything we needed. I also made a check of the weather and turbulence predictors on a few aviation websites. I know turbulence can’t always be predicted but just having the knowledge it’s a distinct possibility makes me feel better. I absolutely hate it and on occasion while enduring it have been known to look like this: [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] Remarkably, even after Hurricane Emily the weather looked super and little turbulence potential was being shown on the weather maps.

At about 9:00, we dropped the kids off at Nana’s. She told them that they would soon be off to the park and for lunch at McDonald’s, so they didn’t seem all that interested in us going out the door- but rather when they would be going out the door. Kisses and hugs- we are on our way.

Having checked in online yesterday, we had a quick trip to the ticket counter to check our bags. One thing I love about our airport is that it is so small, you get some pretty friendly service from the customer service agents, and even more so from the TSA agents. We headed right through security with no problems and boarded our flight to Dallas on time.

Our Dallas connection was very smooth, even with the shuttle bus we have to take from the American Eagle satellite terminal to the main terminal. Our flight for Tampa left at 1:04 and we were sitting in the gate area by 12:00. I was starving so Kevan headed to McDonald’s and grabbed us a burger.

Flight to Tampa was very uneventful and un-turbulent, which was a very good thing. I tend to not let Kevan do anything but talk to me- it’s horrible I know, but even though I fly a lot, I am indeed a nervous flyer. This time, I at least managed to allow him his usual trip through Sky Mall magazine uninterrupted. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/applause.gif[/img] He finds the weirdest stuff in that magazine.

We landed at Tampa at 4:20, just a little ahead of schedule. Tampa is certainly a different airport- especially when one is so used to deplaning at MCO. One thing I must commend Tampa for that has never happened to me at Orlando- our luggage was on the carousel as we came up to baggage claim! After collecting the bags, we headed out on the ground transportation level, across the walkway (similar to MCO) to the Avis office. We were about 3rd in line.

The Avis agent looked pretty cross but we ended up having a nice chat with her. She looks at Kevan and says “ I can upgrade you to a convertible for $12 a day- would that interest you?” I guess I sort of squeaked at that point- a convertible- yippee![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] She gave us directions to find it and off we went.

It was a pretty one, a white Chrysler Touring, which I believe is standard fare in the rental car realm for a convertible- Lynn and I ended up with the same model in 2004. Kevan hates to drive so I gladly took the wheel!!

By the time we made it on to I-275, running through downtown Tampa, it was indeed rush hour. We blared the 80’s station and basically came to a crawl. This is when the temperature revelation came full circle. It was oppressively, unbearably hot.[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/foreheadslap.gif[/img] Not to mention that the car had a black interior- with no air circulating as we sat on the interstate- we got pretty uncomfortable very quick- even after we turned on the A/C.

Finally, we made the turn onto Interstate 4 and got going at a good speed. It was a nice drive over at that point and we made it onto Disney proper by 6:00 ish and rolled up to the Polynesian shortly after.


Coming Up: Off and running to EPCOT

[MAria R]

Nice car upgrade, but that heat is no joke!! Can't wait to read more.

[mestitch]

I'm glad you decided to do this one too Maureen!! Can't wait for more!

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Maureen [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Wow, a convertible [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Another great update Maureen!!! Can't wait to hear about the Polynesian!!!

[chezp]

Woohoo! Another Maureen trip report! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/thewave.gif[/img] Great start so far - and I so know what you mean about your DH finding the weirdest things in the Sky Mall magazine - trust me, Mark and Kevan are just so unlike, it's scary! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img]