Heat, Humidity, and Our Favorite Disney Dog Was a Thug! LINK TO NEW PTR!!

[chattadisser]

Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

The flight was pretty uneventful - just the way I like ‘em! However, has anyone else ever noticed the way people seem to forget completely that other people are sitting in the seats on planes??? You know, like when someone is walking down the aisle to the bathroom and just yanks on the seat tops while going by as though they have no idea that people are sitting in those seats? Well, the woman behind me, grabbed onto the top of my seat when she was getting up, and I swear to you, she ripped out a huge hunk of my hair!

Up Next: Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

Oh my…an airline that has Pirate Booty??!! My girls would only want to fly Alaskan anywhere we went. Reading some TR’s from the west coast folks, Alaskan Airlines seems pretty nice, like they still actually care about their passengers.

Why is it that people do this? It seems they most often do this just as you have gotten to sleep, and then can’t go back to sleep afterwards.

Christine

 

[librarymouse]

Can't wait to hear more about your trip! Looks like its off to a great start!

 

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

The way you described Willow waking up and hopping out of bed when you said "We're going to Disney World!" almost made me cry it's so precious!

 

[RGirl]

I would have gone for the cheese plate too! Looks like Alaskan has nice planes as well as nice snack options. Thank goodness since you had to spend the whole day on the plane.

Yay for books and naps!

That cheese plate was actually surprisingly good given that it was on a plane - nothing gross at all. Alaska is pretty good.

Oh my…an airline that has Pirate Booty??!! My girls would only want to fly Alaskan anywhere we went. Reading some TR’s from the west coast folks, Alaskan Airlines seems pretty nice, like they still actually care about their passengers.

Why is it that people do this? It seems they most often do this just as you have gotten to sleep, and then can’t go back to sleep afterwards.

Christine

Yes, I would say that, as modern-day airlines go, Alaska is very good compared to the rest. It is literally my only choice now though, so that is kind of irritating as far as pricing and departure/arrival options.

RIGHT???? I see people walking down the aisle just yanking on every seat as they go. It's amazing to me that they appear to completely forget that there are other human beings on the plane!

Can't wait to hear more about your trip! Looks like its off to a great start!

Hey there! Thanks so much for joining in!!!!

The way you described Willow waking up and hopping out of bed when you said "We're going to Disney World!" almost made me cry it's so precious!

Awww - thank you! It was definitely a melt-my-heart moment.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Hahaha, your pup was like "nope....you're taking me away!"

The boys were up at 3am when we went to WDW in July, and they were raring to go!

Hahahaha. Obese luggage. I have to remember that!

GAH! I know exactly what you're talking about when people walk down the aisle of the plane! I also get bothered when people don't take mind of their size, and just barrel down the aisle, jacking everyone in the shoulder and arm. I am fully aware of my hip width....I ask that everyone else be aware of theirs.

 

[RGirl]

Hahaha, your pup was like "nope....you're taking me away!"

The boys were up at 3am when we went to WDW in July, and they were raring to go!

Hahahaha. Obese luggage. I have to remember that!

GAH! I know exactly what you're talking about when people walk down the aisle of the plane! I also get bothered when people don't take mind of their size, and just barrel down the aisle, jacking everyone in the shoulder and arm. I am fully aware of my hip width....I ask that everyone else be aware of theirs.

You know, our beast is always so excited to go to the Doggy Hotel, but he is still pretty darn happy to see us when we get home. I'm just so thankful that in this very small-town area we actually have a decent doggy hotel!

Isn't it funny? DD was a bear at wake-up time all school year, but when I woke her up in basically the dead of night for WDW, she was all over that!

EXACTLY!!!! I try very hard never to forget how wide I am and how wide my bags are. When I accidentally knock into someone's seat with my carry-on while boarding, I apologize. Holy moly - if I RIPPED OUT SOMEONE'S HAIR, I would probably buy her extensions or something! Now, to be fair, the hair-ripper (unlike all those seat-puller-bathroom-seeking folks) was a pretty nice lady who did feel pretty bad - although she probably would have never noticed had I not yelped in pain!

 

[RGirl]

Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

Finally, we were starting to descend towards Florida. We enjoyed the sticker book some more - that thing was surprisingly fun.

Our flight landed at 5:45PM. We made a bathroom stop (and got some practice waiting in a line ) and then hopped on the MCO monorail.

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Amazingly, I found DME this time with no problem. I think it helped that we had decided not to pick up our luggage this time and just trust in the magic of DME…… There was no line to speak of at DME, and we were boarding a bus almost immediately.

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Remember how our flight landed at 5:45? Well, our bus was heading out to WDW by 6:15! That was a huge improvement over last time when we sat on the bus for ages and ages before it finally departed. We had a great ride, and Willow just loved the cartoons - there were a lot of Pluto ones, so that was a plus. (DD and I are HUGE Pluto fans - she had a goal this trip to meet him eleven times. )

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We stopped at CBR first, and our hotel - the Boardwalk Inn - was the second stop! We had arrived before 7PM! I was so thrilled and happy with our transportation from start to finish this day. It had been a lot of traveling, but every leg of the journey (my hair aside) had gone so smoothly. When we exited the DME bus, a CM met us at the door to BWI, walked us into the beautiful lobby, had us take a seat on a couch and went to get our documents for us since we had done on-line check-in. This was a nice touch, I thought - one line we got to bypass anyway!

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A few quick shots of the lobby before the CM returned to go over our package with us, give us our paperwork, KTTWs and Celebration buttons (apparently our TA had informed them that we were celebrating our Family Day - the day we came home together as a family through adoption ) and send us off to our room.

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Before we knew it, we were heading off to check out our room!

Up Next: Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

 

[Queenofallthings]

You gotta love when the transportation issues don't exist! I love ME...it just makes arrival so easy! Great pics!

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Willow wanted to meet Pluto 11 times? Oh dear, you had your work cut out for you!

 

[RGirl]

You gotta love when the transportation issues don't exist! I love ME...it just makes arrival so easy! Great pics!

I was really so thrilled with our DME experience. It was just perfect!

Willow wanted to meet Pluto 11 times? Oh dear, you had your work cut out for you!

I know! I am not sure at the moment how many times we did meet him, but I am pretty sure that she did not make her goal. Had we been there at a less-crowded and less-overheated time, I am pretty sure she would have done it!

 

[shan23877]

It sounds like a relatively hassle free travel day! What a relief! Love the Willow pics of course (her dress is adorable BTW), and love the BWI pics too. I haven't been inside that resort since my honeymoon. Good memories

I wanna see pics of the surprise!!!

I'm so glad that you did mention Family Day and got celebration buttons-it's a very big deal!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

There are no words for the level of excitement when you arrive at your resort! Its such an amazing and surreal moment (at least it is that way for me) I am amazed at how well your DD does with travel! She is a great travel companion!

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[RGirl]

It sounds like a relatively hassle free travel day! What a relief! Love the Willow pics of course (her dress is adorable BTW), and love the BWI pics too. I haven't been inside that resort since my honeymoon. Good memories

I wanna see pics of the surprise!!!

I'm so glad that you did mention Family Day and got celebration buttons-it's a very big deal!

It really was such a good travel day. What a great way to start our vacation!

Thanks! You will not believe how many times she chose to wear those Mom-made sundresses and maxis instead of all the princess dresses we brought.

I was really surprised that our resort knew about our celebration. Nice touch by our TA since I had only mentioned it to her in passing when I asked her advice on ideas to make it special.

There are no words for the level of excitement when you arrive at your resort! Its such an amazing and surreal moment (at least it is that way for me) I am amazed at how well your DD does with travel! She is a great travel companion!

I can't wait to hear more!

You are so right!! I love that moment so much. I love that there is a CM who stands outside the lobby doors and says "Welcome Home" when we arrive. You know you are truly on a Disney vacation at that moment.

Thank you! She has been traveling since she was 6 months old, so she has had a lot of practice. When she was little, she used to even go on work trips with me. She's an old pro now.

 

[RGirl]

Seemingly Endless Travel with a Nice Surprise at the End (Cont.)

I apologize for how long it seems to be taking to get through this first day. It is almost over. Of course, I still don't have my PP+ CD, so we may not be able to move on from this day until that is sorted.

As I mentioned in the prior update, I had done the on-line check-in process. When I did, there was a section asking for room preferences - type of view and floor basically. I had booked a standard view (and was thus expecting a parking lot view or the like, although I have no idea where the parking lot even is at the BWI!), but I clicked the “boardwalk view” preference and the “highest floor possible” preference. You never know!

Now the last time we stayed at the Boardwalk, I had rented points for a one-bedroom villa. We had lucked out and gotten an incredible villa right on the boardwalk; from our balconies, we were able to see much of IllumiNations. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about staying at the Boardwalk this time just because I had booked a regular room with a standard view. I was hoping that we wouldn’t feel disappointed with the difference.

Now that I have shared all of that, DD and I started the journey to our room. We were on the second to highest floor (I believe), and we were all the way at the end of the hall. Hmmmmm. When we entered our room, it looked beautiful. Here are some pictures:

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The foyer area inside the door was HUGE and perfect for all of our gigantic luggage:

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Willow had a camera this trip too and took quite a few pictures. I will share some of those as we go along too. Here are some she took of our room.

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(This must have been in a mirror or something.)

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But what kind of a view did we have??? Well, I noticed that we seemed to have a corner room since we had an extra window and were at the end of a hallway. When we opened the curtains, there was the boardwalk below!!! We had a cute little balcony, and the view was just beautiful. We were so surprised and totally thrilled!!!!

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DD was pretty happy with the room!

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Willow’s pics:

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You will soon get a really good sense of just how into selfies Miss Willow is, but for now, just this:

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Up Next: Let the Dining Begin in Earnest!

 

[1000HappyWishes]

Love that picture of Willow out on the balcony! So cute!

You've got quite the photographer in your family! My photography teacher would be impressed!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Wow! Landing at 5:45pm and bus is moving by 6:15pm? That's seriously unheard of.

Awwww, celebrating family day? That's so awesome.

Doesn't the travel day always feel like it takes forever to get through when you write it on your TR? I always encounter that. That's why I try to plow through it as fast as possible. Hahaha.

Beautiful room! We have DVC, so I feel like I don't get the opportunity to see the regular rooms too often.

Awesome view! I love the Epcot resort area.

I love Willow's pictures! The selfies and the shorty perspective. LOVE IT!

 

[shan23877]

LOOOOOVVVEEE the selfies! How cute is she? She did a great job taking pictures of the view too!

What a fabulous room! I want to stay that the BWI all of the sudden...

So glad that you got an upgrade-what a view!

 

[chattadisser]

Don’t you just love it when you don’t have to wait too long for ME? Makes the vacation just start off good!

Thanks for the pictures of the rooms at BWI, we haven’t stayed there. Great view! Love the picture of Willow on the bed. I think that is how we all feel when we get to WDW.

Christine

 

[Luvchefmic]

All caught up, I had my own mini-vacation last Wed through Fri and then kept going back to WDW over the weekend just to extend the joy

I had to laugh when you talked about moving the luggage a little at a time, leaving it with Willow, go back move it up again Lots of memories there for me I was a single Mom for a few years with my DDs You do what you have to do & make it fun doing it It's not hard it's an adventure and let me tell you they learn to be self sufficient women that can do anything

Celebrating Family Day, you are both so blessed .....favorite picture so far for me ? ...mommy and daughter together toes night before travel


Ruthie

 

[wiigirl]

Really cute pics!