OK, so despite my many trips through the last few years here on MB, I have never yet completed a TR. So, I figure if I do it day by day, as it happens, I may get one complete! We’re still here now, but I know that once I get home, my TR will never get done, so here is my first attempt:
Cast:
Me, Crystal (30)
DH, John (32)
DD, Kelsey (4/5)
DD, Paityn (14 months)
We left our home around 4:30am on Sunday to head to the airport. We were terribly anxious of flight delays or cancellations due to the snow/ice storm hitting the northeast. Fortunately, the ride to the airport was quick and smooth and we arrived quickly. Our plane boarded on time and by 7:45am the flight crew and passengers were ready for departure as scheduled at 8am. WAIT…not so fast! It appeared that although we were all seated and ready to go, there was a connecting flight set to come in from Brazil that had been delayed. So, we ended up sitting in the airplane (mind you, this was Delta, not JetBlue…not TV’s, not the best leg room, old planes) for almost 1 ½ hours before de-icing and take off. We were supposed to arrive by 11:10am, but ended up rolling up to the gate around 12:00-12:15pm!
When we made our way over to DME, I saw a long, long winding line running clear across the 1st level of the B side terminal. What could it have been you ask? It was the DME check in line! I have never, ever seen the line get this long! They actually were separating people, and telling us that we only need one person to check in the family, and the rest of us should go wait on the side, out of the line! It took my DH a solid 30-45 minutes to get to the desk. The upside of this was when a DME CM saw my daughter wearing a birthday girl crown, and she started singing Happy Bday to my DD from across the counter and through 2-3 lines of people, while about 2-3 other cast members chimed in!
So after all this we boarded our completely packed bus and had a nice chat with a veteran DVC member next to me. We arrived at SSR around 12:30/1:00 for check in. Fortunately, our room was already ready for us by this time. We are in the Paddock section, room 4814. I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised with our first villa vacation. Everything was as good as the DVC guide touted it to be, and we are loving all the space we have! Even better, the bus stop is directly in front of the building and the bus service seems to be some of the best I’ve experienced on property, even surpassing the Poly!
The weather was beautiful today. Bright, sunny and not too much humidity. I’m sure the runners would have preferred a cooler day, but temps were almost in the 80’s, and coming from the snow and ice of NY, we welcomed the weather!
We checked out the room for a little bit then headed over to the food court for lunch. I had the chicken Caesar salad, DH had the buffalo chicken flatbread and DD had the mac and cheese. The food was OK, nothing to write home about, but not an utter disappointment. So, we headed back to our room to set out to MK for the rest of the night and EMH. Unfortunately, we were really held up by DME because we didn’t get our luggage ‘til almost 6 PM!
So we arrived at MK at almost 7 PM and become the proud new owners of our very first DVC Annual Passes! As this trip is all about celebrating Kelsey’s 5th birthday, we decided to let her run the show for a while….and run the show she did! We ran all the way back to Toontown to ride Goofy’s barnstormer not once, but twice. We had wrestled with the idea of going into the new Pixie Hollow, but it was almost 7:30 at this point, and the park closed at 8 PM (except for EMH, which does not include Toontown). The wait was at 45 minutes, so we decided to pass it up, and make it up on Wednesday, for Kelsey’s bday. Next on Kelsey’s hit list was PotC-clear and directly across the other side of the park! Note to self: never let the 4, almost 5 year old make the touring plans! Pirates is a walk on, and as we came out, we tried to run into the Tiki room, but it was already closed! So, we walked onto Jungle Cruise instead and had a very nice young lady skipper who did a great job. She even let one of the little princesses on the boat “drive” for a bit. Wishes had just started going off, and Kelsey wanted to ride Aladdin, so we walked right onto that, and scoped out some of the fireworks from our magic carpets.
At this point, we still hadn’t eaten dinner and the kids were getting grouchy. So we headed over to Casey’s for one of DH’s favorite Disney treats-a Casey’s hot dog and FF with cheese sauce! After we finished, we met up with Ddoll and her friend Lori, and KingOMiami and Vanna. We spent a few minutes hanging out in front of the laugh floor, and then we all rode Buzz together (at Kelsey’s request)! Well, my baby daughter Paityn found something very special about Ddoll and started reaching for her almost immediately, and snuggled into her for the next ½ hour! Seriously, my daughter put her head on Deb’s shoulder and snuggled into her like I’ve never seen! I have heard lots of people say that children have a sixth sense about people, and I have no doubt that Paityn found a warm, loving comfort with Deb! I was all set to sneak off and leave Paityn with Deb for the night, but I guessed she would probably want some sleep after her run this weekend! So, we all took a group shot and said goodbye to Deb and Lori for the night. Thank you again Deb, I was so happy to have met you-and Paityn is all set for a road trip to RI!
King and Vanna and all 4 of us ventured into tomorrow land and took a ride together in a hunny pot for the Hundred Acre Wood, and floated along in Small World. At that point, we all seemed pretty beat from the day, and decided to head back to the busses. Well, almost! John and King made a pit stop in Sleepy Hollow for a yummy ice cream sandwich to keep up their strengths for the long haul down Main Street! Since we were all staying at SSR, we caught the bus together and did some more chatting. It was so great getting to meet King and Vanna. It makes the long bus wait and long ride home so much more pleasant on a late night!
So, that is where I leave you for now. I know that I missed a lot on here, but I’m too tired to try and keep typing! On Monday, we headed to DHS and encountered the land of a million Brazilian travelers on summer break! I’ll post some pics asap!