KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
The day had finally come...we were headed to our first of two happy places for 16 days. A lot of people back home thought we should cancel our trip after Mark lost his job mid-June...they thought we were crazy going away for 16 days with only one income coming in. However, first and foremost, Mark needed this get away. It is very hard, even though he sensed it was coming, to lose your job that you had been at for 29 years. Secondly, the trip was already paid for -- both resorts at Disney, airlines, car rental (the condo on Marco is free). The only cost to us would be meals and souvenirs. I had $400 in gift cards and almost $200 on my Disney Rewards card so that was a nice chunk. Plus, with Mark losing his job, he picked up a LOT of extra baseball games (he umps in the spring/summer) which brought in a nice bit of change for our trip. So we were set.
So finally it is Friday morning, September 19, and it is time! I was up first, as usual. I showered, packed the rest of my toiletries and then got Mark up to do the same. Normally, Andy (our oldest son), would drive us to the airport, but he was going to Dubuque this day to participate in a golf outing with his brother at the college that Markie coaches at. So we had a limo picking us up at 8:30 to drive us to O'Hare Airport for our 10:40 a.m. flight.
Us anxiously awaiting the arrival of our limo:
The limo arrived at 8:25 and we were on our way. I had checked us online the day before for our flight. Mark was angry because I again got Precheck and was going to be able to go through a separate line and not have to take my laptop out of my bag, take off my shoes, etc.
We arrived at the airport by 9:15 and checked our luggage.
Getting a little excited to get this show on the road:
We entered the airport and were through security in no time at all.
We stopped for some breakfast...me at Starbucks (yes, Andy, Starbucks...but trust me, later in the trip there are not nearly enough stops at Starbucks)
And for some reason I did not get a picture of Mark's Dunkin' Donuts coffee or his bagel. Failure number one on food pics.
Soon we were at our gate waiting to board. And then our plane arrived:
And then we were boarding and I had a very, very happy hubby.
Well, we were both actually very happy
We took off about 15 minutes late due to the late arriving passengers. Seriously people...get your act in gear.
I snoozed on the plane for a good hour (I was still recovering from bronchitis that I had come home with from Vegas early in August and the coughing was still keeping me up a bit at night).
Before I knew it, we were landing and we were on the fake monorail
Our luggage came pretty quickly and we were off to pick up our rental car. We used one of the kiosks and were done in five minutes. We picked a Chevy Impala for this trip.
And then it was time to hit the road and get to Happy Place #1.
Before long, we were seeing this
However, our first stop would NOT be our resort. As explained in my PTR, Disney had extended our Annual Passes by a month (they had actually expired four days before we got there) due to a letter I had sent complaining about a few things on our previous trip. I guess after 25+ visits, they want to keep you happy and do what they can to make things better.
Therefore, our first stop was Downtown Disney to get our AP's extended for the one month period.
Construction on the new parking garage
Waiting our turn to be called up at Guest Relations
That taken care of, we popped into the World of Disney store and looked around a bit
We grabbed a Starbucks and departed Downtown Disney
And it was on the way to our first resort of this stay (yep, we did a split stay).
Up next, our arrival at our resort and THE BEST CASTMEMBER ever!
So finally it is Friday morning, September 19, and it is time! I was up first, as usual. I showered, packed the rest of my toiletries and then got Mark up to do the same. Normally, Andy (our oldest son), would drive us to the airport, but he was going to Dubuque this day to participate in a golf outing with his brother at the college that Markie coaches at. So we had a limo picking us up at 8:30 to drive us to O'Hare Airport for our 10:40 a.m. flight.
Us anxiously awaiting the arrival of our limo:
The limo arrived at 8:25 and we were on our way. I had checked us online the day before for our flight. Mark was angry because I again got Precheck and was going to be able to go through a separate line and not have to take my laptop out of my bag, take off my shoes, etc.
We arrived at the airport by 9:15 and checked our luggage.
Getting a little excited to get this show on the road:
We entered the airport and were through security in no time at all.
We stopped for some breakfast...me at Starbucks (yes, Andy, Starbucks...but trust me, later in the trip there are not nearly enough stops at Starbucks)
And for some reason I did not get a picture of Mark's Dunkin' Donuts coffee or his bagel. Failure number one on food pics.
Soon we were at our gate waiting to board. And then our plane arrived:
And then we were boarding and I had a very, very happy hubby.
Well, we were both actually very happy
We took off about 15 minutes late due to the late arriving passengers. Seriously people...get your act in gear.
I snoozed on the plane for a good hour (I was still recovering from bronchitis that I had come home with from Vegas early in August and the coughing was still keeping me up a bit at night).
Before I knew it, we were landing and we were on the fake monorail
Our luggage came pretty quickly and we were off to pick up our rental car. We used one of the kiosks and were done in five minutes. We picked a Chevy Impala for this trip.
And then it was time to hit the road and get to Happy Place #1.
Before long, we were seeing this
However, our first stop would NOT be our resort. As explained in my PTR, Disney had extended our Annual Passes by a month (they had actually expired four days before we got there) due to a letter I had sent complaining about a few things on our previous trip. I guess after 25+ visits, they want to keep you happy and do what they can to make things better.
Therefore, our first stop was Downtown Disney to get our AP's extended for the one month period.
Construction on the new parking garage
Waiting our turn to be called up at Guest Relations
That taken care of, we popped into the World of Disney store and looked around a bit
We grabbed a Starbucks and departed Downtown Disney
And it was on the way to our first resort of this stay (yep, we did a split stay).
Up next, our arrival at our resort and THE BEST CASTMEMBER ever!
... or they could just be inconsiderate 
Arrival day!
And yes, you definitely had one happy hubby (you look pretty happy too) 
The last 2 flights we've taken my DW has been selected for Precheck while I had to take the long, slow line. Maybe TSA is discriminating agaist men? 
Anyway, glad to see you had a stress-free trip down!
