Just a brief introduction, my wife Brenda (30 something) and myself (38) have 3 children. Their ages are AJ (11), Athena (9) and Asher (2). We went as a family in September but decided to go by ourselves from 11/19 to 11/22. Mind you, this is the first trip that my lovely and me have gotten away from the kiddies, overnight, in 11 years and I think we are going to plan to do something like this every year from now on.
The opportunity came up for this trip only 3 weeks prior to it happening so there was little planning time available. I checked the airfares from Allentown, PA to Orlando and the direct flight cost was set at $349 per person. That flight was to leave at 6:30 AM and arrive at 9:15 AM. I opted for the cheaper route and found a flight that connected at Pittsburgh and only ran $195 per person. Arrival time was pushed back to 11:30 AM though.
Day one (the saga begins): after dropping the children off at their respective holding cells (sister-in-law and neighbor) the night before, we got as good as a nights sleep as can be expected the day before a Disney trip. We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:00 am and headed to our local airport (20 minutes away) for our expected flight from Allentown PA to Pittsburgh and then onto Orlando. This was all supposed to take place at 7:10 AM. When we checked in at the airport we were informed that there was plenty of space available on a 6:30 direct flight to Orlando (remember the $349 per person one?) and if we wanted to get on board that one at no extra cost. Now, that was a tough decision to make. LetâÂÂs see, leave later, change planes in Pittsburgh and arrive in Orlando at 11:30 or get on a direct flight at 6:30 and arrive in Orlando at 9:15? As the girl on the Pepsi commercial saysâ¦..DUHHHHH!
The flight went without a hitch and we tried something different for my wife who has a hard time equalizing ear pressure. We purchased these gizmos called Earplanes and they worked great. This will be a staple on future plane trips. We arrived in Orlando at 9:10 and 76 degrees was the temperature of the day. (We found out later that the warm temperature was just a cruel hoax) We quickly proceeded to the Mears shuttle area, since we only had carry-on luggage, and were directed outside to wait for the shuttle to Dixie Landings. After about a 5 minute wait, a 53 passenger Mears shuttle bus pulled up for the trip and we were the only 2 passengers on it. Talk about a stretch limo for 2! Marlon Lopez was our driver and he was just awesome. He answered a lot of questions about property, cost of living, income ranges, housing costs, taxes etc. IâÂÂm seriously considering a move to Fla. But I still need more information. He also gave us some great tips on off site dining at cheap prices.
We arrived at Dixie Landings at around 10:AM and proceeded to the front desk to get our tickets, keys, gifts and all of those informative booklets that I have about 100 copies of. The CM was very nice and informed us that our room was ready! This trip was just going too good. We received the complimentary Jitney ride to our room and the driver even took us around the resort to get us aquainted with it. We unpacked and walked over to the resort general store to look around. Then it was over to the bus stop to catch a ride over to Epcot for lunch. Everything happened so fast, I still didn't "feelâ like I was in Disney. Then I heard that magical sound that told me âÂÂIâÂÂM IN DISNEYWORLDâÂÂ, the screeching brakes of the Disney transportation busses. I swear, they must go out of their way to make sure that every bus squeals at just the right pitch! This bus driver must have taken a grouchy pill in the morning. Not very pleasant but he did get us there in one piece.
The crowds were rather large but we had no trouble making our way to the food and wine festival where we tried a few of the goodies from around the world. We decided on a fish and chips lunch at the Pub in the UK. The lunch was absolutely delicious and we even didnâÂÂt mind paying $21.00 for that $6.00 bottle of White Zinfandel. Our server, Sarah Caylor, wasâ¦.how do the BritâÂÂs say it?â¦. Oh yes, BRILLIANT! She managed to make my wife laugh, at my expense of course, throughout our dining experience without being overbearing. She was probably the most pleasant CM out of all the great ones we met on this trip. IâÂÂll end this post here. Part 2 of day 1 (Terror on 7 Seas Lagoon) to follow.
Adam aka Big Dude
[This message was edited by Big Dude on 11-29-00 at 12:55 PM.]
The opportunity came up for this trip only 3 weeks prior to it happening so there was little planning time available. I checked the airfares from Allentown, PA to Orlando and the direct flight cost was set at $349 per person. That flight was to leave at 6:30 AM and arrive at 9:15 AM. I opted for the cheaper route and found a flight that connected at Pittsburgh and only ran $195 per person. Arrival time was pushed back to 11:30 AM though.
Day one (the saga begins): after dropping the children off at their respective holding cells (sister-in-law and neighbor) the night before, we got as good as a nights sleep as can be expected the day before a Disney trip. We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:00 am and headed to our local airport (20 minutes away) for our expected flight from Allentown PA to Pittsburgh and then onto Orlando. This was all supposed to take place at 7:10 AM. When we checked in at the airport we were informed that there was plenty of space available on a 6:30 direct flight to Orlando (remember the $349 per person one?) and if we wanted to get on board that one at no extra cost. Now, that was a tough decision to make. LetâÂÂs see, leave later, change planes in Pittsburgh and arrive in Orlando at 11:30 or get on a direct flight at 6:30 and arrive in Orlando at 9:15? As the girl on the Pepsi commercial saysâ¦..DUHHHHH!
The flight went without a hitch and we tried something different for my wife who has a hard time equalizing ear pressure. We purchased these gizmos called Earplanes and they worked great. This will be a staple on future plane trips. We arrived in Orlando at 9:10 and 76 degrees was the temperature of the day. (We found out later that the warm temperature was just a cruel hoax) We quickly proceeded to the Mears shuttle area, since we only had carry-on luggage, and were directed outside to wait for the shuttle to Dixie Landings. After about a 5 minute wait, a 53 passenger Mears shuttle bus pulled up for the trip and we were the only 2 passengers on it. Talk about a stretch limo for 2! Marlon Lopez was our driver and he was just awesome. He answered a lot of questions about property, cost of living, income ranges, housing costs, taxes etc. IâÂÂm seriously considering a move to Fla. But I still need more information. He also gave us some great tips on off site dining at cheap prices.
We arrived at Dixie Landings at around 10:AM and proceeded to the front desk to get our tickets, keys, gifts and all of those informative booklets that I have about 100 copies of. The CM was very nice and informed us that our room was ready! This trip was just going too good. We received the complimentary Jitney ride to our room and the driver even took us around the resort to get us aquainted with it. We unpacked and walked over to the resort general store to look around. Then it was over to the bus stop to catch a ride over to Epcot for lunch. Everything happened so fast, I still didn't "feelâ like I was in Disney. Then I heard that magical sound that told me âÂÂIâÂÂM IN DISNEYWORLDâÂÂ, the screeching brakes of the Disney transportation busses. I swear, they must go out of their way to make sure that every bus squeals at just the right pitch! This bus driver must have taken a grouchy pill in the morning. Not very pleasant but he did get us there in one piece.
The crowds were rather large but we had no trouble making our way to the food and wine festival where we tried a few of the goodies from around the world. We decided on a fish and chips lunch at the Pub in the UK. The lunch was absolutely delicious and we even didnâÂÂt mind paying $21.00 for that $6.00 bottle of White Zinfandel. Our server, Sarah Caylor, wasâ¦.how do the BritâÂÂs say it?â¦. Oh yes, BRILLIANT! She managed to make my wife laugh, at my expense of course, throughout our dining experience without being overbearing. She was probably the most pleasant CM out of all the great ones we met on this trip. IâÂÂll end this post here. Part 2 of day 1 (Terror on 7 Seas Lagoon) to follow.
Adam aka Big Dude
[This message was edited by Big Dude on 11-29-00 at 12:55 PM.]
