The Mellado's Disney Adventure ReportDates: 6/26-7/5, 1999 (ten day trip) Adventurers:
Copyright 1999-2006 |
Day 1: Saturday, June
26, 1999 Finally! The day we've been waiting for is here. Although I had urged the kids to go to bed early the night before, the earliest they got to bed was 10 pm. They were just too excited. I woke up at 3:00, before my alarm clock went off, and decided to do last minute stuff- like finish packing, etc. Lol Kelly happened to wake up, too. She was so excited; she couldn't sleep and wanted to help. She did a lot, including making sure the animals were cared for, and rooms straightened up. At 4:30 I woke up Nick, and he sprung out of bed. I had called a cab the night before to pick us up at 5:30. We had our luggage out on the sidewalk at 5:20, and at that time the cabbie drove up. I locked up the house, we got in the cab, and we were off. All three of us were so excited to be going to WDW. We'd been planning for over 7 months, and finally the day was here! We got to LAX, and checked in at the sidewalk at Delta. By that time it was shortly after 6 am, and we had plenty of time before our 8:00 flight. (I had learned through experience to be at the airport in plenty of time. Last year we got there an hour before the flight, and my cousins totally missed it, causing their trip home to Spain to be delayed a day) Since we had time, we decided to have a McDonald's breakfast - yum. We ate slowly, savoring the knowledge that we were off to a week+ vacation. I'm sure people were wondering why a mom & her two kids would be so blissful eating a simple McDonalds breakfast! From there we went to our boarding gate and waited. It was still too early to get our boarding passes. The kids pulled out their Gameboys, and I went over my PassPorter and people-watched. It seemed there were a lot of people going to WDW at Orlando. Finally, it was time to get the boarding passes, and we were entering the plane; a nice roomy L10-11. The kids had the window seats, and I was right across the aisle from them. We had a pleasant, though lengthy flight. At least it was direct. Unfortunately, most of the way was cloudy, so the kids couldn't see the scenery down below. I was impressed with the feature on the movie screen that shows you where the plane is, position it's facing, outside temp, and groundspeed. The kids pulled out their Walkman headsets & plugged them into the armrests to listen to the music. I settled down for the flight. Our movie was Shakespeare in Love - hadn't seen it, so I enjoyed watching. We had breakfast again around 10:am - it had been four hours, so we were ready to have something. I had quiche, and the kids had cereal with yogurt. The food was quite good for airplane fare. I was sitting next to two men taking their 6 yr old daughters to WDW. It was so cute to watch the girls. One of them was so nervous about flying, but her dad soon set her fears to rest. I enjoyed watching their interaction. The kids kept busy with their Gameboys and a couple of lanyard sets that I got them from Michaels - they're into making lanyards right now. Finally, it was time to land. The kids and I excitedly got ready, and they watched out the windows. Our first view of the Orlando airport was impressive. Everything was so green! If you have ever been to LA, where the airport is surrounded by city, you can understand our appreciation for landing in such a beautiful spot. Our plane was on time, and soon we were landing. One thing we noticed as soon as we got off the plane was the smell of cigarette smoke. Being from California, we weren't used to the smell. There's no smoking indoors anywhere here (for which I'm very grateful). The first thing we saw coming out of the gate was the airport Disney store. The kids' eyes lit up, and I told them we'd have plenty of time to visit when we returned. They quickly agreed, and we went to the cool monorail that would take us to the main terminal. We were so impressed with the cleanliness of the whole area and how GREEN everything is. We found out on our trip just why everything is so green. Boy, did we find out! We got to the main terminal, and quickly looked to see if Dad, Lucila, & BJ were waiting for us. They were to arrive an hour & a half before us. I thought maybe they were busy getting the car, so we went ahead and collected our luggage. I went to the Dollar counter, where I got excellent service. My dad had not rented the minivan yet, so I went ahead & took care of the paperwork. We went to the parking garage, got the keys to the van & stowed our luggage. By this time it was after 4 pm, and starting to sprinkle. It was very warm and humid outside. Ahhhhh, vacation weather! We went back inside and looked for everyone - nope, nowhere to be found. I tried checking the boards, but couldn't see their flight listed as being late. The next flight in would be at midnight. I went to Continental (the flight they came in on, via Dallas) and no one there would give me any information. The kids were hungry, so we went to an expensive Burger King and had a bite to eat, meanwhile, looking for Dad et al. I was very frustrated by now, and decided to start calling likely family members who Dad may have left a message with for me, knowing that I would worry and call. By now it was 5:30., and I was thinking that we were late for check-in, and that we were going to miss our 7:10 PS at Spoodles I decided that I wouldn't worry about what I couldn't change, so I just let it go. I finally go hold of Lucila's son, and he said that no one had called him. I was reluctant to leave the airport because I didn't know if Dad, Lucila, & BJ were due in any minute & didn't want to leave if they were coming in. But, it was getting late, and I decided to go to check in the resort. By now it was pouring down rain. I took out my map, and followed the directions given to me by the lady at the Dollar counter. It was an interesting drive, but I was being very careful because of the rain. Finally, we saw our exit. I exited the freeway, and soon we were driving under the Welcome to Walt Disney World sign. YESSSSSSSSSS! We had arrived! Although I was worried about my dad & Lucy, we were still very excited about finally arriving. It was raining very hard (thunder & lightening & all), but I found CBR with no problem, thanks to checking out the maps in Rita's book, and following the signs. (All week long my dad kept commenting on how well I found things J ) We got to the Custom House and made a mad dash to the covered drive. There were only a couple of people ahead of me, and soon enough it was my turn to be helped. I had set my heart on staying at Jamaica, but all those rooms were taken. Since we had requested adjoining rooms, the CM got my dad's info, too, and noted that he did receive a room in Jamaica. Now, when I made these reservations in November, I had asked my AAA TA to give my requests to CRO (We wanted Jamaica, Building 45, interconnecting rooms). I called CRO in December, and they were not noted. The CM was very nice, and took my information and noted it. Apparently, she only noted in on my dad's, not mine. It did not matter that I faxed the same requests to the room assigner ahead of time. So, next time I will call more than once to ensure that my requests are noted on the original reservations, and not rely on the room assigner. We ended up together in Aruba, Building 51 - a smoking building (ugh). By now, I was tired, wet, and worried about Dad et al, so I wasn't as nice as I usually am, but the CM was pleasant the whole time. She told me that if the room smelled, to call housekeeping and they would spray. We got to our room, and as soon as we opened the door we had that sickening old smoke smell (yuck). Even my kids commented on it, and I had not told them we were in a smoking building (they were being entertained by watching Mulan while I took care of business). We immediately called housekeeping and a man came & sprayed the whole room down. This really wasn't a great beginning to our vacation, but the ensuing week made up for it. I decided not to worry about the room anymore, and started unpacking. I asked the kids if they wanted to check out the main area, and got a resounding YES! We walked across Parrot Cay - it was still lightly raining at this time - and explored the pool area. It was very nice, and I really liked that waterfall coming down at the other end. While walking, my sandals broke (they were waterlogged), and so I hobbled back to our room. I needed a hot bath, so I turned on the water, and then called Lucila's son when we got back, and found out that Dad, Lucila, & BJ would be getting in on the 10-something flight on Continental. Now, why the airlines would tell him over the phone, and not me I don't know. But, at least I had more info. I asked Kelly to turn off the tub water and heard her sloshing in the bathroom. SLOSHING? No, that was not a sound I wanted to hear! While I was on the phone, the tub had overflowed, and water was everywhere. Kelly turned it off, and unplugged it, while I called housekeeping. Again. I assured them this was not a usual occurrence. The same man who sprayed the room came with a whole bunch of towels, and he cleaned up the whole mess. He was very nice about it, although he may have had some personal thoughts about tourists. Now the room was just damp instead of sopping wet. (What a day!) Right after that the phone rang - it was Dad! I quickly told him that I would be right there to pick him up, and he asked where was I going? So I told him to the airport, and he replied that they had taken a taxi to the Custom House and were at CBR, so we all piled in the minivan to pick them up. It really wasn't raining anymore - just sprinkling. We were so happy to see them. Dad says that back at El Paso, Continental did not take off on time. The explanation: The pilot had got in late the night before, and needed to rest before flying out. Therefore, instead of leaving at 7 am, they left at 9-something, which caused them to go to Dallas instead of Houston, and instead of getting in at 2:10pm, they got in at 10-something pm - they were at airports, etc., for 14 hours! Yuck So they were pretty exhausted when they finally got to CBR. BJ roomed with us, and Dad & Lucila were right next door - worked out great that way. They didn't have to deal with rambunctious kids! Their room did not smell bad like ours had, and I was grateful for that. The rooms are pretty nice. The border on top is tropical pastel colors, which match the bedspreads, you get a nice bathroom with a double counter sink outside, which made it easier for us to get ready in the morning. We each had two double beds, an armoire with a tv and plenty of room for clothes, and closet space (I brought extra hangers, so hung up all my clothes). There was also a settee, a table with two chairs, and a minibar (that we didn't use). There was also a coffee pot that we never used. My dad & Lucila used the refillable mugs, and it was just too hot for me to drink hot coffee. I preferred ice water in the morning. We also had a handy wall safe, where I could put my wallet, extra money, and cell phone, since I wasn't going to use it. We were on the first floor, with a view out to the garden area - beautifully landscaped, very lush. We were in rooms 5107 and 5108. I asked everyone if they wanted to check out the resort, and of course, everyone said yes, so the kids picked out their refillable mugs (I shared with Nick & Kelly), and Dad & Lucila got theirs, too. We strolled across Parrot Cay Island. We couldn't see very much because it was late & dark, but we could hear the music playing. We walked to Center Towne, but it was already locked up for the night. The bar was getting ready to close, so we got drinks. Although the bar doesn't usually fill the mugs w/softdrinks, the CM offered to do so for the kids. We sat out in the balmy night, drinking our cold drinks, and catching up on family news. I felt like we had finally begun our family vacation. It was wonderful sitting out there. I'm glad we did so the first night, because we didn't have much of an opportunity later on to do so. By the time we all chatted & got to bed, it was after midnight. And the next item on my itinerary called for an early wake-up and a trip to Kennedy Space Center. Boy, if you all got this far, you must really like reading all the little details. LOL Thanks for hanging in there. Day 2 coming up - Typhoon Lagoon, Downtown Disney, & Boardwalk
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