Thursday February 20th, 2014 - Can We Make It On Time (and without a hospital visit)?!?
Morning came both too quickly and not soon enough for me. We had to be out the door by no later than 5:15am (preferably earlier), as we had to get to VALET Connections (where we'd park our car) and catch their shuttle over to the airport to allow the 2 hours the airlines recommend.
We left around 5:30am. Obviously off to a great start.
Although it was a good 3 hours before Stormy's normal wake up time of 8:30am, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed when we got him up and ate his breakfast of milk, nutrigrain and Bah-na! (banana) in the car on the drive. Myself and Baloo each had a nutrigrain bar in the car, but planned for McD's, once we got to the airport, since we'd have time.
We made it to VALET Connections by just shy of 6:00am (thankfully it was an easy freeway drive over and that morning was clear and warm...ish. Warmer than it had been the last couple weeks, anyway!)
We pulled in just as a shuttle was pulling out. Fantastic, we'd be waiting for the next one ("Leaves every 15 minutes" Suuuuure). Baloo got out of the car and...
Immediately slipped on the ONLY patch of ice that could reasonably have survived the warm morning. He caught himself with his elbow on the door of our car, sprang up and promptly declare "OK!"
We brought Stormy and the first round of bags inside (note to self. Never pack more than you can carry, while pushing a stroller. It doesn't end well) and checked in at the desk. Right after us about 3-5 more people arrived. Baloo ran out to the car (and naturally, found ANOTHER patch of ice) for the second round of bags.
And then, the waiting began.
After 10 minutes, one couple was particularly anxious. "Will they refund us if we miss our flights? Our flight is at 6:30!!" I try not to judge, but these people showed up after us, and they thought they'd just waltz in at 6:05am and somehow make a 6:30am flight?? I just don't understand.
Soon that couple ran out, having decided to park at the airport (for double what VALET charges). Farewell, strange couple!
We waited some more.
Stormy read the walls
And inspected the plants
And the chairs
FINALLY. A wild shuttle appears! While we gathered our things, everyone rushed to pack in, naturally leaving the very back seat for Baloo, Stormy, and myself. I do not apologize for any of their heads that got hit by my carry-on, as I tried to squeeze into the 4th row of a crowded shuttle-bus. Not one bit.
Stormy was given a bit of his 'emergency KitKat bar'. So very early in the day for that....
Finally we made it to the airport. And were greeted by this:
*not my picture, it belongs to a girl from my FB group, who flew out with me (although we didn't know we were on the same flight! I was right next to her when she took this pic, asking about the tiara she was wearing <3 )
More waiting, but thankfully Southwest had all kiosks open and were getting through the line quickly. I think we waited less than 20 minutes, but by that time it was 7:15am (our flight left at 8am) and we still had to get through security, which was just as long. When we got up to the counter, the employee said that our seats hadn't been pre-assiged, blamed it on me using my points to book the flight, then said we'd have to talk to the people at the gate to see if we could be switched near each other. Awesome.
We got in line to go through security.
If you ever have to travel, I HIGHLY recommend traveling with a baby.
We got put into the "Pre-TSA" line. I didn't know what it was the first time, but we got put in it again coming home, and the TSA agent there said that the people in that line had "won the TSA lottery". In this line, you don't remove your shoes, belts, jewelry, etc. You don't have to take your laptop out of it's bag. You just toss anything in your pockets and hands into a bin, fold up your stroller and walk through the scanner, no muss no fuss.
I totally took off my shoes. Pre-programed, I guess. Oh well, it didn't cause any issues, other than the TSA agents going "You didn't need to do that"
We were through security in less than 10 minutes! Which was great, because it was now 7:35am!
Stormy was getting antsy after not one but TWO lines, so I stopped at a small play place (how great is that to have in the airport??) and Baloo went to get some McD's.
It was 7:45am when Baloo got back and we walked over to our gate (which I could see from the play area). They were already loading zone 5! We went up to the counter to see if anything could be done about our seating arrangement (here is where the employee told me that booking with points shouldn't have made a difference, if they were booked together, they SHOULD have been assigned together. Apparently not!). She did the best she could, and at least we were near each other (I was in row 29, Baloo in row 30, in the seat directly behind me. It ended up working out well, when Stormy decided he just HAD to kick the seat, I passed him back to Baloo).
As we settled into our seats, Stormy realized he was tired and promptly passed out on my shoulder. Thank goodness. I was able to scarf down my very belated McD's breakfast.
Only for 45 minutes, though.
In-flight shenanigans.
After several long hours we had FINALLY made it to Florida!
And now we had no ticking clock bearing down on us, we walked slowl-oh heck, who am I kidding? MAGICAL EXPRESS IS THAT WAY. WHY AREN'T YOU SPEED WALKING, BALOO?!? I KNOW YOU CAN MOVE FASTER THAN THAT.
After a quick "monorail" and elevator ride, and walking what seemed like an eternity (seriously, why is ME the VERY LAST ONE DOWN?) we got to ME to check in.
Oooooh the lines going to Pop/Art of Animation! It wound through 2 turnstiles, but happily, we made it on the second of 2 buses that showed up together for Pop/AoA. We scanned our MagicBands no problem (which was great, because I was having a hard time finding the pocket I'd stashed our hardcopy of the ticket info in!) and were on the bus!
This is one of my personal favorite sights to see! I know everyone goes for the first glimpse of Disney World, but I LOVE the buses! And I'm always super disappointed when it's not a ME specific bus (one year I got a cruise bus, and I felt crushed!) Today it was a ME bus! Yipee!
Bring on the ME selfie!
Stormy, occupying his time. While the title mentions an artist, it does not refer to Stormy's propensity to scribbling (which he did a LOT on our trip). That story is yet to come!
And soon enough, we'd entered the Mouse's kingdom! (I told you I don't pay much attention to this picture. I barely had enough time to get the camera out and on to get this one. My priorities are out of whack, I guess!)
Stopping at AoA, but we would not get off here (someday!)
Our destination?
We had (finally!) made it! Home sweet home!
). I'm glad the magic bands and app worked out so well. I really liked them way more than I thought I would.
Did you just do PHM or did you do the GSC? And what corral were you in? I'm on a couple FB groups for the 2014 PHM and met some fun people there, I think half of why I liked the PHM so much was the extensive community it has. I'm a bit of a hermit, it's been since college that I've really actively met new people and I forgot how fun it is.
So I completely get that! Hahahaha!
