Nini5055
05-15-2009, 10:53 AM
OK, I am going to jump right in because I don't want to forget a thing!...:welcome:
We flew on Southwest and I checked in exactly at the designated time 24 hours prior. Now I ask you all…why do I always get Group A starting somewhere around #26??? :confused: I had the site all ready to go so all I had to do was press enter. I just can’t ever seem to get the earlier boarding numbers. OK…got that off my chest.
The flight was on time and quite uneventful (which as we all know is perfect). I have to mention that we ended up deciding to check our bags. We did this due to the fact that we needed to expand our luggage to accommodate the required princess dresses. So we talked it over and since there was no luggage fee…we checked them through with Magical Express. I had decided to put the Magical Express tags on our luggage just in case.
We arrived at Orlando International Airport (MCO) at 2:15pm and made our way down to the Magical Express counter. It was a bit of a walk and we were glad we didn’t have luggage in tow! They were bypassing the check-in counter for those who had their ME Tickets. We were directed right to our line. We had just missed making it onto the bus by….ummmm…us! We were next to go and they put the rope across…that’s ok, another bus will be by in a few minutes…well 20 minutes to be exact, but who’s counting we are on vacation!!!! We climbed on board the Magical Express bus and were on our way!!!
Side Note: We didn’t see anyone with masks on in the airports or at Disney.
When we arrived at the Grand Floridian, there were a lot of oooohhs and aaaaahhhs…not from us either!!! LOL It is truly a beautiful resort to drive up to.
I went to the check-in desk as I had decided to forego online check-in. I was really wishing for an upgrade, but had forgotten about it at that point and was more hungry than anything. The CM was very nice and made a Birthday Button for me and an Anniversary Button for my mother. I will just say, that my mother hates to wear those…but I made her do it for a day anyway. Just then the CM said that I received a wonderful 2 level upgrade from a Gardenview Room to a Tower Room in Big Pine Key!!!! I was shocked and excited and my mother was excited when I explained we were upgraded. The Pixie Dust has started sprinkling down on us!!!!:pixie:
We received all of our check-in documents, resort map and the CM gave my dd7 a coloring book and some crayons. We were off to our room…I didn’t need any directions to Big Pine Key as I had studied the resort maps repeatedly! We arrived at our room and after we checked everything out (it was thrilling!), we decided we needed to eat some food. We walked over to Gasperilla’s (the food court). Although the Gasperilla’s is quite small compared to other food courts, it is open 24 hours and quite handy. Mom and I had Ceasar Salads w/chicken and dd7 had the kids grilled chicken sandwich w/fries. The salads were mediocre, but the chicken sandwich was delicious! I would know, because I ate dd7’s other half. The fries were good too. We also picked up our Refillable Mugs. For some reason, the mugs are a little disappointing to me this year…design wise.
We then decided that we would go for a swim and went back to the room changed into our suits and went swimming in the main pool right outside our building. The water was warm but not too warm…just perfect after a long day of traveling!!!
When we arrived back in our room there was a surprise waiting for us…a bottle of champagne to celebrate my mother’s anniversary and a platter with a 5 inch solid white chocolate Mickey Mouse surrounded with gourmet cookies with Happy Birthday written in chocolate on the plate and Mickey holding a sign (we thought was paper) with my name on it. We didn’t expect this…or anything at all!!!! We found out that everything but the dish Mickey was on was edible…including the “paper” sign…what fun for my dd7!!! Our luggage had arrived as well…great timing.
After snacking on some cookies (we saved the champagne for later), it was time to get ready for our first dinner at 1900 Park Fare – Cinderella’s Gala Feast. DD7 wore her beautiful Belle dress (maroon & gold) complete with crown and wand and off we went. We sat down and were immediately visited by Prince Charming. He was very sweet and definitely charming. He kissed my dd7’s hand, signed her book and posed for pictures. My mother (I’m laughing here) asked Prince Charming “how is it working here, it must be tiring signing autographs all day”…uuuuuggghhh…you are not supposed to spoil the magic mom!!! Prince Charming replied “there is always much work to do in the Kingdom”…yeah Prince Charming!!!! We were then visited by Cinderella who was very sweet, the Wicked Step Mother who was VERY demanding and slightly rude…but in a funny way!!! My dd7 was scared of her!!! LOL Following were the Stepsisters they were a total HOOT!!!!! It was a wonderful way to start off the trip. The buffet was good and very filling. I was even given the recipe for the Strawberry Soup…it was delicious!!!
We were tired from our busy day traveling, swimming and our bellies were full. We decided to head to the hotel to get a little sleep. Also, dd7 was not feeling quite well…her nose was running and she was a little warm and quite pale…she needed some rest.:ill: I was cursing the Travel Gods and crossed my fingers that she would not get really sick. I stopped in the gift shop and purchased some motrin in hopes that she would feel better in the morning after a good nights rest.
Oooooohhh!!!...the beds are very soft.
:cloud9:
We flew on Southwest and I checked in exactly at the designated time 24 hours prior. Now I ask you all…why do I always get Group A starting somewhere around #26??? :confused: I had the site all ready to go so all I had to do was press enter. I just can’t ever seem to get the earlier boarding numbers. OK…got that off my chest.
The flight was on time and quite uneventful (which as we all know is perfect). I have to mention that we ended up deciding to check our bags. We did this due to the fact that we needed to expand our luggage to accommodate the required princess dresses. So we talked it over and since there was no luggage fee…we checked them through with Magical Express. I had decided to put the Magical Express tags on our luggage just in case.
We arrived at Orlando International Airport (MCO) at 2:15pm and made our way down to the Magical Express counter. It was a bit of a walk and we were glad we didn’t have luggage in tow! They were bypassing the check-in counter for those who had their ME Tickets. We were directed right to our line. We had just missed making it onto the bus by….ummmm…us! We were next to go and they put the rope across…that’s ok, another bus will be by in a few minutes…well 20 minutes to be exact, but who’s counting we are on vacation!!!! We climbed on board the Magical Express bus and were on our way!!!
Side Note: We didn’t see anyone with masks on in the airports or at Disney.
When we arrived at the Grand Floridian, there were a lot of oooohhs and aaaaahhhs…not from us either!!! LOL It is truly a beautiful resort to drive up to.
I went to the check-in desk as I had decided to forego online check-in. I was really wishing for an upgrade, but had forgotten about it at that point and was more hungry than anything. The CM was very nice and made a Birthday Button for me and an Anniversary Button for my mother. I will just say, that my mother hates to wear those…but I made her do it for a day anyway. Just then the CM said that I received a wonderful 2 level upgrade from a Gardenview Room to a Tower Room in Big Pine Key!!!! I was shocked and excited and my mother was excited when I explained we were upgraded. The Pixie Dust has started sprinkling down on us!!!!:pixie:
We received all of our check-in documents, resort map and the CM gave my dd7 a coloring book and some crayons. We were off to our room…I didn’t need any directions to Big Pine Key as I had studied the resort maps repeatedly! We arrived at our room and after we checked everything out (it was thrilling!), we decided we needed to eat some food. We walked over to Gasperilla’s (the food court). Although the Gasperilla’s is quite small compared to other food courts, it is open 24 hours and quite handy. Mom and I had Ceasar Salads w/chicken and dd7 had the kids grilled chicken sandwich w/fries. The salads were mediocre, but the chicken sandwich was delicious! I would know, because I ate dd7’s other half. The fries were good too. We also picked up our Refillable Mugs. For some reason, the mugs are a little disappointing to me this year…design wise.
We then decided that we would go for a swim and went back to the room changed into our suits and went swimming in the main pool right outside our building. The water was warm but not too warm…just perfect after a long day of traveling!!!
When we arrived back in our room there was a surprise waiting for us…a bottle of champagne to celebrate my mother’s anniversary and a platter with a 5 inch solid white chocolate Mickey Mouse surrounded with gourmet cookies with Happy Birthday written in chocolate on the plate and Mickey holding a sign (we thought was paper) with my name on it. We didn’t expect this…or anything at all!!!! We found out that everything but the dish Mickey was on was edible…including the “paper” sign…what fun for my dd7!!! Our luggage had arrived as well…great timing.
After snacking on some cookies (we saved the champagne for later), it was time to get ready for our first dinner at 1900 Park Fare – Cinderella’s Gala Feast. DD7 wore her beautiful Belle dress (maroon & gold) complete with crown and wand and off we went. We sat down and were immediately visited by Prince Charming. He was very sweet and definitely charming. He kissed my dd7’s hand, signed her book and posed for pictures. My mother (I’m laughing here) asked Prince Charming “how is it working here, it must be tiring signing autographs all day”…uuuuuggghhh…you are not supposed to spoil the magic mom!!! Prince Charming replied “there is always much work to do in the Kingdom”…yeah Prince Charming!!!! We were then visited by Cinderella who was very sweet, the Wicked Step Mother who was VERY demanding and slightly rude…but in a funny way!!! My dd7 was scared of her!!! LOL Following were the Stepsisters they were a total HOOT!!!!! It was a wonderful way to start off the trip. The buffet was good and very filling. I was even given the recipe for the Strawberry Soup…it was delicious!!!
We were tired from our busy day traveling, swimming and our bellies were full. We decided to head to the hotel to get a little sleep. Also, dd7 was not feeling quite well…her nose was running and she was a little warm and quite pale…she needed some rest.:ill: I was cursing the Travel Gods and crossed my fingers that she would not get really sick. I stopped in the gift shop and purchased some motrin in hopes that she would feel better in the morning after a good nights rest.
Oooooohhh!!!...the beds are very soft.
:cloud9: