Disney Wonder 4/9-4/13/17: Day One ~ You Can Fly!

   

Getting Ready for Our Grand Slam

      As Second Star Travel regularly suggests, our flight to Orlando was the day before our cruise. If I could have, I would have booked the flight for Friday night, but we were coming off an intense work week  - with a pile of grading over 18 inches high (no lie) and grades due the day we got back to school. I stayed late every day, sometimes until 5, to get everything done and have my head clear for our Disney Wonder-ful vacation. So, a Saturday afternoon flight it was.

     That meant that the entire house needed to be cleaned in one night and the packing done by 11:30am. I don’t know about you, but after a week of getting pampered by Disney and having the beds made and the room straightened up twice per day, the last thing I want to do is come home to a dirty, messy house. I somehow managed to get everything done relatively unscathed – except for having forgotten to pack my brush! Thankfully, J and I share the same curly-Q hair, so I just used hers.

     I didn’t forget the shoes though! I couldn’t decide and managed to bring 9 pair, some of which needed to be redistributed to J’s bag at the airport because I was  **gasp** 2 pounds over! I’m never over on luggage weight, so I attribute the issue to the packing in haste. Other casualties to the quick packing (and the challenge of trying to travel with just one bag this time) were the Drink-of-the-Day hurricane glasses and the envelope of cash for our trip! I always stop at the bank before a trip and get a few hundred in smaller denominations for tips throughout our trip. I had actually forgotten to bring it and was now panicking.

   

  We arrived at the airport about with plenty of time to spare. This is what I adore about Islip MacArthur Airport: You can leave the house 15 minutes before you want to arrive there and be at your gate 10 minutes later. We couldn’t park in the first residents’ lot (probably due to all the Spring Breakers having left the day before) so we had to park in the second resident lot – Oh the Horror! We have to walk an extra 50ft. (Actually it was pretty windy that day and we had to trudge against the 40mph gusts.)

     J actually got a pre-screen card so she didn’t have to worry about shoes or going through the body scanner; she got the regular metal detector and headed up to Starbucks. Once we got through security, and got up the escalator I spied an ATM at the corner of the food court. Hooray! I’m saved. Even though it’s a Suffolk Federal Credit Union ATM, they charged me a fee. (I thought Bethpage had a reciprocal fee-free deal.) Oh well, at least I have money for tips, even if I have to get them changed when we get to the ship.

      Mama Lombardi’s is no longer in the food court at the gates and the new place is ridiculously slow and the food is horrible. I hope visitors don’t think this is what Long Islanders call Italian. It took them 12 minutes to heat up 3 chicken parmesan heroes, which didn’t leave us much time to eat before the boarding call. I didn’t mind, since it wasn’t very good anyway.  Would’ve been better – and cheaper ($50 for the 3 of us) to get a few egg sandwiches from the deli on the way.

     After lunch, we headed to the gate and took our spots as A1, A2, and A3. Sure, there was a line of pre-boarders, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought, since most of them were families with young children just trying to get a jump on the rest. After about 3 wheelchairs – with whole families trying to board with them until the gate agent put a stop to it (YAY! Finally someone sticks to the rules!) – it was our turn to board. Second row! Hooray!

      When we landed in Orlando, we headed straight to the Hyatt to check in. Since we were staying on a free night, we couldn’t do online check-in, which was fine. I have Discoverist status, so we were helped right away and didn’t have to wait on the regular line. On our way up to the room, we learned that there was a dance conference being held in the hotel – great – noisy teenage girls running amok. I must say,  I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of hallway noise. After getting our carry-ons settled into the room, we headed back downstairs to get our luggage. By the time we arrived, they were just announcing the carousel for our flight. Since we had only one bag each, it was an easy trek back to the hotel.

     I had been hoping to soak up the beautiful Florida weather at the rooftop pool, but alas, it was too chilly to swim and too windy to enjoy the sun. So, we decided instead to “walk the mall.” I think this is where many people miss the draw of the MCO Hyatt – it’s such a great place to stay if you’re a people watcher (or a shopper). We decided on Panda Express for dinner which was another $50 wasted. People actually think this is Chinese food?

    We decided to call it a night so we could get up early and catch the first DCL bus to the port. It wasn’t hard to fall asleep after such a whirlwind (literally and figuratively) day.