Day 1, 12-21-2008, part 2

The remainder of our wait at DIA was uneventful. Lots of kids on our flight...lots (we're pretty sure they were all headed to WDW as there was lots of cheering when the Captain said something about "Enjoy your time with the mouse"...but given the grimace of a few, I think they were quickly told "Yeah, Not this trip" by their parents). But, Keegan did well. He slept for part of it.

And the only time we had any melt down was upon decending and landing in Orlando. The pressure in his ears was too much for him. And he wouldn't take his binky or drink anything for us to help relieve the pressure. Luckily, he wasn't the only one it bothered. There were a few other young ones on the flight that cried on the way down as well.


We were so glad we didn't have to go claim our luggage and could go straight to Disney's Magical Express. Check-in for that went smoothly. And I was sure to ask, again, about making sure Ashley was on their schedule for the following day. She wasn't, but the woman who checked us in, put Ashley in the system and said all she'd need is her ID (keep this in mind for tomorrows chapter). We got Keegan a boarding pass (basically) for the bus, and we were off to wait in line for the bus to our resort. Once on the bus, we were truly there. It was awesome! Though the best part of the bus ride was this:

Other Disney lovers know that when you see that sign, you are truly on vacation and in your magical place. It made me cry happy tears. :D

We got to the resort quickly, and got checked in. Our room was ready (should be, it was after 6pm). First floor, Calypso building in a Family Suite. It was nice to be able to go drop all our bags and things and sit for a bit. We only sat for 10 minutes or so, then headed to the food court to get a bite for dinner. In the time it took us all to get our food, pay, and walk back to the room with it, our bags were in our room. Yay! But wait. There were only 2 bags. Crap. Not to mention the basket I had ordered for mom a month prior and paid for was MIA (I'll touch on this one after the luggage).

We called luggage services and they said "it's missing, you'll have to call your airline and report it missing." Great. Of all the bags to lose, they lose mine and Ken's. So, we get on the phone and try to get in touch with United to report the bag lost. Thing is, every time we follow the prompts, and get to the correct menu for lost baggage, it drops our call (something I will be writing a complaint about to United). So, many calls to luggage services at our hotel, many trips down to the front desk to actually talk to them and give them a description of the bag, I finally get through to United. Only it wasn't to the proper department. I was so pissed, I finally just hit the general baggage question prompt and spoke to someone. Mom and I tag teamed talking to this girl, as she was desperatly trying to help us get through to the lost baggage line. After 2 hours of being on hold with this girl, we get through. Also, sometime in all of this, Disney took a description of our bag as well, I'm assuming to go look for it. Back to United. The girl I spoke to said it had been scanned into Orlando International Airport (score one for it actually being in the same state as us, we may actually get it in a day or two if they find it and deliver it), and that we should have reported it lost at the airport. DOH! She didn't know how the magical express worked, so I had to explain. She was sweet, and told my mom she would file the report for us; took a description of the bag and told us she would be in touch with us. So, dad and Ken come back in time to hear the end of the conversation. Dad and I walk to the lobby once more to thank the cast memebers there for their help and to let them know we'd keep in touch about the bag and it's whereabouts. Dad and I get back to the room and we all sit down and start discussing our options. Disney offered to pay for a cab to Walmart or Target so Ken and I could get a couple changes of clothes until the bag was delievered. Mom and dad would help us pay for it if we needed it. Just as I was saying "let's just go, get it over with tonight, and if the bag does show up tonight, then we consider ourselves lucky and have a few extra pairs of clothes for the week" there is a knock on the door. Without even looking out the peephole, I open the door and nearly faint. There is the missing/lost bag in all it's wonderful glory. We thanked the cast member who brought it profusely and told him we could have hugged him for bringing that bag. YAY! Crisis averted. (Thanks Bianca, Linda, Renee, and John at ASMu luggage services!) No need to spend time or money shopping for clothes. Oh, and when the bag came, it didn't have the nice bright yellow tag on the handle. So between Denver and Orlando, the tag was pulled off. And guess where we found it (as we were packing up to head home later int he week). In the outside zipper pocket of the bag. >_<


Now, back to the basket I had ordered and paid for. I ordered it from a local Orlando woman...I believe the company is Memories by Betsy (use her, she's awesome!). She put together a basket with a Mickey throw and a 2008 Mickey Head ornament for mom. It was to be delivered to our hotel, and left in our room when it was ready. Well, it was delivered to the hotel...but not to our room. Because of the baggage situation above, I couldn't remember the name of the company (non-DISer moment for not having brought that info with me) and so had to describe the basket to the cast member over the phone. I was in tears...as it was supposed to be a surprise for my mom, and there she was, in the room with me, listening to me bawl my eyes out (what can I say, when I'm super stressed out, I'm a cryer) having to ruin the surprise. Well, somewhere during the call, the cast member came up with the correct company name and said she was sure she'd seen one and that when they found it, they'd deliver it right away. Within 10 minutes the basket was at our door. YAY! Mom was soooooo excited. We left the throw over the back of the couch all week, and hung the ornament from the tall lamp in our room.

All things considered, we ended up having a peaceful evening and decorated our windows with our Disney clings, christmas lights, and garland. I did not get pictures of our windows somehow, but it doesn't matter as our garland/light tree we taped to the window fell off by the morning, so we were left with our window clings and our cool mickey head wreath (I'll take a picture of it at least so you can see it).

Pardon the pictures below. I didn't get good room pictures, and these were sleeping arrangements the end of the week. But, I felt it necessary to post them here as I won't be talking about the room again.

 Above picture is the room with the queen bed. As you can see, we moved the ottoman into the room the end of the week, and set it up for Ash.

Above picture is the pullout sofa and pullout armchair, not to mention the pack and play that Keegan slept in for a mere 2 hours the whole time we were there. Don't ask me why my child wouldn't sleep in it...aside from he just wasn't used to it. Plus, the padding is a bit flimsy. So, the rest of the trip he slept with my parents for 2 nights. The other nights, we got smart, moved the ottoman into my parents room (as pictured above) for my sister. Keegan and I slept on the pull out couch...and DH slept on the pullout loveseat. It worked for us. :D

In hindsight, we should have gotten two adjoining rooms. However, by the end of the week, we think we probably still would have gone the same route (a suite) just for the kitchenette area. We had a place for a small carton of milk, cold bottled water every day and cold Pepsi's when we'd come back to the room to relax.

And that does it for Chapter  1. Suitcase was found and delivered, no extra money had to spent on clothes for DH and I, and the basket of goodies I ordered for my mom was also found and delivered. After unpacking our bags and putting them away...we settled in for the night. After all, we had a busy day planned the next day.

Ok. Who am I kidding. We had a 14 month old with us. None of our days were planned in advance. :D

Anywho. Up next...what park to we visit for our first day? How does our 14 month old do with characters? what do we ride? And does my sister make it in on DME successfully

Day 1, 12-21-2008, Departure day!

Thanks to GreatBiscuit...on the DISboards, I have decided to finally tell the story of my dad's 2nd trip, my mom and my 3rd trip, and my son and hubbies 1st trip to the most magical place on Earth. :D

Chapter 1 (departure day)

Today started out early. We were all up out of bed by 5am getting ready and loading up the car for the ride to the airport. We let Keegan sleep till about half an hour before we were leaving the house. Then I went in, wrapped him in his blanket and brought him out to the couch to slowly rock and talk him awake. Luckily, it worked, and he was in a chipper little mood. He ate about three-fourth's of his toast and drank nearly all his milk. Once we had him dressed, he was anxious to go. He kept running around saying "bye-bye".

As my Uncle Mike suggested, the above shot was taken in part to identify what he was wearing that day should he get lost. And I might add as a note, the only hard thing about traveling with a little one is you have to remember to take another picture should you need to change their clothes at all during the course of the day. :P

Anywho. We stopped at 7-11 for coffee and cocoa (unfortunately for us, we had not discovered the delicousness of Starbucks drinks before this trip). Then it was off to the USAirport parking lot where the car would be parked all week while we were gone. Just a note, if you're flying during a busy holiday, such as Christmas, hop online to the website for USAirport parking and make a reservation. We didn't have to use the reservation we made, but we weren't going to take any chances of pulling in only to find they were full. That being said. Getting on a shuttle from there was kind of a mess. So many other people running from their cars trying to catch the shuttle. But, we got on one, were given our parking slip (which identified where our car was parked upon our return) and were off to the airport.


I should add in here that we left our house at 6:15, even though our flight didn't leave till 10:55. And it's a good thing we did. When we were dropped off at Uniteds side, we entered the airport to find a massive line of United travelers. Good news was we didn't wait in that massive line for very long, as they opened up the ques that had been marked when we got there for those with carry-on luggage only to all travelers, and they pretty much opened the ropes right in front of us so we were first over to that side. We checked 3 bags; each of which included a bright yellow Disney Magical Express tag to signify that upon arrival in Orlando, Disney would be bringing it to our room for us. Keep this tag in mind.

We pay our $45 baggage fees (as that was cheaper we decided than paying $125 for overweight bags), get our boarding passes and head for security. Which actually wasn't terrible. I gather up all the ID's and boarding passes and handed them to the TSA agent who checks all that stuff before you even start putting your stuff through the xray machines. Once through that, we head  for the "family" line and got in position. Sounds weird I know. But when traveling with a baby, you need to have a plan of action. Dad and Ken went through first, then mom and Keegan, and then me. The plan was for dad and Ken to gather up bags, jackets, shoes, etc as they were cleared through the xray, mom was to just take care of Keegan and nothing else, and I was bringing up the rear. It worked like a charm. We even had all of Keegan's jar baby food and juices which were all over 3oz in a lunch box so we didn't have to dig through a bag for them when TSA asked for them. The agent who ran the wand over all his food and joice items said we made traveling with a baby look like a piece of cake. :D That was nice to hear. :D


Through security, we headed down to the train. And then our gate to wait for our flight. All together, from the time we left the house, to the time we got to our gate, it was two and a half hours. Not horrible at all really. Now we just sit and wait till it's time to take off!

I shall leave this chapter here for now. As it is getting close to the little ones bath and bed time. Chapter two will follow tomorrow. :D