DAY 1 - TRAVEL & MK
The adventure begins
So let's pick-up exactly where we left off!
After a long night of tossing and turning, and waking up every 30 minutes (or so it seemed) - it was time to wake up!!!
Even though we were tired as hell, we were too excited to care - we were going to Disney!
I had set the alarm clock for 4:45 since we needed to be down at the lobby for 5:20 to catch the shuttle to the airport. We should of gotten up 15 minutes earlier - I didn't take into account that we are a little slower at this time of day... Luckily we made it down just in time to get into the shuttle and we left immediately for the airport.
Not even 10 minutes later we were entering the airport to go check-in and drop our baggages (with our DME tags
). We thought that we would have plenty of time to loiter around the airport, have breakfast and play around on our phones... well as a controversial president would say: "WRONG!"
Going through security and customs pre-clearance took forever - almost 45 minutes. And then we were trying to find a place to have breakfast and all we could find was a Tim Hortons... and don't get me wrong I like donuts and breakfast sandwichs as much as the next guy - unfortunately I couldn't get any of those options. All they had was bagels, muffins and croissants - nothing that was going to hold me over until 1pm - and of cours their god-awful coffee! I ended up having a sesame seed bagel with butter and an orange juice - it wasn't memorable. Oh I forgot to mention, we waited 25 minutes in line for this mandatory meal.
Once we finished eating, we did a quick pit stop in order to skip going to the bathroom in the airplane - I'm not a big fan of flying and I always take Gravol before boarding - wish I didn't have motion sickness and Oli's innocence of not knowing the "dangers" of flying!
At 7:40 sharp we were making our way to the tarmac - and 5 minutes later we were going up into the sky.
It was a good flight and we even shaved 20 minutes on the planned itinerary. Oli loved flying and see the clouds from above - he was fascinated.
We landed at MCO around 11:00. We were sitting about mid-plane so got off fairly quickly (no pun intended
). Luckily we didn't have to go to baggage claim to pick-up our bags - this allowed to sprint to the DME check-in. It was far... not 2 minutes away far... More like take the train from your terminal to the next, make your way to the escalator, then to the next escalator to get to the first floor, and then walked for, what seemed, 5 miles to get to the DME check-in - where we were met with 6 long lines
. And all the lines seemed stuck because of some "special" person couldn't get his **** together and have either his Magicband or DME letter ready
. We ended up changing lines 4 times to finally getting to a clerk - and it litteraly took us 30 seconds to scan our letter and join line 9... the only line that seemed to have people. We finally boarded the bus after waiting for about 10 minutes - even though we were about the 20th person to board the bus, we got prime seats
We got first row!!!! I was so glad to see the Welcome to Disney sign up front - even if there was a big eyesore
We were very pumped to get to the resort and then explore MK! Unfortunately I had forgotten that the ride was long - particularly when you have a slow driver, and when you need to stop at 3 other resorts. We stopped at Saratoga for 6 guests, then Key West for 4 guests, French Quarter for about 15 guests and finally Riverside for about 30 guests!
While on the bus I got an email from Disney telling me that my room was ready and giving me our room number
(still had to check-in to get the Magic Bands). But then I took a closer look at the email, and I was a little disapointed...
I had requested Building 90 - Oak Manor, with a 2nd level room and preferably a corner room. We (or should I say I) had wanted to be close to the main building and bus stops, and we were far from all that. I get that requests are just that, but COME ON give a guy a break - we had gotten a 1st level room in building 91 (Parterre Place) completely at the far right of the building - in the back...but with a corner room
. Maybe it was because we had initially booked at CBR and had gotten a Royal Room at POR with only a $130 bump in price...
I had a new mission when we got at the resort. Not only was I getting our bands, but I was gonna try to seduce (negotiate) a CM to something a little more up my alley.
When we arrived, our plan was clear - and since we were right in the front we had an advantage! As soon as the door opened, I dashed out of the bus towards registration while Emilie and Oli waited to grab our carry-on luggage from the bus. This allowed me to cut folks from our bus, only to arrive in registration to see a VERY long line...
What happened next? How long did I wait? Did we get a better room? Did we finally get lunch? Did we finally leave to visit MK and make our first FP?
Find out tomorrow 
and so grateful. He litterally jumped into my arms and told me that he was very happy and that he loved me - he was holding me so tight that I didn't want to let go. My eyes were filled with tears but they were tears of joy 
