Greetings! This report is obviously long overdue but my life managed to get in the way. Anyway, hope you enjoy it!
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10.07 – Pre-Arrival Day
Our goal for today was to get some errands done, including check-in for the flight, and get to bed early. How early you might ask? Well…our flight was scheduled for 7:05am on the 8th, we’d have to be at the airport by 5am which means we’d have to leave the apartment by 3:45am (beauty of living an hour away.) We were so paranoid that we’d end up over sleeping so we decided to take a “nap” from 6pm to about 10; scary enough we can function on four hours of sleep.
Anyhoo…we settled in and before we knew it the alarm on my phone went off at 9:30. After checking the hockey scores I was up and decided to clean up the kitchen, because no one wants to come home to a dirty apartment. It was so nice because this was probably the least stressful departure day ever.
10.08 – Arrival, DTD, and MNSSHP
So 2am rolled around and I took a shower so I could pack up the last of my things. Once I was neat and pretty I sat down with “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” while I waited for my husband to finish getting ready. At this point the excitement of what was to come started to creep in. And by creep I mean it hit me like a truck. I was so ready to get on the road! Our luggage was all together and with one final check of the apartment, we were out the door!
The drive to the airport was easy. We stopped at a 24-hour McDonalds to get a quick bite to eat and some coffee (thank god) before continuing on. After parking the car and taking the shuttle to the terminal, we breezed through security, boarded the AeroTrain and arrived at the gate.
The flight took off right on time and we were in sunny Orlando just after 9am. We strolled through the terminal and, after taking the “monorail” found Magical Express right away.
This was our first time taking Magical Express. Once we were in our queue we only had to wait for maybe 10 minutes and we were on board. I snagged the front seats and we anxiously awaited leaving MCO.
Once we were underway the driver announced that Riverside was the first stop (firsties!) which worked out perfectly. My husband dozed off on the bus ride while I stared out the window telling myself that we were finally back at the place we love.
I nudged him awake right before we passed under The Welcome Sign.
(video!) --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl8MqNsTKfc
Once we grabbed our bags it was off to the Online Check-In counter. I was curious about this service and couldn’t have been happier with it. Super quick and everything was ready to go when I gave them my ID. They even had our anniversary buttons but the best part…our room was ready!
We left the lobby and headed around toward our room. We would be staying at Oak Manor, nice and quiet but still conveniently located.
It was so great being able to drop our bags off in the room and freshen up before heading out to conquer The World.
We walked around the resort for a bit soaking in the ambiance. I loved the bridges that went over the river; it was lovely getting to cross one of these every day. Comparing Riverside to French Quarter, I think the food court at Riverside wins out. The flow seemed a little easier and I liked the inside seating arrangements.
Since we had a lunch reservation at Rainforest Café it was decided that we’d take the boat to the Marketplace. Rainforest has become a small tradition on arrival day. Back on our first trip together it’s where we ate before going to the MK, which is where he proposed. On the honeymoon we kept with that routine which brings us to today, our anniversary! So it only seemed appropriate that we dined where it all began.
After a nice meal we continued our tour of DTD. We actually had some time to kill because we were waiting to get into the MK by 4pm for MNSSHP.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
10.07 – Pre-Arrival Day
Our goal for today was to get some errands done, including check-in for the flight, and get to bed early. How early you might ask? Well…our flight was scheduled for 7:05am on the 8th, we’d have to be at the airport by 5am which means we’d have to leave the apartment by 3:45am (beauty of living an hour away.) We were so paranoid that we’d end up over sleeping so we decided to take a “nap” from 6pm to about 10; scary enough we can function on four hours of sleep.
Anyhoo…we settled in and before we knew it the alarm on my phone went off at 9:30. After checking the hockey scores I was up and decided to clean up the kitchen, because no one wants to come home to a dirty apartment. It was so nice because this was probably the least stressful departure day ever.
10.08 – Arrival, DTD, and MNSSHP
So 2am rolled around and I took a shower so I could pack up the last of my things. Once I was neat and pretty I sat down with “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” while I waited for my husband to finish getting ready. At this point the excitement of what was to come started to creep in. And by creep I mean it hit me like a truck. I was so ready to get on the road! Our luggage was all together and with one final check of the apartment, we were out the door!
The drive to the airport was easy. We stopped at a 24-hour McDonalds to get a quick bite to eat and some coffee (thank god) before continuing on. After parking the car and taking the shuttle to the terminal, we breezed through security, boarded the AeroTrain and arrived at the gate.
The flight took off right on time and we were in sunny Orlando just after 9am. We strolled through the terminal and, after taking the “monorail” found Magical Express right away.
This was our first time taking Magical Express. Once we were in our queue we only had to wait for maybe 10 minutes and we were on board. I snagged the front seats and we anxiously awaited leaving MCO.
Once we were underway the driver announced that Riverside was the first stop (firsties!) which worked out perfectly. My husband dozed off on the bus ride while I stared out the window telling myself that we were finally back at the place we love.
I nudged him awake right before we passed under The Welcome Sign.
(video!) --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl8MqNsTKfc
Once we grabbed our bags it was off to the Online Check-In counter. I was curious about this service and couldn’t have been happier with it. Super quick and everything was ready to go when I gave them my ID. They even had our anniversary buttons but the best part…our room was ready!
We left the lobby and headed around toward our room. We would be staying at Oak Manor, nice and quiet but still conveniently located.
It was so great being able to drop our bags off in the room and freshen up before heading out to conquer The World.
We walked around the resort for a bit soaking in the ambiance. I loved the bridges that went over the river; it was lovely getting to cross one of these every day. Comparing Riverside to French Quarter, I think the food court at Riverside wins out. The flow seemed a little easier and I liked the inside seating arrangements.
Since we had a lunch reservation at Rainforest Café it was decided that we’d take the boat to the Marketplace. Rainforest has become a small tradition on arrival day. Back on our first trip together it’s where we ate before going to the MK, which is where he proposed. On the honeymoon we kept with that routine which brings us to today, our anniversary! So it only seemed appropriate that we dined where it all began.
After a nice meal we continued our tour of DTD. We actually had some time to kill because we were waiting to get into the MK by 4pm for MNSSHP.
