Trip Report Why not ? Booking tonight for this weekend !

We've been talking about it for awhile, but we haven't acted on it. My daughter in FL has a long weekend as we do too. The only issue was that my wife just started her new job a month ago and she was reluctant to ask for time off. She decided to ask this morning and her new manager said "Yes !" So we started looking and booking. My wife and I both have airline miles so that's taken care of. My daughter will pick us up at the airport so that's taken care of. Looks like we'll be leaving from PHL Thursday night and arriving in Orlando around midnight. Plans will be discussed tonight when we do our nightly call with our daughter. We'll have 3.5 days because our departing flight leaves from Jacksonville at 6:00 PM on Monday. We'll be able to squeeze a half day at a park Monday. We were sad that we missed the Christmas holidays at the parks this year; probably the first time in 20 yrs. This last-minute trip is a bonus so we're very excited.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Congrats!!!!

 

[erstwo]

Enjoy! I once booked on a Thursday night (flights and WDW) and flew out Friday morning because my daughter INSISTED we had to take a girls trip for President’s Day weekend. I was so reluctant but she was adamant.
It was 2020 and little did we know the whole world would shut down weeks later. I ended up being so grateful for that trip and those memories!

 

[MickeyCB]

Have fun!

 

[Seagull59]

Have a great trip!

 

[Swissmiss]

Enjoy!

 

[Darstarr]

 

[macefamily]

Everything came together nicely. We were able to book my daughter's dog for daycare at Disney's Best Friends Kennel which was very lucky. That's usually booked up on holiday weekends. All parks were open. We reserved MK on Friday, Epcot on Saturday, and HS for Sunday with a hop to AK. We booked a dog-friendly hotel on Rt 192 just down the road from Lake Buena Vista. Looking forward to screwing up my diet at The Arts Festival.

 

[heatherhy01]

Have a great trip! so exciting and spontaneous, I love it!

 

[BigDis]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[MissViv]

Last minute trips are so much fun - enjoy!

 

[Katiekitten]

This sounds very exciting and I have to say I am little bit jealous you can just book last minute trips, they take a little bit more planning coming from England. I look forward to reading more about it!

 

[macefamily]

This sounds very exciting and I have to say I am little bit jealous you can just book last minute trips, they take a little bit more planning coming from England. I look forward to reading more about it!

I must say that we heard many more Brit accents throughout the parks this trip. Glad to hear that. I rousted a gentleman in the Tower of Terror line who was wearing a Tottenham jersey. I was wearing my Chelsea jacket. All in good fun.
I'm organizing my photos and getting ready to start posting today after I catch up on work, meetings, etc.

 

[Katiekitten]

I must say that we heard many more Brit accents throughout the parks this trip. Glad to hear that. I rousted a gentleman in the Tower of Terror line who was wearing a Tottenham jersey. I was wearing my Chelsea jacket. All in good fun.
I'm organizing my photos and getting ready to start posting today after I catch up on work, meetings, etc.

I look forward to seeing your photos!

 

[heatherhy01]

I must say that we heard many more Brit accents throughout the parks this trip. Glad to hear that. I rousted a gentleman in the Tower of Terror line who was wearing a Tottenham jersey. I was wearing my Chelsea jacket. All in good fun.
I'm organizing my photos and getting ready to start posting today after I catch up on work, meetings, etc.

Cannot wait to read all about your trip!

 

[macefamily]

Start of the trip. Late flight (9:40PM) out of Philly. Wife drove and I slept for the two hour drive which is unusual for me. I knocked myself out with a few vodka and Frescas before we hit the road. We didn't have any dinner so we stopped by Chickie and Pete's for a burger and a few beers. First time I had a beer since Thanksgiving; been trying to watch my carbs. I jumped right back in with a Pennsylvania brewed Troegs Perpetual IPA ! I'm figuring that I'll be consuming many beer flights at the Arts Festival.



eer

 

[KellBelle]

Following along! Last minute get aways are the best!

 

[macefamily]

There are plusses and minuses when you choose to work a full day and fly a late night flight. First, we didn't have to use an extra vacation day from work. Also, there's less traffic heading into the Philly airport. MCO is a ghost town at midnight as you can see in these pics so social distancing is not a problem.
However, the next day (first day at the parks) is a double Starbucks day because we'll need an extra kick to keep things rolling. Our first park is going to be Magic Kingdom. Get ready.

 

[macefamily]

Got to our dog-friendly hotel in Kissimmee about 1:00 AM. I made sure to bring a bottle of Tito's vodka in my checked bag along with a bottle of Fresca to mix a nightcap to finish the long, long day. I had a drink and watched the local news replays while the family nodded off. I was probably asleep by 2:30 AM, but, as usual, I was the first one up when Bean woke me up to take him out around 7:00 AM. Not much sleep, but I was excited for our first day. I took Bean out for his morning duties. I had to take a pic of the outdoor hotel fountain. I'm a sucker for fountains. It was a crisp FL morning around 50 degrees.

 

[macefamily]

"Move on up to the end"......yep, the social distancing for your trip to Magic Kingdom is officially done. As I stated on our last trip report, gone are the plastic dividers and limited seating in monorail cars. It's back to pack it in elbow to elbow ! The parking trams are back ! That doesn't matter too much to me since we have a handicap placard because of an old football injury I incurred 25 years ago. Although it might be better to take a tram instead of the half mile walk to start the day from the rear of the handicap section. C'mon along with us as we take our monorail trip with a hundred others packed into this sardine can bound for the happiest place on Earth. For us Pennsylvanians it was a gorgeous day. 55 degrees and a clear sky. For our former Pennsylvanian, now a Jacksonville girl, she was freezing.