Month: May 2006

A more-or-less chronological set of events …

1. We all bundled into the car for the airport, well-packed and ready to rock, right about on time. Packing had gone faster than expected (which is what one should expect from Margie, while I fussed about the house prepping it to go).

   Knowing we were off to sweltering climes, I opted for cargo shorts and Hawaiian shirts (cotton) for the week. I did bring a pair of slacks, if needed (they weren’t). I didn’t have any good walking shoes, alas — I was in sandals the entire week, both some older (and better) rubber ones, and a new pair that Margie bought for me that were not nearly as comfy as they looked like they’d be.

2. Got to DIA. We’d printed our boarding passes at home, so could go straight to the “Baggage check for Internet boarding passes” counter, which had for kiosks, travellers at each of them (once we arrived) and one guy whose attention was split with the regular counter next to us. Since he had to recover the baggage tags and load them on the conveyor, it was annoying (and emblematic of the done side of UAL’s cost cutting and automation efforts — lowballing the support staff needed for the remaining manual processes).

   We went through security with no problems, glad for my Premier card (the only advantage that travelling so much has). We were off on Concourse A, flying Ted, so we found our gate and settled down there. Margie made some last minute phone calls regarding meal and service reservations, while I kept Kitten busy, and we ate some cinnamon rolls from the nearby restaurant.

   We ought to have eaten more, as this was a “buy-a-box” flight … a Ted “cost savings” efficiency that just irks the hell out of me. “You can have your 0.125 oz. of mini-pretzels, or you can spend $5 for a box of snack bags and packages.” Feh. I went hungry. We’d packed gorp for the trip, but didn’t have it with us. We managed to survive, somehow — Margie read and watched the movie, I read, and Katherine watched her DVD player (her Leapster having vanished).

3. When we got to MCO, we were met by the Disney’s Magical Express people, about which more elsewhere.

   Upon arrival (huzzah!) at Port Orleans Riverside, we checked in and hiked off to our room. It was a dauntingly long hike — though, mercifully, it was because we took the long way around. We were over in Parterre Place on Magnolia Bend, the big plantation-style buildings at PO-R.We were actually quite close to the bridge across to the lodge, which worked out nicely.

   We headed over for a swim at the Ol’ Man Island pool. That’s the central pool with all the fun waterfalls and water slide and poolside bar and all; eleventy million screaming kids, but, then, Katherine was one of them. There are “quiet” pools closer to the room, but they’re for, like, swimming, not for fun.

   Mild irony here: last time we stayed here and swam, Katherine (much smaller) enjoyed the water slide. This time — no dice. She even got in line with me a few times, then balked at the last moment. Not sure what was going on there. But we had fun nonetheless, and she was able to do lots of good swimming regardless.

   We got out of the pool just in time for it to start to rain. We grabbed some quick drinks from the bar and walked back in a light drizzle to our room — which turned into a full-fledged heavens-opening-up downpour in short order. Right about the time the ‘rents were supposed to be landing at MCO. Ruh-roh …

   Back in the room, our bags had arrived, so we unpacked, and were ready for action.

4. The entertainment for the evening was designed to be twofold. We were going to go see Yehaa Bob at the lounge, whose show started at 7:30. That woud be just about time for the ‘rents to get from the airport at 6:30, which would be the big surprise, because Katherine didn’t know they were joining us! It was designed to be a most memorable evening.

   First, a quick meal at the food court, then we were in position … well, way ahead of time, because I’d though Bob started at 7, and I wanted to be sure and grab a table that would seat the seven of us. Alas, the best table for that was waaaaay at the front, and so I sat there very self-conscious of how three of us were taking up a table of seven … plus, since we were early, I felt we needed to order drinks, and …

   At any rate, the ‘rents didn’t actually show up until 8:30, at which time the show was in full swing and I was on my second Kungaloosh. That said, it was a great appearance, and Kitten was really jazzed and the show went on until 10 so we all had a lot of fun.

   Indeed, we all felt like we lost weight just watching Bob do his thing. How he does it pretty much nightly is beyond me. No wonder he’s so skinny.

5. The ‘rents bags took a bit longer to get there,

And that was pretty much it for the day. To bed and to sleep.

Actually posted 6 June, backdated to the day it covers.

Getting cooled off at a water-squirting giant Coke bottle at Disney-MGM.

UPDATE: This photo got swallowed by airblogging. Reposted 6/3. Ginger, Gloria, Katherine, and Margie are all in the picture.

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At the Disney Magical Express area at MCO (Orlando International).

UPDATE: A large queueing area for folks to line up, one line for each resort, so that the busses can be sensibly filled and dispatched. Lots of empty space — but I suspect things got hopping later on, given the weekend.

Margie’s standing next to the small pink suitcase. Katherine is hiding behind Big Sid, the large teddy bear that fit inside of the small pink suitcase.

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