I was able to take a trip of a life time recently. My best friend Telly called me a few months ago and asked if I would like to go on a family vacation with her, her mom and step-dad, and brother! I honestly had not seen her in a year and her family in nearly 5 years! Somehow the thought was hard to process, why me? Of course I was super excited and said yes! We would be going to Orlando, 3 days at Universal Studios Resort and 4 days at Disney World Resort and two days of travel! AMAZING! This post might be a little bit long and full of lots of pictures. The funny part, I didn't take any of the pictures! lol, and if your wondering, Derrick wasn't able to come with me! It was hard to leave him at home for that long!
Day ONE,
So the day before my flight my mom told me not to miss my flight! ME? I have flown a lot and never have missed my flight! Derrick and I stayed up late and slept through the alarm! We got to the airport about an hour before the flight. I Sky Capped my bag to save time. I hurried up stairs and realized the TSA line was ridiculously busy! While in the line I realize that my name was being paged over the airport paging system..... What on earth would they want me for.... I didn't want to get out of line to go find a phone, they continued for another 20 minutes or so. When I was through with the TSA line I asked someone where a curtesy phone was. Little did I know they sent me to a phone further away from my gate! The phone said my husband was trying to get a hold of me, She asked if I had a way to call him... of course my phone.... I went to reach for it and I didn't have it! Mild panic arose in my throat? I have the hotel reservation for that night and with no phone, how do I get a hold of Telly! The operator kindly connected me to Derrick, we chatted about the predicament, then we 3 way called my parent's home in hopes someone would answer to give me the family calling card number. While they pulled all their resources to find the number, successfully I hang up with with a little over 15 minutes before flight was to depart. I ran my little heart out to the gate and it was closed, 10 minutes to departure. The gate agent called the plane and they had already shut the doors.... I missed my flight!
Little tears ran down my face and I searched out for the airline's curtesy phones. The first guy I talked to was a jerk so I hung up and picked the phone up again and found a very helpful lady! My options where to pay even more money and confirm me a seat there, or fly standby and pray I get to where I need to! Well, I wasn't going there with a whole lot of money and I already had to pay to check my bag coming and going. So I decided to fly standby on a prayer! The lady put me on the list to fly to Cincinnati then onto Orlando. I would have a higher priority then employees flying standby and buddy passes, the flight left in 40 minutes. I hung up the phone and headed over to the new counter and talked with them. The lady on the phone said there were a few seats open, the gate agent told me it was a sold out flight! GRRR and scary, I am basically waiting for someone to miss their flight to get on! I wanted more then anything to get to Orlando tonight! I was second on the standby list, after waiting til all that were there to board the flight, they called my name to take the last seat on the plane. I asked the gate agent what I did form here. She told me I was on my way to Cincinnati and once I got there, I would have to figure out how to get to Orlando... Wow that was reassuring!
It has been about 3 years to the day since I flew into Cincinnati, which is really across the boarder in Kentucky, it is the land of my birth! I called home to tell them I was on my way and my sister wanted to really know if I was really in KY and what I was doing there! lol In Cincinnati the flight to Orlando had several seats available and the gate agent reassured me that I would more then likely get on! Mean while I have no cell phone and I'm trying to arrange how to meet up with my bf in an airport we have never been to before.
The pilot let us know sometime in the beginning of the flight that there were clouds over Orlando but that they should clear before we got there. As we got closer to Orlando we were informed that all in and out bound flights were not running, too big of a storm. The pilot informed us we would be circle the airport until we either ran out of fuel or were given permission to land at another airport, a little heartless comment on the pilots end. After we circled west of the airport over the ocean for about 45 mins- hour, then we were told that our holding fuel was gone and we would need to land at another airport, refuel, and try it again. We landed at Jacksonville Airport, refueled, waited for the pilot to resubmit a flight plan ect... After being on the ground for 45 min- hour, we were given permission to take off and land at Orlando International. All was well and we met up at the airport and headed to the hotel! No joke, we talked til 5am, not to mention we walked to a not so tasty restaurant at 1am. The rest of the family was going to pick us up at 8:30 am to go check into our cabin that we would be staying at for the rest of the week.
Day TWO,
We started off with Universal Studios! It is so freak'n HOTT here in Orlando!! I couldn't even breath in deep! We were having way too much fun to always remember how hot and icky humid it was!
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| Telly and I |
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| Waiting for the Jurassic Park Ride to open! Big thunder and lightning storm just about every afternoon and basically all the rides in the park close for anywhere from 30-40 mins. |
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| Got too tired standing, decided to sit! Luckily we were covered! All of the scary coasters (as I call them) were amazing! If your kids are old enough, single rider line is amazing and the only way to go! We could get on any ride in 15 mins and upto 60+ mins in the regular line! I loved everything here so much! I was still awe struck all the time of how we cold really be here! I decided if we can save the money, I would bring Derrick here next Summer! Off to Harry Potter World! |
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| AMAZINGLY YUMMY! $5.50 outside and $2.99 inside restaurant! It tastes like butterscotch! I am not a person who would normally like butterscotch, but it was delicious! |
HP World was the most crowed place I have ever been in my life! You even had to wait in a line to go into some of the shops! The streets were crazy to walk down!!! The rides there were amazing too! LOVED it and I am not a huge HP fan.
DAY 3
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| Moose Juice, Goose Juice.... YUM YUM! |
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| Telly wouldn't let me out and I was getting hosed! |
Had fun in Dr. Seuss World today! We played at the Island of Adventure for half a day and made our way to Universal Studios the other half! LOVED our Park hopper pass!
DAY FOUR
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| A Christmas store! Holy COW |
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| One last ButterBeer before we left for the night! |
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| Telly, Connor, and I. Last day at Universal Studios. Onto Disney World! |
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| Saafe and Connor |
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| What a long long long day! |
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| Had fun at dinner with Tim and Saafe! Thanks guys for an amazing trip! |
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| This is where we ate! |
Day 5
EPCOT
Magic Kingdom
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| The longest line we were in all week... |
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Thanks guys for a fun time!
Telly, Saafe, Connor, and Tim |
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| So I wanted to take a picture of his butt because it had DISNEY written across it and it made me giggle! I restrained myself! |
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| LOVE THESE GUYS! |
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| Super Cool! |
11pm to 3am @ Magic Kingdom
DAY 7 Magic Kingdom
We were so tired today! After getting to bed at 5am and then getting up at 8:30.
We took a nap in the afternoon!
DAY 8
Telly and I went shopping today and I loved every minute of it! I can not tell you the last time I was able to really hang out and shop with my best friend! I had an awesome time! Oh and we ate lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe! Super Yummy and Super fun! We went to Animal Kingdom that evening too!
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| When we went to the park, it was pouring! |
My last night and I had the time of my life! I hope Telly and I can get together more often. The distance of where we live determines the frequency of our visits! Saafe also made me promise to not wait 5 years to visit also!
DAY 9
I had to catch the shuttle at 4 am! CRAZY I was super tired. I was sooo tired and decided not to offer my seat on the plane for a voucher ticket! I couldn't wait to see my sweetheart! Well that's my story in a nutshell! lol
Until next time!
