Walt Disney World/ Disney Cruise Vacation Part 1!



Did you ever read The Baby Sitter's Club growing up? I did. (I still do...) One of my favorites was the very first Super Special. (You know the ones I'm talking about. They were twice as long as the regular books and twice as expensive) "Baby Sitters On Board!"
The premise is that the Mr Pike won an all inclusive cruise to the Bahamas and 3 days at Walt Disney World at work. (Can you imagine the heart attack someone at the company had when they realized the dude with 8 kids won? I bet they didn't do that contest again.)  So the Pikes invite MaryAnne and Stacey to go with them as mother's helpers. Watson (Kristy's step-father) hears about it and decides he wants to go, too, so he takes Kristy's family and of course decides to take Claudia and Dawn because whatevs. This means they have 22 people going on this trip. I don't even want to imagine the logistics behind that.. 
Ever since reading it, I always wanted to go on a trip just like it. (Many of my bucket list items are from books apparently) But I never really thought it would be possible and that it was an extremely silly. 
Last December, Nate and I were discussing where we wanted to go for vacation in 2015 and decided to book a cruise. I've always been a huge Disney fan so we definitely thought about a Disney Cruise first and foremost. After researching other cruise lines, we decided to go with a 7 Night Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral on the Disney Fantasy. 
A few weeks after booking, Nate and I had both had a crap day at work. It had been a stressful week and while making dinner one night, I jokingly said we should just extend the vacation by a few days and go to Disney World. I didn't mean it in any serious sense really. More of a "Hey wouldn't that be cool?" but Nate looked at me and said "Sure. Let's do it!" We quickly booked a quick 3 night stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge and decided to keep it a secret from Samantha.



Mickey Mail makes me happy
Halloween on the High Seas?
Don't mind if I do. 

A couple months later, after another long day, we were texting each other during the day and decided to add in another night at Disney World. We ended up moving to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort in order to try out their Pirate themed rooms. After this, I quickly bought our flights so we wouldn't be tempted to add even more days.. (It was tempting..so tempting) 


MagicBands are the best thing ever



But after weeks of planning it was finally here! Nate started leave a few days before we left, but I still had a full day of work to get ready for the 2 week I would be out. 
I finished around 1.30pm and it was time to finally leave. Said a quick good bye to my co workers, set my out of office and was ready to get the Jeep loaded. 


So much luggage...

Then it was off to surprise Sami! She knew about the cruise, and knew it was a week away, but she hadn't learned about the Walt Disney World portion yet. I had surprised her with a trip to WDW for her 7th Birthday and it was definitely fun to do. Since I was traveling alone that time, I didn't get a chance to record anything. So I made sure to get it this time. 


She's a character..




We were able to make it to Phoenix Sky Harbor International by a quarter to 4. Plenty of time to drop the Jeep off, get to the terminal, through check in and TSA and to our gate in time for our flight into Los Angeles. 


She's becoming a travel pro

We get to our gate and grab a snack. And we wait...and wait. . . 
I finally get a text saying our flight has been delayed by 45 minutes. Sigh
And then delayed again....




And again...

Yep, still here....




Someone, Save us. Why do you hate us, Delta?


Finally, after nearly 3 hours of delays, we finally board our flight into LAX. Did I mention we have a connection that leaves at 10pm? Delta promised we'd probably make it...



Yeah, We didn't. 

We landed in time, however, we were stuck on the runway for 25 minutes because people kept getting up to go to the bathroom, and there was a child that didn't want to sit down and was wandering around the aisle. The parent was completely oblivious and didn't seem to care when the flight attendants asked him to keep her seated. 

However, it didn't actually matter as Delta has rebooked us on a different flight before we had even left Phoenix. (But forgot to mention it to us when we called...Go. Delta.) 

After some very unhelpful assistance from the Delta gate agents, I was able to get through on the hotline where I found out that they had rebooked us on a flight arriving six hours later than we had originally planned and rerouting us from LAX to Minneapolis/St Paul and then in to Orlando. (Our original flight was PHX-LAX-MCO) Our new flights would leave about 2 hours later after midnight. 

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. We got Sami down on the floor in her blanket to nap until our flight while I tried to relax. (The customer service we received at LAX was abysmal and extremely unhelpful.) I ended up half carrying Sami on to the airplane because she was out like a light. Considering she's only a few inches shorter than me, it was quite the sight. I see you staring at us Guy Across the Aisle..

Flying over Los Angeles. Hi Jason!
Sleepy Sami...



We got to Minneapolis at sunrise, I grabbed breakfast and coffee for everyone, and waited for what would end up being yet another delay. (Although this one not nearly as bad as out of Phoenix)

Don't tempt me...It's 5 am but I could go for it...


Everyone is Happy and the sun is up..We should have been on our way to the resort at this time...

By this time, Nate and I were a bit punchy and laughing uncontrollably at everything. I'm quite sure people thought we were drunk...The Delta Safety video had us in a fit of giggles. 


The hell, Delta?


We all settled in for the flight in to Orlando. Thankfully, Delta had a great entertainment selection and we were all able to choose different movies to watch during the 3+ hour flight. 

Yeah, you know it. 

We finally land, and it's raining in Orlando. Quite the welcome change from the extreme heat we left in Phoenix. It's close to 11am Florida time by this point, I had been awake for nearly 30 hours had been what felt like all over the United States and was quite ready to crash. But, no rest for the weary. We were meeting our friends; Brandon and Erin and their kids in just a couple of hours and had FastPass reservations to get to. 

Disney's Magical Express is amazing























Stay Tuned for Day 2!  


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