I woke up at 5:20 to orange lights outside. I got up just in time to see us sail by Rusty's. Our cruise was ending!
I got everyone moving and we went down to breakfast. Then, back up to the cabin to gather our carry-off bags. We headed to the Encore to wait for Zone 30. They were on 6, 7 and 8 when we headed down at 7:20.
We quickly realized we weren't getting off earlier than our scheduled 9:10-9:20 time frame. They were calling 2-3 zones at a time every twenty minutes. As we reached 9:10, they were at zone 28. Katie came on after the bing bong and said Zone 29. What!! That is not nice! Then, at 9:25 we got our bing bong. Quickly breezed through customs and down the escalator where our bags were right there on the conveyor. A very efficient porter grabbed them from us and put them on his cart. Took us right to where our Budget shuttle would be. We waited maybe 10 minutes and there he was. Just enough time to snap one last photo.
Loaded on with a couple other families and we went to see what kind of car we would have. I had reserved a Ford Taurus. The agent asked if we minded a larger car. Not at all we said. Larger meant more trunk space! We got a Grand Marquis and the smallest suitcase had to go in the back seat. The kids slept the whole way to Orlando, so no problem.
We arrived at the airport around 11:15. At 11:45, we had our boarding passes and bags checked. Painless process. I had done the Early Bird check-in through Southwest. So we had A passes! We were off to Chick Fil A. This is what I miss the most about Florida after Heather! So happy we weren't flying out on a Sunday!
We finished our lunch and headed to the gate around 12:30 after a brief stop to have a Disney store employee lend me some scissors so I could cut off the kids' muster bands. Orlando needs to fix the security process. Two lanes were closed and we were herded into three lanes. Midway has straight lines the entire time. And, it was lunch time on a Saturday! Glad we started an hour and a half early! It took us 30 minutes.
Then, Dan got stopped. Turns out snow globes are unacceptable for security. Great! I had packed Matthew's glass and ceramic Cozumel one which barely contained 3 oz of water in our duffel bag so it wouldn't get jostled. Matthew realized what was happening. So, he ran back over to Dan and the guard. "Do I get to keep my snow globe, Mister?" We got to keep it but Dan had to go all the way back to the Southwest counter to check the duffel bag. He was given a pass to bypass security on the way back. He was at the gate with us 10 minutes later. I was already preparing Matthew that his snow globe may not survive.
We boarded the plane with passes A26-A29. We got to sit in rows together. Amanda and I were right in front of Dan and Matthew. A pilot from Southwest sat next to me. So interesting. His wife was on the aisle in the row in front of us. She found 2 unused Southwest coloring books in her seat pocket. The kids were thrilled! And, they gave them their peanuts too.
As we approached Chicago, he told me exactly when to take my shot of the skyline. Amazing!! The plane turned just like he said. And he forewarned Amanda that the landing would be faster and bumpier than Orlando. Hate landing at Midway! As we landed, we heard from the seat behind us, "Let's do that again!" We will next summer, Matthew!
We got all five bags and the snow globe had survived!! Yay! A happy ending to the saga of the snow globe! We called Grandma and Grandpa and they picked us up right outside baggage claim. They had been waiting in the free cell phone area.
We had a wonderful cruise! The kids can't wait for the next one. We'll have a teenager and a twelve year old. Yikes!!
No comments:
Post a Comment