Dates: 12/22/00-12/31/00

Travelers: Me (cheezman05 aka Kevin); Mom; Dad; Kristin (older sister)

Travelers who will come down on 12/24/00: Grandma; Grandpa; Aunt Teresa; Uncle Chuck; Uncle Ron; Aunt Sue; Brenden (cousin)

Resort: Boardwalk Villas

This is sort of a mini-reunion of my Mom’s side of the family. (Her Mom and Dad, Sister and her husband, Brother and his wife and son)

DAY 1 - Friday, December 22

After packing the last night we awake this morning ready to drive to Columbus (we live in Akron). The temperature was 5º and there was a –25º wind chill. BURRR! We are driving down and spending the night at the Concourse Hotel, (right on Port-Columbus Airport property) because we found cheaper airfares out of Columbus. Our plane leaves early tomorrow, so instead of getting up at 3:00am and driving 2 hours to Columbus, we decided to drive down today and spend the night. This also gets us free parking.

We headed for Columbus at 1:00pm, and arrived at the hotel at 3:45pm, after stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch halfway there. We checked-in and went to our room. We watched TV (or attempted to because there was only 10 channels!) At 6:15 Dad and I went to McDonald’s to get food and bring it back. They messed up our order totally! After an absolutely boring evening of nothing, we went to bed at 9:30. Just to let you all know, when we leave to go to WDW, I like to go straight there after leaving the house. Going to Columbus and spending the night was awful. To me it was a bad way to start off what is supposed to be a great vacation.

Anyway…I couldn’t sleep. It was midnight until I actually slept for a period of time. From midnight on, I would sleep for a period of time, and then would be awake for a period of time. This happened all night and I hated it! I think this happened because I was too excited. Oh well.

DAY 2 - Saturday, December 23

The alarm went off at 4:30, and I jumped to the ceiling because it was so loud! Of course I was the one next to it, so I turned it off really quick. Mom, Dad, and Kristin took showers while I slept some more. (I take my showers at night, so I didn’t leave for WDW smelling bad for all of you wondering!) I finally rolled out of bed at 5:00.

We left at 6:05 on a shuttle to the airport. We arrive within a couple of minutes, and we checked our bags and got our boarding passes. We ate at Wendy’s before going to the gate. This was an awful breakfast! The food quality was poor.

At 6:45 we went to our gate and sat for almost an hour. We finally board at 7:35. Once on the plane, the captain comes on and says there will be a 30 minute delay due to the low visibility in Chicago. (We have to catch a plane to Orlando from Chicago O’Hare, because we couldn’t get a direct flight at a cheap rate from a city around us!) So, we aren’t off to a great start due to the weather. (We thought weather might be a problem, so we weren’t alarmed.) We taxied out at 8:15, and then 15 minutes later the captain comes on again and says there will be a 45 minute delay added on to the 30 minutes.

So, we take-off at 9:15. (An hour and 15 minutes after we were supposed to.) We land at 10:05 (9:05 Central Time) We got off the plane and started to head to the gate for the plane to Orlando. Boy was that a hike! We had to go from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1. As the crow flies, it’s not far. But walking there is another story. It was a long way there. This was my first time at Chicago O’Hare. I couldn’t believe how big it was! We finally got to the gate.

We boarded the plane at 11:45, (10:45 CT) and taxied out 15 minutes later, then took-off 20 minutes later. We took-off 30 minutes later than scheduled, but landed at 2:20 EST which was less than 10 minutes after scheduled arrival. Not bad! The weather was sunny, with the temperature being in the mid to upper 60’s.

We took the monorail-type thing to the main building and went down to baggage claim. As we were coming down the escalator we saw 3 men holding signs. They were from Tiffany Towncar, and one of those signs was for us! Our towncar driver, Ian, helped us get our baggage, and took us outside where he told us to wait while he went to get the car. We filled his trunk, and got into the car.

Ian was great. We stopped at Publix where we got most of the groceries we wanted. (I say most because once we were in our room we noticed we forgot some things.) We headed out to the car, and filled his trunk to the limit! We actually had to hold a bag! Our next stop was glorious Walt Disney World, although I personally was not excited yet. “Why am I not excited?” was all I was thinking. I should have been bouncing off the walls, and I just couldn’t figure out why I was not excited! I am normally the most hyper thing alive when we head to WDW!

We arrived at the Boardwalk in a short time. We unloaded everything and got a bellman to take it. We checked-in. Got our Disney Vacation Club packet along with our keys, but no “Welcome Home” like I have heard most Members get while checking-in.

Dad and Kristin went to the room with the bellman, while Mom and I went to Guest Services to get our Candlelight Processional Tickets and our list of Priority Seatings. I thought the way they did the Candlelight Processional Tickets this year was neat. In the past 2 years we received the ticket in a plastic sleeve, and you had to pin it to your shirt. This year we got a lanyard along with a pin on it. It took forever for the CM to get the tickets stamped with the date, then she had to unzip the plastic sleeve, and put them in and zip them back up. She had to do that 11 times! We got up to our room, and we were impressed. It was spacious! Our room number was 3085. It was a Studio (standard view). The room looked over the main entrance. It wasn’t a bad view. It wasn’t too far from the elevators, but since we used the stairs 10 times more throughout the trip, it didn’t matter. There were stairs right next to the room, (which went out near Luna Park) and this was a plus for us.

We walked to Tubbi’s at the Swan & Dolphin to eat. We weren’t too impressed. It didn’t seem “Disney” like. We went back to the room, where Mom and Kristin stayed, but Dad and I grabbed jackets, and decided to go exploring. We walked along the Boardwalk to the Epcot walkway. We walked there even though we weren’t going in just to see where it was and how far and long it took to walk it. It is a short walk, which we liked. Now we walked over to the Yacht and Beach Club. These resorts seemed nice, and they were very well themed. The Christmas trees in each lobby were neat with all the different ornaments. I liked how there were seashells on the tree in the Beach Club, and there were big boats on the tree in the Yacht Club. Now we headed back to the Boardwalk and decided to check out the new MGM walkway. It was a great walkway. We went all the way to the entrance and the bus stops, looking for a bus back to the Boardwalk because our feet were tired, having it been our first day of long walking, and we weren’t used to it. We didn’t see a stop for Boardwalk. Went to ride the boat, but there was a long line. So we let out a big sigh and walked back, later learning that since there is a boat and walkway to Epcot and MGM, that there were no buses. Went back to the room and went to bed at 11:00.

Today Grandma and Grandpa drove from Akron to Cambridge, Ohio to pick up Teresa and Chuck. Then they drove to Ron and Sue’s house in Columbia, South Carolina.

Stay tuned, because tomorrow, Dad and I have our first day in the parks. We go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot!

Part 2...

 

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