I mentioned that I had among other hurdles, this trip was faced with a large one.... my work schedule. My job runs in 4 week cycles with the first week bearing the brunt of the work load. This first week is called "ad change". Aside from other issues that caused me to pause when it came to registering for the phm, the fact that the race was during ad change weekend. (a weekend I am usually forced to work in order to accomplish all my tasks) had me unsure of how I would manage work and the race. You see, I do not get any vacation time. Normally, is not a problem though since I essentially get one week off per month. (well, not really... but if I schedule my tasks right it can amount to 7 days off in a row) So I was faced with figuring out just HOW I would be shuffling things around so that I could get everything done for work as well as o to FL.
After some finagling with my boss, we agreed I would start ad change the previous week. (but not on paper) I would still need to do all of my reports while in florida. So monday and tuesday I scrambled to accomplish that which I would have on saturday and sunday.
If you have made it this far you are probably wondering what all this has to do with day one of the trip. Well it means that on Tuesday I was in fact working late and had to hustle to finish packing because we needed to be up by 3am for our flight.
3am, of course, came too soon. However, who can sleep when they are about to go to WDW??!!! We did great getting out the door and while I had wanted to leave by 3:30am we were actually on the road by 3:45am.
As our trip started out, it seemed to be starting out on the right foot. However that was put in question when I was driving and began going over things in my head. You know, the "did I get x? check. did I remember x? check" "did I remember my peanut butter?" OH! My Peanut Butter!!! As I mentioned it was the most stressful moment on the trip. Really, the MOST STRESSFUL. And it was done and out of the way before we even hit the airport. I know previous readers of my TR's might not believe this... but I assure you... this was a boring trip.
As we seemed to have more and more pixie dust floating our way (and it just never really stopped), we found ourselves at the airport by 4:15. 3:45 to 4:15... UNHEARD of! It can take an hour easy at any given time to get from where I live to the airport.
We had decided to check 4 bags. My new piece of luggage that had dimensions listed on the tag and even noted it was carryon compliant...was not
However.. no worries because SW allows 2 free bags per passenger.
We got through security and made our way to the gate. We picked up something at Starbucks and then made a last stop at the restroom. I probably should have gone first to get Zoe's preboard because when we came out they were starting preboard. It wasn't a big deal though. I just had to grab her pass and we were let on the plane right away. I just kinda felt bad for the other passengers. It probably looked like we were jumping the line.
I can't remember why Steve didn't board with us, but in order to sit together I chose a seat near the very back of the plane. Nice and quite, but not a good choice if you want to get off the plane quickly.
We had a pretty uneventful flight. I do think the plane itself could have used a bit more maintenance. The restroom in the back of the plane had some issues. When we landed, we were not even off the plane before the back was opened up and a maintenance crew boarded in order to fix the restroom issues.
On the ground, but not exiting the plane very quickly left is with little time to even get a bit to eat once we were in St. Louis. We basically used the restroom and were ready to preboard. (this time not only did I get the pass in a timely fashion but Steve accompanied us)
Yet another uneventful flight. Zoe and I watched a movie and shortly after we were on the ground.
Not long to get off the plane and soon it was time to have our first monorail ride of the trip.
Zoe loves to have her picture taken in front of the shops in the airport. Why not? We had arrived so early (for us) We had time.
We made it to DME by 4:30pm. By 4:45 we were on our way to CSR. We were the first stop and at 5:15 we were at CSR.
I have been to CSR to eat, so I was familiar enough with the main building. Yet I had never noticed the mickey in the lights being cast on the wall. So cool!
Steve and Zoe hung out while I checked us in.
I had requested the cabanas, but upon check in was assigned building 5 of the casitas. I kindly asked if there was anything in the cabanas. A couple clicks of the mouse later and a reassignment of keys...and we were in cabanas 9109, which is on the first floor and since I had booked a water view room, this is what we got.
I had a bit of reports to file for work, so I did that while Steve and Zoe checked out the surrounding area.
We then went to Rix cafe to get our mugs. At that point we decided that we were super hungry. We had not had anything serious to eat since our trip to Starbucks. We decided on PM.
Steve and I both ordered the half chicken with rice. SOOOO GOOD!!!
Zoe had a kids meal. Since she did not want anything off the adult menu, we paid oop for hers as well as for a cup of soup for Steve.
The server was super nice and accommodated us. The new system is a a bit tricky when paying oop vs. dp credits. Since we had our mugs she brought us water bottles
Desert was also yummy. Steve had a slice of cheesecake. Zoe had an icecream sundae and I had a raspberry bar.
After dinner we decided to try out the pool since it was steps away from our door. It was nice and we were the only ones in the pool.
After our swim time we finished unpacking, got ready for bed and were out by 10:30pm.
Next Up:
Thursday 2/21 - Day 2 Part 1