The train arrived in Orlando although we stopped short of the station so they could un-hook the car-carrying train car and get ready to start off-loading our cars. We had paid a little extra to have our car be one of the first 20 off the train. That seemed like a good thing because there were many cars and I could see that some people would end up waiting an hour or more.
We hopped in the car and started driving to Disney. Sanford is North of Disney and it probably took about 15 minutes to go West to I-4. From there it's a straight shot Southwest to Disney World. I found this drive very interesting. We had stayed in the Sea World area in February so I was somewhat familiar with the theme park area of Orlando (Sea World, Universal, and then Disney is a bit further Southwest). What I hadn't fully understood that is that downtown Orlando is North of all of the theme parks. I had never seen downtown Orlando (although we are attending a medical conference in May and are staying at the Peabody which we could see from I-4). I enjoyed learning more about the geography of Orlando.
It was raining a little bit during the drive but nothing terrible or worrisome. Scattered drizzle. The drive was otherwise uneventful (no vomiting, for example!
) and we arrive at the Boardwalk in the late morning.
(required Disney-Addict picture)
I went to check-in while Tom got our bags checked with bell services. Our rental stroller was waiting for us as was our container from Owner's Locker (we just joined on this trip). Our room wasn't ready yet.
And here was the next little "issue" that happened. The original plan was to spend the afternoon at the pool at then head to Splitsville for some bowling and dinner. Tom somehow decided that he NEEDED to get to Epcot. Immediately. I had packed stuff in preparation for a day at the pool and not for a day at the theme park so it took some shuffling to re-organize. I wasn't thrilled with Tom was suddenly changing the plan and as we started to walk over to Epcot, the kids were whining that they wanted to go swimming.
Eventually Tom saw the light and we turned around and went back to Boardwalk. I had to get bell services to let me go through our bags (they were super nice) and find bathing suits for everyone. We changed in the bathrooms near the pool and enjoyed the pool and water slide. I thought the pool was nice but a little bit small and, for some reason, the water slide was very slow. I ordered lunch from the bar and we had pre-made sandwiches which were edible but not fabulous.
While we were at the pool, I got the text message with our room number. Tom and I headed up with the boys and Popsie but Jessica wanted to stay and participate in the pool activities that had just begun. Karin was happy to stay with her.
Amanda