Thursday, May 31
The Flight
The week before we were due to leave for Orlando, the family renting a house we once lived in informed us that they would be moving after nine years. Not exactly good news, especially since they were behind on last month's rent. So I had the added challenge of attempting not to think about all the work and worry waiting for me when I returned home.
May 31 was mostly spent doing laundry, packing, and cleaning up a little so that our hired pet sitters wouldn't have to do their job in a total pigsty. Around 4:00, we loaded up the car and headed for Love Field in Dallas. We had reserved a covered spot at a nearby parking facility called The Parking Spot. There are two of these right next door to each other and, of course, I picked the wrong one first. Oh well, I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time. We parked, shuttled over to the terminal, and found the kiosks to print out our tags for the bags we were going to check. Bags checked, then it was time to face the wonderful TSA people. Things went a little smoother this time than they had with our last flight out of Dallas. Once everyone was through security, it was time to find someplace to eat. The kids instantly spotted Campisi's, an Italian place. And as you know, Italian almost always means pepperoni pizza. We got them set up, but we grown-ups weren't feeling pizza. We went for Dickey's barbecue instead.
Our flight was delayed a bit, so we found some seats and got comfortable. Julie and the kids played with a filtering app on her phone to pass the time.
It was a full flight, but it finally got boarded and in the air. The flight was originally supposed to land at 11pm EDT, but it was an hour late because of the delay. After picking up our bags, we had to find the Thrifty rental counter. The guy at the Dollar counter started hollering helpfully at us as soon as he saw us. I told him we were looking for Thrifty. He told us they were the same company, almost as if he thought that was common knowledge. He was otherwise very friendly. He asked us what brings us to Orlando. I replied, "The Mouse." He tried to sell us extra rental insurance even though I had already bought coverage at the time I reserved and paid for the car rental. He then offered to sell us toll coverage. I had been warned this was very expensive, which is why I had planned to use the PayTollo app. He got us all sorted out, and we went in search of our car. It was a bit of a walk, especially with all our luggage, but we finally found the right place. It seems we were to choose any of the SUVs in the designated section. We chose a white Nissan Rogue. It was pretty nice. However, I was not successful in setting up PayTollo for it. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but it was already nearing 1 am, and we didn't have forever to sort it out. All I could do was walk back to the rental counter and tell him we need toll coverage after all.
The Accommodations
Now we were ready to fire up Google Maps and find Windsor Hills. We learned that this car had a feature that takes some of the guesswork out of changing lanes. A little amber light shines near each side mirror if there is a car in the blind spot. If you apply the turn signal, it emits a beep until the spot is clear. This is up there with Caller ID and Visa Check Cards - Where ya been all my life???
Once we found Windsor Hills (Google Maps kept trying to lead us in through impassible walls and gates) we had to find the right building. It was after 2 am when we finally found the place. The first thing I found odd was that the light switches were so low on the wall. This could be an accessibility feature, but there were no obvious accessibility features anywhere else in the condo.
The condo was a little smaller than I expected, but it was still more than big enough for all of us. It was clean and comfortable and not ornately decorated at all. Every room had a TV except Jordan's, which is fine because he only watches YouTube anymore. The refrigerator wasn't stocked with anything except bag ice, which is what I expected. The linen closet had plenty of towels but a disproportionately small number of washcloths. The place had everything we needed to turn in for the night and get right to sleep.
I had a whole list of things I was sure we would need from the store when we got there, and I had originally planned to make a run to Walmart after everyone else went to bed, but I had no desire to be out at 3am when we had Hollywood Studios waiting for us in a few hours.
The Florida sun greeted us. Under the circumstances, rope drop was out of the question. Since I hadn't had the chance to go get some Mickey Waffles for us to eat at the condo, we chose to have breakfast at McDonald's. Then it was on to Hollywood Studios.
