Birthday, F&G Festival and Passporters!!! May 28 to June 3 UPDATE 8/4 About This Page:

[RobinKay6573]

Travel dates: May 28 to June 4
Reason for Trip: Celebrate my 33rd Birthday and the Flower and Garden Festival
Travelers: Me (Robin) age 32
Meeting: My sister Sandy and several Passporters
Meets Planned:
Adventure Club May 29
Great Movie Ride May 30
Dinner Beaches & Cream May 30
Breakfast O’Hana May 31
Tea GF May 31
Fantasmic May 31
Illuminations June 1

PRETRIP and DAY 1 Grumpy Northwest Airlines!

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I love the Flower and Garden Festival and I kicked myself in 2004 when I missed it. Amy (iamgrumpy) mentioned she was going to go to WDW in late May. I had not met Amy yet and really wanted to so I scheduled my vacation that week. To my surprise I found out Tina was also visiting the week I was there! I purchased my airline tickets from Northwest for $160 out of Flint, MI and I was good to go! About a month before the trip I used a combo of discounts and coupons and booked at mid-sized SUV from National for $100 for 5 days. Since I was staying with my sister in Kissimmee it is essential that I get a rental car.

The only set plans I had were the meets. I made no plans for what day to do what park. My sister, Sandy, is NOT a planner so she hates it when I plan everything for each day and we can’t do “what feels right” for the time. Sandy had mentioned something about going to Sea World on Memorial day. I had not been to Sea World since 2001 so I agreed we could plan that. We figured the Disney parks would probably be pretty crowded and since Sea World is mostly shows it shouldn’t be too bad.

I dropped my dog, Belle, off first thing in the morning on Sunday. It always breaks my heart to leave her. I had found a new boarding facility for her. The husband and wife are both vets and they board dogs out of their home. I visited the place about a week before my vacation to see if it would be okay. Their house is very neat and clean and the couple was very friendly. All the dogs looked happy and well taken care of. The best part was that board fee was $7 less a night then the place I brought her to before and they were a lot more flexible with drop off/pick up hours. My cat Max would be staying at home and My friend Rachelle came over everyday to feed him, brush him and clean his litter box. My pets are my children so I hate leaving them. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I wish I could take them with me but that just isn’t possible.

After I dropped Belle off I had to visit a couple of my pet sitting clients and drop a file off at the pet sitting office. Everything was done by 10:30. I went to a coffee café and had a cup of coffee and a scone. When I was done I went to Meijer and picked up a pair of headphones and some sunscreen. The evening before I had loaded my suitcases in the trunk I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

After a quick stop at the post office I made my way to Flint. My flight was not due to leave until 1:30 but I wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of time to get there. It is normally a 45 minute drive but I was not sure what kind of construction was going on. There was construction on I-69 so the road was town to one lane for about 10 miles. I got stuck behind a tractor trailer truck which was not good. Thankfully I made it though intact. I was at the airport at about 11:30. I parked in the Economy lot (which I love because it is only $5 a day!) and the shuttle picked me up at my car. The driver helped me load my suitcases. He would not even let me touch them, “Saying, nope that is MY job. No pretty lady should have to carry her own bags.” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Check-in at the airport was very quick. Since the airport is so small I don’t even bother printing out my boarding passes beforehand. I have to wait in line to check my bags anyway so why risk losing the passes from my home to the airport or forgetting them at home! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] It was almost noon when I finished. I got a cup of coffee and sat right outside security in the big fluffy chairs and relaxed for about a half hour. I waited in line for security and without looking down the guy said, “Ma’am you should probably take off your shoes.” I was wearing sandals. He then looked down and said, “Oh nevermind.” I passed through security without a problem and didn’t need my bag searched [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]

I tried to make small talk with the passengers waiting for the flight. The couple sitting next to me pretended they didn’t hear me. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] The guy across from me was not real talkative and acted like I was bothering him. Well excuse me for being friendly! Finally the flight boarded. It was a quick on, from Flint to Detroit and it took less then a half hour.

My flight to Orlando didn’t leave until just after 3 so I made myself comfortable in the gate. I called my sister to let her know I was on my way. She was getting excited. I told her I would call her when I landed and she could come pick me up then. I was not going to pick up my rental car until the next morning. It made no sense for me to pick it up that night because I really didn’t need it until the next day.

We finally boarded about 3:00 and were in the air right on time. Keep this in mind if you ever fly Northwest. You do not get a free snack anymore on their flights. I thought we got a free bag of something (which would have held me over until dinner) but all we got was a can of soda (on a 2 ½ hour flight!!!). We got to Orlando right on time, oh but we didn’t land!! We were stuck in a holding pattern over the airport because there was a thunderstorm. Okay fine…no biggie it is Florida in the late spring. The captain was nice enough to actually tell us what was going on. About a half hour later he came on the radio and said that they were probably going to extend the holding pattern a bit longer and if that was true we were going to run out of fuel. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] Okay. He explained that we would need to fly to Tampa refuel and then fly BACK to Orlando! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jawdrop.gif[/img] Well guess what happened? We were on our way to Tampa! As soon as he said this everyone that was waiting to use the rest room got up and there was a line! Thankfully after the first announcement I got up and used the restroom! I didn’t realize I was the only one the didn’t like using airplane bathrooms! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] So here we were on our way to Tampa, as we flew over Tampa Bay I looked at the guy sitting next to me and said, “Wow this is kind of cool I didn’t expect to see the Gulf on this vacation.” I think he just laughed to humor me! We landed in Tampa without any problems and it seemed like it took FOREVER to find the gate. We pulled into the gate and we figured there would be a fuel truck waiting. Nope! About 40 minutes later the captain came on and said, “the fuel truck just pulled up we should be in the air in about a half hour.” The groans were auditable. The poor guy next to me was having a cigarette fit (although I was the only one he shared this with). The flight attendants were passing out cups of water but no food (sorry they would have sold you a bag is trail mix for a dollar [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] ). One lady asked for juice for her little girl and the flight attendant snapped at her and said, “We are ONLY serving water!” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] In the meantime I called my sister and explained to her we were in Tampa. We both laughed about it and I told her I would call her when we landed in Orlando. At 8:45 we were FINALLY on the ground in Orlando. I called me sister and went over to baggage claim to get my suitcases (which thankfully were two of the first out of the shoot!).

I loaded everything in the car and Sandy and I headed over to TGI Friday’s to meet a couple of her friends. They had been waiting for me to show up to order food and eat! I was SUPPOSE to land at 5:30!! At that point anything would have tasted good (I had not eaten since that breakfast that morning!) I had a cheese burger and fries and a diet soda. Sandy’s friends Paul and Heather were really nice and I enjoyed talking to them. I just wish we could have done something after dinner like we had planned. Heather kept telling Sandy and I we looked like twins (something we both found repulsive!) We all said “goodbye” and Paul promised to meet up with Sandy and I later on in the week.

It had been a long day. When we got back to Sandy’s condo I unloaded my suitcases from her car and put them in the guest suite (yes it is a suite with its own bathroom and terrace)! We agreed to get an early start the next morning and head to Sea World.</font>