Welcome Home, Airmen! A Brent and Liz Trip Report February 2016 - UPDATED 06.05.16 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Welcome Home, Airmen! A Brent and Liz Trip Report February 2016 - UPDATED 06.05.16
Greetings all!
Brent and Liz are back with another Trip report. You all know me, Cinderella devotee, and lover of things light blue.
And Liz, Tinker Bell fan and lover of all things Snow White.
This trip is quite special as we are going to meet our daughter, Victoria, and her friend, Merlin, there. Victoria is an airmen in the United States Air Force and we couldn't be more proud. It's extra special to get to vacation with her because she just got back from deployment around the holidays. We haven't seen her in the longest time! She is also bringing her friend, Merlin, along for the fun.. This is the first time we've had the privilege of meeting him, so that's just one additional thing to make this trip even more special. We will be vacationing from Friday February 12 through Sunday February 21. We are staying at All Star Movies, which is another first for me as I have always stayed at Pop Century. I was very much looking forward to a new resort to explore in my early morning sojourns to the food court to fill my coffee mug.
Friday February 12:
Got up way early to make the hour and a half drive to Grand Rapids to catch our plane. We were going to Orlando with a stop in St. Louis. You always are a bit relieved when there is no snowstorms around when you fly in the Winter Months.
The flight left Grand Rapids right on schedule. I was hoping to catch a view of Lake Michigan but the cloud cover decided otherwise. Before you knew it we were on the ground in St.. Louis. We were hungry and we had an hour and a half til we board our next leg and there was a Chili's right there when we got off the plane so we figured why not? Big mistake. 45 minutes later we just put our order in. Ugh! We explained our circumstances to the server and finally got our food, choked it down then went on to board the next flight to MCO. How can any restaurant provide such slow service in a restaurant? Anyway we were on our way home! Next stop Orlando and we get to finally see our Airmen again! We felt the wheels touch down and we could not wait to get on our way as we knew our Airmen was already at our Happy place waiting for our arrival. Can it get any better? We scurried off the plane about as efficiently as you can and got right on the bus to All Star Movies. Then as luck would have it we we found out we were the last of about 4 stops. (Seemed like 40!) But then finally we made it to All Star Movies! (After, of course stopping at All Star Sports, and All Star Movies...We got to our room with our carry ons and then set off to meet her and Bam! Found her!
Then after some catching up and a few tears we headed to Kona Cafe for dinner. Had a great meal and were just reminiscing with our lovely daughter and her new friend. I think Liz has some pictures of this meal.Perhaps she will share. Then it was off to the Magic Kingdom! First thing we did was find a photopass photographer;
Then Victoria wanted to do the Tree house so off we went. It was a little spookier than I remembered at night. Speaking of spookier at night, Haunted Mansion was next. Then it was time for my first meeting with Cinderella. She was as beautiful as ever. I want to think she recognized me from our trip over Christmas. She loved the photo book I made and looked through the whole thing and insisted on signing the cover. Then warmly welcomed us back to the kingdom.
Rapunzel treated Liz like a long lost friend.
By now it was getting late and we were definitely getting tired because it had been a long day for us, so Liz and I headed back to the room. The kids stayed in the park and continued to have fun late into the night. We arrived back at the room to find we were gleefully reunited with our luggage. We flew Southwest so we were able to check two bags free. Well, one of my bags was the ‘Beer Suitcase’ so I unpacked it and made good use of the fridge.
Thanks Southwest. That save a good sum of money over the $8 per beer it costs here. Liz and I had a great first day…
Location: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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Joining in on our trip report!! Hoping to do our normal back and forth type report. This was a wonderful trip, we were so happy she was back from deployment. The military lifestyle is certainly something we are adapting to.
I will get some pics posted soon....probably Tuesday.
Just a side note for everyone.....the little girl that you see in the pink in my signature pic is the same Airman that you see in the trip report with me. All grown up! I have a pic of her standing in the same spot that I will post....amazing to see the changes.
Joining in on our trip report!! Hoping to do our normal back and forth type report. This was a wonderful trip, we were so happy she was back from deployment. The military lifestyle is certainly something we are adapting to.
I will get some pics posted soon....probably Tuesday.
Just a side note for everyone.....the little girl that you see in the pink in my signature pic is the same Airman that you see in the trip report with me. All grown up! I have a pic of her standing in the same spot that I will post....amazing to see the changes.
Judy & I remember that storm in the summer of 2008. Being in the park with TS Faye blowing was a lot of fun. I look forward to seeing the comparative photos. I did 4 years in the Air Force (64-68). Tell her thanks for her continued service.
Just a side note for everyone.....the little girl that you see in the pink in my signature pic is the same Airman that you see in the trip report with me. All grown up! I have a pic of her standing in the same spot that I will post....amazing to see the changes.
I hope you'll post both photos side by side, as I'd love to see them together.
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