Disney - getting there

P got us flights on Air Tran. I had to suppress memories of Air Tran and the everglades, but that was a long time ago... Flights were the single most expensive part of the trip at just aroun $800 for the four of us.

This was the first flight that L and V can remember, and they were nervous. So were P and I. That nervousness faded after a day or two, but was something we had to deal with. One thing that helped L deal with the nervousness was her new camera. I found two V-tech cameras on sale at Radio Shack during an unrelated expedition. They take marginal images, but keep the kids busy and focused when mom and dad are shooting.

Over an hour wait at DCA, then a half hour finding our ride at Orlando (hint, when you land, turn on the cell phone that the driver is expected to call) Johnny from MHTransportation drove us in and stopped at Publix before taking us to Shades of Green.

I still wonder if the stop at Publix was as well planned out as we thought. I had a list of breakfast foods...but we had a number of breakfasts planned with characters. Anyway, we spent approximately $60 on water, milk, water, my favorite diet Arizona green tea, 3 bottles of wine, yogurt, cold cuts, bread and cereal. The cold cuts and bread were dinner that night and we slowly worked through everything else, ultimately leaving some unopened yogurt for the cleaning lady.

But...for food, the refrigerator at Shades of Green was the one thing I hadn't researched well. I'd expected a decent sized fridge since purchases on the way in were recommended. Instead we got one of the smalled dorm fridges I have dealt with. A gallon of milk had to be laid on its side to fit on the top shelf. Fortunately we had a lid that screwed on, so no leakage. But, the milk eventually developed ice crystals. That was annoying. If there is any one thing Shades of Green can do in the near future, it's upgrade those fridges to something like this. A 3.3 or 4.4cf fridge isn't that much more expensive and would have made things a lot easier.

I mentioned that we used the Disney Rewards Card to buy food. And water. But we also bought a case of water bottles. Why? Because bottled water is $2.50 a piece at Disney and we drank 6 or seven bottles a day. The first 3 were the ones we brought in and then we bought fresh cold water later on. The case paid for itself with the first 3 bottles.

That first night we walked over to the Polynesian Resort and waited for the 9pm fireworks. Which on Sunday nights are apparently at 10pm. Oops. Girls were tired, we were tired, it's a little over a half mile to walk back to the room and Monday was an early start because that's what all the books say to do. But the fireworks were still real cool!