Beginning of my trip report. Part 1!!

If any of you remember, I began a pre-trip report on the DIS boards. I never really completed it but have started a trip report I plan to finish, I promise! As I post over there I will copy it over to hear. I hope you enjoy hearing about our trip. The beginning of this is very similar to my pre-trip but I thought I would include it as it has pictures.

So, before I go any further, I shall introduce you to the crew:

Me (Laura): I am a 28 year old newby Lutheran pastor living in Pennsylvania. It has been my dream for many, many years to go to Disneyworld. Life has been a bit chaotic lately with some major transitions and personal struggles. This trip was important to me for so many reasons. Relaxation, connecting with my sisters, being a kid again, seeing the mouse... it doesn't get any better!

Brenda: Brenda is my 31 year old sister. She is an amazing person that I really do look up to. She lives in Alaska and works in pediatric home health. Brenda is overdue for a real vacation and is counting down the days with us. I regularly receive phone calls and emails about things she discovers she wants to do. While Jamie and I weren't totally on board, Brenda was ready for T&T (tower of terror)!!

Jamie: Jamie, our baby sister, is 23 years old. She, like Brenda, is my best friend and confidant. She lives in Seattle at the moment and is a dedicated volunteer at the Children's Hospital. During her most recent visit, she helped me build a trip plan which we will of course share with you. Jamie has held on to the excitement of this trip from my first crazy vision and helped me count down the days. Her #1 goal was to ride Dumbo, and she didn't care if people thought she looked silly doing so! I must admit, I was right there with her!

Arrival Day:

Since we live all over the country, our arrivals varied depending on our flights. Poor Brenda had a twelve hour flight from Anchorage, Alaska. Thankfully her original flight was changed so she ended up arriving the day before Jamie and I. We booked her a room at the Pop so she was able to recover with a good nights sleep before we started with all our exciting plans.

Jamie and I were scheduled to arrive in Orlando at the same time. We organized it this way so we could take the magical express together. This was amazing as I was coming from Baltimore and she was coming from Seattle. Thrilled does not even begin to describe how we felt about being able to do this together!

Well.... as we all know with the wonderful world of flying, nothing ever goes as planned. Jamie's flight got delayed and then delayed some more. No, this had nothing to do with weather. It didn't even have to do with a mechanical. The problem was the crew was late. Like, really late. By the time they had arrived, Jamie's connecting flight in Houston would be impossible to catch. Then, to top it all off, they had to de-ice the plane but had no de-icer. Seriously. So, by the time Jamie arrived in Orlando, she was tired, not feeling good, and just wanted to chill. Really, who could blame her?! If it had been me, I would have been a crabby, nasty mess. Not the way she (or we) wanted to start off, but she handled it like a champ.

I, on the other hand, had a fantastic flight. My plane even ended up arriving 30 minutes early much to my delight. The weather in Pennsylvania was snowy and gloomy so the sun of Florida was exactly what I was craving! While there was a chill in the air, it still felt like a glorious spring day!

I couldn't of been more excited to see this:

We all found the Magical Express a wonderful way to begin our vacation. The video added to the excitement. So, we were all off on our way to the happiest place on earth! So exciting to see exit signs with Disney on them!
Through the gate, we're there!
While not the best picture, can you tell we were excited about arriving. You wouldn't believe how many pictures the three of us have combined of ones just like this. With three separate bus trips, it's a little nuts! Since Brenda had checked in the night before, Jamie and I both did not have to even worry about it. Our Travel Agent worked it out to where Brenda would be assigned the same room we would have the rest of the trip, even though it was booked outside of our package deal. Our TA was truly amazing and I would recommend her to anyone else in a heartbeat!

Here's the check-in area I didn't have to worry about! Sorry it's so dark, it's not the best lit area.

While we had requested the 80's building of the hotel, we were upgraded to a preferred room. We were a little bummed until we saw how close we would be to the main building. It was great and oh so convenient. Plus, we had a nice view of the lake and it was SO quiet! Our room was in the 60's Playdoh building. So fun!

Our building:
View from the stairs/elevator; so cute!
Hallway leading to our room: Such a great room!

The view. Those old creepy looking buildings are the classic year unfinished buildings. Construction stopped after 9/11. There is talk that they are now turning them into family suites. We could see the lights from Hollywood Studios and fireworks from Fantasmic. Pretty cool!

Our very messy room. I forgot to get pics prior to our packing. Oops!