Greetings from 38000 feet above a lot of water and clouds.
I've always been amazed when flying, and other times too, about how is this plane staying in the air? This thing weighs tons and yet here we are so far the above the planet that the only things up here are other planes, though they are hiding pretty well if they are out here.
We flew out of Albany about 90 minutes ago, and its another hour to Orlando. We've come to a certain conclusion, though. These early morning flights are over for us. The pace of the day for us has Jackie waiting for me as I try to get my brain operating at my old go to work pace, and my brain just laughs at that now, so I have to slow J. down, causing some friction. Not her fault. It's just the new normal. On future flights to Disney - admit it, we don't fly anywhere else - we'll start later and add a day at the end. We know Disney World rather well, so a whole day of activity at arrival is not such a big deal, and I have to collapse for a while when we get to our rooms. Also, in the early morning, I'm not on meds (thank you Starbucks - one iced mocha, a handful of pills, and I'm ready to go), so I'm not the greatest company until all the pharmaceuticals kick in, and even then....
But planes land, buses move and then you'll see...
The Disney World Sign welcoming you to the happiest place on earth, but the sign is a bit larger. I'm on a bus here. Four different resorts represented on our bus. We're staying at Saratoga Springs Spa and Resort, which is ironic considering we live just a few miles south of THE Saratoga. But it does allow a level of comfort. There are enough touches that we can see paintings of the Adelphi hotel on the walls, of the Carousel in Congress Park, and references to horse racing all through the resort. When we first got here in 2004, the resort was still being built (on the grounds of the old Disney Institute), what was called Congress Park here was just Congress swamp. Things improved.
We have stayed on other properties on site here, but always come home to Saratoga. There are plenty of Disney blogs out there if you want more info.
What I do want is to get into my damn room. We pulled up and after the bus let off, we headed into the main room where folks check in and out.
This is photo of the lights in said welcome room. I note this because I spent a great deal of time looking up at it and sighing while my back hurt more, and exhaustion set in, and the guy behind the desk talked and talked and talked to a couple in what was supposed to be the Fast Lane! We and a number of other folks watched families in the regular check in line move up and out while we stood there waiting as the couple got an intro to Disney pins by the employee. Another "cast member" as Disney employees are called came over to double the amount of people behind the desk, and slow things down more.
Disney offers Fast check in so that most of the paperwork can be done at home, and you need only to show ID, and here's your packet, there's the door, go have fun. The folks at Animal Kingdom Lodge are great at this.
So now it's lunch, and we wait for a room. And wait. But we're home at the place we love. Breezes blow at the pool. An adult beverage awaits.
Yep, I can do this.
