Vacation Day #4

It is 3:00 am. All is not well in the Wald Family Hotel room. It has been 5 hours since my last blog, and yet the screaming continues. It is now time to get up and ready for our flight.

Although the ride to the airport was a little rough, it was nice to be able to board the plane early since we had little kids with us. Maddie was a scream monster during our wait (still screaming from the night before), and I was counting down the seconds before we could get on the plane. Then I realized that I’m terrified of flying, and my stomach started to turn. “Now seating those people that might have troubles getting up the aisle.” Does disgruntled mom with insane fear of flying that will most likely claw her way up the aisle to safety count as ‘having troubles?’ Either way, it was our turn to board. The transition of getting the kids on the plane was surprisingly easy, and the airplane stroller carseat combo I bought for Maddie proved to be absolutely priceless. And although I forgot my ‘get on the plane’ ritual, Mike remembered it for me! We started off with Jackson and me sitting in front with Mike and Maddie behind us – then Mike and I switched seats half way through the flight when Maddie started to fuss. Nothing a little “321 Penguins” couldn’t fix! Although, I’ll admit we were a little bummed that they don’t make hot chocolate chip cookies on flights earlier than 10:00am.

Off to the baggage claim! Jackson had an awesome time on the tram to get to the baggage claim, and Maddie finally decided that it’s not so cool to scream 24/7 and started to enjoy herself. Claiming our baggage was surprisingly easy – Mike and Jackson grabbed the bags, while Maddie and I waited with our luggage cart. We pushed our bags out to where we needed to wait for our rental car van pick up, and…..we waited. And waited. And then my back started to sweat in the sweltering heat, and we waited some more. Finally it came!! After our luggage and children got thrown into the van (literally!!), I was very grateful for another mom that helped our kids buckle up before the insane bus driver took off like a madman. However, if I knew what awaited us at the end of the bus drive, I would have begged to remain on the bus of insanity....

Advantage Car Rental – Where the only “advantage” is having the experience of what it feels like to be shoved through customs, in 100 degree weather, starving, being herd like cattle, a slave to needing a car, and in line with 400 other people that will do anything to get one - just like your own desperate self. We throw our luggage into a pile with the rest of the tired and angry waiting families, while Mike gets in line. The kids and I break out the DVD player and start watching movies with a few other kids sitting next to us. I don’t think they spoke English, but I’m sure they liked watching Shrek anyway.

Finally, a car!! I think Mike asked for the only car they had that resembled a banana. And boy, did they provide! So we all pile into the banana on wheels, and leave for the Welcome Center. We tested out my new navigation system on my laptop, which I thought would prove to be priceless. Instead, it proved to be the cause of more melt-downs than a fondue restaurant. After accidental toll road trips, many “reconfiguring directions” notices from the navigation system that now seemed to be mocking us – we finally got onto the right road and made it safely to the Welcome Center. Although, a bit ironic it was named “Welcome” center.

My reservations were for the Polynesian Isles, which we were looking forward to staying at and had good reviews from people I’ve talked to that have stayed there. What’s this? Now you say we need to stay at Cypress Pointe? The exact resort that someone had warned me about earlier as to how un-kid-friendly it was. So I show them my papers that say I made reservations and paid for a visit at Poly, and told them that I want to stay there. After talking with the girl at the Welcome Center and the travel agent on the phone, they both said that they were unable to let us stay there because we didn’t make reservations in enough advance – even though we made them in February and had a printed record of it. So we just went to CP.

The room looks a lot smaller than the one we would have stayed at, and also appears to be set up a little odd – such as being able to look directly into the GLASS SHOWER from the front door, since there is an open bathroom, and a giant plate glass window separating the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Nice!! We went swimming down at the pool, where Maddie took a face dive into the water right when we got there. We then played on the playground for a while before heading back to the room for baths, and bedtime. Maddie officially passed out at 5:30pm so we scooted her crib into the … well, I guess you’d call it “bathroom” area while we watch a movie and have some snacks before bed.

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