Gizmo, our little dog with a (diagnosed by me) case of separation anxiety and oppositional defiance disorder, had seen the suitcase the day before departure, and therefore spent the night snuggled as close to me as possible, and demanded I get out of bed on a couple of occasions to assist him in taking him out or getting him back into bed, over the course of the night. This means, I got even less sleep than usual before an early morning flight.
In actuality, my flight really wasn’t that early. It was at 7:45, out of Manchester. This is why I actually spent the night before a trip at home (half an hour from the airport) instead of at my mom’s (12 minutes from the airport). Nick doesn’t really do mornings, but we didn’t have to leave the house until about 5:45, and he was able to handle that.
So, eventually I got up and got ready. Thanks to Gizmo’s need to get as much attention from me as possible before my departure, I knew that it was pretty darn cold out (52*), so I ended up throwing a long sleeve shirt on over my t-shirt and shorts. That’s right, folks, I flew to Florida in AUGUST, in shorts, a t-shirt, and a LONG SLEEVE shirt. I hate NH.
ANYWAY. We got rolling about 5:52, because Nick is slow moving in the morning. I drove, and he took over the driver’s seat when we reached the airport around 6:20. We said goodbye, and I headed inside, where I found absolutely no wait to check my bag, and almost no wait to get through security, thanks to precheck. From curb to gate? About 6 minutes.
Some of you may remember that my last visit to the Manchester Airport involved stress, tears, and about 7 hours of killing time in an airport with approximately 15 gates in it. The good news is, this morning, everything with my flight was on time, and I was actually in the gate area of the airport for less than an hour before I boarded the plane. It was great.
Boarding was surprisingly quick, even by Manchester standards (we are granite staters; we are always on a mission). I had taken the cheap route (remember...budget trip) and only purchased Early Bird for the flight home. The result was B24 for a boarding pass, which, thanks to this trip’s boarding style meant I had to go to row 18 to find an empty window without a baby or someone with a smoker’s cough sitting next to it. But I got seated, and avoided Grammy’s cousin’s husband, who somehow ended up on the same flight, and who I recognize, but I’m positive he wouldn’t recognize me even if there was context.
So...the flight boarded, and even pushed back a few minutes early. WOOHOO! The flight was pretty bumpy; the flight attendants didn’t start snack service until somewhere over Virginia-ish, but it was uneventful, and we landed in Orlando quite early. Like 25 minutes early. Even with the fact that I’m pretty sure we landed on a runway in a different county, we had arrived at our gate at MCO by 10:40 am.
Somehow, despite being a quickly boarded flight, it was not a quickly deplaning flight. But, eventually I made it off the giant metal tube, and booked it to the Magical Express area. This worked incredibly well. I was directed to line 11, where I groaned as I rounded the corner, seeing I was headed for the absolute front of the line. However, as I got close to the front of the line, the CM moved the rope, scanned my magic band (save time, put this on at your home airport!), and directed me out to a nearly full bus. Less than 5 minutes later (and less than half an hour after touchdown), the bus was rolling. AMAZING.
The ride to Disney was uneventful. I was staying at All Star Music. While the bus was unloading passengers at the first stop, Sports, I received my room ready text. So when I got to Music, I cruised quickly past my applauding fans...err...the CM welcoming committee, and to my room, 7662, on the third floor of Broadway building 7.
Once I had walked pretty much around the entire building, I found my room, and shuffled things around to create a day bag, and touristed up.
Full on Disney dork mode engaged, it was off to the buses, by way of the food court. Mom and my stepdad were in Disney a couple weeks before me, and one of their refillable mugs somehow ended up with an end date at the end of August. So they sent it with me. I was pleased to see that it did, in fact work. Lemonade acquired, I headed for the bus stop, where a bus to the Magic Kingdom arrived about the same time I did. WOOHOO!!
The ride was uneventful, and pretty soon I was dodging rain drops to get on the monorail. The monorail ride was a bit less uneventful, and what felt like an hour later (but was probably actually only 15 minutes), I was trying, unsuccessfully to find the walkway from the TTC to the Polynesian, having given up on the monorail. With all of the construction, this was a challenge, but, eventually I found it.
While on the monorail Michele had been texting me. We knew we both would be in Orlando the same week. Turns out she and her son had had the same idea as me, and they were over at the Polynesian. I found them in the gift shop, and after a brief reunion, we headed out to the Pineapple Lanai, for various dole whip concoctions.
I had the pineapple float with vanilla. It was delicious as always.
We sat in the lobby chatting for quite some time. Eventually, it was time to be moving along. I got as far as the top of the stairs before I realized I probably actually should eat something of substance. So I headed back downstairs to Capt Cooks, where I got an order of the Thai Coconut meatballs, and filled my mug with more lemonade.
The meatballs were definitely NOT photogenic, but they were delicious. They were served on white rice. The sauce has a bit of kick, but isn’t overwhelming. Super flavorful, and a really filling meal, at a price that is very reasonable by Disney standards. And side note, I’m not really sure why I haven’t eaten here more; they have a really interesting menu.
Once I was fueled up, I decided it was time to brave the monorail again. This time around, it seemed to be functioning ok, or, at least, not stopping for 10 minutes at every stop. I made it to the Contemporary in good time, where I was...directed down a side stairwell? The termination of this stairwell was, however, the platform with my favorite view in Disney, so, all was good.
I did some shopping at the Contemporary before I headed downstairs. I got a little spun around, but eventually found the bus stop, where I JUST made a bus to Disney Springs. How am I managing such good timing today?!
Once at Disney Springs, I shopped quite a bit, although I really didn’t buy much. I didn’t find the merchandise to be all that different from what was there in April. Eventually I was hungry again, so I headed for the Polite Pig. Just outside the Polite Pig, I nearly lost my appetite, thanks to a kid who was about 10, who thought it was absolutely hilarious that he hadn’t quite made it to a toilet, and was spotted head to toe in yellow/brown as a result, but I soldiered on.
And boy was I glad I did. Polite Pig is a quick service bbq place with a huge menu, for both food and drink. If you’re into bourbon, bring the big bucks. According to Nick, the bourbon list here is quite impressive. The food menu and standard cocktail list is too. You order at the counter, and then the buzzer they give you must have GPS in it, like the roses at Be Our Guest, because they deliver your food to you. I did have a bit of difficulty finding an empty table that wasn’t absolutely huge, but I did find one.
I had the burnt end meatballs (on the shareables, or appetizer menu), and a side of sweet potato tots. The meatballs were AMAZING. The sweet potato tots were very good. Honestly, with the density of the meatballs, and the fact that they are served on the cheesiest, creamiest grits I’ve ever had, I didn’t actually need the tots. I could have totally gotten away with just the meatballs.
After thoroughly enjoying my meal (and perhaps making a few people at home jealous with the pictures I sent of my food…), I headed out. I was pretty much done with Disney Springs, but I really needed dessert for later. I had absolutely no room for it now, but Sprinkles had a super limited time cupcake, that they were only selling through today, that had my name written all over it.
So off to Sprinkles I went for the Cookie cupcake. Now, I’m actually not a huge Sprinkles fan. I like their cupcakes in sundae form, but not so much on their own. However, this was too interesting sounding to not get one. It was a vanilla cake, on a cookie base, which chocolate chips in the cake. Then it had a brown sugar frosting, coated in cookie crumble. How could I not try that?!
I was a little nervous when I was handed my cupcake in a paper bag. How am I going to take a post worthy picture of a cupcake that’s been tossed around in a bag? Well...Sprinkles thought of that…
Cupcake in hand, I made the 10 mile hike to the All Stars bus stop. A bus came along faster than I expected, and pretty soon I was back at the hotel. I made a quick stop to fill my mug, and then it was back to the room for the night. I showered and enjoyed the cupcake. That thing was AMAZING. Seriously...watch for the Cookie cupcake in their limited/seasonal cupcake rotation. It’s worth it!
I crashed pretty early tonight, very ready for the parks in the morning!
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