the beck family: Disney World

April 10 – Tuesday Our much anticipated trip finally happened. The kids were more excited about our flight than actually being in Orlando. The night before they were all restless and had a really hard time sleeping. Carter didn’t get to bed until around 11:30 p.m. We sent the kids to bed around 7:30 since it was going to be an early morning, but they just stayed in their rooms for a couple of hours not being able to sleep.

We got up around 6:15 a.m. to get ready for our early flight out. The kids were easy to wake up and quick to get ready. They all had their rolling suitcases packed two days previous and were all ready for this fun adventure ahead of us. We ended up getting to the airport and drove around for quite some time before we found an open parking spot. Then after finding one, we unloaded all 8 bags, Bradley’s car seat, Bradley’s stroller, 4 backpacks (every child shared one with somebody else with snacks and things to do for the trip). We all had our hands full and were quite the sight. The bus we got on that took us to the airport was packed – luckily we all got seats except for Byron (unfortunately he stood up). Byron has such awesome status at Delta; we were able to get into the Priority/Medallion line. There was no wait and Byron was able to get everything checked in on our flight (all 10 pieces) and it cost us nothing – that was a huge perk right there. I couldn’t have imagined having us do carry on with all 8 pieces – it would have been a disaster for sure. Once everything was checked in, it was easy to maneuver around with just 4 backpacks. The security line was pretty easy also as Byron’s status again allowed us to go ahead of others and go through security faster. The kids 12 and under didn’t have to take off shoes which made for an easier time. Once we finally got past the security, we headed over to the walking escalators since Byron had told the kids all about them. We went down one way and then headed back the other way. While on these, we found Mom Beck and Melissa. They had beaten us there.

Byron’s seat was upgraded to 1st class. He wanted me to take it for him, but I opted against it since I wanted to experience firsthand each of the kids excitement and emotions during the flight. Byron ended up giving his dad the ticket and made one man VERY happy!!! All of our tickets were in two different rows except for Melissa’s (she was about 4 rows ahead of us). It seemed like it took forever to take off. It was fun to see the excitement and fear for takeoff with the kids. They all realized soon enough that flying isn’t quite as fun as they had imagined it would be. After being on the plane for about 2 hours, Bradley had had enough and was ready for it to end. Luckily we had some Tom and Jerry cartoons on the I-pad for him to watch for a short time. The kids all loved being able to pick their own drink and snack. They also enjoyed eating all of the treats that were brought with us in their backpacks (Johnathan had a little too much of the snacks and was feeling sick afterwards).

The first leg of our trip ended with a layover in Cincinnati, Ohio. We had enough time to grab some food, go to the bathrooms and head back to the airplane. I ended up taking first class the second leg of our trip. I was seated in seat 1B – front row on the left side next to the aisle. It was nice at first, but then started getting pretty lonely as I didn’t have anybody to talk to. I did love getting the unlimited drinks and snacks. It was fun to finally head back to see where the kids and Byron were seated. They were pretty much at the back of the plane and seemed to be fine. It was fun seeing them for a short time, but then headed back to my seat. I enjoyed some reading and quiet time for the 1 ½ hour flight.

We landed in beautiful Orlando around 6:00 p.m. After getting our luggage (which miraculously came out at the first), we went to wait for the Payless Rental Car shuttle to pick us up.

We got a KIA Sedona as our rental car - it is very nice and pretty roomy. One of our children ended up going with Dad & Mom Beck since we only got a 7 passenger which was a lot cheaper. We had about a 30 min. drive to our condo. I was so grateful for GPS as it saved us while driving around. Went to grocery story to shop for food for the breakfasts and different snacks while there. The condo is so nice and large. There are two bedrooms with twin beds, two queen beds, one king bed and a pull out bed in couch. It was so nice that everybody had a place to sleep. The condo has a foosball table, pool table, air hockey and a pool outside. The kids couldn't wait to go swimming. The water was 85 degrees and the kids were able to get their wiggles out. We headed to bed way too late!

The very excited kids on the way to the airport - they had no problems waking up and were wide awake on the ride to the airport. (Carter - left, Parker - right)