Purely the result of forgetfulness on our part, not total forgetfulness - I DID remember as we were taxiing along the runway at Duluth on our way to Florida.
Enough, here is the story in detail.
After a leisurely trip to Duluth on the Saturday before the Sunday that we were due to fly to Florida we managed to make an extremely rushed attempt to make the plane on time.....at 3pm in the afternoon. You know how it goes, you seem to have 'all the time in the world' so you take all the time in the world and suddenly realize that you have no time and plenty to do with it. That was us. We made a harried and close to totally panicked rush for the airport in the fear that our seats would be given to someone else if we didn't check in on time. Naturally the children were as helpful as children tend to be - running away in the carpark, arguing, dawdling, half dressed, etc.
To make matters worse, as we passed through the security screening, we had an overtired 2 year old being mischievious, too many "suspicious" goods in our bags that needed to be privately checked and the most dangerous of all - vegemite!! Didn't help that security did not know what it was, but they sure as hell were not going to be responsible for allowing the first vege-bombers aboard their plane!! True to form Jill was not about to leave such valuable cargo with them so she went back to the car and left it there(plus her moisturiser - she wasn't going to have that confiscated again!) . That meant that she had to go through security again! Meanwhile Ian is crumbling from the stress of 5 suitcases and 3 small children all doing their own thing in a small area watched by severe security guards.
As a result of all of these goings on we boarded the plane with a huge sigh of relief and not a backward thought until as I chatted to a lovely bloke from Duluth about our plans to hire a vehicle in Florida it dawned on me about our fatal error - we had left our licences in the car.
Hoping against hope that we would be allowed to rent without the physical licenses with us (I had entered ALL the driver and license details online for pre-booking)we showed at the Orlando airport rental (at midnight)and waited 20 minutes behind some unlucky customers, only to find that we too would be unlucky. Bugger.
So, after a $60+ taxi ride with a non english speaking homicidal driver who clearly earnt his license on the streets of some large and chaotic African city, we arrived at our little patch of paradise.
At least we got it right with the accommodation, even though it was a few kilometres from any shopping centre for food. The kids were in TV heaven with a flat screen TV in every bedroom with 60+ cable Tv channels and a giant flatscreen with Wii in the lounge. 2 storey with a bathroom for every bedroom and Ash got his own queen sized bed. The pool at the back of the house had not been warmed (as per our request) but luckily there was a community pool with slide a couple of minutes walk away.
The first 2 days were taken up with Tv for kids and long walks for Jill and Ian getting supplies (and toys by Ian).
We managed to luck upon a wonderful shuttle service called GT transport - if in Florida USE THEM. They would show within minutes of being called and deliver us from door to door with wonderful advice along the way. On the last night Scott, the owner, dropped us for dinner at a restaurant and collected us later to take us on home at no extra charge - can't say fairer than that.
But what about Disneyworld? Words are not enough - pictures don't do it justice, but both will have to suffice for this blog. What seemed like a lot of money for all of us to go for 4 days (< $700)was actually great value for money considering what you get.As much as the kids loved Disneyworld we still had a hard time convincing them to turn off the TV in the mornings so we could get going.
Disney world is made up of four theme parks and two water parks. We didn't do the water parks because the weather was pleasant not hot and we had limited time.
The first park we did was the Magic Kingdom.
Megan learnt that roller coaster rides weren't all fun and games. But she was always keen to get back on them once the adrenaline rush was over.
A great ride in the dark. Everything glows under fluoro lights. Very interactive. we had to shoot as many objects that we could.
Outside Minnie Mouse's house
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