Peter Pan Drops the (Pixie Dust) Bomb… Chapter Two: Departure Day

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We stayed at the Courtyard, a Marriott hotel and it was lovely.  The quoted walking distance to the airport wasn’t exactly correct unless you ran like Forrest Gump, but we made it without meltdowns from the little legged ones.  Twilight check in was brilliant, and we were given 3 bulkhead seats and one across the aisle.  It was then, at check in, that we realised we didn’t have the suitcase locks…and ended up tying the cases up with ribbons.

After using every knot known to us, we then grabbed some sandwiches and treats from Marks and Spencer (after realising that Baby Dragon wasn’t going to be seated in a restaurant with all of the excitement of the airport buzzing around him) and we headed back in the rain to the hotel.  It was at this point that Dadda realised he might have preferred paying for the shuttle…

In the morning we were up and ready for the shuttle to the airport!  Everything ran smoothly, and the boys enjoyed their first McDonalds meal in the departure lounge after we raced to the gate.  Then things started to unravel as after being rushed to board, we were then faced with a three hour delay ON the plane before take off. Thankfully the boys were very placid and calm throughout it all, although by the time we came to take off, they’d fallen asleep on me.  Dadda merrily watched movies across the child-free aisle…

As well as being the first time the boys had been on a plane, it was our first time to be on one with a celebrity!  Dadda spotted Keith Lemon onboard and seated in front of us was one of his security men.  It was all very exciting (I tweeted my Mum) despite my not seeing him until embarrassingly we were the last ones off the plane and met with him in an empty airport…and I STILL didn’t see him until Dadda pointed out he was just over a metre to my right.  What can I say? I’m not the most observant.

Having been a few times before, Dadda and I knew what to do and we headed for the Mickey bus downstairs after handing our luggage over with the Mickey tags on.  Jensen and Lyoto searched excitedly for the Mickey bus stop.  We found it at last, handed over our Magical Express booklets and were led to board the Mickey bus!

All of us were mesmerised (read: shattered) as we watched the Walt Disney World welcome show onboard the bus and soon we pulled up at the Art of Animation for our initial stay.  It was beautiful, bright and soon to be the site of our first holiday disaster.

Whilst I was busy checking us in, Baby Dragon managed to nearly knock himself out by crashing into a metal barrier as he tried to run to me.  This resulted in a huge egg on the back of his head, three paramedics and two furry Donald Duck gifts from the hotel.  He was fine, just bruised, and we headed to our hotel room for some sleep….at last.