From St. Paul to Disney World

My older daughter, who has a number of disabilities, and I recently spent a week at Disney World. My daughter can't speak effectively so every night when we returned from our daily adventures I was busy writing her "story" so she can share her experiences with peers and staff in her group home and day program.

Now I will try to catch up with my blog.

We left on Sunday, February 22. The temp outside the door was right at 0 (-17 C ). We walked to the nearby 10th Street Station for the Light Rail. Our wait was only 2 minutes. Then we rode the Green Line to the Downtown East station where we needed to transfer to the Blue Line. Our wait there was only 30 seconds. We were indeed lucky on a cold day.

The airport station is underground. From there we took an elevator up to the mezzanine level and walked about 50 feet to another elevator. Once we arrived there we walked about another 100 feet to the Blue Tram. This takes us to small check-in area that serves those arriving on the train. I was told that because I have Elite status with Delta that we could go through a special security line. That was accomplished quickly. Then we began the long, long trek to Gate G-19. Once in that neighborhood we sat down at a table for the Mini-Bar.

Here one orders using an I-Pod at the table. We got Diet Cokes and an order of French Fries.

On the day before we left I took my daughter for a haircut, but also surprise. I had booked a professional manicure for her.

Here's a picture of her purple nails -- purple being the only good color according to her -- along with the French Fries.

We boarded our plane and had access to a window seat that my daughter enjoyed. The sky was clear to the group for a very long time. And it was snow covered.

Looking out the window, I found a scene very much like my blog background.

Our flight was comfortable and uneventful. Soon we were taking the long walk to Disney's Magic Express. We were directed to a bus to take us to our resort, Coronado Springs.

Once at the resort we checked in and then made dinner reservations for a couple of evenings. We then went to the Pepper Market for supper.

After our supper we asked Bell Services to take us to our room. We were told it was a 10 minute walk from El Centro and now it was dark. I don't like trying to walk to a new place in the dark.

Within our room we found a Mickey towel.

However, our luggage had not arrived from the Magic Express service. At 10 PM I called Bell Services and was told our luggage was at the resort and would be delivered in another 30 minutes. However, it was 12:45 before the luggage arrived.

My daughter had packed some pajamas in her backpack, so she was sound asleep. I just crashed out wearing my clothes on top of the bed and dealt with the reality of unpacking and getting organized the next morning.