{"id":4674,"date":"2017-10-31T07:18:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T11:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/?p=4674"},"modified":"2017-11-16T18:28:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:28:17","slug":"last-minute-trip-part-2-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/last-minute-trip-part-2-travel\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Minute Trip – Part 2 Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planning<\/a> | Travel<\/a> | Animal Kingdom<\/a> | Epcot<\/a> | Magic Kingdom<\/a> | Hollywood Studios<\/a> | Summary<\/a><\/p>\n

Since we were planning a last minute trip that only lasted four days, we wanted to pack in as many activities as possible.  We got early morning flights, which was a plus from both a cost and time perspective.<\/p>\n

We woke up at 3:30 AM so we could arrive in time for our 6:05 AM flights.  Everyone was up and moving so we could leave the house at 4:00 AM.  There was very little traffic at that time, so we managed to arrive at Reagan National at 4:40 AM.  We parked in the daily parking lot so we would have a quick entry into the terminal (and a fast exit coming home). <\/p>\n

This was our first time in the old A Terminal at Reagan airport.  I found it really confusing, mainly because we didn’t enter the terminal near the check in counters.  We wandered around until we found the Southwest Airlines check in area.  Once we got there, it was pretty easy to check in for our flight, drop off our bags, and head to security.  Since we have TSA PreCheck<\/a>, we were through the line pretty quick and then we headed down to the gate area.  We were scheduled to fly out of Gate 2.<\/p>\n

\"Reagan<\/a>
Reagan National Airport Gate 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our plane was already at the gate waiting for us.  We grabbed a quick breakfast nearby and waited for boarding to start.  Even though we got the tickets almost free (using Chase Ultimate Reward points transferred to Southwest), I decided to purchase EarlyBird Check-In for everyone for both flights.  It was $15 per person, per flight, for a total of $120.  This would give us priority boarding near the front of the line so we could all sit together.  I didn’t want to take the chance of the girls not sitting with us.  We ended up boarding in the first group, which gave us a wide choice of seats.  We grabbed some seats a few rows back and settled in.<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/a>
Early Morning Flight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What I liked the most about the Southwest flight was the great legroom.  The two free bags per person didn’t hurt either, although we have credit cards for most of the major airlines that get us free bags. <\/p>\n

\"Lots<\/a>
Lots of Legroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flight passed relatively quickly without out any issues.<\/p>\n

\"Headed<\/a>
Headed to Orlando<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We landed in Orlando around 8:15 AM and taxied to our gate in Terminal A.  After getting off the plane, we headed to the little monorail that connects Terminal A to the main terminal. <\/p>\n

\"Terminal<\/a>
Terminal A at Orlando Airport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once we got off the monorail, we headed down to the baggage claim area.  I left Nancy and the girls to collect the luggage while I went to get the rental car.<\/p>\n

\"Baggage<\/a>
Baggage Claim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have a picture of the Budget Rental Car counter here.  You know why?  Because I spent 45 minutes waiting to get my rental car.  I don’t know what was taking so long, but it seemed to be related to them not having enough clean cars.  We paid to rent a small car but ended up with a luxury car because that was the only thing they had available.  We were fine with it, because it got us moving instead of standing around in the airport.  We had notions of making rope drop at Animal Kingdom, but that was definitely not going to happen.<\/p>\n

\"Waiting<\/a>
Waiting on Budget Car Rental<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since we didn’t have annual passes yet, we spent a minute explaining to the parking attendant at Animal Kingdom that we were going to activate our annual passes.  We showed them the certificates<\/a> that we had and they let us through.  Once we arrived at the front of the park, a cast member explained that we needed to wait in the ticket line, with everyone else.  I was hoping we could go to Guest Services, but we were out of luck.<\/p>\n

\"Animal<\/a>
Animal Kingdom Ticket Line<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I then spent the next hour waiting in the ticket line.  Once we got to the front, the cast member said she had never seen the ticket line that long.  We seemed to be on quite a lucky streak.  The cast member was friendly and professional and got our annual passes setup and linked to our existing magic bands.  So, at this point, it was well past 11 AM and we were not hopeful about getting to ride either of the new rides in Pandora (Flights of Passage or Nav’i River Journey).  The wait times were well over 280 minutes for Flights of Passage and 120 minutes for Nav’i River Journey.  Looking back at the security line showed that it was going to be a crowded day.<\/p>\n

\"Security<\/a>
Security Lines at Animal Kingdom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite getting a slow start, we were still really excited and happy.  We were back at Walt Disney World, one of our favorite places.  We planned to enjoy strolling around Pandora and taking in some of our favorite rides in Animal Kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning | Travel | Animal Kingdom | Epcot | Magic Kingdom | Hollywood Studios | Summary Since we were planning Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disney-parks","category-travel","no-post-thumbnail","no-read-more-tag","no-sticky","use-excerpt","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4596,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/last-minute-trip-planning\/","url_meta":{"origin":4674,"position":0},"title":"Last 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Gates","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/IMG_5455-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/IMG_5455-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/IMG_5455-768x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11087,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/walt-disney-world-solo-trip-part-1-planning-and-travel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4674,"position":2},"title":"Walt Disney World Solo Trip, Part 1: Planning and Travel","author":"Joseph","date":"February 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"*The other half of the Back to the Mouse trip planning duo, Nancy, shares her experiences on a solo trip to Disney in December 2019* In the fall of 2019, my family asked me for ideas about celebrating a big birthday milestone.\u00a0 After considering several options, I asked if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Picking Park Tickets","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/fp-7-1024x707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/fp-7-1024x707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/fp-7-1024x707.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1644,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/hawaii-trip-travel-part-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":4674,"position":3},"title":"Hawaii Trip – Travel – Part 4","author":"Joseph","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Planning 1 | Planning 2 | Planning 3 | Travel | Disneyland\u00a0 (Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4) | Arrival | Surfing | Aulani | Excursion | Hyatt Hawaii Travel (sort of) We started planning our Hawaii trip back in November 2014, well in advance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Parks"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Parks","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-parks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flight Path","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/map.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/map.gif?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/map.gif?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/backtothemouse.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/map.gif?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6356,"url":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/march-23-2018-spring-break-cruise-part-2-travel\/","url_meta":{"origin":4674,"position":4},"title":"March 23, 2018 Spring Break Cruise, Part 2: Travel","author":"Joseph","date":"October 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The time for our Spring Break trip quickly approached.\u00a0 Our flight would be leaving Reagan National Airport at 6 pm, so we decided to pick the girls up from school so they could get changed and we could head out.\u00a0 We were going to park at the airport to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disney Cruise"","block_context":{"text":"Disney Cruise","link":"https:\/\/backtothemouse.com\/index.php\/category\/disney-cruise\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reagan National 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