Day 7: Leaving Orlando
Our crazy crew waiting for the shuttle.
Our flights were all about the same time…so we all shuttled over to the airport together. Except Tab. He had a SUPER important meeting the next day and a meeting to prepare that night. With a 1:50 afternoon flight, he was a little nervous about getting back for the preparation meeting. So, we both decided it would be best for him to catch an early flight out of Orlando just to make sure he got back with plenty of time. That’s why the kiddos and I were solo. 🙂 Fun Times!! (totally being sarcastic!!)
My family’s flights were on the other side of the airport so we quickly said our good-byes! We were flying solo!! We grabbed a little lunch and headed to our gate to hang out.
We were having a GREAT time!!! (Nixon wasn’t feeling the camera…ha!) We had one little incident. Bowen had a little accident that leaked right out of his diaper. I went into a little store and came out with an ugly $20 Mickey Mouse outfit, but at least he smelled good!! haha!
Everything was going great…until about 1:00, I looked up and noticed that our flight time now said 3:50. WHAT?? We’d already been waiting since 11:30 because Disney didn’t want us to cut it close. Now I’m going to have to entertain my three kiddos for ANOTHER two hours?!!
So, I did what any good mom would do. I let the kiddos go to the toy store and each choose a new toy. And…I grabbed us all a treat from Starbucks!!
I need to say it fourteen times…MY KIDDOS WERE SO GOOD! I mean they couldn’t have been any better! Thank you, kiddos!! By this time, we’d made a few friends. Bowen played around and even fell asleep in the stroller for a while. Ebby Lee played with her toys and Kindle. Nixon watched Netflix on my phone and eventually took a little nap. They were SO good!
Our flight just KEPT getting delayed. They announced that the DFW airport was shut down for weather. And…more delays. At 7:15, they started boarding our plane. We all cheered and acted like crazy people!! We were SO ready to go at this point. Imagine this…I have all my kiddos and three little backpacks full of things to entertain my people. I’m thinking about how lucky we are…FINALLY we’re getting on the plane. People are already on the plane and all of a sudden…the screens say Flight #1456 to DFW CANCELLED! I can hear people ask, “Why does the sign say cancelled”. Then…WAIT FOR IT…they announced that our flight had been cancelled. Every single person scattered like cockroaches. I was standing there thinking, “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?”!!
I wanted to curl up on the floor and sob!! But…I didn’t! I called Tab and NO answer (because he was at his preparation meeting). Then I called Shay and BLESS HER HEART!! I’m SO thankful f or that girl. So thankful she answered the phone. And so thankful she knew what to do. She booked me a hotel room for the night. I’ll never forget laughing while I was telling her what was happening. She said something about me laughing and I said that if I wasn’t laughing, I’d be crying and I can’t cry right now!! haha!
So the kiddos and I headed down to baggage claim to get our big suitcase. Then we found the shuttle for our hotel. We grabbed a little bite to eat (by this point, it’s 8:30). I’m talking popcorn and fruit snacks for dinner, because that’s all the hotel had! haha! I didn’t want to wait on pizza since it was already 8:30!
This is us in our hotel room getting ready to take baths and get ready for Attempt #2 at getting back to Dallas!
I booked us new flights for 7:00 the next morning, so I had to wake the kiddos up at 4:30 a.m.!! We got ready and caught the shuttle EARLY!!
Ready for round #2!!!
We got on a flight with a HUGE group of high schoolers (who slept in the airport the night before because their flight was cancelled too…ugh!). They were so sweet to my kiddos. And…once again…my kiddos were SO good!! Bowen slept the ENTIRE two hours and thirty minutes!
We hit up baggage claim and hopped on the shuttle to our car. You guys, I wanted to KISS my car!! No lie!! Craziest Story Ever!! haha!!
I was posting pictures on IG throughout the day. You guys were SO sweet!! Thank you for ALL the prayers and kind words! The prayers worked for sure!!
If you have any other Disney questions, e-mail me (alittlebitofeverything83@yahoo.com) or leave me a comment. I’ll be posting those tomorrow!! Happy Thursday!!
Girl! You are such a trooper! I would have been in the fetal position crying my eyes out or shoving M&M after M&M into my mouth as a coping mechanism if I had been you. And your kids were FABULOUS! Seriously, you all deserve some sort of medal or something :).
It's because of stories like yours that I never ever want to fly….if I was stuck at the airport with 5 kids no doubt I would be in the fetal position.
Your kids are smiling in all those pictures, I bet they had the best time ever! You totally deserve a medal I too would have been crying and popping chocolate in my mouth just to survive.
I can not even imagine flying solo with three kiddos and then having all the delays and cancelations. I would have hit up the duty free store for some wine or heck liquor at that point. So glad your kiddies behaved.
I was waiting to hear what happened! You are a great mamma…
OMG I'm not sure what I would have done! So glad y'all got back safe!!
You're a trooper! Good job keeping calm – flight delays are no bueno when you're flying solo, I can't imagine what it would feel like with kiddos. But glad it all ended up well!
That is horrible!! Go you and your sweet kids!!! You for sure need a mom of the year award for this!!!:)
Ugh! What a mess, but you did SO great! Glad you guys made it home safely!! 🙂