Panama Canal Trip Report: Getting to Orlando

We’re back and had an AMAZING cruise!  I can’t wait to tell you all about it!  Before I get started, if you would like a little background, you can read these previous posts:

Our Upcoming Panama Canal Cruise

Packing for the Panama Canal

Our 14 Night Panama Canal Cruise Starts Tomorrow!

Also, anytime you see red text, it is a link to either product information or another one of my blog posts that gives more detailed information about that topic.

Okay, now let’s get started!

 We left our house to fly to Orlando the day before the cruise on Saturday, April 22.  Originally we were going to rent a car and drive to Port Canaveral (about an 8 hour drive), but then about a month out I decided to check flights and found a non-stop 1 way flight for $78 per person.  There were even 5 seats together available.  So, I bought the tickets and changed all of the necessary reservations.  We still needed to rent a car because the airport we were leaving from is about 1.5 hours from our house, so Saturday morning we went to go pick it up.  I reserved a minivan, but they ended up giving us this full size van:

It was huge!  The girls loved being able to spread out and each one had their own row of seats.  We brought the van home and loaded up our luggage.  I am not a light packer, but I planned and strategized and I am proud to announce that we only had to check 3 suitcases this time.  This is what we had:

Each girl plus my husband had a backpack and carry-on suitcase, and I used our KYSS bag as a carry-on.  We only had to pay to check the large red, large purple, and gray garment bags.  This may still seem like a lot of luggage for some people but for us, it was a victory, especially for a 15 night trip.

Here are the girls as we were leaving (the oldest quickly wisened up and moved to the back row by herself right after I took this picture):

We left about noon and got some lunch on the way to the airport.  Our flight wasn’t until 4:30, but I wanted plenty of cushion in case of traffic or other unforeseen events.  Thankfully nothing happened and we pulled up to the airport right at 2:00.  First we had to drop off the rental van and then catch a shuttle to the airport.  Here we are on the shuttle:

Checking our bags and getting through security was really quick, and I think we reached our gate about 2:30 which meant we had 1.5 hours to kill before boarding began.  The girls either read or played on their iPads, my husband dozed off for a bit, and I read this book:

I had ordered it for my oldest 2 girls to read, but I ended up reading it as well.  This book is a quick and easy introduction to the history of the Canal and I really enjoyed it.  My daughters started it but I don’t think either one of them finished it.  One of them stopped reading because she was “disturbed” by how many people died during the construction of the Canal.  I guess she has a point because I too was shocked by how many people lost their lives.  I would recommend it for anyone age 9 or so and above.

I tried to take some pictures but was photobombed:

This is what I was trying to take a picture of:

After an uneventful, short, on-time flight we landed in Orlando.  Here we are on the tram going to baggage claim:

When we fly to Orlando the day before a cruise, my favorite place to stay is the Hyatt MCO.  It is inside the Orlando airport, and while not the cheapest option, it is definitely the most convenient.  If you take the DCL transfers to Port Canaveral the next morning, you can even leave your suitcases in your room and DCL will take them directly from your hotel room to the ship.  I have an entire post about the process here.

We gathered our suitcases from baggage claim and made our way to the Hyatt.  We were given a room with a view of the inside of the airport.  This was taken from our balcony:

When we checked in, I let them know that we wanted our luggage picked up the next morning and taken to the ship.  They gave me instructions and a form to fill out and put our room on the list.

Here are some pictures of the room:

 After dropping everything off in the room, our first priority was to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter gift shop.  My girls are hard core Harry Potter fans, but the last time we were at this airport was before their obsession began so they had never seen this shop before.  There was one shop right next the hotel so we went there first, but it was under renovation so a lot of it was closed off.  They told us that there was another Harry Potter shop on the other side of the food court, so we went to that one as well:

We didn’t buy anything since we had stocked up on Harry Potter souvenirs on our trip to Universal Studios in October, but we enjoyed looking around.

Next we needed to find some dinner, so we went to the Macaroni Grill that was nearby.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel.  On the way we passed Snow White and took some pictures:

We had another photobomb:

While the girls got ready for bed, I put on my Disney cruise Jamberries:

After I finished my nails it was time for bed!

Up next:  Day 1 Boarding the Ship

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