Because Andy, Madeline & I were at Magic Kingdom so late Friday, we didn‘t pack when we returned to the resort from the park. That meant we had to get up early Saturday to pack in time to catch Mickey‘s Magical Express to the airport. We set the alarm for 6:30 and had a tough time getting Madeline to wake up. Packing went ok, but there was pretty much no extra room anywhere. We even left a few of the unused ponchos in the room because there was nowhere to put them to take with us!
Mickey‘s Magical Express, the free bus between the Orlando airport and Walt Disney World, is a nice service, but it makes you leave your resort well before your flight, so that you‘ll still make your flight if they run into a lot of traffic. Our pickup time was 8:35 (and they told us to be there by 8:20, which means Andy wanted to be there by 8:15). The bus was on time, and we didn‘t encounter traffic, so we were at the airport almost three hours before our flight. It didn’t take long to check our bags, and we have TSA Pre-Check access, so we were through security and at the terminal about two and a half hours before our flight. We grabbed McDonald‘s for breakfast and sat in the dining area in the middle of the terminal. It was raining hard outside, and suddenly Andy started getting dripped on! The roof leaked a lot, and soon every one of us was feeling some drips. Andy had so many he had to move to a different seat. It was bizarre.
It was also raining in St. Louis, where our plane was coming from, and it was delayed getting in. They started the boarding process about twenty minutes late. Southwest boarded the A group, and then did family boarding. I‘m not exaggerating when I say that I think family boarding was about half the flight. Suddenly our B boarding group didn‘t look so good. Sure enough, by the time we got on, there was no chance of us all sitting together. Fortunately, though, Ellie & Francesca were able to get two seats together, and Madeline & I were also.
We were just settling in when the pilot came on and announced that there was a warning light on the plane, but they decided to board anyway while maintenance looked into the issue. Apparently, that warning light could be no big deal, or it could be a very big deal. The last time I was on a plane with that type of a situation, it was the very big deal, and we all had to deplane and rebook. It was hugely inconvenient that previous time, so I had my fingers crossed for no big deal. It turned out to be the no big deal situation. The maintenance team returned whatever the pilot needed for us to take off, and we were on our way, only about 30-45 minutes late overall.
The flight was uneventful, thankfully. We landed in Indianapolis safely, and Francesca‘s parents met us at baggage claim. After we got our bags the rest of us took a Lyft home. We were exhausted but happy, and ready to sleep in our own beds. And also looking forward to our next Disney trip!