STOP THE CURTAIN!!  The show isn’t over yet.  When I said “That’s a wrap” last time, I was just kidding.  

You know how often times when you leave a vacation, you get the blues once it sinks in that reality awaits?  Here is how our travel day went…(if you don’t like hearing about travel horror stories, stop reading now).

We woke up, Jay took the kids for a swim, I packed.  It was a leisurely checkout morning because we didn’t have to be out of the room until 11:00 and our Magical Express bus back to the airport was at 12:20.  Flight on Frontier Airlines from Orlando direct to Omaha was scheduled for 3:40.  All sounds great.

And it started out great when we were still within Tinkerbell’s pixie dust reach.  The kids had a great time swimming.  I miraculously got all of the kids new souvenirs packed into the suitcase.  Swimsuits even had time to dry before they got packed in the suitcase.  Bell hop came to pick up Sherry and I and the bags, and he gave us some great tips and advice – super helpful.  The sun was shining so Sherry sat with the bags while the kids watched more Mickey Mouse cartoons in the hotel lobby and nibbled on some snacks.  Bus arrived promptly at 12:20.  No additional stops, so smooth sailing to the airport.  Arrived at Orlando International Airport Terminal B at 1:00.  And that is where the Magic got lost.

Up the escalator (I had a not so graceful entrance into it when Lily decided she didn’t actually want to do it all by herself and I and my suitcase almost fell on top of her).  Where is the Frontier check-in counter?  Terminal A.  Ok, how do we get there?  You have to go all the way over there.  Turn left.  And then go all the way.  Then turn left.  And then all the way to the end.  Frontier is the airline that has a scary looking bear on the wing. Why a bear? Bears don’t fly…

So we followed the instructions, and saw a massive line, longer than the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train line.  Sure enough, it was for Frontier.  Well, not much we can do but join it.  After about 40 minutes Jay took our IDs to the self service terminal (full service check in cost extra) so we could continue to wait and then drop our checked bags.  Got through the line in about an hour or more, but discovered that our flight was now not leaving until 6:28 PM.  The winter storm up north was causing  some delays.  Ok, I guess we have some time to sit down and eat before going through Security.  And we decided to book a hotel room in Omaha so we weren’t driving on potentially bad roads in the middle of the night with -10 degree windchill.  Kenneth at the Holiday Inn downtown hooked us up with 2 rooms and gave us until 6:00 PM CST to cancel if we got stuck in Orlando.

Bellies were full so we headed in.  The security line was really short.  But we had a mild panic moment when the screen still showed a 3:40 departure time, and it was 3:25.  When we got to the gate, it said it was for a Cleveland flight, so that answered the question about whether or not we were leaving at 3:40.  We were not.  Next challenge, find a place to sit.  The Frontier terminal was a disaster.  Tired, crabby people were everywhere.  I was determined not to be one of them.  Especially like poor little adorable Xavier’s parents, who if I ever run into again in a lower stress situation, I will have some words with about the damage they are causing their 3 year old son and the embarrassment they were causing themselves by constantly screaming at him for “not listening”.  Maybe if they tried a volume and tone other than Angry Monster he might actually do what they asked.  I digress, but seriously, it was awful to witness.

We somehow found a place to sit with 3 chairs (to all of you scrooges who thought that your bags needed a chair to sit in while elderly and people with children stood or sat on the floor, may you be on the other side of that someday…).  At about 5:30 they announced a gate change (the Cleveland plane was still at our gate).  We left our seats only to find that the seating in the new gate area was even worse than where we were at, so we went back and somehow found seats.  Jay and Kirk stayed at the new gate to keep an eye on the progress.  After proclaiming that she was “soaking tired”, Lily fell asleep, and Ty was content on his IPad.  The kids were still being so good and patient.  

Meanwhile, flights to Milwaukee and Denver were being cancelled.  Cleveland still hadn’t departed.

Our plane arrived and emptied.  And WOOHOO we boarded.  I was getting my phone out to call Kenneth at the Holiday Inn to make sure he keeps the rooms for us, when the pilot made an announcement.  Been a  long day…sorry for the delays…oxygen system issue…not sure how long to fix it…might be 20 minutes might be 8 hours…going to deboard the plane….  we could sure use some pixie dust right about now.

OK, so I called Kenneth to cancel because chances were better that we weren’t going to Omaha and if we did make it, we could always (hopefully) find another hotel.  He said there were still several rooms so we should be ok if we need one.

We found a good spot to set up camp that had a view of the plane and a ledge for the kids to sit, eat, and sleep.  We could see the maintenance guys working on the plane.  

I got in line to find out what our options are if this flight ends up having to cancel and found out that the next flight to Omaha wasn’t until Monday.  Not ideal.  United had flights leaving the next morning for $230 each, so worst case we could fork over $1200 and get on a different airline.  Airport hotel was full though, so we would be looking at either a cab ride for a few hours of sleep with no luggage or sleeping in the airport, none of which looked like good options.  We could see that our bags were still being loaded, which was a good sign.  Gate information eventually changed to 8:30.  Still not confident based on conversations with some Milwaukee and Cleveland travelers about the honesty and transparency of Frontier’s communication style.

The kids were still awesome.  Ty fell asleep and Lily played on her iPad.  And then the pilot came out to say the problem was fixed and once the remaining checks were completed we could re-board.  We got back on, I called Kenneth back to see if there were still rooms – there were!!  The poor flight crew looked exhausted – they had put in a super long day.  We got buckled in, and then I smelled something.  Something like burning.  Oh God.  That is not something you want to smell when you are on a plane that has had known mechanical issues and you know you are heading towards a massive storm system.   Jay told me not to panic.  Ok, deep breath.  I’m sure it will be fine.  Say a prayer.  

And we were off.  Ty immediately fell asleep, which was perfect.  Lily watched movies on the iPad.  Smooth for the first hour, and then the seatbelt sign came on which is a sign I really dislike because it means there is some rough air ahead.  And there was.  A lot of it.  So I’m sitting right over the wing, it is dark, but the flashing red light of the plane illuminates the flying angry bear every other second.  

We’re going on a bear hunt.  Oh no!  There’s a storm up ahead!  We can’t go under it.  We can’t go over it.  We have to go through it…

My body was in full on tense and shaking mode.  Exhaustion had set in.  I tried to breathe and pray through it, but ugh.  I hate turbulence!!!  Lily was watching Aladdin and I tried to focus on that to take my mind off of what was sure to be a death drop from 37,000 feet.  We are just going on a magic carpet ride.  Say another prayer.  Meanwhile Lily is still super chill laying on my lap, nearly asleep.  The rough air lasted for about 15 minutes.  It took me about that long after to get myself to stop shaking.  

And then we started the descent and landed.  Half the airplane clapped and cheered.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  I might not ever fly again.  At least in the winter.

Next step was for Jay to get the truck while we got the bags.  We were all a little nervous that the truck wouldn’t start, but our luck was turning and it did!  We got our bags, listened to Xavier’s parents a little more, explained to the security guard who quickly zoned in on them that yes, they have been acting like that all day long, and then got in the freezing cold truck and went to the hotel at 11:30 PM.  Restaurants closed at 11:00, so we popped some popcorn, watched a bit of Star Wars while they ate, and fell asleep.  

Hey, it could have been worse…and you know what?  All cast members somehow managed to stay Happy.  Even while Sleepy.  For that, I am thankful.

It is now 7:00 AM on Sunday.  Jay and the kids are still asleep.  I’m going to get ready to go.  We have Brianna’s 14th birthday party at noon so we have to get on the road soon.  Hoping for clear roads to get home.

Huge thank you to Miranda and the Meggison’s for taking care of Bandit for the extra day!  

And NOW we can close the curtain on the Shearer Family 2016 Disney vacation!  That’s a wrap folks!