May 3, 2008 - Day 9: Miami to Orlando

Wow, our cruise is over already. You know you just get comfy with the ship about Day 5 or so, and then you have to start getting ready to leave. This is why a cruise for more than 7 days would be perfect.

So we were up today by 7:30 am, only because they kept making announcements. You could stay in your cabin until your “zone” was called to come to the Rome Lounge in preparation for disembarking. Kudos to Carnival for these arrangements. We were off the ship by 9:30 am cause there was a bit of a back up at customs. We caught our Alamo shuttle and were out to the airport area fairly quickly where we picked out our car, it’s a Chevy something or other, kinda looks like a PT Cruiser and it’s red so very easy to pick out. We got onto the Turnpike and motored up to Orlando. It took us until 3:30 pm or so as we stopped fairly frequently for rest stops and lunch, etc.

Once we got into the Kissimmee area we decided that since it was getting late we’d better make our Target run before we checked into the resort. There we picked up beverages, cheesestrings & donuts for brekkies, a few bits and pieces we needed and phones for Gary and I so we can all keep in contact (only $10 apiece). I would have liked to look around as it’s a SuperTarget I’ve never visited before but we’ll do that a little later on.

Got to Pop Century and checked in all very quickly. They had us in the 50s section, 1st floor as I requested before we left for Florida. We’re very near large bowling pins, kinda fun, and close to the parking lot. We decided to eat right away at Everything Pop and decided we really liked the dining plan. Not having to pay for the food was great. I had fried chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. I also grabbed a tye-died cheesecake but haven’t eaten it yet.

Brynna and I quickly unpacked a few things, threw some nice clothes on and jumped in the car to head to Orlando, downtown that is. Took us about a half hour and it was fairly easy to find the theatre. Wicked was awesome. I’ve never seen such elaborate sets and costumes for a musical and the story was way cool. I think I’ll read the book now to get some more info about it. We got back to the resort around 11:30 a\pm. Such a long day. Managed to get a bit more unpacking done and tried to get ready for tomorrow. Lights out around 1 am. We’re in Disney!!