April 1999- Old Key West
Day 1- Saturday
Up at 4:00 am to return the rental car and check our luggage for out 6:00am flight. Our luck had changed as the plane was waiting for us. Our 1st class seats allowed us to board first. In no time at all we were airborne. What a pleasant trip and what a great way to fly. With such wide comfortable seats, we easily caught up on lost sleep. It was the first time that I actually wanted a flight to be longer. Except for a short time to eat breakfast (served on a tray with linens and silverware), we both slept the whole trip. We arrived at Orlando International Airport at 8:50am. This was actually earlier than what we would have awakened had we stayed at the airport hotel so we didn’t really lose all that much time.
This was the first time we had rented from Dollar, having always used National with the DVC discount. Even with the discount this time, National was still more expensive. We wanted to try and stay with an on-airport agency as this saves SO much time. Just walking across to the parking garage and avoiding the bus ride can save upwards of an hour. We had a good rate of $89 per week (cheaper than National). I would recommend Dollar as I only waited for about 3 minutes at the counter (about the same as National) then right across to the garage. Here we didn’t have to wait at all. We forgot to ask for a non-smoking car (Karen is an asthmatic) at the counter so asked at the booth. At first they told us they didn’t have designated no-smoking cars but instead gave us a brand new Neon 2000 with only 3 miles! It even had that wonderful new car smell. With a loading of the luggage, away we went! It was a nice car, handled real well.
Prior to checking in at Old Key West, we made a short detour to see my grandmother who is in an assisted-living facilty in Lady Lake. Just north of Leesburg, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there. The weather was beautiful with blue skies and no clouds. The facility was beautiful decorated very much so in a Floridian theme. With Disney on the brain, it actually reminded us a little of a cross between BoardWalk, Vero Beach and the Yacht & Beach Club. It was only about a year old and very well staffed. We enjoyed lunch and a short visit and then headed back to WDW.
We checked in to Old Key West shortly after 4pm. As you can read elsewhere here, we had spent our honeymoon there. We had requested the same room and building as we had found it to be perfect. Just far enough away from the busy spots on the resort to be somewhat isolated. The room we had was a 2nd floor home without a 3rd floor above. For this stay, to our surprise, we had been booked into the SAME room, 5625. What a nice surprise. We knew right then and there that this was going to be a great trip.
We were quite pooped after all of the traveling we had done over the past two days so, after a sort nap we headed over to Olivia’s for dinner. We always have at least one meal there as it is so OKW! The key lime pie is awesome. It is always a nice relaxed atmosphere as well as being bright and airy. After bringing our left-overs to our room, we headed over to Publix (click here for directions). Having the 1-Bedroom gave us the advantage of the full sized kitchen. This would allow us to "stock up" on some of the items that make us feel like we were home. You know, the essentials, ice cream etc. We also enjoy cooking simple dinners for ourselves (spaghetti and sauce) and then just either vegging at home, hanging out at the pool or heading back to the parks for an evening jaunt. Some of the restaurants on property can be pricey especially when eating there on successive nights. We try to keep ourselves on a moderate budget while at the "World". In addition to the "comfort foods" we also bought some items to that we could have quick lunches and snacks in the park. Not only did we buy the dinner items but we also bought Peanut Butter and Jelly so that we could make sandwiches to take to the parks. We really enjoy lunch in the parks but too many fast food meals make us feel gross Plus, it can cost upwards of $16 just for junk food for lunch. Having the PB&J at home allowed us to eat at our leisure. After unpacking the groceries we collapsed for the evening.