With the worst of the snow finally behind us, we were supposed to take a 9am flight from LaGuardia to Orlando. Knowing New York travel chaos all too well, Tim had wisely booked a set of refundable backup flights from different NYC airports just in case. A very smart move as it turned out.
At breakfast around 7am, our phones buzzed – our flight was delayed to 12:30pm. Tim immediately went into full crisis‑aversion mode and switched us onto a 10am United flight out of Newark. Within minutes we were in an Uber slowly gliding across icy Manhattan streets, hoping the travel gods were on our side. Traffic was thankfully light but the roads were treacherous, but we got there and somehow even managed to get moved onto the 9am Orlando departure.
Meanwhile, our original LaGuardia flight slipped to 3pm. We made the right decision!
Of course Newark had its own drama. First, no catering. Then the pushback tug got stuck in the snow. Eventually, we took off, about two hours late, and battled strong headwinds all the way down to Florida. But we made it!!
And time was precious, because we were determined to finally visit Typhoon Lagoon, the Disney water park that always seemed to be closed whenever we’ve been in Orlando. We arrived around 3:30pm with just 90 minutes before closing, but it was enough. The wave pool was incredible, the weather was warm, and we even squeezed in a late lunch. Totally worth the crazy hustle.
Afterward we headed to our hotel at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, got settled, and then dashed over to Hollywood Studios. We hit all the key things: Tower of Terror, Rise of the Resistance, and Toy Story Mania. We wrapped up the night at Sci‑Fi Dine‑In, tired but thrilled.
After the snow, delays, and airport roulette we got there. Definitely not going to be auditioning to The Amazing Race anytime soon!