Disney Trip Report

So, we were on our way to the most popular airport in our area, Newark International Airport. We quickly pulled away from our house and said "bye-bye for a week!" Man, I couldn't be happier than to get out of that house. I love being out of the house. Staying inside for hours and hours at a time will kill me. Anyway, we hoped on Route 1, and then exited so we could join the good old Jersey Turnpike, then take that to the airport. On the way to the airport, I really didn't do much of anything, besides look out the window. I had my last few looks of New Jersey before coming to the airport. I wouldn't miss NJ in the Sunshine State of Florida. I really couldn't wait to finally be there and most of all, be on vacation. Luckily there was no traffic on the Turnpike, which made our 30 minute car ride to the airport smooth-sailing. We were lucky, too. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for security purposes considering the circumstances. Our quick trip to Newark was shorter than I expected it to be, most likely due to no traffic. We arrived at the airport in about 20-25 minutes, not bad at all. We stopped in front of the Continental gate, which is the flight carrier we would be flying with today. Outside of the gate, the streets were packed with people trying to get out of their cabs and cars and trying to get safely inside. The place was a nightmare, so we stopped and quick grabbed our bags from the trunk. After that, we made our way over to the sidewalk and found a line outside for the "baggage check". I don't really know what to call it, but it's where they take your big bags, label them, and put them on to a large conveyor belt that takes them away. Anyway, we waited about 10 minutes in line for us to get rid of our big bags, which is nice. I really didn't feel like dragging big bags all over the airport. Once that was all said and done, the guy told us our gate was changed to 90. With that, we entered the airport, and continued to make our way towards the security terminal, which was bound to be a nightmare.

On the way there, we looked at the big TV screens to see if our flight was delayed or on-time. Luckily, it was still on-time, but that was bound to change. We noticed, however, the old gate number was still listed on the TV screens, and then an attendant reassured us that the number on the screen is the correct one. What?? Where is this guy shipping our bags then?? At that point we were all just very confused, so we went with the attendant and the TV screens and decided to make our way to the left side of the airport. However, first we would encounter security, and we were all ready for it. We made our way up the escalators and to the security station. Once we reach the top, we see…about 25 people in line. What? Weren't there supposed to be huge security back-ups today because of the bomb threat? This was the shocker of the day. The line took a matter of 5 minutes or less…especially when an officer opened a new device right where we were in line. Sweet! We proceeded towards the security terminal, and unlocked our pockets and put our carry-on bags in baskets so we could push down the security conveyor belt. After our belongings were on our way, it was our turn to go through the metal detectors. We all removed our shoes and quickly walked through with no problems. We quickly gathered up our belongings, put our shoes on, and made our way towards our gate. Since we had some (some? No, a LOT) of time to kill, we decided to find our gate, and then wander through the airport. I had been in this airport since 2000, so I really didn't remember much about it. Anyway, as we walked down the hallways, the airport started to look more like a mall of sorts. There were many little shops and restaurants…which I was surprised to see. Once we came to the end of the main connector hallway, we entered the complete left end of the airport. Now, this part definitely looked like a mall. Shops were lines up left and right…and in the middle were something you never see at any mall… People Movers! Yay! I love riding these things. There were quite a few of them, and we rode them all the way down to our gate…which was all the way at the end. We also discovered something pretty cool on the People Movers. Try walking on them to the end, and you'll notice that you have some sick speed coming off them. Anyway, once we reached our terminal, we really realized how much time we had. There were people waiting to get on the flight BEFORE us. So, yep, we had some time to kill. We explored the mall…eh…airport for a bit and I bought some gum in a magazine store. Orbit Cinnamon baby! This stuff is amazing. It's always good to have gum on a plane…it makes it much more comfortable for me. Anyway, we sat down for a while, and noticed all the restaurants and shops around us. This thing was amazing. At that point, I finally realized how HUGE airports really are. We took a quick rest, and decided to get a quick snack before boarding the plane. There was a cheesesteak place nearby called Steak Escape, so my brother and I decided to split one before boarding our plane. The cheesesteak ended up being much better than I thought it would. It was a good little snack before we were finally airborne. We relaxed at a table for a while after having our snack. A few minutes passed and we decided to check the TV screens once again to see what gate we really were supposed to be in. And sure enough...the guy single guy was correct. It was gate 90. Ugh...now we had to trek all the way to the opposite end of the airport to find our gate. Luckily, airports have the little amazing things called People Movers. As we made our way to the direct opposite side of the airport, we got to ride them once again. After about a 10 minute walk, we finally found our gate. We had about 45 minutes to kill before our flight began boarding, so we walked around the shops near our gate, going in a select few of them. This quickly burned some time, and before we knew it, it was 15 minutes till boarding time. I stopped in a magazine store and picked up the latest Golf Digest. After that, we took a seat in the waiting area, and waited for our plane to board. It would only be a matter of time now. I flipped through my Golf Digest, but the only thing that was going through my mind was "I'm going to Disney World!"