A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it has been nearly nine months since I have updated! This was a very busy year for me and I also have two other stories I am working on so that made it more difficult too. I hope you all had a great winter and I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Let me know what you think, I would love to hear your comments! Have a great weekend xxx
As the white Escalade carrying the family of four cruised smoothly down the highway commonly known as World Center Drive, Kaelyn was practically bouncing out of her seat from excitement. On a normal day it would be close to the three year old's bedtime, but according to Regina she had slept through most of the flight. Now that the little girl was well rested, the energy was practically radiating off of her as she marvelled over the newness that was Florida.
Henry had talked his parents into letting him plug his iPod into the surround sound, and so if the lights of the highway and the glamour of the hotels they passed didn't keep Kaelyn's enthusiasm from fading, the music certainly would have kept up her energy.
Walt Disney World was only about a twenty-five minute drive from the airport, but for Kaelyn it seemed to be taking a lifetime.
"Are we at Disney yet?" She asked for about the hundredth time since they had departed Orlando International.
"Not yet sweetie." Regina replied, smiling back at her. "But we'll be there soon, I promise."
"How soon how soon?!"
David chuckled. "GPS says five minutes Kaelyn."
"FIVE MINUTES?! HENRY DID YOU HEAR?! WE'RE ALMOST THERE WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"
Henry laughed. "Yeah Kae I heard."
"WE'RE ALMOST AT DISNEY!"
"Yeah I know."
The three year old was leaning as far forward as her seatbelt would allow in order to look out the front window, and Henry was doing much the same.
"I thought there would be more palm trees." He commented.
"We've seen plenty of palm trees!" David replied in surprise.
"Yeah I guess. But I thought there would be you know... more." Henry grinned, leaning forward on the back of his mother's seat.
"Well I'm sure we'll see a ton this week." David replied amiably.
"Henry is your seatbelt on?"
"Yes Mom." Henry said, practically rolling his eyes.
Regina turned her head towards the back of the car. "Kaelyn does Henry have his seatbelt on?"
Kaelyn giggled. "Uh-huh."
"You don't trust me anymore?" Henry asked, pretended to be offended.
"I'm sorry Henry." Regina said softly looking back at him. "I'm just going from past experience. It's one thing not to wear your seatbelt in Storybrooke, but here on the highway it's–"
"Dangerous. I know Mom, don't worry I'm fine."
"I just want you to be safe."
"I know Mom." He smiled.
The sky was mostly dark now, with just hints of orange and red from the lingering sunset. The roads were spotless and pitch black, as if they had been constructed only yesterday. Or perhaps it was just the darkening sky and good lighting that gave that illusion. They had already passed a few beautiful resorts that were surrounded by palm trees, and had passed the exit to Sea World and the connecting highway that led to Universal Studios.
"Make sure you're following the correct route David." Regina said, indicating the signs they were about to drive under.
"I'm following the GPS."
"Yes I know that dear but just make sure you're in the right lane. We don't want to end up in Tampa now do we?" She teased.
"We won't." He replied, a hint of pride in his voice.
However about ten seconds later he merged left into another lane. He heard a quiet laugh from the passenger seat and a snigger from the backseat. David found himself smiling at the amused smirk on his wife's face.
"I was just waiting for the right moment." He explained.
"Mhmm."
"I wanted to make sure it was the right lane before I switched, that's all."
"I'm sure you did honey."
"It's the truth!"
Regina just shook her head in amusement.
"Oh my god." Henry said, leaning forwards in his seat.
"What?" Kaelyn asked.
"Woah."
"What?!"
"We're here!"
"WHAT!"
"Look!"
"I don't see anything I don't see anything." Kaelyn said, leaning as far forwards as her seatbelt would allow.
Regina pointed. "There sweetie, just up ahead. The archway over the road. Do you see it?"
Kaelyn gasped. "We're here?!"
"Almost."
"Mommy Mommy, it's Mickey and Minnie!"
"Yes Kaelyn I see." Regina laughed softly.
They were quickly approaching a big, colourful archway with the unmistakable cursive writing that read Walt Disney World. Underneath it was a smaller arch made to look like an elegant blue banner which said, Where Dreams Come True. The archway had the image of Cinderella's Castle on top of it, looking as if it was coming out of the clouds. On either side of the road in smaller decorative arches were large pictures of the signature characters, both of whom had their arms stretched wide in welcoming poses. The entire structure was surrounded by palm trees on either side of the three-lane road leading into the parks.
"Henry see the castle picture?"
"Yeah Kaelyn, it's pretty cool."
The little girl was quietly squealing into her hands as they passed under the archway.
"I think Kaelyn's excited." Regina smiled to her husband.
"I don't know... it's hard to tell."
"Where's Cinderella's castle?!" Kaelyn asked desperately.
"We'll see it soon." Regina responded patiently.
"I wanna see it now!"
"We'll see it soon, after we get to the resort. Perhaps tonight if we're lucky but we might not be able to see it until tomorrow okay?"
"Okaaay."
They continued to drive towards the parks, and Kaelyn nearly lost it when she saw a massive picture of Elsa at the entryway to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
They kept following the road, passing signs directing guests to different destinations in Walt Disney World. They soon passed by a moving, large model advertisement for the Tower of Terror ride, in which an elevator car full of passengers was swaying mechanically to give the illusion that it could be falling down the Hollywood Tower Hotel.
Regina had settled back into her seat to enjoy the drive. But a minute or so later, from the corner of her eye she could see something fluffy hovering near her shoulder.
Slowly she turned her head and was met nearly face-to-face with Kaelyn's stuffed animal. Her daughter was holding the rabbit so it was facing the front window.
"Bunny wants to see." The three year old explained.
Regina breathed a laugh. "Okay, but can you still see?"
"Uh-huh."
"I can't..." Henry said.
Regina turned further around in her seat and shared an apologetically amused look with her son.
"Kaelyn sweetie would you like me to hold Bunny for you? She'll have a better view from up here and that way your brother will still be able to see as well."
"Okay!"
Regina took the toy from her daughter and sat it down on the ledge below the passenger's side window. That way it wasn't blocking anyone's view, she didn't have to tire her arm out by holding the toy up to 'see', and Bunny now had a seat of her own.
Kaelyn smiled happily as she checked to make sure Bunny was content, and then resumed looking out the window.
They drove on for a bit longer until they were directed by an overhead purple sign to keep left for the Magic Kingdom.
There were many trees surrounding them and they were now driving alongside train tracks that were elevated far above their heads. This was for the monorail which provided quick travel for guests throughout the parks.
The roads weren't overcrowded with vehicles partly because of the time of day, but also because of the many ingoing lanes. The outgoing traffic was kept separate from them by a large grassy strip almost as big as the roads. At the moment it looked like they could be on any highway, the only difference being the monorail zipping past them to the right and the gradually slowing speed limit.
Finally they came to another large archway, except this time there were many more traffic lanes. This archway was labelled Magic Kingdom, and here there were booths for cars to pass through to obtain parking passes. After David had retrieved a slip from the guard who greeted them, they followed the road towards the resorts rather than the many lanes heading toward the Heroes and Villains parking lots, which were for the Magic Kingdom's daytime visitors.
They now drove through roads with only one or two lanes each, and these were more heavily lined with lush trees on both sides.
"This place goes on forever," Henry commented in amazement. "I thought we would you know, pass a Welcome to Disney sign and then be there."
They passed by driveways into Disney resorts including two named the Contemporary and the Polynesian Village, and soon they had to turn onto another road.
"There's your palm trees Henry." David said.
"Yeah," Henry smiled, continuing to look out the windows in case he missed anything.
This road was lined with trees just like the other roads had been, but this one contained a significantly higher amount of palm trees. They continued along this path, following a bend in the road until a massive and extravagant white resort with red gabled roofs and fairytale turrets came into view in the near distance.
David smiled as he heard Regina's soft intake of breath.
"Wooooow!" Came Kaelyn's awestruck voice.
The first glimpse they had of it was to their right, over a pond and through the palm trees. The entire building was surrounded by lights, emphasising its glamour and elegance. As they got closer to the resort, it became clearer that what at first looked like one big building was actually a few individual buildings, each a substantial size of its own.
"That's our hotel?" Henry asked, amazed.
"Yep." David responded. "What do you think?"
"It's alright."
"Alright?"
"Okay it's pretty awesome."
After driving passed the gate to an entrance which said Wedding Pavilion, they continued along the road until they reached a larger entrance, which was the main driveway into the resort. There were two immaculately lit decorative brick walls on either side of the entrance, and each of these had the words Grand Floridian Resort and Spa written on them. The strip of lawn between the entrance and exit driveways to the resort was full of beautiful pink flowers, and the outer edges of these roads were trimmed with enormous palm trees lining the drive. In front of these perfect and evenly spaced palm trees were beautiful fences lining the road. They were black wrought iron and were broken up by brick columns, and in front of these were perfectly trimmed hedges and yet more flowers.
"I feel like I'm in Hollywood." Henry said, leaning forward on his mother's seat again to get a better look.
"It's like a princess palace!" Kaelyn commented.
"It's beautiful." Regina agreed.
There were two cars ahead of them waiting to meet with the guard at the booth and so they waited, simply taking in their surroundings.
David had rolled down all of the windows in the car now. Despite how much he had wanted to do that on the highway, he hadn't because he knew it would bother his wife. However now that the windows were down and the car was still, they were met with a soft, warm breeze and the crisp, delicious smell of fresh air and flowers.
The resort itself was designed in an elaborate Victorian style reminiscent of the 19th century Southern beach resorts of Florida and California. It was beautiful.
It was soon their turn to meet the guard at the gate, and David slowly drove up to the quaint booth.
"Welcome home," the security guard standing outside the booth greeted them. "Are you folks guests at the resort or just visiting for the evening?"
"We're staying at the hotel, this is our first night." David responded.
"Very good." The guard said, indicating to the person inside the booth to retrieve a slip for them. "Have you stayed here with us before?"
"Nope, this is our first time."
After a brief discussion, the guard directed David to their building and told them he hoped they enjoyed their stay.
The security bar lifted and David began to drive into the resort. As the car passed by, the guard and the employee in the booth happily returned Kaelyn's vigorous waves.
Regina breathed a contented sigh as they headed towards the front entranceway to the building called the Grand Floridian Villas. This was the building they had first seen from the road, and it was just to the right of the main building. Both were equally as beautiful and were designed in the same style.
Driving passed more beautiful garden work, they soon pulled into the overhang of the front entrance and were greeted by a doorman.
Once Regina had opened her door, the doorman stepped forward and offered her his hand with a kind smile.
"May I?" He asked politely, waiting for her agreement before stepping closer.
"Thank you." She accepted his hand and stepped gracefully out of the car.
He nodded kindly.
"Welcome home." He greeted Regina and Henry, who had already gotten out of the car.
"Uh... thanks." Henry said returning his smile.
The doorman went to help David load the suitcases from the back of the Escalade onto a trolley that had been brought over for them. Their luggage would be taken to their room while they checked in, and the car taken into Valet Parking.
Regina placed an arm around Henry's shoulders. He was standing next to the car, watching a fountain that was centered just outside the colonnade. They both took in the view of the front gardens of their section of the resort.
"What do you think sweetheart?"
"I like it." Henry grinned at her.
"Me too." Regina smiled softly.
"It's so warm here."
Regina breathed a laugh. "That's for sure. Is that a good thing?"
"Yeah, it's nice."
"I'm glad." She touched her forehead briefly to his. "I'm going to go help your sister. Make sure you have all of your things before they take the car alright?"
Henry nodded, he got into the front passenger's seat of the SUV to get his iPod while his mother went around to the driver's side.
"Mommy mommy can we see the castle?" Kaelyn asked, kicking her legs as her mother unfastened the belt on the carseat.
Regina gently pressed her hand down on Kaelyn's knees to get her to stop kicking. She needed to reach Kaelyn's backpack and didn't want to accidentally get a tiny shoe in the face.
"We'll see it soon sweetheart, first we need to check into our room. But again we might not be able to see the castle until tomorrow okay?"
Kaelyn scrunched up her nose in thought, but then nodded.
"That's my girl." Regina smiled. She held out her daughter's stuffed rabbit toy. "So I think Bunny enjoyed the ride."
Kaelyn giggled, taking Bunny and squeezing it in a death hug. "Thank you Mommy."
"It was my pleasure. We couldn't have Bunny missing out on all the fun now could we?"
Kaelyn shook her head.
Regina lifted her out of the seat and placed her on her feet on the ground. "Do you want to carry your backpack?"
Kaelyn nodded, and so Regina put it on over her daughter's shoulders.
Regina adjusted her own purse on her shoulder and scanned the vehicle one last time for anything they might have missed.
Once they had retrieved all of their belongings from the car, David tipped the valet before the young man took the SUV to parking.
"I love that car." Henry said, watching the white Escalade drive away amidst the lights and palm trees.
"But you love ours more right?" David grinned, patting his shoulder.
"Yeah. I mean ours is bigger soo..."
David laughed. "What?"
Henry grinned. "Okay I love it 'cause it's ours. And it's black. I like that it's black. But the white one's pretty cool too though."
"Maybe I should buy one for your mom. Think she'd like that?" David asked teasingly.
"You should!"
"You know if I did, you still wouldn't get the black one."
"Come on David!"
David laughed, "Well I feel like if we did get a white one your mom would claim the one we already have as hers anyways. But rightfully so, I think it suits her."
"Maaaybe you should just buy another black one then."
David shook his head in amusement. "We don't need two Henry."
"I gueeess."
Henry dodged his stepfather's hand as David tried to ruffle his hair with his knuckles. Henry punched him playfully in the upper arm.
David nodded to where Regina and Kaelyn were standing hand-in-hand by the entrance to the building. "Come on, what do you say we go see what this place is like on the inside?"
Henry nodded as Regina waved, smiling affectionately at them both. The doorman was waiting nearby to guide them inside. Once Henry and David joined them he stepped back, and with a gesture of his hand he allowed for the four of them to cross the threshold first, and then followed after them.