Pinch me, did it REALLY happen????? - All wrapped up, and yes, it DID happen!

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by dgbg100106

Whoop that is awesome, I guess you already answered my question

Originally Posted by Pinkocto

You're there!!!

I'm so glad everything went smoothly and that you're already having a great trip!

Yup! No commado here, we are relaxing, taking it as we wish and not stressing!

[franandaj]

Let the Adventures Begin!

So Monday morning came with no glitches or hitches. We didn’t get much sleep Sunday night, in fact I’m not sure that Fran got any. But to my pleasure there was no last minute packing (with the exception of the roast, some sunscreen, and another item or two.) We were on the road by 6:10AM, which was 25 minutes late. However, I finally decided to see when our flight really left. I had been working with 8AM, and when I checked, it was actually 8:30AM.

We decided that we still didn’t have any time to stop for breakfast and went directly to the airport. We pulled up at the American gate, and usually we had porters galore wanting to help us. It’s been almost two years since we’ve flown and we know that American is in bankruptcy, but it was still odd. Eventually one of them helped us get our checked bags onto a “smart carte” and I loaded the scooters with our carry ons and left Fran to watch the bags while I parked.

We park in Lot C and I was able to quickly get on the next shuttle back to the airport. When they dropped me off at the terminal I realized our mistake. We had stopped at “Self-Service” check-in. Not First Class I quickly found Fran with our scooters and told her we were in the wrong area. She had figured it out too but had no way to move everything so she just waited. It was comical to watch her with the luggage, but she did a great job steering her scooter and the four large bags on the cart.

Once we found the correct place, check-in went smoothly although it took a loooooong time. We made it to the gate at 7:30AM and the agent told us preboarding would begin at 7:50, so no time to hit the Admiral’s Club. We ended up getting some Cinnabon from Burger King and some truly vile coffee. Boarding went without incident and soon we were on the plane in our seats ready to go.

We were only a few minutes late taking off. For those who have flown out of LAX, you take off towards the ocean, if you are heading to Orlando (or anywhere else East), the plane turns around making a wide loop past the Palos Verde Peninsula, passing along the way, San Pedro and even Long Beach. As the harbor came into view, I was strangely excited that even though my kitties are all stuck at home, I was on my way somewhere else!



This shot I zoomed in on the city in the lower left, you can see the Queen Mary and whichever Carnival ship does the 3 & 4 day cruises. My house is in the upper right hand corner about 2/3 down from the edge of the photo to the water. Smack in the middle of the photo on the waterfront is Bixby Park. Jenny and Alicia, you might know where this is…I just found this really cool to look at my neighborhood from the plane, but I digress.



Soon they came along with our menus for the trip. I’m not sure why they did this since we have already pre ordered our entrees, but evidently this information was not transmitted to the flight attendants.



Fran went with the Breakfast Quesadilla



I had the cereal and yogurt. Strangely enough, this was a very filling and tasty breakfast. The biscuits that they served us were fresh baked in the ovens that they have on the plane and were excellent.



I looked out the window periodically during the flight, but it was mostly cloudy and I didn’t see any land features of any interest. I mainly did my Math Puzzles and Logic Problems. About halfway through the flight, my eyes grew heavy and I started seeing double so I closed up the puzzle book and laid down. I still couldn’t sleep, so I decided to wake up again. During the flight I ended up doing four Cross sums, four Logic problems, one Figure Logic and a couple others that I attempted before my “nap”.

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to fly American First Class (don’t think we’re loaded, all our flights are booked solely on frequent buyer, er flyer miles! ), you’ll know that the end of the flight is coming when you smell the wonderful cookies baking. They have some kind of oven on the plane to make hot cookies that are served near the end of the flight. Fran got the Chocolate



I got the sugar cookie, plus they said we could have the cheese and crackers too.



Soon after this tasty little snack we were landing. As usual we were amongst the last off the plane and just as we were disembarking our scooters had come up from below. We headed off to Baggage Claim, but not without a potty stop and a wrong turn towards the Magical Express part of the airport! We were so late in picking up our bags that they had already removed them from the carousel and were putting them into the “lost bags” pile.

Unfortunately there were no helpful porters around wanting to earn tips so we were forced to resort to the four giant bags on the “smart carte”. I really wish I would have taken a picture of Fran. She did a brilliant job of steering the cart and driving her scooter. You should have seen us managing to get the cart in and out of the elevator, across the street to the parking lot for the rental cars and all that! We did have a little help from some kind strangers that took pity on us. We looked rather pathetic as the bag on top kept trying to slide off with every bump we hit on the sidewalk or drain the that cart was stuck in!

Finally we made it to our car. A kind Alamo worker helped us fold the seats down, otherwise we never would have figured it out!



We got the car all loaded up, and the mini van was great! We could even see out the back, not the case with a Jeep Cherokee that we usually get!







Fran gets in the car, and turns the ignition, it turns over and dies. Again. Again. Again. Again. And then about five more times. Now we expect this from our cars from the 50s, 60s and 70s, but not a brand new mini-van rental. So we decide to switch to the car next door. I go over and it starts up right away. I tried to get the seats to fold flat and finally gave up. So I went back to the place where the attendants were and asked how to put the seats down. I explained that the car we had already loaded up wouldn’t start and the gentleman came with me immediately. The car started for him on the first try.

We had Fran get in the car to try it, and this time it started! She had already started unloading the carry ons, but it was much easier to put them back than move all the rest of the stuff, so finally we were on our way.

Next up getting to the resort! I'm going to take a break and grab some pictures from the resort!

[Linda67]

Wow, an update already - you don't hang around !

Can't wait to hear about your first impressions of the Wizarding World

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that everything went smoothly. Freshly baked cookies on a plane, now that is something I would love to experience.

Corinna

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by Linda67

Wow, an update already - you don't hang around !

Can't wait to hear about your first impressions of the Wizarding World

Fran needs a lot of rest time during each day so that we can keep going. I try to take the time when she naps to keep up on updates. At home I don't have a lot of time to keep up, so I try to stay on top of it while I can.

The WWoHP will really slow me down update-wise. I will tell you that there is a LOT to that world, we had a blast!

Originally Posted by dolphingirl47

I am glad that everything went smoothly. Freshly baked cookies on a plane, now that is something I would love to experience.

Corinna

The first time I had them I was in heaven. Now I'm spoiled and miss it when we fly other airlines. Our last trip was on Delta and they didn't have cookies!

[franandaj]

Now every time we have been to Universal our GPS has taken us on Sand Lake Road and not the main Highway. I actually prefer that route because you pass all sorts of businesses on the way. In particular, we were looking for a K-Mart that we visited our trip four and a half years ago to pick up some supplies. Specifically we wanted soda, distilled water, and a screwtop bottle of wine. DVC has really spoiled me. I used to carry a corkscrew in my bathroom bag, but I haven’t needed it in so long! At home if we are traveling on the road, I just purchase the Vendange wine in the eco friendly bottles with a screw top, so I haven’t needed a corkscrew in years!

The only wine that they had was a 3 liter jug of Chablis! Oh well, we are here for a while! Well in addition to what we came for we ended up with instant pancake mix, 2 cases of soda, distilled and drinking water, plus more snacks and cookies! (see we won’t meet our box of goodies until we arrive at Kidani, it was delivered at 8:25AM this morning.)

So back on the road to the Royal Pacific and we were there in no time. By the time we were checked in it was 7PM. We went to the room and waited for the bellman to bring up our bags and our Owner’s Locker. Our room was on the Club Level, but I wouldn’t really say there was anything “special” about the room. It was nice and comfortable and certainly fit the bill for two nights.

















And for those of your curious, here is the roast safely thawing (hopefully!) in our mini bar, awaiting it's cooking tomorrow night!

[Linda67]

Great shots of the room

We stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort a couple of years ago and loved it

The pool area is particularly nice and the staff were just the best

[franandaj]

Now it was time to figure out what to have for dinner. By this time it was about 8PM. I didn’t fancy leaving the hotel. I barely had 5 hours sleep, if even that. Every muscle in my body ached. Most of the places in the hotel had closed already, so I made it easy. We decided to go to Jake’s American Bar.



None of my pictures of the interior came out decent, but I just took these on my photo shoot around the resort







Here is the Menu.













As we were waiting for our food, we had a couple unexpected guests come to pay us a visit!



I look like I have been awake for over 15 hours with less than five hours sleep!







We started off with a house salad



And a bowl of Crawfish Bisque



I got the Lamb Burger and used my “fries” to get the salad. This was OK, I am spoiled with the Lamb Burger from the Uva Bar in DTD West. There they ask you how you would like it cooked, and I get mine a nice juicy Medium to Medium Rare. This was definitely well done. But I ate most of it and was still fine.



Fran got the Fish and Chips and shared this with me. It was very tasty and I was happy to have some of each.

[rentayenta]

Fresh baked cookies while flying first class? Sounds fabulous! The food doesn't look half bad either.

I know exactly where Bixby Park is. Very cool to be able to see your neighborhood.

Do you miss the DVC jetted tub? My first thought was: Alison isn't going to like that tub.

I'm glad Fran took the car and lack of luggage help hiccups in stride.

How was the bisque? The lamb burger looks really good even for overdone. The bun looks buttery.

Scooby and Homer? Celebrity status right there . I didn't realize your hotel had characters.

I'd put that infamous roast on the counter if it's frozen and you want to cook it tomorrow; at least for overnight.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by Linda67

Great shots of the room

We stayed at the Royal Pacific Resort a couple of years ago and loved it

The pool area is particularly nice and the staff were just the best

Yes, it has been nice. With such a short stay we haven't seen a lot of staff. The CL folks have been nice.

Originally Posted by rentayenta

Fresh baked cookies while flying first class? Sounds fabulous! The food doesn't look half bad either.

I know exactly where Bixby Park is. Very cool to be able to see your neighborhood.

Do you miss the DVC jetted tub? My first thought was: Alison isn't going to like that tub.

I'm glad Fran took the car and lack of luggage help hiccups in stride.

How was the bisque? The lamb burger looks really good even for overdone. The bun looks buttery.

Scooby and Homer? Celebrity status right there . I didn't realize your hotel had characters.

I'd put that infamous roast on the counter if it's frozen and you want to cook it tomorrow; at least for overnight.

I was really happy with the food too. The only thing I missed was when 1st class did not have the whole airplane walk through, they gave us champagne and fresh roasted nuts while waiting for take off.

Everything at dinner was good. I just really love the burger at the Uva bar, nothing beats it, not even my own

The characters were totally random and unexpected. There is a convention of some sort going on (hence why all the non club level rooms were sold out). I think they were going to the welcome party but felt compelled to stop in the dining room. Tomorrow it will be in an insulated bag and not a fridge. I guess I should double check it before bed tonight.

[Leshaface]

Wow already on a roll with your TR!

That picture definitely makes me miss Long Beach. I had to show Dan and it was fun pointing a few things out in that picture and reminiscing.

I really hope that Van continues to work for you during the rest of your stay. Yikes!

Did your roast stay frozen in your suitcase?

[ACDSNY]

Originally Posted by franandaj

Yup! No commado here, we are relaxing, taking it as we wish and not stressing!

I'm so glad you've had a good start to your trip. We'll live vicariously through your TR.

[PrincessInOz]

This is great, Alison. So pleased to see you on a plane and Fran with a smile on her face for a holiday!

Looking forward to the rest.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by Leshaface

Wow already on a roll with your TR!

That picture definitely makes me miss Long Beach. I had to show Dan and it was fun pointing a few things out in that picture and reminiscing.

I really hope that Van continues to work for you during the rest of your stay. Yikes!

Did your roast stay frozen in your suitcase?

I can't say for how long I'll be on a roll. While Universal is fun, it doesn't have the draw at the attractions that Disney does. However we need to make sure Fran gets her rest. That's when I get the updates in.

I spent a long time looking at that pic too! I couldn't actually see OUR house, but I could identify a church and a few other buildings just blocks from the house.

Tomorrow I turn in the mini van. I have my ME pass to come back from the airport.

The roast was frozen when I put it in the fridge here, you got me worried so I just checked it and the sides have thawed. It should thaw completely today. In fact we might pick up a styro cooler, today is supposed to be the warmest January day EVER! Big change from our last January trip, huh?

Originally Posted by ACDSNY

I'm so glad you've had a good start to your trip. We'll live vicariously through your TR.

I hope to keep the updates coming regularly. Those who hang with me on the CB will be surprised to see the hours I'm keeping! Night shift beware! I'm having trouble sleeping normally but I won't let that ruin anything. I just hope it changes when we get to Disney and back to a normal size bed!

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

This is great, Alison. So pleased to see you on a plane and Fran with a smile on her face for a holiday!

Looking forward to the rest.

She has been smiling more than I have seen her do so in a long time. Hopefully today she will be beaming!