DAY TWO: ANOTHER SURPRISE DAY!
The next morning, after a night of unconsciousness rather than sleep, we got up at about 9 a.m., got changed, and headed to the Pop food court. It was so hot and steamy
We had been to Florida in August in 2009 but you forget HOW HOT IT IS. Leaving the room and being right outside was also a change from our last stay, and it was definitely a shocker with the heat being how it was. Dont ask me why it is different to leave your room and hit the heat or leave the lobby and hit the heat, because it makes no sense, but it does! LOL.
A family member has a car like this, so we had to take a look, but not a long one:
I loved the selection of the food court, and the prices were great. However, it was about 9:30 a.m. by the time we all got it together and got over there, and it was incredibly crowded. The lines were long for every station, so I found the one with the Mickey waffle kids meal (thinking of Mickey waffles since last year, and we had no breakfast ADRs so I knew that this was the only time Id get one this trip!) and got in the line. I assumed that the lines would be dealt with in true Disney fashion, efficient and pleasant. Unfortunately, that was not the case! There was ONE worker at the counter for the full time that I was in the line. She had nobody there even helping her to refill her station, let alone assisting her with the customers, with the exception of the guy bringing in the Mickey waffles. She also had to leave the main part of the station to do all the made-to-order yogurt parfaits. She ran out of yogurt twice while I was in the line and had to go and get more. Finally, a manager came over and she expressed her frustration, but there didnt seem to be any relief coming for her! She did her absolute best with what she was given, but she was definitely showing her exhaustion and frustration when I finally got to her. She was dealing with it way better than I would have in the same situation. Bottom line was what should have been a half hour, 45 minute (tops) stop at a food court took at least an hour and a half.
After I had breakfast, I ran back to the room and packed up everything while the rest finished up, and I then went to check out. The check out experience was great - I got in the lineup, and then was approached by a CM who checked me out on an iPad. It was so nice to experience the exceptional Disney customer service we were used to for the first time in our trip.
The kids wanted to check out the Pop arcade, and I wanted to take a look around the gift shop. Everything Pop was actually an awesome gift shop, and DH got a shirt he wanted, and I got a Disney 2013 plane for the boy in the other family (he is obsessed with planes and he was celebrating his birthday on this trip). The kids took their time in the arcade (SO LOUD in there!), but finally we were in the cab, heading for the YC. The cab driver told the guard at the gate who we were, so we were greeted by name as soon as we arrived, and were immediately brought up to the CL floor for check-in. We didnt have that happen the year before when we stayed CL at the BC, so this was a new experience, and it was lovely. We were given another set of Magic Bands, and the staff set everything up for us. Our room wasnt ready, but we were told that it should be by 3. So, what do we do? I suggested heading to Epcot to use our FPs, but the kids did NOT want to miss their friends arrival. What a shocker! They didnt even want to go to SAB without them! So, we went to the lounge.
Sorry about the crappy pictures! I suck as a photographer.
After the madness of the morning, and the rough day before, the pampering and quiet of the CL floor was unbelievable. The staff was helpful, friendly and efficient. There were a bunch of people complaining about the service at the YC CL on here before we left, but I absolutely disagree. We had nothing but amazing service our whole trip.
By this time, I was in texting the other mom, so I knew that they had arrived. Our kids started texting their kids, telling them that they were in Toronto. DS even found a stock photo of an elephant and put it as his profile pic with the status At the Toronto Zoo! for the other kids to see. The other kids had NO IDEA that we were waiting for them, and the other boy was messaging DS from ME and asking questions about the zoo. We were enjoying this enormously! We had snacks and coffee and relaxed in the lounge waiting for them.
Finally, we heard someone in the lobby and we got ready. Their parents brought them in to the lounge, and we yelled SURPRISE! Ive never seen anything like their faces
It was quite a moment. Here's a snippet of it. Ignore our insane screaming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2gbkYkWywU&feature=youtu.be
As I stated in my previous post, the other family had a terrible time trying to sign up for
MDE prior to leaving and could not get any FP+ reservations because of the technical glitch. Anyway, once we arrived, the CL staff took over to match up our FP+ reservations to theirs. It took them a long time (we were fine, they also brought us beer!) but finally they fixed it up by giving the other family what they said were three anytime, anywhere Fastpasses for each of the parks that we had already planned on attending. Score! I had already made all the ADRs for 8 so there was no need to arrange them. They also had some trouble with our MBs opening our room door, and the other familys room was also available before ours, which was a tiny bit annoying since we had been waiting for our room for hours before they had even arrived. All issues faded away when we got into our room (#5152), and when the kids saw that our rooms were adjoining, they were ecstatic.
What a view!
As you can see, this is NOT a SV room. PIXIE DUST!!!
What a thrill for us all.
I loved the sliding door to the balcony, since it gave the room more useable space. However, that door unfortunately was my downfall later that day
(thats what my old high school English teacher called foreshadowing.) Anyway, the rooms were comparable to the BC CL rooms, but these rooms were more roomy than our BC rooms from last year. I understand that our gorgeous water (lagoon) view room last year had dormer windows which made it a bit smaller. The other family got a day bed, but as it turned out we didnt use it or need it. We had a nice chair with an ottoman (also didnt use that!!) The kids decided that they would alternate rooms, with boys staying together with one set of parents one night, and girls with the other, switching nightly. Totally easy to do with the adjoining rooms! So, it was like a week-long sleepover at Disney for our kids. Imagine! I think I want to adopt myself.
We had our first ADR at Via Napoli at 7:30 p.m., so the kids had time to hit the pool. Unfortunately, when we were there we had to use our KTTW cards to get into SAB, as they were having trouble with the WiFi required for the MBs to work. It was certainly harder for to keep track of cards rather than bands, but we found that we did need the cards in several other instances during our stay. My kids took the other kids to the pool and show them around the resort, and the adults had a rest. Well needed and fantastic! After a while, we got our own bathing suits on and headed down to the pool for a drink. By this time, our luggage had arrived in our room. We had no trouble finding a lounge chair. I settled in next to the other mom, and next thing I knew, DH had arrived with a sunken treasure. What a guy!
He said that the bartender laughed and loved it when he ordered the Sunken Treasure. I guess only true fans of the resorts order them.
Delicious! I only had one
Important to know for what is to come
For now, we relaxed and chatted and had a great time while the kids had an absolute ball in the pool. This was my view:
Next up: CALAMITY! The Trip Part of this Trip Report