puggymom
Mouseketeer<br><font color="00a0ba">The Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2004
- Messages
- 4,010
So when I went off on my long weekend in central Florida I didnt think I was going to write a trippie, but then some things occurred and I knew I had to share with the Dis
.
So I am puggymom, 41 years old and loves Disney
, pugs 
and the NY Jets (but we dont want to talk about them at this point
). When I last returned from visiting the Mouse last spring I thought that would be it until February, but then I realized with the 2 trips I had planned for 2008, I would have no solo time and I have really come to love my solo time in the parks.
Call me selfish, but I didnt want to wait until 2009, so I decided to see if I could squeeze in a long weekend before the busy season at work hit. My mom (who usually is my pug sitter) was going away for 2 weeks at the end of September and with the Jets home schedule(I have season tix), Columbus Day weekend was the only one that would work for me.
Hold on I need to back up here. See on my last trip I came home with the mother of all souvies, a DVC membership.
I bought a re-sale contract that had some carryover points. 
I didnt close until the week of July 4th and by the time I got in the system to make ressies I couldnt get in any of the DVC properties for all my nights. Since I didnt want to move around when I was there for such a short time, I used my carryover points to book a room at POFQ.
Also as a result of last trip I had a credit with Jet Blue, we had arrived so early that there was no gate for us so we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, we ended only 5 minutes late, but they still gave everyone on board a credit towards a future trip. Not one to complain, I gladly took it.
So I had my DVC points and an airline credit. As soon as I closed and I got a room ressie, I booked a flight for about $125 with my credit. I played around on the National Car site to get a car rental at a decent price (that took some work).
Now I had to put a plan in place. Lets face it if you are reading this you are a Disser and therefore most likely an obsessive planner.
While waiting to close I had already formulated a plan in my head. It went like this
Day 1 fly down after work and drive to Tampa. Why Tampa .
Day2 Busch Gardens and later that day drive to WDW to check in
Day 3 Epcot
Day 4 MGM
Day 5 Segway tour and MNSSHP
Day 6 Fly home
Next up departure day
. So I am puggymom, 41 years old and loves Disney
, pugs and the NY Jets (but we dont want to talk about them at this point ). When I last returned from visiting the Mouse last spring I thought that would be it until February, but then I realized with the 2 trips I had planned for 2008, I would have no solo time and I have really come to love my solo time in the parks. Call me selfish, but I didnt want to wait until 2009, so I decided to see if I could squeeze in a long weekend before the busy season at work hit. My mom (who usually is my pug sitter) was going away for 2 weeks at the end of September and with the Jets home schedule(I have season tix), Columbus Day weekend was the only one that would work for me. Hold on I need to back up here. See on my last trip I came home with the mother of all souvies, a DVC membership.
I bought a re-sale contract that had some carryover points. I didnt close until the week of July 4th and by the time I got in the system to make ressies I couldnt get in any of the DVC properties for all my nights. Since I didnt want to move around when I was there for such a short time, I used my carryover points to book a room at POFQ.Also as a result of last trip I had a credit with Jet Blue, we had arrived so early that there was no gate for us so we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, we ended only 5 minutes late, but they still gave everyone on board a credit towards a future trip. Not one to complain, I gladly took it.
So I had my DVC points and an airline credit. As soon as I closed and I got a room ressie, I booked a flight for about $125 with my credit. I played around on the National Car site to get a car rental at a decent price (that took some work). Now I had to put a plan in place. Lets face it if you are reading this you are a Disser and therefore most likely an obsessive planner.
While waiting to close I had already formulated a plan in my head. It went like this
Day 1 fly down after work and drive to Tampa. Why Tampa .
Day2 Busch Gardens and later that day drive to WDW to check in
Day 3 Epcot
Day 4 MGM
Day 5 Segway tour and MNSSHP
Day 6 Fly home
Next up departure day
I turned my out of office on for my email and also left the message on my voice mail that I was outta here. I stopped answering the phone and email around noon as I didnt want to get sucked into something as I was leaving. By 12:45 I couldnt take it anymore and left. Id rather be sitting in the airport than my desk. A quick ride to the parking lot I use and before I knew it I was on the shuttle van to the terminal. I went straight to security where there was a very long line. No problem, I had plenty of time. After a few minutes I reached the first TSA agent that checks your ID and boarding pass, he very nicely told me that I could go on the express line, I guess he has a thing for chubby blondes. 
With no trouble at all I found my way to the hotel (Hampton Inn, I have used other Hampton Inns for business travel and this one had a decent review on trip advisor, unlike the other hotels near Busch Gardens (from now on known as BG), it also offers a good free breakfast). I checked in and made my way to the room. It was clean, but worn. Also it was a non smoking room and the comforter smelled like smoke!
UGH! I called Mom to make sure she had no problems picking the furballs 
See you cant believe everything you read on the internet. As it turned out it didnt matter, the park was dead! 
, with the finger scans that didnt work. Well, thankfully BG uses key locks
)
I must make it over to BG soon.
