hockeyplayer
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2003
- Messages
- 90
Cast of Characters:
Me - the Mom with the plans (which mostly consist of "winging it")
J DD13 future movie director or cruise ship coordinator aka "The Boss"
T DD11 aka "The Phobia Kid"
DH - the only smart one in the bunch - he will fly to Florida instead of driving with the rest of us
Finally, after several days of visiting friends and sightseeing in Atlanta, we were on our way to Orlando. We got a later start than planned - these things happen when the three "night owls" travel without earlybird Dh to haul us out of bed. But eventually we made it to Coronado Springs - our first stay at this particular resort. And this is where things got a little bit weird. We were given a room in Casitas, right next to one of the entrances to the Convention Center. When we got to the room, the door was propped open - the little metal arm that you pull across at night for extra security had been used to keep the door from closing all of the way. Puzzled, I looked at my paperwork to doublecheck the room number. We were in the right place. I knocked on the door and yelled, "Hello!" No answer. So I figured that when the previous occupants had left, they had inadvertently knocked the security bar across without realizing it. I pushed the door open and went in. The room looked as if it had been cleaned. The beds were made, but the pillows on one bed had been pulled up from underneath the top bedspread and were sitting on top. They had "head indentations" in them. The covers were rumpled just enough to indicate that someone had been lying on top of the bedspread. "Somebody's still using this room," stated J. She walked over to the bathroom. Then I heard, "Ooooh! There are wet towels in the tub and a tampon wrapper on the floor." At this point, T is starting to get that all-familiar panicked look on her face. "This isn't the right room," she's insisting. "Someone else is still staying here. What if they come back and find us in their room?" I pick up the phone and call the front desk. They confirm that we are, indeed, in the correct room. "Well then, " I said. "We have a little problem." I proceeded to explain the situation. They said they'd send Mousekeeping to re-clean the room. "You don't understand, " I said to them. "This isn't really a housekeeping issue, it's an issue for your security department." While this conversation is going on, both kids are peeking out of the window, and every time someone walks near the vicinity of the room, they're freaking out because they think that whoever is still using the room is returning. (Our guess is that they officially checked out, but still wanted access to the room to nap, shower, etc. They evidently planned to come back again - why else would the door still be ajar?) I try to explain to them that this isn't our problem - we've done nothing wrong - but it becomes apparent that there will be no peace until I request another room. The kids were so creeped out that they wouldn't even stay in the Casitas section; they wanted a complete relocation. (I'm surprised they didn't want a complete resort change!) The front desk tells me to hang in for a few minutes. They'll send bell services up to help get us to our new location. So we wait...and wait...and wait. Thirty minutes later we're still waiting, and the kids are looking like it might be nervous breakdown time. I call back. Since I have a car, they ask me to drive over to the Ranchos section, to Building 6B, where someone from bell services will meet us with a key. We leave the Casitas room, pulling the door securely shut to foil any further unauthorized room use. (You freak out my kids, you pay the price!) We drove over to Ranchos. And waited...and waited...and waited. After 40 minutes I flagged down a man on a golfcart. I believe he was a maintenance or Mousekeeping supervisor. I explained the situation. He made a phone call, then came back and told us he'd open our room for us. He took us to the third floor, opened our room for us, and told us not to go anywhere because someone would be by "soon" to give us our keys. OK, all together now, what happens next? We wait...and wait...and wait. The kids have now decompressed and are watching TV, but it is now after 8 p.m., and our plans of going to either MK or Epcot to activate our AP's and get in a couple hours of park time have now gone down the drain. After a while, the kids started whining about being hungry, evidently feeling that they should be fed more than twice on this particular day. We headed over to the main building to get a bite to eat...and stop at the front desk. I'm sure your expecting an account of how I got to the desk, went ballistic, and had a complete meltdown. While that certainly would've made this story more interesting, it isn't what happened. I have extraordinary patience and self-control in situations like this, developed after 20 years of working with young children. (If their antics, and the antics of some of the parents I've dealt with haven't pushed me over the edge yet, a situation like this certainly isn't going to do it either.) The woman at the front desk was very apologetic about the inconvenience and lack of communication, and I finally got some room keys. We ate at the Pepper Market, which is a great option for families like ours where no two family members seem to like the same kind of food.
When we got back to the room, the kids, who had spent most of the day in the car or sitting in a hotel room, were now bouncing off of the walls. I let them take a quick swim in the quiet pool, but when we got back to the room, there was still no way they were going to bed. I told them they could watch TV until they passed out or their brains rotted, whichever came first. Luckily, I can sleep through anything, so the noise didn't bother me.
Will we ever get to a park? Find out in Part 4 - Delays and Distractions.
Me - the Mom with the plans (which mostly consist of "winging it")
J DD13 future movie director or cruise ship coordinator aka "The Boss"
T DD11 aka "The Phobia Kid"
DH - the only smart one in the bunch - he will fly to Florida instead of driving with the rest of us
Finally, after several days of visiting friends and sightseeing in Atlanta, we were on our way to Orlando. We got a later start than planned - these things happen when the three "night owls" travel without earlybird Dh to haul us out of bed. But eventually we made it to Coronado Springs - our first stay at this particular resort. And this is where things got a little bit weird. We were given a room in Casitas, right next to one of the entrances to the Convention Center. When we got to the room, the door was propped open - the little metal arm that you pull across at night for extra security had been used to keep the door from closing all of the way. Puzzled, I looked at my paperwork to doublecheck the room number. We were in the right place. I knocked on the door and yelled, "Hello!" No answer. So I figured that when the previous occupants had left, they had inadvertently knocked the security bar across without realizing it. I pushed the door open and went in. The room looked as if it had been cleaned. The beds were made, but the pillows on one bed had been pulled up from underneath the top bedspread and were sitting on top. They had "head indentations" in them. The covers were rumpled just enough to indicate that someone had been lying on top of the bedspread. "Somebody's still using this room," stated J. She walked over to the bathroom. Then I heard, "Ooooh! There are wet towels in the tub and a tampon wrapper on the floor." At this point, T is starting to get that all-familiar panicked look on her face. "This isn't the right room," she's insisting. "Someone else is still staying here. What if they come back and find us in their room?" I pick up the phone and call the front desk. They confirm that we are, indeed, in the correct room. "Well then, " I said. "We have a little problem." I proceeded to explain the situation. They said they'd send Mousekeeping to re-clean the room. "You don't understand, " I said to them. "This isn't really a housekeeping issue, it's an issue for your security department." While this conversation is going on, both kids are peeking out of the window, and every time someone walks near the vicinity of the room, they're freaking out because they think that whoever is still using the room is returning. (Our guess is that they officially checked out, but still wanted access to the room to nap, shower, etc. They evidently planned to come back again - why else would the door still be ajar?) I try to explain to them that this isn't our problem - we've done nothing wrong - but it becomes apparent that there will be no peace until I request another room. The kids were so creeped out that they wouldn't even stay in the Casitas section; they wanted a complete relocation. (I'm surprised they didn't want a complete resort change!) The front desk tells me to hang in for a few minutes. They'll send bell services up to help get us to our new location. So we wait...and wait...and wait. Thirty minutes later we're still waiting, and the kids are looking like it might be nervous breakdown time. I call back. Since I have a car, they ask me to drive over to the Ranchos section, to Building 6B, where someone from bell services will meet us with a key. We leave the Casitas room, pulling the door securely shut to foil any further unauthorized room use. (You freak out my kids, you pay the price!) We drove over to Ranchos. And waited...and waited...and waited. After 40 minutes I flagged down a man on a golfcart. I believe he was a maintenance or Mousekeeping supervisor. I explained the situation. He made a phone call, then came back and told us he'd open our room for us. He took us to the third floor, opened our room for us, and told us not to go anywhere because someone would be by "soon" to give us our keys. OK, all together now, what happens next? We wait...and wait...and wait. The kids have now decompressed and are watching TV, but it is now after 8 p.m., and our plans of going to either MK or Epcot to activate our AP's and get in a couple hours of park time have now gone down the drain. After a while, the kids started whining about being hungry, evidently feeling that they should be fed more than twice on this particular day. We headed over to the main building to get a bite to eat...and stop at the front desk. I'm sure your expecting an account of how I got to the desk, went ballistic, and had a complete meltdown. While that certainly would've made this story more interesting, it isn't what happened. I have extraordinary patience and self-control in situations like this, developed after 20 years of working with young children. (If their antics, and the antics of some of the parents I've dealt with haven't pushed me over the edge yet, a situation like this certainly isn't going to do it either.) The woman at the front desk was very apologetic about the inconvenience and lack of communication, and I finally got some room keys. We ate at the Pepper Market, which is a great option for families like ours where no two family members seem to like the same kind of food.
When we got back to the room, the kids, who had spent most of the day in the car or sitting in a hotel room, were now bouncing off of the walls. I let them take a quick swim in the quiet pool, but when we got back to the room, there was still no way they were going to bed. I told them they could watch TV until they passed out or their brains rotted, whichever came first. Luckily, I can sleep through anything, so the noise didn't bother me.
Will we ever get to a park? Find out in Part 4 - Delays and Distractions.
