MsPennieLane
<font color=660099>Self-confessed Disney addict<br
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2003
- Messages
- 904
Day 10 - Sat 2nd
We hadnt had much planned for today and had left it open in our itinerary which was just as well. We were woken up at 8am by the phone. I answered and it was Andys mum asking to speak to him. Unfortunately he was given the news that his grandmother had died a few days before and theyd left telling him because they hadnt wanted to spoil our holiday. Andys parents and uncle had discussed it and said that they didnt want us to come back and cut the holiday short. Once the call finished, we talked about what was the best thing to do and I told Andy that it was entirely up to him and if he wanted to go back early for the funeral, then Id be 100% behind him.
We had flown to the US with Airtours/MyTravel and decided to get hold of them to find out what we could do. It was a bit of a nightmare. We finally managed to get through to an operator in the UK which was a total waste of time. Andy explained the situation and was given a number for the Orlando office and when he asked where the office was so he could go there, he was told that they didnt know! Eh? How can you not know? Andy asked her to ask a supervisor or manager, and again she came back saying they didnt know. Great. Then we found the number they gave us didnt work. We tried for about an hour and Andy was getting really frustrated. Disney tried directory enquiries for us but couldnt find anything. In the end, I suggested we drive to Sanford Airport as we knew they had an office there.
So about midday, we drove to Sanford. I was finding it really hard to stay awake and kept falling asleep throughout the journey. Its just as well I did really as Andy saw a really horrific accident. About 5 miles before the accident happened, this guy cut in front of the car in front of us and he had a trailer behind him. Both cars had to brake for this guy but we were ok. Andy eventually got beside him and the trailer started snaking. Andy put his foot down and got passed him as he could see what was going to happen. As Andy got passed, the trailer started snaking even more and in the mirror, he saw the car and trailer go off the road. God knows how many times the car and trailer rolled but it was pretty awful to see. Were not even sure how the driver was as by the time the car had stopped rolling we were long gone. Andy was too shaken up with what had happened with his Nan and now having seen this and it didnt occur to him to stop and go back. Both car and trailer had gone by the time we returned.
We finally arrived at Sanford and parked up. The queue for Airtours wasnt too horrendous. When we got to the front of the queue, Andy explained what had happened. They explained that we could be put on standby for a flight out in the next two days and it would cost us £275 each. We were trying to think about what to do when another operative came out and started talking to us too. He explained that we could claim on the travel insurance and theyd make all the arrangements without it costing us a penny so we decided to head back and call them. Airtours at the airport were really helpful and gave us a free phone card for calling home with.
We were both hungry as we hadnt eaten anything yet and decided to stop at Chilis for a spot of lunch. I cant remember what we had, although I know we had boneless shanghai wings as we never said no to them.
We continued the journey back to Pop Century and went straight back to our room. We were both exhausted after only 5 hours sleep so we went to bed. Andy woke up about 2 hours later and woke me up awhile later while he was on the phone to our travel insurance company. They were fabulous and really helpful and Andy felt a lot better when he was told that their main priority would be getting us back to the UK asap. He gave them all the details including the hospital where his Nan had died and they said to leave it with them and theyd ring us the next morning with flight details. Andy then spoke to Disney and explained what had happened. Again they were very helpful and we didnt lose any money thank goodness. They cancelled our 2 nights at the Contemporary and refunded what we'd paid as deposit and said that provided we let them know before 11am when wed be checking out and heading back to the UK that they wouldnt charge us for the nights we missed out on at Pop. We had our Keys to the Kingdom tour booked for the morning but as we knew wed be getting a call from the insurance company we knew we had to cancel or reschedule it. We managed to reschedule it for our next trip and will now be doing it on the 20th December.
Our original plan for Saturday night had been to go to Old Town as Andy had never seen the Saturday Night Cruise before. We decided to go ahead with our plan and have a good evening out. We ate dinner at the food court before setting off for Old Town.
We managed to get a parking spot close to where the action was due to start and within a few minutes of us arriving, the cruise started. We saw some really beautiful cars.
Both our favourite car is the Ford Mustang - and we certainly saw a fair of those that night!
one of the many Mustangs we saw that night!
The atmosphere was electric and there was so many people about. The cruise went for about half an hour before some motorbikes went through. After the cruise had ended, we walked down the main street to look for the General Store. We both love this shop as its full of great Coca Cola merchandise. We managed to walk straight passed it and ended up right at the end of the street. We went into Wound and Around, a great shop full of memorabilia from the 50s and 60s. Andy bought himself a great Mustang t-shirt.
Eventually we found the General Store but we came out empty handed. The queues were huge and we didnt find anything that caught our eye - the very first time weve walked out of there empty handed!
It was then back to Pop Century and Classic Concoctions as we decided to have a drink to toast Andys nan. I guzzled down my frozen strawberry daiquiri and got a little tipsy. We were back in our room for 11pm to watch That 70s Show but neither us were tired so we ended up staying up til gone 3 just chatting about stuff and reminiscing.
coming up: we say farewell to Disney earlier than expected.
Anz
We hadnt had much planned for today and had left it open in our itinerary which was just as well. We were woken up at 8am by the phone. I answered and it was Andys mum asking to speak to him. Unfortunately he was given the news that his grandmother had died a few days before and theyd left telling him because they hadnt wanted to spoil our holiday. Andys parents and uncle had discussed it and said that they didnt want us to come back and cut the holiday short. Once the call finished, we talked about what was the best thing to do and I told Andy that it was entirely up to him and if he wanted to go back early for the funeral, then Id be 100% behind him.
We had flown to the US with Airtours/MyTravel and decided to get hold of them to find out what we could do. It was a bit of a nightmare. We finally managed to get through to an operator in the UK which was a total waste of time. Andy explained the situation and was given a number for the Orlando office and when he asked where the office was so he could go there, he was told that they didnt know! Eh? How can you not know? Andy asked her to ask a supervisor or manager, and again she came back saying they didnt know. Great. Then we found the number they gave us didnt work. We tried for about an hour and Andy was getting really frustrated. Disney tried directory enquiries for us but couldnt find anything. In the end, I suggested we drive to Sanford Airport as we knew they had an office there.
So about midday, we drove to Sanford. I was finding it really hard to stay awake and kept falling asleep throughout the journey. Its just as well I did really as Andy saw a really horrific accident. About 5 miles before the accident happened, this guy cut in front of the car in front of us and he had a trailer behind him. Both cars had to brake for this guy but we were ok. Andy eventually got beside him and the trailer started snaking. Andy put his foot down and got passed him as he could see what was going to happen. As Andy got passed, the trailer started snaking even more and in the mirror, he saw the car and trailer go off the road. God knows how many times the car and trailer rolled but it was pretty awful to see. Were not even sure how the driver was as by the time the car had stopped rolling we were long gone. Andy was too shaken up with what had happened with his Nan and now having seen this and it didnt occur to him to stop and go back. Both car and trailer had gone by the time we returned.
We finally arrived at Sanford and parked up. The queue for Airtours wasnt too horrendous. When we got to the front of the queue, Andy explained what had happened. They explained that we could be put on standby for a flight out in the next two days and it would cost us £275 each. We were trying to think about what to do when another operative came out and started talking to us too. He explained that we could claim on the travel insurance and theyd make all the arrangements without it costing us a penny so we decided to head back and call them. Airtours at the airport were really helpful and gave us a free phone card for calling home with.
We were both hungry as we hadnt eaten anything yet and decided to stop at Chilis for a spot of lunch. I cant remember what we had, although I know we had boneless shanghai wings as we never said no to them.
We continued the journey back to Pop Century and went straight back to our room. We were both exhausted after only 5 hours sleep so we went to bed. Andy woke up about 2 hours later and woke me up awhile later while he was on the phone to our travel insurance company. They were fabulous and really helpful and Andy felt a lot better when he was told that their main priority would be getting us back to the UK asap. He gave them all the details including the hospital where his Nan had died and they said to leave it with them and theyd ring us the next morning with flight details. Andy then spoke to Disney and explained what had happened. Again they were very helpful and we didnt lose any money thank goodness. They cancelled our 2 nights at the Contemporary and refunded what we'd paid as deposit and said that provided we let them know before 11am when wed be checking out and heading back to the UK that they wouldnt charge us for the nights we missed out on at Pop. We had our Keys to the Kingdom tour booked for the morning but as we knew wed be getting a call from the insurance company we knew we had to cancel or reschedule it. We managed to reschedule it for our next trip and will now be doing it on the 20th December.
Our original plan for Saturday night had been to go to Old Town as Andy had never seen the Saturday Night Cruise before. We decided to go ahead with our plan and have a good evening out. We ate dinner at the food court before setting off for Old Town.
We managed to get a parking spot close to where the action was due to start and within a few minutes of us arriving, the cruise started. We saw some really beautiful cars.
Both our favourite car is the Ford Mustang - and we certainly saw a fair of those that night!
one of the many Mustangs we saw that night!
The atmosphere was electric and there was so many people about. The cruise went for about half an hour before some motorbikes went through. After the cruise had ended, we walked down the main street to look for the General Store. We both love this shop as its full of great Coca Cola merchandise. We managed to walk straight passed it and ended up right at the end of the street. We went into Wound and Around, a great shop full of memorabilia from the 50s and 60s. Andy bought himself a great Mustang t-shirt.
Eventually we found the General Store but we came out empty handed. The queues were huge and we didnt find anything that caught our eye - the very first time weve walked out of there empty handed!
It was then back to Pop Century and Classic Concoctions as we decided to have a drink to toast Andys nan. I guzzled down my frozen strawberry daiquiri and got a little tipsy. We were back in our room for 11pm to watch That 70s Show but neither us were tired so we ended up staying up til gone 3 just chatting about stuff and reminiscing.
coming up: we say farewell to Disney earlier than expected.
Anz
Sounds like they were very good to you at the airport and Disney.
