Birthday: Oshkosh or Disney (I bet you know which choice I made)

[longrf01]

The Plan:
I go from work in Denver to MCO Friday evening. Check in at All Star Sports. Wake up Saturday morning and arrange to have everything transferred to the Beach Club. Hit EPCOT for a few hours then get a taxi to the airport to meet Mrs. longrf01, DS5 and DD9 arriving from our Indiana home. Take the limo to Beach Club, hit Coral Reef for dinner, do a ride and then swimming at Storm Along Bay.

Monday Mrs. longrf01 will be headed back to the grind while DS5, DD9, and I enjoy the rest of the week and following weekend. I sure wish she could stay, but…

It's going to be a great week; we have all our ADRs set, a birthday cake, a fireworks cruise, a birthday on Wednesday.

Now, what will become of my plans? Dunno. But I'll find out.


Thursday 19 July 2012
I am sitting here in my hotel room in Denver next to the airport. I live in Indiana, but I'm in Denver on business this week. The class I'm teaching tomorrow should be done about 1000. The hotel has a 1015 shuttle to the airport which arrives there at 1030. I already printed my boarding pass and I have a CLEAR card to bypass part of the security checkpoint. So there's a chance I could be at the gate by 1130 to get on standby for the 1210 flight. If that happens I could be at MCO by 1930, factor in an hour on DME and an hour to get checked in and settled and I'll be sleeping at the All Star Sports resort by 2130. If I don't get the standby flight, then I'll be at MCO at 1130 and in bed at 0130 on Saturday morning. I would like to get to bed earlier but the gremlins are messing with the Disney website and I cannot do online check-in.

The bags are almost fully packed. My clothes are laid out. I have some Benadryl so I can sleep tonight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b95oyhSd5ls

 

[longrf01]

Class ended at 1000 today with a standing ovation (I love it when that happens) and at 1015 I was on the shuttle bus to the airport. *Thankfully, the CLEAR card did it's job and I was through security in a flash. *Or at least as much of a flash as you can when you're wearing a post-operative foot boot. *I proceeded to the gate and was thrilled the gate agent confirmed me on the earlier flight to ATL at no charge. *In appreciation I went ahead and bought the $99 business class upgrade. *I'm really going to miss AirTran, but that's a subject for a grip on another day.

The stress of the week is pretty much disappearing. *Soon it will be sundown, and I'll shutdown my electronic devices for Shabbat (the Jewish sabbath holiday). *So I'll post today's TR now, and another after sunset Saturday night.

Until then...

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi joining in.

 

[longrf01]

Trip Notes for Saturday

Even though I did get sleep until about 0100, somehow my body decided at 0600 it was time to get to work. *I got everything prepped for transfer from All Star Sports to Beach Club. *I was going to take the bus to EPCOT and then walk to Beach Club. But due to the time, I opted to let Bell Services transfer the luggage whilst I took a cab. *I arrived a BC and got all the preliminaries done and would get a text when the room was ready. I'm a nerd and I noted two things as I looked over the desk; first, there was a note on the KTTW printer about RF cards and second, there was a new KTTW design. *As I would later discover, the locks at BC have been upgraded to proximity (touchless).*

So off I went to EPCOT. I've never been at any role drop much less at International Gateway. *Not much, well anything really, to see. *The first order of business was to redeem DD9's AP voucher. *Then*buy a nine day stroller pass for DS5. * It would save time later when the kids arrived. *Then I broke my tradition of riding Spaceship Earth first and did Soarin' as it was on the way. *

After a spin on SE, it was off to Guest Relations for a birthday button. *They had them outside, but not the tape to keep the Sharpie ink from ending up on my shirt. *A run inside and all was well. *After that I opted to hit Journey Into Imagination and The Seas. *About that time I received the text that the room was ready. I had lunch at Coral Reef and it was, as always, cooked properly and a great flavor combination. *Sure I would be having dinner there too, but why not?

So I headed back to BC and checked out the room. *It has two queens, and a full balcony overlooking the quiet pool. *Plus it's near the elevator and "secret" door that's right at the bridge to EPCOT. *The luggage wasn't there yet, nor was the tub we shipped before departure. *So I hobbled (broken foot you see) to the Ikon office at the Convention Center. *Since they're contractors they don't have room keys. *So after charging the $10 handling fee to the room, I arranged for it to be brought over. *The procedure is they call, so I hobbled back to the room and a few minutes later the call came. *Then about 15 minutes later came the knock at the door.

I opted for a quick nap and then made an impulse decision to ignore Mrs. longrf01's instruction to not wait for them at the airport and go anyways. *A fast cab ride later and I arrived at the same time as they stepped off the plane. *Shortly, they were at Meet & Greet and we went to the Sprinter limo for the ride back to BC. *

Upon arrival I called BS about the luggage transfer from AS Sports and there was some confusion. *But after a while two of three items arrived. *I decided to go to dinner with the family instead of worrying, for the moment at least, about the third item, our Owners Locker.

We arrived at Coral Reef about an hour before our ADR but we got in anyways with a minimal wait. *The Allergy sticks I mentioned in a previous thread seem to be permanent, a good thing. *Tonight DS5 decided he didn't like the pizza he ordered but in true Disney style, the Meaty Macaroni appeared in no time. *

I should mention at this point that since Mrs. Longrf01 is only here for two days, and I didn't want the complications of a split stay, she's on TIW while the other three of us are on DxDDP. *The server had no problem sorting it all out.

After that we hit Soarin' and Living With The Land. *When we emerged, Illuminations was in full swing. *We went against the flow back to the International Gateway and over to Beach Club. *When we returned the room, the Owners Locker wasn't there, but there were two voice messages. *As it turns out, my original call to BS at AS Sports lost something in translation. *I told the call taker I had three items and that didn't make it's way to the person who did the pickup.

As a result, the OL was left at AS Sports. *BC arranged to have it picked up and needed me to call when I was in the room for it to be delivered. *About 15 minutes later the OL was there and it was time to put on everyones Mickey PJs and retire. *Next time I'll wait for BS to make sure everything gets transferred.

 

[longrf01]

Not sure where all those asterisks came from. Guess cut-and-paste isn't fool proof!