Can we pull it off?

[arthropodtodd]

Last night DH had a flight. A 50 minute flight. While sitting at the gate, about to board, a storm blew in. And blew in HARD. Within half an hour, they had delayed EVERYTHING, including flights coming into OHare, by over an hour. Each half hour that went by things got delayed even more.

By 10 or so they had cancelled his flight. All United flights from ORD to his destination were cancelled that evening AND all day today as well, as of last night at around midnight. And there were no other flights to that destination.

This has messed up flights not just last night and today between those two places, but I'm sure it has messed things up for other destinations, as the equipment/planes and people needed to have the flights today weren't where they needed to be.

If a person were on a flight in Seattle trying to get to Orlando and that plane was supposed to have been in OHare yesterday and moving on to Seattle, that flight is likely messed up, even though Seattle has had gorgeous weather the last two days. Weather in one spot messes with everything else!


Just another reason to rethink this.

My experience is that Southwest is generally good with this. Not this time, but generally I like to fly the first flight out for this reason, so I am not worried about the flight getting there on time to pick me up.

 

[arthropodtodd]

I have a 4 year-old; so, I will have to check back to see how this goes. One other question? Are you gate-checking a stroller? We had to wait a few minutes for ours last time we flew, even though we were (intentionally) the last ones off the plane. Decided to have one waiting at our resort this time. Of course having him walk means I have to slow down so there's that.

I hope things go well for you.

No stroller at the gate on this trip. Waiting for strollers at the gates is a pain at MCO. Apparently there are several family destinations in town...lol I waited 15 minutes to get mine last time.

We too are renting. It will be there bright and early the next morning.

 

[arthropodtodd]

Well we are back and I stated I would give report on how things went, did we make it or not.

Our plane left late by about 20 minutes. Thankfully we had a layover in Nashville so we made up that time with no problems besides not having more time to stretch our legs. We landed at MCO and were at the gate 4:20, five minutes ahead of schedule (man that taxi to the Southwest gates takes forrreverrrrrrrrrr). After a quick potty stop we walked to ME having the debate to taxi it or not to taxi it. We arrived at ME at 4:35 only to find no one there, no lines, zilch. We went straight onto the bus, and then sat. ME apparently did not want to take just us, so we didn't leave MCO until 4:50. We felt pretty good at this point. We dropped off at Poly at 5:26 and GF at 5:30 and we were walking off ME at WL at 5:40. So 80 minutes from gate to resort. This was not the shortest time for us, but was still very good. So we checked in, went to the room, the girls changes into their princess dresses and we were at the bus stop at 6:09. We walked through the Mickeys at 6:25, now we felt real good. We walked to the castle, walked right on by CRT and rode the carousel at 6:30. We then were at CRT at 6:35 and were told we were too early to check in.

So bam! We did it and we did it with time to spare.

Would I do it again? Yes, if that was the only time I was able to get for CRT. 2 hours and 20 minutes is enough time to get there and there are plenty of options to shorten your time if needed.

So success! Already planning the next trip in December and starting to think about our other trips with friends and family in '15 and '16.

A couple quick thoughts on the trip:

1- FP+ worked great for us. We usually used 4 to 6 FP's with changing parks. Yes our 4th and 5th's weren't always for the big rides, but it allowed us to walk on more rides at night when things were cooler.

2- It was hot. As a veteran of fall and winter trips, i was ready to melt. The AC in Small World never felt so good.

3- Where were all the EVCs? We ran into very few EVCs compared to past trips. I assume that with the heat many of the folks who need these things skip the park in the summer.

4 - SWW was a bust for us. the heat got to the kids and the pool was calling so we called it early. It would be great to offer it earlier in the year so the non-summer crowd could enjoy the festivities more.

5 - Never made the soft opening for the SDMT. I saw a 2 plus hour waits on the 24 hour night.

So that should wrap it up. Questions?

 

[Ladyleslie68]

So glad to hear you made it! Question for you - we were just there at WL May 3-9. It was hot (hotter than normal I was told - 92)....also, MK was slammed with people, even on recommended days....am considering the first week of November for 2016 (Jersey Week). What's your feeling re: the weather? Crowds? I was not prepared for how crowded MK was and it was only a "5" on touring plans....they had just had bad storms there the week before so people were blaming it on that since everyone had been shut in....

 

[KimK2006]

So glad you made it! I am flying down Sunday. Hoping for good luck on our trip!

 

[arthropodtodd]

So glad to hear you made it! Question for you - we were just there at WL May 3-9. It was hot (hotter than normal I was told - 92)....also, MK was slammed with people, even on recommended days....am considering the first week of November for 2016 (Jersey Week). What's your feeling re: the weather? Crowds? I was not prepared for how crowded MK was and it was only a "5" on touring plans....they had just had bad storms there the week before so people were blaming it on that since everyone had been shut in....

we were there May 22 through 26th. so just back yesterday. It was hotter than normal, closer to 94 with higher heat indexes. Even the CMs seems to complain about the heat, stating they weren't expecting this for another few weeks to a month.

crowds varied for us as we left midday and returned at night. At times it felt packed. Space was usually always over a hour wait, Splash hung out at around 45 minutes to an hour, and BTMR was around 50 minutes during the midday. the parks were supposed to be around 8's and they tended to feel that way for us. RD was key as way FP starting around 11 or 12.

 

[cleophus12]

You guys are GOOD! And maybe a little bit lucky! Glad you made it and had a good trip. Thanks for the update.

 

[Ladyleslie68]

Thanks for the response...I actually meant, what are your feelings about the weather/crowds in November? I noticed you said you were a fall veteran!