Canadian Buffoon's Disney With a Teen Vacation - 08/13 - The Wrap

[queenbetsey]

I've never, ever lost a bag
ya had to say it didn't you..........

 

[queenbetsey]

going to try to guess on the positive side for my first time. and yes I did win one of those guess how many m&m's are in the container. just added up all of our ages (we were way way younger so it was easier, also this was before common core math so it was a simple process back then)
connection made (but just barely)
room perfect and ready
and guessing 315 minutes total wait times

15 minutes when you to to mco )

 

[cinderkelly]

I think you made your connection just barely after pleading your case, I'd hate to think you had to spend the night in the airport because I bet you were on the last Westjet flight from YYZ to MCO that night. And thanks to the friendly agent who called the gate they were expecting you to be late and heald the plane.

Your room was ready when you got there but you got a second floor pool view room.

Total transportation wait time : 345 minutes

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

.

 

[jandlinz]

Yippee! I'm so excited you started! Sounds like it's going to be a rough start. I'm afraid not having the letter could go badly, but hoping you get some pixie dust. I'm hoping for your luck the officer just asks Kay if you are her dad and she calls mom. If I had to be creative I would guess you had to fill out a letter online. I'm guessing if you do have to fill out the consent you don't make the flight. Unfortunately you arrive really late so your first choice of a room is not granted. Instead you get the 2nd floor. I'm guessing total weight time for buses is 222 (only guessing this number since it was our lot number for our first home and seemed to be within what I would have guessed. I loved that house). I really hope you are sprinkled with pixie dust and everything goes smoothly and you get your room request. I know being at Disney will be well worth it even if you arrived later than anticipated.
My pixie dust version is that you are waved through security. You make your flight. You get upgraded to the Grand Floridian! Lol. Then you wake up from your dream! Oh, and you two make it to rope drop each day!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

You barely made your flight, you got your choice of room and it was ready and waited a total of 310 minutes in line.

The one and only time (so far) I lost a bag, hubby and I checked in our bags at the exact same time. His made it, mine didn't. How does that happen??????

 

[SnowWhiteOz]

How many minutes in TOTAL did we wait for Disney transportation this trip.

123 minutes (I'm an optimist!)

This trip came up fast!
Usually, it's plan it, book it, wait for the 180 days out ADR day,
wait for the 60 days out FP+ day, wait some more, change some more... go!
But this time, due to the way it came about,
I booked it, made ADRs and FPs that day, and then tried to plan it.

See I did the same thing for my trip. I booked at the end of April and was travelling at the start of August so I well and truly missed my 180 window for ADRs. But lots of searching meant I still got most things I wanted so it can be done!

Leading up to our departure date, I was busy making last minute arrangements
and checking the forecast for Orlando.
I was so pleased to see that the forecast for the entire week was rain.
Not partially cloudy with a chance of showers.
Just. Rain.

A quick trip to Walmart for a half dozen ponchos later,
they announced that Danny was, Yay!, the first hurricane of the season!

Terrific.

Luckily, by the time we arrived in Disney, it had already been downgraded.
Still, gotta deal with the rain all week.

I left the day before you arrived and the week before wasn’t any better. It wasn’t the typical 20 minute and gone afternoon shower but more like 3 hours of solid heavy rain! I felt like I need a

Friday morning came way too early.
I had to get up at 5:30am.
Our flight wasn't until 3:40pm, but I had to drive Ruby to work.
Ruby works in a building that is on airport property,
even though her job has nothing to do with the airport or airplanes.
Conversely, I do not work at the airport or on airport property
and my job has everything to do with airports and airplanes.
Go figure.

Is it weird to admit my dream job is to work at an airport? I don’t even really care what the job is.

Around lunch time, I grabbed some fruit,
a banana, a peach and some raspberries.
Why not? I wasn't likely to have much fruit over the next few days.
Might as well try to fend off scurvy now.

That’s what the fruit based cocktails are for!

Uh... crap.
I made my way over to the desk where a young lady named Madison
had just made the announcement.
"Hi, I'm one of the passengers off the Winnipeg flight
and we're connecting to the Orlando flight.
What are our chances?"


Now you know the routine.
You ask a question like that and you'll get a robotic "Don't worry, you'll be fine" answer
which does absolutely nothing to alleviate your concern.
But not this time.
But I'm not sure if it was better.
Madison screwed up her face like she'd just bitten into a lemon and said "oooh."
This did not instill confidence.
But to her credit, she picked up a phone, called the crew at the Orlando departure gate
and told them that there were passengers (me) coming and to keep an eye out for them.

I thanked her and moved back to the still unmoving carousel.
Moments later, though... it started! And bags started to appear.
I breathed a sigh of relief and muttered a short prayer to the Airport Terminal Gods
for a speedy delivery of our bags.

I mustered the troops... well, Kay... and outlined our plan of attack.
"Okay. This is how it's gonna work. I'll grab the bags off the belt.
(We were strategically placed right at the point where the bags would first appear.)
You take your bag and I'll take mine (pretty complicated, I know.)
We then sprint over through those doors and up the escalator.
I'll throw them on the conveyor belt and then we have to run to find our gate. Okay?"

Wonderfully, thankfully, she didn't ask questions or argue. She just nodded.
Well, our bags weren't first off... not even close.
But they weren't last either.
At least I don't think so.
We didn't stick around to see.

Phew! You had me worried there for a sec. I’m one of those people who is cursed to have their bag come off last for all of eternity – no amount of praying to the Airport Terminal Gods has ever changed that.

The reason I'm showing you this is to show you how organized I am.
Travelling to a foreign Country? Gotta have passports. Check!
And right about now, you're thinking I forgot the passports, right?
Wrong!

Glance down at item number two on the list, "Kay's letter".
Now I had heard somewhere that if a parent is travelling with a child,
they would need a notarized letter from the other parent authorizing the travel.

Seems silly to me, but I've always done it.
I've travelled solo with each girl several times and have never needed it.
Heck, once we got pulled into the customs building in Detroit and I didn't need it.
Last year I travelled with not only my kid... but someone else's!
And I didn't need it.
Always had it, though.
Just never needed it.

Well, with one thing and another... I never did get around to it this time.
It's such a hassle. Type out a letter, find someone who can notarize it, blah, blah, blah.
I guess I can see it for a parent with a baby or toddler,
but Kay is almost 15 years old.

She can speak for herself, ya know.

Just skip it.

You already see how this is going to go, right?

We walked up to the empty self-serve kiosks and scanned our passports.
Clicked a few buttons, posed for pictures,
gathered up the receipts and headed over to an agent.

Intimidating US Customs agent: "Where do you folks live?"
Me: "Canada. Winnipeg, Canada."
Customs agent: "Where are you going?
Me: "Orlando."
Customs agent: "Business or pleasure?"
Me: "Pleasure."
Customs agent: "Are you constipated?"
Me: "No that's just my "serious" face."
Customs agent: "You should change it."
Me: "I know. You're not the first to ask me that."
Customs agent: "Where will you be staying?"
Me: "Disney World."
Customs agent: "Do you have a letter from the mother allowing the child to travel with you?"

I felt a cold chill as if Death himself was dragging his nails down my spine.
After almost 15 years of solo travel with a kid, I was finally being asked for THE letter.
And I didn't have one.
Me: "Uh, I don't have one."

See I’d be like “oops I think I left it over there” and would quickly run off and write up a hand written letter – like they would know what my spouse’s handwriting looked like! Clearly I'd be carrying a notarising stamp in this scenario

Bonus questions!
It's no secret that we do get to Disney eventually.
Do we make our connection? Or do we make a later one?
Or do we get down the next day? Or something else?
What's your guess?

You may recall that I told you I booked POP Preferred Pool View.
Kay's preference was the top floor, so that's what I asked for in the booking.
I didn't fax or phone in the request, just put it in when I booked.
What floor did we get? And was the room ready when we got there?

Good luck!

1. You do make your connection because the Airport Terminal Gods decided to take pity on you.
   
2. You got third floor (which apparently counts as top when you do online check in as the only options are ground, second and top)
   
   
3. The room was ready and you crashed and went straight to sleep (or straight to a park – what do I know? )
   

 

[chookie94]

Lets see... you just made your flight because it left late waiting for your presence, the room wasn't ready but the got the room you wanted on the top floor.

and you spent a total of 172 minutes waiting for that disney transportation.

 

[whogirl'smom]

"Are you constipated?" Wahahaha
Hoping the letter issue is quickly resolved!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Got it? Good!
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lie down for a bit.
My head hurts.

That's what you get for trying to torture us with Math!

Certainly not the writing.
Speaking of which.... shall we begin??

Awa, but I love your writing style.

Kay did say that she wanted me to make all the plans and just tell her when and where.
But I do know her well enough that I was going to have to be verrrrrry flexible.

Yeah I've got a few family members like that. I don't travel with them often.

Normally, I would plan to hit rope drop and have my FPs lined up for that morning.
And as the day wore on, I'd add FPs until they were gone.
This time, I tried to figure out when Kay would wake up.
I'd then add an hour or an hour and a half to that time and make FPs based on that.
Except I'd try to schedule something that we didn't really care about for the first one.
If she slept even later, it wouldn't matter if we missed the first FP.
Or hope that we could at least make it in the last few minutes
of the one hour FP window.

DH is a sleeper. We always come to an agreement of when he can reasonably sleep till. 10 am is the usual compromise.

So bringing along some muffins was the solution.
It worked quite well, too.

FYI Cereal travels well too.

For me, vacation starts when you leave the house.
No more cooking! No more cleaning! No more working!
Freeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so the same way!

I then missed the turn off for the airport parking.
I had to go allllll the way around the airport to get back to square one
and the entrance to the parking lot.

Oops!

I promised to at least try.

The least you can do really.

I placed the suitcases upside down on the conveyor belt
and watched them disappear into the bowels of the airport.

Uh oh. Why do I feel this is leading back to your camera lenses?

"It's because most bags have wheels and when the bags get to the end of a belt,
the wheels can hang up and just spin. It creates a jam."

I don't think I've heard of that. And with most bags now spinners with 4 wheels I don't see how this is very helpful.

And it turns out she's right.
I am stupid.
Or at least I did something really stupid.
Something that almost ruined our entire trip.
Whoops! I'm getting a bit ahead of myself... that comes later on in the day.

I guess the machine is just sensitive enough that the slight bit of metal in her shoe
combined with the metal in her is enough to set the machine off.

I've been told that you don't get issues with it because the grade of metal used in medical implants doesn't trigger the sensor.

We would have to get to the gate, exit the plane, make our way to the baggage carousel,
claim our bags, move them, deposit them, go through US customs and find our gate.

But not this time.
But I'm not sure if it was better.
Madison screwed up her face like she'd just bitten into a lemon and said "oooh."

Oh that is never good.

I felt a cold chill as if Death himself was dragging his nails down my spine.
After almost 15 years of solo travel with a kid, I was finally being asked for THE letter.
And I didn't have one.

Of course. Murphy's Law and all that.

It's no secret that we do get to Disney eventually.
Do we make our connection? Or do we make a later one?
Or do we get down the next day? Or something else?
What's your guess?

I'm going optimistic and saying you make your flight.

What floor did we get? And was the room ready when we got there?

High floor and no its not ready.


I'm going with a total of 225 minutes waiting.

 

[ForeverDance]

It used to be that I would sit and relax as the plane boarded.
Why stand in line? Why fight to get to my seat?
The plane wasn't going to leave any faster.
No thanks, I'll just sit back and relax while the cattle are herded onto the plane.

This has always been my husband's philosophy. It extends to not just flying but just about everything. Why push to get in line just to wait as long? For the most part I agree but I admit sometimes I prefer to get going. Like when we are leaving a concert/event and there's traffic. I'd rather at least be moving towards our destination than sitting in the car in the parking lot doing nothing. But that's just me.

And if you don't get on the plane first, you're not going to find any room left
in the overhead bins.
Nope, nope, nope and nope.

Ah yes. We very nearly had to have our carry-on checked because there was no room. Not impressed. I no longer sit and wait.

Do we make our connection? Or do we make a later one?
Or do we get down the next day? Or something else?
What's your guess?

Since you got your luggage checked in and I know that they have to pull luggage off if someone isn't on the flight, I'm going to guess you made the connection. They really hate having to do that you know. I've been on a plane that was held up over 30 minutes because one passenger went to get a bite to eat

What floor did we get? And was the room ready when we got there?

Let's go 4th floor and I really hope it was ready since it was well beyond check in time.

Don't forget to get your gumball... I mean, Disney Transportation Wait Time guesses in!

105 minutes. Yep I'm aware that's pretty low but we had amazing luck with Disney transportation and we are generally not lucky people so I'm going to guess that your good luck must have continued.

 

[pkondz]

Following along once again! Hopefully you didn't get to much of a hassle for not having the letter!

Hi Kiotzu! Welcome back and to the TR!
You'll find out how the letter issue turns out in the next update, so...
in about a week? Maybe less?

I'm as old as dirt, just like you. Of course, I know what you're talking about. Boss.

Now, Tatoo... uh Liesa, I would never, ever consider you old.
Only hawt young chicks in my harem and you're one, so there's the proof.
(Nice one piece by the way.)

Good girl.

She frequently is.
She occasionally isn't... like yesterday...

OH. My. Gosh. (Yes, he's doing his job. But why today?)

I know! I wonder if it's because I was the only one there?
"I'm so bored... Wish I had something to do... Ah, here comes a sucker... er, traveller."

I suck at your contests, so have nothing to lose. Except that you're already up to $150 in savings with bags and parking. Which I'm sure you spent on my prize.

You waited for transportation 238 minutes
You got the 3rd floor at your resort and your room was ready
You did not make your connection and took a later one.

Noted.

awwww stew you say? ok all good stews are worth the wait.....

Stew? Um, I think I'm missing something here.


I think something happened to your post here, Betsey.
All I've got is a chopped off comment and an attachment that looks weird.

I've never, ever lost a bag
ya had to say it didn't you..........

I know. I'm sure I've jinxed myself now!

and yes I did win one of those guess how many m&m's are in the container. just added up all of our ages (we were way way younger so it was easier, also this was before common core math so it was a simple process back then)

You actually won one of those?!?!
What was the prize? The m&ms?

connection made (but just barely)
room perfect and ready
and guessing 315 minutes total wait times

15 minutes when you to to mco )

Not sure what your final answer is here. Do you mean 315 plus 15 minutes waiting for MDE?
Rest noted.

I think you made your connection just barely after pleading your case, I'd hate to think you had to spend the night in the airport because I bet you were on the last Westjet flight from YYZ to MCO that night. And thanks to the friendly agent who called the gate they were expecting you to be late and heald the plane.

Your room was ready when you got there but you got a second floor pool view room.

Total transportation wait time : 345 minutes

All noted.

Hmmm, the letter problem. I have also always taken a letter, but did have to use it once when travelling with both of my daughters and a friend of my daughter. The tension is almost unbearable!

So you used the letter.
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME????

Guesses:
Transportation time: 282 minutes, factoring in rain and two people needing transportation

I think you make your connection because who would be so cruel as to deny anyone a trip to Disney?
You got top floor, and the room was ready.

Noted.

Yippee! I'm so excited you started!

I did? Oh! Yes, I did!

Sounds like it's going to be a rough start. I'm afraid not having the letter could go badly, but hoping you get some pixie dust. I'm hoping for your luck the officer just asks Kay if you are her dad and she calls mom. If I had to be creative I would guess you had to fill out a letter online. I'm guessing if you do have to fill out the consent you don't make the flight. Unfortunately you arrive really late so your first choice of a room is not granted. Instead you get the 2nd floor. I'm guessing total weight time for buses is 222

All noted.

(only guessing this number since it was our lot number for our first home and seemed to be within what I would have guessed. I loved that house).

At this point in the contest, it's a bit of a crapshoot anyway.
So that method is as good as any other!

I really hope you are sprinkled with pixie dust and everything goes smoothly and you get your room request. I know being at Disney will be well worth it even if you arrived later than anticipated.

It's pretty hard to ruin a Disney trip (although this Customs agent certainly tried).
If we hadn't gone at all... yeah. But even a little time at Disney is awesome.

My pixie dust version is that you are waved through security. You make your flight. You get upgraded to the Grand Floridian! Lol. Then you wake up from your dream! Oh, and you two make it to rope drop each day!

I like that version! Maybe I should put that in my request next time.

Seriously, I wonder what would happen if in the "special request" box you put in:
"Please upgrade me to Grand Floridian"

I'm betting that someone would actually get it.

You barely made your flight, you got your choice of room and it was ready and waited a total of 310 minutes in line.

Noted.

The one and only time (so far) I lost a bag, hubby and I checked in our bags at the exact same time. His made it, mine didn't. How does that happen??????

I really don't know. You'd think if one made it, the other would be guaranteed, right?
Does some baggage handler just decide that he's lifted enough bags for the day and stop?
"Well, there's still six more bags to put on the plane, but I think I'll call it a day."

And also... to the TR, Marita!

 

[pkondz]

123 minutes (I'm an optimist!)

Noted.

See I did the same thing for my trip. I booked at the end of April and was travelling at the start of August so I well and truly missed my 180 window for ADRs. But lots of searching meant I still got most things I wanted so it can be done!

Oh, absolutely.
I think I got pretty much everything I wanted when I booked the ADRs/FPs
except for BOG and Wishes Dessert Party.
Also, some ADR or FP times weren't perfect, but so what?
Beats standing in line or not eating where you want.

I left the day before you arrived and the week before wasn’t any better. It wasn’t the typical 20 minute and gone afternoon shower but more like 3 hours of solid heavy rain! I felt like I need a

Ugh. But you did get to go swimming! You said so!

Is it weird to admit my dream job is to work at an airport? I don’t even really care what the job is.

No, it's not weird. I actually did work at airports for the first 10 years of my career.
Loved it too.
Wish I could've stayed, but family came first and it wasn't working out.

That’s what the fruit based cocktails are for!

Ah. So those are just Disney looking out for your health.
That's nice of them.

Phew! You had me worried there for a sec. I’m one of those people who is cursed to have their bag come off last for all of eternity – no amount of praying to the Airport Terminal Gods has ever changed that.

Sorry about that.
I think there was one time.... ONE... where our bags were off...
hmmmm... not first but really early.

<sigh> Ah, the good ol' days.

See I’d be like “oops I think I left it over there” and would quickly run off and write up a hand written letter – like they would know what my spouse’s handwriting looked like!

That's the first thing my scheming mind thought of when the shock wore off!

Clearly I'd be carrying a notarising stamp in this scenario

Clearly!

• You do make your connection because the Airport Terminal Gods decided to take pity on you.

• You got third floor (which apparently counts as top when you do online check in as the only options are ground, second and top)

• The room was ready and you crashed and went straight to sleep (or straight to a park – what do I know? )

Noted.

 

[pkondz]

Lets see... you just made your flight because it left late waiting for your presence, the room wasn't ready but the got the room you wanted on the top floor.

and you spent a total of 172 minutes waiting for that disney transportation.

Noted.

"Are you constipated?" Wahahaha
Hoping the letter issue is quickly resolved!

I get that a lot.... a lot.
I really, really need to change my expression.

Letter issue resolution coming up next chapter!

And to this TR! I was hoping you'd follow me over from the last one.

 

[pkondz]

That's what you get for trying to torture us with Math!

Sorry about that! I'll try to only do that 43% of half the time.

Awa, but I love your writing style.

Did I ever tell you how much I like you?

Yeah I've got a few family members like that. I don't travel with them often.

Try this.
Me, Ruby, my Mom, my Dad, my Sister... all in one small car for two weeks straight.

There may have been times when things weren't all roses and sunshine.

DH is a sleeper. We always come to an agreement of when he can reasonably sleep till. 10 am is the usual compromise.

10am!! How does he manage that?!?!?
Doesn't a certain little Miss jump on his head?

FYI Cereal travels well too.

Unfortunately, Kay never eats cereal.
I mean, how can you not like Frosted Flakes?

The least you can do really.

I always try to do the very least.
I'm such a good person, don't you think?

Uh oh. Why do I feel this is leading back to your camera lenses?

Oh. No.
I had a camera bag that I carried on with me.
I'm not trusting breakable, expensive gear to the baboons in the bowels!

I don't think I've heard of that. And with most bags now spinners with 4 wheels I don't see how this is very helpful.

Good point. I wonder if those wheels are more centralized they don't catch as much?
Or maybe they do, but at least the two-wheeled ones won't.
I think I'm going to have to ask again.

I've been told that you don't get issues with it because the grade of metal used in medical implants doesn't trigger the sensor.

Nope. Especially with the newer detectors. They'll definitely pick up implants.

Oh that is never good.

No. It never is.

Of course. Murphy's Law and all that.

And the sad part is, I actually thought that.
"Just wait. This will be the one time they ask for the letter.... nahhhh...."

I'm going optimistic and saying you make your flight.

High floor and no its not ready.


I'm going with a total of 225 minutes waiting.

Noted.

 

[pkondz]

This has always been my husband's philosophy. It extends to not just flying but just about everything. Why push to get in line just to wait as long? For the most part I agree but I admit sometimes I prefer to get going. Like when we are leaving a concert/event and there's traffic. I'd rather at least be moving towards our destination than sitting in the car in the parking lot doing nothing. But that's just me.

Yeah.
When you wind up with the worst seats, or the worst view, or the worst spot...
Then you don't sit back, but join the herd.
And I'd rather be at the front of the traffic and home than sitting in the parking lot.
It helps that stop and go traffic doesn't bother me though.

Ah yes. We very nearly had to have our carry-on checked because there was no room. Not impressed. I no longer sit and wait.

Yup. Just need to have that happen once.

Since you got your luggage checked in and I know that they have to pull luggage off if someone isn't on the flight, I'm going to guess you made the connection.

Noted.

They really hate having to do that you know. I've been on a plane that was held up over 30 minutes because one passenger went to get a bite to eat

That's just stupid.
Not the plane, the passenger.
If you're that dumb, you deserve to miss your flight.
Too bad bags aren't easily found.
"Okay, we've announced final call, paged the passenger twice and still a no show.
Give their bags to the bomb squad for disposal and let's go!"

Let's go 4th floor and I really hope it was ready since it was well beyond check in time.

105 minutes. Yep I'm aware that's pretty low but we had amazing luck with Disney transportation and we are generally not lucky people so I'm going to guess that your good luck must have continued.

Noted.

 

[Kiren]

I'm gonna guess 256 minutes (I'm way off but I was never good at guessing games or math... Which is funny because I handle a fair amount of money now for work... Hmmmm)

You make a later one because you have to call Ruby to get verbal permission to take Kay down.

You get top floor but without the pool view and your room is ready when you get there.

Finally I'm Canadian and us Canucks need to stick together so I get some points anyways yes?

Haha!

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

Oh no! Drama already! It is never good to start a vacation off with drama. Too much unnecessary stress! Of course the one time you don't have the darn letter . . .

I can't wait to hear more about how the trip goes. I am hoping someday I get to do a similar one on one trip with each of my boys. I have a feeling I will have some of the same challenges.

Okay, for my guesses:
Gumball Guess: I think a total of 363 minutes. I have no rhyme or reason or logic to support that. But I am sticking to it.
Bonus Questions:
I don't think you are going to make this connection. Sorry. (Although, I guess there is no need to apologize since this happened in the past). I do think you will make a later one the same day. (or maybe I am just hoping you will!).
I think you will have good luck with the room though! Top Floor and Ready when you (finally) arrive!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I was pretty sure I had checked in and commented, and I am very sure I didn't change my profile picture - there are gremlins on the DIS I fear! Anyway, I'm here - now back to catching up. I see your contest and I am inspired to post more questions on my TR! You are so good at gaming - not that I think you're a player or anything.

 

[Kiotzu]

Hi Kiotzu! Welcome back and to the TR!
You'll find out how the letter issue turns out in the next update, so...
in about a week? Maybe less?

A week, what am I supposed to do for that week, study, plant a tree, get a job...no I think I will just wait patiently in front of my computer.