Disney: Delicious innards on a sandwich of Panic! A Sept. '11 TR [Completed; Feb. 28]

[bouncycat]

Good luck!!! I can mail you out park maps and such if you need me to, but I'm not sure about the Richard Petty thing, or the crowns. Sorry that happened to you, and good luck at the airport!!! That sucks that they did that to your luggage!!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Oh no on that happening to your luggage - hope you manage to sort everything out and WDW and Richard Petty can help replace the paperwork that means a lot to you.

 

[vikkii19]

I'm here, can't wait to read your TR. So sorry about your luggage, hopefully they will compensate you somehow.

 

[ZehnJahren]

Geez, what did they do to your luggage?? Throw it in a river and then run it over?? I'd be FURIOUS!

I hope you can get everything replaced to your liking. That's so unfortunate.

 

[teekathepony]

Good luck!!! I can mail you out park maps and such if you need me to, but I'm not sure about the Richard Petty thing, or the crowns. Sorry that happened to you, and good luck at the airport!!! That sucks that they did that to your luggage!!!!

OH thank you so much, I have an email in to Disney but I just may take you up on that if you're sure you don't mind!

Oh no on that happening to your luggage - hope you manage to sort everything out and WDW and Richard Petty can help replace the paperwork that means a lot to you.

Thanks Tanz! I sure hope so too. One step down, I've been to the airport... unfortunately they were little help.

I'm here, can't wait to read your TR. So sorry about your luggage, hopefully they will compensate you somehow.

Welcome aboard!!
Thanks, I'm hoping so too but not really optimistic I'm afraid.

Geez, what did they do to your luggage?? Throw it in a river and then run it over?? I'd be FURIOUS!

I hope you can get everything replaced to your liking. That's so unfortunate.

Honestly, I found out today what they did. They left it outside in torrential rain. Why? Because it's a safety policy that they don't take luggage indoors to store it and there's nothing to put over it to keep it dry. The luggage guy actually told me this. Hard to believe when you pay so much and you can't even get an ounce of service.

 

[teekathepony]

It had been a long, lonely day, that Thursday. It was the day before our journey began and I was alone with the dogs. Johnny went to work that morning at 7am and stayed in town for dinner, then went to work with the army reserves that night. The bags were all packed, every last detail was looked after and I was bored.
When finally Johnny arrived home at 10:30pm it was time for bed. Getting up at 3:30am the next morning would be no picnic. Of course we did not sleep; we were far too anxious about the coming day. When sleep finally came it was full of dreams of mice and castles.
“Honk! Honk!” yelled one cell phone.
“Ding! Ding! Ding!” called the other.
It was 3:30 am and time to get up and get moving. Slowly Johnny and I rose and stumbled around getting some light breakfast (toast and milk) and kissing the dogs goodbye. We got the luggage loaded in the truck and we were off to my in-laws’ house. We arrived there right on time at 4:30. They were ready to go and we immediately packed everything into their bigger truck. We left Johnny’s truck there. Johnny’s younger sister was up and unhappy about the hour, but drove us first to a Tim Horton’s (Canadian coffee chain) for a wake up coffee, then to the airport.
Sydney airport is adorable. It has two gates – an arrival gate and a departure gate. There’s never a line up. The agent who takes your ticket also checks your bags and loads you onto the plane. You have to walk across the tarmac to board and the planes are tiny little things that hold about 30 people.
We boarded and with a Gravol in me for motion sickness, I passed out and was asleep for 1.5 hours of the 3 hour flight to Toronto. This is the sight welcoming us;

When we landed, I followed the signs to USA connections. Unfortunately Johnny spotted a baggage claim sign and was convinced that we should go that way. Knowing he was wrong but out voted by him and his family, I followed them downstairs to the wrong baggage claim. I knew we had lots of time to kill in Toronto anyway. While we waited for bags that never came, we spotted the CTV television people and a bunch of girls in Pan Am costumes from the new tv show. They were taking pictures for the CTV website and asked if we wanted to be in them. We said yes, although I doubt they’ll use it. I can’t imagine I looked very good having been up since 3:30!

We finally realized that the bags weren’t coming so we asked a worker where we were supposed to be.
“Upstairs,” he said “follow the USA connections signs”
What’s that, sir? Wendy was right? Oh yes, this would be a theme for the coming trip. Wendy’s always right. Deal with it. (Anyone watch Modern Family? Sensing a Claire similarity here? I have a problem; I’m aware of it and working on it… a little)
So we trekked upstairs, found our luggage, swung through customs and got to relax a little. We found our gate. I got another cappuccino from Tim Horton’s and a breakfast sandwich with egg and cheese on a bagel. Yum!
When finally we boarded I was in for a nasty surprise; we were in seats directly in front of the emergency exits and they did not recline.

They were also a little straighter than most other seats. Johnny’s mother and step father in the seats in front of us reclined all the way back, leaving me with hardly any room. Have I ever told you I’m a little claustrophobic? Well, that plus being crazy tired equaled a terrible flight for me. I panicked for the entire trip, hyperventilating and crying and generally freaking out. I was so happy when we landed I nearly ran off the plane.

We did come through some of the prettiest clouds I'd ever seen though:

We got to the Magical Express line:

...and were very soon boarded on a bus!

Pop Century was the second stop (after the Beach Club, I think) and we got there no problem.

Up next: A good idea gone bad? Which section were we in? Did we get our requests? Stay tuned to find out!

 

[poisonapple_PRINCESS]

Ohhhh yay for first update! That really sucks about your luggage! You're photo's of the clouds are GORGEOUS! It's a shame you had a bad flight to florida. I've never flown before...I hope it goes alright. CANNOT WAIT for another update!

 

[teekathepony]

Ohhhh yay for first update! That really sucks about your luggage! You're photo's of the clouds are GORGEOUS! It's a shame you had a bad flight to florida. I've never flown before...I hope it goes alright. CANNOT WAIT for another update!

I'm very sure your flight will be just fine! On over 25 flights I've taken, this was the only bad one and only because I'm a head case

 

[ZehnJahren]

Honestly, I found out today what they did. They left it outside in torrential rain. Why? Because it's a safety policy that they don't take luggage indoors to store it and there's nothing to put over it to keep it dry. The luggage guy actually told me this. Hard to believe when you pay so much and you can't even get an ounce of service.

That just makes NO sense. Why on earth can't they store the luggage under something? And why are the handles and zippers ripped off the luggage? Sounds like severe neglect - I hope you do get some sort of resolution - even if it's just new luggage.

Edited to add - I sound a little too serious in this post; all I mean is that it just seems so EXTREME for just leaving it out in the rain! It's such a disappointment; I hope it doesn't ruin any fond memories of the whole trip at all. And I hope you could even get an apology, at least.

 

[weezy26nm]

What’s that, sir? Wendy was right? Oh yes, this would be a theme for the coming trip. Wendy’s always right. Deal with it. (Anyone watch Modern Family? Sensing a Claire similarity here? I have a problem; I’m aware of it and working on it… a little)

OMG I'm always right too! I keep telling everyone the sooner they accept it the better it will be for everyone.

 

[IheartDDuck]

The first time I had to actually deplane and walk across the tarmac was when we arrived in the Dominican Republic. I am a big airport kind of girl, that was just weird to me!

Oh, you're like me! You know, where you're right the majority of the time, but people end up doing the wrong thing instead of listening to you, and then they look stupid in the end, you get to prove they should have listened to you anyway, but they do it again and again? (whew!). I know exactly what you mean. I'll remember that for the future. Listen to Wendy. Check.

 

[teekathepony]

That just makes NO sense. Why on earth can't they store the luggage under something? And why are the handles and zippers ripped off the luggage? Sounds like severe neglect - I hope you do get some sort of resolution - even if it's just new luggage.

Edited to add - I sound a little too serious in this post; all I mean is that it just seems so EXTREME for just leaving it out in the rain! It's such a disappointment; I hope it doesn't ruin any fond memories of the whole trip at all. And I hope you could even get an apology, at least.

Well, no worries! It's a serious issue. I agree though, and like my DH said "Why can't they even throw a tarp over them?" I've gotten apologies, but they're laced with words like "that's our policy" so it's not awesome. The luggage is now sent away to be repaired. Can you believe that? They're so bad with people's luggage that they have their own repair centre. I'll keep updating though.

OMG I'm always right too! I keep telling everyone the sooner they accept it the better it will be for everyone.

So you know how I feel! Isn't it just easier if they would accept the fact and live with it?

The first time I had to actually deplane and walk across the tarmac was when we arrived in the Dominican Republic. I am a big airport kind of girl, that was just weird to me!

Oh, you're like me! You know, where you're right the majority of the time, but people end up doing the wrong thing instead of listening to you, and then they look stupid in the end, you get to prove they should have listened to you anyway, but they do it again and again? (whew!). I know exactly what you mean. I'll remember that for the future. Listen to Wendy. Check.

Oh I love my little airport! I'm nervous in crowds so that's why when all my friends moved to big cities, I stayed here in my small town with my small airport!
See? We right people need to form a support group; "My family doesn't learn that I'm always right" or "My dog learns his lessons better than my husband"

 

[teekathepony]

Just a quick little life update.

I want to spend a moment in mourning for Steve Jobs. I had no idea how much he had to do with Disney until today. I got my first apple product (iPhone) just a few months ago and it really is a great piece of machinery. So to the passing of a great thinker and Disney shareholder and Pixar fairy godfather, I tip my hat. Rest peacefully, Mr. Jobs.

It is definitely fall here in the maritimes. We had a storm blow in last night bringing very high wind, rain, and cold temperatures. In fact, they had to close the bridge to our island because of conditions like this:

Currently it is only 5 degrees (41 Fahrenheit). I went to feed the horses this morning and found Teeka soaking wet and shivering! Their stalls open right to the pasture so they have both open to them, and the silly goose stayed outside in the cold rain all night. I covered her up with a blanket and fed her indoors.

The weather has me thinking about Hallowe'en. I really don't like Hallowe'en, it's just a speed bump on the road to Christmas. We live so far in the woods that we don't even get any trick-or-treaters. Since I'm in a bit of post-vacation-depression, I decided to participate in Hallowe'en a little this year. I'm going to Disney decorate! I have a few Hallowe'en themed Disney things to decorate with, as well I'm going to use my Cricut and my printer to make some signs and things.

What Disney Hallowe'en decorations do you own?

 

[TanzUnited99]

EEK I seem to have missed that you had posted Chapter 1! So sorry but am here now to catch up!

Yay on getting your coffee in first!

Lol at being right! Isn't it rubbish when you know you're right and get outvoted?! It makes you want to say 'I told you so' when it turns out you were right all along!

Oh no on having not so good seats. Intrigued about the good idea that may have gone bad.

Hear hear - rest peacefully Mr Jobs.

Wowsa at the weather conditions! You have it even worse than we do in the UK and that's saying something. Hope you all remain safe.

Yay on doing a Disney themed Halloween night - can I come? The only thing I have is the candy bags we got from MNSSHP.

 

[teekathepony]

EEK I seem to have missed that you had posted Chapter 1! So sorry but am here now to catch up!

Yay on getting your coffee in first!

Lol at being right! Isn't it rubbish when you know you're right and get outvoted?! It makes you want to say 'I told you so' when it turns out you were right all along!

Oh no on having not so good seats. Intrigued about the good idea that may have gone bad.

Hear hear - rest peacefully Mr Jobs.

Wowsa at the weather conditions! You have it even worse than we do in the UK and that's saying something. Hope you all remain safe.

Yay on doing a Disney themed Halloween night - can I come? The only thing I have is the candy bags we got from MNSSHP.

Tsk tsk! Falling behind! Juuuust kidding!

When I know I'm right but am outvoted anyway, I assume a smug smile that no doubt drives everyone crazy.

The weather sure got rough! But mostly on the coast(s). I'm quite far inland (well, as much as you can be on a tiny island in the Atlantic) so it really doesn't affect me much here.

Yes you can come! Hahaha, if you ever find yourself in my part of the world I promise I'll throw a Disney themed Hallowe'en night. Bring your candy bags.

 

[teekathepony]

-- I would like to apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this post. I realize that it makes it nearly unbearable to read and therefore have kept this update short. I hope that you can appreciate how tired I was and that I did not feel like using my camera. Photos in the next installment, I promise!--

The day was already long and it was only 3:30. We dragged our heavy luggage into the lobby and I felt like I was finally home. We joined the very short line to check in and were soon directed to a CM at the very end.

Now remember, we were supposed to check in "tomorrow" (on Saturday) but we added a day. I knew this meant that we would stay in one room the first night, and then switch to another room for the rest of the stay. On the journey, we had talked about the possibility of asking to get a room we could just stay in. Johnny and I didn’t want to, Kevin didn’t care, but my mother in law wanted to. So when we checked in, she ran ahead of me and asked before I got to the counter. Oh boy… I let this one go, but in retrospect, it’s my biggest regret of the whole trip.

The CM conferred with other CMs, looked up many things on many computers and then came back and told us that she did indeed find us a room that we could go to tonight and stay in for the rest of our trip. We were in the 80’s building. Room 7259 (us) and 7257 (in-laws).

We stopped on our way for some lunch (bread sticks and marinara sauce for me, Johnny had his absolute favourite – Disney pizza!) Johnny and I also bought new refill mugs. (Teal for me, black for Johnny)

Our only room request had been king beds and when we arrived to those rooms we learned that neither of us had one. We called and talked to more CMs and we got ourselves fixed up with new rooms for the next night, (but we would have to stay where we were for one night). That was fine by us; I knew we wouldn’t get a great room for the first night having only booked it two days before. These rooms were FAR! Literally we could not get farther away from anything! I thought maybe the 90’s would be even worse, but after staring at a map we determined that no, in fact it was not worse and was at least closer to the parking lot. Oh well, all the weight I hadn’t lost before the trip would be worked off me on the way to and from the room!

We decided to go for a quick swim. We started out at the nice quiet computer pool, but MIL and S-FIL wanted to go to Petals for some drinks so we trekked to the Hippie Dippy pool instead. The minute we got there though, the lifeguards started to clear the pool and deck area. I couldn’t figure out why until I heard the faint rumble of thunder. Oh well, at least we got a little swim in!

We went back to the rooms to change and shower and decided to head to Downtown Disney. We were getting hungry and I was anxious to try out Earl of Sandwich for the first time!

What did I get at EOS? And why would we have to head back so early? Stay tuned for the next chapter!

 

[MEK]

Holy Crap - your weather looks absolutely terrible. I'm not sure I could stand that so early in the fall. WOW! All I can say is WOW!

Glad you finally made it to POP. I agree, the 80's are in the boondocks, but they are wonderfully close to the parking lot. I've stayed in the 70's a couple times and I think its my favorite location.

 

[TanzUnited99]

When reading about the check in story and MIL running ahead I sort of expected this to happen for some reason - don't ask my why?!

I never tasted the pizzas at Pop but am regretting it now after Johnny rating them so highly. You didn't get a pink mug?

Oh no on being so far away from everything I hope that the room you get the next day is better.

Yay you got to try EoS so early into your trip! Can't wait to read all about it and I promise not to fall behind this time!

 

[teekathepony]

Holy Crap - your weather looks absolutely terrible. I'm not sure I could stand that so early in the fall. WOW! All I can say is WOW!

Glad you finally made it to POP. I agree, the 80's are in the boondocks, but they are wonderfully close to the parking lot. I've stayed in the 70's a couple times and I think its my favorite location.

This type of weather is normal for us this time of year, we usually get one or two good rain storms in the fall, but the temperature is unseasonably cold! This is our worst year ever. First no summer to speak of, now no fall! I'm moving to Florida.

When reading about the check in story and MIL running ahead I sort of expected this to happen for some reason - don't ask my why?!

I never tasted the pizzas at Pop but am regretting it now after Johnny rating them so highly. You didn't get a pink mug?

Oh no on being so far away from everything I hope that the room you get the next day is better.

Yay you got to try EoS so early into your trip! Can't wait to read all about it and I promise not to fall behind this time!

Oooh you're on the same wavelength as me! Quick! What am I going to think next!
Most people think the Disney pizzas are just boring pizzas, I like them, but there's something about them that Johnny just loves. I think he had 4? Maybe 5 on the whole trip. Nope, no pink for me. I was headed for a pink mug when the teal caught my eye. I'm really a moody colour lover and have no one favourite. I often surprise myself with the colours I choose! Part of being an artist I suppose! I was glad to get EOS done so I didn't have to worry about it any more! Hahaha

 

[jenbear123]

Before I get to your actual trip updates I wanted to comment on your life update. Seems like I've already missed a few trip updates

You own horses?! I am super jealous. It is my life long dream to own one. I'll probably be old and grey by the time I can afford one but I'm determined to make it happen. Silly horse for standing out in the rain.

I was very saddened to hear of Steve Jobs death. He made a huge impact on the tech world. Let's hope Apple does not die with him.