Herding_Cats
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
- Messages
- 4,729
Slowly adding the trip report...
Let's start off by saying: Successful Dopey #3!
Sunday:
Our flight was scheduled to take off at 7am, and our airport is tiny, so we didn't show up until about 5:30.
Am I riding Star Tours, or driving to the airport?
Once we had pushed back from the gate our pilot informed us that we had to wait for de-icing and that it should only take 10min or so. In actuality, it took about 25min, which made us start to worry. The time between our flights was only 41 min, and while there were 2 other flights a few hours later we could get bumped to, we wanted to arrive as early as possible to enjoy one of the few sunny/warm days at Disney! We were still taxiing to our gate in Chicago when we got an alert that our (next) flight was boarding, and then that it would be a 21min walk from our landing gate to our departure gate. YIKES! We were nearly the last people to board our plane from Chicago to Orlando, and then they held the flight for a few extra minutes because (based on comments the flight and gate attendants made) they were waiting for passengers from a flight from LAX.
After we landed, we grabbed our bags and went to the Hertz desk to wait in line because I had been unable to do the online check-in (pesky expiring drivers license!) I ended up doubling back to pick up our VTP toll tag since the line had about 10 people in front of us. At the counter we were informed that it would be an extra $13.50/day for my husband to drive?! Even with signage directly behind them about gold members have a free second driver. So silly. We loaded all of our stuff into the first rental car, and then discovered that the parking brake wouldn't disengage. Like....you couldn't push the button to lower the handle for it and put it in gear, so then we had to unload everything and put it in a different car. When we got to the security gate to exit the garage the attendant there couldn't figure out my temporary license expiration and was about to send us back and kick us out of the car. Like really? We had the inside person's signature all over the paperwork and why would that be there because he also checked all of that! But in the end, things worked out and off we went to pick up our groceries and grab some off-property lunch.
We got a room-ready text early (because we checked the app) but we were trying to keep our studio for when we moved to 2br lockoff later in the week (something we would end up NOT doing) so we stopped at the lobby to see if there was any possible way they could accommodate that request, and after about 25min they were! We were surprised, but happy to not have to "change rooms" other than hauling our stuff to the other bedroom in the afternoon. While we are very good at packing up everything and changing resorts (lots of practice!) we don't really enjoy it.

I think we ate dinner at Polite Pig that night, but I honestly don't remember at this point. At Arribas Brothers in DS I convinced DH to not wait to buy one of the handmade Christmas trees on display that had Mickey-shaped ornaments and it's a good thing, because it was the last one they had! Super cute and only about $50!

We also ordered our sketch at the Art of Disney where they told us it could be up to a month as Monica Willis was taking MW off. This was a huge exaggeration because it was shipped and got home before we did!
Monday: Beignets!
DH and I decided to take the DS boats around to POR and POFQ because we've never been to those resorts (we've booked them in the past, but ended up cancelling or being moved) AND I wanted to try the beignets.
We stopped to look at something in the lobby at SSR and happened upon Chip, Dale, and Daisy who were all out visiting the resort! As it happened, we also saw them at both of the Port Orleans resorts. Were they following us? Since this was the nicest day of the week, we also spent some time at the pool and hot tub. This was also the day that BIL/SIL broke the news to us that they wouldn't be making it down for the weekend, which really threw us for a loop as that was going to have a major impact on our room (we don't need a 2br for 2 people!) and our park day (I had already purchased $LL) AND meant that DH and I now had an entire park day to ourselves, and DH's golf partner wouldn't be there. And there were dining reservation that needed altered or cancelled. I called and offered the extra room to my parents who live a few hours away in the winter, we called DS1 to see if he was interested in coming down for the weekend (he declined) and we tried to think of anyone else from home that might be able to swing a last-minute Disney weekend. In the end, no one came down, but it all worked out. A fun surprise was that during the day, someone from the resort stopped at our room and left a little good luck bag (mini snickers bar, horse shoe, and a note) for the race weekend! This was unexpected, and very cute. Disney knows all.

Let's start off by saying: Successful Dopey #3!
Sunday:
Our flight was scheduled to take off at 7am, and our airport is tiny, so we didn't show up until about 5:30.

Once we had pushed back from the gate our pilot informed us that we had to wait for de-icing and that it should only take 10min or so. In actuality, it took about 25min, which made us start to worry. The time between our flights was only 41 min, and while there were 2 other flights a few hours later we could get bumped to, we wanted to arrive as early as possible to enjoy one of the few sunny/warm days at Disney! We were still taxiing to our gate in Chicago when we got an alert that our (next) flight was boarding, and then that it would be a 21min walk from our landing gate to our departure gate. YIKES! We were nearly the last people to board our plane from Chicago to Orlando, and then they held the flight for a few extra minutes because (based on comments the flight and gate attendants made) they were waiting for passengers from a flight from LAX.
After we landed, we grabbed our bags and went to the Hertz desk to wait in line because I had been unable to do the online check-in (pesky expiring drivers license!) I ended up doubling back to pick up our VTP toll tag since the line had about 10 people in front of us. At the counter we were informed that it would be an extra $13.50/day for my husband to drive?! Even with signage directly behind them about gold members have a free second driver. So silly. We loaded all of our stuff into the first rental car, and then discovered that the parking brake wouldn't disengage. Like....you couldn't push the button to lower the handle for it and put it in gear, so then we had to unload everything and put it in a different car. When we got to the security gate to exit the garage the attendant there couldn't figure out my temporary license expiration and was about to send us back and kick us out of the car. Like really? We had the inside person's signature all over the paperwork and why would that be there because he also checked all of that! But in the end, things worked out and off we went to pick up our groceries and grab some off-property lunch.
We got a room-ready text early (because we checked the app) but we were trying to keep our studio for when we moved to 2br lockoff later in the week (something we would end up NOT doing) so we stopped at the lobby to see if there was any possible way they could accommodate that request, and after about 25min they were! We were surprised, but happy to not have to "change rooms" other than hauling our stuff to the other bedroom in the afternoon. While we are very good at packing up everything and changing resorts (lots of practice!) we don't really enjoy it.

I think we ate dinner at Polite Pig that night, but I honestly don't remember at this point. At Arribas Brothers in DS I convinced DH to not wait to buy one of the handmade Christmas trees on display that had Mickey-shaped ornaments and it's a good thing, because it was the last one they had! Super cute and only about $50!

We also ordered our sketch at the Art of Disney where they told us it could be up to a month as Monica Willis was taking MW off. This was a huge exaggeration because it was shipped and got home before we did!
Monday: Beignets!

We stopped to look at something in the lobby at SSR and happened upon Chip, Dale, and Daisy who were all out visiting the resort! As it happened, we also saw them at both of the Port Orleans resorts. Were they following us? Since this was the nicest day of the week, we also spent some time at the pool and hot tub. This was also the day that BIL/SIL broke the news to us that they wouldn't be making it down for the weekend, which really threw us for a loop as that was going to have a major impact on our room (we don't need a 2br for 2 people!) and our park day (I had already purchased $LL) AND meant that DH and I now had an entire park day to ourselves, and DH's golf partner wouldn't be there. And there were dining reservation that needed altered or cancelled. I called and offered the extra room to my parents who live a few hours away in the winter, we called DS1 to see if he was interested in coming down for the weekend (he declined) and we tried to think of anyone else from home that might be able to swing a last-minute Disney weekend. In the end, no one came down, but it all worked out. A fun surprise was that during the day, someone from the resort stopped at our room and left a little good luck bag (mini snickers bar, horse shoe, and a note) for the race weekend! This was unexpected, and very cute. Disney knows all.

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