elemusing
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2001
- Messages
- 2,311
Cast:
ME - the mom 32
Roy - the dad 33
Nicolas - the son - 5
Day one - December 21
We were up and at em early on Sunday as we had spent the night at Nashville Hampton Inn on Elm Hill Pike. (I highly recommend them for their prompt service and park and fly program.) DS coughed ALL night even though I gave him cough medicine and I was very worried that he was getting sick - but it must have just been the heat in the room cause he was fine after we left. Anyway, because he coughed all night, I was up and ready well before the wake up call for the taxi to pick us up at 5:00am for our 7:00 flight.
We made it through security at the airport with no problems at all and our plane took off precisely at 7:15. We landed at OIA at 10:00am (We lose an hour flying to FL).
We hurried downstairs to claim our luggage and beat the Happy Limo guy. He was very surprised when we found him and he asked how we made it past him coming down the escalators, but we told him we beat him there.
Anyway, we are on our way and I mention the grocery stop that I requested. He says that there is no grocery stop and I pull out my confirmation papers determined to show him . . . um . . . there is no grocery stop mentioned on mine either. shoot! Oh man , and that is when Mr. Happy Limo becomes stupid night club act man. He starts in with "Well, I will give you a grocery stop but you have to buy me something." And then, "I GUESS I can stop for you, but it will cost you an extra $200. . . " I could almost hear the snare drum cymbal crash combination in the background. I guess he could tell that we weren't amused since we said nothing. And I just said, "All I can tell you is that I requested it and when I called yesterday to confirm, the lady on the phone told me I had it." He finally, says, well ok. and takes us to Albertsons. He even gave us his own discount card so we could save a few bucks.
I timed the grocery stop down to the last second so Mr. Happy Limo would not continue his night club act by berating us for going over the 15 minutes. Finally, we are on our way to ASMU. I couldn't get out of that car fast enough. If I wanted a night club act, I would have gone to Las Vegas, thank you very much.
Ok. so here's the next snag. . .I go to check in and there is NO mention of our reservation. That can't be possible . . . I booked through Dreams Unlimited. . . they are so good! And so the CM asks to see my confirmation. I hand it to him and he shows me where it says ALL STAR MOVIES. WHAT? I requested ASMO, but I thought I couldn't get in there. Wait a minute. You mean I have had this computer print out since SEPTEMBER 9 and it has said Movies all along? Oh man. So then he is very nice and I am very red with embarassment. I can't believe my stupidity. So he says, we will get a car to drive you right over to movies. I say thanks and think about it for a minute. *I have Happy Limo picking me up at MUSIC on the 27th . . . .my Christmas tree is coming from the florist today to MUSIC. . .* So I ask the CM if he could possibly just move me over to Music to save time and phone calls that I am going to have to make. . . another CM walks up and says "We thought you would never ask! We are better than Movies anyway." And in less than 5 minutes, I was all checked into room 9629 in the Jazz building. Bravo! That is why we love DISNEY!!!! They can always fix my stupid mistakes! AND they make it seem like people do that all the time to save me embarassment! yea!
So we are off to our room. In the meantime, I use my cell to call the WDW Florist just to confirm my tree. They say, yes it is on it's way. Yea! So we wait a bout 5 minutes for our luggage to arrive, unpack, and fill up the styrofoam cooler we bought at Albertson's with ice and we are on our way out the door to do our Christmas shopping at DD.
The decorations and hustle and bustle at DD was wonderful! We walked around and enjoyed the scenery and watched Santa for a while. Then we were hungry, so we went and ate at Portobello. Yum. Great waiter, although I couldn't understand a word he said. He reminded me of the waiters we have had on the Disney cruises. You can't understand them either, but they are really good. My poor son fell asleep at the table after eating his hotdog (didn't know they have Italian hotdogs did ya?)
We ordered coffee and let him take about a 20 minute nap at the table. Then headed to the huge World of Disney store. (I could die happy in this store.) After buying my traditional frame and photo album that I get every trip, plus a set of Minnie Mouse Christmas hat ears for myself, we are off the Once Upon a Toy Store. DS picks out a few things he might like from Santa and then DH takes him out to ride the carosel while I go back through and pick up everything he said he wanted from Santa. Then I have it all shipped back to the room (Another reason we LOVE DISNEY) and we are off to the room to get some sleep before our big day tomorrow.
We get back to the room around 6pm and there is NO TREE. So I call down to the front desk and they check for me. NO TREE there either. I call the florist and get the answering machine saying they are closed for the night. So I push the button to speak to a real person. This person is sort of like the answering service for your doctor when you call past hours. They know nothing. They just know what is on the paper in front of them. I leave a message saying that I paid over $200 for this tree and I expected it to be delivered on the day I asked. She says that they stop delivering at 5pm and that she would make sure they get the message for the next day. I am not a happy mother.
We go ahead and put up the lights on the window that we brought with us and DS and I head to the food court to get some sandwiches while DH is nursing his sinus headache in the steam from his bath. Just as we are about to board the elevator, I see a CM with a huge box. I run up and with the excitment of a 5 year old, I say, "IS that my Christmas tree???" And he jumps back cause I scared the jeepers out of him and he says. "Room 9629?" And I say, "I don't know! I don't know my room number by heart yet!!!" "And he says, Calm down ma'am and breath, let's check your name. . ." (Well, he really didn't say that , but I am pretty sure he was thinking that.) So he checked and yes! Our last name was on the box! We walked him back down to the room and he opened it up for us. Oh it's the most beautiful and small $200 tree imaginable! We ask him to store the box for us in the luggage room and he says no problem. Then we get the tree all set up in 5 seconds flat. Ah now our Christmas holiday is really ready to begin. . .
Day two coming soon!
Angie
ME - the mom 32
Roy - the dad 33
Nicolas - the son - 5
Day one - December 21
We were up and at em early on Sunday as we had spent the night at Nashville Hampton Inn on Elm Hill Pike. (I highly recommend them for their prompt service and park and fly program.) DS coughed ALL night even though I gave him cough medicine and I was very worried that he was getting sick - but it must have just been the heat in the room cause he was fine after we left. Anyway, because he coughed all night, I was up and ready well before the wake up call for the taxi to pick us up at 5:00am for our 7:00 flight.
We made it through security at the airport with no problems at all and our plane took off precisely at 7:15. We landed at OIA at 10:00am (We lose an hour flying to FL).
We hurried downstairs to claim our luggage and beat the Happy Limo guy. He was very surprised when we found him and he asked how we made it past him coming down the escalators, but we told him we beat him there.
Anyway, we are on our way and I mention the grocery stop that I requested. He says that there is no grocery stop and I pull out my confirmation papers determined to show him . . . um . . . there is no grocery stop mentioned on mine either. shoot! Oh man , and that is when Mr. Happy Limo becomes stupid night club act man. He starts in with "Well, I will give you a grocery stop but you have to buy me something." And then, "I GUESS I can stop for you, but it will cost you an extra $200. . . " I could almost hear the snare drum cymbal crash combination in the background. I guess he could tell that we weren't amused since we said nothing. And I just said, "All I can tell you is that I requested it and when I called yesterday to confirm, the lady on the phone told me I had it." He finally, says, well ok. and takes us to Albertsons. He even gave us his own discount card so we could save a few bucks.
I timed the grocery stop down to the last second so Mr. Happy Limo would not continue his night club act by berating us for going over the 15 minutes. Finally, we are on our way to ASMU. I couldn't get out of that car fast enough. If I wanted a night club act, I would have gone to Las Vegas, thank you very much.
Ok. so here's the next snag. . .I go to check in and there is NO mention of our reservation. That can't be possible . . . I booked through Dreams Unlimited. . . they are so good! And so the CM asks to see my confirmation. I hand it to him and he shows me where it says ALL STAR MOVIES. WHAT? I requested ASMO, but I thought I couldn't get in there. Wait a minute. You mean I have had this computer print out since SEPTEMBER 9 and it has said Movies all along? Oh man. So then he is very nice and I am very red with embarassment. I can't believe my stupidity. So he says, we will get a car to drive you right over to movies. I say thanks and think about it for a minute. *I have Happy Limo picking me up at MUSIC on the 27th . . . .my Christmas tree is coming from the florist today to MUSIC. . .* So I ask the CM if he could possibly just move me over to Music to save time and phone calls that I am going to have to make. . . another CM walks up and says "We thought you would never ask! We are better than Movies anyway." And in less than 5 minutes, I was all checked into room 9629 in the Jazz building. Bravo! That is why we love DISNEY!!!! They can always fix my stupid mistakes! AND they make it seem like people do that all the time to save me embarassment! yea!
So we are off to our room. In the meantime, I use my cell to call the WDW Florist just to confirm my tree. They say, yes it is on it's way. Yea! So we wait a bout 5 minutes for our luggage to arrive, unpack, and fill up the styrofoam cooler we bought at Albertson's with ice and we are on our way out the door to do our Christmas shopping at DD.
The decorations and hustle and bustle at DD was wonderful! We walked around and enjoyed the scenery and watched Santa for a while. Then we were hungry, so we went and ate at Portobello. Yum. Great waiter, although I couldn't understand a word he said. He reminded me of the waiters we have had on the Disney cruises. You can't understand them either, but they are really good. My poor son fell asleep at the table after eating his hotdog (didn't know they have Italian hotdogs did ya?)
We ordered coffee and let him take about a 20 minute nap at the table. Then headed to the huge World of Disney store. (I could die happy in this store.) After buying my traditional frame and photo album that I get every trip, plus a set of Minnie Mouse Christmas hat ears for myself, we are off the Once Upon a Toy Store. DS picks out a few things he might like from Santa and then DH takes him out to ride the carosel while I go back through and pick up everything he said he wanted from Santa. Then I have it all shipped back to the room (Another reason we LOVE DISNEY) and we are off to the room to get some sleep before our big day tomorrow.
We get back to the room around 6pm and there is NO TREE. So I call down to the front desk and they check for me. NO TREE there either. I call the florist and get the answering machine saying they are closed for the night. So I push the button to speak to a real person. This person is sort of like the answering service for your doctor when you call past hours. They know nothing. They just know what is on the paper in front of them. I leave a message saying that I paid over $200 for this tree and I expected it to be delivered on the day I asked. She says that they stop delivering at 5pm and that she would make sure they get the message for the next day. I am not a happy mother.
We go ahead and put up the lights on the window that we brought with us and DS and I head to the food court to get some sandwiches while DH is nursing his sinus headache in the steam from his bath. Just as we are about to board the elevator, I see a CM with a huge box. I run up and with the excitment of a 5 year old, I say, "IS that my Christmas tree???" And he jumps back cause I scared the jeepers out of him and he says. "Room 9629?" And I say, "I don't know! I don't know my room number by heart yet!!!" "And he says, Calm down ma'am and breath, let's check your name. . ." (Well, he really didn't say that , but I am pretty sure he was thinking that.) So he checked and yes! Our last name was on the box! We walked him back down to the room and he opened it up for us. Oh it's the most beautiful and small $200 tree imaginable! We ask him to store the box for us in the luggage room and he says no problem. Then we get the tree all set up in 5 seconds flat. Ah now our Christmas holiday is really ready to begin. . .
Day two coming soon!
Angie
