It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – an offsite, non-Disney, Christmas TR

[Lynne G]

So I can take notes for a next year trip, yep, we might be in Orlando this year for Christmas as the trip to the west coast was too long. And, cooler weather.

Subbing, wahoo!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yay a new trip report! You guys are having an awesome year and I love reading about your trips

 

[greenclan67]

Brave girl.....asking the inlaws to come along!!!

We spent yesterday and today putting some touches on our April/May trip as well ... tis the season obviously! We booked our park and fly hotel (and confirmed the Days reservation was cancelled as requested), booked Jake's flights (since both he and his Sunshine are now coming along....and we had enough Jetblue points that his roundtrip airfare was completely free!), and secured our Orlando hotel for the extra two nights beyond our week at the Vistana. We also booked a bigger vehicle than the full size car that I originally had reserved, and made a tentative reservation for breakfast at Ohana's (not sure if we'll keep that at this point.....the dollar is KILLING our budget).

Our spring trips really aren't that far away. We leave in just 113 days!

Where did you decide to book for your park & fly in Buf?

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Following along as usual! As you know we were there from the 18th to the 22nd. Which was too short! Looking forward to your report!

Welcome, my friend! Glad to have you reading and following!

Your little vacay have been short, but your timing was impeccable....you were there for some spectacular weather!! Did you do the Disney parks on your mini getaway? How were crowds?

Woooohoooo!!!! Another Gina trip report. I'm in!

Jump00

Woohoo! You're here! Welcome, welcome!

Yay! So glad you started your trip report!

Hey toystoryduo, Happy New Year to you! Thanks for joining in again!

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear more about your Christmas trip!!

Here's to hoping you didn't have a repeat of what happened at the hotel for your October trip!

Welcome aboard! And sadly, this trip's park and fly issue was worse than October....which is why we have officially dumped the Days as an option for future trips. Two strikes, and they're out! (I know its supposed to be three strikes, but I'm stubborn and don't want to give them another try)

So I can take notes for a next year trip, yep, we might be in Orlando this year for Christmas as the trip to the west coast was too long. And, cooler weather.

Subbing, wahoo!

Orlando was hot, hot, hot this year....way better than we anticipated. It made coming home hard!

I am so envious that you're already in the planning stages for next Christmas!! Lucky girl! I know there will be no Orlando repeat for us during Xmas 2016, but hoping maybe to sneap away to Niagara Falls or something semi-local for the holiday season. We like avoiding the family drama if at all possible .

Yay a new trip report! You guys are having an awesome year and I love reading about your trips

Welcome back! I was hoping to see you here . Stay tuned, more to come soon!

Where did you decide to book for your park & fly in Buf?

We booked the brand new Aloft property just adjacent to the Days. It is new,, modern, gets spectacular reviews, and seems to have great management response. We're paying a bit more ($129 a night) and there's no free breakfast, but Tim Hortons is right there and its 24 hours. I am willing to pay more for a restful night!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Probably my only update in this TR that comes without photos....bear with me....


After we dragged ourselves out of the hot tub, we returned to our room to ready ourselves for an early lights-out. We had a 5 am wake-up call arranged with the front desk, so we wanted to be in bed and at least attempting to sleep (excitement often negates our best intentions!) by 10:30 pm or so. We hung our swimsuits on the shower curtain rod to dry, set our clothing out for the next morning, and settled into bed by 9-ish to watch some Family Guy episodes before drifting off to dreamland. As soon as we were comfortably under the covers and Stewie Griffin was on the TV, Jake says to us.....Ugh, can you smell that?


We sniffed the air. Smell what?


That’s weed. Someone is smoking pot.


I raise an eyebrow in his direction. Geez mom, I’m in college. Just because I know what it smells like doesn’t mean that I’ve ever smoked it!!


We tell him he’s crazy and return our focus to the Family Guy marathon. The noise from 114 began almost immediately thereafter.


Initially, it was a lot of door slamming and banging against the wall. Considering it was reasonably early, we gave the occupants the benefit of the doubt and assumed that a less-than-coordinated family was simply moving their things, albeit roughly, into the room. The shouting and laughing would surely certainly cease as they noted the time.


The minutes wore on, one Family Guy episode transitioned to the next, and the occupants of room 114 steadily escalated to an excessive loudness. With my boys growing steadily more annoyed, I called the front desk and requested that they intervene and advise the rowdy crew to tone it down. They assured me they would remedy the racket, and wished us a good night.


Then.....it got worse .


At 11:10 pm, I changed out of my PJ’s and back into my clothes and decided to make a personal visit to the front desk rather than a second call. Since we were on the main floor, I thought it would be easier (and perhaps have more impact) if I spoke with the night staff in person. “Shawn” at the front desk apologized and said they would request again that the noise cease immediately. I returned to our room, changed back into my PJ’s, and settled back into bed with the best intentions of sleep.


That first call to the desk staff, I was very patient. When the initial visit to the front desk became necessary, I was irritated but still calm and reasonable. At 11:40, when a second re-dressing and pilgrimage to the front desk was warranted, I was very much annoyed. But at 12:10, when the screaming/banging/howling became unbearable and our room became filled with marijuana smoke, I marched down to the front desk for the third and final time and DEMANDED that Shawn accompany me back to the hallway to smell the stench that was now permeating the entire area. I don’t know if it was my tone, the fact that my hair was likely sticking up in every different direction, or the fact that I was apparently looking at him with my “death glare” (according to Jake), but Shawn came out from behind that counter without delay and began issuing rapid fire apologies before we even reached our hall. Steve was a few steps behind me (he had stopped to put on pants, at Jake’s suggestion ) but thankfully I didn’t need the back up.


Mercifully and finally, Shawn had the courage to summon the police (cue the hallelujah from the choir! ), the occupants were removed from the property, and he delivered a smoke eater to our room to help remedy the air quality. By this time, you could cut the smoke in our room with a knife. We had watched 1 am long since come and go on the clock and we were keyed up and wide awake with a bad case of the giggles. What a start this vacation was off to!


It was evident that we would need some assistance to sleep, so I handed out a round of Gravol to each of us knowing it would knock us out within 20 minutes to half an hour. Tucked securely back into bed, I heard Jake start snoring softly first, then Steve joined the chorus. Relieved to know that my fellows were finally resting comfortably, I flaked out shortly thereafter.


The alarm on Jake’s iPhone 6+ went off much, much too soon.


In my groggy, Gravol-induced slumber, I reached over to hit the snooze button and managed to tip a cup of water (left on the bedside table from the night before’s Gravol dosing) right over on his phone . I flipped on the light, frantically grabbed the phone (the only one we were travelling with!!) and immediately removed the case so I could dry it thoroughly with a towel from the bathroom. With the boys now fully awake and running hither and yon to assist, we heaved a collective sigh of relief as the phone appeared to suffer no ill effects from its early morning soaking. Crisis averted .


We each showered, dressed, packed and locked the suitcases, then headed to the lobby to grab breakfast and arrange for a shuttle to the airport. I approached Shawn at the front desk to finalize our check out, and he barely looked me in the eye as he quietly told me he had comped the room as a result of last night’s “inconvenience”. I took the opportunity to cancel our April reservation (sometime around 1 am that morning, the guys and I vowed to never step foot in the hotel again....remember that this was the second sleepless night at this property for Steve and I due to rowdiness in as many trips), took my receipt showing the refund of the pre-paid charges for this stay, and joined the boys in the breakfast room.


A kind older lady tapped me on the shoulder as I made my way to our table. “Sweetheart? You have a sticker on your pants. I thought you might want to take it off before you head to the airport” (yep, I was wearing a pair of brand new jeans and the size sticker was noticeable to everyone but my travelling companions apparently!). I shot Steve and Jake the death glare and hissed “why didn’t you tell me there was a sticker on the back of my butt?”. They peered at me through puffy, slitted eyes and innocently claimed sleep deprivation. Sigh .


I wasn’t hungry, but knew I had to eat something to ensure my stomach didn’t roll over from emptiness at 40,000 feet. I grabbed a slice of toast and a glass of milk, but somehow ended up with a gob of peanut butter in my freshly washed hair. Steve worked hard to control his laughter as he dutifully grabbed a clean napkin and began the arduous process of removing it as delicately as possible. At that point in the morning our magical Christmas trip was beginning to feel like a National Lampoon’s sequel .


Looking VERY forward to leaving this disaster of hotel stay behind, we nearly danced onto the shuttle and had to stop ourselves from cheering as the van started in the direction of the airport. We were on our way, and the excitement was building. Well, it would be anyway.....once we were fully awake .

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Oh dear...... Well I was laughing at the tale you told but know how irritating it must have been for you all at the time. At least they were eventually escorted from the premises

 

[Disneylover99]

I was either in room 112 or room 120 that night before we moved to the third floor. I'm not sure if the pot smokers were beside me or on the other side of you. At any rate, maybe the pot smell killed the bugs in my room.

 

[grantclaire]

Gina, too bad about the hotel nightmare! That is one worry I have about the night before hotel is a lack of sleep! We had good to great weather as well. Shorts and pool time each day. The one cool day was not really cool by Canadian standards! Only park we did was Typhoon Lagoon waterpark which was a blast!

 

[greenclan67]

Probably my only update in this TR that comes without photos....bear with me....


After we dragged ourselves out of the hot tub, we returned to our room to ready ourselves for an early lights-out. We had a 5 am wake-up call arranged with the front desk, so we wanted to be in bed and at least attempting to sleep (excitement often negates our best intentions!) by 10:30 pm or so. We hung our swimsuits on the shower curtain rod to dry, set our clothing out for the next morning, and settled into bed by 9-ish to watch some Family Guy episodes before drifting off to dreamland. As soon as we were comfortably under the covers and Stewie Griffin was on the TV, Jake says to us.....Ugh, can you smell that?


We sniffed the air. Smell what?


That’s weed. Someone is smoking pot.


I raise an eyebrow in his direction. Geez mom, I’m in college. Just because I know what it smells like doesn’t mean that I’ve ever smoked it!!


We tell him he’s crazy and return our focus to the Family Guy marathon. The noise from 114 began almost immediately thereafter.


Initially, it was a lot of door slamming and banging against the wall. Considering it was reasonably early, we gave the occupants the benefit of the doubt and assumed that a less-than-coordinated family was simply moving their things, albeit roughly, into the room. The shouting and laughing would surely certainly cease as they noted the time.


The minutes wore on, one Family Guy episode transitioned to the next, and the occupants of room 114 steadily escalated to an excessive loudness. With my boys growing steadily more annoyed, I called the front desk and requested that they intervene and advise the rowdy crew to tone it down. They assured me they would remedy the racket, and wished us a good night.


Then.....it got worse .


At 11:10 pm, I changed out of my PJ’s and back into my clothes and decided to make a personal visit to the front desk rather than a second call. Since we were on the main floor, I thought it would be easier (and perhaps have more impact) if I spoke with the night staff in person. “Shawn” at the front desk apologized and said they would request again that the noise cease immediately. I returned to our room, changed back into my PJ’s, and settled back into bed with the best intentions of sleep.


That first call to the desk staff, I was very patient. When the initial visit to the front desk became necessary, I was irritated but still calm and reasonable. At 11:40, when a second re-dressing and pilgrimage to the front desk was warranted, I was very much annoyed. But at 12:10, when the screaming/banging/howling became unbearable and our room became filled with marijuana smoke, I marched down to the front desk for the third and final time and DEMANDED that Shawn accompany me back to the hallway to smell the stench that was now permeating the entire area. I don’t know if it was my tone, the fact that my hair was likely sticking up in every different direction, or the fact that I was apparently looking at him with my “death glare” (according to Jake), but Shawn came out from behind that counter without delay and began issuing rapid fire apologies before we even reached our hall. Steve was a few steps behind me (he had stopped to put on pants, at Jake’s suggestion ) but thankfully I didn’t need the back up.


Mercifully and finally, Shawn had the courage to summon the police (cue the hallelujah from the choir! ), the occupants were removed from the property, and he delivered a smoke eater to our room to help remedy the air quality. By this time, you could cut the smoke in our room with a knife. We had watched 1 am long since come and go on the clock and we were keyed up and wide awake with a bad case of the giggles. What a start this vacation was off to!


It was evident that we would need some assistance to sleep, so I handed out a round of Gravol to each of us knowing it would knock us out within 20 minutes to half an hour. Tucked securely back into bed, I heard Jake start snoring softly first, then Steve joined the chorus. Relieved to know that my fellows were finally resting comfortably, I flaked out shortly thereafter.


The alarm on Jake’s iPhone 6+ went off much, much too soon.


In my groggy, Gravol-induced slumber, I reached over to hit the snooze button and managed to tip a cup of water (left on the bedside table from the night before’s Gravol dosing) right over on his phone . I flipped on the light, frantically grabbed the phone (the only one we were travelling with!!) and immediately removed the case so I could dry it thoroughly with a towel from the bathroom. With the boys now fully awake and running hither and yon to assist, we heaved a collective sigh of relief as the phone appeared to suffer no ill effects from its early morning soaking. Crisis averted .


We each showered, dressed, packed and locked the suitcases, then headed to the lobby to grab breakfast and arrange for a shuttle to the airport. I approached Shawn at the front desk to finalize our check out, and he barely looked me in the eye as he quietly told me he had comped the room as a result of last night’s “inconvenience”. I took the opportunity to cancel our April reservation (sometime around 1 am that morning, the guys and I vowed to never step foot in the hotel again....remember that this was the second sleepless night at this property for Steve and I due to rowdiness in as many trips), took my receipt showing the refund of the pre-paid charges for this stay, and joined the boys in the breakfast room.


A kind older lady tapped me on the shoulder as I made my way to our table. “Sweetheart? You have a sticker on your pants. I thought you might want to take it off before you head to the airport” (yep, I was wearing a pair of brand new jeans and the size sticker was noticeable to everyone but my travelling companions apparently!). I shot Steve and Jake the death glare and hissed “why didn’t you tell me there was a sticker on the back of my butt?”. They peered at me through puffy, slitted eyes and innocently claimed sleep deprivation. Sigh .


I wasn’t hungry, but knew I had to eat something to ensure my stomach didn’t roll over from emptiness at 40,000 feet. I grabbed a slice of toast and a glass of milk, but somehow ended up with a gob of peanut butter in my freshly washed hair. Steve worked hard to control his laughter as he dutifully grabbed a clean napkin and began the arduous process of removing it as delicately as possible. At that point in the morning our magical Christmas trip was beginning to feel like a National Lampoon’s sequel .


Looking VERY forward to leaving this disaster of hotel stay behind, we nearly danced onto the shuttle and had to stop ourselves from cheering as the van started in the direction of the airport. We were on our way, and the excitement was building. Well, it would be anyway.....once we were fully awake .

Ok only because you, yourself know how mine started and ended, I think I have you trumped in spades!! Lol
We flew out the morning before Gina, and had to drive 7 hours!! That morning my 16 year old got up and started puking.... And puked all day. We had to drive after her puking 7 hours straight....a few times in the car. Got to the days hotel and I started at 4 am with the same bug. Headed to the airport with gravol on board for all 4 of us and a flight at 8:30 am.
We slept the first day of our vacay away in Orlando. Moved to cape Canaveral on Sunday then Tues got stung by a man o war. I have never felt pain like that and it is still driving me insane with the itch.....ok back to Gina's report.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Oh no, another bad night before your flight! My heart sank when you spilled the water on the phone, that would have been the icing on the cake...so glad it was safe. Whew. You think your neighbors would have been more mellow with all that smoke

 

[pigletto]

Good Lord Gina. I would have been LIVID too. Especially given that this is the second time in as many trips that they did nothing to remedy the problem. Knock on Wood we haven't had your experience there yet, but I am sorry day one of your trip was ruined two trips in a row.

 

[toystoryduo]

Oh no, Gina! I'm so sorry that you guys had issues at this hotel again! It's good that they comped your room, but I think canceling April's reservation was a very good move on your part. No reason to give them a chance to earn that 3rd strike. LOL!

 

[Lynne G]

Ahh, the smell of weed. Yep, even us never took a puff all know what it smells like. What a comically bad start to your vacation. Thankfully ours was uneventful though we left at 3:30am. Had plenty of time to relax. Kids did sock me with a double priced meal at the McD's when it opened near our gate. Teens. The hunger never ends, even at 5am.
If I can get the pictures out of our camera, maybe I will try a trip report. We had an excellent time and did a ton of things. My DH's favorite, segwaying in la Joya in the streets, sand, and grass. It was fun and much easier to learn than I thought.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Oh dear...... Well I was laughing at the tale you told but know how irritating it must have been for you all at the time. At least they were eventually escorted from the premises

Oh, trust me....we were laughing, too . I mean, how could we NOT??? It was completely comical in its ridiculousness . Jake enjoyed mimicking my "angry face" (the one I apparently used on Shawn the Front Desk Guy) the entire time we ate breakfast. And ya know, that kid does me almost as well as I do me!!

I was either in room 112 or room 120 that night before we moved to the third floor. I'm not sure if the pot smokers were beside me or on the other side of you. At any rate, maybe the pot smell killed the bugs in my room.

When I got your PM the next day and heard about the bedbugs, our hearts just sank. I shared your message with the boys, and they both looked at me and said the same thing: "Well, all of a sudden our pot smokers don't seem so bad!!". You haven't had any more .... umm, recurrences? stow-aways? .... since you came home, have you? And I'm guessing you will also not return to the Days in the future?

Gina, too bad about the hotel nightmare! That is one worry I have about the night before hotel is a lack of sleep! We had good to great weather as well. Shorts and pool time each day. The one cool day was not really cool by Canadian standards! Only park we did was Typhoon Lagoon waterpark which was a blast!

Yeah, the day we arrived was a shorts and jeans type day too. But gorgeous in comparsion to the winter we left behind in Buffalo!!

How was Typhoon Lagoon? Busy or not so much? Aquatica was really quiet on the day we visited, despite the very warm temps and even humidity. We were shocked!

Ok only because you, yourself know how mine started and ended, I think I have you trumped in spades!! Lol
We flew out the morning before Gina, and had to drive 7 hours!! That morning my 16 year old got up and started puking.... And puked all day. We had to drive after her puking 7 hours straight....a few times in the car. Got to the days hotel and I started at 4 am with the same bug. Headed to the airport with gravol on board for all 4 of us and a flight at 8:30 am.
We slept the first day of our vacay away in Orlando. Moved to cape Canaveral on Sunday then Tues got stung by a man o war. I have never felt pain like that and it is still driving me insane with the itch.....ok back to Gina's report.

Yes, you definitely win the award for most challenging vacation!! Made our frustrations look pretty minor.

Stomach flu's are always my biggest worry for winter trips. Those pesky tummy bugs seem to be everywhere at that time of year, and can seriously make the travel days difficult and completely ruin vacation plans. I am so glad you guys got past it reasonably quickly!!

As for the sting.....that is just the rottenest luck. After seeing your leg, Jake is flatly refusing to swim in the ocean in April. We finally got him past worrying about sharks, now he's fretting about the jellyfish!!

Oh no, another bad night before your flight! My heart sank when you spilled the water on the phone, that would have been the icing on the cake...so glad it was safe. Whew. You think your neighbors would have been more mellow with all that smoke

Mellow they were DEFINITELY not!! The worst was the shrieking, piercing, erupting bursts of laughter....followed by the beating on the walls.

You have no idea how relieved I was when Jake's phone suffered no damage from the impomptu soaking. You want to know what a vacation disaster looks like? It's my son without his iPhone .

Good Lord Gina. I would have been LIVID too. Especially given that this is the second time in as many trips that they did nothing to remedy the problem. Knock on Wood we haven't had your experience there yet, but I am sorry day one of your trip was ruined two trips in a row.

Thankfully, we squeezed out just enough sleep to make us functional that first day. We did end up hitting the sack fairly early that night (and we slept in a bit the following morning), but we all managed to get through the travel day without any breakdowns. I think excitement kept us going more than anything .

Where do you guys normally stay for your park and fly nights?

Oh no, Gina! I'm so sorry that you guys had issues at this hotel again! It's good that they comped your room, but I think canceling April's reservation was a very good move on your part. No reason to give them a chance to earn that 3rd strike. LOL!

That's exactly what we thought, too. The place we have chosen for April, while a tad more expensive, gets absolutely excellent reviews. Its also a much newer hotel. So....we shall see if the "upgrade" is worth the money. I surely would have paid an extra $20 on both our October and December trips if it would have meant a good night's sleep while we were there!!

Ahh, the smell of weed. Yep, even us never took a puff all know what it smells like. What a comically bad start to your vacation. Thankfully ours was uneventful though we left at 3:30am. Had plenty of time to relax. Kids did sock me with a double priced meal at the McD's when it opened near our gate. Teens. The hunger never ends, even at 5am.
If I can get the pictures out of our camera, maybe I will try a trip report. We had an excellent time and did a ton of things. My DH's favorite, segwaying in la Joya in the streets, sand, and grass. It was fun and much easier to learn than I thought.

Yes, yes, yes to the trip report! I would LOVE to read along!! If you decide to kick one off, be sure to post a link here as well so that I know where to find it.

I hear ya on the teenaged appetites. Jake's first question upon landing in Buffalo at 11 pm on Boxing Day night was "Can we stop at Tim Hortons for a frozen hot chocolate and a bagel?".

I am so glad to hear you enjoyed yourself so much!! California has a prominent place on my bucket list .... though I'm not sure when I'll ever have the op ortunity to get there. Quite obviously I need to start buying more lottery tickets, lol! Between our Orlando obsession and a tentative plan to visit Holland in 2018 for our 25th anniversary, my travel budget is running thin. But hey, ya never know. In the meantime, it doesn't hurt to dream .

Oh yeah.....I want to see a pic of you on that segway. Pretty please .

 

[Disneylover99]

When I got your PM the next day and heard about the bedbugs, our hearts just sank. I shared your message with the boys, and they both looked at me and said the same thing: "Well, all of a sudden our pot smokers don't seem so bad!!". You haven't had any more .... umm, recurrences? stow-aways? .... since you came home, have you? And I'm guessing you will also not return to the Days in the future?

No stowaways thankfully. We discovered the bedbug as soon as we entered the room, so we hightailed it out of there. As for the Days? I'm a never say never kind of gal. Right now, the answer would be, probably not, but as my memory fails, I just might book it again. (Crazy right? ) We are creatures of habit (probably to our detriment) and we have had seven excellent stays at the Days prior to the 18th. But I'm definitely interested in researching the other parknfly hotels in the Buffalo area. I wish Shawn was at the desk when we bought the bedbug down though. It was the mean blonde lady instead.

 

[pigletto]

Where do you guys normally stay for your park and fly nights?

I'll give you a few guesses.
I have a refundable rate right now with Park/Sleep/Fly. I need to keep that first night cheap or DH will say "Let's drive in the morning and park at the airport". Not a big deal because we are only an hour away. But our flight is at 6:50. We'd need to leave here way too early to make it across the border and give ample airport time. I'm going to see what I can find. The noise issues were bad enough.. but bugs too? NO THANK YOU

 

[Echo queen]

I really enjoy your trip reports.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

No stowaways thankfully. We discovered the bedbug as soon as we entered the room, so we hightailed it out of there. As for the Days? I'm a never say never kind of gal. Right now, the answer would be, probably not, but as my memory fails, I just might book it again. (Crazy right? ) We are creatures of habit (probably to our detriment) and we have had seven excellent stays at the Days prior to the 18th. But I'm definitely interested in researching the other parknfly hotels in the Buffalo area. I wish Shawn was at the desk when we bought the bedbug down though. It was the mean blonde lady instead.

Well, that's a relief. You are so very lucky to have found it so soon after your arrival.

Ah, the mean blonde lady.....I know EXACTLY who you mean, and I have a story about her (which I will share later in this report) from the day we returned from Orlando. Stay tuned .

It was funny when Steve came back to the room after running into you at the desk. I had sent him for extra shampoo and conditioner (that one little bottle of each isn't enough to wash MY hair, let alone for the three of us) while I hung up our wet swimsuits. He comes back in the room and says "I think I just met one of your Disboards friends. A lady just stopped me in the lobby and asked me if I was Steve, saying she recognized me from your reports. People actually are reading what you post on there!".

I'll give you a few guesses.
I have a refundable rate right now with Park/Sleep/Fly. I need to keep that first night cheap or DH will say "Let's drive in the morning and park at the airport". Not a big deal because we are only an hour away. But our flight is at 6:50. We'd need to leave here way too early to make it across the border and give ample airport time. I'm going to see what I can find. The noise issues were bad enough.. but bugs too? NO THANK YOU

Oh, I'm with you totally on getting the park and fly. With that early of a flight, I wouldn't chance it either. Murphy's Law almost guarantees that would be the exact time the border agents would choose to tear your car apart.

I am so glad I didn't know about Disneylover99's bedbug encounter while we were still at the hotel. Sleep would have been impossible with that tidbit of knowledge......rowdy pot smokers or not!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I really enjoy your trip reports.

Aw, thank you! I appreciate you reading along!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

As the Days Hotel is just across the street from the airport, the shuttle deposited us at the front door of the terminal just a few minutes after pulling out of the hotel lot. We took our bags and checked them at the Jetblue counter, then made our way to the security checkpoint.




(the airport was nicely decorated for the holiday season....this was one of their several Christmas trees)


There was a cluster of folks waiting to pass through the TSA checkpoint, so we used our Jetblue Even More Speed perk (free with the Even More Space seats) to bypass the line and walk right up to an agent. She scanned our boarding passes, verified our ID, and we breezed through the scanners with no waits or delays.


If anyone wonders why we drive 4 hours to fly from Buffalo (or 3.5 hours to fly from Syracuse) versus the 2+ hour commute to Pearson International Airport in Toronto, these next two photos might help you understand our motivation:








Those are the kind of crowd pics that I love.....you would never have guessed that this was the Saturday before Christmas. “Peace on Earth” indeed!


To pass the time as we waited at our gate, Steve busied himself on his tablet, Jake was glued to his iPhone, and I took some photos for the memory book. Jake tried to give me his “I didn’t get enough sleep” grumpy face:





...but he couldn’t keep up the guise very long. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Cool’s excitement also started to bubble over:





The flight itself was not too bad. Certainly not the best we’ve experienced, nor was it the worst. There was a fair bit of turbulence for a large part of the journey (with apologies from the pilots, who apparently had difficulty finding a smooth section of air for many miles) but nothing severe enough to trigger anxiety or discomfort. We just didn’t get much time with the seatbelt signs off during which we could use the loo. Steve watched the Fantastic 4 (one of the Jetblue movie selections), I dozed a bit while I caught a few shows on HGTV, and Jake chatted it up with his seatmate (a lovely middle aged lady who talked more than Jake does....and that’s saying something!! ).


Funny story about the lady who had the window seat next to my boy: at one point during the flight (just after the pilots announced that we would soon begin our descent), while making friendly conversation, she asked Jake when we were all returning home from Orlando. Jake’s answer to her was “Boxing Day” .... to which she furrowed her brow, and clearly perplexed, repeated “ Boxing Day?”. He nods (obviously wondering why she is seeming confused) and then she proceeds to punch her fists in the air (in Mohammed Ali style) and says....”Do you call it that because Canadians go to boxing matches after Christmas?”.


Uh, what?


Steve and I are trying not to giggle as now Jake is clearly gobsmacked. He grins and explains to her.... no, we call it Boxing Day because that’s the day many people box up the Christmas decorations and put them away.

Ohhhh.....she says.......that’s very interesting .


So my question to my readers who live south of the border.....do Americans not normally refer to the day after Christmas as Boxing Day? Or did we just get a very eccentric (though exceptionally sweet and friendly) lady in seat 12D? (and no...I don't think she was putting us on....if she was, she was an incredible actress)


After deplaning and a quick stop at the washrooms, we collected our bags from the carousel and headed to pick up the rental car. Jake was (not suprisingly) starving, and was excited for our family trip arrival day tradition: lunch at Friendly's. With our reservation paperwork in hand, we headed to the Budget counter for what was supposed to be a quick pick-up of an intermediate SUV.

Of course, nothing else had gone right so far, so why should we have expected this to?

Always remember what your Momma taught you: Good things come to those who wait....and wait....and wait...and wait......