JennyDrake
Darkwing Duck's Biggest Fan
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2000
- Messages
- 4,779
TR Day#1 The Trip Down- This part of my TR isnt very Disney but it helps set the stage.
4/18
Cast of Characters
Jenny (me)-turning 40 this year, WDW fanatic, married to DH, AKA John Wayne, childless by choice, live on a farm in TN where we produce and sell organic meats
Cathy-age 36, friend from the trenches of public health, lives in IL, married w/ a 6 year old.
Background: 4 years ago Cathy began planning a trip for us to WDW to celebrate my 40th birthday. HER TREAT. Too generous for me to even articulate.
To contribute to the cost of the trip, I decided to do meat deliveries to customers along I-75. Due to the volume of sales, this involved renting a 25 Penske rental truck and loading it with lots of frozen meat and even more dry ice.
Now, on with the show!
Basically, short of an MVA, if it could go wrong it did.
We were traveling to WDW in one day. This meant we had to load the truck at 3:30 a.m. 2/3 people who were to help load the truck never showed up. We got on the road only ½ hour behind schedule, which wasnt too bad.
Once we got on I-24, we discovered the big, honkin truck was designed to cut out at 68 MPH. Great, just great. Now, not only will we not make good time, but we will be squished like a big yellow bug once we hit the Atlanta turbo area.
First stop was the GA welcome center. The first customer was 30 minutes late, despite phone calls to each customer giving an ETA.
The next stop was Calhoun and a big one as we met 16 customers there. One customer showed up 1 hour 15 minutes LATE. This really caused problems as she had a big order and we had to keep moving it around. If everyone had been there on time, we could have off loaded the whole thing at once. The scene was controlled chaos and much was garnered about changes to make for the next trip.
By now it was getting pretty warm. Im a good Southern girl, so just bring on that heat and humidity. Cathy sweats, melts and gets very grouchy. Our rental truck was BRAND NEW, so it made no sense why we were having this problem. Called Penkse and they told us where we could stop in Atlanta to have it fixed. At this point, my biggest concern was that I intended to ask for some of my money back. I was afraid if they had given us the option of having it repaired, and we did not follow through, they would not issue a refund. So we stopped and waited and waited and waited and about 2.5 hours later they told us it was fixed but it was a wiring problems and they didnt know how long the fix would last. Great, just great.
Next stop was north of Macon, everyone was on time. Next stop was south of Macon where the one customer was 40 minutes late. Great, just greatas if we werent late enough already.
(You may be asking why we didnt just pack up and go on when these people were late. Their order (prepaid) were quite large, as in half a beef. NO way to keep that amount cold at Mickeys place.)
Two more stops in GA. By now ALL the customers are calling wanting to know our ETA. I really wanted to throw the cell phone out the window. Good thing Cathy was there and that she is so much better at customer service.
The next kink was our planned stop at the I-75/I-10 intersection, where my map showed a ret stop. A very befuddle customer called to say there was NO rest stop, only a weigh station. Great, just great. We arranged instead to meet at the FL welcome center. Another big unload that went smoothly UNTIL ..
A customer said, You need to come out here, she is hurt! She? Who is SHE? CATHY? Cathy fell and sprained her already-surgeried-once ankle. Great, just great. We got Cathy back in the truck and propped up her ankle. She kept apologizing and felt just TERRIBLE about it.
The next stop was Tampa. Wed hoped to arrive there by 11 p.m. It was now 1:00 a.m. Great, just great. The customers were quite good natured and one of them even brought ice for Cathys ankle. One of the Tampa people opted for meeting me in Orlando the next morning.
So, back in truck on onward to The Mouse! Of course there was all kinds of construction so we pulled into the parking lot of Pop Century at 3:00 a.m. At the guard gate the guy asked for our name. Given the day that we were having, I just KNEW our name was not going to be on the list, but it was!
There were numerous options for parking the big honkin yellow truck and I was SO glad. Plan B was to park it at As. Actually, at that time Plan B was to just ram the thing into the lobby.
We got out the luggage and just then one of those golf car trolley thing began approaching! Could it be? Our luck was changing? Limping Cathy was going to get a ride to the hotel room. H-ll no. He kept right on going.
So we schlepped the luggage and got into the lobby at 3:23 a.m. A mere 24 hours after our day began. But there IS a bright sidethere are NO lines at 3:23 a.m. There were two people working the front desk. As we clattered in, a sweet young girl looked at us a bit puzzled, but with a big smile, Are you here to check in?
At that point I almost snapped and said, Oh no, its 3:23 in the freaking morning and we are touring resorts but I didnt.
Check in was very swift and very smooth. We got the 50s building and the 3rd floor room we requested. As we made it toward the elevator, glassy eyed and in a stupor Cathy asked, Do you hear the sound of my suitcase wheels on the cobblestones? That is the clickety clack of the roller coaster to our death.
I KNEW the elevator would get stuck but it didnt. My room key didnt want to work, but it eventually did and we collapsed into bed. First, I got Cathy some ice for her ankle. I fell into a coma knowing that in only 3.5 hours I had to get up and meet a customer in the parking lot. Great, just great.
4/18
Cast of Characters
Jenny (me)-turning 40 this year, WDW fanatic, married to DH, AKA John Wayne, childless by choice, live on a farm in TN where we produce and sell organic meats
Cathy-age 36, friend from the trenches of public health, lives in IL, married w/ a 6 year old.
Background: 4 years ago Cathy began planning a trip for us to WDW to celebrate my 40th birthday. HER TREAT. Too generous for me to even articulate.
To contribute to the cost of the trip, I decided to do meat deliveries to customers along I-75. Due to the volume of sales, this involved renting a 25 Penske rental truck and loading it with lots of frozen meat and even more dry ice.
Now, on with the show!
Basically, short of an MVA, if it could go wrong it did.
We were traveling to WDW in one day. This meant we had to load the truck at 3:30 a.m. 2/3 people who were to help load the truck never showed up. We got on the road only ½ hour behind schedule, which wasnt too bad.
Once we got on I-24, we discovered the big, honkin truck was designed to cut out at 68 MPH. Great, just great. Now, not only will we not make good time, but we will be squished like a big yellow bug once we hit the Atlanta turbo area.
First stop was the GA welcome center. The first customer was 30 minutes late, despite phone calls to each customer giving an ETA.
The next stop was Calhoun and a big one as we met 16 customers there. One customer showed up 1 hour 15 minutes LATE. This really caused problems as she had a big order and we had to keep moving it around. If everyone had been there on time, we could have off loaded the whole thing at once. The scene was controlled chaos and much was garnered about changes to make for the next trip.
By now it was getting pretty warm. Im a good Southern girl, so just bring on that heat and humidity. Cathy sweats, melts and gets very grouchy. Our rental truck was BRAND NEW, so it made no sense why we were having this problem. Called Penkse and they told us where we could stop in Atlanta to have it fixed. At this point, my biggest concern was that I intended to ask for some of my money back. I was afraid if they had given us the option of having it repaired, and we did not follow through, they would not issue a refund. So we stopped and waited and waited and waited and about 2.5 hours later they told us it was fixed but it was a wiring problems and they didnt know how long the fix would last. Great, just great.
Next stop was north of Macon, everyone was on time. Next stop was south of Macon where the one customer was 40 minutes late. Great, just greatas if we werent late enough already.
(You may be asking why we didnt just pack up and go on when these people were late. Their order (prepaid) were quite large, as in half a beef. NO way to keep that amount cold at Mickeys place.)
Two more stops in GA. By now ALL the customers are calling wanting to know our ETA. I really wanted to throw the cell phone out the window. Good thing Cathy was there and that she is so much better at customer service.
The next kink was our planned stop at the I-75/I-10 intersection, where my map showed a ret stop. A very befuddle customer called to say there was NO rest stop, only a weigh station. Great, just great. We arranged instead to meet at the FL welcome center. Another big unload that went smoothly UNTIL ..
A customer said, You need to come out here, she is hurt! She? Who is SHE? CATHY? Cathy fell and sprained her already-surgeried-once ankle. Great, just great. We got Cathy back in the truck and propped up her ankle. She kept apologizing and felt just TERRIBLE about it.
The next stop was Tampa. Wed hoped to arrive there by 11 p.m. It was now 1:00 a.m. Great, just great. The customers were quite good natured and one of them even brought ice for Cathys ankle. One of the Tampa people opted for meeting me in Orlando the next morning.
So, back in truck on onward to The Mouse! Of course there was all kinds of construction so we pulled into the parking lot of Pop Century at 3:00 a.m. At the guard gate the guy asked for our name. Given the day that we were having, I just KNEW our name was not going to be on the list, but it was!
There were numerous options for parking the big honkin yellow truck and I was SO glad. Plan B was to park it at As. Actually, at that time Plan B was to just ram the thing into the lobby.
We got out the luggage and just then one of those golf car trolley thing began approaching! Could it be? Our luck was changing? Limping Cathy was going to get a ride to the hotel room. H-ll no. He kept right on going.
So we schlepped the luggage and got into the lobby at 3:23 a.m. A mere 24 hours after our day began. But there IS a bright sidethere are NO lines at 3:23 a.m. There were two people working the front desk. As we clattered in, a sweet young girl looked at us a bit puzzled, but with a big smile, Are you here to check in?
At that point I almost snapped and said, Oh no, its 3:23 in the freaking morning and we are touring resorts but I didnt.
Check in was very swift and very smooth. We got the 50s building and the 3rd floor room we requested. As we made it toward the elevator, glassy eyed and in a stupor Cathy asked, Do you hear the sound of my suitcase wheels on the cobblestones? That is the clickety clack of the roller coaster to our death.
I KNEW the elevator would get stuck but it didnt. My room key didnt want to work, but it eventually did and we collapsed into bed. First, I got Cathy some ice for her ankle. I fell into a coma knowing that in only 3.5 hours I had to get up and meet a customer in the parking lot. Great, just great.
