JennyDrake
Darkwing Duck's Biggest Fan
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2000
- Messages
- 4,779
Cast of characters: Jenny, age 40, Disney nut owner of organic meat producing farm; Haley age 20 summer Intern at the farm
The setting: Driving down making meat deliveries along the way from Nashville along I-75
Jenny & Haleys Trip Down, Check In and Half Day TR
The trip down was almost uneventful. Ford truck pulling a Uhaul trailer full of frozen meat for deliveries along the way.
I STILL cant get the Atlanta customers to arrive on time, will continue to work on that.
Around Macon and 3:00 p.m. it started getting HOT. Keep in mind that I am a good Southern girl and I can take the heat and humidity, but it was HOT. The time and temperature thing at the interstate registered 108 degrees.
We stopped for the night at the HoJos in Ocala. It was a SUPER nice, VERY clean place. To make it even better, they had trailer parking with a guard. Got up the next morning and at 8:30 a.m. it was already 92 degrees. Met customers at Tampa at 11:00, then onto Orlando. I-4 was a MESS. Traffic was heavy, construction was everywhere and lane closures right and left (literally). The lanes werent clearly designated and clueless people had no idea how/when/where to merge. It took 1 hour 40 minutes to reach AS Music.
Check in was laborious and confused. There were 10-12 CMs behind the desk (I counted) yet only 3 were checking people in at any time. The rest were watching as if perhaps they were in training. Despite a short line, it was 20 minutes to reach the front desk. Thats when the fun began. Disney didnt have a reservation for me. Of course my confirmation number was at home and of course hubby wasnt there to get the phone. I figured out what the problem was, although the CMs would never admit it; I made my reservation just days before the new and improved requirement for a nights stay as a nonrefundable deposit. The CM kept saying I didnt make a deposit, which I did, but not until 2 weeks prior to the trip. Despite her pin saying that she was a trainer, she really had no idea how to handle this. She was nice enough, just very, very confused. She got her supervisor, who never left his desk that stands a bit off from the main counter. To make matters worse, I asked/insisted (politely) upon the AP discount. She kept saying the rooms were subject to availability so I asked if none were available at Music, would she please check the other value resorts, and then the moderates, if necessary. It was clear she had NO idea how to accomplish this.
FINALLY, after 40 minutes, I had my room at the AS Music with the AP rate and it was even in Jazz what I wanted, but dared not request at this point!
Now, comes my Disney ignorance: having had an AP for years, I had NO idea the price of one day tickets. I knew a little about the new system of pricing, but not actually the prices. I was STUNNED to find a one day ticket was almost $60!! For some, unknown reason I thought they were around $45. I decided since it was already 5 p.m., we would do something that did NOT involve a $60 ticket for the evening. So Intern Haley, age 20 who had not been to WDW since age 4, and I went resort hopping after a quick bite at the food court. We took the monorail from Epcot to MK, then boat to/from Wilderness Lodge, the monorail to Poly, where we had cokes at the very busy bar, through the Contemporary and out for a visit again at the GF. We went through each gift shop in each of the resorts and also scoped out the pools. I was under whelmed at the new pool at the Poly. Much smaller than I was expecting.
BTW, it was EMH at the MK. OMG; I had never seen such crowds. Each time we encountered the MK for TWO HOURS the lines extended all the way back to the wrought iron fencing. For TWO HOURS. That place must have been packed.
Back at the AS Music, I decided to get PS, a ticket for Haley and a band aid from the concierge (they have it labeled as such, but I use the term VERY loosely). I asked if she had a band aid. Blank look. Silence. Then she responds, Do you have any other questions? OK. I can see how this is going to go. So I ask about PS for Norway for lunch the next day. What is the restaurant called? I respond. Blank look. So I spell it. She finds it, find PS and stupid me, I forgot that since the invasion of royalty, it requires a CC, which I did not have with me. OK. Deep breathe. I buy a ticket for Haley, one day, one park. While getting the ticket, she finds the band aids. As Meatloaf says, Two out of three aint bad.
Off to bed. I let Haley pick the park for the next day and she selected Epcot. She wanted to be there from the time they opened until the time they closed. Done!
Jenny & Haley One Day TR
We got up, caught the Epcot bus at 8:30 with plans for FP right away at Soarin then breakfast at Fountainview. Soarin was first on EVERYONES mind. The mass crowd moved briskly toward The Land. Fortunately, most were clueless about standby, FP and single rider lines. Just a mass of milling, confused folks. We grabbed a FP for 9:45-10:45, went to Fountainview, had breakfast then did some hang gliding over CA. I liked it better than I did at DCA, perhaps because I wasnt with hubby, who didnt really want to be there. From there we got FP to Living with the Land. We left the building and saw manatees, visited with their handler, interacted with Crush, got shrunk in an audience and saw Figment. EVERYTHING was a walk on. No lines, no preshow, nothing. The mice in HISTA unnerved Haley, but she was a good sport.
The land was good and Haley deemed it one of her favorites for the day. Over the day we did everything except AA and MS. We visited each and every gift shop and had lunch at Japans counter service.
We had dinner at San Angel, my first time there. We arrived 20 minutes prior to our PS, but were seated in only five minutes at a nice table for two against the wall. There were two chefs specials listed at the bottom on the menu, one fish and the other chicken. I had the fish and Haley had the chicken-both served over steamed rice. Both were VERY well prepared, meats were not over cooked, rice wasn't sticky and just the right amount of sauce. Mine was topped/covered in some kind of green pepper; this was stated on the menu. I found them to be uncomfortably hot. Haley's dish was also hotter than she expected. Yes, I KNOW we were at a Mexican place and normally I can handle it. Don't get me wrong, I did eat the whole thing! I just don't know that I would go back. Dinner for
the two of us was I think $42. The service was good and attentive without being overly so.
After dinner we scoped out a seat for Illuminations (BTW, since when did they do away with the parade? Granted it wasnt a great as it had been once it got dumbed down, but heck, I thought it was still around) and decided upon a spot between the twin gift shops on either side of the entrance to World Showcase. There was a roped off area in the front beyond the bushy shrub section, so we sat down on the slight incline with others. We took turns guarding the seats while the other one shopped at MouseGear.
About 15 minutes before the show the CMs announced that where we were sitting was not JUST a sitting area, but that people could and would stand once the show began and that the CMs could not make people sit back down. Oh rats. Im only 5 feet tall, so there went my great view. BUT they were consulting with the fire marshall about opening up the roped off area and if they did, you could go up there but you HAD to sit on your bottom and you HAD to stay seated for the entire show. Good enough. We were able to get up there and WOW what a great seat! It was close enough that we could feel the heat off the flames!
Haley was wowed by the fireworks and proclaimed that alone was worth a trip to the park. We hustled out as soon as it was over and were pleasantly surprised to find we were WAY ahead of the crowd. We were the 5th and 6th people on a bus, without anyone behind us.
Oh, I forgot to comment on the weather. It was pretty warm that morning and getting warmer (as expected) but at 1:00 it rained and cooled things down a lot. Afterwards, the sun never came back out and the day was very comfortable.
The crowds were non existent to low until around 7 when people began streaming into the park, still they were very light.
Next trip, November 29-December 2nd!
The setting: Driving down making meat deliveries along the way from Nashville along I-75
Jenny & Haleys Trip Down, Check In and Half Day TR
The trip down was almost uneventful. Ford truck pulling a Uhaul trailer full of frozen meat for deliveries along the way.
I STILL cant get the Atlanta customers to arrive on time, will continue to work on that.
Around Macon and 3:00 p.m. it started getting HOT. Keep in mind that I am a good Southern girl and I can take the heat and humidity, but it was HOT. The time and temperature thing at the interstate registered 108 degrees.
We stopped for the night at the HoJos in Ocala. It was a SUPER nice, VERY clean place. To make it even better, they had trailer parking with a guard. Got up the next morning and at 8:30 a.m. it was already 92 degrees. Met customers at Tampa at 11:00, then onto Orlando. I-4 was a MESS. Traffic was heavy, construction was everywhere and lane closures right and left (literally). The lanes werent clearly designated and clueless people had no idea how/when/where to merge. It took 1 hour 40 minutes to reach AS Music.
Check in was laborious and confused. There were 10-12 CMs behind the desk (I counted) yet only 3 were checking people in at any time. The rest were watching as if perhaps they were in training. Despite a short line, it was 20 minutes to reach the front desk. Thats when the fun began. Disney didnt have a reservation for me. Of course my confirmation number was at home and of course hubby wasnt there to get the phone. I figured out what the problem was, although the CMs would never admit it; I made my reservation just days before the new and improved requirement for a nights stay as a nonrefundable deposit. The CM kept saying I didnt make a deposit, which I did, but not until 2 weeks prior to the trip. Despite her pin saying that she was a trainer, she really had no idea how to handle this. She was nice enough, just very, very confused. She got her supervisor, who never left his desk that stands a bit off from the main counter. To make matters worse, I asked/insisted (politely) upon the AP discount. She kept saying the rooms were subject to availability so I asked if none were available at Music, would she please check the other value resorts, and then the moderates, if necessary. It was clear she had NO idea how to accomplish this.
FINALLY, after 40 minutes, I had my room at the AS Music with the AP rate and it was even in Jazz what I wanted, but dared not request at this point!
Now, comes my Disney ignorance: having had an AP for years, I had NO idea the price of one day tickets. I knew a little about the new system of pricing, but not actually the prices. I was STUNNED to find a one day ticket was almost $60!! For some, unknown reason I thought they were around $45. I decided since it was already 5 p.m., we would do something that did NOT involve a $60 ticket for the evening. So Intern Haley, age 20 who had not been to WDW since age 4, and I went resort hopping after a quick bite at the food court. We took the monorail from Epcot to MK, then boat to/from Wilderness Lodge, the monorail to Poly, where we had cokes at the very busy bar, through the Contemporary and out for a visit again at the GF. We went through each gift shop in each of the resorts and also scoped out the pools. I was under whelmed at the new pool at the Poly. Much smaller than I was expecting.
BTW, it was EMH at the MK. OMG; I had never seen such crowds. Each time we encountered the MK for TWO HOURS the lines extended all the way back to the wrought iron fencing. For TWO HOURS. That place must have been packed.
Back at the AS Music, I decided to get PS, a ticket for Haley and a band aid from the concierge (they have it labeled as such, but I use the term VERY loosely). I asked if she had a band aid. Blank look. Silence. Then she responds, Do you have any other questions? OK. I can see how this is going to go. So I ask about PS for Norway for lunch the next day. What is the restaurant called? I respond. Blank look. So I spell it. She finds it, find PS and stupid me, I forgot that since the invasion of royalty, it requires a CC, which I did not have with me. OK. Deep breathe. I buy a ticket for Haley, one day, one park. While getting the ticket, she finds the band aids. As Meatloaf says, Two out of three aint bad.
Off to bed. I let Haley pick the park for the next day and she selected Epcot. She wanted to be there from the time they opened until the time they closed. Done!
Jenny & Haley One Day TR
We got up, caught the Epcot bus at 8:30 with plans for FP right away at Soarin then breakfast at Fountainview. Soarin was first on EVERYONES mind. The mass crowd moved briskly toward The Land. Fortunately, most were clueless about standby, FP and single rider lines. Just a mass of milling, confused folks. We grabbed a FP for 9:45-10:45, went to Fountainview, had breakfast then did some hang gliding over CA. I liked it better than I did at DCA, perhaps because I wasnt with hubby, who didnt really want to be there. From there we got FP to Living with the Land. We left the building and saw manatees, visited with their handler, interacted with Crush, got shrunk in an audience and saw Figment. EVERYTHING was a walk on. No lines, no preshow, nothing. The mice in HISTA unnerved Haley, but she was a good sport.
The land was good and Haley deemed it one of her favorites for the day. Over the day we did everything except AA and MS. We visited each and every gift shop and had lunch at Japans counter service.
We had dinner at San Angel, my first time there. We arrived 20 minutes prior to our PS, but were seated in only five minutes at a nice table for two against the wall. There were two chefs specials listed at the bottom on the menu, one fish and the other chicken. I had the fish and Haley had the chicken-both served over steamed rice. Both were VERY well prepared, meats were not over cooked, rice wasn't sticky and just the right amount of sauce. Mine was topped/covered in some kind of green pepper; this was stated on the menu. I found them to be uncomfortably hot. Haley's dish was also hotter than she expected. Yes, I KNOW we were at a Mexican place and normally I can handle it. Don't get me wrong, I did eat the whole thing! I just don't know that I would go back. Dinner for
the two of us was I think $42. The service was good and attentive without being overly so.
After dinner we scoped out a seat for Illuminations (BTW, since when did they do away with the parade? Granted it wasnt a great as it had been once it got dumbed down, but heck, I thought it was still around) and decided upon a spot between the twin gift shops on either side of the entrance to World Showcase. There was a roped off area in the front beyond the bushy shrub section, so we sat down on the slight incline with others. We took turns guarding the seats while the other one shopped at MouseGear.
About 15 minutes before the show the CMs announced that where we were sitting was not JUST a sitting area, but that people could and would stand once the show began and that the CMs could not make people sit back down. Oh rats. Im only 5 feet tall, so there went my great view. BUT they were consulting with the fire marshall about opening up the roped off area and if they did, you could go up there but you HAD to sit on your bottom and you HAD to stay seated for the entire show. Good enough. We were able to get up there and WOW what a great seat! It was close enough that we could feel the heat off the flames!
Haley was wowed by the fireworks and proclaimed that alone was worth a trip to the park. We hustled out as soon as it was over and were pleasantly surprised to find we were WAY ahead of the crowd. We were the 5th and 6th people on a bus, without anyone behind us.
Oh, I forgot to comment on the weather. It was pretty warm that morning and getting warmer (as expected) but at 1:00 it rained and cooled things down a lot. Afterwards, the sun never came back out and the day was very comfortable.
The crowds were non existent to low until around 7 when people began streaming into the park, still they were very light.
Next trip, November 29-December 2nd!
