Just returned from one week at the World

[OntFamily]

We just returned from 8 days at WDW. Flew out of Buffalo on SouthWest (like the fares, hate their airline experience).

I took my GPS on the flight, to follow our trek. Interestingly (or I guess, not surprisingly), the flight (both southbound and northbound) overflew the fastest driving route -- I-79,77,95. As I've driven this many times, I was able to follow the landmarks, helped by the GPS.

Weather was great -- mid 80's to low 90's as a high each day, with plenty of sunshine. One day, there was a light sprinking of rain (for about 20 minutes). I would have liked more rain, to help cool us off on during the hot days.

Outside of the weekend, ride lines were exceptionally short (10-15 minutes was the average for most rides -- Soaring and TSM being the exceptions, but even those had lineups under 60 minutes.

 

[Susan2771]

Welcome back! Wish you could have brought back some warmer temperatures with you Did you get a chance to enjoy the Halloween festivities around the Kingdom? If so, how was it? Did you dress up?

 

[Camilo]

Hi there,
Welcome back.
could you please explain the "hate" for the SWA experience?
I'm flying Southwest for the 1st time in 9 days and would like to understand what I can do to try to make it better (if anything).

 

[OntFamily]

Welcome back! Wish you could have brought back some warmer temperatures with you Did you get a chance to enjoy the Halloween festivities around the Kingdom? If so, how was it? Did you dress up?

We did go to one of the Halloween parties, and partially dressed up. I was surprised by the extent of the costumes people wore. Some people went "all out".

 

[OntFamily]

Hi there,
Welcome back.
could you please explain the "hate" for the SWA experience?
I'm flying Southwest for the 1st time in 9 days and would like to understand what I can do to try to make it better (if anything).

What I meant by that is the "cattle call" for boarding, where seating is not assigned -- first come, first served.

We used Early Bird Check In ($10 per person) to get a boarding position towards the start of the process. Even so, for the flight to Orlando, we were assigned "B" passes.


Hopefully, I haven't confused you more. If so, let me know, and I'd be glad to provide further info.

 

[coastgirl]

Camilo, I just booked SW again for our Feb trip. Once you know how the process works, it's no problem. We log in by cell phone 24 hours ahead, and unless something has changed, we had no trouble getting in the early boarding group.

SW reminds me of Westjet. No frills, no pretensions otherwise, good-natured and cheap. I love their flexibility--I can change the booking if something better comes up, and there's no charge or penalty. That, plus free bags, makes SW my favourite airline.

OntFamily, glad you had a good trip! We went in Sept last year and had a very similar experience, though it was a little hotter I think--but great crowds.

 

[tink1969]

I have flown Southwest before and at first, I wasn't quite sure what to do (where to line up). But other passengers were very kind...seeing the look of confusion on our faces and helping us out.
It was no problem finding seats for the four of us. It all went very smoothly.
For the two people left without finding a seat near their loved one, the flight attendants made announcements and passengers were more than willing to switch seats. I would fly Southwest again.

We leave in a few weeks for the Christmas season at Disney and can't wait. We got a steal of a deal with Air Canada, 4 seats, return airfare, $1100 incl taxes. We couldn't pass that up.

Glad to hear the lineups weren't too bad. Hopefully they won't be bad during my trip.