Tomh
1100 miles too far North.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2008
- Messages
- 6,597
We recently returned from a 13 night, 12 day trip to the world, and this is our story, the good, the bad, and the ugly of it (I'll try to go light on the bad and ugly, and cover as much good as I can lol)
So, to start things off, the past few years we've booked trips for free dining at POR. This time around, we didn't get the bounceback while we were there last summer, and didn't realize that we could find the info on the net, so we waited to book during the DISNEY Visa offer, but there wasn't one, so we waited to book during the public offer. Sadly, it didn't start until a week after we needed to be there, so we ended up with a split stay, for significantly more money than we were hoping to spend. Thus is life.
A few weeks before the trip, I blew the head gasket in the car we were going to be using for the drive. A week out, I took the car to the shop, where it stayed for a LOT longer than I was anticipating. At 5:45 PM, the night before we were leaving, I picked the car up from the shop, then had to hustle to Sears to get an alignment. Luckily, I got there in time to be the last car they took in that night. On the way home, it started down pouring.
Next morning, I was up and packing the car at 4:30 in the morning. By 6:00 we had finished packing, making sandwiches for lunch and supper, and having breakfast, and we were on our way. I have to admit, it was a little nerve wracking, driving a car that had only 40 miles on it since a major engine repair, but off we went.
In no time, we were out of NY, and into NJ, then on to Delaware, Maryland, DC . . . and then, Virginia. It is, hands down, the worst part of the trip. The traffic there is always awful, and it seems I am never in the right lane at the right time. Three hour waits in that traffic seem about the norm, and that is what I was bracing for . . . but the gods smiled down on me this time.
I was able to get into the HOV lane a few miles before the main lanes of I95 turned into a parking lot. We were cruising past miles and miles of parked cars, doing 70, and I was thinking to myself, we just drove past an hour wait .. . . . . there went another hour we would have been waiting . . . . wonderful. About 12 miles before the end of the HOV lane, I merged back into the main lanes of I95, figuring that the last bit of the HOV would be a parking lot as it had to merge back in. I quickly moved over to the right most lane of I95, and sure enough, the HOV was backed up shortly there after. In addition, the two left lanes of I95 were barely moving as everyone from the HOV was merging into those lanes, but the right lane which we were in kept going along pretty well. No where near 70, but we weren't standing still.
When all was said and done, and we were out of the traffic, it had only bumped our anticipated arrival time up by 30 minutes! The rest of the days journey was largely uneventful, until we arrived at the hotel. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that the guy who programmed the GPS might have set it up to take him to the Hampton inn in Santee, SC, which might have been ok, were it not for the fact that his reservation was at the Hampton inn in Manning, SC.
So, we arrive in Santee, which is about 20 minutes South of Manning, and then realize that I've screwed up. I went ahead in, and asked at the front desk if they could do anything to help me. They gave me the phone number for the Manning Hampton, and explained that they were independently owned, and might charge a cancellation fee since it was (just slightly) after 8:00 PM. I called, and the woman at the front desk informed me that there could be a cancellation fee, so I asked what that fee was, but she couldn't tell me. That rubbed me the wrong way, so I said what do you mean you can't tell me how much the fee is. She replied that I had agreed to the fee when I booked the room. I knew that .. . but it had been months earlier, and I couldn't remember it. It is really hard to decide whether to drive back North for 20 minutes, or just cancel when the front desk refuses to tell you what the cancellation fee is. Without that bit of knowledge, I got back in the car, and drove back to Manning. I was not a happy camper, and neither was the woman at the front desk when I marched in (sorry, I did tell you there was ugly involved lol)
With that out of the way, we got some much needed sleep, had a great breakfast at the hotel, and were on the road by 7:00 Sunday morning. The drive into Disney was great, and we were at Port Orleans right around 1:00 PM. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we did an "early" check in, then went to Riverside Mill where we bought lunch. The make your own pasta window is a BIG hit with our family. That, combined with the refillable mugs that come with the dining plan made for a reasonably priced (by Disney standards anyway) lunch, and the food was tasty.
After lunch, we used the restrooms, took a look in the store, and since we had a first time Disney visitor with us, we took a little walking tour of the area around the main building. By the time that was all done, I got the txt telling me that our room was ready, and we piled into the car. We were in Alligator Bayou, building 26. That building is no where near anything! We wound up parking near building 17 (the building we were in last summer) and walking a mad mile to get to our room.
The view from our room was really nice though, so that made up for the long walks. We got everything packed into the room, then headed for the boat dock to go to DTD . . . unfortunately, the boats weren't running due to impending weather, so we took a bus. The bus was packed full, so standing room only. We would have been better off at the West Depot, which was equally close to our room, and where the bus had stopped first.
At DTD, we made a short stay of it, had supper at Planet Hollywood, where we used our $15 meal credit, again making it a good price for supper by Disney standards. After supper, we got a post card for DS8 to send to his new teacher, as she wanted every incoming student to send her a post card over the summer. We bought an autograph book for DD17's friend, and some no sugar added chocolate covered peanuts for me, then headed back to the bus stop for the trip back to POR (since the boats were still not running).
Monday morning, we got up early. DD had wanted to meed the Mad Hatter. At the last minute, I scored a breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, but didn't tell her about it. We took the bus to the MK, then hopped on the resort monorail as soon as it opened. When we got to the Grand Floridian, I told the family that I needed to use the restroom, so we hopped off, and went inside. After using the bathroom, on the way out, we stopped in front of 1900 Park Fare, and after a few minutes, DD17 caught on. Incredibly, DS8 had known for a couple of weeks, and didn't let it slip. He is going to be a great liar when he grows up, possibly even a political career in his future
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare was good, though I don't think it is as good as the Crystal Palace, but DD was VERY happy to get pictures, and an autograph with the Mad Hatter! We finished up breakfast (8:05 ressie) and hopped on the monorail back to the MK. We got there just a few minutes after park opening, so not too bad.
Next up . . .. our first full day at the Magic Kingdom:
So, to start things off, the past few years we've booked trips for free dining at POR. This time around, we didn't get the bounceback while we were there last summer, and didn't realize that we could find the info on the net, so we waited to book during the DISNEY Visa offer, but there wasn't one, so we waited to book during the public offer. Sadly, it didn't start until a week after we needed to be there, so we ended up with a split stay, for significantly more money than we were hoping to spend. Thus is life.
A few weeks before the trip, I blew the head gasket in the car we were going to be using for the drive. A week out, I took the car to the shop, where it stayed for a LOT longer than I was anticipating. At 5:45 PM, the night before we were leaving, I picked the car up from the shop, then had to hustle to Sears to get an alignment. Luckily, I got there in time to be the last car they took in that night. On the way home, it started down pouring.
Next morning, I was up and packing the car at 4:30 in the morning. By 6:00 we had finished packing, making sandwiches for lunch and supper, and having breakfast, and we were on our way. I have to admit, it was a little nerve wracking, driving a car that had only 40 miles on it since a major engine repair, but off we went.
In no time, we were out of NY, and into NJ, then on to Delaware, Maryland, DC . . . and then, Virginia. It is, hands down, the worst part of the trip. The traffic there is always awful, and it seems I am never in the right lane at the right time. Three hour waits in that traffic seem about the norm, and that is what I was bracing for . . . but the gods smiled down on me this time.
I was able to get into the HOV lane a few miles before the main lanes of I95 turned into a parking lot. We were cruising past miles and miles of parked cars, doing 70, and I was thinking to myself, we just drove past an hour wait .. . . . . there went another hour we would have been waiting . . . . wonderful. About 12 miles before the end of the HOV lane, I merged back into the main lanes of I95, figuring that the last bit of the HOV would be a parking lot as it had to merge back in. I quickly moved over to the right most lane of I95, and sure enough, the HOV was backed up shortly there after. In addition, the two left lanes of I95 were barely moving as everyone from the HOV was merging into those lanes, but the right lane which we were in kept going along pretty well. No where near 70, but we weren't standing still.
When all was said and done, and we were out of the traffic, it had only bumped our anticipated arrival time up by 30 minutes! The rest of the days journey was largely uneventful, until we arrived at the hotel. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that the guy who programmed the GPS might have set it up to take him to the Hampton inn in Santee, SC, which might have been ok, were it not for the fact that his reservation was at the Hampton inn in Manning, SC.
So, we arrive in Santee, which is about 20 minutes South of Manning, and then realize that I've screwed up. I went ahead in, and asked at the front desk if they could do anything to help me. They gave me the phone number for the Manning Hampton, and explained that they were independently owned, and might charge a cancellation fee since it was (just slightly) after 8:00 PM. I called, and the woman at the front desk informed me that there could be a cancellation fee, so I asked what that fee was, but she couldn't tell me. That rubbed me the wrong way, so I said what do you mean you can't tell me how much the fee is. She replied that I had agreed to the fee when I booked the room. I knew that .. . but it had been months earlier, and I couldn't remember it. It is really hard to decide whether to drive back North for 20 minutes, or just cancel when the front desk refuses to tell you what the cancellation fee is. Without that bit of knowledge, I got back in the car, and drove back to Manning. I was not a happy camper, and neither was the woman at the front desk when I marched in (sorry, I did tell you there was ugly involved lol)
With that out of the way, we got some much needed sleep, had a great breakfast at the hotel, and were on the road by 7:00 Sunday morning. The drive into Disney was great, and we were at Port Orleans right around 1:00 PM. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we did an "early" check in, then went to Riverside Mill where we bought lunch. The make your own pasta window is a BIG hit with our family. That, combined with the refillable mugs that come with the dining plan made for a reasonably priced (by Disney standards anyway) lunch, and the food was tasty.
After lunch, we used the restrooms, took a look in the store, and since we had a first time Disney visitor with us, we took a little walking tour of the area around the main building. By the time that was all done, I got the txt telling me that our room was ready, and we piled into the car. We were in Alligator Bayou, building 26. That building is no where near anything! We wound up parking near building 17 (the building we were in last summer) and walking a mad mile to get to our room.
The view from our room was really nice though, so that made up for the long walks. We got everything packed into the room, then headed for the boat dock to go to DTD . . . unfortunately, the boats weren't running due to impending weather, so we took a bus. The bus was packed full, so standing room only. We would have been better off at the West Depot, which was equally close to our room, and where the bus had stopped first.
At DTD, we made a short stay of it, had supper at Planet Hollywood, where we used our $15 meal credit, again making it a good price for supper by Disney standards. After supper, we got a post card for DS8 to send to his new teacher, as she wanted every incoming student to send her a post card over the summer. We bought an autograph book for DD17's friend, and some no sugar added chocolate covered peanuts for me, then headed back to the bus stop for the trip back to POR (since the boats were still not running).
Monday morning, we got up early. DD had wanted to meed the Mad Hatter. At the last minute, I scored a breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, but didn't tell her about it. We took the bus to the MK, then hopped on the resort monorail as soon as it opened. When we got to the Grand Floridian, I told the family that I needed to use the restroom, so we hopped off, and went inside. After using the bathroom, on the way out, we stopped in front of 1900 Park Fare, and after a few minutes, DD17 caught on. Incredibly, DS8 had known for a couple of weeks, and didn't let it slip. He is going to be a great liar when he grows up, possibly even a political career in his future
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare was good, though I don't think it is as good as the Crystal Palace, but DD was VERY happy to get pictures, and an autograph with the Mad Hatter! We finished up breakfast (8:05 ressie) and hopped on the monorail back to the MK. We got there just a few minutes after park opening, so not too bad.
Next up . . .. our first full day at the Magic Kingdom:
