Marathon Weekend 2023

[HangWithMerida]

@princesspirateandrunner So sorry to hear that! It sounds scary and I hope your docs get to the bottom of it asap!

 

[Herding_Cats]

Hive mind question:
United changed our flights (both ways) for our trip. I'm not concerned with the flights back, but on the way down, when we are SO ready to be on vacation, this is what has happened:

Our 930am flight to Chicago (O'Hare) got bumped back to 730am. And the 2nd leg of our flight stayed the same. Our layover/connection is now 3 hours long.

BUT. There is a different flight (still with United) that would shorten the layover/connection time to 1 hour. It will be just the 2 of us, and no kids to wrangle.
This is for Tuesday (so we can be at the expo early on Wednesday and get our bibs for the 5k)

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

 

[jpeterson]

Hive mind question:
United changed our flights (both ways) for our trip. I'm not concerned with the flights back, but on the way down, when we are SO ready to be on vacation, this is what has happened:

Our 930am flight to Chicago (O'Hare) got bumped back to 730am. And the 2nd leg of our flight stayed the same. Our layover/connection is now 3 hours long.

BUT. There is a different flight (still with United) that would shorten the layover/connection time to 1 hour. It will be just the 2 of us, and no kids to wrangle.
This is for Tuesday (so we can be at the expo early on Wednesday and get our bibs for the 5k)

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

If you think the flights will be close to each other 1 hour isn't terrible. Chicago is a big airport though. Small airports I will go as short as 45 mins.

With the current state of air travel I would probably opt for the longer layover.

 

[Naomeri]

Hive mind question:
United changed our flights (both ways) for our trip. I'm not concerned with the flights back, but on the way down, when we are SO ready to be on vacation, this is what has happened:

Our 930am flight to Chicago (O'Hare) got bumped back to 730am. And the 2nd leg of our flight stayed the same. Our layover/connection is now 3 hours long.

BUT. There is a different flight (still with United) that would shorten the layover/connection time to 1 hour. It will be just the 2 of us, and no kids to wrangle.
This is for Tuesday (so we can be at the expo early on Wednesday and get our bibs for the 5k)

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

I would stick with the long layover, as much as it sucks. O’Hare is giant, and we’re talking about Chicago in the middle of winter, I’d always opt for boring airport sitting over stressful airport rushing.

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

No— in addition to what others said, it is also likely that your flights will change again between now and MW anyway.

 

[The Expert]

I concur. Between Chicago weather in January and the certainty that it will change again between now and then, I'd sit tight. By early November the schedules should be pretty solid, so I'd revisit then.

 

[GreatLakes]

Hive mind question:
United changed our flights (both ways) for our trip. I'm not concerned with the flights back, but on the way down, when we are SO ready to be on vacation, this is what has happened:

Our 930am flight to Chicago (O'Hare) got bumped back to 730am. And the 2nd leg of our flight stayed the same. Our layover/connection is now 3 hours long.

BUT. There is a different flight (still with United) that would shorten the layover/connection time to 1 hour. It will be just the 2 of us, and no kids to wrangle.
This is for Tuesday (so we can be at the expo early on Wednesday and get our bibs for the 5k)

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

I'm going with no. I would prefer the longer layover for a couple reasons.

1. It is winter so it allows the first flight to be delayed a bit without missing the second.
2. The shorter the layover the more likely bags don't get transferred.

This is also a good time for the reminder that you'll want to include anything you need to run in your carry on in case #2 happens.

 

[Ariel484]

United has changed my flights almost every time I've booked with them in the past, which has made me hesitant to book with them now (sort of waiting for Southwest to release the rest of their January flights)...but I just checked the flights I've been watching and the prices went up $40. I'm thinking more about booking the United flights soon, especially since Southwest's options for going down to Orlando weren't super appealing to me. Hmm...

 

[The Expert]

United has changed my flights almost every time I've booked with them in the past, which has made me hesitant to book with them now (sort of waiting for Southwest to release the rest of their January flights)...but I just checked the flights I've been watching and the prices went up $40. I'm thinking more about booking the United flights soon, especially since Southwest's options for going down to Orlando weren't super appealing to me. Hmm...

This far out, and with everything happening in the industry it's a given that ANY airline is likely to adjust their schedule (and may multiple times) until probably sometime in November. Booking with SW over United is no guarantee that won't happen. The good news is, when they do change your itinerary (even if it's only by a few minutes), you have the option to change your flights for free at that time, and every time it happens.

Rates are also likely to fluctuate up and down probably through October (at which point they will most likely go up and continue that way), so timing just depends on your comfort level and flexibility. More desirable flight schedules tend to fill first, so if you must fly at certain times, you probably need to pull the trigger sooner. If you do book now, you most likely can rebook if the price were to drop significantly (this depends on the type of ticket you book and will likely mean a credit with the airline rather than cash back, but ymmv).

 

[HangWithMerida]

I concur. Between Chicago weather in January and the certainty that it will change again between now and then, I'd sit tight. By early November the schedules should be pretty solid, so I'd revisit then.

Absolutely. I like to book flights pretty early just because it crosses something off my to-do list. Almost every flight gets adjusted 2-3 times. My MW flight has also already gotten adjusted once. Just wait it out before you try to change anything.
And, I agree with the others. The choice between a 1hr and 3hr layover in winter in a big airport is a no brainer for the long layover. 1hr is just too tight. I have friends who just came home from vacation with a connection through Boston and missed their flight. They had a 2 hr layover but their first flight was delayed, then there was an issue at the gate, then the connection gate was a ways over, and that flight ended up being on time. So they were stuck in Boston overnight. I used to feel comfortable cutting connections pretty short, but flight travel just feels less predictable now.

 

[kirstie101]

Hive mind question:
United changed our flights (both ways) for our trip. I'm not concerned with the flights back, but on the way down, when we are SO ready to be on vacation, this is what has happened:

Our 930am flight to Chicago (O'Hare) got bumped back to 730am. And the 2nd leg of our flight stayed the same. Our layover/connection is now 3 hours long.

BUT. There is a different flight (still with United) that would shorten the layover/connection time to 1 hour. It will be just the 2 of us, and no kids to wrangle.
This is for Tuesday (so we can be at the expo early on Wednesday and get our bibs for the 5k)

Would you change to the shorter connecting time or no?

I’d stick with the longer layover with the way flights are right now. I have a 1.5 hour layover in Austin I’m a little worried about.

 

[jpeterson]

I’d stick with the longer layover with the way flights are right now. I have a 1.5 hour layover in Austin I’m a little worried about.

Austin is at least a small airport and unlikely to have snow or ice to worry about.

 

[kirstie101]

Austin is at least a small airport and unlikely to have snow or ice to worry about.

Good to know! I’ve never been so I wasn’t sure.

 

[jpeterson]

Good to know! I’ve never been so I wasn’t sure.

It's my home airport. I'm surprised there are layovers there as it's usually more spoke than hub. Houston and Dallas usually get the transfers.

 

[mmm_texas]

I’d stick with the longer layover with the way flights are right now. I have a 1.5 hour layover in Austin I’m a little worried about.

It should be a breeze, IMHO it's a very nice airport. The only minor caveat is that you haven't somehow put together an itinerary with a change of airlines that includes Allegiant or Frontier. Those fly out of the inconvenient "South Terminal".

 

[jpeterson]

It should be a breeze, IMHO it's a very nice airport. The only minor caveat is that you haven't somehow put together an itinerary with a change of airlines that includes Allegiant or Frontier. Those fly out of the inconvenient "South Terminal".

Which is more outhouse than terminal.

 

[princesspirateandrunner]

Thank you to everyone who sent their well wishes to me. I appreciate you all very much! I’ve had two appointments this week, one with my PCP and one with the NP for my cardiologist. To my surprise, the NP cleared me to run Peachtree, under certain conditions. I’ll be taking it very slowly, obviously, and DH may run with me (though I don’t want to deprive him of running the race at his own pace, so I’m encouraging him not to run with me), I’ll be wearing the heart monitor, and I’m to do two test runs first. I did a slow 3.25 miles on the treadmill yesterday (using a 3:1 run/walk) while DH ran on the treadmill next to me. I’ll try another run tomorrow, probably outside. Yesterday went okay, although it felt bad because I hadn’t run in over a week. Nothing scary happened during the run, which was the goal, so hopefully, my event last week was a one-time thing and I’m on my way back. Thank you all again. It was scary last week, and I was glad for the support of the Dis’ers!

 

[Baloo in MI]

Good Morning runDIsney All-Stars! It is time for Sundays are for Disney. Today’s question: Is there a Disney restaurant experience you have had that you would classify as a disappointment? Why? Would you give it another chance?

My answer: Sadly it is Ohana. This used to be a family favorite and a pick for every trip. But the last few times we went the food has been disappointing. We were there in April during Spring Surprise and got served under cooked chicken (gross) and over cooked steak (should be outlawed). But the tipping point was the service - we waited long past our reservation, then sat at the table for a long time, drinks took a long time and food even longer. When I mentioned our concern about the chicken (which I hate to do) I literally saw the server sigh, like we were just an annoyance.

On a trip in January we had similar food issues plus attitude when we were asking questions about gluten (both my daughters have Celiac Disease). So, at basically 60$ a person this is too much. This used to be a must get reservation for my family, we are taking a break from it now though.

Happy Fourth of July all!

 

[DisneyParrothead]

I don't have anything specific but what's frustrating is all of the generic places throughout the parks. I know World Showcase tries and so does Animal Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is filled with fast food style and it's hard to find a place on the healthy side during race weekends. I feel like Yzma.

 

[FFigawi]

SAFD: My answer is Ohana too. We used to go there after the 10k for a big group breakfast. The last few times we were there, we waited a good 30 minutes past our reservation time; the food was lukewarm; they had reduced their vegan options to almost none; and the service was mediocre at best. Not sure where we're going in January, but it won't be there.