MickeyCrazed
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2000
- Messages
- 1,264
I posted this on the trip reports boards, but thought is was also appropriate for this board since it relates directly to my Alamo experience:
I headed for WDW on 10/22/06 for a semi-solo adventure. I say "semi-solo" because I planned to take this trip all by myself, but ended up having a bunch of people tag along!
Don't get me wrong, for the most part, I didn't mind... but I didn't really have any alone time... something I was really looking forward to.
Anyway, on Sunday I flew in from PHL and arrived at MCO at approximately 9 a.m. I guess it only took about 15 minutes get my luggage, but when you are waiting to visit Mickey, every minute feels like an hour!
I then starting dragging this heavy luggage through the airport by myself, and began to curse (in my head) about being stupid and overpacking again! Where is DH when I need him??? I made a mental note to tell him that I appreciate all his help with the luggage when we are together, and I will never take his luggage duty for granted again.
Anyway, I finally made it to the garage, drug my luggage on the escalator and then found my self hiking all the way to the back of the garage where Alamo hides their convertibles.
When I got there, I was so happy to see that a VW Bug was available... and fully loaded with leather interior! Boy, this trip is already looking good... I can't wait to get going!
But wait!!!!!!! My luggage won't fit in the trunk! OK... whose idea was it to give the trunk an oval opening???? Again, I curse my self for overpacking... A smaller suitcase would have fit.
OK... now I am disappointed... I've never driven a convertible before, and boy that Bug sure looked like fun, but the Sebrings next to it looked plain and boring.
Wait... I see a PT Cruiser in the distance! Maybe I will be lucky, and
my overpacked and overweight luggage will fit. OK... I'm feeling the excitement again... but I don't get myself too excited because I don't want that let down feeling to invade my spirit again.
So I snatch the key out of the door, open the trunk and WAAAAALAAAH! A huge trunk for convertible standards. My luggage fit without any problems! Yippeee! I'm going to see Mickey real soon!
(For those of you wondering... I could of taken the Bug and just thrown my luggage in the backseat for my trip to OKW, but I was having a friend fly back to Philly with me, so I didn't want that extra hassle since someone was going to join me. Besides... for all I knew, she overpacked also!)
Anyway, by this time I am real pround of myself. I made it to Orlando without incident, picked what seemed like a perfect car for a solo trip and within a few minutes I would be on my way! NOT! Well hey... it wouldn't be a vacation if you didn't run into a snag or two right?
I grab my confirmation from my travel folder, grab the tag off the windshield, lock the car and pratically skip up to the counter in the garage... happy that I was wise enough to pick the car and drop off that heavy luggage first.
When I got to the counter the Alamo representative was none to happy that I already picked out my car. What is the big deal I thought? If they made QS service as easy as EA, there would be no problem! Well, this is where the real fun began.
The rep asked me for my drivers license and credit card. OK... now it is time to panic!
I don't have them! Wait! Let me run back to the car to see if I left them there! Again, the Alamo rep gives me a dirty look.
Arrive back at the car, and WHEW! Here they are, right in the messanger bag with my computer. I go back to the booth to complete my checkout.
Give the rep those items as well as my $25 off coupon. The rep stares at my reservation and proclaims that the code used for my reservation doesn't match the coupon that I gave her. She said I used the Costco coupon online, but brought the Entertainment coupon. Honestly, I knew I did that prior to arrival simply because I didn't have access to print the Costco coupon.
Again, what is the big deal? They are both $25 off right? Well, after some fuss on her part, she switched the coupon codes, and found that they netted in the same base price. Really... I would have never guessed!
She takes card that normally hangs on the mirror, keys the information on the computer, hands me my receipt and away I go... or so I thought.
I skip back to my car, start it up, tried to figure out how to put the top down (which took about 5 minutes) and finally backed out the the parking space. Now all that separates me from Mickey is about 20 highway miles and several tolls. (Or so I thought.)
Wait... I forgot about the pesky guy who sits in the booth on the way out of the garage. I threw him for a total loop because I had already picked out the car before I paid, and the previous Alamo rep kept the hanging tag from the windshield which you normally hand to the person in the booth. He couldn't understand that I pre-picked the car before I paid and the previous rep kept the hanging tag. It took about 7 minutes at the booth before I was finally on my way! (What didn't help matters was the fact that he barely spoke english.)
Anyway... here I go! I am finally pulling out of the Alamo parking lot in my little blue PT Cruiser convertible, with the top down and the air conditioner going full blast.
(Did I mention that we Orlando had record setting temperatures that day?)
OK... so I am finally cruising down the road and there is barely a soul around, so I made a quick call on my cell phone to let DH know I am on my way. (I know, bad, bad girl using the cell while driving. But I only did it because there was very little traffic, and it was an extremely quick call.) If I am lucky, I am going to be driving under the WDW sign by 10:30 a.m. YIPEE!
I headed for WDW on 10/22/06 for a semi-solo adventure. I say "semi-solo" because I planned to take this trip all by myself, but ended up having a bunch of people tag along!
Don't get me wrong, for the most part, I didn't mind... but I didn't really have any alone time... something I was really looking forward to.
Anyway, on Sunday I flew in from PHL and arrived at MCO at approximately 9 a.m. I guess it only took about 15 minutes get my luggage, but when you are waiting to visit Mickey, every minute feels like an hour!
I then starting dragging this heavy luggage through the airport by myself, and began to curse (in my head) about being stupid and overpacking again! Where is DH when I need him??? I made a mental note to tell him that I appreciate all his help with the luggage when we are together, and I will never take his luggage duty for granted again.
Anyway, I finally made it to the garage, drug my luggage on the escalator and then found my self hiking all the way to the back of the garage where Alamo hides their convertibles.
When I got there, I was so happy to see that a VW Bug was available... and fully loaded with leather interior! Boy, this trip is already looking good... I can't wait to get going!
But wait!!!!!!! My luggage won't fit in the trunk! OK... whose idea was it to give the trunk an oval opening???? Again, I curse my self for overpacking... A smaller suitcase would have fit. OK... now I am disappointed... I've never driven a convertible before, and boy that Bug sure looked like fun, but the Sebrings next to it looked plain and boring.
Wait... I see a PT Cruiser in the distance! Maybe I will be lucky, and
my overpacked and overweight luggage will fit. OK... I'm feeling the excitement again... but I don't get myself too excited because I don't want that let down feeling to invade my spirit again.
So I snatch the key out of the door, open the trunk and WAAAAALAAAH! A huge trunk for convertible standards. My luggage fit without any problems! Yippeee! I'm going to see Mickey real soon!
(For those of you wondering... I could of taken the Bug and just thrown my luggage in the backseat for my trip to OKW, but I was having a friend fly back to Philly with me, so I didn't want that extra hassle since someone was going to join me. Besides... for all I knew, she overpacked also!)
Anyway, by this time I am real pround of myself. I made it to Orlando without incident, picked what seemed like a perfect car for a solo trip and within a few minutes I would be on my way! NOT! Well hey... it wouldn't be a vacation if you didn't run into a snag or two right?
I grab my confirmation from my travel folder, grab the tag off the windshield, lock the car and pratically skip up to the counter in the garage... happy that I was wise enough to pick the car and drop off that heavy luggage first.
When I got to the counter the Alamo representative was none to happy that I already picked out my car. What is the big deal I thought? If they made QS service as easy as EA, there would be no problem! Well, this is where the real fun began.
The rep asked me for my drivers license and credit card. OK... now it is time to panic!
I don't have them! Wait! Let me run back to the car to see if I left them there! Again, the Alamo rep gives me a dirty look.Arrive back at the car, and WHEW! Here they are, right in the messanger bag with my computer. I go back to the booth to complete my checkout.
Give the rep those items as well as my $25 off coupon. The rep stares at my reservation and proclaims that the code used for my reservation doesn't match the coupon that I gave her. She said I used the Costco coupon online, but brought the Entertainment coupon. Honestly, I knew I did that prior to arrival simply because I didn't have access to print the Costco coupon.
Again, what is the big deal? They are both $25 off right? Well, after some fuss on her part, she switched the coupon codes, and found that they netted in the same base price. Really... I would have never guessed!
She takes card that normally hangs on the mirror, keys the information on the computer, hands me my receipt and away I go... or so I thought.
I skip back to my car, start it up, tried to figure out how to put the top down (which took about 5 minutes) and finally backed out the the parking space. Now all that separates me from Mickey is about 20 highway miles and several tolls. (Or so I thought.)
Wait... I forgot about the pesky guy who sits in the booth on the way out of the garage. I threw him for a total loop because I had already picked out the car before I paid, and the previous Alamo rep kept the hanging tag from the windshield which you normally hand to the person in the booth. He couldn't understand that I pre-picked the car before I paid and the previous rep kept the hanging tag. It took about 7 minutes at the booth before I was finally on my way! (What didn't help matters was the fact that he barely spoke english.)
Anyway... here I go! I am finally pulling out of the Alamo parking lot in my little blue PT Cruiser convertible, with the top down and the air conditioner going full blast.
(Did I mention that we Orlando had record setting temperatures that day?)OK... so I am finally cruising down the road and there is barely a soul around, so I made a quick call on my cell phone to let DH know I am on my way. (I know, bad, bad girl using the cell while driving. But I only did it because there was very little traffic, and it was an extremely quick call.) If I am lucky, I am going to be driving under the WDW sign by 10:30 a.m. YIPEE!
