Friday, 11/23, Day 1:
We arrived at the St. Louis airport 3 hours early thinking that wed have long lines to wait in because of security and the holiday weekend. Well, was I wrong! We were checked in within 10 minutes. So, we sat and watched the planes taking off for a while, walked through the gift shop, and then headed to the gate. Our plane left right on time and arrived at MCO a few minutes early. When we got to baggage claim, I saw Silver from TTC standing there with my name on a sign patiently waiting for us. He was very nice, although fairly quiet. We went to Publix for our grocery stop. Click here for grocery list with prices. We were in and out of there in 20 minutes. Then, onto the Contemporary. Thats where things became a bit frustrating!
We arrived at CR around 6:45pm to check into our wing room at the Contemporary, then grab a quick bite and head to MK. The CM who was checking us in suddenly left her computer and got another CM. He comes back and says, "Oh, you need transportation." I politely said, "No we don't." He says, "Oh, you have a vehicle?" I said, "No, we don't have a vehicle, but why would we need transportation?" He then proceeds to tell me that we're being moved to Coronado Springs for the night and would have to move back to CR on Saturday.
OK, I'm now telling myself, remain calm and be polite! I politely tell him that that's not acceptable to us because we absolutely did not want to have to move on Saturday. He goes to find the desk manager. A few minutes later, Taylor comes out to greet us and tries to tell us that CR is completely sold out for Friday night. He said that they would move us to CSR for the night (for free) and move us back to CR on Saturday. My DH and I stated that we felt it was unacceptable that they wanted to move us to a moderate resort and that we weren't interested in getting the free night. We told him that we'd only consider moving to another monorail resort. At that point, he said he'd be back in a few minutes.
Five minutes later, he comes out and tells us that he was able to work some "Disney Magic". We were not only able to stay at CR, but we were upgraded to a tower room. OK, at that point Im trying to remain calm and not show how incredibly excited and overjoyed I am! We thanked him for working it out quickly and were very pleased. He said he'd try that story on someone else - I just hope it wasn't another DISer!
Anyway, we went to our 10th floor room overlooking Bay Lake and I began unpacking. DH and kids went down to Food and Fun center to grab food for dinner. We quickly ate and then headed to MK to get our Annual Passes. As soon as we got into the park, we went up to the train station on main street and staked out a spot for the fireworks. They were beautiful. Once the fireworks ended, the family that was sitting in the chairs in front of us left, so we were able to have a seat and wait for Spectromagic. Again, we had a great view for the parade the kids were bouncing off the walls!
We headed back to CR to get a good night of rest before Saturday.
Beth
We arrived at the St. Louis airport 3 hours early thinking that wed have long lines to wait in because of security and the holiday weekend. Well, was I wrong! We were checked in within 10 minutes. So, we sat and watched the planes taking off for a while, walked through the gift shop, and then headed to the gate. Our plane left right on time and arrived at MCO a few minutes early. When we got to baggage claim, I saw Silver from TTC standing there with my name on a sign patiently waiting for us. He was very nice, although fairly quiet. We went to Publix for our grocery stop. Click here for grocery list with prices. We were in and out of there in 20 minutes. Then, onto the Contemporary. Thats where things became a bit frustrating!
We arrived at CR around 6:45pm to check into our wing room at the Contemporary, then grab a quick bite and head to MK. The CM who was checking us in suddenly left her computer and got another CM. He comes back and says, "Oh, you need transportation." I politely said, "No we don't." He says, "Oh, you have a vehicle?" I said, "No, we don't have a vehicle, but why would we need transportation?" He then proceeds to tell me that we're being moved to Coronado Springs for the night and would have to move back to CR on Saturday.
OK, I'm now telling myself, remain calm and be polite! I politely tell him that that's not acceptable to us because we absolutely did not want to have to move on Saturday. He goes to find the desk manager. A few minutes later, Taylor comes out to greet us and tries to tell us that CR is completely sold out for Friday night. He said that they would move us to CSR for the night (for free) and move us back to CR on Saturday. My DH and I stated that we felt it was unacceptable that they wanted to move us to a moderate resort and that we weren't interested in getting the free night. We told him that we'd only consider moving to another monorail resort. At that point, he said he'd be back in a few minutes.
Five minutes later, he comes out and tells us that he was able to work some "Disney Magic". We were not only able to stay at CR, but we were upgraded to a tower room. OK, at that point Im trying to remain calm and not show how incredibly excited and overjoyed I am! We thanked him for working it out quickly and were very pleased. He said he'd try that story on someone else - I just hope it wasn't another DISer!
Anyway, we went to our 10th floor room overlooking Bay Lake and I began unpacking. DH and kids went down to Food and Fun center to grab food for dinner. We quickly ate and then headed to MK to get our Annual Passes. As soon as we got into the park, we went up to the train station on main street and staked out a spot for the fireworks. They were beautiful. Once the fireworks ended, the family that was sitting in the chairs in front of us left, so we were able to have a seat and wait for Spectromagic. Again, we had a great view for the parade the kids were bouncing off the walls!
We headed back to CR to get a good night of rest before Saturday.
Beth
Sounds like a nice way to start your trip, with MK fireworks and a parade. Looking forward to more....
