Our VIP week at the world (June 20 - 27)

[SwiperFox]

I've loved reading trip reports on here for a long time and now I'm going to attempt one of my own!

We spent a week staying at the Grand Floridian from June 20th to the 27th. The group fully includes me (Leah), my mom and dad, and 10 year old Sydney, who I was nanny for when she was born (!) until around 3 years old. We are still very close with her family and they didn't hesitate when I asked if we could borrow their daughter for a week.

A little background before we begin...
My mom has a lot of medical issues and was really stretching to make it to Florida. She had been admitted to the hospital in the beginning of May, but still managed to make it on the trip. Unfortunately, things didn't go so well once we got there and she spent 95% of the trip in the hotel.
Therefore, most of the trip was just me and the kid... as you'll see from the pictures.

The main reason behind this trip is that I currently work at ABC television in NYC. I will finish my time there in August and we figured we should take advantage of all of my discounts before I lose them.
We booked the trip, I got time off from both of my jobs, June finally got here... and we were off!

 

[beinspired]

Here excited to hear about your trip! Sorry to hear about your mom, I hope you still had a decent time!

 

[linnell]

I'm here too! Can't wait to hear about it.

 

[purplepeg]

I'm here. Can't wait to read all about it! Grand Floridian is my dream resort to stay in and we have a 10 yr old and 5 yr old (daughters) so it will be fun to hear all about your trip!

 

[jaci-h]

I'm here! Sorry to hear about your mom Hope the rest of the trip went well

 

[SwiperFox]

Day One:
Traveling... ugh.

I was flying on the 7:55am flight from LaGuardia, NY. I've been on this flight before and had no problems, but when the problems come... they bury you.
I was supposed to land in Orlando about 2 hours before my parents and Syd, who were flying from Boston. That wasn't to be.
I checked in at the airport around 6am and was told the flight was delayed an hour. Okay. No problem. Before that hour was up, we were told that we would be going closer to 11am. The problem, it seems, was that the jetway had been 'bumped' into the plane that morning and there was a dent in the plane now. Maintenance had cleared the plane but we needed to wait for the FAA to file paperwork and we would be off. Okay. Not ideal, but dealable.

See that little dent over the 'u'? That caused all of my problems!

So now it's a little after 11 and not only haven't we heard anything, all of the airline employees have disappeared. Around 11:30 we finally get news... they still haven't heard from the FAA, so they're going to go ahead and cancel this flight and put us all on an empty plane down at JFK. We're all to go upstairs to ticketing and out front to wait for shuttle buses. Up we all trek, many small children, a newborn, a very pregnant lady, etc, to stand out front of the airport for about an hour with no one from the airline and no news. People were getting angry by now.
We finally get a rep outside with us and he says that the buses are down on the tarmac getting our luggage. Okay. Would have been nice to have been told that. One bus comes, it's pandemonium to get on it. It leaves. We wait. 20 minutes later we're told the other buses and still on the tarmac. A second bus comes and there is a lot of screaming between the passengers and the driver who threatens to not take anyone. Finally the airline rep organizes us and all the families get on the second bus.
It's nearing 2pm when we are all finally at JFK. We've been told to go to the new gate and get new boarding passes. We get to the gate and of course, they have no idea about new boarding passes. Fine.
At this point, we have all made new friends and my little group finds a corner to plug in phones, etc and rest for a while. At about 2:30, they announce that we need to come and get, you guessed, new boarding passes. So the whole flight lines up and, while we're near the back of the line, we can see that people are yelling up at the front.
What now, you ask? Well, they failed to mention to us that we are 150 people coming from LaGuardia and the new plane only holds 100, so 50 people have been bumped to a 5:30pm flight. The last people who checked in for the original flight are the ones who were bumped... thank goodness I was there so early... I'm on the first flight!

The next problem is my family flying in from Boston are already in Orlando. They are getting our rental car and heading for Disney to do some bargaining at the hotel. You see, I made the reservation as a cast member and was told I must present my ID at check in to get the discount. Eep! My ID is with me, still in NY. But with my Mom's health and a young kid, they can't wait at the airport, so fingers crossed, they're off.

And at 3pm, I too am off! We finally leave NY... Orlando bound! Hurray!

When we land in Orlando, I don't know what's going on, so I just head to baggage claim. I turn my cell phone on and have a text from my Mom with the room number this picture:

I almost cried. The day had been horrible, but I was so close and they were there! I grabbed my bag and made my way to the Magic Express Bus. When my family checked in, they explained everything to the CM at the desk. She had no problem giving them the discount and promised them that I would get there. She made a note on our reservation that I was to get on the bus.
Check in at the bus was a piece of cake. I said goodbye to my new friend and her daughter and headed to my bus to the Grand Floridian.

Next up: I get to the hotel... finally!

 

[teacher1717]

What a TERRIBLE start. I hate flying, and the main reason is the airlines. They dont actually care about their customers!! Hope your trip gets better!!

 

[linnell]

What a frustrating travel day, but I'm sure you were so relieved when you got that picture! What a view to go "home" too.

 

[purplepeg]

OH boy, what a lousy start, especially when all you want to do is get there, fast! Hopefully things will go up from here.

 

[CW4DW]

What a terrible beginning to the trip but when I saw the picture I almost teared up because I can only imagine the feeling of relief you had when you got that text!

 

[OhMari]

Hope you find time to come back and finish.
What do you do at ABC?

 

[SKWDW]

Hoping to see your next installment with the hotel update soon Leah.

Enjoying your TR so far.

 

[petals]

Wow what a terrible start to your trip! For some reason America flights from Ireland are always delayed when we're getting them they never say why! Brill view from the room though