Second Time's the Charm??? A Presidents Week PTR

[heathsf]

Welcome to my first ever PTR. I'm not quite sure I know what I'm doing but hopefully I'll figure it out as I go along.

WHO: Me (25)
I'm on the left, waiting with a friend for our first ride on TSM in Aug 2009 (my most recent trip to WDW).

Mom (54)
This was the only picture I took on our *attempted* trip to WDW yesterday. Explanation below. (Notice she's smiling and looks pretty happy. This is before we knew that we wouldn't be going.)

WHAT: A Mother/Daughter Trip to Disney! It will be our first time traveling together with just the two of us.

WHERE: Pop Century, my fourth trip in a row staying there.

WHEN: February 20-25, 2011

WHY: Well, here is the story:

After booking a trip with my BF for August 2011 (his first trip! - but that's a story for another day ) my mom kept mentioning that she really wanted to plan a trip but my Dad wouldn't go with her. I suggested that we should go together sometime this Winter. She surprised me by agreeing immediately and enthusiastically.

This was in the beginning of December so we needed to plan quick. Since I am a teacher and don't have many options for when I can go, I suggested either a long weekend in January when crowds are expected to be very low or President's Week in February when crowds are expected to be very high. We chose January and booked a trip for Jan 27 to Jan 30. Even though it was only a few days, we were psyched about the idea of possibly being able to walk onto rides with little or no wait. Our last trip together (also with my Dad and brother) was Christmas 2003 so not only was it a long time ago but it was super crowded.

We were staying at Pop, had 3 day park hoppers, our days were planned out, and ADRs at Teppan Edo and Mama Melrose's (nothing too spectacular I admit, but still we were looking forward to it). Our flight was leaving Newark at 6:20 pm on a Thursday and we were due to land in Orlando at 9:20. Early enough to get a good night's sleep and wake up early to be at MK for rope drop.

Now in case anyone reading this doesn't know, NJ (and much of the Northeast) has been getting walloped with snow all winter. In January alone we have surpassed the average snowfall expected for the entire winter! Since we were getting so much snow I thought to myself, "Great! Get it all out now so we'll have good weather for our flight days!"

Wrong. Very wrong.

There were two separate snow storms the week before our trip. Again I thought, "Good! It just snowed so we'll be fine for our trip next week!" Then there were projections for another storm for Monday before we were supposed to leave. Then they said Tuesday. And then they projected snow mixed with rain for Wednesday. But Wednesday morning on my way to work, with our flight 36 hours away, it started to snow. It snowed for almost 24 hours and dumped 15 inches on us.

The first thing I did Thursday morning was to check the status of all the flights to Orlando for the day. Some were cancelled already, some were delayed, and ours was on time.

I continued to check the statuses about every hour. The day dragged on so slowly, every time I checked I expected the worst. The flights that were delayed were being pushed back later and later. But still our flight was on time. We left for the airport at 3:00 figuring that it would be extra crowded with all the delays and cancellations. We printed our boarding passes at home and were able to get through security in less than 5 minutes. It couldn't have been any smoother. We went right to our gate, checked that we were still on time, then chose a place to have dinner while we waited until boarding time. We were in Terminal C of Newark airport which has plenty of dining and shopping options. We ended up at Ruby's Diner, where after enjoying a decent airport dinner, I took the picture of my mom that is posted above. "First picture of the trip!" I said while I took the picture. It was also the last.

After dinner we walked back to the gate. Still on time and twenty minutes until boarding. Want to guess what happened next?

To be continued tomorrow...

 

[heathsf]

Reserved for links.

(I see lots of people doing this on their TRs so I figured I should do it too)

 

[Jaaaacki]

The weather has been horrid this year. I'm hoping you got do WDW but I'm guessing your flight got cancelled.

 

[m2zjj]

Joining in. Hope you made it to Disney but I too am guessing that your flight got canceled.

 

[Leshaface]

Haven't read yet, but just saving my spot!

I'm so glad you decided to do a PTR to keep your mind occupied!!

I'll be back in the morning to read! I'm exhausted!!!

 

[heathsf]

The weather has been horrid this year. I'm hoping you got do WDW but I'm guessing your flight got cancelled.

Joining in. Hope you made it to Disney but I too am guessing that your flight got canceled.

Haven't read yet, but just saving my spot!

I'm so glad you decided to do a PTR to keep your mind occupied!!

I'll be back in the morning to read! I'm exhausted!!!

Thank you for reading/commenting!!

 

[heathsf]

So we're waiting at the gate, which is packed, and we're only a few minutes from boarding when an attendant announces that we will be delayed 50 minutes because even though our plane has been here since last night, they don't have a crew to fly it yet due to all the other delays and cancellations. Our estimated departure time was now 7:10 pm.

Yes, it was disappointing. But I still felt lucky that we were going when so many other flights had been cancelled that day.

Not long after that, they made another announcement. We were going to be delayed another hour. Our new estimated departure time was 8:15 pm. They said they were still waiting for a crew and would update us as soon as they could. There was a collective groan from the multitude of people sitting and standing around the gate. I could see from checking the status on my phone that there were more than 30 people on the standby list for this flight and it was full. I felt bad for those people but was still feeling pretty happy for me. So what if we arrived two hours late? It was still enough time to get a decent night's sleep and be at MK in the morning for Rope Drop.

But then they delayed us again. Estimated departure time was now 9:15pm. Now people were getting very upset. Some of the people on the standby list had been at the airport since yesterday when their original flight was cancelled. The attendant explained that not only were we still waiting for a crew, but since the plane had been in the hangar since last night, it was snowed in and needed to be dug out. This didn't sound good. We knew we had at least an hour and half until boarding now so we left to get some ice cream to cheer ourselves up.

We had already been at the airport for 4 hours with at least a few hours to go until boarding. The three delays had happened in quick succession and we were worried that it may be delayed again. While eating our ice cream, I called Pop Century to tell them that we'd be arriving at least 3 hours later than originally expected and then we were connected to Magical Express to tell them the same thing. At the end of both conversations I was told to "have a magical night." I just really wanted to be there already!

After enjoying my cup of Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream & Cookies and Mom finished her Mango Mango Sorbet (If I had known at the time that I'd be posting this story I would have taken pictures...oh well) I took out my phone to check the status of our flight.

This is the moment when it turned from a bad airport experience into a nightmare.

My stomach dropped as I thought about the implications of what I was reading. Our flight was cancelled. I knew the later flight (which was currently delayed to 12:30am) was full with a long list of standby passengers. Even if we could get another flight it was pointless. We were scheduled to return on Sunday night and there was zero possibility of me being able to take off work on Monday to stay an extra day. At this point, even if we got a flight the next day, the trip would be too short to do much of anything.

The cancellation hadn't been announced yet so we started running to the gate for more information. On our way, the announcement was made and we were directed to the information desk near a different gate. Since we were coming from Ben & Jerry's, we had a head start on the mob of people who were coming from our gate and we got on line relatively quickly. Within seconds the line went all the way down the corridor and out of sight. The one thing that went right that night was that we got on line so early.

The earliest flight they could offer us was Saturday night. We would have arrived in Orlando at 9:20 pm and left the following day at 6:30 pm. No thanks. We thanked the attendant for trying but asked her to please just cancel our reservation so we could get a refund.

Then we headed downstairs to wait for our checked bag to return on the carousel. The representative we spoke to at the baggage desk told us it should take about 40 minutes. We used that time to call WDW and cancel our reservation. We were expected to check in in just a few hours and it was just heartbreaking to call and say we wouldn't be coming. I had bought travel insurance when I booked the trip and was told at first that I would have to call them to make a claim. But then the Disney representative asked me to hold on, and in 5 minutes he came back and told me that he was able to take care of it for me since it was a cancellation due to weather. I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of making a claim, Disney was giving me a full refund with no penalties that I could expect in a few days. There's that Disney magic I would be missing out on this weekend....

Meanwhile, two hours passed and still no bag. We were just discussing whether we should get back on the line at the baggage desk when a woman came by and announced that if your bag hadn't already come down, it wouldn't be coming tonight and we would have to come back tomorrow. WHAT!!!!????? There was just no way that was happening. We got back on line to find out what was going on. We were told 40 minutes but waited two extra hours after our flight was cancelled for nothing!? Our sadness and disappointment were intermixed with anger. The flight cancellation was terrible enough, but now this on top of it!

We spoke to a different agent this time and the first thing she did was apologize to us because the first person should not have told us 40 minutes. She said the bag retrievals were taking between 2 and 3 hours but that they had stopped taking new retrieval requests for the night at 9:15. We told her that we put our request in at 8:30 so she looked into it because then our bag should have been part of the last batch sent down and it wasn't.

The reason our bag wasn't found? It was on the 12:30am flight to Orlando. Our bag was going on vacation without us.

It turns out the reason this happened was because the first agent made us a reservation on the Saturday night flight that we said we didn't want. At the baggage desk, I truly believe that this agent did everything she possibly could for us. She made several phone calls and was connected to different people and even called the control tower! But the final answer was no, they could not remove our bag from the plane. We filled out a baggage claim and were assured that our bag would be on the first flight home in the morning.

It was clear there was nothing left to do but go home. It was now 11:30pm. After 3 hours spent waiting for a bag that would never come, and 8 total hours in the airport for a trip that wouldn't be, Mom & I left the airport with our arms around each other. We'll just have to go in February with everyone else who has that week off, we decided. Sure, it will be more crowded and more expensive, but after what we went through that night we felt we deserved it.

And that is the "why" for this trip.

 

[Jaaaacki]

OMG, I don't think I could have handled the disappointment!! You did great, I would have been freaking out. Thank goodness they canceled and refunded you on the spot. Let's hope we get out of this weather pattern so you have no problems in February.

 

[heathsf]

OMG, I don't think I could have handled the disappointment!! You did great, I would have been freaking out. Thank goodness they canceled and refunded you on the spot. Let's hope we get out of this weather pattern so you have no problems in February.

Thanks. I wasn't feeling so great at the time and waking up yesterday morning NOT in Disney was torture all over again. But now that I'm focused on the new trip I'm feeling better. I'll post more details later.

And by the way, it looks like we'll be there at the same time in August!

 

[Leshaface]

First congrats on getting to 100 posts!

On another note, this is ENTIRELY too depressing...what a nightmare...even more so, you leave EMPTY HANDED! I think I would have started crying...

I'm TRULY hoping that your trip in February will be perfect! Weather and crowds on your side and hoping it will be a magical trip!

For now though, concentrate on your new upcoming trip and give us all the details!! ADR's and all!! So this does mean that you can stay longer at WDW then this trip would have been correct?!

 

[heathsf]

First congrats on getting to 100 posts!

Thanks!

On another note, this is ENTIRELY too depressing...what a nightmare...even more so, you leave EMPTY HANDED! I think I would have started crying...

Believe me I was fighting back tears and it wasn't an easy thing to do. Even my mom had tears in her eyes. It was awful!

I'm TRULY hoping that your trip in February will be perfect! Weather and crowds on your side and hoping it will be a magical trip!

Thanks! I hope so!

For now though, concentrate on your new upcoming trip and give us all the details!! ADR's and all!! So this does mean that you can stay longer at WDW then this trip would have been correct?!

Yes! It took me a day to get over the ordeal but now that we have a new trip planned I am super excited. We'll be spending 6 days instead of 3!

 

[Leshaface]

Thanks!



Believe me I was fighting back tears and it wasn't an easy thing to do. Even my mom had tears in her eyes. It was awful!



Thanks! I hope so!



Yes! It took me a day to get over the ordeal but now that we have a new trip planned I am super excited. We'll be spending 6 days instead of 3!

Well I say that's a GREAT reason for your trip to be canceled!! 6 busy days at WDW is better than 3 slow days, IMO! You'll have much more time to do things that you want to do now!

Can't wait to hear what your plans are!!

 

[m2zjj]

Oh my how disappointing. I would have been in tears.

On the bright side more days in Disney is always a good thing.

 

[heathsf]

Well I say that's a GREAT reason for your trip to be canceled!! 6 busy days at WDW is better than 3 slow days, IMO! You'll have much more time to do things that you want to do now!

Oh my how disappointing. I would have been in tears.

On the bright side more days in Disney is always a good thing.

The more I think about the new trip the more excited I get. I am very happy to be spending more time in WDW. The reason we chose the shorter trip in Jan was because of crowds and money. But since we no longer have a choice I need to forget about that and look forward.

Another good thing coming out of this cancelled trip is a yummy fondue dinner with BF tonight I'll post about ADRs after I get home.

 

[Jaaaacki]

6 days is so much better than 3, so that is working out to your advantage!!

We will be there the same time as you in August, I suppose I'll have to wait until your next PTR see your ADR's for that trip ?? Can't wait to see your Feb ADR's though.

 

[heathsf]

We will be there the same time as you in August, I suppose I'll have to wait until your next PTR see your ADR's for that trip ?? Can't wait to see your Feb ADR's though.

Don't get too excited about my Feb ADRs. We really didn't have a lot of options. Even the not-so-popular restaurants had very limited times available. I'm sure most people made their ADRs more than 5 months ago...

I'm not sure I will make another PTR. I wasn't planning on doing a PTR or TR for this trip but after Thursday's fiasco I changed my mind. Once I have my Aug ADRs picked out I'll probably post them here. We'll see. But we'll definitely have to compare notes!

 

[heathsf]

We didn't get a dining plan for the original trip even though it was a free dining time because we weren't staying enough nights to qualify. We were going to pay OOP for Mama Melrose's and Teppan Edo.

For this trip, we decided to get the dining plan even though it wasn't free dining time

I woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning to start planning the new trip. I found decent airfare considering it's a popular time to travel to Florida from NJ. Then I priced a package online and called AAA to compare prices. It turned out to be exactly the same to the penny. I then spent a few hours making a spreadsheet of the operating hours (shoutout to Jaaaacki right here! ), looking at Touring Plan's suggestions for best and worst parks, and reading Josh's fabulous explanations at EasyWDW for which parks to visit or avoid each day and why. Based on all that, we picked our restaurants from what was available (and there wasn't much).

We have 5 table service dinners booked:
Day 1: Teppan Edo
Day 2: Mama Melrose
Day 3: Boma (I am SUPER excited about this! I can't believe there was anything available!)
Day 4: Crystal Palace
Day 5: Kouzzina (Mom loves Cat Cora and I'm excited because I've never been to the Boardwalk!)

They are all within ten minutes of 4:30pm because that is all that was available with the exception of Kouzzina which is at 8pm. It's probably better to eat at off times during such a crowded time of the year though so I'm not complaining.

I would love to hear thoughts and opinions on these places. They will all be firsts for me!

 

[Jaaaacki]

You still got great ADR's on short notice. If you have a late breakfast/brunch and the early dinner you will probably fare far better than we will in August with 3 meals a day

 

[Leshaface]

We didn't get a dining plan for the original trip even though it was a free dining time because we weren't staying enough nights to qualify. We were going to pay OOP for Mama Melrose's and Teppan Edo.

For this trip, we decided to get the dining plan even though it wasn't free dining time

I woke up at 6:30 yesterday morning to start planning the new trip. I found decent airfare considering it's a popular time to travel to Florida from NJ. Then I priced a package online and called AAA to compare prices. It turned out to be exactly the same to the penny. I then spent a few hours making a spreadsheet of the operating hours (shoutout to Jaaaacki right here! ), looking at Touring Plan's suggestions for best and worst parks, and reading Josh's fabulous explanations at EasyWDW for which parks to visit or avoid each day and why. Based on all that, we picked our restaurants from what was available (and there wasn't much).

We have 5 table service dinners booked:
Day 1: Teppan Edo
Day 2: Mama Melrose
Day 3: Boma (I am SUPER excited about this! I can't believe there was anything available!)
Day 4: Crystal Palace
Day 5: Kouzzina (Mom loves Cat Cora and I'm excited because I've never been to the Boardwalk!)

They are all within ten minutes of 4:30pm because that is all that was available with the exception of Kouzzina which is at 8pm. It's probably better to eat at off times during such a crowded time of the year though so I'm not complaining.

I would love to hear thoughts and opinions on these places. They will all be firsts for me!

Hey you still got some great restaurants!!


Teppan Edo...so fun and GOOD!! You'll love it!!

I really want to try Boma and Kouzzina for dinner one of these nights!! I've heard GREAT things about both these restaurants!!

So happy that you're getting stoked on your trip!!!

I've never done fondue! Can't wait to hear about that too!!

 

[heathsf]

I've never done fondue! Can't wait to hear about that too!!

It's delicious and so much fun! We did 3 courses last night:

Appetizer - Bread and Apples to dip in cheese fondue (Cheddar & Monterey Jack melted in apple cider with fresh cilantro, roasted peppers, sweet onions, and jalapenos)

Main course - Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, Spinach Ravioli, and vegetables cooked in a Coq Au Vin (French Style) broth which was seasoned beef broth with burgundy wine and spices. They also served it with four delicious dipping sauces: marinara sauce for the ravioli, lime dill, teriyaki, and horseradish dijon (this one was amazing) and rice on the side. The rice was the only thing that didn't require cooking.

Dessert - Dark Chocolate with Creamy Cheesecake served with nilla wafers, rice-crispy treats, strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, and brownies for dipping.

It was a fabulous meal!