The Fatten'em Plan: A Trip Report w/ pics

[Cass]

Then need to sort that out!! crazy that the CM's don't recognize the snacks when you pay so much money for the plan. Everyday I had to have them reverse the charges on my account.

 

[disneytraveler]

I agree!
And at the Germany pavilon, the cm did know how to ring up my lunch.

 

[Cass]

Oh well, live and learn. I don't think I'll be doing that plan again but I am in love with VIP Tours.

I discovered that they have them in Disneyland Paris too, and we are going there next year so I'm sure I will be doing that.

 

[disneytraveler]

The VIP tours look great. I saw them on the Disney site. Next year , iam on a tour to Italy with Adventures by Disney. Not sure if i will squeeze a little trip to disney in the winter yet.
I like the plan because i was able to eat at V&A , the cruise and the fireworks viewing. Although i am not much for water sports , but i did use for the other things.

 

[Disneyanajc]

Cass and Crew, love this trip report, can't wait to see the keepsake and read the rest of your report.
JC

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

 

[Cass]

Hi everyone and welcome to the final day of the Fatten'em Plan.

Even though we are down to our final hours, any Disney lover knows that Disney Magic lives in your heart 365 days a year. However, this doesn't give me much comfort on the morning of December 19th, because I am really sad about going home.

Originally, when I booked our flights with Air Canada, our return flight was scheduled to depart at 3pm. About 3 weeks prior to our trip I received a schedule change email saying it was now a 1pm departure.

'What?? 1pm, well that simply will not do!'

so I called Air Canada and they switched us to the 8:00pm return flight at no extra charge. woohoo!

This was way better for us and it allowed me to book something I had always wanted to try - Tea at the Grand Floridian. Yep, that's right, we would be finishing our trip in style with Tea at 2pm and Happy Limo picking us up at 5:30pm from AKL.

Here was today's plan

- get up early and pack a little
- breakfast at Boma 8:00am (finally!)
- facials at the spa at 9:30am (included with the Platinum Plan)
- finish packing and check out by 11:00am
- A little shopping at Downtown Disney
- Tea at the GF at 2pm
- Off to the Airport at 5:30pm

Sounds perfect doesn't it? I'm a good planner, aren't I?

Well, the fact is everything looks better on paper then when you try to implement it in real life. and this plan was shot from the moment we woke up at

9:00am!

Yes, it is 9:00am and we have missed our Boma ADR.

We get dressed quickly and pack furiously. Louise has soooo much stuff, so many souveniers. She can't fit them in her case and has 4 big shopping bags full of stuff for the plane.

'Louise' I explain.

'You can only take one carry on per person and it has to be able to fit under the seat in front of you.' (Her bags would barely fit IN THE SEAT in front of her nevermind under it) LOL

So this is a bit of a problem, but luckily I am prepared for such an event. I came with 2 suitcases. 1 full and 1 half empty and in that half empty suitcase I have brought a big duffle bag - just in case.

I produce it for Louise and amazingly it fits most of her stuff! Yay for me, the prepared traveller, saving the day. The few remaining fragile souveniers she can carry on in a smaller shopping bag and all is well again.

Now I know that the Platinum Plan comes with a keepsake - I have a voucher for it but I have no idea if it's something small like a key chain or something large like a gigantic stuffed Dumbo.

disneytraveller told me about a vase they received for a platinum keepsake - I figure I will be getting the same thing, and luckily I have room in my case if it does turn out to be a vase.

I'll be picking up this 'keepsake' today at DTD and I'm curious so see what it is.

I call the concierge lounge and they are able to get us Boma for 9:30am - but, we can't reschedule our facials so we are out of luck.

Oh well, I would rather eat then look good anyday. So we head down to Boma.

We are seated right away, and wow Boma looks so different in the daytime. I have only ever had dinner here, after dark so breakfast is a new one to me. The sun is streaming in and it is really pretty in the morning sunshine.

Albert is our waiter and he pours a pretty decent cup of coffee. He also brings us Jungle Juice. I asked him about Frunch and he explains that they had some trouble with the equipment they used to make Frunch so now Minute Maid/Coca Cola provides them with this Jungle Juice - a ready made breakfast drink. It's pretty good actually, we all liked it.

Breakfast was delicious and we were all hungry. I loved the little bite size biscuits that melt in your mouth, yum. I was craving some of Minnie's breakfast pizza though. lol Noel and Megan loaded up on the waffles and bacon and Louise digs in to the pastries that are so nicely done here.

We take our time and have a leisurely breakfast, no need to rush because we were not doing the spa treatments anymore.

Albert asked us what we were doing today and we tell him it is our last day at Disney and we were checking out

He takes my card away to do the bill and comes back laughing. He says that we can't leave Disney until we eat 28 more meals, that was what was remaining on our Platinum Plan after charging the Boma breakfast.

28 meals

twenty

eight

more

meals

28 of them

I had not realized there were so many meal credits left. LOL

Eating breakfast at the concierge lounge instead of at a restaurant really made a difference.

As it happens, the next table to us was also just finishing up their breakfast. There was a man about 60, his son about 40, and his grandsons about 18 & 13.

I asked Albert if we could treat them to their breakfast on our plan and his face lit up. 'Sure you can! give me your card again'

A few minutes later Albert comes back with our neighbour's bill and I sign for it on our plan.

Albert told us that they were a good choice because they weren't on a dining plan and they had only just arrived at AKL. Then he went to their table with the good news and we got to watch.

Wow, what fun for us, we were cracking up. First they looked confused and then astonished and then so grateful. They came over to our table and thanked us very much for the treat. They had just arrived late the night before and this was their first meal at Disney lol so I guess we saved them about 100.00 ++ today.

Now we had 24 meals left

twenty

four

meals

left

We start up to the room to finish our packing and on the way we pass by Mara. Hmmmm... I thought, maybe we could treat another family to something?

We were suddenly our own Disney Dream Squad

Louise goes for a smoke and Noel, Megan and I go into Mara to look for a good family to treat. A Mom, Dad and 2 kids were approaching the cashier with 2 loaded trays so we slipped in to the other side of the cashier and whispered in her ear.

'Hi' I said 'We are checking out today and we have soooo many meal credits left, could we possibly treat this next family in line to breakfast?'

'Sure' she said (like she had done it a million times before) and she starts ringing in their trays. She didn't even bat an eye at my request,

The family had no idea what was going on or why I had interrupted their cashier or why I was still standing there or why they were swiping my card or why I was signing their bill. Their faces were priceless. LOL

Then the CM told them 'your breakfast is free today, this family just treated you'

'What?' the man said.. 'why would you do that?'

'because we're leaving today and we have tons of meal credits left, so enjoy.'

They were stunned, just standing there with grins, then the Dad tried to take out his wallet and give us something... 'no, no!' I said, 'just enjoy breakfast and enjoy your trip'

We said goodbye to the stunned family and left Mara feeling all warm and fuzzy.

20 meals left

t-w-e-n-t-y

Back up in the room we finish our packing, do a final sweep for forgetten items and call the bellman to collect our luggage.

I had a little errand for Noel and Megan. We had a live potted christmas tree in our room from FTD. I promised it to another DIS'er 'dmslush' who was checking in at AKL today. I also had 4 unused mickey ponchos to give her and our 4 green DIS Lanyards as we didn't really need them anymore.

Noel and Megan headed off to the Front Desk with the little tree, the ponchos, the lanyards and a note for dmslush. I am happy to report that she recieved everything fine at check in and that her family was really happy and surprised with the loot.

Later at the airport I would chat with the girls and ask them what was their favourite thing about the trip. They obviously had a lot to choose from but both girls said treating families to meals was one of the most fun things they did all week and I agreed.

Noel added that me being called 'Sir' was also one of her most fun moments - and I'll get to that... next.

 

[disneytraveler]

Hi everyone and welcome to the final day of the Fatten'em Plan.

Even though we are down to our final hours, any Disney lover knows that Disney Magic lives in your heart 365 days a year. However, this doesn't give me much comfort on the morning of December 19th, because I am really sad about going home.

Originally, when I booked our flights with Air Canada, our return flight was scheduled to depart at 3pm. About 3 weeks prior to our trip I received a schedule change email saying it was now a 1pm departure.

'What?? 1pm, well that simply will not do!'

so I called Air Canada and they switched us to the 8:00pm return flight at no extra charge. woohoo!

This was way better for us and it allowed me to book something I had always wanted to try - Tea at the Grand Floridian. Yep, that's right, we would be finishing our trip in style with Tea at 2pm and Happy Limo picking us up at 5:30pm from AKL.

Here was today's plan

- get up early and pack a little
- breakfast at Boma 8:00am (finally!)
- facials at the spa at 9:30am (included with the Platinum Plan)
- finish packing and check out by 11:00am
- A little shopping at Downtown Disney
- Tea at the GF at 2pm
- Off to the Airport at 5:30pm

Sounds perfect doesn't it? I'm a good planner, aren't I?

Well, the fact is everything looks better on paper then when you try to implement it in real life. and this plan was shot from the moment we woke up at

9:00am!

Yes, it is 9:00am and we have missed our Boma ADR.

We get dressed quickly and pack furiously. Louise has soooo much stuff, so many souveniers. She can't fit them in her case and has 4 big shopping bags full of stuff for the plane.

'Louise' I explain.

'You can only take one carry on per person and it has to be able to fit under the seat in front of you.' (Her bags would barely fit IN THE SEAT in front of her nevermind under it) LOL

So this is a bit of a problem, but luckily I am prepared for such an event. I came with 2 suitcases. 1 full and 1 half empty and in that half empty suitcase I have brought a big duffle bag - just in case.

I produce it for Louise and amazingly it fits most of her stuff! Yay for me, the prepared traveller, saving the day. The few remaining fragile souveniers she can carry on in a smaller shopping bag and all is well again.

Now I know that the Platinum Plan comes with a keepsake - I have a voucher for it but I have no idea if it's something small like a key chain or something large like a gigantic stuffed Dumbo.

disneytraveller told me about a vase they received for a platinum keepsake - I figure I will be getting the same thing, and luckily I have room in my case if it does turn out to be a vase.

I'll be picking up this 'keepsake' today at DTD and I'm curious so see what it is.

I call the concierge lounge and they are able to get us Boma for 9:30am - but, we can't reschedule our facials so we are out of luck.

Oh well, I would rather eat then look good anyday. So we head down to Boma.

We are seated right away, and wow Boma looks so different in the daytime. I have only ever had dinner here, after dark so breakfast is a new one to me. The sun is streaming in and it is really pretty in the morning sunshine.

Albert is our waiter and he pours a pretty decent cup of coffee. He also brings us Jungle Juice. I asked him about Frunch and he explains that they had some trouble with the equipment they used to make Frunch so now Minute Maid/Coca Cola provides them with this Jungle Juice - a ready made breakfast drink. It's pretty good actually, we all liked it.

Breakfast was delicious and we were all hungry. I loved the little bite size biscuits that melt in your mouth, yum. I was craving some of Minnie's breakfast pizza though. lol Noel and Megan loaded up on the waffles and bacon and Louise digs in to the pastries that are so nicely done here.

We take our time and have a leisurely breakfast, no need to rush because we were not doing the spa treatments anymore.

Albert asked us what we were doing today and we tell him it is our last day at Disney and we were checking out

He takes my card away to do the bill and comes back laughing. He says that we can't leave Disney until we eat 28 more meals, that was what was remaining on our Platinum Plan after charging the Boma breakfast.

28 meals

twenty

eight

more

meals

28 of them

I had not realized there were so many meal credits left. LOL

Eating breakfast at the concierge lounge instead of at a restaurant really made a difference.

As it happens, the next table to us was also just finishing up their breakfast. There was a man about 60, his son about 40, and his grandsons about 18 & 13.

I asked Albert if we could treat them to their breakfast on our plan and his face lit up. 'Sure you can! give me your card again'

A few minutes later Albert comes back with our neighbour's bill and I sign for it on our plan.

Albert told us that they were a good choice because they weren't on a dining plan and they had only just arrived at AKL. Then he went to their table with the good news and we got to watch.

Wow, what fun for us, we were cracking up. First they looked confused and then astonished and then so grateful. They came over to our table and thanked us very much for the treat. They had just arrived late the night before and this was their first meal at Disney lol so I guess we saved them about 100.00 ++ today.

Now we had 24 meals left

twenty

four

meals

left

We start up to the room to finish our packing and on the way we pass by Mara. Hmmmm... I thought, maybe we could treat another family to something?

We were suddenly our own Disney Dream Squad

Louise goes for a smoke and Noel, Megan and I go into Mara to look for a good family to treat. A Mom, Dad and 2 kids were approaching the cashier with 2 loaded trays so we slipped in to the other side of the cashier and whispered in her ear.

'Hi' I said 'We are checking out today and we have soooo many meal credits left, could we possibly treat this next family in line to breakfast?'

'Sure' she said (like she had done it a million times before) and she starts ringing in their trays. She didn't even bat an eye at my request,

The family had no idea what was going on or why I had interrupted their cashier or why I was still standing there or why they were swiping my card or why I was signing their bill. Their faces were priceless. LOL

Then the CM told them 'your breakfast is free today, this family just treated you'

'What?' the man said.. 'why would you do that?'

'because we're leaving today and we have tons of meal credits left, so enjoy.'

They were stunned, just standing there with grins, then the Dad tried to take out his wallet and give us something... 'no, no!' I said, 'just enjoy breakfast and enjoy your trip'

We said goodbye to the stunned family and left Mara feeling all warm and fuzzy.

20 meals left

t-w-e-n-t-y

Back up in the room we finish our packing, do a final sweep for forgetten items and call the bellman to collect our luggage.

I had a little errand for Noel and Megan. We had a live potted christmas tree in our room from FTD. I promised it to another DIS'er 'dmslush' who was checking in at AKL today. I also had 4 unused mickey ponchos to give her and our 4 green DIS Lanyards as we didn't really need them anymore.

Noel and Megan headed off to the Front Desk with the little tree, the ponchos, the lanyards and a note for dmslush. I am happy to report that she recieved everything fine at check in and that her family was really happy and surprised with the loot.

Later at the airport I would chat with the girls and ask them what was their favourite thing about the trip. They obviously had a lot to choose from but both girls said treating families to meals was one of the most fun things they did all week and I agreed.

Noel added that me being called 'Sir' was also one of her most fun moments - and I'll get to that... next.

LOl Cass,
Oh well 9am and Boma is just as good anyways.
28 credits I had 5 OR 6 and i thought they were the snack credits
that were not registering.
So i guess you got the vase and plaque to as the keepsake I can just see Louise with the stuff to,

 

[disneytraveler]

The Tea must have been wondeful, what a great way to end!

 

[winkers]

Wow! What a great trip! And I thought we were living "high on the hog" just getting the dinning plan! You really know how to travel, you can plan my next visit for me!

 

[Cass]

The Tea must have been wondeful, what a great way to end!

You would think so, wouldn't you?

 

[disneytraveler]

You would think so, wouldn't you?

Oh oh what happened at the tea!? I talked with some people and really like it.
I never done it.

 

[byoung]

Great start!! I cant wait to read more!

 

[teentoddlermom]

Happy new year! Love your TR and am wistfully in awe of the amazing days you planned for you, your daughter and your lucky friends!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Cass--it was so nice of you to give away your dining credits! I'm sure you made they days of a number of families!

It looks like they won't be letting you do that any more in 2007, so I guess Disney is going to monopolize all the Dream-giving...
---
The following quotes a message from a Disney Dining castmember, regarding changes coming to the Dining Plan as of 2007, relevant to the issues discussed in the several questions above:
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuffaloGal
Beginning January 1st, all credits will be separated into adult vs child. At any given meal period (Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner) you will only be able to use the entitlements on your card (if it says 2A2C, then you get two adult and two kid's meals). ... You will not be allowed to buy dinners for a neighboring table because you have credits left. ... You get that as part of a package and package entitlements are non-transferrable. Just like you can't give extra days off of your ticket to your sister. You got them at a huge discount and you can't give them away.

BuffaloGal's entire message can be found here: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.ph...3&postcount=17
--

At least you got your Dream out in '06!

 

[Cass]

So we say goodbye to our beautiful room and have one last look at our savanna view, boo hoo . The bellman takes away our luggage to store until later this afternoon. We walk up to the concierge lounge for a quick coffee/cokes before we leave for downtown disney.

The girls have a look off the concierge lounge balcony

We decide to take a cab again, it's about 11:30am now and I am starting to think about the timing. We have to leave DTD by 1:30ish to get to the GF in good time for tea.

We have taken a lot of taxis here at Disney and the drivers have been great, friendly, polite, we chit chat with them and have a laugh - well all that was about to change. A taxi/van picks us up with a driver who is busy talking on his cell phone - in French, very loudly. I am going to guess he is from Haiti, because of the French.

He doesn't get out to open the door for us or put down the little foot stool, he pretty well just ignores us as we get in and doesn't even ask us where we are going, just drives away from AKL.

His van is a mess, dirty, there is stuff everywhere, smears on the window - yuck - and it is hot and smells bad. I was last to get in and if I had noticed the cabs condition right away I would have refused it and asked for another one.

He has a cooler between the front seats with a big radio/boom box sitting on top of it. Suddenly it dawns on him he has no idea where he's driving us and he slams the brakes on, the radio comes sliding off cooler and hits Noel on her legs.

'Where you want?' he barks at us and we say DTD, he then starts talking loudly in French again on his phone and does a U-Turn that throws us all around. The radio is lying on Noel's feet and he doesn't even pick it up.

We get to DTD and he doesn't get out of the van, I open the sliding door and we climb out. He is sitting in the driver's seat still talking away so I decide I'm not going to pay him or close the van door until he comes out. We just stand there and finally he gets the message and comes out like it's an inconvenience, slides the door shut and I hand him a 20.00 bill, 'Thanks Sir" he says

Sir?

he is still talking on his cell when I start on him.

'did you just call me Sir'

he is walking away

'HEY, DID YOU JUST CALL ME SIR?'

'what?, he says,'oh, just my language no good, Miss, I meant Miss'

'your language is fine and you know I'm not a Sir and you know what?, your driving is terrible, your taxi is a mess and you're not a very good representative for your company, I've take your # down to let them know'

He shrugs his shoulders and slams the driver door and drives off in a huff, already talking on his phone again.

I was starting to lose my Disney spirit until I heard Noel laughing hysterically.

'he called you Sir!!!!'

'Laugh it up, kid.' but then I started laughing too, we all did and something negative was suddenly something positive.

I got a lot of 'yes, sirs' for the rest of the day.

.

 

[Cass]

It's beautiful day again as we enter Downtown Disney.

I call Air Canada to see if the flight might be delayed or cancelled, hey, you never know?!?. No luck, it's on time - drat!

We work our way around the DTD shops, I like it here we are having a nice time and stop for frozen lemonades at the little snack booth. Noel gets a pearl from the oyster place with some spending money she has left.

There's 'The Art of Disney' and that's where I pick up my platinum keepsake.

I unpacked it *this morning* just for you guys, to get pics, as it was still in my suitcase.

Here are the boxes next to my monitor (19 inches) so you get the idea how big it is, luckily I had lots of room to bring it back home.

The CM, helping us in The Art of Disney was so excited - she said she rarely gets a platinum plan voucher in her shop, the other CM's were all gathered around because they hadn't seen what it was either.

It is a large ceramic platter/tray, with a wooden stand for display, it says 'A celebration of character' on the front and has the castle.

The vase is matching with the same little golden mickey heads all around it. I like them both, they are pastel colours and not over the top 'Disney' and the vase is a nice size for fresh flowers.

While I am showing my loot, here is the frame Ron from the California Grill gave on my Birthday.

It is a cast member gift and reads.

"Part of the Disney success is our ability to create a believable world of dreams that appeals to all age groups" - Walt Disney

Thank you for making dreams come true!

My Disney haul! (and Cleo)

..

 

[swankybeth]

Well Sir, that was a great trip report. Can't wait to read about the rest of your final day, Sir.

 

[Cass]

With my keepsakes in hand we start back towards where we can get a cab to the GF. We still have a little more time for shopping and go into Basin where Noel buys bath salts for her teacher, Nana, Aunts and her Dad. I love this store and Louise and Megan buy some pretty soap slices.

Right across from Basin is the World of Disney Store and if you have been to DTD you know how big it is. That will be our final stop and we head inside, we somehow split up.

You might have noticed for all the shopping I did with Louise, I never actually bought anything. I am not big on the souvenier thing, but a few weeks before our trip at a local DIS meet in Canada, one of the girls had these pretty 14k gold lever-back mickey earrings and I kept my eyes open for earrings like that all week.

Well they had some in the fine jewelry section of this store so I was happy and bought them.

So now I have the mickey earrings I have been looking for and I want to show Louise, also it's pretty well time to go, almost 1:30pm and I look around for everyone.

You know what? all week long at every park we always had a plan in case someone got lost or separated. We had a designated place to meet back, or we had the cell phones. I had forgotten to charge Noel's phone last night so I only had mine with me.

Wouldn't you know it. They all had vanished.

I walked up and down that store 10 times, in every section, girls, ladies, mens, boys, babies, jewelry, household, pets, sports, toys, books the bippidyboppidy boutique, back and forth up and down and I could not find them anywhere.

Looking at my watch - it is 1:45. Shoot, we have to go NOW for tea.

I go outside thinking they might be there, nope, I walk around the whole store and there is no sign of them, but I find Noel sitting on a bench. She says she has been alone for a half hour looking around and has no idea where Megan and Louise are. My feet are killing me so I sit down and she goes in to look for them. She comes back 10 minutes later, couldn't find them.

It's 1:55pm

There is no way we will make it to the GF even if I find them right now so I call Disney Dining. I cancel our tea and ask what they have in DTD for lunch. Wolfgang Puck's cafe is available at 2:30pm - okay, sign us up.

I ask Noel to go look in the store again and she says no, she's too tired. I offer her a bounty, 10.00 per head to deliver them dead or alive. She is off like a shot looking for them but comes back empty handed again. Where the heck are they?

I go in again and finally spot them at a register buying something. They said had been looking for us too and knew were were late for tea but couldn't find us. Louise had at one point gone out for a smoke so I guess we missed her when she was not in the store. We are all disappointed about missing tea at the GF and we start our disappointing walk over to Disney Westside for lunch.

We stop at Planet Hollywood for the keepsake thingy, it is a less than impressive keychain and not even worth lining up to get.

Wow, it's a longer walk than I remember and my feet are hurting big time now.

We are all happy to get into the cool restaurant and out of the sun. Our table had a nice view of SSR across the lake.

We were not in Disney anymore, you could feel the difference. Our waiter was not very pleasant, the food was pretty good though.

Me: Margarita
Artichoke & Cheese dip appetizer
Grandma Puck's Spaghetti

Noel
Chocolate Shake & Fettucini with chicken

Megan
Sprite, Caesar Salad, Fettucini with chicken

Louise
Coke, Caesar Salad, Pepperoni Pizza

For dessert the girls got make your own sundaes and Louise got the white chocolate cheesecake. I was too full from my appetizer and lunch to have dessert.

We all enjoyed our food at WPC, but not the service and not the non disney atmosphere. I asked the waiter if there was anyway we could treat a family to lunch on our plan and he looked at me like I had 2 heads and said 'No'

Oh well, I tried.

We left WPC with 16 Meals remaining and Noel spots Disney Quest right away.

'Can we go, Mom, can we go?'

It was nice to see her happy and excited again because she was sad and moped all through lunch

Noel, moping at WPC

It was almost 4pm now, we had an hour to kill so sure - why not go to Disney Quest? I made it clear to Noel that we only had time to do the Virtual Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Caribbean (which I love!) and then we were going back to the hotel.

I was glad to use our passes again, getting one more use out of the park hoppers we had included in our plan.

The girls did Jungle Cruise and we watched, I wish you could see the image on the screen, it is a pretty cool virtual ride. Noel has her Dolphins in depth shirt on today.

Next was POC, and oh my lord, this was fun - we were all laughing. Noel was the captain and Megan, Louise and I were firing the cannons. We had lots of booty on the bow of our ship by the time it ended and we defeated that ghost captain and had a pretty high score. It was a lot of fun, definately one of the most fun things at DQ and we had our Disney spirit back again.

We left DQ and slowly walked back towards Planet Hollywood where the cab stand is located. On the way we stopped at the Candy Cauldron shop and look at the hidden mickey I spotted on a candy apple

I told you Louise is a big Rocky Fan? well we could not resist a pic like this in front of the Virgin Store.

Back to AKL we went, (in a nice taxi with a great driver) the girls headed for the lounge for snackies and drinks, it was 5pm. Just a half hour to go.

Louise and I hit the AKL gift shop one more time I picked up an AKL shirt for Paul and with the 16 remaining credits bought Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie treats (with the ears dipped in chocolate)

I had to charge the 16 of them to my room - around $50.00 worth, and then go upstairs to the lounge and had them credit my account back. The snack feature is really hard to use on this plan.

The mickey treats Noel would take to her school the next day (13 kids in her class + the teacher) and a couple were left over for me

Louise and I had a drink in the lounge and sat quietly just taking in the beautiful view.

I am so sad this will no longer be concierge when the DVC arrives. I wonder if I will be back here again? and will it be just as good with another lounge somewhere on 4? I have my doubts but I am happy to have stayed at AKL 3 times and enjoyed the lounge many, many times during those trips.

Next up, we lose Louise.......again

..

 

[Cass]

Well Sir, that was a great trip report. Can't wait to read about the rest of your final day, Sir.

 

[Cass]

It's 5:30pm now and we can't postpone it any longer. We say goodbye to the lounge staff and head down to the lobby.

Our SUV from Happy Limo is there waiting and the bellman collects our bags. One of the nice things about AKL concierge is that they give bottled water in a gift bag when you leave, it's an African custom and Louise was really impressed with the bellman explained why he was giving it to her.

Our Happy Limo driver was such a nice man, we chatted with him - he was a world away from that awful taxi driver today and Noel had fun telling him about the 'Sir' incident.

MCO seemed pretty busy, lots of cars and people streaming in but the Air Canada counter was empty. I mean fire a cannon empty. One agent and no passengers I was starting to wonder if the flight had been cancelled after all.

Noel and I checked in quickly, the agent instructs us to take our luggage to the big x-ray machine and hand it over. We leave Megan and Louise to check in and explain why she still doesn't have a birth certificate. I've done my job, I got them here and showed them a good time, I'm off duty now! So Ileave her to sort it out.

Oh, yeah, did I forget to tell you? Louise's Birth Certificate was sent to her local post office, registered mail. When her hubby tried to pick it up a few days ago, they wouldn't give it to him. Only Louise can pick it up, so it was stuck in Canada and never made it to us at AKL. Once again Louise is without proper ID trying to board a flight.

Noel and I drop our luggage at the X Ray area and I tell her to stay and watch for Louise while I go to the ladies room. Instead of standing there at the X-Ray machine, (like she was told) she goes to sit at a nearby bench.

When I came out of the washroom, there was Noel on a bench but no Louise. I figured she and Meagan were still at the check in counter (having problems?) so I walked back to see. Nope, no Louise, where could she be?

'Noel, were you watching for them?'

'yes,' insists Noel, 'they never came out.' 'I've been here the whole time'

I go over to the big x-ray machine, and I see Louise's luggage sitting there beside mine. I know they have been there, obviously Noel just wasn't paying attention. Now they are missing again we look everywhere for them, surely they wouldn't go through security without us?

After 15 minutes of looking in every gift shop/food court and wandering around the check in areas we decide to go through security ourselves. It's starting to get late and we have to get to the gate soon.

Maybe they are waiting by the monorails?

Nope

Surely they would have not taken the monorail without us?

We take the train and when I walk off at the other end, there is Louise, still in her Minnie christmas ears buying a latte at Starbucks.

"where were you?' I ask - 'it's just like downtown disney all over again'

'where were you?' she retorts, 'you took off on us after check in'

'umm, no' and then I scowl at Noel


Noel is and then changes the subject when she sees the Burger King sign. She insistes she needs a cheeseburger, ketchup only - she loves burger king and hasn't had it for a while. There is no food on the flight so I say okay but so insist we all stay together from now on.

Noel gets her burger and we walk to the gate because it is almost boarding time.

The gate is empty

Including the 4 of us, I count 9 passengers and one agent.

Where the heck is everyone?

Louise goes to look out the windows at the dark airport - 'I see our plane out there', she says.

We sit down and a few more people arrive. Now there's 13 passengers.

Finally the agent makes the announcement,

'all rows and all passengers may board' they don't even need to call by row!

A few more people arrive at the gate and the agent tells us there are only 22 passengers on this plane for 180.

What a flight home! We all could have a row to ourselves to stretch out.

Noel and I sat together to watch a movie on her DVD player (Santa Clause II) We had Pringles and coke and landed 20 minutes early in Toronto, it was a great flight. Megan and Louise snoozed a little.

Then we had to face customs again and Louise has to try and get in the country with no ID.



The Canadian Customs officer was stunned, he could not believe the US Customs officer had let Louise into the USA on that letter.

He scolded her about the BC and blah blah blah, but let her in. I mean, she was adorable wearing those Minnie ears right? how could he refuse?

Our luggage came out fast and we were sharing the luggage belt with an Air Canada flight just in from Las Vegas. I know SuAnne and her sister were on this flight so I am looking everywhere for them but I guess they were ahead of us and already gone.

Luggage in hand we exit the airport and make our goodbyes. It is 10:30pm now and Noel asks if she has to go to school the next day.

'Yes you do' I say

'Do I?' Megan asks and Louise tells her 'no, she can stay home one more day and recover from the trip & excitement'

Way to make me look like the meanest mother in the world , Louise.

We hugged goodbye and Noel and I were home in 20 minutes with hugs from Paul and all the pets welcoming us home.

Yes, I was up at 6:45am the next morning and had Noel off to school (complaining bitterly) by 8:00am. I went to the office with Paul and worked until 5pm. Picked up some groceries, made dinner and it was just like I had never left.

I called Louise around 1pm - she and Megan were still in their jammies! They were still on a high from everything we saw and did at Disney, Christmas took a back burner to this trip of a lifetime. (until the next one)

Coming up, final thoughts and observations.


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