The Scooter Strikes Back-A F&W 2017 TR- Bonus Features, Link to new TR 3/22

[Pinkocto]

The kittens are so big!!!! How scary about Amelia, I hadn’t asked in depth what happened. So glad she’s ok

LOVE the title

The tiki mug is very cool, great addition to the collection.

 

[rndmr2]

Joining in! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!!

The kitties are too cute! Sorry the one was sick, glad she is better.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I'm here! Thanks for the heads-up!

Revenge of the Scooter
Rogue Scooter
The Scooter who didn’t love me
The Curse of the Red Scooter
That Darn Scooter
2017: A Scooter Odyssey
The Tale of Two Scooters

There had better be a scooter story, or I'm demanding my money back.

If you’ve come here looking for thrills, riveting commentary, and exploding helicopters, you may want to look elsewhere.

Well, it was good chatting with you. See ya!

I mean the APs are paid for, the DVC room is paid for, we had a small flight credit left from some plans we had to change earlier in the year, so our only costs would be the remainder of the flights and our food. We have to pay for food at home anyways…

The logic is undeniably sound.

Although if you’re @Steppesister, I guess underwear is not all that important!

The temperature reached 106 that day and I was glad to stay inside. I even had to take a small nap as I practically got heatstroke being out at Disney and the pharmacy in that sort of weather.

106 is just wrong. Ugh.

This looks like a full-time job!

 

[afwdwfan]

Revenge of the Scooter
Rogue Scooter
The Scooter who didn’t love me
The Curse of the Red Scooter
That Darn Scooter
2017: A Scooter Odyssey
The Tale of Two Scooters

I don't know about a whole TR, but I certainly feel like I could have at least written chapters of a TR using most of these as a title. And that's just from observing others with scooters.

I won’t say that this was a trip of a lifetime, but it was certainly a trip to remember. I had hoped that it would be a carefree week of fun and frolic where I came back relaxed and energized for real life, but sorry to say that did not happen.

That's too bad, but I'm sure it was still a nice trip anyway.

If you’ve come here looking for thrills, riveting commentary, and exploding helicopters, you may want to look elsewhere.

What about exploding scooters?????

Have I mentioned that feeding the cats has become ridiculous now?

Wow! You need to teach them to share!

 

[franandaj]

Before I get to welcoming everyone, I do like the fact that my first four readers are all from countries outside of the USA and all different countries as well!

First!

Going back up to read.
(Think this is my first "first" though.)

And to your first "first"!

I'm sensing a theme here...
Not quite sure what it is....

Something... maybe.... to do with.... scooters?


I'm probably way off.

Maybe. Maybe not. You'll just have to read along as the story unfolds.

Uh, oh...

Yeah.

Oh, man! Sorry, Alison.

Well I did come back feeling somewhat better, at least I don't feel the weight on my shoulders like I did before I left.

True. Here you'll only get the first two.
There's a serious lack of exploding helicopters.

But I suspect we might see an exploding scooter or two.

Oh, no! I didn't know that! Poor thing!

I didn't say anything anywhere online. Those whole two weeks before we left were just insanity. I felt like I was just going blindly from task to task with no control of events. Her red blood cell count had dropped to 7% and 20% was where it had to be before they let her come home.

loooong day!

Not very different than other days....

That might explain it.

Now we just need to fix the other six cars....

Cool! I like it!

That's why people were waiting for hours to get them. We lucked out.

This is possible???

It happens all the time in parts of Southern California, just not normally in Long Beach.

You must've been absolutely wiped out.

Pretty sure I was.

Holy crap!

A day in the life of a crazy cat lady.

I believe you!

That's practically how it goes every night.

Wohoo! Made page one! Now going back to read. Just had to save my spot first.

And I finished reading the intro which I love - great photos btw. You are WAY more organized when it comes to packing than we are - I kind of throw everything in the night before we leave and then pray we haven't forgotten something essential.

That's how Fran used to do it an I couldn't stand the chaos. I choose my outfits weeks beforehand and start packing a week ahead of time.

Can't wait to read about it all. I sense the scooter enjoyed a life of its own the way you picked the title.

Life might no be the best way to describe the situation.

Love to see the kitties and we both had a laugh seeing all the plates with catfood.

And they are all empty by the next feeding session.

Thank goodness the little kitty is okay again. They are too cute - all of them. You are both so lucky.

Sometimes I wonder about that, especially with the smell of the house!

Yay! Looking forward to reading this!

Checking in.

I am sorry that his did not pan out how you had hoped.

But it does make for an interesting story!

Oh, that must have been scary. I am glad that she is better.

She was already in good hands before we found out how ill she was. They started the transfusion almost immediately.

 

[franandaj]

Joining in.

I know how your anemic kitty felt. I almost died after I had my dd because I lost so much blood. They didn't really pay attention to me in the hospital and sent me home then 2 hours after they sent me home my dh had to rush me to the hospital because I was literally bleeding out (sorry if tmi). Then I was put on bedrest and was not even allowed to take care of my newborn dd. DH was a trooper and had to get up and feed dd and take care of me too. I am sorry you didn't have the trip you wanted and I m looking forward to following along.

That's a scary story. I'm glad you came out OK and nice that your DH stepped up ad took care of things. Amelia was a little different, her red blood cell count had dropped to 7%, not sure what was normal, but they wanted to see it at 20% before they'd let her go and I believe it was at 24% when we did take her home two days (and $1500) later.

Here and ready. Kinda. Alison, I'll be here as I can this week then of course will be gone.

Back to read and comment soon, but wanted to sub in asap.

You're part of the reason I put it up so quick. I wanted to give you a chance to sub in so when you get back you'll have lots to catch up on!

Just kidding! Not sure how much updating I'll be doing while you're gone. The parental units are coming down for thanksgiving and the kittens have done a great job of stinking up the house, so lots to clean!

I’m here! Haha excellent title! Just checked in into the Swan and the WiFi is a little better here. Tomorrow is our French Family lunch, can’t wait!

I had another friend at that lunch as well. I hope you enjoyed it. He said that he drank 10 glasses of wine!

So excited to follow along on another of your trip reports! They are my favorite

Welcome home! Looking forward to reading about your trip!

The kitties are so cute!

They are pretty darned cute. I may be posting more pictures of them soon!

 

[franandaj]

SEE?! I"m not the only one!

Nope. You're not. Even pkondz did it once.

Hmmm, I'm gonna guess you had some issues with scooters. Could just be me though.

Yeah, we might have had an issue. You'll have to read along and see.

Aww, Alison.

There were some good times too....

Seems legit to me! :yes

I'm glad everyone approves of my fuzzy Disney math.

Sigh... that's so... conservative. I mean what could possibly go wrong?!

Walking through Disney Springs commando?

!! I resemble that remark!

You mean they'd do that to you?!

Oh right. Yes. They probably would.

When we used to cart her father around, we had his plaque in our car. We went to WDW two weeks after he died (trip had been planned 11 months in advance). I accidently put his plaque up in the window when I parked the car. They ticketed us for using a plaquard of a deceased person. Fran's plaque was on the dashboard in plain view.

Okay, yeah, same one, just different color. I like my blue one from FL last year.

I think they're going for the "collect the entire set!"

That is some serious smorgasbord goin' on there.

I make sure that they have a choice. The first four plates contain each of the following 1) a land food pate 2) a seafood pate 3) some sort of shreds, bits, etc and then one more of the previous (varies by feeding time) that is divided in half (and half of that goes to the poor cat who lives hiding in the office.) The first four plates and plate #6 (with a can of Fancy Feast) go in the kitchen feeding area. The last three plates go in the Master Bathroom where the kittens took up residence about a month ago. The kittens and their mama eat specifically kitten food, but it may be giving mama a problem as she seems to have diarrhea and needs to go to the vet.

Yay! You have a new trip report and I have a new dining report (which has more than just food but still). Link is in my signature under Nov 2017

I'm already signed on!

Holy cat food. Glad grey kitten is on the mend; so scary.

They're hungry little suckers.

Excited to read your report. Please cont with the bat signals and lets get together when I get back. I leave this Tuesday morning.

OK. Hopefully one is coming up soon. I'll text you so that we can set it up! Maybe Katella Deli this next time!

I’m here! Must come back and read but wanted to mark my place.

Getting my WDW fix through you.

Present and reporting for duty! Would have been here earlier but seeing Chris Hemsworth shirtless in Thor won out. Sorry Alison!

Jill in CO

Eh...whatever turns you on....

This. Not knocking my new proximity to DLR, but anyone who's been to both knows they are NOT the same.

Anyway, I'm in!

They are definitely not the same. But I like each one for their positives and differences.

And I hereby concede defeat in the cat realm: you have me beat in the "all things cat that make this a crazy house" department!! But that's awesome.

It's getting crazier and crazier the older the kittens get!

Hi Alison!

Here to join along.

--Karilynn

Glad to have you onboard!

 

[franandaj]

The kittens are so big!!!! How scary about Amelia, I hadn’t asked in depth what happened. So glad she’s ok

I've said this a few times, but her red blood cell content dropped to 7%. Not sure what it is supposed to be for humans, but I would imagine you know how that could be serious.

LOVE the title

Thanks!

The tiki mug is very cool, great addition to the collection.

I still haven't even gotten them out of their boxes. Heck I haven't even unpacked yet!

Joining in! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!!

The kitties are too cute! Sorry the one was sick, glad she is better.

Based on the way she has been playing for the last two mornings, she is definitely feeling better.

I'm here! Thanks for the heads-up!

There had better be a scooter story, or I'm demanding my money back.

What makes you think that there is just one.

Well, it was good chatting with you. See ya!

(I could have used the "not a thumb" )

The logic is undeniably sound.

Thank you.

106 is just wrong. Ugh.

But it's a dry heat. No that's not even true anymore with climate change.

This looks like a full-time job!

I have the good end of this deal....if you get my drift.

I don't know about a whole TR, but I certainly feel like I could have at least written chapters of a TR using most of these as a title. And that's just from observing others with scooters.

I bet you could!

That's too bad, but I'm sure it was still a nice trip anyway.

It had it's moments. I mean it's WDW, it would really have to suck for nothing good to happen!

What about exploding scooters?????

Actually that would have made the outcome a whole lot easier!

Wow! You need to teach them to share!

That is sharing! Technically each one of those plates would be eaten by two cats....

 

[franandaj]

Day 1

We woke up at 5AM or was it 4:15? She set an alarm in her phone and we actually did get up instead of snoozing it for a while. I know that once we did all the things that we needed to do before leaving (and that did not include feeding the cats) it was 6AM or close to it, maybe 5:50AM, but there wasn’t time to drive through McDonald’s which had been my plan, at least it was the day before.

Because of changes in American’s frequent flyer point structure, we have started flying on Southwest. Their terminal at LAX is undergoing construction so the routine we did in August for our Denver trip was no longer viable. The curbside check in counter we had used was now walled off. We had a slight learning curve (yet again). They did have curbside agents, but they had temporary check in desks in front of the walls. We were able to do our usual, Fran gets a curbside agent to check our bags and take them, I flash my ID at them to prove I’m me and then I take off to park the car while she finishes. My trip to Lot C was uneventful and soon I was back to join her and we headed to our gate. Because of the construction the place we got a snack at in August was gone as well. I ended up at the Coffee Bean and Tea leaf, where I got an Americano, an everything bagel, lemon loaf and an almond croissant for Fran. Sorry no pics! She got us water, diet coke, Milano cookies and a Honey Bun from one of the stores.

I held our place in the boarding area and she went to gate check her scooter, then when she got back I went to gate check mine. We were both so comatose from the lack of sleep and running around neither of us really remembers much about boarding or the flight. In fact I didn’t even use the Noise Cancelling headphones that we went all over town to pick up at Best Buy on Tuesday while the kittens were getting their shots and such.

It turns out that we must have sat on the Tarmac for over an hour or so because partway into the flight they made an announcement that they would be holding the flights in Houston (where we changed planes) for both Belize and Orlando. I was amazed that they held the plane over an hour and by the time we got off the first plane they were boarding our connecting flight.

Fran had a wheelchair waiting and I took both of our carry on bags and power walked. The guy with her wheelchair was slow and kept trying to look at my boarding pass to find the gate number and finally I grabbed it from him and said, “we don’t have time for this we have to go!” And I walked as fast as I could to the gate. Of course it was pretty much as far from the first gate as it could be. They were on boarding group C and both Fran and I had “preboarding” so I ran on the plane in front of the other folks and looked for any combination of two seats for her and a ‘one seat’ for me. I found that at row 24 and tried to get her attention when she boarded the plane, but evidently they had saved her seats in the second row. I noticed that two seats had been turned “upside down” in the second row when I boarded and thought, “how stupid is that? It’s a full flight and they have two seats that can’t be used!”

So I sat in row 24 while she sat in row 2. This flight I had THAT baby in the row behind me and before the plane took off I grabbed my noise canceling headphones out of my carry on and listened to my Disney mix playlist that I had downloaded from Spotify. While it didn’t cancel everything they made it much more pleasant than it would have been. Now if they could have done something about the kicking of my seat that would have been great!

The thing about not sitting with Fran was that I didn’t have easy access to my carry on where our food was placed. When we had three seats together, I placed it under the middle seat and it was really easy to get to. For the first flight I had brought Cheerios in a cup, but they didn’t have milk on board so there went second breakfast. I had made three Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches, and Fran didn't want hers on the last flight. Now they were up in the overhead bin in my carry on, so I starved and drank water. Peanuts and pretzels were not appealing.

When we got off the plane there was a whole ‘nother situation to deal with. When I finally got off the plane (remember row 24?) my scooter was waiting at the airplane door. We waited a while for Fran’s scooter and it didn’t come up, so I went up top to see if they were bringing it that way.

Nope.

It turns out the gate agent in LA booked it through to Houston. The flight crew only remembered waiting for one scooter before we left Houston. So now we had to go to the claims office in Baggage Claim on the opposite side of the airport as Magical Express. We hopped on the “Fake O’ Rail” just as the sun was setting.

When we got to the claims office, it turns out that the folks at the Houston Airport had contacted the folks in Orlando and planned to send the scooter on the next flight. They promised that they would deliver it to the resort as soon as they could. So we made the trek over to the DME side of the airport to find a HUGE line. It turns out that the MB scanner was down, and they were working with paper confirmations that were handwritten with paper and a pen! The line took forever, but two families before us the scanner came back on line and things immediately picked up, we were directed to a line and were on the bus fairly shortly. I don't have any times because my phone was at 12% and I didn't have any portable chargers. I do know we arrived on Disney property at 8PM because I got a “welcome” text from the mysterious Michael of fame from @Flossbolna’s TRs. We would be meeting up later on during the trip.

Sorry about the blurry picture, it was dark and the bus was moving, so hard to photograph with the point and shoot.

When we arrived at SSR, we told them about the scooter and how it would arrive late. They took us to the room with our groceries and Owner's Locker. I got to ride on a golf cart which was nice as I was tired. Our room was in one of the closest buildings to the lobby, but I was really tired and didn't want to walk that far. It was fairly cold out. I had packed my overshirt in the suitcase as I didn’t want to risk losing it on the plane. I was a little surprised at how cold it was, because I was expecting very warm weather like high 80s in the daytime and not even below 60 at night. The overshirt was the only "jacket" I had packed.

We were placed in the Grandstand section which was not my first choice of location. It's the farthest spot from Disney Springs other than the treehouses, but at least it's the first stop on the bus pick up route when going to the parks. It turned out to be a good thing as we always were able to get on the bus, something that might not have been the case if we were on the 4th or 5th stop for the busses. However it did become tedious to have to ride through the entire resort every time that we went somewhere. The trip to pick up all the passengers sometimes took as long as 20 minutes before we even left the resort.

But back to our room, here it is before we trashed it.

The bathroom, and my wonderful tub!

And our comfy bedroom

In the room, I unpacked food and stuff and it wasn’t until 11PM that our suitcases arrived. This was an annoyance because the spaghetti and sauce were in there. We did eat some of the Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches while we were waiting, but I really wanted hot pasta, so I only ate half of a sandwich and saved my appetite for the dinner.

In the meantime I tried to clean the tub (run bleach water through the jets to ensure nothing gross was caught in the pipes) and the jets didn’t work, called maintenance. Fran decided to lay down for a nap at this time. Maintenance came and fixed the tub before our luggage arrived. For anyone familiar with older jacuzzi technology, the tubs use the air switch to start the jets. I'm not sure if it got water in the tube or what, but he was using the blow dryer to fix it. He was all done before there was any sign of our luggage. In the meantime, I got our groceries unpacked and the kitchen ready for use.

In fact I called down to Bell Services at 10PM and they confirmed that yes our luggage was at the resort, but not yet out for delivery. As I said above it wasn't until 11PM that they arrived. I had the water boiling on the stove, and immediately started dinner.

We gave up on the caesar salad, but ate spaghetti, and I had some of the texas toast.

Meanwhile I wrote up what happened on this first day and then finally crawled into the tub before going to bed.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Sounds like a rough long first day!

Did you guys not get a wheelchair assessable room this time?

Glad you made it though despite all the travel issues. It was nice of them to hold the play in Houston and saving Fran two seats near the front.

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a rough long first day!

It was, but not actually really as long as our day home, but that was left eventful. I was only up for 17 to 18 hours on this day.

Did you guys not get a wheelchair assessable room this time?

We were lucky to get anything for 8 nights at four months and three weeks out!

Glad you made it though despite all the travel issues. It was nice of them to hold the play in Houston and saving Fran two seats near the front.

I'm going to guess that almost one third of the plane was on the flight from LA because a lot more people boarded after I did.

 

[Steppesister]

You're part of the reason I put it up so quick. I wanted to give you a chance to sub in so when you get back you'll have lots to catch up on!

Aww, I love the tender ways you think of me. I feel so spethal.

Oh.

Great. LOL!

I'm actually catching up one last time before I go dark until beginning of Dec. Catching up after that sounds like a completely hopeless and daunting task.

Just kidding! Not sure how much updating I'll be doing while you're gone. The parental units are coming down for thanksgiving and the kittens have done a great job of stinking up the house, so lots to clean!

Well, if ^^ is any indication of "not updating much", I'm in deep doo.

But, maybe your folks will keep you busy and me out of catching up trouble!

Since I won't see you (or anyone else) for Thanksgiving, have a VERY nice one!! Er.... after you clean up for it!

 

[Steppesister]

I ended up at the Coffee Bean and Tea leaf, where I got an Americano, an everything bagel, lemon loaf and an almond croissant for Fran. Sorry no pics! She got us water, diet coke, Milano cookies and a Honey Bun from one of the stores.

Holy carbs and sugar! Girlfriend, you better get some protein in you STAT!

I was amazed that they held the plane over an hour and by the time we got off the first plane they were boarding our connecting flight.

Been there and done that. Sucks every time.

And I walked as fast as I could to the gate. Of course it was pretty much as far from the first gate as it could be.

]

Well duh. This is Airport Law.

Now if they could have done something about the kicking of my seat that would have been great!

I've been THAT mom. Tough on the parents too.

I had made three Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches, and Fran didn't want hers on the last flight. Now they were up in the overhead bin in my carry on

D'oh!

It turns out the gate agent in LA booked it through to Houston.

What the WHAT!?

It turns out that the MB scanner was down, and they were working with paper confirmations that were handwritten with paper and a pen!

Meanwhile, back in the Prehistoric Era....

We would be meeting up later on during the trip.

HUZZAH for Magdalene and Michael!

We did eat some of the Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches while we were waiting,

Plan B FTW!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Wow! I can't believe they mucked up on the scooter like that!

The room looks really nice. There is no way I could have waited that long to make dinner; I would have given up long before!

 

[ACDSNY]

Wow, long day! On our first day I just keep telling myself it's really only 8PM at home when I'm looking at the clock that saying it's 11PM. No it doesn't usually work for me either. Lol

 

[pkondz]

Maybe. Maybe not. You'll just have to read along as the story unfolds.

I love a good mystery.

Well I did come back feeling somewhat better, at least I don't feel the weight on my shoulders like I did before I left.

Good.

I didn't say anything anywhere online. Those whole two weeks before we left were just insanity. I felt like I was just going blindly from task to task with no control of events. Her red blood cell count had dropped to 7% and 20% was where it had to be before they let her come home.

Aw, shucks Alison. That's what we're here for ya know.
Can't offer you physical support, but moral support never hurts.

Now we just need to fix the other six cars....

Sell one, use the cash to fix the other five?

No... I guess not, because eventually you get to "Sell one to fix the other one." And then what do you do?

That's why people were waiting for hours to get them. We lucked out.

Nice!

It happens all the time in parts of Southern California, just not normally in Long Beach.

<rethinking decision to come to Cali in April.... tickets all bought.... guess I'm committed... or need to be...>

A day in the life of a crazy cat lady.

Nope. You're not. Even pkondz did it once.

Once!

When we used to cart her father around, we had his plaque in our car. We went to WDW two weeks after he died (trip had been planned 11 months in advance). I accidently put his plaque up in the window when I parked the car. They ticketed us for using a plaquard of a deceased person. Fran's plaque was on the dashboard in plain view.

 

[pkondz]

We woke up at 5AM or was it 4:15?

Do I hear a "3:45"?

there wasn’t time to drive through McDonald’s

You know you're running late when there isn't time to stop for an Egg McMuffin

We were able to do our usual, Fran gets a curbside agent to check our bags and take them, I flash my ID at them to prove I’m me and then I take off to park the car while she finishes.

Like a well oiled machine.

an almond croissant for Fran.

I must be tired.
I read that as "an almost croissant". What the heck is an "almost croissant"??

We were both so comatose from the lack of sleep and running around neither of us really remembers much about boarding or the flight.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you did in fact board and take the flight.

In fact I didn’t even use the Noise Cancelling headphones that we went all over town to pick up at Best Buy on Tuesday while the kittens were getting their shots and such.

I see what you wrote later on... I bought those (not the most expensive (Bose?) ones mind you) and returned them when I got back. Wasn't impressed.

I was amazed that they held the plane over an hour and by the time we got off the first plane they were boarding our connecting flight.

Must've had more people to wait for to make it worth their while.

Their while. Not yours.

The guy with her wheelchair was slow and kept trying to look at my boarding pass to find the gate number and finally I grabbed it from him and said, “we don’t have time for this we have to go!”

All right Alison! You go girl!

Of course it was pretty much as far from the first gate as it could be

This is a truism.
Although... I have had it happen once where the gate I exited was adjacent to the gate I needed to board on.

evidently they had saved her seats in the second row. I noticed that two seats had been turned “upside down” in the second row when I boarded and thought, “how stupid is that? It’s a full flight and they have two seats that can’t be used!”

Yeah! How stupid!

So I sat in row 24 while she sat in row 2.

Well... that sucks.

This flight I had THAT baby in the row behind me

A cute on? The baby was super cute?

I grabbed my noise canceling headphones out of my carry on and listened to my Disney mix playlist that I had downloaded from Spotify. While it didn’t cancel everything they made it much more pleasant than it would have been.

Ah! See I didn't do that. I didn't listen to music. I just put on the "cancel" feature.

Now if they could have done something about the kicking of my seat that would have been great!

Okay, now that I cannot stand.

but they didn’t have milk on board

Odd. Really?

I had made three Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches, and Fran didn't want hers on the last flight. Now they were up in the overhead bin in my carry on, so I starved and drank water.

That bites.


er... or, doesn't, rather.

It turns out the gate agent in LA booked it through to Houston. The flight crew only remembered waiting for one scooter before we left Houston. So now we had to go to the claims office in Baggage Claim on the opposite side of the airport as Magical Express.

:headache

When we got to the claims office, it turns out that the folks at the Houston Airport had contacted the folks in Orlando and planned to send the scooter on the next flight. They promised that they would deliver it to the resort as soon as they could.

Great. Meanwhile... you walk.

they were working with paper confirmations that were handwritten with paper and a pen!

Old school. Just like they did it back in the day.

Sorry about the blurry picture, it was dark and the bus was moving, so hard to photograph with the point and shoot.

Still counts!

I was a little surprised at how cold it was, because I was expecting very warm weather like high 80s in the daytime and not even below 60 at night.

So what was it? Down in the 50s? Colder???

The trip to pick up all the passengers sometimes took as long as 20 minutes before we even left the resort.

That's forever!

But back to our room, here it is before we trashed it.

Nice digs!

Not accessible? Don't you usually try to get that?

In the meantime I tried to clean the tub (run bleach water through the jets to ensure nothing gross was caught in the pipes)

I never would have thought of that! How do you do that? I thought the tub had to be filled to run the jets... and you didn't have tons of bleach with you I wouldn't think?

and the jets didn’t work, called maintenance

moot point, then.

V8.... ever get up the nerve to try the Clamato?

 

[afwdwfan]

Because of the construction the place we got a snack at in August was gone as well.

Man... can't catch a break to get breakfast! At least you found something that worked eventually.

It turns out that we must have sat on the Tarmac for over an hour or so because partway into the flight they made an announcement that they would be holding the flights in Houston (where we changed planes) for both Belize and Orlando. I was amazed that they held the plane over an hour and by the time we got off the first plane they were boarding our connecting flight.

That stinks. Sitting on the tarmac is never fun. At least you didn't miss your connection.

They were on boarding group C and both Fran and I had “preboarding” so I ran on the plane in front of the other folks and looked for any combination of two seats for her and a ‘one seat’ for me. I found that at row 24 and tried to get her attention when she boarded the plane, but evidently they had saved her seats in the second row. I noticed that two seats had been turned “upside down” in the second row when I boarded and thought, “how stupid is that? It’s a full flight and they have two seats that can’t be used!”

Well, that's actually surprisingly good service that they had the foresight to reserve seats.

When we got off the plane there was a whole ‘nother situation to deal with. When I finally got off the plane (remember row 24?) my scooter was waiting at the airplane door. We waited a while for Fran’s scooter and it didn’t come up, so I went up top to see if they were bringing it that way.

Nope.

It turns out the gate agent in LA booked it through to Houston. The flight crew only remembered waiting for one scooter before we left Houston. So now we had to go to the claims office in Baggage Claim on the opposite side of the airport as Magical Express. We hopped on the “Fake O’ Rail” just as the sun was setting.

Oh man... brutal.

It turns out that the MB scanner was down, and they were working with paper confirmations that were handwritten with paper and a pen! The line took forever, but two families before us the scanner came back on line and things immediately picked up, we were directed to a line and were on the bus fairly shortly.

That's the downside to this whole MagicBand thing. They're great when the technology works. When it doesn't, total cluster @$#&.

Somebody clearly doesn't appreciate the fact that Disney World only has Coke products...

 

[franandaj]

Aww, I love the tender ways you think of me. I feel so spethal.

Oh.

Great. LOL!

I'm actually catching up one last time before I go dark until beginning of Dec. Catching up after that sounds like a completely hopeless and daunting task.

You're going to be gone for a while. Catching up on everything will be a daunting task!

Well, if ^^ is any indication of "not updating much", I'm in deep doo.

No that was a fast update. All the rest will be slower. I just wanted to get to travel day quickly.

But, maybe your folks will keep you busy and me out of catching up trouble!

They arrive in two weeks so yeah, that's quite a few days to stay busy. Then again they're fairly self service. They make their own breakfasts, read the paper and do crossword puzzles all morning....

Since I won't see you (or anyone else) for Thanksgiving, have a VERY nice one!! Er.... after you clean up for it!

Two weeks and counting!

Holy carbs and sugar! Girlfriend, you better get some protein in you STAT!

Well there was cream cheese on the bagel! She ended up eating the Honey Bun in the room, and the Milano cookies lasted until the last night of the trip.

Been there and done that. Sucks every time.

Well duh. This is Airport Law.

Thankfully we broke it on the way home!

I've been THAT mom. Tough on the parents too.

I imagine so. All I can say is we really missed flying First Class on American!

What the WHAT!?

Yeah, we said something a little harsher when we noticed her gate check tag said Houston. ...

Meanwhile, back in the Prehistoric Era....

Tell me about it!

HUZZAH for Magdalene and Michael!

I wish we could have seen more of them, but they had a very full social calendar!

Plan B FTW!

Sometimes we ended up with Plan C.

 

[Pinkocto]

I’m having anxiety reading about this travel day and I already knew the story Not much more could have gone wrong....

On one of our trips to OKW we arrived late and it took ages for them to deliver the bags. Of course I hadn’t thought to keep our pajamas in the carryon or I would have waited for them to be delivered in the morning.

I had to laugh when you took charge with the wheelchair person. Times a wastin!