the Legend
Master of Attractions and TourGuide Hopeful!
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2001
- Messages
- 347
The Legend returns: Day 1 - Welcome to the Wilderness Lodge! The Cast of 'The Little Mermaid'!
Rob aka the Legend as King Triton - Thats me. 36 year old Systems Analyst playing the overbearing Guide, Protector, Financier and Big Brother.
Lance as Ariel - My 30 year old Brother in his role as a misguided Youth with his head in the Clouds. This is his first time to WDW. Summary for Friday 20 September.- Morning - Rest in.
- Afternoon/Evening - Travel day to Orlando
- Evening - Check-in to the Wilderness Lodge Concierge.
How to have a mild Coronary!Yippee! We were in the air and on the start of our 25-hour journey to Orlando. The first leg was a one hour domestic flight to Auckland from our home town, Wellington. Although Wellington is the Capital of New Zealand, Auckland is our largest City and almost all international traffic comes through here. While waiting for our connecting flight to LA, we did some duty free shopping. I picked out a Wellington Hurricanes Rugby Jersey (our local team) and went to buy it on my fully loaded Amex. After a bit of a wait, there seemed to be a problem, "I'm sorry. Your Card has been declined with a message 'Refer to Issuer'"
With 30 minutes to boarding, these were not the words I wanted to hear. Well, I used another card to pay for the jersey (I really wanted that Jersey!) and made haste to a phone.Imagine if you will, its 5:30pm on a Friday afternoon, there's roughly 30 minutes to boarding and I have a problem with my Amex (on which one third of my spending is dependent!). Unlike Amex else where, the New Zealand Office does not work over the weekend, so for me, its now or never! Its times like this, I'm glad I paid a lot of the bills in advance!
Anyway I rang Amex and I'm talking to the Amex guy, who needs to talk to his Superior and he puts me on hold; ... a minute passes, still on hold ... two minutes turns into five, still on hold ... five into ten ... "Now boarding NZ1 to Los Angeles" ... Where is this Guy? You could imagine its full panic stations as I get to hear our boarding call another two times before he finally returns. As it turns out, the computer had regurgitated an old card account I used to have and charged me a membership fee, which I duly informed them about earlier and ignored paying. Seems someone forgot to tell the Computer, so it flagged my current card account. Yeah! 
They informed me that the situation was being addressed and everything will be fine on Monday! WHAT?! ... I took 10 deep breaths and may have made an idle threat or three, got off the phone and ran for the plane! Just got there before they did that, "Paging The Legend ... paging the Passenger known as The Legend ... this is your last call for flight NZ1 to Los Angeles!". You know what I mean, thats where you board and everyone stares as if to say, "Oh! So you're the reason I'm not getting into LA on time, do you know what I couldve done in that 2 minutes and 45 seconds you just cost me?". Thank Goodness for Business class, I only had one row of seats to pass and did not have to suffer the stares of Economy.
We were looking forward to Business class and were not disappointed. The food was much better than cattle class (sorry, Economy) and having several movies to choose from, would definitely help pass the 12 hours to LA. Overall the flight to LA was uneventful and the connecting flight to Orlando was delayed. However, we still got into MCO at our scheduled time of 10pm. 
The Amex and National Guys come through!Because of the credit card problems, I decided to forego Emerald Aisle and go to the counter. If there was going to be problems, I find it best to resolve them face-to-face. Luckily for us there was no line, in fact there was no one except me and the two National Guys. The terminal was so empty, I could've used it as a Driving range. I approached the counter and explained the situation with my credit card. He typed up the agreement and sure enough, a message popped up. Without skipping a beat, the Guy was on the phone. Some secret codes were exchanged and the agreement was printed.
The charge was authorised and we had a car! From start to finish, it mustve been 15 minutes tops. Thank you National and Amex Guys!Being the Financier and the Older Brother allows me certain luxuries like not having to retrieve and haul luggage and choosing the music and radio stations we will listen to in the car. Little Brothers are to be seen and not heard so you could imagine the joy that was shown when I let him pick the car we would be spending the next 11 days in. There were some small cars (Grand Am), some Gallants and a lot of American Makes we dont have back in New Zealand. His choice was a Dark Blue Dodge Intrepid with 800 miles on it
A big car for two big boys. With Luggage loaded, we were on our way. Welcome, but not Welcomed, to the Wilderness Lodge!The Wilderness Lodge archway was one of the most welcoming sights we would see this trip. After our 25 hour journey, I was in need of a hot shower and a good nights sleep. Passing security, we made our way up the drive and got our first glimpse of the Lodge. Its silhouette against the clear Florida night sky was awe-inspiring. As we made our way up to the Main doors, we were greeted by Valet/Bell Services. The Bellman was very friendly and quite chatty, which was great after a long day of Airline entertainment and card problems. He took us through the doors into that fantastic Lobby. Now, I have seen many pictures of the Lobby from the ground level and from up on high, but no picture, and I do mean no picture, could ever do the place justice. Words like overwhelmed, amazed or even humbled didn't come close to how I felt at that very moment. Nothing could ever replace the feeling of just being there. Best of all, we had it all to ourselves. Not a creature was stirring. Not even a Mickey.
Lance reminded me that we should check in, so we made our way to the counter. Its 11:30pm and no one was around so we ring the bell a few times. Out of the back room comes our CM, who is less than enthusiastic and showing us an attitude like we had inconvenienced her. To save possible embarrassment or the fact that this couldve have been a one-time thing, I wont mention names. However she starts by rattling off the Check-in/Welcome spiel like a Warden doing Roll Call. Maybe it was me? 25 hours of flying and driving does take its toll on your senses. Having read through the Wilderness Lodge FAQ and the legacy of 999Ghosts (We are forever in your debt), I asked for an upgrade to Concierge. The 4 night Upgrade was ours for the princely sum of $133.20. And then there was the question of room charging. Do I dare push the envelope and try to get charging placed on my Amex? No, we had tempted fate so far. Let us wait for Monday and see what success that brings. Our Check-in CM showed us to the elevators and demonstrated how the room keys got us to the 7th floor via the card reader (we'd have great fun with the 'Regular' Guests in the elevators during our stay but more on that later). Bell Services showed us to the room (7054 in the north wing of the Lodge) and we started packing things away.
Feeling peckish, we made our way down to Roaring Fork, the Wilderness Lodge Counter Service restaurant. They were winding down for the night but we managed to get some orders in for some Pizzas take out. I got to admit they were the greasiest, cheesiest pizzas we ever tasted. Just the thing we needed after a day of airline food. With the Juice and Coffee, they hit the spot just right! Lance jumped in the shower while I took photos of the room (Am I the only one who does this?). I went outside to check the balcony view. You could see clearly across to Space Mountain and I immediately thought that this would be one hell of a spot to watch Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks! Maybe our CM wasnt so bad after all! Although the reception may not have been the most cheery, I was very impressed and overwhelmed by our initial introduction to the Wilderness Lodge. It had easily climbed into my #1 spot. I was glad we had finally made it but there was more to come and it would only get better. Had a Shower and thought happy thoughts as I fell asleep to the Disney Tour Channel around 3am (an old habit I picked up from last years trip). All in all, Friday September 20 was the longest day ever but I was glad we were finally here. Luckily, I had scheduled an easy day for us tomorrow, so we could sleep in to our hearts content.
The Legend ratings for Friday 20 September
Arriving at the Wilderness Lodge.
The Concierge Upgrade, Our National rental car.
Our Flights to Orlando.
Flying Business class to Los Angeles. The attitude of our Check-in CM. Credit card problems.What next for our weary-eyed Travellers? Check it out in our instalment 'The Legend returns: Day 2 - Finding our feet and the Magic Kingdom!'
