yoopermom
Come join Bravo by the fire...
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2000
Cast:
Me, Terri the Yoopermom, turned 35 during the trip, trip planning fanatic
Yooperdad, 39, would rather be in a national park than a theme park
Yooperson, 7, thrill seeker and animal lover extraordinaire
(and joining us later )
DM, who loves WDW, but hates to fly (WDW wins out, I promise)
DSF (whose age enabled us to get a great rate at HIFS)
Day One: December 26, Travel Day
The day got off to an ominous start when my new (2K out of warranty) Ford Focus had to be taken into the local Ford dealership. (It ended up needing a whole new transmission, hows that for a Merry Christmas!) I frantically rushed around doing all those last-minute things before we left for the Milwaukee airport. Arrived by 2 pm for our 4 pm Delta flight. Security line was pretty decent and moved right along. (The Midwest Express line was terribly long, though, which I noted for DM and DSF who would be flying ME in a few days.) The flight was very full, but no problems. Arrived in Cincinnati to find our connecting flight terribly late (coming in from CO) and overbooked. They were offering a $750 credit voucher each for people willing to take a bump, but I couldnt talk DH into it (not a pretty scene, temporarily). Despite Deltas website saying that you could take on one carry-on AND one personal item, it was announced that a purse would count as a carry-on for this flight only. I really did not think this was right, but, luckily, DH had nothing with him, so he took my carry-on and I took my purse.
Got into Orlando without further incident by about 10:15 p.m., picked up luggage, and made our way to Nationals Emerald Aisle. I had been so proud of myself for learning all about this from this website, and felt that I had gotten a good price ($188/10 days over the holiday season). We were aghast to find nothing on the aisle except six convertibles and four tiny 2-door sports cars. At least three other families were standing around with similar looks on their faces! There were absolutely no National employees anywhere in sight, and DS was approaching meltdown, so we grabbed a Mitsubshi-tiny-car and left, very disgruntled.
I had printed out explicit directions from AAAs website, because I am very directionally challenged, especially in big cities. The signage was fairly good, though, from the airport to the Hard Rock Hotel, so we found ourselves valet-parking by about 11 p.m. I cannot say enough about how nice all the employees were at the HRH. Were more Holiday Inn-type people, and had never stayed in a four-star before, so we were very impressed by the service overall. I had booked (and prepaid) through hoteldiscounts.com, and had called to check on the reservation three days before. Check-in went smoothly. She did ask if I wished to leave a credit card number with her so that we could access the bar in the room, use the room phone, etc, and I declined (I knew those $10 gummy bears would be too great of a temptation for DS). My greatest fear, knowing that this was the holiday season and that many hotels deliberately overbooked, was that we would get bumped since we were checking in so late. Instead, she said, I see youd like nonsmoking near an elevator [I have a chronic spinal condition that makes walking difficult], the ONLY nonsmoking room I have left is a handicapped room right down the hall, it has two beds, but has a roll-in shower, would that be okay? At that point the couch in the lobby was looking good, so I gladly agreed.
Terrance took our luggage and us to our room, which turned out to be, literally, six doors down from the gift shop, and four away from the elevators! We could not have been closer to everything if we tried. DS had on his GB Packer shirt, and Terrance teased him a little since Terrance was originally from Michigan. After showing us the room, he made Duncan promise to stay up for a few minutes, because he had a surprise for him. Within five minutes, Terrance was back with a gift pack for Duncan that included a blow-up guitar, hackysack, visor, sunglasses, etc. It was such a thoughtful thing for him to do! We all fell into bed exhausted, just glad to be there.
Me, Terri the Yoopermom, turned 35 during the trip, trip planning fanatic
Yooperdad, 39, would rather be in a national park than a theme park
Yooperson, 7, thrill seeker and animal lover extraordinaire
(and joining us later )
DM, who loves WDW, but hates to fly (WDW wins out, I promise)
DSF (whose age enabled us to get a great rate at HIFS)
Day One: December 26, Travel Day
The day got off to an ominous start when my new (2K out of warranty) Ford Focus had to be taken into the local Ford dealership. (It ended up needing a whole new transmission, hows that for a Merry Christmas!) I frantically rushed around doing all those last-minute things before we left for the Milwaukee airport. Arrived by 2 pm for our 4 pm Delta flight. Security line was pretty decent and moved right along. (The Midwest Express line was terribly long, though, which I noted for DM and DSF who would be flying ME in a few days.) The flight was very full, but no problems. Arrived in Cincinnati to find our connecting flight terribly late (coming in from CO) and overbooked. They were offering a $750 credit voucher each for people willing to take a bump, but I couldnt talk DH into it (not a pretty scene, temporarily). Despite Deltas website saying that you could take on one carry-on AND one personal item, it was announced that a purse would count as a carry-on for this flight only. I really did not think this was right, but, luckily, DH had nothing with him, so he took my carry-on and I took my purse.
Got into Orlando without further incident by about 10:15 p.m., picked up luggage, and made our way to Nationals Emerald Aisle. I had been so proud of myself for learning all about this from this website, and felt that I had gotten a good price ($188/10 days over the holiday season). We were aghast to find nothing on the aisle except six convertibles and four tiny 2-door sports cars. At least three other families were standing around with similar looks on their faces! There were absolutely no National employees anywhere in sight, and DS was approaching meltdown, so we grabbed a Mitsubshi-tiny-car and left, very disgruntled.
I had printed out explicit directions from AAAs website, because I am very directionally challenged, especially in big cities. The signage was fairly good, though, from the airport to the Hard Rock Hotel, so we found ourselves valet-parking by about 11 p.m. I cannot say enough about how nice all the employees were at the HRH. Were more Holiday Inn-type people, and had never stayed in a four-star before, so we were very impressed by the service overall. I had booked (and prepaid) through hoteldiscounts.com, and had called to check on the reservation three days before. Check-in went smoothly. She did ask if I wished to leave a credit card number with her so that we could access the bar in the room, use the room phone, etc, and I declined (I knew those $10 gummy bears would be too great of a temptation for DS). My greatest fear, knowing that this was the holiday season and that many hotels deliberately overbooked, was that we would get bumped since we were checking in so late. Instead, she said, I see youd like nonsmoking near an elevator [I have a chronic spinal condition that makes walking difficult], the ONLY nonsmoking room I have left is a handicapped room right down the hall, it has two beds, but has a roll-in shower, would that be okay? At that point the couch in the lobby was looking good, so I gladly agreed.
Terrance took our luggage and us to our room, which turned out to be, literally, six doors down from the gift shop, and four away from the elevators! We could not have been closer to everything if we tried. DS had on his GB Packer shirt, and Terrance teased him a little since Terrance was originally from Michigan. After showing us the room, he made Duncan promise to stay up for a few minutes, because he had a surprise for him. Within five minutes, Terrance was back with a gift pack for Duncan that included a blow-up guitar, hackysack, visor, sunglasses, etc. It was such a thoughtful thing for him to do! We all fell into bed exhausted, just glad to be there.
