Trip Report 1,001 Happy(-ish) Haunts

Hello, forum! This is the trip to which I alluded to (much more optimistically) here.

Refresher! This is a father-daughter trip gifted to me for my 24th birthday--which was nearly a month ago. I am in law school and life got in the way for me a little bit, so the trip had to be delayed until my evidence midterm was studied for and completed.

The parties involved: Daddy-O, a hard-working member of the bar who got something resembling a vacation--he did eat his weight in soft-serve, though, so I think he's satisfied--and me. (24, grad student, perpetually dissatisfied and cynical, deflated from the work load, etc.)

Dates: Oct. 31-Nov. 3 (which, you will note, is today - I am currently cooling my flaming heels at MCO before my return flight). No park day on 10/31; MK + MNSSHP on 11/1; AK on 11/2; and MGM (you will never get me to call it anything else!) on 11/3.

Other specifics: Accommodations at WDW Dolphin; dinner at Be Our Guest on 11/1, lunch at Tusker House on 11/2, and lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby on 11/3; dodging runners (brave souls!); and all the crowd calendars were liars.

So...

422882


Is everybody ready??!?!?
 
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chimchimcheree

chimchimcheree

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
10/31: Winter Weather, Windy Weather

Or, really, 10/30. I received a text notification while re-watching Pinocchio for the first time in 18 years that my flight had been cancelled. Not delayed, cancelled. My heart stopped--what?? An interference with my vacation? Google search confirmed my worst fear: a winter storm was passing through and Midway was going to get pounded. Luckily, I was able to rebook for a 9:35 a.m. flight. Even more luckily, the only shuttle bus I was able to catch from school was at 4:58 a.m., so your girl was not going to have to get up and drive to Chicago-Midway. That may have been enough to keep me at home. (Not really.)

Now: 10/31. 3:20 a.m. I am awake. I do not need to be awake. But I am awake, staring at my ceiling. I have awoken too many times in the night, jolting upright and checking my phone, paranoid that my flight would have been cancelled again or I slept through my alarm or all flights out of Midway were cancelled on 10/31. Appropriate enough for Halloween, I guess. I toss and turn fitfully until:

4:00 a.m. I am up. I am in the shower. I am dressing not warmly enough for the weather outside and too warmly for my destination, but I am tired, I have had no coffee, and I am nervous about getting out on time.

4:43 a.m. My roommate is kind enough to wake up and drive me. She brings her puppy! I am a nervous wreck, and I am not usually a nervous traveler.

4:55 a.m. I'm at the bus stop. It is snowing. I am very cranky--the bus turns out to be a shuttle van, the shuttle driver gives me a lecture on my roommate turning into the one-way to drop me off (we are in a cow-town and there are no buses schedules for another hour), and said shuttle driver is a Colts fan. My patience meter is at 25% and dropping quickly.

8:00 a.m. Arrive at Midway. Wait no time at security. Discover that the main Dunkin' Donuts is under renovation and nearly pitch a hissy fit. (Patience level 17%.) Fortunately!! Coffee next door to the water bottle refill station. I'll take the small victory, especially as the departures board continues to turn redder by the minute.

9:35 a.m. My plane must be de-iced, but we are off! My original booking was a direct flight from MDW to MCO, but now I had to stop in Columbus. (I went to Michigan State. Columbus is enemy territory.)

11:15 a.m. (-ish) I am in Columbus and I am very, very, very pleased to see that my gate is literally next door to the one I just left. Time for more coffee. You know that scene in You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan's character waxes poetic to Tom Hanks's character? "The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee . . . ." Yeah. I drink my coffee black, so after one pink drink, two frappuccinos, three lattes with customized milk and sugar options, and one cappuccino, my flight had begun boarding and I just wanted my grande hot coffee, black as my mood. (Spoiler: I get on the plane, with my coffee. Thank you to the kind man who held my coffee while I hoisted my bag into the overhead; thanks retracted for putting your foot on top of my water bottle lid. That was gross. Did nobody teach you that manspreading is bad?)

3:55 p.m. I am in Orlando. I am planning on waiting for Daddy-O to arrive from ATL, and I haven't eaten all day, so the Chipotle at the terminal and I become acquainted.

4:05 p.m. Dad calls. Bad wind in ATL, so his flight has been delayed again; he doesn't know when it will leave, so he tells me to go to the hotel and check in. Cool. I call the Lyft.

4:30 p.m. I am at the Swolphin, checked in and unpacking. I turned down Mousekeeping in exchange for two $5 vouchers for use at the resort--that got us two huge soft-serve waffle cones the next day. Worth it. I am on property, antsy, and desperate to do something, so I walk to the bus stop and lo and behold! A Disney Springs bus is waiting for me!

What will await me at one of my least favorite places on property? Why is it one of my least favorite places on property?? Does Dad ever make it???? Stay tuned!
 

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