Trip Report C'mon Pop Pop!

We got back recently from another quick trip to the world and I thought I would share our adventures with you all!

Back story is my husband Gary who usually has to be dragged to Disney had been saying for a few weeks, "we need to get a Disney trip together."
My response was, where's Gary and what did you do with him?! 🤣

Gary hasn't been feeling too well and our daughter Aleisha decided to bring herself and our oldest grandbaby, Una to where we live, near Pittsburgh to visit. The youngest granddaughter was in the process of sleep training and they didn't want to throw the time change into the mix. I told Aleisha she could explain to Lana when she asks as a teen why she wasn't on the trip!!
Seth our son who lives in Orlando now (see recent TR about his Orlando move if interested), was going to fly up to see all of the family.
I got a crazy idea and asked these 2 what they would think about doing a run to Disney while Aleisha and Una were on the east coast. They live in Sacramento.

They thought it was a great idea and in one weeks time we pulled together a mini trip in the middle of the big one. Seth ended up staying in Orlando to meet us there and to be our chauffeur.

Aleisha and Una flew to Pittsburgh on Wed. the 6th and then we all flew to Orlando on Sat. the 9th. to meet up with Seth. Seth's partner Jake met up with us the next day as he is a CP CM and had to work on the first day. We then flew home Tues. the 12th.

Who all partied:
Gary, Me Cindy, Seth, Jake, Aleisha and Una.
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While I have sympathy it annoys me when people complain about the heat in Florida. You kind of know this going in.
BUT, it was freakin hot as the surface of the sun! Who knew a human body could actually melt, Olaf style?!
I say that to explain the red melted look we all have in the pic, at 10 am! This was actually our last day at MK.

Anyway, to continue with the particulars, we stayed for 2 nights club level at the Contemporary and then 1 night at Baylake. We have DVC but I could only get one night using points. Club level was insanely wonderful but I did feel a little ill at the price tag.🤢

Follow along if you want to read about Una dragging Gary all around Disney. C'mon Pop Pop!!🥰
 
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MickeyCB

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ARRIVAL DAY-WE FLY!

To start our journey we headed for the airport at around 6:30 am. We had a 9 am flight but with the kid, Gary needing a wheelchair etc., we tried to give ourselves a little extra time.
I didn't cheap out this time, after I dropped them at curbside I found a place to park that you could actually see the terminal from.
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Got to the terminal pretty quickly but Gary had some issues and needed to use the facilities and that set us behind. We got to the gate with about 20 minutes to spare. Thank goodness for TSA preck, love that!!
We were flying SW and had bought early bird. We paid to be B36 etc. Seriously?
But, because Gary's gait is pretty unstable at this point we required assistance so boarded fairly early and Aleisha and Una boarded with families, so it all worked out.

Everyone all loaded up and ready to go!
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Didn't take miss muffin too long to fall asleep after we took off.

When we landed in Orlando they had lost Gary's cheap little wheelchair I had bought him. They initially started to take it to baggage claim then when I was standing there at the entrance to the plane all by myself, all of the 85 strollers picked up, someone realized and retrieved it for me.
We then made our way to baggage claim without incident and Seth was actually waiting for us to call from baggage claim because he lives less than 15 minutes from the airport.
We stopped at his apartment on the way to Disney so Aleisha and Gary could see his digs, it's a very nice place.

Then in no time we were seeing the most wonderful of sights!
I wasn't paying attention and Seth yelled, mom look! He knew I would be disappointed to not see this.
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A few minutes later we were pulling into the Contemporary. We've actually never stayed here before, just the Baylake side.
My friend who is a Disney travel agent booked the 2 nights for us and told me how excited I would be. That someone would greet us and make all kinds of fuss over us. At the time of this trip it was also 2 weeks till our 40th wedding anniversary, she assured me she would make a note of this. I was excited about this for Gary and the kids.

We pulled up and we roll out of my sons Jeep Renegade looking like a clown show. 5 humans, lots of luggage, strollers, wheelchair, etc.
A kid saunters over, "do you guys need any help?" Ummm yes, actually we do. He finds a cart. I ask where we check in, "oh just got in there, they'll help you".)
No fanfare yet.

The kids went over to a seating area where I think they had cartoons on, while I went to the desk.
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Initially the lady there was not going to let us access the club level till we got a room. At this point I said that isn't what we were told and I would like to get my husband settled and into a more comfortable chair.

Those of you that have followed our trips before know Gary has cancer. It has spread quite a bit and he developed several fractures in his spine. On Wednesday, the day Aleisha came home to Pittsburgh he had a procedure on 2 vertebrae, called a kyphoplasty. The surgeon said, heck yeah he can fly on Saturday (and was asking us for Disney advice!) 🤣 So here we are. But, with that said needs a comfy/supportive back on a chair when possible.

They let us up stairs, it was the 14th floor I think. You have to access it with a magic band or card.
Just as we were entering the lounge area we got notification that our room was ready. This was around 2 pm which was very nice.

Here are some lounge area photos. They are actually a mix of arrival day and another day.
Depending on the time of day there is a variety of offerings. A lot of finger foods, but also nice enough that you could make a light meal with them.
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View from the club lounge patio.
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After the kids checked out the lounge we headed down the hall to our room. It was truly awesome (with a few quirks!)
Room photos up next.
 
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riverside

riverside

Well-Known Member
MickeyCB said:
I didn't cheap out this time, after I dropped them at curbside I found a place to park that you could actually see the terminal from.
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I did that once(parked right by the Hyatt bc we stayed there the night before a super early flight-the time when J puked 🤮 in the airport before we boarded) thinking I got a discount bc we stayed there.😔
I wish I would have cheaped out. If I remember right it was close to 160.00 for the week!!
 
MickeyCB

MickeyCB

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
riverside said:
I did that once(parked right by the Hyatt bc we stayed there the night before a super early flight-the time when J puked 🤮 in the airport before we boarded) thinking I got a discount bc we stayed there.😔
I wish I would have cheaped out. If I remember right it was close to 160.00 for the week!!
Click to expand...
I think I parked long term and interestingly that spot I'm in there is almost directly across from the entrance to the hotel. It was $80 for 4 days.
 

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