Trip Report Fun With Friends & Family!! Vol. 2-7

As I'm attempting to organize my photos(they're still playing Pulp Fiction tricks on me & for the life of me I can't figure out how to get them back in order) I'm realizing that with the sheer amount of people in this TR it could get awfully confusing. My apologies, in advance. Fortunately though, out of the 18 participants in this TR there are only 6 that you've never met so hopefully it won't be too bad!!

Along with the participants there are a few other confusing factors in this TR. Dates, resorts & flights, naturally!!
As I said to someone the other day while doing a presentation, "I live this therefore it's like second nature to me but I can see where it could be confusing to someone else"(not referring to this trip-I was doing something for work.) I told them that at anytime if it got to be too much of a whirlwind to please stop me & have me clarify things. I invite you to do the same!!

If I haven't scared you away at this point I want to say welcome to you all & hope you enjoy following along!!

WHEN:
In regards to my family:
For me: Tuesday, January 17th(started out as the 19th) - Tuesday, January 24th(was supposed to be the 23rd)
E, J & R: Thursday, January 19th(late) - Tuesday, January 24th(was supposed to be the 23rd)
C, D, A & E: Thursday, January 19th(late) - Sunday, January 22nd
D, S, K & K: Thursday, January 19th(early) - Monday, January 23rd

WHERE:
E, J, R & myself were booked at SSR. I was in charge of booking the room. A few weeks before we left I happened to notice that instead of booking a 1 bedroom villa I somehow only booked a regular room!! Thank goodness I noticed it ahead of time but the bad news was that there were no more 1(or 2) bedroom villas available.

With my tail between my legs I ended up getting us 2 rooms at POR!! It could be worse, right??

C, D, E & A were staying at SSR while D, S, K & K were at Pop Century!!

WHO:
These awesome friends!! Do they really need an introduction??

Then there's these friends!! Who I happened to run into by accident!! Remember my friend, A, that passed in December 2021? I had been going down once a month to see her & would stay at Disney since it was so close to her house. Here's her daughter & husband!! It was so great to see them & spend some time with them!! And it was so strange how I ended up running into them. One of those, IMO, "things that happen for a reason." I'll get into that later!!

We had a surprise, awesome end to our trip by being able to hang out with @Darstarr & Ant!! I was excited for them to be able to meet some of our crew(including Spillsie!!-right @Darstarr!!)

Here's where it's going to get really confusing--the family!! But, you know all of us but 4 so hopefully this won't be too painful!!
Here we go:
D(my youngest sibling, has only been to Disney once as a child & once as an adult, swore up & down he would never go there again, can't stand it there-I'm sure you get my drift. Then he meets his girlfriend & she wants to take her kids to Disney for the first time. Now, here he is!!)
Myself, niece E, nephew J
D's girlfriend S & her son & daughter, K & K(more confusion!!)
Mickey's not part of the family but in a special way he is!!
Sisters C & E(remember last TR when I said it made them sound like nuns!!), BIL D(my sister C's husband & R's cousin-more confusion), niece A & last but not least, R!!

Ok, now here we go!!

Here I was, traveling solo. Originally, I was supposed to fly down Thursday evening with E, J, R, C, D, E & A. But, in talking with a special friend of mine I found out that she was going to be there on Thursday so I changed my plans & flew down Tuesday evening after I got done working so we could spend some time together!!

I went to Primanti's & got a turkey, bacon club sandwich.

Time to leave gloomy Pittsburgh behind!!

Right before I put my phone into airplane mode I found out my room number!!
BTW-the reason it only says 1 guest is b/c initially when I decided to add 2 extra nights on my trip I didn't want to pay for a 1BR at Saratoga just for myself so I decided I would stay at POR for those 2 nights then take the boat down(with my luggage) on checkout morning then finish out the trip at Saratoga. The good news is once the whole stay was switched to POR I didn't have to change rooms after the first 2 nights!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Hey everybody!!
I heard from Darstarr last night. She said to say hello to everyone & that she misses you all!! Also, she will be in Disney at the end of this month if anyone would like to meet up!! Let me know & I can pass the info on to her!!

Please tell her I've been crushed. @DisneyDreamer08 says I Ran is the worst song for Cosmic Rewind... How can it be worse than Conga? I'm devastated. And tell her I miss her sass.

That Three Bridges menu looks delicious. I may have to finally try Coronado.

 

[rshell68]

Hey everybody!!
I heard from Darstarr last night. She said to say hello to everyone & that she misses you all!! Also, she will be in Disney at the end of this month if anyone would like to meet up!! Let me know & I can pass the info on to her!!

Ugh miss her! She was a hoot!!!

 

[riverside]

The food looks great! Since i'm only going be on property for four days, I'm thinking about doing three bridges as my one sit down meal.

You won't be disappointed. The atmosphere is super enjoyable also!!

Please tell her I've been crushed. @DisneyDreamer08 says I Ran is the worst song for Cosmic Rewind... How can it be worse than Conga? I'm devastated. And tell her I miss her sass.

That Three Bridges menu looks delicious. I may have to finally try Coronado.

I'm sending her a screenshot of your comment.
And nothing is worse than Conga!!
I liked it so much I tried it a second time!!

Ugh miss her! She was a hoot!!!

You got that right!!

 

[riverside]

See ya MK!!

We had dinner at Geyser Point.

I forgot to take a picture of the menu but I feel like we almost got one of everything!!

Everything was really good!! After dinner they went to hang out in their cabin. I headed back to Coronado Springs.

I relaxed in the room for awhile. A bit later I headed back to Three Bridges for a snack.

I went with the Braised Pork Tacos. Excellent choice!!

As I was heading back to the room for the night I was able to watch fireworks!!

 

[riverside]

I got to Epcot quite a bit before the rest of the crew. I spent the time taking in Flower & Garden.

Don't worry-we'll be back!!

I walked over to The Boardwalk & enjoyed a breakfast sandwich.

 

[Minnie1986]

See ya MK!!
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We had dinner at Geyser Point.
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I forgot to take a picture of the menu but I feel like we almost got one of everything!!
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Everything was really good!! After dinner they went to hang out in their cabin. I headed back to Coronado Springs.
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I relaxed in the room for awhile. A bit later I headed back to Three Bridges for a snack.
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I went with the Braised Pork Tacos. Excellent choice!!
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As I was heading back to the room for the night I was able to watch fireworks!!
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Such a beautiful view, and those tacos look amazing!

 

[riverside]

We had a boarding group & it was about that time!!

Tradition!!

Then it was time for our lunch reservation.

I had chicken parmesan. I really have no clue why b/c it's not one of my favorites.

A liked her pizza!!

And with that it was time to leave Epcot.

We headed back to our resorts & headed to the airport.

 

[riverside]

Such a beautiful view, and those tacos look amazing!

They were excellent!! It was the perfect view!! I'm really happy I finally stayed at that resort!!

 

[riverside]

If this trip would have had it's own TR it would have been titled, "The Adult Version of Home Alone." The credit for that title belongs to @MickeyCB after she heard what happened next!!

We were at the airport on time & waiting at our gate. Spirit, not so much.

Now, here's where things get totally crazy. The above picture shows we were at gate 3. Below, it is saying gate 6. They never made an announcement at the airport that they were changing the gate nor did they update the monitors at the gate. When they finally announced they were starting to board the flight I don't know if they announced the gate change then or not. I had to go to the restroom so I went there as the boarding began.
Most airlines board 1/2 hour before takeoff. Not Spirit, they start 45 minutes prior. IMO b/c with them it's always a convoluted mess so they require the extra time. But, this night they must have been in a hurry b/c it took WAY less than even the normal 1/2 hour that the other airlines take.
I went to the restroom then to gate 3. Found that our plane was not at that gate & had to ask the agent where it was. She told me gate 6 so I went there(signs at gate 6 were not reflecting that the flight was going to Pittsburgh) only to find the door closed. They said I was too late & I could not get on the plane.
I stayed calm but told them they were wrong about the gate switch & not announcing it earlier. I know it was on my phone but I didn't notice that esp. b/c we were already sitting at what we thought was the correct gate. I also said they had to have boarded that flight & closed the door in less than 15 minutes. I also asked why they didn't have the courtesy to page me since they obviously knew I hadn't boarded the plane. Don't worry, they ended up giving me a $50 voucher to be used on another flight.

So, here I was. The female, adult version of Kevin McCallister!! I tried the Hyatt at the airport. They said it was full.
In the meantime I was also busy booking myself on a flight for the next day. I chose Southwest & it was an early one.
Oh & BTW my family had no clue that I wasn't on the plane!! I was able to call E and let her know what was happening.

So, where did I end up?

I had to physically check in since I literally made the reservation less than an hour before. The CM took pity on me & gave me a preferred room so I wouldn't have to walk far since I was only going to be there for about 5 hours!!
My room was right by the pool.

I was so thirsty & the food court was closed but I found a vending machine, thank goodness.

I had never been at any of the All Stars before so even though it was brief now I can say that I have!!

This was as I was leaving a few short hours later!!

 

[littleroo]

Happy Birthday!!!! Don't work too hard today!!

 

[fractal]

If this trip would have had it's own TR it would have been titled, "The Adult Version of Home Alone." The credit for that title belongs to @MickeyCB after she heard what happened next!!

We were at the airport on time & waiting at our gate. Spirit, not so much.
View attachment 814328

Now, here's where things get totally crazy. The above picture shows we were at gate 3. Below, it is saying gate 6. They never made an announcement at the airport that they were changing the gate nor did they update the monitors at the gate. When they finally announced they were starting to board the flight I don't know if they announced the gate change then or not. I had to go to the restroom so I went there as the boarding began.
Most airlines board 1/2 hour before takeoff. Not Spirit, they start 45 minutes prior. IMO b/c with them it's always a convoluted mess so they require the extra time. But, this night they must have been in a hurry b/c it took WAY less than even the normal 1/2 hour that the other airlines take.
I went to the restroom then to gate 3. Found that our plane was not at that gate & had to ask the agent where it was. She told me gate 6 so I went there(signs at gate 6 were not reflecting that the flight was going to Pittsburgh) only to find the door closed. They said I was too late & I could not get on the plane.
I stayed calm but told them they were wrong about the gate switch & not announcing it earlier. I know it was on my phone but I didn't notice that esp. b/c we were already sitting at what we thought was the correct gate. I also said they had to have boarded that flight & closed the door in less than 15 minutes. I also asked why they didn't have the courtesy to page me since they obviously knew I hadn't boarded the plane. Don't worry, they ended up giving me a $50 voucher to be used on another flight.
View attachment 814330
So, here I was. The female, adult version of Kevin McCallister!! I tried the Hyatt at the airport. They said it was full.
In the meantime I was also busy booking myself on a flight for the next day. I chose Southwest & it was an early one.
Oh & BTW my family had no clue that I wasn't on the plane!! I was able to call E and let her know what was happening.
View attachment 814329

So, where did I end up?
View attachment 814331

I had to physically check in since I literally made the reservation less than an hour before. The CM took pity on me & gave me a preferred room so I wouldn't have to walk far since I was only going to be there for about 5 hours!!
My room was right by the pool.
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I was so thirsty & the food court was closed but I found a vending machine, thank goodness.
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I had never been at any of the All Stars before so even though it was brief now I can say that I have!!
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This was as I was leaving a few short hours later!!
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That's crazy!

 

[lindawdw]

It was such a perfect day until the whole airport situation happened!!! I remember speaking to you soon after that and being in shock that they closed the door and wouldn't allow you to board!

 

[riverside]

Happy Birthday!!!! Don't work too hard today!!

Thanks so much!! Well, you know how that goes!!

That's crazy!

It was totally crazy!! And you know it took them like 3 months before they would issue my lousy $50 credit-that has since expired!!

It was such a perfect day until the whole airport situation happened!!! I remember speaking to you soon after that and being in shock that they closed the door and wouldn't allow you to board!

Yes, it was!! What was shocking was that they 1. somehow boarded everyone so quick & 2. that they never paged me. I think they were in a hurry to get out b/c their crew was probably going to time out or something.

 

[riverside]

VOL 4
APRIL 2023

This trip was another time of "no room at the inn" for me!! The crew(E, J, C, E(niece) & A) had a 1BR at SSR. I was not going to pay the price of a regular room for myself there. So, I went to my home away from home instead!!
Everyone was going Sunday-Saturday(returning the night before Easter). Working retail I am not allowed to take off around holidays. I ended up flying down a day before everyone else but had to come back mid week. Everyone was worried I wouldn't make it on the planes myself!!

In all of my stays at POR this was my first time being in the Alligator Bayou!! I was quite excited!!

Having never stayed in that section I almost felt like I was at a new resort!!

After getting settled in I headed to The River Roost to catch a bit of Bob's show. This would be the only time I would be able to see him during this trip. His next show would be Wednesday but I would already be gone!!

 

[Songbird76]

We had a boarding group & it was about that time!!
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Tradition!!
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Then it was time for our lunch reservation.
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I had chicken parmesan. I really have no clue why b/c it's not one of my favorites.
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A liked her pizza!!
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And with that it was time to leave Epcot.
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We headed back to our resorts & headed to the airport.
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Where was this lunch reservation? It doesn't look familiar to me, so probably a restaurant I haven't been to.

 

[lindawdw]

YAY, I'm loving all these TR's Patti!!! I can't believe you've never stayed in the Alligator Bayou section in all your stays at POR! Did you like it more than the mansion side? I've only ever stayed at the French Quarter side of POR. So fun that you got to catch part of Bob's show on this trip!

 

[LadyBelle]

Alligator Bayou is the only section I’ve ever been assigned. I’m going to bet that where I’ll be in October.

 

[riverside]

Where was this lunch reservation? It doesn't look familiar to me, so probably a restaurant I haven't been to.

Tutto Italia!

 

[riverside]

YAY, I'm loving all these TR's Patti!!! I can't believe you've never stayed in the Alligator Bayou section in all your stays at POR! Did you like it more than the mansion side? I've only ever stayed at the French Quarter side of POR. So fun that you got to catch part of Bob's show on this trip!

Thanks!! So, I just counted 23 stays at POR and this is the only time I've been in the Bayou. I would say I like the mansion side better only b/c I am not a woodsy/rustic kind of person & the bayou is definitely more that than the mansions but it was fine. I would be happy staying there again!! I finally stayed at FQ in January for the first time. I was supposed to stay there in the summer of 2020 but we all know what happened then.
I always love seeing Bob's show!!

Alligator Bayou is the only section I’ve ever been assigned. I’m going to bet that where I’ll be in October.

You can request(which I have only done once) which section you want to stay in!!

 

[riverside]

One last one with my buddy, Patrick!! And, in looking at my pictures I was wrong. I saw Bob again the next night!!

Beautiful morning at Riverside!!

The weather was nice & I didn't have anything going on until early afternoon so I hung out at the quiet pool near my room.

I got ready then took a boat to DS.

I was so excited to finally be able to meet @LisaBelle & her wonderful family!!

We had a wonderful afternoon together at Jock Lindsay's Hangar Bar!! Lots of great conversation with great friends!! The only one missing was their daughter-I believe she was working but I did get to meet her on a future trip!!

Before I headed back to POR I stopped in a few stores. I went into Sephora(for a comb-more on that in a minute) & was super excited to see these Clinique products that I use 50% off!! I usually wait until they are 30% off online to buy them but this was even better!!

Unfortunately, they didn't have much there but I bought what they had!!

Now, about the comb. I can't remember why we were talking at lunch about me buying a comb but we did. I have(had) this flimsy comb in my travel bag that I really didn't like & wanted to buy a new one so that's why I went into Sephora to begin with.
No thanks, not at that price!!

I ended up buying one back home after that trip!!

With that I headed back to POR!!