Day 1, cont.
Bless my soul, we were on a roll!
We landed twenty minutes early and walked right onto a Fonorail!
We made our way to the B side and after a quick bathroom stop headed to DME. M noticed this weird alligator print on the escalator handrails:
We were on line for the DME at 10:10 (the time we were officially supposed to land). By 10:13 we were on a bus (and got the last two seats together on a nearly full bus!) and by 10:25 we were pulling out and heading to The Most Magical Place on Earth!
Then things started to get weird.
Our driver went very off-script and talked over the beginning of the DME video. He started out joking about how tired he was, but he basically ended up telling us he doesn't like his job and we were being mean to him. It was suuuuuuper awkward. When Gus came on the TV he told us how Gus is a fake bus driver and the real drivers, "don't know him." When the driver wasn't talking over the video the ride was fine.
New terminal and fancy new Fonorails!
We were near the back of the bus, so this is the best entrance sign photo I could get:
At one point the driver told us he appeared in the DME video and would tell us when it was time. He was the bus driver helping guests retrieve their under-bus luggage in the resort arrival part of the video. He told us, "You're riding with a celebrity!" That part was funny, I admit.
Coronado was the first stop and we were off the bus at 10:56!
I hadn't received a room ready text (or even a room-not-ready text) so we stopped at the front desk.
Another little weird thing happened here. I was following another guest (we'll call her Confused Lady) to the line for the front desk. The ropes that indicated where the line was were kind of confusing and she missed the actual entrance, and since I was following her so did I. There were two more parties following ME, but they were actually paying attention and didn't miss the entrance. So I ended up behind those two plus Confused Lady (okay okay it was my fault for following her blindly).
The two guests in front both got called to the desk, then a CM came to the line and personally approached Confused Lady, and indicated that she should follow her to her station. Confused Lady started to approach the desk, and then another CM opened up and waved me to her station. But this CM was on the way to the one who had approached Confused Lady, and Confused Lady went to the closer CM instead of the one she was supposed to go to. Of course it didn't make much of a difference in the end, but it was annoying in the moment!
At the desk there was some issue with our MagicBands not linking to our rooms, but the CM who actually ended up helping us caught it and reset the bands.
While this was happening we could overhead the CM next to us confirming out loud her guest's email address by spelling it: B-U-T-Z-M-A-N at something or other. I assume that's his name...but if not that's hilarious.
After sorting out the MB situation the CM gave us a map and told us we were in a refurbished room (woohoo!). She also asked if we were interested in declining housekeeping in exchange for a $40 gift card. Um, yes please! They are testing this program apparently, and since we would usually leave the do not disturb sign on during our whole stay anyway it was a no-brainer. She said we could call the front desk any time we needed extra toiletries and whatnot. Within a few minutes I received an email with the gift card code, and since I use the Disney Gift Card site to manage my cards I was able to add it to my account and immediately transfer it to a physical card I had.
Up next: HANGRY TIME
