Trip Report Just back from a wonderfully great but horrible trip to WDW.....

INTRO: - My wife and I just got back from a wonderfully great but also horrible trip to WDW. We have loads of fun, met many wonderful cast members ate LOTs of great food and found you can still manage to have a great trip when the parks are most crowded.

The down side had to do with our drive down from North Carolina, the state of the parks, my experience with Rise of the Resistance and how our resort initially dealt with a problem with our room.

I took some pictures not as many as I usually do so there will be some once I get them edited and ready to post.

We started our drove down from the Raleigh North Carolina are on December 22nd with hopes of a smooth ride to Orlando. The ride was anything but smooth.
 
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KBLovedDisney

KBLovedDisney

Well-Known Member
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WDI 1998

WDI 1998

Active Member
Original Poster
The Ride....

We left our house at about 7am on Sunday the 22nd with the expectation that we should arrive at Coronado Springs at about 3pm or so. We had made 5pm ADR's at Toledo seeing we had scored free dining during our stay. Well, we did not make our reservation. We had also purchased tickets for the last MVMCP of the season. We did not make it in time to go to that either.

The ride from our house to the North Carolina / South Carolina border went very smooth but not long after we crossed the South Carolina border traffic pretty much ground to a halt. We crept along at a very slow pace until just before the Georgia border where we passed the worst car accident I have ever seen. Barely one lane was open and that back up we had been in for hours was because of this three car accident. We found out later that a person had died in this accident. Not a very festive start to our Christmas Holiday when we think that this persons family was going to be spending their holiday saying their last goodbyes to a loved one.

Once past the accident we were able to get back to regular highway speeds and then the sky opened up and it down poured all the way to WDW. (BTW, the rained cleared up enough for the MVMCP to go on unlike on a week or so before that Disney issued alternate tickets for.) We did not arrive until about 9pm. We got checked into our room in building 7B and were thankfully able to get a table at Toledo shortly there after. We ate a fantastic meal, had a excellent server and finally went to bed exhausted. Me having grand plans to be at Hollywood Studios to get boarding group assignments for Rise of the Resistance for my wife and I. That did not go as planned either....more on that later.

In hind sight we should have booked to arrive on Saturday and had the reservations for Sunday the 22nd. Note to self, never plan things so tight schedule wise on the day of arrival.

If this were not enough we had a surprise and very unwelcome visitor in our room the next morning...
 
WDI 1998

WDI 1998

Active Member
Original Poster
Our visitor and Hollywood Studios...

I woke up at 5 am to get ready to head over the Hollywood Studios and get in line to get a boarding group number so my wife and I could ride Rise of the Resistance. I went into the bathroom and found a critter climbing on the wall near the pocket door. Wonderful, our room has cockroaches. Just what we need to bring home with us. The gift that keeps on giving...

On my way to the bus I stopped by the front desk to tell them and they very politely told me they would send their pest control people to treat the room. That's it. Nothing more, no offer to change rooms, no real apology. It was not even noted in the computer. It was written down on a post it note. I waited a moment and with nothing more coming from them I asked if we could change rooms because my wife would not be at all happy with the situation I was told yes. I figured I would just let my wife at them as she is not as nice as I am about such things.

I went on my merry way to Hollywood Studios and guess what. It was raining again. When I got there the crowd was about 5000 people all trying for the same thing I was. We were let into the park about 6:45 and I immediately started checking the app on my phone to see when they would be opening the boarding groups. By the time I got back to Galaxy's Edge they had opened them and I got group 68. Thing was I could not add my wife. I was under the impression that she did not need to be in the park for me to get her in my group but I was very incorrect. I asked a Guest Experience cast member about it and was told all members of the boarding party had to be in the park. Just Wonderful.

At his point I was soaked to the bone so seeing the estimated time for my boarding group was early afternoon I headed back to Coronado Springs to change cloths and rooms. When I got back my wife was up and I filled her in on all the details and she most defiantly wanted to change rooms. We packed up all our stuff, took most of it out to our car and left the suitcase in the room for bell services to move to the new room. We went to the front desk and she dealt with them much to her dissatisfaction. They wanted to move us to a room in the same building. Anyone who knows anything about cockroaches knows if they are in one part they are in all parts. They finally gave us a room in building 1 on the 4th floor. Thinking we were all set we headed out to Hollywood Studios for the day. She never did get to ride Rise of the Resistance and I rode it alone.

We ended up having a very nice day there. We rode Smugglers Run together and did all our fast passes before our 8:45 reservation for Savi's to build light sabers. She was a very good sport about indulging me. She is not a Star Wars fan by any means but she gladly went along for the ride. Despite the crowds we were able to ride Rock and Roller Coaster, Star Tours (we saw the new Rise of Skywalker destination), Muppets, Star Wars Launch Bay, ate at 50's prime time cafe and had a very through tour of Galaxy's Edge. We even stopped to people watch and have a snack. During our time at Hollywood Studios my wife got an email asking how our check in went....needless to say she let them know all about what had happened. Dont get me wrong. She was not angry or resentful about it but she gave an honest account of what had happened and how she was disappointed in the way it was dealt with.

We ended up getting back to the hotel about 11pm and went to our new room to find our luggage there and two messages left for us on the phone. The email had gone to the general manager and the messages were to tell us they had given us an upgraded room in the Grand Destino tower and to call them back to set it up. Less than an hour later we were in our new and final room of the stay.

Thankfully this would mark the end of the worst part of the stay and things were looking up.

Up next - Tuesday and Animal Kingdom......or maybe not
 
Nunu

Nunu

Wanderluster
Premium Member
WDI 1998 said:
The Ride....

We left our house at about 7am on Sunday the 22nd with the expectation that we should arrive at Coronado Springs at about 3pm or so. We had made 5pm ADR's at Toledo seeing we had scored free dining during our stay. Well, we did not make our reservation. We had also purchased tickets for the last MVMCP of the season. We did not make it in time to go to that either.

The ride from our house to the North Carolina / South Carolina border went very smooth but not long after we crossed the South Carolina border traffic pretty much ground to a halt. We crept along at a very slow pace until just before the Georgia border where we passed the worst car accident I have ever seen. Barely one lane was open and that back up we had been in for hours was because of this three car accident. We found out later that a person had died in this accident. Not a very festive start to our Christmas Holiday when we think that this persons family was going to be spending their holiday saying their last goodbyes to a loved one.

Once past the accident we were able to get back to regular highway speeds and then the sky opened up and it down poured all the way to WDW. (BTW, the rained cleared up enough for the MVMCP to go on unlike on a week or so before that Disney issued alternate tickets for.) We did not arrive until about 9pm. We got checked into our room in building 7B and were thankfully able to get a table at Toledo shortly there after. We ate a fantastic meal, had a excellent server and finally went to bed exhausted. Me having grand plans to be at Hollywood Studios to get boarding group assignments for Rise of the Resistance for my wife and I. That did not go as planned either....more on that later.

In hind sight we should have booked to arrive on Saturday and had the reservations for Sunday the 22nd. Note to self, never plan things so tight schedule wise on the day of arrival.

If this were not enough we had a surprise and very unwelcome visitor in our room the next morning...
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Last April we drove from Miami to Orlando. On our way to WDW, we were rear ended on the highway. We weren't hurt, but the scary incident left us quite rattled and physically sore for a couple of days. We arrived at WDW hours later than expected, lost a couple of FP's which didn't really matter, considering what could've happened to us. Sorry to learn about the loss of life you witnessed.

Good that the room situation was resolved to your satisfaction. Also, glad you had a nice day at DHS and rode RotR! :)
 
John park hopper

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
Nice they up graded your room. Have to ask was it a palmetto bug (wood roach) or German cockroach you saw? If it was a palmetto bug then in Disney's defense any one who has lived in Florida knows about large brown palmetto bugs it's a fact of Florida life and nothing to get upset about. Living in coastal SC we have them here and even though I spray the house regularly we occasionally get them in the house. German cockroach is another story in that case I would have asked to change rooms. Georgia has done a great job on I-95, SC needs to 3 lane I-95 traffic all it takes is one minor accident and traffic is backed up for miles. Glad despite the rain and traffic you had a good time.
 
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WDI 1998

WDI 1998

Active Member
Original Poster
Nunu said:
Last April we drove from Miami to Orlando. On our way to WDW, we were rear ended on the highway. We weren't hurt, but the scary incident left us quite rattled and physically sore for a couple of days. We arrived at WDW hours later than expected, lost a couple of FP's which didn't really matter, considering what could've happened to us. Sorry to learn about the loss of life you witnessed.

Good that the room situation was resolved to your satisfaction. Also, glad you had a nice day at DHS and rode RotR! :)
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Thanks, sometimes things just bring things home to you and make things very real. RotR is a great ride and I will share my comments on it after I get done with the day to day part of the TR.
 
WDI 1998

WDI 1998

Active Member
Original Poster
John park hopper said:
Nice they up graded your room. Have to ask was it a palmetto bug (wood roach) or German cockroach you saw? If it was a palmetto bug then in Disney's defense any one who has lived in Florida knows about large brown palmetto bugs it's a fact of Florida life and nothing to get upset about. Living in coastal SC we have them here and even though I spray the house regularly we occasionally get them in the house. German cockroach is another story in that case I would have asked to change rooms. Georgia has done a great job on I-95, SC needs to 3 lane I-95 traffic all it takes is one minor accident and traffic is backed up for miles. Glad despite the rain and traffic you had a good time.
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This was definitely a German Cockroach. If I had thought faster I would have taken video of it with my phone.
 

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