Introduction
My PTR is posted on here for anyone to review before they begin reading this TR. Briefly my wife surprised me with this trip in late September. The two of us headed down to stay for four nights between Dec 8th and 12th at the Beach Club. This trip we would not get the dining plan mainly so that we would not feel obligated to dine at certain times and certain frequencies to get our monies worth.
Our touring strategy was in the main to recognize that we could in no way do everything, but to try to hit our highlights while maintaining a relatively relaxed pace. We wished to spend time in all parks, but I in particular wanted a fair bit of time in World Showcase
One change that happened to our plans since DW returned from NYC in early November was that she indicated that she would like to take a few hours away from touring to do some outlet shopping. Considering that this whole trip was her surprise to me, letting her perform her own Florida economic stimulus plan seemed the least I could do.
On Sunday before the trip DW bought me a new IPhone. I had been going on and on about WDW Lines all fall, and I guess she knew it would be a good early Christmas Present. I was very much looking forward to using Lines a lot.
One factor that was giving us some concern was that I slipped on some ice recently and had a sore hip and tailbone. When I am on my feet for multiple hours, I get some moderate pain.
In writing this TR I looked at the photos I took. They just show I am a lousy photographer, and how grey the World was last week. I’ll post a few.
Day 1 Wednesday December 8th
Finally our big day was here!! We both worked a full day, although probably not productively, before we got home, grabbed our bags, briefed grandmother on what the kids had over the next four days, and headed out the door to drive the twenty minutes to the airport. This time of the year weather can be a big concern, but it was fine this evening. At 5:30 pm we were on the way!
Our flight to Toronto was a little shorter than usual due to the absence of the typical headwind. I’d guess we were a little less than three hours in the air. DW and I watched “The Expendables”, which was expendable, and started watching “The American,” which was interesting at the beginning but became rather slow paced.
The typical Toronto mad dash to retrieve baggage and pre-clear US customs was made much easier by our early arrival, and by how few people were at Pearson Airport. I don’t think I have ever seen lighter crowds, it was almost deserted. It was very eerie. Imagine an empty Toy Story at 2:00 pm and you’ll get the idea. We then boarded our flight to MCO. We finished the movie we started the flight before. The movie turned out to be rather boring, with not much of an ending, (you didn’t know you were getting Siskel and Ebert, did you?) We landed on time at about 11:45pm, but that was 1:15 for us and we were getting tired.
The baggage collection process was long, and we waited about 20 minutes for the DME bus to leave. This wait was not unusual I guess, but the process was slower than we had experienced in previous trips, and fatigue probably made us less tolerant than usual. After dropping off a ton of people and baggage at the Caribbean Beach, and one couple at Yacht Club, we showed up at Beach Club. We checked in and headed up to our room. I forget the number but it was overlooking the lobby directly above the entrance on the second floor. It was a room with a King bed. It had no balcony, and from what we could see no way to open any windows and air out the place. This was needed as something must have happened in the room and there was a powerful smell of cleaner, which my wife is sensitive to. She went downstairs and ten minutes later, she came back with keys to another room 3615, which had two queens and a mini balcony. It was a little musty, but we were able to live with it. We went to bed about 2:15 am or so.
My PTR is posted on here for anyone to review before they begin reading this TR. Briefly my wife surprised me with this trip in late September. The two of us headed down to stay for four nights between Dec 8th and 12th at the Beach Club. This trip we would not get the dining plan mainly so that we would not feel obligated to dine at certain times and certain frequencies to get our monies worth.
Our touring strategy was in the main to recognize that we could in no way do everything, but to try to hit our highlights while maintaining a relatively relaxed pace. We wished to spend time in all parks, but I in particular wanted a fair bit of time in World Showcase
One change that happened to our plans since DW returned from NYC in early November was that she indicated that she would like to take a few hours away from touring to do some outlet shopping. Considering that this whole trip was her surprise to me, letting her perform her own Florida economic stimulus plan seemed the least I could do.
On Sunday before the trip DW bought me a new IPhone. I had been going on and on about WDW Lines all fall, and I guess she knew it would be a good early Christmas Present. I was very much looking forward to using Lines a lot.
One factor that was giving us some concern was that I slipped on some ice recently and had a sore hip and tailbone. When I am on my feet for multiple hours, I get some moderate pain.
In writing this TR I looked at the photos I took. They just show I am a lousy photographer, and how grey the World was last week. I’ll post a few.
Day 1 Wednesday December 8th
Finally our big day was here!! We both worked a full day, although probably not productively, before we got home, grabbed our bags, briefed grandmother on what the kids had over the next four days, and headed out the door to drive the twenty minutes to the airport. This time of the year weather can be a big concern, but it was fine this evening. At 5:30 pm we were on the way!
Our flight to Toronto was a little shorter than usual due to the absence of the typical headwind. I’d guess we were a little less than three hours in the air. DW and I watched “The Expendables”, which was expendable, and started watching “The American,” which was interesting at the beginning but became rather slow paced.
The typical Toronto mad dash to retrieve baggage and pre-clear US customs was made much easier by our early arrival, and by how few people were at Pearson Airport. I don’t think I have ever seen lighter crowds, it was almost deserted. It was very eerie. Imagine an empty Toy Story at 2:00 pm and you’ll get the idea. We then boarded our flight to MCO. We finished the movie we started the flight before. The movie turned out to be rather boring, with not much of an ending, (you didn’t know you were getting Siskel and Ebert, did you?) We landed on time at about 11:45pm, but that was 1:15 for us and we were getting tired.
The baggage collection process was long, and we waited about 20 minutes for the DME bus to leave. This wait was not unusual I guess, but the process was slower than we had experienced in previous trips, and fatigue probably made us less tolerant than usual. After dropping off a ton of people and baggage at the Caribbean Beach, and one couple at Yacht Club, we showed up at Beach Club. We checked in and headed up to our room. I forget the number but it was overlooking the lobby directly above the entrance on the second floor. It was a room with a King bed. It had no balcony, and from what we could see no way to open any windows and air out the place. This was needed as something must have happened in the room and there was a powerful smell of cleaner, which my wife is sensitive to. She went downstairs and ten minutes later, she came back with keys to another room 3615, which had two queens and a mini balcony. It was a little musty, but we were able to live with it. We went to bed about 2:15 am or so.
