My first-ever solo trip to WDW was not without its pitfalls…
Thursday night I arrived home to find a voicemail that my flight from Ottawa to Toronto the following morning had been cancelled. Weather earlier in the week had disrupted their plane placements so there wasn’t a plane available. The message said if I could get to the airport by 9:45PM they could get me to Toronto that evening and still make my Orlando flight. Their other option was if I could get to Montreal they could fly me direct. Since it was already 9:10 there was no hope of getting to the airport that night. I called and got through all the automated crap to get a message that my call was important to them and that current call volumes would mean a 30-minute wait. I put it on speaker. An hour and twenty minutes later...
I got an agent. She managed to get me into the last available seat to Orlando from Montreal and the last available seat back to Montreal [if she couldn’t do both, I’d have had to drive to Toronto]. So I drove to Montreal at 4AM!
Montreal to Orlando went smoothly, got my rental without a problem and headed to DTD to get an AP and TiW card from GR. Had to walk a bit extra because the GR at Marketplace was closed. The sign said they were temporarily “near” the entrance to PI. In fact, they were at the entrance. The CM took my two-day base ticket and upgraded to an AP and sold me the TiW card. I asked her to turn off the biometrics at turnstiles [something I need since I don’t have fingers to scan and something I’ve had done before], she insisted it couldn’t be done and her supervisor insisted it couldn’t be done. I gave up and left, figuring I’d have it done at EPCOT the following day.
Shortly after landing at MCO, my iPhone went black… I was clearly receiving texts and/or email, because it would vibrate every now and then, but I couldn’t get anything on screen! I tried pushing various buttons and pushing two buttons together for a while and nothing worked. Since my plans all revolved around contacting people by text, this was a cause for some mild panic… After I’d got my stuff done at DTD, I stopped a manager-looking lady and asked if she knew where there was an Apple store. She looked at me blankly and said I could get fruit pretty much anywhere. I explained that I meant where they sell iPods and iPhones and she directed me to the Mal at Millenia and I found the store. An employee at the door offered to do his “magic” and pressed and held the same two buttons I’d tried but for a lot longer… It rebooted fine and everything was fine. Who knew the buttons had to be held damn near forever!
After that, I headed to Kissimmee to my Ex-In-Laws’ vacation home. Their guests who were supposed to join us for dinner had bailed early, so there would just be three instead of five at Boma. We left early in case they could seat us earlier [by this time I was tired and very hungry], but we ended up waiting until our regular reservation time. There were only a few birds visible from Arusha Rock, so we were just sitting in the lobby for a while. Dinner was delicious! The roast was Strip Loin and tender as could be, no complaints here. The carver had one customer ask if it was Prime Rib [the sign said Strip Loin] and she just answered “yes”. My Ex-MIL ate “’til it hurt” and absolutely loved it! She didn’t save room for dessert though… They’d never eaten at Boma before and were quite impressed. I think I have some converts!
Thursday night I arrived home to find a voicemail that my flight from Ottawa to Toronto the following morning had been cancelled. Weather earlier in the week had disrupted their plane placements so there wasn’t a plane available. The message said if I could get to the airport by 9:45PM they could get me to Toronto that evening and still make my Orlando flight. Their other option was if I could get to Montreal they could fly me direct. Since it was already 9:10 there was no hope of getting to the airport that night. I called and got through all the automated crap to get a message that my call was important to them and that current call volumes would mean a 30-minute wait. I put it on speaker. An hour and twenty minutes later...
I got an agent. She managed to get me into the last available seat to Orlando from Montreal and the last available seat back to Montreal [if she couldn’t do both, I’d have had to drive to Toronto]. So I drove to Montreal at 4AM!Montreal to Orlando went smoothly, got my rental without a problem and headed to DTD to get an AP and TiW card from GR. Had to walk a bit extra because the GR at Marketplace was closed. The sign said they were temporarily “near” the entrance to PI. In fact, they were at the entrance. The CM took my two-day base ticket and upgraded to an AP and sold me the TiW card. I asked her to turn off the biometrics at turnstiles [something I need since I don’t have fingers to scan and something I’ve had done before], she insisted it couldn’t be done and her supervisor insisted it couldn’t be done. I gave up and left, figuring I’d have it done at EPCOT the following day.
Shortly after landing at MCO, my iPhone went black…
I was clearly receiving texts and/or email, because it would vibrate every now and then, but I couldn’t get anything on screen! I tried pushing various buttons and pushing two buttons together for a while and nothing worked. Since my plans all revolved around contacting people by text, this was a cause for some mild panic… After I’d got my stuff done at DTD, I stopped a manager-looking lady and asked if she knew where there was an Apple store. She looked at me blankly and said I could get fruit pretty much anywhere. I explained that I meant where they sell iPods and iPhones and she directed me to the Mal at Millenia and I found the store. An employee at the door offered to do his “magic” and pressed and held the same two buttons I’d tried but for a lot longer… It rebooted fine and everything was fine. Who knew the buttons had to be held damn near forever! After that, I headed to Kissimmee to my Ex-In-Laws’ vacation home. Their guests who were supposed to join us for dinner had bailed early, so there would just be three instead of five at Boma. We left early in case they could seat us earlier [by this time I was tired and very hungry], but we ended up waiting until our regular reservation time. There were only a few birds visible from Arusha Rock, so we were just sitting in the lobby for a while. Dinner was delicious! The roast was Strip Loin and tender as could be, no complaints here. The carver had one customer ask if it was Prime Rib [the sign said Strip Loin] and she just answered “yes”. My Ex-MIL ate “’til it hurt” and absolutely loved it! She didn’t save room for dessert though… They’d never eaten at Boma before and were quite impressed. I think I have some converts!
