Trip Report Start & Finish=Tragical/In Between=Magical

Hi Friends!! Before I dive into the details of this trip I just wanted to give a quick explanation about the title. Nothing serious happened to anyone. There were some down moments at the beginning & the end, hence "tragical". R actually came up with the title for this TR. I had to tweak it a bit but overall it was fitting & I was happy with it so here we are!!

WHO:

You probably remember most of us(we were the same crew that was there in July 2021 but we're minus my nephew, JC this time).
The "adults"(& I use that term loosely & not b/c of the my sisters & I ) from left to right are C, myself, R, E & D.
In the front row we have E, A, & J!!

WHEN:
Thursday, July 7th-Thursday, July 14th(R, E, J & myself)
The rest of the crew arrived on the 1st & didn't leave until the 17th so they were there quite awhile longer than we were!!

WHERE:

Beach Club Villas!!

I know, you've gotten used to the Riverside crew staying at Saratoga in recent days. Why Beach Club then?? E is a funeral director & there was a funeral directors convention during part of our trip at the Yacht Club so it made more sense to stay there than at Saratoga(don't worry, next month we will be back there)

The rest of the crew stayed off property for a bit, then transferred to Saratoga for awhile then spent their last few days at Beach Club.

I'm super excited to share this trip with everyone & I hope you all enjoy it!!

 

[riverside]

And so ready for this!!!!

Nice!! I knew I could count on you!!

I'm in!! Can't wait to hear all about this trip! I hope the "tragical" parts weren't too bad and the magical parts made up for them!

Glad you're here!! It wasn't horrendous but it was enough to make lousy "bookends" for the trip!!

YaY, I am in!

Glad to have you along!!

Always enjoy your reports! Following along!

Thank you so much!!

Can’t wait to hear about it!

Thank you!! 5 is darn good!!

Looking forward to reading along!

Thank you!! Glad you're here!!

Yay! Love a good @riverside trip report!!

Aww--thank you!!

That's a good one!! Thank you!!

9th in should count for something, I think?

You always count in my book!!

Yay!! That makes me happy!!

lurking along

Glad you are!!

Thanks!! I'm glad you are!!

Always ready to follow along with Riverside and the gang!!!!

Thank you!! It was one of those trips where we had quite a gang!!

I’m late, but I have a good excuse! Honest!

And what would that be?

If I hadn’t gone to bed earlier than usual I could have been on the podium (it’s my teen’s fault - she and her BF came home way earlier than her curfew because the weather here has gotten chilly and hanging out in the park with friends is much less enjoyable than in the summer )

It's all good!! I really haven't started yet!! We'll be getting into chilly weather here this month too!!

YAY! Can’t wait to read about your summer adventure!!!

Thanks-glad you're here!!

Count me in!

When are your going next month? I'll be there 9/30-10/7.

Great!! Glad to have you!!

Oh bummer, we're going 10/27-11/1(you know, around the school schedules). Maybe next time?

 

[BigDis]

I'm here too. Looking forward to your TR!

 

[rshell68]

Dang I'm page 2 late

 

[riverside]

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6TH

Wait a minute, Patti. I thought you said the trip started on the 7th? That was the plan however, Southwest had (many) other plans for us instead! We had a perfect nonstop scheduled for the 7th at 10:30 am. Not too early but still gave us quite a bit of a Disney day. Then a few months before the trip they cancelled it & switched us to a nonstop that left Pittsburgh that evening. There goes the Disney day. Then a month later they cancelled that one & switched us to a 6:30 am flight--with a connection in Nashville!! Oh, heck no!! Nothing against Nashville, but we were not having the connection! A nonstop from Pittsburgh is just under 2 hours to Orlando. We were not spending 1/2 day in an airport if it wasn't necessary. If my memory serves me right I believe we wouldn't have got to Orlando until 2:00 or so. On a side note, why does Southwest always wait until the middle of the night to send you these awful updates? Nothing worse than looking at emails at 5:30 in the morning & seeing that!!

I texted E to see what she wanted to do. There was a 5:30 am nonstop. Well, if we have to leave at 6:30 what's an hour earlier plus it will get us there a lot quicker. So we both switched to that one. Fortunately, that was the last change we had with Southwest(at least for that trip). They've already got us a few times for our upcoming one. What is the sense of booking flights when they change them that many times? Might as well wait closer to the time b/c it gets aggravating to keep switching esp. when you have the car service booked. Which, BTW, I haven't done yet for next month b/c there is still enough time for them to switch it a few more times!!

So, since we were going to have to get up around 2:00 to get to the airport we decided to stay the night before at the Hyatt which is in the Pittsburgh airport. I worked the early shift that day, went to one of my BFF's sons high school grad party for a few hours then picked everyone up & headed to the airport.
I dropped everyone off at the lobby & went to park the car.

I was super excited with the close spot I was able to score! I was 6 spots from the entrance!! That's my blue CRV. Gotta admit, I was nervous about fitting 4 peoples luggage in it. I bought the car the month before so gone is my Pilot where you NEVER had to worry about not having enough room but it ended up working out just fine.
I wanted a close spot b/c I wanted to take out my work clothes & shoes that I was wearing to the car the next morning instead of them taking up room in my suitcase with no need for them.
What I wasn't super excited about was what it cost for that "premium" spot. I thought they gave a discount when you stayed at the Hyatt. Wrong, wrong, wrong....it ended up costing $128.00 to park there for the week!!

They have a nice restaurant in the hotel so we went there for dinner. Nothing super exciting on the menu but everything was good!

I had the burger.

J got buttered noodles.

And had fun with them!!

In case anyone cares to see the inside of the rooms at the Hyatt!!

I forgot to get a picture but one really cool feature they had was a digital clock in the big bathroom mirror!! I really thought that was neat!!

 

[riverside]

I'm here too. Looking forward to your TR!

Glad you're here!! Thank you!!

Dang I'm page 2 late

Not at all!! Just getting started! Glad you're here!!

 

[Darstarr]

 

[fractal]

Present and accounted for!

 

[Tuvalu]

E is wearing a long sleeve hoodie with jeans and J is wearing a jacket on July 6 — this southern gal cannot compute!

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Looking forward to reading this TR before we travel over from the UK.
Will be arriving late on 10/27, staying at ASM this time (usually POR or POFQ), large party (9 adults, 3 kids) leaving on 11/16 so may be in some parks on the same days. May bump into you.

 

[Swissmiss]

E is wearing a long sleeve hoodie with jeans and J is wearing a jacket on July 6 — this southern gal cannot compute!

I can - the only time I was really cold on my summer trip was at the airports!

 

[Seagull59]

Love your reports!!

 

[riverside]

THURSDAY, JULY 7TH

Also, in case you wanted to see the view of the airport parking lot in the middle of the night.

I dropped my things off in the car & we all met up in the lobby. In no time at all we were through security & in the airport. At 4:28 we arrived at Starbucks, but they don't open until 5

So, we joined the rest of the passengers in the airport & got in line for Dunkin. As you can see, J is taking his usual spot while waiting in line....

We all got beverages & J also got either a muffin or a donut. It doesn't really matter what it was b/c he never consumed it. As we were heading to the gate he got really quiet & got a funny look on his face. Seriously, this happened totally all of a sudden. He said he didn't feel well. Here's when Tragical Episode #1 comes into play--

No sooner did he say this out came the projectile vomiting. We weren't anywhere near a trash can. E drops what's in her hands & tries to catch what she can in napkins. Even the thickest Bounty wouldn't have been a match for what was going on at that moment. Hands & napkins overloaded she runs to the nearest trash can. I drop everything(as I did that my drink starts spilling on the carpet) & take my purse off my shoulder & used the only thing I had to try & catch what I could--my bare hands. And let me tell you, poor J was still going strong. In the meantime I'm getting snippy with R as he's standing there taking it all in. I told him to go get me more napkins. He comes back with a few(& when I saw a few I mean a few) & I send him to get more. I ended up with a minimal amount on my shirt but my shoes, arms & hands were covered(thank goodness the Apple watch is waterproof). By this point E had J in the bathroom to clean themselves up. I went back to get, yes, more napkins to clean up the carpet as best as I could. This was going on for quite a few minutes & I'm surprised no one stopped to ask if we needed anything. Oh well, I cleaned it up as best as I could.

Then it was time for me to clean myself up. To this day I am so thankful that the water coming out of the sinks at the airport is actually hot. Let's face it, you can wash your hands for 20 seconds all you want but when you go to places where the water isn't hot(sorry, Disney, you're one of them) are you really killing germs? Had that water not been hot I would have been totally grossed out.

It was now time to board the plane & we thought it would be in our best interest to sit in the very last row(right by the bathroom). I'm sure it's not hard to figure out why that decision was made.
Oh, I'm happy to say somebody finally lent a helping hand. Apparently the flight crew walked by us during our little escapade. One of the flight attendants approached us & asked if J was the little boy that was sick in the airport. She was nice enough to ask him how he was feeling then handed him a garbage bag in case he needed it for future use! Something tells me she didn't feel like doing extra cleaning that day!!
J pretty much stayed in this position for the whole flight but fortunately we made it without anymore incidents. He also didn't have it in him to read the safety instructions this time!!

We actually didn't use a car service b/c C & family were still off property at this point so they had a car & C picked us up. It wasn't even 8:30 & we had already arrived!!

I liked this one!! I never feel comfortable asking a driver to slow down so I can take a picture but since it was my sister driving I could!!

We got to The Beach Club & E went to see if by some miracle our room was ready. She thought that J may have thrown up b/c of the super early wakeup & that he really needed to rest for awhile. While she was inside R & C were getting the luggage out. I sat with J & he said he had to throw up again. Out came the Southwest garbage bag to the rescue. This time wasn't bad at all though.

C said we could go to their place if our room wasn't ready but shockingly--at 8:41 am-- it was!! That really was a blessing for us!!

We parted ways with C. We had plans to meet up later on that day!!

In no time at all J was recovering from the morning adventure!!

 

[riverside]

My girl!!

Present and accounted for!

Yay!! Glad you're here!!

E is wearing a long sleeve hoodie with jeans and J is wearing a jacket on July 6 — this southern gal cannot compute!

I didn't notice that so I had to scroll back & look. The funny thing is R is wearing shorts & my shirt is very thin & I'm wearing capris. And, keep in mind, that's what I wore to work that day & grocery stores are cold!! Not to mention I'm always walking in & out of walk in coolers & freezers!! That only tells me that it was warm out that day!!
E is always saying she's cold--probably b/c she's so darn skinny!!

Looking forward to reading this TR before we travel over from the UK.
Will be arriving late on 10/27, staying at ASM this time (usually POR or POFQ), large party (9 adults, 3 kids) leaving on 11/16 so may be in some parks on the same days. May bump into you.

Thanks!! Hopefully I finish it before then!!
Oh cool!! I'll send you a message about where we will be when. That would be fun!!

Love your reports!!

Thank you very much!! I hope you enjoy this one also!!

 

[Swissmiss]

Poor J!

 

[riverside]

THURSDAY, JULY 7TH

Not really much to say but here's what a Beach Club 1 BR Villa looks like. Basically, just like all the other ones I've stayed in but different theming.

Nice touch with the plates!

Although, I must say that when it comes to theming BC villas are pretty boring.

Didn't leave us enough coffee--as usual!!

I think these tubs take up valuable real estate. I think a 2nd shower would be more beneficial. All we use it for is to hang our bathing suits on it for them to dry!!

Shower door would slowly open little by little while you were in there. It was almost like it had a mind of it's own!!

Thank goodness the refrigerator didn't behave the same way!!

 

[riverside]

Poor J!

I know--I felt so bad for him!!

 

[riverside]

THURSDAY, JULY 7TH

E stayed in the room with J while he rested. R & I walked around for a bit to figure out the layout of the land.

Going this way was a quick shortcut to the lobby.

This pool was a stone's throw from our room. Super convenient!!

We stopped in here for R to get some breakfast. It was only about 9:15 but it felt like we had already put in a full day!!

We sat out front while he ate!

 

[Swissmiss]

THURSDAY, JULY 7TH

E stayed in the room with J while he rested. R & I walked around for a bit to figure out the layout of the land.
View attachment 667477

View attachment 667478

Going this way was a quick shortcut to the lobby.
View attachment 667479

View attachment 667480

This pool was a stone's throw from our room. Super convenient!!
View attachment 667481

We stopped in here for R to get some breakfast. It was only about 9:15 but it felt like we had already put in a full day!!
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We sat out front while he ate!
View attachment 667483

I kept saying I was going to go sit there when I was at the YC in August but I never got around to it. (Nor did I get any pictures of it either).

 

[amjt660]

Max

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Poor J! It could have been the very early wake up. One of my brothers had issues with being nauseous early in the morning. His would be way worse if he had a sugary breakfast so thankfully J skipped that donut/muffin.