Prelude to a Dis
Picture it: November, 2013. Thor: The Dark World ruled the box office. We lamented how we'll never be royals. And a certain someone typing this trip report became debt-free for the first time. A freelance job paid very handsomely; enough to get out of debt, rejuvenate my savings account, AND plan a little trip to the happiest place on Earth.
The boyfriend (BF) had never been. This needed to be corrected. I had taken him to Disneyland the year before, nervous that he'd find the whole thing hokey, but when we both burst into tears when it snowed on Main Street after Believe...In Holiday Magic, I knew I had a believer. We had also been talking a lot with our Disney Friend (DF), who knows just about everything there is to know about the parks. He was thinking about going during a break from work at the beginning of January. Once that check was cashed, we pulled the trigger! A three-man jaunt to WDW January 6-11!
Wow. We were really going. I had only been twice in my life, once for a week in '91 with my family, and once for five days in '98 for my senior spring break trip. Both times offsite, both times incredible. But this was the real deal, Holyfield. DF suggested we stay at Port Orleans Riverside, and, because I hadn't quite yet fallen all the way down the Disney rabbit hole, I had never heard of it but deferred to his expertise. I've heard one or two or twelve billion complaints on these boards about MDE, but boy, oh boy did we have fun planning FP+ and dining! Things had really changed in 15 years (OMGmysenioryearwas15yearsagowhatamIdoingwithmylife), and I was insanely excited to be in the driver's seat of planning the trip.
Flash forward to January 5th, the night before the trip. DF spent the night at our place, because we live crazy-close to the airport. I went to bed early, giddy as a 1st grader. In just a few hours, we'd get up at the BC of dawn, hop in a car, and presto! A magical flying machine would take us to Neverland and everything would be great. Easy peasy, right? Wrongzo.
"Our flight has been canceled. The next available flight is Wednesday night."
Despite clear, mild weather, that was the rude awakening the BF laid on me at about 1 in the morning. 1 in the morning on MONDAY. Uh, pretty sure a Wednesday night flight would involve missing three days of unspeakable glee. Unacceptable, obvs. Have any of you ever been on the phone with JetBlue for two and a half hours in the middle of the night, terrified that your hopes and dreams of vacation bliss will be dashed? It's awesome. Highly recommended. Our first attempt was to rebook our original flight, from LGA to MCO. Nope. Wednesday night was the first available. Uh...should we rent a car and drive to Philly and fly from there? No flights. Boston? No flights. Washington? Nada. As I was on the phone with him, I kept reloading JetBlue.com. Flights kept popping up that the dude on the phone was missing!
"Hey! There's now a flight late tonight out of LaGuardia to Orlando. Do you see it?"
He found it and rebooked my BF on it. If DF and I had to go Wednesday, at least BF would be there for most of the planned trip. DF suddenly had a brainstorm: what about flights to other cities in Florida? Duh. Why hadn't we thought of that? I pulled up a map of Florida, product of the public school system that I am. Ooh! Tampa's close! Are there any flights to Tampa?
Whoa! There's a flight out of JFK to Tampa only an our after our original flight! With the car rental, we'd be missing 2-3 hours of the magic, tops! I told the dude (who never found us a flight; I literally would tell him what flights were available online and he'd book us on them) to book us.
"Passenger BF...is booked."
Hurray!
"Passenger DF...is booked."
Yessir! We're on our way!
"I was not able to rebook you. The seat is no longer available."
AM I IN A MOVIE?!? My boyfriend and friend are leaving for a week of delight, and I'm forced to meet them on Wednesday?!? Have I gone insane?
"Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"
"I am not hanging up with you until I'm also on this flight to Tampa. And that's all there is to it."
I reloaded the page over and over again, like a doctor on a TV show yelling "CLEAR!", trying futilely to revive a long-dead patient. Hope was fading. Fast. Then, suddenly:
"A SEAT JUST OPENED UP. BOOK IT NOW, DUDE. BOOK IT NOW."
"Stand by...stand by...you are booked, sir."
We cheered with as much energy as three exhausted, stressed out dudes at 3:30 in the morning could. We got a couple hours of sleep, then popped back up, ready to pop over to JFK for smooth sailing to Tamp-town. Wrongzo againzo.
It was pouring freezing rain with a force that would make Noah go "Uh...yikes." The driver could barely see on the way to the airport. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. We were running out of time. At JFK, we stepped into the most chaotic state I've ever seen an airport in. People screaming, pushing, no discernible lines...it was like five minutes from grass skirts, body paint, and human sacrifice. Thank Walt that DF insisted we get Even More Speed when we rebooked; if we hadn't, we would've missed the flight.
Smooth flight. Nice landing. Picked up the rental and headed to Orlando; that is, after trusty navigators BF and DF spent the first few minutes of the drive figuring out how to play their iPods in the car. Um, y'know what, guys? I'd rather have the slightest clue where I'm going than be hearing the perfect Depeche Mode song right now. Cool? Cool. We stopped for a bite at Arby's because we don't have any Arby's in NYC and I love Arby's and I'm a gross monster, and as we stuffed our grateful faces with beeves and cheddars, we found out that JetBlue canceled all remaining flights out of NYC for the next two days. If we hadn't acted as fast as we did when our flight was canceled, we wouldn't have gotten to Florida.
DF turned on the Disney jams as we neared that familiar stretch of road. It was in our sights. It was really happening. Walt Disney World.
Next: Day One, Day Won
Picture it: November, 2013. Thor: The Dark World ruled the box office. We lamented how we'll never be royals. And a certain someone typing this trip report became debt-free for the first time. A freelance job paid very handsomely; enough to get out of debt, rejuvenate my savings account, AND plan a little trip to the happiest place on Earth.
The boyfriend (BF) had never been. This needed to be corrected. I had taken him to Disneyland the year before, nervous that he'd find the whole thing hokey, but when we both burst into tears when it snowed on Main Street after Believe...In Holiday Magic, I knew I had a believer. We had also been talking a lot with our Disney Friend (DF), who knows just about everything there is to know about the parks. He was thinking about going during a break from work at the beginning of January. Once that check was cashed, we pulled the trigger! A three-man jaunt to WDW January 6-11!
Wow. We were really going. I had only been twice in my life, once for a week in '91 with my family, and once for five days in '98 for my senior spring break trip. Both times offsite, both times incredible. But this was the real deal, Holyfield. DF suggested we stay at Port Orleans Riverside, and, because I hadn't quite yet fallen all the way down the Disney rabbit hole, I had never heard of it but deferred to his expertise. I've heard one or two or twelve billion complaints on these boards about MDE, but boy, oh boy did we have fun planning FP+ and dining! Things had really changed in 15 years (OMGmysenioryearwas15yearsagowhatamIdoingwithmylife), and I was insanely excited to be in the driver's seat of planning the trip.
Flash forward to January 5th, the night before the trip. DF spent the night at our place, because we live crazy-close to the airport. I went to bed early, giddy as a 1st grader. In just a few hours, we'd get up at the BC of dawn, hop in a car, and presto! A magical flying machine would take us to Neverland and everything would be great. Easy peasy, right? Wrongzo.
"Our flight has been canceled. The next available flight is Wednesday night."
Despite clear, mild weather, that was the rude awakening the BF laid on me at about 1 in the morning. 1 in the morning on MONDAY. Uh, pretty sure a Wednesday night flight would involve missing three days of unspeakable glee. Unacceptable, obvs. Have any of you ever been on the phone with JetBlue for two and a half hours in the middle of the night, terrified that your hopes and dreams of vacation bliss will be dashed? It's awesome. Highly recommended. Our first attempt was to rebook our original flight, from LGA to MCO. Nope. Wednesday night was the first available. Uh...should we rent a car and drive to Philly and fly from there? No flights. Boston? No flights. Washington? Nada. As I was on the phone with him, I kept reloading JetBlue.com. Flights kept popping up that the dude on the phone was missing!
"Hey! There's now a flight late tonight out of LaGuardia to Orlando. Do you see it?"
He found it and rebooked my BF on it. If DF and I had to go Wednesday, at least BF would be there for most of the planned trip. DF suddenly had a brainstorm: what about flights to other cities in Florida? Duh. Why hadn't we thought of that? I pulled up a map of Florida, product of the public school system that I am. Ooh! Tampa's close! Are there any flights to Tampa?
Whoa! There's a flight out of JFK to Tampa only an our after our original flight! With the car rental, we'd be missing 2-3 hours of the magic, tops! I told the dude (who never found us a flight; I literally would tell him what flights were available online and he'd book us on them) to book us.
"Passenger BF...is booked."
Hurray!
"Passenger DF...is booked."
Yessir! We're on our way!
"I was not able to rebook you. The seat is no longer available."
AM I IN A MOVIE?!? My boyfriend and friend are leaving for a week of delight, and I'm forced to meet them on Wednesday?!? Have I gone insane?
"Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"
"I am not hanging up with you until I'm also on this flight to Tampa. And that's all there is to it."
I reloaded the page over and over again, like a doctor on a TV show yelling "CLEAR!", trying futilely to revive a long-dead patient. Hope was fading. Fast. Then, suddenly:
"A SEAT JUST OPENED UP. BOOK IT NOW, DUDE. BOOK IT NOW."
"Stand by...stand by...you are booked, sir."
We cheered with as much energy as three exhausted, stressed out dudes at 3:30 in the morning could. We got a couple hours of sleep, then popped back up, ready to pop over to JFK for smooth sailing to Tamp-town. Wrongzo againzo.
It was pouring freezing rain with a force that would make Noah go "Uh...yikes." The driver could barely see on the way to the airport. Bumper-to-bumper traffic. We were running out of time. At JFK, we stepped into the most chaotic state I've ever seen an airport in. People screaming, pushing, no discernible lines...it was like five minutes from grass skirts, body paint, and human sacrifice. Thank Walt that DF insisted we get Even More Speed when we rebooked; if we hadn't, we would've missed the flight.
Smooth flight. Nice landing. Picked up the rental and headed to Orlando; that is, after trusty navigators BF and DF spent the first few minutes of the drive figuring out how to play their iPods in the car. Um, y'know what, guys? I'd rather have the slightest clue where I'm going than be hearing the perfect Depeche Mode song right now. Cool? Cool. We stopped for a bite at Arby's because we don't have any Arby's in NYC and I love Arby's and I'm a gross monster, and as we stuffed our grateful faces with beeves and cheddars, we found out that JetBlue canceled all remaining flights out of NYC for the next two days. If we hadn't acted as fast as we did when our flight was canceled, we wouldn't have gotten to Florida.
DF turned on the Disney jams as we neared that familiar stretch of road. It was in our sights. It was really happening. Walt Disney World.
Next: Day One, Day Won
