Vacation with the Mouse
As you know, Thursday we left our humble abode (HA) for a weekend in Disney World. Personally, Thursday was a very difficult day for me - leaving Cappy behind was one of the most difficult things that I've ever had to do. I cried all the way to Chris's and all the way back. I hate flying, which made the day even more stressful.
Thanks to Valium, I was somewhat calm by the time we boarded the plane. We were very lucky with a great seatmate, who happened to be an Ophthalmology Resident - I really enjoyed talking to her, which I'm sure made the flight go quickly. The flight itself was uneventful, though we did hit some turbulence at one point. After landing we immediately called the hotel so that they could send the shuttle to pick us up. We made our way down to the passenger pick up area and waited patiently...and then we waited not so patiently. By the time thirty minutes had passed, Chad called the hotel again...and our white unmarked van arrived about ten minutes after that phone call. The driver was horribly rude, not to mention an awful driver. I seriously thought that we were going to fall out of the van or that he was going to somehow kill us. The hotel was nice (Springhill Suites - Airport) and Chad helped himself to a few nightcaps while watching the end of the baseball game.
When we woke up on Friday morning we were ready to head to Disney and anxiously awaited our taxi. I think it was about 60 degrees outside and I was freezing cold, which made me laugh out loud. Thankfully, the ride to Disney was much less exciting. Immediately upon arriving we checked into The Beach Club and were pleased to find out that our room was ready. We headed to our room, checked out the hotel and pool and were on our way to EPCOT. We rode Spaceship Earth and walked, ate and drank our way around the World Showcase. We were disappointed when we stopped at Mexico and found out they no longer served flautas, but were pleasantly surprised with the queso dip. After making our way around the world once, we headed back to the hotel and attempted to make reservations for dinner. Coral Reef was fully booked, so we ended up with reservations at The Yachtsman Steakhouse which was located next door.
Unfortunately, our dinner there was the furthest thing from magical. They said that they had the best steaks on property, so we were interested in comparing them to the amazing steaks at California Grill. Because I have food allergies, the chef is supposed to come speak with me to ensure that I don't have any reactions to the food. We waited at least 20 minutes for him, but were told that he was "too busy" to speak with me. Whatever...So, we placed our order. Another ten or fifteen minutes passed before we got our appetizers and bread. An hour and a half later we were still sitting there, without our steaks...our waiter hadn't even bothered to offer us more bread or let us know that it would be awhile. At this point, we are both pretty pissed off. Chad went to find the manager and spoke with her about it, before she brought out our steaks the people on the right side of me had been given a second bread basket and the people on the left had their steaks brought out by the chef himself - both parties arrived after we did. UGH! The manager brought our steaks and Chad ordered another bottle of wine. When the waiter brought out the bottle of wine he didn't even bother to apologize - Chad told him that we were no longer speaking to him and we would deal solely with the manager. The steaks were delicious, but that didn't even bother to make up for the horrendous service. And, the only thing they did for us was comp $20 worth of appetizers....our bill STILL came to almost $200. I will not give them another chance, and I spoke to the manager at our resort about it as well.
I'm not saying that we deserved or should have had our entire meal comped, BUT I am saying that we have spent a crap load of money with Disney in the past two years. We should have had an apology, and, quite frankly, when I spend that much money I expect to be treated better than that. I think the service at McDonald's is better than what we received. My other concern with the situation is this...I have a serious food allergy. Had my food been 'contaminated' , if you will, by almonds I could have ended up in the hospital - thus ruining our weekend trip that we had been planning. Still upset, we headed back to our room and went to bed.
On Saturday morning we headed back to EPCOT to eat and drink some more. But first, we did a little bit of shopping! Thanks to the shopping, we now have some of our Christmas shopping completed. Whew! One less thing to worry about come December. We made our way around again, and then headed back to our resort. Since our room hadn't been serviced yet, we grabbed our swimsuits and headed down to their amazing pool area. We headed to ESPN for dinner and to watch the baseball game. Our experience there was much better than the previous night, and might I mention one-third of the cost. As you can imagine, ESPN was crowded but we still had great service. Chad ordered two appetizers - chilli cheese fries and a black-bean spinach dip...and ate all of it. He also ate an entire Philly Cheese steak sandwich...Can you say oink?! :-) Given all the food he had in his system, I knew that Sunday would be a painful day for us.
On Sunday morning we packed our stuff up and dropped it off at valet before checking out and heading to EPCOT one last time. We did another circuit of The World Showcase and headed back to the lobby to relax before catching a taxi to take us back to Springhill Suites. We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing before ordering a pizza for dinner and going to bed early. Yesterday we were up at 3:30am in order to catch our flight home.
This go-round, I was much more relaxed for the flight. Chad had passed out before we even started take-off, so I was all on my own. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep for awhile. It was another uneventful flight, though there was one point that my ears hurt so badly I though that I was going to cry. After landing, I grabbed by bag and found that it was wet - somebody had spilled something and it was all over my bag. Needless to say, I was none to pleased. Chad went to get the truck while I waited for our bags. (We had to check them because we had purchased so much.) We were back at the apartment by 9am and have a sad kitty on our hands, though it didn't take him long to forgive us. Chad headed to work and I ran by the house before picking up our puppy monster from Camp Jenkins.
As wonderful as the trip was, there are always things that you wish you had done differently. We both learned a lot on this trip. Stay tuned for a list of what we learned and what we will do differently next time....
Thanks to Valium, I was somewhat calm by the time we boarded the plane. We were very lucky with a great seatmate, who happened to be an Ophthalmology Resident - I really enjoyed talking to her, which I'm sure made the flight go quickly. The flight itself was uneventful, though we did hit some turbulence at one point. After landing we immediately called the hotel so that they could send the shuttle to pick us up. We made our way down to the passenger pick up area and waited patiently...and then we waited not so patiently. By the time thirty minutes had passed, Chad called the hotel again...and our white unmarked van arrived about ten minutes after that phone call. The driver was horribly rude, not to mention an awful driver. I seriously thought that we were going to fall out of the van or that he was going to somehow kill us. The hotel was nice (Springhill Suites - Airport) and Chad helped himself to a few nightcaps while watching the end of the baseball game.
When we woke up on Friday morning we were ready to head to Disney and anxiously awaited our taxi. I think it was about 60 degrees outside and I was freezing cold, which made me laugh out loud. Thankfully, the ride to Disney was much less exciting. Immediately upon arriving we checked into The Beach Club and were pleased to find out that our room was ready. We headed to our room, checked out the hotel and pool and were on our way to EPCOT. We rode Spaceship Earth and walked, ate and drank our way around the World Showcase. We were disappointed when we stopped at Mexico and found out they no longer served flautas, but were pleasantly surprised with the queso dip. After making our way around the world once, we headed back to the hotel and attempted to make reservations for dinner. Coral Reef was fully booked, so we ended up with reservations at The Yachtsman Steakhouse which was located next door.
Unfortunately, our dinner there was the furthest thing from magical. They said that they had the best steaks on property, so we were interested in comparing them to the amazing steaks at California Grill. Because I have food allergies, the chef is supposed to come speak with me to ensure that I don't have any reactions to the food. We waited at least 20 minutes for him, but were told that he was "too busy" to speak with me. Whatever...So, we placed our order. Another ten or fifteen minutes passed before we got our appetizers and bread. An hour and a half later we were still sitting there, without our steaks...our waiter hadn't even bothered to offer us more bread or let us know that it would be awhile. At this point, we are both pretty pissed off. Chad went to find the manager and spoke with her about it, before she brought out our steaks the people on the right side of me had been given a second bread basket and the people on the left had their steaks brought out by the chef himself - both parties arrived after we did. UGH! The manager brought our steaks and Chad ordered another bottle of wine. When the waiter brought out the bottle of wine he didn't even bother to apologize - Chad told him that we were no longer speaking to him and we would deal solely with the manager. The steaks were delicious, but that didn't even bother to make up for the horrendous service. And, the only thing they did for us was comp $20 worth of appetizers....our bill STILL came to almost $200. I will not give them another chance, and I spoke to the manager at our resort about it as well.
I'm not saying that we deserved or should have had our entire meal comped, BUT I am saying that we have spent a crap load of money with Disney in the past two years. We should have had an apology, and, quite frankly, when I spend that much money I expect to be treated better than that. I think the service at McDonald's is better than what we received. My other concern with the situation is this...I have a serious food allergy. Had my food been 'contaminated' , if you will, by almonds I could have ended up in the hospital - thus ruining our weekend trip that we had been planning. Still upset, we headed back to our room and went to bed.
On Saturday morning we headed back to EPCOT to eat and drink some more. But first, we did a little bit of shopping! Thanks to the shopping, we now have some of our Christmas shopping completed. Whew! One less thing to worry about come December. We made our way around again, and then headed back to our resort. Since our room hadn't been serviced yet, we grabbed our swimsuits and headed down to their amazing pool area. We headed to ESPN for dinner and to watch the baseball game. Our experience there was much better than the previous night, and might I mention one-third of the cost. As you can imagine, ESPN was crowded but we still had great service. Chad ordered two appetizers - chilli cheese fries and a black-bean spinach dip...and ate all of it. He also ate an entire Philly Cheese steak sandwich...Can you say oink?! :-) Given all the food he had in his system, I knew that Sunday would be a painful day for us.
On Sunday morning we packed our stuff up and dropped it off at valet before checking out and heading to EPCOT one last time. We did another circuit of The World Showcase and headed back to the lobby to relax before catching a taxi to take us back to Springhill Suites. We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing before ordering a pizza for dinner and going to bed early. Yesterday we were up at 3:30am in order to catch our flight home.
This go-round, I was much more relaxed for the flight. Chad had passed out before we even started take-off, so I was all on my own. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep for awhile. It was another uneventful flight, though there was one point that my ears hurt so badly I though that I was going to cry. After landing, I grabbed by bag and found that it was wet - somebody had spilled something and it was all over my bag. Needless to say, I was none to pleased. Chad went to get the truck while I waited for our bags. (We had to check them because we had purchased so much.) We were back at the apartment by 9am and have a sad kitty on our hands, though it didn't take him long to forgive us. Chad headed to work and I ran by the house before picking up our puppy monster from Camp Jenkins.
As wonderful as the trip was, there are always things that you wish you had done differently. We both learned a lot on this trip. Stay tuned for a list of what we learned and what we will do differently next time....
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