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[mommapants]

We had finally arrived at the Art of Animation and I wish I could say all went well but that is not the case.

We arrived and went to check in. We were in the Little Mermaid rooms and I had requested building 9, ground floor, close to the bus stop. When we arrived a room was ready but it was on the 4th floor. I asked Evan if he wanted to wait for a ground floor or just get the room and he wanted to get the room now so we got our room assignment, had our dining plan activated and then went into the food court for some lunch.

This was my first time using the dining plan and I have realized it just isn’t for us. Now we were both hungry and it was hot and I’m tired from the stress of the morning and the drive and really looking forward to getting something to eat and getting unpacked and having a swim. We had a dinner ADR at 7pm so we didn’t need a big lunch so the food court was perfect.

Here is where the problems began. Being new to the DDP, I wasn’t totally sure what to do and what was included. I have read many things about the meal plan and the various restaurants and table service verses quick service and so on but had never used the plan before so nothing was committed to memory or put into practice.

We grabbed our refillable mugs and walked around looking at the various options. I kept skimming the brochure to see if I could verify what we got in our meal (Drink? Did it have to a certain size/type? Side items? Dessert? What was included and what would be extra? Was a candy bar included but not cake or was it a dollar amount?) I kept skimming but just couldn’t easily find what I was looking for. Plus I was hungry, Evan was asking me a bunch of questions, it was noisy and I could just feel the stress level rising.

Food courts are not my favorite when it is just me and Evan because he will always want something different than me so I either have to go to where he wants or I have to wait in 2 lines and then leave him alone at the table – none of which I wanted to do. It was a little later for lunch but the food court was still pretty crowded. Evan decided on a hamburger and I grabbed a pepperoni pizza and we sat and had our lunch. After we sat I was able to read the brochure better and found the info I was looking for but for the life of me couldn’t find it while I was standing there in the middle of the food court with a total look of confusion on my face.

After our bellies were happy I went to the store to try and return some items. Last year when we were supposed to take our big trip a coworker went to Disney in May and I asked him to get me 2 autograph books, 2 pens and 2 Epcot passports, one for Evan and the other for my nephew Eric who was supposed to join us. Then the trip got canceled but I still had all the stuff. Because it had been over the time period I couldn’t return them. I found everyone to be rather unhelpful. The sales girl didn’t know so went to find a manager and then came back and said no. The manager never came over. I was a bit put-off. This is Disney and I just expected a little more. I had the receipt and none of the items had a date on them and I could see they were still selling the exact same products. I didn’t want to have to carry the items with me into the theme park and try to return them there and get the same answer so I just did nothing further and now STILL have the items at my house for our next return trip. Hopefully I will be able to “gift” them to someone in the future.

At this point Evan and I walked back to the car and drove over to check out our room. I parked and tell Evan to grab something and carry it up and I’ll come back for the suitcases and everything else. We walk up 4 flights of stairs as we found those before the elevator and I got bitter complaints from my 8 year old. Oh the horror or having to walk up “ALL THESE STAIRS!” I am sure glad no one called DYFS on me because of the torture he was suffering.

The excitement was building as we touched our magic bands to the door and see the little light glow green…we opened the door and …wah wah! I look and see suitcases in the room. What the? Huh? What is going on? Thank goodness we didn’t walk in on anyone. I quick shut the door and now I’m like “Really? We have to go all the way back to the check in desk? Now I’m just totally over the entire day. I just feel aggravated and disgusted and annoyed . We march back to the sweltering car throw our stuff back into the trunk, drive back to the parking lot at Animation Hall and then schlep back to the registration desk.

Fortunately there was no wait and we explained what happened and the CM told us they must have put the wrong luggage in the wrong room. That made me feel a little better because I actually thought that maybe a guest was trying to sneak in an extended check-out. He was searching for a room for us and the desk manager is talking with us and apologizing. I was thinking to myself maybe we might get a little surprise or fast pass or free snack credit or something – but no joy – we got nothing.

After searching (and remember my original requests, ground floor, build 9, close to buses) He got me a ground floor in building 8 was that OK? At this point I didn’t even care; just give me a room for crying out load. Now if you ever look at a map of AOA resort you have the main check-in and off to the right is Cars, at check-in is Nemo, to the left is Lion King and past Lion King is Little Mermaid. The buildings are all shaped like the letter “T”. Building 8 is like an upside down T and we were in the tail end. We were the 2nd to last room. What this means is that I think we were about as far away from the buses as you could possibly get. But we at least had the ground floor.

Finally, at what felt like an eternity, we were entering OUR room.

Since this update has run a bit long I’ll give my review of AOA in the next update.

Coming up next: Review of the Art of Animation resort – promise.