Southern Fried in Mickey's World Updated 12/31 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great start. Is it bad that when I read the title of your trip report the first thing I thought of was Southern fried chicken?
The weather is Florida sounds horrible. It was unseasonably hot when we were there in September. I'm glad it finally got cooler at home.
I can't wait to read more. It doesn't sound too promising, though.
Liz
As it turns out, my DS and DiL were in Disney the same time you were. The weather sounds hot and miserable. But all in all, they had a great time, hoping that you did as well.
Sounds like you had a great day and Luke enjoyed his birthday, even if you are the one who got all the goodies. I'm sorry the weather treated you poorly in FL, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. No doubt you are thoroughly enjoying the fall weather now that you are back home.
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I am in full agreement about the terrible heat and humidity in Orlando this fall!
Sounds like you made out quite well at the mall! Luke’s birthday dinner sounded great as well.
I”m surprised your Early Bird didn’t get you better numbers, but I guess it all depends on how many others utilize it.
Luke was surprised when he checked in and we were so far down the line for boarding. It was a full flight so maybe more folks than usual paid the EBCI.
Great start. Is it bad that when I read the title of your trip report the first thing I thought of was Southern fried chicken?
The weather is Florida sounds horrible. It was unseasonably hot when we were there in September. I'm glad it finally got cooler at home.
I can't wait to read more. It doesn't sound too promising, though.
Liz
Not bad at all as that is where I got the idea for Southern Fried in the title. I'm so glad it is cooler here at home now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dj1028
Glad you enjoyed Chuy's. It's one of our favorites...as a matter of fact, we are going there for my birthday this weekend!
and enjoy dinner Chuy's. We'll definitely be going back, especially since my DSis June let us know there is one at a town halfway from their house and ours where we often meet up for a meal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldmom
As it turns out, my DS and DiL were in Disney the same time you were. The weather sounds hot and miserable. But all in all, they had a great time, hoping that you did as well.
Our trip had more ups than downs, but the heat definitely had a negative impact on what we could do. I consider myself a southern girl and Kentucky has its share of heat and humidity, but this was the first time I thought it might beat me.
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Sounds like you had a great day and Luke enjoyed his birthday, even if you are the one who got all the goodies. I'm sorry the weather treated you poorly in FL, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. No doubt you are thoroughly enjoying the fall weather now that you are back home.
We're sort of feeling like we are cursed with hot weather as we have had a string of trips with hotter than usual temperatures. So I may need to warn folks not to go at the same time as we do. Even our Disneyland had record breaking highs. I am basking in our fall weather back in Kentucky. it. Luke and I have always loved fall and winter. I know most people don't like winter, but we do.
Great start, though the next update doesn't sound so great.
I'm with you, I love the winter and not sure I want to move further south when we retire. I like the snow and the cold. But I'm only 1/2 of the equation. We shall see!
I LOVE you got all the goodies on Luke's birthday!
Great start, though the next update doesn't sound so great.
I'm with you, I love the winter and not sure I want to move further south when we retire. I like the snow and the cold. But I'm only 1/2 of the equation. We shall see!
I LOVE you got all the goodies on Luke's birthday!
Luke wondered at one time if I'd want to move further south because of my arthritis. But that's not what I want. I need my four seasons. I'm very lucky that Luke likes to spoil me, though I had saved up money for the jeans and Bath & Body stuff.
Today started dark and early at 5:30 AM. Thankfully, the Best Western had a free continental breakfast where we headed at 6:30. I had a large waffle and orange juice while Luke had eggs, three slices of bacon, a biscuit and orange juice. We returned to the room to brush our teeth and get our suitcases. Check out was a breeze, and by 7:00, we were walking out the front door. Luke got our suitcases back in the back, and I put some items in the floor of the back seat that did not need to tag along with us to Florida. Think dirty laundry. The Edge was in line at Executive Travel and Parking by 7:10. We loved the closeness of this hotel to our parking service. Woohoo! In another ten minutes our bags were unloaded at the terminal where we headed inside to the self-check kiosk. Another easy, breezy check in with all our four large suitcases tagged and dropped off.
From bag drop off, we headed straight to TSA Pre-Check. For the first time, we both had our boarding passes downloaded to our phones, and the best part was we would not need Internet to access them. When I laid my phone down on the pad at the TSA podium, the device made a high-pitched squeal that made me jump and squeal myself. The TSA agent looked at me amused, causing me to whisper out that this was my first time to use my phone. I was not expecting all that noise. Having our passes on our phones was actually easier than carrying the paper passes. We and our bags passed the security check quickly without any glitches. Our plane would be meeting us at gate C7, which was one of the closest gates we’ve ever gotten. We found seats near the boarding sign for A45 – 46 (I was one off on these in yesterday’s update). Now an hour wait, spent emailing Luke’s mom and texting my DSis June. I also picked up a regular size Coke at Burger King after a bit of confusion on my part. I’m used to being at one of the furthest gates, so I headed to the right, which lead me back to security. I couldn’t figure out what they had done with all the restaurants. Luke had a good life when I came back the first time empty-handed and wondering where the restaurants were. He advised me to turn left and Burger King should be just around the next curve. And it was!
Boarding began at 8:50, right on schedule. This would be a full flight, but we got seats in row 11. Not bad! I had downloaded two movies to my Hoopla app on my Kindle prior to leaving home. I tried watching both, but I only managed about five minutes on each. I couldn’t get the volume loud enough to understand the dialogue on either. Beside the volume issue, one was just weird, and the other was tiringly slow. Instead of a movie, I listened to an audiobook that I had already begun and knew I was loving. Our planed landed and made it to the gate by 12:15 as noted when we booked. Good deal! We were off the plane in a few minutes and stopping at the first restrooms. Then we made our way down to DME, now decorated with cute fall décor. Once in the line for pick up to Animal Kingdom Lodge—Kidani Village, we waited and waited and waited. The wait was lengthy.
Finally, we were directed outside to a bus.
The ride was pleasant, stopping first at All-Star Music, new to us as we had never been back there. Next was Coronado Springs. At this point about half or more of the bus had emptied out. On to Animal Kingdom Lodge, stopping first at Jambo House where the remainder of the bus, except for Luke and me got off. We had our own private bus for the short ride to Kidani Village. While on the DME bus, I received a text that our room was ready in the Pumba section, Room #7670. I joked as we walked the quarter mile to our room (truthfully, we measured it) that we were being sent to the butt end of Pumba. We are aware and accept the fact that someone has to stay in the remote rooms, but the worse part was our savanna view. Take a look!
Those are painters and construction workers. We had received no information prior to entering our room that refurbishing would be going on. Disney keeps dropping the ball on these resort construction issues. The Wet Paint sign was put up, I’m sure, because I came out on the balcony and took their photo.
I was trying not to let this derail me this early in the trip, but then I went to the bathroom to change out of my jeans and discovered a dirty towel on the floor in front of the toilet. I yelled to Luke about the towel and he said there was another in the kitchenette sink. Boo! We had seen several housekeepers in the hallways on our long trek, so he stepped out to find one. I was NOT touching that towel in the bathroom. : Yuck! I heard him talking to a man and wondered what was going on because we had only seen women housekeepers. Right outside our room, he had met the manager of housekeeping. He came into the room, removed the offending towels, and then informed us of the painting and construction. Alex, the manager, told us that the painters would be there every weekday from 7:00 to 5:00, so animals would NOT be on the savanna until they left. Great! : Six months ago at the 180-day mark I had made dining reservations and almost all of those were for 5:00. Where was my savanna view? Grrr! On the housekeeping misstep, he offered us every other day housekeeping. I didn’t want to move as I still needed to change because Hollywood Studios was beckoning us with our first FastPass. So we took that as sufficient compensation. Alex chatted to us for a little while, telling us how before recently becoming the housekeeping manager at Kidani, he had been working on the Toy Story Land project.
Eventually, Alex left, I got change, and we headed to the bus stops for our first ride to a Disney park.
That was a nice birthday dinner for Luke and very nice that Felicia didn't charge you for the dessert! Luke must have an iron stomach when it comes to spicy food! Some nice purchases at the Opryland Mall!
Glad all went well with the flight and arrival. Too bad you had a long wait for DME and that you were the last two to get off! That is not good with the room situation! First the dirty towels and now the painting and without a savanna view! I hope they do more for you besides the housekeeping service. I know you want to get to the parks, but perhaps you can have your room changed tomorrow! You are paying for the view even though you are DVC members with the points for this room than a standard one, which would be less.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
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Sorry about the heat and humidity you experience this trip, I find it really tires a person out. I can’t believe they didn’t tell you about the work going on, and how did they miss the towels in the two spots. Hope the room ends up working out for you.
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I can see why you changed the title of your trip report....
and enjoy dinner Chuy's. We'll definitely be going back, especially since my DSis June let us know there is one at a town halfway from their house and ours where we often meet up for a meal. 
I am basking in our fall weather back in Kentucky. 
it. Luke and I have always loved fall and winter. I know most people don't like winter, but we do. 
]
We and our bags passed the security check quickly without any glitches. Our plane would be meeting us at gate C7, which was one of the closest gates we’ve ever gotten. We found seats near the boarding sign for A45 – 46 (I was one off on these in yesterday’s update). Now an hour wait, spent emailing Luke’s mom and texting my DSis June. I also picked up a regular size Coke at Burger King after a bit of confusion on my part. I’m used to being at one of the furthest gates, so I headed to the right, which lead me back to security. I couldn’t figure out what they had done with all the restaurants. Luke had a good life when I came back the first time empty-handed and wondering where the restaurants were. He advised me to turn left and Burger King should be just around the next curve. And it was! 
Disney keeps dropping the ball on these resort construction issues. The Wet Paint sign was put up, I’m sure, because I came out on the balcony and took their photo. 
: Yuck! 
I heard him talking to a man and wondered what was going on because we had only seen women housekeepers. Right outside our room, he had met the manager of housekeeping. He came into the room, removed the offending towels, and then informed us of the painting and construction. Alex, the manager, told us that the painters would be there every weekday from 7:00 to 5:00, so animals would NOT be on the savanna until they left. Great! 
On the housekeeping misstep, he offered us every other day housekeeping. I didn’t want to move as I still needed to change because Hollywood Studios was beckoning us with our first FastPass. So we took that as sufficient compensation. Alex chatted to us for a little while, telling us how before recently becoming the housekeeping manager at Kidani, he had been working on the Toy Story Land project. 
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