A Hop, NO Skip, and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great start! We're also flying in the day b4 our cruise just in case something happens. I'm so glad that w/all of the delays you didn't have to worry about missing the boat.
Good idea. Too many things can happen. Our cruise departure was actually delayed because people were stil lcoming in on Disney transportation from delays from the storm.
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Originally Posted by WHMom
Enjoying your TR! Sorry you had such bad delays getting there. Looking forward to reading more!
It wasn't too bad. We survived without killing each other. And we weren't really in a hurry that day, though of course I wante to step on Florida soil sooner than later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jennie622
ugh! what an ordeal! Nice to know you made it to FL safe & sound.
It was long, and Claire was a trooper too. We all did fine. And I think the gradual decent actually helped my ears not clog up like they usually do.
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Originally Posted by B.M.
Sorry you had a rough time getting there.... but atleast you made it!
Exactly, we made it on the day we were supposed to, so I guess I can't be too unhappy.
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Originally Posted by nikkilovesmickey
Great start to the trip report. Sorry bad things happened. But hey at least they make the story more interesting.
The little bits of Drama do make it a little more interesting, doesn't it. I have more drama too. LOL! But lots of fun as well.
I forgot to mention that I did call Skip when we landed and told him of all the delays in the air, etc. Of course he laughed again at me. He knows how I get when things don’t go right. I usually get panicky and uptight. But since we didn’t HAVE to be anywhere tonight, (like a park), I was actually doing fine. The only things we had to do was get checked into our hotel and get something to eat. The rest of the night was for relaxation.
Now things get a little stressful when we leave the airport. I think we were on the road somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45. I have printed out various maps/directions for our trip. I hand the paper to Dad as he is riding shotgun. I basically say, “where to” as I am driving. I did the directions from the actual airport address, rather than the Alamo lot. This confuses Dad. He tells me to find a certain road. I tell him we just turned off that rode, what’s the next direction, and he just keeps saying find “this” road. I finally just ripped them out of his hands and handed them back to mom. I tell her I just need the route to get to and I can follow signs. It takes a minute to figure it out and by this time I have turned again, but not sure if it was right, so I go and make a U-turn and wait for Mom’s reply. Dad is having a fit that I am doing this. Mom finds the route and we make another U-turn and are basically back where we were a few minutes ago, but now I KNOW we are heading in the right direction. Again Dad is having a fit that we wasted time. I told him we had no where to be tonight and we’ll be just fine.
I started to worry a bit then. Dad was going to be alone for 3 days and he couldn’t even find his way out of the airport. I sure hoped this wasn’t going to lead to another “mishap”.
We made great time traveling to the port area. We saw the damage left by the storms as we drove. There were trees uprooted everywhere. Though I must add, though it looked bad, you could tell that the roots are not very deep on these trees.
As we approached the Port Area you could see a Carnival Ship docked and all lit up. It was very pretty.
I think we got to Residence Inn in just over an hour. The route is pretty empty, with not many exciting looking exits. It is a toll road, and I had brought a little change bag full of quarters. Dads job was to fish them out to me as we approached a booth. Of course there were a few arguments about which booth to go to at times.
We arrived at Residence Inn around 7:40. I ran in to check us in. Mom was starving and told me to find a place to eat. Check in was a breeze. I noticed that we had just missed the “free” supper they had offered that night. It closed at 7:30. But that was fine. I think it was just burgers.
The desk clerk told me to go to Fish Lips. I had read about this place and the reviews seemed good. He gave me a map, and drew a line for the route.
Looks pretty easy, doesn’t it?
I ran back out to the van and told everyone which direction our room was, but we decided to eat first. Here is another “mishap” that I am so happy didn’t turn out bad. This van had the gear shift on the dash….really? the dash? This was very weird to me. When I got out, I had never put it in park. The van was STILL in drive when I got in. Thank goodness it didn’t move an inch. My Dad was amazed that it had just sat still the whole time.
I found this gear shifter thing to be a pain the whole trip and this isn’t the only incident I had with it.
I hand the map to Dad and take off without really reading it myself. I ask Dad which road I need to turn on. He can’t see. It’s dark, and we can’t find the light to turn on for him. Mom says she can’t see in the dark either. I could see it, but not drive at the same time. It was kind of comical. I just kept saying, give me a name of the road, and no one could. I was sure I had past it as we got into a very unpopulated area about 2 miles down the road. I pulled over. Looked at the map and sure enough it was the road I thought it was and had passed a ways back. So we turned around and made our way there.
There were several places lined up along the water, but we eventually found it and found a parking space NOT too far away.
We were seated right away.
Our table was right next to a big window and we could look out and see the water and the big Carnival ship.
Claire and I walked outside to look at the water. Our table was right next to the door. It was fairly warm out, but very windy.
A server was walking by out there and offered to take our picture. I said sure and switched the settings on my camera and handed over the SLR with a little uneasiness.
I smiled while he tried to put the Carnival ship in the background. I wanted him to just hurry up. I didn’t want him to drop my camera. I knew the ship wouldn’t really show up anyways. A couple of older gentleman walked by and one told the server he would take it because he was a former professional photographer. That made me a feel a little more at ease. He actually held the camera safely.
He asked me what settings I use, and I told him usually manual, but I had set it to auto for the other guy. He set it to P and turned the flash on and tried a couple of shots. The pictures weren’t that great, but it was still nice to get a picture taken with Claire.
We talked a bit about photography and he gave me some of his opinions. It was a nice chat. Claire and I then went back in and our food still hadn’t come.
I decided to walk out to the van and get my phone that I left out there. On the way in I took this picture of Claire on my phone and texted it to family and friends.
I’m not to good with the camera phone. I can’t figure out how to make the flash work, so this picture is pretty awful.
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Sorry, but I really was at the map stories. It must have been annoying at the time, but makes a great story. Your "mishaps" with getting from your home to the port are all too common and the best reason to arrive the day before a cruise.
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Sorry, but I really was at the map stories. It must have been annoying at the time, but makes a great story. Your "mishaps" with getting from your home to the port are all too common and the best reason to arrive the day before a cruise.
Unfoturnately we have more mishaps, but we still had a lot of fun, and the worst one was losing the SD card...and I have made peace with that...sort of!
All the mishaps make for a goos story though, don't they?
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Originally Posted by pamcarey
Too funny with all the map reading mishaps. Don't you wish that you could just drive AND read the map yourself sometimes!
I wish I could drive and read the map. I knew if I let Dad it would take twice as long, so I was driving, but I didn't realize how slow he would be with the dang map. I need an extra set of eyes and arms.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcc0313
Sorry that travel day was a bit rough with delays and all...I am sure you were all starving glad that you were able to find some nuorishment quickly.
We were hungry. Bu the snacks we brought on the plane did help. I think Claire might've even had some more snacks on the way to the hotel.
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Originally Posted by jennie622
I swear, I can't find my way out of a paperbag so your map stories had me rolling!! A girlfriend and I got lost using GPS!!
I almost missed a cruise out of Port Everglades years back due to getting lost!
YIKES! I think GPS tries to get you lost sometimes.
After running out to the van for the phone and a quick picture, Claire and I went back into the restaurant and our food had arrived.
After we ate and were nice and full we headed back to Residence Inn, which was very close and easy to find.
We parked and made our way to our room. Claire, Mom and I got in the elevator, but Dad didn’t for some strange reason. Mom worried he would have no clue where the room was, so I rode the elevator back down to fetch him. He was gone, so I assumed he found his way. I went to the room and sure enough he was there.
The room was nice, but nothing fancy. But it was very roomy and good a for a nights stay.
We walked in to a living room area with a kitchen as well.
The couch pulled out into a bed. I was told it was the most UNCOMFORTABLE thing ever. Sleeping on the floor might’ve been better. I had booked a room like this because we figured Claire would sleep on the couch bed. (back when Skip was coming) I think next time I will just book 2 queens since the couch bed was so awful.
We had a separate bedroom that had a king bed in it. Claire and I slept here. This bed was the MOST comfortable bed I have EVER slept on. It was like paradise laying on it.
The bathroom was right off the bedroom.
After we checked out the room a bit, I asked Claire if she wanted to go for a walk and check out the grounds. She wanted to swim, but I told her it was most likely closed due to the storm or time, but we would look. Mom decided to join us.
The pool was closed. I’m not sure of the reason though, because one side had cones and caution tape too.
I suppose that this would be a “mishap” in Claire’s mind.
I snapped some pictures here and there.
A few of the lobby.
And out by the fire. It was pretty.
We then headed back to the room and gave Claire a bath. I wanted to call Skip again, so Claire and I went for another walk and gave him a call. We walked around the whole building about 3 times and Claire thought that was the neatest thing.
Skip told me that one of his friends was calling him every time I updated on facebook and telling him what we were doing. LOL! (Skip doesn’t do facebook, or really computers for that matter)
We laid down around 11 Pm and it took about another 30 minutes or so for Claire to go to sleep. We watched the news and they said the storm that had come through that day was the worst one since 1992. Finally we both fell asleep on the most comfy bed ever!
Too bad the pull-out bed was so uncomfortable for your parents. Must have been nice for you, going to bed knowing you were safely next door to the ship and sailing tomorrow.
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at the map stories. It must have been annoying at the time, but makes a great story. Your "mishaps" with getting from your home to the port are all too common and the best reason to arrive the day before a cruise.
glad that you were able to find some nuorishment quickly.
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