Girl Power at the World! Sue's Update 6/1 - Breakfast at 'Ohana About This Page:

[2princessmom]

Awesome report ladies! I can't wait to hear more! I am so enjoying your fun!

I hope one of these days to enjoy a ladies only trip as well.

[tinksmom]

great fun and I know there's more to come
tenya

[MickeyMAC]

This is great, just what I was hoping you all would do when you returned. Great reports!!!!

[lauren-roxy]

Great update Maureen!! Thanks for the add-ins from angie and Sndy!! This is sucha fun trip report to read!! I love the pictures and can't wair for more!!!!

[Fortissimo]

More please!

[rescuesk]

Pre trip planning, and arrival...my turn!

Sometime in late December, I began to hear some rumblings about a girl's trip to the world. Hmm...sounded like it could be fun! But...would my Disney loving DH let me go to WDW by myself...without him!! *gasp* "Honey....there's this girls trip to WDW and I think I might like to go and..." His answer? "Of course you should go! You work so hard, you take care of all of us, go and have a great time!" Is he the greatest or what?

So that night I emailed Sandy and asked if there might be room for one more. I didn't want to intrude! 4 really quick email responses later, I was so there! I wasn't concerned about the room as I was using a combination of DVC points and cash, but then a little bird told me that Tina was thinking about going, too. That was a help! We teamed up, and the rest, as they say, is history!

We got to know each other through emails, chats and several wonderful surprises in the mail! I got an awesome airfare on United out of Allentown, bought my AP voucher, confirmed my ressies and I was set.

The night before the flight, I luckily checked my itinerary. My 6:40 AM flight had been changed to a 6:15 AM! My DH got out of bed early just to drive me to the airport. The flight was uneventful, and the earlier flight gave me a longer layover at Dulles. But it was OK...I was travelling solo...for the first time EVER and I really didn't mind! I strolled the terminal, had a bagel and coffee, did a little filming and relaxed. By 10:30 I was Florida Bound!

We landed early at MCO, and United allows you to turn your cell phone on when they are taxiing. I had arranged to meet Mo at the gate, since our flights were 4 minutes apart. My phone started ringing almost as soon as I turned it on. Turns out Mo was in early, too! We de-planed and called each other from the terminal. There she was! She actually saw me before I saw her! It was instant karma! Mo is such a nice person!

We were off to find the rest of the group...somewhere...nowhere... Where were they?? You already know the saga of the 2 boards, and it was pretty funny that everyone had been so excited that my plane had just landed. Then they turned around and there we were! I had met Lynn and Tara, but this was my first time meeting Terri, Tina and Angie. They are all wonderful people!! Lots more hugs, more karma...it is still amazing to me that Disney can bring people from all over together like they have known each other forever. I think that would make Walt proud!

Off to get our bags. Hmm, my flight is on carousel 25. Not my bag. Not my bag. Not my bag. Uh oh....WAIT! There it is circling placidly on carousel 26, waiting for me! Grabbing my one, yes one, suitcase, I went off in search of Mo and Lynn. We picked out a car, and were soon on our way to the world!!

And Sandy? Where is Sandy? Oh, Saaannnnddddyyy..

[lauren-roxy]

Thanks for your addition to the report Sue!!

[chezp]

Great updates everyone – this is going to be such a cool report, with everyone chiming in with their thoughts!

Oh my goodness Maureen – a BBQ smell at 7.40 – I don’t think I could’ve coped with that. That’s too early for me! It sounds like you had a neat companion on the flight down to Orlando – I can imagine you had a lot of fun chatting about Thomas the Tank Engine! I loved the photo of you all at the airport – you can tell how happy you all were to be there!

I love all the references to Chili’s Now I wonder which PassPorter could’ve made them so famous?

Sandy, I’m glad to hear you finally found the required top for the California Grill meal – I can’t wait to see what it looks like! Wow – congratulations on getting bumped off that flight, $300 is certainly worth having – I have to agree with Angie on that one! I don’t like the sound of the luggage though…

[LizardCop]

[img]http://smileys.*************.com/cat/23/23_30_104.gif[/img] Tag Team Reporting, THE BEST!!!!

[Tara O'Hara]

Awesome updates, you guys!

[luvnwdwgal]

More please!

[statelady01]

May 12, 2005- Arriving at the Grand and A Spot of Tea:

As we pulled into the Grand Floridian, we were stopped by security and he checked for my name on “the list.” Luckily, I was indeed on the list and we were waved through.

Pulling up to the resort- on any trip really is one of the best feelings I get from a Disney vacation- the whole time and experience is ahead of you and there’s this neat feeling of anticipating all there is to come. The Grand Floridian is simply lovely to approach- it looks like the postcards that are sold in the Sandy Cove Gift Shop.


Approaching the GF



We hopped out and let the valet/bell services take care of the rest as we headed inside to check in.

Not a line and both Sue and I walked right up to a CM. I had two rooms under my name and she had one under hers. The CM checking me in was extremely slow and at first said I only had one room- which we spent a few minutes looking at my documents showing that I in fact had two. It was probably the longest check in we had and hearing that the rooms weren’t ready was a little bit of a disappointment. Oh well, nothing could be done about it so we decided to hang out in the lobby and check back in 30 minutes.

In the meantime, Tara, Terri, Angie and Tina had arrived so we all staked out a spot in the parlor. We just chatted and several of us took photos of the lobby.



Sandy was probably on the ground at MCO and would be arriving within 30 or so minutes (at least I thought). After about 20 minutes I decided to go and check on the rooms. When I went back to the desk, this time the line was incredibly lengthy and thank goodness when I got in line- a manager was working his way down the line making sure people were directed to the right places. When he got to me, I asked him if we could check on our rooms – he took me over to a side counter and started looking everything up on a computer.

As he was pulling everything up he asked if Sue and I were traveling together- I told him yes and he mentioned that her room was in a different building than my two rooms. Without even me having to ask, he offered to see if he could get us all together. He did find a way to put us all together- Sue and Tina were just one floor up (more on this later)- which was okay and better than being buildings apart. He asked about our luggage and we handed him the cards- all together I think we had something like 22 pieces. He gave us the room numbers and told me that someone had to be there to get them when Bell Services arrived- we were really pushing it for our 3:40 PS for tea. Still, we were all anxious to see the rooms so we went ahead up to Sago Cay.

Building 5- Sago Cay is very close to Gasparilla Grill and Games and the marina. It wasn’t too terribly long a walk but as we made our way- it was then the size of this resort really came into perspective- a few of us agreed on that as we headed for the building.

Sue and Tina headed for their room and the rest of us headed for ours. We all were just really enamored with the whole room- garden views have Alice in Wonderland bedspreads/colors and some of the artwork was stunning. I'll post some photos in a photo tour installment and/or I am sure some of the other girls will add some too!

We really didn’t have much time to spare and Tara kindly offered to stay behind to wait for the luggage and catch up with us at tea- so we headed out. As we made our way back through the courtyard, we saw the bell services attendant with our stuff- he looked positively miserable with two carts full!!

We checked in right on time for tea and were originally presented with two different tables- and I don’t remember who it was- but someone spotted a larger one by the window and suggested we squeeze in. The hostess agreed and tea time it was!

I only remember what I had which was the Sally Lunn- with iced raspberry tea- there was NO way I could do hot tea on a steamy Florida afternoon!! Everything was really lovely and I loved having such a nice gathering to start the trip!



I realized that it was after 4:00 pm and there was no sign of Sandy. I decided to call Gregory at Quicksilver to see if he could tell me if she had been picked up. I excused myself and went into the lobby. Gregory radio’ed the driver and it turned out that Northwest had lost her luggage!! Arggh! I told him I would check back with him in a bit.

Went back to join the others and relayed the snafu de la Sandy’s luggage. We carried on and Tara arrived to join us- the luggage safely stored in our rooms. The tea was great- and I think I even enjoyed the raspberry more iced than I did hot!! Later, I checked on Sandy again with Gregory and he said that the driver had just radioed in that he was at the MK gates. I headed out to the lobby to meet her and Lynn came after me.

A few minutes later the car pulled up and there was Sandy! We greeted her with huge hugs and unfortunately, the luggage had not been found as of yet. She was taking it all very well I might say- a real trooper and had faith it would show up! We brought her back to the Lounge so she could meet and greet everyone- then join us. Now the 8 of us were finally together!



As we continued on with the tea, I noticed a woman behind Angie that looked like exactly like Amber Frey but I didn’t say anything thinking it surely had to be me but when someone else voiced that opinion- I was surprised- it really did look like her. In fact, if you scroll back up to the photo of Terri and Tina- she's just to the right although you can't see her close up.

This photo of Angie and Sue is one of my favorites of the two of them:



We talked a lot about Passporter and all things Passporter. We got on the subject of symbols and pixies available to us to use- and the one pixie doing the cabbage patch. I yelped WOOT! and that had us snickering for some time. Ended up using that a lot later- if it was fun or good- just say WOOT!!

We wrapped up tea at about 5 pm- and the group parted ways – we would meet up again for the Illuminations Cruise later this evening. Before we headed back to the room, Lynn, Sandy and I went to find DJ to see what would happen with Sandy’s luggage if it were to show up. He was very kind and attentive again and told us he would keep an eye out- and with our permission would deliver it no matter what time it came- even if that was very late. He also said he wouldn’t be surprised if it showed up relatively soon.

We headed back to the room- I was ready to get unpacked and a bit more organized. When we walked in, Sandy shrieked- “That’s my bag!”- so I shrieked too. Yay!! WOOT!! She decided to unpack as well now that she had a bag to unpack from. We took our time getting all unpacked and snapped a few more pictures. I spent a few minutes on the balcony- we faced the monorail track in the stretch between the GF and the MK- sort of as you go around the curve. It was soooo neat seeing it go by and if we left the door open- we could hear the whoosh as it headed to the MK.

Sue and Tina popped in and turns out DJ sent some major magic their way! I guess to accommodate our wishes for them to be in the same building- he upgraded them to a lagoon view- and on top of that- it was a dormer- with the vaulted ceilings!! Lucky ducks!

There was a knock at the door. It was at this point we were introduced to Gayle- our turn down attendant. She was there for the nightly turn down service and we chatted with her at some length. She was a true Disney CM- friendly, funny and very warm. During the course of our conversation we found out she was celebrating a birthday and had the next few days off- but we would see her again on Sunday night. She left lots of chocolates too. Good, good, GOOD woman!



Coming Up Next: Passporter friends old and new set sail! And more installments from some of the other travelers!!

[LisaJ]

Your rooms are beautiful! Can't wait for the rest of the TR!

[Tara O'Hara]

Great update, Maureen and awesome pictures!! !!

[luvnwdwgal]

Looking forward to more!!!