Holiday Hootennanies with Scarlett and the Fam Damily! Day Two, Part 4, Updated 4/25 About This Page:

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by Disney_Scarlett

I think you know your pal Karen well enough to know that she'd secretly to have that plastered all over the boards.

See... you know "my girl" as well as I do. She ADORED having that picture on the board and loved how snockered she looked. (All an act -- at *that* point... )

Looking forward to more from YOU, Scarlett! (Especially as you'll get to write about our Hope We Don't Get Arrested adventure before any of the rest of us could! You know, the one where the hard drinking happened! )
Eileen

[Disney_Scarlett]

On the way down to the DME check-in area, I had to explain to Dad again why we weren’t picking up our luggage. Let’s just say that listening carefully is not Dad’s best virtue. We had gone over our plans and the logistics with him (i.e. “The reason why I’m attaching these yellow tags to our bags is…”), and you can just see the wheels NOT turning when you’re explaining stuff like that to him. Maybe he’s one of those people whose eyes glaze over during itineraries and details, I don’t know. Either way, he seemed perpetually surprised during this trip, and the fact that DME delivers our bags to our room was another big shocker. I would question his memory, but it’s not that – as once he actually hears something, he never loses it (he loved the bag-delivery service and told everyone who would listen about it once we got home). It just takes a few tries for him to pay attention.

Anywho, it was just a few minutes before we came upon the DME check-in area. Man, was it crowded! I guess I don’t have a lot compare it to since we’ve only used DME once before, but it was much less crowded that time. I told Mama and Dad to grab a couple of chairs and wait while I checked-in, as the line was backed-up almost out of the entrance of the queue. Once the parentals were settled in, I took our documentation and entered the line. I noticed the CM was telling people to only send one person through the line and all other members of the party to wait in the waiting area, which made me feel all superior that I had anticipated this.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the line moved. I probably only waited about 10 or 15 minutes in what could have easily been at least a thirty minute line. During those few minutes, I tried to chat with the guy in line behind me. I had seen him with his wife and kids a few minutes before, so I was NOT trying to pick him up. I guess he thought so, though, as the conversation pretty much went like this.

Scarlett: “Well, at least the line is moving fast.”
Skeptical Guy: “Yep.”
Scarlett: “What resort are you going to?”
Skeptical Guy: “Boardwalk.”
Scarlett: “Oooh, nice.”
Skeptical Guy: “Yep.”

After he didn’t return the favor of asking me what resort I was staying at (probably was just praying that it wasn’t Boardwalk), any dialogue pretty much bit the dust and I faced forward and pretended to not care that he totally thought I was hitting on him, and even worse, I totally failed at my non-attempt to hit on him.

I was able to break free from his icy demeanor when a DME agent became available down near the end of the counter. I strolled down there and just as I walked up to the CM, this lady totally comes out of nowhere and tries to break in front of me. I mean, she wasn’t even in the line, she just walked around the queue and right up to this guy. I just stood there and glared at her, and the CM ignored her and asked if he could help me. Just then, the CM next to him became available, so she just hopped on over to that guy, and he actually helped her! I don’t know if he realized that she had just totally skipped the line or not – but if I had been some of the folks waiting and seen that, I would have been p.o.’ed. Rudeness.

I didn’t have much time to dwell on it, though, as I was done checking in within a couple of minutes and was on my way to pick up my parental units. Once we had reunited, we entered the bus queue and realized we were the only people in the Old Key West line. Shoot, a bus probably just left. I was okay with waiting, though, as I’ve learned from past experience that the DME line is one of the best people-watching spots in Orlando. I excitedly scanned the adjacent lines for any interesting folks to eavesdrop in on. Unfortunately, no one really caught my eye, except the lady that was dressed in head-to-toe leather (leather boots, black tights, black sweater, leather coat, leather gloves, and most awesomely, leather hat). I understand that a lot of folks come into MCO from much colder climates, but you’d think you’d check the weather before departure and wear layers or somethin’. Either way, if I’d been her, I would have already shed some of that cow hide, considering it was 83 degrees. Eh, to each his own.

The only other interesting thing I noticed were how many large families and groups were around us. Seems as if every time a CM came to direct a line to a bus, and she’d ask how many were in the parties, the answers were, “15.” “9.” “12. Oh, wait, forgot Frankie and his kids, 19, actually.” The cool thing was most of these groups were really, really excited, and whenever the CM would step to the beginning of a line and unclip that velvet rope, they’d start hootin’ and hollerin’ their way to the buses. Disney excitement, I love it!

As we were waiting, I remembered that I had not yet turned my phone on from the flight, so I got it out and did such. I had a voicemail, and once listening to it, realized it was from Krista. Krista leaves the longest voicemails ev-er. I know y’all are sitting there thinking, “You’re a long-winded yourself, honey,” but Krista totally wins. I love her, but I will admit to sometimes deleting her messages half way through. They usually go something like this: “Hey, this is Krista. I was just calling you to see if you had any orders for Girl Scout cookies. I’ve got to turn in the order next Friday, I guess that would be the 11th? No, the 13th. No, the 11th. Because today’s the 2nd. Anyway, just let me know if you have any more orders…I know you like the Thin Mints…there’s a new cookie this year too…I tasted it, it’s not too bad. Do you have any diabetic friends? Because there is a sugar free cookie as well. Oops, I think this thing is going to cut me off. Anyway, just call me back, I’ll be here until around 2:00, then I’ve go pick up the girls at scho-“

Did I lose you? See how that feels? Anyway, I did listen to Krista’s message all the way through this time, as it may have important Disney information in it. She told me that they had arrived safely this morning, were at Old Key West, and it was beautiful. She said they were eating lunch. She said that they had checked in, but our rooms weren’t ready yet, and that we didn’t have adjoining rooms, but our rooms were in the same building, and we had an awesome room location. She said that the reason why we had such an awesome room location was because their Disney’s Magical Express bus had broken down on the way to the resort and the CM at OKW check-in took pity on them and moved our rooms to a better location. Wait, what? Their bus broke down? Of course, this is when the voicemail cut her off, so I didn’t get to hear anymore details.

This was also when we were called to board our DME bus. I refrained from hootin’ and hollerin’ and we made our way outside and found ourselves the first people on the motor coach. We got the very front seats, with Mama and Dad on one side and me on the other side next to the window. I settled in and immediately called Krista to get the 411 on what the deal was with her DME bus and our rooms.

Krista answered excitedly and told me that she and Jeff were with the girls at the playground area at OKW. She went on to tell me all about their DME adventures – apparently, their bus broke down on the side of the highway about halfway to Disney property. She said the bus just totally lost power and the driver pulled it off to the shoulder. Luckily, they only had to wait 10 minutes for another bus to come and pick them up. The driver told them that DME keeps at least one bus on stand-by at all times in case something happens like this. Once they got reloaded onto their new and fully-functioning motor coach, they were on their way to Old Key West.

As Krista was checking in, the first thing the CM (who was from Paris, France) asked her was how her trip down had been. Krista said she kind of laughed and said, “Okay, except that our Disney’s Magical Express bus broke down on the side of the road!” Krista says she didn’t say it in a complain-y way (as who can really complain about having to wait 10 minutes to fix something that was out of anyone’s control?), but the CM made a face and said, “Oh dear! Well, let’s see what we can do for you here.” A few minutes later, she whispered, “I’m going to change your room location. We actually have you assigned to a room over here…” she points at a map at a building in total BFE “…but I’m going to switch you over here…” she points to a building right smack dab in front of the main buildings and bus stops. She went onto say that Krista’s new room had actually already been assigned to someone else, but they had not checked in yet, so she was going to switch them. Krista asked her if she could also switch our room, since we had put on the reservation we’d like to be close to one another, and the CM took care of that, too. The CM did tell Krista that she totally wasn’t supposed to do any of this, but she wanted to make Krista’s day better than it had started.

At this point, our DME bus was loaded, and the driver was on the speaker making announcements. He was kind of giving me The Eye for being on my phone while he was talking, so I whispered to Krista, “Gotta go” and hung up. With the good luck on our room, it sounded like the Disney magic was starting all ready.

The driver announced that OKW would be our first stop, with POR and POFQ being stops after. Yay, first stop! We started to pull out, and a DME employee standing outside and in front of the bus started to make faces at the bus driver. They goofed around for a while, and then the guy outside pointed to me and made the “Keep an eye on him” hand gestures, and then roughly signed that our driver sometimes likes to fall asleep at the wheel. I played along and gestured back to him that I would take over.

I struck up a conversation with my seatmate, and luckily he was much more responsive than Skeptical Guy. He, along with his wife and grandson (who were sitting behind us), were on their way to Port Orleans Riverside. They were from Louisville, KY, which is where Jeff’s parents work (they live in Indiana, about 30 minutes from Louisville). I went to Louisville a few years ago and did the touristy stuff (Jim Beam distillery tour, Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger factory, etc.) and he made some recommendations for things to do and see on my next trip. Apparently, he was originally from Florida, but hadn’t been to WDW in over twenty years; he and his wife had decided to bring their grandson her for ten days. Once he found out I was from NC, though, he was more interested in talking about the drought we’re in than Disney.

When the DME video started, I turned my attention to it, as I wanted to see the changes made from my last trip, and only glanced away when my seatmate continually pointed out the low water levels in ponds and swampy areas around us. His wife and grandson were paying attention to the DME video, though, as I could hear them discussing different attractions. At one point, she leaned forward and asked her husband, “Which park are those race cars in?” He didn’t know, so I interjected, “Magic Kingdom.” A little while later I heard her ask him, “From our resort – do we take shuttles or the tram to the parks?” He responded with, “I think we take shuttles to some parks and trams to others.” I drew a whiskey-tango-foxtrot face (thanks Karen ), but didn’t say anything, for several reasons: 1) I didn’t want to sound like a know it all, and they’d figure out there were no “trams” soon enough and 2) obviously, they had not done their research, and if I opened my mouth at this point, I’d be spewing information at them for the rest of the ride and I wanted to watch the dang DME video. In fact, I was already so stressed about their misinformation that I totally didn't have my camera prepared to snap those beautiful WDW gates.

Luckily, I didn’t have to bite my tongue for too much longer, as soon we were making the turn into Old Key West resort. I was basically pressing my nose against the window, taking it all in – I had never been to OKW, and couldn’t wait to see everything. So far, so good – I loved the lush landscaping, and along the entrance drive, I could see beautiful golf course greens, shady palms and crystal ponds. Turning the corner and pulling to a stop in front of the Hospitality House, I bid goodbye to my friend from Louisville and the parentals and I exited the bus and took our first step onto WDW property for this trip. Taking in our gorgeous surroundings, we slowly made our way towards the covered walkway separating the main buildings. Suddenly I heard Mama cry out, “Look, there they are!”

I focused in on the small person running towards me and realized it was Mackenzie. Bags were dropped, and I dropped down and took her in for a big bear hug. Immediately, I could feel the tears coming on, and as I let her go and started towards the rest of the Millers, I held back sobs as Krista and I embraced. I have no idea why I got so emotional. I think it was in part because at that moment, I wasn’t expecting to see them – I was kind of lost in the moment of taking in the resort – and they totally took me off guard. Also, I hadn’t seen Krista or the girls since July, which is the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing one another. Either way, I was a basket case for a minute, and Krista and I both boo-hooed happy tears right there in front of the bell staff, who had to be witness to our little family reunion in the middle of everything. Once I had pulled it together, I was able to find Maeve (who was being smothered by Mama) and distribute hugs and kisses, and also Jeff (although I had just seen him a couple of weeks ago). After a few minutes, everyone had calmed down enough for us to proceed into the main building to check in.

Oh, here are Krista's pictures from their time at OKW prior to our arrival (as you can see, all Maeve wants for Christmas is her two front teeth ):



The Millers had already check in earlier, but their room wasn’t ready yet, so they waited with us as they wanted to see if their room was now available. Krista said that there was a pretty long line earlier, but we were the only ones waiting now, and were directed to a CM after just about one minute. The CM that assisted us was in a wheelchair, and therefore her counter space was about a foot shorter than the rest. This put her about face-to-face with the girls, and she spent a lot of extra time with them – asking about their favorite characters, showing them where the Hidden Mickeys were in the mural behind her, etc. She was exceptionally helpful all around, and got us checked in, added the Dining Plan to our reservation and added our park tickets to our keys.

She also showed us where our rooms were on the map (which were ready ), and it did indeed appear that we had hit the jackpot in room location. Krista also had her check and see if their room was ready, and indeedy it was, so we all excitedly left the Hospitality House towards the direction of our building.

We basically walked past the bus stop, across the road and to our building. There is a median with a grove of palm trees, so that when we’re standing at our building and looking towards the main building, we don’t have to see all unsightly buses, but just pretty architecture and greenery. I just don’t know how much I can stress the importance of location at this resort, especially if you don’t have a car. As we learned, the place is HUGE. There is an internal bus shuttle that stops at the other bus stops, so if you’re not within walking distance to the main buildings, you can hop on that (or any park shuttle, as the Hospitality House stop is the last one before leaving the resort for the park) to get to all the action. However, now that I’ve been so spoiled to be so close to the HH, I wouldn’t want to have to be that far away, at least not without a car.

We were all in building 14, with our room on the second floor and the Millers on the third. We could stand outside our room and look across the courtyard to the opposite side of the building, and up one floor, and see the Millers’ room, so we still felt close enough for convenience.

Excitedly, we all hurried to our rooms and checked out our home for the next week. Mama, Dad and I were exceptionally pleased with our room. These studios are the largest of any DVC studios, and it definitely feels that way. Our little balcony space had a woods view, and it was the perfect place to unwind after a busy day in the parks, or enjoy coffee in the morning. The bathroom is spacious and the kitchenette perfect for our needs (we don’t cook while at WDW). We even had some cute towel animals, already waiting for us.


Our courtyard - walk under those trees and down the sidewalk, across the street and right to the Hospitality House!

We spent about twenty minutes in our room, checking things out. The only odd thing I should note was regarding our sample-sized toiletry items. The shampoo bottle, arranged nicely with the other products, was already almost half empty. Thinking that maybe the room had not been fully serviced, I carefully checked everything else – towels all there, toilet paper folded carefully, everything seemed clean and in place. I’m guessing that the Mousekeeper just overlooked that she stocked a leaky shampoo or something.

We went ahead and unpacked our carryons (I needed to go from heavy backpack to small pocketbook), and in a minute Krista and the girls showed up at our door. After they checked out our room, and deemed it nearly identical to theirs (although we were the only ones that had towel animals), we all made our way over to the main building. Mama and Dad were starving and wanted to grab some lunch. I, however, wouldn’t be joining them. I was originally supposed to meet the CLT over at Beaches and Cream at 2:30 for some wacky hijinks, but had received communication from Karen via text message that plans had changed – meet them in Mexico at Epcot at 3:00 (or was it 3:30? Everything’s all a blur now…), and to call them once I was on property.

After escorting the fam damily over to the Hospitality House, I made myself comfortable on a bench at the completely-empty main bus stop. While I was waiting, I rang Karen and immediately said, “So, you’ve already gotten kicked out of Beaches ‘n Cream and are no longer allowed to patronize that establishment, huh?” While Karen played along with my assumption, I think it was more of a time issue that altered our plans, as they were on their way from the WL to Epcot (or were they waiting for a boat? Again, details, hazy – you’ll see why soon). We agreed to meet near the Cantina.

Here’s where one of the worst misunderstandings of my life happened. Either my phone or Karen’s phone (had to be mine – the iPhone wouldn’t dare let her down like that) was being a bit sketchy, and in midst of the static and fading in and out, I swear I thought I heard Karen say, “If you get there before us, go ahead and get a margarita.” I responded with an “Okay, will do!” Then there was something said about Sharon and eating starches and absorbing alcohol, and while I couldn’t make out everything she was saying, I assumed she was giving Sharon a hard time for eating something when we’d be eating later, so the basic message was that I shouldn’t eat anything. No problem! Let’s remember now that at this point, I had no idea what the plans were for the afternoon as it was all supposed to be a big surprise.

What’s that saying about good intentions paving something?

Up next: So maybe I’m a little competitive.

[Disney_Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Caldercup

Looking forward to more from YOU, Scarlett! (Especially as you'll get to write about our Hope We Don't Get Arrested adventure before any of the rest of us could! You know, the one where the hard drinking happened! )

I think I'm actually going to be leaving a lot of the details for Karen (or her CLT counterparts ) to cover. You know, giving credit where credit is due as I didn't have much to do with dreaming up that insanity . Certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I was so wasted that I can't remember half of the hootenannies from that afternoon. I'll definitely be highlighting what I can remember, though (and probably ad-libbing in my partners-in-crime's trip reports as well).

[Colexis Mom]

Great update! Glad you made it and what a great room Love the pictures of the girls Can't wait to hear about the antics tonight

[Caldercup]

Heeee!!! All that fun checking in (loved the interaction with the DME guy "on the ground" with your driver and you!)

And... you left off just as it was gettin' good -- like "caper-ous interuptus" or something like that.

Hurry!
Eileen

[DawnDenise]

Excellent report so far!!! I it!! Your stories of the non-hitting on guy, the Krista vmail messages, and DME adventures for your family were great. Can't wait for more!!

Originally Posted by Disney_Scarlett

I think I'm actually going to be leaving a lot of the details for Karen (or her CLT counterparts ) to cover. You know, giving credit where credit is due as I didn't have much to do with dreaming up that insanity . Certainly has nothing to do with the fact that I was so wasted that I can't remember half of the hootenannies from that afternoon. I'll definitely be highlighting what I can remember, though (and probably ad-libbing in my partners-in-crime's trip reports as well).

I got some great pics from our little adventure!!!!

[RobDVC]

Oh boy... I can't wait to read about the rest of the day.....

[wvugrrrl]

I can't wait for more! I want to read about "waste-face" Scarlett, RIGHT! NOW!
If you're not going to write about it, you need to cattle prod the CLT to finish writing their TR's ASAP. (Did I get enough Acronyms in there?)

[disneydani]

Glad you have ~arrived~. Now what is it with you people...you simply cannot leave us all hanging...I am sure I speak for the masses as we want to hear about the hootenannies, hijinks, and all around craziness of the afternoon!

Keep it coming, puh-leeze!

danielle

[Lemap760]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day. I may have to make myself a drink before I read your next installment so I can vicariously join you.

[DyanKJ130]

Great update, Scarlett! The girls have grown so much since July! McKenzie's new haircut and Maeve's toothless grin! Looks like you scored a great room! Can't wait to hear what happens with the CLT!!

[lindawdw]

Yeah - another Scarlett TR!!!! I loved the introductions and pictures and was a big fan of your last TR . I know that this one is going to be very entertaining also!!! Your description of the older couple on the plane getting the foot massage had me laughing out loud The rooms at OKW look beautiful. We stayed there back in 1996 when I was a CM at our local Disney Store and I got a great discount. They are definitely spacious. Looking forward to hearing about your afternoon with the Crazy Ladies Trio.

[DrDolphin]

Wonderful update and photos!! Can't wait to hear about the CLT hoopla!!!

[Jookiba]

I just got caught up and am laughing my rear off!! Especially with the "whiskey-tango-foxtrot" remark!!

DME must always run the same routes-when we stayed at POFQ in 06 our bus stopped at OKW first, then us, then Riverside.

Can't wait to hear how your evening went after the margarita........hurry back with more!!

[mcc0313]

Great update...your room was beautiful and what a great location...

Can't wait to hear about your margarita's....