Re: Sue's Holiday WDW Trip - Day 1 of 8
- From: "MitchB" <sugarandspicefortwo@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:50:31 -0500
And I am looking forward to the rest of your report!
Michelle
"Sue/WDW1972" <wdw1972@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:5a1df198-2a2d-4e93-982c-b0f30248d713@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
DAY 1 – Wednesday 11/25/09
Who: Sue (51), DVC member
Plan: Work Ft Myers, noon drive to WDW, 5pm Chefs de France dinner
Actual: It was a calm, easy half day at work and I was out the door a
few minutes before noon. Traffic was a lot heavier than normal – lots
of cars on the road. I guess people really are sick of the airlines
and airport security nonsense! I had some light rain and then a
torrential downpour but the last half of the drive was rain free.
That surprised me, as a weather front is hovered over Florida all day
and night.
I arrived at Beach Club Villas at 2:45 and left my car parked out
front. I have to leave the keys with the valet but that’s no
problem. A cast member approached to see if I was checking in and
took me inside to the front desk. She was very cheerful and most of
my answers to her questions were met with “excellent!!!”, lol! There
was somebody at the online check in counter so she brought me to
another cast member who went and got my packet.
When she checked the computer she mentioned I was leaving on November
30th. I let her know that wasn’t correct, and she found my next
reservation in the computer. However, she told me I’d have to check
out that morning and check back in. I knew that was bullsh*t and
asked her to fix it so I did not have to do that. She called someone
and learned I was already set up to depart from my room on Dec 3rd.
When she gave me my packet I saw the room keys had the correct dates,
so she was just mistaken in her statement. Whew!
I retrieved my keys and parked the car over by the villas, and then
dragged my very heavy suitcase and other stuff up to the studio. The
suitcase has 4 spinning wheels so outside it’s a breeze. On the soft
Disney carpet it’s a nightmare, lol! Had I realized that I would have
used bell services!
It was just 3pm when I got to the studio so I turned on General
Hospital so I could watch it while I unpacked. Once the unpacking was
done I attempted to get online but it was not working. I tried
everything I knew how to do and then called the front desk. They gave
me the number for internet support and spoke with a technician there.
She did something on her end and it appeared I was reaching the
internet but after hanging up I realized it wasn’t really working.
I tried a while longer, rebooted the computer, and then called again
to speak with another tech. After I explained what I’d already done
he took me through several other checks/steps and everything was
indicating to him that I should be online with no problem! He offered
to send a tech to the room and I agreed, knowing it wasn’t necessary
for me to be in the room. By now it was 4:30 so I’d been struggling
with the internet crap for an hour! My dinner reservation was at
Chef’s de France at 5, so I grabbed a light jacket and headed out the
door.
SB had called while I was struggling with luggage, and then a couple
more times before reaching me in the studio. I called him again to
vent about the computer crap. He suggested just using dial up, which
I figured might be a last resort. However, later I realized this new
laptop doesn’t have a plug in space for a telephone cord! Arrgh!
It was a breeze entering Epcot via International Gateway (have I
mentioned I LOVE this resort’s convenience??) with no wait at all and
walked over to France. It was 4:40 or so by now, so as usual I
seriously overestimated the time I’d need to get there. They appeared
to be open (but not busy) so I went to the podium to check in and was
seated a minute or 2 later – cool! I was hungry, so this was great!
I got the last available 2-seater by the windows, so that was nice.
When I come here I always get the same thing, which is fine by me
because I really love it! I had a glass of chardonnay and bowl of the
French onion soup. Their soup is just so good, and not salty like it
can be at some other places. The French roll is different now – it
seemed bigger but I liked the old one better.
Service was very efficient and in practically no time at all my soup
had arrived. The wine arrived before I placed my order, which is the
way I like it. As it was, I finished the soup before I finished the
wine so I like the wine as early as possible. I no longer have the
Tables in Wonderland thing so my full-price check was under $14 for a
very nice and satisfying dinner. I did tip around 30% or so since the
check was so small and he treated me well.
After dinner I continued walking around the countries and stopped in
Germany for a glass of wine. Time for a little rant here. A young
couple was deciding on wine and went with the warm red wine they sell
during the holidays. That’s no problem, but then they stood there at
the damn counter while they each took a picture of each other with the
glass and then stood there semi comatose until he said “oh, let’s get
out of the way”. They knew I was there, because when she backed up to
take his picture she backed into me and apologized. Hellloooooo – do
you think I’m standing there because I DON’T want to buy a glass of
wine??? LOL
Anyway, I tried a new (for me) wine and liked it. I mainly wanted the
glass for use in the room if I drank any of the wine I brought with
me. The entire time I was in Epcot it was drizzling ever so
slightly. Several people used umbrellas (me included) but most just
had ponchos or a hat. It was just enough to be annoying, but could
have been so much worse. There was also a damp breeze, and even in
jeans and a long sleeve denim shirt I was glad for the light jacket
after dark.
When I got to the Christmas tree it looked so pathetic without the
Lights of Winter this year. I thought about spitting on the ground
where they should have been, but that’s really disgusting and I’m not
a spitting type of person. I’d consider spitting on whoever made the
decision to get ride of it, though – or ask SB to do it since baseball
people spit a lot!
I decided to head back to the resort and was thrilled to find the
internet technician in the studio finishing up. He’d left a sign in
the key slot saying he was there, so I wasn’t surprised. He had in
fact found a problem in the room and had fixed it, so when I tried
getting online in his presence it worked (thank goodness)! I was
prepared to take the computer to the lobby to try the wireless there
to determine whether the problem was the room or the computer but now
I don’t have to.
I worked on the report while I watched the rest of the 6pm news and
some of the national news and then decided to take a walk around the
lake. The Beach Club lobby has the usual carousel and it’s pretty as
ever. New this year is a small gingerbread shop, made from
gingerbread! It isn’t as fancy or large as the one at the Grand
Floridian, but it’s a nice touch. From 6-8pm they have a kids’
activity where they decorate a cookie, so it was fairly busy when I
was there. They also sell gingerbread stuff there and in the Beach
Club Marketplace. I just wish gingerbread tasted as good as it
sounds, lol!
After taking a few photos I walked over to the Yacht Club. At
Stormalong Bay there were a couple of people in swimsuits and all of
the lifeguards wearing pants, jackets, hoods and gloves. You can sure
tell who lives here and who’s a tourist! The Yacht Club lobby didn’t
have anything new this year – just the train display and a couple
trees with sailboat ornaments. I would have stood to watch the train
but some little kid was screeching for attention and being ignored so
I left the area to avoid giving him the kind of attention that could
get me arrested for abuse <g>.
When I walked outside I was pleased to find it was not raining! The
boardwalk was wet and some kids were sliding on it in their sneakers,
lol. I didn’t dare try it in my Tevas. When I got around to the
Boardwalk Villas Resort I stopped to watch a magician do his show – it
was very funny and they were good card tricks mostly. When the show
ended he picked up his table & left. By then it was raining lightly
again so I put up my umbrella and continued on my way. There was
another magician (with a british accent) performing near Flying Fish
but I didn’t stop to watch. The bakery had a line out the door, but
the boardwalk itself wasn’t terribly busy (due to the weather no
doubt).
I continued walked around and went back to Beach Club Villas. It was
early, but since it was rainy & damp I really had no desire to be out
in a park. So, I made some cappuccino and had a piece of biscotti and
hung out in the studio the rest of the evening.
Tomorrow the rain should stop, but I’m not sure how warm it’ll be. It
may not be a decent pool day, so I’ll have to come up with a Plan B if
that’s the case. Today went well except for the internet problems and
the weather. But, I’m happy to be here and am looking forward to the
rest of the trip!
Sue/WDW1972
.
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