Worst Ending to a Disney Trip EVER! (and other things that happened) - UPDATE 6/22!

[DexLabDeeDee]

Yes model employee Just what I would've done.

Next time I'll think: Hmmmm...would Raeven do this at work? Yes? Then what could go wrong??

I also always wonder if people can hear me screaming outside. And if so, what they're thinking.

I made Josh pack my clothes in the carry ons because I'm always afraid they'll lose the luggage so our suitcase was surprisingly light.

I wonder what a light suitcase is like. I've never had one. Even for work for a few days it seems really heavy. Well, I suppose my steel toe shoes are the problem...

JENNA! I'm here!! Yay! Sounds like a perfect day before Disney. I was a basket case at work all day too! When I got into my car once my shift ended, I blasted Disney music and sang the whole way home

Hi Molly! Welcome!! I also may have listened to a "Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" over and over on my 20+ minute ride home.

Maybe.

Yes.

I laughed so hard at the image of you packing! That was great and it will be me on Friday! Packing also gives me anxiety so I put it off to the last minute too.

Good luck with your packing!! I would really love to watch people pack. I wish they would video it and comment on why they are bringing what. Is that weird? Probably. But I feel like I must be doing something wrong. I swear I'm bringing only what I need! How do people do it??

Your Rapunzel running outfit is adorable! I feel you on the packing thing, I'm a HORRENDOUS packer and always overpack. We fly JetBlue and as of last year they have baggage fees, but there's no way I can get around them lol!!

Thank you! I especially had a good time with the braid!

Delta has baggage fees too so I absolutely need it under 50lbs. I have large luggage to fit everything and I think that probably adds a lot of lbs. I should weigh it by itself and see how much it is. The problem is, how do you get a lighter, large bag that won't get chewed up by the baggage system at the airport?

Well, now I just have to join in because of the Archie comics!

Welcome! I still love Archie comics. It's very nostalgic for me. I listen to Radio Classics on SiriusXM and sometimes they play an episode from the Archie radio show. It's actually pretty good and the humor translates. Unlike the Jack Benny programs which are not very funny to me. (I feel super blasphemic saying that! Radio classics people LOVE Jack Benny!)

 

[bjscheel]

Sounds like fun, I'm in!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Haha on the packing. We're leaving Friday morning after I get off of work and I still need to repack, yes I packed....but I'm going back through, again, because I'm sure I've over packed.

 

[Brittni__duh]

Joining in! Your title drew me in and now I have to stick around to see the rest. Your Harry Potter, Friends, and The Office gifs won me over

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Update coming tomorrow, everyone! Unless it's not.

But pretty sure I can get one out tomorrow.

Sounds like fun, I'm in!

Welcome! Glad you could join!

Haha on the packing. We're leaving Friday morning after I get off of work and I still need to repack, yes I packed....but I'm going back through, again, because I'm sure I've over packed.

Haha. #TheStruggleIsReal I will say, though, that I used almost everything I brought. There were only a couple of things that I could have done without. So did I truly overpack? Or is it that I need to learn to do with less....

Joining in! Your title drew me in and now I have to stick around to see the rest. Your Harry Potter, Friends, and The Office gifs won me over

Welcome! I love all those things so you'll probably see more!

 

[bellesBFF]

i'm following along i don't comment much but just know i'm here! lol

 

[smiley519]

I'm joining in too! I was at WDW during the same dates as you and just started my TR.

I love your Rapunzel race outfit, especially the blonde braid from the helmet!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Day 1 Part 1 – “No offense, but…”

No surprise but I didn’t sleep well the night before. I was WAY too excited!! And not excited.

I always have a weird swirl of emotions the evening/night before I go to WDW. I want to go and I don’t want to go. I think it’s because I’ve been planning for so long and now that it’s here, I don’t want it to be over. I’m also so mentally exhausted from my packing/repacking/packing drama that I can’t even contemplate navigating the World. But I also really really want to go!!

All of that constitutes a very restless and confusing night’s sleep.

I tried to tell myself. “Jenna, NBD. It’s just a regular Saturday tomorrow. Nothing special is happening.” “Um, no. Nice try. You are getting no sleep tonight. HAHAHAHA.”

I finally did get some sort of amount of sleep. Who knows how much. My alarm went off at 6am. Ugh. I am not a morning person. I do it. All the time. But ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Even for Disney, it is not fun for me to get up in the mornings. I think if left to my own devices, I would be a 10:30am to 2am person. But everyone else is off on their schedules so I must conform.

Anyway, I dragged myself out of bed and did some last minute packing, checked that I had everything in my carry-on that I would need, second guessed my packing choices, and waited for my parents to arrive at my house. They got there a little late but not too bad.

We loaded up my bags into my parents’ car and DH and I got in. DH would drive the car back to our house and then eventually move it back up to my parents’ house. We made good time and got to the airport around 7:15am. We had a 9:06am Delta flight. Even though we were TSA-precheck, I like to get there around 2 hours early because you just never know how security is going to be.

We checked our bags and made it through security just fine. They weren’t doing the raise your arms scan, just the metal detectors. My bag was flagged for extra screening because it always is. I am perfectly happy for them to do so because my reading choices are so interesting but I wonder what it is about my little L.L.Bean duffle that they like so much.

Security check completed, Dad went to find coffee and Mom and I went to our gate. It was pretty far down the line. We had to take several moving walkways. The gate was not all that busy but there weren’t a lot of seating options. They had recently redone that whole area and there were several restaurants that were right up against the gate so the seating for the restaurant and the gate kind of mooshed together. There were also iPads on the tables for ordering and also to play games on but you had to pay. Most of them looked like they weren’t working. The area already looked pretty dingy. Everyone is going to this white “clean” (read: Google) look that gets dirty really fast. My work has remodeled to that all white look and it looks awful now.

<sigh> If only people would consult me…

We found regular seats and sat and waited.



Dad found us with something to eat for Mom and said that we could share his croissant. Buuuut we can’t. Because I’m gluten free. Which he seems to forget every once in awhile. I think it’s because Mom’s food allergies are fairly extensive and it’s hard to remember anyone else’s stuff. It was fine because I had my GF snacks.



The TVs were all covering Hurricane Hermine. Which, luckily, had made landfall in FL on Thursday. I was, however, concerned about the rain. I had some big plans Sunday night and I did NOT want them screwed up!

While I was kicking chairs...I mean, quietly brooding about Hermine, I heard my name get called to come to the gate desk. I had a momentary surge of elation that I would be upgraded which was quickly squashed after I remembered I had the economy fare and part of the stipulation was that I would never be upgraded. I never get upgraded anyway. I then had a moment of panic thinking that I had somehow gotten bumped or something. The woman at the desk handed me a new boarding pass and said that she had to move me to keep a family together but she had kept me in a window seat. So I was still a window seat but now in row 24.

Huh?

I told her, “So I had a ticket for an E seat. But now I have a window seat?”

In my head, I was saying “What are you doing?? She gave you a window seat! Don’t start arguing!!”

She said, “Yes, E was a window and now you are in seat 24A.”

Okaaaay. You are completely wrong but I’m just going to walk away now.

I said, “Okay” and returned to my parents and told them what happened. They were really surprised that I would get moved to a better seat.

Then they were called up and they were moved to be together with a middle and an aisle seat.

What is happening?? I thought our Economy fare was supposed to suck! I don’t know how to live in a world like this.

My parents had also gate checked Mom’s carry-on because they were asking for volunteers since it was a full flight.


That looks like a three seat - aisle - three seat plane to me.

It was at this point that I was questioning our good luck and waited for the other shoe to drop. I think I knew where I was going to pay. During this whole time while we were waiting, there was a family sitting near us - who looked like it had grandparents, a couple of aunts and uncles, and kids. These kids were awful. Running around, trying out all the iPads (regardless if there were people sitting at the table or not), fighting with each other, and getting each other into trouble by tattling. Each time they did that, the parent would yell at the kid really loudly, calling them a brat and saying that they had to put up with them at home but they weren’t going to put up with them on vacation so shut up and sit down. And they said the same thing to each kid. Everyone got in trouble at least twice.


(You may be able to spot some kids at the iPads...)

I knew, I just knew that I was going to be sitting next to this loving, kind, supportive family for the next three hours.

yaaaay

Finally they called boarding. We waited until most everyone was gone from the gate before we got in line. I do not like to sit in the plane sooner than I have to. I get plane sick – sometimes I feel nauseous just from the smell so the less time in the plane, the better.

Someone was sitting in my seat when I got there, so there was a little confusion over who was supposed to sit where. The lady was really apologetic, saying, “Gosh darn, I just don’t understand these seats. I’m so glad we are driving back. I’m already not liking this flying business.”

I gathered from her comments that this was her first time flying.

So, I’m not seated next to the family from h*ll. Great, huh?

Wellll…..

No.

See, sitting next to the woman, on the aisle, was a man. This man turned out to be a relative of a former MN politician. He and the woman next to me hit it off and talked politics for the WHOLE. THREE. HOURS.

They did not stop once. There were times when I was able to tune them out but it was really hard. Unfortunately, one of things that I did not pack were earbuds or headphones.

Lesson. Learned.

He kept saying “No offense to <blank> but…” and then would proceed to say something really offensive and rather ignorant. And really eloquent. Like “No offense to Martians but Mars sucks.”

How can you argue with that logic?

To add to the fun, there was someone who was obviously having a really bad bowel day. Periodically, an awful smell would waft passed my seat. Add that to the really loud, politically charged conversation next to me and my already nauseous stomach and I was ready to strap myself to the wing.



Soooo looong. Get me out of here!!

(Side note: I have no idea why we were flying backwards to FL. It straightened out a couple of times but it mostly flew backwards.)


(Want to switch seats with me?? And hey, buddy, I'm going to need those earbuds you got there.)


We finally landed and after practically driving across Orlando, we landed at our gate and were able to debark the plane.

Hallelujah!

Next up…Day 1 Part 2 – Swantastic!

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

i'm following along i don't comment much but just know i'm here! lol

Welcome! No need to comment (but feel free if you want!) - glad to know you are here!

I'm joining in too! I was at WDW during the same dates as you and just started my TR.

I love your Rapunzel race outfit, especially the blonde braid from the helmet!

Welcome and thank you! I'll have to check out your TR!

 

[KBOhio]

Following along.

 

[ariane37]

OMG what an awful plane experience! We always fly JetBlue to Orlando but over the summer I flew Delta to visit my sister in Georgia and had an Economy fare. I ended up in the last row so I couldn't put my seat back - yeah, not really a big deal. But the bathroom was also right there which wasn't that.....pleasant. But then, as soon as the attendants had to sit down for takeoff one attendant pulls this chair thing out of the side wall and it comes down between my aisle seat and the one across from me, so now the last row is 5 seats across and you can't get by for the bathroom anyway, and I'm elbow to elbow with her so I can't sit comfortably holding my book I know, not huge problems but still annoying for 2 hours. Hope things looked better once you landed!

 

[mydisneykids]

Looking forward to the rest of your updates.

 

[gracer9977]

I can never sleep before a trip to Disney. Like a kid waiting for Christmas I look at the clock all night long wondering why it is taking so long to be morning.

I am not a morning person either, ever, ever. I am like you my perfect time to be awake is from about 10am-3am. I got a job working nights so that I can kind of live those hours. I am much happier going to work at 6:30pm than I would ever be going to work at 6:30am. With that being said when I am at Disney or going to Disney I am up at 5am ready to go.

Sounds like a terrible flight experience. Glad you finally landed, now on to bigger and better things.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

Following along.

Welcome!

OMG what an awful plane experience! We always fly JetBlue to Orlando but over the summer I flew Delta to visit my sister in Georgia and had an Economy fare. I ended up in the last row so I couldn't put my seat back - yeah, not really a big deal. But the bathroom was also right there which wasn't that.....pleasant. But then, as soon as the attendants had to sit down for takeoff one attendant pulls this chair thing out of the side wall and it comes down between my aisle seat and the one across from me, so now the last row is 5 seats across and you can't get by for the bathroom anyway, and I'm elbow to elbow with her so I can't sit comfortably holding my book I know, not huge problems but still annoying for 2 hours. Hope things looked better once you landed!

That sounds worse than my experience! Sitting ramrod straight with no room and no way to go to the bathroom. And the kicker is that you paid for the torture! I don't know what the solution is, but there must be some better way to do this without paying extra! I wonder if I would like just laying in a small bed thing. Like in those Japanese hotels. Probably claustrophobic though.

Looking forward to the rest of your updates.

Thank you! I hope you enjoy them!

I can never sleep before a trip to Disney. Like a kid waiting for Christmas I look at the clock all night long wondering why it is taking so long to be morning.

I am not a morning person either, ever, ever. I am like you my perfect time to be awake is from about 10am-3am. I got a job working nights so that I can kind of live those hours. I am much happier going to work at 6:30pm than I would ever be going to work at 6:30am. With that being said when I am at Disney or going to Disney I am up at 5am ready to go.

Sounds like a terrible flight experience. Glad you finally landed, now on to bigger and better things.

I've always wondered if I'd like a night job better but then everyone else is on a different schedule. But grocery shopping early in the morning or late at night would be awesome.

 

[Brittni__duh]

I finally did get some sort of amount of sleep. Who knows how much. My alarm went off at 6am. Ugh. I am not a morning person. I do it. All the time. But ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Even for Disney, it is not fun for me to get up in the mornings. I think if left to my own devices, I would be a 10:30am to 2am person. But everyone else is off on their schedules so I must conform.

I never get any sleep before a vacation. Last year, my DH and I stayed in a hotel before our flight. We had to be up at 3:15 AM and I don't think I fell asleep at all. I kept playing him that old Disney commercial with the kids who can't sleep.

The woman at the desk handed me a new boarding pass and said that she had to move me to keep a family together but she had kept me in a window seat. So I was still a window seat but now in row 24.

Huh?

I once had this happen to me. I was seated in a middle row all the way in the back of the plane. I was flying solo so whatever, I'll just read and ignore everyone. I was called up and they told me they needed to accomodate the family so I was moved to seat 1A. Really? First class just for that? I wasn't about to question the agent.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

I never get any sleep before a vacation. Last year, my DH and I stayed in a hotel before our flight. We had to be up at 3:15 AM and I don't think I fell asleep at all. I kept playing him that old Disney commercial with the kids who can't sleep.

I once had this happen to me. I was seated in a middle row all the way in the back of the plane. I was flying solo so whatever, I'll just read and ignore everyone. I was called up and they told me they needed to accomodate the family so I was moved to seat 1A. Really? First class just for that? I wasn't about to question the agent.

Ohhh. I love that commercial!

Wow! First class? That is a great upgrade to accommodate a family! I don't know why I even tried to set her straight about the window seat. Don't argue!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

So happy I found your report. LOVE your writing style.

 

[Raeven]

No surprise but I didn’t sleep well the night before. I was WAY too excited!! And not excited.

How can you sleep the night before Disney?!

I tried to tell myself. “Jenna, NBD. It’s just a regular Saturday tomorrow. Nothing special is happening.” “Um, no. Nice try. You are getting no sleep tonight. HAHAHAHA.”

I try that too. Like tomorrow is just another work day. Work is so boring go to sleep.

This man turned out to be a relative of a former MN politician. He and the woman next to me hit it off and talked politics for the WHOLE. THREE. HOURS.

 

[DexLabDeeDee]

So happy I found your report. LOVE your writing style.

Thank you! I LOVE your avatar. I have that picture on a shirt for that I got for Christmas last year. I love the possibility it expresses. Take the hand and RUN!

How can you sleep the night before Disney?!

I try that too. Like tomorrow is just another work day. Work is so boring go to sleep.

I know! Obviously you can't. It is QUITE impossible! My brain is too smart for me.

 

[jdeblas]

Love your trip so far! Looking forward to more......