Carlson Clan Part II, or...What a cute plane! About This Page:

[JoanneC]

So, we got through security and went to our gate. It was about 5 or so. We sat and waited, and waited. We looked out the window; there was the cutest little baby plane out there. Where is its mommy? Wait! That plane was outside our gate!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Hooo boy...So we waited some more. At about 5:40 we finally saw the crew arrive. That was encouraging, but it soon became apparent we were not going to leave at 6, as scheduled. But about 5-10 minutes after 6, we got to load. Yay!! We were officially on our way to Disney World! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Mom was using her cane, so we let most of the other passengers go first. With only 50 seats on the plane, they didn't bother loading by the row numbers. We had to go down a flight of stairs, walk on the tarmac, and then up some stairs to the plane. We are talking a little plane, here! We found our seats; there was a row of seats on one side of the plan that only had one seat, and the other side had rows of two seats, if that makes sense. We found our seats, got things stowed above the seats or below the seats in front, got our seatbelts on, and were all ready to go! So we waited, and waited...pretty soon the captain got on the intercom and said that the fog had lowered (?) at Pittsburgh and we were going to have a delay in taking off. He thought we would be more comfortable waiting in the gate seats rather than on the plane, so we unbuckled, gathered our stuff, and got back off the plane. Okay, a slight delay. Once again we let most people go ahead of us. There was one man I named "Grumpy" (since we were going to Disney World!) who got off the plane swearing, complaining and being a reall pain in the neck. What did he think the airline could do, demand the fog go away??? The flight attendant was great with mom, telling her to take her time, and handed some of her stuff to her after she got down the steps. We got back inside, and there was a long line of people at the ticket counter at the gate. So while Mom, Russ and Dad went and found seats, I got in line. I was concerned about our connecting flight in Pittsburgh that was supposed to leave at 7:45. So I waited in line, and waited in line. Even though I was the last person in line, I just couldn't bring myself to leave my spot. After about an hour (yes, an HOUR!) there were people behind me, so I really was not going to get out of line. Grumpy was two people ahead of me. When he got to the counter, he was a real patoot. I felt sorry for the ticket agent there, she was obviously not having fun. Then the lady ahead of me went. THe lady behind me was headed for a cruise, and HAD to be in Florida by 4 pm, and it was starting to look like that might be a problem. So, being the sweetie that I am, I let her ahead of me. I did rest on the ticket counter when she was talking to the agent; I was so tired. Then there was another lady on that cruise that the ticket agent called up, so two people went ahead of me. Finally, after about an hour and a half in line, I got up to the ticket counter. They agent was very nice, and told me that I now had her full and undivided attention, and she was going to do good for me and my family. Mom came up about then and started to say just the first plane available. I hushed Mom, waiting to see what the agent was going to offer us. It pays to be nice. And look pitiful. We missed our Pittsburgh plane before I even got to the ticket counter...so she upgraded our flight from Pittsburgh to Orlando to first class! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Wheee!!! Of course we still had to get to Pittsburgh! She got us on a flight that would leave Pittsburgh at 2:40. We were supposed to arrive at Orlando at 10 a.m. originally; now we were looking at getting there at 4:56 p.m. But at least we had a flight. The ticket agent told us at one point that if we got to leave at 8 a.m., we would still have plenty of time to get our flight at Pittsburgh. I pointed out that it was 7:59, and she laughed and said well, we wouldn't make THAT time! So then they were hoping we could leave at 9 a.m. I found out later that Grumpy got a regular coach ticket on a flight leaving at 4 something in the afternoon!

Dad had already figured out what to do...he pulled out my laptop and was playing free cell, his game of choice.

Did I tell you in part 1 about the lady who was going to Texas? We had seen her at her gate, and there was a four hour delay! She wasn't going to get to leave until 10:40 a.m.! We felt so sorry for her...

Nine a.m. came and went, then 10 a.m....finally at 11, it sounded like we were going to get to go! Finally we got to board again...there were a lot fewer people on the plane this time...and we had an uneventful flight on our baby plane, to Pittsburgh.

At Pittsburgh we got to sit near the gate where we arrived, and a lady driving a little cart thing came along and loaded us up so Mom didn't have to walk. On our original schedule we had ½ hour to get from the gate where we arrived to the gate we were to leave. Mom had called, and was assured that it was close enough, she could get there with no problem. Hah! It took five minutes with the little cart thing! It would have been very hard for Mom to get there in time. We had lunch in Pittsburgh, then caught our flight there, with no problem. It was fun when they loaded the the first class passengers first. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] In first class the seats were so roomy, and there was no peanuts or pretzels for us...I chose Millano cookies and a coke, and Russ had a beer and a trail mix. It was a lot of fun! THAT is the way to travel!

We got to MCO on time, and followed the signs to the baggage area, watching for our driver. We had arranged for Tiffany Town Car to pick us up, and had called from GR to let them know what time we would be arriving instead of at 10 a.m. We got to the baggage pickup area, and saw a man holding a sign that said "Terrilson", and under that it said "Terrie". I asked him if that was supposed to be Terri Carlson, and he laughed and said yes. He was a very nice person, and took us to where we would get our bags. He told us how to get to where he would be, and went to get the car. I found a skycap, and we went and waited for luggage. The electronic sign didn't show our flight on there, but I did see luggage coming on the belt with tags that showed the same flight number, so of course we held back instead of trying to fight the crowds. Finally we got up where we could see, and we waited, and waited...hint...NEVER THINK THAT THERE IS NOTHING ELSE THAT COULD GO WRONG!!! Finally there were just a couple of pieces of luggage going around and around, and none of ours had come out. The skycap told us we would have to go file reports for missing luggage. Great! So we tipped him, since he could have made money with someone else if he hadn't been standing with us, and we headed to make our reports. Meanwhile our driver came back, and shook his head when we told him what happened. The airline said they would send the luggage to the hotel when it arrived, they thought it was probably on the next flight coming in. We were all wearing clothing appropriate for a cool Michigan morning, i.e., sweatshirts and long sleeves. So our driver took us to the van that he had; it was very nice. We had arranged for a 30-minute stop at a grocery store for pop and snacks to keep in the room. For some reason Dad seemed to think we really had to hurry. It was funny. It reminded me of the show Supermarket Sweep, if you have ever watched that. We hurried and hurried!

We got to the hotel, and everyone started getting grumpy. Russ was complaining because he didn't have anything with him, it was all in his suitcase. Well duh! All of us had packed everything in our suitcases! When I pointed that out he did calm down a bit. Then there was confusion over room keys, and trying to find Sue and her family. The hotel staff wouldn't tell us their room number, but did say we had a couple of messages from them. The last one said they were coming back to the hotel, so we looked for them. Part of our package was $75 Disney Dollars per package, so Mom and I went and bought t-shirts at the gift store there in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was just about to die from the heat. We didn't even go back to our room; just went to a bathroom and changed. THEN we could stop and look around and enjoy the atmosphere! What a place! It was absolutely gorgeous!

There are two restaurants in that hotel; one is a buffet, Boma, and one is "fine dining", Jiko. We went and put in our name at Boma, with about a 20-25 minute wait. Then we checked Jiko, and that wait was only 5-10 minutes. Hah! We canceled Boma and went to the Jiko. When the hostess seated us, she asked us how our day was going, so we told her. A few minutes later she came back with a card! it said something about we hear you are having a long and tiring day; hope your visit gets better soon, and was signed by several people! How nice! The food was awsome there! Dad and Russ had gone off and ended up eating at the buffet, which they said was also good. Mom and I went to our room and took showers, but ick...had to put on the same clothes again! We kept calling and checking on Sue and her family. Once we were told that although they couldn't tell us where they were staying, that they were "very close". I was going to go get some ice, opened the door, and there they were! They had the adjoining room! They had been to Epcot...that message got lost in the shuffle. But finally we were all connected! It was about 9-10 pm by then, but finally we were all there. Now if we only had clean clothes to change into...

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Great report so far. What a way to start vacation, first a very delayed flight and then no luggage!

[arielsmom]

You're reports are great and I have to give you thumbs up on your positive attitudes!!

Keep 'em coming.

[bfth]

Nothing worse than no luggage after a long day of travel.

Hoping to hear some good news in your next report!

[Ursunique2001]

oh God!! My biggest fear! LOST! LUGGAGE!

I do pray that you received your luggage. That is what I fear the most, that my luggage will be lost on a connecting flight.

This will be only our second time flying but I made sure I booked a direct flight and will fight any change to a connecting flight because of my fear of the airlines misplacing my luggage.

Hope the rest of your trip was much better.

[maggy_1]

You really have positive in you, after all those things and The luggage I think it's the worst it can be arrived when we travel [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Chantal [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Joanne,

Glad to hear that you had a pretty good experience here in Pittsburgh (although I've almost gotten run over by the little cart things! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] ) - and now that I know you can get Milano cookies in first class - I might have to look for an even better job so I can fly that way from this point on! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Great report - looking forward to more!

[JoanneC]

Yes, Tikibird, those little cart things really go!