• Sue's Spring at Saratoga Springs - Day 1 of 5

    From Sue/WDW1972@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 13 17:37:14 2021
    DAY 1 – Tuesday 4/13/21
    Who: Sue (62), DVC Member

    Plan: Drive to WDW, Epcot

    Actual: This morning was a short work day, and with our executive team meeting and then the staff meeting with the department heads who report to me, the time passed quickly. I have some anxiety about being away for the rest of the week, and really
    hope nothing major comes up (unlike last trip). When I did online check in I’d used a 1:30 arrival time, but knew I wouldn’t actually get there until 2. My “wishful thinking” is if they run a little late, the studio should be ready when I
    arrive, but I know there are no guarantees. With it expected to be almost 90 degrees today (YUCK), I would prefer to not leave my stuff in a hot car, and don’t want to be waiting on bell services later.

    I was shocked when less than halfway through the 2-hour drive I checked my phone and saw the “your room is ready” message!! That doesn’t typically happen (so early). The next shock was checking the room number and seeing it’s a 1-bedroom villa!
    I booked a studio, but gave serious thought on more than one occasion to switching it to a 1-bedroom. In the end, I decided not to since it would have been twice as many points and after all, this is a “solo” trip, lol!

    I finished the drive, arriving at Saratoga Springs just after 2pm. I’m in Congress Park as requested, and have a great location. The bus stop is very close, and the pool is right outside my slab. That’s the only negative – having a slab/patio vs
    a balcony. I’ve never gotten stuck with ground floor before, and would never ask for it, but given the upgrade I’ll keep my mouth shut and just be appreciative of what I have.

    Moving in on the ground floor is certainly easy – no elevators or stairs to deal with. This evening I’ll go outside and see how much people can see inside & then figure out what adjustments I’ll need to make. The walkway from the pool to the
    building goes right past my patio, so I expect there will foot traffic.

    I turned on General Hospital while I quickly unpacked & put everything away. These villas really are pretty! I love so many of the little details and the finishes. I had some work stuff to deal with, which took until nearly 3:30 – the rest can wait
    until later this evening. Right now it’s 90 or more degrees outside, so since arriving I haven’t been in any mad rush to get into a park. I thought about canceling my park reservation, but I’ll give it a try & make it a very short trip if it
    feels too hot out to be pleasant.

    I updated the report, to get that much out of the way, and talked w/SB. He suggested with the upgrade, maybe I want him to just stay the rest of the week now, lol! Um, what part of SOLO TRIP do people not understand??? <g> In his department they have
    to submit their time off requests by the 13th of the month before, but I did call him back to throw out the option of him driving separately from Tiana & Jonell, and leaving Friday sometime to be back at work Saturday (his normal days off are Thurs/Fri).
    He declined, so I guess he wasn’t too serious about crashing my solo trip!

    I’m still on the fence about tomorrow & Thursday, and was hoping hopping to AK tomorrow afternoon made sense. But, right now (3:45pm) the safari wait is 70 minutes! Flight of Passage is only 50. At Epcot Soarin’ is 45 – so no clear winner in
    terms of short waits between the 2 parks. If I was solo it wouldn’t matter, but with the others – they’ll want to do some attractions.

    I left the villa just before 4 and made the very short walk to the Congress Park bus stop. Unfortunately, I saw the Epcot bus pulling away before I could have gotten over there. I decided to just walk over to the Springs, since I needed to get
    something for Amanda. The bus easily beat me there, but I figured I had time to run my errand. I went up to the Carriage House and went inside by the front desk. Three masked cast members were all standing around in the lobby, ready to pounce on me –
    not sure they see many actual people with all the signs outside reminding us we don’t have to go inside (we can do stuff online) <g>.

    One of the cast members went behind the counter and gave a couple of the Happily Ever After buttons for Chris & Amanda – their 6th wedding anniversary is this week. I put them in my bag and walked back down to the bus stop. While there I saw a bus
    from every other park, including Disney Springs. The Epcot bus arrived at 4:28. They’re using all the seats on the bus now, but they have those silly dividers up to separate the sections. It’s so fortunatel that covid sees dividers and says “
    crap, can’t go anywhere, better stay inside my human”.

    The bus wasn’t crowded, and in no time we were at Epcot. It’s a long walk to the entrance, but there was no wait for the useless temperature check (I passed). At security I set off the alarm – most likely it was the 2 anniversary buttons, since I
    d left the umbrella back in the villa. Entering the park was pretty quick – the lines weren’t more than 2 parties deep.

    The park was pretty busy, but the worst part was the heat. Once out on the pavement the heat just radiated upwards and the breeze seemed to die. I didn’t feel like waiting in line for any attractions but did want to get some steps in, so I headed to
    World Showcase hoping to find some shade along the way.

    I started on the Canada side. The Honey Bee-stro stand had a long line, yet at Canada there was nobody in line at all. This trend would continue – I’d see a long line then the next stand(s), even though I would have thought them more popular, would
    have little or no line. There were lots of people wandering around though – definitely busier than I’d hoped but also not nearly as bad as a weekend. I’ll be glad when fastpasses come back!

    I stopped in a shady spot in Japan for a few swallows of ice water from my metal water bottle, then continued on. In Germany I went into the caramel shop since there wasn’t a line other than 2 parties ahead of me inside. I bought a caramel apple
    oatmeal cookie w/pecans, and the cast member told me that was her favorite. She asked if I had any discounts, so I mentioned DVC and passholder. I looked at the receipt after leaving, and evidently they consider the stuff in here “merchandise”, so
    I got my 20% off (saved $.92 – would be more significant if I was buying cookies for a whole family). The cookie will go back to the villa to be enjoyed later, so I continued walking around the countries. Boy was it hot!!

    One loop was all I was willing to do, as it was just not pleasant. At Honey Bee-stro the line was short so I ordered the lavender chicken flatbread and took it to a table that was partially in the shade. I really should have taken the flatbread back
    because it was all dried out – crisp like a cracker, with dried up chicken pieces. I saw others pass by that looked “normal”, but if I left my table I might not get another one so I crunched & munched, being careful not to cut the inside of my
    mouth with any sharp edges, lol! Another party (4-5 people) was dining on a trash can nearby, so when I finished I asked if they wanted my table and they gladly moved over.

    I headed for the exit, taking a brief detour through MouseGear but not buying anything. There was no wait to get inside, but lines at both sets of registers, so I’m glad I didn’t see anything I couldn’t resist. From there I left the park and
    started the queue for the Saratoga Springs bus. Being the first in line is usually a bad sign, and once again I saw a bus for every other resort in this bus stop area before mine finally arrived. To make things worse, an older couple joined me in the
    queue, she on a scooter, and I didn’t think to tell them where they should have been waiting. It dawned on me when the bus finally pulled in, so by then the driver let the back ramp down and the woman awkwardly tried (repeatedly) to get onto the ramp,
    but coming from the wrong direction it wasn’t easy. Finally the driver grabbed the scooter by the handlebars and just pulled her onto the bus. In the meantime, her husband was still standing in the queue behind me, so I told him he was ok to stay
    with her - he didn’t have to wait in line. He got on the bus through the back door while she was getting tied down, and soon the rest of us could board.

    After we got into Disney Springs the driver asked scooter lady what stop she was getting off at, and she said Paddock. I decided I’d get off there as well, and just walk back to Congress Park, even though it’s a distance away. As I was walking
    another passenger from the bus asked if I was Sue, and said she’s read my reports for years (and thinks Ari is so cute – one of many watching him grow up who he doesn’t know). We had a nice chat as we walked, and I continued solo once we passed
    her building in Paddock. The walk was lovely – shaded, nice breeze, etc. It felt a million times better than Epcot did!

    Before going inside I checked out the quiet pool, since it’s been so many years since I’ve stayed here. To give you an idea how long, my evenings were spent at Comedy Warehouse! The pool looked the same, and the convenience can’t be beat. It’s
    too bad I won’t have much time to enjoy it…sigh. I tried to see what I could see inside my villa, but the sun was reflecting off the glass so all I could see was what was behind me. I’ll try later.

    I went into the villa just in time for the 6:30 news, which I didn’t really catch much of because I had a report from work that I needed to edit. That took an hour – it’s pitiful how poorly some adults write!! When that was finally finished I
    started working on the report, but got distracted by Ari’s school pictures – omigod so cute! If Amanda doesn’t mind I’ll include 2-3 in the album. He graduates preschool and will start kindergarten in August.

    I’d brought crackers, cheese & wine with me, so I opened the bottle, prepared some crackers & cheese, and moved to the dining table. I’m enjoying having this villa, even though to be honest the space is wasted on one person. It’s a nice luxury,
    but certainly not a necessity.

    Today was an overall very nice day, other than it being too hot. It’s always good to be out of Gainesville and somewhere people are generally nice. In Gainesville we have homeless people who keep putting their tents on our property at work, and the
    city/county does nothing. Our guys go over there and have to clean up human feces, tons of trash, have encountered people having sex, today encountered a guy injecting himself with what’s probably an illegal drug, and they get cussed out repeatedly.
    It’s a mess – but I guess Gainesville thinks it’s a good thing. Give me the Disney environment!

    Tomorrow the others arrive, which should be early. It will be a long day – and unfortunately it’s supposed to be hot again, but slightly better (“only” 88) than today. I’m leaning strongly towards Animal Kingdom to hop to, and waiting until
    around 5 to do so. That would mean we can do Epcot at opening on Thursday, assuming any park reservations are available still. Tomorrow we also have lunch at Planet Hollywood, which I’m actually looking forward to. Hopefully the work stuff will be
    less, because I just don’t have time for it when I’m with other people.

    Sue/WDW1972

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Rudeney@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 20 11:43:08 2021
    On 4/13/2021 7:37 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:

    Actual: This morning was a short work day, and with our executive
    team meeting and then the staff meeting with the department heads who
    report to me, the time passed quickly. I have some anxiety about
    being away for the rest of the week, and really hope nothing major
    comes up (unlike last trip).


    I remember the problems last time - I hope this goes better.


    I was shocked when less than halfway through the 2-hour drive I
    checked my phone and saw the “your room is ready” message!! That doesn’t typically happen (so early). The next shock was checking the
    room number and seeing it’s a 1-bedroom villa! I booked a studio,
    but gave serious thought on more than one occasion to switching it to
    a 1-bedroom. In the end, I decided not to since it would have been
    twice as many points and after all, this is a “solo” trip, lol!


    Holy cow! Will you pick lottery numbers for me? :-P


    I’m still on the fence about tomorrow & Thursday, and was hoping
    hopping to AK tomorrow afternoon made sense.


    Hoping for hopping? LOL!


    The Epcot bus arrived at 4:28. They’re using all the seats on the
    bus now, but they have those silly dividers up to separate the
    sections. It’s so fortunatel that covid sees dividers and says
    “crap, can’t go anywhere, better stay inside my human”.

    LOL!


    I started on the Canada side. The Honey Bee-stro stand had a long
    line, yet at Canada there was nobody in line at all. This trend
    would continue – I’d see a long line then the next stand(s), even
    though I would have thought them more popular, would have little or
    no line.


    That is strange. Maybe they fill up at the first station, so passing
    the 2nd one they aren't hungry, but by the time they get to the 3rd,
    they are hungry again...


    In Germany I went into the caramel shop since there wasn’t a line
    other than 2 parties ahead of me inside. I bought a caramel apple
    oatmeal cookie w/pecans, and the cast member told me that was her
    favorite. She asked if I had any discounts, so I mentioned DVC and passholder. I looked at the receipt after leaving, and evidently
    they consider the stuff in here “merchandise”, so I got my 20% off
    (saved $.92 – would be more significant if I was buying cookies for a
    whole family).

    I think I recall someone mentioning this before, that packaged food sold
    in the stored is considered merchandise and is eligible for discounts.
    I'd have sworn it was you! :-)


    I decided I’d get off there as well, and just walk back to Congress
    Park, even though it’s a distance away. As I was walking another
    passenger from the bus asked if I was Sue, and said she’s read my
    reports for years (and thinks Ari is so cute – one of many watching
    him grow up who he doesn’t know). We had a nice chat as we walked,
    and I continued solo once we passed her building in Paddock.


    You are such a celebrity!


    The walk was lovely – shaded, nice breeze, etc. It felt a million
    times better than Epcot did!


    It is amazing how two places just a short distance apart can feel so
    different like that. It always feels hotter in the parks to me. Maybe
    it's all the people.


    I went into the villa just in time for the 6:30 news, which I didn’t
    really catch much of because I had a report from work that I needed
    to edit. That took an hour – it’s pitiful how poorly some adults
    write!!


    No kidding! Try reading some news stories from (supposedly)
    professional reporters. It's not just typos (which I can easily forgive
    as I make my fair share) but poor conjugation, incorrect word choices,
    etc. I guess everything now is written by people who think text
    messages are "literature".


    got distracted by Ari’s school pictures – omigod so cute!
    If Amanda doesn’t mind I’ll include 2-3 in the album.


    Surely it is not possible the he has gotten cuter than the last photos
    of him you posted!


    In Gainesville we have homeless people who keep
    putting their tents on our property at work, and the city/county does nothing. Our guys go over there and have to clean up human feces,
    tons of trash, have encountered people having sex, today encountered
    a guy injecting himself with what’s probably an illegal drug, and
    they get cussed out repeatedly. It’s a mess – but I guess
    Gainesville thinks it’s a good thing.


    OMG! How horrible! I know there is a serious homeless problem in
    downtown Birmingham, but I live far enough out we don't see it in our
    suburban towns. I worked down there over 30 years ago and it was really
    bad. It's probably worse now with so many "non-essential" workers
    having lost their jobs and homes.


    --

    - RODNEY

    Next WDW Vacation?
    Who knows!

    Need to know more about RADP (rec.arts.disney.parks)?

    http://www.radp.org
    http://allears.net/btp/radp_bk.htm
    http://allears.net/tp/abrev.htm

    Are you still accessing RADP via Google? Why?
    Get instructions on how to access to the "real"
    RADP Usenet Group here:

    http://meets.radp.org/usenet.htm

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)