Around 10:30 pm, we figured we’d better get ourselves to bed since the following morning was going to start so freakishly early. No sooner had we turned out the lights and started to drift off to dreamland then the fracas across the hall erupted. At first, we assumed it was just a noisy, keyed-up family arriving for an overnight stay following a late-ish arrival at the Buffalo airport. We cut them some slack….we heard kids voices in the boisterous mix, and being parents ourselves, we know how tough it can be to get younger ones to settle down….but the hullaballoo continued on. And on.
We called down to the front desk after the first hour. They assured us they would speak with the offenders and apologized for the disturbance. We settled back down to try and sleep (though Steve was
thoroughly annoyed at the inconsiderateness of the folks across the hall and as such had grown a tad agitated…..so I sleep was not going to come as easy as we’d hoped).
Not long after the call to the front desk, they added slamming doors, high-pitched shrieking, and spurts of whoop, whoop, whooping to the booming voices. We wondered how on earth we could hear them so loudly…..from peeking out through the peep hole in the door, we could see they were just across the hall, but still?? Then another peek noted that their door had been propped open…..all the way…..and people were strolling in and out, shouting out to friends at the opposite end of the hall (presumably their door was propped open as well?). Apparently there was a par-tay and we weren’t invited
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Call #2 to the front desk, and I wasn’t quite as easily mollified this time. “Dave” assured me he would pay a personal visit to the room and direct the obnoxious guests to tone it down. Indeed, we heard him speak with the offenders within 15 minutes of our call, and we thought to ourselves finally! That should do it.
Wrong
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When I had to make call number 3, I was seriously annoyed. I got Dave again, and he was swift and sincere in his apologies……and even swifter making his way to the 5th floor with yet another stern directive. Unfortunately for us, by this time it was after 2 o’clock in the morning…..and our wake up call was set for 4:15.. What a way to start a trip
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It was a scant few hours later when like two bleary-eyed zombies, we showered, dressed, locked the suitcases and made our way down to the lobby to grab breakfast before catching the shuttle to the terminal. Steve had awoken with what we thought was an allergy attack….kind of odd considering his allergies are generally seasonal in nature, and the cold weather normally stops his symptoms, not increases them….so he took a dose of his medication and assumed (hoped?) it would kick in soon.
Arriving down on the main level of the hotel, while being checked out at the front desk by “Dave”, he gave us a flyer for discount off park and fly packages on future stays. Since we had the hotel already booked for our trips in December and April, through my brain fog I asked if he could apply the price reduction to those reservations which were already in his system.
Then the lightbulb went off, and Dave says
“Oh my goodness! You’re the lady who had to call us so many times about the people on the 5th floor! I recognize your voice. And I’m sooooo sorry about the disruptions”. He was genuine in his apology, and I appreciated at least having the issues recognized and validated.
He asks me,
are you having breakfast before heading to the airport? I tell him yes, and he says to go enjoy something to eat and he’d meet me over in the breakfast room on a few minutes. He indicated that wanted to see what he could do for us for the inconvenience, but rather than stand and wait, he wanted us to relax over our morning meal and he’d seek us out. I assured him it wasn’t necessary…..I didn’t want to make a big fuss over it, that’s not generally our style….but he insisted. And I was too freakin’ tired to argue.
By the time I sat down with my waffle, Dave came over with revised billings in hand and another round of profound apologies. He explained how difficult it was to handle these types of guests….if the staff physically kicked them out, police would be called and a whole new can of worms would be opened, often causing an even bigger disturbance to hotel guests….and told us he had adjusted both our current bill (refunding $45 USD to our credit card, since the package was prepaid before our arrival) and crediting us an additional sum off our April 2016 park and fly costs (he opted to take the other lump sum off April versus December since December was already paid in full but April was not). No, it didn’t make up for the sleepless night but it was a nice gesture regardless…..especially when we didn’t have to make any kind of a fuss to have them take responsibility.
We finished breakfast (surprisingly good for a ‘freebie’….make-your-own waffles, sausages, eggs, yogurt, fruit, cereal, breads, muffins, coffee, milk, juice) and beckoned the shuttle. The distance between the hotel and airport is super short, so we were there before our bottoms even managed to warm up the bus seats. We dropped our bags, zipped through security (love that Buffalo is soooo quiet in the early mornings and lines are generally non-existent) and planted ourselves wearily at the gate.
We were too tired for conversation
. Let’s just say our customary pre-flight momentum was seriously lacking. And Steve’s eyes and nose continued to run and ooze while he sneezed uncontrollably. I am sure the other folks at our gate were just praying their seat assignment wasn’t next to Snots
.
The sun finally started to come up just before we boarded. Our plane, Blue Chip, was ready to whisk us off to paradise. Exhausted or not, we were totally ready to leave the crisp autumn weather of the north behind for a week.
The flight? Well, it was a bust too. We rocked and shook and bumped our way in a trail of turbulence all from NY state to Florida. We ascended and descended in an effort to find a smooth pocket of air, but it eluded us the entire journey. The seatbelt signs never turned off, and the pilots finally came over the intercom to apologize for the rocky flight, while admitting there apparently wasn’t a darn thing they could do about it. Fabulous
.
Even the onboard TV’s had issues. They had to reset their entertainment systems a full three times. Our ‘issues’ at this point were almost comical.
On a positive note, Steve did manage to enjoy Jurassic Park 2 along the way (with a couple of breaks for the TV re-sets) and I didn’t pee my pants. With literally no opportunities to use the onboard loo to empty my bladder and a rough ride to boot, that was definitely one of the positives of the whole experience!!
We arrived at MCO within about 10 minutes of our scheduled arrival, so “late” but not by much. We hit the first bathrooms we saw, collected our luggage, and strolled straight to the garage to pick up our rental vehicle. We had done the online check-in with Alamo before our departure, so we were comfortably settled in a white Ford Fusion and heading toward the Vistana in a flash.
Steve was still sneezing, his eyes and nose were still running, and we were both dog tired. But…we were here
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. What an experience it would be for your kids.
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What things are on your itinerary so far? 
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.....I can always change it up later if need be. As for the Dole Whip, that would be an offer I can't refuse 
. Those little bowls of deliciousness are highly addictive!!
My DH would love that burger for sure! 
. I bet you will make some great memories enjoying the pool and hot tub on those warm Florida evenings!
Thankfully, taste was not sacrificed for size 
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.....I must keep that in mind for next time....but we did eventually determine the source of his issues (that's coming up within the next few posts). Stay tuned for that update!
. Our GPS must have been tired, too, because she had a tough time picking up a signal as we exited the parking garage. Steve insisted we didn’t need the GPS....he knew his way around well enough, ya know 
, and the chocolate mini muffins (still hot from the oven) were the perfect accompaniment. I almost wished I had started at the dessert bar first.
