'Brave' Solo Trip April/May 2015 - Day 15 - Service? What Service?

[pinkstargirl]

Just a quick recap - I'm Heidi, 29 at the time of trip. My 2nd solo visit to WDW. 2 week trip to celebrate my 30th.

Day 15 - Service? What service? (Mon 11/05 and Tues 12/11)

I got up this morning at around 9:30. I had had FP booked for Epcot but didn’t go in the end. I had a shower, and finished my packing. I didn’t have to sit on my case just yet, although I still had shorts and a towel to go in later!

I loaded up the car, putting my black towel over my suitcase in the hopes that it would be dry by the time I had to go to the airport. I usually just use hotel towels, but as I had dyed my hair black shortly before going away, I didn’t think they would appreciate stained towels every day!

I checked out at 11am, and grabbed a book from the bookshelf they have outside the little shop, which is for people to take and leave any books, it is free to take a book. I took this back to one of the pools and settled myself until 1:30, just relaxing in the sun and reading. I returned the book and used the restroom, made sure the glove compartment was empty of my personal items, and left the hotel at 2pm. I took a quick picture of the mileage I'd done in 2 weeks, it hadn't seemed that much but I guess it all adds up! Just over 600 by the time I got back to the airport!

I went up International drive to where I’d seen a Chili’s, arriving at 2:15. I ordered a watermelon lemonade, fried pickles and fajitas. The lemonade arrived and was delicious, the pickles were good but I had nicer ones recently here at Pizza Hut. I think it’s just because the American cucumbers seem to be different!

The service was shoddy. The waitress never smiled at me once, and even after returning to check which meats I had ordered with my fajita, it still came out wrong. I’d ordered chicken and steak, and I got chicken and shrimp. It was corrected and was also really tasty - love a fajita! I left a very small tip, around 6%, for my surly waitress. Hopefully her manner improved for other customers.

I left at 3:30, arriving at the airport at 4pm. I dropped the car off (I loved that car. If you’ve been following since Day 1 you’ll have read that I bought one less than 2 weeks later when I got home!) and made my way to the terminal to find the VA desks. I’d checked in online so just had to drop my bag and get a boarding card. I was so worried that my case would be overweight but it was okay at 21.6kg.

I had a quick rejig of my bag, and then a look around some shops before making my way to security - this took ages to get through and I had my hands swabbed again - I must look dodgy! I got the monorail to the departure gates and decided to grab a drink at Starbucks. Once again I had terrible service with the guy who called me over - he had obviously called me over too early and ignored me while he sorted out the previous customer’s order. I asked for a muffin and was deciding on a coffee. He bagged up a muffin and then rang me up without asking if I wanted a drink. I told him to forget it and walked away. (I’m always very impatient on the travel-home day, cross about having to leave usually)

I went next door and got a hot chocolate, and made my way to the gate. I saw our plane, which was Jersey Girl. We bored and took off 10 minutes late. I had a row of 3 to myself and so hoped I would get some sleep. I had dinner off beef stew while I watched Jupiter Ascending - mostly to drool over Channing Tatum!

I managed about 3 hours sleep although I kept coming to, so it was really lots of mini dozes! I missed the breakfast box (one of the only things I’m not a fan of on VA so wasn’t very unhappy about it) and watched a documentary about The Shard as we started our descent.

We flew in over the long stay car park and I saw my car! After landing at 8:30, I was through immigration and had my suitcase by 9:05. I got some water and a sandwich in Boots, and made my way to the bus stop. The bus took forever dropping people off and I was finally back at my car just before 10am. I went down the road to get some fuel before driving home, very tired but with some great memories!

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Thank you if you’ve stuck with me throughout my trip report! It’s taken so much longer than I wanted to get it written but I’ve finally done it! I really enjoyed my trip, and my Annual Pass was a great decision as I returned to Orlando in November 2015 and April 2016 to make full use of it.

I’ve also had a long trip to the West Coast, the link for that trip report is in my signature.

As for what’s next, I’m going to DLP in September with some friends for the half marathon weekend, we’re staying on site for 4 nights and have 5 days of park tickets.

I am desperate to return to Florida and am saving up. I have been looking into prices for November, I don’t think I’ll include Disney but I want to return to Universal as this trip was the last time I went. I also want to explore a little more of Florida if I can! I’m still working out whether a trip this year is feasible, it may have to wait until Spring 2018 but I really hope not!

[collybird]

Good luck with the half marathon!

[katebush95]

Great read thanks for posting 👍