Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[hdrolfe]

Those After Hours (AH Party) are becoming very popular ,,,hard decision.
Do the AH Party include any drinks / treats/food?
Night time in May is a great idea for a Park visit.

Do you use the Skyliner at Pop Century? How important is Pop compared to All Stars?

Do you have a day at Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach or maybe even your resort Pool as a *Water Park Day* that
could also fill in for a daytime activity. Maybe hit downtown Disney (Disney Springs).

Good luck
Hugs Mel

I believe there are snacks and drinks at the party. I do have to double check that.
We will be going to whatever water parks are open I am hoping they both are. We will be there for 10 days, including the travel days, we are a little sad that Rockin Rollercoaster will be down while we are there, but are excited for Tron. I do not plan to get Genie+ but will probably get a couple ILL$ depending on if we can get a virtual queue for Tron.
POP is important for the skyliner, but not that important I guess? It's certainly convenient but for over $500 CAD difference, I'm not sure it's worth it! We've stayed at POP 3 times, once with skyliner and at the time kiddo said he never wanted to ride it again, but now he doesn't remember that and wants to use it. If we chose an All Star, we have to decide between Music and Sports. Sports isn't fully updated yet, but Music seems spread out more? We have stayed at Movies, it was a nice resort and we were in Mighty Ducks which was close to Music so we used buses from either one, ate at both. I'm a little tempted by a new to us resort.

 

[bababear_50]

I believe there are snacks and drinks at the party. I do have to double check that.
We will be going to whatever water parks are open I am hoping they both are. We will be there for 10 days, including the travel days, we are a little sad that Rockin Rollercoaster will be down while we are there, but are excited for Tron. I do not plan to get Genie+ but will probably get a couple ILL$ depending on if we can get a virtual queue for Tron.
POP is important for the skyliner, but not that important I guess? It's certainly convenient but for over $500 CAD difference, I'm not sure it's worth it! We've stayed at POP 3 times, once with skyliner and at the time kiddo said he never wanted to ride it again, but now he doesn't remember that and wants to use it. If we chose an All Star, we have to decide between Music and Sports. Sports isn't fully updated yet, but Music seems spread out more? We have stayed at Movies, it was a nice resort and we were in Mighty Ducks which was close to Music so we used buses from either one, ate at both. I'm a little tempted by a new to us resort.

A liitle review for you

https://blogmickey.com/2023-hollywood-studios-disney-after-hours-review-guide/

Hugs Mel

 

[Donald - my hero]

If you can wait 2 weeks you'll get to read my reviews of After Hours events at BOTH Magic Kingdom AND the Studios … can't come soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bababear_50]

If I were going to Disney right now I think my best bet for lower crowds, more rides, just a better experience would be to go to After Hours events.

Just My Honest Opinion.
With Disney's current staffing issues & job relations coupled with increase in price beyond regular admission to the parks (think L.L & Genie+) along with higher crowd levels is creating a situation for people to look for something better like the AH Events.
And you get to eat Free Mickey Bars.
How far in advance do you need to buy this ,,before they run out of Tickets I wonder?


Have fun planning

 

[hdrolfe]

If you can wait 2 weeks you'll get to read my reviews of After Hours events at BOTH Magic Kingdom AND the Studios … can't come soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to it! I wish there was going to be an MK event.
I do think that skyliner doesn't run after the party, it closes when the park officially closes from what I understand but I'm not positive on that. So staying at POP wouldn't really be a benefit after that party.

If I were going to Disney right now I think my best bet for lower crowds, more rides, just a better experience would be to go to After Hours events.

Just My Honest Opinion.
With Disney's current staffing issues & job relations coupled with increase in price beyond regular admission to the parks (think L.L & Genie+) along with higher crowd levels is creating a situation for people to look for something better like the AH Events.
And you get to eat Free Mickey Bars.
How far in advance do you need to buy this ,,before they run out of Tickets I wonder?


Have fun planning

I do tend to agree, the money saved might allow for a genie+ days during the trip. Free Mickey Bars, Mickey ice cream Sandwiches and strawberry bars (not quite sure what those look like). The tickets go on sale March 3rd so I have at least that long to consider it, and I'm not sure how quickly they will sell out.

 

[Donald - my hero]

*****Desperate Plea for help******
No judgements here please, I need some help with checking into our flight to Orlando on Sunday. The flight leaves at 6:15 and it is looking close to being full so I'll want to be ready at the exact 24 hour mark tomorrow morning so we can get seats together. Here's what I need to be walked thru - flying with Air Canada and it doesn't look familiar to me

• Passport info already entered to our profiles, will I need to do that again?
• Vaccine certification- where, when and how do I upload that? Just the QR code or something else?
• The attestation form - what on earth do I do with this? How, when what??
• Seat selection - by the time I've done all of the above will we be left with sitting in 2 of the orphan are seats? There are only 13 2x2's showing at the moment

By the time I get everything uploaded and confirmed I'm worried that we won't be able to sit together. Should i just pay the fee now?!!

Side note, anyone have experience with either the Sunflower Lanyard program or using the Family and Special needs security lanes? I suffer from extreme anxiety and an horrific experience coming home from Orlando last year had me on the floor in tears in a full panic attack. I was unable to talk for myself and it took them a very long time to understand the urgency of the situation and allow my husband to get close to me. I will need him to be able to stay by my side as much as possible and I know that a butt-crack-of-dawn flight out of Pearson is it's own level of hell

 

[bababear_50]

We are here for you Jacqueline just as you've always been here for us.

Time for a deep breathe and a cup of Tea. (and one of OttawaMom's cookies shhhh!)


I used WestJet so I can't answer too much about Air Canada but I am sure others here will.

I carried a printed copy of my vaccinations and no one asked to see it.

I only entered my Passport once .

I preselected my seats and paid ahead of time. (Pay the Fee now).
That way when I did online check in it was already done.

I could print my boarding pass at home or just show it in my email that they sent me.

Your doing great Hon
Hugs Mel

 

[hdrolfe]

Given your anxiety over the situation I would pay to select seats now. I normally do this even though they keep me with my son for free. They tend to put us at the very back of the plane so I pay to move us up. If you do this, check will be very easy. Give your flight sounds a bit full, I would do this, it shouldn't be too expensive and would ease your worries in that regard.

I last flew in 2021, only had to show the vaccine and declaration to the people in the airport, nowhere to enter it when I checked in for flights.

switched to computer from mobile to add more check in info:

You can check in online from 24 hours or at the airport from 12 hours. If you have already paid for your seats, perhaps just do it at the airport? There are kiosks or you can go to the counter if they have people, but there may be line ups. If you have bags to check, you will need tags and can do that at kiosk or counter as well.

If you entered your travel document (passport, nexus) when you booked the ticket it should already be in the system but you may want to have it close at hand just in case.

How to check in FAQ

To access Air Canada Mobile Services, type mobile.aircanada.com on your mobile device's Web browser.

1. Open your Web browser on your Internet-enabled mobile device and navigate to mobile.aircanada.com. Once there, select the "Check-in" option.
2. Enter your first name, last name, identification number (Aeroplan number or booking reference) and departure city.
3. Select the passengers you wish to check in or make changes for.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to select your seat, enter your number of checked bags and complete your check-in.
5. If eligible for an Electronic Boarding Pass, enter your e-mail address or mobile phone number to complete your check-in and receive your Electronic Boarding Pass. Otherwise, you can obtain your boarding pass at the airport at a Self-Service Kiosk or with an Air Canada agent.

 

[bababear_50]

I agree.. paying ahead of time ,,even for return seats is so much less stressful for me.
Hugs Mel

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

The attestation form (on westjet, likely the same for AC) was just clicking "I agree" that you have been vaccinated. We didn't have to upload any proof. Just bring it with you in case you are asked. We were never even asked about vaccination on any of the flights.

 

[kristabelle13]

*****Desperate Plea for help******
No judgements here please, I need some help with checking into our flight to Orlando on Sunday. The flight leaves at 6:15 and it is looking close to being full so I'll want to be ready at the exact 24 hour mark tomorrow morning so we can get seats together. Here's what I need to be walked thru - flying with Air Canada and it doesn't look familiar to me

• Passport info already entered to our profiles, will I need to do that again?
• Vaccine certification- where, when and how do I upload that? Just the QR code or something else?
• The attestation form - what on earth do I do with this? How, when what??
• Seat selection - by the time I've done all of the above will we be left with sitting in 2 of the orphan are seats? There are only 13 2x2's showing at the moment

By the time I get everything uploaded and confirmed I'm worried that we won't be able to sit together. Should i just pay the fee now?!!

Side note, anyone have experience with either the Sunflower Lanyard program or using the Family and Special needs security lanes? I suffer from extreme anxiety and an horrific experience coming home from Orlando last year had me on the floor in tears in a full panic attack. I was unable to talk for myself and it took them a very long time to understand the urgency of the situation and allow my husband to get close to me. I will need him to be able to stay by my side as much as possible and I know that a butt-crack-of-dawn flight out of Pearson is it's own level of hell

Good luck - I’m sure it will all go smoothly. As well, westjet for sure (sorry, the last time I flew AC was well over 5 years ago) blocks out huge chunks of their seat map and so when check in opens at 24hrs - there are often way more seats available to choose from.

I also want to remind you if you have Nexus, you can pre-load your TTP# in there so you get pre-check. (And if you don’t have nexus - that might be a future tool to help you with airline travel and security lines).

 

[Pumpkin1172]

****Desperate Plea for help******
No judgements here please, I need some help with checking into our flight to Orlando on Sunday. The flight leaves at 6:15 and it is looking close to being full so I'll want to be ready at the exact 24 hour mark tomorrow morning so we can get seats together. Here's what I need to be walked thru - flying with Air Canada and it doesn't look familiar to me

I can't give you more current information other than what others have said....but I understand and know your anxiety. I am not an anxious person by nature, but dh and dd and one ds have huge anxieties that we struggle with.

When we were doing our February trip last year - still testing to get out and back into the country was sooooo stressful. AS much as we wanted and needed the trip, the stress dh could hardly function.

If it was me - we pay the money so that we can pick our seats. We automatically budget that into our trips. I would rather make sure to sit by dh and kids....than us be separated.

I hope you have an amazing trip!!!!!

 

[bababear_50]

Holy Moly I wish I knew about this before my last flight.

Sunflower Lanyards

Sunflower Lanyard ​

Please note: If you require a lanyard within 14 business days for your travel, please pick it up at the Lost and Found in Terminal 1, or at one of the Information Counters in Terminal 1 or 3.


https://www.torontopearson.com/en/accessibility/sunflower-lanyards

 

[Donald - my hero]

Holy Moly I wish I knew about this before my last flight.

Sunflower Lanyards

Sunflower Lanyard ​

Please note: If you require a lanyard within 14 business days for your travel, please pick it up at the Lost and Found in Terminal 1, or at one of the Information Counters in Terminal 1 or 3.


https://www.torontopearson.com/en/accessibility/sunflower-lanyards

Heck yeah, already in the schedule for when we get to Pearson tomorrow (OH-EM-GEE?!?) evening. We've got the car service getting us to the Sheraton Gateway (inside terminal 3) around 6:30 and once we're settled into the room we're heading to Terminal 1 to check everything out in advance. I want to see EXACTLY where we need to be in the morning, we're going to ask what time they start taking bags and YES, hunting down one of those lanyards as well. Orlando also uses them so hopefully coming home will be easier this trip.
THANKS everyone! I just paid for our seats, chose the very back of the plane since too much movement back and forth by other people would add to my stress and on the right side of the plane so the sun won't keep me awake Next up is to finish packing the 2 carry-ons with food since I never heard back from ANY of the restaurants, I can't risk being hungry.
For reference here's why I need to pack a ton of food

 

[dancin Disney style]

I believe there are snacks and drinks at the party. I do have to double check that.
We will be going to whatever water parks are open I am hoping they both are. We will be there for 10 days, including the travel days, we are a little sad that Rockin Rollercoaster will be down while we are there, but are excited for Tron. I do not plan to get Genie+ but will probably get a couple ILL$ depending on if we can get a virtual queue for Tron.
POP is important for the skyliner, but not that important I guess? It's certainly convenient but for over $500 CAD difference, I'm not sure it's worth it! We've stayed at POP 3 times, once with skyliner and at the time kiddo said he never wanted to ride it again, but now he doesn't remember that and wants to use it. If we chose an All Star, we have to decide between Music and Sports. Sports isn't fully updated yet, but Music seems spread out more? We have stayed at Movies, it was a nice resort and we were in Mighty Ducks which was close to Music so we used buses from either one, ate at both. I'm a little tempted by a new to us resort.

For $500 I would be VERY quickly changing resorts. The only difference now between the values is the Skyliner and that is not worth $500.

Also, you might want to rethink Genie+. I didn;t get it last month thinking that I would just get the ILL$ but nope they were non existant.

*****Desperate Plea for help******
No judgements here please, I need some help with checking into our flight to Orlando on Sunday. The flight leaves at 6:15 and it is looking close to being full so I'll want to be ready at the exact 24 hour mark tomorrow morning so we can get seats together. Here's what I need to be walked thru - flying with Air Canada and it doesn't look familiar to me

• Passport info already entered to our profiles, will I need to do that again?
• Vaccine certification- where, when and how do I upload that? Just the QR code or something else?
• The attestation form - what on earth do I do with this? How, when what??
• Seat selection - by the time I've done all of the above will we be left with sitting in 2 of the orphan are seats? There are only 13 2x2's showing at the moment

By the time I get everything uploaded and confirmed I'm worried that we won't be able to sit together. Should i just pay the fee now?!!

Side note, anyone have experience with either the Sunflower Lanyard program or using the Family and Special needs security lanes? I suffer from extreme anxiety and an horrific experience coming home from Orlando last year had me on the floor in tears in a full panic attack. I was unable to talk for myself and it took them a very long time to understand the urgency of the situation and allow my husband to get close to me. I will need him to be able to stay by my side as much as possible and I know that a butt-crack-of-dawn flight out of Pearson is it's own level of hell

If you haven’t already, just pay the fee for seats together. AC is actually fairly reasonable. It might cost you around $50. Once you do that you can check in anytime you want, even at the airport. US bound flights at YYZ are aisle 11 which is the far end of the terminal…going in the direction of the drop off traffic outside.

A couple of things….
Don’t be surprised if at security they pull you aside for one of various additional searches or scans. It seems they do it for sport lately. Sometimes it’s as simple as a swab of your hands, sometimes they will dump your bag out and swab the inside of the bag and/or its contents.
From there you go through US immigration which can be very fast or very slow. Luck of the draw. Also, there is often staff wandering the line shouting at everyone. Shouting but making no sense.
Being that you are on the 6am flight you will likely be dealing with a long line at security and immigration. Pay attention to the staff, they are usually yelling for people on that first flight to follow them to a separate line.
Once through all that, you will have a bit of a long walk. Depending on which gates (usually E or F) it can be a 1km distance.
Food is also scarce in that area of the terminal at the best of times. Your morning options will be Satans Brew House that literally only has coffee and a Tim’s that has the most ignorant staff you could ask for.

I’m sure I’ll think of more to add later…

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Ugh...I just messaged dh about getting airtags for our upcoming Vegas trip. He thought maybe we could get away with just carry on. Ugh....I knew...just KNEW he was going to want to try that. It's only a few days...the clothes I can get away with 2 pairs of pants and multiple tops and a sweater/coat.

My question is....how do you travel with less liquids? What tips does anyone have!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

I guess I might be hitting up the CVS for a couple of hair products. My curly hair needs multiple products. I can limit the skincare...but the hair products!!!!!!!

 

[bababear_50]

Ugh...I just messaged dh about getting airtags for our upcoming Vegas trip. He thought maybe we could get away with just carry on. Ugh....I knew...just KNEW he was going to want to try that. It's only a few days...the clothes I can get away with 2 pairs of pants and multiple tops and a sweater/coat.

My question is....how do you travel with less liquids? What tips does anyone have!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

I guess I might be hitting up the CVS for a couple of hair products. My curly hair needs multiple products. I can limit the skincare...but the hair products!!!!!!!

I can only use certain products and most are expensive .
I ended up going with some silicone bottles I picked up at Rexall and filling my own.
They look like this.

Amazon also has a ton of them.
https://www.amazon.ca/Silicone-Travel-Bottles-Refillable-Squeezable/dp/B09NPKM63V?th=1

Walmart.ca
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/joie-s...VBCM4Ch06xg6IEAQYBiABEgKbEfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Best wishes Hon
Hugs Mel

An add on here
I thought the small bottle of hand sanitizer I bought from Rexall was unopened....
It leaked all over the bag.... at least it dried quickly,,, check the lids.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Ugh...I just messaged dh about getting airtags for our upcoming Vegas trip. He thought maybe we could get away with just carry on. Ugh....I knew...just KNEW he was going to want to try that. It's only a few days...the clothes I can get away with 2 pairs of pants and multiple tops and a sweater/coat.

My question is....how do you travel with less liquids? What tips does anyone have!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

I guess I might be hitting up the CVS for a couple of hair products. My curly hair needs multiple products. I can limit the skincare...but the hair product

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I can only use certain products and most are expensive .
I ended up going with some silicone bottles I picked up at Rexall and filling my own.
They look like this.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I think I seen similar ones at the dollar store. I thin between the 2 of us we should be ok with the amount of liquids we need. I'll just find a mousse for my hair...and it will be a curly hair weekend besides the gel he uses....we should be ok. I just hate going without certain products even for short periods of time. Call me a princess...but some things I don't like going without

 

[dancin Disney style]

Ugh...I just messaged dh about getting airtags for our upcoming Vegas trip. He thought maybe we could get away with just carry on. Ugh....I knew...just KNEW he was going to want to try that. It's only a few days...the clothes I can get away with 2 pairs of pants and multiple tops and a sweater/coat.

My question is....how do you travel with less liquids? What tips does anyone have!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

I guess I might be hitting up the CVS for a couple of hair products. My curly hair needs multiple products. I can limit the skincare...but the hair products!!!!!!!

Remember that you each get a 3-1-1 bag and men need nothing. Therefore, you get two bags.

If you wear contacts your solution does not need to go in the bag....it's considered medical. Any prescription liquids/creams are also not included. I put all my scripts in their own ziploc bag....I've got liquids and creams that they have NEVER looked at.

BTW...all airlines are currently forcing a lot of people to gate check their carry ons. My last 5 flights that has been the case. My flight to the cruise a couple weeks back they announced that 45 people were going to have to check their carry ons...no exceptions. So if it was done voluntarily the would get their bags brought up to the jetway at landing. Otherwise the forced bags were going with the rest of the luggage to the carousel. That was Rouge and they took a bunch of bags as people were boarding claiming that Rouge does not allow the same size as AC. Our return flight was the same.
So the moral of that story is be very careful on the size of your bags but also be prepared to gate check them.
Our trip to Punta Cana in October they just went around the gate area and took bags from people.