Hello all,
Where to start? We flew from New York on Sunday, a beautiful day. This was our first stay "home," well BWV (home is really VWL) anyway. We stayed in 3083, a 1 bdrm, great room, very clean, standard view of the entry to the Boardwalk. Actually, the first room they sent us to had not been cleaned! I called the front desk and the wonderful Michael couldn't have been nicer - he gave me a new room number and came RUNNING upstairs with a new set of keys and full of apologies. He was great!!
We did some shopping for our stay, at Goodings, WOW, expensive!! Anyway, our first night was lovely.
Monday, Epcot. It was EMPTY. We kept saying, is the park really open?? It was very nice, no lines, we saw and did everything!
Tuesday, enjoying our breakfast and saw everything unfolding on TV. We spent the rest of that day in the room horrified and trying to call home. Our good friend is a NYC Fireman in Manhattan, thank God he was not at work - when I finally got through his wife told me he had just left to go in to help. I have since found out that he lost 12 fellow firefighters from his squad in the building that day. They made the announcement that the parks were closed. I applaud Disney on their decision.
Wednesday we decided we had to get out and clear our heads. We spent the day at MGM, again, no one there. No lines, no waiting. We saw everything, including WWTBAM and Rockin Roller Coaster twice in around 7 hours! I must say though, every few minutes we'd get a pang and feel guilty for having fun.
Wednesday evening the inlaws arrived from the West coast, we enjoyed a nice dinner in the room and walked the Boardwalk. The next day the tropical storm was getting closer so it was windy and very cloudy but didn't rain until later in the afternoon. We spent the day riding the monorail to all the resorts and "checking them out." We also went to DD to do our souvenier shopping - lots of "Princess" things for my nieces!! After an early dinner my inlaws headed back and I called the airline for the first time (didn't even bother as I figured they wouldn't be able to tell me anything sooner) and they said I'm scheduled to leave on time. I was shocked! A tropical storm is coming and the horrible tragedy and my plane was leaving? We went to the airport early Friday and checked in, again, they told us that all was as scheduled. Before we left there we reports of flooding on the West coast and tornados on the East coast!! Actually, Orlando was windy but it wasn't raining that hard. We live on Long Island, I know what a tropical storm looks like. Long afternoon short, we left only about 30 minutes late and arrived home safely at Islip. I'm so glad I didn't let those cowards make me change my plans. The amazing thing was when we broke through the clouds on our descent it was around 7pm, sun had just set and the weather was breaking (rain all day in NY) and there was a rainbow on the horizon. It was breathtaking. Quite a moment. Everyone applauded when we landed, all the way to the gate.
Overall, there was a definate pall over our trip but Disney was wonderful, people everywhere who had been stranded talked about the nice things that Disney did for them and they kept us informed with frequent phone messages about what was going on at the parks and to advise of a memorial service offered Thursday for all guests.
The weather was ok, sun and clouds the beginning of the week with the standard 3pm thunderstorm downpour. I bought my first poncho this trip!
Don't shop at Goodings!! I paid 3 bucks for a box of spaghetti!!
Oh well, it's vacation right.
Everyone at the Boardwalk was lovely, especially Michael at the front desk. Great room. Close to the elevator.
Parks empty, I guess with the kids in school most places it's to be expected.
Just wanted to say everything was very nice, but our moods just weren't the best with everything going on back at home. We're glad to be back and grateful that no one we love is hurt. Physically anyway.
Even the "happiest place on earth" couldn't save this trip. Not for lack of trying though.
Sorry this is so long.
Please email any questions.
Where to start? We flew from New York on Sunday, a beautiful day. This was our first stay "home," well BWV (home is really VWL) anyway. We stayed in 3083, a 1 bdrm, great room, very clean, standard view of the entry to the Boardwalk. Actually, the first room they sent us to had not been cleaned! I called the front desk and the wonderful Michael couldn't have been nicer - he gave me a new room number and came RUNNING upstairs with a new set of keys and full of apologies. He was great!!
We did some shopping for our stay, at Goodings, WOW, expensive!! Anyway, our first night was lovely.
Monday, Epcot. It was EMPTY. We kept saying, is the park really open?? It was very nice, no lines, we saw and did everything!
Tuesday, enjoying our breakfast and saw everything unfolding on TV. We spent the rest of that day in the room horrified and trying to call home. Our good friend is a NYC Fireman in Manhattan, thank God he was not at work - when I finally got through his wife told me he had just left to go in to help. I have since found out that he lost 12 fellow firefighters from his squad in the building that day. They made the announcement that the parks were closed. I applaud Disney on their decision.
Wednesday we decided we had to get out and clear our heads. We spent the day at MGM, again, no one there. No lines, no waiting. We saw everything, including WWTBAM and Rockin Roller Coaster twice in around 7 hours! I must say though, every few minutes we'd get a pang and feel guilty for having fun.
Wednesday evening the inlaws arrived from the West coast, we enjoyed a nice dinner in the room and walked the Boardwalk. The next day the tropical storm was getting closer so it was windy and very cloudy but didn't rain until later in the afternoon. We spent the day riding the monorail to all the resorts and "checking them out." We also went to DD to do our souvenier shopping - lots of "Princess" things for my nieces!! After an early dinner my inlaws headed back and I called the airline for the first time (didn't even bother as I figured they wouldn't be able to tell me anything sooner) and they said I'm scheduled to leave on time. I was shocked! A tropical storm is coming and the horrible tragedy and my plane was leaving? We went to the airport early Friday and checked in, again, they told us that all was as scheduled. Before we left there we reports of flooding on the West coast and tornados on the East coast!! Actually, Orlando was windy but it wasn't raining that hard. We live on Long Island, I know what a tropical storm looks like. Long afternoon short, we left only about 30 minutes late and arrived home safely at Islip. I'm so glad I didn't let those cowards make me change my plans. The amazing thing was when we broke through the clouds on our descent it was around 7pm, sun had just set and the weather was breaking (rain all day in NY) and there was a rainbow on the horizon. It was breathtaking. Quite a moment. Everyone applauded when we landed, all the way to the gate.
Overall, there was a definate pall over our trip but Disney was wonderful, people everywhere who had been stranded talked about the nice things that Disney did for them and they kept us informed with frequent phone messages about what was going on at the parks and to advise of a memorial service offered Thursday for all guests.
The weather was ok, sun and clouds the beginning of the week with the standard 3pm thunderstorm downpour. I bought my first poncho this trip!
Don't shop at Goodings!! I paid 3 bucks for a box of spaghetti!!
Oh well, it's vacation right.
Everyone at the Boardwalk was lovely, especially Michael at the front desk. Great room. Close to the elevator.
Parks empty, I guess with the kids in school most places it's to be expected.
Just wanted to say everything was very nice, but our moods just weren't the best with everything going on back at home. We're glad to be back and grateful that no one we love is hurt. Physically anyway.
Even the "happiest place on earth" couldn't save this trip. Not for lack of trying though.
Sorry this is so long.
Please email any questions.
