Sue's July 2022 BLT Trip - Day 3 of 5

[Sue/WDW1972]

DAY 3 – Saturday 7/02/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member
Plan: Pool/Beach, Enchanted Rose

Actual: Last night my friend Michael from work called and after we got the work stuff out of the way I mentioned my computer issues. I remember something similar years ago, which he fixed. He talked me through doing a system recovery, but unfortunately that failed to complete due to 1 file it couldn’t access. It suggested disabling my anti-virus and trying again but we agreed it’s better to wait until I’m back in Gainesville. I’ll just minimize my time in AOL as much as possible, since that’s the program most affected. The internet connectivity problem was getting worse – I wonder if it’s due to more people getting online this time of day? I do think that’s a Disney problem rather than my problem, although I haven’t experienced it on previous trips. Perhaps I was better located than I am here at this resort – or this resort just has horrible wifi.

When I went to get ice I could see the pools were still closed – no doubt lightning is part of the storms that will be passing through. In my opinion it’s a miserable night to be out in the parks – and with the humidity it probably hasn’t cooled it down much! By 8:30 it looked like it wasn’t raining outside my balcony, but the weather was still saying storms were in the area. It was too late to make it to Grand Floridian for 8:35, so it didn’t really matter – I went back to HGTV <g>.

At 9:20 I watched Enchanted again from the balcony. The fireworks are very nice – perhaps if I could hear the sound track I’d like it more. I don’t think anyone does fireworks like Disney. I could see some fireworks in the distance, either Sea World or Universal, and they were nice but not quite AS nice.

After Enchanted I went down to the sky bridge and waited for Electrical Water Pageant. I could see it finishing up at Wilderness Lodge and from there it went to Fort Wilderness before finishing up with us. Oddly, after the first several screens lit up (dragon, octopus) they went dark, and stayed dark. So, we had a shortened version. It was still very nice, but I’ve never had that happen before. When it ended I went back inside and up to the studio to get ready for bed.

Once again I slept well and didn’t get up until 5:30. I enjoyed my cappuccino in bed and dealt with the latest incarnation of computer issues. It kept saying I needed take action for the wifi (basically sign in to Disney) but when I clicked on it (it said click here) I’d get a message that too many people were already on and to try later! I’ve never seen that before. I tried connecting anyway and got right online – the box (lower right corner) kept coming and going, but I just ignored it.

Then my mouse finally died for good. I prefer a mouse over the touchpad thing. I travel with a spare battery just in case this happens, but I brought the smaller suitcase this time and the spare battery was home in the larger suitcase. I’d been nursing it last night, turning it off when not in use, etc – but I’ll swing by the shops later today to buy new batteries. This trip it seems like it’s one thing after another!

Rain is expected again, and it looks like it’ll start earlier than yesterday – shortly after 1. The sun was shining now, so at least I’ll have the morning by the pool. The sliding glass doors are fogged up, so it’s even more humid than yesterday. Shortly after 7 I got up and got dressed. Since lunch isn’t until 3:30 today I decided to mobile order breakfast from Contempo Café. However, the damn app wasn’t working right – I got a spinning wheel rather than an arrival window, then a message something went wrong. No kidding – this is such a pain in the ass!

I decided to walk over there and on the way shut down my phone and restarted it to clear out the glitch. Coming off the elevator I was able to order, selecting the “now” window. Before the trip I’d been disappointed that the breakfast sandwich here included ham (I hate ham) and I played around on the app the other day to see if I could get it with bacon instead, to no avail. Then I noticed they also have it without ham – just egg & cheese on the grilled challah bread. That’s what I ordered.

It was ready in a couple minutes and I took it to a table by the window. That’s so much nicer than sitting in the normal seating area – I enjoyed the view outside rather than a view of other guests eating breakfast, lol. I was shocked how large this sandwich is! On the app the picture made it look a more reasonable size. It’s not really something I could save for leftovers, so sadly half of it got thrown away. It was very tasty – the bread was so soft, and there was a lot of egg. I’d definitely order this again if it’s on the menu next time I happen to be staying here.

On my way in I noticed the market store opens at 8, and I assume that’s where batteries would be sol. After taking my trash over to a trash can at Contempo Café I went up to the studio and got changed for the pool. It’s going to be another hot one, but we’ll see how it goes. I drank almost my entire bottle of ice water yesterday and will likely do the same today (metal bottle – keeps it cold for hours).

I left the studio just after 8, picked up the battery (pack of 4 for $5.99) and went down to the quiet pool. As I was about to pay I asked about discounts and got 20% off for being a passholder – bringing the total with tax down to a more reasonable $5.10.

At the quiet pool I decided to take a chaise lounge in the middle of the railing over the lake. This pool extends out over the lake a bit, which is something I’ve always liked. I turned the chaise lounge around to have a view of the lake and settled in there. There were a couple other parties on the other side of the pool, and eventually it got pretty busy over there and in the water. Once it was 10am and the main pool opened everyone with kids left and it was truly delightful. I decided to stay put.

After a while I turned my chair around, partly to keep the sun off my face but also to change up the view. I did some reading and took frequent drinks of ice water. Today I lasted until 11:30 before moving to a shady table for another 30-40 minutes. I was back up in the studio before 12:15, still not hungry in the slightest after that breakfast sandwich! I’m glad lunch will be later today.

I replaced the battery in the mouse and overall the computer seems to be doing fine. Hopefully that will last. At 12:30 I took my shower and started getting ready for the rest of the day. After getting dressed I had another bite of the flourless chocolate cake (ate a few bites last night) – it’s very good! It should last me through tomorrow if I pace myself <g>.

For whatever reason I checked the Enchanted Rose menu on the app and for the first time I noticed that although the lounge opens at 3:30 the food doesn’t start until 5pm! I’m glad I saw that and didn’t show up expecting to eat at 3:30. I hung out in the studio reading cruise message boards to kill some time. The rain started and it looked like it was blowing sideways so no point in walking across the sky bridge while that’s going on. I got some ice and poured a glass of wine, then sat back down to do online stuff. For whatever reason the laptop is working perfectly (hope I didn’t just jinx it with that statement, lol).

By 3:30 I decided to head out. It didn’t seem to be raining right now, and I had my kindle so I could kill time reading in the Grand Floridian lobby before 5. I walked over the sky bridge to the Contemporary and went through security to get up to the monorail. I had really good luck with the monorail this trip – I think my first day I had to wait a couple minutes for it but after that it was almost always waiting for me.

I got off at the Polynesian and wandered through the shops there. There was a 50th anniversary celebration shirt that I liked but I don’t need any more shirts. When I went back out to the monorail it was sitting there waiting for me, so I got on and rode over to Grand Floridian.

I was about an hour early so I walked around a bit and checked out the Enchanted Rose. It is a large area, and each room was quite busy. I didn’t see much available seating, but hoped I’d find something when it was time for me. I sat in on a comfy sofa in the lobby and listened to the piano player while reading on my kindle to pass the time – it was very relaxing and nice.

Around 4:45 I went back up to Enchanted Rose and saw a table for 2 in the corner of the room to the right and decided to grab it. The servers working here really hustle – they’re busy all the time! Mine was very good. I ordered a glass of pinot grigio and mentioned I’d be wanting food when it was time. By the time the wine came it was just after 5 and I was able to order the short rib sliders. These were really great! They have onion marmalade and glacier blue cheese and come in 3 small split-top toasted buns. I would happily get these again – so delicious!

After settling the check (no discounts on food here) I returned to the monorail station and walked onto the waiting monorail. After a brief stop at the Magic Kingdom I was “home”. I hadn’t really spent time in the big shop at Contemporary so I wandered through there. I saw the same shirt I’d liked at the Poly and decided to buy it. There wasn’t anything else I had to have so I got my 20% passholder discount on the shirt and then went up to the studio. The rain had ended, pools were back open, and hopefully it’ll be a nice (but humid) evening for all the people in the parks.

I updated the report and then decided to once again get it posted earlier. Later should be a repeat of last night, and I can include that at the start of tomorrow’s report. Today was a really great day – everything was just so nice. The pool was mildly more comfortable than the day before, and I really enjoyed the sliders at Enchanted Rose. The breakfast sandwich this morning was a really pleasant surprise, too. Later I’ll snack on more of the flourless chocolate cake.

Tomorrow is my last full day, which is sad – it’s gone by too fast. Once again I’ll enjoy the pool, find some lunch and hope to spend time with a couple people I’ve never met in person (one of whom I’ve known for many years online).

Sue/WDW1972

[JG]

Hmmm, passholder discounts on top of FL residents passes. Do water park pass holders get a discount? Thoses passes were a good deal during Eisner's days.

One lesson from Sue's posts is Rain WHITE OUT Conditions. Accuweather radar's a must when driving in FL!!!