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Sue's Short May Weekend - Day 1 of 2
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Sue/WDW1972
May 20, 2022, 7:22:42 PM5/20/22
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DAY 1 – Friday 5/27/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member
Plan: Drive to BWV, Disney Springs, Epcot
Actual: This morning a good friend & I set out to do our normal Friday “get out of the office for awhile” early (8am). This included a stop at Total Wine. A few days ago I’d asked Renay if she wanted me to bring anything for her and the response was wine – Rioja. Being a white wine (sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) I had no clue what that was but soon learned Rioja is a region in Spain and it’s red wine (yuck). Our Publix doesn’t carry wine from Spain, so a trip to Total Wine was needed.
When we got to that area of town we went to the local Publix first and while there I decided to check out the wine aisle. First think I noticed was a sign that included Spain, and there were a few Rioja selections! I grabbed a couple bottles, which eliminated the need for Total Wine – good news since we were running 20 minutes ahead of plan and they weren’t open yet. We made our last stops, headed home, I loaded up the car and was backing out of the driveway by 9:45.
The drive was easy except for a delay (traffic) on the turnpike that cost me 10 minutes, and along the way I got an email that my room wasn’t quite ready. I continued to the Orange Garage, parked the car and walked into Disney Springs about noon. It was fairly busy and I went directly to Gideon’s. I was disappointed to see a long line – wrapped around the corner past Morimoto Asia. They did not have the virtual queue open, the staff didn’t know if it was going to open, the line currently was about 50 minutes. How disappointing!
Assuming that it was going to be raining by 1:30 or 2pm I knew I didn’t have time to stand in that hot line for 50 minutes and still get something for lunch before beating the rain. In hindsight I should have stood in the line. Instead I walked over to Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar and took a seat at the bar. The venue filled up fairly quickly, so it’s good I was here just after they opened at noon.
I got the happy hour $7 chardonnay (not great but it’s hard to pass up $7 wine at Disney – at least $11-12 is more normal) and the $12 sliders. The sliders were two small burgers with lettuce, tomato, spicy pickles and tomato jam – pretty tasty! I could have been happy with 1 but since I was solo I ate both of them. After settling the check (around $20 plus tip) I headed outside. Gideon’s line was still just as long, so I walked past and headed to the garage. As I approached the garage it started to sprinkle a bit.
I drove straight to Boardwalk and still hadn’t gotten any update on the room so I assumed it was not ready. After parking at the convention center end (most of that walk was covered, in case of rain) I organized my stuff to make a single trip. I’d brought a cooler but transferred the cold stuff and the ice pack to a collapsible freezer bag, figuring I’d be sitting in Bellevue Lounge for hours. Before heading there I stopped at the front desk to see about finding a room that was already ready or notifying housekeeping that I was here and the front desk cast member said “your room is ready”. Checking my phone there was still no notification. Even now as I type this (almost 3pm) there’s been no notification.
The room being ready was good news, so I headed there to drop off my stuff. Since I booked relatively late I was stuck with the pool/garden view category. My balcony has a lovely view of tree tops. I noticed later it’s not covered, so any thought of sitting out there if it rains has moved to the “very bad idea” category.
On my way up to the room I remembered I have a park reservation at Epcot so I decided to walk over there and get the apple caramel oatmeal cookie in Germany. It wasn’t raining, and at times the sun was actually shining. I found it unpleasantly hot, but it will be worse before it gets better (around late October or early November). I used mobile ordering before leaving the room and selected the “now – 2:10” window. Entering Epcot went smoothly and I saw the Flower & Garden booths had pretty significant lines of people. If only I’d done the Gideon’s line and skipped Jock Lindsay, then I might have considered joining the queue for the goat cheese croissant but I was too full now.
It was 2pm when I arrived in Germany so I told the app I was there and got a notification saying to come closer to my 2:30-3:30 arrival window – and another error message saying to see a cast member. I went inside via the mobile order pickup door and could see on their computer my window was until 2:10. The cast member had someone prepare my order (putting a cookie in a bag) and when handing it to me was apologizing, saying it was a glitch with the app. Yes, I already know Disney IT and their app sucks big time, so it wasn’t a big shock and not a big deal. I would have been annoyed though if I had to wait another half hour for my food due to their problem!
After getting the cookie I headed back and left the park. It was pretty steamy out there, so when I saw the friendship at the dock I hopped on to ride back to Boardwalk. Unfortunately the boat was hot – there was no a/c and not much air flow. Then when we pulled in at the Boardwalk dock another boat pulled up to the other side so we had to all sit there sweltering because they won’t embark or disembark a boat if another one is docking.
Just before I got off the boat Holli called to ask if I’d heard about a medical emergency one of my staff had today. I had not, and finally reached the staff assistant in that department. It was still ongoing, with paramedics, police, etc onsite. Evidently she got in her car to go home, collapsed somehow but was able to pull the car off the road across the street and was sitting there with her foot on the brake and her head slumped over the steering wheel. I hope she pulls through!
I was able to catch the rest of General Hospital and it felt good to cool off in the air conditioning. As usual I ended up dealing with a number of work issues – some meaningful and some just stupid nonsense. Unfortunately I learned my staff member (Food Service Director) did in fact pass away, never even leaving the grounds. The ambulance people called the medical examiner, who will come out to declare her – we were able to transfer her to one of our clinic rooms, where her family can sit with her in the interim. Her husband and a couple sisters had arrived on the scene, but what a horrible thing to happen. She will be missed – as both a terrific person and also one of the best food service directors I’ve worked with.
A line of heavy thunderstorms came through, but then around 4:30 the sky was brightening up some. It looks like we might be ok until 6 or 6:30 so I decided to walk back over to Epcot and take a chance on the 5:30 Tony Orlando concert. It was raining lightly but it ended by the time I was walking through World Showcase. The skyliner was not operating, and very dark clouds I’d seen approaching my balcony earlier were now on the other side of Epcot.
The park was still busy and the line in France was even longer than before! Guess the rain didn’t drive people away <g>. Brazil and Japan were less busy than earlier, so it’s somewhat hit or miss in terms of what you’ll experience. In America the theater was mostly empty, so I took a seat in the front row of the 2nd section. On my way in I’d stopped at Hops & Barley to grab some napkins and used them to dry off my seat. As I was sitting there doing something on one of my phones a lady came over to say hi – it was Rosie of Rosie & David. They’re also staying at Boardwalk, even though they’re locals now. David was towards the back of the theater so I waved to him and asked Rosie how on earth did they recognize the back of my head from back there, lol!
I had about 40 minutes to wait for the show, so I messed around with the phone a bit. When Tony arrived at 5 the audience noticed him & started cheering. I looked up, and it did look like him – somewhat <g>. The concert started a minute or 2 after 5:30, and the crowd loved it! Tony is obviously older (he said he’s 78 – wow – wouldn’t have guessed that old), and gained weight during covid (commented that it appeared several of us in the audience did the same, lol), and launched right into his old hits from the 70’s. It was one right after the other, and most of us in the audience were older so we knew all these songs and really enjoyed them. He joked around a bit too and was quite funny, but didn’t waste a lot of time talking instead of singing.
By 5:45 it was raining again…sigh. It started light and then got heavier, so I got up and stood off to the side under my umbrella. People in the audience were putting their ponchos on, and a few had umbrellas. I didn’t want to put mine up with people seated behind me, so that’s why I moved. Eventually the rain wasn’t showing any signs of letting up so I decided to head back to Boardwalk hoping to miss the worst of it.
Puddles were everywhere, and I’d purposely worn flip flops so I wouldn’t get my sneakers wet. At the top of the hill at International Gateway they still had the sign up saying skyliner was not operating and to go use the buses at the main entrance. That really sucks for people staying at a skyliner resort. As I walked down the hill it started pouring harder and I could see the friendship was there so I stepped up my pace a little bit (being careful not to slip or fall). However, there was a sign out saying the friendships were not operating at this time, lol! People were huddled under the roof waiting but I just walked back to Boardwalk. Going across the bridge there was a big rainbow over World Showcase.
Once I hit the boardwalk the rain had stopped so I closed up my umbrella and stopped at Boardwalk Bakery to get a piece of banana bread for breakfast. It was not busy – besides me there was one family in there. Unfortunately they were exceedingly annoying. They spoke some other language and the dad was pointing at stuff in the case, I assume to see if the 2 kids wanted this item or that item. Each time I was going to speak up and ask if I could just go around them I’d think they’d made a decision, but then it would start all over again! It was getting ridiculous. Of course the cast member stood there waiting for this party to figure out what they wanted, and didn’t interact with me.
Finally they picked a boatload of stuff, including coffees which needed to be made. Their food wasn’t all ready so they hung out in the middle of the exit area. I paid for my banana bread, walked around them & their kids gnawing on cookies (in the way), and put my banana bread in a plastic to-go container. I turn around to exit and they’re blocking the whole area again, and one of the kids drops his milk on the floor. I was so glad to get the hell out of there! Had I known getting a piece of banana bread would be so time-consuming I would have done mobile order tomorrow, lol!
Back in the studio I plugged in the phones to charge, got some ice, and settled down to work on the report. I also chatted more about the situation at work earlier and found out the husband did go in to see the person who’d passed away, and retrieved her wedding band before the funeral home came to pick her up. I’m sure every day there’s some number of people who die for no apparent reason, but nobody expects it to happen to them or their loved ones or friends, co-workers, etc. That’s why we need to live each and every day, since there’s no guarantee of tomorrow.
Today was a day that’s hard to describe with a single adjective. Gideon’s was a disappointment. The weather is a disappointment (lightning is flashing and thunder is rumbling as I type). Losing a valued team member who did amazing things for us and our residents is a devastating loss. Gideon’s and the weather are insignificant compared to that. On the plus side, the sliders at Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar were very good, Tony Orlando’s show was great (even though I only saw half), and I’m glad to be at Boardwalk.
Tomorrow unfortunately the weather doesn’t look much better – sounds like we’ll have hot/humid periods with no rain, then rainstorms. At least Sunday looks better, which is good news for the others. For Saturday we’re spending the day in Epcot, including lunch at Chefs de France. I have to remember to buy Genie+ in the morning since they all have it.
Sue/WDW1972
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member
Plan: Drive to BWV, Disney Springs, Epcot
Actual: This morning a good friend & I set out to do our normal Friday “get out of the office for awhile” early (8am). This included a stop at Total Wine. A few days ago I’d asked Renay if she wanted me to bring anything for her and the response was wine – Rioja. Being a white wine (sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio) I had no clue what that was but soon learned Rioja is a region in Spain and it’s red wine (yuck). Our Publix doesn’t carry wine from Spain, so a trip to Total Wine was needed.
When we got to that area of town we went to the local Publix first and while there I decided to check out the wine aisle. First think I noticed was a sign that included Spain, and there were a few Rioja selections! I grabbed a couple bottles, which eliminated the need for Total Wine – good news since we were running 20 minutes ahead of plan and they weren’t open yet. We made our last stops, headed home, I loaded up the car and was backing out of the driveway by 9:45.
The drive was easy except for a delay (traffic) on the turnpike that cost me 10 minutes, and along the way I got an email that my room wasn’t quite ready. I continued to the Orange Garage, parked the car and walked into Disney Springs about noon. It was fairly busy and I went directly to Gideon’s. I was disappointed to see a long line – wrapped around the corner past Morimoto Asia. They did not have the virtual queue open, the staff didn’t know if it was going to open, the line currently was about 50 minutes. How disappointing!
Assuming that it was going to be raining by 1:30 or 2pm I knew I didn’t have time to stand in that hot line for 50 minutes and still get something for lunch before beating the rain. In hindsight I should have stood in the line. Instead I walked over to Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar and took a seat at the bar. The venue filled up fairly quickly, so it’s good I was here just after they opened at noon.
I got the happy hour $7 chardonnay (not great but it’s hard to pass up $7 wine at Disney – at least $11-12 is more normal) and the $12 sliders. The sliders were two small burgers with lettuce, tomato, spicy pickles and tomato jam – pretty tasty! I could have been happy with 1 but since I was solo I ate both of them. After settling the check (around $20 plus tip) I headed outside. Gideon’s line was still just as long, so I walked past and headed to the garage. As I approached the garage it started to sprinkle a bit.
I drove straight to Boardwalk and still hadn’t gotten any update on the room so I assumed it was not ready. After parking at the convention center end (most of that walk was covered, in case of rain) I organized my stuff to make a single trip. I’d brought a cooler but transferred the cold stuff and the ice pack to a collapsible freezer bag, figuring I’d be sitting in Bellevue Lounge for hours. Before heading there I stopped at the front desk to see about finding a room that was already ready or notifying housekeeping that I was here and the front desk cast member said “your room is ready”. Checking my phone there was still no notification. Even now as I type this (almost 3pm) there’s been no notification.
The room being ready was good news, so I headed there to drop off my stuff. Since I booked relatively late I was stuck with the pool/garden view category. My balcony has a lovely view of tree tops. I noticed later it’s not covered, so any thought of sitting out there if it rains has moved to the “very bad idea” category.
On my way up to the room I remembered I have a park reservation at Epcot so I decided to walk over there and get the apple caramel oatmeal cookie in Germany. It wasn’t raining, and at times the sun was actually shining. I found it unpleasantly hot, but it will be worse before it gets better (around late October or early November). I used mobile ordering before leaving the room and selected the “now – 2:10” window. Entering Epcot went smoothly and I saw the Flower & Garden booths had pretty significant lines of people. If only I’d done the Gideon’s line and skipped Jock Lindsay, then I might have considered joining the queue for the goat cheese croissant but I was too full now.
It was 2pm when I arrived in Germany so I told the app I was there and got a notification saying to come closer to my 2:30-3:30 arrival window – and another error message saying to see a cast member. I went inside via the mobile order pickup door and could see on their computer my window was until 2:10. The cast member had someone prepare my order (putting a cookie in a bag) and when handing it to me was apologizing, saying it was a glitch with the app. Yes, I already know Disney IT and their app sucks big time, so it wasn’t a big shock and not a big deal. I would have been annoyed though if I had to wait another half hour for my food due to their problem!
After getting the cookie I headed back and left the park. It was pretty steamy out there, so when I saw the friendship at the dock I hopped on to ride back to Boardwalk. Unfortunately the boat was hot – there was no a/c and not much air flow. Then when we pulled in at the Boardwalk dock another boat pulled up to the other side so we had to all sit there sweltering because they won’t embark or disembark a boat if another one is docking.
Just before I got off the boat Holli called to ask if I’d heard about a medical emergency one of my staff had today. I had not, and finally reached the staff assistant in that department. It was still ongoing, with paramedics, police, etc onsite. Evidently she got in her car to go home, collapsed somehow but was able to pull the car off the road across the street and was sitting there with her foot on the brake and her head slumped over the steering wheel. I hope she pulls through!
I was able to catch the rest of General Hospital and it felt good to cool off in the air conditioning. As usual I ended up dealing with a number of work issues – some meaningful and some just stupid nonsense. Unfortunately I learned my staff member (Food Service Director) did in fact pass away, never even leaving the grounds. The ambulance people called the medical examiner, who will come out to declare her – we were able to transfer her to one of our clinic rooms, where her family can sit with her in the interim. Her husband and a couple sisters had arrived on the scene, but what a horrible thing to happen. She will be missed – as both a terrific person and also one of the best food service directors I’ve worked with.
A line of heavy thunderstorms came through, but then around 4:30 the sky was brightening up some. It looks like we might be ok until 6 or 6:30 so I decided to walk back over to Epcot and take a chance on the 5:30 Tony Orlando concert. It was raining lightly but it ended by the time I was walking through World Showcase. The skyliner was not operating, and very dark clouds I’d seen approaching my balcony earlier were now on the other side of Epcot.
The park was still busy and the line in France was even longer than before! Guess the rain didn’t drive people away <g>. Brazil and Japan were less busy than earlier, so it’s somewhat hit or miss in terms of what you’ll experience. In America the theater was mostly empty, so I took a seat in the front row of the 2nd section. On my way in I’d stopped at Hops & Barley to grab some napkins and used them to dry off my seat. As I was sitting there doing something on one of my phones a lady came over to say hi – it was Rosie of Rosie & David. They’re also staying at Boardwalk, even though they’re locals now. David was towards the back of the theater so I waved to him and asked Rosie how on earth did they recognize the back of my head from back there, lol!
I had about 40 minutes to wait for the show, so I messed around with the phone a bit. When Tony arrived at 5 the audience noticed him & started cheering. I looked up, and it did look like him – somewhat <g>. The concert started a minute or 2 after 5:30, and the crowd loved it! Tony is obviously older (he said he’s 78 – wow – wouldn’t have guessed that old), and gained weight during covid (commented that it appeared several of us in the audience did the same, lol), and launched right into his old hits from the 70’s. It was one right after the other, and most of us in the audience were older so we knew all these songs and really enjoyed them. He joked around a bit too and was quite funny, but didn’t waste a lot of time talking instead of singing.
By 5:45 it was raining again…sigh. It started light and then got heavier, so I got up and stood off to the side under my umbrella. People in the audience were putting their ponchos on, and a few had umbrellas. I didn’t want to put mine up with people seated behind me, so that’s why I moved. Eventually the rain wasn’t showing any signs of letting up so I decided to head back to Boardwalk hoping to miss the worst of it.
Puddles were everywhere, and I’d purposely worn flip flops so I wouldn’t get my sneakers wet. At the top of the hill at International Gateway they still had the sign up saying skyliner was not operating and to go use the buses at the main entrance. That really sucks for people staying at a skyliner resort. As I walked down the hill it started pouring harder and I could see the friendship was there so I stepped up my pace a little bit (being careful not to slip or fall). However, there was a sign out saying the friendships were not operating at this time, lol! People were huddled under the roof waiting but I just walked back to Boardwalk. Going across the bridge there was a big rainbow over World Showcase.
Once I hit the boardwalk the rain had stopped so I closed up my umbrella and stopped at Boardwalk Bakery to get a piece of banana bread for breakfast. It was not busy – besides me there was one family in there. Unfortunately they were exceedingly annoying. They spoke some other language and the dad was pointing at stuff in the case, I assume to see if the 2 kids wanted this item or that item. Each time I was going to speak up and ask if I could just go around them I’d think they’d made a decision, but then it would start all over again! It was getting ridiculous. Of course the cast member stood there waiting for this party to figure out what they wanted, and didn’t interact with me.
Finally they picked a boatload of stuff, including coffees which needed to be made. Their food wasn’t all ready so they hung out in the middle of the exit area. I paid for my banana bread, walked around them & their kids gnawing on cookies (in the way), and put my banana bread in a plastic to-go container. I turn around to exit and they’re blocking the whole area again, and one of the kids drops his milk on the floor. I was so glad to get the hell out of there! Had I known getting a piece of banana bread would be so time-consuming I would have done mobile order tomorrow, lol!
Back in the studio I plugged in the phones to charge, got some ice, and settled down to work on the report. I also chatted more about the situation at work earlier and found out the husband did go in to see the person who’d passed away, and retrieved her wedding band before the funeral home came to pick her up. I’m sure every day there’s some number of people who die for no apparent reason, but nobody expects it to happen to them or their loved ones or friends, co-workers, etc. That’s why we need to live each and every day, since there’s no guarantee of tomorrow.
Today was a day that’s hard to describe with a single adjective. Gideon’s was a disappointment. The weather is a disappointment (lightning is flashing and thunder is rumbling as I type). Losing a valued team member who did amazing things for us and our residents is a devastating loss. Gideon’s and the weather are insignificant compared to that. On the plus side, the sliders at Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar were very good, Tony Orlando’s show was great (even though I only saw half), and I’m glad to be at Boardwalk.
Tomorrow unfortunately the weather doesn’t look much better – sounds like we’ll have hot/humid periods with no rain, then rainstorms. At least Sunday looks better, which is good news for the others. For Saturday we’re spending the day in Epcot, including lunch at Chefs de France. I have to remember to buy Genie+ in the morning since they all have it.
Sue/WDW1972
Steve Soares
May 21, 2022, 7:56:39 AM5/21/22
to
Thanks for the trip report Sue. You've got the date off by a week. I'm
sorry to hear about your co-worker, that's awful! Gideon's isn't the
only place to get a treat at Disney Springs. Try Amorette's Patisserie
or Salt & Straw ice cream!
Steve S.
sorry to hear about your co-worker, that's awful! Gideon's isn't the
only place to get a treat at Disney Springs. Try Amorette's Patisserie
or Salt & Straw ice cream!
Steve S.
JG
May 21, 2022, 2:44:00 PM5/21/22
to
Sue/WDW1972
May 21, 2022, 9:53:08 PM5/21/22
to
Sue/WDW1972
Sue/WDW1972
May 21, 2022, 9:53:43 PM5/21/22
to
On Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 2:44:00 PM UTC-4, JG wrote:
> The moral of this post is check a radar website for local storms and plan meals accordingly. Did Tony have a "Dawn" backing?
No, it was just him and the band.
> The moral of this post is check a radar website for local storms and plan meals accordingly. Did Tony have a "Dawn" backing?
Sue/WDW1972
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