Our adventure of the Disney Goofy Race
The beginning of another adventure. My wife and I seem to have those often. That's good though, keeps us young and always going. Today was pretty much a travel day with nothing really planned. Thankfully our flight was a direct flight with no layovers anyplace and it wasn't at the crack of dawn in the morning. 10AM flight on Southwest. Plenty of time to get up and do our final packing. Our daughter and grandson planned on dropping us off at the airport so we didn't have to pay for parking.
First hurdle, which actually isn't a hurdle.......let's call it my pet peeve.
Pet Peeve #1: Had to stop and get gas in my wife's car.....why didn't she do that last night? That's okay.....not the pet peeve. Since we were really low on gas and I didn't want to play around with gas stations. I went to the closet one from the house which is a
7-11. I dislike buying gas from these convenience stores because they don't make it convenient. It never fails when I pump gas here that they don't have paper filled for the receipt. How can this just "happen" 80% of the time at
7-11 only? I can't recall it ever happening at
WaWa. I think it happens because they want you to come into the store to get your receipt. If they get you in the store, to wait in line, you might buy something.
HEY! I don't want to buy anything but gas! Refill the stinking paper! I have thought many times to finish pumping the gas and if there isn't any paper......I am going to lay the hose down on the ground!
THERE! NOW YOU COME OUT AND PICK THAT UP!
Ok, my rant is over.
We get to the airport and check-in is simple and uncomplicated. Our single bag that we brought for both of us weighs exactly 50 pounds. Man, that was close. Good thing I packed my running shoes in my back-pack! Guess we now need to buy another bag if we bring back anything new. Bummer. Up the stairs and on towards security check. A little wait here but pretty much the normal routine here. If you have done it enough you probably have it down to a science. We do.
We are early enough for a sit down breakfast and to take a deep breath and exhale before our little excursion. The airport restaurant seemed like it was set up for lunch and dinner more than it was for breakfast. They brought us coffee refills in a wine decanter. Strange. Oh well, all else was good.
Getting ready to board the plane. Gone to the bathroom twice. Okay, ready for
Pet Peeve #2: Southwest boarding system. This is just weird. Does this really save any time and effort? Or money? So yeah, it's great they don't charge for the first two bags. And yes it great that they don't charge any change fees. But lately they don't seem to be the least expensive. But here I stand, waiting to be called to my corral like a patient cattle knowing that I have a seat, just not where. Since, of course our flight reservations gave us the last corral, we are sure to get a seat squished in the middle seat and most likely not together. Yep, that want we got. I selected carefully from the last few seats to sit in between two skinney people.
Yeah me!
Ok, my rant is over.
Flight was wonderful other than the boarding thing. We get into Orlando earlier than expected and head to grab our bag. Easy day. I made reservations for the car last night so
Budget rental was the price war winner. No line, great. Okay, are you ready for
Pet Peeve #3: Selling me the rental car options. All I want is the simple car. We are not driving all over and it is just the two of us. Nothing special is required. I don't mind the pleasantries to converse about but the explanation of questions and why I don't want them just get tiring. It's not like I haven't ever done this before. So here is the list:
1- No I don't want a bigger car, a convertible, a sports car an SUV......just the car I asked for.
2- No I don't want additional insurance, mine covers me and everything in the company....then I get its not your company's insurance it's your personal......I am the company ma'am.
3- No I don't need a GPS, every phone has one and I have been here a dozen times.
4- No I don't need Sirius radio the regular radio is fine.
5- No I don't need to repay the gas, I'll fill it up before I bring it back.......show my receipt for my gas that I bought it no further than five miles out? You have got to be freaken kidding me!
6- Finally if I can bring it back four hours earlier I can save one day's cost. Well thanks for the advise but I bought the rental for one entire week even though I'm only here for four days so I'm pretty sure that I won't get any money back and do you really think I want to extend my stay at the airport for an additional four hours making my current arrival of two hours ahead now a six hour wait?..........GIVE ME THE KEYS!
Sign a gazzillion times and initial next all the things I already said no to.
Ok, my rant is over.
Off we go towards
ESPN Wide World of Sports to pick up our packets. I am also prepared for all the toll fees that are required. A bag of change in my backpack always ready for such a thing. Mostly a change dump before I go through security. Oops, drove through a toll. I wonder how much that will cost me going through the rental car?
Easy drive right to the ESPN and straight to pickup. Helps so much if you have done it before. Got our goodie bags, got bibs, got our tshirts.....one for each race plus one for goofy. Walked through the area to buy stuff but didn't really see any shorts or things we wanted. Bought KT Tape because my ankle was bothering me. Also got more Time Relief creams for the race. We couldn't find ours before we left home.
One area had some speakers talking, when we went up there is was Sean Astin from Lord of the Rings, Rudy or Goonies......pretty cool. We is a marathon runner.....not fast....but still runs. Talking about his past runs and some of the things his has done. There were a few slides of his past events and he spoke very humbly about his experiences. Just seemed like an ordinary guy.
Done, Done and Done. Off to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Wasn't planning on staying at a fancier place because of cost but I delayed so long there wasn't many options. Beautiful place and really neat environment. As always the lobby was amazing......except for the giant renovation being done right in the middle. Everything looked peaceful......except for the giant sanding machine buzzing away on the flooring. Yeah.....can't even get a drink in the bar since it is all open to one another. Oh well.....chill and relax.
Our room is nice, nothing special other than the fact that it open up to the savannah set up outside with giraffes and zebras and stuff. Pretty cool. We clean up and then went down to the dining area to eat. We chose the
Jiko which was awesome as we chatted with the others around us. A couple from Wisconsin who had a farm just outside Milwaukee. And a junior high teacher from LA here by herself for just a get a way. Good for her.
A nice evening and time for bed. Good night my friends.
ET This I Believe
Eugene Thompson
