pyesetz | Disney World 2015, day 2: fly from Ohio to Florida (Reply)

Staybridge Suites (10:49am). We did place the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. Standard check-out is 11am, plus we asked for late-checkout at noon. So why is Housekeeping knocking on our door? “They told me you were out” says the housekeeper. We’ve had similar problems at other hotels, which are run by early birds who believe that only lip-service should be given to night owls.
Months ago we pre-paid $177.84 for this one-night stay. Final bill is $200.07 because apparently they forgot to include the 7% state tax and 7% city tax (although the 3% county tax was included?). I find it hard to believe that they just couldn’t figure out how to make their computers pre-calculate the bill properly, so perhaps this is greed masquarading as incompetance.

Barnes & Noble Bookstores (Maumee OH, 3:13pm). In the same “Fallen Timbers Mall” as the hotel. Pay $47.06 for three paperback “classics” for Kid #2 to read during his last year of homeschool (before matriculating to the chef school that has already accepted him a year in advance), plus two books for Wifey to read on the plane. Really, we’re just killing time from our late-checkout at 12pm until our 3:30 drive to the airport. But this is just too boring, so we leave early. Then we run into a poorly-marked detour. Good thing that Kid #1 has a smartphone with built-in GPS, pre-downloaded maps for Ohio, and software for on-the-fly route recalculation!

Toledo Express Airport TSA screening station (Swanton OH). As usual for this airport (according to Yelp), there is no line at the screening station — but one immediately forms behind us! I get patted down repeatedly because of little bits of stuff (such as a quarter buried deep in a pocket). The guy doing the pat-downs is clearly annoyed with having to do so many of them on me, but he maintains a polite demeanor at all times, as Yelp had predicted (“surprisingly-polite TSA agents”). Maybe they’re glad to have a job at a smaller airport?

Subway (at Toledo airport; 4:50pm). Four subs for $29.50.

Toledo Express Airport vending (5:00pm). I pay $2.00 for 20oz of Dr. Pepper (the American version, which tastes much stronger than the Canadian).

Allegiant Airlines flight 795 (Swanton OH, 5:50pm – Sanford FL, 8:00pm). Took off five minutes early, arrived ten minutes early. Unexpectedly, our row of seats is frontmost (the online diagram had implied that there would be another row in front of us) so our family’s collection of laptops needs to be stored in overhead bins during take-off and landing. The seats do not offer 120 VAC power (or any power) and my battery is getting elderly, so I don’t use my laptop much.
Despite all the complaints online about how Allegiant nickles-and-dimes you to death, we complete the flight without incurring any additional charges (in part because we had brought along our own food and drink, which the airline explicitly allows).
The guy sitting next to me coughs all the way through the flight. My wife and children are on the other side of the aisle. Kid #1 is nearest to me (hence two seats plus an aisle from the cougher); she wears a mask over her mouth and nose. The rest of us brave the germs. Hopefully the airplane’s generally vertical top-down airflow should keep the cougher’s germs to himself. According to Wikipedia, a rhinovirus infection will show symptoms within four days 95% of the time, so after day 6 of this trip we can stop worrying.

Orlando-Sanford International Airport (Sanford FL). This airport is quite a bit larger than Toledo, although still much smaller than the main airport in Orlando proper. From the plane we walk down an extra-long jetway, then down a remarkably long corridor with fire-doors every few feet, on and on, until finally we arrive at the departure waiting area for “Gate 6”. Then the usual long corridor to the TSA screening area; I am disappointed to see a dozen X-ray machines, rather than the 2 in Toledo, which suggests that the trip home will not be quite as nice as getting here. Then the usual long walk to the baggage-claim area (we did not check any bags), then outside and repeatedly crossing streets full of traffic to get to the rental car area.

Alamo Rent-A-Car (at Sanford Airport, 8:30pm). Alamo is the cheapest — for a reason! It is much further away from the plane terminal than all the other rental companies, requiring large quantities of additional walking. The desk clerk was very aggressive in his upselling, trying to suggest some nefarious reason why the credit-card company told me to decline all insurance when renting a car with their card. Eventually I got him to admit that Florida requires $10,000 liability insurance, which is included in the basic rental — but of course no sensible person would go driving with less than a million in insurance — for $40/day extra, which would double the total cost for the rental! I suspect it would be rather difficult for someone to sue me for a million bucks for scaring their horse with my motorcar, considering that I don’t even live in this country. Eventually I got the clerk to let me have the car, with only a return-with-empty-tank upgrade but otherwise as pre-ordered. Sheesh! Maybe I should try a different car company when/if I ever fly again.
The car is a new Chrysler 200. This is a problem. The user-interface for cars changed about five years ago; now they have a “Start” button, like Microsoft Windows, instead of a keyed ignition. We spend some time in the parking lot, trying to figure out how to operate the thing. Once again I feel like Rip Van Winkle, waking up in the 21ˢᵗ century to realize that some technology arrived a long time ago and changed everyone else’s life but did not impact mine. I used to be “with it”, but now I’m an “oldster”.

FL-417: the Central Florida GreeneWay. About $5 in highway tolls.

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (Lake Buena Vista FL). It’s late at night on Labor Day, but there is a massive line at check-in! It used to be that Disney was deserted this time of year, but then they started including free food and advertising it heavily. We receive wristbands which allow our every movement to be tracked as we move around the parks; they also act as room keys, park tickets, credit cards, etc.

Landscape of Flavors (inside Art of Animation’s main building, 10:10pm). We proceed to the cafeteria to collect our free refillable soda-pop mugs (supposedly a $19 value) and a few snacks. Our dining plan gets us two free meals and a free snack for every night of our stay, but there’s no way we can eat that much.
Before the trip, Wifey had watched the online message boards, waiting for the free-food announcement. On the big day, she stayed up late, but no announcement. Next morning she got up early, then spent 1½ hours on hold in order to get one of the few free-food slots allocated to the Art of Animation resort. Success! But how much was it really worth? We decide to keep track of our food receipts so we can calculate how much value our family obtained from her effort.

Our room (in building “Lion King 10” at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort). We’re finally here! After only two years of wondering whether it would ever happen.