Disney Trip: Flight Down

We were supposed to drop our dogs off at the kennel on Tuesday morning and then head right to the airport, but the news said we could get 8 inches or more of snow and so we quickly changed our plans and dropped the dogs off Monday night and then reserved a room at the Holiday Inn by the airport. When we got down there around 9 pm we went to the Common Man Diner right there at the hotel. We have eaten there before. This time we just got dessert and the waitress was very slow.

Then we went over to our hotel. It was alright except for the fact that our room door didn't lock and we had to keep going downstairs in order to smoke. I told the staff about the door and they said the only thing they could do was change our room (at 11 pm) and so we kept it. It seems from their expression that they knew about the door beforehand and just didn't want to do anything about it.

The next morning we checked-out of the hotel (there were only light flurries and not the inches the news had said) and went to have breakfast at the Common Man Diner. This time the service was beyond ridiculous. The silverware was covered in syrup and there was no one around to tell so I got up and got them from another table along with some ketchup. When the waitress finally did come around and asked how everything was I told her and she just said "Well, I didn't see that" and walked away. Then the manager came by and I told him and he said that our meal would be free. I went up to him and said I didn't feel right about getting the meal for free and offered to pay for half of it - since the food was alright. He said it was no problem and that the meal would be free. I believe in paying for what you get and don't expect anything for free, but I tried to pay and was told not to worry about it. So we left a $10 on the table and left.

We parked in the Airport Parking Garage and went into the Terminal. At the Southwest ticket counter we were told that we couldn't check our bags in because it was over 4 hours before the flight. I have never heard of that rule before and have flown Southwest and other airlines many, many times. Finally they checked our bags in. We had no issue at Security (I don't think we ever had at Manchester Airport.) Then we had 4 hours to wait for the flight. Luckily, Manchester is not one of the airports that discriminates against smokers and has a Smoking Lounge both before Security and after Security.

Around lunchtime we ate at a restaurant by our gate only to hear that the flight was going to be 30 minutes late because it was coming from Philadelphia and they were having a lot of snow - we were having off-on snow showers. When we were pre-boarding some of the other pre-boarders (we could walk) got annoyed because we were brought down first - in a wheelchair. The rest of the flight was fine even though the plane was crowded. We landed in Orlando and took the shuttle to the main Terminal where we met the driver we had hired. We got our bags and drove to the resort. I was very impressed with the car service we hired. Unlike the one we hired to take us to Boston's Logan Airport last month when we flew to Colorado this one was very professional, met us in the Terminal, helped us with the bags and knew where they were going (they were also half of the cost of the Boston one who didn't help us or know where they were going.)