PurpleChick
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Cast of characters
Me - 34 year old workaholic in desparate need of a vacation
DH - 37 year old kid at heart who does not like to be on a set schedule during vacation
Our Trip
We booked five nights at the Hard Rock Hotel (June 16-June 21)
Did not rent a car - used transtar and hotel shuttle
Purchased the four park flex ticket (USF, IOA, SeaWorld and Wet & Wild)
Chose five nights beacuse we wanted plenty of time to relax although you can see parks much faster with the express access
Day Six- You can check out but you can never leave!
We woke up in the morning and semi-packed then hit IOA one last time. We rode the hulk, spiderman, JP river adventure and I rode Fire (DH would not go on - ice was enough for him!) I'm glad we went back and did the river adventure because we missed it the first time around.
Then we headed back to HRH and finished packing at checked out. Our flight wasn't until 6:45 and transtar was coming at 4:05 so we checked our luggage and went to Nascar for lunch. Great Burgers. We also rode the nascar simulator ($8 pp.) DH's driving doesn't seem too bad now! We bummed around some of the shops and had a drink at the Latin Quarter. Word of caution they tack 17% on to everything even your drinks at the bar. Then we said goodbye to our favorite bartender Tony at the beach club. Our shuttle arrived on time.
Once we got to the airport and checked in another storm came in and closed the airport. We were suppose to connect in DC and were told about 7:15 that we would miss our connection and that it was the last flight from DC to Chicago. Since we did not want to get stuck in DC, they got us on a nonstop flight to Chicago at 6:30 am.
The United crew told us to use the courtesy phone kiosk down by baggage area to find a hotel. Sleeping in the airport was not an option for me. You can call the hotels directly or there is a service called Central Reservation Service that will find a hotel for you at discounted rates. We wanted to be close to the airport and have shuttle service. Rooms were filling up fast because of the storm. It was the worst one we saw all week. We got in Amerisuites Airport Northwest for $75. They told me to go to b23 in the shuttle area and the shuttle would be there in 15 minutes. One hour later and numerous calls to central reservations service and the hotel (plus the guy drove by once and did not stop) the shuttle finally arrived. The airport was mobbed with stranded people by now and no one was in a good mood anymore.
We got to the hotel and the front desk clerk said she had no record of my reservation. She asked for my confirmation # and I told her it was JOSIE and she told me that it couldn't be JOSIE because JOSIE was her name. She was not wearing a name tag so how in the heck would I even come up with that name. Wouldn't I try Mary or Sue first? I told her I made my reservation at the airport kiosk through central reservation service and had already given my credit card number to secure the room. She asked me what the rate was and I told her $75 and she told me they dont have rates that low. She wouldn't call the service for me or offer any help. I had the same problem last month when I booked a room at Amerisuites through priceline and they tried to charge me again for the room. The same thing happened the desk clerk offered no help at all. So I went back to the pay phone and called the central reservation service. Thank god I had the 800 number, The guy knew me by name by now and said put her on the phone she doesn't know what she's talking about. I told him I couldn't because she didn't even offer me the phone. He was astounded. He put me on hold and called her then came back on. It turns out her power was out when he made the reservation and it wasn't in her computer because she was suppose to enter it when the power came back on. She couldn't even look me in the eye. Maybe if the shuttle hadn't taken an hour she would have remembered. Bottom line if choice is Amerisuites or airport floor choose airport floor. Nobody deserves this type of piss poor service. The room was filthy to top it all off. At least the shuttle was going every half hour in the morning so we were able to leave for the airport at 5:00 am and catch our 6:30 am flight.
To end our trip on a good note our flight attendants were named Jack, Chrissy and Janet. I'm not sure if they all lived together or not but we were amused!!
Me - 34 year old workaholic in desparate need of a vacation
DH - 37 year old kid at heart who does not like to be on a set schedule during vacation
Our Trip
We booked five nights at the Hard Rock Hotel (June 16-June 21)
Did not rent a car - used transtar and hotel shuttle
Purchased the four park flex ticket (USF, IOA, SeaWorld and Wet & Wild)
Chose five nights beacuse we wanted plenty of time to relax although you can see parks much faster with the express access
Day Six- You can check out but you can never leave!
We woke up in the morning and semi-packed then hit IOA one last time. We rode the hulk, spiderman, JP river adventure and I rode Fire (DH would not go on - ice was enough for him!) I'm glad we went back and did the river adventure because we missed it the first time around.
Then we headed back to HRH and finished packing at checked out. Our flight wasn't until 6:45 and transtar was coming at 4:05 so we checked our luggage and went to Nascar for lunch. Great Burgers. We also rode the nascar simulator ($8 pp.) DH's driving doesn't seem too bad now! We bummed around some of the shops and had a drink at the Latin Quarter. Word of caution they tack 17% on to everything even your drinks at the bar. Then we said goodbye to our favorite bartender Tony at the beach club. Our shuttle arrived on time.
Once we got to the airport and checked in another storm came in and closed the airport. We were suppose to connect in DC and were told about 7:15 that we would miss our connection and that it was the last flight from DC to Chicago. Since we did not want to get stuck in DC, they got us on a nonstop flight to Chicago at 6:30 am.
The United crew told us to use the courtesy phone kiosk down by baggage area to find a hotel. Sleeping in the airport was not an option for me. You can call the hotels directly or there is a service called Central Reservation Service that will find a hotel for you at discounted rates. We wanted to be close to the airport and have shuttle service. Rooms were filling up fast because of the storm. It was the worst one we saw all week. We got in Amerisuites Airport Northwest for $75. They told me to go to b23 in the shuttle area and the shuttle would be there in 15 minutes. One hour later and numerous calls to central reservations service and the hotel (plus the guy drove by once and did not stop) the shuttle finally arrived. The airport was mobbed with stranded people by now and no one was in a good mood anymore.
We got to the hotel and the front desk clerk said she had no record of my reservation. She asked for my confirmation # and I told her it was JOSIE and she told me that it couldn't be JOSIE because JOSIE was her name. She was not wearing a name tag so how in the heck would I even come up with that name. Wouldn't I try Mary or Sue first? I told her I made my reservation at the airport kiosk through central reservation service and had already given my credit card number to secure the room. She asked me what the rate was and I told her $75 and she told me they dont have rates that low. She wouldn't call the service for me or offer any help. I had the same problem last month when I booked a room at Amerisuites through priceline and they tried to charge me again for the room. The same thing happened the desk clerk offered no help at all. So I went back to the pay phone and called the central reservation service. Thank god I had the 800 number, The guy knew me by name by now and said put her on the phone she doesn't know what she's talking about. I told him I couldn't because she didn't even offer me the phone. He was astounded. He put me on hold and called her then came back on. It turns out her power was out when he made the reservation and it wasn't in her computer because she was suppose to enter it when the power came back on. She couldn't even look me in the eye. Maybe if the shuttle hadn't taken an hour she would have remembered. Bottom line if choice is Amerisuites or airport floor choose airport floor. Nobody deserves this type of piss poor service. The room was filthy to top it all off. At least the shuttle was going every half hour in the morning so we were able to leave for the airport at 5:00 am and catch our 6:30 am flight.
To end our trip on a good note our flight attendants were named Jack, Chrissy and Janet. I'm not sure if they all lived together or not but we were amused!!
