Trip Report with Mom and Dad

This was an interesting trip. Short, but interesting. I was planning this one with Mom and Dad, both in their late 60s. While Mom has gone on a few Disney trips with me, Dad hasn’t been in the last 5 years which was when we took DS for the first time. His ideal vacation is taking a biplane into the remote regions of Alaska and fly fishing with a few of his buddies for a week. About as far a cry from Disney as you can get. But he is a foodie and Mom used the lure of Food and Wine to get him there. So, I left DH and DS behind and took of with the parents for a few days (10/27-10/30).

The trip started off rocky. We were scheduled to fly out a tiny airport in Worcester, Mass, only about 20 minutes from home. Tiny airports have a lot of limitations and the weather is definitely one of them. They can’t take off in as many weather conditions as larger airports, especially being a top of the hill in Worcester. So when the forecast came out a few days before calling for a Nor’easter (for those of you not in the region, that’s a storm blowing from the Northeast with strong winds and precipitation - this time in the form of rain), I knew we were in trouble. But we were flying JetBlue and they don’t make weather determinations until day of (I called).

About 4 hours before the flight, I got my first update - a change to the airport. We would now be flying out of Boston Logan. Then a few seconds later, a delay (although the alert for this one said Worcester). After a call to JetBlue and some confusion because of the strange situation, they confirmed Boston and said we should get there for the time of the original flight because they may move it back up. So…now the scramble is on because while we were 20 minutes from Worcester, we’re just over an hour to Boston. And of course, we’re flying back into Worcester, so that’s where we need our cars.

We threw the last minute things in the bag, I downloaded Ant Man and the Wasp to DS’s iPad so he would stop complaining about driving us to the airport with DH and headed to the Worcester airport where we dropped our car and piled into DH’s truck. We arrived about an hour and a half before the original flight time (4:30pm). Starving, we headed to Wahlburger’s to get something to eat. We kept checking the app and it said flight time would be 6:15pm. When we finished, we headed to the gate and there were a ton of people standing by the desk. I wandered over, afraid we were missing something and it turns out that the Worcester flight wasn’t taking off until a bus arrived from Worcester with additional passengers. They were rebooking as many as they could to a flight leaving in 20 minutes. I stood in line and was able to get one of the seats for all of us and we ran to the new gate. And while they assured us our luggage would be on the flight, and they were on the phone with the bag operations folks, I had my doubt.

We got to the flight and took off around 5:50pm. Bumpy but otherwise uneventful, we arrived at MCO and of course, no luggage. And all of us on the original Worcester flight were in the same boat. I had booked us with Ultimate Limo for a town car as a way to help alleviate some of the ‘Disney’ for dad and luckily, the driver saw what was happening and he pointed me into the lost luggage room while everyone else was still arguing with the person outside by baggage claim. Starting the lost luggage process took FOREVER, but then we were on our way with only our carryons…but we were in Disney!

We checked into Yacht Club and I was originally disappointed in our location since it was so far away from the lobby, the exact opposite of what I requested. However, on the way to the room, we ran into a bellman who pointed us in the right direction and gave us some helpful hints - including the fact that were feet away from a lone elevator that would dump us right outside near the boats and Boardwalk. The location was perfect! We had a lovely view of the water and at night, the Epcot fireworks.

We woke up the next morning, still no luggage. I ran down to the gift shop for some provisions (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc). Luckily, I had ordered a new Red Sox shirt and it arrived just as we were leaving for the airport so I tossed it into my carryon - so I had a clean shirt to wear…Mom and Dad, not so much. Our luggage was supposed to arrive by 2pm, and not willing to wait for it, we got dressed and headed to Epcot.

Before we left, Dad proclaimed he was going to Disney, but he didn’t want to do any of the ‘stupid rides’ but I knew I could safely get him on a few. So I have FP for Spaceship Earth, Soarin and Living with the Land. We started there and he said he liked them. We were in a good place. Next off to the Festival Center.

We wandered around bit and Mom and Dad bought a bottle of wine to enjoy later. We stopped at the Mimosa Bar (yum!) and Dad stopped at the beer place. Food and Wine was off to a good start. We made our way to the Fire booth - Mom and I had the Piggy Wings and Dad got the corned beef nachos (chips?). Both were a hit. We headed off towards Norway and hit the China booth for dumplings and the roasted duck boa bun. Again, we enjoyed them both. Dad stopped in Belgium for some beer and a sausage thing. He enjoyed the pomegranate beer a lot and the sausage thing a little. Then was France, which I had been waiting for. Mom and I both got the Slush drink and I had the braised pork, Mom the escargot croissant (one of her favorites) and Dad had a crème brule and Chardonnay.

Dad wanted to see the film in Canada, so we headed there before going back to the resort. I never make it to the film with DS and DH, so it had been years since I had seen it. It was nice to do something a little different.

Back to the resort, we relaxed on the balcony, enjoyed our luggage and got ready for our evening. I wanted to see the fireworks as I had never seen HalloWishes. But I also knew, there was no way Dad would enjoy an evening in the Magic Kingdom at the Halloween party. So, I booked us the Savor, Sip and Sparkle event at California Grill and it was perfect. We all loved the food (sushi, flatbreads, boa buns and dumplings) and the desserts. When the time came for fireworks, we headed out onto the balcony where they pipe in the music and watched, loving every minute. When it was over, we went to the Wave Lounge as our beloved Boston Red Sox were in the process of clinching their World Series victory. It was really quiet with only one other couple watching the game for the most part, but we cheered and left happy. It was the end to a perfect day.

Monday was scheduled as a pool day for the most part. Mom and I took a walk to Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast and when it got warm enough, we headed to Stormalong Bay. Soooo relaxing without having to watch DS. I sat with my kindle, read, had a drink, a few dunks in the water. We headed up to get ready for an early dinner at Sanaa. Again, the food was spectacular. The bread service was a hit and we all enjoyed our entrees. I tried to get Mom and Dad a Minnie Van back to the room, but there were none to be found. So, they decided to take the bus with me to Disney Springs and then hop the bus to Yacht Club from there. And I had 2 1/2 blissful hours of shopping by myself. Yay!

I got to the bus just as it was pulling away. And all the Epcot hotels were sharing the bus - Swan, Dolphin, Board Walk, Beach Club and Yacht Club. The crowd grew quickly and I saw watching the Patriots game on my phone. It was about 25 minutes before the next bus and given the crowd, many were stuck waiting for the next bus. But I was on my way back.

Overall, the weather was perfect, Mom and Dad seemed to enjoy themselves and I had a great time. I left the next morning and Mom and Dad are staying a few extra days. With only 3 rides during the whole trip, it was a very different Disney vacation for me, but still very fun. Feel free to ask any questions!

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Have you ever flown out of Worcester (and made it)? I’m from Worcester county (live closer to Boston now), but we’ve never flown from there, even though it’d be more convenient. I don’t think I ever want to after reading that! Changing airports last minute would so stress me out. I’m glad you made it though!

I have. And when I filled out the JetBlue survey, my dad was very concerned I would bash the airport because they love the convenience of it and he doesn’t want them to pull the service. They use it going to Key West each year as well. But if weather is anticipated, it’s a bit of a crapshoot.

It really is a mini airport. No need to arrive 2 hours early. One hour is more than enough. They have a tiny bar and a tiny food station (where they will heat up a pizza for you but that is about it - no Diet Coke even which kills me!). When it works, it’s great. When it doesn’t it’s a disaster.

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I’ll also add, we usually do Worcester when we’re flying at the end of the day. DS can get a full day of school in, we pick him up at 3:00 and our flight out is around 4:40pm. It’s perfect. And we still get in at a half way decent hour to Disney.

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Bar the airport fiasco it sounds like a lovely couple of days, when did your luggage finally arrive?

That is so convenient. We’d be about a half hour to Worcester (from my parent’s), so that would cut down a lot on time since we usually take the Logan Express from Framingham (which adds time, but the parking rates at Logan are ridiculous). I don’t know if we would be willing to risk it though! Plus my dad usually goes wherever is cheapest and I believe flying out of Worcester is usually more expensive whenever we’ve looked.

I got an email that it was delivered at 12:22pm from JetBlue. We called Bell Services when we got back to the resort at around 4:00pm and they brought it right up!

I found this post after searching for Savor, Sip and Sparkle…hoping they still have it for our October 2019 trip…was looking for something fun but close to our resort (BLT). Glad to hear you enjoyed it