Day 1, Part 4 - Flat Brody takes a Pick-A-Number DISUnplugged Podcast Trip!!!

Day 1, Part 4 - Well, This Is Building 10 Room 218, Right?

Okay, so "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" has finished checking us in, written down our room information on the map, circled where we should park and where our room is.

And we’re off!!

But as we begin to leave the lobby I pass by this guy and my brain does that "oh he looks familiar but I can’t remember from where" thing. You know - it happens within seconds and then all of a sudden it dawns on you where you know the person from. It looked like Corey Martin from the DIS Unplugged Podcast!!!!

The guy was wearing a white visor and a blue shirt just like I had seen Corey wear in pictures before. He was the right height and build. He was even carrying a professional looking camera in his hand and walking like he had a purpose. Corey has been doing pool reports on all of the resorts and this guy was walking towards the pool. So it must be him!!!

I even did a double take. I was convinced it was him but decided not to be a Podcast stalker and yell out his name in the middle of the lobby since at this point he was now 15 feet behind me and it was already hard enough to get my mom to not think I am crazy for being so DIS obsessed. So I left well enough alone and was happy with my now really upbeat mood - I was at Disney World and I saw a Podcaster. It doesn’t get much better than that.

(Well, as it turns out it was not Corey. I emailed him when I got back home to see if it was actually him but he claims that he was not at ASSp that evening. I still am convinced I had a brush with someone famous though. Don’t judge me.)

Outside the lobby now, Mom and I cross the "intersection of potential danger from being hit by a bus" with success and drive around the corner to the Touchdown section of ASSp.

According to our handy dandy map our room is fairly close to the parking lot so Mom and I curb it and unload our luggage. This parking lot is smallish but the parking places are not close the our building at all. But no matter. As I always say "no one ever died from walking". (It is probably not true. I am sure that people get hit by cars and die of heart problems when walking but it helps me to feel good about parking further away from stores at Christmas time.)

I’m not sure what Mom was doing. I think she was putting the back seats up or putting bottled water in a shopping bag to take to the room. Either way, she was TAKING TOO LONG!!! So I said I was going on ahead to take a load of our stuff to the room.

With map in hand, I reread our room information that "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" had given us and I quickly find the location. But something seems a little weird. As I approach the room’s window, I noticed little Cars toys in the window and the window sheers aren’t closed all of the way and the bathroom sink light is turned on. Having stayed in enough Disney Resorts, I know this is not the norm. But maybe Mousekeeping was doing things a little different or maybe they were in a hurry and just forgot to turn off the light.

I double check the room information and then double check the sign on the building. Yep, this is building 10, first floor and room 218.

So I quickly glanced in the window and what did I see??? A woman brushing her hair at the bathroom sink. Whoa!!! I back away quickly hoping the woman didn’t see me. Luckily she didn’t. And grateful she wasn’t naked. I would have hated to have been arrested for being a Peeping Tom on the first day of my trip. For some reason I just don’t want my first felony to be at WDW.

What to do?!?! I didn’t want to walk all the way back to the car with my luggage and then have to walk back the same way I had just come. So I waited a few more minutes for Mom to make it to me. I told her about the problem and said to just wait right there and I would go back to the front desk and get this all sorted out.

Flat Brody in front of our fake room.

I put my determined but calm non-Princesszilla hat on and walked through the X&O football field and past the pool bar and right back into the lobby. The whole walk I kept thinking about how I was going to bring this up without getting "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" in trouble. Yes, it seems that it was her fault but mistakes happen and maybe it was just the computer and not her.

So I get to the lobby and see that there aren’t any people in the check in queue so I decide to just wait there for the next available CM. I’m not sure how I would have handled if there had been people waiting in the queue. Are you supposed to wait in a long line when you have already waited your turn in line and it isn’t your fault that you need further assistance? If the situation would have called for it I probably would have gotten the attention of one of the supervisor types roaming around behind the front desk. Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer this eternal question of life?

What I really didn’t want to happen was for "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag" to be the next available CM. I am patient and understanding but the sleeplessness and adrenaline was taking its toll and my inner Princesszilla could have emerged at any minute if things took a turn in the wrong direction.

What I did overhear while I calmly waited was surprising to me though. A guest at the counter was asking a CM about the Yacht and Beach Club. The CM couldn’t answer the question so one of the supervisor types came over and couldn’t answer the question either. I can’t remember the exact question but it was something any cast member should have been able to answer or simply look up. In fact the supervisor type even said "I have never been to the Y&B Club so I’m not sure." What?!?!? There was no "I don’t know but let me find out" or "Hold on while I call across the lobby to Guest Services for you." It’s was an honest answer but not the right answer. As a former CM I found it absurd that Disney doesn’t ensure that all of their CMs know about the other resorts and the parks. How is one of the first people you meet on your WDW vacation supposed to help a guest if they don’t know anything about WDW? I didn’t get upset at any of this it was just very disappointing at the lack of CM training. Shame on you Disney.

With the shameful guest exchange over, the next CM was available. And he turned out to be efficient in an "english is my first language" kind of way. I explained the situation and showed him the room information we had been given. He entered my information into the computer system and quickly determined that the room number we had been given should have been 219 and not 218. AHHHHH!!!! Turns out it was "she who can’t be named because her hair was covering her name tag"'s mistake after all.

I said thank you very much and quickly and determinately walked back past the pool bar and through the X&O football field back to our room. But not before I saw my first wild bunny spotting of the trip. If reincarnation is true then I want to come back as a wild Disney bunny. Or maybe a Disney duck.

I finally find Mom hanging out with our luggage and explain the wrong room number and we happily put our key in the correct door of our Disney digs. The room is just as we suspected - clean and cheerful yet smallish. Basically your normal Disney value resort room. All is right with the world - or at least in the World.

Flat Brody enjoys his first towel creation.

Next stop: Shades of Green