jakeller
Nov 29, 00, 11:49 pm
Here comes another "what I did over Thanksgiving weekend" tale. I took the folks to Walt Disney World for a few days, flying on UA.
The tickets were purchased for a bit over $400 each, and I upgraded using miles. Since I'm a regular Mileage Plus member, I don't get Economy Plus access.
And here we go...
Nov. 24, UA 1788, SFO - DEN, B777
Seat 13A, Airshow = yes, channel 9 = yes
When I booked this flight back in the summer, it had a different number, different times, and different equipment (744). When I realized this (on my own), I called UA and checked on our seating assignments. I asked to have the three of us put in the same row, and the agent put us in 8A/B/D.
Or so I thought. I had asked the agent to fax the new itinerary, but it never showed up. So I called the next day and the agent said "hmm, you've had a schedule change". And I said, "yeah, I spoke to someone last night about it. Just fax it again". When I got the fax, the seats were the old ones. Oh well.
I'm a big fan of C class on the 777. We had the nice new seats with the non-functional backcycler and plenty of room. I wish I had this plane all the way to MCO, but no such luck.
Pre-flight drinks were served. We left a bit early and were on our way. Breakfast consisted of some nasty scrambled eggs, bread pudding, sausage, fruit, and a choice of croissant/muffin/etc.
Mom was upset because they showed "Autumn in New York" but turned off the video before the end of the movie.
The flight was smooth and arrived on-time in Denver.
Nov. 24, UA 1084, DEN - MCO, B757
Seat 2A, Airshow = no (no PTVs on this equip), channel 9 = no
Ugh. After the spacious 777, the 757 was a big let down. It still beat coach, but not by much. The seats were the newer (?) cloth seats and were fine. The forward lav wasn't working and the plane looked like it needed some work. The flight started off smoothly but deteriorated as we neared the south.
Lunch was:
To begin:
> Garden fresh salad
country french or classic Caesar dressing
Main course:
> Filet mignon with a red wine morel mushroom sauce
Seasoned with black peppercorns, garlic roasted potatoes, and haricots verts with carrots
> Fettucine Alfredo with parmesan cheese
Sauteed broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, carrots, julienned sun-dried tomato and shiitake mushrooms
[turns out this wasn't available]
> Turkey dinner
[substituted for the previous item; it was atrocious looking and tasting according to mom. guess it pays to stick with the time-tested items on the menu]
Dessert:
> Eli's Peach Blueberry tart (mmmm)
The pilot had the FA's sit down as we bounced our way into the Orlando area.
Service on these two legs was fairly decent.
Walt Disney World
Nov. 24 - 28
Places to stay
We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which is near the Magic Kingdom. This is an amazing building, modeled after the "great national park lodges". The rooms aren't very large, but the building and grounds are immaculate. There's non-stop boat service to the Magic Kingdom, and direct bus service everywhere else. This is the cheapest of Disney's "deluxe" resorts, around $220/nt.
Places to eat
Here's three places that we all enjoyed:
Fulton's Crab House - Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island
This place is operated by Levy Restaurants of Chicago. The seafood is supposedly as fresh as you can get in Orlando. The crab and lobster was excellent acc'd to the folks. I stuck with shrimp and was very happy. Do make reservations though, or you may wait for an hour or more.
California Grill - Contemporary Resort
I've been here four times now, and have loved it everytime. It's kind of like a Wolfgang Puck kind of place, with a "show kitchen". The food is excellent. Mom had the grilled "how can this be pork" tenderloin and couldn't stop talking about it. Dad and I had an amazing filet of beef that didn't even need a steak knife to cut. To top it off, you can look out onto the Magic Kingdom, and even watch the fireworks from your seat, or better yet, the deck on the 15th floor. It's really cool.
Restaurant Akershus - EPCOT/Norway Pavilion
I think a lot of people get scared off by the menu. But it's actually pretty good. The servers are all friendly and more than happy to talk about their country. It's buffet style and there's something for everyone. Definitely recommended.
Nov. 28, UA 591, MCO - DEN, B757
Seat 2A, Airshow = no (no PTVs on this equip), channel 9 = yes
We had our pre-flight drinks and were off. Takeoff was smooth but we soon encountered some bouncy air that lasted for most of the 3.5 hour flight (hate that!).
This plane was in better condition than the last one, but it had the old (?) leather seats, which I found more comfortable.
Dinner was:
To begin:
> Garden fresh salad
balsamic vinaigrette or honey Dijon dressing
Main course:
> Breast of chicken stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese
Creamy Kahlua sauce, Kapakahi mashed potatoes and sauteed snap peas with red bell peppers
> Seared tenderloin of beef with porcini mushroom sauce
Haricots verts with shallots, chateau potatoes, tomato baked with breadcrumbs and sauteed cremini mushrooms
Dessert:
Eli's turtle cheesecake
When word spread that the chicken was cold, the FAs picked them all up and back in the oven they went. I had the beef and it wasn't too bad at all. Once hot, the chicken was pretty good I'm told.
It finally smoothed out for our landing in Denver. We had an hour to kill before...
Nov. 28, UA 547, DEN - SFO, B777
Seat 8A, Airshow = yes, channel 9 = yes
I was in this exact seat on this exact flight back in June. I knew it seemed familiar. After admiring the First Suites (wow) and having a drink, off we went. I will mention that there was only one UA employee in F. Didn't see any in C class, though I didn't look very hard.
Flight was pretty smooth. Dinner was beef, or nothing. Since I just ate, and it was the same dish, I passed on dinner #2.
Service on this leg was pretty crappy for business class. After getting my drink, I never saw the FA again until final cleanup before landing. Yes, there was the hot towels and wine, but never an offer to refill the drinks. The young crew just stayed in the galley chatting away. Grrr....
I couldn't get the backcycler to work on this one either. Oh, and why do they have to take the headphones away right before landing? That's the best time for Ch. 9!
Anyhow, that's all folks. I took a ton of pictures in Florida and will post the link here once they're ready. Hope you enjoyed this report!
- Jeff
The tickets were purchased for a bit over $400 each, and I upgraded using miles. Since I'm a regular Mileage Plus member, I don't get Economy Plus access.
And here we go...
Nov. 24, UA 1788, SFO - DEN, B777
Seat 13A, Airshow = yes, channel 9 = yes
When I booked this flight back in the summer, it had a different number, different times, and different equipment (744). When I realized this (on my own), I called UA and checked on our seating assignments. I asked to have the three of us put in the same row, and the agent put us in 8A/B/D.
Or so I thought. I had asked the agent to fax the new itinerary, but it never showed up. So I called the next day and the agent said "hmm, you've had a schedule change". And I said, "yeah, I spoke to someone last night about it. Just fax it again". When I got the fax, the seats were the old ones. Oh well.
I'm a big fan of C class on the 777. We had the nice new seats with the non-functional backcycler and plenty of room. I wish I had this plane all the way to MCO, but no such luck.
Pre-flight drinks were served. We left a bit early and were on our way. Breakfast consisted of some nasty scrambled eggs, bread pudding, sausage, fruit, and a choice of croissant/muffin/etc.
Mom was upset because they showed "Autumn in New York" but turned off the video before the end of the movie.
The flight was smooth and arrived on-time in Denver.
Nov. 24, UA 1084, DEN - MCO, B757
Seat 2A, Airshow = no (no PTVs on this equip), channel 9 = no
Ugh. After the spacious 777, the 757 was a big let down. It still beat coach, but not by much. The seats were the newer (?) cloth seats and were fine. The forward lav wasn't working and the plane looked like it needed some work. The flight started off smoothly but deteriorated as we neared the south.
Lunch was:
To begin:
> Garden fresh salad
country french or classic Caesar dressing
Main course:
> Filet mignon with a red wine morel mushroom sauce
Seasoned with black peppercorns, garlic roasted potatoes, and haricots verts with carrots
> Fettucine Alfredo with parmesan cheese
Sauteed broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, carrots, julienned sun-dried tomato and shiitake mushrooms
[turns out this wasn't available]
> Turkey dinner
[substituted for the previous item; it was atrocious looking and tasting according to mom. guess it pays to stick with the time-tested items on the menu]
Dessert:
> Eli's Peach Blueberry tart (mmmm)
The pilot had the FA's sit down as we bounced our way into the Orlando area.
Service on these two legs was fairly decent.
Walt Disney World
Nov. 24 - 28
Places to stay
We stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, which is near the Magic Kingdom. This is an amazing building, modeled after the "great national park lodges". The rooms aren't very large, but the building and grounds are immaculate. There's non-stop boat service to the Magic Kingdom, and direct bus service everywhere else. This is the cheapest of Disney's "deluxe" resorts, around $220/nt.
Places to eat
Here's three places that we all enjoyed:
Fulton's Crab House - Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island
This place is operated by Levy Restaurants of Chicago. The seafood is supposedly as fresh as you can get in Orlando. The crab and lobster was excellent acc'd to the folks. I stuck with shrimp and was very happy. Do make reservations though, or you may wait for an hour or more.
California Grill - Contemporary Resort
I've been here four times now, and have loved it everytime. It's kind of like a Wolfgang Puck kind of place, with a "show kitchen". The food is excellent. Mom had the grilled "how can this be pork" tenderloin and couldn't stop talking about it. Dad and I had an amazing filet of beef that didn't even need a steak knife to cut. To top it off, you can look out onto the Magic Kingdom, and even watch the fireworks from your seat, or better yet, the deck on the 15th floor. It's really cool.
Restaurant Akershus - EPCOT/Norway Pavilion
I think a lot of people get scared off by the menu. But it's actually pretty good. The servers are all friendly and more than happy to talk about their country. It's buffet style and there's something for everyone. Definitely recommended.
Nov. 28, UA 591, MCO - DEN, B757
Seat 2A, Airshow = no (no PTVs on this equip), channel 9 = yes
We had our pre-flight drinks and were off. Takeoff was smooth but we soon encountered some bouncy air that lasted for most of the 3.5 hour flight (hate that!).
This plane was in better condition than the last one, but it had the old (?) leather seats, which I found more comfortable.
Dinner was:
To begin:
> Garden fresh salad
balsamic vinaigrette or honey Dijon dressing
Main course:
> Breast of chicken stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese
Creamy Kahlua sauce, Kapakahi mashed potatoes and sauteed snap peas with red bell peppers
> Seared tenderloin of beef with porcini mushroom sauce
Haricots verts with shallots, chateau potatoes, tomato baked with breadcrumbs and sauteed cremini mushrooms
Dessert:
Eli's turtle cheesecake
When word spread that the chicken was cold, the FAs picked them all up and back in the oven they went. I had the beef and it wasn't too bad at all. Once hot, the chicken was pretty good I'm told.
It finally smoothed out for our landing in Denver. We had an hour to kill before...
Nov. 28, UA 547, DEN - SFO, B777
Seat 8A, Airshow = yes, channel 9 = yes
I was in this exact seat on this exact flight back in June. I knew it seemed familiar. After admiring the First Suites (wow) and having a drink, off we went. I will mention that there was only one UA employee in F. Didn't see any in C class, though I didn't look very hard.
Flight was pretty smooth. Dinner was beef, or nothing. Since I just ate, and it was the same dish, I passed on dinner #2.
Service on this leg was pretty crappy for business class. After getting my drink, I never saw the FA again until final cleanup before landing. Yes, there was the hot towels and wine, but never an offer to refill the drinks. The young crew just stayed in the galley chatting away. Grrr....
I couldn't get the backcycler to work on this one either. Oh, and why do they have to take the headphones away right before landing? That's the best time for Ch. 9!
Anyhow, that's all folks. I took a ton of pictures in Florida and will post the link here once they're ready. Hope you enjoyed this report!
- Jeff