Our 1999 October DVC Vacation began on Thursday evening with what seems to have become our customary flight through Philadelphia International Airport. We arrived into Orlando International airport at approximately 11:40 p.m. Our plan was to wait until after midnight to pick up the rental car as the rates changed drastically as of October 1st.
Both of us traveled to the baggage carousel and waited. Karen's bag came out almost immediately, and we waited a couple of minutes for mine. By this time it was after midnight and time to travel down to the Dollar rent-a-car counter to pick up the car. This was the second time we were renting from Dollar. We had a very good experience with them in April. Their service was equal to that of the other on-airport (National) agency but they were the most reasonable ($88/week). I waited less than five minutes on line even though it was after midnight. I had a very pleasant gentleman who was quite helpful. I had several questions regarding the car, the rental agreement as well as directions. He answered them all while making me feel as though I were his only customer for the night. I used the upgrade coupon from the Dollar.com web site for a free upgrade! Dollar was even running a special allowing an upgrade to a convertible for only $12 extra a day! Very tempting but we turned it down!
After all of the paperwork was completed, we traveled back to the baggage carousel and continued to wait for my luggage! Well, by now it was 12:35 and after a short time, the carousel shut down for the night without forking out mine! Needless to say, I was not a happy camper! On our last trip to Disney in April, our flight was canceled and we had to spend the night in Philly. Now, this time around, my bag was missing! At that exact moment, I vowed never to go on vacation again! I felt a little better when the "missing baggage" agent seemed genuinely apologetic (even though it clearly was not his fault) and said that 90% of the time the missing luggage will arrive on the next flight. For me, that would unfortunately be the next day.
After completing the claim for my missing baggage we were in the car and on the road in no time. It was around 1am and NO ONE was around. Just as we did on our last trip down, we visited Stephen’s grandmother. After a resting nights sleep, we made our family visit on Friday for a very nice afternoon.