In two weeks we leave for Florida for vacation. We made the reservations in early September, and had direct flights both ways, getting in in mid-afternoon. After the events of September 11, the direct flights were cancelled, now we have to change planes in Atlanta going and Cincinnati coming back, and the trip takes several more hours, getting in something like five hours later, so we lose an entire day to travel.

We were, however, able to get reservations at the Disney World resort we prefer--Dixie Landings. It's quieter, with wide, expansive lawns and fewer children, and we like the restaurants there better than any of the other hotels.

Last night Disney called and said that due to low reservations, they were "consolidating" several of the resorts, and would no longer be able to accommodate us at Dixie Landings. They offered us rooms at either Caribbean Beach or Coronado Springs, both resorts in the same price bracket as Dixie Landings. They weren't equivalent to us, however, because the Caribbean is always overrun with children, always noisy and crowded, with no real restaurant, just a, again, noisy and crowded food court.

Coronado Springs is a nice resort, but its main function is as a convention center, so its buildings are long and sprawling, and the restaurant is an annoying combination of restaurant and food court, i.e., you have to stand in line and pick up your own food, but a "waiter" comes to your table and asks what you would like to drink, and for that service, they add a 15% non-negotiable gratuity to your bill.

So we weren't at all happy with our "choices." I asked if we got a price break for having to change the reservations to a hotel that we didn't want, or if we could upgrade to a better hotel at the same price, and he said, "unfortunately, no," that those were the only alternatives we had. I said I'd have to consult with the rest of the family and call back, and after I talked with Bob, decided it was worth another try. I called back and got a different representative, who was, if anything, less helpful than the previous one.

She basically acted like we were lucky Disney was allowing us to stay at all, and when I asked if we would have to pay any penalty if we just cancelled the reservation and stayed somewhere outside the park, made some sort of threat about "closing;" I wish I had written down what she said, because it really didn't make any sense at the time. I suppose she was saying that if everyone decided to cancel their reservations, they'd just close the park. Yeah, right.

I didn't really care. I was mad. I'm sure they're being inundated with unhappy guests, but so what? Of course we're unhappy. We had made reservations months ago to ensure that we could get what we wanted, and were being told at the last minute that, "sorry, too bad you already had reservations, we're yanking them out from under you and putting you were we want."

So I told her the whole story again. I said that we had been coming down at least once a year, sometimes twice, for about twenty years, that we come with my husband's parents, and that for various reasons, Dixie Landings suits us best, and we weren't happy having to move to a different hotel. We believed that we were entitled to either a price break for a hotel in the same bracket or an upgrade to a higher bracket at the same price.

She did, finally, grudgingly, say that they had been given authority to offer rooms at three higher-priced hotels--The Contemporary, Animal Kingdom or Wilderness Lodge--for a small additional price, in our case about $25 more per room per night.

I got off the phone, saying, again, that I would have to consult with my family and call back. We called Bob's folks and decided we'd do the upgrade and stay at the Wilderness Lodge, and I called Disney back in about ten minutes. They did not, of course, actually have any of those rooms that they offered. They did, however, have rooms for an additional $50 per room, per night.

So we called Bob's folks back again, and talked it over briefly--since we figured if we hesitated very long, we'd either be out on the street or paying $300 a night for a room--then called back and accepted, with bad grace, the change to Coronado Springs. It will be fine, I'm sure, but we're unhappy about it. My unhappiness is mostly just at being screwed around by the big corporation that thinks they can do anything they want and everyone will simply bow down before them, and basically, that's true.

I mean, what are we going to do? We could, of course, say, fine, no problem, give us our money back (oh, did I mention that we had pre-paid for this vacation?) and we'll never bother you again, but what would we do then? Go to Six Flags?

We went to Stephenson's for my birthday last night, and had such a good time. We had just been there for our anniversary, but we really do enjoy going there, and it's been a month! I asked Bob if he would rather go somewhere closer to home, and he said no, that we should go where I wanted, so that's where we were going.

We got there about a half hour before our reservation, and they were busy, so we put our name in and went to the bar. I had a Bloody Mary, and I watched him make it--it was basically tomato juice-flavored vodka, I think. It tasted fine, but it was strong. After I had had about half of it, Bob suggested I ask the bartender to pour in some more mix; I told him no, that it was fine, but when he ordered another drink, I did: I said, "I'm kind of a lightweight, could you just fill this up with tomato juice?" and he did.

When the waitress came to take our orders, Bob said something like, "What do you want, Willa?" and the waitress said, "Oh, is that your name?" and told us about a friend she used to have in Oregon, I think she said, that was named Willa and was a palm reader and psychic, which I thought was pretty cool.

We had a really nice meal, but even after we were finished and were waiting for the check, I told Bob that I still couldn't really focus my eyes. I slept almost all the way home, and when we got home, we went upstairs to change our clothes, and laid down on the bed, and we both went to sleep. I woke up at about 2:00 a.m. and suddenly thought that we hadn't put away the leftovers, so I went downstairs--Bob had put them away, though. I checked my email, and I was sort of awake by then, so I ended up staying up until about 3:30.

Which I love to do. I think I'd do that all the time if I could--go to bed early, then get up for a few hours in the middle of the night. Not practical most nights, though.