Friday, December 16th (the conclusion)
Driving from Friendly’s, we made our way up International Drive and to the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express. Steve dropped me at the door while he found a spot to park the SUV. I had hoped that I would have us all checked in by the time he wandered into the foyer, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case
.
I approached the desk and told a very disinterested looking clerk that we wished to book a room for one night using our IHG reward points. She promptly points to a desk in the corner of the lobby and tells me that I would have to book the room on the computer. Really?
I question her on that but she steadfastly refused to budge: if I wanted to pay cash, credit or debit she would be happy to process my reservation, but if it was to be paid for with points, it was computer or bust. I was more than a little annoyed
……she almost seemed happy that she wouldn’t have to help me out…..but I was beyond tired (not to mention EXCEPTIONALLY full
) and more than a little desperate to just get up to our room and stretch out on the bed. So, I trudged over to the computer and attempted to book our reservation using the kiosk in the lobby
.
Steve shuffles inside the doors, doesn’t seem me tucked away in the corner, and asks the bored clerk (who is now texting on her phone) which room we were assigned to. I call over to him, and he looks confused
….I beckon him over, and tell him what has transpired so far. He, too, is less than impressed and hides his irritation far less than I do. He sports a frowny face as he stands next to me while I try multiple times without success to log into IHG on their computer
. I return to the front desk for assistance, another clerk tells me that the system has been giving them trouble today. I want to scream THEN WHY DIDN’T SOMEONE TELL ME THAT WHEN THEY SENT ME OVER HERE?
But, that didn’t seem like it would be very festive or Christmassy of me so I bite my tongue and return to give it another try. Fa la la la la la la la laaahhhh
.
As I’m fiddling with the computer and waiting for the pages to slowly load, I scan the lobby and note the Blues Brothers theme.
Honestly, the lobby felt more tired and worn than it did grand and welcoming. I suppose fans of the Blues Brothers might feel differently, and perhaps my opinion was just coloured by the fact that we were so weary we could hardly see straight. The lobby and check-in area certainly didn’t look like it had been updated in many moons, which surprised us a little as most Holiday Inn Express properties are generally pretty fresh and modern. It was clean enough, but it just felt……out of date.
We tried several more times to use the computer but eventually gave up and called IHG rewards from our cell phone. Our patience was gone and Steve was looking more and more like the Grinch as this seemly swift process is taking far too long. Thankfully the phone rep was much easier to deal with than either the front desk staff or the lobby computer, and we had a reservation number in short order. Steve was muttering
“Thank God we’re not paying for this dog’s breakfast of a reservation” as we made our way back to the front desk
again.
We eventually, mercifully get our keys and head to the elevator: our king room was on the 7th floor, so about half way up the tower-style building. Stepping off the elevator and into the hallway, we note that we are on the Clark Gable floor.
We found our room easily enough, and opened the door. While I didn’t expect to be “wowed” (after all, it was the Holiday Inn and not the Ritz Carleton) I was completely underwhelmed by the décor. Like the lobby, the room was clean (and it smelled clean……giving credit where credit is due) but it was dark and worn. Tired, even. We laughed that we FELT like the room LOOKED.
On a positive note, we did have lots of room
: a king sized bed, a work desk, a flat screen TV, a small sofa (which I assume was a pull out, though we didn’t check), and a table with two chairs. The main part of the room was spacious, and as I mentioned before, very clean.
The bathroom, however, was truly odd
: it was narrow (like
your elbows could touch the walls when sitting on the loo kind of narrow) and made me feel like I was in a coffin when the pocket door was slid closed
. The fixtures all appeared original to the construction and were dated, though they all functioned fine. The sink was outside the bathroom and part of the main living area. If we were hoping for a spa-like bathroom, this wasn’t it
. However, it was spotlessly clean and the water was nice and hot, so I happily hopped in for a refreshing shower in the tiny stall before sinking into the bed. Steve did the same, though he feared I might need a shoe horn to get him out of that small space. If I was feeling claustrophobic, I can only imagine how he found that compact bathroom
.
I am pretty sure we fell asleep within 5 minutes of our heads hitting the pillows
. Thankfully, our floor was quiet and we managed to get a very rejuvenating rest. We awoke in the morning in much better moods……I think we could have even been described as Merry & Jolly
.
We peered out the window and noticed that the day had dawned all warm, bright and sunny: it felt like a million miles away from snowy Buffalo, which by all reports was still in the grips of Winter Storm Decima.
We decided to make the most of this bonus time. With surprising efficiency, we showered and dressed before heading down to the lobby to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast buffet. It was super busy in the breakfast room (there appeared to be a high school group or two who had beat us to the tables), so we made up our plates and took them back to the room to eat in peace. The breakfast offerings were the standard HIE fare (including their signature cinnamon buns, my personal favourite) and all items were being promptly restocked by the hard-working and friendly breakfast staff (the only staff to really impress us at this property).
Steve said he wanted to go back down to the first floor to grab another plate of food, so I went with him to check out the pool area. While I had no intention of swimming, I was interested to see what recreation options were offered. It was small but nicely maintained.
I also took note of the Christmas tree in the lobby. In the annoyances of the check-in process, I hadn’t even bothered to pay it any attention the night before.
After breakfast, we packed up our belongings and reloaded our luggage into the SUV. We decided to head to Universal for the first portion of the day, until such time as we were able to check in to our timeshare rental at the Marriott Grande Vista. The MGV staff weren’t expecting us until 5 pm that afternoon (based on our original flight day and time) and we figured it was easiest to not try and change that. I checked out at the front desk and obtained a final copy of our zero-balance bill. Heading out into the surprisingly warm morning air……in fact, we almost would have gone as far to say as it was feeling “hot”, even at that early hour…..we bid the Holiday Inn Express Closest to Universal adieu.
Next: Christmas is Universal! And we track down some VERY special friends.