let's go lego

It was a long time of planning/coordinating and (sweet lord) discussing but we made it to Legoland (Windsor) this weekend. We grabbed a mess of children, and my Mother in law, and we drove across the country Friday afternoon. Complete with a stop at a service station for a supper that always makes one feel a little sad inside. (thank you Sedgmoor services for the experience.) We met up with my brother & sister inlaw and their kids at a very nice Travelodge in central Windsor. We discovered in looking out at our window that we had a freaking gorgeous view of Windsor castle. Queen you doin' all right. She was even in town. We slept hard after five children bounced on beds. That morning we got up, had breakfast told the children a million times, "Legoland opens at ten. Be cool. We'll get there." The drive isn't far but it is certainly round-about in that English kind of way. Because you know how all roads were essentially laid down about 500 years ago. Then you enter the park and you drive for a few years to get to parking. It was a lovely day and OMG how cute is all the lego stuff on the drive up and my kids kept shouting, "LEGO!"

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well that escalated quickly.

Last night we checked a couple of places for dinner and it looked like no one could seat a party of ten, which makes sense. That is a lot of folks. We decided to have dinner at the hotel, which is fine. We have children, it was near the rooms, the food is fairly reasonable and we knew what we were getting into. We got everyone sorted, and Mr. Jenner went and ordered for the four of us. We got our drinks, we sat and waited. It was taking a very very very long time. (and my brother in law had issues with ordering his meal. For some reason the person taking the order couldn't do something because it was somehow too complicated. My sister in law went and got it sorted out when she spoke to someone else.) Everyone's orders came out, except... ours. And again, it was fairly slow in there and we asked the server, "So..where are the other four meals that we ordered....BEFORE the other meals?" She had no idea. She didn't know anything about other food. A manager came out and said, "we don't recall any food?" We showed him a receipt. We had waited a very long time. The kids were hungry. It was late. I was hangry. I looked quite unimpressed. It turned out the person who took our order somehow didn't get it to the kitchen. I looked at my husband, looked at the manager, and said, "I think I might go to waitrose next door, because the children need to be fed and it is very.very.late." He said, "I will GET the food out in the next five or ten minutes. I will supervise this. I am really sorry." The waitrose was closed. I got chips from the vending machine so the kids wouldn't eat anyone's hands. As I was going back to the table the manager said, "What we can do is refund you the cost of your meal, and get the food out to you." I said, "hey, that is really nice. Thank you so much. And thanks for figuring out what happened." My brother in law spoke to the bartender and even he said, "that should not have happened, we are really sorry. I don't know what that guy's problem was, because it wasn't busy, and it wasn't that difficult." And I was happy that we got an apology, and the kids got their food, and I had something to eat. (long day out, my vision was going wonky, my balance was all messed, I just wanted to eat, and sleep.) I would have been perfectly cool with paying the full cost of the meal. An apology and making things right is good enough for me. I admit, I did get into Stern as fuck Mommy mode with the manager about what had happened and asked him how quickly he could fix it. And My Mother in law got in on it too. Two stern Mothers who are disappointed are not a thing to behold. And when food came, I said, "Thank you so much, this is great. Let's eat." The manager then came up and said, "Hey we are also offering you free breakfast tomorrow." I was like, "oh wow, thanks." Because really that is crazy kind. And then? He offered us a voucher to get fifty percent off our next stay with that hotel chain. The hotel stay had been fine. It's inexpensive. It's spare. It's clean. There is free wi-fi. They cover the cost of some of the parking, since you have to pay to stay in a lot next door. (which is totally cool in a central part of town.) They gave us extra pillows when we asked for them, and we had a gorgeous view. They are obviously experienced with large groups (especially families) staying with them. What is not to like. I don't need much in a hotel room. I was kinda floored by that one. I think I may have asked, "Are you sure?" What next? a pony? So because some person screwed up something like dinner, we didn't pay for dinner or breakfast. We are getting a voucher for our next stay, and I will always say polite things about Travelodge, because really, I would have been fine with just an apology. They went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above what was required.