Simba22
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2006
Here's the links to the individual updates:
PTR:
The Disney Commandments ** Look at how Terrible I am at Booking Airfare ** A "For-Real" Update (Sort of) ** A Mini Update ** Mail Call! ** A couple of things to share ** Plans for the F & W Festival** We're Outta Here!
Somewhere between the PTR and the TR:
More bad news ** The Flower Fiasco
The actual TR:
Arrival Day - added 11/20
Epcot; Day 1: My Very Own Drunk Story - added 12/18
DHS; Day 2: The Brown Derby is Overrated - added 12/27
MK; Day 3: We were on time for BOTH ADRs!! - added 12/29
AK; Day 4: Well we knew there would be a bonehead move in here somewhere... - added 1/11
Day 4 Continued: MNSSHP (Version 1)
- added 1/14
Epcot; Day 5: Part 1 - added 1/22
Epcot; Day 5: Part 2 Dinner at San Angel Inn w/ pics! - added 1/22
DHS; Day 6: Lunch at Mama Melrose's - added 1/28
Side Note: more sad news
added 2/8
AK; Day 7: Backstage Safari; T-Rex, and One of the Dumbest Things I've Ever Done
MK; Day 8 - Our last day and MNSSHP On Halloween!
__________________________________________________
So does that title make me sound shallow??
Today marks one week since we got the news that we are going to lose our jobs.
And we both work for the same company so I think that makes it worse.
Heres the deal. We work for a health insurance company and apparently the company has been losing money steadily over the last few years. They were discussing a sale several months ago and debating on selling versus bailing ourselves out. They were calling it the Strategic Review Process. There was a tentative deal made which fell through so we all just kind of forgot about it.
About a month or so ago, there was a press release posted to our website about the insurance industry as a whole. It was talking about how all of the CEOs took massive pay cuts to save their companies.
Except one guy.
Guess which company he was the CEO of? If you guessed my company, you would be correct.
He took a TWENTY PERCENT increase in pay. TWENTY percent INCREASE.
Keep in mind, he is already on the Forbes List. And he just increased his yearly salary to 4.4 million.
Just as an FYI, a friend of mine broke it down and came to the conclusion that if he works 40 hours a week (HA!) he would make over $2000 an HOUR. I barely break $2000 a MONTH. And I have to work a lot of overtime to get there.
So last Monday, there was a company wide email that went out with the subject line Successful Conclusion to our Strategic Review.
Successful for whom?
Let me illustrate some minor details for you. If the new company bought our company in its entirety, then we would all get to keep working and we would just change names. Instead, the new company bought our membership only, which means that when all of the groups renew their coverage, they renew with a new name. The new company has made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in any of the 500+ employees.
At this point, they are telling us that we have more than a year, but less than 3. Which is good I guess. Except Im looking forward more to the severance pay (approximately 5 months worth of pay in one lump sum) than going to a job where no one is motivated to try. Everyone feels defeated and quite frankly, we feel played. Our CEO makes money off the sale, plus his 20% pay increase and we all get a pink slip. If he had put in an honest effort to try and save the company and we still failed then that would be different. At that point I would feel like we really tried.
Dont get me wrong, I really hate that job. Like, REALLY. But it was paying my rent (and for my WDW trips). All I can hope for is that the job market is better when my last day arrives. But in spite of our impending career doom, we are STILL going to WDW this year. Why? Well, for one thing its already paid off. For another, it may be a long while before we get to go again.
But I digress .is this a pre-trippie or what? I dont want to be depressed or depressing for that matter. So off we go into the juicy details.
OK so here is the cast. Be prepared, its long and you may get confused.
Me Ali. Obsessive compulsive Disney planner and house cleaner. I hate cleaning. But its so fun to have a clean house! Unless of course, True Blood or Heroes is on. In which case, all eyes (all two of them) are on the TV and I dont get jack crap done. Oh and Im 26 and I love animals. I volunteer for a rabbit rescue, I have 6 rabbits of my own plus we foster when we can. And I have 3 zebra finches. And I really want a dog but SOMEONE who shall remain nameless is a big poopy head. Oh and this will be my 8th trip to The World. Oh and Im terrified of spiders and I just found one on my printer and now I feel them crawling all over me and Im totally freakin out.
DBF (cough cough someone who shall remain nameless cough cough) - Lumar (well call him Poopy Head, I mean Lu, for short). Hes 25 and this will be his 7th trip to WDW. He helps me clean at the rabbit shelter, and occasionally he helps me clean the house.
I tried really really really hard to get my brother and his girlfriend to join us on this trip. My brother is in the Marines and he gets a 40% discount on WDW resort stays, plus his park tickets would be free AND he can get discounts on airfare. I threw away my worksheet but I think the lowest price I worked out for him and his girlfriend for 6 nights at POP was $350 for the room only. Then his park tickets, again, would be FREE, and he would only have to cough up another $100 for his girlfriends park tickets. But apparently, you dont make big bucks stocking produce at Stop & Shop. So, in a nutshell, he sucks. And for those who choose to travel back in time and visit my trip report from October 2007, the girlfriend in THAT trip report is NOT the same girlfriend.
So now that I have thoroughly confused you, here is some more brain fodder.
We are flying out of Hartford, CT on Friday October 23. We will land in Orlando around 6pm (assuming that the weather is acceptable and no one acts like a fool and causes some other kind of unnecessary delay).
We come back to CT on November 1 (barf). I have no idea what time because I really dont care as much about coming back.
Oh and this will be our first time at Pop Century!
This past Saturday was our 90 day mark so I got my happy butt outta bed at 5:45am on a SATURDAY so that I could make my ADRs for the first time online at 6am. Just an FYI this was
SO
MUCH
BETTER than calling CRO (even though I usually like listening to Disney music as I wait on hold for 25 minutes). Seriously, I was DONE with my ADRs by 6:15am and back in la-la land by 6:25am. I got all of the ADRs I wanted although I have to be honest, we dont eat at any of the uber popular places .
Next up: Our schedule that is 100% absitively, posolutely, set in STONE!
PTR:
The Disney Commandments ** Look at how Terrible I am at Booking Airfare ** A "For-Real" Update (Sort of) ** A Mini Update ** Mail Call! ** A couple of things to share ** Plans for the F & W Festival** We're Outta Here!
Somewhere between the PTR and the TR:
More bad news ** The Flower Fiasco
The actual TR:
Arrival Day - added 11/20
Epcot; Day 1: My Very Own Drunk Story - added 12/18
DHS; Day 2: The Brown Derby is Overrated - added 12/27
MK; Day 3: We were on time for BOTH ADRs!! - added 12/29
AK; Day 4: Well we knew there would be a bonehead move in here somewhere... - added 1/11
Day 4 Continued: MNSSHP (Version 1)
- added 1/14Epcot; Day 5: Part 1 - added 1/22
Epcot; Day 5: Part 2 Dinner at San Angel Inn w/ pics! - added 1/22
DHS; Day 6: Lunch at Mama Melrose's - added 1/28
Side Note: more sad news
added 2/8AK; Day 7: Backstage Safari; T-Rex, and One of the Dumbest Things I've Ever Done
MK; Day 8 - Our last day and MNSSHP On Halloween!
__________________________________________________
So does that title make me sound shallow??
Today marks one week since we got the news that we are going to lose our jobs.
And we both work for the same company so I think that makes it worse.
Heres the deal. We work for a health insurance company and apparently the company has been losing money steadily over the last few years. They were discussing a sale several months ago and debating on selling versus bailing ourselves out. They were calling it the Strategic Review Process. There was a tentative deal made which fell through so we all just kind of forgot about it.
About a month or so ago, there was a press release posted to our website about the insurance industry as a whole. It was talking about how all of the CEOs took massive pay cuts to save their companies.
Except one guy.
Guess which company he was the CEO of? If you guessed my company, you would be correct.
He took a TWENTY PERCENT increase in pay. TWENTY percent INCREASE.
Keep in mind, he is already on the Forbes List. And he just increased his yearly salary to 4.4 million.
Just as an FYI, a friend of mine broke it down and came to the conclusion that if he works 40 hours a week (HA!) he would make over $2000 an HOUR. I barely break $2000 a MONTH. And I have to work a lot of overtime to get there.
So last Monday, there was a company wide email that went out with the subject line Successful Conclusion to our Strategic Review.
Successful for whom?
Let me illustrate some minor details for you. If the new company bought our company in its entirety, then we would all get to keep working and we would just change names. Instead, the new company bought our membership only, which means that when all of the groups renew their coverage, they renew with a new name. The new company has made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in any of the 500+ employees.
At this point, they are telling us that we have more than a year, but less than 3. Which is good I guess. Except Im looking forward more to the severance pay (approximately 5 months worth of pay in one lump sum) than going to a job where no one is motivated to try. Everyone feels defeated and quite frankly, we feel played. Our CEO makes money off the sale, plus his 20% pay increase and we all get a pink slip. If he had put in an honest effort to try and save the company and we still failed then that would be different. At that point I would feel like we really tried.
Dont get me wrong, I really hate that job. Like, REALLY. But it was paying my rent (and for my WDW trips). All I can hope for is that the job market is better when my last day arrives. But in spite of our impending career doom, we are STILL going to WDW this year. Why? Well, for one thing its already paid off. For another, it may be a long while before we get to go again.
But I digress .is this a pre-trippie or what? I dont want to be depressed or depressing for that matter. So off we go into the juicy details.
OK so here is the cast. Be prepared, its long and you may get confused.
Me Ali. Obsessive compulsive Disney planner and house cleaner. I hate cleaning. But its so fun to have a clean house! Unless of course, True Blood or Heroes is on. In which case, all eyes (all two of them) are on the TV and I dont get jack crap done. Oh and Im 26 and I love animals. I volunteer for a rabbit rescue, I have 6 rabbits of my own plus we foster when we can. And I have 3 zebra finches. And I really want a dog but SOMEONE who shall remain nameless is a big poopy head. Oh and this will be my 8th trip to The World. Oh and Im terrified of spiders and I just found one on my printer and now I feel them crawling all over me and Im totally freakin out.
DBF (cough cough someone who shall remain nameless cough cough) - Lumar (well call him Poopy Head, I mean Lu, for short). Hes 25 and this will be his 7th trip to WDW. He helps me clean at the rabbit shelter, and occasionally he helps me clean the house.
I tried really really really hard to get my brother and his girlfriend to join us on this trip. My brother is in the Marines and he gets a 40% discount on WDW resort stays, plus his park tickets would be free AND he can get discounts on airfare. I threw away my worksheet but I think the lowest price I worked out for him and his girlfriend for 6 nights at POP was $350 for the room only. Then his park tickets, again, would be FREE, and he would only have to cough up another $100 for his girlfriends park tickets. But apparently, you dont make big bucks stocking produce at Stop & Shop. So, in a nutshell, he sucks. And for those who choose to travel back in time and visit my trip report from October 2007, the girlfriend in THAT trip report is NOT the same girlfriend.
So now that I have thoroughly confused you, here is some more brain fodder.
We are flying out of Hartford, CT on Friday October 23. We will land in Orlando around 6pm (assuming that the weather is acceptable and no one acts like a fool and causes some other kind of unnecessary delay).
We come back to CT on November 1 (barf). I have no idea what time because I really dont care as much about coming back.
Oh and this will be our first time at Pop Century!
This past Saturday was our 90 day mark so I got my happy butt outta bed at 5:45am on a SATURDAY so that I could make my ADRs for the first time online at 6am. Just an FYI this was
SO
MUCH
BETTER than calling CRO (even though I usually like listening to Disney music as I wait on hold for 25 minutes). Seriously, I was DONE with my ADRs by 6:15am and back in la-la land by 6:25am. I got all of the ADRs I wanted although I have to be honest, we dont eat at any of the uber popular places .
Next up: Our schedule that is 100% absitively, posolutely, set in STONE!
I was thinking about you last night when I was writing my first installment. I seriously actually typed out "hopefully i will have good trip mojo" and then i decided i didn't want to be a TR thief lol!! Glad you're here! I'm going to swing by you PTR today!
It's really frustrating!
I was thinking about you when I was starting to write this! I was wondering how things were going for you. I want to try and get my certification before The End arrives, as the company is still approving tuition reimbursement...the problem is that I don't have the $1000 to pay for it up front. So we'll see what happens. Don't these people know that I live through credit?! GOSH.
Its a 3 hour tour (a 3 hour tour
.. 
sorry I always get the Gilligans Island song stuck in my head when I say that), mostly walking, mostly outside. And you cant take any kind of pictures in any of the backstage areas. Im hoping that there are some non-backstage areas where I will be able to take pictures of some really cool stuff. AK supposedly has evening EMH this day. We have never been there for EMH and I really want to experience it so I hope this is correct. EMH would end at 8am and we have a dinner ressie at T-Rex for 9pm.
thats horrible this economy is so bad right now!! but at least you can de stress at disney
I just found your PTR, I'm so sorry to hear about your job. I love your itinerary so far... Don't worry i love to plan too, I need to feel organized at all times. We are trying the Kona Cafe in exactly two days!!
