Get Off The Ship - we are running out of towel animals! Update 10/25 Day 31

[Leshaface]

Uhhhh hit by lightening! I've heard about that 'possibly' happening, but never knew of anyone that that had happened to.

Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot BELIEVE the day you had at the airport. Thank goodness you had the lounge, otherwise, that would have sucked even more!

I love the 'Planes' napkins. Too bad I don't know what it says on the napkin

A studio with 2 beds?!

Also, I think it's really great that you travel with your brother and that you guys get along so well and both love Disney. My brother and I are the exact same way. I believe we'll be doing a Disneyland trip in Nov with him and his wife, DH, DS, DM and I so that will be fun!

 

[dizneeat]

Oh My. That is one LONG travel day! Good think you have a 30 day vacation to recover from it. Just kidding.

so what did you compensation end up being? Just curious.

Hey - and at least if you have to wait all day to fly you were fed really well.

I would love to have a flight with that cool map on it. Can't get that for a 2 hour flight.

Isn't the studio at OKW the best? It really is huge, especially compared to BLT.

So glad you finally made it. Now get some SLEEP!

Figure in the 6 hour time change and we were up and about for more than 24 hours. It was indeed a LONG travel day.

We really were SO lucky to have the lounge on that trip. I would have been more than miserable would I have had to sit at the gate all day.
Oh, and we love that screen too. Such a wonderful thing to check how far you have "gone" while being asleep.

We were pretty impressed with the size of the studio. So far we have always had a 1 bedroom at OKW and were kind of "scared" to get a studio, but it was really nice and roomy and it costs a lot less points.

Compensation - I don't know how this is handled in the US, but here we have to write a letter to the company and let them know. Now, these things are never easy and I have absolutely NO experience with going to court, so we were a bit scared of doing it ourselves.
BUT, there are actually law firms who specialize in those kind of claims. They work on a success based salery.
So, once we were sure we were eligable I picked the highest rated firm and had them have a look at our situation. Two days after I had emailed them, I got an answer. They told us that they were happy to accept our case and that we were most likely to receive a compensation of 600 Euros each. The firm will take 25% if they are successful, but it still leaves us with 900 Euros. So far they have handed in our statement to Lufthansa. I will let you know how it unfolds when we get to know more.

What a way to start your vacation. I would have been pulling my hair out by hour 5 of waiting.

Well, we were aware of the 7 hour layover in the beginning, it was the extra 6 hours we had to spend in the lounge that really got to us. On the other hand, we got to try all the offerings at the buffet all day long, from breakfast to dinner.

Oh Karin that was a LONG day !!But seems like once you took off everything went smoothly!!The food on the plane looked awesome !! My mouth is drooling especially that Blue cheese , my favorite !!!

It was a REALLY long day, but once we left Frankfurt, things started to work out.
Business class food is awesome, lots of choices and VERY well cooked.
I loved the cheese plate - it was such a wonderful end to the meal.

Oh wow!!! That is one of the longest arrival days I've ever read about! Talk about an eventful trip.

I've also been delayed for several hours before but since we had a connecting flight....it resulted in us losing our bags >_<

You're so lucky you at least got to spend that time in the lounge! But man, I can only imagine how exhausted you two were when you finally got to your rooms!

That Old Key West Studio looks very nice! Andrew and I can't wait to try out a DVC room one day. I also see those H20 products. I loved those so much, I asked Mousekeeping for more and even bought a bottle in the gift shop!

Wow, the food you were given on the flight looks VERY good. When you were sleeping, were you able to sleep totally flat? Or did your seat just recline a lot?

It was a pretty long day and we were so happy when we finally got onto the plane and took off.
Having the lounge to have comfortable seats and food helped a lot with waiting for so long, but we were so happy when we finally arrived in the US!

The OKW studio was awesome. We were really impressed with how large it was. And yes, there were H2O products. I love those too. Got myself a huge of bodybutter on the ship. Love to have that!

They do feed you pretty well in business class and there is LOTS of it. And yes, they seats become all flat like a bed and you can really relax and go to sleep easily.

 

[dizneeat]

I am so looking forward to enjoying the rest of your TR!! My sister and her family were on the Western cruise the same week as you so I'm excited to read all about it!

Welcome!
I really hope you will enjoy our trip as much as we did! It was an awesome time.
Was your sister on the cruise meet thread? That was such a great group.

Wow...what a long day. At least you had the lounge to keep you busy and what better way than to eat. 12 hours in an airport, we would have gone crazy. I would look at it that it can only get better from here. We have never stayed in a studio in OKW, looks really nice.

It was an extremely long day and I was so worried it would go on like this, but thankfully I was SO wrong. It turned out to be a really wonderful vacation.
Elaine, the studio at OKW was really nice. I love the studios at BLT, but they are TINY compared to OKW. It felt so nice to be "home" and not have to worry about space.

Karin, I'm ready for bed after reading all of your travel woes of the day.

I'm glad you didn't have to wait too long for your car, and that you enjoyed your studio. Although Mark and I would love to try a one-bedroom at some point, the studio really is enough for us...very roomy. I love the Turtle Pond area and hope we are in that spot next time.

Kathy, we were spoiled the first time we stayed at OKW. I had booked a studio with an AP discount for 9 nights and we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom. Ever since we have never even thought about going back to a studio.
But now that we have to "juggle" our points, the studio seemed to make sense and we were so pleasantly surprised.
We LOVE the Turtle Pond Road area and since we always have a car it is no problem for us that we are far from the Hospitality House.

My gosh, what a delay! I have made connections through Frankfurt a few times on the way to Italy - fortunately never a delay.

How about that perfect timing to have Business Class for this trip! Thank goodness...it would have felt even longer if stuck in the usual areas of the airport! Nice to have plenty if snacks ...and the Frankfurters (which was what we called,"hot dogs" when I was growing up - never heard my mother use any other term). Hoping to hear if compensation was received for the long delay.

OKW studios are so spacious and pretty - we visited when the resort was brand new and considered buying....seems like ions ago! Yours and Kathy's TRs have pretty much convinced me to stay there - even without a car.

Looking forward to the continuing adventure of firsts!

It's good you don't know about those kind of delays beforehand. I would not have been that patient, had I known.
But the lounge really helped in "calming down" nerves.

I explained all about the compensation in my response to Mary Ellen (MEK), but so far we have handed it our claim. We'll see what the outcome will be.

We LOVED the studio at OKW. You really need to try and stay there, Christine, it is so peaceful and does not have the feel of a hotel at all. There are internal buses, even if you stay at the further out parts you will have transportation.

I am working on the next update - should not be much longer.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow, what a shock to see what one gets in first class! The little tablecloths were really something, no dirty tables for your meals! Meals looked pretty good, but that seemed to be a lot of food for just sitting on a plane.

I would love to have massage seats when flying, OMG, I'd still be on the plane!

We loved the business class offerings - and we had a peek behind the curtain into first class and that was even better than what we had. But we were pretty happy with what we got.

Those massage seats are awesome and after waking up and setting our seats upright again, it was just what one needed.

Thank goodness for the upgrade to Business Class! Waiting out in the gate area and not the lounge would have been miserable! Glad you finally made it to OKW.

Jill in CO

I was SO happy we had been able to buy that upgrade. I would have been really miserable if I had had to wait at the gate for 13 hours.

We knew we had arrived when we heard the friendly "Welcome home" at the security gate of OKW. And everything else went like clockwork from there on.

Hi Karin,

We sailed with you on the Dream last year. I am really looking forward to reading your trip report as we are also looking at DVC and a month long vacation is a dream come true! We will live vicariously through you as your trip report continutes!

Your business class portion sounded amazing, love the food porn!!! (amazing minus the delay!)

Yeah, I remember you from last year!
We had a blast this summer, so much fun and such a relaxed approach to everything, since we had such a long vacation.
Let me know if you have any questions about DVC - it took us a long time to commit, but we really love it now.

I am glad you like the food porn, as there will be LOADS in this trip report.

What a day! So glad you had the lounge! Can't wait to read more!

It was a long, hard day, but we were rewarded with a month long vacation, so, that more than made up for it.

Lots more to come, SOON!!

 

[dizneeat]

We were on the Western sailing in August, wonder if it was the same one. Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report.

Our's was the August 17 sailing. So WERE we on the same sailing? We loved to be on the Fantasy, such a beautiful ship and even if it sounds cheesy, but even after two weeks we didn't do or see all of it.

Eek, what a loooooong travel day Karin!

At least you had a nice lounge to relax in and some yummy snacks to keep you going

You must have been exhausted when you finally arrived at OKW!

I am sure coming from Europe you and I know that we are in for quite some travel time, but this time sitting in an airport for 13 hours AND then having a 10 hour flight "to look forward to" was a bit much. But you are right, the lounge helped to "ease the pain".

We weren't even all that tired when we arrived. Going with Austrian time it was time to get up and we were able to really sleep on the plane. But it was good to finally fall into bed and know that the fun was about to begin.

So glad you finally made it to Disney!

We were glad too! It had been a long day and we were happy to finally make it there.

I'm glad you made it finally on your flight to disney , and wow we never get any food that looks that good even when they served food back in the day ???
That was a long day ,

did the airline give you guys anything for the extremely longer then anything wait ??

Checking in packages are awesome but we were suppose to be the surprise checking in ? after a long day im surprised you brought everything into the room before going directly to bed ??

We were pretty happy we had made it there too, Jeff. Especially since any more delays would have cut into our time with you all.

The food in business class was pretty awesome. They do feed you in economy class too and it is pretty nice, but nothing as nice as what we got this time.

Jeff, I explained about our compensation claim in my reply to Mary Ellen (MEK). I am keeping my fingers crossed our claim goes through.

Your surprise made our day, Jeff! It was the perfect sprinkling of to start off this vacation.

 

[dizneeat]

Goodness! I can't believe how long you had to wait in the airport. Thank goodness you had the lounge to wait in. I can only imagine what it would have been like if you hadn't.

I'm with Mary Ellen....did you receive any sort of compensation for the long delay? I would hope so.

It was the LONGEST wait we have ever had, but the reward at the end was our trip to the US and once we had landed everything fell into place.

They do not compensate you right away, but you can hand in a claim. We did so and I explained everything in my reply to Mary Ellen (MEK). If it goes through, than we will receive 900 Euros (actually 1200 Euros, but the law firm who handles this for us will get 25%).

WOW I can not imagine such a long travel day!!! But the food did look yummy!!
I can not wait to read more!!!

It was nothing I would like to repeat soon, Michelle, but it got us to the US and to spend time with some very special friends. Wish we could have gotten together more often, but that is something we can plan for the future.

Hi Karin!!! Joining in!

Okay, seriously, I thought the low point of the travel day was getting STRUCK BY LIGHTENING!!!

But no - it got worse. Oh my goodness! What an awful day - I'm so glad that you had the world's longest vacation EVER to make up for it!

Can't wait to follow along.

Welcome, Roni!
It's a pleasure to have you here too!

Our plane being struck by lighning was just the "opening act" to our travel day. It would have been worse had it happened during our February vacation, when we just have a week.

And an update is in the works!

I'm here! Now off to catch up

Welcome, Lesha!
I am so happy to have you here as well.

Uhhhh hit by lightening! I've heard about that 'possibly' happening, but never knew of anyone that that had happened to.

Oh. My. Gosh. I cannot BELIEVE the day you had at the airport. Thank goodness you had the lounge, otherwise, that would have sucked even more!

I love the 'Planes' napkins. Too bad I don't know what it says on the napkin

A studio with 2 beds?!

Also, I think it's really great that you travel with your brother and that you guys get along so well and both love Disney. My brother and I are the exact same way. I believe we'll be doing a Disneyland trip in Nov with him and his wife, DH, DS, DM and I so that will be fun!

Being hit by lightning wasn't half as bed as having to sit at the airport for 13 hours and seeing our vacation time waste away.
It must have been very good karma when I found out about the upgrade and indeed did buy it. Waiting in the lounge was FAR better than waiting at the gate.

YES, OKW is the only DVC studio (that I know of) that offers two beds. Since I travel with my brother two beds are something we really look forward to!

And so happy to hear that you and your brother both love Disney so much that you can enjoy DL together with your families.
I love following your adventures, so I cannot wait for your November trip!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, August 8

Cruise friends - Part 1

Even though we had had a very long day, we were up again by 7am. We took showers and got ready for breakfast, but before that we had a good look inside of the gift bag we had gotten from Jeff.



There were lots of lovely gifts inside, which included a set of Christmas dessert plates,



several ornaments,



a decanter set and a cute Sailor Mickey!





We looked for the gift bags we had brought for Jeff and his family and for Michelle and her family and once we had gotten ourselves kind of organized again, we walked downstairs to the car and drove over to Olivia’s for breakfast.
We were just a tad late, but they didn’t mind and were super friendly. We were led to a table and handed a menu and a minute later our server came by to say hello and take our order for drinks. Tom ordered some



coffee and ice water and I just ordered



some orange juice. Tom studied the menu while I didn’t even really glance at mine. I had known what I wanted before we had even left Austria. So once the server came back with our drinks I started off our order with the



Fresh Strawberries and Cream. Sprinkled with brown sugar they are just absolutely wonderful and my favourite way to start a vacation.
Tom ordered the



Crab Cake Eggs Benedict, two Poached Eggs and Two Crab Cakes on an English Muffin with Key Lime Hollandaise, while I ordered my other vacation staple, the



Traditional Eggs Benedict, two poached eggs with Canadian bacon on an English Muffin with Key Lime Hollandaise. It only took a few minutes and our strawberries were served and soon “inhaled”. They were so good.
And just when I gobbled up the rest of the strawberries our breakfast arrived and we were able to dig in. It got us into the best of moods for our vacation. Once we had finished our breakfast I wanted to try to pay with my Key to the world and it would not accept the code we had set when doing online check in.
So, once we had settled the bill by just swiping the card we were on our way to guest services. We just wanted to head inside, when I spotted something! Now that back of a head looked VERY familiar!



And then I took a closer look and indeed Jeff and his family were talking to bell services. I think I called his name and we all started running and hugs were on order.
We had first met Jeff and his wife Lily and their two beautiful children Molly and Philip, while cruising in August 2011. We had been on the same cruise meet thread and once we had met in real life we knew we had found wonderful new friends.
Jeff had just asked if we had picked up his present the day before when we saw him there. And after a quick chat we learned that they had not had breakfast yet, so we all decided to head back to Olivia’s so they could have breakfast as well. Needless to say that the servers made a big fuss because we were back again already AND because of the way Jeff had his hair done.
They seated us all at a nice large table right next to the one we had just been sitting at and we actually had the same server. They all ordered breakfast and we chatted a lot while waiting for it. And when they were done with breakfast we headed back to guest services to have them check my Key To The World.
Somehow there was a glitch and it did not agree to my credit card, so they needed Tom’s, but then they could not get the new cards to work. After about 20 minutes the Key to the World problem was resolved and we headed over to the store to pick up two gift cards for the kids, as it was pretty hard for us to find Disney themed gifts for them.
Then, with everyone fed and ready we headed back to our room on Turtle Pond Road, so we could give them our presents as well. The kids tried on their new T-shirts and we went through all the things we had gotten for each other. One of the things we had gotten was a light up castle ornament. Now, Jeff had posted a video of it some time ago and I was determined to find one for us once we would get to the states, but no need to, as Jeff had already gotten us one.
We spent quite some time at the studio, catching up until we decided it was time “to do something” together. We were weighing our options and decided on something the Jeff and family hadn’t done yet.
Playing Minigolf at Winter Summerland. So once that was decided we all headed to our cars and the kids decided to ride with us on the way over to Winter Summerland. The cars were quickly parked and we headed over to the entrance.



We were all so excited and once we had paid and gotten our golf clubs we were divided into two teams. And while being divided did not look like fun in the beginning, we didn’t mind, as we were together and had lots of fun anyway. There were lots of people who had had the same idea, so we had to wait a little bit, but we used the time to take some photos.











Soon it was our turn to hit the course and we all tried our best and while we tried so hard we shared a lot of laughs.


To be continued ............

 

[dizneeat]

Real life update!

As you all know, we have been back for two weeks by now and are suffering from

We had initially planned on heading to Italy for a long weekend, but it just won't work out, so I started looking for a long weekend, and flights to Paris.
Imagine my surprise when I found REALLY cheap flights out of here on Jan. 3 and back on Jan 6 with perfect flight times.
I called Tom and asked if he thought he could get off work early on the 3rd and he was sure he could, so I booked the flights.
Still had to find a hotel. We still have our APs good until the end of October 2014, so I thought I could at least try for a discount. I checked how much I had in my budget and called.
Within my budget they offered me a Concierge room at the Sequoia Lodge (kind of Wilderness Lodge) which was not my first choice. I had her price out other resorts and for a little more than I had initially thought, here is where we are going to stay Jan 3 - 6!











THE HOTEL NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!!
We are so happy about it! And as Tom pointed out - today is already "Dalmation day".
Now if you are as puzzled as I was about dalmation day - we are 101 days away from our vacation.

 

[jedijill]

I love meeting Disney friends! The gifts were so thoughtful and cool! Playing golf at Winter/Summerland is on my list of things to do.

Congrats on the trip to DLP and Hotel New York! on Dalmation Day! That is super clever!

Jill in CO

 

[Leshaface]

Mmm that breakfast looks delicious! I love eggs benedict as well, but hardly ever order it.

I've never been to the miniature golf course over there, but it looks like fun! It's themed fantastically!

I love the pictures that you post. Do you make these yourself?

Real life update!

What a nice hotel!

 

[HowieHowie]

Congrats on your Paris trip. We love Winter Summerland. We always play everytime we are there.

 

[jenseib]

Oh my gosh what a long day. I just did the conversion and 900 euros will be over $1200 in US dollars...thats a nice chunk of change.
How fun to find Jeff's family right away. And mini gold sounds like a fun way to start out the trip.

 

[KatMark]

Karin, what a fun update. So glad you had a great breakfast at Olivia's (we ate there one day during our trip...but I haven't gotten that far in my TR yet), and then you hooked up with your friends and got to go to Winter Wonderland (which we also did on this trip).

Great gifts too!

 

[Teri1]

Nice update Karin, I am suffering from post Disney depression too! At least you are planning a cure! The most I could do is go to the Disney Store and buy Lily some gifts.

 

[Wicket's Mom]

How nice you had such a good visit with friends. The eggs Benedict looked so good, I need some of those soon!

I know what you mean about Disney depression, I received pin today. It was for 30% off a deluxe! but since I have to foot the rent for a month in south Florida next March, no Disney this soon!

 

[annmarieda]

Oh my! I nearly choked when I read in your "firsts" that your plane was hit by lightening. How scary!!!

Even with that and the late taxi though, it looks like you were off to a good start. How could you not be with that kind of food offered on your flight. And... being given such a cute little napkin too. How fun!

The lounge looks very nice...as did the buffet food. That was to be a long layover anyway, but the delay must have made it just horrid!! 13 HOURS!!! Hopefully you get compensated!

Wow, your seat had a remote control?? How cool is that??

Glad you made your way through customs easy enough.

Yay! For pixie dust upon arrival to OKW!

I love the pictures of the room at OKW! I am so happy to hear that it was big.

2:45 am? That is a LONG travel day.

I will give away a bit of my trip planning to you... because you have had such lovely breakfasts at oliva's, I have a breakfast booked there in January! Your recent pictures just make me want to get there sooner!!

How cool you have a january trip! You will be coming back from Paris just as I am leaving for FL!

And the miniature golf looks like fun. It isn't something you read about on many trip reports either.

 

[englishrose47]

Karin I loved your breakfast choice at Olivia's .That was my choice too The Eggs Benedict!!! How great you got to spend some Fun time with Dis Friends !!! I Love Tom's Dalmation Day !!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

HAPPY DALMATION DAY!

Looks like a lovely breakfast - especially when you get to go twice with a good friends! I'm glad the golf was so fun for all of you!

 

[RGirl]

Great update, Karin! What a fun DIS meet, and as usual, you teach me a lesson in enjoying the less obvious choices at WDW like mini-golf. I really need to learn to slow down, as my TR will make clear, I'm sure.

Oooh - are we going to end up with another mini-TR within a TR from you????

 

[MEK]

Dalmation Day? How cute is that?

Breakfast looks yummy!

Your gifts are fantastic.

How fun to meet up with your friends.

20 minutes to get your KTTK card working is about 15 minutes too long, IMHO!