"Babe, I Messed My Pants..." An Oct 2013 TR - FINAL UPDATE! Added 5/24

[Simba22]

Ali, to you and your sweet Lumar, a truly

Thank you, Kathy! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

 

[Simba22]

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I was supposed to get out of work at 2:30pm on Christmas Eve, so I planned to stop at the grocery store, get crab cakes in the oven, then get showered and dressed and have enough time to hop on The DIS for a few minutes before heading out to our family party...

But in case you missed it in my PTR, my job is absolutely horrible... and the person who is in charge of telling us that we can leave opted to go on vacation this week (and next) and not bother to tell us in advance that it was OK to leave. So we had no choice but stay the full day. And get this...the receptionist left at 3pm so when she left, she put her phone in "night mode" which shut off the phones for the call center. So I sat there for 90 minutes doing absolutely nothing. But of course, that threw off the whole rest of the night and we ended up getting to our part an hour late. Ugh! I can't wait to quit!

So anyway! Update time!

"I Think I've Heard Enough..."​

Thursday was a big day for us. A bittersweet day, at that.


It was time to check out of AKL.


I was really sad to be leaving but excited about moving into the Boardwalk, too!

We packed up our bags and called Bell Services to come and pick them up (I tipped the guy $2/bag…is that OK??) Bell Services assured me that our luggage would be delivered to BWV before 3pm.

Bags safely in the hands of Bell Services, we checked out of AKL and headed to AK for some breakfast!

We arrived at 8:30am and let us in almost right away!





We went to get FPs for the safari, then made a beeline for Asia and rode EE with no wait!












These are some of my favorite pics from this trip:













As we were headed back to Africa, we were somehow stopped in front of the siamang gibbon area and started talking to the CM standing out front. A few minutes turned into about 10 minutes but he was super nice and really knowledgeable! He’d been working with the gibbons for 2 years and loved to talk about the trouble the babies get into (such as attacking a baby alligator that had gotten into their little lake!)





Oh, and here’s a duck butt:




But we had breakfast to get to and a safari to ride before that so we needed to be on our way! I kept trying to politely make our exit but this kid was seriously into talking about these gibbons. When we finally got away, Lumar says to me "Well, I think I've heard just about enough of.... what are those things called?"

Me: "Siamang gibbons."

Lumar: "Yeah, those things."



We arrived as KS at 9:50. Our breakfast ressie was for 10:15 and I figured we’d be back in plenty of time.

Some safari pics (although there aren’t many because my memory card was suddenly full and Lumar’s camera was apparently broken and he never bothered to tell me).

We got the back row to ourselves:











I have to cut it short here so I can get to bed but I’ll do another update tomorrow night!

 

[stasijane]

Your trip sound amazing so far! I was there from the 17-22 the weather was fantastic.

 

[Simba22]

Your trip sound amazing so far! I was there from the 17-22 the weather was fantastic.

Wasn't it?! Seriously some of the best weather we've had on any of our WDW trips!

Thanks for joining me!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Fun update - though sorry to hear of your work issues.

Great pics of EE!

I love the gibbons area - last trip spent way too much time trying to get pictures of the baby

 

[RGirl]

Wow - I am so sorry about your job situation on Christmas Eve! That is horrible! I can never understand employers that don’t see the value in treating employees well.

Loving your AK pictures on this freezing, foggy day here - they are warming me up!

I love the gibbons experience!

Looking forward to more!

 

[Simba22]

Fun update - though sorry to hear of your work issues.

Great pics of EE!

I love the gibbons area - last trip spent way too much time trying to get pictures of the baby

Thank you! I love taking pics at AK! It's just so pretty!

I always get distracted by the animals, babies or not! I'll stand there for 30 minutes until I get "perfect" pictures! And thank you so much for joining in!

Wow - I am so sorry about your job situation on Christmas Eve! That is horrible! I can never understand employers that don’t see the value in treating employees well.

Loving your AK pictures on this freezing, foggy day here - they are warming me up!

I love the gibbons experience!

Looking forward to more!

I don't necessarily think it's EVERYONE that's undervalued...just the call center people. There's 5 of us and we're the ones that get dumped on for everything that goes wrong, and ignored when things are going well. Even simple things like the Holiday Party... they ordered pizza for the whole office last Friday (there's a lot of corporate types that share the office with us), while everyone else was enjoying a nice break and doing gift exchanges, we had to stay logged into the phone and eat pizza in between calls. Then we were the only ones who had to work the full day on Tuesday while everyone else left early. It was basically as un-Christmasy as you could get.


Those AK pics just take you right there, don't they? I'd give anything for sunny and 85 instead of dreary and 30

When the gibbons are really active, they're fun to watch. But this day, they were just hanging around in their den. But the CM just kept going and going and going...

 

[Simba22]

"Well At Least Someone Thought to Put This Tree Here..."
​

When I left off yesterday, we were on our two week safari.


Which was not a full two weeks….but still made us late for breakfast!


Our ADR at Tusker House was for 10:15am. We got there at 10:30am, checked in, and got in line for our first character meet & greet!

Flashback: Back in August, we were able to renew our cell phone contracts and get new phones. I got the iPhone 5 and Lumar got the HTC One. I tried the HTC for about 3 days and hated it so I brought it back and exchanged it for my iPhone. Which I love and I don’t care how badly my brother and Lumar make fun of me.


I promptly bought a case for my phone. Lumar…. Not so much.

I reminded him several times before our trip to buy a case. I mean, come on. You can buy them on Amazon for like $12. It doesn’t have to be fancy…just functional! Did he buy one? No.

So here we are standing in line at the entrance to Tusker House, waiting for our meet & greet with Donald.

Lumar is messing around on his phone and I’m standing there taking notes about our morning.

Lumar: “It’s hot.”

Me: “It’s Animal Kingdom. Of course it’s hot.”

Lumar: “Well at least someone thought to put this tree here. At least there’s some shade.”

Me: “Yeah, like Ariel’s old meet & greet?”

Lumar: “Yeah, that one was terrible.”

(For those of you who don’t know, before the Fantasyland construction, you could meet Ariel in – where else? – Ariel’s Grotto. The line for which, snaked around the little kiddie water-play area.

In direct sunlight.

And the line was ALWAYS an hour long. MINIMUM. We did it once, and only once.

So he goes back to his phone and I go back to my notes.

Suddenly, his phone goes flying.

It hits the pavement hard and bounces about 3 times.

I don’t remember the exact details of the conversation, but basically, a little lizard fell/jumped out of the tree providing us with aforementioned shade, and landed squarely in the center of his phone, effectively scaring the bejesus out of him. Instinctively, he just let go of the phone and that was all she wrote.

He now has a nice big chip in the back of his phone because…..

HE DIDN’T GET A CASE FOR IT.

Although to hear him tell the story, Godzilla herself walked up to him, snatched the phone away, and smashed it on the ground.

But alas, we finally made our way to the front of the line!





This pic was taken by a PP Photographer. About two weeks ago, while I was going through my pics, I realized it wasn’t on my CD! The people at Disney Photopass know what they’re doing, which is good… but they close at 6pm and both times I’ve called I’ve had to wait 30-45 minutes. I felt terrible at 6:07pm when a CM finally picked up. She uploaded the picture to my account and that was it. Of course, this was after I tried to communicate with them via email several times, and got nowhere.


After our meet & greet with Donald (who made a really big deal out of our engagement buttons, which was really sweet!), we finally headed inside! This was our first meal ever at the new version of Tusker House!


Of course, I never took any pictures of the inside of the restaurant…..

But we got to meet Goofy, Mickey, and Daisy!









Our server was very nice but they seemed to be a little short-staffed this morning. Every time I saw him heading back towards our table, someone would stop him and point him in another direction. It was nice that he was helping out but we were basically neglected. Since I could see him at least making an attempt, I didn’t hold it against him. But I remember I ran out of juice and I was SO thirsty in the middle of my meal and couldn’t flag him down! I felt terrible but I had to drink some water from own water bottle! I was dying!


I didn’t get a pic of Lumar’s plate, but here’s mine. And yes, I went a little heavy on the syrup!





Character interaction here was pretty good! Daisy lingered the longest, while Goofy seemed in hurry, and Mickey was about average. Excellent food choices, too! They had bagels that were fresh and I wanted one so bad but I was full after finishing my plate! We will definitely go back here!


After breakfast, we headed back to Discovery Island so I could stalk some animals (ahem…the wallaby) and take a fluffillion pictures.

Warning: I love parrots. And wallabies. And wombats. But AK doesn’t currently have any wombats. I wish instead of making an Avatar themed area, they made Australia instead. So that there could be wombats.






















After meandering for a while on the animal trails, we stopped in one of the gift shops for some vinylmation trading, and I picked up a couple of coffee mugs for a friend of mine. Then we headed off to Dinoland and did some pin trading.

I also got an ice cream cone and we sat on the little porch area to the right of the ice cream shop. We watched a squirrel get very brave and come up onto the porch to beg for food. It was cute and terrifying at the same time. Squirrels can be horribly vicious when they want to be and there were a lot of people around. I was a little nervous he was going to flip out and go on a squirrely rampage. Thankfully, he just ran off into the woods after a few minutes.

Around 2:30pm, we headed out of AK and found our way to the Boardwalk bus stop!

We were a little miffed when we had to stop at the Swan and Dolphin on our way, and I admit that I wished I had read more about the bus transportation to and from the BW. I don’t know how well I took notes for the rest of the trip so I’ll just tell you right now that the bus service was not great. Between stops at the Swan and Dolphin, and occasionally the Swan, Dolphin, Beach Club, and Yacht Club. It usually took us about 15 minutes just to actually be ON OUR WAY to a park. We rented through DVC so it was irritating…but I can’t imagine paying regular package rates for rooms at a Deluxe resort and then having to share a bus with 2-4 other resorts! Art of Animation and Pop Century have their own buses but the BW, BC, and YC share? Um…no. Not cool.

Anyway….

So we finally arrive at the Boardwalk and I had completed online check in so I went to stand in the line marked “Online Check In.”

Seven minutes later (yes, I kept track), a CM comes up to me and asks me if I’m being helped. I tell her no. She asks what I need. I say “to check in.” She says “oh, just come stand right here and you’ll be next.” She then leads to a spot about 5 feet from where I was originally standing, next to a sign that says “Welcome to Disney’s Boardwalk Resort!” Not “Please Form A Line Here,” or “Check In Here” or anything that might have been slightly helpful seven minutes prior.
So I finally get to the desk and check in. It was pretty painless, thankfully. She handed me our packet, gave us our room number, and we were off to the 4th floor. It was about 3:30pm and I was hoping our luggage had been left in the room but if not, I could call down to get it. No biggie.

We were headed off to MK for the Halloween Party that night, we had dinner reservations for 5:25pm and I wanted to get there early because I had a feeling they would be behind. Plus, I needed to pick up our Halloween Party tickets at Will-Call.

Here’s a video of the walk to our room. It’s not the best quality, sorry about that – but pay attention to the time.


And keep in mind that this walk is JUST from the elevators on the 4th floor. This does not include the walk up the boardwalk, or through the lobby.

Lumar says it reminds him of “The Shining.”

Up Next: "Oh, You Don't Want It There?"

 

[Simba22]

happy
new
year
everyone!!
​

 

[KatMark]

Going back to read your update now that I missed while kids were here.

 

[KatMark]

Typical guy with the phone case. I finally convinced Mark to get one because he keeps it in his pocket at baseball games to use as a timer when he umps.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Tusker House. I really like the food there and we've eaten there three years in a row, but we're going to skip it next year because service has been extremely slow each and every time.

Love your animal pictures...especially the parrots.

The buses were a big part of the reason I did not like our stay at the Beach Cllub. I got smart and we rented a car for our stay at the Boardwalk.

All I can say is WOW! That is one heck of a walk to your room. I hate to tell you that we were on the 4th floor and three doors off the elevator. It was ideal (except for the view which is in my TR).

 

[Nermel9]

Great updates! Your pictures from AK are so nice, as much as I'm not a HUGE fan of AK, I do love the Asia section, I could spend a lot of time wandering around there, taking pictures!

Not of those monkeys, though...I just don't like them! Everyone stops to stare at them, and I just walk right by. I have issues with monkeys...or gibbons, whatever they are...I just don't like them!

It's so strange how we dress exactly the same in Disney! I have that Lion King shirt...I'm sure if I go through pictures from a few trips ago, I will find pictures from me, in AK, wearing that shirt and yoga capris!

Yum, I love Tusker House! Poor Lumar and his phone, though! Brandon FINALLY got a case for his phone, after never bothering with one, once he dropped it last summer and the screen shattered. I don't know why guys are against phone cases.

Oooh, the Boardwalk! My dream resort! Well, one of them! Basically, any deluxe that I haven't stayed in yet is a dream resort! But I'm especially fascinated with the Boardwalk! Those hallways do remind me of The Shining, though!

Happy New Year!

 

[RGirl]

Happy New Year, Ali!!!

Now, come on, a little case won’t protect a phone from Godzilla!

I’m glad you were able to get your PP pic! It seems like all of us had an unprecedented number of missing pictures this year!

That’s too bad that you didn’t have great service at TH. It is such a wonderful place for breakfast though, isn’t it??? Definitely a new fave for me!

Wow - more GREAT AK pictures! Oh, I so wish I was there right now…..

I’m glad you avoided the “squirrely rampage”!!!

I sure hope you enjoyed your BW stay. I know what you mean about the hallways (sorry, couldn’t play the video right now on this computer), but we just love that resort.

Can’t wait to hear about MNSSHP! That is one of our favorite WDW things!!!

 

[Simba22]

Typical guy with the phone case. I finally convinced Mark to get one because he keeps it in his pocket at baseball games to use as a timer when he umps.

To this day, he still does not have a case for it. I might just buy him one and call it a day.

I'm glad you enjoyed your meal at Tusker House. I really like the food there and we've eaten there three years in a row, but we're going to skip it next year because service has been extremely slow each and every time.

I felt bad for our server because he really was trying. But literally, every time he walked back into our little area, someone would hand him a tray of dirty dishes, or point him in another direction. I felt bad so I left him a good tip so he knew that we weren't mad at him. It totally wasn't his fault.

Love your animal pictures...especially the parrots.

Thanks!

The buses were a big part of the reason I did not like our stay at the Beach Cllub. I got smart and we rented a car for our stay at the Boardwalk.

It's sad because the area is SO nice...and I really wanted to rent a room block at the Boardwalk for the wedding since that's where we're planning to do the ceremony...but the sharing a bus thing really bugs me. And I don't want our family to leave with a bad taste in their mouths because of that, you know?

All I can say is WOW! That is one heck of a walk to your room. I hate to tell you that we were on the 4th floor and three doors off the elevator. It was ideal (except for the view which is in my TR).

Yeah, that was some view, you had! Could've been worse! Just wait until I get to the view of our room.....

Great updates! Your pictures from AK are so nice, as much as I'm not a HUGE fan of AK, I do love the Asia section, I could spend a lot of time wandering around there, taking pictures!

I love taking pics in AK. I could spend a whole day there taking pics and not do one single attraction. Did I mention we're planning to do the wedding reception there?!

Not of those monkeys, though...I just don't like them! Everyone stops to stare at them, and I just walk right by. I have issues with monkeys...or gibbons, whatever they are...I just don't like them!

Lumar hates monkeys so I know where you're coming from!

It's so strange how we dress exactly the same in Disney! I have that Lion King shirt...I'm sure if I go through pictures from a few trips ago, I will find pictures from me, in AK, wearing that shirt and yoga capris!

We say that to each other all the time! I always see these chicks walking around the parks with like those three inch wedge heels on and I just don't get it! For one thing, what's the point? For another...how do your feet not just break and fall off?!

Yum, I love Tusker House! Poor Lumar and his phone, though! Brandon FINALLY got a case for his phone, after never bothering with one, once he dropped it last summer and the screen shattered. I don't know why guys are against phone cases.

Lumar is just too lazy to actually put in the leg work of LOOKING for one. If he came across one while we were already out somewhere, he'd buy it. But we hardly ever see cases for his phone and he won't SEARCH for one so... there's that.

Oooh, the Boardwalk! My dream resort! Well, one of them! Basically, any deluxe that I haven't stayed in yet is a dream resort! But I'm especially fascinated with the Boardwalk! Those hallways do remind me of The Shining, though!

It was really pretty and the Epcot Convenience Factor was seriously awesome. But the buses, the walk to the room coupled with our... ahem...view... not to mention other small nit-picky things that just bugged me...IDK if I'd make it a priority to stay there again.

Happy New Year, Ali!!!

Thanks, Roni! Happy New Year to you and Willow!

Now, come on, a little case won’t protect a phone from Godzilla!

And he says I'm an exaggerator! I felt so bad for the lizard after he flung the poor little thing!

I’m glad you were able to get your PP pic! It seems like all of us had an unprecedented number of missing pictures this year!

Seriously! I was missing a lot more than I thought when all was said and done! I should have used the band AND the card but I didn't think about it being an issue! If that's still an option next time we go, I think I'll do that! Or at least have a CM take a pic with my camera, too!

That’s too bad that you didn’t have great service at TH. It is such a wonderful place for breakfast though, isn’t it??? Definitely a new fave for me!

It happens! We will definitely go back! It was a great buffet!

Wow - more GREAT AK pictures! Oh, I so wish I was there right now…..

Me too! We're in the middle of another snow storm here (6 - 12 inches are predicted!) and I would trade it in a heartbeat for some Animal Kingdom humidity!

I’m glad you avoided the “squirrely rampage”!!!

They're mean little suckers! I was like someone isn't going to share their food and he's going to go all "When Animals Attack" on this little patio!

I sure hope you enjoyed your BW stay. I know what you mean about the hallways (sorry, couldn’t play the video right now on this computer), but we just love that resort.

Ummm...about that..... It wasn't TERRIBLE but it wasn't our favorite.... You'll see why over the course of the next few updates....

Can’t wait to hear about MNSSHP! That is one of our favorite WDW things!!!

We love MNSSHP so much we did it three times on our last two visits! It costs more, but you get so much done! It's way worth it to us!

 

[KatMark]

Okay, how did I miss that you are planning on getting married at Disney? How awesome is that!!!!

 

[Simba22]

Okay, how did I miss that you are planning on getting married at Disney? How awesome is that!!!!

I've only mentioned it a couple of times in some replies! After I'm finished with the TR, I'll definitely give more details on our plans! Disney doesn't even let you TALK to someone until you're 18 months out and you can't book anything until you're 12 months out. So it's all still just ideas swirling around in my head! I have a general plan, at least!

 

[KatMark]

I've only mentioned it a couple of times in some replies! After I'm finished with the TR, I'll definitely give more details on our plans! Disney doesn't even let you TALK to someone until you're 18 months out and you can't book anything until you're 12 months out. So it's all still just ideas swirling around in my head! I have a general plan, at least!

Ooops...guess I skipped some replies.

Seriously very exciting and I can't wait to hear all of your plans.

 

[courtneybelle]

So sorry to hear about your work issues, Ali, and I hope things are better now/get better soon!

Great Everest photos!

Oh my gosh, some of my strongest childhood memories come from standing in that line to meet Ariel. So hot. I did love the fountains there, though!

Oh geez! My boyfriend doesn't have a case for his iPhone because he "never drops it." I'm just waiting for the day when that doesn't work out for him.

The bus service at deluxes really surprises me. You'd think they'd have more dedicated bus service, or at least limit it to two resorts per bus.

Also...DISNEYWEDDINGDISNEYWEDDINGDISNEYWEDDING. AHHHHHH. DO IT WHILE I'M ON MY CP IN FALL 2015. WE CAN HAVE A DISMEET. Because that should be your biggest priority when planning your wedding of course seriously though, that is so exciting!

 

[Simba22]

Ooops...guess I skipped some replies.

Seriously very exciting and I can't wait to hear all of your plans.

I don't expect people to read the replies that don't apply to them! I know I don't do that!

So sorry to hear about your work issues, Ali, and I hope things are better now/get better soon!

I had an interview yesterday with another company but I don't have a great feeling about it I just don't feel like it went very well but we'll see! My last job just treated the employees SO well that now it feels wrong to be working for a place that doesn't even pretend to make an effort. I've been there a year and a half. I think it's acceptable to start looking elsewhere!

Great Everest photos!

Thank you! I think I'm going to mat and frame one or two of them!

Oh my gosh, some of my strongest childhood memories come from standing in that line to meet Ariel. So hot. I did love the fountains there, though!

That was seriously the worst line I've ever waited in!

Oh geez! My boyfriend doesn't have a case for his iPhone because he "never drops it." I'm just waiting for the day when that doesn't work out for him.

That's exactly what Lumar said! I told him he should get a case before vacation and his exact reply was "It'll be fine." Yeah....sure it will....

The bus service at deluxes really surprises me. You'd think they'd have more dedicated bus service, or at least limit it to two resorts per bus.

Yacht and Beach Club only share with each other, which is understandable. The All Stars Share with each other which is ALSO understandable (not to mention, that's a value so sharing should be expected!). But the Swan & Dolphin aren't even Disney Resorts! Ugh, it just makes me so mad!

Also...DISNEYWEDDINGDISNEYWEDDINGDISNEYWEDDING. AHHHHHH. DO IT WHILE I'M ON MY CP IN FALL 2015. WE CAN HAVE A DISMEET. Because that should be your biggest priority when planning your wedding of course seriously though, that is so exciting!

I would TOTALLY do a DIS Meet during our wedding trip! I was going to wait until after I finished the TR but maybe I'll do a little mini update with some preliminary plans...

 

[Simba22]

“Oh, You Don’t Want It There?”​

We finally made it to our new room at the BWV, and knew we had a limited amount of time.

We needed to shower, change, and get back to the bus stop so we could make it to our ADR on time.

Having been assured that our luggage would arrive by 3pm, we were a little disappointed to find that it was not in our room when we arrived.


There WAS, however, one of those ozone machine thingies in the middle of the floor.

It was 3:30pm when we got into the room. So I called down to Bell Services and they told me they didn’t have it yet. I told him that we were assured it would be there by 3pm. The CM told me he would try to track it down. I then called the housekeeping line and told them that they had left the machine thingy there. The CM said she would send someone up.

Since we didn’t have clean clothes to change into, or any of our shower supplies, we just hung out in the room taking pictures and resting.










(You can see the plug that stupid machine in that last one)

And here’s our view, which I was pretty excited about when I saw it!









At 4:15 – 45 minutes later – I called Bell Services again. The CM told me that our luggage had “just arrived” and would I like someone to bring it up.

UM…YES…..

Next I call down housekeeping again. The CM tells me, again, that she’ll send someone up for the machine. I wish I’d taken a picture of it because it’s not a small item. It was literally blocking the entrance from the hallway/bathroom area into the main area of the room where the bed is.

So our luggage finally arrives and thankfully, everything is there. Immediately after that, someone from housekeeping/maintenance arrives and asks what the problem is.

Me: Well this machine got left here, and I wasn’t sure if you remembered it was here or not.
CM: Yeah, there was a smell so we put that here.
Me: Right but I wasn’t sure if you remembered it was here….
CM: Oh, you don’t want it here?

My friends, to say that he looked shocked and bewildered is an understatement. Like who DOESN’T want this giant machine thing in the middle of their room, making it FREEZING COLD in there and blocking their walking path to the door? Because…you know…that’s not a fire hazard or anything.

Me: Ummm… Is it SUPPOSED to be there?
CM: I can take it.

So he takes the stupid thing, we quickly change and fly out the door. Seven minutes later, we arrive at the bus stop.
Thankfully, there is an MK bus waiting. I was nervous because it was already almost 5pm and our dinner reservation was at 5:25pm. And I still had to get our Halloween Party tickets from Will Call.

Continued in next post....