Flossbolna
Sea days are just so relaxing!
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
A Meet and a Meal - Part 1
August 9: Disneyland, DISmeet with Alison and Fran, Club 33
After a late night the day before (including nearly falling asleep while standing up…) I slept in that morning and got up around 9 a.m. My plan for today was to go for another run and I put on my running clothes. Then I ventured out and already had a bit of an unpleasant surprise.
Today was our first scheduled housekeeping day. If you stay at a DVC property as a DVC member you don’t get daily housekeeping. The schedule is that you get service on day 4, day 8, day 12 and so on and your arrival day counts as day 1. If you are staying shorter than 7 days, your first cleaning is only a so called “trash and towel” service. That means that they are exactly just doing that: giving you new towels (and supposedly also new toiletries) and taking out the trash. If you stay more than seven nights, the first housekeeping service is a full clean, and then the second one is only trash and towel (and then repeating the rhythm from there).
To be honest, this is maybe my only real complaint that I have about DVC. I guess that's one aspect of the "home away from home" concept that I don't like! I love my room being cleaned on a regular basis! That’s why when I bought DVC I was even factoring into my calculations spending money on additional full cleanings. You can get them, but they cost money. 30$ for a studio, 45$ for a one-bedroom. And for this trip I planned to get one later on.
However, today was the day for our first, included, full cleaning. And when I left the room, there were plenty of baskets around with linens and towels in front of many rooms. But not in front of ours. So, I was a bit scared that they might miss us. I went down to the front desk and inquired about that and they called housekeeping for me and assured me that we were on schedule for a full clean today and that the baskets really don’t mean anything. I was a little less concerned – and it turned out to work out, we came back to the room later that day and it was fully cleaned.
I can only add that the lack of daily housekeeping is a big complaint from yours truly too. I realize it is the timeshare industry standard, so it isn't as if Disney is any worse. But one of the things I like about vacationing is coming 'home' to a room that has been thoroughly cleaned each and every day. I can be messy and let's not even talk about M here! ;-) Especially in a small studio, you really notice when things aren't taken care of daily.
Since I got up later, I knew it would be pretty crowded on the walkways and it was also starting to get rather hot outside, so I decided to use the tread mill in the fitness center for my run.
The Eureka Fitness Center is easy to find for DVC guests as it is along the walkway from the DVC building to the lobby. It is not very large, but has a good selection of stuff. I think it was at about four treadmills and lots of other machines. They also have a bowl with apples, towels and water in there.
I'd love to say I spent time in here each and every day working out. But then I'd be lying and one of the very worst things you can do in life is lie in a trip report. It's just under ''Kill Your Annoying Neighbors' on the Worst Things in Life List. So, I'll say I walked in to the place at least once. I'll also say that I recently went on a short trip to Orlando sans M and stayed at the Hyatt (formerly the Peabody) for the first time. I was very impressed with the entire place. It may well be the best place I have stayed in Orlando from the PoV of room quality, resort amenities and guest service. But it absolutely has the largest and best workout facility I have ever encountered in ANY hotel/resort in ANY place in the world. I've seen gyms that you'd pay a monthly fee to join that can't claim a facility half as large. ... anyway, back to your regularly scheduled report!
I was happy to see that the treadmills were the same ones they had on the Wonder. Those have programs where you can run through different environments. On the Wonder I had so much fun to run through Germany and I decided to do that again! The best part is when I got to run through my own hometown, Nuremberg:
After a nice run I was ready for some breakfast and decided to see what I could find at Whitewater Snacks, the counter service restaurant at the Grand Californian. I decided on some tea and oatmeal with blueberries. While there I noticed the Coke Freestyle machines that Michael loves:
I settled down with my oatmeal which looked very pretty with a nice portion of blueberries on top! I added some brown sugar and then started to mix it before I remembered to take a picture!!
Yes, the blueberries were already drowned…
I really liked it and it seemed a fairly healthy breakfast.
After my breakfast I quickly hopped up to our room to get out the bag that I had prepared the evening before with my swim suit and other “pool supplies”. I then proceeded to use the changing room at the pool to change and take a brief shower – yes I am that considerate and tried my best to not wake up Michael! – and then found a spot at the pool and worked on my trip notes.
I can't recall whether she woke me up or not. I know there were times when she did and others when she didn't.
I really love the pool here – mainly because of the comfy padded pool loungers!
So long as there isn't a dirty, full diaper tossed behind one near the jacuzzi. EEEEK! Yes, it happened. No, M wasn't aware of it until she read these very comments. ... People are pigs. Commentary over ... for now.
At 11 a.m., I quickly went upstairs to wake up Michael and then returned to the pool for some more pool fun. I did swim quite a bit and had the pools nearly to myself for most of the morning. It was wonderful! Michael came out to our balcony while I was in the pool and we waved at each other. I was surprised that he did not chose to come down
At 12 p.m. I went up to have a proper shower and get ready for lunch. Lunch was going to be the main event of the day! We are really lucky that some friends of ours were able to arrange for us to get a reservation at Club 33. This is a restaurant inside DL that is only open to members of Club 33 and those for whom members make a reservation. Originally it was planned by Walt Disney as a secret place to host foreign dignitaries and corporate sponsors of Disneyland, but it then was turned into a club with membership. Membership is quite exclusive. Club 33 used to be very hidden in New Orleans Square, but it got recently refurbished and now is much more obvious from the outside…
It also has not been a secret largely for the last 15 years due to the Internet and people talking about it. And even some unscrupulous members (or ex-members) making a membership into a for profit business enterprise and making hundreds of reservations a year for total strangers. Disney has been very active on cracking down on that stuff in the last year or so.
Anyway, it is something very special to have the opportunity to dine there, and we were very happy to be able to share this with the friends that were part of this trip! So we had a really large group with Michael and me, Michael’s brother, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and also Alison and Fran!
We all met in the lobby of the Grand Californian, I think at around 1:15 p.m. or so and then headed out to Disneyland. This was my first experience of going through a crowd with someone in a scooter, both Alison and Fran use them. I have to say that this was quite an eye opener to me! Every little thing that you as a pedestrian can just step around becomes an obstacle for a scooter. People suddenly stepping into the way etc. really are an issue. I was even a bit embarrassed about how I might have caused trouble for other scooter drivers in the past and vowed to myself to be more observant in the future!
It was also really great to meet Alison in person and to get to know Fran. I think it is so amazing how quickly one is at ease with the DIS friends when one meets them in real life!
They were very nice, but also quite cool and interesting. I think that is important because you can meet nice people who are boring as white bread (or American cheese for those reading in Germany). Alison and Fran are the opposite of boring. They are ... dare I say ... fascinating ... and I look forward to many more fun times together in the years ahead! (OK, Alison, you have my address to send that check, right? ;-) )
Disneyland was pretty crowded:
I tried to take some pictures along the way, but this is the only one that was somewhat decent:
It is the Jolly Holiday Bakery, a counter service restaurant along the hub between Main Street and Adventureland. They have lots of desserts, but also some nice sandwiches and other things.
We proceeded through Adventureland and into New Orleans Square and then stopped at this door:
After ringing the bell and letting them know that we had a reservation, we were asked into a lovely little courtyard:
Until recently this courtyard was accessible for everyone, tucked away in New Orleans Square, doing nothing besides being very pretty and being the perfect location for romantic proposals at DL. It was one of those lovely nooks that make Disneyland so charming. The Magic Kingdom is far more utilitarian than DL, it was developed to handle large masses of people and in the process some of that charm of DL got lost. When building DLP they took the lessons from both approaches and combined them into a park that handles large masses of people very well, but also is full of that charm of DL. That’s why, in my opinion DLP is the “castle park” with the best overall design.
There was an uproar on the internet that the little courtyard – Court des Anges – was taken away from the public and I felt very privileged to be able to step inside.
It was very nice to be back in the Court of Angels. While I loved Club 33 and the new look is quite nice, I don't agree with taking spots like this away from regular Guests. The Court had been there and open for all from 1966 to 2013.
In one corner there was some cucumber water, which we enjoyed while waiting to be called for our table. Above the “water area” was this lovely light fixture:
We also used that time to take some pictures and here are the ones that only involve those people who don’t oppose their picture being posted online:
(these were taken with Alison’s camera and I have to say thanks to Alison for giving me all her pictures from that day!!)
Then it was time to go up the stairs into the lobby area of the restaurant itself.
In the lobby is also this case with Club 33 merchandise on display:
I think nearly everyone of us got something out of that case in the end.
We were then led to our long table for 7 that was beautifully set:
I am sorry that I do not have any pictures of the room as there were other parties eating when we arrived and it did not feel like the type of atmosphere to take pictures of the other guests (who would be in the pictures just by being present in the room).
Our lovely server handed out menus to everyone:
And a few drink menus for the table as well:
The brown one on top is the drink menu. Those were really pretty on the outside as well on the inside:
For lunch you can either order a three course or four course menu. Every course has several options that you can choose from. We took some time discussing the different options amongst us and took some time deciding on drinks and then we were ready to order.
After we had all managed to order everything I decided to go and use the bathroom and in the hallway on the way back I got a chance to visit with Chuck and Dave:
The hallway is actually a little bridge that you can see when walking through New Orleans Square. And when they did not have any guests to greet (the restaurant was not very full at all), they would wave out of the window. This hallway and window is one of the new additions to Club 33 that are so criticized. And Michael commented on that he thought it a bit tacky to have the chipmunks wave from a place that is inaccessible for other park guests.
It IS tacky. Club 33's original charm -- and conceit -- was that it was tucked away in secret and you really would be hardpressed to notice it above NOS. Now, it is almost like it is a major landmark that draws attention to itself and to the fact that most people won't ever be able to set foot inside. There is no way it can be missed and WDI did as lousy a job on the outside/blending of it into its surroundings as they did a great job on the inside.
Continued in Part 2
August 9: Disneyland, DISmeet with Alison and Fran, Club 33
After a late night the day before (including nearly falling asleep while standing up…) I slept in that morning and got up around 9 a.m. My plan for today was to go for another run and I put on my running clothes. Then I ventured out and already had a bit of an unpleasant surprise.
Today was our first scheduled housekeeping day. If you stay at a DVC property as a DVC member you don’t get daily housekeeping. The schedule is that you get service on day 4, day 8, day 12 and so on and your arrival day counts as day 1. If you are staying shorter than 7 days, your first cleaning is only a so called “trash and towel” service. That means that they are exactly just doing that: giving you new towels (and supposedly also new toiletries) and taking out the trash. If you stay more than seven nights, the first housekeeping service is a full clean, and then the second one is only trash and towel (and then repeating the rhythm from there).
To be honest, this is maybe my only real complaint that I have about DVC. I guess that's one aspect of the "home away from home" concept that I don't like! I love my room being cleaned on a regular basis! That’s why when I bought DVC I was even factoring into my calculations spending money on additional full cleanings. You can get them, but they cost money. 30$ for a studio, 45$ for a one-bedroom. And for this trip I planned to get one later on.
However, today was the day for our first, included, full cleaning. And when I left the room, there were plenty of baskets around with linens and towels in front of many rooms. But not in front of ours. So, I was a bit scared that they might miss us. I went down to the front desk and inquired about that and they called housekeeping for me and assured me that we were on schedule for a full clean today and that the baskets really don’t mean anything. I was a little less concerned – and it turned out to work out, we came back to the room later that day and it was fully cleaned.
I can only add that the lack of daily housekeeping is a big complaint from yours truly too. I realize it is the timeshare industry standard, so it isn't as if Disney is any worse. But one of the things I like about vacationing is coming 'home' to a room that has been thoroughly cleaned each and every day. I can be messy and let's not even talk about M here! ;-) Especially in a small studio, you really notice when things aren't taken care of daily.
Since I got up later, I knew it would be pretty crowded on the walkways and it was also starting to get rather hot outside, so I decided to use the tread mill in the fitness center for my run.
The Eureka Fitness Center is easy to find for DVC guests as it is along the walkway from the DVC building to the lobby. It is not very large, but has a good selection of stuff. I think it was at about four treadmills and lots of other machines. They also have a bowl with apples, towels and water in there.
I'd love to say I spent time in here each and every day working out. But then I'd be lying and one of the very worst things you can do in life is lie in a trip report. It's just under ''Kill Your Annoying Neighbors' on the Worst Things in Life List. So, I'll say I walked in to the place at least once. I'll also say that I recently went on a short trip to Orlando sans M and stayed at the Hyatt (formerly the Peabody) for the first time. I was very impressed with the entire place. It may well be the best place I have stayed in Orlando from the PoV of room quality, resort amenities and guest service. But it absolutely has the largest and best workout facility I have ever encountered in ANY hotel/resort in ANY place in the world. I've seen gyms that you'd pay a monthly fee to join that can't claim a facility half as large. ... anyway, back to your regularly scheduled report!
I was happy to see that the treadmills were the same ones they had on the Wonder. Those have programs where you can run through different environments. On the Wonder I had so much fun to run through Germany and I decided to do that again! The best part is when I got to run through my own hometown, Nuremberg:
After a nice run I was ready for some breakfast and decided to see what I could find at Whitewater Snacks, the counter service restaurant at the Grand Californian. I decided on some tea and oatmeal with blueberries. While there I noticed the Coke Freestyle machines that Michael loves:
I settled down with my oatmeal which looked very pretty with a nice portion of blueberries on top! I added some brown sugar and then started to mix it before I remembered to take a picture!!
Yes, the blueberries were already drowned…
I really liked it and it seemed a fairly healthy breakfast.
After my breakfast I quickly hopped up to our room to get out the bag that I had prepared the evening before with my swim suit and other “pool supplies”. I then proceeded to use the changing room at the pool to change and take a brief shower – yes I am that considerate and tried my best to not wake up Michael! – and then found a spot at the pool and worked on my trip notes.
I can't recall whether she woke me up or not. I know there were times when she did and others when she didn't.
I really love the pool here – mainly because of the comfy padded pool loungers!
So long as there isn't a dirty, full diaper tossed behind one near the jacuzzi. EEEEK! Yes, it happened. No, M wasn't aware of it until she read these very comments. ... People are pigs. Commentary over ... for now.
At 11 a.m., I quickly went upstairs to wake up Michael and then returned to the pool for some more pool fun. I did swim quite a bit and had the pools nearly to myself for most of the morning. It was wonderful! Michael came out to our balcony while I was in the pool and we waved at each other. I was surprised that he did not chose to come down
At 12 p.m. I went up to have a proper shower and get ready for lunch. Lunch was going to be the main event of the day! We are really lucky that some friends of ours were able to arrange for us to get a reservation at Club 33. This is a restaurant inside DL that is only open to members of Club 33 and those for whom members make a reservation. Originally it was planned by Walt Disney as a secret place to host foreign dignitaries and corporate sponsors of Disneyland, but it then was turned into a club with membership. Membership is quite exclusive. Club 33 used to be very hidden in New Orleans Square, but it got recently refurbished and now is much more obvious from the outside…
It also has not been a secret largely for the last 15 years due to the Internet and people talking about it. And even some unscrupulous members (or ex-members) making a membership into a for profit business enterprise and making hundreds of reservations a year for total strangers. Disney has been very active on cracking down on that stuff in the last year or so.
Anyway, it is something very special to have the opportunity to dine there, and we were very happy to be able to share this with the friends that were part of this trip! So we had a really large group with Michael and me, Michael’s brother, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and also Alison and Fran!
We all met in the lobby of the Grand Californian, I think at around 1:15 p.m. or so and then headed out to Disneyland. This was my first experience of going through a crowd with someone in a scooter, both Alison and Fran use them. I have to say that this was quite an eye opener to me! Every little thing that you as a pedestrian can just step around becomes an obstacle for a scooter. People suddenly stepping into the way etc. really are an issue. I was even a bit embarrassed about how I might have caused trouble for other scooter drivers in the past and vowed to myself to be more observant in the future!
It was also really great to meet Alison in person and to get to know Fran. I think it is so amazing how quickly one is at ease with the DIS friends when one meets them in real life!
They were very nice, but also quite cool and interesting. I think that is important because you can meet nice people who are boring as white bread (or American cheese for those reading in Germany). Alison and Fran are the opposite of boring. They are ... dare I say ... fascinating ... and I look forward to many more fun times together in the years ahead! (OK, Alison, you have my address to send that check, right? ;-) )
Disneyland was pretty crowded:
I tried to take some pictures along the way, but this is the only one that was somewhat decent:
It is the Jolly Holiday Bakery, a counter service restaurant along the hub between Main Street and Adventureland. They have lots of desserts, but also some nice sandwiches and other things.
We proceeded through Adventureland and into New Orleans Square and then stopped at this door:
After ringing the bell and letting them know that we had a reservation, we were asked into a lovely little courtyard:
Until recently this courtyard was accessible for everyone, tucked away in New Orleans Square, doing nothing besides being very pretty and being the perfect location for romantic proposals at DL. It was one of those lovely nooks that make Disneyland so charming. The Magic Kingdom is far more utilitarian than DL, it was developed to handle large masses of people and in the process some of that charm of DL got lost. When building DLP they took the lessons from both approaches and combined them into a park that handles large masses of people very well, but also is full of that charm of DL. That’s why, in my opinion DLP is the “castle park” with the best overall design.
There was an uproar on the internet that the little courtyard – Court des Anges – was taken away from the public and I felt very privileged to be able to step inside.
It was very nice to be back in the Court of Angels. While I loved Club 33 and the new look is quite nice, I don't agree with taking spots like this away from regular Guests. The Court had been there and open for all from 1966 to 2013.
In one corner there was some cucumber water, which we enjoyed while waiting to be called for our table. Above the “water area” was this lovely light fixture:
We also used that time to take some pictures and here are the ones that only involve those people who don’t oppose their picture being posted online:
(these were taken with Alison’s camera and I have to say thanks to Alison for giving me all her pictures from that day!!)
Then it was time to go up the stairs into the lobby area of the restaurant itself.
In the lobby is also this case with Club 33 merchandise on display:
I think nearly everyone of us got something out of that case in the end.
We were then led to our long table for 7 that was beautifully set:
I am sorry that I do not have any pictures of the room as there were other parties eating when we arrived and it did not feel like the type of atmosphere to take pictures of the other guests (who would be in the pictures just by being present in the room).
Our lovely server handed out menus to everyone:
And a few drink menus for the table as well:
The brown one on top is the drink menu. Those were really pretty on the outside as well on the inside:
For lunch you can either order a three course or four course menu. Every course has several options that you can choose from. We took some time discussing the different options amongst us and took some time deciding on drinks and then we were ready to order.
After we had all managed to order everything I decided to go and use the bathroom and in the hallway on the way back I got a chance to visit with Chuck and Dave:
The hallway is actually a little bridge that you can see when walking through New Orleans Square. And when they did not have any guests to greet (the restaurant was not very full at all), they would wave out of the window. This hallway and window is one of the new additions to Club 33 that are so criticized. And Michael commented on that he thought it a bit tacky to have the chipmunks wave from a place that is inaccessible for other park guests.
It IS tacky. Club 33's original charm -- and conceit -- was that it was tucked away in secret and you really would be hardpressed to notice it above NOS. Now, it is almost like it is a major landmark that draws attention to itself and to the fact that most people won't ever be able to set foot inside. There is no way it can be missed and WDI did as lousy a job on the outside/blending of it into its surroundings as they did a great job on the inside.
Continued in Part 2
Last edited:
A year ago, one of our "wild bunnies" was eaten by the coyotes.
