Episode 10: How Does An OCD Disney Planner Spend Her Day Off~~aka Why I Could Never Be A Disney Phone CM
It has been asked on the Snowbirds Thread (those of us going in January) what our dream job at Disney would be. I can think of a million things I would love to do at Disney AND I can tell you the one thing I could never be
a phone CM. WOW!! I have to take my hat off to those folks because I dont know how they do it and go home sane at night. If I had to deal with someone with Disney OCD
say like myself...on a constant basis for 8 straight hours
I would go bonkers. I totally have to give them kudos though because more often than not they are on their A game and ready to do whatever it takes to make you happy. Wednesday was one of those days. I stayed home sick from school. To be honest I wasnt feeling well the day before and I was extremely tired and I just really wanted a day to relax (Ha
I swear my definition of relaxing and the one you find in the dictionary definitely dont coincide LOL). I blame the election and just the stress of life, but this lady wanted a day off. After 10 glorious hours of sleep, I awoke at 5:30am (yes on my day off) ready to do not much of anything at all. After making sure my Prince Phillip got out the door with a lunch in hand, I decided to DIS. After inspecting the code threads and getting all excited about a possible new code, I decided to call Disney, do some funny math, and figure out my best possible deal. Because seriously, the more I save the happier Prince Phillip will be LOL!!! So I dialed the number, that yes, I now have memorized and waited.
After about 10 minutes of some sort of patriotic music and JFK giving his inaugural address, a lovely CM answered my call. I was discussing different options with her and she was gracious enough to price them for me. She then asked me if I wanted to add the dining plan. What? I qualify for a dining plan since when?? I thought you had to have a package to do that??? Well this CM went on to explain that with AP rate I could add dining to my reservation and make it a package. OOOOHHHH
the dreaded word I had been avoiding all along
a package. I politely told the lady I wasnt sure a package was for me and then she asked me if I had a TS every night of my stay. (I swear they have all my information right in front of them LOL) Well I did have a TS every night so we did the math, and sure enough I definitely was going to be spending more than the $38.00 a day on food. I wasnt completely sold at that time so I said I would think about and call back later. Well it took me all of 10 minutes to think about it. Of course I was totally running the numbers on my calculator and made sure it would be as good a deal as possible. I decided to call back and talk to another CM. I got another wonderful CM and I was discussing Disney dining but I still wasnt quite sold on the deal so I once again hung up and thought some more about it. At this point in the day I posted on the Snowbird thread that taking off days from work is hazardous to my Disney OCD and my phone. Seriously, never let me talk myself in to another day off
who knows what might happen LOL!! Well, after a 15 minute conversation with my adorable kitty (who Im sure didnt want to hear her mother ramble about saving money and Disney and really just wanted her belly scratched), I called back yet again. Okay people, can we all do simple addition? Yes, in less than a 45 minute span of time, I was back on the phone with Disney for the third time. I really hope they dont keep notes how many times you have called, but if they do, I hope I never meet any of them face-to-face!
Did I cave and get the dining plan added to my ressie this time???? Yes I did, I changed my reservation to a package. So one must ask how much money I saved. Well, when you count up the long distance bill Im sure I racked up with my many phone calls LOL, not much!!! (Just kidding, I have free long distance)! I ended up saving about $100. Thats a good deal for me!!!
So what other things did I do on my day off? I paid off my package. As most of you know when you book a package, you have to put down a deposit. As you all know, my method of paying off this trip is with gift cards. I had already received two of my cards, so I used them. I fully paid off my package. So as of yesterday afternoon, my whole trip to Walt Disney World is paid off YAY!!! Im so excited. When I told my hubby he said, You mean no more money going into the black hole of Disney?? He was excited too LOL!!!!
So, on my day off, I switched to a package and proceeded to pay off said package
and it only took like 5 calls to the CMs at Disney. I posted about 50 times on the Snowbirds thread, even sort of went over to the code thread, and PMd about 20 times. I also sorted my pantry, vacuumed, did some laundry, dusted, burned dinner (yes thanks to a delightful PM conversation with Shawna, my poor Hubbys dinner was burned. Thank goodness for a back up plan LOL), and even made it to evening church. Wednesday was quite productive in my book and I would dare say a bit relaxing. LOL!! Now if I could have only found time to catch up on my I Dream of Jeannie episodes on TiVo!!! Guess Ill save that for my next day off!