dawnbu40
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2008
Hi Gang! This is Dawn, and since Caitlin did the intro, it's my turn to get this party started!
Seeing as we live, literally, 5 minutes from Disney I am certain you people are the only ones who understand why we still "vacation" at Disney. Our plan had been to take a short"girls" trip and stay at POR, in a princess room, while Dale is away on business next month. That plan fell through when Caitlin got her job at the Boathouse and wouldn't be able to take the time off. Rather than cancel, we decided to find another time to go. Since Dale and Caitlin both took a couple days off for St. Patrick's Day (a holiday second to Christmas for those 2) we decided that was the perfect time to go. When we called to make reservations (about a week before we went) there were no CM rooms at POR or Pop (our "go to" value) We didn't really want to spend the money on a deluxe so we ended up booking a suite at AoA. They had a nice spring offer for CMs, 60% off, so we booked March 16-18.
The morning of the 16th we were up early and just as excited as if we were back in Michigan and heading to WDW. Before we could head over to AoA we had to take our furbaby, Ypsi, to "camp". Her "camp" is the Best Friends Pet Care located across the street from POR. Technically,this place is a kennel. In reality,it is a doggie spa and Ypsi loves going there. This past year we had to have have our 2 other furbabies put to sleep so going to "camp" gives our little girl playtime she desperately misses. We got to the kennel around 9am and Ypsi was super excited and seemed to remember having been there before. (we went to Vero in Jan and she stayed there) We knew she'd be well taken care of and have fun so we left her with a CM and started out the door. At that point she looked terrified and tried to run after us. The CM picked her up and took her down the hall. I however, felt like my heart was being ripped out. Teary eyed we headed to AoA, feeling sad and decidedly less excited.
Our moods improved when we arrived here (old photo actually sunny out)
When we got inside we were amazed how busy the check-in area was. The place was packed and both the standard and the online check-in had very long lines. We didn't mind though because we were going to DISNEYWORLD!! (I know we live there but still)
Finally we were helped and the CM we got was very nice and eager to get us into our suite. She asked if we would rather have "Lion King or Cars". We had discussed this as a family and everyone's first choice was Nemo (but we knew we had little chance of that) so our second choice was Cars. Caitlin had heard the quiet pool there is rarely used and we all LOVED Carsland at DCA so we told our CM "Cars". She went to get our Magic Bands (we booked too close to travel for them to be sent) and came back and was finishing up when a manager came up behind her and seemed to be reading over her shoulder. It seemed odd but I suspected she was new and the manager was just checking up on her? The manager, without saying anything to the CM, said to us "I have a great opportunity for you two ladies. Would you like to stay at the Beach Club instead?"
Our reaction was something like this.....
and this
with a little of this 
In other words......HECK YEAH!!!!! Oh my goodness we felt like we won the lottery! Those who know us know we
the Epcot Resort area so this was amazing pixie dust! The manager told us just to drive over to the BC and they would be expecting us. While Caitlin finished talking to the most awesome Disney manager EVER, I called Dale to tell him the news. (btw he had to work that day and was joining us after work) Now Dale is the biggest resort snob ever 
so I expected him to literally jump for joy. His reaction? "I was really looking forward to staying at AoA" UGH!!! I couldn't believe him. I told him "too bad we're going to BC!" So we hopped back in the car and started driving over to our new and improved digs. We got to the gate and the CM asked if we were checking in? She looked a little skeptical when we told her we weren't on the list because we were just upgraded but she let us in anyway.
I think we floated to the lobby and we were helped by the nicest guy who had no idea what we were talking about
We had a few nerve wracking moments while he looked into the upgrade but thankfully it was all set and he checked us in. Our room wasn't ready......it was sunny and 85...where do you think we headed????
Seeing as we live, literally, 5 minutes from Disney I am certain you people are the only ones who understand why we still "vacation" at Disney. Our plan had been to take a short"girls" trip and stay at POR, in a princess room, while Dale is away on business next month. That plan fell through when Caitlin got her job at the Boathouse and wouldn't be able to take the time off. Rather than cancel, we decided to find another time to go. Since Dale and Caitlin both took a couple days off for St. Patrick's Day (a holiday second to Christmas for those 2) we decided that was the perfect time to go. When we called to make reservations (about a week before we went) there were no CM rooms at POR or Pop (our "go to" value) We didn't really want to spend the money on a deluxe so we ended up booking a suite at AoA. They had a nice spring offer for CMs, 60% off, so we booked March 16-18.
The morning of the 16th we were up early and just as excited as if we were back in Michigan and heading to WDW. Before we could head over to AoA we had to take our furbaby, Ypsi, to "camp". Her "camp" is the Best Friends Pet Care located across the street from POR. Technically,this place is a kennel. In reality,it is a doggie spa and Ypsi loves going there. This past year we had to have have our 2 other furbabies put to sleep so going to "camp" gives our little girl playtime she desperately misses. We got to the kennel around 9am and Ypsi was super excited and seemed to remember having been there before. (we went to Vero in Jan and she stayed there) We knew she'd be well taken care of and have fun so we left her with a CM and started out the door. At that point she looked terrified and tried to run after us. The CM picked her up and took her down the hall. I however, felt like my heart was being ripped out. Teary eyed we headed to AoA, feeling sad and decidedly less excited.
Our moods improved when we arrived here (old photo actually sunny out)
When we got inside we were amazed how busy the check-in area was. The place was packed and both the standard and the online check-in had very long lines. We didn't mind though because we were going to DISNEYWORLD!! (I know we live there but still)
Finally we were helped and the CM we got was very nice and eager to get us into our suite. She asked if we would rather have "Lion King or Cars". We had discussed this as a family and everyone's first choice was Nemo (but we knew we had little chance of that) so our second choice was Cars. Caitlin had heard the quiet pool there is rarely used and we all LOVED Carsland at DCA so we told our CM "Cars". She went to get our Magic Bands (we booked too close to travel for them to be sent) and came back and was finishing up when a manager came up behind her and seemed to be reading over her shoulder. It seemed odd but I suspected she was new and the manager was just checking up on her? The manager, without saying anything to the CM, said to us "I have a great opportunity for you two ladies. Would you like to stay at the Beach Club instead?"
Our reaction was something like this.....
and this with a little of this In other words......HECK YEAH!!!!! Oh my goodness we felt like we won the lottery! Those who know us know we
the Epcot Resort area so this was amazing pixie dust! The manager told us just to drive over to the BC and they would be expecting us. While Caitlin finished talking to the most awesome Disney manager EVER, I called Dale to tell him the news. (btw he had to work that day and was joining us after work) Now Dale is the biggest resort snob ever so I expected him to literally jump for joy. His reaction? "I was really looking forward to staying at AoA" UGH!!! I couldn't believe him. I told him "too bad we're going to BC!" So we hopped back in the car and started driving over to our new and improved digs. We got to the gate and the CM asked if we were checking in? She looked a little skeptical when we told her we weren't on the list because we were just upgraded but she let us in anyway. 
I think we floated to the lobby and we were helped by the nicest guy who had no idea what we were talking about
We had a few nerve wracking moments while he looked into the upgrade but thankfully it was all set and he checked us in. Our room wasn't ready......it was sunny and 85...where do you think we headed????
Last edited:
Nice! 
Now THAT's a way to start a trip! 
Ah well, can't win them all I suppose!
HOLY COW!!! What an amazing score!!!
I'll bet!
