That's funny, i think i actually bought that shirt for Will at DL too when were there for the day in august. Love it!
Thanks for the info on the meet and greet, we will have to make time for it next trip since Will is so into characters now! and love the free photo too- did it take long to get it printed etc.?
Sorry about the hard sell during your update- what a pain! Sometimes it is just not worth it. That was the only good thing with DVC, when we did our tour, it was so easy, no hard sell at all. It was very low key. I guess the hard sell must work on some folks though, since they keep doing it- it just pisses the rest of us off though.
right? Sorry you missed the pool too- i have the same problem. We finally made it to the pool for like 2 hours this trip, but i really wanted more pool time. Of course next time is november, so who knows what the weather will be like, hoping nice enough for a few pool days!
Love Via Napoli- so glad you got to try it finally!!!
Getting the picture printed took maybe all of 10 minutes. Most of that was looking through the photos to decide which one we wanted, and DS flirting with the CM. We went towards the end of the day, so we never had to wait long. And I don't think very many people know about it to take advantage, so that works in your favor too!
I have heard DVC tours are much more low key and less hard sell, which would be nice. To me, it seems like you would do better to treat potential customers AND current clients with more respect, thus eliminating the hard sell tactics we have seen from the Wyndham reps. I think because we are a young couple and look even younger than we are, they think they can treat us like we are idiots. This isn't the first time we have gotten that feeling, but definitely the first time someone flat out told us they didn't think we understood what we had bought.
If next November is anything like this past November, you should have LOTS of pool weather! It was hot more than anything else, just a couple of chilly mornings that warmed up quickly.
I'd probably have said some "rude" things right back to the salesperson if I were in your situation. I don't have much patience for the hard sell. I just got done buying a new truck and I actually had to just get up and leave a dealership to keep from giving a salesman a piece of my mind.
Probably a good plan to skip that part next time. Your time and that abuse probably wasn't worth $100.
I loved Via Napoli. The service was great, the pizza was great. DW says it is the best pizza she has ever had. I don't know if I can say it is the best I've ever had, but it is pretty darn close.
A nice way to end a rest day in EPCOT. Too bad Paxton was in a bad mood at bed time though. I'm glad he only did that one night.
It was definitely NOT worth $100 to be basically insulted by someone, especially when you are a current client. It is the thing we least look forward to on our trips, but more recently we have taken a lot of quick 2 or 3 night trips so it was easier to decline the update. We have had 1 pleasant experience when we did the update in D.C., but like DH says, she must have been new!
I think the only pizza I have ever had better than Via Napoli was at a place called Matchbox we tried when we were in D.C. recommended by a co-worker who used to live there. But Via Napoli would be a close second!!
Bummer on the pushy guy at your meeting. That was annoying just reading that! Those pizzas look delicious! I love the video of Paxton at the table. Alex already eats pizza
I'm a bad mommy. Glad to hear Paxton loves it now. I mean, who doesn't like pizza?? That stinks about the ghost pictures not being recoverable. We got that one done the last time we went to disney during Halloween. Hope you can get it next time! The land is a great ride! I miss when it was manned by a live cast member. I hate the pre-recorded audio. It's just not the same to me but it's still an ok ride.
Great update as usual! Looking fwd to the next one!
Who doesn't love pizza? I know right! He had his first slice a few weeks ago when my parents and FIL were over helping put his swingset together, and he downed it almost quicker than I could cut it up! He had a slice last night with macaroni & cheese and I felt so bad giving him such crap for dinner, but he has been so picky lately and I just wasn't in the mood to fight! Tonight will be much more nutritious.
Sorry they gave you such a hard time at your timeshare meeting. I'd get pretty upset if someone was rude to me, when I already owned their timeshare!
It looks like you were able to get back on track and had a great dinner!
I've never eaten at Via Napoli, but it sure looks great, I'll have to fit it in sometime. I spent two summers in Italy when I was in college, so I'd like to judge it against my memories of real Italian pizza.
I keep kicking myself for forgetting about the Visa meet and greet on our last trip. I think I'm going to steal your idea, and go multiple times next trip to make up for it!
*Jealous* of your 2 summers in Italy!! I've been wanting to visit since I was in high school. Hopefully one day I can convince DH to take me sometime before we are retired since he keeps calling it a "retirement vacation." No thank you, life is short & I want to see Italy before I die or am too old to handle the walking!!
Definitely go multiple times, since it is worth it just in the free photo alone. Even better if you can have better luck than us and get different characters each time. I felt like even though the photographer tried to rush us the 2nd time around, it was a better character meet experience because they spent more time with DS playing & interacting.
joining in. Your little guy is just the sweetest, the pics keep getting even cuter. Loved his reaction to IASW... it is just such a great ride for young eyes!
Aww, thanks so much!! He definitely LOVED Small World, much to DH's dismay. But he was a trooper and rode multiple times just to make DS happy.
It's funny how "down days" at WDW seem to involve running from here to there the entire day.....we have the exact same problem - "I swear next time we will actually be 'down' our down day!"
Well, my excuse is that this was our first attempt at a down day, so I just didn't know how to do it right!
Hopefully I have learned enough from my mistake this year to remedy it this year, but I guess you just never know what will come up to make your rest day busy!
Humph I thought I replied to this earlier today!!
Oh well - I just wanted to pop in and say that I'm loving your updates. I hate stupid timeshare pitches, and I'm sorry you got stuck in one. They should at least treat their owners with dignity & respect...ridiculous!
Anyway...glad you enjoyed Via Napoli and Living With the Land! I love both of those!! And, love the Santa cookie & milk set - so cute! I'll have to look for that when we go. Can't wait for her 1st Christmas!
Don't remember what else I was going to say. Hope you had a great holiday though and will be looking forward to reading more!
Thanks!
I hate the owner updates. I always think it will be worth it for what they are going to give you. But I can only take so much of "The guys before me didn't have your best interests in mind but I do. and for just $.$$ I can get you back on track and where you should be. What do you mean you don't want to I just think you don't understand what I'm offering you" Gets old and tiring fast.
I think only 1 time the person we sat with actually had good things to say about us and really didn't try to hard sell us on anything. She was nice. Looking back she must have been new
Sad that we have yet to use the pool or actually relax on a down day.
Love T-Rex arms one of my favorite pics from the trip.
Very nerve racking to wake up to your son screaming his head off in the middle of the night. I guess he doesn't like waking up in a strange place. Very heart breaking when nothing you do will console him. Glad that only happened the one night. I don't think I could have handled any more.
I included T-rex arms just for you! And yes, that night was AWFUL!! Maybe he was traumatized by our owner's update experience and having a nightmare about it?
Wow I am so behind on the DIS. Just read your entire TR to date today and really enjoyed it. I am so glad your DS did pretty well at the parks and loved the characters.
Thanks for joining in!!
Thanks for the info! I will definitely check out Dstreet while we are there. eBay has them but they're all $40 or more. I'll definiltely keep checking there and on the
Disney store web site though. Thanks!
Khertz ~ I just read your pregnancy TR and looks like y'all had a great time!! We were there around the same time as y'all looks like! Some time in July. I can't remember exactly when. I was about 16 weeks pregnant and absolutely miserable so I didn't really get any pictures and it makes me sad but we can't really redo it now
We did have a great time on our babymoon trip, despite it being 1000 degrees outside!
We went to D.C. when I was about 15 or 16 weeks, and the heat was unbearable! But luckily I had just recently stopped having the constant nausea that plagued me for the first 12 weeks. I just tired out SO easily, that I didn't get to have the D.C. experience I had hoped for. Luckily, DH is quick with the camera so we still managed to get lots of pictures. But my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of every day and I just couldn't make it past 4 or 5 pm anymore! Just make up for it by taking even MORE pictures of Alex's first trip and you won't worry about that pregnancy trip as much anymore!
