8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC Part 9

[Verandah Man]

Yeah but are you even buying a ticket? Or is this just an empty promise?

JR was being sneaky, he said that because we CURRENTLY don't have a website for this cruise.....................

 

[captaincrash]

OMG (where's that darn smilie)

I can't believe you got the Westin for that price. Amazing.
Maybe I'll come crash your room....hehe

Yeah,

I was chuckling for quite a while over that deal. But - this kind of savings comes around about 10-15% of the time for us when using Hotwire. It does pay to book at the "right" moment though. I could not imagine WHY the St Francis would relase any rooms for so little - especially considering we were gonna be in town precisely when they had a big convention of general surgeons being there - which is indirectly why we are there. One of our siblings is meeting us in SF as he is speaking / presenting at the thing - so we go as an excuse to hit Scomas', Macy's west coast flagship, and Chinatown for DIm Sum.

And I have to confess... unlike the photos above... we don't do SCOMA's for lobster as pictured... we do the lazy mans' ciopionio (misspelled). As we get far better deals buying lobseters at the local chinese supermarkets in LA. This lobster was a 5 pounder we got for just over $30... and the market COOKED it for us too! This thing looks huge with my spouse holdin' it!

Notice how their pricing programmer misspelled or cut off the "E" in Maine. <chuckles>​

 

[kab407]

I would say it depends on the season...

Actually, "Winning The Lottery" could mean a $5, $20 for matching a few numbers. I think that for a $20 payout, Chartering the Magic is a little much... maybe if she hits the Jackpot.....

I have my own tickets and I'm also in the office pool. My dream come true would be the office pool winning it. There would be 10 key people in my building who would be retired by Friday. Myself included. "Hello DCL, I'd like to book a cabin on the Magic for March 10, 17, 24......."

 

[dahuffy]

Ok, this may the first time in recorded history this many people have been anxious to book a HOWARD JOHNSON's 16 months in advance.

 

[kab407]

Crash, you are evil. It's 3:15 on the East Coast. I am doing all that I can to avoid the candy machine. What do you post? FOOD!!!!
mmmmmm dim sum
mmmmmm lobster
mmmmmmmm Scomas !!!!!

I miss working out on the West Coast.

 

[Downrivermama]

According to the Mega Millions site it's $370 Milliion. I've got a couple of computer generated tkts and I'll have to check to see if my regular numbers are still good. If I hit the jackpot, free t-shirts for everyone! Black & White. Of course if I hit for anly a couple of bucks - that will go into my TPC vacation fund.

 

[yargrnhoj]

Crash, you are evil. It's 3:15 on the East Coast. I am doing all that I can to avoid the candy machine. What do you post? FOOD!!!!
mmmmmm dim sum
mmmmmm lobster
mmmmmmmm Scomas !!!!!

I miss working out on the West Coast.

I am surprised he didn't post this:

A chocolate Dalek.

 

[dahuffy]

Just called HoJo's and reserved 1 King,non-smoking,standard view room....$67.20+tax. Very nice young lady! After I booked,she asked if this was per chance a Pre-Cruise stay. I said yes and was told that I would receive a 20% discount. I don't care what the view is, as long as the room is clean.

 

[captaincrash]

Thanks Captain you have really helped me with all the info you gave me. I was wondering about the car as I have never been to CA and I would like to see the area.

Driving can be an interesting experience in LA. Depending on how you manage (or not) your plans. We have some 12-15 million people spread out here with almost nothing going vertical (few high rises). And no effective mass transit system to speak of. So, driving is sort of central to the culture out here. Navigating the freeways can seem unusual to some folks not accustomed to our scale of traffic. You cna be driving at 3AM and hit a traffic jam... and I would always turn to my spouse and quip ..." only in LA would you find something like this on a FIVE LANE freeway at 3AM!". Seriously though, it is not that bad here all the time. Just that it DOES happen from time to time. Check out this link to a live map of the LA freeway network with speed and accident updating.... http://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?Region=Greater+Los+Angeles

So - renting a car opens the door to endless possibilities within our region. I don't know if you can imagine properly what is within a 100 mile radius of Anaheim. You have beaches, skiing, most of the SoCal amusement parks, dozens of world renown museums, and points of unusual merit plus 10s of 1000s of restuarants.

I would be very happy to narrow your list on points of interest or dining recommendations/ideas. Plus a few notions that may strike you as slightly unusual but OK for SoCal. Like going to the Pantry at the crack of dawn or late nite as a late nite iconic dining experience. Along with dozens of other "iconic" late nite ideas/adventures to engage in. Shoot... I might even drive out with one of my kids to MEET you at one of these iconic dining spots - depending on my schedule of course.

At any rate... a car should definatly be in the cards for LA. Unless you KNOW all you want is to visit Disneyland/CA for the days you'll be here.

 

[Verandah Man]

Whatever???

 

[got2travel]

JR was being sneaky, he said that because we CURRENTLY don't have a website for this cruise.....................

geez that one flew right over my head....but I knew he was trying to pull something

 

[captaincrash]

Crash, you are evil. It's 3:15 on the East Coast. I am doing all that I can to avoid the candy machine. What do you post? FOOD!!!!
mmmmmm dim sum
mmmmmm lobster
mmmmmmmm Scomas !!!!!

I miss working out on the West Coast.

As Jessica Rabbit sez about herself....

I'm NOT BAD (or Evil)....

Just mischievous...

<chuckles>​

 

[lbgraves]

Groups affiliated with any website not permitted to be posted on the DIS boards are also not permitted to be posted on the DIS.

Thank you.

 

[sk8ingmom]

Got my DIS deal at HoJos this mornin'. Has anyone PM'd Lisa with the rate info? I'm sure she will want to add it to the first post & I haven't seen her around today, so I'm not sure when she will ketchup to it. Having said that, I also hope she doesn't log in to 200 PMs asking her to add it to the first post! ETA: OOPS - there she is, right above me Hi Lisa!

We willl most likely stick with HoJos since we will only have 1 day in the park. I'm not worried about transportation yet. If the DIS bus thing doesn't happen, I would guess that there are a few rental car places that have shuttle service to the port. We've never used DCL transfers in FL. It has always been less than 1/2 the price to rent a car for a few hours to get from MCO to PC, PC to WDW, etc., and it is always much quicker than the DCL bus.

Just to add to Crash's 'get out and explore' message. I highly recommend the San Diego Wild Animal Park http://sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html. It is really located about 1/2 way between SD & LA & is one of my favorite tourist attractions ever. It is also "notazoo"! We lived in San Diego for 3 years and spent lots of time exploring SoCal. This is my recommendation for a family don't miss.

Disney Ice in Anaheim is also a beautiful rink...but I guess I'm the only one who thinks rinks are tourist attractions!

 

[dahuffy]

Trying to figure out a way to claim part of this trip as a "Business Expence" you wouldn't happen to know of any model train/hobby shops in the Anaheim area would ya?

 

[lbgraves]

I think that's right. Andy should know, if he checks back after he thaws out.

I wonder if there's a way to let the hotel know that we are a DIFFERENT group....I guess we just say "no, that's not us" ???

DindlesPA was going to call today about arranging a block of rooms for the DIS group. She should have the information tonight.

 

[lbgraves]

Just called HoJos in Anaheim. Yep, there is another cruise group going there at the same time, not Disney though. I asked about maybe getting a group discount, but not at these rates at this time. Seems like with all of the DIS cruisers showing up on the west coast for a change that HoJos motivation for a discount is smaller. It would also involve all of us arriving and departing on the same dates.

I got the same rates as you guys have previously posted. Don't forget to ask about AARP, senior, government or military rates. It will save an additional 5% off. So, we booked 8/14-8/17, premium view (DL) for $94.40+ tax per night with a military discount.

PS
If you call, tell the nice young man at the front desk NOT TO TRANSFER YOU TO CENTRAL RESSIES!!! And the lovely lady also told me that she's received about 12 calls this morning from DIS folks.

Thanks for calling them for us.

 

[sk8ingmom]

Groups affiliated with any website not permitted to be posted on the DIS boards is also not permitted to be posted on the DIS.

Thank you.

I'm not following, and I don't really need to...

But, if this is in reference to the HoJos deal, when I called this morning, I mentioned the DIS & they gave me the discount. If HoJos is lumping us all together (both groups) into some pre-cruise discount by whatever name in their internal system, then that is HoJos thing. At this point they know about DIS and are extending a discount to us.

Like I said, I'm not sure I follow, but if you want to add to the first post that we have a "DIS group rate" for HoJos, IMO that is accurate.

If you meant something else, please disregard my ramblings. . .

And here, Lisa. Here is a flower for you . And a fireman . Firemen are good, I prefer sailors personally, but what girl can turn down a good fireman when offered?

 

[micmse2003]

Hi Folks - I just called HoJo also. I talked to a very nice lady (I think "Jennifer" - but remember what I said about being bad at remembering names? ) ****************" - I explained that no, I was from a different group from a different website - the DIS Board (she asked me to spell it) and then she asked if she could put me on hold for a couple minutes.

When she got back she said she had just discussed this with her manager and since we are all going on the same cruise that they are going to treat us as one big combined group. She then gave me the rates of $71.20 for the standard 2 double-bed room or $79.20 for the 2 queen-bed room with DL view!!! (Prices before taxes) I booked the DL view for 2 ngihts (arriving Friday, leaving Sunday)

Just wanted to let you all know so you can try for the lower rate too.

It's almost as good as

pdarrah (Pamela)

I investigated on the internet yesterday and found the OTHER site for DCL. They negotiated the discount!!!

Good for you​

We all are going to be on the same boat. What is the difference!!

Now does anyone have the Phone number ?????

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks for watching my back. How about we say this...anyone who is on the manifest as of 11 this morning is included...

Sounds good to me!