9/24/09 3 Day Wonder - Cruise Meets, and FEs, and Goombays oh my!

[m_kasch]

We have a Kerasotes here in New Lenox now. It is kind of a mess during big movies though, there is only one way to get in and out of the parking lot. We went to see the 5th Harry Potter movie at midnight. Needless to say, 14 (or however many theaters they have) theathers full of people all trying to get out of that one exit at once was NOT good!! I have to figure out a place to go see the 6th one. I am REALLY REALLY looking forward to it (it's less than a month!!) but the end is going to be sad and it's making me sad already!! LOL, I am too obsessed with HP I think!!

I'm off to bed. I swore I would go by 10 tonight...it's 10:40!! I'm so bad at going to bed on time!! But I do pay for that when I wake up at 3:30!!

 

[karentan]

i'm the same mary, i had every intention of going to be early last night, but i was trying to sort out my new phone and i didnt end up going to be til about midnight. i'm off out tonight so the early night isnt going to happen tonight either!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Kelly and I traditionally see a lot of movies before they come out in theaters. Kelly's Dad was Vice President of a theater chain, so she practically grew up in the screening room in her Dad's office. Now, most theaters get their prints of movies delivered to them a few days before they are set to open. Since it is common practice to splice together the film and do a dry run after the theater is closed I often go to Kelly's theater and watch the films with her. It's kind of neat, it's usually a few of the managers and staff, often in their pajamas because this usually happens around 12:45 - 1:00 am . These late night viewings have led to my addiction to Red Bull...since that is the only way I can stay awake and alert to watch movies when I should really be sleeping!

 

[karentan]

we dont go to the theatre as much as i'd like to, its getting really expensive. not sure how much they are over there, but our local cinema is £7.35 each, by the time we get drinks and popcorn we'll quite easily spend about £30.

i'm off down to bournemouth for the weekend after work tomorrow, looking forward to seeing my friend and her baby, he's such a happy little baby. plus she's recently got together with someone we used to work with 8 years ago. so it'll be good to catch up with him again. should be good

 

[jenny105]

I can't wait until Harry Potter either Mary. As you could probably tell from my countdown lol. I'm planning on going to see it at midnight too. I hope I see people dressed in the Hogwart's robes.

I haven't done anything about the trip. It's still on and I'm still going to go ahead and make our ADRs. I don't want to do anything rash. Things aren't the greatest between us right now but we'll see what happens...

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Boy oh boy is it storming here! I work by O'Hare airport and the thunder and lightening here is pretty intense right now. We are joking around that the thunder sounds like dinosaurs stomping. When it is dark and rainy like this I always feel like I would rather be all nice and cozy in my bed.

When I got home from work last night I went into our spare bedroom to add a few new shirts to the pile of vacation clothes that I have been buying when I see a good sale. I glanced over at the 30 gallon storage tub that I have been putting stuff in that I bought for the FE gifts and decided it was time to go through what I had. That led to Bob and I working some more on our FE gifts last night, we managed to put together the bags for the adults for Thursday and Friday. The kids are another story....some of the stuff I bought is too big for the bags, so I have to sit down and rethink what I am going to do with all of their goodies.

The good news is that the gift bags look like they are all going to fit into the box I am planning on shipping to Orlando. If Anthony ends up being our fourth person in the room, I am just going to ship the box to his house and he can bring it when he meets us at the dock. If it turns out that one of Kelly's friends comes with us, I am going to send it to the hotel we are staying at on Wednesday night. I don't want to end up having to take the box on the plane, or try to fit the bags into a suitcase.

Next thing is trying to get my ADRs. I keep reading that people who are staying at DVC properties are having a hard time using the online reservation system because it won't recognize their confirmation numbers, which I hope gets fixed before Monday. Next Friday I get to book my cruise excursions! Yeah!!!! It finally feels like vacation is getting close!

 

[jenny105]

On the TA website, there's a little box to click for DVC Members for the online ADR system. I could test it out on our system to see if it will read the confirmation number. Let me know, Donna.

I have the stuff for the FE in a box in a corner of my room. I need to add more stuff to it before I put the bags together.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Jenny, first off sorry to hear that you and Joe are not getting along so well right now. Hang in there every relationship has it's up and downs, and even then most of the times it is not actually the relationship that is the problem, it's outside stuff...bills, work, other family or friends. Just remember you have friends here if you ever need to vent or need a shoulder to cry on.

I would appreciate it if you could see if my confirmation number works...although I don't check in until the 27th of September, so it may not give you any result since I can't make my ADR's until next Monday. The number is 398784329487. I tried to save the confirmation number on the Walt Disney World website so I could build an itinerary, and it won't save there either. I think the site needs to be more friendly to DVC owners.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jenny105]

Thanks, Donna. I appreciate it. It's just been a tough week with us and we still haven't gotten a chance to really talk about anything. I'm supposed to go to dinner with his family tonight but....I'm on the fence about it. I just don't feel comfortable with it given that we're hardly talking to each other.

I checked your reservation. It didn't work. What's weird is that it will let you make your ADR and click that your a DVC member but it won't let you link it with your DVC reservation.

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Thanks for trying Jenny! At least I know now that I will probably end up having to call in for my ADR, which kind of sucks since I have to wait for the call center to open up. Do you need to have a Disney Reservation to make ADRs now? There have been lots of times before when I stayed with friends in Orlando, or stayed with Kelly when she was at a convention at the Florida Hotel and Conference Center and I made ADRs on the phone and all they asked for was my cell number.

Speaking of conventions at the Florida Hotel and Conference Center.....the convention Kelly usually works at is doing a Twilight Convention while we are on the cruise. I thought Kelly would be mad that she is missing it...but strangely she is ok with it. She tells me that she doesn't want to deal with "THAT KIND OF CRAZY"

 

[jenny105]

You don't need a reservation to make an ADR. You could book them online but you just wouldn't be able to link your reservation to them. Honestly, I don't know what purpose it serves to link the ADRs to your resort reservation. They'll give you a confirmation for the restaurant without it. Oh Disney, I don't get you.

I read Twilight but I am not nuts about it. Have you seen that video on youtube of the girl freaking out over the New Moon trailer? HA!

 

[m_kasch]

The only thing that happens with your reservation in the dining system is that when it is your 90 days, it unlocks the 90 + 10 days. Other than that, if it is not in that window, there is no reason to attach you ressie number to it. I have to make one dining ressie tomorrow, one sunday, and ond monday, since we don't check in to the BLT until Sunday, and I don't think it matters anyways since the system doesn't seem to recognize vacation club numbers.

Donna, I saw that there were storms up there, and that they even closed o'hare for a while. It hasn't been too bad down here, it actually hasn't even rained today. Isn't it funny how the weather can be so different a few miles away?

Does anyone have any plans for the weekend? I have to run 8 miles...ugh!! LOL!! And we are going to MI too, I think. It's SUPPOSED to be nice, but they say that all the time, so we will see!!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Good to know that I can make my ADRs and not link them to my reservation! That way if it still doesn't take the number, maybe I can still do them online.

I am so excited, I just got off the phone with the Hyatt Regency in the Orlando Airport...they were calling because we are going to have a conference there...and in talking to their Director of Events, I told her that I am flying down to Orlando on the 23rd before I go on the Disney Cruise. Then she asked me where I am staying before the cruise, and I told her I was going to use Marriott Points and stay on International Drive...but I am on a wait list. The next thing I know she is asking for my email, and has reserved a two bedroom suite for us for the night...COMPED! I can't believe it! Bob has always wanted to stay at that Hyatt, he thinks it is so cool that it is in the airport. What a way to end a crappy work week!

Now I can go to work at Osco tonight and smile at everyone that annoys me because I get to walk off the plane and into a room! Wooo Hooo!!!

 

[jenny105]

I don't have any plans really. I did enough over the past two days. I didn't get home til 2:30 last night and I'm exhausted. 5pm can't get here soon enough. Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow too, but they got rid of the 7 am shift. I don't have to come in til 9.

 

[m_kasch]

Donna, that's awesome!! We were going to stay at the hyatt with my points from my work travel, but I decided that we can just stay at the Portifino Bay since my work pays for it and Tim's never even been to anything at Universal...probably the only time i'll get him there, LOL!! I do have to remember to cancel that reservation though!!

 

[jenny105]

That's awesome Donna! That hotel looks so cool!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Mary, you get to travel for work too? Do you love it or hate it? I have been at this job 10 years, and in the beginning I traveled once a year...now I am up to 4 - 5 times a year. I love it, it hasn't gotten old for me yet, probably because I have gotten to go to places that I wouldn't go on my own...like Seattle and New Orleans...which I ended up loving both. I was also surprised how much I liked New York. The only places I haven't really liked were Phoenix (there isn't much to do in their downtown area) and San Antonio (I stayed by the Riverwalk, and that got old quick). I did get to go back to Texas and they sent me to Dallas, I liked that better, although they sent me in July and I thought I was going to melt. I wish we did International meetings more often and they would let me go to those...but the "higher ups" go on those, in fact they just went last month to London...and I think they are going to Greece next year.

I have a meeting next week...but it is at the Hyatt next door to the office, LOL...so it's a really short trip, about 100 yards away.

 

[m_kasch]

Donna, I travel once or twice a year. I love it! I agree with you about Phoenix, I thought it was beautiful but pretty boring. I went to Jacksonville in March, that was nice. And september 21 - 24 (luckily I don't have ant sessions the 24). Have a conference at Portifino bay. Its nice to get to be away from the office once in a while. I had a one day thing at the ohare hyatt last year, too!

 

[Lilo's Mom]

Mary, I just noticed that you are staying at BLT! Take lots of pictures, I can't wait to stay there next year. We were on the waiting list for BLT for this trip, but in talking to DVC they convinced me we would be better off sticking to the studio we have booked at Kidani, because the square footage is larger, and there will be four of us in there.

Funny thing is I remembered your name from something else here on the boards, so I did a search of your posts....and I saw that you posted about the GF Tea in December....it looks like we may have had a few days that we were there at the same time!

 

[m_kasch]

Donna, I have heard that the studios are very small at BLT. It will just be me and DSis though, so we should be okay -- especially because it's only one night!! I think there was a lot of availibility before the F&W Fest stats, but not so much after. I will take tons of pics and show you on the cruise for sure!!