A Tale of Two Trippies Rolled into One

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yay!!! Thank you!!

First off, can I say that I'm slightly annoyed that everything will change for next year b/c some of the things I was going to ask or things I would be interested in (like YES, the price of your breakfast!) won't matter now b/c it will be a different resort.

I can ask if you thought it was worth it to pay for cabs and not rent a car? I'm looking at around 119$ for transportation round trip to the hotel, then a cab to DTD once, a cab the following day to Magic Kingdom (and possibly a mid-day break cab)...and the price seems to be about what I would pay to just rent a car. Then we could eat away from the resort when we wanted.

I was rolling about the pipe!

Glad you remembered your rings before leaving!

Did the girls even find any youtubers when "stalking"? I read it was so bad they separated most of them for the weekend b/c they couldn't even walk around there were so many people around them??

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Yay!!! Thank you!!

First off, can I say that I'm slightly annoyed that everything will change for next year b/c some of the things I was going to ask or things I would be interested in (like YES, the price of your breakfast!) won't matter now b/c it will be a different resort.

I can ask if you thought it was worth it to pay for cabs and not rent a car? I'm looking at around 119$ for transportation round trip to the hotel, then a cab to DTD once, a cab the following day to Magic Kingdom (and possibly a mid-day break cab)...and the price seems to be about what I would pay to just rent a car. Then we could eat away from the resort when we wanted.

I was rolling about the pipe!

Glad you remembered your rings before leaving!

Did the girls even find any youtubers when "stalking"? I read it was so bad they separated most of them for the weekend b/c they couldn't even walk around there were so many people around them??

No, I didn't think the prices of the cabs were worth it whatsoever! But I certainly don't think I would be able to drive around Orlando by myself. Knowing me I'd end up in a swamp being alligator food. The average price one way ended up being $20, so you are basically adding $40 for the cost of the meal. We would have been better off eating right there, but that's not what we wanted to do. I'm sure you've read reviews of the Marriott, so you already know people are saying it's pricey. Maybe there's something within walking distance, that I'm not sure of. If we do end up going next year, I'll pay you to drive by paying 1/2 of the rental car! Just don't ask me to drive!!

Now I know somewhere there is a picture of Kali with her arm around her new beau "the pipe". I'll have to find it. And yes, the girls did meet you tubers while stalking, but not the really popular ones. They were disappointed by that.

 

[dreamer17555]

Subbing!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Subbing!

welcome!!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Saturday was the first day of the actual convention. We were up and down to breakfast at the Tropicale. Another wonderful breakfast buffet for us. Yummers! After breakfast the girls went to PlayList Live and I went back up to the room to pack my pool bag for an awesome day of being completely lazy! Ahhhhh….During my wonderful pool day I met some really nice ladies from NY who now live in FL and another lady from OH. I was at the pool from 10am until about 2:30pm because by that time I was getting burned. Yeah, remember my picture in post #1? That was the aftermath of my pool day. I did go in the hot tub for a bit, but it wasn’t really that hot. I did go waist-deep into the pool, but that was about it.

Now, my review of Playlist Live 2014. Mind you, I did not have a parent pass and I did not go to the convention center so I do not have firsthand knowledge of how everything went down, but I did get the report from the girls and also from the mothers around the pool who were also less than pleased at what their girls had to say. This was the last time they are having to convention at Caribe Royale, so maybe a bigger venue will help, but I’m not sure that was the actual problem. My opinion is that they oversold tickets. The event was very different this year. They had Tower III completed guarded so that random people don’t stalk the halls. I’m pretty sure most of the guests in Tower III were the YouTube performers. Unless your room key was for Tower III, you were not getting in there. That kind of turned me off……I mean I understand the need for security because some of those fangirls were a bit too much….ok, WAY TOO MUCH!!! Screaming and freaking out all over the place. Really girls? Really? I understand that they love their stars, but c’mon --- these performers ARE JUST PEOPLE!!! I guess I’ve never been too star struck over anyone (ok, maybe Gaston, but that’s a whole other issue). It was estimated attendance this year of 8,000 versus 2,000 of last year. That is quite a bit of difference. All the areas around the hotel were packed! We even had to wait in line to get into the counter service little market in the lobby. WTH?! I had paid for Line Passes to ensure the girls would be able to meet their favorites, but the lines formed so quickly and the organizers were not paying attention to who had Line Passes and who didn’t so the extra $50 for the passes was a total waste of money. That is total baloney to me! One mother I was sitting next to at the pool was furious when her daughter came over and told her that. The mother got up and went “to handle her daughter’s situation”. Ok. Victoria and Kali said they were still having fun but it’s just so different. They have met quite a few Tubers just by walking around but it’s nothing compared to the interaction of last year. A major disappointment for them was not being able to meet Dan & Phil. Apparently their line caused the most problems. A local news station was there and was interviewing the attendees about the disappointment of it all. The tv guys promised to help them meet Dan and Phil, but nothing ever came of that. It’s funny because Victoria tells me later that “I hope you’re not mad, but I did something”. Oh no….what did she do? She thought I would be mad because she was expressing her disappointment to the tv reporters. As if. My only concern would be if she used curse words. I’m actually very proud of her to be able to express her opinion when asked. Here are some random pictures she took from her iphone:





































One cool thing that happened was that when they saw Damon Fizzy again this year, he remembered Victoria from last year. Now, I don’t know if he was just saying that or not, but Victoria’s hair is quite hard to forget! He even reposted a picture of them on his Twitter feed.





She was thrilled. I just love watching Victoria shine when she’s in her element. It’s awesome! She’s the responsible, loving and mature girl I expect from her……

But, does it last……..

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday……

Another 83 degree day and poolside for me!!!! Breakfast this morning was just cereal and milk in the room. Ok, note to self…….don’t bring as much food as you did this trip ---- it didn’t get eaten!!! I had packed an entire carry-on of cereal and snacks and we hardly ate any of it! I swear the ducks ate more of it than we did! At least on this day they ate some cereal. Back to the report.

It was overcast which was a good thing as I had already fried yesterday and really didn’t want another day of that. I did, however, remember to bring my sunscreen this time. It is just so nice to sit outside and be warm. I did not, whatsoever, miss the snow at all!!! The news stated that Maine would be getting more snow on Tuesday into Wednesday ---- they can have it! YUCK!!! It had been such a long, cold, and snowy winter that I was just so ready to leave it all behind.

I got a text in the morning that Erin, my Disboard friend for years, was at the hotel and would meet me by the pool!!! OH YAY!!!! We were supposed to meet up last August, but she had to cancel her trip. I couldn’t wait to meet her. I was so excited when she told me she and her kids would be there. I was sitting on my chair and there they came around the corner!!! I jumped out of my chair and ran to hug her and Coy and True! It was awesome! What I didn’t know at the time was that Victoria and Kali were somewhat next to them and thought I was running to hug them! OOOppps! So, everyone got to meet each other. That was so cool. The meet up didn’t last long and they left to go back to the conference. Again, it was so cool!!! We’ll have to do that again, Erin!





The girls had a break in their schedule so they decided to head to Café Largo to eat some lunch. I had already ordered a burger from the pool bar and was working on that. Sorry girls. After all, they just invited me to come along to pay! Sneaky, aren’t they?

After a bit they were done their scheduled events and came in the pool with me! Awesome! I really do love hanging around with my girl --- when she’s acting like my girl and not some alien from Mars! We didn’t stay in the pool too long as we were heading to Downtown Disney for Crossroads for supper! Yehaaw! I also had to pick up my photopass plus.










Look! It’s the backside of the water!!!!!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

not only a great trip report but also thanks for highlighting that Disney charms are available from Pandora in the USA how exciting!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

not only a great trip report but also thanks for highlighting that Disney charms are available from Pandora in the USA how exciting!!!

Oh, thanks alot Minnie for the compliment and yes, I was excited to get my Mickey charm!!!

 

[Tinker326]

Ann!!! What the heck?!?! You are two pages and several days into updates and I don't even know you have a TR going?

Clearly Karen's stalking skills are much better as she looks to have found you faster than me............

Great updates!

Your days of relaxing look wonderful. Sorry that Playlist live itself was an overcrowded mess! Hopefully that will change for next year!

Renting a car will always be cheaper than multiple taxies. Getting around Orlando is pretty easy.. but then I am used to Chicago driving- so maybe it's all relative!

Well, now I'm here. And caught up. Ready for the rest of the trip. So get to it...........

Hahahahaha!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm a MASTERSTALKER, Nicole, you should know that by now!

I hope they work through some of the issues next year, although crowds won't be one of them since they are going to a bigger venue. I just hope they find a way to use the line passes correctly for those that purchase them. We are trying to adjust our expectations!

So they were done by Sunday afternoon? I know the schedule said there were things going on all day Sunday but I wasn't sure if that was just "filler" type stuff. The meetups were all finished by lunch on Sunday?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

We all got ready and it was time to head to DTD! I was NOT going to pay another taxi fare, (or so I thought --- more later) so we hopped the free shuttle to Epcot, took the Epcot bus to POP and then took a DTD bus from POP. I know, I know, this was the extreme way around, but it got us there, didn’t it? And in time (in fact, a little early) to Crossroads. I really do like this place a lot! Peter even asked if we were going to be eating there.









Dinner was great and we had an awesome server, Rudy, I believe his name was. After dinner we wanted to go shopping for a while but my goodness it was CROWDED. I should have seen this as an omen, but nah…..I also should have seen the dark clouds and spitting rain an omen, but again, nah. Ugh!!! I did end up getting my photopass plus card and the girls stopped at Ghiradelli’s for chocolate. I would have enjoyed shopping more, but the girls (Victoria) wanted to go back to the hotel. She was sad. She was leaving Playlist. I was pissed. I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t be happy for me as we were about to embark on MY portion of the trip. It was all about HER for a couple of days, now it was Mama’s turn! You would have thought she could have shown her appreciation for me taking her to Disney, but no, she remained the pouty little brat for the rest of the trip…..




Try not to look so happy there, Victoria……ugh!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ah! I didn't think about taking the shuttle to a park and then resort to DTD! I was thinking on this b/c the Marriot only has one shuttle at 6:something to DTD.

I'm sorry she was bummed and didn't snap out of it after Playlist. I thought she loved Disney too? Maybe just mixing them didn't work? You would think she would be excited to show Kali?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

The next morning was Monday. I was super, super excited!! We were leaving the Caribe today and moving to POP!!! It’s kind of too bad because now that the fan girls were gone, the place was nice and manageable again. We had our stuff all packed and brought our suitcases down to the Tropicale. We had the breakfast buffet again and then went out to the lobby to catch a taxi to POP!!!

Do you see it??



Do you see it now??



MAMA’S HOME!!! (I hear the angels singing!!!!)

And look!!!

There’s even a POP CENTURY DRIVE!! Omg!

I paid the taxi driver and we got our bags. We then walked into the lobby and HOLY PEOPLE!!! Now, I had done online check-in but that line was just as long as the regular check in line. Are you freaking kidding me?? It reminded me of the lines for security at the airport! Oh and little miss attitude informed me that she was not about to wait in that line. I told her fine and to go sit on those round bench things. Every once in a while I looked over at her and yep, instead of looking at all the cool shadow boxes, she was on her phone. Let me just say I hate that phone! Grrrrr…..

I was maybe 6 or 7 families back, so let’s just say this line was S-L-O-W!!! A CM with a clipboard came along and took my information while I was still in line and came back with our packet --- no room assigned yet as apparently the one they were going to assign to us wasn’t ready. Really folks? Really? I know it’s not their fault and it was only around noontime so I really shouldn’t expect my room to be ready, but it’s always been ready before on our multiple stays. Between that, my irritable child, and my hands hurting from carrying the bags, I was close to tears. Now we all admit that none of us had ever had a breakdown at Disney, right? Finally I was called to the counter and a nice CM named Patrick was the one to help me. I felt soooo bad for him. I was a mess at that time and he was doing his best at trying to find a room that was suitable and ready. He even gave me some flowers ---- I must have looked pitiful, unless they give flowers to everyone…..



He found a room for us in Building 4 (Playdough), 60’s section, 4th floor, room 41 facing the lake. Now that is pretty good, I must admit. It was a very quick walk to Everything Pop and the food court. I liked the location a great deal! Thank God everything is well signed and it was pretty easy to find our way.

And look what was waiting for us….





Kali thought that the Magic Band opening the door was totally cool. She even took a vine of herself doing it over and over and over. Yep, score one for the MB!! Poor Kali. I felt bad for her for the way Victoria was acting. Sometimes Victoria can be so self-centered. It frustrates me to no end!!









Up next……

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Ann!!! What the heck?!?! You are two pages and several days into updates and I don't even know you have a TR going?

Clearly Karen's stalking skills are much better as she looks to have found you faster than me............

Great updates!

Your days of relaxing look wonderful. Sorry that Playlist live itself was an overcrowded mess! Hopefully that will change for next year!

Renting a car will always be cheaper than multiple taxies. Getting around Orlando is pretty easy.. but then I am used to Chicago driving- so maybe it's all relative!

Well, now I'm here. And caught up. Ready for the rest of the trip. So get to it...........

Hahahahaha!!!

Oh hello there Nicole!!! Nice of you to join me!! Like I told Karen, I wasn't going to go "HEY NICOLE COME TO MY TR". I knew you would find it eventually. Besides I had said I wasn't going to do a report so you weren't on the lookout. I'm glad you are here now.....

I'm a MASTERSTALKER, Nicole, you should know that by now!

I hope they work through some of the issues next year, although crowds won't be one of them since they are going to a bigger venue. I just hope they find a way to use the line passes correctly for those that purchase them. We are trying to adjust our expectations!

So they were done by Sunday afternoon? I know the schedule said there were things going on all day Sunday but I wasn't sure if that was just "filler" type stuff. The meetups were all finished by lunch on Sunday?

Yes, MASTERSTALKER definitely describes you!! In fact, you just posted in between my 2 posts --- how you do that is amazing! Yes, the girls were done by Sunday afternoon as they didn't want to do any of the other activities. Their main goal is to meet the people and once they are done that, they are done. There were some meetups after lunch but I guess no one they wanted to see.

Ah! I didn't think about taking the shuttle to a park and then resort to DTD! I was thinking on this b/c the Marriot only has one shuttle at 6:something to DTD.

I'm sorry she was bummed and didn't snap out of it after Playlist. I thought she loved Disney too? Maybe just mixing them didn't work? You would think she would be excited to show Kali?

Yeah, the buses were the LONG way to do it, but we got it done! I thought she loved Disney, too, but I think putting the two together was a bit too much for her to adjust to. And let me just say WE WILL NEVER GO BACK WHEN THEY ARE PREDICTING LEVEL 9 CROWDS AGAIN!!! The lines were freaking insane!!! Like OMG insane!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I was wondering about you when I was reading here on the DIS that spring break made it CRAZYBUSY at WDW that week! I hope at least some FP+ helped to ease the lines for you!

I was actually pretty excited when I found out they were moving Playlist live to February b/c I was afraid to even do one day at WDW during that spring break week!

It looks like you were pretty close to where we were at Pop! Great location! I can't believe on a Monday at noon the lines were so long to check in! Scary. Too cute that Kali was excited about the magicbands! We liked them A LOT! Way more than I thought we would!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Ah! I didn't think about taking the shuttle to a park and then resort to DTD! I was thinking on this b/c the Marriot only has one shuttle at 6:something to DTD.

I'm sorry she was bummed and didn't snap out of it after Playlist. I thought she loved Disney too? Maybe just mixing them didn't work? You would think she would be excited to show Kali?

Ok, I have a question for you.....I have scoured the Marriot website and can't even find that shuttle mentioned. Where did you see that? And didn't you see my offer of paying halfsies on the car rental? That is as long as YOU drive!!1

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ok, I have a question for you.....I have scoured the Marriot website and can't even find that shuttle mentioned. Where did you see that? And didn't you see my offer of paying halfsies on the car rental? That is as long as YOU drive!!1

It was in a really obscure place, I'm not sure I could find it again? I know they said there were schedules each week wherever I read it at.

Yes, I momentarily forgot that I think I'm going to rent a car. It will be far cheaper...BUT...we would have to get a van then because we wouldn't all FIT in a car! It's me and most likely 3 girls. There's a possibility it would just be me and 2 girls, but the third will probably come too. So if you, Vic, and a friend come, there could be possibly 7 of us! How many does a van hold?

 

[Victoriasmom98]

I was wondering about you when I was reading here on the DIS that spring break made it CRAZYBUSY at WDW that week! I hope at least some FP+ helped to ease the lines for you!

I was actually pretty excited when I found out they were moving Playlist live to February b/c I was afraid to even do one day at WDW during that spring break week!

It looks like you were pretty close to where we were at Pop! Great location! I can't believe on a Monday at noon the lines were so long to check in! Scary. Too cute that Kali was excited about the magicbands! We liked them A LOT! Way more than I thought we would!

Yeah, NASTY BUSY! I had heard that one of the days it was at one of the levels of closure! 70 minutes for Haunted Mansion. Who would have ever thought I would need a FP for HM????

I am very glad they moved it to February! Not that I would plan to do Disney again mixed with Playlist, but February works better for us.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

It was in a really obscure place, I'm not sure I could find it again? I know they said there were schedules each week wherever I read it at.

Yes, I momentarily forgot that I think I'm going to rent a car. It will be far cheaper...BUT...we would have to get a van then because we wouldn't all FIT in a car! It's me and most likely 3 girls. There's a possibility it would just be me and 2 girls, but the third will probably come too. So if you, Vic, and a friend come, there could be possibly 7 of us! How many does a van hold?

I'm not sure, but I would think it would be 2 back seats to fit 3 each and then the driver's and co-pilot!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yeah, NASTY BUSY! I had heard that one of the days it was at one of the levels of closure! 70 minutes for Haunted Mansion. Who would have ever thought I would need a FP for HM????

I am very glad they moved it to February! Not that I would plan to do Disney again mixed with Playlist, but February works better for us.

It works a lot better for me too. I saw people complaining to Playlist that it was not on Spring break and how were they supposed to go...I had to quietly hope that it would cut down on the crowds a little. Wishful thinking, I think!