Amy's New Start : Comments Welcome!

[toystoryduo]

Sending lots of your way, Amy!!!! Please keep us updated!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I am getting more frustated by the minute. Its been two hours since I heard from her. She knows how anxious I am, dammit this isn't chicken feed. When they have control of my reservation, then they need to be on top of it 24/7.

I checked Disney again a few minutes ago and POR is still coming up available for my dates and its the only mod that is.

If I miss this, yeah, I am going to be bitter and I am going to be done with Dreams Unlimited!

 

[toystoryduo]

Sending more your way. I hope the TA gets back to you soon.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Tracy and Denise, your pixie dust worked! We got Port Orleans Riverside for almost $200 less than Pop Century. When you factor in the frig I now don't have to rent, its even more savings. In the end, its actually even, I lost the gift card I would have had at Pop, but to get this kind of deal is way better. I love the values but clearly if I can get a moderate for the same amount, that is very nice.

I guess I should have been a responsible gal and had this deal applied to a value to save big time but couldn't bring myself to be that thrifty!

 

[eyor44]

on getting the upgrade!



This is exactly why I don't go through a travel agent. I have to be in complete control. I'd be every time I thought of something on a Friday night and wouldn't be able to talk to them until Monday morning. We are renting points from a friend (she's a travel agent) for November and I had a very hard time with that. She understands my hesitation and was very surprised when I contacted her about renting. She has promised to make as many changes as needed to keep me happy. I'm not that bad, but it was sweet of her to show she understood.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Lisa! I have excellent luck with Dreams Unlimited but it can at times get aggravating that you have to wait to talk with them via email. I should add, this agent Tracy was great and prompt but we all know that even two hours by CRO standards can mean the difference between a discount being there and being gone. Since I lost my WL upgrade in June, I was just so wanting this one to work out. We were orginally booked into CSR for this trip, but when Dan and I had to make that unexpected trip out to L.A. for his dad's surgery, then expenses with his death, we had to switch (and oh yeah, that pay cut didn't help either). But it all worked out.

Now I feel bad, that agent probably thinks I am a big PITA because I called Dreams and I know they emailed her to get in touch with me. But its Disney's fault for doing their discounts so stupidly!

All is well that ends well and something finally worked out on the finances end!

 

[toystoryduo]

Woohoo!!!! I'm glad that everything worked out for you, Amy!

 

[eyor44]

I wouldn't worry about it Amy. I'll bet you are one of her EASY clients. When I read on here sometimes how people are constantly changing their ressies.......I feel really sorry for their TAs.


you got an upgrade

 

[goldcupmom]

Glad all the trip hassles worked out! Such a pain when you are waiting & waiting & they never call!

Hope you're getting some of the nice weather we are. Starting to feel like spring.

I can't believe your trip is so close....can I stow away in a suitcase???

Have a great day!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Ladies.

Yesterday was one of those days that just got off kilter early on (as in the night before when I found out about this discount being extended into Easter week) and then I got caught up in Disney planning. My whole trip, with less than three weeks to go got sort of turned upside down (in a good way of course) so I started doing some research on POR. We haven't stayed there since 2005. I had a lot of fun poking around and I can't wait for our trip even more now!

The TA is clearly annoyed with me. After her snotty "I have other things to attend to" email she did finally send me the conf. that she had gotten it changed. So I sent her a nice email saying "thanks, sorry to be a bother" but never heard back. I don't know why I always feel the need to apologize for standing up for myself, I got halfway mad at me for doing that. She owed me an apology that way back on Thursday when this discount got released, my agent didn't email me. One way or the other I was going to get a better deal. Had I stayed with a value, I could have saved about $300, switching to mod cost me around $120 (less when you add in I don't need to rent a frig now). This whole thing is making me rethink future trips. I'll be interested to see what my TA says when she gets back. I have to add the QSDP and hoppers and the water park option onto my my pkg. so hopefully that won't put anybody out. I like my own TA very much and she's been great, but I am disappointed she didn't catch this last week before she left. It was really a fluke I found about that discount, I had pretty much given up they would do this and also just assumed that if they did, my TA would know about it ahead of when they did it. I was on disboards Sunday night and saw on main page under the resort boards that the most recent post had "Easter discount" in it. So I clicked and that's when I found out. With the traffic that board gets, probably 30 seconds later it was off the main page and I would not have ever known. It was meant to be! Oh well, rant over.

I did get on the ball late in the afternoon and went to the gym with dd. She swam and I walked 4.10 miles in just over an hour. So I was pretty happy with that. I had not used a pedometer since I started back up so I had no idea what my pace was. Then I came home and had a healthy dinner. Today I walked and aquasized and that felt good. I am still determined to lose another five pounds by March 26th when we leave!

I printed out the approved snacks for our dining plan, its going to be very challenging for me given that I get two a day, plus two cs meals that include dessert. There is lots of room to be good if I choose to do so, so its my choice to make and my grave to dig if I choose badly! Dd currently has 48 "must have" snacks marked on the list (all sweets) and dh has about that many (all fries, pretzels and candy). I told them they have a total of 20 snacks so they had better start prioritizing!

Lisa: I do change my mind at least once each trip about the resort but I always give ample time to make the changes. I do see people on this board who change their minds 10+ times per trip and have their TA's make their ADR's which I always do myself. She probably got irritated when I called the payment line at Dreams (they do have a live body to take your money lol) and told them to please contact her her to make sure she was on it. I am sorry but 4 hours went by after I told her to book it (we had been emailing up to that point) and I had no idea what was going on.

Tracy: Thanks for all the good wishes, I knew you'd understand my angst!

Julie: It does feel like spring here too. I am trying not to get my hopes up since March is our snowiest month. Lakewood is a ways away for me, but I'd come find you so I could see you face to face. Just let me know when!

 

[toystoryduo]

I love your new ticker, Amy!!!

I'm sorry for all of the stress that you had to go through to get your resort changed. I'm so happy for you that you got the discount and that you were able to move up to POR!

Great job on the food and exercise yesterday!!!!

I was wondering....Do you know if there is any WW info online on the food at WDW?

I hope you have a wonderful day today!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Tracy, I saw that same ticker on the POR FAQ thread and had to get one for myself! I just can't say enough how excited I am to be staying there. Not that I don't love Pop, but I do have to say, I am not feeling nearly as sad now about not getting to stay at SSR and the whole DVC thing in general.

As for the WW points for WW. There is no such thing I know of. What I do is I go to Dottie's site and "price out" the kind of things that are similar to what I'll be eating. For example, I figure a serving of lasagne at Tony's in MK is about the same as a serving of the same thing at Olive Garden. If I am going to Sci Fi, I see what a cheeseburger meal at Denny's will be points wise. I figure I will come in pretty close. And I also take my slider to see what a Mickey Bar or any other packaged thing that has the nutritional value is.

Or I just eat whatever I want and don't worry about it and then come on here and cry my eyes out when I am up five pounds after a WDW vacation!


Yesterday was a struggle. I was hungry a lot, and then for some unknown reason, my friend, who I am doing WW with sent over 8 cupcakes. Homemade cupcakes with frosting. WTH? I have to say, in some ways, I was a bit miffed. But I let the kids have them (ds had a friend over) and then Dan and I split one. I was still hungry and wanting cupcakes at 7:30 last night so I broke down and used some flex points for a bowl of Raisin Bran and I sprinkled a Splenda packet on there to make it sweeter and also had a cup of herbal tea. That seemed to do the trick.

Today is fine with food. I plan to work out later. I am going to take the kids to the rec center at around 5:00 after dd' orthodontist appt. and I figure I can walk then. Ds really wants to work out there more so today seemed like a good day to take him since its right next door to our ortho.

I am not doing so well with making aquasize on Monday and Wed. afternoons. That 1:30 slot is sort of not the best time for me this week. At least I made yesterday with that and will make tomorrow and also got my walks in. Midday workouts are tough to work in sometimes.

 

[eyor44]

Amy
I am so proud of you for working out your food issues yesterday. Despite what you wanted you had something that was much better for you. I'm like you about your friend sending the cupcakes over. I'm sure her intentions were good.

I love your ticker too. It's great. We stayed at POR once and I loved it. So beautiful. I'm glad you were able to get it.

 

[toystoryduo]

Thanks for the WW/ WDW info, Amy! That's a great idea to compare the food from WDW to the food on Dottie's list. I'm not sure if I will count WW points while in WDW or not though. I usually do much better with my eating while at WDW than at home. Plus, I get more exercise there with all of the walking and swimming we do.

I hope you have a nice day today!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Lisa and Tracy. I am sorry I never got to your journals last night.

I was so tired yesterday evening, I took dd to church and then I came home and fell asleep. Luckily Dan was paying attention and went and got her.

Today was aquasize and this time I got 45 minutes of walking in beforehand. I walked 3 miles in that time frame and was so happy. I did pull a muscle in my right, back calf during aquasize. It was so painful I literally had to stop in my tracks. It did get better and I was able to modify my workout and then I got in the hot tub for a few minutes. Its better but I am being very careful. This is the same muscle/leg I pulled awhile back when I was getting out of bed and its been iffy at times ever since. I am going to have to really watch that. No time to get hurt and not be able to work out!

Tomorrow is WW, I am hopeful to have a loss. I have not had a gain (I shouldn't even type this for fear of jinxings myself lol) once this time back and I want to keep being a loser!

I had a big salad with practically no dressing for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast and almonds and a luna bar for my snacks. Tonight I am roasting a chicken with lemon pepper and steaming some brocolli. I am so hungry but I have to reign it in. No time to undo any damage before I get on that scale tomorrow!

 

[eyor44]

Glad you are being careful with the muscles Amy. I pull one of mine every once in a while and it's no fun. Hmmmmmmm... 3 miles in 45 minutes works out to be 15 minute miles. Care to join me for a 1/2 marathon next January? You've got the pace going! That's awesome. Excellant eating by the way. Makes me hungry just reading what you cooked for dinner.

I really hope weigh goes well for you today.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Lisa, this muscle had given me trouble for awhile and it is so painful when I repull it it takes my breath away!

I was down 1.4 today for a total of 11.6. And WW finally fixed their program so that my starting weight was correct which means the system shows my true weight loss and I got my ten pound star (and my five pound too for that matter).

I feel really good about things, I have two weeks to lose 3.4 pounds and I think I can do it. I just have to keep doing what I am doing. And not lose it this weekend, I know today will be a bit of a bust but I have a lot of points to work with. Tomorrow may also have its moments but then again, I am pretty committed right now to being good because I feel so happy about my overal progress and results!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, I'll check journals later, I need to go to Wal Mart before I pick up dd and I am pushing it timewise!

 

[toystoryduo]

Congrats on the weight loss, Amy!!! You are doing a wonderful job!!!

Any special plans this weekend? Hope it's a good one for you!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Thanks Tracy! We are going over to friends' tonight to watch the Nuggets and eat pizza (uh oh) and the rest of the weekend will be spent getting ready for WDW! And church on Sunday. Plenty of time to get stuff done.

I just added the Quick Serve Plan to my reservation. $1279.00 for counter service. Yikes! But with ds' huge teenage boy appetite, I think its our best bet. I also just got so extremely sick of going from ADR to ADR plus its holiday pricing. I think the full serve plan was like $47.99 a day per person and all the buffets had we payed out of pocket were between $4 and $6 extra per person. Insane. So other than Sci Fi, I have now cancelled all ADR's and we can just eat cs and be flexible.

Other than adding park hoppers and the water park option (I'll do that at check in) my trip is now all paid for!

 

[eyor44]

YAY AMY!!!!!!!

How wonderful you got two gold stars!

You can do it, you can make your goal!!!! You are definitly on your way!

I just finished printing out a lot of CS menus from AllEars. I am debating adding CS to mine and want to see if it would really be beneficial or not. I don't think so, but I am going to check any way. One of my debates is the drink mug. The only time I would use it would be each morning and late each evening, (I don't like carrying it to the parks with me) so I can't see paying $15 for it, but when I look at buying two full drinks that I won't drink all of each time, Anyway, I'm going through menus tonight and there is so much more there now than just chicken nuggets and hamburgers. I think you will be just fine.