Hi, friends & neighbors...enjoying a warm, sunny and as-always wonderful 5 days at WDW, this time w/a dear friend and her 11-year-old and her 9-year-old (first-time visitors to WDW)...SO cool!
But, Murphy's Law is in full operation!
First: it's jam-packed here! Whodda thunk for 2/3-2/8? Must be some kind of high school dance competition happening here...the place is crawling w/screaming (having a great time) teenaged girls wearing various kinds of personalized dance t-shirts...I love kids of all ages and it makes me smile to see how much fun these hordes of teenagers are having...but man oh man...the decibel level of high school girls screaming voices! A sure sign that I'm getting old, I fear (grin a big grin)...
Next: "WARNING WARNING WARNING!" I got a $200 gift card from Disney as a reward for recommending DVC to a friend, who bought in...what a deception! Turns out the card is pretty much completely worthless...it's been declined every time I tried to use it, even after the nice folks at DVC called Chase It's issued thru Chase Bank) to make it work...since I didn't expect a reward for referring my friends anyway, it's only a little bit of a loss...I had planned to use it this trip, but didn't get it til after the trip was planned & budgeted, so discovering I have to absorb an extra $200 in costs isn't all that big a deal...it was pretty acutely embarrassing the first time the card was declined...took the better part of 90 minutes for the very nice DVC guide to sort it out w/Chase (only it didn't work, as I discoverd when I tried to use it after it was supposedly made to work), and that was infuriating...but hey...I'm at Disney and SSR is wonderful, and my friend and her kids are enchanted...so not all that big a deal...but anyone who has the choice of a gift card or some other form of reward for referral...be aware that the gift cards are the world's biggest rip-off!
Last "burp": I'm in one studio, my friend & her kids are in another...two separate ME reservations, two separate dining plans (but all on my points, so I made all the arrangements)...however, Disney's infamous computers don't seem to be able to deal with this...so far the one time we ate together (i.e., paid at the same time) on the dining plan they couldn't figure out how to charge my single person dining plan for my meal and my friend's 3-person dining plan for her meals ...AND ME delivered her luggage (marked most visibly and accurately w/her villa number) to my room...again, not all that big a deal...my friend and I are perfectly capable of doing the meal plan "together" instead of separately, and it wasn't a big deal to wheel her big suitcase from my villa to hers (she's in the same building, on the same floor, but in a different "wing")...
On the plus side: we got GREAT villas...first building on the walkway to/from Downtown Disney (building one), w/downtown Disney views! Breathtaking and wonderful! Clean and pretty and "perfect!"
People here are happy and altho the parks are stuffed to the gills (T-giving level crowded), people seem so happy to be away from winter and here that it's been pure pleasure even in crowds...we're doing the early morning/fast pass strategy, so the kids are getting on all "their" rides w/acceptable levels of wait...we got ADRs at places we're very happy with (Turf Club last night; Wolfgang Puck Cafe tonight; Garden Grill at the Land/Epcot Tuesday; Chef Mickey's Wednesday; and San Angel at Mexico/Epcot Thursday...all made this morning (except for Turf Club, where we "walked in"--they told us it would be a 45-minute wait, but it actually took only 20 minutes--pretty cool!) We'll do Wishes and Illuminations and the kids think the DTD Lego Store is heaven on earth...
So far, bus service has been terrific (longest wait: 10 minutes--people standing in aisles, but we got seats...one bus ride (last night) we got off at Grandstand and walked to Turf Club and then back to Congress Park because the female teenaged screaming (by about 40 dancers) gave even our 9-year-old a headache! But they were having SO much fun; it was hard not to smile even while their shrill screams assaulted our tired senses! We just got off the bus early to escape the pandemonium!
All in all, it's another very happy time at Disney, despite more "burps & bumps" than we've had in a number of recent trips...
Happy week to all...Dani
But, Murphy's Law is in full operation!
First: it's jam-packed here! Whodda thunk for 2/3-2/8? Must be some kind of high school dance competition happening here...the place is crawling w/screaming (having a great time) teenaged girls wearing various kinds of personalized dance t-shirts...I love kids of all ages and it makes me smile to see how much fun these hordes of teenagers are having...but man oh man...the decibel level of high school girls screaming voices! A sure sign that I'm getting old, I fear (grin a big grin)...
Next: "WARNING WARNING WARNING!" I got a $200 gift card from Disney as a reward for recommending DVC to a friend, who bought in...what a deception! Turns out the card is pretty much completely worthless...it's been declined every time I tried to use it, even after the nice folks at DVC called Chase It's issued thru Chase Bank) to make it work...since I didn't expect a reward for referring my friends anyway, it's only a little bit of a loss...I had planned to use it this trip, but didn't get it til after the trip was planned & budgeted, so discovering I have to absorb an extra $200 in costs isn't all that big a deal...it was pretty acutely embarrassing the first time the card was declined...took the better part of 90 minutes for the very nice DVC guide to sort it out w/Chase (only it didn't work, as I discoverd when I tried to use it after it was supposedly made to work), and that was infuriating...but hey...I'm at Disney and SSR is wonderful, and my friend and her kids are enchanted...so not all that big a deal...but anyone who has the choice of a gift card or some other form of reward for referral...be aware that the gift cards are the world's biggest rip-off!
Last "burp": I'm in one studio, my friend & her kids are in another...two separate ME reservations, two separate dining plans (but all on my points, so I made all the arrangements)...however, Disney's infamous computers don't seem to be able to deal with this...so far the one time we ate together (i.e., paid at the same time) on the dining plan they couldn't figure out how to charge my single person dining plan for my meal and my friend's 3-person dining plan for her meals ...AND ME delivered her luggage (marked most visibly and accurately w/her villa number) to my room...again, not all that big a deal...my friend and I are perfectly capable of doing the meal plan "together" instead of separately, and it wasn't a big deal to wheel her big suitcase from my villa to hers (she's in the same building, on the same floor, but in a different "wing")...
On the plus side: we got GREAT villas...first building on the walkway to/from Downtown Disney (building one), w/downtown Disney views! Breathtaking and wonderful! Clean and pretty and "perfect!"
People here are happy and altho the parks are stuffed to the gills (T-giving level crowded), people seem so happy to be away from winter and here that it's been pure pleasure even in crowds...we're doing the early morning/fast pass strategy, so the kids are getting on all "their" rides w/acceptable levels of wait...we got ADRs at places we're very happy with (Turf Club last night; Wolfgang Puck Cafe tonight; Garden Grill at the Land/Epcot Tuesday; Chef Mickey's Wednesday; and San Angel at Mexico/Epcot Thursday...all made this morning (except for Turf Club, where we "walked in"--they told us it would be a 45-minute wait, but it actually took only 20 minutes--pretty cool!) We'll do Wishes and Illuminations and the kids think the DTD Lego Store is heaven on earth...
So far, bus service has been terrific (longest wait: 10 minutes--people standing in aisles, but we got seats...one bus ride (last night) we got off at Grandstand and walked to Turf Club and then back to Congress Park because the female teenaged screaming (by about 40 dancers) gave even our 9-year-old a headache! But they were having SO much fun; it was hard not to smile even while their shrill screams assaulted our tired senses! We just got off the bus early to escape the pandemonium!
All in all, it's another very happy time at Disney, despite more "burps & bumps" than we've had in a number of recent trips...
Happy week to all...Dani
Thanks for reporting on the crowds. See if you can find out what group/competition is going on. I was thinkinf og booking first week in Feb. next year....though it sounds like the last week in January is far better in terms of crowds.
)
