Compromise is a Disney word: Taking one for the team over Thanksgiving 2016* August PTR link! 5/28

[ariane37]

I am so glad to read your reviews and realize you can have fun even when really crowded. We have been at Easter time and it was busy. Any pointers or tips about Thanksgiving time let me know. Thanks!

We LOVE going at Thanksgiving! Really the only tips I have are the normal ones but they apply a bit more during Thanksgiving because of the crowds: RD is very important and don't try to eat at QS during peak meal times lol! I've wanted to try Easter or the kids spring break sometime, but our trip a few days ago was basically in the middle of prime spring break time and it was CRAZY crowded! Wait times were LONGER than at Thanksgiving

Don't sports just get in the way of everything!!? But good that Ricky has something he loves to do.

They do but yes, I'm very glad he's found something he loves and I love watching him play. Now he's talking about possibly trying out for football in the fall though which would mean we're tied to sports crap Aug. through early March. Ugh!!

I hope you have an amazing trip!! I can't wait to hear all about it, as well as the Universal trip, and everything else you've got coming up!

We had a really good trip I'm pretty busy with TA stuff and PTA stuff this week but I'm hoping to get my Uni trip added to this over the weekend as well as start a dining report for our recent trip.

I have to ask where you feel like home is - I'm going to guess WL. While I love BCV, BLT feels like home for me.

Yup, WL Our room location wasn't as ideal as our last stay but it didn't matter; I love the lodge. As excited as I am to try BC club level in May there's part of me that's sad we won't be returning to WL again...............so I understand your love for BLT!

hahaha you're too funny! I just requested to follow you... now that pressures on to follow me back! haha! Yes definitely have Ricky show you!

Um.....yeah, haven't gotten around to asking Ricky yet I promise along with getting my Universal TR and dining reports going, I'll accept you and follow you back over the weekend AND get Ricky to show me how the hell Instagram works!

she said her dance teacher made the whole class APPLAUD her for doing so well, she knew every dance and had no problems!

That's great! It's also really good that she has so much support from her instructor and classmates I hope she's feeling stronger with each practice. Ricky starts scrimmaging for his spring AAU team on Monday but he has until April 21st for the games to start, so he gets to kind of slowly ease into it.

I'd love to try another dessert party in the future, but that cost...ugh

Yeah, I don't think we'll be doing another one for awhile. I just got excited that there was a holiday themed one

I'm definitely looking forward to Beach Club again myself!

Like I mentioned above I'm sad we won't be returning to WL again even though we just stayed there, but I'm excited to try CL at Beach Club!

Have a great trip. I look forward to reading along on your next adventure.

Our trip was lots of fun with perfect weather Hoping to start a dining report this weekend!

Oh no, no Thanksgiving trip this year???? Maybe you should just go a few weeks earlier, like maybe the same time as your favorite diser

Who knows, you might be graced with our presence Seriously I wish we could, but Ricky will be in full training mode for basketball. I have no idea when our next trip after May will be or if we're renewing our AP's when they expire in August, but the way Steve is he could decide in mid Oct. he NEEDS to get away in Nov......................

Hope you and Steve are having a blast and drinking lots for me

Ah, with those unlimited mimosas at the Wave I drank enough for all my Dis friends You must get back there!

Kathy says hi too

Aw, tell her I said hello

 

[buzzrelly]

Great final wrap up! I am probably too late to tell you to have a great trip, since you're probably in the middle of it already! Can't wait to read more about your Universal training experience and as always, looking forward to more of your PTRs

 

[ariane37]

Great final wrap up! I am probably too late to tell you to have a great trip, since you're probably in the middle of it already! Can't wait to read more about your Universal training experience and as always, looking forward to more of your PTRs

Thanks! We got back really really late Tues. night and we did have a great time Now the countdown is on for our May trip!

 

[ariane37]

Hi guys! We've been back a few days now from our latest quickie adults only trip and we had a great few days down there, staying at my favorite resort (WL) and hanging out at Flower and Garden. I'm going to get my dining report going soon, but for now I'll go ahead and start my TR from waaaaaaaay back in Feb. when I went to Universal for a travel agent training! I'm going to do my best to remember details and while I did take quite a few pictures, I didn't take them the way I would for a normal TR so they might not be as exciting. I hope you guys still find it interesting

How Did I Get Here?
​

So, how did it come to be that I returned from Orlando in late Nov., a few weeks later had a trip planned to go back to Disney in May, and then ended up BACK in Orlando in both Feb. and March? If you remember from earlier in this TR I mentioned that on Jan. 2nd, after we'd booked our May trip (in Dec.), Steve texted me that he couldn't wait for May for a vacation and I should check availability for Feb. and March in Disney. I did, and I did that very day lol, but we didn't book right then. A couple days later on Jan. 5th I got an email from my agency boss that Universal was having a TA training Feb. 6-9th and she could send 3 agents. Hmmm...... I was somewhat familiar with Universal but hey, more training couldn't hurt right? Since at this point it looked like we were NOT going in Feb. or March to WDW, Steve and I agreed I'd try to go and I put my name in the ring for the training. I also found out that it was pretty unlikely I'd go as my boss was giving preference to long time agents, which I guess was only fair. I checked flights anyway just in case, saw prices were good, and crossed my fingers.
Fast forward if you will to January 18th. No word yet on who was going to the training and flight prices had increased to the point that we decided even if I was chosen, I'd end up saying I could no longer go. I mean really, now you're talking leaving in less than 3 weeks but still not having a definite answer. Therefore, we booked our March trip that just passed to Disney!

Then guess what I got later that night??​

An email from my boss saying I was in! Whoo-hoo!! I was so excited!! But wait............now I was going down to Florida in March and May. And flights were up in Feb. Except I found a decent priced one out of an airport a little bit farther away. And I really didn't want to back out. I knew Steve wasn't thrilled to be somewhat financing another trip but the decision was made that I'd go. Both of the other agents that were selected contacted me which was cool since I'd never met anyone from my agency. The first one to message me, Pam, was from NC and asked if I wanted to room together. We didn't know if they'd automatically put agents from the same agency together or not, so I said sure and she emailed them with the request.
Then the 2nd selected agent, Cathy, messaged me and it ends up she lives less than an hour from me! Not only that but we were on the same flight down. I told her Pam and I were rooming together which kind of sucked; sounds silly but I thought maybe we'd have more in common being from NY. I know, stupid. But I was getting kind of nervous about rooming with someone I didn't know. I could have had my own room if I was willing to pay for it but in the end I said what the hell, I'll take my chances. If my roommate smelled horrible or had some disgusting midnight habit, I'd get my own room once I was down there!
OK this is getting too wordy, sorry! I'll get to some pictures in the next post. We got our itinerary about 3 days before we left and OMG it sounded incredible! Cathy and I also started texting. Our flight was leaving at the insane hour of 5:45am and it was leaving from Newark, so we decided Steve would drive me to her house and her dad would bring us to the airport. She's closer to NJ. We pretty much never fly out of Newark but it's where I found a good price; I was coming in to the airport that's only 15 minutes from us on the way home though. So in the wee hours of the morning on Feb. 6th, Steve took me and my one carry on bag with NO Disney clothes in it whatsoever since we weren't allowed to wear them to the training, and drove me to a strangers house, put me in the car with her and her dad, and I was off to my first TA training

UP NEXT: UNIVERSAL TRAINING, DAY 1, PART 1

​

 

[thumper*]

Ya so glad you found the time to write this TR. Hope you and Steve had a nice relaxing March trip.

 

[ArielSRL]

Great start! Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Jfsag123]

You are braver than I! Love the way you just jumped in.

 

[buzzrelly]

Welcome back! I'm excited to read more about your Universal Training, but NO DISNEY CLOTHES??? Were you basically just walking around NAKED??

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Talk about being out of your comfort zone! But I know you survived. So, that is good.

Can't wait to see pics of the training. And Volcano Bay. We haven't been to any of the water parks, I want the girls to both be fully able to swim on there own. But we are almost there!

 

[iheartbelle87]

we had a great few days down there, staying at my favorite resort (WL) and hanging out at Flower and Garden

So glad you hd a great time <3 (I knew you would!) can't wait to hear about it!

Then the 2nd selected agent, Cathy, messaged me and it ends up she lives less than an hour from me! Not only that but we were on the same flight down. I told her Pam and I were rooming together which kind of sucked; sounds silly but I thought maybe we'd have more in common being from NY. I know, stupid. But I was getting kind of nervous about rooming with someone I didn't know.

I completely understand the way you were feeling about committing to rooming to someone else.... you're better than I am... the idea of staying in a hotel room alone for three nights sounds amazing to me hahaha!! (and I don't even have children! lol!!)

 

[Jenny Sanders]

So excited to have more to read! Your TR's make me smile!

 

[cinderaimee]

Aww I just caught up on your last day! The last day in the parks is so bittersweet. I just had to laugh at this:

However he wasn't feeling the approx. 10 minute wait so he found a seat by a planter and proceeded to play in the dirt with a stick while I waited:

When we were at Epcot waiting to meet Aurora, DS2 didn't want to stand in line, so I followed him round while he collected leaves and lined them up on a wall. I was like, we travelled all this way, spent all this money, and you are playing with leaves?!?

 

[ariane37]

Universal Training Day 1, Part 1
Getting to Know You/Cabana Bay Beach Resort
​

On Feb. 6th, I left for my first solo trip to Florida. However Disney wasn't my destination: Universal was! I was very excited to be going on my 1st training as a travel agent. Our itinerary looked incredible but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a bit nervous, too. I'd messaged with my fellow Marvelous Mouse agents who would be joining me, but I'd know nobody else on the training. And unlike Disney grounds where I felt comfortable and familiar, Universal was pretty foreign to me. The 4 of us went in 2015 but I'd never stayed on grounds.

Cathy and I just made our 5:45am JetBlue flight from Newark to MCO. We only had a few minutes to chat as we ran through the airport, waited on line through security and then immediately boarded the plane. Since it was just dumb luck we were on the same flight we weren't sitting together which was fine since I didn't want to feel pressured to talk to someone I barely knew, and I was able to sleep! Then we sat on the runway for almost 30 minutes before taking off-I rather sit in the airport! Once we landed we needed to find the fairly new Universal transportation check in desk, similar to the ME check in location. Universal now offers transportation from MCO to their resorts but for a fee (it was free for us ).

After more time than it should have taken 2 fairly regular MCO-goers, we found the location. It's on the same floor as ME but the opposite end.



As you can see, the Uni desk is NOT nearly as busy as ME normally is. I think it's due to 1. being new and not as known about and 2. the fact that they charge. Nevertheless it was very easy to check in and we were given a packet of info on our resort that also included park info, ticket info, park hours, and the number to call if we needed to change our transportation pick up time for our return flight. Right away we were shown outside to our "bus", which was a small 10 passenger van. There was one woman on it already. After we got on we pulled away and we thought we were headed to our resort but instead we went around to the other side of the airport and picked up 2 more people. Then we went back to where we got on and picked up another rider..........and THEN we were on our way!
We were instructed to be at our resort to begin training by 1pm and lunch was on our own; we arrived at our home for the next 3 nights around 10:30 am-Universals Cabana Bay Beach Resort!
This resort is pretty cool! It's has a retro 50's theme/vibe that I really liked. It's one of their "value" resorts and other than a couple nights in a LM room a few years ago, we haven't stayed at any Disney values so I wasn't sure what I'd think. After getting a look at the lobby though, I was feeling good. Check in was fine and I was indeed in a room with Pam while Cathy was with some random person since there were only 3 of us from our agency. All training attendees were in family suites which technically sleep 6. Pam was still about an hour or so away, driving up from her moms a bit south in Fla. so Cathy and I went to take a look at the grounds and our rooms. First we found hers which was on the 3rd floor and overlooked the pool. Then I went in search of mine. Mine was pretty much as far out as could be from anything and everything except a parking lot-the back end of the farthest building lol. It still wasn't horrible and hey, the price was right! I must say as dumb as it sounds I was glad to have arrived before my roommate.
Some pictures of the Cabana Bay Beach family suite:



Couch opens into a bed; besides this TV there is one on the wall between the beds:


Another shot of the living area from a different angle:


kitchenette area:



I do have pictures of the bathroom but don't want to bore you. It was a nice setup, especially for 2 strangers sharing a room There was a sink in with the tub/shower, a toilet across the way from the shower, then another sink in the "hall" area in between. It made it very easy to get ready in the mornings.
I used this time to call Steve and after about 20 minutes or so, Cathy and I met back up and walked the grounds a bit. One of the other buildings by one of the pools:



So 50's, right?
Bowling alley on the upper floor of the lobby!! We didn't play at all but I think it's great to have, especially if you stay here with kids. Something to do besides swim if the weather is yucky or just for downtime:



From up on the floor with the bowling alley we had a good view of their new water park (opening May 25th ) Volcano Bay. Also FYI there will be water flowing from the volcano during the day that will turn red at night so it looks like lava:



It was obviously still being worked on in early Feb. Also Cabana Bay is building 2 new tower buildings that will have bigger rooms, which we also got a sort of decent view of from up there; it's the round thing in the picture with the volcano. The other one is on the other end of the resort, so to your left looking at that picture. Some of the rooms in this tower above will have an awesome view of the volcano.
Next we went back to the lobby building to check out the food court and get some breakfast, but first we wanted to check in for our training! There were a couple tables set up at the end of the lobby closest to the check in counters with signs letting us know that was where anyone arriving for the TA training was supposed to go. We gave our names and were given our totally cool credentials:



I felt so important I don't have any other pictures but this was on a Minion lanyard. There were 60 agents attending the training and we were broken down into 6 groups of 10, and each group had a Universal character "name". So we were the Minions; there was a Dr. Seuss group, a superhero group, Harry Potter of course, Shrek, and I honestly can't remember the last one. Each group had a team leader who ended up being our agency contact; ours was Barry.
Pam was getting closer but hadn't arrived yet and Cathy and I had only eaten plane snacks so we next went to the Cabana Bay food court, which is called the Bayliner Diner. As I mentioned earlier breakfast/lunch this day was on our own and we knew we wouldn't be eating until dinnertime. First we took some shots around the food ordering area. The menu was pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary. Along the lines of most Disney food court breakfast offering but in my opinion, there were less choices here. You can also pick up your refillable mug here and just like at Disney, you can't fill them at the parks.
I did take some food pics on the trip but since Cathy and I were still getting to know each other I didn't want her to think I was weird - yet - so I held off. She got something like a bacon,egg, and cheese croissant which she said was fine; I had a breakfast platter with eggs, bacon, hash browns and a biscuit. It was all fine.
Cathy and I were actually getting along REALLY well. She's about 4 years younger than me and has 4 boys ranging in age from 21-6. I knew we'd be ok when she let a couple curses fly I could be myself! I was really wishing we were rooming together. While we were eating Pam showed up! I only have one picture of the 3 of us for later. Pam is older than me, a bit on the brash side which again, fits in fine with me. But at first I didn't think I'd get comfortable with her and since Cathy and I had hit it off so well if felt like Pam was getting between 2 good friends. Kind of cool in a way but not since I wasn't rooming with Cathy!
After we finished eating we went back up so Pam could see the bowling alley and I took some pictures of the food court seating area from above:



Not busy at all! The lobby was when we first got there in the morning and so was the pool area because for early Feb. it was pretty warm.
There were two screens on the walls in the food court that showed neat 50's commercials, along the lines of Sci Fi drive in. Some were hysterical!



We then separated while Cathy went to her room for a bit and I took Pam to ours to drop her luggage off. It was getting closer and closer to 1:00 when our training was actually going to begin so by about 12:40 we were hanging in the lobby and other agents for the training were drifting in. I was feeling more and more comfortable with both Cathy and Pam, and looking forward to what was coming next!

UP NEXT: UNIVERSAL DAY 1 PART 2: TRAINING BEGINS!

 

[ariane37]

Ya so glad you found the time to write this TR. Hope you and Steve had a nice relaxing March trip.

Hi and thanks! We did have a very nice trip I'm already anxious to go back in May!

Great start! Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks Renee

You are braver than I! Love the way you just jumped in.

That's exactly how I figured it, I either totally commit and deal with whatever comes, or don't do it. And if it sucked I wouldn't do it again lol!

I'm excited to read more about your Universal Training, but NO DISNEY CLOTHES??? Were you basically just walking around NAKED??

Oh didn't I mention that? This was a TA NAKED training!!! LOL we got a paper with all these rules on it and one was about not wearing clothing with characters not related to Universal on them. A direct shot at Disney maybe I even had to buy a new purse because the 3 I have are all Disney! Except for a couple older ones that are really really big and I didn't want to bring one that size. AND, three of my 4 front zip sweatjackets are Disney so I had to bring my plain old hot pink Orlando one that I bought at the airport only b/c I was cold once.

Talk about being out of your comfort zone! But I know you survived. So, that is good.

Totally out of my comfort zone! I was very glad I did it though.

Can't wait to see pics of the training. And Volcano Bay. We haven't been to any of the water parks, I want the girls to both be fully able to swim on there own. But we are almost there!

The pictures get more exciting as we go along Unfortunately Volcano Bay wasn't part of the tour since they were actively working on it but I understand you not bringing the girls to water parks yet. We've never even been to either of the Disney ones!

I completely understand the way you were feeling about committing to rooming to someone else.... you're better than I am.

Steve travels often for work and always pays to stay in his own room. The company will pay if you room with someone but he'll have none of that! I figured what the hell, I'll give it a try But it was funny because pretty much every one of my friends was like, "you're rooming with a STRANGER???"

the idea of staying in a hotel room alone for three nights sounds amazing to me hahaha!! (and I don't even have children! lol!!)

Well I got to do that too, and it was

So excited to have more to read! Your TR's make me smile!

Aw, thanks And I hope your most recent trip was great!

The last day in the parks is so bittersweet

It is. It's always better when I have another trip planned though, so when we left our last park this past Tues. it wasn't quite so sad

When we were at Epcot waiting to meet Aurora, DS2 didn't want to stand in line, so I followed him round while he collected leaves and lined them up on a wall. I was like, we travelled all this way, spent all this money, and you are playing with leaves?!?

Love it! Love the little innocent moments!

 

[MeghanEmily]

So excited for these Universal updates!! I think that's the coolest thing about the "lava" at Volcano Bay! We had a great time at Universal on our last trip, and I figure before too long Nathan will want to check out Volcano Bay. I'm not really waterpark people, but he totally is.

Seems like you were off to a good start getting along with the people who were basically strangers. Hopefully that continues as you report more about rooming with Pam. My only experience rooming with a stranger was on a little Italian language course in Rome where I roomed with a girl from somewhere in South America...Venezuela maybe? We had to share a tiny bedroom and she was an absolute nightmare. So I would have been nervous in your shoes!

 

[ArielSRL]

I left for my first solo trip to Florida.

Wahoo!

Universal was pretty foreign to me.

Would be to me, as well.

The 4 of us went in 2015 but I'd never stayed on grounds.

I haven't been since I was like 8 and it was in Cali!

Once we landed we needed to find the fairly new Universal transportation check in desk, similar to the ME check in location. Universal now offers transportation from MCO to their resorts but for a fee (it was free for us ).

What's up with the fee business? Glad you didn't have to pay it!

After we got on we pulled away and we thought we were headed to our resort but instead we went around to the other side of the airport and picked up 2 more people. Then we went back to where we got on and picked up another rider..........and THEN we were on our way!

Wait...what? Crazy, huh?

Some pictures of the Cabana Bay Beach family suite:

Nice!

Bowling alley on the upper floor of the lobby!!

Fun!

Also FYI there will be water flowing from the volcano during the day that will turn red at night so it looks like lava:

Now that sounds cool.

We gave our names and were given our totally cool credentials:

Yay!

Cathy and I were actually getting along REALLY well. She's about 4 years younger than me and has 4 boys ranging in age from 21-6.

Glad to hear it! Another mom with 4 boys!

I knew we'd be ok when she let a couple curses fly

After we finished eating we went back up so Pam could see the bowling alley and I took some pictures of the food court seating area from above:

I really like the look and vibe of the resort.

I was feeling more and more comfortable with both Cathy and Pam, and looking forward to what was coming next!

 

[Raeven]

As you can see, the Uni desk is NOT nearly as busy as ME normally is. I think it's due to 1. being new and not as known about and 2. the fact that they charge. Nevertheless it was very easy to check in and we were given a packet of info on our resort that also included park info, ticket info, park hours, and the number to call if we needed to change our transportation pick up time for our return flight. Right away we were shown outside to our "bus", which was a small 10 passenger van. There was one woman on it already. After we got on we pulled away and we thought we were headed to our resort but instead we went around to the other side of the airport and picked up 2 more people. Then we went back to where we got on and picked up another rider..........and THEN we were on our way!

If you have to share and pay for it, it's probably cheaper and quicker still to take a taxi I didn't know that was there but we don't always do Universal first, but when we do we've found the taxi isn't bad.

This resort is pretty cool! It's has a retro 50's theme/vibe that I really liked. It's one of their "value" resorts and other than a couple nights in a LM room a few years ago, we haven't stayed at any Disney values so I wasn't sure what I'd think. After getting a look at the lobby though, I was feeling good. Check in was fine and I was indeed in a room with Pam while Cathy was with some random person since there were only 3 of us from our agency. All training attendees were in family suites which technically sleep 6. Pam was still about an hour or so away, driving up from her moms a bit south in Fla. so Cathy and I went to take a look at the grounds and our rooms. First we found hers which was on the 3rd floor and overlooked the pool. Then I went in search of mine. Mine was pretty much as far out as could be from anything and everything except a parking lot-the back end of the farthest building lol.

I love it! I've only stayed at Pop Century at Disney, but I liked CBBR a lot better. Our room was really close to the lobby when we last went though.

Bowling alley on the upper floor of the lobby!! We didn't play at all but I think it's great to have, especially if you stay here with kids.

You have to make reservations for it though (usually). But they have the best nachos! (And drinks for mom and dad).

FYI there will be water flowing from the volcano during the day that will turn red at night so it looks like lava:

Ooo I can't wait! We have a volcano/pool view room in May and I really want to see the volcano erupt during the testing.

LOL we got a paper with all these rules on it and one was about not wearing clothing with characters not related to Universal on them. A direct shot at Disney maybe I even had to buy a new purse because the 3 I have are all Disney! Except for a couple older ones that are really really big and I didn't want to bring one that size. AND, three of my 4 front zip sweatjackets are Disney so I had to bring my plain old hot pink Orlando one that I bought at the airport only b/c I was cold once.

Weirdly enough I already do this I feel rude wearing Disney clothes there so I always make sure we have outfits that are all Universal characters too.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Sounds like a great start to the trip!

After more time than it should have taken 2 fairly regular MCO-goers, we found the location. It's on the same floor as ME but the opposite end.

I think it's nice that they are starting to offer it. Good for competition and all.

I must say as dumb as it sounds I was glad to have arrived before my roommate.

Ha! It's like wanting to be the first in the dorm room to get the "good" side!

I love this theme! I want to stay there just for the theme.

I do have pictures of the bathroom but don't want to bore you.

Ummmm that's why we read these reports...

Bowling alley on the upper floor of the lobby!! We didn't play at all but I think it's great to have, especially if you stay here with kids. Something to do besides swim if the weather is yucky or just for downtime:

That is pretty cool too!

Glad to hear you had a good start to the trip!

 

[ArielSRL]

one was about not wearing clothing with characters not related to Universal on them.

I could've loaned you some Harry Potter stuff!

I even had to buy a new purse because the 3 I have are all Disney!

That would be annoying!

 

[buzzrelly]

What an exciting adventure you must have had! But I have to say, I'm having mild anxiety at the THOUGHT of rooming with a total stranger But GOOD FOR YOU for trying new things! I feel like I'd be so super awkward in that situation

I'm dying to know your overall impression of CB…we are heading back to UO next April and booked HRH…I REALLY want the unlimited Express Passes, but I had considered just staying at CB to save (a ton of) money.

And lastly, I cannot believe you have never taken the boys to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach! The water parks are so much fun and so relaxing! You NEED to bring them there next trip!!


Can't wait to read more