Cue the Music: How we MADE money and slept with Ariel! Done!

[mickeystoontown]

Turn around tired eyes! Every now and then I fall apart!

Back at the resort, we walked to our room in the Jazz section of Disney's All Star Music Resort. As I was saying way back when I started this report, we had booked a standard two double bed room but when we checked in, we were given an "upgrade" to an accessible room with a king size bed. We didn't need the accessible room and, quite honestly, I felt a bit bad about being in it when we didn't need it. And, again, quite honestly, it was in pretty bad shape. The carpet was worn, the walls had dings in them and the closet/sink area was weird. The shelves were wired metal and there was no real place to put our things without them falling through the shelves. I don't really know how to describe the shelves so I did a quick google search and couldn't find pictures of the shelves but they looked something like this except imagine just the top part of the picture below being your closet shelf.


The shower head was a removable wand but it wouldn't stay hanging in place without a lot of fiddling around with it. We finally just kept it in place and John had to duck down to wash his hair.

In the interest of a report and giving my full review, I took pictures but you can't really tell how much this room needed a refurb. At the time of our stay, Disney had not announced that the All Star resorts would be getting complete room refurbishments. The pictures don't look as bad as it did in person.




See how much difference there is in the pile and color of the carpet and how dingy it looks.








John and I grabbed our mugs and made a fast trip to the food court for a soft drink and a coffee. Yes, John drinks coffee even at 11 p.m.

Continued in next post
​

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Welcome Back! I've heard good things about Trails End Buffet but have never tried it myself. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
That was definitely some heavy crowds watching the fireworks.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Turn around tired eyes! Every now and then I fall apart!

Everybody knows that a good trip report writer must take pictures of anything and everything and that's just what I did. I took pictures of the food court seating area, drink station, condiments, etc. I just didn't take pictures of the various sections where you order food. Geeze what was I thinking? Just call me a semi-good trip report writer.


















Continued in next post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Turn around tired eyes! Every now and then I fall apart! continued











Ooops, gotta go edit the first part of this udpate. Had something wrong.


​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Please sir! May I have another?

As we were walking out of the food court, a castmember was standing in the lobby and asked how we were, if we had had a good day, etc. We said that we had and I asked if there was any way that we could be put into another room that wasn't an accessible room. He took us over to Guest Services, told the castmember there what we wanted and they went to work looking for another room. As he was searching, we were chit chatting and he asked us how many times we had been to Disney, what was our favorite resort, etc. Just making small talk. Next thing I know, he was on the phone seeing if there were any rooms at Caribbean Beach. He said that he used to work there and had friends who still worked there. They were full. He called Coronado Springs. They were full. He called Port Orleans and there was a room there but we would be charged $800 more! That's a hard no. Especially since we had only requested to be placed in another room at All Star Music. He said "let me try one more thing" and went to another phone. Next thing we know, he was asking if we would like a Little Mermaid room at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. My first thought was "those rooms are never discounted and we booked with a promo". I asked how much would we have to pay to move and he said nothing. We took him up on the offer. He made all of the arrangements and then told us to pack our things and Disney would move us the next morning.

We stressed to him that we weren't looking for anything free and had thought that maybe we could simply move to another room there. I did, however, mention the shape that the room was in. That's when he said something like "we know and are working on it" like that was the real reason that he had tried so hard to move us to another resort.

It was now about 11:30 p.m. and we had to pack up the room so that Disney could move our things the next morning. First, I went to work on changing our first faspass so that it would allow us the extra time to get our things to Bell Services.

Up next: Our Mission? Trying something new!​

 

[krr126]

That is a freakin' awesome upgrade, Lisa! Glad to see you back on here.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Our Mission? Trying something new!

I called Bell Services from our room and made arrangements for them to pick up our things at 9:00 a.m. the next morning. Appointment made, we set to work. Long ago, I told y'all that I wasn't a minute by minute planner but I do like to have a plan. Moving resorts and packing up at Midnight wasn't in my itinerary in my binder with tabs. I'm not complainig at all. As a matter of fact, I was excited about trying a new resort. Just like we were excited about trying All Star Music Resort. If they could have just changed us to another room, we'd have been happy.

We are the kind of people who like to settle into our resort room. As in, we unpack everything. Meaning, we had to pack everything back up. And I'm an overpacker. Especially so this trip because I wasnt sure what type of clothes we would need. I had short sleeves, long sleeves, hoodies, jackets, pants, shorts, capris. We had it all. Oh and there were a few groceries and drinks that we had brought along. It was around 12:45 p.m. when we were done.

Promptly at 9 a.m., we had a knock on our door and it was Bell Services. They placed bar codes on each of our bags and even took the small cooler along with them. I didn't know that they could take that too since it had ice in it but they said absolutely. We tipped him well because we had a lot for just two people.

We finished getting ready and hit the bus stop. Today was our Epcot day and it was our intention to try something new. John got to go through the no bag check and I had to stand in the line which, as it happened, wasn't too terribly long since the park opened at 9:00 and it was well after that before we arrived. Our first Fastpass of the day was for Living With the Land which is one of my favorites. (I say that a lot.) John and I both grew up helping our parents in the garden and we have had one for years ourselves. There's something completely satisfying about working in a garden and getting your fingers and toes in the dirt. Of course, our gardens are nothing like those in Living With the Land.
















Continued in next post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Our Mission? Trying something new! continued​

Again, there's picture overload but I so enjoy Living With the Land.




​

Before moving on to our next Fastpass, we had a bathroom break and then ventured over to the other side of the park.

Dapper Days was going on while we were there and these two were dressed to the nines. They were adorable but I can't imagine carrying around their cases all day.


Y'all know that John has epilepsy and we never know when he might has some issues so when at Disney (or anywhere else for that matter), we take things day by day. Today, John was feeling great and was ready for our next mission. Mission Space that is!


Oh don't those people know that I am taking trip report pictures?!?! Just kidding. Even though John was feeling A-okay, we decided to choose the "new to us" version. We were joining the green team.







It was different for sure and it was enjoyable but I think that we'll stick with the orange team in the future. That is, so long as John is feeling well.

Up Next: Donald! Where are you? Where have you been all my life?​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Welcome Back! I've heard good things about Trails End Buffet but have never tried it myself. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
That was definitely some heavy crowds watching the fireworks.

Thank you! We really enjoyed Trail's End and would hesitate to book a reservation there again. Yep, there were a lot of folks on Main Street. It was pretty packed.

That is a freakin' awesome upgrade, Lisa! Glad to see you back on here.

It was definitely an awesome upgrade and I'm glad that we took them up on it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yay for the update! I want to stay at a park until the last few people leave and they make me leave, lol.

We have done it before and it was awesome! The 24 hour event was pretty darn good as well. We were some of the last to leave.

 

[Navychica]

Hi Mickeys ToonTown! Just want to say I've lurked your trip reports for a few years now, and I love them! Your joy comes across through your writing and pictures, and I can't help but grin when reading them.

 

[mickeystoontown]

​

Hi Mickeys ToonTown! Just want to say I've lurked your trip reports for a few years now, and I love them! Your joy comes across through your writing and pictures, and I can't help but grin when reading them.

Thanks so much for posting and coming out of lurkdom to post! You comment made me grin. It brings me happiness when I know others are enjoying what I am writing.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Donald! Where are you? Where have you been all my life?

Our mission complete, we were off for more Epcot adventures. We decided it was time to hit World Showcase and do it in a clockwise fashion since we were closest to Mexico. For some reason, we very rarely start on the other side and work our way around.

Our stomachs were telling us that we needed to stop and find something to eat. Our noses were telling us that we needed to stop at La Cantina de San Angel. We got in line and were soon at the podium ordering from their delicious sounding menu. Again, we ordered two different entrees so that we could sample from one another's plates.

One of us ordered the empanadas con queso: fried flour tortillas filled with cheese, served with Mexican slaw. Apparently, they looked delicious enough to take not one but two pictures of them.​

and the other ordered the nachos: tortilla chips topped with ground beef, nacho cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, beans, and sour cream



We dug in and ate every single bite. Oh my heavens, empanadas where have you been all my life? Though both of the dishes were good, the empanadas were a tad bit better than the nachos. I don't have photo evidence but I thought that we had ordered some churros to share but, because I have no photo, I could be wrong.

Tummies full, we sashayed across the walkway and over to the pyramid that houses the Mexican plaza. On display were many pieces of mexican sculptures telling the story of the Day of the Dead.



Oops the one above is pretty blurry.




Continued in next post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Donald! Where are you? Where have you been all my life? continued

We piddled around in the plaza for a while and purchased a chocolate bar with coffee bits in it and some delicious goat milk candies that remind me of pralines from home. Our goal was to purchase a snack item from each of the World Showcase countries so that we could sample them later or even back home.

The line for the Three Caballeros wasn't too bad. It's a near continuously moving attraction so it moved quickly. Soon, we were on the look out for that rascally rabbit...I mean rascally Donald Duck.






We finally found him playing the maracas and getting down with the boogy with his fine feathered friends.

Up Next: Ding Ding Ding! Your seashell awaits!



​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ding Ding Ding! Your seashell awaits!

Just about the time we were done looking for Donald, my phone dinged. I had a text from Disney saying that our room at Art of Animation wasn't quite ready but would be soon. Instead of venturing further into World Showcase and then having to work our way all the way around, we decided to turn back around and head towards the bus stops. We were just outside the park entrance when I received another text saying that it was ready. Good timing!

We found the bus stop to Disney's Art of Animation Resort and waited about ten minutes before one rolled up. we were one of two families in line. We hopped onboard and were soon off to our "new to us" resort.

Even though we didn't have to, I stopped at the check-in desk. I always do this because I like to know that my Magic Bands are working properly and, with this transfer, I wanted to make sure that my bags had arrived safe and sound too.

The castmember greeted me and saw that we had transferred from Music to Art of Animation. She said "I'm sure that they offered you the Disney gift card if you opted out of housekeeping." I told her yes and that I had already received if for what was to have been the entirety of our stay there. She said 'well do you want to do that here too?". I didn't know what to say because that seemed like double dipping to me. She said this is a whole new resort and a whole new room so, yes, we will offer you the same gift card $10 a night for the rest of your stay minus tonight's stay. Ummm, sure. She knew that we had gotten one at Music and she was offering one at Art of Animation. I had clearly told her that we had already gotten one and she was still offering it. So,yeah, we'll take it. She said that they were having some problems with their computers and would it be okay if she got a manager to give us an actual gift card instead of an e card. Sure, we could wait. About fifteen minutes later, she came over with a card. If I am remembering correctly, the card was for $80. If it wasn't $80, it was for $70.

Sweet! More free money. I was making money left and right on this vacation. Commission for my room. E gift card for our stay at Music and now another gift card for staying at Art of Animation.

After giving us our gift card, she pulled out a resort map and circled the building that we would be in. She explained where we could park. She went ahead and let Bell Services know that we were on our way to the room. Before we ever even got there, the bags were in the room. I don't know if they were already there or if Bell Services had been given a heads up as to what room we had been assigned and unloaded it all prior to our arrival. Either way, it was nice to have it there already.

I finally thought to take pictures of the room. It was cartoony cute but I liked it. Lacey was born in the time of Little Mermaid and we had watched it....a lot....over the years so Little Mermaid wasn't something new to us. I can so see why any Little Mermaid fan would want to stay in one of the rooms.







Check out the bathroom/shower wall:





We were very pleased with the room and it was then that John declared he was sleeping with Ariel tonight!

​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ding Ding Ding! Your seashell awaits! continued





This was the view from our doorway looking to the right:


and this was the view when looking to the left.


We unpacked some of our things but we needed to get back to Epcot. We had a dinner ADR and wanted to see Illuminations too. So, after a while, we headed out and walked towards the main lobby to catch a bus.




​

 

[rndmr2]

Great to see you back to post more updates!

Really great score on the upgrade!

I Love LWTL, too

 

[SerendipityDoDa]

Lots of pixie dust for you on this trip! Your first room did look REALLY run down...not Disney Standard at all. I am glad they offered you a new room! Those empanadas sound amazing right now too!!

 

[pwdebbie]

Wow, you have been busy! Thanks for all the posts to read this morning!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Great to see you back to post more updates!

Really great score on the upgrade!

I Love LWTL, too

It's great to be back. I always forget how much I miss my Dis.

I loved the upgrade! The room was so sparkly clean compared to the one at Music.

Lots of pixie dust for you on this trip! Your first room did look REALLY run down...not Disney Standard at all. I am glad they offered you a new room! Those empanadas sound amazing right now too!!

The pixie dust was sprinkling all around! It really wasn't up to Disney standards. I know that the wheelchairs and scooters that had to be used in the rooms were what wore it down and why the carpet was so dingy but you'd think that Disney would either replace the carpet or at least give it a good cleaning.

It's not even 11 a.m. here and I could eat one of those empanadas right now!

Wow, you have been busy! Thanks for all the posts to read this morning!

I was trying to knock out as many updates as I could while I had the time. I'm hoping to post more today.