Dale's Not So Scary trip report 09/07-09/11

Ok folks:worship: now is the time for my trip report addendum A:banana: Grab a seat :surfweb: : and hold on tight. Or else you'll fall asleep and fall out of your chair. It's not really a trip report, but, it's a report about our DVC adventure during our trip. So, i guess it is in a way a trip report:confused3 thats why i call it an addendum:thumbsup2 . Anyhow, if you remember when we started our land portion of our vow renewal we took time to listen to the DVC sales pitch. Plus we got 3 free special fast passes. Well, we got to tour a couple sample rooms for the new AK Kidani Lodge. Way cool. It brought out the Tarzan in me.:cool1: We also got the low key pitch about the point system for buying and using our new home (if we were to buy). Every night throughout the year is given a point value that will not change in the 49 years we could own our DVC share. You have the option of buying a set amount of points for every year. The min. points to purchase was 160 points. Even though the rental cost of the room will change every year for normal people the cost will never change for DVC members. Plus you have access to over 500 places to stay world wide. If you visit Disney often this IS the way to go. It's also willable and deedable incase you pass on:scared1: . Part of the deal if we were to purchase today was a $500 visa gift card, discount off the cost plus 160 free points to be used at Saratoga Springs (and a couple other places) during the year 2009. Basically, it would not have costs us a penny for settlement and our first payment would not be due till December with yearly maintenance due in May when Kidani opens. When we said we could not decide today we were then told we had till the end of our stay. Up next "the rest of the story".:rolleyes1
 

Sorry for the once again LONG delay… But on with the story.

After we had our photos taken all about the ship, we stopped back at our room and were greeted with a bottle of champaign. (remember, I don’t drink that!) We also had a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. Now that’s YUMMY! It was soon time for our dining reservation at Palo, so off we went to enjoy our special dinner.

It was actually very fun walking about the ship in my gown and people telling us congratulations! I am not one that typically likes to be noticed, but being a BRIDE was so much fun.

When we arrived at Palo we were seated at a table by the window, but on the far side of the restaurant. It was a nice table until the ‘group’ at the table behind us (really I think it was two couples) but they were loud and at times obnoxious. I really don’t remember what we had in the way of appetizers and such, but I had ordered the beef, MEDIUM. It came WELL DONE. I tried to eat it, but I cannot eat dried out food. Dale had it sent back and then I was given a piece that was barely medium (more medium rare, but at least not dried out). It was very good, but I was already in trouble. I ended up getting sick (which happens sometimes). Of course though, I still had to attempt to have some of the chocolate soufflé. When they broke it open to pour the sauce in, WOW the smell was awesome. Unfortunately it was way to rich for me and I did not get to enjoy as I had planned to for so long. We even had part of our wedding cake served (which I ate a bite of that, YUMMY, not sickening sweet).

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We were surprised with more goodies…

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After dinner we stopped down at the Lifestyle portraits. Unfortunately, the photographer was just about to take a break, so we had to come back LATER! I was a bit bummed as we were there just at the ‘end’ of the time slot, so we had to come back later and don’t you know, the photographer was LATE coming back. But we did finally get our shot!

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Unfortunately due to the change in the schedule, it was Pirate Night so we missed all the festivities in the dining room. Our friend Dawn brought back our Pirate map/menu and our bandannas from dinner. We stopped back in our room and were greeted by this cutie.

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We then decided to take a walk up on deck to see what was going on before the fireworks started.

This was the buffet that was set up (which we were way too stuffed to partake of).

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We couldn’t get a spot close to the railing to see the festivities, but we did get to see the fireworks.

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It had sprinkled off and of that afternoon and evening and we weren't sure if they were going to have the fireworks. Luckily it held off a bit and we had a great end to our very special day!
 
Thanks, but i missed it. I can't tell you how many times i've watched those movies. I love Mafia (no such thing) movies.

I haven't actually watched them all the way through. I have to admit I cheated and asked my husband where that quote was from because I have heard him use it before.:rolleyes1:laughing:
 
Trip report addendum B:
Well, needless to say we left Disney without purchasing or even committing to DVC:headache: . Patty would have LOVED to join (so would i) but, I was very nervous about it. First I am not what you would call a very good provider for my family. I was the person that just did well enough to get by in High School and College. I work as an Assistant Operations Manager for an Unfinished Furniture store (there used to be 5 stores). While I didn’t do great in school I feel that I have a lot of business sense when it comes to Retail sales. But, as we all know Retail does not pay well. With this economy there is a real fear of not being in business 1, 6 or even 12 months from now. So anyhow, here in lay my hesitation:confused3 . Besides this i had forgotten that Patty had been setting aside money from every paycheck of hers for our vow renewal. I also had been delivering papers to pay for our Vow Renewal trip. So I could always continue delivering the papers to pay off other bills while Patty keeps setting aside money that would cover the monthly DVC payment. After arriving home and taking several days to digest the possibilities:teacher: Patty calls and says we are still interested. Our sales person said she was surprised not to of heard from us before we left. She also tells us that of course two of the offers are off the table since we did not decide before leaving. So the only special left was a discount off the 160 points we were buying. That and also 160 free points to use at Saratoga Springs in the year 2009. We lost out on gift cards to cover the rest of the costs. Patty puts the deposit on our Disney credit card and they mail out our DVC packet. Several days later we get a package delivered by Fedex from DVC. We sit down after dinner to open it up and discovered-----it’s NOT OUR package:scared1: :scared1: :headache: :sick: ! Oh it has all the DVC information we needed, but, the legal paperwork belonged to somebody else. It had somebody else’s personal information. I freak out. Patty stays calm. I think she was actually in shock that Disney could screw up so bad. Patty tries to reach our sales person while I call the person whose packet we received. The person whose packet we got has received ours. Our sales rep says she will look into the problem tomorrow and call us back. The next day Patty had to call our rep. Patty told her that I was not happy with Disney’s mistake and that I was not sure I wanted to go forward with DVC. The sales rep said that “it would be our loss”. Can you believe that? Patty was floored. She did not want to tell me this. Next up Hurricane Dale reaches level 5:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: .
 
Try this one "Say hello to my little friend"

Scarface! I haven't watched that movie at all but of course I cheated again and asked Bryan (hubby). :thumbsup2
Bryan said try this one "I'm out of order! Your out of order! This whole d*** system is out of order!" It's not a mafia movie but it is Al Pacino. :)

I can't believe that. That DVC rep wasn't trying very hard to keep your business. :confused3 I hope they made you guys "an offer you couldn't refuse." :laughing:
 
Scarface! I haven't watched that movie at all but of course I cheated again and asked Bryan (hubby). :thumbsup2
Bryan said try this one "I'm out of order! Your out of order! This whole d*** system is out of order!" It's not a mafia movie but it is Al Pacino. :)

I can't believe that. That DVC rep wasn't trying very hard to keep your business. :confused3 I hope they made you guys "an offer you couldn't refuse." :laughing:
Ok Kelly, i don't watch many movies so i had to let my fingers do the walking (google) and found the answer, "And Justice For All".
The DVC rep did not seem to care if we bought or not. They had been overwelmed with requests from the cruises. They had to bring in help from other areas to get all the mailings out. This is what created the mis-mailings.
 
Trip report addendum C (?). Catagory 5 Hurricane Dale.
To make a long story short, after several days, phone calls and e-mails we received satisfaction. Once we got passed our caring sales rep :lmao: (sarcassim) everything went smoothly. We were told that Disney values their customers and their privacy. What happened is very rare and due to the fact they had been overwelmed with DVC requests following the recent cruises. Disney was forced to call in help from other areas which caused the mismailing. Once i found the right people to talk to we were made happy happy:banana: . We now are proud owners of a DVC share in the soon to be opened Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom for the next 49 years. In fact, they are scheduled to open in May and we are booked May 7 till the 11th. Would i recommend DVC to anybody else? Yes, but, know your finances before you go for the tour. It is not high pressure but it is exciting. If you have a hard time understanding the point system take a break and get some fresh air. It is really simple if you don't try to overthink it. If you want to purchas take the time to fill out the paperwork while you are there if possible. Also see if there are any perks to purchase now. It's not like buying a car though no dickering. I can't wait to hear the happiest phrase in the world "WELCOME HOME". :thumbsup2 :cool1: :goodvibes :worship: :lovestruc :love: :banana: :woohoo: :yay:
 
Ok Kelly, i don't watch many movies so i had to let my fingers do the walking (google) and found the answer, "And Justice For All".
I'm not much of a movie buff either but Bryan is and will quote lines from movies if he likes them. He thought you might know that one because of Al Pacino.:thumbsup2
Would i recommend DVC to anybody else? Yes, but, know your finances before you go for the tour. It is not high pressure but it is exciting. If you have a hard time understanding the point system take a break and get some fresh air. It is really simple if you don't try to overthink it. If you want to purchas take the time to fill out the paperwork while you are there if possible. Also see if there are any perks to purchase now. It's not like buying a car though no dickering. I can't wait to hear the happiest phrase in the world "WELCOME HOME". :thumbsup2 :cool1: :goodvibes :worship: :lovestruc :love: :banana: :woohoo: :yay:

I am having a hard time understanding the whole system. Can you use points for cruises as well?

Me too!!! :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

I am so happy for you guys. It will be so cool to have a place in WDW to call "home".:cool1: :cool1: :cool1:
 
Yes Kelly, you can use the points for cruises, but, hear it comes, it takes a boat load of them:lmao: :rotfl2: :thumbsup2 :rotfl: :banana: :laughing:
 
Day 5 – Castaway Cay (yea I know, it has been forever since I updated. I’m such a slacker). I got already to start when I realized that non of my photos from this day were online!

The entire time we were planning our cruise, I kept say Castaway ‘Cay, i.e. kay’ I could not get that it was Cay, i.e. key!

We started the day, as usual with breakfast from room service and a sunrise from our verandah.

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My attempt at a panoramic photo (don’t laugh… I can’t see well)

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See those LITTLE guys down there??? Wait til you see what they can do…



They actually ‘hold’ the mooring lines…







Oh and these photos today are from my new camera that I got to take underwater photos. I LOVE my camera and had a little trouble using a point and shoot. But boy am I glad I bought this and got it on ebay for maybe $60 (including the waterproof case).

The mandatory photo of the Flying Dutchman (we actually got a good view of the back but I didn’t take pictures then)



One of the few photos of the two of us (that wasn’t a self portrait). We are waiting for the jet skis to be ready for our tour.



This was our very first time either of us had been on a jet ski (let alone drive one). I cannot wear sunglasses (or any glasses) cause they give me an instant headache. I suffer from migraines and do not need any help in that area. We were told that you shouldn’t wear hats or glasses (unless they are on a strap) cause you may loose them in the water. (remember this for later)

We were given a QUICK course on how to use the jet ski, including what happens if you fall off (the thing will stop cause there is a kill switch attached to your wrist, so as you fall in the water, the strap pulls the key or whatever was keeping this thing going, lol). Being a larger person, I was real nervous at first getting on this machine. But boy was it fun!!! We were whipping over waves with them breaking right over us!!! Salt water right into those eyes that were not protected by glasses. Sunscreen running down my face mixing with the salt water into my eyes…. Got the picture OUCH!!!! I was driving with one hand and shielding and protecting my eyes with the other (not a good combo) but it really was a LOT of fun! We had two guides showing us where to go and telling us to speed up at times if we went to slow or got to close to each other. We ended on this little stretch of land (I guess someone around the side of the island cause we couldn’t see Castaway Cay from where we were.

One of the guys who was on the tour with us saw a starfish. I’ve never seen a real live starfish!



So I had to try to get a closer photo underwater!!!



Soon it was time to go back to the beach so we were off again into the waves with water splashing over the jet ski into my eyes!!! (ouch again!) Note to self, if and when we do another cruise GET SUNGLASSES!!!

After we got back to shore it was time for our bike ride around the island. On our way to where the bike pick up is we ran into this guy…


We then got our bikes and followed the route to the observation lookout. I did take some photos, but cannot find them (huh?) Oh, well it was nice to see and get some exercise in the meantime.

It was then time for lunch at the grown up beach and time to relax and enjoy the sun, sand and water. The water was beautiful and so clear and clean. We had rented floaties for the day and I lounged on the float for a long while (actually dozing a time or two). Only to awaken WAY FAR OUT there!!!! Boy is it hard to paddle back in when you don’t want to get off the float. I don’t like to ‘touch’ things on the bottom and I wasn’t even sure if I could touch with how far I was out. I finally made it back to shore and we got some lounge chairs to relax on.

We then saw our friends Monica and Warren strolling down the beach. So they came over and we chatted and enjoyed a drink on the beach! Boy is that the life! I could get use to that kind of afternoon. But soon it was time to head back to the ship. We still had time to use the Rain Forrest room some more.

We made out way back to the ship and as we passed the post office I remembered that I forgot to bring our postcards off to mail!! I NEVER remember to mail postcards. Not even sure why I even buy them. I had them all written out and ready to go, but NO, never mailed. Oh well, we continue on back to the ship and went to relax in the Rain Forrest room. It was so relaxing and the sun was so tiring I dozed on and off for a while. Each time I opened my eyes there were different people in there, lol. By now, the sun was getting to me. When we got back to the room I realized just how much sun I had gotten! I was burnt! (thank goodness our vow renewal was yesterday!). My head was so burnt that the migraine was starting already.

Well I will end here and when we get back will finish up our very last night on the Disney Wonder!
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yeah!!! So glad you are getting around to finishing it up. I love reading this and seeing your photos!

Dh pretty much said, yes, that we can go on one. No official booking yet, but most likely in March. (he is so last minute on everything) So I really enjoy reading the reports.
Now I want to lose 10 more pounds before we go. (so I can gain it back while on the ship. LOL)
 


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