jennymouse
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2001
- Messages
- 4,175
Your Cast of Characters:
Me, 44 year old mother & grandmother: Planner & financier of this trip who ate PB&J & bologna sandwiches and did rewards programs for ten months saving for the trip.
DD, Jess, 28: Poster child for premenstral syndrome and offical spoiler of trip. Seriously, she gets pms BAD & won't take medicine.
DGD, Skye, 7 turning 8 11/15: The most well behaved, sweetest granddaughter any grandmother could ask for. Loves rollercoasters.
Saturday October 26th:
I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the events of the day or fear of what lay ahead, but I saw 3:30am. When the wake up call came in at 6am we dressed, brushed our teeth and washed our faces, and without a word about the previous day, we headed downstairs.
My stomach thought that my throat had been cut since I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before. The Hampton Inn had a pretty good contenintal breakfast. We filled our plates and found a table. I looked at my watch and it was already 10 til 7. Without taking a bite, I stepped in the hall to see if Yourride was there with the limo. There, right outside the door sat the shinny white limo and Jim grinning from ear to ear in the lobby.
I was looking forward to this surprise for Skye more than almost anything. She'd just discovered limo's and were quite fasinated by them. I said, "Skye, I think our ride's here." She got up and came to look. Of course, they couldn't see it all from inside. We appologized to the employee working the breakfast that we had to leave without eating. Skye's face was priceless...Jess was surprised too. Even the Hampton Inn employees were coming out to get thier pictures made with the limo! I was trying to get a shot of Skye, Jess and the whole limo in one picture and had to keep backing up and backing up to get it all in as it seemed to go on forever. Once inside the limo Skye kept a grin on her face the whole time as she sipped Coke out of a wineglass. Jim was a very likable guy and delivered us to Animal Kingdom Lodge in style. Well worth the money.
One bad thing about riding in a limo is that it's so far from the seats to the front window that I was having a hard time getting a good look at the lodge as we pulled up! But Wow! What a beautiful place the Animal Kingdom Lodge is! As soon as Jim let us out of the car, the African music, smells & atmosphere enveloped me. There was a design in something like glitter in the wide walkway leading to the door that I didn't know would be there...even after all the research I did. The lobby was warm and comfy and shining like new money. "You think we can make ourselves at home here for the next eight nights girls?"
The girls wanted to go MK the first thing so I wanted to be there by opening...it was a Saturday after all.
I told the girls they could explore while I checked in. There wasn't a line, but the two CM's working were helping other guests. As I waited, I felt something familiar about one of the CM's....oh, no. Isn't that the CM that Poohshoney spoke about in her trip report? Was her name Sylvia, Poohshoney? I racked my brain trying to remember the CM's name, and became pretty sure it was her. I hopped I didn't get her...she wasn't smiling at all and looked like a guard from a women's prison. Please let the other CM finish first so I can get her! I starred a whole in the custombers back that had the nice CM, trying to will her to hurry. "Can I help you?" Oh, no, Sylvia is talking to me...she'd finished while I was starring at the other. I almost excused myself to come back and try again later, but thought myself silly and stepped up to the desk. I said hello and slid my paperwork over to her. She tapped a few keys on the computer and frowned. My heart missed a beat. "I see you've been upgraded to a savanna room...which floor would you like." HALLALOOYAA! Was that angels singing or my stomach growling! "Uh, third please." Sylvia isn't so bad after all!
In my research, I learned that I could put cash down on my account to charge towards with my room key instead of a credit card. When she asked if I'd like to set up a charge, I pulled out my $1000 in Disney Dollars and $1000 in travelers checks and Sylvia got bowed up like a toad frog. "You can't put all that on this account." "I can't, I have been told I could." "Well, I've been working here three years and know that we just don't do that. You can leave three hundred and when you use that you can bring three hundred more...." This would involve keeping a more frequent check on my account that I'd planned on but, no big deal. "Is there a problem?" Jessica asked as she came up from behind me. For heaven's sake, I sure didn't want to see those two but heads! "No!" I said, stuffing the camera in Jess's hands, "Can you get some good pictures of the lobby while I finish up?" Whew! A near disaster avoided! Sylvia let me use a safe at the desk to stash our DD's & TC's until we returned from Magic Kingdom. With all that taken care of, she handed me our keycards. I looked on them and they all said, "Not valid for charging."
"I think you gave me the wrong cards, these say I can't use the room charging priviages." She looked at them and this is what she said word per word. "Oh, we do that when you use cash on your account. You can still charge with them." "That's strange, won't the CM's give me a hassell because it says no charging?" "No, and if they do, just ask them to call us here at the lodge and we'll okay it." Dumbfounded I walked away with my no charging cards that I could really charge with.
I check my watch and see it's only 7:45am! I gathered the girls and we head to Mara for some quick breakfast. Jess & I chose the breakfast burritos and Skye got french toast. I didn't want to get our refillable mugs now, since I didn't want to pack them around MK until we got back to the room. The CM rang up our food and I handed her my keycard. "I'm sorry, but this card isn't valid for charging." I explained the situation to her, she picked up the phone and called. After a minute or two of her having to explain to the person on the phone, she hung up, accepted the card after some punching in of numbers. She said that the person she talked to, Mike, said Sylvia gave me the wrong cards and that I should stop back by the front desk to have them changed.
No time for that now, we wanted to be at the MK gate at opening...and we were. The place was practically empty and we rode all the biggies several times in a row...some, without even getting off. I had to go through the card hassel thing again trying to purchase our Splash Mtn picture, so we didn't do any more shopping at MK that day. We got a lot done by lunch time, so we stopped at the Mexican place in Adventureland for lunch. During lunch, Jess announced that she wanted to get at least three hours in the sun every afternoon while we were here. I told her we do our best to accomodate her. I was planning on a break every afternoon anyway.
We went back to the resort so see our room. Jess went to have our luggage taken to the room while I got the card issue resolved. Which by the way, meant explaining all over again to the new CM. This done, I went to the room. Absolutely perfect in every way!
That night I was beat and ended up sending Jess & Skye to MK. They'd met some people at the pool who were going tonight too. So it worked out well. I just wanted to rest after my sleepless night and this mornings touring. The couple with the little girl that the girls meet at the pool came to our room to meet them. The man about Jess's age went on about how great his package deal was and wanted to argue when I told him I saved money by booking things seperate. Not wanting to argue, I told him he was probably right just to get rid of him. If he's happy, I'm happy, ya know.
That's it for day two.
Opps! I forgot to add dinner at Boma.....I guess that shows you how memorable we thought the meal was. Seriously, I wasn't impressed and not one of us ate $70 with tip worth...but I'm glad I tried it just the same.
And I also forgot to mention that after the girls left for MK, I slipped on my bathing suit then went and sat in the hot tub for a while....the one behind the pool bar is the best one! Ahhhh, now this feels like vacation.
Me, 44 year old mother & grandmother: Planner & financier of this trip who ate PB&J & bologna sandwiches and did rewards programs for ten months saving for the trip.
DD, Jess, 28: Poster child for premenstral syndrome and offical spoiler of trip. Seriously, she gets pms BAD & won't take medicine.
DGD, Skye, 7 turning 8 11/15: The most well behaved, sweetest granddaughter any grandmother could ask for. Loves rollercoasters.
Saturday October 26th:
I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the events of the day or fear of what lay ahead, but I saw 3:30am. When the wake up call came in at 6am we dressed, brushed our teeth and washed our faces, and without a word about the previous day, we headed downstairs.
My stomach thought that my throat had been cut since I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before. The Hampton Inn had a pretty good contenintal breakfast. We filled our plates and found a table. I looked at my watch and it was already 10 til 7. Without taking a bite, I stepped in the hall to see if Yourride was there with the limo. There, right outside the door sat the shinny white limo and Jim grinning from ear to ear in the lobby.
I was looking forward to this surprise for Skye more than almost anything. She'd just discovered limo's and were quite fasinated by them. I said, "Skye, I think our ride's here." She got up and came to look. Of course, they couldn't see it all from inside. We appologized to the employee working the breakfast that we had to leave without eating. Skye's face was priceless...Jess was surprised too. Even the Hampton Inn employees were coming out to get thier pictures made with the limo! I was trying to get a shot of Skye, Jess and the whole limo in one picture and had to keep backing up and backing up to get it all in as it seemed to go on forever. Once inside the limo Skye kept a grin on her face the whole time as she sipped Coke out of a wineglass. Jim was a very likable guy and delivered us to Animal Kingdom Lodge in style. Well worth the money.
One bad thing about riding in a limo is that it's so far from the seats to the front window that I was having a hard time getting a good look at the lodge as we pulled up! But Wow! What a beautiful place the Animal Kingdom Lodge is! As soon as Jim let us out of the car, the African music, smells & atmosphere enveloped me. There was a design in something like glitter in the wide walkway leading to the door that I didn't know would be there...even after all the research I did. The lobby was warm and comfy and shining like new money. "You think we can make ourselves at home here for the next eight nights girls?"
The girls wanted to go MK the first thing so I wanted to be there by opening...it was a Saturday after all.
I told the girls they could explore while I checked in. There wasn't a line, but the two CM's working were helping other guests. As I waited, I felt something familiar about one of the CM's....oh, no. Isn't that the CM that Poohshoney spoke about in her trip report? Was her name Sylvia, Poohshoney? I racked my brain trying to remember the CM's name, and became pretty sure it was her. I hopped I didn't get her...she wasn't smiling at all and looked like a guard from a women's prison. Please let the other CM finish first so I can get her! I starred a whole in the custombers back that had the nice CM, trying to will her to hurry. "Can I help you?" Oh, no, Sylvia is talking to me...she'd finished while I was starring at the other. I almost excused myself to come back and try again later, but thought myself silly and stepped up to the desk. I said hello and slid my paperwork over to her. She tapped a few keys on the computer and frowned. My heart missed a beat. "I see you've been upgraded to a savanna room...which floor would you like." HALLALOOYAA! Was that angels singing or my stomach growling! "Uh, third please." Sylvia isn't so bad after all! In my research, I learned that I could put cash down on my account to charge towards with my room key instead of a credit card. When she asked if I'd like to set up a charge, I pulled out my $1000 in Disney Dollars and $1000 in travelers checks and Sylvia got bowed up like a toad frog. "You can't put all that on this account." "I can't, I have been told I could." "Well, I've been working here three years and know that we just don't do that. You can leave three hundred and when you use that you can bring three hundred more...." This would involve keeping a more frequent check on my account that I'd planned on but, no big deal. "Is there a problem?" Jessica asked as she came up from behind me. For heaven's sake, I sure didn't want to see those two but heads! "No!" I said, stuffing the camera in Jess's hands, "Can you get some good pictures of the lobby while I finish up?" Whew! A near disaster avoided! Sylvia let me use a safe at the desk to stash our DD's & TC's until we returned from Magic Kingdom. With all that taken care of, she handed me our keycards. I looked on them and they all said, "Not valid for charging."
"I think you gave me the wrong cards, these say I can't use the room charging priviages." She looked at them and this is what she said word per word. "Oh, we do that when you use cash on your account. You can still charge with them." "That's strange, won't the CM's give me a hassell because it says no charging?" "No, and if they do, just ask them to call us here at the lodge and we'll okay it." Dumbfounded I walked away with my no charging cards that I could really charge with.
I check my watch and see it's only 7:45am! I gathered the girls and we head to Mara for some quick breakfast. Jess & I chose the breakfast burritos and Skye got french toast. I didn't want to get our refillable mugs now, since I didn't want to pack them around MK until we got back to the room. The CM rang up our food and I handed her my keycard. "I'm sorry, but this card isn't valid for charging." I explained the situation to her, she picked up the phone and called. After a minute or two of her having to explain to the person on the phone, she hung up, accepted the card after some punching in of numbers. She said that the person she talked to, Mike, said Sylvia gave me the wrong cards and that I should stop back by the front desk to have them changed.
No time for that now, we wanted to be at the MK gate at opening...and we were. The place was practically empty and we rode all the biggies several times in a row...some, without even getting off. I had to go through the card hassel thing again trying to purchase our Splash Mtn picture, so we didn't do any more shopping at MK that day. We got a lot done by lunch time, so we stopped at the Mexican place in Adventureland for lunch. During lunch, Jess announced that she wanted to get at least three hours in the sun every afternoon while we were here. I told her we do our best to accomodate her. I was planning on a break every afternoon anyway.
We went back to the resort so see our room. Jess went to have our luggage taken to the room while I got the card issue resolved. Which by the way, meant explaining all over again to the new CM. This done, I went to the room. Absolutely perfect in every way!
That night I was beat and ended up sending Jess & Skye to MK. They'd met some people at the pool who were going tonight too. So it worked out well. I just wanted to rest after my sleepless night and this mornings touring. The couple with the little girl that the girls meet at the pool came to our room to meet them. The man about Jess's age went on about how great his package deal was and wanted to argue when I told him I saved money by booking things seperate. Not wanting to argue, I told him he was probably right just to get rid of him. If he's happy, I'm happy, ya know.
That's it for day two.
Opps! I forgot to add dinner at Boma.....I guess that shows you how memorable we thought the meal was. Seriously, I wasn't impressed and not one of us ate $70 with tip worth...but I'm glad I tried it just the same.
And I also forgot to mention that after the girls left for MK, I slipped on my bathing suit then went and sat in the hot tub for a while....the one behind the pool bar is the best one! Ahhhh, now this feels like vacation.
