December 2009 - A Celebration of many things

[nic100308]

So I called Disney Dining and literally only got to here the Disney music for like 2 minutes ("It's magic, wrapped up in pixie dust, in pixie duuust") Anyway I had only used this little trick once, for the Rose & Crown

Me: Hi I have a reservation that is set for 3 people and I need to change it to 2.
CM: Okay, what's the reservation number?
Me: 12456789
CM: Okay for Rose & Crown on 12/4 at 3:00pm?
Me: Yes
CM: Okay it is now changed to 2 adults. Is there anything you'll be celebrating while you're staying with us.
Me: Yes, our anniversary.
CM: Oh how wonderful congratulations, would you like me to note it on your dining reservation.
Me: No that's okay, we have it noted on our reservation for the California Grill
CM: Okay is there anything else I can do for you?
Me: No, thank you very much!

No questions asked, no we need to cancel and set up a new ARD. Nothing!! But I did change it for this reason: if there was someone out there looking for a ADR for the Rose & Crown on 12/4 at 3pm for 3 people and could not get it, I didn't want to be the reason. So to be fair to the other guests I changed it, but I think if I had more than one I would have hung up and called back, I wouldn't want the CM to know my shame!!!

 

[Elevationist]

So I called Disney Dining and literally only got to here the Disney music for like 2 minutes ("It's magic, wrapped up in pixie dust, in pixie duuust") Anyway I had only used this little trick once, for the Rose & Crown

Me: Hi I have a reservation that is set for 3 people and I need to change it to 2.
CM: Okay, what's the reservation number?
Me: 12456789
CM: Okay for Rose & Crown on 12/4 at 3:00pm?
Me: Yes
CM: Okay it is now changed to 2 adults. Is there anything you'll be celebrating while you're staying with us.
Me: Yes, our anniversary.
CM: Oh how wonderful congratulations, would you like me to note it on your dining reservation.
Me: No that's okay, we have it noted on our reservation for the California Grill
CM: Okay is there anything else I can do for you?
Me: No, thank you very much!

No questions asked, no we need to cancel and set up a new ARD. Nothing!! But I did change it for this reason: if there was someone out there looking for a ADR for the Rose & Crown on 12/4 at 3pm for 3 people and could not get it, I didn't want to be the reason. So to be fair to the other guests I changed it, but I think if I had more than one I would have hung up and called back, I wouldn't want the CM to know my shame!!!

Very awesome! I'll be sure to call and do the same with my Boma reservation before my trip!

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

Glad to hear that it went well! I will have to call once a week... for a few weeks...

 

[disneyaddicted]

On no!! Don't say such things!! Blasphemy, blasphemy I tell you!!! Everything will work out the way it should be because Mickey is magic and he makes the good things happen!!!! (LOL I tell myself this just because I refuse to admit anything can go wrong)
!

I know! What was I thinking?!

Spit, spit spit, turn around counter clockwise 4 times, hold fists to side of my head creating Mickey ears, jump up booty bump!

There no bad Disney mojo!

 

[disneyaddicted]

I really enjoyed your DIsney past post and photos. I wish they still had the dress up pirates photo opp, I would so do that.

 

[disneyaddicted]

YOu got a job at AC Moore? Oh, I'm speechless, I love AC Moore.

 

[nic100308]

Hi there- i am a newbie to your report. i am going 12/10-12/20.

really enjoying it. I totally feel you on the job situation- i was laid off like a month before my wedding back in 2001. in fact we had a shower scheduled for me that day, and it never happened as we were all walked out to our cars. nice huh? I know how down and depressed you can get too- it is amazing how much we base our self worth on our jobs sometimes. i've gone through layoffs twice. it is no fun.

hopefully what you are doing now will get you by and the job of your dreams will come along soon. i know i am hoping so too (pretty miserable where i am- money's great, but hate it!).

so happy belated anniversary!! love the old school pics- it reminds me of our trips back in the early 80s and 90s.

Hello, and thank you for joining in on my journey to Disney!! Welcome, come in, and know my better man!! LOL I just love Muppet Christmas Carol...
Anyway, I am so glad that you enjoy reading my PTR, and I appreciate that you know how I feel. The first day I was home, I was sitting on the couch in the PJ's and I watched my husband walk out the door for work without me and I just lost it. I felt so useless. But honestly, unemployment, and this journey and our first year of marriage, has been a complete education!! Everything happens for a reason!

Very awesome! I'll be sure to call and do the same with my Boma reservation before my trip!

I'm glad you were able to use this tip.

Glad to hear that it went well! I will have to call once a week... for a few weeks...

I thought I had used it on more than one reservation, so my original plan was to call and just be like "Oh, we were expecting someone else to be joining us on some of out dining reservations and now they will not be." Which is a little white lie, but could certainly explain why you have x amount of reservations for more people. Try it that way. I honestly don't think they really cared, it was more my conscience getting to me for telling a little "fib" to Mickey!!

I know! What was I thinking?!

Spit, spit spit, turn around counter clockwise 4 times, hold fists to side of my head creating Mickey ears, jump up booty bump!

There no bad Disney mojo!

LOL I'm a superstitious person. I blame my parents. My Dad's parents were off the boat, so they had all sorts of weird superstitions, like shoes don't go on the table, even if they are brand new and in the box, that's bad luck!! And you never sit with your back to the door, I think I've mentioned that one.

I really enjoyed your DIsney past post and photos. I wish they still had the dress up pirates photo opp, I would so do that.

I thought that was so brilliant!! They probably replaced it with the gift shop right out of Pirate, which was probably more profitable. But I really wanted a picture of Greg and I in Pirate garb!!

YOu got a job at AC Moore? Oh, I'm speechless, I love AC Moore.

I know, me too!! Us crafties are addicted to that store. LOL when I asked the question if it was selfish of me to take a job for the discount on my scrapbooking stuff, I was looking for you to say "Nah, no way, very savvy!!" I knew if anyone would have the same way of thinking as I did it would be you!!

We'll see how the part time on top of full time job thing goes. Greg is a little worried that I am going to burn myself out and that we'll never see each other. But honestly, I would only keep it until Disney and I said the second I feel strained in anyway I will stop.

 

[Elevationist]

We'll see how the part time on top of full time job thing goes. Greg is a little worried that I am going to burn myself out and that we'll never see each other. But honestly, I would only keep it until Disney and I said the second I feel strained in anyway I will stop.

I totally am with you on this. Last week, I started a part-time job on top of my to make extra vacation cash. I work 8 hours, then am off for one hour, then start my second job and am there for 4 hours. I've done it for 6 days now, and it's kinda kicking my butt! DBF is worrying about me. I told him the same thing, though... It's just for extra Disney money, and if it gets to be too much for me to handle, I'll quit. I'm realllllly going to try to hang in there and let myself get adjusted to it, though... the additional paycheck is so very nice!

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

I gotta come clean to Mickey

I'll call tomorrow...

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'm here!!

Thanks so much for following my pre-TR, I can't wait to read more of yours!!!

I know how you feel about the ADRs, my friend is going in Dec too-her Dh and DD and they have been trying for a party of 3 for Crystal Palace and booked for 4 but when she called to adjust they told her they did not have a table for 3 only for 4 and to keep checking so she kept hers at 4, like um...okay what table of 3 would you have? Anyways she felt bad but what can you do!

Keep the posts coming!!

 

[Elevationist]

You guys are hurting my conscience, and here I am trying to tell my inner Jiminy Cricket to stuff it! I booked Sci-Fi for a party of 6 yesterday, because it was the smallest group I could get a ressie for. There's only 2 of us.

I guess we'll make some walk-ups happy!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

You guys are hurting my conscience, and here I am trying to tell my inner Jiminy Cricket to stuff it! I booked Sci-Fi for a party of 6 yesterday, because it was the smallest group I could get a ressie for. There's only 2 of us.

I guess we'll make some walk-ups happy!

My friend had to do the same thing with her party of 3!! She's gonna tell them that the grandparents couldn't make it

 

[Elevationist]

My friend had to do the same thing with her party of 3!! She's gonna tell them that the grandparents couldn't make it

YEP! I'm planning on saying that my sister's family decided to go to the parade taping at MK that day instead.

 

[nic100308]

Party of 6!?!?! Oh my, that's a little bit more than 3 or 4! I think it will all be okay, I just called and changed it and it was no problem. I also think that once the 45 day mark comes through a lot of people cancel, also as it gets closer people cancel ADR's.

 

[Elevationist]

Party of 6!?!?! Oh my, that's a little bit more than 3 or 4! I think it will all be okay, I just called and changed it and it was no problem. I also think that once the 45 day mark comes through a lot of people cancel, also as it gets closer people cancel ADR's.

I think the combination of Free dining, plus the ease of booking online has now made competition for ADRs pretty cut-throat.
Time to be a pirate, YARR!

 

[nic100308]

So I've been getting together some pictures of our 2006 trip for my "Disney past" post and I have discovered that there are not as many as I thought there were (no worries, I may only have like 4 or 5 but we'll have some). And I know exactly why: DH Greg is a nice person, a VERY nice person to the point where he would not want to inconvenience a CM with asking them to take our picture. He always said, "Oh don't ask them to take our picture, I'll just take a picture of you." LOL I know so silly, and he has even now admitted it was silly. So now we're debating with pre-ordering a photo pass cd. Now I know it's $100, but we trying to weigh the benefits of this. 1) ease, no worrying about trading off cameras, making sure we get a good shot, or if we blinked. I've heard if you ask the photo pass people to take 2-3 shots they will. One is bound to come out nice. 2) I won't have to worry about handing over my expensive camera to anyone. I know it is unlikely to happen, but if the camera get dropped I want to to fall form my hands. 3) We will have TONS of pictures of us throughout WDW 4) EASE!! LOL I love not having to worry about getting shots of us too, or asking someone to take one of us. Plus my camera is not the easy to use.

Okay so please everyone let me know if this is worth it or not. You all know that I am being pretty careful with our spending, but we are always saving so much so that once we're down there we won't have to nickle and dime.

Also, when they say pre-order, how far in advance is pre?

 

[MadilynnsMomma]

I pre-ordered ours back in May... there was an awesome deal doing around the boards. I think I paid $120 for the CD and the deluxe book. I was worried that I would be ordering too soon, but I called and was assured that if the code I received had expired when I went to claim my pictures that I could have it reinstated with a simple phone call. So I decided to save the arm AND the leg and pre-order, I'll deal with the phone call when the time comes!

So I say, pre-order when/if you're ready!

 

[nic100308]

In October 2006 Greg and I took our first trip to Disney together! When we planned the trip we were just going to Disney, but it ended up being an engagement celebration!! I thought Greg was going to propose when we were down there, but he tricked me and did it the day before we left. He totally threw me off! We were out doing our window shopping/people watching thing and he turns to me and says, would you be upset if we bought your ring together. LOL now at this point I already thought he had one so I was taken back (we knew we were going to get married, it had been discussed a lot, I was just waiting for it to be official) So, I thought about it for a second and and realized I was going to get the EXACT ring I wanted. So of course I said no, I would not mind. So Greg says, "Okay, lets go get a ring." So we go to the jeweler and he asks us a few questions about the kind of ring we are looking for and he says, "I know just the ring!" The first ring we ever tried on was "the one" we both just knew it!! He gave us probably like 20 more rings to try on, but none were like the first. So Greg got down on one knee and made it official. The funny thing is I would have never ended up with this beautiful ring that I absolutely love it we hadn't gone together. So then we were off to Disney to celebrate.

This is us at Chef Mickey. Mickey is my favorite!! Every time I saw him I would to the whole Will Ferrell thing from Elf "MICKEY!!!! I know him, I know him!!" LOL if you've never seen it, watch it!!

This is one of my favorite pictures!! Use with Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc.

Us fooling around with some hats in Villains in Vogue

And yes I did wear that "My First Visit" button nearly the entire time. It wasn't my first visit but Greg was telling the guy at check in I hadn't been since I was 8 and he said that this was pretty much like the first time, and it was!!

These next four are from MNSSHP, still one of the best parades we have ever seen!! This was tons of fun, we both love Halloween!! These costumes were from my uncles costume shop. Growing up I had a brand new costume every year!! This was my last costume from him before he closed the store and passed away a year later, so it has a special place in my heart. He was, by far my favorite uncle!! PS I was a flapper girl and Greg was Austin Powers. He had a lot of compliments on his costume. LOL I think he made a good Austin Powers, Yeah, baby!!!

Looking at pictures from our last trip just makes me even more excited for this trip!! Greg and I had such and awesome time together last time, and I know this one will be so much better. Better because we'll appreciate this one more.

 

[disneyaddicted]

GOsh, I love those past pictures, they are so cute and you both look so happy. I honestly can't wait to meet ya'll.

I say to go with the photopass, I have always wanted to but just can't seem to find the extra funds to do it. Ig DH and I ever go back I will definitley do the photopass, I realy think it is a hassle free way to do Disney. I always worry about handing my camera over to strangers, and alot of the times I'm not in the pictures because I am always taking them.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

#1: If they still did the dress as a pirate pix...my whole family would totally be in on it!!! We did the Pirate and Princess party two years ago and had a blast! DH who does not love Disney even wore Jack Sparrow head piece!
#2: I am loving the past past pix! Don't you just love looking back at what we thought was cool to wear when we were kids and think...REALLY??????
#3: Your flapper costume is GREAT! I love it!