Doesn't everybody have Disney on speed dial? Seriously? Mickeystoontown does! 5/14

[GrammyJudy]

Lisa the thing I love about your reports is they are chatty not just alto of pictures. We know what the rides look like but you always have goofy pictures and cute stories. Keep up the god work.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Okay, so I already knew what happened with Mousekeeping but I will agree that it sounded like you were leading up to something else.

 

[pooh'smate]

Joining in. Woohoo for two free days!!! We spent 14 nights in WDW in Sept/Oct of last year and we can't wait to go back, but until then I will enjoy your ptr.

 

[jenseib]

I thought for sure you were going to say they were doing the nasty too....but this still is hilarious! I would've giggled too.
And I am glad that Disney took it seriously and gave you a little compensation.

 

[mickeystoontown]

But I enjoy that you're chatty and wordy. It makes your reports that much more interesting! And, I love hearing about Disney. A co-worker made her reservation today for her family's first visit in December and we talked Disney for like 45 minutes!

I'm glad that you aren't running for the hills because of my chattering.

Isn't it wonderful to chat with people who are going on their first Disney vacation? I love sharing my knowledge with others and wish that I had someone around who knew about Disney when I was planning our first trip.

I'm here!! Can't wait to read all the fun!!

Yay for 2 more days!! Glad Disney took care of the situation!

Hey Angie and Welcome!

Wow, I think I would have said something too. And I would have also quickly snatched up the free nights

Oh I scheduled the two days right then and there!

Oh man that is hilarious! And really not good at the same time. I actually thought you were going to say they were rifling through your things! Happy that it ended on a good note and that Disney really looked into and made the effort to fix it on their end and treat you at the same time!

I know what you mean. We laughed at first but then thought "that's not cool!"

I decided to follow your link from the May ADR cancel thread. Since I know we have similar taste in dining and travel dates!

Love your family intros and the Lion King picture is too adorable!

What a crazy story with the mousekeepers. In high school I actually was a housekeeper and we *would* sometimes turn on the TV while cleaning (don't really know if it was allowed or not) but would have never sat on the bed. Oh my! How great that Disney showed true concern with the situation.

Sounds like you are a great TR writer so I am looking forward to following along!!

Stacy Welcome! I just saw your post on the ADR cancellation thread and commented that we must be kin because I changed up our's some more last night.

I can see how they would want to see what's going on or take a break but they didn't need to be lying down on our beds.

Hope that you'll stick around for the rest of our plans.

Joining in! Love the intro and first update.

Welcome aboard! Another update is coming up soon!

I agree, if you don't say anything no ones what works and doesn't. (Ask my supervisor I have no problem letting them know what I think.)
I too did some housekeeping, we would only turn on tvs if room was a checkout. No time to to turn them on if guest were still staying in room. I do hope they gave you new sheets after laying on the beds. I will say I like that you waited till after your trip to write the letter. That had to help keep you in the Disney mood. Is nice to know that there is some Disney customer service out there. It seems since the magic bands came out I keep hearing more bad service. I am hoping that it is stress and will work its way out. So glad for your free extra two days. How did your boss take the news? I love your stories about him.

I have always told my kids to stand up for themselves because I may not be around to do it for them.

I didn't expect Disney to compensate us in any way but to listen to our concerns/observations. Having said that, I was super happy to take the two free nights.

Well the best way to break news to my boss is to do it through his mother. She lives next door to our office (it used to be an old hotel and she lives one suite over) and she came over one day to chat. I was telling her about the two free nights and the fact that our trip would be two whole weeks. I knew that she'd tell him not to raise too much stink about it.

While he didn't raise a stink, he did lay his head down on his desk and look at me with big puppy dog eyes when I told him.

Disney wants to keep you happy, and coming back again! Hooray for two free days!! Must confess -- I too thought you were interrupting something a little more than just TV watching!

Like it would take two free days with us!?!? But I happily took them.

Stick me in the dirty mind group I too thought you were walking in on something. Can't wait to read more of your plans and see if our paths cross so we can say hi

Melody

Thank goodness they weren't! I can just imagine the giggles that would ensue.

Pulling up a chair in the group session for the dirty-minded! I, too, thought that's where you were headed with the mousekeepers!

Glad Disney is listening and rewarding you for helping them out! Can't believe how close your next trip is! Seems like you just got back--oh, maybe that was just that I just finished reading your last trip report! LOL

Can't wait to hear your plans!

Gosh, ya'll have some dirty minds! (not that I didn't go back and read my post and see that it DID sound like they were getting it on )

I gotta drag out the trip reports in order to keep the Disney blues away.

Oh my! Yup i'm a card carrying member of the dirty mind club Glad that it was more innocent.

I'm glad you said something to the cast member in the food court, she definately needed an attitude adjustment. We have this discussion alot when we go to the parks, if you wake up in a bad mood and don't think you can change that mood by the time you get to work maybe it would be a good day to call in sick!

Are my expectations of cast members high? Definately! Would I act like a wild hyena if someone upset my mom with their less than Disney attitude, yes yes I would.

On with the show!

I can keep my mouth shut on a lot of things but don't be rude to my Mama or to anybody older than you. That's a big old Southern no-no!

I am here! Subbed in a few days ago, but forgot to comment! So jealous you are going for two weeks! That is on my bucket list of things to do Disneywise one day. Very nice of Disney to give you two free nights! That almost never happens!

Welcome! You sound like me, I'll read a post but forget to say anything about it. I do it all the darn time.

John has already said that since my boss dealt with the two weeks this trip, next trip is going to be two weeks too. I need to start putting money away now.

Just checking in and wanted to say "hi"...so....HI!!!!

Can't wait for more!

HEY! I'm so glad that you're checking in!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm a little late to the party but I'm in!! Loving it so far.

Never ever too late to join! Welcome!

I'm here!!! Yay!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip planning!!! May will be here before ya know it!!

Hey there! Good to have you! Believe me when I say that we are all counting down the days!

Hey, I made it in on page 6 . I am in shock that I got here this early.

I can't believe how grown Hunter looks in his suit!! I wish we were going to be there in May. I have two co-workers who will be there at that time. Dale couldn't take that week off because someone else(the guy who calls on Dale's customers when he takes off) had requested that week off because of Memorial Day.

I am looking forward to hearing all about your plans though as I know you have some good stuff coming!!

Dana's in the house!

Hasn't he grown the heck up!?! He's so tall and looks down at me.

I hate that Dale couldn't take off so we could meet up again. Darn other folks wanting to take off.

Apparently I'm in the dirty mind club too because I just knew that you were building up to the Mousekeepers in the middle of some other "activity". Thank goodness that wasn't the case.

Seriously, I'm glad that they took your complaints seriously and did something to make it up to your family.

Looks like a lot of folks thought that I was about to reveal that they were doing to hoochy kootchy.

I wasn't really even looking for any sort of compensation but I sure snapped it up before they changed their minds.

just catching up on the trip report...and yes...I thought the same as you other dirty minded people did about the mousekeeping..hehehe ( mind you..if they had been doing the wild thang you might have gotten the whole two weeks free hahahaha)

Dang! I hadn't thought about it that way! Now I wish that they had been.

Lisa the thing I love about your reports is they are chatty not just alto of pictures. We know what the rides look like but you always have goofy pictures and cute stories. Keep up the god work.

Thank you Judy! That's so nice of you to say.

Okay, so I already knew what happened with Mousekeeping but I will agree that it sounded like you were leading up to something else.

I remember you and I discussing the "incident" and you agreed that I did the right thing by not putting it in my trip report.

Joining in. Woohoo for two free days!!! We spent 14 nights in WDW in Sept/Oct of last year and we can't wait to go back, but until then I will enjoy your ptr.

Welcome! Some folks say that they are ready to get back home at the end of the trip but I'm always wanting to stay longer.

I thought for sure you were going to say they were doing the nasty too....but this still is hilarious! I would've giggled too.
And I am glad that Disney took it seriously and gave you a little compensation.

It was very funny at the time but the more that we discussed it, it just wasn't cool.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Thanks for sharing the tale of the mousekeepers! I too was thinking a bit on the raunchy side at first. So glad it wasn't THAT!!
It's good you let them know what happened and even better that they responded to you. Bonus for two extra nights!! How will your poor boss survive 2 weeks again??? I like how you bring his mom in to help ease the pain!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks for sharing the tale of the mousekeepers! I too was thinking a bit on the raunchy side at first. So glad it wasn't THAT!!
It's good you let them know what happened and even better that they responded to you. Bonus for two extra nights!! How will your poor boss survive 2 weeks again??? I like how you bring his mom in to help ease the pain!

It was so funny at first but then I was a little upset about it.

My boss is doing lots better than I expected so far. Now, wait until it gets closer to our departure date and it will be another story.

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

Sorry about your 'not so great' experiences. I'm glad to hear you handled them in a polite and adult manner- and that Disney responded with the same!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry about your 'not so great' experiences. I'm glad to hear you handled them in a polite and adult manner- and that Disney responded with the same!

Thankfully, from what we could tell, all the mousekeepers did was lounge around. In this day and time, that's a good thing. Some of the things that we read about now are scary!

 

[mickeystoontown]

How are we getting from Louisiana to Florida and where are we staying?

The drive from our house to Walt Disney World is 800+ loooooooong miles and we drive. As I tell everybody at the start of my pre-trip reports, I would love to fly since it would take just 2 ½ hours to get there. But, our local airport is little...I’m talking, you walk out to the airplane and board, little. Airfare from the airport here to Orlando is outrageous. The closest airport that has even halfway decent airfare is in Jackson, Mississippi which is about 2 ½ hours from our house. For our family, it’s cheaper to just drive.

To say that I’m blessed with wonderful traveling kids is an understatement. Just give them some music, a portable DVD player, some snacks and they are good to go. Very rarely have they ever asked “are we there yet?” and, then, it was only when we were fairly close to Walt Disney World.

I’ve always done the majority of the driving with everybody else lazing around. In John’s defense, I don’t like his driving so I’d much rather let him sit to the side and take a snooze or two. He is one of those people who looks over to the right and then over to the left and then back behind him. A typical conversation while John’s driving goes something like this “Oh look at that over there. Is that a deer?” “Did you see that big tractor over in that field?” “Was that an armadillo or raccoon that was run over?” Yeah, he pretty much pays attention to everything but the road.

Another thing is that I think that I have ADD when it comes to just sitting still. I’m not being facetious. I’m serious! I am not good at just sitting there and doing nothing. Even at home when watching a television show, I think of all of the things that I should or could be doing. At least when I am driving, I’m doing something.

Anyway, the plans are:

Friday, May 23rd: John usually has Friday off and I get off at Noon. Hunter’s last day of school is May 22nd, so he’ll be home anyway. I will come home, change clothes, throw the last of my things in our overnight bag and toss in the “snack bag” in the backseat. I hope to be on the road by 1:00, 1:30 at the latest.

From our house to our first stop (which I’ll talk about in a minute), there’s nothing really. Just fields of crops and...and....well, there’s just fields of crops.

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

Told ya!

After going through Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi, we’ll hit another section of nothingness, then, Hattiesburg and nothingness, then, Mobile and Pensacola, Florida where there are at least some pretty buildings and I’ll get to honk my horn in the tunnel in Mobile. In the past, we stopped somewhere around Crestview, Florida for the night. But, since we are leaving at least five hours earlier, we can make it a lot further.

I’ve been doing some mapquest/hotels.com research and am pretty sure that we’ll make it to Tallahassee before it gets too terribly late. However, since Tallahassee is the State Capitol, and traffic is heavy, I’d like to get a little further. We’ll simply play it by ear and see how it goes. We’ve been known to drive until 1:00 in the morning in order to get to a good stopping place.

Saturday: May 24th: Hunter’s 17th Birthday and our Disney arrival day! We aren’t super early risers even when there are hundreds of miles ahead of us. It just works better for us to leave around 9:00/9:30 a.m. We’ve tried the getting up at 4:00 a.m. and driving but that just makes for a bunch of tired people by the time we get to Disney (or anywhere for that matter).

Depending on where we stop for the night, we will have between four to six hours of driving this day. Because we travel in May, it seems to be inevitable that we’ll run into rain and traffic on the way down I-75. Happens almost every time. That’s why our travel time varies so much. Oh well, in the words of Mama June of Honey Boo Boo fame... “It is what it is. Get over it!”

When I was given the two free days by Disney, I couldn’t figure out if I wanted the two free days at the beginning of the trip or at the end of the trip. I posted the scenarios on my trip report and on Facebook. In one way, it sounded better to add it to the first. But, on the other hand, it sounded better to add it to the end of the trip. You see, at the time, we thought that Lacey and Jesse were going and they were coming at the end of the trip. Meaning, we’d have to pay out of pocket for two full days of meals. If I add it to the first of the trip, we’d only have three counter service meals to pay for out of pocket. (Of course, as Stacy...one of our Dis friends, not Disney’s Stacy...can attest by my posts on the May ADR cancellation thread, I’ve done some ADR changing. ) That made the whole thing a moot point but “It is what it is. Get over it!”.

Good gosh, I’m getting in that “chatty, wordy, no-picture posting” mindset again. Let me throw in a picture of what I’m betting ya’ll look like right now:

(By the way, be careful using google images to search for “passed out cartoon”. Let’s just say that you’ll see some nudey pictures and they ain't cartoons .)

Let me get back to the rest of this “How are we getting from Louisiana to Florida and where are we staying?” post. I’ve told ya’ll how we are getting from Louisiana to Florida and now it’s time to talk about “where are we staying”. We are creatures of habit. We tend to lean towards what we know we like. And what we like is Caribbean Beach Resort. Even though we had our choice of where to stay with those two free nights, we knew that we’d end up at Caribbean Beach and didn’t want to try something new for just two nights. We did the whole split stay last year and it didn’t work for us at all. I didn’t like moving around. I want to get settled in and relax.

So, we’ll be relaxing in a water view room (that’s what Disney comped us) at Caribbean Beach. I’m so looking forward to being back on the beaches there:

[/URL][/IMG]

[/URL][/IMG]

Ahhh! That’s all I can say is “ahhh!”. Who am I kidding, I ain’t stopping with just “Ahhh!”. I’ve got plans to share.

As I said, May 24th is Hunter’s birthday. We haven’t made any ADRs for this night because we aren’t sure what time we will arrive and given the new ADR cancellation policy, we decided to just wing it. It’s possible that we’ll just eat in the resort food court or, if I know Hunter, he’ll be ready to get to Downtown Disney. If so, we’ll stop in Wolfgang Puck Express:

If we do go to Downtown Disney, I know that we’ll stroll from one end to the other just taking in the sights and smells. If we stay at the resort, it’s very possible that we’ll watch the movie in the Old Port Royale courtyard. Either way, we’ll be more than happy to be back in the Disney bubble!

**Up next: What do we have planned for our “free...literally free"...day at Disney?

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Aw man, you didn't post pictures of the gentleman's club billboards you will see on your journey to the World. Let me just say that I grew up in FL, and those things have been around for YEARS!!! I am so grateful that we travel a different route coming from TN, and I don't have to hear any "comments from the peanut gallery" (my kids) upon beholding those miles and miles of near nudity.

Every time I read your reports it ALMOST makes me want to switch to CBR...but, since I am NOT from Lousianna, I will stick to our home resort that I love, Riverside.

So funny, I can tell from your Wolfgang pictures what food orders go with whom in your family without you even mentioning it!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Aw man, you didn't post pictures of the gentleman's club billboards you will see on your journey to the World. Let me just say that I grew up in FL, and those things have been around for YEARS!!! I am so grateful that we travel a different route coming from TN, and I don't have to hear any "comments from the peanut gallery" (my kids) upon beholding those miles and miles of near nudity.

Every time I read your reports it ALMOST makes me want to switch to CBR...but, since I am NOT from Lousianna, I will stick to our home resort that I love, Riverside.

So funny, I can tell from your Wolfgang pictures what food orders go with whom in your family without you even mentioning it!

I almost did that! WE BARE ALL! billboards are always good for a giggle.

I knew that some of you would figure out who ordered what at Wolfgang Puck. Hunter is a pizza lover all the way!

 

[mickeystoontown]

What do we have planned for our “free...literally free...day at Disney?

May 25th:

Our first full day at Disney is another “free...literally free...day at Disney. It’s on Disney’s nickel! It’s courtesy of Mickey! It’s on da houuuuuuse! Well, the room is. The food isn’t. Tickets aren’t included either. But, hey, I’m not fussing and complaining. I’ll take whatever Disney so generously wants to give me. In this case, it’s room only for two nights.

Right after it was decided that we’d take the two free days at the beginning of the trip, I started thinking about what we would do that day. Downtown Disney? Rent a boat? Go mini-puttin’? Did I hear somebody say “lounge around”? You forget that I said I’m not good at lounging around. I can do it for a little while but not for any lengthy period of time.

I was also thinking about our budget. Budget and the wallet says “find something cheap to do and eat”. Since we weren’t on the package yet and had no tickets, we wouldn’t have the mini-putt discount, the $15 Planet Hollywood voucher, the % off voucher for watercraft, etc. What to do? Where to eat?

I started looking at the Disney restaurant site and found out that Beaches & Cream had started taking ADRs. Yeah! That’s one of the restaurants that we’ve wanted to try but we didn’t want to have to stand around waiting to be called in or chance it by going there and them turning us away. If I were to book an ADR there, we’d also get the chance to explore the resort which is something that Hunter and I like to do. John, on the other hand, could care less if he sees what other resorts look like. I booked a dinner ADR and figured that we’d find lunch somewhere at Downtown Disney or at the resort.

Ya’ll know that I can’t leave well enough alone. I mean seriously, just look at my trip report from last trip and you’ll see how many times I changed our resort reservations. Yesterday, I got to thinking which is scary and it makes my head hurt sometimes. The thinking does that to me. Why don’t I see what’s available for a dinner ADR on the 25th? I could always move our Beaches & Cream reservation to lunch time. Yeah, that would work. I played around on the Disney dining reservation site and noticed that Boma was available.

Earlier, Boma got knocked outta the ADRs and was replaced with something else. I’ve changed our ADRs so many times, I get dizzy just thinking about it and couldn't tell you what beat it out. I had really wanted to eat at Boma again because we didn’t get to venture outside of the Animal Kingdom Lodge much last trip. We did have a run-in with this guy:

That’s the snake that nearly made me, my sister-in-law, niece and nephew jump out of our skin. It was dark outside and my sis-in-law hollered “snake” and I started jumping up and down and my niece took off running. It was freakin’ hilarious!

Anyway, Boma was available. I quickly opened another Disney dining reservation screen to see if Beaches & Cream was available for lunch. It was! Click, click, clickaroo and Boom! Bam! We were booked for lunch at Beaches & Cream and dinner at Boma.

Beaches & Cream is a first for us and this will be our second time at Boma. Both of these meals will be paid out of pocket but I think that it’ll be worth it.

I have no idea what we will do in between the two ADRs. Like I said, I’m thinking that we’ll walk around Beach Club for a while but I can see that “getting old” to John so we won’t stay a long time. I want to get to the Animal Kingdom Lodge earlier than our 7:40 ADR time so that we can look around more than we did last trip. John has actually expressed an interest in wandering there so that's a good thing.

Other than that, I don’t know what the day will bring.

**Up next: I’ll explain the meaning behind the title of the pre-trip report!

 

[farrahalex76]

We drive 650 miles from Mississippi. Flying is so expensive and I can plan Disney trips all day long but trying to find deals on flights I can't do. But with 3 kids I think it's probably easier to drive anyway. We haven't decided if we are going to leave the night before and stay halfway or just get up early the day of.

 

[GrammyJudy]

Wow two installments in one day, must be a slow day in the office

After lunch you could always walk over to Boardwalk and check that out.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I'd like a day to have lunch at B&C and dinner at Boma!! I agree - you could go nose around the Boardwalk area too, take a boat ride or rent a bike?

My DH just heard about ADRs at B&C and he is very excited! I think we'll be eating there next trip!

My DH and Hunter share a birthday - he was bummed that he's missing another 24 hour party around his birthday this year - it just doesn't work for us to go then, our kids are still in school.

As to your title - I sure thought everyone had Disney on speed dial! I have Disney Dining in my phone!

 

[momabbate]

800 miles doesn't sound all that bad. We got 1321 miles. No way would I drive. Chris is a truck driver so he does our driving. He makes a bad passenger. I mean last time I tried to drive him to work, we didn't make it down the street before I pulled over.
I love the idea of touring the resorts. Both BC, YC and then boardwalk. Not to mention AKL. And a free room. I think I might be turning green. lol I couldn't think of a better family to get this free time at Disney.
I do vote for DTD your arrival day. I can't wait to eat at WG again. I am slowly trying to come up with plans for our first day and that was the first place my mind went. But, like you and so many others it changed just as fast.
Can't wait for more plans!!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I drive about 900 miles when I do drive to WDW, so I sympathize. I am similar to you in needing to do something, even when sitting.

We really need to figure out when we will meet up, since we will both be at CBR for the same few days! Water view will be a nice way to start your trip, and so is relaxing! I hope to eat at Boma one day, though that won't happen on my next trip.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

This trip will be my third time flying. When I drive its over 1300 miles one way, and although cheaper to drive in my prius it's much faster to fly and more relaxing.
My 180 day Mark is coming up. I need to get with my daughter and her friend so we can make ADR decisions.