Dole Whip is a Dish Best Served Cold. A Sept PTR- 10/2 - TR POSTED!

[teekathepony]

Wendy, that's a lot of trips to keep track of.

Yes, yes it is. There's not a lot of planning involved in Germany at least! Get there, visit Caro.

Glad the flights are settled...even if NOT exactly what you wanted.

Me too, they're not bad but oh how I wish I had one less stop!

Your trip to Germany sounds really nice

I can't wait, it will be nice to see my "sister" again as well as showing Johnny a whole other side of the world he's never been to!

That sucks about your parents and their purchase. I would certainly be calling and asking for my money back or calling the Better Business Bureau.

They did call and were told that they "certainly won't be getting [their] money back" so that's really great customer service, eh? My Dad will kick up a stink, he'll contact the BBB if he has to as well.

Ahhhh...the Yacht Club. I would really like to stay at the Yacht Club someday. But my pocketbook just shakes when I even think about it. I think we'll stick with our Studio at Old Key West until we win the lotto.

Oh man, my pocketbook did the same when I brought up Yacht Club! But we have so long to save up and I've been selling my paintings and that's actually going really well, so for now, we're staying optimistic!

Have a great weekend.

You too Kathy!

When are you planning to go in November 2015? Do you have an exact time frame?

Not pinned down exactly yet. On your TR your reminded me about American Thanksgiving which I totally forgot about! I would love to go after that, but with that being work's busy time I really can't take that time off so it will probably be the week before, maybe even 10 days. Nothing too definite yet.

You know - Denny and I did a timeshare presentation down in Williamsburg a couple years ago and this salesperson was emphatic that we would be able to use those points for a DVC exchange. And I knew it was totally crap. Not impossible, but also not very liking and ultimately a frustrating experience. All I could do was chuckle to myself because, you're right - Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

So true. I know it and to be fair, usually my parents do too, but they asked all the right questions, covered their bases, and thought they had all the answers... there was just one important piece of information left out. They can still borrow there, but it wouldn't be easy for my Mom to get time off work with so little notice. And everything would probably be booked up.

That being said - if you end up at OKW or SSR it won't be the end of the world. I know you are persistent so ultimately it will work out for you.

I would LOVE to stay at SSR some day! It looks beautiful! Next year we definitely want an Epcot resort, but after that (if my parents' package will work out!) we are excited to try either of those resorts.

Germany sounds amazing! And it will be here before you know it!

Yes it will! It's sneaking up on me already. We were booking our flights the other night and I realized we actually left that pretty late! 3 and a half months until that trip!

 

[Lmartheleur]

All of your trips sound amazing! Booking flights out of a Sydney can be a pain :/ but those aren't bad at all! We are heading to disney May 18th-28th and we have the exact same flight home We ended up getting the early flight down because it's the last day of the flower and garden festival and I want to catch some of that

 

[amazingact21]

Lots of trip planning done for you this week! That's always fun.


Sorry to hear that DVC point situation. That's sad to hear how your parents got ripped off like that. I guess the silver lining in all that is that you know plenty of time in advance so you can start saving for YC.



You're getting a nice long time in Germany, that's exciting! I'll have to follow that little report closely; my brother just moved over there and I'll end up making a visit to see him in the next 5 years.



Hooray for booking flights for your Sept. trip! That has to make it feel even more real now. You've got transportation, you've got your room, now to just play the waiting game.

 

[MidnightParade]

Stormalong Bay just looks so cool, the lazy river especially. I have not rented DVC, we looked into it last year but there were a few things that made us decide against it, mainly that we were looking at room discounts and free meal plan promos. Have you?
I've been to Germany twice now to visit my "sister" and it's really beautiful, very interesting. I love the food a lot more than I thought I would!

We are renting DVC for the first time ever on our upcoming October trip. Looking historically we wouldn't get free dining or room only discount for our dates(which was nice to see confirmed this week! lol) and for some reason we didn't want to change our dates(I think we wanted to have one day to decompress when we got back which will be on Thanksgiving so no using up an extra vacation day). We went through Davids Vacation Rentals and so far everything has been great! We got Animal Kingdom Villas for less then then rack rates at POR. Its pretty darn exciting! Look forward to see what you guys end up doing! So much time to plan and plot till then!

That's amazing that you have been to Germany so many times already! My father was german so I've always wanted to see it for myself. Plus I love sauerkraut and weiner schnitzel! Although I'm sure its different over there then here. Can't wait to hear about the trip!

Ohoh! Forgot to ask, do you have a website for your paintings(that your okay sharing)? Always like having something where I met or "know" the artist!

 

[BridgetR3]

We have rented 3 times from DVCrental and it has worked out to about the same price as a moderate's rack rate for us each time. They are great to work with as well. We always use Lauren but I'm sure they are all great!

 

[khaleesi]

Yay for having your flights booked, even if it's not exactly what you had hoped for. It's crazy to think that you have to board less planes to fly across the ocean than you do to get to Orlando!

I can't wait to hear about Germany! That would be pretty cool if you got to see 'Lion King'!!!

But, that totally stinks about your parents' situation. Hopefully they can get that resolved. What a bummer. I have no patience for dishonesty.

Excited to see what you put in your Etsy shop, now that I know you paint!

 

[teekathepony]

All of your trips sound amazing! Booking flights out of a Sydney can be a pain :/ but those aren't bad at all! We are heading to disney May 18th-28th and we have the exact same flight home We ended up getting the early flight down because it's the last day of the flower and garden festival and I want to catch some of that

Sydney flights suck for sure. We were really hoping for the Sydney to Toronto flight but it wasn't available. The flower and garden festival sounds so lovely, some day I want to see it for myself, hope you get lots of time there!

Lots of trip planning done for you this week! That's always fun.

It was fun! Made me feel very productive.

Sorry to hear that DVC point situation. That's sad to hear how your parents got ripped off like that. I guess the silver lining in all that is that you know plenty of time in advance so you can start saving for YC.

Ugh, it really sucks. Not only that, the company is moving really, really slow on what they're going to do about the situation. You're right though, it could have been worse and screwed up my plans a lot closer to them!

You're getting a nice long time in Germany, that's exciting! I'll have to follow that little report closely; my brother just moved over there and I'll end up making a visit to see him in the next 5 years.

It is exciting! Caro wants us to stay even longer but with our Orlando trip coming later we really can't take too much time for either one. It should be a good amount of time. Where abouts did your brother move? You should definitely go visit, having someone over there makes it so much better!

Hooray for booking flights for your Sept. trip! That has to make it feel even more real now. You've got transportation, you've got your room, now to just play the waiting game.

Yes, the flights really nailed down the fact that we were going -- up until that point we really had nothing but words invested in that trip!

We are renting DVC for the first time ever on our upcoming October trip. Looking historically we wouldn't get free dining or room only discount for our dates(which was nice to see confirmed this week! lol) and for some reason we didn't want to change our dates(I think we wanted to have one day to decompress when we got back which will be on Thanksgiving so no using up an extra vacation day). We went through Davids Vacation Rentals and so far everything has been great! We got Animal Kingdom Villas for less then then rack rates at POR. Its pretty darn exciting! Look forward to see what you guys end up doing! So much time to plan and plot till then!

I get that. If you're probably not going to get any of the discounts anyway, the way to go for sure seems to be renting points. I'm always glad to hear about other people who have good luck renting! We just may do it, some day I'm sure.

That's amazing that you have been to Germany so many times already! My father was german so I've always wanted to see it for myself. Plus I love sauerkraut and weiner schnitzel! Although I'm sure its different over there then here. Can't wait to hear about the trip!

Germany is really cool, I've enjoyed visiting there! It's so nice to have someone there, it makes it really easy to visit! I was hesitant about the food (still not a sauerkraut fan!) but I'm getting better.

Ohoh! Forgot to ask, do you have a website for your paintings(that your okay sharing)? Always like having something where I met or "know" the artist!

I don't have a good place for it all yet, I am thinking of making a Facebook page dedicated to it. As of now there is only one item in my Etsy shop (I just set it up today!) but if you want to see more, and are ok with Facebook, let me know and I'll send you a friend request.

 

[teekathepony]

We have rented 3 times from DVCrental and it has worked out to about the same price as a moderate's rack rate for us each time. They are great to work with as well. We always use Lauren but I'm sure they are all great!

I'm glad to hear everyone's positive experiences with renting points. It's definitely still an option for us!

Yay for having your flights booked, even if it's not exactly what you had hoped for. It's crazy to think that you have to board less planes to fly across the ocean than you do to get to Orlando!

I know, isn't that nuts? It's easier for me to get to Florida by hopping in my kayak and hugging the coast!

I can't wait to hear about Germany! That would be pretty cool if you got to see 'Lion King'!!!

I'm so excited, Caro proposed Lion King and I was instantly in! She said, "But it will be in German..." But I figure I know the story well enough to follow along

But, that totally stinks about your parents' situation. Hopefully they can get that resolved. What a bummer. I have no patience for dishonesty.

I'm so disappointed and angry on their behalf. I really hope the company steps up and does something for them. I also really hate dishonesty, above almost anything else.

Excited to see what you put in your Etsy shop, now that I know you paint!

Thank you!! Here's the link to my Etsy shop, it's quite empty at the moment, but I'm currently gathering some older pieces that are ready to sell, going to photograph them tonight and hopefully add a few more!

 

[MidnightParade]

I don't have a good place for it all yet, I am thinking of making a Facebook page dedicated to it. As of now there is only one item in my Etsy shop (I just set it up today!) but if you want to see more, and are ok with Facebook, let me know and I'll send you a friend request.

Argh! I have actually deactivated my facebook account(Life just seems simpler without it for me personally. lol) I have your etsy shop book marked now though and will keep watch on it. Are all your paintings the same kind of water color and look? lol, sorry for being a pest!

 

[teekathepony]

Argh! I have actually deactivated my facebook account(Life just seems simpler without it for me personally. lol) I have your etsy shop book marked now though and will keep watch on it. Are all your paintings the same kind of water color and look? lol, sorry for being a pest!

I can definitely understand getting rid of Facebook!

I forgot about my Flickr account that I set up for paintings. There are a lot more there!

I do all kinds of different things, fun watercolours, landscape watercolours, acrylics, oils, heck even charcoal and pastels. If it allows me to create something, I'll use it!

 

[MidnightParade]

Love your paintings! So talented! Your pony in moonlight(top right) is soo pretty! Love! Thanks for sharing. I'm absolutely going to keep these in mind for future painting possibilities!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I'm sorry about your parents' timeshare I hate when people have to be slimy like that and swindle people. I hope that they can get their money back or something.

Germany looks so beautiful! I can't wait to see your pictures.

Too bad about your flights for your September trip - that's a lot of travel time.

 

[eandesmom]

What a train wreck on the package that your folks got. How incredibly frustrating. I can't stand those kind of scams.

Outside of all that though, sounds like a lot of good developments!

 

[geckodani]

Let's see if I can catch up and comment on a ton of stuff I missed and am just now catching up on!

I am so excited about the new FP+ changes! Park hopping! OMG - I'm going solo in October. I can go to MK in the morning, use 2 FP+, and then hop over and ride Soarin in Epcot. Heck. YEAH!

Your poor travel days... I do NOT envy you. Ugh.

I snorted coke out of my nose on your explanation of exploring Florida. Thanks for that.

Adam wants to do a whole trip devoted to the Dark Side. Le sigh. I'll do Universal, I will... but I'll miss Disney.

I used to have a pair of Birkenstocks that I ADORED. I might have to revisit the Birks!

Yay for 5 year anniversary trips!

And I am super excited and jealous about your Germany trip!

And again... your poor travel days. Blergh.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hello again

All caught up!

Ooh on staying offsite...not something I think I'd like to do so I get why you have your reservations but the soaking tub and the size of the place you'll be staying does look good

Yay on getting the early CP reservation! Your plans look good and Epcot is a great park though I agree MK can give it a run for it's money lol

Look forward to reading more about your Germany and Orlando trip.

Tenzeela

 

[teekathepony]

Love your paintings! So talented! Your pony in moonlight(top right) is soo pretty! Love! Thanks for sharing. I'm absolutely going to keep these in mind for future painting possibilities!

Thank you so much! That's very nice The pony picture is my Teeka!

I'm sorry about your parents' timeshare I hate when people have to be slimy like that and swindle people. I hope that they can get their money back or something.

Thanks, I agree. I'm a lot more wary of salespeople than my parents, I just keep thinking I wish I were there with them! Still no word from the company on what they plan to do.

Germany looks so beautiful! I can't wait to see your pictures.

Germany really is a nice place, I'm excited to go again!

Too bad about your flights for your September trip - that's a lot of travel time.

We're used to it up here, it's really too bad we couldn't have one less stop though!

What a train wreck on the package that your folks got. How incredibly frustrating. I can't stand those kind of scams.

A train wreck is a really good way of putting it. The worst of it is they didn't lie... so technically they're not in the wrong, but they did not give all the information. It's horrible. And now they're taking their good old time getting back to my parents about what they're going to do about it.

Outside of all that though, sounds like a lot of good developments!

Yes indeed, apart from that we're doing really well!

Let's see if I can catch up and comment on a ton of stuff I missed and am just now catching up on!

I'm going slowly with this report, you didn't miss too much.

I am so excited about the new FP+ changes! Park hopping! OMG - I'm going solo in October. I can go to MK in the morning, use 2 FP+, and then hop over and ride Soarin in Epcot. Heck. YEAH!

Me too!! I'm glad they listened to everyone's concerns (for a while there it didn't look like they were going to!)

Your poor travel days... I do NOT envy you. Ugh.

Luckily I have never lived anywhere else so I don't know how unlucky I am. You guys with your one cheap flight to Disney!

I snorted coke out of my nose on your explanation of exploring Florida. Thanks for that.

I could pretend we're going to soak up the local culture and maybe take in a sophisticated museum, but the truth is we'll stop at the first SALE sign we see.

Adam wants to do a whole trip devoted to the Dark Side. Le sigh. I'll do Universal, I will... but I'll miss Disney.

Oh dear. A whole trip? Hahaha yeah I couldn't be that close and not be at Disney. I like Universal, but not that much. Good luck with that!

I used to have a pair of Birkenstocks that I ADORED. I might have to revisit the Birks!

I love hearing about all the people who love them, gives me confidence that when I actually break them in, they'll be great!

Yay for 5 year anniversary trips!

I am SO excited for that trip! Already! Haha that's the big one for us and this next one is just a filler. A little Disney before the real thing.

And I am super excited and jealous about your Germany trip!

It's WONDERFUL having someone over there! If I can get myself a flight, that's all I need to worry about! It's a fantastic way to see the country too. The closer it comes the more excited I am for it!

And again... your poor travel days. Blergh.

Haha I know. I know. Some day I really need to move to Florida... Johnny and I decided to become "Snow Birds" when we retire and live there for 5 or 6 months in the winter. (Because planning a trip two years in advance wasn't enough, we're planning our retirement at the age of 28. )

Hello again

All caught up!

to my PTR and it's so good to see you around the boards again!!

Ooh on staying offsite...not something I think I'd like to do so I get why you have your reservations but the soaking tub and the size of the place you'll be staying does look good

I'm not really looking forward to staying offsite, but the benefits were there... we do keep trying to find ways to end up at Pop Century!

Yay on getting the early CP reservation! Your plans look good and Epcot is a great park though I agree MK can give it a run for it's money lol

I'm excited for CP early breakfast, especially with the kids there with the characters.
I can never pick a favourite between those two!

Look forward to reading more about your Germany and Orlando trip.

Tenzeela

Coming up soon!

 

[teekathepony]

Talking About Tickets​

Happy Saturday! I'm at work... and I'm the only one. Not to jinx anything, but it's been a very quiet morning so far. Just me and my Songza. I did get a few paintings ready (framed/backing/hanging wire, etc.) for the art show in two weeks' time. So that's a bonus! But now my personal work is done, customer work is done, orders printed, paper channels are done and the store is clean. Nothing left to do but Dis!

It's a math update today. I'm an artist and an English major... so math is far from my strong suit. I'll give it my best.

I'm talking about our park tickets today. My mother in law and step-father in law have theirs purchased already -- a two day base ticket. That's it!

Disney blasphemy, that's what that is.

Anyway, Billy, Shellie and the kids aren't 100% sure yet (as of last time we spoke) but were thinking about the three day ticket to get to see a little more Disney while we're down there. They can get tickets through Shellie's work somehow, I can't remember exactly how that works but she's looking into it to see what she's able to get. She is taking the two kids in to see me later today for passport pictures so I'll ask for any updates while she's here.

As for Johnny and I?

You know we can't get enough Disney.

Two day ticket is not enough.

Three day ticket is pushing it.

Here's where our math comes in.

We're park hopper people through and through and so we checked out the pricing for the PH tickets. (Prices for one person, include tax)

1 Day PH: $142.71
2 Day PH: $252.41
3 Day PH: $344.00 *Our original option, able to see a little of all four parks in three days.

Just for kicks, we checked out the pricing on the Base tickets. (Prices for one person, include tax)

1 Day Base ticket is $105.44
2 Day Base ticket is $200.22
3 Day Base ticket is $291.81
4 Day Base ticket is $313.11
5 Day Base ticket is $323.76
6 Day Base ticket is $334.41

Now.

Since the plan wasn't to do a great deal of park hopping anyway, just to have the option so that we could get AK done in the morning and hop to DHS for the evening, we considered a longer base ticket instead of a shorter park hopper.

(EDIT: ** Change of plans, the following plan has been debunked because, as I had an inkling, I was wrong!**)

A 6 day base ticket is cheaper than a 3 day park hopper. Please, please, please correct me if I'm wrong, (and I very well could be,) but I was under the impression that if you had base tickets and wanted to visit more than one park on the same day, you can but it will use another whole day off your ticket. Am I wrong, anyone know?

Assuming for now that I'm correct thinking that, and since we really only need to park hop once, maybe twice, we're thinking of getting the 5 or 6 day base ticket instead. Two benefits to that: (1) Cheaper. (2) If we only park hop once, I'll have extra Disney days to use while everyone else is shopping or relaxing or some of that crap that I don't want to do!

(Ok, so now after the info that I was wrong, I'm thinking I'll do either a three or four day Park Hopper. Probably four.)

In other, but still related news, apparently Johnny's sister is thinking more strongly than ever about coming, and wants to bring her friend with her. That means two more people which equals 10 people in a condo that's really meant for 8... it would be an awful shame if Johnny and I had to move to Pop Century to give them some room, wouldn't it?

(p.s., just had a big burst of customers and several big jobs to do. Someone else pulling into our parking lot. Should have kept my mouth shut! )

 

[BridgetR3]

Unfortunately, without a park hopper you can't visit two parks in one day. It will lock you out of the second park. Sorry!

Glad you have your art ready to sell. I would love to see more of your work sometime.

I don't see how you could go all the way down there and only have two days at Disney!! That would KILL me!

 

[MEK]

Unfortunately, without a park hopper you can't visit two parks in one day. It will lock you out of the second park. Sorry!

I get this. Then a lot of people who were going for a 3 day weekend would do the same thing.

But since the base ticket is cheaper and you aren't planning to do a lot of park hopping, why not go with the longer base anyway? You could always upgrade to a hopper there if you really weren't satisfied.

Why do I think you just opened the door to a Pop Century stay (and possibly free dining? )

Can't wait to see how this all plays out!

BTW - how did the camera classes go? Weren't you going to do a workshop at work?

 

[MEK]

lol - I guess that should have said photography classes. Doh!