"Excuse me, could you tell me what time it is please?" UPDATE! To DVC or not?

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Our flights were very similar, as far as the times! We were also up around 3:30a for a 6a flight. Amazing how peppy you can be at that time of morning when you know it's for Disney, huh? My kids were also very excited for the fake monorail at the airport. And my gosh, there is NOTHING like driving under that Disney World arch!! I swear it just feels like the real world of jobs, bills, etc. just fades away....

 

[newmommy_2010]

I am here & I can't wait to hear more. Sorry to hear you guys got sick on the last few days though .

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Day One continued:

We left off on the DME bus passing under the sign...
We were the first stop that day and I was very thankful for that. I don't mind the bus ride, but after being on a plane crowded with humanity, then being on a bus crowded with humanity, I was ready to get off. I know what you're thinking, "She's gonna be crowded with humanity ALL WEEK LONG!". It's not so bad when you can walk away from them if you need to, but when you are stuck on a bus or plane, not so much. I am not claustrophobic, but I don't enjoy being crammed into small spaces like elevators and such with lots of people, gives me the willies!!

I told you guys that we didn't do Online check in because we wanted to be in a good spot for spending lots of time at the resort. We tend to break each day and have a whole day set up for a break mid week. The location of our room is important to us, not that it would ruin our vacation, but we like to have a conversation at check in about what's available. We had put a request of Magnolia Terrace (building 85) on our reservation and the CM looked and said it was available. However not ready. As it was only 10:30 ish I wasn't surprised. Here are pics we took of the girls while we waited in line to check in.

We tried then to get our tickets we bought from UT added to our KTTW cards. After waiting for an hour at the concierge desk for them to fix a glitch on our reservation that had Stitch as a 9 yo and not being able to attach our tix because we had an adult ticket for her..and I mean an hour ...they ended up re-issuing our KTTW cards (keep this in mind for later), and still we had to use our hard tix from UT. Not a big deal, just VERY frustrating to end up no where after an hour!!! But we found out that one of the reasons it was so hard for them was because the CM at the check in counter gave us a water view upgrade and the new reservation system was stopping them from re doing it to add our tickets. UPGRADE?! YAY!!

Now we had been up since 3:30 and it was 11:30 ish..we were HUNGRY and tired..not a good mix for this family. When we have low blood sugar...WATCH OUT!!! So off to the food court we head!

Coming up next FOOD PORN!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

on having to wait an hour and getting no where with the tickets.

on the upgrade!!! Looking forward to the food porn!

 

[TxMickeyLover]

Jumping in. Great TR so far!

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Whoo-hoo for an upgrade!

 

[sandym718]

I'm in!

 

[jenseib]

Yay for the upgrade. I hope they didn't mess up your keys or tickets.....you left us hangin on that one!

Take your time at posting...I have been behind on all threads lately!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Yay for the upgrade!!! I really am enjoying your TR...the suspense factor is awesome!!!

 

[Wonders10]

Other than the ticket issue, sounds like the actual travel day went well. Can't wait to see your room view...and the food porn! I love POR food court.

 

[lovethattink]

Hurray for the upgrade!! Was the check-in line long? How frustrating to wait, and not get anywhere. Uh oh, what happened that we are to keep in mind about the re-issuing of the card? Does this mean it didn't open the room door?

 

[TinkandGoofy'sMom]

Enjoying your report so far. We also live in Ontario, north of Toronto, and fly out of Buffalo. I'm always a little anxious crossing the border, you just never know what those guards are going to be like!

 

[m2zjj]

I'm late but I'm here! Can't wait to read all about your trip.

Yay for an upgrade.

 

[pinkxray]

Joining in. You are off to a great start.

Sorry about the tickets hassle, I hope you don't have too much of an issue later.

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Firstly, let me apologize for slacking!! I haven't been feeling well, as you guys know, plus I am back to a full work week after vacation and I work midnights, so that takes an adjustment...then to top it all off, this past weekend I got a migraine.....
But, good news, sort of, is we are getting a snow storm tomorrow and that will give me plenty of time to update...

Our flights were very similar, as far as the times! We were also up around 3:30a for a 6a flight. Amazing how peppy you can be at that time of morning when you know it's for Disney, huh? My kids were also very excited for the fake monorail at the airport. And my gosh, there is NOTHING like driving under that Disney World arch!! I swear it just feels like the real world of jobs, bills, etc. just fades away....

TOTALLY!!! I never have any trouble waking ANYONE for Disney!!

I am here & I can't wait to hear more. Sorry to hear you guys got sick on the last few days though .

Hopefully you will actually have something to read in the coming days!

on having to wait an hour and getting no where with the tickets.

I KNOW!! So frustrating!! But you gotta roll with the punches...actually I could have used a glass of Rum Punch at that point

on the upgrade!!! Looking forward to the food porn!

It was a good upgrade, I just was wondering at that point if it was worth the computer hassles!!

Jumping in. Great TR so far!

Thanks...I hope I haven't lost any of you guys with the delay..

Whoo-hoo for an upgrade!

Love the banana dance!

I'm in!

Yay for the upgrade. I hope they didn't mess up your keys or tickets.....you left us hangin on that one!

Only time will tell..

Yay for the upgrade!!! I really am enjoying your TR...the suspense factor is awesome!!!

HAHA!! Suspense, or lack of posts?!

Other than the ticket issue, sounds like the actual travel day went well. Can't wait to see your room view...and the food porn! I love POR food court.

I love the food porn, it just makes me hungry, though! And yes, looking back it was a pretty good day, hey, we made it to Disney, so it can't be that bad!!

Hurray for the upgrade!! Was the check-in line long? How frustrating to wait, and not get anywhere. Uh oh, what happened that we are to keep in mind about the re-issuing of the card? Does this mean it didn't open the room door?

Check in took about 45 minutes ish, between the wait and the time to get a room assigned..not too bad, but I think I might do online check in next time.

Enjoying your report so far. We also live in Ontario, north of Toronto, and fly out of Buffalo. I'm always a little anxious crossing the border, you just never know what those guards are going to be like!

I have had some doozy run in's with those guys...keep in mind, though, that I have dual citizenship so they can't refuse me entry..I was born in Buffalo (no jokes please ), so as an American they can't refuse me..I get very angry with some of the asinine questions!!

I'm late but I'm here! Can't wait to read all about your trip.
Yay for an upgrade.

Joining in. You are off to a great start
Sorry about the tickets hassle, I hope you don't have too much of an issue later.

And thanks! You'll have to read to find out!

 

[teachermommy78]

I was about to send Doofenschmirtz or Perry the Platypus or someone to come check on you!

 

[MyPeanut&Bug]

Sorry you haven't been feeling well - and I get migraines, so I know how they can totally knock you down!

But hey, you're right about one pro of a snow storm being time to update! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Holly324]

Great report so far....you like the back of the plane? I always like to be as close to the front as possible. I am soooo claustrophobic, and I get motion sick, so the sooner I get off of a plane, the better!

Yay for the upgrade!! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Sorry you haven't been feeling well - and I get migraines, so I know how they can totally knock you down!

But hey, you're right about one pro of a snow storm being time to update! Looking forward to hearing more!

Yep it's a snow day and time for an update!!

I was about to send Doofenschmirtz or Perry the Platypus or someone to come check on you!

Haha!! I can even hear the music playing in my head when I read this!!

Great report so far....you like the back of the plane? I always like to be as close to the front as possible. I am soooo claustrophobic, and I get motion sick, so the sooner I get off of a plane, the better!
Yay for the upgrade!! Looking forward to hearing more!

Hey that means we would never be fighting over seats!!!

 

[ash-n-brensmom]

Snow day!!! That means the kids are home and getting under foot..sorry I had hoped to have this post up this morning...but there you go...

Day One Continued:

We were HUNGRY and FRUSTRATED...but we were at Disney and that's all that matters, right? Well, no...get me to some FOOD!!!!

So we walked down the hallway that leads to Riverside Mill food court, and by this trip we were pros at using Disney food courts!! We each chose what we wanted and headed to the appropriate stations. I may have mentioned that this time we were trying it OOP for food and had a room only ressie...we paid that off with travelers checks at check in and got some cash back for change, I used this to pay for this meal. Pretty much everything else we used our KTTW cards and had prepaid with TC's for that.
Ferb got me an angus cheeseburger to share with Stitch , and I think he got the same for himself, Rapunzel got the pepperoni pizza. Unfortunately that's the only receipt I can't seem to find. But I have a note in a book that I will explain later, that says we paid $30 for the food. We also bought the girls new mugs...well, I saw them and fell in love...we are one of those families that brings back their mugs to re use ..sorry guys but it's the truth. And yes, this year was no exception, except those new mugs are soooo pretty...I spent another $40 on those alone!! But, at least this year we were legal..

Here we are enjoying our first Disney meal!!

It was yummy!! And we were very happy to have our blood sugar levels back to normal. What to do next?
Check out the pool of course! It was time to split up though, because Rapunzel wanted to swim and Stitch wanted to fish..so I swam and Ferb fished. I am very sorry to report that I have absolutely no pics from either. However, here is a fabulous website that has so many pics and tons of info regarding POR and POFQ:
http://www.portorleans.org/

We kept hoping that our phone would ring with news that our room was ready. Stitch got bored with fishing and came to swim with Rapunzel and me while Ferb hung out relaxing in a lounger by the pool guarding our stuff. I must tell you that we were VERY disappointed with Old Man Island the main pool. It was not heated...I will tell you that I swim in Lake Erie all summer long, and it doesn't warm up until August. It took me 10 minutes to get fully into this pool...and we were not the only ones bummed out by this. We swam anyways, it's vacation in Florida..we're tough Canadians..we can handle this...

So, swimming didn't last as long as we had hoped..we got dressed and headed into the check in area with hopes that our room was ready...nope...let's get a snack then, dinner wasn't until 6:45 that night. But before we could do that we were approached by a woman from the marketing division asking if we would mind filling out a book with all of our spending and sending it to them when we get home. We would be compensated with a Disney GC..I think for like $20 or something..I thought, hey, I will be keeping track for you guys anyways..sure! Then we headed back down that long hallway to get some snacks!
Here we are snacking away..

Now it's almost time for the rooms to be ready..it's 3:00 and we still haven't heard from them...we are DOG tired and we should have left our carry-ons with luggage services..the girls each had a backpack and I had my purse plus a small carry-on and a small rolling suitcase. We finally skipped the line , and headed to a managerial looking CM. She told us we were ready to go and gave us the room number!! Thank god!!! We were so ready!!!

Here is our room:

It was in a great location, just over the bridge from Old Man Island and across from the quiet pool! Which btw, was always heated!!
We did the obligatory bed bug check, all was well, the only thing was it had an overwhelming smell of bleach. Not noxious, just very strong, our Mousekeeper had obviously JUST finished our room. She did an amazing job, the rooms are worn and ready for refurb, but we never had any issues with cleanliness the whole week!!
I unpacked while the troops chilled out on the beds. Our Garden Grocer order and our luggage all got delivered while we were there hanging out. Ferb and I took showers and we got our stuff ready to head to DTD. Another knock on the door and there was a special delivery!!

Ferb ordered this for his girls!! It was very special and unexpected and wonderful!! If you look carefully you will see small "crystal" mickey heads attached to some of the flowers. There were 3 of them, for his 3 girls!

Up next:
DTD and some major DRAMA!!!