Gramma jinxed disney on spring break! PARTING THOUGHTS 06/15/09

[anewmac]

Some people kill me. That dad inparticular.

I would love to catch a game their. I used to live in GA when I was a kid and played 1st base from age 5-16 oh the memories LOL

Whats this celebration you talk of lol

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Some people kill me. That dad inparticular.

I would love to catch a game their. I used to live in GA when I was a kid and played 1st base from age 5-16 oh the memories LOL

Whats this celebration you talk of lol

I'll bet your softball days were fun! Are you a "lefty?" My oldest DS is a lefty and played 1st Base! It was fun when the boys played on the same team - they could read each other pretty well.

I have to ask - what is LMT that sucked the life out of you? That is the airport code for our city, which "sucks the life out of everyone here daily!"

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hey Tammie,
Just wanted to hook you up with my new thread, the other one got moved to completed today!
Anita

 

[jordanyosh]

have i already subbed to this?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

have i already subbed to this?

I think so, way back at the beginning - you have alot of catching up to do - glad you're here!

 

[anewmac]

I'll bet your softball days were fun! Are you a "lefty?" My oldest DS is a lefty and played 1st Base! It was fun when the boys played on the same team - they could read each other pretty well.
why yes I am. I would love to get back into it but its pretty expensive out here to join an adult league. and 2 not sure im in that great of shape LOL

I have to ask - what is LMT that sucked the life out of you? That is the airport code for our city, which "sucks the life out of everyone here daily!"

OH LORDY... so I was on the community thread or budget one a few months back and there was an offer from Last Minute Travel dot com... well basically they offered hotel stays for $1 during certain times of the day (if you wanted to get one you basically had to stay on their site ALL DAY) so for a week I was glued to that darn site and didnt once get an offer.. then come to find out did didnt offer it as a price the site was calling it a winning so in order to get your price at that room you have to give them your ssn name etc and you would have had to claim it on your tax's as a winning. Suffice to say glad I didnt win, and will never be using them as a booking site! and that my dear friend is how they sucked the life out of me for a week...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

You know, I think I went to that site, too. I figured out pretty quickly for some reason that they wanted personal info and I was afraid it was a scam, so I didn't play.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Friday, Cont.

We left the ball game and put UPS Store in the GPS so we could mail a box home to ourselves with all of our souvies. We found one in a cute little neighborhood with white "horse ranch" style fences all around. Remember these fences!

We pulled all of our Disney bags out of the back of the SUV and brought them in to the store to be packed and shipped. Note: It cost about $50 for packing and shipping and insurance. We could have packed an extra suitcase for $25! We were so mad at the airlines for the luggage limits that we cut of our noses to spite our faces!

Now we were on to Celebrate! We set the GPS, followed the directions, then found ourselves coming back up the road with the "horse ranch" fences from the other direction! We soon found the outskirts of Celebration

Driving up:

Coming in to town, this was an office building for a large company of some kind, probably Disney Reservations I did have a CM tell me that's where they are located. Anyway, I think it looks like a retro building from DHS.

Okay, I had read how wonderful this Walt Disney inspired community is - it does look great, but I was a little creeped out in a Stepford Wives kind of way. Everything was completely perfect - and I do mean everything!

Houses with perfect yards, perfect pain, perfect porches - if there were for sale signs, they were all identical, even if they were from different companies, and the signs said, "this home available."

We parked near a building and started walking along the perfect shops:

This was pretty much a "boutique" town. The shops were up-scale, and the restaurants were very trendy. There were tables outside, and people were sitting at them, having business meetings and girls "doing lunch", it appeared.

We walked toward the perfect city park, which borders a little lake. I had to use the restroom, so I thought we would find a restroom in the building there next to the tennis courts like most city parks, right? No! There was a sign that said, "Celebration city club members only." There was a combo lock on the door. We saw signs that said "Celebration welcomes veterans." Really? Can they use your toilets?

By this time, I was not in the mood to take pictures, If you KWIM. We spotted a hotel across the water, so we started heading that way. There were paddle boat rentals and tables down near the water.

We made it over to the Celebration Hotel, looking strangely like a DVC site

The front entrance had a vintage Rolls Royce and Mercedes parked out front, and the valets were dressed in 1920s style costumes.

We stepped inside the lobby, and it was like going back in time - tons of antiques, palm trees, and bamboo ceiling fans - so cool! Guests were being checked in by sitting at a concierge desk instead of standing at a counter! I didn't snap pics, because I was trying to blend in and find the restroom! I managed to find it without getting tossed out. Of course the restroom was beautiful and very antique looking. There were real towels in a basket instead of paper towels, and premium soaps and lotions available. Here is a pic of some former Celebration Hotel guests, or so they would have you believe:

We snuck out - I tried to find a brochure, but there weren't any out. Jim said if you have to ask, you can't afford to stay there. He's probably right.

We were going to think about eating dinner in town, but we felt uncomfortable. While we were walking around, it felt like people were looking at us with distrust. Geez, i guess i forgot to take my overalls off!

I took one more pic of a park or recreation area

I'm shutting down - that nasty virus is trying to pop up from photobucket. Next: Walkabout

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I had some fun today. I've been having trouble with pop-us, so I downloaded Spy Sweeper - I had 52 virus or adware items! One was a trojan. My laptop is running alot faster now.

 

[MagicShell]

Just a little creepy!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Just a little creepy!

I know! I was disappointed that I felt that way. I don't think we could be perfect enough to live there!

 

[jordanyosh]

I was reading your TR until late last night. I don't remember where I left off..I think I fell asleep...

 

[nenner1]

We pulled all of our Disney bags out of the back of the SUV and brought them in to the store to be packed and shipped. Note: It cost about $50 for packing and shipping and insurance. We could have packed an extra suitcase for $25! We were so mad at the airlines for the luggage limits that we cut of our noses to spite our faces!

Priority Mail flat rate boxes are your friend!
LOL, if it were me I'd have no choice but to pack the extra suitcase...I buy way too much!

I feel for you at the ball game. We are no strangers to people spilling stuff under our seats somewhere. The one that takes the cake was when the drunk jerk behind us at a JImmy Buffett show peed...YES URINATED...right there in the stands, it hit the back of my seat and the spray splashed up and hit me in the back of the arms, Savannah was asleep in the seat next to me it was splashing ON HER FACE. So freakin disgusting...I started screaming at the guy and he tried to claim he didn't do it (but had turned around and was facing the other direction..presumably to zip up)..when he turned back around my uncle socked him and then Ron joined in...and they all got hauled of to the amphitheater jail! (I admit I took a few shots at him too but I couldn't reach him well. I think I did claw his scalp!) Oh and did I mention that the puddle of it soaked our sweaters my aunt's bag under my seat? Nice.

We did press charges on him and nothing happened to my uncle and Ron , they were released (sadly to the OUTSIDE of the venue)..the cops obviously let pee dude go too because I looked online for his mug shot for like a week to no avail. Oh well.

(Sorry about the gross out for the day, LOL!)

And it sucks to hear about your bad steak at FF...I hate, hate, hate how Disney is really cheapening up their food (and hoping we won't notice?!?!?)
All of my steaks on the cruise were bad cuts, even at Palo (that one was especially bad) although my filet at Le Cellier was very good. Sigh.

 

[anewmac]

Well thanks Jen for that LOVELY Visual. LMAO .. I think ill pass on dinner LMAO but I love hearing that you and Ron gave blows to that guy.. thats my girl!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

I've never read anything about Celebration before.

VERY interesting...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I was reading your TR until late last night. I don't remember where I left off..I think I fell asleep...

Oh no! I bored you to sleep! I actually have fallen asleep on many TRs, so I understand!

Priority Mail flat rate boxes are your friend!
LOL, if it were me I'd have no choice but to pack the extra suitcase...I buy way too much!

I feel for you at the ball game. We are no strangers to people spilling stuff under our seats somewhere. The one that takes the cake was when the drunk jerk behind us at a JImmy Buffett show peed...YES URINATED...right there in the stands, it hit the back of my seat and the spray splashed up and hit me in the back of the arms, Savannah was asleep in the seat next to me it was splashing ON HER FACE. So freakin disgusting...I started screaming at the guy and he tried to claim he didn't do it (but had turned around and was facing the other direction..presumably to zip up)..when he turned back around my uncle socked him and then Ron joined in...and they all got hauled of to the amphitheater jail! (I admit I took a few shots at him too but I couldn't reach him well. I think I did claw his scalp!) Oh and did I mention that the puddle of it soaked our sweaters my aunt's bag under my seat? Nice.

We did press charges on him and nothing happened to my uncle and Ron , they were released (sadly to the OUTSIDE of the venue)..the cops obviously let pee dude go too because I looked online for his mug shot for like a week to no avail. Oh well.

(Sorry about the gross out for the day, LOL!)

And it sucks to hear about your bad steak at FF...I hate, hate, hate how Disney is really cheapening up their food (and hoping we won't notice?!?!?)
All of my steaks on the cruise were bad cuts, even at Palo (that one was especially bad) although my filet at Le Cellier was very good. Sigh.

WHAT? That is absolutely the worst thing I've ever heard, I think. I can't believe someone basically peed all over you guys I'm sorry, but he deserved a beating.

I've never read anything about Celebration before.

VERY interesting...

I have been curious ever since I first heard about it. I'm glad we checked it out, and I still want to know about that hotel - I think I'll google it. There weren't even any people around anywhere - almost like a movie set or something. I'd like to check it out on Sat morning or something and see what it looks like.

 

[jordanyosh]

No offense to anyone who lives in Celebration, but when we drove through we were kinda creeped out..like it was a Stepford Town....

 

[MAGICFOR2]

No offense to anyone who lives in Celebration, but when we drove through we were kinda creeped out..like it was a Stepford Town....

That's what I said! Were you in our car?

 

[jordanyosh]

That's what I said! Were you in our car?

I mean I live in OC where there's a ton of planned communities, but there was just something that I can't really place my finger on that was kind of off about Celebration.....

I don't remember where I read it, but some people do love living there.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

After celebrating in celebration, we decided to head over to the slums and check out our new digs. Actually Buena Vista Suites (not to be confused with Suites Lake Buena Vista across from SSR) got high reviews on TripAdvisor.com, and we got a great military rate, so I was expecting good things

It was farther out than I expected - the website said 1 1/2 mi. from WDW. Maybe from the Outback of AK? It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but it looked pretty good from the outside. The front desk was definately not Disney CMs, but they were okay. Someone tried to get us some "maps and tickets" at the Hertz desk - no thanks, its the end of our trip I was very pleasantly surprised with our suite, and I would recommend it to families for sure.

The bathroom was huge and we even had a jacuzzi tub - $94 a night! The pool was nothing to write home about - more about that later.

Anyway, we got cleaned up and changed and went looking in town for dinner. I had seen a Chili's, a Lone Star, a couple of seafood places, I can't remember what else. There was nothing really close to our hotel, except the CeeCee's $5 buffet across the street! Jim kept teasing me about going over there - I think maybe he wanted to try it.

Anyway, we drove out on World Center Drive looking for what appealed to us. Well, at 6pm, everything was crowded. All of the restaurants had full parking lots, with people parking all over the grassy boulevards even. People were lined up out the doors and around the buildings. We just kept driving further and further out of town. Eventually, things slowed down and we found an Outback Steak House. Not first on my list, because we visit there when we go to our neighboring town 90 minutes away.

Anyway, we were glad to be seated right away. I didn't take pics, sorry. We had one of the best meals of the trip, and it wasn't as much about the food as the relaxed feel and the service. Our server, Heather, did such a great job that I called the manager over to give her compliments. She made us feel so relaxed and cared for. I had a wonderful glass of wine with my steak, and we just enjoyed our dinner.

I think that at Disney they do such a good job of getting us in, bringing food in exact timing, artfully pushing us out the door without us even knowing it - that we don't even take time to relax. Just sayin'

So after our "walkabout" in the outback, we headed back to relax in our suite. We found this little guy holding our parking spot for us when we got back

Oh, if you stay at this hotel, beware of the pizza delivery bandits! When we first opened the door, there were 4 flyers from different pizza places on the floor near the door. When we came back from dinner, we counted 10, and the same thing happened throughout the next day. I don't get it - do they just hide in a broom closet and run down the hall, throwing these things under the door, only to make another pass and then hide for awhile again?
It almost felt less than private, because people kept throwing those papers under the door!

I took some time to relax in the jacuzzi, and watch some travel channel in the living room, while Jim watched the basketball games in the bedroom. Nice honeymoon huh? When you've been married 28 years, you have your patterns.

We slept really well - that bed was heavenly!

Tomorrow is our last day in Disney -