Having a GRAND time - The Official GF Chat Thread PART 2

[vbarry]

O.K. I want to stay there! You can always wish....wishes do come true! (right???)

 

[Lives4Disney]

lesely! awesome pics. OK...now I HAVE TO STAY THERE. It's so cute. It looks like a charming cottage.

I love how the GF rooms are so unhotellish. Our one bedroom suite was like a cottage - that's what it reminded me of with the decor and the sloped ceilings and furnishings.

I have to do laundry now. It's killing me but I MUST. I was jusut waiting to get my ipod loaded and had to run errands....it's time now.

talk to ya all later!!! THANKS for the pics, Lesley!

Chan

 

[lovemy2boys]

lesely! awesome pics. OK...now I HAVE TO STAY THERE. It's so cute. It looks like a charming cottage.

I love how the GF rooms are so unhotellish. Our one bedroom suite was like a cottage - that's what it reminded me of with the decor and the sloped ceilings and furnishings.

I loved it.... I loved the boys room and their cute little day beds. It was actually perfect for Aidan b/c once we got the bedrail, he was very enclosed and didn't fall out of bed.

The ONLY tiny complaint that I had was that there were no child locks on the balcony doors. The balcony in the boys room was a regular door with no lock at all on it! I was so worried that I piled pillows up over the curtains and Aidan never even knew there was a balcony in his room!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

awesome pictures.

 

[Lives4Disney]

I loved it.... I loved the boys room and their cute little day beds. It was actually perfect for Aidan b/c once we got the bedrail, he was very enclosed and didn't fall out of bed.

The ONLY tiny complaint that I had was that there were no child locks on the balcony doors. The balcony in the boys room was a regular door with no lock at all on it! I was so worried that I piled pillows up over the curtains and Aidan never even knew there was a balcony in his room!

omg..that would have made me uncomfortable as well...jojo sleep walks and once I caught her trying to leave our room at BWI in the middle of the night...the only thing that stopped her was the lock at teh top of the door...it kept opening and then banging closed! I woke up in a daze thinking...what is that noise?? And it was Jojo trying to open the hall door in her sleep.... After that, I learned....i don't even necessarily use the lock for security as much as for keeping my sleepwalker IN. I always check those balcony doors too!

I think I would have called maintenance on that door issue. That is dangerous..esp if you have little ones.

Chan

 

[praline3001]

great pics!

 

[WishesQueen]

Channing - Welcome Home!!!! Your trip sounded great and I dying to see pictures

Lesley - WOW WOW WOW!!! That was the most amazing room (or rooms) I've ever seen, and I have stayed in many penthouse suites in Vegas!!!

Ok!! Last minute plans!!! My Nephew/Godson is coming the Disney with us. He's 15 and has been dying to go and we finallly convince my DSIL to let him come!! I am so excited to watch someone fall in love with WDW and I know he will because he is so excited and has been wanting to come so bad!!!

I am having a problem with ADRs, you would like added one person no big deal. WRONG!!! Big Deal!!!

To all you baseball gals!!! Are you ready for the Homerun Derby this evening. My boys are all excited!!! David Wright was a last minuted replacement and they are thrilled!! Natalie and I are going to do some last minute shopping at Target!!!

Mare - I am going to get some ziplocks!!! lol lol lol

 

[Lives4Disney]

Annette,we added people & dropped people on our adrs. It's easiest to just leave them as they are and talk to the host/hostess at the podium. I have NEVER ever been turned away.

Chan

 

[sixisenough]

K~I was just reading in the paper that once again the Sox having the best ace pitching in the MLB..1st place...hitting fielding etc....and once again the Sox are the step-sisters to the Cubs in Chicago. People were po'ed and raging in the paper

You know what though, I am fine with it. Our boys ALWAYS play better with a little chip on their shoulder. Let them fly under the radar for a bit. When we make the World Series and the "loveable losers" don't- it will be that much sweeter!!!!! "The bigger the build up, the bigger the fall...." Need I say Bartman??

You Sox girls are too funny!! I grew up going to Comiskey. My fam is from the Rockford area. I am NOT a Cubs fan, I could only wear a red shirt to game, even though Brian was trying to get me to wear one of his shirts. I did more than my part spending a fortune on the boys day, but it was precious seeing how happy they were

It will be madness in the City if both teams make it, but the poor Cubbies do always seem to blow it. I have been telling my son not to hold to much faith

NO!! Please!!! NO!!!!

Go ahead....chat away.

ok...must run errands. My luggage is still untouched. I am chatted out.

talk to ya later,

Chan[/QUOTEChan, I am so sorry to bore you with all that talk, I am actually more a football girl, Can you handle that sport ?

How about you TELL us about your trip?? What was your fav part and your kids?? How about dining??
That can wait till the hubby is home

waiting ......
Have a great day and thank you so much for your advice with the cakes, I am going to try calling and see what else they can do for me to make special!!![/COLOR][/COLOR]

 

[praline3001]

Lesley, did you try calling housekeeping on that balcony with no lock?

I know when my boys' were little that huge pile of pillows would have been a beacon for them to climb up and jump off

I would think if you called and complained they would have fixed it ASAP due to liabilty.

 

[lovemy2boys]

Lesley, did you try calling housekeeping on that balcony with no lock?

I know when my boys' were little that huge pile of pillows would have been a beacon for them to climb up and jump off

I would think if you called and complained they would have fixed it ASAP due to liabilty.

I was pissed because I emailed the Concierge to ask about the locks and she confirmed that there were indeed child locks on the balcony doors AND our TA also checked herself and she got the same answer. Nope, no locks. Awesome info, GF! It was really okay though, my kids didn't go near the balcony doors! I was diligent!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

OK, bathing suit shopping was a bust (literally! ) There is a reason that I have so many halter styler bikini tops- that seems to be all there is on the market!!! I tried on a couple more traditional tops, but the bottoms were... ... not for most who have had children

So for now I will keep on spreading the Jergens Natural Glow across my halter marks to at least dull them down!!

 

[K&C]

Lesley loved the pics
DH now wants to change our booking(we have 2 GV rooms)
We tried to book a suite on our last trip but Disney UK told us there were none and that was booking 18 months in advance, we couldn't even get concierge so we ended up with 2 GV rooms for the 4 of us. What do we need to do get a suite or RPC? I think it must just be Disney UK, next trip I need to contact Disney in the US.
At least we got the suite we wanted on the Independence

 

[praline3001]

Lesley loved the pics
DH now wants to change our booking(we have 2 GV rooms)
We tried to book a suite on our last trip but Disney UK told us there were none and that was booking 18 months in advance, we couldn't even get concierge so we ended up with 2 GV rooms for the 4 of us. What do we need to do get a suite or RPC? I think it must just be Disney UK, next trip I need to contact Disney in the US.
At least we got the suite we wanted on the Independence

I would contact a TA in the US for your next disney trip. I booked my June trip 5 months early and was able to get conceirge with no problems.

 

[lovemy2boys]

Lesley loved the pics
DH now wants to change our booking(we have 2 GV rooms)
We tried to book a suite on our last trip but Disney UK told us there were none and that was booking 18 months in advance, we couldn't even get concierge so we ended up with 2 GV rooms for the 4 of us. What do we need to do get a suite or RPC? I think it must just be Disney UK, next trip I need to contact Disney in the US.
At least we got the suite we wanted on the Independence

You know how you just lucked out and got the RFS on Indy? That's what happened to us! We booked the Grand Suite with a month's notice for the dates that we wanted! Crazy, huh??? We just lucked out I guess!

 

[praline3001]

I was pissed because I emailed the Concierge to ask about the locks and she confirmed that there were indeed child locks on the balcony doors AND our TA also checked herself and she got the same answer. Nope, no locks. Awesome info, GF! It was really okay though, my kids didn't go near the balcony doors! I was diligent!

Hey Lesley... have you ever looked into the grand gatherings experiences? I know you were saying your in laws were coming this next trip ... if you got your parents to go as well you could do the grand gathering experience with lots of extra perks... just a thought.

 

[lovemy2boys]

Hey Lesley... have you ever looked into the grand gatherings experiences? I know you were saying your in laws were coming this next trip ... if you got your parents to go as well you could do the grand gathering experience with lots of extra perks... just a thought.

I don't know much about Grand Gatherings... what is it? Can you tell me anything about it? We may have my parents come as well, so that is a possibility!

 

[praline3001]

I don't know much about Grand Gatherings... what is it? Can you tell me anything about it? We may have my parents come as well, so that is a possibility!

I dont know a whole lot about it but I am sure Kelly can help you out!

I think you have to have at least 8 people in your party... let me see what I can find on it..

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/magicalgatherings/ggLandingPage

there is a link that explains it some but pm kelly as she can help you more with it I am sure

 

[Lives4Disney]

How about you TELL us about your trip?? What was your fav part and your kids?? How about dining??
That can wait till the hubby is home

waiting ......
Have a great day and thank you so much for your advice with the cakes, I am going to try calling and see what else they can do for me to make special!!![/COLOR]

LOL...I was just teasing you baseball fans. I get into trouble when I am not talking about the GF on the GF thread...so just nitpicking on you chatters for the heck of it.

Well.....I can't say I have a favorite part. Honestly it's now a fading blur. I have to look at my pics to be reminded. The YC was OK. It pales in comparison to the Gf. Last year and the year before we did YC/GF summer splits but did the standard YC view and then RPC. So this year having the concierge at YC really showed me that RPC is so much better. I didn't really compare the two before because it was apples and oranges. Now I can. RPC is FAR better than YC concierge. I guess my FAVORITE part was the whole GF stay. From check in to out, it was terrific. We arrived about 3:30 pm to the GF from the MK....we had checked out of YC, had our luggage tagged to be transferred, and gone to MK. The buses were great - never a problem during our YC stay btw. So we went to MK on Sunday July 6 and the place was dead!!!! We didn't expect to stay much past lunch but we did becuase things had 5 to 10 min waits or were walk ons. Then we went to the GF to check in......(Oh, I have to add on July 3, we went over to dine at Narcoosees & stopped to visit with our GF friends & had a great time then, too...I met more wonderful GF CMs that visit.,...I wore my tangled sweater that night, too! Had Jojo take my pic in it That was my ONE tangled sweater night ) ALSO...On July 1 when we first arrived...after we checked into YC we drove over to the GF to visit. At that time, my son was introduced to Warwick Davis (from Star Wars movies and also Harry Potter)...he told us that THAT made the trip worth while for him.

OK....on to July 6 again - when we checked in....so we arrived by monorail...i know you're supposed to be greeted downstairs and taken up to your room by the curbsiders...well..we got into the elevator kind of debating whether to go up or down and somebody pushed UP so we just went up to 3rd and surprised the desk CMs and got checked in that way...the OLD way. It was more fun and kind of amusing becuase the curbside CMs were up in arms that we strayed from course by taking things into our own hands. We got checked in and escorted to our beautiful room. ....hmmm.....then...see I need to view my pics! I forget what we did then!!!!! I think we went back to MK, maybe not. LOL. But we really REALLY enjoyed that room and the GF and the CMs there are the tops. Well....on July 7, we had a cabana rented from 10 - 2. It was a super surprise how they've changed the cabana situation. Before this time we rented, it was literally a tent with stuff......not really extra fab service...this time was fabu. We had a girl named Amanda that first day that saw to our every need. We ordered room service lunch out there, Jojo spent the day swimming and watchng Disney Channel, haha....and Lucy read most of the time. That is when I was wifiing...and got way overheated bcause the router on our balcony did not reach all the way to the cabana, I stayed over on the other side of the pool to wifi and there was no shade....I thought I was going to pass out. Bummer...that ended that. So anyway...the next day was my bday. Jojo had her cooking class that morning and then Col, Lucy and I went to the GF Cafe for bfast. It was yummy but SOOooooooooooo SLooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww......I bet we were there for an hour and a half. They took 45 min to get our food cooked once we ordered......that was the drag about that place and they wre NOT busy. OMG..that is where i about crawled under the table....the waiter - NOT our waiter - saw my bday button that Lucy made me wear - and he asked me how old I was turning....I toldhim becuase who cares really....and then he started to yell in the place that today is a spcecila day becuse it's Channing's 42nd bday!!! Hemade them all sing. OMG....I do NOT like any attention like that so I about cried. But I was laughing too. Lucy loved it. Then we got Jojo and what did we do??? It's a blur. Pics needed. For dinner I had Artist Point and Kona reserved. Whatever we had done, we were cashed. OH !! Now I remember!! We went over to Epcot to see Bjorn Again - the Abba tribute band. It was a riot. TOO SHORT though. They only played about 1/2 an hour!!!!!! It was a super rainy day - i remember we bought our first ponchos that day. Then after that we went back to the GF and thought about what to do .....we decdied to stay and enjoy the place. We wound up going to Gaspies LATE for dinner. I didn't care. I wasn't in a dress up mood anyway so no Artist Point. And my plan was to walk over to Kona...but it was rainy and icky out so that didn't fit with my thoughts so Gaspies worked out fine. We brought it up to our room about 10 pm I think.

Hm...July 9 we went over to DHS to get on Toy Story. We did finally. We arrived about 10 but fp return times wre already 3:30 ish so we waited the 50 min wait. We got the FP but wound up giving them awayt on our way back to the GF. We really loved the ride!!! I had heard mixed reviews actually but we did enjoy it a lot. After that we saw Walt - One Man's Dream...becasue it's my FAVORITE. And then we had lunch at Mama Melrose. That place was great!!! It has been a couple yrs since i ate there, but we all loved it. DH had sausages and peppers....lucy and I had diff flat bread pizzas...Jojo had something they scraped together for her as she is miss picky. And for all her griping about being at MM, she ENJOYED it a lot. We had a very fun waiter, too. I love the sangria they serve.

July 10....what did we do?? Probably MK again. We did eat at LTT dinner...yummy. it's low key and we all enjoy it. There are a lot of characters and it's not rushed or overly noisy. We always wind up in the same table!! ALWAYS!! It's a corner booth in a quiet side room by the fireplace. Kinda nice to have "our table".

We wound up blowing off a lot of ADRs this time. The heat zapped our appetites and we just weren't where we thought we'd be.....we didn't care. We ate Gaspies a few times and Private dining.

We had cabanas a few more days. That was heaven. Totally relaxing. I am very happy with how they've upped the service. After that first day of having AManda as our hostess, we had Chris who did a fabulous job too. He would even go change into his swimsuit and go down the slide with the cabana kids and play beach ball with them etc. That impressed me.

For afternoon activities....they have them written on a black board on the back of the lifeguard's chair as you enter the pool area, look straight ahead and you'll see them. They change daily. When we were there, they'd have some kind of pool activity - like ring diving or rounding up rubber ducks etc...and they have a Wii that they'd set up near the hair wrapping and the kids could play that...they had Guitar Hero a few times and bowling. They also did giant Jenga poolside, and other games in circles, and colored beachballs.....just little things but Jojo enjoyed getting involved.

Let's see....we ate dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe...that was a blast. Another thing I hadn't done in years. Jojo moaned her head off...she has ATTITUDE - she didn't want to be THERE. Why, I don't know...but she was pissy. BUT, after the first few minutes of being there, and being teased by our waiter she was lauuging her butt off - as we all were - and by the end of the eve she said she wanted to work there. The food was yummy. We did the family skillet? It had ribs, chicken, coleslaw, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, cornbread....it was really finger lickin good.

We also did 1900 Park Faire for dinner. Another yummy one. The service stunk though. We waited 45 min for our table...that was the FIRST and ONLY time we waited more than 5 min...at our own hotel yet!!!! Well...after 30, DH got the manager involved and we got seated asap...wouldhave been sooner but they wre doing the little dancey thing and wouln't open the doors to letanybody in!!! omg..cheesy. Anyway....after that the manager kept checking on us. He even discounted our bill a lot. OK. Fine with us.

We did CP for lunch on July 6....Lucy is a mega Eeyore fan so that is always a must do. I know some do not care for it, but i enjoy some of their food a lot!!It's loud and all, but I love some things they serve always.

We wound up eating at Kona on our last night. It was delicious!!!! The funniest thing was all during our trip servers ask, "Where are you all from?" and we say IL...they ask where abouts in IL...so we tell them and sure don't expect anybody to KNOW. Well....our Kona server was from our SAME TOWN!!! It was on her badge!!! UNREAL. I didn't see her badge, I was getting Jojo situated or something and when she said "SO AM I!" I about tipped over backwards in my chair. NO WAY!!! LOL.that was crazy. So she made our experience there awesome and got a mega tip since she's a homegirl! Kona was wonderful....last time we ate there was probably 8 to 9 yrs ago and service was soo atrocious and the food eh that we hadn't bothered to go back....but in March Ohana was disgusting and we do like to eat at the resorts so I figured we'd give Kona another go. Glad we did.

We also - on my rainy bday - went to DTD and ate at the Giordelli (however it's spelled) soda fountain for lunch. LOL...my lunch was their version of a noway Jose. I think it blew Beaches and Cream away. I had never gone to Giordellis' before so it was great. We spent some time in the DTD shops....not a big deal or must do. World of Disney was disappointing. Jojo really wanted Wall E stuff and they had slim pickings there. We found Walle stuff at World of Toys or whatever it is. Lucy also wanted a huge $100 Eeyore and we figured if we could get it there, we'd get a discount. Of course they didn't sell it there. Stupid.....the only thing we boutght there was a hat to replace the one DH dropped THERE due to running in the rain between lightning and thunder. Same hat. Whoopee. I don't think DTD is a must do for us again. Other than the ice cream place.

Also, we wound up getting our car at the Dolphin and tried their "fountain" icecream place. FAbULOUS!!! FABULOUS!!!! I had a peanut butter and jelly shake. OMG...HEAVENLY!!!! DH had a rasp chocolate truffle shake...Lucy had that in a sundae and jojo a choc waffle cone. All scrumptiously good.

Beaches and Cream was good too...though. OK...let me see about getting my pics up!

Evie you are cracking me up about the dining! I am trying to remember WHERE else we ate....we did lunch at Chef de France...we love lunch there. Did dinner at Cape May at the YC...it is a yummy one too. We missed a lot of bfast ADRs. OH...we had lunch at Rose and Crown. Nobody threw up. It was good. One day we caught lunch outside in Mexico. I set my food down on the table and turned my back to help a kid...and a huge stupid bird ate part of my burrito!!!! I turned back around and it was mangled!! Jojo said she saw him....she sat right there and watched. That stupid bird had burrito all over his beak the whole time we were there. Col went up and got me another...they were very nice about it.

More to come!

Laundry beeping!

Chan

 

[minniesota]

Before Grease tell him to take them to John's Pizzeria. It is on 44th in between 7th and 8th. It is a sit down place and their pizza is THE BEST!!!!!! The kids will love it!

Hey There!!

I am from NY and there are so many things you can do!! I don't know exactly what your time line is in the afternoons, so here are few quick and a few longer things to do.

Okay, let me think..... How about ESPN Zone in Times Square? My DH loves it there. Down the block is Toys R Us, I know they're teenages but they have a video zone in the ground floor they could play some games and maybe ride the indoor Ferris Wheel (it's HUGE!). Ummm, The Nintendo store is very popular in Rockefeller Center. I went there to buy our Wii and it's always crowded.

Thanks everyone! Great ideas! I may PM you with specifics...my DH is wonderful but a planner he is not.