How many of ya'll been "bitten" by the Concierge "bug"!

[MamaTink]

I agre with k&a&c'smom: no one on this thread is snobby or elitist. Instead, y'all are kind and helpful. Some people are just jealous of those that seem to have money--or happiness. I have a bil like that. We had years and years of struggleing when dh was a Lieutenant and we had 3 kids and 1 income and moved every 2 years. Meanwhil, bil bought a house and a new car every year or two (turns out it was on credit and he ruined his credit rating). He used to pick on his brother because we always drove our cars until they wouldn't go anymore (literally!). Now he is unemployed, partially by choice but originally because of a job-related injury and has very little money--but he still goes to the mountains and buys a nice car while saving nothing for his daughter's education. We have saved over the years and choose where to put our money. As a matter of fact, the last of the extra pay and tax savings that dh got for spending 6 months in the desert during the was helped to pay for our delightful CL akl vacation (hi, Debbie--great meeting you there). Bil is now envious of the things we can finally afford to do. He, like others, is so unhappy with his own life that he can't be happy for others. Y'all aren't like that, which is one reason I like coming here, where gratitude and sympathy meet up with joy and understanding!
Okay, off the soap box for now. It is too eary in the am to censor myself. Have a magical day!

 

[blowinbubbles]

LOL! Snob or elitist. . . hehe. . .well I guess if wanting to stay in a very nice place and enjoy comfortable surroundings makes me a snob, well I guess I'm pretty darned snobby! Definitely not rich, as a matter of fact the money that I can call my own is almost nil! hehe. .

I guess I have been spoiled, though. In the past, we haven't vacationed as much, but when we do, my h likes to do it nicely. And I'll be honest, I reallly don't like staying in bottom of the rung hotels. It's not a snob thing, it's a comfort thing. Probably because most of the time I've stayed in a hotel like that, I slept awful because of the noise.
LOL! Snob or elitist. . . hehe. . .well I guess if wanting to stay in a very nice place and enjoy comfortable surroundings makes me a snob, well I guess I'm pretty darned snobby! Definitely not rich, as a matter of fact the money that I can call my own is almost nil! hehe. .

However, gotta say I've never flown 1st class! out: We flew to Istanbul with another couple, and thanks to frequent flyer miles, *they* got to fly 1st class! She did give me her little pouch that Delta hands out, complete with chap stick, socks, mouthwash, eyecovers, and toothbrush!

About envying those with money--I will admit to having "money envy" at times, especially when I was in college. I remember doing some babysitting for this couple--he was an attorney, she was a SAHM and Jr. Leaguer with a housekeeper/nanny. They had the most gorgeous home, beautiful clothes. . .her little girl's dresses were probably $150 and up! I thought they had it all! But about 10 years later I got a job at the church she attended. They were divorced, all the material things gone, the kids split up between mom & dad.. . So moral of the story is, just because someone has money doesn't mean they are happy or things are rosy!

 

[mom_rules]

Here, Here! and congrats. We too, scrimped and saved, didn't take any vacations for 15 years, paid off the house, saved for our retirement (still saving!), saved for kids educations and searched for deals! We still wouldn't be able to afford it if it weren't for codes/specials. We finally said, "you know what?, the kids won't want to go with us after too long so let's do what we can now". My mom passed away young, we never went on vacations. She saved and saved until it was too late and never did get away. I don't want that to happen to us! We owe, we owe-so off to work we go! You can't beat all the terrific WDW memories we've created over the years. I wouldn't give any of them up for anything. Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[goodferry]

You know you are spending too much time on the Dis when you dream about taking a last minute weekend trip to the BC CL. I guess maybe that answers the question of where I would like to stay next.
Have a great day everyone. I am off to work as soon as our doctor calls. DD has pink eye so I am waiting to hear if she has to go over to the office or if they will call in a script.
Debbie, how did DD make out?

 

[steveanddonna]

He, like others, is so unhappy with his own life that he can't be happy for others

You've really hit it on the head, MamaTink !
You know what they say - calling someone else fat doesn't make you thinner! Guess those nasty folks haven't figured that out yet.

Yes, CaptainConcierge is my DH, and a pretty wonderful one at that. He loves to be spoiled, but in return he spoils me more than I could possibly deserve. I sent the concierge bug to bite him even before we started going to Disney. His family never stayed in nice hotels, ate in nice restaurants - vacations usually meant camping. They could have afforded to do it differently, but his dad, an attorney/judge, is definitely more of a saver than a spender (putting it kindly). My mil never really had what you'd call a relaxing vacation until her children were grown. Our first weekend away was at a Hilton, concierge club, and DH was hooked forever after. When we went to Thailand he couldn't believe friends were telling us to stay at these super cheap, basic little mom & pop hotels when we could stay at the Shangri-La or Peninsula for what a decent Holiday Inn costs here. His mission now is to spoil all of our nieces/nephew & make concierge converts out of them!

BTW, thank you all for your sweet comments about our niece & how we treat our little relatives. I try to be the kind of aunt I had growing up. My mom had 2 childless sisters (still living and very much a part of our life) who I call my "bonus moms." They took me on trips & spoiled me rotten. They each contributed so much to my childhood. I feel so blessed to have had 3 wonderful & very different women in my life, to make me who I am now. I want to pass some of that on to my own nieces & nephew.

 

[VAgal76]

I hear you all & I believe we all are essentially cut from the same cloth in some form or fashion! It's all in your attitude. I think all of us are super sweet and are just enjoying life! We just can't help ourselves, can we?

DF - I solute you ! You not just a princess, but a QUEEN! You & BT are definitely long lost twins. I love your stories and attitude on life.

Goodferry - sorry about your DD! I hope she gets better really soon.

Steveanddonna - Your DH and my DH have one thing in common - no family vacations. In fact, my DH never left the state and didn't even see the beach until he was about 15 years old ! We are only 2 hours away! So when we got together, my parents took him with us when we went on family vacations. Yes, we were high school sweethearts . Now he likes to do some sort of vacation every year for our DS. Even when we didn't have much, we took a few days off and just went fishing or something. Anything to spend time together as a family. We really got lucky to be able to do Disney this year and go CL. I felt it would make the experience even sweeter.

You lizards have an awesome day!

 

[blowinbubbles]

SteveandDonna wrote:

<<<I try to be the kind of aunt I had growing up. My mom had 2 childless sisters (still living and very much a part of our life) who I call my "bonus moms." They took me on trips & spoiled me rotten. They each contributed so much to my childhood. I feel so blessed to have had 3 wonderful & very different women in my life, to make me who I am now. I want to pass some of that on to my own nieces & nephew.>>>

That is so sweet, and such a good example of how to live! Kind of a "pay it forward" thing. I'm ashamed to admit I'm a little guilty of being somewhat self-centered in raising my children. And now I not only have to sons of my own (7 &9) but three step-grandchildren, too! So it's my new goal to do the best for my kids in creating good memories for them, and these trips are part of it all!

 

[blowinbubbles]

Y'all, I am so sorry, I am having such a hard time getting a normal post out today! First I double posted within the same post, then I left a quote out on the second!

Maybe it's a sign I should get off this computer and get my hiney to work!

 

[BambiTamby]

<font size=7>I LOVE this group!!!!</font>

Like my grandmother used to tell me...

"Some people look UGLY in GREEN !!!!

I guess now's not a good time to tell ya'll that I'm thinking of only staying at WL and AKL in the suites and not move mom around anymore than once!

What do ya'll think?

I love to take care of my parents! They married very young and I, being the oldest, watched them struggle as Dad worked two jobs and went to night school for his engineering degree.
Our big vacation was going to down to the Texas coast and we spent the nights sleeping on lawn chairs in tents.
I know some people call that "camping", but I really knew Mom wanted to stay at the nice hotels.
We would drive by them and she would say how nice they looked and she turned around and looked me in the eye and said...
"Tamby, I can't wait for us to afford to stay in a hotel!"
And I probably said something to the fact that I would take her to all the hotels she wanted when I grew up and made alot of money.

I always loved the beautiful things in life.
Some don't always see that those beautiful things aren't just
"Things",but beautiful memories...cherished moments with my family and friends, doing something nice for someone else...
Random acts of kindness....
Those are the things that keep giving.

 

[luckywife]

BambiTamby- Your post brought tears to my eyes, as so many of them on here have. You sound like such a wonderful daughter, mother, friend etc! I love reading about how you do things for/with your parents...always brings a smile to my face. My mom passed away 8 months ago-she was my very best friend. I have such cherished memories of our WDW vacations---PRICELESS!!! I hope you and your family have MANY more wonderful times together doing things to create memories that will last a lifetime!

And to everyone else that has posted stories of friends and family at WDW..thank you so much for taking the time to share these things. With everything that is going on in the world today, it's so nice to hear of loving families and friends who take the time to appreciate the simple pleasures of life.

 

[BambiTamby]

Aw, shucks, luckywife!

Vagal...I like what you said....

I hear you all & I believe we all are essentially cut from the same cloth in some form or fashion! It's all in your attitude. I think all of us are super sweet and are just enjoying life! We just can't help ourselves, can we?

It's an attitude thing.

I'm convinced that what life dishes out is 10%
and how I react to it is 90%.

hehehehe.....Mom's on the phone telling me how much she's looking forward to the CR, WL and AKL.
Looks like I need to call CRO and give them some more money!

(She knows nothing about the suites! So she STILL will be suprised!)
Dad.....all he knows is that he's getting on a plane to go to WDW~!

DH.....he wants me to stop "toying" with this trip!

Have a wonderful DISney day!

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

I stayed in Beach Club concierge a few years ago. The food and the staff was great and so was the lounge. A word of warning though....unless it has changed the rooms on the concierge floor were very small, smaller than other BC rooms we had stayed at before. The waterview room we had , was really a view of a tree. I emailed Disney( as I'm sure others did ) and complained that they should take the trees down or recatagorize the rooms( they were not waterview). We were shocked when we came for our next trip and they were in the middle of cutting the trees down. My kids were telling me that I killed the trees( LOL). If you stay at BC concierge I would stay on a diffferent floor. We decided to buy in at the BC villas after that because we didn't want to be crowded any longer

 

[floridafam]

BambiTamby,

What a nice story. It sounds like your parents worked very hard.

We never splurged for big vacations while I was growing up. My Dad worked and worked and my Mom always had to beg him to take a vacation. We drove, took sandwiches in the cooler and didn't buy any souveniers. Those were the best vacations ever!!

DH and I promised ourselves we would travel more after my brothers died. One of my brothers was an avid outdoorsman who wanted to travel the world and fly fish. When he was getting close to the end in his battle with cancer he said he regreted not going more places in life and not seeing the world. He was a lot like my Dad. Never missed a day of work, never complained. He just did what he had to do.

So, we take our kids to Disney and we go to the beach because the memories we make on our trip are priceless. We like to stay concierge because it's just nice to be pampered after working so hard. My DH puts up with a lot of c**p at work and he deserves to "live it up" on vacation.

Who doesn't deserve to "live it up" on vacation?

BambiTamby, let us know what you decide to do. I would also only move once but that's just my opinion. I'd have to say that AKL and CR would be my top choices for suites.

 

[goodferry]

LOL BT, my husband has threatened to turn the internet off and confiscate my passporter if I don't keep mucking with our trip. How long are you going for, I think I would like to have five days at a resort before I move to really enjoy it.
Our family has our own business, so we don't vacation as often as we would like to, but we make the most of it when we do!

 

[dreamflight99]

Originally posted by PatriciaH
DF-Ok now you made Tahiti sound awesome. DH and I love the beach and spending time in the ocean (we love to snorkel.) We got a spa magazine in the mail the other day and there was a wonderful article on Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.. The places sounded/looked outstanding. I like when there is an actual water viewing area in the floor of the room! One of the resorts you could feed the sea life from the floor in your room-I am there.

I get this magazine too!! It's SPAFINDER~and here's the cover for this month!

If any of you wish to check~out the articles...or perhaps "sign-up" for a subscription and receive this issue FREE (Trial Copy), just visit www.spafinder.com

These locations and descriptions are HEAVENLY! As for the day~room at the Comfort suites...be sure to check the rates at Atlantis, (as sometimes...they can be VERY close to the SAME $$$) they are super-convenient and PLUSH!

Just wanted to say: "Ya'll are a BETTER UPPER and FIX than my morning cup of JAVA from my "elitist" (just couldn't resist) Jura Capresso S9 Coffee Center!" It was a Christmas gift from DH & DD....and I LOVE it! Espresso...at the push of a button, in less than 50 seconds! Mmmm. Anyone for a cup of "Crema Coffee?"

blowinbubbles~Ann...you said it!! COMFORT is the main reason we prefer to stay in the TOP~RUNG resorts/locations. I have never even considered myself snobby due to these things. When we stay in the PBH, we always reserve the same Villa suite (top/5th floor overlooking the bay). On one trip, a couple next door helped me when I was "locked~out" by accident. Security "hustled" to the suite, and opened the door. These two kids were on their "honeymoon" and were staying in a regular deluxe room. They walked to the double doors outside the foyer to bid me a good evening, and were "startled" when security opened the door. I asked them inside, and they walked in with their mouths agape, and eyes wide. It was too cute, as they commented on the suite, etc. Moments later, the phone rang. It was the evening manager apologizing for the inconvenience. I explained it was my "error" as I forgot my key when I walked to the gift shop (DH & DD were at Citywalk!). Well, he insisted on sending something UP for the trouble, and asked "how many" would be in the suite. I counted DD & DH (as they phoned from CW and were on their way back) and included this young couple too. DD & DH arrived, and right behind them was a Room Service associate, with a Magnum of fine (ROEDERER CRISTAL) champagne, chilled glasses, and a fabulous array of chocolate~dipped fruit! We all partook (w/exception of DD...no champagne!), of the bubbly & fruit, before calling it an eve. The couple checked-out the next am, and under our parlor doors I found a note~card. It was a "thank~you" card, from the young couple. They assured us they would ALWAYS recall the kindness & generosity we displayed, and each anniversary would "toast" us in remembrance. They also vowed...to hopefully RETURN the favor someday, to another young couple embarking on their future.

*I hope you are able to fly FC someday! It is absolutely wonderful. Sometimes, I fear setting DD's "standards" too high...as she has only flown FC, etc. Yet, how can she STRIVE to achieve such goals, without knowledge of their existence?

k&a&c'smom~Thank you. Yes, I did write about the "equalizer" which is DISNEY WORLD. Where else, do you find the very "wealthiest" of society...standing/dining/interacting & traveling "side by side" with some of the "less-fortunate" souls? It always does my heart good, and is one of the REASONS I LOVE WDW!

lovesdumbo~Lizzie is blessed by your sense of enlightenment. My DD has some paintings of the Velveteen Rabbit on her wall...as this was one of her FAVORITE animals (plush) as a young girl. "Velvee" made many a trip to WDW, and all the locations we ever traveled. That's one "elitist" RABBIT! (LOL).

MamaTink~Thanks for the refreshing "take" on things! I think we all know someone like your dear BIL! BTW...was that a BRAND~NAME soap box you were standing upon?!?

goodferry~Pixie Dust to your sweet DD, (pink eye is no fun). Hope she is feeling better soon!

steveanddonna~my DH too~! He never took vacations as a child, and never realized what he was MISSING until he MET ME (his MATCH!)!! Now...we have been on the MOVE for the past 18 years, with one adventure after another.
*Keep up the wonderful "nurturing" to your young nieces and nephews. The impression you leave will last them a LIFETIME. XO

VAgal76~Boy!! We are all connected by the "male~factor" in our lives. Recently, DH looked at me and said, "I often wonder about WHERE I would be, and WHAT my life would be like...if we had never been brought together. It would most certainly, not have the "endless" star-filled MAGIC and WONDER...which is YOU." He made me cry with this one, two days ago...as we sat outside under the trees talking. He's a KEEPER.

BambiTamby~"AMEN." As I've posted before sister..."The BEST things in life...are not things." I too...have treated my folks to some splendors which made them "feel" like the ROYALTY they truly are! It's such a wonderful "feeling" to be able to GIVE back...something...for all the sacrifice & LOVE they infinitely provided. GIVING...is my favorite GIFT! XO (LOL...don't our DH's GET IT? "Toying" with the trip is ALL the fun!!).

luckywife~I'm so sorry for your loss. One of my best friends has lost both parents, and always reminds me to be sure to express all my love & gratitude every day I'm able! On special occasions, (Birthdays, Mother's day...etc.), she is affected the most, and misses the opportunity to send a gift expressing her devotion. I am constantly aware of their fleeting moments, and with them living all the way in NY...it makes it much HARDER on me. You can NEVER love your parents too much.

*There are so many things about our trips, I refrain from posting. Like, transportation...for instance. We are there a considerable amount of time, and LOVE the ability to be able to drive from location to location. We always reserve a roomy & plush SUV (4x4, fully loaded, etc) or other luxury car. We have a Navigator reserved for the initial few weeks this summer, and then numerous other plush "rides" reserved for the remainder of our trip. We enjoy this "style" of transportation (safe, roomy--as I have LOTS of luggage), and see no reasoning in renting a "roller~skate" to transport us around Florida. In some of the properties we have visited, (No. Cali coast), our package actually "includes" an upscale form of transportation...like a new convertible Benz, etc. In NYC, we traveled in a Bentley. What a TREAT!!

You only "go~around" once. Reach for the BRASS RINGS, STARS and anything else you wish to ENJOY! Life...is too short. Eat DESSERT FIRST, and order ROOM SERVICE for Breakfast! Get a MASSAGE in the CABANA...sip a "fu~fu" beverage poolside, and always...LIVE LIFE!

NOW...TALK~ABOUT LONG~WINDED! I needed a "Self-contained Breathing apparatus" to post this one!! LOL...

TTFN...DF99 :happy1:

 

[floridafam]

df99,

What resort is that?

 

[dreamflight99]

Originally posted by floridafam
df99,

What resort is that?

It's our "secret hideaway" on Half~moon Bay! It's the R. Carlton. Take a look here:

(http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/half_moon_bay/default.html)

*Mercedes~benz Key to luxury package...and check-out the incredible PRICE! I LOVE spas....

DF99

 

[Majestic]

Hey everyone...if you will be there when I will, the WL VETS have have a meet setup at WL on Saturday May 22nd from 2pm to 4pm give or take. Check out the WL faq page in the resorts forum if interested in attending. You all already should know me by my picture. I'll have my lime green mickey ears on my pin lanyard.

Everyone going soon....save us some of the magic. Not too much longer now.

Fred

 

[MickeyMac]

I guess now's not a good time to tell ya'll that I'm thinking of only staying at WL and AKL in the suites and not move mom around anymore than once!

Bambi, you've given me a lot of advice, so I just wanted to offer you my experience in traveling with my Dad. We grew up very poor, and I've similar stories in my background. Our big 'vacations' were two nights at the downtown Holiday Inn, just so we could use the pool. Anywho, the kids and I took him to AKL last year - I had wanted to move over to the Poly, but he convinced me to stay put. "I just got my bearings straight and now you want to move me? You're supposed to relax on vacation!" He was teasing me, but I took his point. He had the *best* time. As it was his only trip to Disney, I'm glad it was worth it, and done *his* way. We can go to Disney any time.

 

[floridafam]

df99,

The resort with the bungalows over the water, that's not Half Moon Bay, is it?

We are going to stay at the RC next year in Orlando and then do the dolphin swim at Discovery Cove. RC's are awesome. Have you ever been to the one in Amelia Island, Florida?


Majestic,

We will be at WL on May 22. We have a tour scheduled at MK that morning followed by lunch. We will try to make it over there. The Florida Half Ironman is sponsoring a kid's run at FW that afternoon. Depending on how hot it is, my DD and DS may want to participate. Sign up is at 3pm. If anyone else is interested in the kid's run, it should be a lot of fun for the kids. They each get a medal at the finish.

Where at WL is everyone going to meet?