It’s Always Sunny in California!..Eh?...L’il Bit!

[jenseib]

Our favorite section of the resort is Jamaica and that's where the refurb has begun. Jamaica Bldg. 41 is done and reports are that they are working on 42. They must be moving along at a fast pace as one of my Dis friends was there a week before me and they started when she arrived and they were open for guests the day after we left which was on the 7th.

If you will be using the buses, Jamaica is a good village to be in too. It's sometimes the first to pick up and drop off. If you don't request Jamaica, then I'd say ask for one of the non-preferred Martinique buildings since they are the other side that picks up and drops off first.

Ok. I did go look at the pictures...not impressed at all. At first I was hoping to be in a new room...now...not so much. I'll ask for Jamaica....do you go through the parking lot to get to the bus stop? I was looking at the map and it looks like thats what you do..or I assume a pathway to it?

I would love to stay on site, but not sure by the time we know our dates we will be able to rent points due to availability and the cost scares me.

That carpet at the Marriott actually made me want to vomit...it was just a tad too much.

I hate when people are late when they are expecting you.

I hope you can decide soon and get right on top of things.
LOL about the carpet. I like it, but I like wild.

Holy updating machine Jen! Are you trying to get this one finished so you can finally start the other one?

Yes, we had heard about Alice. DS and I were very sad, as he had watched quite a few of the reruns and he was really getting into that show.

I don't have it in my ticker, but we are doing the single digit dance, we leave on Sunday for our offsite visit. Can't wait! We're just going to spend time by the pool and shop! I can't wait to see how you did with off site.

I am trying to get this done, hopefully by or before the end of the month. I have all the pictures edited, but this was the last update I had written so tomorrow I have to get back on the task of writing more.
Offsite...well I am not a fan. Just to far away and I hate driving around the world. It was a nice resort, but I still prefer the Disney bubble.

 

[dolphingirl47]

It's a shame that all the offsite hotels they took you to are so far out. I would have loved to see some that are within walking distance of Disneyland.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

It's a shame that all the offsite hotels they took you to are so far out. I would have loved to see some that are within walking distance of Disneyland.

Corinna

Me too! Now the Annabella wasn't too far, but still not as close as I would like.

 

[jenseib]

I don't have an update written yet for today, so I thought I would post a little news instead.

I will go off on as tanget first and confuse the heck out of all of you!

As you know, this current TR is about DL, but that I was only there due to a conference. Since then I have found some local conferences as well and attended. Just a few weeks ago I found one in Toledo and it was nice, but surely not as exciting.

I am currently working on a certification for my job. It's not required, but it is helpful to have. I started this process in Jan of 2013. You have 2 years to complete the requirements, when includes selling so much of a certain product, (which I have done) & taking classes online and/or live seminars, which all give you so many points to use towards your certification.
On top of that, you have to do 5 tours and 2 travel type experiences (very specific requirements for that). It's very confusing, I know, but only certain things count for these requirements.

So far I had 1 travel and 1 tour. I found a seminar in the Detroit area and debated on going. It would be over an hour away, but in the end I signed up and attended it. It gave me the points I needed and it also covered 2 more of my tour credits.

So that still leaves me with 2 more tours to complete and 1 more travel experience.
I had noticed when I signed up for the Detroit one, that they also were offering one in Orlando at the Dolphin in Aug. That got me thinking really hard!

While at the seminar I asked if the courses would be the same in Orlando, or if they would be different and count towards this certification. SCORE! Everything is different!

I threw this around in my head for the last week and a half. I had enough air points to fly down for free, I would just get a hotel, stay the night before and leave the day after. It shouldn't be too hard.

Then something happened. The Villains Unleashed party was announced...and the date is Aug 23. Guess what day that seminar is? You guess it, Aug. 23. The Seminar is 7:30 AM till 5 PM. The party starts at 8 (though I hear you may be able to get in as early as 5). I do believe karma was in my favor.

I asked Skip about it on Monday and he was not thrilled, but he said I had to do what I have to do.....so I signed up for the conference first, then I got my party ticket....and then I looked at a hotel stay. I was thinking I should try another place to check off my list. I thought about AS Sports. It is my least desirable place to every stay, but I could check it off and the price was decent. But ....you know how when you quote, it shows you the price of other resorts in the boxes next to it? Yeah, it was showing me CBR. And it wasn't that much more. I haven't stayed there yet, and so far I have only stayed at one moderate, .....so maybe I should get another one under my belt. LOL
Yep, I booked CBR for the 2 nights!

I then booked my air, which was pretty high out of Detroit, but not too bad out of Columbus, so I will drive the 2 1/2 hours there in the morning and take an afternoon flight out.
I don't arrive till 5:50 and my flight on Sunday leaves at 4:55, so not a lot of time there, but at least I get to go to the party and I already know a co-worker is going to it too, so I'll get to see her.

So I am now one step closer to getting this certification done! Now for the travel experience part....will I be able to get that in too before Jan!

I found a

 

[KatMark]

That's awesome Jen that you get to get more points toward your certification and enjoy the party.

 

[littlenellbell]

Awesome! We really liked CBR. We stayed in Jamaica 45 and it was a good location. The Party sounds fun!

 

[jenseib]

That's awesome Jen that you get to get more points toward your certification and enjoy the party.

I am pretty excited. It's a short trip, but I will make the most of it!

Awesome! We really liked CBR. We stayed in Jamaica 45 and it was a good location. The Party sounds fun!

I think that is the building I may request too!

 

[KelleyK75]

I was way behind but finally caught up. Love all of your pictures and the info on the good neighbor hotels. It looks like a fun conference to be a part of. I'm sure the in the conference room stuff isn't quite as exciting as being out in the hotels seeing everything.

Yay for the Aug conference and getting to go to the Villians Unleashed party! That will be so much fun!!

I stayed at CBR a few years ago and loved it! I loved being able to go out to the beach! I was in Trinidad North and it was so close to Old Port Royale and the bus stop.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Wow! How cool is that? That party is the weekend before my birthday and I sure wish I could spend it there!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is what I call a score. How wonderful that you can combine a work trip with the Villains party.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

I was way behind but finally caught up. Love all of your pictures and the info on the good neighbor hotels. It looks like a fun conference to be a part of. I'm sure the in the conference room stuff isn't quite as exciting as being out in the hotels seeing everything.

Yay for the Aug conference and getting to go to the Villians Unleashed party! That will be so much fun!!

I stayed at CBR a few years ago and loved it! I loved being able to go out to the beach! I was in Trinidad North and it was so close to Old Port Royale and the bus stop.

It was nice to tour different hotels and to see what each offered...and better than sitting on my rear all day.
I am excited for the conference, but we have a full summer yet before, so I will just keep plugging each day away and having some summer fun with Claire too.

Wow! How cool is that? That party is the weekend before my birthday and I sure wish I could spend it there!!

I wish you could too!!!

That is what I call a score. How wonderful that you can combine a work trip with the Villains party.

Corinna

I never luck out like that. It was just meant to be!

 

[jenseib]

I think by now, many of us were getting tired and acting a little silly while we waited.

Once everyone was on the right floor, we headed off to see some rooms.









I was obsessed with these pictures over the bed.



I just thought they were so pretty….and then I had a thought….I took similar pictures to these on my day at Venice Beach, so I decided I would see what I had and possibly make some for my home. And a few weeks ago I did just that.

This first one is blurry, but you get the idea…(that picture above them is the bridge at Pop Century ..now leading to AoA…that I took several years ago.)





And while I am on the topic of pictures, I also had this one made into canvas print as well.



Back to more room pictures.













This room had the pictures too, but just put up differently.







I believe this is another hallway picture….probably while I was waiting for another elevator.

 

[jenseib]

As our tour was coming to an end we went by the arcade.



And took a peek at the 2 work out rooms.







And the arcade area once again…out that window you could see the pool.



Some of us wanted to see the pool; we could either go down the stairs or take an elevator down.











By this time most of us were feeling done for the day. But we still had one more place to go. I think when they make the schedule for these things they estimate how long people can handle it and then add an hour. LOL!

So the next stop is the Sheraton Anaheim.

I have it circled on the map, up towards the top.



As you can see, this one is fairly close, but still borderline walkable.







We had a few minutes to wait so we explored the area and used the restrooms.







They also had drinks and snacks waiting for us as well. I just never took a picture…









We started our tour and I believe our guide was the manager.





This guy was telling us all about the hotel and it was very nice, but there were some drawbacks for me, and Cass agreed too. They charge for wifi….and not just a flat rate, it’s per device…and I think it was like $9 or 10 per device per day. That just seemed outrageous to me and it would be a reason for me not to stay. They also had a parking fee, but most off site hotels in this are do, so that wasn’t a shocker.

 

[JKSWonder]

Some of the hotels around DL look nice, but if I'm going there, I definitely would want to stay on site.

We stayed at CBR back in 2009. It was Allison's surprise birthday trip. Disney was running that awesome stay 4 days get 3 free deal, plus the promo where you could either get in free on your birthday or get a gift card on your birthday if you already had tickets. Al and I have birthdays just 5 days apart. We stayed a week for the price of four days and got two gift cards to boot! It was almost like Disney was paying us to stay there. It was awesome.

We liked CBR. The resort itself is kind of huge, but the rooms seemed smaller to me. Good pool though. The kids keep asking me when we will stay there again.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

That's a cool idea with the canvas pictures - yours turned out GREAT! I might have to do something like that...hmmm...

I agree - those other hotels are nice, but once I've gone on-site Disney, I can't go back!!!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I love the canvas pictures. I really like the look of the photos of the Sheraton that you posted and was trying to justify the walk to myself, but the cost for WiFi killed that idea pretty effectively. There is a chance that I stay behind by myself for a few days and I want at least internet access to communicate with Graham.

Corinna

 

[jenseib]

Some of the hotels around DL look nice, but if I'm going there, I definitely would want to stay on site.

We stayed at CBR back in 2009. It was Allison's surprise birthday trip. Disney was running that awesome stay 4 days get 3 free deal, plus the promo where you could either get in free on your birthday or get a gift card on your birthday if you already had tickets. Al and I have birthdays just 5 days apart. We stayed a week for the price of four days and got two gift cards to boot! It was almost like Disney was paying us to stay there. It was awesome.

We liked CBR. The resort itself is kind of huge, but the rooms seemed smaller to me. Good pool though. The kids keep asking me when we will stay there again.

I think once you stay onsite it would be really hard to go off unless you weren't doing Disney very much of the trip.
We went with one of those deals too. I think it was the first year they did it and they gave us a gift card along with the deal. I think it was like 200. It was so awesome. Then the next year they offered the deal, but no gift card was included.
CBR actually have the biggest rooms of the mods. I have heard others say they think they seem small too, but they have a few more square feet,....though Disney doesn't admit it for some strange reason. And yes the resort it big!
I am trying to talk a co-worker into going with me. She just started this same certification and I told her it would be good for her to go to this.....not that I am saying that for personal gain too? Who doesn't like a little extra fun with a friend?

That's a cool idea with the canvas pictures - yours turned out GREAT! I might have to do something like that...hmmm...

I agree - those other hotels are nice, but once I've gone on-site Disney, I can't go back!!!

I am really loving my canvas pictures. Claire grabbed one the day I got it and asked me where I got it and could it go in her room. I told her no, I made them for mine and I took the pictures. She was impressed, which made me feel happy!
I agree, once you stay onsite it would be hard to go offsite there.
I have issues with offsite at WDW too, but have done it a few times....just not my favorite thing....and I feel like I am missing out on something.

I love the canvas pictures. I really like the look of the photos of the Sheraton that you posted and was trying to justify the walk to myself, but the cost for WiFi killed that idea pretty effectively. There is a chance that I stay behind by myself for a few days and I want at least internet access to communicate with Graham.

Corinna

Thanks! I just love them too.
It really is a nice place and I think the wifi charge was a deal breaker for me. Well I could live without it, but it is nice to get online and check on things and for you even more important!

 

[Kathy Jetson]

I laughed out loud thinking of you and Cass stealing the condiments and running down the hall giggling. Oh and with the tampon story too!

That's great you get to go back in August and go to the Villains party even if it is only a short stay. And you get to check another hotel off your list. At this rate if we give you another 2 years you will have stayed at all of them!

The pictures you made for your room turned out great!

 

[natebenma]

Really exciting news about your conference, CBR stay and VILLANS PARTY!!!

Can't wait to see your pictures from these.

 

[natebenma]

Your canvas pictures are awesome!!!

Are you going to make some for Claire, too?

As much as I enjoyed your Good Neighbor tour, I am definitely an onsite girl!