"It all started with a whopping price error…” 10/24 The Perfect Storm of Opportunity

I love a good compromise, don’t misunderstand me. But give me the choice of staying with a group to do something that I’m not that keen on or breaking off from the group to do what I really want to do solo and I am going solo every time.

Me, too.

I totally get what you're saying about the planning because in Disney World, it's either plan and get to see a lot, or wing it and see a few things. I'm all about The Schedule.

Besides, half the fun is in the planning.
 
Before I get to the meat of this installment I wanted to share this with you.

Ever since I found the deal I have felt like the lady in the “Start the Car” IKEA commercial? I’m not sure if it ran in the US but you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C7oqXewyCE&feature=related

I love that commercial!!! :rotfl2:

Can’t you just picture a group of 11 people standing by Cinderella’s castle with map in hand trying to reach a group consensus about what to do next?

Ikea has the best commercials! I hadn't seen that one before, but it was hilarious! So true, their stuff is just so darn cheap! I have to stop myself from buying stuff I have absolutely no use for just because it's $.75!

Anyway, been there and done that with a big group and no plan. I do not recommend it in the least. Very frustrating. Once you do finally get a consensus on what to do next, two people need the bathroom, one wants a coffee, two need a snack, two need to get something "real quick" at a gift shop and one needs to sit for a minute! A plan is the ONLY way to go. Your party will appreciate it when they realize that you've actually gotten things accomplished other than waiting in line!

So exciting about your great deal! Can't wait to read the rest.:thumbsup2
 

This is such an exciting TR, and you are such a good writer!! I can't wait to hear more. I would be nervous about a group trip as well, I can't wait to hear how your plans went. This is exciting!popcorn::
 
Once you do finally get a consensus on what to do next, two people need the bathroom, one wants a coffee, two need a snack, two need to get something "real quick" at a gift shop and one needs to sit for a minute! A plan is the ONLY way to go. Your party will appreciate it when they realize that you've actually gotten things accomplished other than waiting in line!

I'm sorry to say plenty of that happened in spite of the plan.

The girls from the other families did tell us how they did way more with us they they did on their other trips.
 
Before we go any further let’s get better acquainted. This is my lovely family…

epcotfamily.jpg






The days pass and the trip grows near.

I find myself still reading my invoice/intinerary on an almost daily basis. I didn’t mention earlier but as soon as WestJet fixed the error I went and got a quote of what I should have paid for the trip. (you knew I would, didn’t you?). Do you know what it was? $8500.00 !!!! I will never know for sure what the exact glitch was but I am almost certain that instead of adding the cost of the QSDP to the room price it replaced the cost of the room. Weird thing is if you were booking only one room it all priced out correctly. It was only when you switched to two rooms that the glitch was triggered. Since I was getting the Disney gift card as part of the deal I was in effect being paid to stay in two rooms at AKL for the week. Colour me happy!!!

About those gift cards… I read the fine print of this offer. You get one gift card per booking, not per room. If you book each room under a separate booking you’re golden. If not, you’re SOL. Since my booking was one WestJet booking rather than a Disney booking I didn’t know for sure how that would translate between the two companies but I had a good hunch it was only one gift card for me… Oh well, I guess I can live with only being paid $200.00 to stay there instead of $400.00. Hehehe.

The day we depart for Disney is actually my Father’s Birthday. I am feeling a little bad about this. We always have a family dinner and cake on each of our birthdays. DS was born 5 days after Dad’s b’day and 4 days before Mom’s. It would be difficult for me to celebrate his b’day at Disney without missing one of their's. I decide to put together a hasty dinner for Dad two days early. I order Chinese takeout and a cake and we have a quiet celebration.

When Disney Eve rolls around at long last do I find myself giddy with anticipation? No. Surprisingly I don’t. I guess my nerves are getting the better of me. I don’t like to fly. I won’t let it stop me mind you. But I am always relieved to be safely on the ground.

So lets see now:
The (over) packing is done.
The alarm is set.
Arrangements are made to take care of the cat.
Tomorrows clothes are laid out.
The camera is charged and on the table waiting for us to grab it on the way out the door.
Extra memory cards are in the bag.
Emergency numbers are given to those who need them.
Cell phones are charged and chargers packed.
Everything is good to go!! Yippeeeeeee

Feb 24 starts all too early. We wake up and are out the door on time.

There was no snow storm or anything. I was a little worried we would have a blizzard or something and the flight would be delayed….by days… Looks like the gods are smiling on us!

We are almost done the 40 minute drive to the airport when DS says, “Where is the camera?” DH blanches.

Do you know where it is? Still. On. The. Table.

I am down right dirty about this. I packed it in the middle of one of the large suitcases so that it could be cushioned by all of the clothes.

DH doesn’t like this.

Thinks it will get stolen or broken.

Takes it out of the suitcase.

Says he will carry it on.

So here we are about to embark on the biggest vacation we have ever had WITHOUT A CAMERA!! I can see that DH is about to turn the car around and start speeding home. I tell him they sell cameras in Florida. He relaxes. A little. But he feels this big…


We arrive in Orlando after a wonderfully uneventful flight. We stop for bathroom breaks and for the girls to turn some cartwheels. Turns out if you ask energetic 9 year olds to sit still in a confined space for 4 hours straight they have a little energy that needs burning off.

We gather our baggage and proceed to pick-up our rental cars. Dorothy and her crew rented from Alamo. Sue's crew and my crew rented from Avis. We agree to part company with Dorothy’s group here and meet with them at AKL. Since we don’t know the area the plan is that we will follow Sue and Bob. We will make a couple of pit stops to pick-up some drinks and munchies for our rooms. And lest we forget… A Camera!!

We get our car without delay but Sue and Bob aren’t having the same luck. Avis has now run out of cars in the category they reserved so they have to go through all the options of what can be done now. As long last this is sorted out. The car is rented in Bob’s name and Sue wants to be added to the booking so she can drive too. This takes a little more time to sort out. All in all it takes them an additional 45 looong minutes to straighten out their car reservation.

Finally, we get our cars and are ready to go. We keep waiting for Bob to pull in front of us in the parking garage so that we can follow him. But he keeps looking at us. Then he motions for us to go first. I don’t know exactly what he is up to but we go anyway. Maybe he is going to pull in front of us on the highway? He doesn’t. We are watching signs and trying to make our way all the while hoping that Bob will pass us and take the lead already. Then we get to a turn off. I don’t remember exactly what it said but it was something about Disney World I’m sure. We signal and take the exit. Does Bob? Nope! I guess we are going the wrong way because Bob is not about to follow us.

This girls and boys is the reason that the person who is leading is SUPPOSED TO BE IN FRONT!

Hence the definition: “proceeding or going in advance; showing the way; as in "we rode in the leading car";”

I holler out “I can’t freakin believe they just did that to us” , “why would they do that”, “I don’t believe it”, “I DO NOT believe it.”

Finding yourself lost in another country after only getting 4 hours of sleep tends to make one a little testy. I think DH feared for my sanity, but I didn’t care. Frankly, if we wanted to muddle through and try to find our way on our own WE WOULDN’T HAVE WAITED 45 MINUTES FOR THEM TO GET THEIR CAR RENTAL STRAIGHTENED OUT. Sheesh we could have used the head start.

Somehow we find a Walmart and get everything we need. Somehow we find the resort. No thanks to Bob.

I have cheered-up and calmed down considerably.

Here we are.

About to walk through the front door.

Am I dreaming?

Did we really get to Disney World

Queue the choirs and angels…

YES WE DID!

A&Bmama and family have arrived!

AKLLobby.jpg


The front lobby is breathtaking once your eyes adjust and you can see it. Bob and Sue are at the registration desk. Sue immediately runs over to us to apologize. She was screaming at Bob to follow us but it was too late for him to signal and make his move.

We check in and guess what. We got 2 gift cards!

I made sure to ask for our first visit pins. I also tell them we are there celebrating our son’s birthday and ask if we can pick-up his birthday pin as well. I also ask about how to go about getting a birthday cake. I want the info but more than that I want to make it clear that we are celebrating. So if there is any pixie dust to be had maybe we would get a room upgrade. There. I said it. That’s right, I was shamelessly looking for more. I was hoping for a Savannah view to boot.

We had requested that all of our groups rooms be situated together but ours aren’t with the other 2 families. We are on another floor and in the opposite direction. Does this mean…

We agree to meet at the Mara in an hour for an early dinner and head off to our rooms to get settled. We get to the room and we have a Savannah view. Not a very good Savannah view mind you, but a Savannah view none the less.

There is an eland, a giraffe and an ostrich outside our room. We promptly name the eland “Eli” and he is our pet during our stay.

eli.jpg

Eli our friend lays outside our balcony day and night

Do you remember these little platic novelty toys that were around? Often they were an animal or a clown that was standing on a small base. When you pushed this plunger thing in on the bottom of the base the little figure would collapse like all of limbs had just fallen into pieces. Well, that is what a giraffe look like when it lays down. Slowly they move each leg out from under them and bending them a little at a time, each time getting closer to the ground, once they get so far they all of a sudden just collapse to the ground. An interesting sight to see. I found this video but it was way cooler when I saw it at AKL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC79gZXHga4&feature=related


We settle, freshen up and have dinner. After we eat we explore the resort and the girls decide to have a swim. Later they take part in the parade that they have in the lobby where the kids play African instruments and sing. I think this is really cool. The girls pronounce it lame. Go figure. I guess they are growing up.

We all retire to our rooms for a well deserved rest. We are going to need it because tomorrow, look out Magic Kingdom here we come!

This is a really long chapter isn’t it?

I hope I am not boring you.

If I was you probably wouldn’t still be reading now. But you are. So you must like me. You really like me. You like me.

Now that I have had my Sally Field moment and my meds (hehe) I will continue:

You would think that after the weeks of planning and stressing and only 4 hours of sleep, and getting lost, and finding our way, that I would be exhausted. I’m not. I’m giddy. We made it.

I do sleep about 4 hours and at ohh about 3:30 I wake up. Lay there for what must have been an hour and can’t get back to sleep. I get up and make coffee. I have heard bad things about Disney coffee, both in the restaurants as well as the rooms. I had one at the Mara last night and found it to be true. I put cream in my mug before I left and put in the fridge in my room hoping the coffee in the room was better. I actually quite enjoyed it, a lot. I sit quietly sipping coffee and examining maps and then decide to get dressed and go for a walk.

Newbie traveler didn’t take the camera with her. Mistake. Big mistake. I thought I was just stretching my legs and passing time but let me tell you the sights to be seen at AKL in the still of the night are awe inspiring. The sleeping flamingos, the mist over the pool and the hot tubs, the hush over the savannah, are bliss. I wish I could put it into words. I wish I could show you. It was a purely magical moment.

Up Next: Magic Kingdom here we come
 
:cool1:Yay!!! We have pictures!!:cool1:

Besides the fact that your friends totally left you, and the fact that your DH forgot the camera, it sounds like you had a great first day!Next time I am going to Disney World I am so going with you.:worship: I can't believe you got an upgrade as well. I also can't believe that trip would have been $8500.00 :scared1: That was a huge savings, and then on top of that you got two gift cards! You are a lucky duck. Spread that pixie dust girl! All those years of budgeting are paying off! What a relief it must be to be debt free. We are working on it, slowly but surely.

Again, you are a great writer!! This has been one of my favorite TR's of all time. By the way, that giraffe laying down was pretty hilarious. :thumbsup2
 
:cool1:Yay!!! We have pictures!!:cool1:

Besides the fact that your friends totally left you, and the fact that your DH forgot the camera, it sounds like you had a great first day!Next time I am going to Disney World I am so going with you.:worship: I can't believe you got an upgrade as well. I also can't believe that trip would have been $8500.00 :scared1: That was a huge savings, and then on top of that you got two gift cards! You are a lucky duck. Spread that pixie dust girl! All those years of budgeting are paying off! What a relief it must be to be debt free. We are working on it, slowly but surely.

Again, you are a great writer!! This has been one of my favorite TR's of all time. By the way, that giraffe laying down was pretty hilarious. :thumbsup2

The upgrade was great. I wanted to ask for one but just couldn't do it, I don't know why. Disney was paid by westjet, they weren't out anything. It was WestJet that took the hit. I decided that since it was the year of celebrations I would just make it reaaallly clear we were celebrating and see what happened.

As for being debt free it is a bigger (and longer lasting) high than anything you can buy. It is a new begining, all of the financial obligations for your past decision are done and a world of possibilities for the future opens up. Keep plugging away at it, it begins to take on a life of it's own.

Thanks for the wonderful compliments and thanks for reading!
 
Great TR so far! My two kids are the same age spread as yours so I totally understand your sleeping delima. We did the FW cabins with the 4/3 deal last spring, but not nearly as good a deal as you guys got!

Looking forward to more!
 
I am in! What an incredible deal you scored! The Disney Gods really smiled upon you:goodvibes I bet the Animal Kingdom is beautiful in the dead of night. One of my favorite times at Disney World is the early morning when few people are about. It almost seems like the place was made just for you. I can't wait to hear about your first trip to the Magic Kingdom!
 
You lucky dawg! I would love to stay at AKL one day.

As a fellow overpacker, I would have fuh-reaked out if I realized that the camera wasn't packed. And then I would have beaten the crap out of my husband.

There was one time I was getting ready to go to a job interview. I was all ready, but all I needed were the keys to my car. I check the counter, my purse, my pocket...but couldn't find them. I call up my boyfriend, who was over the night before, and ask him if he's seen them. Yes, he has seen them. In fact, he was staring right at them. He accidentally put them in his coat pocket and drove home that night. And he was a good half an hour from my place, and I needed to leave the house at that time.

I called my interviewer and explained the situation. He laughed and rescheduled the interview. And I did end up getting the job. And that's the job where I met my future husband. So maybe subconciously my boyfriend didn't want me to go on the interview and meet the man of my life.

That was a long-winded way of saying that I had a similar-yet-unsimilar situation.

ETA: I would have KILLED Bob. Killed him dead.

I loved this update and look forward to the next one.
 
You lucky dawg! I would love to stay at AKL one day.

As a fellow overpacker, I would have fuh-reaked out if I realized that the camera wasn't packed. And then I would have beaten the crap out of my husband.

There was one time I was getting ready to go to a job interview. I was all ready, but all I needed were the keys to my car. I check the counter, my purse, my pocket...but couldn't find them. I call up my boyfriend, who was over the night before, and ask him if he's seen them. Yes, he has seen them. In fact, he was staring right at them. He accidentally put them in his coat pocket and drove home that night. And he was a good half an hour from my place, and I needed to leave the house at that time.

I called my interviewer and explained the situation. He laughed and rescheduled the interview. And I did end up getting the job. And that's the job where I met my future husband. So maybe subconciously my boyfriend didn't want me to go on the interview and meet the man of my life.

That was a long-winded way of saying that I had a similar-yet-unsimilar situation.

ETA: I would have KILLED Bob. Killed him dead.

I loved this update and look forward to the next one.

I guess forgetting the camera was DH's blonde moment. Mine was reading your comments about Bob and thinking you were still talking about how you would beatthe crap out of your husband if he forgot the camera. Then I thought...wait a minute...her husband's name is Dan.

:rolleyes1 I forgot I changed peoples names to protect the innocent; or guilty in Bob's case.
 
WOOHOO for Savanna view!!!! I hate driving (or riding) in places that I'm not familiar with. Soooo stressful!! Glad you guys made it safely. I can't wait to hear about your MK day!
 
I think it is amazing that WestJet honored their mistake! That is such a fabulous deal! And an upgrade to boot! A great start to the vacation. Cannot wait to read more!:thumbsup2

Personally, I like it that my DH messes up occasionally. Takes the pressure off, you know? It's like you then have a free pass to screw something up without repercussions.
 
Not only did you get a killer deal but you got a room upgrade as well! That's awesome!:banana::banana::banana:

I would have totally freaked had my husband forgotten our camera.

I am looking forward to the next installment.
 
This is a great TR and I am enjoying it tremendously. don't worry about boring anybody, I think you have the makings of a great TR writer.

How exciting to get rooms for such a great price, then get 2 gift cards and then an upgrade, the Disney Gods like you.

I can't wait to read more.

Ty
 
Great TR Your story about your DH's promise to your son has some similarities with my story of why we went to WDW. Can't wait to read more.
 












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