Life’s too short...to never sleep in a treehouse! 8/27 TR is up! Link in siggie

[MAGICFOR2]

your brunch with the Queen looks wonderful. It's great you took time to see the ship!

 

[Flossbolna]

Sounds like a wonderful party, even without my strudel! I absolutely understand that you went with something you knew, never try new dishes when you are expecting company, that can only end in a disaster!

 

[eandesmom]

Geeez! Sounds fabulous! Everything about it!

Mmmm.... pesto salmon.

Someone sent us some smoked salmon for Christmas, and we figured last night was just as good a time as any to break it out. I haven't had fish or seafood of any kind since well.... 2 years ago. It was a teensy piece of heaven!!!

The only thing that could have made it better was more than 1/2 glass of wine. And for it to have been white, not red.

I can't believe how much you guys pack into a weekend!! No wonder you're exhausted!!!

you'll need to gorge yourself on seafood once you get back. We eat Salmon so much it's like having chicken. Thank goodness for Costco

It was a crazy weekend, worse than usual actually. I had a fundraiser Saturday morning that involved painting numbers on curbs in front of houses for Evan's TKD Competition team and then one on Sunday for his 6th grade camp (raising money now, they go in the fall) that involved working at our local great harvest bakery for a couple of hours. It was cool though, the owner also organized a 10 mile bike ride and picnic lunch so we did that as a family with a bunch of other families and it was really fun.

Except for the fact that Evan is just old enough for us to let him try trail riding (Eric was on the tagalong). It is a BUSY trail and yesterday was as crowded as Jeff and I have ever seen it. Evan's bike is too small and we brought his best friend with us. Of course they kept trying to pass each other which, since they were newbies, meant me yelling the entire ride...STAY TO THE RIGHT...DON'T PASS SO WIDE...and so on! A couple of riders heading towards us thanked me. One of his classmates almost took someone out, no clue where his dad was but the kid just headed to the left right before a turn and almost took a woman coming the other way down. It was bad...really bad.

And then Evan's fender popped off so I had to carry it in my hand. The bakery owner called me "fender mom" for the rest of the day. It was funny. Not a workout in any way, the kids didn't have gears on their bikes so were pedaling like maniacs and I coasted the whole time, but it was a really fun outing.

The only bummer was that Kendall's honor choir was signing with the youth orchestra at Benaroya and I had to miss it to work my shift at the bakery. I could have done a morning shift but wanted some sleep after the shower!

Jeff and Eric made it and I at least got to see some video.

your brunch with the Queen looks wonderful. It's great you took time to see the ship!

It was really fun, and fascinating!

Sounds like a wonderful party, even without my strudel! I absolutely understand that you went with something you knew, never try new dishes when you are expecting company, that can only end in a disaster!

The funny thing is I did do 2 new recipes and then 3 of the others I'd only made once before and out of those, 2 had given me issues but thankfully it was a magical food karma day. I have a tendency to do exactly that, new recipes for a party, it gives me an excuse to try new things but it can end badly at times.

 

[eandesmom]

We interrupt this DCA TR to bring you some….FLORIDA/August Trip updates!
In no particular order (which always makes me think of DWTS lol)

Ticket/Room changes.

As I mentioned previously, we decided to bite the bullet and add the QSDP to our POP night and move our tickets to our POP reservation so that we could have them on the first day. We also decided to splurge and add the water parks and more. Thanks to the overly complicated PIN code system (apparently even if you have a PIN, once it goes into CRO they have 2 different codes for each PIN if it is a PIN that can be room only. So even though our PIN was a room only offer (no package requirement) when we changed the POP booking to add tickets and the QSDP, it required a rebooking of the entire reservation. Which means cancelling the first, giving us a credit and then charging a new deposit.

No biggie right? The room was available with the code so, not a problem. Oddly enough it let it all be re-booked under one reservation number for both rooms. I say odd because we were unable to do that for the YC reservation when we originally made it, which annoyed me at the time as one deposit, versus two, would have been better. But…whatever. And, now, with the changes it’s a darn good thing they were two separate reservation numbers (linked by the Grand gathering number). But I’m getting ahead of myself.

That part done, my TA moved on to adjusting the YC ressie.

CRO suggested the brilliant idea of removing Eric from the YC ressie entirely since he was currently assigned to Sandie’s room. He’ll have his ticket already, a different ticket than they will end up with and that way they can keep their package as it is and just add him to the room at check in. Great idea, easy peasy.

But then…

Not so much.

Thanks to the PIN code “coding” we found ourselves in the same boat. We could remove the DDP from the reservation but we could NOT remove the tickets without it being required to be re-booked under the PIN code version that wasn’t a package. Even though the PIN code offer didn’t require a package.

Is your head spinning yet?

Mine was. And I wasn’t the one on the phone with CRO for 2 hours!

This was not possible. All the rooms at the YC available under our PIN code (the room only version) were booked. Heck, all the standard rooms period are booked. Sold out in our room class. We couldn’t cancel and rebook our same room as the system doesn’t work that fast and there would be no guarantee that it would end up available for the room only PIN code. POP changes already made, kids already told they were getting tickets on day one after all (water park a surprise feature) I was at a loss.

1. What to do? Go back and redo the entire POP mess? Tell the kids no tickets day one after all?

2. Have 5 one day non-hopper, non expiring tickets on the YC reservation and save them till the next trip?

3. Move both rooms to the BC which did have availability in our room class and PIN code?

BLEH.

I did not like any of the options.

At ALL!

And of course all this was going on while I was tied up in meetings or seminars or something. Major drama, my TA pinging me and me missing all of it.

So she made an executive decision.

It was

Option
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
2

Which frankly I was kind of pissed off about. But then again, how mad can you be if someone has been on the phone with CRO for 2 hours trying to tweak things at your request and you are clearly trying to milk all options as best you can.

It’s not that it wasn’t a good idea, it is.

It’s not that it wasn’t a good deal, it is. Somehow those tickets cost a lot less as a 1 day package then they would if we bought them unbundled. I don’t get it but it was a good $150 less. I double checked it. It almost seems like somehow that room promo discount (40%) was applied to those tickets, it’s about that much less.

They won’t expire.
We will be back.

However I see two major issues with this, and then one potential silver lining.

Issues.

Accidental use
They will be on our YC room keys. I am deathly afraid that one or more of us will use it to get into a park and we will have thrown it away. The 9 day tickets will be on our POP room keys and apparently there is no way to merge them to the YC room keys once we check in. It’s all that “non-transferable” rot. I am going to ask at check in if there is a way to get the one day tickets OFF of the room keys and onto something else but I don’t think it’s possible.

Two tickets/keys x 6. Just the thought of keeping track of 12 KTTW cards, half of which are tickets, half of which are room keys with one day park tickets on 5 of them, makes me nervous/nauseous. BLEH.

Likelihood of actual use
assuming they aren’t accidentally used while we were there for a future trip.

I’m putting this at 50% at best. The best deals and PIN codes seem to almost always include a package requirement and if you want the DDP then you’ve got to do the package. So it is possible we couldn’t use them on the next trip as we’d have to get tickets anyway for whatever deal.

Unless we own DVC. I think. It’s my understanding you can add DDP to a DVC reservation but I’m not sure if there is a ticket requirement to do so. Maybe Glennbo, Kathy or Mary Ellen can let me know…It is my hope that we own in time for the next trip but…I think I’m going to have to get a new car and that car payment might slide the timeline. Hoping to hold off until we get back from FL at a minimum!

Silver lining.

IF we want, we could add the DDP to this reservation after all, for 5 of us. I could move Eric to the reservation instead of Evan and then it would be 4 adults and one kid. We have pretty much talked ourselves out of the DDP.

However. Sandie is coming out this weekend (YAY!) and we will be discussing the trip at length. If they really want to do the DDP then we should probably do it too, it would just be easier from a bill paying standpoint. And it does address the whole 10 year old as an adult issue.

So that’s where it stands. I’ve told my TA I will want her to keep checking on availability to change it to a no-ticket room, but not till after we meet with Sandie this weekend.

WHEW!

And that was over 2 weeks ago, I was crabby for days!

I exaggerate.

But not by much.

In other room updates we have, at the E’s choosing, a request for the 50’s section for our POP night. I didn’t get more specific than that, I want connecting more than anything so whatever we get will be fine but they had fun looking at the map and the pools and icons and deciding what they wanted. They are all over that Bowling Pin pool.

Touring plan, garanimal style.
I am a bit flummoxed at present on this topic. The addition of WP&More has made this almost too many things to choose from.
Case in point.
Discussion in the car between the E's and myself.
"Mom, which park are we going to go to first?"
I outline the garanimal plan, where we all confer and decide
Evan. "But I want to go to Animal Kingdom first."
"Really?"
"Yes, we weren't hardly there at all!"
"But Evan, we won't get to a park till maybe noon on the first day and we may want a nap first. It will be hot and the animals may not be out."
"Oh."
"Well, then I want to go to DHS"
Eric. "I want to go to MK or Epcot"

"Well it will be a group decision. We have enough days we will be at every park more than once. Epcot would be a good choice since we can walk there...."

"But maybe we should all talk about it before we go..."



Need to discuss this with Sandie and Jeff and the big kids this weekend and get their take.


Shopping

Jeff and I have both been starting to shop.

For ourselves.

Much of it is based on our trial run trip in CA and narrowing down (or adding to!) what we “need”. I can’t say TOO much here as it will be featured in upcoming TR entries but….

Still on my list.

• Park bag.
• Shoes
• Shorts
• Dress(es)
• Tops
• Skirt/Skort
• RX sunglasses

Obviously I have some of all of the above.

Not enough for a 2 week trip! So I am figuring out what I want versus what I need and trying to narrow it down. Top of the priority list is shorts, I just need them period. Hoping to swing by JCrew this week and actually try stuff on and then order some from Athleta depending on how that goes.

Dining and Cruising

I did add a date night reservation. Not sure how that will work out, if it will work out but at least have something booked. I have a feeling the illuminations cruise is going to go. Apparently I’m spending that money on park tickets we don’t need. But we will see what Sandie thinks.

Real Life

In other news, we (of course) have had sports drama. Kendall is spread so thin right now she is just exhausted. We ended up with her last night and she wanted to skip first period. Kendall is NOT a kid who skips school. Between leadership, honor choir, soccer and volleyball it’s just ridiculous. Her mom tried to sign her up for a volleyball clinic for this weekend, which is our weekend and Sandie is coming. She has an ALL DAY volleyball party on Sat (which Jeff isn’t letting her go to but I’m not sure he’s told her mom yet though I think K knows). K&T didn’t tell their mom about Sandie coming so I can’t get mad about that but seriously, it’s like she looks for any opening in the girls schedule and books her for something that she doesn’t even know about. Jeff was joking (not really) that her mom is grooming her for the Pac-10. On the positive side…3 good things.

1. For next years club soccer, she’s moved to a new club. We think this is a really good thing. Even better is the fact that they have NOTHING scheduled during our trip at present tournament wise. That could change but we have given the coach our dates.
2. My favorite cousin from Hawaii has a daughter one year younger than K. They just so happen to have a tournament here, the weekend of my little sisters wedding so are going to be here for it (as well as the tournament lol). Between my cousin and myself, we’ve set up a scrimmage for the 2 teams while they are here which will be so much fun to watch!
3. It really looks like for fall, that HS volleyball is the winner. Thankfully her mom had to be at soccer tryouts with her so Jeff went to the meeting. There is training that starts the minute school gets out. It goes until 7/31. There is NO coach contact allowed after 7/31 until 8/23. Which is exactly how we planned our dates! I hate to say this but….I love being right.

next. MORE changes?

 

[All7OfUs]

Maybe to "get it", you have to sort be IN it. I tried to follow it all- really, I really, really did, but I think I got hopelessly lost at about the 3rd sentence.

I think what I came away with was: You have tickets that are extra, and you HOPE they don't accidentally get used because they're on a room key and can't be taken off. Right?? Even though, you couldn't be part of the final decision, I"m happy your TA stuck with it, and seemed to make a financially intelligent decision- whatever that really was.

I know you're pretty savvy when it comes to pricing things out, so you'll make a great decision about DDP. I think Sandie will play into that decison, too.

Yeah, being right feels so good! Glad the dates ARE working out with all the potentially disastrous sports conflicts.

 

[eandesmom]

Maybe to "get it", you have to sort be IN it. I tried to follow it all- really, I really, really did, but I think I got hopelessly lost at about the 3rd sentence.

I think what I came away with was: You have tickets that are extra, and you HOPE they don't accidentally get used because they're on a room key and can't be taken off. Right?? Even though, you couldn't be part of the final decision, I"m happy your TA stuck with it, and seemed to make a financially intelligent decision- whatever that really was.

I know you're pretty savvy when it comes to pricing things out, so you'll make a great decision about DDP. I think Sandie will play into that decison, too.

Yeah, being right feels so good! Glad the dates ARE working out with all the potentially disastrous sports conflicts.

Are you kidding? I'm in it and am hopelessly confused. I haven't even told Jeff. It would give him a headache. But yes, you got the gist of it!

 

[All7OfUs]

Are you kidding? I'm in it and am hopelessly confused. I haven't even told Jeff. It would give him a headache. But yes, you got the gist of it!

GREAT! Good to know I'm not a totally devoid of being able grasp the basics of what went down. Or should I say, is going down. I think I'd be reluctant to tell him too.

 

[jenjolt]

WOW!! I have no idea what has happened to your tickets, but hopefully it will all get straightened out when you get there...however you are right my head is spinning as I imagine yours was...WOW!!!!

 

[glennbo123]

Like Liesa and Jenjolt, my head was spinning

reading your latest update, and then I saw my name -- Oh no, a quiz!

Unless we own DVC. I think. It’s my understanding you can add DDP to a DVC reservation but I’m not sure if there is a ticket requirement to do so. Maybe Glennbo, Kathy or Mary Ellen can let me know…It is my hope that we own in time for the next trip but…I think I’m going to have to get a new car and that car payment might slide the timeline. Hoping to hold off until we get back from FL at a minimum!

If your question is "with a DVC reservation, can you add the DDP without necessarily purchasing park tickets", the answer is Yes. You don't get all of these deals, like free dining etc., with DVC, but you can add it to your room reservation at the regular price.

If that's not your question, let me know.

(And I hope I can say "welcome home neighbor" to you soon.)

WHEW!

And that was over 2 weeks ago, I was crabby for days!

I exaggerate.

But not by much.

Oh yes, I remember now that you indicated a lot of "issues" were occurring that you hadn't written about yet.

Jeff and I have both been starting to shop.

For ourselves.

Much of it is based on our trial run trip in CA and narrowing down (or adding to!) what we “need”. I can’t say TOO much here as it will be featured in upcoming TR entries but….

Still on my list.

• Park bag.
• Shoes
• Shorts
• Dress(es)
• Tops
• Skirt/Skort
• RX sunglasses

Good to see that Park bag and Shoes are at the top of the list.

I hate to say this but….I love being right.

Don't we all! I hate that I'm always the one who has to point it out.

 

[eandesmom]

GREAT! Good to know I'm not a totally devoid of being able grasp the basics of what went down. Or should I say, is going down. I think I'd be reluctant to tell him too.

Yeah. I figure what he doesn't know....



Seriously though. He may find out this weekend when we have the DDP conversation with his mom. I did tell him there was a "glitch" and so we actually could add the ddp if we want too...

Assuming we don't, HOPEFULLY my TA will be able to get us a room only ressie with the code between now and the 45 day mark to get the tickets OFF. If not, I'll deal with it when I get there. What I want is a room only key! I actually don't mind the park tickets being separate, I can just be in charge of them lol.

WOW!! I have no idea what has happened to your tickets, but hopefully it will all get straightened out when you get there...however you are right my head is spinning as I imagine yours was...WOW!!!!

I hope it's figured out before then. If it's after the 45 day mark we will have paid for them and then basically be stuck I think so then I'll just be paranoid about a kid (or JEFF!) accidentally using it for park entry. And then me losing them after the trip.

It could happen.

 

[eandesmom]

Like Liesa and Jenjolt, my head was spinning

reading your latest update, and then I saw my name -- Oh no, a quiz!

If your question is "with a DVC reservation, can you add the DDP without necessarily purchasing park tickets", the answer is Yes. You don't get all of these deals, like free dining etc., with DVC, but you can add it to your room reservation at the regular price.

If that's not your question, let me know.

(And I hope I can say "welcome home neighbor" to you soon.)


Oh yes, I remember now that you indicated a lot of "issues" were occurring that you hadn't written about yet.


Good to see that Park bag and Shoes are at the top of the list.


Don't we all! I hate that I'm always the one who has to point it out.

That was the question! Ding Ding!

Hmmn....it will be funny to see if I can turn this $250 "mistake" (well not a mistake, more like a ticket early QSDP retarded code booking system by CRO surcharge) into justification to buy DVC sooner rather than later.

"But hey honey...we already have 5 park tickets!"


I believe there was arm pumping involved and a "YES!" by yours truly when I got the date info for the HS volleyball.

I'm human after all.

 

[MRYPPNS]

I had to read it twice but I figured out what is going on!

I am going to ask at check in if there is a way to get the one day tickets OFF of the room keys and onto something else but I don’t think it’s possible

It is absolutely possible to have your one-day tickets pulled off your room keys. I've done it. When you check-in to the YC tell them right off that you want them pulled off the room cards and put onto separate cards.....then put them in the wall safe!!!

I understand what you mean about using them again because if you want DDP on your next trip you have to buy tickets...but there will probably come a time when you decide not to do the dinning plan and you can use them then and they will actually save you money because if you upgrade them (say in a year or more when gate prices have gone up) after you have walked into the park on that one day ticket, you get the current one day price as a credit to your upgrade. That is exactly what I'll be doing next trip.

 

[Native NYer]

Oh wow that's a lot of trip decisions and changes!
Even though you don't need those one day tickets, it won't be a total waste. You'll be able to use them on a future trip and it'll save you some $$$.

You can add DDP to DVC reservations. We added the dining plan to our 7 nights at BLT and 2 nights at BWI.

Are you planning on going to Disney Quest? I'm still debating it. I don't know if I want to be trapped inside of a giant arcade for a few hours.

Are you all set with the US portion of your trip?

 

[creativeamanda]

You should be able to remove those tickets at checkin. I think I'd do that if I were you and then go ahead and mail them back home.

Certified Mail.

 

[eandesmom]

I had to read it twice but I figured out what is going on!



It is absolutely possible to have your one-day tickets pulled off your room keys. I've done it. When you check-in to the YC tell them right off that you want them pulled off the room cards and put onto separate cards.....then put them in the wall safe!!!

I understand what you mean about using them again because if you want DDP on your next trip you have to buy tickets...but there will probably come a time when you decide not to do the dinning plan and you can use them then and they will actually save you money because if you upgrade them (say in a year or more when gate prices have gone up) after you have walked into the park on that one day ticket, you get the current one day price as a credit to your upgrade. That is exactly what I'll be doing next trip.

Heidi! You are the best, that is a $250 load off my mind. YAY! part of the reason we have Evan on our room and Eric technically homeless is that with Eric's we'd have to pay the age upgrade if we used them on the next trip. Only problem with it is it's unlikely Taylor or even Kendall will be with us. BUT since they are non-expiring I guess they could use them on their own for college spring break.

Oh wow that's a lot of trip decisions and changes!
Even though you don't need those one day tickets, it won't be a total waste. You'll be able to use them on a future trip and it'll save you some $$$.

You can add DDP to DVC reservations. We added the dining plan to our 7 nights at BLT and 2 nights at BWI.

Are you planning on going to Disney Quest? I'm still debating it. I don't know if I want to be trapped inside of a giant arcade for a few hours.

Are you all set with the US portion of your trip?

I'm not planning on it, but then again I'm not, NOT planning on it. If people want to, go for it. Better yet, if some want to while the girls go to tea or whatever, even better! The E's and Uncle Doug will be all over it. I think everyone else will be ambivalent at best.

You should be able to remove those tickets at checkin. I think I'd do that if I were you and then go ahead and mail them back home.

Certified Mail.

LOL on the certified mail! Not a bad idea at all but it would mean a trip to the post office. Hmmmn.....

 

[MaryAz]

Oy, Oy, Oy that was one crazy ticket/room drama. Ur poor TA. Hope it all works out the way you want it to

 

[MRYPPNS]

Only problem with it is it's unlikely Taylor or even Kendall will be with us. BUT since they are non-expiring I guess they could use them on their own for college spring break.

The one day tickets that we had pulled off don't have our names on them. (they are on the hard plastic cards). The just say ADULT.

 

[MRYPPNS]

This link to a sticky thread is very helpful in regards to tickets and policies.

 

[MEK]

Holy Moly cynthia. You are going to have to catch me when I pass out from my head spinning so much! That is one crazy story and I'm not sure if I understand the whole thing.

As far as the twelve tickets/room cards. I think you are going to have to design a room card depository. Everybody has to drop off their cards in the bucket. Then you are going to have to color code the ones to use for park admittance. Then you are going to have to check everyone. It's going to be a PITA. Buy everyone something to hang around their neck to keep the cards in. My little yellow POP container has saved my butt a few times. It's going to be confusing.

It is great how you can add the DDP to a DVC reservation. I always have two cards. One for the room and my AP.
WAIT.......... I have a solution..... You can take all the original room keys with the park tickets to guest services and have them turned into a cardboard/paper ticket like the annual passes. Then you will have two distinct cards. One will clearly be a room key and the other will be a park ticket. The paper/cardboard or whatever they are tickets actually hold up better than the plastic ones.

 

[eandesmom]

Oy, Oy, Oy that was one crazy ticket/room drama. Ur poor TA. Hope it all works out the way you want it to

Seriously. I have no idea how she makes a penny..

The one day tickets that we had pulled off don't have our names on them. (they are on the hard plastic cards). The just say ADULT.

Oh that is cool if that is the case! I hope so!!!

This link to a sticky thread is very helpful in regards to tickets and policies.

thanks!

Holy Moly cynthia. You are going to have to catch me when I pass out from my head spinning so much! That is one crazy story and I'm not sure if I understand the whole thing.

As far as the twelve tickets/room cards. I think you are going to have to design a room card depository. Everybody has to drop off their cards in the bucket. Then you are going to have to color code the ones to use for park admittance. Then you are going to have to check everyone. It's going to be a PITA. Buy everyone something to hang around their neck to keep the cards in. My little yellow POP container has saved my butt a few times. It's going to be confusing.

It is great how you can add the DDP to a DVC reservation. I always have two cards. One for the room and my AP.
WAIT.......... I have a solution..... You can take all the original room keys with the park tickets to guest services and have them turned into a cardboard/paper ticket like the annual passes. Then you will have two distinct cards. One will clearly be a room key and the other will be a park ticket. The paper/cardboard or whatever they are tickets actually hold up better than the plastic ones.

Two weeks later and it's still making my head spin!

In the past we didn't let anyone but Taylor hold on to their room key anyway so it may not be a huge issue. I'd like for K&T to be able to have their room keys and park passes if they need to, and they will. I'm still going to ask about getting the pop tickets onto the YC KTTW cards at check in (even though I've been told it isn't possible at least 3 times) and a swing by guest services as it can't hurt to ask! If I can pull the 1 day tickets off of the room keys though it eliminates a lot of stress, then at least it's pretty clean. 1 key for the room and 1 for the parks. Color coding is a good idea...what would work to do that?

The paper holds up better? Really?

I'm thinking that if I train the yahoos that the one that says POP means park ticket and the one that does not, is not, it should be ok as long as I get the 1 day tickets off of the YC KTTW.

Which I guess means it really isn't a key to the whole world, just a key to eating and sleeping.