Love (Disney) in the Time of Cholera (Covid)

[HappyDisneyWife]

Yay!! I’m so glad your son’s school is being so great about it

So share here!!

Yes! Keep sharing... we’re rooting for you

 

[Tink Fans]

Yay!! I’m so glad your son’s school is being so great about it


Yes! Keep sharing... we’re rooting for you

Double YES!!! We UNDERSTAND completely. ;-)

 

[k_hase]

If there is anyplace to feel understood it's amongst DVC owners trying to take more trips!!

I had another bit of good news yesterday. You might recall that I had two car reservations, because we extended the trip after booking everything. My car reservation was through Priceline and was stated as "non-changeable, non-refundable, no cancellations" and so I just figured I get a new reservation with the same company and we'd deal with it at the desk in Orlando. The price seemed high for the two, but when I would compare to the full dates at once was pretty close. So I booked and was looking at $450 for 9 days for a mid-size car.

I decided to call Thrifty yesterday to see if I could merge the two reservations and they sent me right to Priceline. I got an agent who didn't seem to get what I was trying to do, and when he finally did get it he would silent for so long I wondered if he was even on the line. In the end, I think he was either tired or lazy (or high, same characteristics!) and just said, "you know what, I'm just cancel both of these, you want me to rebook for the whole time or do you want to go look for a better rate?"

Of course I want to go look for a better rate.

I kept him on the phone until the emails came that showed my Priceline refund and then booked, on my own, a small SUV for $250 for 9 days, from Dollar.

I really dislike Thrifty and only rented from them the first time b/c it was the best price I could find. 25 years ago, when I was barely making a living and didn't have credit cards and was constantly going into my checking account over draft (seriously, I made about $17K a year and lived in DC, my rent took half of my money, my student loans took another 25%, I had an emergency room bill going unpaid, an old Discover card that I was paying minimum on and then using to cover unforseen **** whenever there was room, and I'd go to Safeway with a grocery budget for the week of $20. Once, on my birthday, my best friend and I shared a beer in an actual bar, b/c we didn't have enough to each have one. I remember buying gas to get to work with a bag full of coins) I had to rent a car b/c mine broke down.

Thrifty was the only company that would rent to people with debit cards instead of credit cards (my Discover was maxed, at 2K, I wasn't crazy!) and they took a $300 hold. I knew that. And I'd just gotten paid, so I figured I'd swing it for the few days I had the car, then pay my bills after I returned the car and got the hold released. Turns out, the keep the hold on the car for an entire billing cycle, a month!! I ended up bouncing every single check I wrote that month, with tons of money in bank fees and late fees, and finding myself deep in the hole.

I ended up in Consumer Credit Counseling after a while b/c I could not climb out of the hole. In the end that was a great thing, I had pay with a money order every month and in two years was done with it all, but only because I got a better job and was able to pay it all off quickly. CCC is great and I highly recommend their services, but that stressful period brought on by Thrifty Car Rental really scarred me.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk about Thrifty and Debt!

 

[k_hase]

Nothing much new. I'm mostly focused on how to the alternate quarantine plan upon our return to NYS.

It's suprisingly hard to find out who will test, when, and under what circumstances. I was told our local urgent care was doing rapid test so I called to confirm. I was asked why I needed a test and I explained. The person on the other end was quite short with me and said they don't test for that reason and then couldn't tell me where I could get a test.

An urgent care 45 miles away seems to do it, but you have to go online at midnight the day before you want the test and the slots are all taken within 10 minutes (according to facebook) so I'm not sure I'd be able to log in to get all of our family members at the same time.

I did just find that Walgreens, also about an hour away does drive up testing, with an appointment, but only if you pass their questionnaire, but it does say what that is. I don't want to make an appointment, drive there, and get turned away b/c we didn't fit their criteria. Do you lie and say you have symptoms? or that you were exposed? would that not just make people do contact tracing unnecessarily?

I'm so frustrated and amazed that we don't have a one-stop shop of covid testing resources!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I fully endorse your plan and encourage you to move down South where everyone is more reasonable about COVID.

 

[k_hase]

I fully endorse your plan and encourage you to move down South where everyone is more reasonable about COVID.

I can tell you that moving South is never going to happen (summer, for one, and a NY fall is amazing). I also think mask mandates and limited capacity in stores/ restaurants is reasonable so the South may not agree with me there either. Wear your mask when you are around people who don't live in your house. Just like you can't go around punching people in the face, you can't go around infecting others.

 

[k_hase]

In other news, I got a Touring Plan alert at 1AM for California Grill. I was one of the people who were able to book during the error release and lost the reservation; it was a new ADR, not a modified, so I wasn't too sad when I lost it, I'd never really had it.

Anyway, I was able to book an ADR at CG at 9:45PM.

Nine forty five in the night time.

I booked it with the hope I'll be able to modify it to an earlier time eventually. If I can't I'll cancel it.

 

[disneyfunfamily4]

Wow. Sounds like a lot of hoops you have to jump thought. We’re coming from California the beginning of December. We finally figured out our governor isn’t going to allow DL to open anytime soon. My husband and I have bi coastal passes and we we have a bunch of DVC points we might as well use. And airline credits. We got the kids a couple military park tickets and here we go on a cheap trip to wdw. (We’ve also had 3 canceled cruises so far) our Kids are still totally online (HS and college) and where we live Coivd testing is everywhere. I get rapid tests every week for work. It usually takes 15 min. Last week was busy and I had to wait 1/2 hour to get swabbed. My husband has gone to cvs twice for a test but his probability of exposure slim to none. We have been more tight lipped than normal about this trip. But we’re so excited.
Oh and we lived in upstate NY for 3 1/2 years we were in Rochester. This California girl never needs to see that much snow again. But I fell in love with Fall!! I want to take the kids to experience it someday! ! It was quite a culture shock. My oldest, she’s 20, she was born there!

 

[k_hase]

Wow. Sounds like a lot of hoops you have to jump thought. We’re coming from California the beginning of December. We finally figured out our governor isn’t going to allow DL to open anytime soon. My husband and I have bi coastal passes and we we have a bunch of DVC points we might as well use. And airline credits. We got the kids a couple military park tickets and here we go on a cheap trip to wdw. (We’ve also had 3 canceled cruises so far) our Kids are still totally online (HS and college) and where we live Coivd testing is everywhere. I get rapid tests every week for work. It usually takes 15 min. Last week was busy and I had to wait 1/2 hour to get swabbed. My husband has gone to cvs twice for a test but his probability of exposure slim to none. We have been more tight lipped than normal about this trip. But we’re so excited.
Oh and we lived in upstate NY for 3 1/2 years we were in Rochester. This California girl never needs to see that much snow again. But I fell in love with Fall!! I want to take the kids to experience it someday! ! It was quite a culture shock. My oldest, she’s 20, she was born there!

We're in the Finger Lakes, so I'd argue it's beautiful all year, but we're south of the terrible lake effect (we've lived on Lake Ontario too) and I can see lake from my house! Our county is pretty rural, and there is testing in other counties but many of them want you to be a county resident to qualify, others are specifically for the schools, others require a referral or symptoms for a test. We've found some choices, but none are just walk up/drive up.

 

[kittylady1972]

I can tell you that moving South is never going to happen (summer, for one, and a NY fall is amazing). I also think mask mandates and limited capacity in stores/ restaurants is reasonable so the South may not agree with me there either. Wear your mask when you are around people who don't live in your house. Just like you can't go around punching people in the face, you can't go around infecting others.

First of all, I'm very excited for you and your upcoming trip. You are going to love it I'm sure. Sucks that work is being so difficult about your time off though. I will admit, when we did our trip at the beginning of this month, we told VERY few people and it did not get posted on social media anywhere. We just didn't want to hear the backlash from people who might think us crazy for getting on a plane and going to Florida, but honestly even my 78 year old FIL who went with us felt safe while there. It was perfect.

I will say I both agree and disagree with your statement above. I cannot STAND the cold weather (it just reached below freezing this week here in MD one or two nights and after wearing shorts last weekend I'm not happy) and cannot wait to move to Florida when I retire...but for the weather...I'm not looking forward at all to the bugs and other critters for sure.

I'm laughing about your comment above "can't go around punching people in the face, you can't go around infecting others". Well put really. I have family in NC and I will say even there they just don't seem to take this seriously. Here in MD, much like NY, we have been limiting capacity in stores/restaurants, social distancing, wearing masks, all since March and I'm okay with that. I'm not saying I enjoy it, at all, but I recognize the benefit and the greater good in trying to limit the spread of the virus so as not to continue to overwhelm our healthcare facilities and more importantly the healthcare personnel. I really worry that somebody I know is going to fall ill with something, non-COVID, but unable to be treated because the hospitals or healthcare facilities can't handle any more patients. That's the reality we are heading towards right now. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[k_hase]

So many things since my last post...

1. We gave our son his early Christmas present of the extra days at Disney (he thought we were going for a long weekend, because originally we were). I had Elf give it to him on Saturday morning. Elf is in quarantine in a box, but he delivered a 'hand written' note in poem from that let Adam know he's going for 10 days instead of 4 and staying a both BLT and Kidani. I also included the $25 gift card we received from the accidental ADR thing. He's very excited to leave in 6 days but a bit miffed that I told him he has to complete his online work every morning before going to a park. It's one ELA lesson in Google Classroom and one math lesson in Zearn. Worst case, about 90 minutes of work. He'll do his math facts practice and reading assignments at night. He wrote it on his calendar and is planning who gets to go with him from the stuffed animal collection.

2. I changed my Spice Road Table ADR to La Hacienda. We love Spice Road but our dinner was booked for the last night it's open and I'm concerned that it won't have a full menu since it's the last night (would they keep a fully stocked kitchen when the place is closing?) We've never been to Hacienda so it seemed like a good time to try it. I continue to try to get a Cali Grill ADR before 9:45 PM but think I'll have to cancel. We have a Wave dinner at a normal time already, so again, trying new things!

3. Work has gone temporarily fully remote for everyone due to a Covid hot spot. The next step is that everyone has to be tested before people can go back to work in person. Of course, the question for my team is about our need for test since we are technically not remote, despite our actual work location being at home. Tests are scheduled to begin later this week with sign ups required. I assume I don't have to since I'm not entering any facilities but if it's mandated and I'm not on the list this week we'll have a problem b/c I won't be there. We've always approached my attendance on this trip as something that could change due to work. So, if I have to return home early or arrive later, I'll do it, but I suspect it will be fine.

4. Attempts to find relatively local testing available to use in the days after we return (per the rapid quarantine process for NYS) have been frustrating or futile. I signed up on the state website for an account and 8 days later got a text alert that I could confirm an appointment at a place three hours away. That's not really helpful for getting a test 3 days after we return. I'm still hoping to the Maingate testing site before we return home and then take my chances with the few appointments released at midnight every night for a somewhat more local facility. My husband and son take priority there; my son would like to go back to school for the two days before break, to see his friends and do the fun stuff. My husband would like to go back to work. I, of course, don't need to go anywhere and can very easily stay home for 14 days.

I'm a bit more concerned about the virus right now than I have been. I've got my alcohol wipes ready, we each have several masks that fit properly, and I've got small hand sanitizer containers for each of us. I take some comfort in that we've made it this far with my husband going to a variety of workplaces statewide and my son going to school but I also know that's not how viruses work.

 

[kittylady1972]

So many things since my last post...

1. We gave our son his early Christmas present of the extra days at Disney (he thought we were going for a long weekend, because originally we were). I had Elf give it to him on Saturday morning. Elf is in quarantine in a box, but he delivered a 'hand written' note in poem from that let Adam know he's going for 10 days instead of 4 and staying a both BLT and Kidani. I also included the $25 gift card we received from the accidental ADR thing. He's very excited to leave in 6 days but a bit miffed that I told him he has to complete his online work every morning before going to a park. It's one ELA lesson in Google Classroom and one math lesson in Zearn. Worst case, about 90 minutes of work. He'll do his math facts practice and reading assignments at night. He wrote it on his calendar and is planning who gets to go with him from the stuffed animal collection.

Awwww...how fun! I'm sure the school thing will go just fine. We had our two doing school while on vacation as well...but only for one day. It worked out.

2. I changed my Spice Road Table ADR to La Hacienda. We love Spice Road but our dinner was booked for the last night it's open and I'm concerned that it won't have a full menu since it's the last night (would they keep a fully stocked kitchen when the place is closing?) We've never been to Hacienda so it seemed like a good time to try it. I continue to try to get a Cali Grill ADR before 9:45 PM but think I'll have to cancel. We have a Wave dinner at a normal time already, so again, trying new things!

We absolutely LOVED La Hacienda...and I'm still thinking about how to return there. Now I've never done Spice Road so can't compare. I hope you can get Cali Grill also...I think when I tried back in Oct/Nov I also could only get times after 9:30pm!

3. Work has gone temporarily fully remote for everyone due to a Covid hot spot. The next step is that everyone has to be tested before people can go back to work in person. Of course, the question for my team is about our need for test since we are technically not remote, despite our actual work location being at home. Tests are scheduled to begin later this week with sign ups required. I assume I don't have to since I'm not entering any facilities but if it's mandated and I'm not on the list this week we'll have a problem b/c I won't be there. We've always approached my attendance on this trip as something that could change due to work. So, if I have to return home early or arrive later, I'll do it, but I suspect it will be fine.

Sure hoping it works out that you don't have to go to the office.

 

[k_hase]

oh boy....

The troops are getting angry. I think I've mentioned before that there is a hostility from those who must go on site to work for those of us who are remain remote, particularly b/c there isn't a lot of good rationale for who reports and who doesn't. I absolutely agree with the complaints about lack of consistency in work from home rules; but I'm not about to get involved in the arguments while I'm working "from home" (DVC is home, right? Welcome Home!!!). Mostly people are angry with management, and for good reason. I'm growing increasingly stressed by my decision b/c the omission? deception? has me feeling terrible.

My son's principal emailed me today, however, completely supportive, offering to lend a Chromebook for vacation and even saying that they wouldn't normally do that, but she knew I'd be working the whole time and was worried my son wouldn't have his own device. (here's where I want to segue into how the inequities of our education system have been laid bare by a pandemic, that my district has devices to spare...but I'll stay off the soapbox).

And I finally found that I can get a rapid test!! We'll have to sign up quite a few days ahead of time, but we'll be able to go Friday afternoon or Saturday AM after our required quarantine! My concern now is that the rapid test in Florida and then the rapid test here will show false negative and I'll send my 9 year old off to infect his friends at school and cause a shut down. I know that's statistically unfounded; He'd have to first contract Covid, then get a false negative in Florida, then 6 days later get another false negative. Or be actually negative and contract Covid on the last two days of the trip, then get a false negative after being home for four days. AND be asymptomatic that whole time.

We'll see. I may just say no school til January so his friends and teachers are safe. He's certainly not going into my parent's apartment (they live in the basement apartment of our house) for two weeks.

Oh, and I made a grocery list. Unsurprisingly, there'.s lots of wine on it. And then I started to feel bad for making the instacart shopper go around a grocery store...I'm consoling myself with the idea that they know the store a better than I do and can spend less time there and might better know the patterns of other shoppers to keep their distance.

 

[kboo]

He's very excited to leave in 6 days but a bit miffed that I told him he has to complete his online work every morning before going to a park. It's one ELA lesson in Google Classroom and one math lesson in Zearn. Worst case, about 90 minutes of work. He'll do his math facts practice and reading assignments at night. He wrote it on his calendar and is planning who gets to go with him from the stuffed animal collection.

Awwww...how fun! I'm sure the school thing will go just fine. We had our two doing school while on vacation as well...but only for one day. It worked out.

We spent our Thanksgiving week holed up outside of the city. (Imagine quarantine but with more trees) While our younger one had the whole week off, our older one (9) had to do school in the AM on M-W. She survived. It helped us avoid driving during the heavy traffic days.

 

[k_hase]

We're here!!

Yesterday was a long one, left the house at 6AM, got the airport at 8ish to find a total ghost town. I should have guessed it would be that way, but I was pleasantly surprised.

And then....our gate filled up, including a couple of vocal political folks loudly discussing the last rally they attended, the ridiculousness of social distance seating and openly defying the mask request, with their masks on under their chins (I guess you do you, but can you talk quieter, and also don't sit by me). They'd pull them up when airport employees asked, but then immediately pull them down again.

Our flight was about half full, and of course, we ended up accross the aisle from these two. The flight attendants reminded everyone at the beginning that when you purchased your ticket you agreed to wear a mask on your nose/chin the whole time, that you could have water/snack service but you could not just keep your water on your tray and say you were drinking and not wear your mask.

And then...they did nothing about the two people who continued to ask for more water and respond to each request with "I'm still drinking my water". I couldn't decide if my annoyance was rationale--I had mine on, I'd wiped down our entire area before we sat, the filters on the plane are pretty good, the two of them didn't actually talk loudly or much on the plane and didn't get up. But I was annoyed. You can find masks dumb (and I'll find you dumb and selfish) but at minimum, you bought a ticket with these parameters; it's annoying to me in the same way the carry on allowance rule breakers are annoying to me.

The Orlando airport was real culture shock. Everything is open, there is no social distancing, and it's crowded. I was suddenly very unhappy with my decision to travel. The baggage area was overwhelmingly crowded!! But our bags were among the first ones out (beating the anti-mask pair, small victories, am I right?) and when my son and I arrived at the car counter, my husband was already next in line. It may have been the quickest trip out of MCO I've ever had. We were on the road in less than 40 minutes!

The Disney bubble was such a welcome!! It was in the low 70s and my son insisted that we swim right away. I'd packed our bags so that I had swim suits and flip flops at hand. We put our stuff with bell services and went to the pool. The guards were quick to explain the process--when you wear a mask and don't, to flip your chair down so they know you are done and can clean it, and to do your best to sit with space btw you and another family. It was pretty quiet and pleasant, we ordered a late lunch, my kid did the slide a billion times, and we sat in the hot tub and waited for our room.

My past experience is almost always the very late room, like after 5PM availability, so I expected little (we'd arrived to BLT at 2). At 4:05 my phone dinged and our room was ready. This was also the first time the "text your room number" worked for me. I'd always had to go ask for the number or return to the desk b/c the door wouldn't open. But this time was magic! I ran up to make sure the door opened, then my husband met me to retrieve the luggage. I'd called bell services but there was no answer; I knew there was only one girl working there and figured this would be much faster to get our three bags rather than wait for someone to bring them. My instacart order was for delivery from 5PM-7PM (again, b/c my rooms are usually not ready sooner) but was there at 4:45!!

We unpacked and unloaded, I set up my 'work from home' office space (where I am sitting now) and we went off to MK at 6PM. Again, Disney bubble is better than outside Disney and even my own grocery store. People did a good job of the 6 feet in line, mostly gave space while walking and EVERYONE had their mask on properly.

We rode SM, HM, BTM, and Pirates. Certainly some of the charm is missing (empty river, no stretching room) but we had a lovely evening and felt as safe as one can feel when deciding to be among people you don't know. For context, we spent every friday night of the summer and fall at our son's BMX track. We were outdoors but sort of near people as we leaned on the fences to see the races. Sometimes you felt a bit too close, but everyone wore a mask (so they could stay at the track!). That's how I felt here. We also were perhaps excessive with the sanitizer and we didn't touch any railings.

When we got back to the room my son did his ELA homework for monday (reading for details and evidence) and we all crashed at 9:30. All in all, a day of mixed feelings that ended well.

 

[k_hase]

My work from home set up is good!!

For anyone planning similiar--I packed my monitor in a padded bag (it's actually a huge soft sided cooler bag) and put that in between layers of clothes in our big suitcase, checking it. All cords for all devices were in a large ziploc. My laptop was in my carryon.

In the room, I turned the desk (unplugging the phone and other things) so I was facing into the room, with the window at my side, a 180 turn. I hung a towel over the mirror on the wall behind me and use my false background. The towel gives a smooth single colored surface for the virtual background to work against.

MY monitor is normally on a stand, so I set it on a 12 pack of soda and my laptop is below it. The wifi is working fine (I'm observing a training today, as non-participant and no problems with multiple tabs and meetings running at once).

 

[ambula603]

I hope you have a wonderful trip! You sound so much like me - nervous about doing the right thing but also wanting to have a good time. We just returned from our trip over Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! I pray you have good luck like we did (and sounds like so far things are going well!) and that you can safely breathe (in your mask, ha!) while you enjoy the Disney bubble!

 

[k_hase]

I also wanted to add some first impressions of BLT. We've never stayed here before as it's a real point suck for us, but when we decided to extend this trip to use up the points we had that were expiring we also rented an existing reservation. This one was the best fit for our dates.

I like a big lobby, so this is underwhelming. It felt very abrupt, I guess. I like to feel like I've arrived!! Like, welcome to your fabulous vacation. And the pool as the first stop didn't really help that. It feels like any number of generic high rise tropical hotels I guess. Don't get me wrong, this is better than the snow I left, but if I had to pick a pool to loung around at I'd pick AKL, GF, WL...I like a theme. "Hotel" is not a theme.

As for the pool, my nine year old gives it many thumbs up, 5 stars, loves the slide. LOVES it. And there's a bar, so can't complain.

Where BLT stole my heart is the room!!! We have a one bedroom, lake view, 6th floor. I know it's not even that great a view, we look at the CR dock and pool, but I can lay in my bed and see the monorail enter the south of the CR building. The room is huge. HUGE. Keep in mind we typically stay at Jambo house, and we love it, but it's smaller than lots of DVC spaces. BLT's pie/wedge shaped rooms gives me the wide floor to ceiling windows of my dreams (in my dreams I live in a fabulous high rise, with a balcony and big windows, alone, with my shoes and gowns). It's bright, open, airy, I like the kitchen space and the modular nature of the furniture, the amount of storage, the orange triangle plates, the dual shower head.

I love it. But it's still a points suck for me, so we'll probably never stay here again!! If I'd been touring rooms, and was buying new back in the day, this would have really been attractive. We'll see how I feel after a few days at Kidani later this week.

 

[linco711]

I'm going to vent just a wee bit re employers.

My job is not supposed to be remote, I'm supposed to work very closely with teams of people and individuals, some of that is fine remote, but we'd all really love to be with our people again. I've been working from home since March 16. I've gone to the office one time, in July, when my team had to learn how to use some new video equipment (I've not been in the same room with that equipment since, I hope the people using it are fine!). I've continued to work at home, in most cases far beyond normal work hours, because people need help. In the past few weeks my team has worked really hard to set specific boundaries about our hours, for our sanity mostly.

This is why I'm okay with going to Disney for 7 work days. I'm bringing my home office with me, I'll work, and after my day is over I'll join my family (we stagger ourselves a bit, to cover more hours of the day but let us have some balance, so I am supposed to end around 3 most of the time). I requested two days off, so that I wouldn't have to be present at my remote desk. Immediately following my email, a full staff email was sent with a memo dated 9 days ago, essentially warning everyone that if they go to a state on the list they must quarantine and if you're job is not remote you won't be paid. I asked some quiet questions to some trusted folks and learned that I'm not considered remote. I AM NOT A REMOTE WORKER! Go back and read the previous paragraph for why this was shocking information to me. Basically, my boss is unable to secure us socially distanced work space and we are not allowed to enter other facilities but HR didn't approve us for a health accommodation to work remotely, so we're not remote to them and therefore quarantine means no pay. Despite the reality that I am actually doing my job from my house.

Gah. I'm not going to argue about it, I removed my request for my days off instead. I'm not going to argue with them about where I work, and then get denied two weeks of pay.

So I'm being deceptive. I don't like it. I was honest in that I was leaving the state, but now I'm not telling anyone anything. I'm not taking any days off, I'll work in the hotel on work days. And when we get back I'll work at home like normal, doing my state required quarantine AND my job. It's ridiculous.

its sad when you can‘t be truthful with employers. Had to do that so many times during my life. But they really do force you to lie. Very frustrating. So happy to not have to worry about that since retiring. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.

 

[kboo]

Where BLT stole my heart is the room!!! We have a one bedroom, lake view, 6th floor. I know it's not even that great a view, we look at the CR dock and pool, but I can lay in my bed and see the monorail enter the south of the CR building. The room is huge. HUGE. Keep in mind we typically stay at Jambo house, and we love it, but it's smaller than lots of DVC spaces. BLT's pie/wedge shaped rooms gives me the wide floor to ceiling windows of my dreams (in my dreams I live in a fabulous high rise, with a balcony and big windows, alone, with my shoes and gowns). It's bright, open, airy, I like the kitchen space and the modular nature of the furniture, the amount of storage, the orange triangle plates, the dual shower head.

I love it. But it's still a points suck for me, so we'll probably never stay here again!! If I'd been touring rooms, and was buying new back in the day, this would have really been attractive. We'll see how I feel after a few days at Kidani later this week.

(BLT owner here) The BLT 1 and 2 brs are AWESOME. Sounds like you're on the outside of the pie? The standard rooms are the best - we've managed to have a decent view of the castle (and fireworks, back in the day) from standard rooms on the 2nd and 4th floors in the past.

I like a big lobby, so this is underwhelming. It felt very abrupt, I guess. I like to feel like I've arrived!! Like, welcome to your fabulous vacation. And the pool as the first stop didn't really help that. It feels like any number of generic high rise tropical hotels I guess. Don't get me wrong, this is better than the snow I left, but if I had to pick a pool to lounge around at I'd pick AKL, GF, WL...I like a theme. "Hotel" is not a theme.

As for the pool, my nine year old gives it many thumbs up, 5 stars, loves the slide. LOVES it. And there's a bar, so can't complain.

This made me lol.

I can see why coming from Jambo the lobby is underwhelming! I like the smell and the peace - it's almost never "bustling," but it can also seem pretty bland. The BLT DVC pool is, imo, one of the lamest pools on property! But these days, any pool is better than no pool. I used to take my baby for a peaceful stroller nap at the gazebo to the left of the DVC pool. It's a nice peaceful spot.