BONZO
<font color=660066>Has been known to go off topic!
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 2,100
Day 11 - Friday 29th August 2003
Cast list:
Shaun - 40 something 'If it's not alcoholic I won't drink it'
Alison - 30 something 'If it spins I won't even look at it'
Alexandra - 10 'If it goes upside down I'LL LOVE IT!'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
We all woke up at about 8.30 this morning - just in time to finish off the packing ready for our move up to Club level.
(A bit of background here: we only booked to stay at the Hard Rock because we didnt want to pay rack rate for our booking at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The trouble is that we dithered around for a few days deciding what to do for the best - AKL or HRH? Anyway after we finally made a decision, all the standard rooms at the hotel were fully booked for our last 2 nights so we had to decide whether to move up to Club Level or move to another hotel for the last bit of our holiday. So we thought wed go for the bit of luxury!!)
Alison went down to the check-in desk to see if our Club Level room was ready but they said it would take a while so we decided to head out for breakfast.
Before we left I called Star Services to come and take our luggage into storage while our new room was being prepared. I duly agreed the number of bags being taken (6), and left the man to it to join the others in reception.
By now we were very late for breakfast (gone 11am!) but the girls wanted a buffet - so the hunt was on. We ended up going to the buffet breakfast that time forgot - Great Western on I Drive . Sorry, but it was cramped, very little on offer and looked very shoddy. For some strange reason it had a photograph of
Dee-on-Clyde on the wall - perhaps it was twinned with some workman's cafe there?
For some reason - probably close proximity to I Drive - there were loads of Brits here, and lots of hand written notices about how to pay and tip. In any case - thats one best chalked up to experience - well not go there again! It was only $19 though - the one saving grace.
We drove to Belz to have a look around the shops and boy is it getting hot!- Phew!
One of the shops we went into was a Disney outlet store selling a few end-of-line articles etc, where I noticed some pressed penny holders for 99 cents. I checked my cash on hand and went off to the till to get one each for the girls. I handed over what I thought to be a $20 note but only received change from a $10. I questioned this as I was pretty sure so the lady just closed the till and called her supervisor over. They took the till drawer and till roll away to a back room to check while I waited and the others wandered off. They certainly took their time and came back saying that the till was 25 cents under and that I must have been mistaken. I must admit I couldn't be 100% sure and left it at that - ho hum, not a great deal of money anyway.
We bought a few more gifts etc and then drove back to the hotel. Although it'd been raining the humidity was sky high and hadn't cooled down at all. The room still wasn't ready so we stopped for coffee and ice cream for the kids and even here they mucked up
the bill by overcharging us as the ice creams were two for the price of one!
( If you are wondering if bad things come in threes - read on!)
Back at reception we were given room 7043 in Club Level which overlooked the front of the hotel as we didn't want a pool facing room. The room was nice but not that much different than the room that we'd left. The main difference appeared to be the amount of toiletries on hand.
I called Star Services and they duly delivered our luggage to our new room, he then filled up the ice bucket and wished us a nice stay. We wandered down to the Club Level lounge to find out what was going on there. The CM on duty introduced himself and explained the set up - there were lots of soft drinks/juices/tea and coffee/bottled water permanently out to help ourselves to. In the morning there was continental brekkie and in the evening hors doevres and crisps etc along with beer and wine. Great we thought - must be back for that!
The girls were champing at the bit for another swim by this time so we headed down to the pool for a quick freshen up before we headed off to IOA.
Laura wanted to do Pteranodon Flyers but it was a 60 min wait with no FP and no FOTL access - poo! so we headed off to ride the Flying Unicorn - one of the rides that Alexandra wouldn't do last time!
Another ride on Hulk for Alexandra, 1 fish, 2 fish, cat in the hat etc etc etc (just a re run of what wed done previously!) and then back to the hotel to see what the offering was in the Club Lounge.
After we filled our faces with crisps, dips, selection of cheeses and some hot savoury pastry thingies (oh and the beer J) we headed back to the room to finish the unpacking.
As we started to unpack we chatted about what wed do that evening - and decided on a return trip to Downtown Disney and Disney Quest. We reminded the girls to take their lanyards as they still wanted to trade a couple. At that point we realised that we were missing a bag - Laura's new Mickey Head pin collector bag was missing! (It was one she spent most of her holiday spending money on).
OMG! - I felt really bad and somehow responsible about this. I did remember placing the bag with the cases for Bell services to take. The receipt we had been given by them was correct (6 pieces) but the trouble was that we didn't think to check when they were delivered to the new room that the number of bags was correct as we'd assumed that they were all there.
If it was only the bag then it wouldn't have been a problem but it contained her lanyard and pins. It's not that she's a big collector or had any rare items it was mainly sentimental value. We phoned down to Star Services to see if anything had been handed I but no
I kept going over and over the events in my mind and wishing that we'd noticed it or mentioned it earlier but no it was definitely missing.
On our way out we asked at the luggage desk but they didnt have anything there and Alison called security who took all the details and said theyd get back to us.
It took the edge off the evening really although Laura took it well and we still went to Downtown Disney. All we did in the end was some shopping/photos etc and the girls and I had Macdonalds for dinner - although Alison and I werent really hungry after all the Club level offerings.
Laura was really flagging by this time so we headed back for an early night. When we got to the room there was a light flashing on the phone - we had a message!! Was the bag found???? Well, it was security just saying that theyd done a complete check of all the bags they had and none matched the description. The security guy was really helpful though and gave me his name and told me to check back at any time.
I decided to try one last thing - just in case Bell Services had left the bag in the old room, I wrote a short note and popped it under the door, hoping to appeal to the new peoples sense of honesty. Oh well, I thought - well just have to wait and see.
Brits Count - None in Club!
Weather - hot and humid, quite cloudy. One rain shower.
Rain impact - minimal again.
Tomorrow's plan - Blizzard Beach and Magic Kingdom
Cast list:
Shaun - 40 something 'If it's not alcoholic I won't drink it'
Alison - 30 something 'If it spins I won't even look at it'
Alexandra - 10 'If it goes upside down I'LL LOVE IT!'
Laura - 8 'If it's not pizza I won't eat it'
We all woke up at about 8.30 this morning - just in time to finish off the packing ready for our move up to Club level.
(A bit of background here: we only booked to stay at the Hard Rock because we didnt want to pay rack rate for our booking at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The trouble is that we dithered around for a few days deciding what to do for the best - AKL or HRH? Anyway after we finally made a decision, all the standard rooms at the hotel were fully booked for our last 2 nights so we had to decide whether to move up to Club Level or move to another hotel for the last bit of our holiday. So we thought wed go for the bit of luxury!!)
Alison went down to the check-in desk to see if our Club Level room was ready but they said it would take a while so we decided to head out for breakfast.
Before we left I called Star Services to come and take our luggage into storage while our new room was being prepared. I duly agreed the number of bags being taken (6), and left the man to it to join the others in reception.
By now we were very late for breakfast (gone 11am!) but the girls wanted a buffet - so the hunt was on. We ended up going to the buffet breakfast that time forgot - Great Western on I Drive . Sorry, but it was cramped, very little on offer and looked very shoddy. For some strange reason it had a photograph of
Dee-on-Clyde on the wall - perhaps it was twinned with some workman's cafe there?
For some reason - probably close proximity to I Drive - there were loads of Brits here, and lots of hand written notices about how to pay and tip. In any case - thats one best chalked up to experience - well not go there again! It was only $19 though - the one saving grace.
We drove to Belz to have a look around the shops and boy is it getting hot!- Phew!
One of the shops we went into was a Disney outlet store selling a few end-of-line articles etc, where I noticed some pressed penny holders for 99 cents. I checked my cash on hand and went off to the till to get one each for the girls. I handed over what I thought to be a $20 note but only received change from a $10. I questioned this as I was pretty sure so the lady just closed the till and called her supervisor over. They took the till drawer and till roll away to a back room to check while I waited and the others wandered off. They certainly took their time and came back saying that the till was 25 cents under and that I must have been mistaken. I must admit I couldn't be 100% sure and left it at that - ho hum, not a great deal of money anyway.
We bought a few more gifts etc and then drove back to the hotel. Although it'd been raining the humidity was sky high and hadn't cooled down at all. The room still wasn't ready so we stopped for coffee and ice cream for the kids and even here they mucked up
the bill by overcharging us as the ice creams were two for the price of one!
( If you are wondering if bad things come in threes - read on!)
Back at reception we were given room 7043 in Club Level which overlooked the front of the hotel as we didn't want a pool facing room. The room was nice but not that much different than the room that we'd left. The main difference appeared to be the amount of toiletries on hand.
I called Star Services and they duly delivered our luggage to our new room, he then filled up the ice bucket and wished us a nice stay. We wandered down to the Club Level lounge to find out what was going on there. The CM on duty introduced himself and explained the set up - there were lots of soft drinks/juices/tea and coffee/bottled water permanently out to help ourselves to. In the morning there was continental brekkie and in the evening hors doevres and crisps etc along with beer and wine. Great we thought - must be back for that!
The girls were champing at the bit for another swim by this time so we headed down to the pool for a quick freshen up before we headed off to IOA.
Laura wanted to do Pteranodon Flyers but it was a 60 min wait with no FP and no FOTL access - poo! so we headed off to ride the Flying Unicorn - one of the rides that Alexandra wouldn't do last time!
Another ride on Hulk for Alexandra, 1 fish, 2 fish, cat in the hat etc etc etc (just a re run of what wed done previously!) and then back to the hotel to see what the offering was in the Club Lounge.
After we filled our faces with crisps, dips, selection of cheeses and some hot savoury pastry thingies (oh and the beer J) we headed back to the room to finish the unpacking.
As we started to unpack we chatted about what wed do that evening - and decided on a return trip to Downtown Disney and Disney Quest. We reminded the girls to take their lanyards as they still wanted to trade a couple. At that point we realised that we were missing a bag - Laura's new Mickey Head pin collector bag was missing! (It was one she spent most of her holiday spending money on).
OMG! - I felt really bad and somehow responsible about this. I did remember placing the bag with the cases for Bell services to take. The receipt we had been given by them was correct (6 pieces) but the trouble was that we didn't think to check when they were delivered to the new room that the number of bags was correct as we'd assumed that they were all there.
If it was only the bag then it wouldn't have been a problem but it contained her lanyard and pins. It's not that she's a big collector or had any rare items it was mainly sentimental value. We phoned down to Star Services to see if anything had been handed I but no
I kept going over and over the events in my mind and wishing that we'd noticed it or mentioned it earlier but no it was definitely missing.
On our way out we asked at the luggage desk but they didnt have anything there and Alison called security who took all the details and said theyd get back to us.
It took the edge off the evening really although Laura took it well and we still went to Downtown Disney. All we did in the end was some shopping/photos etc and the girls and I had Macdonalds for dinner - although Alison and I werent really hungry after all the Club level offerings.
Laura was really flagging by this time so we headed back for an early night. When we got to the room there was a light flashing on the phone - we had a message!! Was the bag found???? Well, it was security just saying that theyd done a complete check of all the bags they had and none matched the description. The security guy was really helpful though and gave me his name and told me to check back at any time.
I decided to try one last thing - just in case Bell Services had left the bag in the old room, I wrote a short note and popped it under the door, hoping to appeal to the new peoples sense of honesty. Oh well, I thought - well just have to wait and see.
Brits Count - None in Club!
Weather - hot and humid, quite cloudy. One rain shower.
Rain impact - minimal again.
Tomorrow's plan - Blizzard Beach and Magic Kingdom
.... But Club Level sounds good - like the sound of all that food and drink!
