Magic as Wide as a smile!10/28 Trip Report Link!!!!

[brookelizabeth]

I know people do it all the time and I know I'm being silly but i want to make sure the disney gods won't be mad at me!

You know, I hadn't thought of the free parking thing! We do have AP's so no matter which one it is we'll be covered! I have to find out which one it is though, I'm intrigued!

It was so nice!!!! When we took the DVC tour our guide said that once you buy DVC you vacation differently. I didn't really believe him! But, he was right! It's so nice to have the extra space to relax in and it's fabulous to know another trip is right around the corner so you have to bust your rear to get everything in!

I understand about wanting to be legit - I'm the same way. Looks like Mickey_Mom cleared it up...the AP gives you free parking at the parks! Woot! Such a DEAL!!! I think I would end up leaving it at the CR though, it's closer and will be so much easier with the littles.

And it is IS true about DVC! I still get slightly worked up about missing something...trying to let that go, KNOWING we WILL be back makes it all so much easier. It becomes more relaxing and even more enjoyable.

I think its great that you decided to go for the car, especially if its a great rate and you are changing resorts. It's very convenient if you want to make a quick grocery stop on the way to the resort. I have often stopped at the super Target on the way to the world. I have also stopped at the Chik-fil-a (Brooke?). This one doesn't need a traffic cop directing traffic!

Don't tempt me to rent a car! Thankfully the airport has one...it better not have a traffic cop either!

We did rent a car for one day to go to Kennedy Space Center. We stopped at a Publix on the way "home" and it was VERY nice being able to pick up a few things. When we lived in MN I flatly refused to rent a car while on vacation (unless we HAD to, like KSC) because I did all the driving due to Joe's eyes - and I despise driving. But, now that we live here in NYC and I don't drive, it's actually kind of appealing. I do like the option of going off site and being able to grocery shop. Perhaps for when we stay at OKW sometime!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

So sorry to hear about your iTunes account getting hacked into. That majorly stinks, but I am glad you caught it quickly and are getting your money back.

I was so unhappy! I felt my heart sink when I noticed it! I'm glad I got my $$ back!


I think its great that you decided to go for the car, especially if its a great rate and you are changing resorts. It's very convenient if you want to make a quick grocery stop on the way to the resort. I have often stopped at the super Target on the way to the world. I have also stopped at the Chik-fil-a (Brooke?). This one doesn't need a traffic cop directing traffic!

It will be a new experience! We'll definitely stop at the store on the way in and maybe even stop and get a bite to eat!


I think you will be fine leaving the car in the contemporary lot. I have left a car in that lot many times. Of course, it was from dinner, but I really don't think lunch will make a difference. That lot always has TONS of spaces in it. I'm not kidding - it is the one deluxe resort with the most empty spaces and its a fairly good sized lot. No worries there.

We're definitely going to leave the car there. I think it will just work out -great! We'll have an easy exit from MNSSHP and get back to the room quickly!

That lunch menu for the Wave looks really, really good. Perhaps because its almost my lunch time. YUM!


It does look good! I'm glad I looked to see what they have!

I have never eaten at LeCellier. I hope to be able to one day. How nice of the waiter to not charge you for the extra kid's meal. Sometimes you just have to leave and get some rest at WDW.

You definitely have to try Le Cellier at some point! Its fabulous! The waiter was wonderful for not charging us Some of us were so beat that night we just had to leave!

Good deal on the car! You can't beat that.

I've had such great service at Le Cellier, I really hope we can get a walk up in 26 days.

I'm really interested to see how we like having the car!

I hope you have good luck with Le Cellier! Definitely keep trying the dining website! I've had pretty good luck with persistence when it comes to dining at WDW!

Woo hoo for Kidani!!!! I know you love it as much as I do so I am happy you kept checking! I still haven't rented a car so I am no help there....I do know that if I ever have to stay at SSR again I will be sure to because I also was not a fan of their bus service Plus I kind of like the whole drop off/pick up first routine at Kidani
Ooooh I love The Wave....I was sitting right across from MEK in May I have been their twice (dinner) and have had great service and meals each time....they have a lot of really yummy and fun drinks.
As for the parking...I think people do that all the time....and you do have a reservation.......

Tracy

I'm so, so excited about Kidani and I really, really hope the WL comes through! I'm going to call every few days! I called on Friday to check for the first time and of course it hadn't come through but I didn't expect it would have already!

I'm excited for the Wave ADR! It looks like it's going to be a good lunch! We're definitely going to leave the car there! It will make for such an easy excite from MNSSHP!

Good for you! You deserve it!



Hey! I just got a notice from the company I work for that we now have a National Car Rental employee discount. With it comes enrollment in the Emerald Club! I'd mentioned it to George a few days ago not knowing what it was all about.... now I'll take a closer look for our arrival day. Thanks!!!



I've been looking into AP perks and free parking is one of them. Either way, like others have said I think you're fine parking there but I know what you mean about displeasing the Disney gods.

LEt me tell you, being lazy felt good!

I think the national deal the discount is fabulous and having the emerald club for free is fabulous! I just have to figure out where the rental lot is at MCO! I may call the National office there to find out where we have to go exactly!


LOL! I'm such a rule follower! We're going to leave the car there! it will so easy!!!

I understand about wanting to be legit - I'm the same way. Looks like Mickey_Mom cleared it up...the AP gives you free parking at the parks! Woot! Such a DEAL!!! I think I would end up leaving it at the CR though, it's closer and will be so much easier with the littles.


I would hate to do something not legit, but we do have and ADR! I don't think it will be a problem and it will make leaving MNSSHP so much easier!


And it is IS true about DVC! I still get slightly worked up about missing something...trying to let that go, KNOWING we WILL be back makes it all so much easier. It becomes more relaxing and even more enjoyable.


It really is so much more relaxing and enjoyable!

Don't tempt me to rent a car! Thankfully the airport has one...it better not have a traffic cop either!

Maybe they have TSA outside the door!


We did rent a car for one day to go to Kennedy Space Center. We stopped at a Publix on the way "home" and it was VERY nice being able to pick up a few things. When we lived in MN I flatly refused to rent a car while on vacation (unless we HAD to, like KSC) because I did all the driving due to Joe's eyes - and I despise driving. But, now that we live here in NYC and I don't drive, it's actually kind of appealing. I do like the option of going off site and being able to grocery shop. Perhaps for when we stay at OKW sometime!
I can wait to see how we like it! I think it will be great! But, I must say that I like the not driving at WDW thing! There probably will be a few times we take the bus!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

We left off with a relaxing night of movies and popcorn for some of us and a Illuminating evening in Epcot for others

The next day was supposed to be a rest day for us! But 1 thing was missing from the day! I didn’t take 1 single picture! Not 1! Sorry! I was so into the relaxing day thing that just never did! So, because there are no pics I’m going to keep it rather brief!

Jen and I got up early because we had someplace to go!

You may remember for Jen’s 40th birthday I gave her a trip to GF spa for a massage and a pedicure! Today was the day!

I called for a cab and we were soon on way to GF!

We were both supposed to have a massage and pedicure but because I had really weird blister on the top of my big toe I decided to skip the pedicure and get a facial instead!

Our trip to spa was heavenly! Absolutely heavenly and so relaxing!!! Ahhhhh! I highly recommend it! It is a lot of $ but it’s worth it!

After our trip to the spa we decided to take the monorail to MK and then take the bus back to Kidani!

Along the way I texted DH to find out what they were up to! I thought they’d in the room or at DTD but they were in MK! Guess they forgot about rest day! LOL!

Jen and I thought about going into MK to meet them but decided to keep up with the rest thing and go back to the room!

Soon enough we were back in the room! I sat on the balcony for a little while but decided it was still a little chilly so I went back inside!

I actually took a nap! I’m pretty sure Jen did too! It was soooooo nice!

After a little napping the other family members soon returned! We all milled about the room. We told each other about our mornings. Apparently the Dad’s asked the kids what they wanted to do and the kids wanted to ride more rides in MK. So off to MK they went shortly after we left! They had cinnamon rolls at the Main Street Bakery for breakfast!

Now that we were all back together we decided to head off to DTD! Jen and John had a reservation at Cali Grill a little later and John and I were taking all 6 kids to dinner at T-Rex!

But, before we left DH got a call on the phone from his bank! DH has his a bank account separate from our shared accounts and that was the account we were using for the trip, through the visa debt card! But, the way Disney holds the charges and then puts through one bigger charge every three days or so set off something in the banks system. The fraud prevention people were calling!! The charge wasn’t that much but because DH rarely uses the account and even more rarely uses the visa portion they thought someone had stolen his bank info and was living it up at WDW on our dollar!

They froze the account! DH talked to them and they said they would unfreeze it but it could take a few hours! OK!

Luckily I thought enough to have DH check with the front desk to see if our KTTW cards were ok to use! It turns out when they tried to put through the charge it won’t go through because of the fraud prevention thing! So now we couldn’t use our KTTW cards because it appeared that they couldn’t put through the charges! UGH!

We didn’t have a credit card with us and we were about to go to dinner and we needed to pay oop because T-Rex doesn’t take DDP! UGH again!

We learned a valuable lesson! I made DH, who is anti-credit card after we paid off all of cc debt, promise that from now on we’d us his 1 credit card at WDW and pay off the balance as soon as we get home! I don’t want this to happen again!

Luckily I hadn’t remembered to take my visa debit from our joint account out of my wallet before we left! Good thing because we would have been eating counter service on DDP and not shopping at DTD!

So we were off to DTD! Finally!

We did a little shopping, the dollar store, which was a first for us, Goofy’s Candy Store, Once Upon a Toy, Tren-D and a few others before it was time for Jen and John to head back to get ready for Cali Grill!

After they left we did a little more shopping and were soon off to T-Rex!

We had a great dinner and the kids all really enjoyed it! I was a little disappointed in our seat though! They put us in this giant round table that was almost completely surrounded with a rock wall! We couldn’t see anything during the meteor shower! So the one time it happened I had the kids get out of the booth to watch!

After dinner we were off to shop again! This time it was WOD! Everyone picked out a few things to take home for friends etc and we used our AP’s to get a discount! Score!

Then it was time to head back to Kidani for another relaxing evening! Movies and popcorn again! I believe I actually used the tub again too! This time without the bubble bath!

Jen and John arrived home telling tails of a wonderful dinner! One problem, they didn’t stay for Wishes! Say what sister?! I planned the dinner perfectly so they could! It was supposed to be all about romance and them being alone for a change! But, instead they had left CR and went back to DTD to purchase Justin an early birthday present! It was a really cool Nightmare Before Christmas hoodie! What good parents!

Soon enough we were off to dreamland to rest up for an early morning at DHS!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Ahhh rest and relaxation... .... the spa sounds heavenly. Yikes on the freeze on the account. That was proactive for them to do it but pretty inconvenient not to 'unfreeze' it right away. Oh well, it worked out!

 

[manntra]

Sounds like a fun morning at the spa and a lovely evening at DTD Of course there were the bank issues inbetween but other than that

LOL at the bath without the bubbles!!! I forgot about that!!

I have been to T-Rex twice...the food is eh but when I had my nieces with me they loved it...we sat in the blue room which was quite an adjustment on the eyes when we went outside

Tracy

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Ahhh rest and relaxation... .... the spa sounds heavenly. Yikes on the freeze on the account. That was proactive for them to do it but pretty inconvenient not to 'unfreeze' it right away. Oh well, it worked out!

It was heavenly! It's like a little piece of paradise!!! I was glad that they did it because they thought someone had stolen the account but I had this momentary panic that we wouldn't be able to eat or anything! Luckily it worked out fine in the end!

Sounds like a fun morning at the spa and a lovely evening at DTD Of course there were the bank issues inbetween but other than that

LOL at the bath without the bubbles!!! I forgot about that!!

I have been to T-Rex twice...the food is eh but when I had my nieces with me they loved it...we sat in the blue room which was quite an adjustment on the eyes when we went outside

Tracy

It was a lovely morning and evening! The banking issues kind stunk but it really worked out ok in the end!

LOL!! I learned a valuable lesson about the bubbles!

TRex definitely isn't gourmet food but it's good enough and really kid friendly! I can definitely see the blue room causing eye problems when you went outside!

 

[MEK]

Your rest days sounds wonderful. So glad you had a great time and stuck with the plan to stay out of the parks. The GF spa sounds wonderful.

Ugh to the credit card mess. That happened to one of my friend's husbands when we went to Saratoga/Albany NY. He had this credit card which he rarely uses and when he arrived he put his room on the card. Then he makes this reservation to take me and his wife to this really nice restaurant in Albany. Of course, we ate and drank like crazy and he goes to pay with the same credit card and they turned it down. He was so embarrassed and it was a very expensive dinner so we didn't have the cash for it. I ended up charging it on my card (since I use my card for everything and pay it off every month I never get denied). He didnt find out until later what the problem was.
I feel your pain. I do give the credit card companies credit though for checking out what they perceive to be red flags. But it is strange to know you can get your account frozen like that.

Anyway - I hope you start taking some more pictures. I should have read this update at work. haha

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Your rest days sounds wonderful. So glad you had a great time and stuck with the plan to stay out of the parks. The GF spa sounds wonderful.

Ugh to the credit card mess. That happened to one of my friend's husbands when we went to Saratoga/Albany NY. He had this credit card which he rarely uses and when he arrived he put his room on the card. Then he makes this reservation to take me and his wife to this really nice restaurant in Albany. Of course, we ate and drank like crazy and he goes to pay with the same credit card and they turned it down. He was so embarrassed and it was a very expensive dinner so we didn't have the cash for it. I ended up charging it on my card (since I use my card for everything and pay it off every month I never get denied). He didnt find out until later what the problem was.
I feel your pain. I do give the credit card companies credit though for checking out what they perceive to be red flags. But it is strange to know you can get your account frozen like that.

Anyway - I hope you start taking some more pictures. I should have read this update at work. haha

We really had a fabulous rest day! It felt good to just take it easy. Although I must say, when we were standing at the bus stop at MK it felt weird to have not gone inside! LOL!

I'm so glad the bank called DH and I'm so glad they called on his cell phone to! I'm also glad they're being proactive about stuff like that, especially after my itunes account got hacked! I just panicked thinking we wouldn't be able to use the card for anything until the account was unfrozen and the charge went through!

More pictures to come, at least for the most part

 

[brookelizabeth]

What a wonderful day! I love how you and Jen took naps while everyone else was at MK!!! How often does THAT happen?!?! Mom gets to sleep??!?

We learned a valuable lesson! I made DH, who is anti-credit card after we paid off all of cc debt, promise that from now on we’d us his 1 credit card at WDW and pay off the balance as soon as we get home! I don’t want this to happen again!

This is what we do too. Plus with the Disney Visa you get free Disney dollars! If this is the CC you decide to get, go to the DVC Member website, login and use their advertisement link on there because you get a $100 Disney Gift Card after your first purchase/payment!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

On one of my trips, I really need to make my way to a spa! It sounds so relaxing and it's gotta be even better than spas at home since you are at Disney.

Sounds like a great, relaxing day you had. You need those at Disney!

 

[MagicShell]

Your spa trip sounds very nice. I am glad you had a way to pay for your dinner. I hope it didn't take your bank too long to straighten everything out.

 

[praisehisname]

Yikes about your iTunes account getting hacked; glad PayPal is giving you your money back! I think you'll be glad you kept the rental car. And go ahead and park at the Contemporary. Even though you get free park parking, wouldn't that mean you'd be parking at the TTC? After you leave the party, you'd still have to get in the monorail line and that would sorta defeat the purpose of having your car there.

Aaaaahhhh, a massage and pedi/facial at the GF sounds soooo good right now! My feet are so sore from back-to-school shopping at the mall. And then you even got to nap afterwards!!!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

What a wonderful day! I love how you and Jen took naps while everyone else was at MK!!! How often does THAT happen?!?! Mom gets to sleep??!?




This is what we do too. Plus with the Disney Visa you get free Disney dollars! If this is the CC you decide to get, go to the DVC Member website, login and use their advertisement link on there because you get a $100 Disney Gift Card after your first purchase/payment!!

It was a wonderful day! It felt so good to relax!

I figure it's better to use the CC anyway. We use it from time to time for thins like airplane tickets and such! We used to have Disney Visa but DH ha issues with Chase and that was one of the ones we paid off and cancelled, I'm not I could convince him to get one again!

On one of my trips, I really need to make my way to a spa! It sounds so relaxing and it's gotta be even better than spas at home since you are at Disney.

Sounds like a great, relaxing day you had. You need those at Disney!

Your really do need to head to the spa! It's so nice and relaxing! It felt fabulous!

Your spa trip sounds very nice. I am glad you had a way to pay for your dinner. I hope it didn't take your bank too long to straighten everything out.

Our trip to the spa was lovely! It didn't take the bank long at all! I was really glad I forgot to take my debit card from the other bank out of my wallet!

Yikes about your iTunes account getting hacked; glad PayPal is giving you your money back! I think you'll be glad you kept the rental car. And go ahead and park at the Contemporary. Even though you get free park parking, wouldn't that mean you'd be parking at the TTC? After you leave the party, you'd still have to get in the monorail line and that would sorta defeat the purpose of having your car there.

Aaaaahhhh, a massage and pedi/facial at the GF sounds soooo good right now! My feet are so sore from back-to-school shopping at the mall. And then you even got to nap afterwards!!!

The itunes account was super scary! Watching money that we didn't spend disappear from our account was a nightmare! Paypal was super fast to resolve it!

We're definitely going to park at CR! I'm also tempted to park there our first day too! We have an early dinner ADR at Chef Mickey and I figure we can tell a little white lie about wanting to pool hop to the pool there with our DVC privileges! I'm not sure I'll have the guts to do it though!

 

[praisehisname]

I figure we can tell a little white lie about wanting to pool hop to the pool there with our DVC privileges! I'm not sure I'll have the guts to do it though!

Over on Jackie's (Charleston Princess) thread, someone mentioned that the greeter at Beach Club said it's perfectly fine to say you're visiting the resort and then just park there to go into the park. It's probably the same at Contemporary, too.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Over on Jackie's (Charleston Princess) thread, someone mentioned that the greeter at Beach Club said it's perfectly fine to say you're visiting the resort and then just park there to go into the park. It's probably the same at Contemporary, too.

Woo hooo! I don't think it would be any different at another resort!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Everyone glance down toward my ticker!

It says 2 months!!!

My countdown widgets (I have 2 ) both say 60 days 20 something hours so that, to me, means it's actually 61 days. Does that make sense? I'm easily confused!

So, with 60 days being tomorrow I'll be back tomorrow with a 60 days PTR update!

TTFN!

 

[If U Had Wings]

You'll be there in no time!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

You'll be there in no time!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Oooh I see your light on. Are you doing the 60 day update right now???

Issues with Chase? Never!!!!!!! Ya, they pretty much drive me nuts as well. With that said, they also held our mortgage for our old house in MN and our bank account.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oooh I see your light on. Are you doing the 60 day update right now???

Issues with Chase? Never!!!!!!! Ya, they pretty much drive me nuts as well. With that said, they also held our mortgage for our old house in MN and our bank account.

Later, I promise! I was going to do it this morning but I got distracted!

DH is very anti-chase! Like I said, we used to have a Disney Visa and there was some issue with it, I think they raised the interest rate for no reason. They actually took over our old bank, Washington Mutual. Closing our account was like pulling teeth! It was crazy! Then they didn't actually close it and we got a letter in the mail saying we owed them all sorts of fees on the account! DH blew his top! They reversed all the charges and finally closed the account! UGH!

Update coming in an hour or 2, it may or may not include clothes, bags and shoes....