Marseeya
<font color=blue>Drama Magnet<br><font color=deepp
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 5,209
Cast:
Marcia:
me, 38 years old, just recovering from a bout of chicken pox, obsessive planner of this whole trip
Dennis:
DH, 33 years old, initiated the trip
Jonathon:
DS, 14 years old and doesn't want to be at WDW at. all. Gets saved by the chicken pox.
Rhiannon:
DD, 9 years old, a princess freak and so sweet and happy.
Dates of trip:
Check in Saturday, June 4
Check out Monday, June 13
Overall thoughts:
On CMs: After all the complaints Id heard on the disboards about CM rudeness, I was a bit nervous that wed encounter some non-magical CMs. That was so not the case! At the very worst, we had some CMs who were merely competent and not overly enthusiastic, which is fine with us. Were not the kind of people who want or need happy happy joy joy all the time. At the best, the majority of the CMs were friendly and helpful and very eager to talk to us especially those from other countries.
On bus service: AKL bus service is great. It would take 20 minutes, tops, to wait for a bus and then just a few minutes to arrive at each park. Because of our schedule, we only ever rode one crowded bus and we met so many nice families on our bus trips. The one time we rode a crowded bus, everyone who needed a seat got one. There were two older people standing, but they had been offered seats and declined them. Everyone was courteous and polite. Again, from all the complaints Id heard at the disboards, I was worried but it was completely unfounded.
On guest behavior: We did see some bad guest behavior of guests littering or just being rude to other people or CMs. But for the most part, it was a rare sight. I do have to mention one incident that made me laugh more than anything. Rhiannon and I were walking from our room to the bus stop and we were coming to the elevators. There was a family inside and when the young son (around 8 or 9) saw us coming, he tried to hold the doors for us. The mother starts yelling at him, Shut the doors! Shut the doors! Now, we were in no hurry and didnt mind waiting for the next elevator, but still. Rhiannon was really stunned by this and said, Wow, that mom wasnt very nice, was she? so I told her that they must have been in a hurry.
Oh, and another incident at Magic Kingdom. We were waiting at Toontown Fair for the train and this man was getting off the train with two little boys. He took his stroller and actually threw it out of the train onto the ground in front of everyone. Then he got out of the train and started struggling with the stroller and started cussing at it because it wouldnt work.
So word of advice: Watch your behavior! You never know what people are going to remember about you or write about you later.
On the swimming pools: To the lovers: dont do anything below water that you wouldnt be doing above. No matter how discreet you think you are, its not discreet enough for the rest of us. That water is crystal clear and we can see everything. Same goes for the couples in the sauna. Nuff said.
On strollers: We didnt have one ankle incident! Again, I was worried after all the disboard complaints. Id told Dennis about all this and he said that what he noticed was that people pushing strollers would try to leave space between them and the people in front of them, but then others would use that to cut in front of the stroller. So it would be no wonder if someone pushing a stroller accidentally hit the person in front of them! We were just careful not to do that.
On the dining plan: Major money saver! And so much food! Because Jonathon was sick, he didnt use a lot of his counter service meals and we used his table service meals for signature restaurants. On our next to last day, we had 9 counter service left, 22 snacks left (which we used), and 2 table service left. Heres something I wrote on the disboards regarding the dining plan:
I think it also depends (regarding whats included on the plan) on the CM ringing up the stuff and the mood they're in at the time. I stood in line one morning getting breakfast at the Mara and a woman in front of me was having a hard time with the CM and she was complaining about stuff not being included on the dining plan. When it was my turn, I just said to the CM, "Just charge whatever's not included on the dining plan to my room" and he just smiled at me and included everything even though I knew it wouldn't be included! Similar things happened with other CMs at the Mara where they knew the item wasn't on the list (they have a printed list at the registers), but they'd ring it up as something else just so it would be rung up on the plan. For example, Rhiannon wanted a Nestle chocolate milk and it wasn't on the list, so the CM showed me the list. I told her just to charge me for it and she rang it up as a Mickey head rice krispy treat.
Regarding the chips, though, we were able to get any chips or candy bars as snacks or as "appetizers" or "desserts" with our counter service meals.
We also noticed a difference in the way table service restaurants handled the plan too. Some of them would allow, and even encourage, the add on items like shrimp or crab legs. Others would tell us up front that they weren't included.
Oh, and I want to add one other thing about the dining plan. There were a couple of times where we had problems with the dining plan ringing up and we'd just go ahead and charge the food to our room. Then we went to the front desk at AKL and they'd fix it for us. The CM there had even offered to combine all our snacks into one credit! But, Dennis told him no, just to separate them out. We saved something like $60 by having the front desk CM take care of the problem! So, rather than getting stressed out with the restaurant CM, just deal with it later at your resort front desk.
Summary: This trip truly was a magical trip. We had such an incredible time. Animal Kingdom Lodge was phenomenal, the parks were outstanding, and the CMs are the best Ive ever seen anywhere.
Heading South
Friday, June 3
I was really nervous about this trip because of my recent bout with chicken pox. I was afraid I wouldnt be able to do half of what I wanted to do. I was so weak still! We left Waynesburg around 5 p.m. and made a couple of stops in Morgantown, WV before heading out to the highway. Jonathon and Dennis needed some shorts and I had last minute toiletries to buy since Id been sick all week and unable to do my shopping.
The trip was relatively uneventful, but Jonathon was pretty fussy about the whole thing. He just wasnt happy about having to go with us, so he pouted in the back seat and mumbled about how everything "sucked" or how "stupid" it all was. As much as I hate to say this, Rhiannon was really bad on the drive too! She would poke at Jonathon or do something sneaky to get him started and hed reach over and smack her. Then she'd scream and squeal. They nearly drove us out of our minds. We werent even halfway through West Virginia before the are we there yets started.
I drove through all of West Virginia and then Dennis took over in Virginia. The drive through WV is always so beautiful through the mountains. Around 11 p.m. we stopped over in Jonesville, NC at a small Country Inn, which was a cheap little place. It was surprisingly nice and clean, but it didnt matter much because we were just sleeping and didnt even unpack the car at all. I'm surprised we got any sleep at all for as excited as we were, but we finally did get to sleep.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Marcia:
me, 38 years old, just recovering from a bout of chicken pox, obsessive planner of this whole tripDennis:
DH, 33 years old, initiated the tripJonathon:
DS, 14 years old and doesn't want to be at WDW at. all. Gets saved by the chicken pox.Rhiannon:
DD, 9 years old, a princess freak and so sweet and happy.Dates of trip:
Check in Saturday, June 4
Check out Monday, June 13
Overall thoughts:
On CMs: After all the complaints Id heard on the disboards about CM rudeness, I was a bit nervous that wed encounter some non-magical CMs. That was so not the case! At the very worst, we had some CMs who were merely competent and not overly enthusiastic, which is fine with us. Were not the kind of people who want or need happy happy joy joy all the time. At the best, the majority of the CMs were friendly and helpful and very eager to talk to us especially those from other countries.
On bus service: AKL bus service is great. It would take 20 minutes, tops, to wait for a bus and then just a few minutes to arrive at each park. Because of our schedule, we only ever rode one crowded bus and we met so many nice families on our bus trips. The one time we rode a crowded bus, everyone who needed a seat got one. There were two older people standing, but they had been offered seats and declined them. Everyone was courteous and polite. Again, from all the complaints Id heard at the disboards, I was worried but it was completely unfounded.
On guest behavior: We did see some bad guest behavior of guests littering or just being rude to other people or CMs. But for the most part, it was a rare sight. I do have to mention one incident that made me laugh more than anything. Rhiannon and I were walking from our room to the bus stop and we were coming to the elevators. There was a family inside and when the young son (around 8 or 9) saw us coming, he tried to hold the doors for us. The mother starts yelling at him, Shut the doors! Shut the doors! Now, we were in no hurry and didnt mind waiting for the next elevator, but still. Rhiannon was really stunned by this and said, Wow, that mom wasnt very nice, was she? so I told her that they must have been in a hurry.
Oh, and another incident at Magic Kingdom. We were waiting at Toontown Fair for the train and this man was getting off the train with two little boys. He took his stroller and actually threw it out of the train onto the ground in front of everyone. Then he got out of the train and started struggling with the stroller and started cussing at it because it wouldnt work.
So word of advice: Watch your behavior! You never know what people are going to remember about you or write about you later.
On the swimming pools: To the lovers: dont do anything below water that you wouldnt be doing above. No matter how discreet you think you are, its not discreet enough for the rest of us. That water is crystal clear and we can see everything. Same goes for the couples in the sauna. Nuff said.
On strollers: We didnt have one ankle incident! Again, I was worried after all the disboard complaints. Id told Dennis about all this and he said that what he noticed was that people pushing strollers would try to leave space between them and the people in front of them, but then others would use that to cut in front of the stroller. So it would be no wonder if someone pushing a stroller accidentally hit the person in front of them! We were just careful not to do that.
On the dining plan: Major money saver! And so much food! Because Jonathon was sick, he didnt use a lot of his counter service meals and we used his table service meals for signature restaurants. On our next to last day, we had 9 counter service left, 22 snacks left (which we used), and 2 table service left. Heres something I wrote on the disboards regarding the dining plan:
I think it also depends (regarding whats included on the plan) on the CM ringing up the stuff and the mood they're in at the time. I stood in line one morning getting breakfast at the Mara and a woman in front of me was having a hard time with the CM and she was complaining about stuff not being included on the dining plan. When it was my turn, I just said to the CM, "Just charge whatever's not included on the dining plan to my room" and he just smiled at me and included everything even though I knew it wouldn't be included! Similar things happened with other CMs at the Mara where they knew the item wasn't on the list (they have a printed list at the registers), but they'd ring it up as something else just so it would be rung up on the plan. For example, Rhiannon wanted a Nestle chocolate milk and it wasn't on the list, so the CM showed me the list. I told her just to charge me for it and she rang it up as a Mickey head rice krispy treat.
Regarding the chips, though, we were able to get any chips or candy bars as snacks or as "appetizers" or "desserts" with our counter service meals.
We also noticed a difference in the way table service restaurants handled the plan too. Some of them would allow, and even encourage, the add on items like shrimp or crab legs. Others would tell us up front that they weren't included.
Oh, and I want to add one other thing about the dining plan. There were a couple of times where we had problems with the dining plan ringing up and we'd just go ahead and charge the food to our room. Then we went to the front desk at AKL and they'd fix it for us. The CM there had even offered to combine all our snacks into one credit! But, Dennis told him no, just to separate them out. We saved something like $60 by having the front desk CM take care of the problem! So, rather than getting stressed out with the restaurant CM, just deal with it later at your resort front desk.
Summary: This trip truly was a magical trip. We had such an incredible time. Animal Kingdom Lodge was phenomenal, the parks were outstanding, and the CMs are the best Ive ever seen anywhere.
Heading South
Friday, June 3
I was really nervous about this trip because of my recent bout with chicken pox. I was afraid I wouldnt be able to do half of what I wanted to do. I was so weak still! We left Waynesburg around 5 p.m. and made a couple of stops in Morgantown, WV before heading out to the highway. Jonathon and Dennis needed some shorts and I had last minute toiletries to buy since Id been sick all week and unable to do my shopping.
The trip was relatively uneventful, but Jonathon was pretty fussy about the whole thing. He just wasnt happy about having to go with us, so he pouted in the back seat and mumbled about how everything "sucked" or how "stupid" it all was. As much as I hate to say this, Rhiannon was really bad on the drive too! She would poke at Jonathon or do something sneaky to get him started and hed reach over and smack her. Then she'd scream and squeal. They nearly drove us out of our minds. We werent even halfway through West Virginia before the are we there yets started.
I drove through all of West Virginia and then Dennis took over in Virginia. The drive through WV is always so beautiful through the mountains. Around 11 p.m. we stopped over in Jonesville, NC at a small Country Inn, which was a cheap little place. It was surprisingly nice and clean, but it didnt matter much because we were just sleeping and didnt even unpack the car at all. I'm surprised we got any sleep at all for as excited as we were, but we finally did get to sleep.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
). Must be the age - my son was like that a little when we went in 97, he was 15 then - but found out the source later in our 10-day trip so couldn't blame it all on the teenager thing. Long story short, in 94 we had taken a trip from Oregon to Florida to see DW and look at moving there; well, long horrible trip across country plus when we got there, their dad suffered a sudden heart attack & died there in the hotel room. He was from WV so we moved up there to bury him, lived there 7 years and now live in VA (job reasons). So I guess part of his grumpiness was memories of that horrible trip (we never made it to DW then, but was able to take my oldest 3 in 97, my youngest 2 didn't go but am planning on a trip next year to take them). 
Can't see that happening.
It really makes me sad for him.
