May 2008--Everything's Coming Up Roses -- COMPLETE

[Goofyluver]

I'm signing on Marshay! But...I'll have to think about those hints...

*hmmmmmmmm*

 

[OrangeBlossom15]

Dang it ! I missed the quiz My subscription thing is not working at all. None of the highlights are working --- now I have to go back check every subscription.

Sorry I missed out on the fun Marshay. Can't wait for you to start.

 

[Marshay]

I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

I'm signing on Marshay! But...I'll have to think about those hints...

*hmmmmmmmm*

Dang it ! I missed the quiz My subscription thing is not working at all. None of the highlights are working --- now I have to go back check every subscription.

Sorry I missed out on the fun Marshay. Can't wait for you to start.

Welcome back Junebug!

Hey, Goofyluver!! Long time no type! I'll have to check out what you're up to!

Hello OrangeBlossom, you can still guess!

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

I feel like such a doofus.

 

[Marshay]

I feel like such a doofus.

Impossible! Since I don't know any doofuses!!

I was purposefully trying not to give too many clues...didn't want it to me too, too easy!

 

[kaoden39]

I was so totally lost! Of course I haven't been to DW yet.

Michele

 

[Marshay]

Personal Update...

Well, I'm somewhat sad and disappointed to say that we didn't come home with the most expensive 18+ year souvenir that I wanted...something about them being out of stock!

So I call the doctor's office tomorrow to start things in motion for IVF. In about 6 weeks or so, I could be pregnant! And no Sharkey, we aren't going to talk about multiples at this time...

It will be interesting to see how many embryos develop and how many we put back in...

 

[jenna]

Darn! I was away at my in-laws this weekend & missed the quiz! Oh well! I think the only ones I would have gooten right was Toy Story Mania & Spaceship Earth.

Looking forward to seeing those pics & reading about all of your fun!

 

[Marshay]

I was so totally lost! Of course I haven't been to DW yet.

Michele

Yeah, WDW is so different than DL...I do hope to visit DL sometime but I'm afraid I'll be walking around going -- this is it?? But since our DVC points will soon work at DL, I definitely see a DL vacation in our future and then we'll have to explore the area, too.

 

[jenna]

Personal Update...

Well, I'm somewhat sad and disappointed to say that we didn't come home with the most expensive 18+ year souvenir that I wanted...something about them being out of stock!

So I call the doctor's office tomorrow to start things in motion for IVF. In about 6 weeks or so, I could be pregnant! And no Sharkey, we aren't going to talk about multiples at this time...

It will be interesting to see how many embryos develop and how many we put back in...

So sorry they were "out of stock"

Good luck with the IVF!! Many prayers and pixie dust coming your way!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Personal Update...

Well, I'm somewhat sad and disappointed to say that we didn't come home with the most expensive 18+ year souvenir that I wanted...something about them being out of stock!

So I call the doctor's office tomorrow to start things in motion for IVF. In about 6 weeks or so, I could be pregnant! And no Sharkey, we aren't going to talk about multiples at this time...

It will be interesting to see how many embryos develop and how many we put back in...

I'll say a special prayer for you. You could always try Disneyland. That's where I acquired my 15 year old. She was our honeymoon baby. Hopefully we won't bring home that kind of souvenir on our second honeymoon

Michele

 

[Marshay]

Darn! I was away at my in-laws this weekend & missed the quiz! Oh well! I think the only ones I would have gooten right was Toy Story Mania & Spaceship Earth.

Looking forward to seeing those pics & reading about all of your fun!

Coming up in a few minutes...typing it up now!

 

[Marshay]

Chapter 2 -- Fly Me to Orlando

Today is Saturday, May 3 and we get up around 5:30am to leave the house by 6:45am. Our flight is 8:45am on Southwest. I was happy with our fare of $129/pp including taxes and fees. I kept checking for further discounts but never saw any discounts for Dulles Airport to Orlando.

We did a pre-check into SW and got an "A" boarding pass.

We left the house at 7:15am, which I thought was really good for us considering we are NOT morning people -- only a half hour late!!

We drive to the airport, DH drops me off and we check the luggage, then I wait for DH to park the SUV. Since DH works right next to the terminal, he can park at the end of his work parking lot and just walk about 2-3 blocks to the door of the airport. Quite convenient and saves us the parking $$.

Of course, while I'm waiting, I have a moment. We were only supposed to check in 2 bags (DH's clothes and My/DD's clothes) and I checked all 3 of our bags. I quickly go back to the counter but they basically said "tough cookies" -- the bags have already gone through security and I can't get them back.

So what was in the 3rd bag??

Guesses anyone???













Only all the toys, coloring books, stuffed animals, new My First Leap Pad Computer I bought esp for the plane, extra diapers and wipes, change of clothes and of course my DISNEY ABC BOOK!!!!

I was about ready to cry. Honestly. I was so disappointed, mostly over the Disney ABC book that I "slaved" over for the plane ride. Then I'm thinking, how are we possibly going to entertain our DD for 2 hours with no toys???!!!???

Fortunately, she still had her little backpack and I had bought a small Disney Princess coloring pages and crayons carryon case that she found very entertaining. We also didn't eat breakfast before the plane, so eating occupied about 20 minutes, too.

The plane ride was smooth. A friend let me try the CARES buckle restraint system so we didn't have to use the car seat and this worked great. It attaches to the regular seat belt but becomes a 5 point harness to help protect your kid.

The plane was full -- lots of families going to WDW!!

We arrive in Orlando and walk slowly from the gate to our luggage and our rental car. The way it turned out, I couldn't pick up the SUV until 12 noon or else they'd charge us another $35. We were 8 minutes early, so I had DH break out the Disney ABC book while we waited.

We got a White Toyota Highlander and it was perfect for us. We are very tall (6' and DH is 6'6") so a lot of the cars and small SUVs don't work for us and I just can't do the mini-van thing yet...

On the way to our Priceline Hotel, DD is very excited and calls out with glee every palm tree and water that she sees!!! And there are a lot between the airport and our hotel

We pull into the Radisson Worldgate Resort on 192/Irlo Bronson Highway and our room is ready. They upgraded us to the Sleep Number Bed but nothing else special happens. If you recall, I had heard that this hotel was really run down and wrote ahead of time to the customer service and VP of Operations. They tried to assure me that the hotel was good and asked me to report back to them (see next post).

At this point it's about 2:30pm and we are tired and 'foolishly' think that just because we are tired, that DD will nap too. WRONG!! She basically goes wild and is bouncing all around and won't sleep. This is our fault for not doing any nap routine (we didn't read books or sing songs, etc). Our room was two double sleep number beds and DH took one and I took the other. Finally, we all come over to one bed and that's when we all fell asleep.

We woke up at 5pm and headed off to Magic Kingdom to meet my parents for dinner.

Sorry, there were no pictures -- the rest of the TR will get better and more interesting!! I promise.

Of course I have to end with some more questions.

On a scale of 1-5, how is the room?
What (if anything!) is wrong with the room?
Did we stay the night or find another place?
Would I ever come back here again?

 

[kaoden39]

I don't know....nothing like a mystery!

Michele

 

[froglover2]

I'm coming back to read tomorrow!!

 

[Marshay]

I don't know....nothing like a mystery!

Michele

Yeah, I try to leave each update with you guessing. I think I got that from Jenna or Goofyluvr's report last year and liked it!

I'm coming back to read tomorrow!!

Great! Welcome Froglover!! You're just in time...I only started the report today!

 

[Trentmom]

Personal Update...

Well, I'm somewhat sad and disappointed to say that we didn't come home with the most expensive 18+ year souvenir that I wanted...something about them being out of stock!

So I call the doctor's office tomorrow to start things in motion for IVF. In about 6 weeks or so, I could be pregnant! And no Sharkey, we aren't going to talk about multiples at this time...

It will be interesting to see how many embryos develop and how many we put back in...

I am sorry girl







or
or
or
or




and so on

 

[Trentmom]

1. 4 out of 5(can't be a 5, since it is not Disney)
2. Nothing, just not Disney
3. Stayed the night
4. Most definitely


I hope I did better than my first attempt on your last quiz

 

[chcmama]

Great start and I'm sorry you didn't get your souvenier. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[Marshay]

Chapter 2a Radisson Worldgate Resort

Today is Saturday, May 3 and we checked into our Priceline room at the Radisson Worldgate Resort. The location is great -- very close to Disney except you have to pull out onto 192 to go to Disney and there is no light at the intersection, so depending on traffic, you may have a long wait.

We checked into our room and my first thought was that I thought it was a really nice room. I can see how management would enter the room and at a quick glance, say everything is fine.

I was in #558 with a view toward the parking lot! I really thought I'd get a better view.

Here is the overview of the room:

Notice the wall to wall dresser/counter along the window. This was nice for storage.

TV was on top...Refrigerator was on bottom of the large unit. This was really nice to have a fridge in the room. Also the bottle of water was complimentary!

View facing the opposite direction

The shower was nice because it had one of those rods that curve outward to give you more room. However, the bottom of the shower had marks on it. At first I thought it was just dirty and then realized that it was markings on it (chips?).

The Asira toiletries were really nice, esp as they provided separate shampoo and conditioner and 2 different soap bars.

My problem with most showers is that there isn't enough light in them. Once you closed the shower curtain, it was quite dark in there.

So I'm thinking, this is really nice for a room -- nothing extraordinary but a good room. Then before we start to unpack, I explore the room further ... and became disappointed...

Rating Scale 1 (Unacceptable) to 5 (Excellent)

1. Broken Shelf Moulding Edge

It's hard to tell in the picture but the front piece of wood- moulding was not attached on the right-hand side. This made a sharp, splintery edge that my DD of course found first and starting playing with.

I found this very unacceptable to have a piece of furniture not attached, esp when it was wood.

Rating: 1 - Unacceptable, Hazardous


2. Bubbled/Warped Wood

The nice wood shelf along the window was warped. There were numerous bubbles in the wood (not the crackled paint but if you look you'll see at least 11 bubbles in the wood (and there were more). Obviously people had put drinks on the wood and the wood was not properly laminated/sealed. IMHO, this is the fault of the hotel since this shelf is where the ice bucket, glasses and water bottle are -- of course people will put water on here!

Rating: 3 - Should be better maintained but not urgent.


3. Carpet Stains

Our room had three carpet stains on it...I'm sure none of them were from our previous tenants. Here are 2 of the pics...the largest one we found next to the other bed in the morning, but I didn't get a picture of it.

Rating: 3 - Should be better maintained but not urgent.


4. Torn Leather Chair

The desk chair was torn and there was also another stain on it.

Rating: 3 - Should be better maintained but not urgent.


5. Paint on Mirror in Bathroom

Minor point but just continues to add up to the lack of maintenance. Whoever painted the bathroom did not take care to ensure that the mirror did not get marked up. It was on the left, bottom of the mirror so did not interfere with viewing.

Rating: 3 - Should be better maintained but not urgent.

6. Shower head

The shower head sprayed water into the main bathroom area. While my DH was getting his shower, my DD walked in and her socks got wet. Also, the shower curtain kept blowing into your body while showering. I absolutely hate this!!! Nothing like having a rubbery shower curtain clinging to you while you shower.

Rating: 2 - Needs to be fixed or damage can occur.

7. Sleep Number Bed

First let me say that I love my Sleep Number Bed at home. We've had ours for almost 1.5 years and although it took me 3 weeks to truly find my comfort level, I totally miss it when I sleep elsewhere.

So the bed gets a Rating of 4.5. The only reason I cannot give it a "5" is because it was only a double bed. Being a tall person, I think any bed less than a queen bed is unacceptable. My DH and I can both fit on one, but neither of us sleep very comfortably. It's fine for one night but I really wanted a queen or better yet a King-size bed.

However, the foundation for the bed was horrible. If you sat on the bottom edge of the bed like we normally do while getting dressed or just sitting down, the other end of the bed lifted up. I was afraid I'd fall over. Then when you stood up, the bed slammed back down. They obviously need to have a longer foundation piece for the bed (think boxspring -- the piece that the mattress sits on top of...)

Rating: 2 - Needs to be fixed or damage can occur.


We did not have an opportunity to use the pools but they looked nice with lots of palm trees around them. However, the pools closed at 10pm I think so we couldn't use them.

Skipping ahead, we did eat brunch at the hotel, and except for the French Toast that literally went "ka-chunk" on my plate ("how long was that sitting there?!"), it was good. It had all the basics -- eggs, bacon, potatos, cereal, juices, fruit.

An unexpected surprise and not a pleasant one was the $7/day resort fee. When I asked about this charge, I was told it covered complimentary transportation to the parks (DIDN'T NEED, USE OR WANT), gym (DIDN'T NEED, USE OR WANT), and phone (DIDN'T NEED, USE OR WANT). It may have covered something else too, like the pool or safety deposit box which I also didn't need, use or want. So I guess that "complimentary" bottle of water was really $7 That's worse than Disney!

I plan to submit this report to Ms. Houston, my Carlson/Radisson contact, and am curious how they will respond. My overall rating for the Resort is a 3. It is fine for Priceline or a really good deal. They accepted our bid of $45 (but then you paid taxes and the $7 resort fee on top!)