Mr. R's 2014 Jingle Jungle Pre-Trip Report
- Thread starter MrRomance
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BudgieMama
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Following your PTR 
Omg what a nightmare, so glad you managed to eventually get it sorted
It was definitely a much bigger drama than usual but it's all done now! Just the waiting game now
BudgieMama
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They said on the podcast that the seatings for the Villains Soiree were very small (around 30)... if we were there at the right time, I'd be after a ticket, even at $99... sounds like a fun event!
See that's what I'm thinking... it sounds like it'll be a fun event but Mrs. R thinks $500 for the party is little much. I see her point but I don't like missing these things
BudgieMama
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Could you/would you swing just you and Mrs R going? (Would your children ever forgive you if you did?!
)Could you/would you swing just you and Mrs R going? (Would your children ever forgive you if you did?!
I think our daughter would divorce us!
BudgieMama
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I think our daughter would divorce us!
LOL... Ah well... back to the drawing board! Hope you figure out a way to go! I'd love to hear all about it!
I might have to pull the big guns out... We go to the Soiree in return for another Dooney handbag... that is usually a good trading tool
BudgieMama
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- Sep 15, 2013
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I might have to pull the big guns out... We go to the Soiree in return for another Dooney handbag... that is usually a good trading tool
If it works...
Go for it!
BudgieMama
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It worked! We're going!!!
I definitely want to hear all about it when you're back! It does sound amazing!
Have fun!
It's single digit dance day and I feel like everything is in chaos! 2 of my 3 dogs are sick with different things, our case is in court, we've just found out that we've been spied on for 2 years and it doesn't seem like we will be able to buy a home in Florida like we'd hoped. It's all very overwhelming and I don't like we can get into my holiday groove at all.
I hope this week passes and by the end of it I and the dogs feel better!
Oh noI'm hoping it all smooths out for you this week and the trip can get back on track!
Thank you! I'm sure it will, it's just bad timing! We really thought that our case would be over and we would be able to buy our home this trip but now it feels unlikely. That means we'll have to take an unnecessary trip to go house hunting. It's not the end of the world but it's really disappointing and it's left me feeling really deflated.
I knew this year would be a busy one so I decided against a live or even semi live TR this time. Instead I thought I'd just share my thoughts and experiences from our trip.
Premier Inn Gatwick North was great again. You totally can not beat it on price or location. Food was good and it's always great to just walk out and over to your gate in the morning. I know this won't apply to many of you but if you decide as we did to go with no checked baggage, make sure you still do the twilight check in to confirm everything otherwise you'll get to the gate and the system will go nuts because you haven't seen any BA staff and they haven't checked your passport.
BA Economy wasn't as bad as I thought. Certainly not worth the PE upgrade unless you can get it really cheap.
No checked bags at MCO is a dream. I would definitely do it again. From wheels touching down to being on 417 on the way to WDW was about 40 minutes and we were at WDW checking in after an hour and 10 minutes.
Saratoga Springs Resort was as lovely as always although we did have a couple issues. A package sent to us seems to have vanished and a couple of the check in staff have been less than helpful. Overall though still a great place to stay based on price and benefits.
Annual Pass Upgrades... OK, this was one of a couple of incidents where I actually got mad at Disney. So we knew before we got there that we would be upgrading, I decided (perhaps naively) to take care of it at the start of the trip. We go to DTD Guest Relations where we are told by a CM in the line that we had to upgrade to Premium APs due to the UK ticket and that there was no alternative. That was fine because we intended to do so anyway. We get to the desk and the CM (Elsa) repeated the same spill about having to upgrade to premium APs. I told her that was what I wanted and therefore it was fine. She gave me the price, I paid it and left with a smile knowing we were finally AP HOLDERS!!! Next day we decide to head to Disney Quest... only to be told "your AP the regular AP not a premium AP" meaning after all the reminders, Elsa had only upgraded us to APs not premium APs which apparently we had no choice but to buy!
We go back to Guest relations and explain that we've now been refused entry to Disney Quest and figure out the issue. Rather than an apology for wasting about 2 hours of our time and lying to us we were told "Oh, well if you pay us another $127 a person we can make your AP premium now"
I'm not usually bothered by these things as much as I was with this but they went to such painful lengths to tell me how impossible it was to to upgrade to regular APs from a UK ultimate ticket only to prove that it's absolutely possible by doing it. No apology for the embarrassment and the time we wasted, no real "fix" just hand me another $400! We kept the regular APs but I'll be taking it up with Corporate when we get home.
Only other real complaint was the Villains Soiree at MNSSHP. I should have heeded the warning but being a very devoted Disney person, I wanted to do it because it's rare you get the chance to do such an "exclusive" event. The simple truth with this event is it was clearly thrown together and it was a very expensive event that just wasn't what was promised. I refuse to spend my holiday complaining so again I'll take this up when I get home, but my opinion of this event was they overcharged for it by at least half and didn't deliver what I was told I would be getting. Lesson learned!
I noticed a lot more rude and entitled people this trip. Not Disney's fault and no complaint with them, but people are just too rude, too entitled and place ridiculous expectations on everything and everyone around them.
On the positive side, we met a lot of great CMs and a lot of great people too. People I specifically want to mention from the CM list are John at Photopass in Downtown Disney, great guy and went out of his way to help us. Darlene at the gate of Saratoga Springs, always makes our day to see her, she warms our hearts every year. Bill our server at Yachtsman Steakhouse, fantastic service and really good guy. The lady whose name escapes me at the gift shop at Saratoga, who gave my daughter 2 pixie dust pins because she had hurt her knee, one for her and one to give pixie dust to someone else. The little girl on the tram was so happy to receive it.
Odd event of the trip... being photobombed by Hey Jessie! Yes, that's right folks... the girl who plays Emma in the Disney show Jessie was on TOT with us. I wouldn't have had a clue who she was but my daughter recognised her.
I'll cut it there and do a better write up when I get home. We only have today and tomorrow left and I want to head out and enjoy it!
Premier Inn Gatwick North was great again. You totally can not beat it on price or location. Food was good and it's always great to just walk out and over to your gate in the morning. I know this won't apply to many of you but if you decide as we did to go with no checked baggage, make sure you still do the twilight check in to confirm everything otherwise you'll get to the gate and the system will go nuts because you haven't seen any BA staff and they haven't checked your passport.
BA Economy wasn't as bad as I thought. Certainly not worth the PE upgrade unless you can get it really cheap.
No checked bags at MCO is a dream. I would definitely do it again. From wheels touching down to being on 417 on the way to WDW was about 40 minutes and we were at WDW checking in after an hour and 10 minutes.
Saratoga Springs Resort was as lovely as always although we did have a couple issues. A package sent to us seems to have vanished and a couple of the check in staff have been less than helpful. Overall though still a great place to stay based on price and benefits.
Annual Pass Upgrades... OK, this was one of a couple of incidents where I actually got mad at Disney. So we knew before we got there that we would be upgrading, I decided (perhaps naively) to take care of it at the start of the trip. We go to DTD Guest Relations where we are told by a CM in the line that we had to upgrade to Premium APs due to the UK ticket and that there was no alternative. That was fine because we intended to do so anyway. We get to the desk and the CM (Elsa) repeated the same spill about having to upgrade to premium APs. I told her that was what I wanted and therefore it was fine. She gave me the price, I paid it and left with a smile knowing we were finally AP HOLDERS!!! Next day we decide to head to Disney Quest... only to be told "your AP the regular AP not a premium AP" meaning after all the reminders, Elsa had only upgraded us to APs not premium APs which apparently we had no choice but to buy!
We go back to Guest relations and explain that we've now been refused entry to Disney Quest and figure out the issue. Rather than an apology for wasting about 2 hours of our time and lying to us we were told "Oh, well if you pay us another $127 a person we can make your AP premium now"
I'm not usually bothered by these things as much as I was with this but they went to such painful lengths to tell me how impossible it was to to upgrade to regular APs from a UK ultimate ticket only to prove that it's absolutely possible by doing it. No apology for the embarrassment and the time we wasted, no real "fix" just hand me another $400! We kept the regular APs but I'll be taking it up with Corporate when we get home.
Only other real complaint was the Villains Soiree at MNSSHP. I should have heeded the warning but being a very devoted Disney person, I wanted to do it because it's rare you get the chance to do such an "exclusive" event. The simple truth with this event is it was clearly thrown together and it was a very expensive event that just wasn't what was promised. I refuse to spend my holiday complaining so again I'll take this up when I get home, but my opinion of this event was they overcharged for it by at least half and didn't deliver what I was told I would be getting. Lesson learned!
I noticed a lot more rude and entitled people this trip. Not Disney's fault and no complaint with them, but people are just too rude, too entitled and place ridiculous expectations on everything and everyone around them.
On the positive side, we met a lot of great CMs and a lot of great people too. People I specifically want to mention from the CM list are John at Photopass in Downtown Disney, great guy and went out of his way to help us. Darlene at the gate of Saratoga Springs, always makes our day to see her, she warms our hearts every year. Bill our server at Yachtsman Steakhouse, fantastic service and really good guy. The lady whose name escapes me at the gift shop at Saratoga, who gave my daughter 2 pixie dust pins because she had hurt her knee, one for her and one to give pixie dust to someone else. The little girl on the tram was so happy to receive it.
Odd event of the trip... being photobombed by Hey Jessie! Yes, that's right folks... the girl who plays Emma in the Disney show Jessie was on TOT with us. I wouldn't have had a clue who she was but my daughter recognised her.
I'll cut it there and do a better write up when I get home. We only have today and tomorrow left and I want to head out and enjoy it!
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