Our Not so wonderful free dining trip!

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Yep, you read the title right. I am sure I will get a lot of people flaming me on here, but I have learned to take it, so flame on. I am tired of always being the nice girl, keeping my mouth shut and taking whatever is thrown at me, so now I am speaking up about it! I of course did not complain once to any cast member, waiter, waitress, or character. I did not whine, or cry or throw a tantrum, I kept it all bottled up inside and waited to share it all with you! he he, aren't you all lucky!

first, I am a lover of all things disney! I love Disney movies, disney clothes, disney snowglobes, disney jewelry, disney dishes, disney ornaments, etc...Almost all of my 11 or so trips have been wonderful, fabulous, extrodinary, practically perfect in every way. This year was different. There were a lot of things going on in my personal life that I think affected this trip. Numero Uno spoiler is the fact that my husband and I have been unsuccessful in having a baby. For those of you that are new to my thread, I do have a PTR, which the link is in my signature, which explains all my back ground info. For those who don't want to read or are too lazy too, which is understandable, I have lost 5 pregnancies in the last 4.5 years. I am 30 years old, and want to be a mommy in the worst way. I don't have a problem getting pregnant, just staying pregnant. We are possibly going to try one more time, this time going with a cerclage and bedrest and hopefully it will work. If not, we are going to look into surrogacy if I can come up with the $10,000.00 IVF fee. Anyway, I think what put a damper on this trip was that I just lost my 5th baby on May 11th. I was almost 5 months when my water broke and I had to go full labor and delivered a 11oz baby boy. This was the second time this happened this far in my pregnancy, the other time I was 5.5 months. It was hard to see all the happy families wondering if I will ever get to experience it. I have such great memories of going to Disney with my parents, and I love to see the faces of all the kids when they see the castle and spot Mickey for the first time. They are not even my kids, yet I tear up watching them.

I don't want anyone to think I am filled with hatred or jealousy, because I am not. I love seeing families, I love seeing babies being cooed over by happy mom's and getting kissed by smiling dads. I am just sad that I wish I had a baby of my own too.

That of course is not Disney's problem, and besides all that, we had a great time. I am one of those people who have learned through many bad things to just press on, and enjoy the here and now. Don't dwell on something you can't change. Besides, how can you possibly be down and miserable at Disney?! I didn't for the most part, but every once in a while I would feel a small pang of sadness, but I didn't let it over take my trip! We did have a fabulous time and some great moments! We even one a dream!!

Anyway, besides the feeling of sadness, our TS dinners left a lot to be desired. I was a waitress for many many years, so I understand that the kitchen can totally ruin the flow of things, as can the servers. You have to work as a team when you are in a restaurant, and yes there will be off days and nights, bad food occasionally, but what we experienced was a bit over the top even for me. I think Disney dropped the ball by offering free dining and not having enough staff to offset the crowds. September is supposed to be a great time to go, low crowds, not as hot, but we were there September 13th-21st and it was crowded and hot and unbelievably humid! Don't get me wrong, the parks weren't horribly crowded, but we went last year September 12-16th and they were worse this year. Still, we didn't have more than a 25 minute wait for most things, although some we did have 30-50 minutes waits for some of the more popular rides.

I am not knocking Disney in any way, besides the food problem, I never encountered a rude CM, the parks and hotels were beautiful and clean and the rides were fantastic. Like I said, we did have a fun trip, and I can't wait to go back again, but hopefully the next time we do we have a "little one" with us!

Coming up, introuductions of our cast, and day 1!

 

[dseth]

My heart goes out to you! I work in a Children's Hospital just down the hall from the NICU and I have see those tiny little babies and the heartache the parents are going through. I pray that you will have your own little miracle soon

We were at WDW from 9/7-9/16 and I agree with you completely! We had 8 TS meals and only 3 of them had good service. We weren't taken on time for any of our ADR (once was our fault) and the HEAT ...MAN the heat!

I'll be reading

 

[OhMari]

I'm interested to what your story is. We did the Disney Dining Plan during Peak Season, over Easter. We had great service. Plus we saw a lot of walk-ups get into the resturants. The only place we saw someone get turned away was at the Crystal Palace at 11:30 a.m. other than that.

Hugs to you.

 

[bellasmommy0]

I completely agree with you. We went 2 years ago from Sept 6-12 and then again this year Sept 12-18th and it was much more crowded than last time, and the service at the restaurants was not good at all. It was a game of hurry up and wait every time.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Hey, thanks you two for posting!! Anyway, I will start with day 1 so just bear with me.

Cast:
Me-30
DH-36
Dad-53
Brother-32
Sis-in-law-30 something
Nephew- 3

My brother and sis-in-law live in VA, so they and my dad were flying out of Dulles. My dad lives with us, but he was originally going with my brother on this trip, as I was pregnant when they planned it and couldn't go.

My alarm went off at 5am on Thursday, 9/13. I hate to get up early, I love to sleep, working at 7:45 am job 45 minutes away from my house is hard, but I do it because my husband doesn't make squat at his job. Everyday when the alarm goes off, I wonder of ways that I can get out of going to my job. Maybe I can call in sick or my cat is . If only I had a job that started at 10am, then I could get up at 8am, and that is so much better than 5am. Anyway, I slowly got out of bed and into the shower. I quickly changed and then it was hubby's turn in the shower while I dried my hair and continued to run around like an idiot doing all the last minute stuff that I hadn't done the night before that I should have done.

My Aunt came and picked us up at 6am so we wouldn't have to sell our right arms to pay for parking at the Phila int'l airport, and we made it to the airport by 7:15. We checked in quickly and made it to our gate. We had to wait an hour or so until they started boarding DH was complaining that he was hungry so he went to look for food before we boarded our snack plane. WHAT, I spent over $200 each on a seat on this death trap in the sky and all I get are some honey roasted peanuts and thimble full of diet coke!?!?! Whatever, so here it is 8am in the morning and I see hubby coming back to our seats with 2 pieces of pepperoni pizza and a corona. Yep, it's drinking time somewhere in the world, and since this was hubby's hard earned, hard worked vacation, he was planning on enjoying every second of it. Give me a break. See, my hubby goes to Disney for me, he could take it or leave it, last year was his first trip, but I don't think he would care if he ever went again I don't understand him. I almost had to drag him kicking and screaming to the computer so he could type in his never used credit card info to pay for our flights. What a baby. I honestly don't know if he was more mad at paying to go to disney, or just paying. My husband can squeeze a lot from a penny, but don't you dare call him cheap! Only I can do that!!

Finally we were called to board. Our flight was uneventful, 2.5 hours of the kid behind me kicking my seat, while the mother just kept telling him to stop. Ok, I do believe child abuse is a bad thing, but seriously, I worry about how this kid was going to turn out later on in life if he doesn't get the serious butt kicking he deserves now. You know what else I think about when I am flying?? How many farts am I continually breathing in? It is all recycled air up there, in fact, I am pretty sure a few I was smelling belonged to my husband after his pizza and beer breakfast. ugh.

so we landed safely and went to the ME counter. ME was packed! Our flight was completely full, as was our ME bus. We made a few stops and finally made it to POR. Now, when I had called and booked our package over the phone, I was told that my whole party had to be present in order to check in. What a load of bull! My hubby and I arrived at POR around 12:15. We had thought to pack our swimsuits so we could hang at the pool and wait for the rest of the fam. My dad and brother and the rest arrivied around 3:30. (thier original flight landing at 12:30 had been cancelled and rescheduled on a later flight which is why we had to wait so long for them.)

DH and I dried off and went to meet them in the lobby. Bro and I then went to check in. Brother, sis and nephew were in one room which was supposed to connect with our room, in which my dad was also sharing with us. So we go to the check in counter and the lady checks both of us in, gave us all our room info and dining plan stuff and showed us on the map how to get to our rooms. See, DH and I could have checked in and gotten our room without my dad being there, it would have been a little easier for us if we could have went to our room and relaxed before hitting the pool, but oh well. so we go on our cross country trek to find our room. Luckily we were pretty close to the main pool in room 8242 and 8241.

Next we go back to the pool with the rest of the family and just had fun until about 5:00 when we went back to the room to change to go to DTD for dinner at Ragland Road.

 

[mla1977]

Did you know that there are off-site lots for only $9 per day at PHL. We park there every time.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Ok, last I left off, we were getting ready to go to Downtown Disney for dinner. We took the boat from POR and it was a nice little ride. We arrived at DTD and went directly to Ragland Road for our ADR's. We were seated within 2 minutes. Our server came out and got our drink order. She returned with soda bread and dip and our drinks. My dad and I shared the rib appetizer as this is considered 2 credits, and my husband got the drunk chicken. My brother and sis skipped the app as they weren't using their dining plan tonight, but saving up to use two at the Yachtsman steakhouse later on. Our ribs were fantastic! If you go there, order them, they are great, the chicken kabobs were pretty good too. For our dinners, dad, bro and I all had the fish and chips which were great, DH had the pork, which he said was good, and my sis in law had the stuffed mushroom, which we thought was an entree, but actually came as a sandwich. She didn't like that at all. Most of this meal was great, in fact, this was our best meal of the trip. In between the apps though, it did take a long time for our meals to come out, but it was fine for us. I had the chocolate thing for dessert which is the drambuie kiss I believe, it was really good too. Dad got the apple pie and so did hubby who actually ended up giving it to my nephew. They both said it was good. All in all this was a great meal.

I will try and post more later, if not, tomorrow.

 

[Todd_H]

I completely agree with you. We went 2 years ago from Sept 6-12 and then again this year Sept 12-18th and it was much more crowded than last time, and the service at the restaurants was not good at all. It was a game of hurry up and wait every time.

We were there last week also and thought the same thing... it was much more crowded than we expected. Someone told us while we were there that many European schools were out the entire month of September. Now, I don't know if that is true. Maybe one of our European DISers can shed some light. However, if that is true, that coupled with the strength of the euro vs. the US dollar right now plus free dining could have brought the European crowds. But that does not explain why the week before was reportedly dead at the parks.

AK was CRAZY on Thursday (Sept 20)! The safari got up to a 60 minute wait (which is crazy for September).

Anyone else have thoughts on the unusual September crowds? Do you think the free dining was the culprit? Sorry to OP... not trying to hijack your thread.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Hey Todd, thanks for posting! I have no problem you "hijacking" at all! I hadn't heard about the Europeans and school, so I would like to hear if that was why too. Honestly, it was more crowded than last year and more crowded than I though it was going to be, but it still wasn't that bad with wait times for most of the rides, I thought, on most days. Honestly, the worst part I thought was the heat! Heat coupled with the crowds, ugh. At least I know it wasn't as bad as all the Disers who went during June, July and August with the summer crowds and heat, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Anyway, Todd, did you think your meals were as good as last year? We didn't for the most part.

I wanted to go back and tell a little more about earlier in the day on day 1. While hubby and I were at the pool waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, DH went over and got us drinks from the pool bar. I love thier pina coladas. We were lounging on chairs when we struck up a conversation with the woman that was a few chairs down from us. Her name was Robin, and unfortunately even though we were staying there for the same days, that was the only time we saw eachother. She was there with her Partner who was sick with pneumonia and was sleeping in thier room. She had 2 adopted sons, who I can't recall their names who were adorable. She and her girlfriend were from S.Carolina and they had come up for a family reunion. I was really hoping to run into her again, and to see how her sons were liking Disney, but of course we didn't. That is one thing I love about being in Disney is meeting new people. While we were there, we met so many other people who were from the Penn/Phila area, it was really neat. We met a bartender from Allentown, a bus driver from Pittsburgh, an older couple at the pool bar from Fishtown, and a guy with his family from S.Philly, who now live in Jersey. Small world.

I saw quite a few gay couples this trip, some with children some without, I thought it was great! One of my DH sisters is gay, and I know for a long time she felt funny about traveling anywhere with her partner, but times have evolved, and I thank everyone for showing more tolerance and love for people of alternative lifestyles. The way I look at it, if your not hurting me or breaking any laws or hurting anyone else, then do what you want. I have my own problems to worry about, I don't need to add more hatred to the world by worrying about what someone else is doing. In fact, life would be much more pleasant if everyone just worried about themselves. Allright, I am done my OT rant. Talk amongst yourselves.

After RR, we went out to get the bus back to POR, because it was now past nine, and we were all getting tired. We went back to the resort, DH and I went to the gift shop and purchased a few souvies, and then back to the room and to bed.

Up next, 9/14 our morning at MK!

 

[Todd_H]

Hey Todd, thanks for posting! I have no problem you "hijacking" at all! I hadn't heard about the Europeans and school, so I would like to hear if that was why too. Honestly, it was more crowded than last year and more crowded than I though it was going to be, but it still wasn't that bad with wait times for most of the rides, I thought, on most days. Honestly, the worst part I thought was the heat! Heat coupled with the crowds, ugh. At least I know it wasn't as bad as all the Disers who went during June, July and August with the summer crowds and heat, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

Anyway, Todd, did you think your meals were as good as last year? We didn't for the most part.

We weren't on the DDP and therefore did not eat many meals in the parks. We stayed at the VWL and took a lot of food with us. However, the one night out that my DW and I had sans kids, we went to Narcoosees. I will say that I was not that impressed. We got the crabcakes for appetizers and they were really good, but our entrees were just o.k. and definitely not worth the price. The counter service restaurants that we went to during the week seemed par for the course (food was o.k... nothing spectacular). We did end up waiting about 45 minutes in line at Pizzafari in AK on Thursday. That was the longest line we waited in all week.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

I know what you mean about the lines at cs places. Peco's Bill was a mad house, definately not like last year. We ate at Peco's twice, the first time I had the bbq pork sandwich which I thought was good. The second time I had the taco salad that I loved! Other than that, nothing really jumped out at me, but nothing at the cs's were bad either. One thing I was disappointed in was the food court at POR. There wasn't much in variety there to eat. I remember staying at *** and Music about 8 years ago, and I think they had a better variety. One morning I ordered the mickey waffle. I got 1 waffle, 1piece of bacon and 1 piece of sausage. I remember getting breakfast at *** and at the time, though it might have changed, you could kinda take how ever many pieces of bacon you wanted. I honestly think what ruined it for me was the heat. I felt like we rushed all morning just to get in as much as we could before the midday sun hit. Definately not going in September again, next time, I think I am going in November/December or January/February.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

DUH, the *** asterik marks up top are supposed to be the abbreviation for All Star Sports, didn't realize I was typing a curse word. Stupid me!!

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Just wanted to let you all know (if anyone cares ) that I will be updating this weekend, and adding pics(hopefully on the pics, if my computer will cooperate)!

 

[OhMari]

I just want to say, that the European people were offered the Free Dining first last year. Then they did a bounce back program for people staying over Christmas. They opened Free Dining up to everyone in April.

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Here is a little bit of day 2:

We woke up around 7am. I jumped in the shower first as I am the one who usually takes the longest with having to dry my long hair. (after this trip, I soooooo want to cut it short or at least shorter. Still in the undecided catagory right now) We left around 8:15 to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We got to the gates right around opening and headed down main street. I love mainstreet. It is so cute and cheerful. We took our time strolling toward the castle, not hitting any stores yet, but just window and ambiance shopping. We headed straight for Fantasy Land. First ride of the day was Dumbo for DN. While they did that, hubby and I went and jumped on PPF, our 2 year tradition of our first ride at MK. DH complained that he was hungry so him and I went back to Mainstreet to the bakery to get him a sandwich. It was packed. The line was to the door. Finally we got up to the front and he had a egg, ham and cheese croissant and I had a chocolate croissant. I had a water and coffe for him. After he ate, we headed back to meet up with the family and Brother and I with DN rode pooh. I am not sure what the rest of the family did, then we went and rode small world. There were no lines for any of this. After small world, we headed towards Haunted Mansion. OH NO, there were cast members out front saying it was closed, WHAT!?!?! This was the ride I was most looking forward to! No biggie, the CM said it was just down temporarily and to come back later. We headed towards tomorrow land. DN wanted to drive the cars. I took a quick pit stop and met them in the viewing area to watch DN ride by. Riding with him is a major headache, so I am glad he wanted Momma to go with him and not Auntie!! He likes to steer so you are constantly hitting the track. DH and I headed to tomorrowland to hit the TTA. We then did Buzz lightyear. More to come later...

 

[Xiarra]

We were there from 9/21-9/28 and the hotel at POR and POFQ were extremely busy... one night we had gone to DTD using the water taxi, and on the way back the line for the water taxi was HUGE!!!! It was about a 40 minute wait... so we trekked to the bus stop (which I was not happy with as they had closed the bus stop at the market place so the only one running was the one by pleasure island/west side) Not a fun trek, especially for my father who has difficulty walking... needless to say, we drove everywhere from that point on.....

I think the free dining plan really did effect our vacation.... the crowds were much larger than usual for September. Good for Disney for getting the extra business, but shame on Disney for dropping the ball on the customers paying for the Premium Dining Plan... which we did... we had sooooooo many problems with the plan because cast members were not familiar with it (especially at POR) and we kept getting charged for food we shouldn't have been. We had to keep going to concierge at POR to get the charges reversed. The food and beverage manager at POR said that we were "down grading" our plan by eating at the food court in POR and that we weren't entitled to what was on our plan, but subject to what a quick service meal was on the regular plan. DH was not happy (THAT WAS BEING REALLY NICE)... The plan states we can eat at the food court on our plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner.... for lunch and dinner our plan states that we are entitled to an appetizer, entree, dessert and drink.... NO WHERE DOES IT STATE that if we eat at the food court we no longer get an appetizer....

My poor father likes soup and sandwich for luch with a bowl of fruit for dessert with a drink... he kept getting charged for the soup... UGH....

We had most issues at POR, people at the parks were right on top of things.... we did have an issue at the O'Hana due to a very non attentive sever.....

The parks were definately more busy than in the past during this time period...

I have decied that Disney will be getting a letter from me regarding the service that we received while on a PREMIUM plan that WE PAID ALOT FOR. We would have done better on the free dining plan.... We had done the Platinum Plan in 2004 and ate at Coronado Springs (another moderate resort) on the plan with no issues... actually the manager was very nice and came over to us to make sure that we knew what we were allowed on the plan.... that type of service was definately lacking this time around....

Sorry, needed to get that off my chest... We decided that we will not be going back to Disney for some time.... it really lost some of it's magic this time around for this Disney Bride.....

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Xiarra, thanks for posting! I can certainly see why you were upset! Again, we weren't all that thrilled, but I tried not to let it get to me. The biggest complaint for me now that I look back at our trip was the heat. Seriously, I definately want to go when it is cooler and more comfortable, we felt like we rushed alot so not to be outside in the heat too much. I hope your next trip, whenever you do decide to go back, is much better!!

Sorry I didn't get a chance to update this weekend. I had so much running around to do, plus I cleaned and started decorating for Halloween. I will try to do an update in the next day or too, I promise.

 

[DragonFox98]

Hey, Mami! I just found your TR and must say I like the way you write!!!

I understand what you mean about being disappointed; from many people I have heard the service was bad and that Disney did not prepare well for the influx of visitors. As for the heat - that's why we chose to go in late October (I have a PTR of my own). I am from New England originally and do not do well at all in the heat (summers are difficult for me, even in South Jersey), so I know when we can and cannot visit. Plus, I was kinda hoping to avoid the rainy season.

So, hello from your neighbor in South Jersey. I like meeting people, too, when we're in Disney. And, I just cut off my hair: it was about three inches or so past my shoulders and I have it cut in a funky-longish-pixie cut now (I just told the girl to go to town!). Needless to say, I love it because it is less work and my hair is breaking less because I am not pulling it back anymore.

Can't wait for the next installment....Mel

PS - I forgot to mention something.... I am really sorry about your pregnancies. I read somewhere that women who cannot carry might have a problem with their testosterone hormone levels; just as an in-case, you might want to check if you already haven't. Good luck and please know that my thoughts are with you.

 

[50 years Too!]

Regarding making it to term...I lost 3 babies at 20 weeks before I had a cerclaege.
I now have two wonderful kids, thanks to that procedure.
Good luck.

Deb

 

[Mickey'sMainMami]

Hey, thanks to Dragon and 50 years too, for posting! And the helpful hints on my pregnancy issues. The next step this time is to do a cerclage and bed rest. Not looking forward to either, but if it works, I am all for it! I am actually upset about it, because at the begining of my last pregnancy, I asked for one, and they said I wasn't a candidate. It really upset me when I lost my baby in May. Now they say I am a candidate, whatever. my family doctor who was with me thru my 1st, 2nd, and third loss told me I should probably get one, and referred me to the specialist I now see. People tell me to find a new doctor, but I like them, and they will do a cerclage this time. (I did have 2 second opinions, who also said they wouldn't do a cerclage either. They say although it works for some, there is no guarantee, and if the cervix wants to open, it will open and if it's stitched it will rip, and then I would never be able to carry ever. They wanted to try every other option first I guess before they stitch.)

Anyway, I have been so busy with work, and we just found out my dad has diabetes. So, I apologize for not updating. We are getting into our busy season here at work, and my brother and DN came up for a visit last Thursday and left home Sunday, so I was tied up playing with DN! I will definately get an update up in the next couple of days, just please bear with me!! Thanks!