Background:
Im Bob, my wife is Jane, (Yes, those names are real). I refuse to do the whole DH, DD, DW, DS stuff. Makes no sense to me and I dont think ANYONE knows what it stands for. Is it Disney Husband?....Dear Husband?...Deer Hunter?...what? Geez, for a long time I thought DDW stood for well endowed wife. I say if youre not going to use a term in your regular speech, why use it when typing? Have you ever met a friend at the mall and said, Oh, Hi Doris, have you met my DH Bob?....Nice to meetcha Bob, what ball team are you a designated hitter for?
My wife, our 2 kids and myself flew to Boston last July for a Cape Cod vacation. On the return flight we took a bump and got 4 round trip vouchers for the inconvenience of getting home to North Carolina an hour and a half later than planned. Cool, huh? These tickets are transferable, so of course we transferred the kids two tickets to us and went to Vegas in November. After Sept 11 there were some amazing deals to be had, we stayed at The Venetian for $59 per night...but, thats for another trip report.
Now our quandary is what, oh what to do with the other 2 tickets. We went on the Super-duper extended family annual reunion vacation to the Contemporary from April 26 - May 5th. Before we left to come home from this trip we stopped by the Animal Kingdom Lodge to have a look around. Well, we really, really liked the place. The lobby looked great, the pool was huge, the animals were...well the animals were animals, but you see where Im going with this. It wasnt long after we got back that we decided what to do with those freebie airline vouchers.
Using airline vouchers is kinda like trying to use Monopoly money. They are worth something to someone, but the airline doesnt seem to want to be the banker in this game. I FINALLY find some flights where there is room for voucherpeople. Its really funny how valuable we were to USAirways the day we gave up our seats, doing them a favor....Compared to how utterly useless we are to them now that we want to redeem that favor. Why thank you for giving up those 4 confirmed seats during our busiest season on one of our more popular routes during the most popular time of day. In exchange for that wed like to fly you wherever we want to fly you at the most inconvenient times, all while treating you like the second class citizen you know you really are. We are scheduled to leave Greensboro, NC at 7:15 am on June 20th, arriving at Orlando at 10:35 that night after a stop in Charlotte to change planes. Our return schedule is a true delight....We leave Orlando at 5:45 am on June 24th, arriving back in Greensboro at 9:59 am after the obligatory stop in Charlotte. Ohhhh, things are looking good now, huh?
Ok, where to stay? We have stayed at the Poly, Contemporary, Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach, SOG, Fort Wilderness Cabins. After seeing the AKL though, we knew we had to give the joint a try. I called and secured reservations for the 20th until the 24th at $204/night, Savannah view, tax included.
I originally had arranged to have Tiffany Towncar transfer us. BUT, with the early hour of our return to the airport, my anal self was worried about them not showing up on time or some other such problem. I cancelled Tiffany the day before the trip and reserved a car with National. Using my Emerald Club membership, my rental came to a total of $191. I could have done a little better with another company, but I love being able to pick the car I want and having them onsite so I dont have to mess with a shuttle.
Now, youre all probably wondering whats up with us leaving our kids at home during a Disney vacation. Well, we were all just there a month ago, and being the horrible, selfish parents we truly are....We decide to leave them with Grandma & Grandpa while we are gone. They hate going to G & Gs house because all that candy, eating out, and staying up late really gets old after awhile....riggggggght!
I should also interject at this point that while I have always been a Disneyholic, my wife hasnt shared that particular personality flaw. She has basically just gone along to go along and after every trip she says...Maybe we should skip next years Disney trip and give it a rest. I usually feign deafness when she starts this blasphemy, hoping that sooner or later the Disney bacteria will fuse to her synapses and shell join the rest of us Stepfords. It has finally happened!! She actually WANTS to return after being gone just a month.....She has started collecting Disney Collectables figurines.....She drinks out of a Disney thermal coffee mug in the car every morning.....Someone has waved the lanyard back in forth in front of her eyes and recited...You are getting Goofy, you are getting verrry Goofy.....
OK, we gots the tickets, we gots the room, we gots the car....Lets go!
Im Bob, my wife is Jane, (Yes, those names are real). I refuse to do the whole DH, DD, DW, DS stuff. Makes no sense to me and I dont think ANYONE knows what it stands for. Is it Disney Husband?....Dear Husband?...Deer Hunter?...what? Geez, for a long time I thought DDW stood for well endowed wife. I say if youre not going to use a term in your regular speech, why use it when typing? Have you ever met a friend at the mall and said, Oh, Hi Doris, have you met my DH Bob?....Nice to meetcha Bob, what ball team are you a designated hitter for?
My wife, our 2 kids and myself flew to Boston last July for a Cape Cod vacation. On the return flight we took a bump and got 4 round trip vouchers for the inconvenience of getting home to North Carolina an hour and a half later than planned. Cool, huh? These tickets are transferable, so of course we transferred the kids two tickets to us and went to Vegas in November. After Sept 11 there were some amazing deals to be had, we stayed at The Venetian for $59 per night...but, thats for another trip report.
Now our quandary is what, oh what to do with the other 2 tickets. We went on the Super-duper extended family annual reunion vacation to the Contemporary from April 26 - May 5th. Before we left to come home from this trip we stopped by the Animal Kingdom Lodge to have a look around. Well, we really, really liked the place. The lobby looked great, the pool was huge, the animals were...well the animals were animals, but you see where Im going with this. It wasnt long after we got back that we decided what to do with those freebie airline vouchers.
Using airline vouchers is kinda like trying to use Monopoly money. They are worth something to someone, but the airline doesnt seem to want to be the banker in this game. I FINALLY find some flights where there is room for voucherpeople. Its really funny how valuable we were to USAirways the day we gave up our seats, doing them a favor....Compared to how utterly useless we are to them now that we want to redeem that favor. Why thank you for giving up those 4 confirmed seats during our busiest season on one of our more popular routes during the most popular time of day. In exchange for that wed like to fly you wherever we want to fly you at the most inconvenient times, all while treating you like the second class citizen you know you really are. We are scheduled to leave Greensboro, NC at 7:15 am on June 20th, arriving at Orlando at 10:35 that night after a stop in Charlotte to change planes. Our return schedule is a true delight....We leave Orlando at 5:45 am on June 24th, arriving back in Greensboro at 9:59 am after the obligatory stop in Charlotte. Ohhhh, things are looking good now, huh?
Ok, where to stay? We have stayed at the Poly, Contemporary, Coronado Springs, Caribbean Beach, SOG, Fort Wilderness Cabins. After seeing the AKL though, we knew we had to give the joint a try. I called and secured reservations for the 20th until the 24th at $204/night, Savannah view, tax included.
I originally had arranged to have Tiffany Towncar transfer us. BUT, with the early hour of our return to the airport, my anal self was worried about them not showing up on time or some other such problem. I cancelled Tiffany the day before the trip and reserved a car with National. Using my Emerald Club membership, my rental came to a total of $191. I could have done a little better with another company, but I love being able to pick the car I want and having them onsite so I dont have to mess with a shuttle.
Now, youre all probably wondering whats up with us leaving our kids at home during a Disney vacation. Well, we were all just there a month ago, and being the horrible, selfish parents we truly are....We decide to leave them with Grandma & Grandpa while we are gone. They hate going to G & Gs house because all that candy, eating out, and staying up late really gets old after awhile....riggggggght!
I should also interject at this point that while I have always been a Disneyholic, my wife hasnt shared that particular personality flaw. She has basically just gone along to go along and after every trip she says...Maybe we should skip next years Disney trip and give it a rest. I usually feign deafness when she starts this blasphemy, hoping that sooner or later the Disney bacteria will fuse to her synapses and shell join the rest of us Stepfords. It has finally happened!! She actually WANTS to return after being gone just a month.....She has started collecting Disney Collectables figurines.....She drinks out of a Disney thermal coffee mug in the car every morning.....Someone has waved the lanyard back in forth in front of her eyes and recited...You are getting Goofy, you are getting verrry Goofy.....
OK, we gots the tickets, we gots the room, we gots the car....Lets go!
