Ready, Set, Let the Games Begin! - Link to new PTR/TR!

[kmedina]

Jumping back in. People play chicken with my Dad's scooter too. I'll never forget the time a fully grown man jumped in front of him, and he hurt his shoulder trying to stop. The man did not even acknowledge it. My Dad's shoulder hurt him for days afterward.

 

[Marlea98]

Heck they get MY name wrong at Starbucks! And I don't even have an accent!

I wonder if people do it for a laugh? We certainly found it funny that he got his name called incorrectly every time!

PIO used that phrase on me a while ago and had to explain it to me. I was so thrilled when we saw Priscilla Queen of the desert. They used that phrase and I was so happy that I knew what it meant!

You know, I don't know of anyone in my age group who actually uses that phrase Priscilla is a great movie. It is really funny. Terrance Stamp, who played the older drag queen, is British, I think. He is a brilliant dramatic actor (and very handsome if I may say so myself).

I'm not sure where I would find any Australian shows, we are fed a steady diet (another silly American phrase) of British sitcoms, but I don't know where I would find Aussie shows other than DVD imports.

Sadly, many of our shows are US imports. We don't get much in the way of British stuff anymore for some reason. I love The Vicar of Dibley, Father Dave, Fawlty Towers, The Good Life etc. I think there are some websites, like Australia's ABC network, that has freeview downloads. PIO might know that better than me.

That's too bad! We love coupons. Fran has been known to buy them on eBay to save money.

When we go back to Montana I'll be a happy couponer

OK, quick lesson in US home buying. Unless you plan to pay cash for your house, the first step in house buying is that you apply for a loan so that you know how much of a loan the bank will give you. We did that with another Real Estate agent and bank last Fall, so we had an idea of our price range when we started looking a couple weeks ago.

Wrong! There were changes in our financial situation from September to July so we didn't look as good on paper any more. Since Friday when we left to visit my parents we have been back and forth with the loan agent. Our situation is rather complex because our income is from multiple non traditional sources. Monday evening I was digging back through my old emails and other saved documents trying to find documentation of our interest in various investments.

Finally we had provided sufficient documentation, and yesterday around 5PM we got a call from our Real Estate Agent that we were approved for a loan, but we needed to put down a down payment that was substantially larger than we expected. We had to think long and hard to find out if we could afford it. Ultimately we decided yes, but we need to get busy selling stuff on eBay as soon as we get home tonight!

Then we had to reprint the first page of the contract (very difficult with my parents silly Mac/PC network), sign it and then scan it and send it back. Luckily Fran had brought a scanner along with us. That accomplished, we finally went out for our 7PM dinner reservation (which I pushed back twice as we kept hitting snags in the contract printing process.)

In the meantime, our agents were presenting the offer to the listing agent. It turns out that a few of the items (furniture) that we requested to be included were not actually possessions of the home owner. They were borrowed items for "staging" the house. So at this point we just wait. They have 72 hours to respond. We need an answer or counter offer by Friday evening. If they make a counter offer, we may have to walk away. The changes in the down payment have stretched us as far as we are willing to go. So we wait and see. But we are now one step closer.

We generally do it kind of different. Most people put in an offer on a house then approach the bank for finance. Some people get a pre-approval first to know how much they can offer, but we never have done that. The deposit is generally set by the lender based on how much the loan is for versus the amount of the property. The bigger the deposit the less likely you are to have to take out lenders insurance (which covers the lender in case you can't meet your loan commitments).

I haven't caught up with the rest of the thread because we've had family visiting, I've been working and now I've got sinus and have had 8pm bedtomes (or earlier). My laptop batteries are almost dead so it's time to log off. Hope all goes well for you

 

[PrincessInOz]

No chocolate molten lava cake?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

No chocolate molten lava cake?

I know right. What they playing at? And guests coming all the way from Australia and all....should be ashamed of themselves. Why they will be serving veggie haggis next... Lol...

 

[PrincessInOz]

I know right. What they playing at? And guests coming all the way from Australia and all....should be ashamed of themselves. Why they will be serving veggie haggis next... Lol...

You mean Vegemite Haggis!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

You mean Vegemite Haggis!

Lol! Oh yes what a hoot. Lol. I can only hope they have proper Irish stout at Rose and Crown. My aunt moved from Ireland to Cairns right by the great barrier reef. She is my Dad's sister ( Dad came to London ) and he went over to visit her a while ago only to discover she had never been to the Great Barrier Reef just across the road lol. That's the Irish for you. Move across the other side of the world but won't cross the street... Lol

 

[PrincessInOz]

Lol! Oh yes what a hoot. Lol. I can only hope they have proper Irish stout at Rose and Crown. My aunt moved from Ireland to Cairns right by the great barrier reef. She is my Dad's sister ( Dad came to London ) and he went over to visit her a while ago only to discover she had never been to the Great Barrier Reef just across the road lol. That's the Irish for you. Move across the other side of the world but won't cross the street... Lol

Your aunt lives in Cairns and hasn't gone to the GBR???


I-R-I-S-H!!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Your aunt lives in Cairns and hasn't gone to the GBR???

I-R-I-S-H!!

I know. My Dad was so shocked lol. He went and really enjoyed it. Where do you live in Australia?

 

[scottny]

The food looked good at that restaurant and so did the scenery.
I have always wanted to try beef wellington. One day.
I want to drive down the coast in California one year stopping at a bunch of places.
The fish and chips looked good.
This is the first year in 5 that we are not going for food and wine. Feels strange. LOL
I am all caught up again.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I know. My Dad was so shocked lol. He went and really enjoyed it. Where do you live in Australia?

Melbourne. It's cold, wet and rainy right now. Much better in Cairns!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Melbourne. It's cold, wet and rainy right now. Much better in Cairns!

Oh dear! Not long till your trip to the US of A now? Sunny sunny sunny!

 

[Marlea98]

Lol! Oh yes what a hoot. Lol. I can only hope they have proper Irish stout at Rose and Crown. My aunt moved from Ireland to Cairns right by the great barrier reef. She is my Dad's sister ( Dad came to London ) and he went over to visit her a while ago only to discover she had never been to the Great Barrier Reef just across the road lol. That's the Irish for you. Move across the other side of the world but won't cross the street... Lol

Cairns is just up the road from me

We have the GBR here too but it's a bit further out off the coast here than it is from Cairns.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Marlea98]

Melbourne. It's cold, wet and rainy right now. Much better in Cairns!

Melbourne is heaps better than Cairns in my opinion. Melbourne just needs to be warmer and rain less and I'd go home in a heartbeat

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[franandaj]

Omg how will I break it to DW re the lost city of molten chocolate cake has sunk never to be discovered again...

I know, it’s awful.

I am heartbroken. My favorite dish of the whole F&W!!!

Wonder when they are finally going to release the deminar schedule...they are cutting it close this year!

Jill in CO

Well we know now!

The Irish molten cake? Joshua will be crushed. He had one daily during our F&W days.

I only had one and a half of them four years ago.

No chocolate molten lava cake?

I know, what are they getting at with chocolate "pudding"? I hope that is the English name for chocolate molten cake because I, for one, do not think that "things live their course and need to be retired". Certainly not the molten cake they are either off their rockers or on crack! (I know we had this discussion on Ellen's TR and decided that "on crack" was still an OK descriptor.)

Jumping back in. People play chicken with my Dad's scooter too. I'll never forget the time a fully grown man jumped in front of him, and he hurt his shoulder trying to stop. The man did not even acknowledge it. My Dad's shoulder hurt him for days afterward.

Welcome Kimberly! I'm so glad you folks are going to hit F&W, did I miss a PTR of yours? I don't generally scour the boards, but I do check out when folks post on their old TRs that they have started a new one.

I haven't caught up with the rest of the thread because we've had family visiting, I've been working and now I've got sinus and have had 8pm bedtomes (or earlier). My laptop batteries are almost dead so it's time to log off. Hope all goes well for you

That's OK, you're excused, I really haven't said much. We are meeting friends, doing Fantasmic, a wishes cruise and having a cookout. That sort of sums it up!

I know right. What they playing at? And guests coming all the way from Australia and all....should be ashamed of themselves. Why they will be serving veggie haggis next... Lol...

You mean Vegemite Haggis!

Lol! Oh yes what a hoot. Lol. I can only hope they have proper Irish stout at Rose and Crown. My aunt moved from Ireland to Cairns right by the great barrier reef. She is my Dad's sister ( Dad came to London ) and he went over to visit her a while ago only to discover she had never been to the Great Barrier Reef just across the road lol. That's the Irish for you. Move across the other side of the world but won't cross the street... Lol

You gals are too funny!

Your aunt lives in Cairns and hasn't gone to the GBR???

I-R-I-S-H!!

I know. My Dad was so shocked lol. He went and really enjoyed it. Where do you live in Australia?

The food looked good at that restaurant and so did the scenery.
I have always wanted to try beef wellington. One day.
I want to drive down the coast in California one year stopping at a bunch of places.
The fish and chips looked good.
This is the first year in 5 that we are not going for food and wine. Feels strange. LOL
I am all caught up again.

Thank you! Good luck with the sale of your house, I hope that you get your asking price. If the Chinese wanted to move there like they do in CA you'd get 20% over your asking price.

Melbourne. It's cold, wet and rainy right now. Much better in Cairns!

Oh dear! Not long till your trip to the US of A now? Sunny sunny sunny!

Cairns is just up the road from me

We have the GBR here too but it's a bit further out off the coast here than it is from Cairns.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Melbourne is heaps better than Cairns in my opinion. Melbourne just needs to be warmer and rain less and I'd go home in a heartbeat

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Ok enough of that back to the topic at hand!

Back to regular updates!!!!

 

[franandaj]

So back to the topic of the trip to Orlando and F&W!

Yesterday was the official call in day for F&W Special Events. Phone lines open at 4AM (which translates to 7AM Eastern time). Let me back up a little bit.

As Fran and I tried to come to consciousness Monday morning after the D23 Expo, I checked the DISboards on the phone. I noticed on the AKL official unofficial thread that some folks were calling in for the events. I found out that Disney Visa holders could book events a day early. The problem was the phone lines opened at 4AM and now it was 10:15AM

I immediately got on the phone and started to try and book the events. I got right through and they even got me reserved for the Grand Mariner event. Taste, Shake and Roll like the French. The agent started to look up the other things I wanted. He kept putting me on hold, and next thing you know, disconnected.

I called right back and that event was sold out. As well as all the other events that I wanted to book. I called back twice and finally an agent told me that only a limited number of seats were available that day and the rest of them would be released the next day.

So we were resolved to call in the next morning. Ill let Fran take over from here as she posted on my D23 Expo thread.

Just to put my two cents in, and to add in the stuff Alison probably won't remember, I stayed up the night before we were going to make those 4:00 AM calls so I could wake Alison up. This is our usual routine when we need to be up at an inhuman hour of the morning, as I don't want to take any chances on me not waking up. Alison does not wake up very easily, usually I have to pull the covers off her and pull her up and out of bed (normally to a chorus of very cranky words). This time when she finally heard me say "It's 4 AM and you have to call Disneyworld" she came to and bounded up.

With both of us calling on the cel phones, doing about 20 calls each a minute, it was probably about 1000 calls before one of us got an answer. Then, the recording said that the wait was over 30 minutes long....

10 minutes later I got answered, so we both waited, and waited, and ... well, you get the idea. Suddenly, Alison burst out with words I would not want to put on a Disney related site, ending with "....I got cut off!"

I gave her my phone, got hers and started dialing again.

An hour and a half after we started dialing Alison finally got a human being on the line and was able to make all 3 of the reservations she wanted!


I was finally able to roll over and go to sleep for the night.
Take care
Fran

So those three reservations that we got were these:

Mexican Tequila Lunch
When: Friday, October 4, 2013 12-1:30PM
Where: La Hacienda de San Angel, Mexico pavilion

Mixology Series: Taste, Shake and Indulge Like the French
When: Saturday, October 5. 2:30-4PM
Where: Monsieur Paul, France pavilion

French Regional Lunch
Where: Monsieur Paul, France pavilion
When: Sunday October 6, 2013 Champagne, Wayne Ballard, Nicolas Feuillate

Yay for us!

Ill post our whole updated schedule when I get a chance.

 

[ACDSNY]

Congrats on eventually getting your reservations and I love Fran's description of you when you were disconnected.

 

[kmedina]

I am not doing a pre trip report and probably will not even do a trip report on it either. I never finished my last report and want to finish it before I do another.

I sounds like you went through a lot to get your F&W reservations. It was so nice of Fran to help you. Crap always leaves it to me (I am not working right now, so it is easier for me to stay up all night anyway). I just wish WDW reservations were as easy to get as Disneyland.

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY for getting your F&W events booked. They all sound great!

And yes, I'm laughing at how you and Fran were both on the cell phones trying to get through to Disney. Glad it all worked out in the end.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I'm excited for you and Fran to get the reservations for the F&W that you wanted. I don't I can get up that early in the morning to make those reservations and had to wait awhile until a CM helped me.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am glad that you got all the F&W events that you wanted in the end. What a nightmare you had getting them.

Corinna