~Snowbird Chat~

[Disney Mommy 3]

soleil~ Your countdown is at 3/3/3 and today is 09/09/09~~ how cool is that!!! I love numbers!

 

[BellaSoleil]

soleil~ Your countdown is at 3/3/3 and today is 09/09/09~~ how cool is that!!! I love numbers!

That's wild! I try for ADR's in 3 weeks, too. (Well, 3 weeks and some odd days.) Things are going quickly!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Shawna, your plans look great. You guys are going to have so much fun!

I went ahead and started a PTR. Hopefully I have enough to talk about for the next 2 months! I will be posting our plans over there soon.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=33504099#post33504099

 

[danceintherain]

DS left for his first day of school... can't believe he is a Junior in high school already.... while I am excited for him he does have a tough year... AP American History, college physics, Honors English, college Spanish and Pre-Calc.... the good news is he is a great student ( he is ahead a year or two in some subjects)... the bad news is he hates to study.... guess he will have to learn this year with that schedule.....

At least he's going to be able to get some college credit from those classes. It would be nice to start college with lots of credits, and much cheaper for you!

 

[sarbah77]

Well, my Friday keeps getting better and better!!



I was able to sweet talk the boss into letting me leave early to catch an earlier flight. This should get me to Atlanta in time to see the band I REALLY REALLY want to see this weekend!!



Not sure what changed her mind but I'm so so so happy and so so so excited. All of my friends and my husband are in Atlanta already. Because they're all great people, I've been getting constant text messages from them - it's almost like I'm there!!

This time next Thursday, I'll be in Disney, too! HOLY COW!!

 

[MAGGIED]

At least he's going to be able to get some college credit from those classes. It would be nice to start college with lots of credits, and much cheaper for you!

That is the good thing... he will actually start college with enough credits to be a sophomore... and it should cost us less than $2000 over the next two years... he is getting 17 credit hours this year and will probably get another 15 next year... much less than the $20000 I had to send for DD tuition this year... she also did this... and after 1 year in college she is a junior... she also took summer classes.. She either wants to graduate a year early or do the Disney College program for a semester.... not sure which she will do... her choice... they are both good, motivated kids...

 

[danceintherain]

I'm going to see Wicked in Kansas City on November 20th!

My Mom bought tickets today, and she bought one for me. I'm very excited, and Logan's excited because he doesn't have to come.

 

[MAGGIED]

I'm going to see Wicked in Kansas City on November 20th!

My Mom bought tickets today, and she bought one for me. I'm very excited, and Logan's excited because he doesn't have to come.

Have a wonderful time... it is awesome!!!

 

[Lil'Mermaid75]

I'm going to see Wicked in Kansas City on November 20th!

My Mom bought tickets today, and she bought one for me. I'm very excited, and Logan's excited because he doesn't have to come.

OOOhhhh. I'm so jealous!! I've heard it's fantastic!!

 

[danceintherain]

Logan agreed to let me book for December! I told him that it's entirely refundable until October 27th, so we'll have plenty of time to decide if we really want to go, but I needed a reservation to get all the ADRs we want.

So I am now officially booked at Pop Century for December 11-17th!

Now I'm really dealing with the ADR dilemma, because my day is tomorrow.
I'm going to try to get up and get online at 5am, and do Le Cellier first. Hopefully I'll be able to get an ADR on his birthday, but I'm pretty open to take whatever they'll give me.
Then I'm definitely getting an ADR for Ohana, because it's the other place I really want to eat, and seems to fill up quickly.
Then Hoopdeedoo, I'm not so worried about this one, because I've been finding quite a bit of availability for the 9:30 show, which is the one I want to do, because it's the only one we can get category 1 seating on the Dining Plan.
I still haven't figured out what I want to do for the other 2 ADRs, but since I don't have my heart set on anywhere else, I'm not too worried about getting ADRs, especially since I've decided not to do any character meals this time, (I figure I'll only torture Logan when we have kids) and I don't really want to do another 2 TS meal.

I guess I'll spend today perusing menus...

 

[Monny2AE]

Yeah for you Becca! Good luck with your ADR's. Is there a certain time in the morning you can start booking them online? Not that any of us would get up at 12:01am just to get an ADR or anything

I did the same thing. We booked without the trip insurance so we can get our deposit back if need be...although I'm REALLY hoping not to have to do that.

Just had to say TGIF my Snowbird friends. It's been a long week here at my house and I'm looking forward to a weekend of nothing to do but relax!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Woooo kim!! I hear ya!!! We are getting an awesome amount of much needed rain and I am soooo looking forward to doing nothing but sitting home and watching it rain, rain, rain!!!!! I hope I didn't just jinx us!!!!! We had a busy week...even though it was short.
I am counting down the weeks to Christmas on my Christmas shopping thread...today is 15 weeks till D-Day!!! So, ya'll hop over there and tell me what ya'll are buying for everyone! I need grown-up people ideas!!!! Hope ya'll have an awesome weekend!

 

[BellaSoleil]

I'm so angry, ya'll! Please help handle this situation. (ie.... should I be upset?) This is really long, but please take the time to read it and help me out.

Okay, so we started this building process back in June. We are using a church member that we were referred to by friends of ours. When we initially talked to him in July, we made it clear what our budget would be. He had us contact his sister-in-law for financing. She was terribly rude and treated us like crap. We turned in our stuff to her 6 or more weeks ago and have never heard back about doing our financing with her. We went to another bank and were approved on the spot, but it turns out that our builder should have had our house plans drawn up. So three weeks later, our plans were drawn up. We ended up going 100 square feet over our goal. We went over the plans with our builder and he assured us that everything would be fine. So for $1000 dollars we bought our plans. Then for another $1000 we put a deposit down on our lot. So that's $2000 we have already spent towards this.

Three weeks ago we gave him our plans to bid them out. He's had them (the bid results) since Thursday. (He was also building the exact same house across the street from us for my best friend and her husband. I'll call them J&A. (Don't get me started on them building our same house....) My best friends DH (J) is a friend of the builder. On Thursday afternoon he met with our friends to give them their bids. He told us that he couldn't get with us because his printer was down and couldn't print them out. But he could still give J&A their bid.... hmmmm..... It seems like he's trying to put us off on giving us our results.

J called me last night to let me know they wouldn't be building anymore. Their bid came in $18000 dollars over what they planned to spend. We were shocked and nervous.

Builder called G today and told him he was too busy to meet with us. He didn't give G anymore info. That ticked me off. (Again, I feel like he's been hem hawing us around.) I called builder and asked if this was going to be higher than our (recently increased by $10,000) budget. (The square footage would cause this, but we loved the plans so much we were willing to budge.) He told me that our house would now be about $15,000 more than we had discussed with him and totally out of our price range.

I'm so mad. Is this the builders fault? Shouldn't he have known a rough estimate of how much it would cost to build our house and steer us from going well beyond out price range?

We meet with him tomorrow to look over our bids and find the final price. I told G that I don't even want to go. My girlfriends think that we need to take our houseplans to another builder. I feel like our builder has been completely unprofessional and has just strung us along for 3 months!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Oh, girl!! I am sooooo sorry you are going through all this!! Since we are in the 'business' and this is what we do for a living..... Number 1, Mike meets our prospective clients and they usually go over house plans first day. If they have their own they bring them, if not they tell him what they are looking for...and what they can spend, etc.
After the plans are finished or they show him their plans, he works on the bid. He usually takes his time...you dont want to underbid and have $$ trouble later. He takes a couple of days if he is really busy on other houses...not as long as your builder!! Anyway, then they meet again...talk about price, what allowances that is for EVERYTHING. Appliances, flooring, electrical....what they can spend on all of it. If for ex. he says: For flooring, this is the place I use, you can spend up to $3 a square foot on your tile. IF you go over that, the extra comes out of your pocket...when the flooring is ordered/done--whatever. You know when you leave with him how much your house is going to cost.Period. (Unless thoughout the job you change your mind..then you talk about prices for change orders and extras for upgrades, like appliances, fixtures, etc.)
I am shocked it's been 3 months and nothing is done. You should be halfway through your building by now. We are usually done around 4 months...depending on square footage...and your house is about the size everyone is building around here. This is ridiculous....he's buying time. don't use him! Definitely pray about it.....but I would be very leery of him. Do you know anyone that has used a builder they would refer you to? You need to see some of a builders work and talk to some customers! And the first girl you talked to about financing is nuts!! We refer people to our finance companies all the time and our clients love them!! She didn't need to act like that. And---if he referred her, I think that shows poorly on his character as well!!! Building a house should be a wonderful experience....not a nightmare!!!
yes, you have a right to be angry. He is un-professional and giving you unfair treatment!! Is he just tooooo busy? I would let this be a sign that the Lord is holding you back for a reason.Just drop it and go find someone else. Be thankful that this isn't happening halfway through the project and you are stuck with him and he's adding costs at every turn! I don't want to scare you, just let you know that some builders are not worth using. Keep me posted..pm me if you have specific questions. Hey, move over here and we can build you a house right down the street from me!!!!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Just told Mike about what happened and he said tell you he can come to La and build it for you!!!! Wouldn't that be a hoot!! You are only 3 hrs from me!! he said.. I would do it---some place new...it would be fun! Ha!!! Okay, well, you just got a new builder!!:

 

[crzyred]

Soleil you have every right to be angry and upset right now. Heck, I'm angry too. I would definately get out of this business with him. Good luck with whatever you decide. Keep us posted.

 

[danceintherain]

Yeah for you Becca! Good luck with your ADR's. Is there a certain time in the morning you can start booking them online? Not that any of us would get up at 12:01am just to get an ADR or anything

I did the same thing. We booked without the trip insurance so we can get our deposit back if need be...although I'm REALLY hoping not to have to do that.

Just had to say TGIF my Snowbird friends. It's been a long week here at my house and I'm looking forward to a weekend of nothing to do but relax!

I got up at 4:30 this morning, and was able to start making my ADRs.
I stayed up until about 5:30, and thought I had gotten what I wanted, but now I'm not so sure, so I'm trying to figure it out.

It wouldn't let me do Hoop-dee-doo online without paying, so I'm going to call about that a little later.

I definitely got ADRs at Ohana and Le Cellier though, which is good.

I think I liked it better when my TA made my ADRs for me, because then I didn't have to worry about what time would be the absolute best and dwell on it.

Woooo kim!! I hear ya!!! We are getting an awesome amount of much needed rain

When I woke up this morning to do my ADRs it was pouring out, which was particularly frustrating, because we don't have the internet in our apartment, so I had to go to a computer lab on campus (it's not very far which is why we've opted out of paying for i-net)
Logan woke up, and came with me, because he was worried about me in the rain.

I'm so angry, ya'll! Please help handle this situation. (ie.... should I be upset?) This is really long, but please take the time to read it and help me out.

I'm so sorry about the problems you've been having. It seems like this guy just isn't a very good businessman. I hope you find someone better, or figure out how to sort it out otherwise!

 

[Monny2AE]

Soleil, First of all . This process should be far more fun and exciting for you and G. I don't know much of the home building process but I think you should go with your gut instinct. I'll be keeping you in my prayers.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Soleil- I will be keeping you in my prayers. I hope that you can make the right decision for you and your family. You have every right to be hopping mad right now.

 

[MAGGIED]

Soleil... in my line of work I do see this often... I am a realtor.... but I will tell you for every "bad" builder out there you will find two that are great... so don't give up hope.... In my area ( I know it is different in other areas of the country)... from the time my clients sit with the builder until the time they close is no more than 5 months.... this guy dragged you along.... I know many builders, electricians. etc... tradesman from church as well and my thought on the matter is business is business.... sometimes you can't be "friends" .... because sometimes you just have to be tough... and its harder to do with friends... do you have a realtor.... if not you should... I am "the bad guy" many times for my clients... when they don't want to make the tradesman angry I deliver the message... really I am just looking out for my client.... please feel free to PM me if you want any information.... just know that it will get better.....

Happy days ahead!!!!