luvpooh
oh bother!
- Joined
- Aug 23, 1999
- Messages
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The Many Adventures of Keith and Nicole, the Sequel, Trip Planning Part 2
Characters: Keith, BF, 4th trip to WDW in past 16 months, desperately in need of a vacation
Nicole, me, 5th trip to WDW in past 16 months, also very much in need of a vacation
Dates: April 20 24 at Disney, April 24 28 at Universal.
Location: All Star Movies and Hard Rock Hotel
You can read the first part of this in Trip Planning Part 1
Fast forward a few weeks. I get something in the mail from Loews First. It was an offer for the Hard Rock Hotel for $149/nt. So I called back to change my reservation. Well, the person I spoke to read out my reservation information to me, stating the $169/nt rate and when I told her about the promotional card I had received, she didnt have anything in her system about it, so I had to fax the card to them as proof. She said the supervisor would get back to me. I hadnt heard back the next day, so I called back. The person I spoke to that day, after giving her my confirmation number, read back my ressie info to me and stated a rate of $189/nt! I said, no wait thats wrong. They said thats the rate I had always had and looking at their system, no changes had been made since January, it had only been viewed the day before, no modifications. Well, I just about lost it. I spoke to several more people and many phone calls went back and forth. Since the HRH had never sent me a confirmation letter, it was my word against theirs. They also still claimed to never had heard of the $149/nt rate I was talking about, even though they had the fax right in front of them! Well, after a few days, I finally received a phone call stating that they would honor the $149 rate, and I should consider myself lucky. Her words, not mine! I did receive a letter in the mail confirming this rate. I then purchased 4 park flex tickets from TicketRes (this was when they were still mailing them to your home) good for unlimited admission for 14 days to Universal, Islands of Adventure, Wet and Wild, and Sea World.
Right around this time I was discussing the trip with Keith. Somehow, the rate per night that we were paying at the Boardwalk came up. He just about hit the roof when he heard how much it was. Now, this wasnt the first time I had told him, but he insists that it was. Whether it was or not, he said it was way too much and refused to stay there. Okay, darling, where would you like to stay? Port Orleans, no we already stayed there. Any of the other moderates, no too big? Poly, no ugly. Contemporary, no stupid. Wilderness Lodge, no already stayed there. We already discussed how he felt about Y&B Club. How about the All Stars? Well, only if you can get the Movies. Nope, sold out, but we do have a special at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for $179/nt for a Savannah view. How about that dear, new hotel, okay? Okay, thats where well stay.
So decision made, I emailed my Dreams Unlimited agent. No response. I waited about 36 hours and still received no response. I had missed out on good deals because of waiting too long before, and didnt want to do so again, so even though I had requested DU to switch the ressie, I went ahead and booked AKL myself. I then emailed my agent with an apology for going ahead and doing it myself and the information for the new reservation for her to cancel the Boardwalk ressie, transfer the deposit to the AKL ressie, and transfer the AKL ressie from my name to the Agencys. Three days later I finally heard back from my agent. All the email said was This was taken care of. Okay
After this, I heard from my DU agent twice more. I had also booked an Illuminations Cruise through DU, but about 3 weeks before the trip decided to cancel it. I sent an email stating this to my agent and the person that handles the cruise reservations, and asked for a confirmation back stating that it had been cancelled, since my credit card number was given at the time the reservation was made. Two days went by and I heard nothing. I had already posted on the Trip Planning board that I had cancelled a cruise and if anyone wanted it they could probably book it. A lady emailed me and said she called and nothing was available. So I called Disney Recreation myself and sure enough, my reservation was still in the system. So I cancelled it myself, emailed Dreams, and let the other lady take my cruise. Jennifer, if youre reading this, I hope your family enjoyed it!
A few days later, I started to get anxious about staying at a new resort. I know it was dumb, but I just started feeling that the hotel would be in shambles and the transportation wouldnt be good, and that the service would be poor. I know now that the grand opening of AKL went off without a hitch, but we decided to switch our ressies. I called for a few days, and finally there was an opening at All Star Movies, which I grabbed. It cost half as much to stay at ASMo so we saved some $$ in the change as well!
I decided I wasnt going to go through with changing my ressie again with Dreams Unlimited, so I just asked my agent to cancel the reservation completely. At this point, she had not gotten any of my requests to make Priority Seatings correct, and wasnt communicating with me at all, so I decided it just wasnt worth the trouble. After I cancelled the reservation, and she acknowledged it and processed the refund, she sent me an email asking me why I wanted to cancel my Illuminations Cruise if I had just booked it the day before. I had no idea of what she meant, since I had sent my request to cancel the cruise about 2 weeks beforehand, had wound up canceling it myself, and notified her of it.
I know it sounds like Im bashing DU, and I know that a lot of people on these boards swear by them, but I think it was my particular agent, as opposed to DU as a company, that caused my problems. I also think Im more the type to just make the arrangements on my own, and be in control of everything, than to rely on someone else to do it for me. This was a large portion of what happened to me during the trip planning, so I felt I should include it.
Well, with all of that done, I was checking Deltas website daily to make sure our flights wouldnt get cancelled with the impending strikes, I made priority seatings at 1900 Park Faire for the Villians Dinner, Ohanas for dinner, Shulas Steakhouse for dinner, and Chef Mickeys for breakfast (which, incidentally, didnt open up until 2 days before our trip). I also made arrangements with Tiffany Towncar to pick us up and return us to the airport, as well as transfer us between the two hotels midweek.
I purchased a digital camera. I also bought a portable DVD player to distract Keith while we were flying. I would highly recommend one of these to anyone travelling with or as a nervous flyer. I bought us both basically entire new summer wardrobes. I set something up with Jane from Gifts of a Lifetime. It was to be a surprise for the both of us. I faxed my room request to the All Star Movies 4 days ahead of time, and made it really cute! Remember this for later on in the story.
During the last week before we left, I didnt think we were going to get there. Keith started getting the jitters, not only about flying, but about leaving his office. His boss was giving him a massive guilt trip, and Keith was buying it hook, line and sinker. So it was a tough go, but finally it came time for .
Day 1 Arrival, Magic Kingdom, and wheres Buzz and Woody?
Characters: Keith, BF, 4th trip to WDW in past 16 months, desperately in need of a vacation
Nicole, me, 5th trip to WDW in past 16 months, also very much in need of a vacation
Dates: April 20 24 at Disney, April 24 28 at Universal.
Location: All Star Movies and Hard Rock Hotel
You can read the first part of this in Trip Planning Part 1
Fast forward a few weeks. I get something in the mail from Loews First. It was an offer for the Hard Rock Hotel for $149/nt. So I called back to change my reservation. Well, the person I spoke to read out my reservation information to me, stating the $169/nt rate and when I told her about the promotional card I had received, she didnt have anything in her system about it, so I had to fax the card to them as proof. She said the supervisor would get back to me. I hadnt heard back the next day, so I called back. The person I spoke to that day, after giving her my confirmation number, read back my ressie info to me and stated a rate of $189/nt! I said, no wait thats wrong. They said thats the rate I had always had and looking at their system, no changes had been made since January, it had only been viewed the day before, no modifications. Well, I just about lost it. I spoke to several more people and many phone calls went back and forth. Since the HRH had never sent me a confirmation letter, it was my word against theirs. They also still claimed to never had heard of the $149/nt rate I was talking about, even though they had the fax right in front of them! Well, after a few days, I finally received a phone call stating that they would honor the $149 rate, and I should consider myself lucky. Her words, not mine! I did receive a letter in the mail confirming this rate. I then purchased 4 park flex tickets from TicketRes (this was when they were still mailing them to your home) good for unlimited admission for 14 days to Universal, Islands of Adventure, Wet and Wild, and Sea World.
Right around this time I was discussing the trip with Keith. Somehow, the rate per night that we were paying at the Boardwalk came up. He just about hit the roof when he heard how much it was. Now, this wasnt the first time I had told him, but he insists that it was. Whether it was or not, he said it was way too much and refused to stay there. Okay, darling, where would you like to stay? Port Orleans, no we already stayed there. Any of the other moderates, no too big? Poly, no ugly. Contemporary, no stupid. Wilderness Lodge, no already stayed there. We already discussed how he felt about Y&B Club. How about the All Stars? Well, only if you can get the Movies. Nope, sold out, but we do have a special at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for $179/nt for a Savannah view. How about that dear, new hotel, okay? Okay, thats where well stay.
So decision made, I emailed my Dreams Unlimited agent. No response. I waited about 36 hours and still received no response. I had missed out on good deals because of waiting too long before, and didnt want to do so again, so even though I had requested DU to switch the ressie, I went ahead and booked AKL myself. I then emailed my agent with an apology for going ahead and doing it myself and the information for the new reservation for her to cancel the Boardwalk ressie, transfer the deposit to the AKL ressie, and transfer the AKL ressie from my name to the Agencys. Three days later I finally heard back from my agent. All the email said was This was taken care of. Okay
After this, I heard from my DU agent twice more. I had also booked an Illuminations Cruise through DU, but about 3 weeks before the trip decided to cancel it. I sent an email stating this to my agent and the person that handles the cruise reservations, and asked for a confirmation back stating that it had been cancelled, since my credit card number was given at the time the reservation was made. Two days went by and I heard nothing. I had already posted on the Trip Planning board that I had cancelled a cruise and if anyone wanted it they could probably book it. A lady emailed me and said she called and nothing was available. So I called Disney Recreation myself and sure enough, my reservation was still in the system. So I cancelled it myself, emailed Dreams, and let the other lady take my cruise. Jennifer, if youre reading this, I hope your family enjoyed it!
A few days later, I started to get anxious about staying at a new resort. I know it was dumb, but I just started feeling that the hotel would be in shambles and the transportation wouldnt be good, and that the service would be poor. I know now that the grand opening of AKL went off without a hitch, but we decided to switch our ressies. I called for a few days, and finally there was an opening at All Star Movies, which I grabbed. It cost half as much to stay at ASMo so we saved some $$ in the change as well!
I decided I wasnt going to go through with changing my ressie again with Dreams Unlimited, so I just asked my agent to cancel the reservation completely. At this point, she had not gotten any of my requests to make Priority Seatings correct, and wasnt communicating with me at all, so I decided it just wasnt worth the trouble. After I cancelled the reservation, and she acknowledged it and processed the refund, she sent me an email asking me why I wanted to cancel my Illuminations Cruise if I had just booked it the day before. I had no idea of what she meant, since I had sent my request to cancel the cruise about 2 weeks beforehand, had wound up canceling it myself, and notified her of it.
I know it sounds like Im bashing DU, and I know that a lot of people on these boards swear by them, but I think it was my particular agent, as opposed to DU as a company, that caused my problems. I also think Im more the type to just make the arrangements on my own, and be in control of everything, than to rely on someone else to do it for me. This was a large portion of what happened to me during the trip planning, so I felt I should include it.
Well, with all of that done, I was checking Deltas website daily to make sure our flights wouldnt get cancelled with the impending strikes, I made priority seatings at 1900 Park Faire for the Villians Dinner, Ohanas for dinner, Shulas Steakhouse for dinner, and Chef Mickeys for breakfast (which, incidentally, didnt open up until 2 days before our trip). I also made arrangements with Tiffany Towncar to pick us up and return us to the airport, as well as transfer us between the two hotels midweek.
I purchased a digital camera. I also bought a portable DVD player to distract Keith while we were flying. I would highly recommend one of these to anyone travelling with or as a nervous flyer. I bought us both basically entire new summer wardrobes. I set something up with Jane from Gifts of a Lifetime. It was to be a surprise for the both of us. I faxed my room request to the All Star Movies 4 days ahead of time, and made it really cute! Remember this for later on in the story.
During the last week before we left, I didnt think we were going to get there. Keith started getting the jitters, not only about flying, but about leaving his office. His boss was giving him a massive guilt trip, and Keith was buying it hook, line and sinker. So it was a tough go, but finally it came time for .
Day 1 Arrival, Magic Kingdom, and wheres Buzz and Woody?
Nah, just kidding, planning's the second best part, right? Can't wait to read the rest of your report, especially the Gifts of a Lifetime part, I'm using them for an anniversary event in June.
