glennbo123
DIS Legend
- Joined
- May 10, 2008
- Messages
- 10,236
Welcome to my oft-requested, much anticipated, eagerly awaited (all much to my surprise, mind you) 2010 pre-trip report. Im hopeful that with the participation of all of you witty DISers out there, together we can make it a fun forum.
A great big
to everyone coming over from my 2009 trip report, "I Paid Someone $5 for a Catchy Trip Report Title, and This is All I Got". If you havent read it, thats okay, but when you get a moment, why not take some time and check it out? After all, the link to it is right there. Just three sentences back. Now, dont count sentences
just go back and click. Click it! Click it!
Its okay to lurk here, but its always nice to post that youre reading along. And if you do, I promise to give you a in return!
This 2010 trip will be our fourth family trip to WDW. Part of the trip will be an incentive award for my wifes direct-selling business, and for the remainder well use DVC points. I dont think I should spell-out the name of the direct-selling business, which isnt too hard to figure out if youre familiar with their line of kitchen tools, but I will undoubtedly need to refer to it a lot as I go along here in this PTR, so from now on Ill call it PChef.
This leads to me discuss how I arrived at the PTR title, The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever. We had a few other good ones vying for contention. One, which followed the train of thought from my last trip report title, was Im Determined Not to Have a Lame Trip Report Title This Time -- Ooops, Too Late. But I thought, if I dont break the cycle now, Ill never be able to. Plus, its kind of long. Another title contender (Ha! Literally, a title contender) referred to all of the pressure the readers of my 2009 trip report were putting on me to begin a PTR for 2010. I (and others simultaneously!) came up with, The Because You DISers Made Me PTR PTR. This was a very tempting title as well, and I had hard time deciding. I asked my family what they thought, and in typical fashion, we had no clear winner. In the end, as you can see, I went with the one that was the most descriptive of the trip (and the one my wife liked best -- gotta keep her happy!).
So, what makes this upcoming trip a paradoxical, oxymoronic expensive free trip? Several things first, the award is a trip for four people and were a family of five, so one person will have to be bought in, which is expensive in itself (maybe Ill get into that in a future post). Secondly, a new development for this trip is that rather than supplying air tickets to trip recipients, PChef is including a travel allowance, and the amount will probably only cover about half of our airfare. Thirdly, were not sure yet, but because there are five of us we may have to pay for an extra hotel room, which we may split with another family. Thats yet to be worked-out, but potential additional $$. Add to that the cost meals, souvenirs, upgrading tickets, etc., etc., and well, you get the idea. And forgive me if I sound like Im complaining. I know lots of you out there wouldnt sneeze at receiving a travel allowance, a few nights hotel paid for, and four 3-day tickets. And I dont begrudge PChef in what theyre including or not including in the award, either. Had Judy been able to earn a higher-level award, we would get a bigger travel allowance and nicer accommodations. Having different tiers of awards is actually a good way to be able to include all types of achievers and reward them appropriately. Its just that other people hear about these trips and exclaim, I cant believe you won a free trip!!, a statement with a couple of problems. First (here I got with these lists again, what is up with me?), when someone refers to it as winning, as if her name was drawn at random in a lottery, it makes the hair stand up on the back of my wifes neck and her eye twitch, cause it was a lot of hard work. She prefers to say she earned the trip, not won it. And then the free thing again. But the higher the award you achieve, the better the reward.
Okay, it appears that the guy who had nothing to say in a PTR is rambling like a madman
, so lets get to some specifics:
When Sat. June 12 or Sun. June 13 through Sun. June 20, 2010
Where Split-stay Coronado Springs and AKL Kidani Village
Who the same cast of characters as last time myself, DW Judy, DD16 Lauren, DD13 Marlene, DS10 James. Here we are, out at the Polynesians monorail stop after a great Ohana dinner in 2009.
And, the Who may be extended to bunches and bunches of PChef consultants and families. If youre also in the World the week were there, youll know something is up, believe me.
I was a little afraid to write a PTR, in that I didnt know what Id even write about, but in thinking about it, there are lots of things yet to be worked out. For example, its December and Judy hasnt officially earned the trip yet
, so weve got to follow that progress. She also has other consultants below her in the reporting hierarchy who are close to earning the trip, but may not make it. Then, theres the whole aspect of traveling with her PChef consultant friends, and how do we make touring plans and ADRs around that?
So, stay tuned!
Ill save this area below for links to pertinent installments:
Ch. 1 - An amorphous mass of unknowns and issues
Ch. 2 - Organized thoughts have begun to replace the amorphous mass
Ch. 3 - Master Plan boiled down to a spreadsheet
Ch. 4 - How will I fare on airfare?
Ch. 5 - The incentive trip year-end dust has settled
Ch. 6 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 1 - Antwerp, Belgium
Ch. 7 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 2 - More Antwerp Belgium
Ch. 8 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 3 - Amsterdam Netherlands
Ch. 9 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 3 - Glennbo's Gluttony in Antwerp
Ch. 10 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 4 - Vienna arrival
Ch. 11 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 5 - Touring Schonbrunn
Ch. 12 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 5 - A Little Night Music
Ch. 13 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Touring Naschmarkt
Ch. 14 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Mozart Walking Tour
Ch. 15 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Vienna by Night
Ch. 16 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Touring Karlskirche
Ch. 17 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Afternoon Wanderings
Ch. 18 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Dinner at the Palace
Ch. 19 - Snow Update
Ch. 20 - Blizzard, but no Beach
Ch. 21 - Where are we now?
Ch. 22 - Good morning Miss Crabtree
Ch. 23 - Sushi can be fast food
Ch. 24 - Quick little game to get us back on track
Ch. 25 - Quick little game results
Ch. 26 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 1 - An alarming thing happened at Sonic
Ch. 27 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 2 - Glennbo gets the run-around
Ch. 28 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 3 - James' Journey to Atlantis
Ch. 29 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 3 - Sea World shows, shows, and more shows
Ch. 30a- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 4 - It may be a Small World, but...
Ch. 30b- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 4 - It may be a Small World, but...(continuation)
Ch. 31 - Ticket to Nowhere
Ch. 32 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 5 - A three-hour tour, A three-hour tour
Ch. 33 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 5 - Crown a new videogame king at Innoventions
Ch. 34 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 6 - Popcorn in the rain at Animal Kingdom
Ch. 35 - Forty days away!
Ch. 36 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - Star Wars characters at MGM, there are
Ch. 37a- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - But Dad, what about my Jedi training?
Ch. 37b- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - But Dad, what about my Jedi training? (continuation)
Ch. 38 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - Fantasmic! Take One
Ch. 39 - Two dozen day planning update
Ch. 40 - Backyard in Panavision and Camping pics
Ch. 41 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 8 - Fantasmic! Take Two
Ch. 42 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 9 - Saying goodbye to Port Orleans Riverside
Ch. 43 - Fixin' to leave!
Ch. 44 - We're back! (and replies to posts while away)
A great big
to everyone coming over from my 2009 trip report, "I Paid Someone $5 for a Catchy Trip Report Title, and This is All I Got". If you havent read it, thats okay, but when you get a moment, why not take some time and check it out? After all, the link to it is right there. Just three sentences back. Now, dont count sentences
just go back and click. Click it! Click it!Its okay to lurk here, but its always nice to post that youre reading along. And if you do, I promise to give you a
in return!This 2010 trip will be our fourth family trip to WDW. Part of the trip will be an incentive award for my wifes direct-selling business, and for the remainder well use DVC points. I dont think I should spell-out the name of the direct-selling business, which isnt too hard to figure out if youre familiar with their line of kitchen tools, but I will undoubtedly need to refer to it a lot as I go along here in this PTR, so from now on Ill call it PChef.
This leads to me discuss how I arrived at the PTR title, The Most Expensive Free Trip Ever. We had a few other good ones vying for contention. One, which followed the train of thought from my last trip report title, was Im Determined Not to Have a Lame Trip Report Title This Time -- Ooops, Too Late. But I thought, if I dont break the cycle now, Ill never be able to. Plus, its kind of long. Another title contender (Ha! Literally, a title contender) referred to all of the pressure the readers of my 2009 trip report were putting on me to begin a PTR for 2010. I (and others simultaneously!) came up with, The Because You DISers Made Me PTR PTR. This was a very tempting title as well, and I had hard time deciding. I asked my family what they thought, and in typical fashion, we had no clear winner. In the end, as you can see, I went with the one that was the most descriptive of the trip (and the one my wife liked best -- gotta keep her happy!).
So, what makes this upcoming trip a paradoxical, oxymoronic expensive free trip? Several things first, the award is a trip for four people and were a family of five, so one person will have to be bought in, which is expensive in itself (maybe Ill get into that in a future post). Secondly, a new development for this trip is that rather than supplying air tickets to trip recipients, PChef is including a travel allowance, and the amount will probably only cover about half of our airfare. Thirdly, were not sure yet, but because there are five of us we may have to pay for an extra hotel room, which we may split with another family. Thats yet to be worked-out, but potential additional $$. Add to that the cost meals, souvenirs, upgrading tickets, etc., etc., and well, you get the idea. And forgive me if I sound like Im complaining. I know lots of you out there wouldnt sneeze at receiving a travel allowance, a few nights hotel paid for, and four 3-day tickets. And I dont begrudge PChef in what theyre including or not including in the award, either. Had Judy been able to earn a higher-level award, we would get a bigger travel allowance and nicer accommodations. Having different tiers of awards is actually a good way to be able to include all types of achievers and reward them appropriately. Its just that other people hear about these trips and exclaim, I cant believe you won a free trip!!, a statement with a couple of problems. First (here I got with these lists again, what is up with me?), when someone refers to it as winning, as if her name was drawn at random in a lottery, it makes the hair stand up on the back of my wifes neck and her eye twitch, cause it was a lot of hard work. She prefers to say she earned the trip, not won it. And then the free thing again. But the higher the award you achieve, the better the reward.
Okay, it appears that the guy who had nothing to say in a PTR is rambling like a madman
, so lets get to some specifics:When Sat. June 12 or Sun. June 13 through Sun. June 20, 2010
Where Split-stay Coronado Springs and AKL Kidani Village
Who the same cast of characters as last time myself, DW Judy, DD16 Lauren, DD13 Marlene, DS10 James. Here we are, out at the Polynesians monorail stop after a great Ohana dinner in 2009.
And, the Who may be extended to bunches and bunches of PChef consultants and families. If youre also in the World the week were there, youll know something is up, believe me.
I was a little afraid to write a PTR, in that I didnt know what Id even write about, but in thinking about it, there are lots of things yet to be worked out. For example, its December and Judy hasnt officially earned the trip yet
, so weve got to follow that progress. She also has other consultants below her in the reporting hierarchy who are close to earning the trip, but may not make it. Then, theres the whole aspect of traveling with her PChef consultant friends, and how do we make touring plans and ADRs around that?So, stay tuned!
Ill save this area below for links to pertinent installments:
Ch. 1 - An amorphous mass of unknowns and issues
Ch. 2 - Organized thoughts have begun to replace the amorphous mass
Ch. 3 - Master Plan boiled down to a spreadsheet
Ch. 4 - How will I fare on airfare?
Ch. 5 - The incentive trip year-end dust has settled
Ch. 6 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 1 - Antwerp, Belgium
Ch. 7 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 2 - More Antwerp Belgium
Ch. 8 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 3 - Amsterdam Netherlands
Ch. 9 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 3 - Glennbo's Gluttony in Antwerp
Ch. 10 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 4 - Vienna arrival
Ch. 11 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 5 - Touring Schonbrunn
Ch. 12 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 5 - A Little Night Music
Ch. 13 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Touring Naschmarkt
Ch. 14 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Mozart Walking Tour
Ch. 15 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 6 - Vienna by Night
Ch. 16 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Touring Karlskirche
Ch. 17 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Afternoon Wanderings
Ch. 18 - Flashback PChef TR - Day 7 - Dinner at the Palace
Ch. 19 - Snow Update
Ch. 20 - Blizzard, but no Beach
Ch. 21 - Where are we now?
Ch. 22 - Good morning Miss Crabtree
Ch. 23 - Sushi can be fast food
Ch. 24 - Quick little game to get us back on track
Ch. 25 - Quick little game results
Ch. 26 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 1 - An alarming thing happened at Sonic
Ch. 27 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 2 - Glennbo gets the run-around
Ch. 28 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 3 - James' Journey to Atlantis
Ch. 29 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 3 - Sea World shows, shows, and more shows
Ch. 30a- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 4 - It may be a Small World, but...
Ch. 30b- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 4 - It may be a Small World, but...(continuation)
Ch. 31 - Ticket to Nowhere
Ch. 32 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 5 - A three-hour tour, A three-hour tour
Ch. 33 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 5 - Crown a new videogame king at Innoventions
Ch. 34 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 6 - Popcorn in the rain at Animal Kingdom
Ch. 35 - Forty days away!
Ch. 36 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - Star Wars characters at MGM, there are
Ch. 37a- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - But Dad, what about my Jedi training?
Ch. 37b- Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - But Dad, what about my Jedi training? (continuation)
Ch. 38 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 7 - Fantasmic! Take One
Ch. 39 - Two dozen day planning update
Ch. 40 - Backyard in Panavision and Camping pics
Ch. 41 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 8 - Fantasmic! Take Two
Ch. 42 - Flashback '05 PChef WDW TR - Day 9 - Saying goodbye to Port Orleans Riverside
Ch. 43 - Fixin' to leave!
Ch. 44 - We're back! (and replies to posts while away)
First post! I'm here to follow along on all the fun!
right on the spot!
, Keep up the hard work, Judy!!!
Over from Jordan's report...how could I not listen to a pimp wearing a blue suit with a pink shirt? 
Or was it the feathered boa? 
