The most fantastic, magical things can happen ............... Day 03 Update/July 18

[englishrose47]

All caught up and ready to read more !!!! As always LOVE your TR,s !!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Well, that check-in was certainly less than magical! All I need is a pleasant CM who is welcoming and wants to do what they can to help the beginning of my stay feel happy....those CMs certainly missed the class on guest service!

At least the AP turned out not to be an issue, but a little Dust!

That breakfast looks really yummy! I cannot eat at WGP for lunch or supper because their signature ingredient is garlic, which I cannot touch or even smell...makes me terribly ill. Only place that could not make something plain for me - but breakfast could be the winner!

Haven't visited F&G since 2005 - definitely overdo! It's gorgeous then and I hope to get back one of these years.

I hope Tom feels as good as he looks in the photo!

All caught up!! This is going to be another delightful TR. Will your summer PTR be rolled into this one or is there another link for that one? Do not want to miss the planning.

 

[Poolrat]

Did you buy the annual pass with the blockout dates?

Right now we have 5 day tickets that we will convert to APs when we get there. Likely the Gold passes since we are not travelling during the blockout dates while we have them, it will save us the money. I am going to enjoy having PP for the length of the AP. That perk I am happy about.

I would not have minded the valet parking so much had it not been for transporting ALL of our luggage.

They make you valet park and then NO service to deal with your luggage is NOT COOL.

Check out was easy and done quickly and I returned to Tom who told me that he had handed in our slip of paper, but he had been told it might take a while. Well, a while it took. We were standing there for half an hour and finally all the people who had been waiting with us had gotten in their cars and driven off and we were sure ours would be brought by soon.

AARGH and now the only option available last night is holding your car hostage the next morning.

Well, it wasn’t. We waited and waited and waited some more until one of the valets asked if we still waited for our car. Yes, we are still waiting. So she looked for our key and one of the valets went running. Took about 5 minutes and then our ride arrived.

Hope that nonsense is over with - On to Beach Club.

Now, I had done online check in and was thinking that check in would be a breeze. So we walked in, were greeted in a very friendly way and then looked for the on-line check in counter. Thank god for online check in, as there were quite long lines at the two other counters. There were two cast members laughing and joking while we waited.

OKAY- Surely they will help you soon.

We must have been standing there for several minutes until one of them turned to us and asked if we were waiting for something.
Yes, we wanted to check in.
“You have to get in line over there!” – “But we have done online check in!” – “You have to get in line over there!” O-kay!

WHAAAAATTTT?!?!?!?!?!? Yeesh.

Not very happy, but we got in line, we were on vacation and these cast members were not to be disturbed. So we waited in line for another 10 minutes, then got to the front of the line and a cast member. We told her that we wanted to check in and had done online check in and she pointed to the two other cast members.

Oh that's when I would have said something like - "Well they pointed us over here because they appeared to be busy...."

I was not going to get over there again and told her that they had sent us here and would she please check us in. No problem! I handed her my paper work and she found us in the system, told us that there was already a credit card on file and did we have any form of ID.
Yes, we did and we handed her our driver’s licenses.
She looked at them, turned them around and then said that she needed to see a passport.
Now, we have checked in with our driver’s licenses several times and our passports were in one of the big bags in the car.
Could she just check us in and we would come back later to pick up keys? NO! She needed a passport and she needed it now.

Oh Good grief abou the needing the buried passporrts - When did that change?
Well I guess it could have been an empty front desk area and they send you to the kiosk by the villas with a long line to check in DVC guests.

.

Okay, that meant that we had to walk all the way over to the parking lot and go find the passports and trek back again. Well, not happening. We walked over to the car, found the passports after a few minutes of unloading and loading again, got in the car and drove over to the front entrance, where we were told they were very busy and could we park in the self park lot.

Thankfully I didn’t have anything to throw, so I just told the guy that we had done that and I was not going to go back to the parking lot.
So in the end we were allowed to park close to the front entrance.
Guess what, when we got back there were lines again.

Well at least you did not hurt the guy. Yet....

We did not even bother with online check in and happily enough it was another cast member who checked us in. She was really nice and apologized that our room was not ready, but they would text us. So I asked if they could text a “foreign” phone and no they could not, but she could email us. Now, that would work. She handed us our magic bands and we were finally checked in and my mood had gotten back to where it had been before check in

Now if she just took my Drivers License at that point I really would have blown my top. I think I would have raised a bit of a stink as to how much time they just wasted to have some compensation thrown my way. A few FP+ might have helped my mood by then.

Outside we asked to have our luggage stored and then finally drove to the parking lot to park the car.

Yeesh. That should not have been that hard.

We needed to pick up our annual passes and headed to guest services. The cast member was struggling with his computer and I got worried, because I had bought the voucher more than a year ago and they had changed to block out annual passes – well, that was not what I had wanted. But it turned all out well, our annual passes turned into platinum passes, which even gave us free photopass, something we had not used in a long time. And just a minute later we found ourselves scanning our new annual passes and heading into the park.

Glad that THAT went smoothly. I have had my share of " forgotten" room ready texts, and more recently leaky sinks, wet carpet and a totally forgotten birthday!. Beach Club is needing to step it up a bit.

 

[Flossbolna]

You are moving at lightening speed with your trip report!!! I guess you want them all done before you go on your month long vacation this summer!

The whole check in sounds horrible!! However, I think the CM was right about requiring the passport. The US does not recognize foreign drivers licenses as "government issued ID", only passports are considered to be valid ID if it is a non-US government issuing the ID. I once had an American friend explaining this to me in detail. And in a sense it makes sense. That is why if I can travel on my German ID-card to another country, there needs to be a special treaty in place that this country accepts this. I think most people working in the US are not taking it that literally therefore I was able to use my drivers license or ID-card quite a lot for identification purposes. The friend however told me that for example a server could get into trouble if they served alcohol to someone under 21 who had given them a foreign drivers license and not the passport. Do I think the CM was a bit over the top with that? Yes, of course! And I do think that she should have given you the opportunity to go and get one passport and then return to her immediately, or figure out something else that you don't have to wait for ages again. Maybe get a manager to help you out!

Somehow it seems that this trip was not off to a very magical start with the Wyndham and then Disney not showing its good side either!! At least the APs worked out!

As to Hotel Boulevard: We picked up our rental car on our last trip at the Wyndham and I was not impressed with the public areas either, it just looked so tired. I have heard great things about the Hilton though! I think some are just better than others in that area... Maybe just staying at the Hyatt at the airport would be a better way to safe points that first night? That way you could pick up the rental car the next morning and have an early start.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Your meals at WPE look delicious! It's been a while since I've been there but I do remember it being good. The pizzas look even better than I remember, especially that breakfast pizza!
Sorry your BC check-in wasn't the smoothest process. I can't believe they made you trek back to the car for passports. I think those drinks are well deserved at Epcot!! The tiki torch sounds great! I am not a huge drinker myself but I had a few drinks around the world during F &G. I missed that Tiki Torch though! There were too many things to drink and eat! Can't wait to read more about your trek around Epcot!

 

[Kiren]

Ah! Another one! So exciting! I love your trip reports! I haven't finished one yet.. But I'm determined to finish this one!

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a time that you had checking in and out of your hotel! I'm sure that you and Tom were ready to just get to Disney Springs and start soaking up the magic. Your trip reports were what convinced us to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express several years ago and we have been back time and time again.

Then, you had to deal with confusion all over again when you were trying to check into your Disney resort too. You poor things!

 

[rteetz]

I am joining in! I remember reading past TRs of yours so I can't wait to dive into this one!

 

[dizneeat]

Oh my goodness, I am appalled at all to un-Disney like CMs in one place. Im sorry all that negativity was happening

If I hadn't checked into all kinds of hotels using a drivers licence I would not even have questioned it. And if she needs one, she needs one, so why take my licence in the first place. She was blissfully aware that we were from out of country. What really stuck out was the tone in which she demanded the passport.
Ah well, water under the bridge by now.

What fun to get together with friends for breakfast though. I have never managed to get to Disney Springs early enough for breakfast.

When Teresa told me they were with their daughter and would make the drive to Orlando to see us, I was just over the moon!! We had met Mick and Teresa on the Wonder when we were tablemates and it turned out we both used to frequent the DISboards! Ever since (2010) we wanted to cruise together again and it never worked out. So this was one of the best mornings ever!

Did Tom like the moonshine? I've heard it's powerful stuff!

He still has not tried it yet. He tells me ever so often to take a good picture of it, so he can open it, and so far I have not gotten around to it.

Yay for getting into Epcot and that the vouchers were exchanged for Platinum passes.

I was really worried about the vouchers now that they have those tiered APs. One with blockout dates would have shut us right out. But Disney made it ALL right. See ... Magic!

Wow, your hotel experiences have not been magical! Glad the Ap vouchers worked out so well. I really hope the rest of your trip is more magical.

Jill in CO

It was a bit rough checking in, but at least at Disney they DID bring our luggage to the room and we did not have to haul it ourselves. So happy the APs are platinum ones and will give us photopass as well.
We had a great trip, even with those bumps in the road.

Wow what is the deal with WDW and customer service. Sorry they weren't too magical at check-in. Remember we thought it was great using the magic bands to skip check in and going straight to our room at Pop, only to be given a dirty room. At least they were able to get us into a clean room without us having to walk all the way back to check-in. My co-worker had a bad check-in experience with no customer service at Port Orleans-Riverside on her Disneymoon. I felt bad because I had bragged that we had great service there and then it was not so good. I hope Disney improves on this.

Oh Teri, I completely forgot about your problems at check in. Is that some new "magical feature" they are adding. Bad check in .... so they can pixie dust you with a clean room. No honestly, given your bad experience and ours something needs to be done here.

subbing and going back to read

Rosie!
It would not be the same without you!

 

[dizneeat]

All caught up and ready to read more !!!! As always LOVE your TR,s !!

Awesome Rosie! And I am very happy to hear that you enjoy reading my TRs!

Well, that check-in was certainly less than magical! All I need is a pleasant CM who is welcoming and wants to do what they can to help the beginning of my stay feel happy....those CMs certainly missed the class on guest service!

You know I would understand rules if they stuck to them, but in that case it was just the tone in which she demanded that even though I had asked if a drivers license would do and she had taken it, she NEEDED to see a passport and there was nothing she could do without it. After being in line for quite a while and just wanting to pick up our magic bands - well, it was frustrating.

At least the AP turned out not to be an issue, but a little Dust!

I was so sorry for that Cast Member, as he tried so hard and the computer would die on him right in the middle of the transaction. But he was still fun and trying to entertain and keep us amused. This is what I call true Disney service.

That breakfast looks really yummy! I cannot eat at WGP for lunch or supper because their signature ingredient is garlic, which I cannot touch or even smell...makes me terribly ill. Only place that could not make something plain for me - but breakfast could be the winner!

Sorry to hear that you cannot dine at WPE. But they make yummy waffles and their cornflakes crusted french toast is really nice too - you just need someone to share it with (Sophia?), as the portion is HUGE!

Haven't visited F&G since 2005 - definitely overdo! It's gorgeous then and I hope to get back one of these years.

We had a peek last year during Tom's birthday trip and it was SO awesome, so it was really wonderful to be able to go back and enjoy it and stay for a longer time.

I hope Tom feels as good as he looks in the photo!

Vacation lets him forget what is going on here. He was happy on the trip.

All caught up!! This is going to be another delightful TR. Will your summer PTR be rolled into this one or is there another link for that one? Do not want to miss the planning.

I am trying to include planning here. I haven't had time to start it yet, but I will do so soon. I promise!

Right now we have 5 day tickets that we will convert to APs when we get there. Likely the Gold passes since we are not travelling during the blockout dates while we have them, it will save us the money. I am going to enjoy having PP for the length of the AP. That perk I am happy about.

Great idea! I wish we could travel any other time then the height of the season. Having PP is awesome. We didn't even know there were ride videos and they magically appeared in our account. Can't wait to get even more in the summer!

They make you valet park and then NO service to deal with your luggage is NOT COOL.

No fun, I tell you!

AARGH and now the only option available last night is holding your car hostage the next morning.

That comment made me laugh. I didn't even think of it that way, but you are right, they held our car hostage.

Oh Good grief abou the needing the buried passporrts - When did that change?
Well I guess it could have been an empty front desk area and they send you to the kiosk by the villas with a long line to check in DVC guests.

Thing is, we had done online check in and would we not have had to pick up our magic bands we could have skipped the front desk. So that makes the whole passport thing even worse. And if her tone had been nicer, I might not have gotten so angry.

Well at least you did not hurt the guy. Yet....

Glad that THAT went smoothly. I have had my share of " forgotten" room ready texts, and more recently leaky sinks, wet carpet and a totally forgotten birthday!. Beach Club is needing to step it up a bit.

We have NEVER before gotten that room ready email. I do understand they cannot text to a "foreign" phone, but email was a great option and it worked like clockwork. LOVED the room as they granted all our requests.

 

[englishrose47]

Poor you with the check in !! However I hear that even in the US flights are going to start requiring a passport to fly!! I'm glad I have mine ,but it seems a little much to need a passport in your own country !!

 

[nenglim]

joining in...

 

[dizneeat]

You are moving at lightening speed with your trip report!!! I guess you want them all done before you go on your month long vacation this summer!

Trying to juggle three trip reports is the most I can do. This is why I am going to include the PTR here as well. Even I don't need any other confusion. And yes, I want as much done as I can before we leave for our summer vacation and we are already under three months.

The whole check in sounds horrible!! However, I think the CM was right about requiring the passport. The US does not recognize foreign drivers licenses as "government issued ID", only passports are considered to be valid ID if it is a non-US government issuing the ID. I once had an American friend explaining this to me in detail. And in a sense it makes sense. That is why if I can travel on my German ID-card to another country, there needs to be a special treaty in place that this country accepts this. I think most people working in the US are not taking it that literally therefore I was able to use my drivers license or ID-card quite a lot for identification purposes. The friend however told me that for example a server could get into trouble if they served alcohol to someone under 21 who had given them a foreign drivers license and not the passport. Do I think the CM was a bit over the top with that? Yes, of course! And I do think that she should have given you the opportunity to go and get one passport and then return to her immediately, or figure out something else that you don't have to wait for ages again. Maybe get a manager to help you out!

If I hadn't checked in at numerous hotels with just my drivers license (since we got the little card ones) I would not have minded at all, but ..... we did online check in, so all I practically needed to do was picking up magic bands! I do not believe you need a passport to pick up your magic band AND you know the old saying - it's the tone that makes the music. Well, her tone didn't make any music it was just rude the way she said it and that was what really upset me.

Oh, and btw I would not even try to check in here in Europe with just my drivers license.

Somehow it seems that this trip was not off to a very magical start with the Wyndham and then Disney not showing its good side either!! At least the APs worked out!

It started off well with the flight, then hit a bump with the Wyndham, had a great high with meeting Teresa and family and hit another bump at check in. But all in all the good things outweighed the speedbumps.

As to Hotel Boulevard: We picked up our rental car on our last trip at the Wyndham and I was not impressed with the public areas either, it just looked so tired. I have heard great things about the Hilton though! I think some are just better than others in that area... Maybe just staying at the Hyatt at the airport would be a better way to safe points that first night? That way you could pick up the rental car the next morning and have an early start.

The main purpose of staying at Hotel Boulevard in the first place was the short walk to Disney Springs. So that made the Wyndham stand out (at least on Google Earth). And we have stayed at the Hyatt at the airport before - downside - NO WPE anywhere near and we were desperate.

Your meals at WPE look delicious! It's been a while since I've been there but I do remember it being good. The pizzas look even better than I remember, especially that breakfast pizza!

WPE food is really good. We really love it there and I have always been a huge fan of the breakfast pizza. It used to come with spirals of ranch dressing on top and was delicious. Since they stopped the ranch dressing I really make sure they add some when we order - I would recommend it with dressing!

I think those drinks are well deserved at Epcot!! The tiki torch sounds great! I am not a huge drinker myself but I had a few drinks around the world during F &G. I missed that Tiki Torch though! There were too many things to drink and eat! Can't wait to read more about your trek around Epcot!

It was a really good drink and I liked it even more than I had thought. I don't drink much at home, but having a drink "with an umbrella in it" spells vacation to me. It was a short walk around world showcase to check everything out and indulge in some tasty treats but we were back to Epcot quite few times.

Ah! Another one! So exciting! I love your trip reports! I haven't finished one yet.. But I'm determined to finish this one!

Great you have come back to read another TR!
I am as determined to finish this one (in time) as you are reading it.

What a time that you had checking in and out of your hotel! I'm sure that you and Tom were ready to just get to Disney Springs and start soaking up the magic.

We were so looking forward to dinner at WPE as we had not been there in a year and a half. And once we crossed that bridge over to Disney Springs we could feel that the vacation had begun.

Your trip reports were what convinced us to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express several years ago and we have been back time and time again.

Thank you for giving our fellow Austrian chef a try ...... and you even came back!

Then, you had to deal with confusion all over again when you were trying to check into your Disney resort too. You poor things!

At least my biggest worry - the AP - turned out to be a great success. Since I had been holding on to the voucher for more than a year I was a bit worried they would only exchange it for one with blockout dates, but we got really lucky here!

 

[dizneeat]

I am joining in! I remember reading past TRs of yours so I can't wait to dive into this one!

Glad you came back to read about our newest adventure!

Poor you with the check in !! However I hear that even in the US flights are going to start requiring a passport to fly!! I'm glad I have mine ,but it seems a little much to need a passport in your own country !!

It all worked out in the end, Rosie! I guess we were just eager to head to Epcot after the long time we had not been there.
And as for flying with a passport - I am ALL for it. Drivers licenses can so easily be duplicated - a passport is much saver and in times like ours right now with the threat of terrorism all around I'd rather show my passport and be safe than otherwise.

joining in...

Great to have you on board!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 2, March 21

Long time no see! - Part 2

When we reached the USA we decided to finally try some of the food offerings.
So we ordered the

Pulled Pig Slider with Crispy Onions and Coleslaw, the

Smoked Pork Ribs with Roasted Corn Salad, a

Shipyard Maple Bacon Stout and a bottle of water. We quickly found a table and dug in and it was really nice. Unfortunately we had chosen a table in the shade and everything including us got cold very quickly.
So instead of lingering any longer we soon made a move on.
We strolled further along to Japan and then Morocco and stopped at the Florida Fresh kiosk. We ordered the

Shrimp and Stone-ground Grits with Andouille Sausage, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Cilantro which we shared and we still had some of the water left to wash it down with. Once we had finished it we knew it was about time to leave so we strolled toward the International Gateway and left the park and walked back to the Beach Club’s main entrance.
We walked through the gift shop and over to the villas. Up to the 5th floor we went.
I just love it, when they honour a request, and we had asked for a higher floor. There we started the trek to our room. It was way at the end of the hallway, but so close to the elevator near the pool.
Tapped the magic band against the door and it opened.
It was a lovely room

with a full balcony with a view of the road behind the hotel,

but that was fine with us. I started taking room photos and after those were done we freshened up a bit and Tom went to the car to get the stuff we had left inside. And then we headed down again to go to bell services and hand in our receipt for our luggage and to ask to have our Owner’s Locker box delivered.
They told us it would be around 15 minutes, which was fine with us and on the way back to the room we stopped at the gift shop again and picked up a few bits and pieces. Back in the room we waited for our luggage and after 20 minutes we got a bit antsy as we had an ADR we needed to get to.
But soon there was a knock on the door and our luggage including the big purple box were delivered. I went right to unpack a few things from one of our suitcases as it had presents for our friends, who we were meeting in just a few minutes. We put everything on top of the dresser and then headed out the door.
It was just a short walk over to Beaches and Cream, where we signed in for us and for our friends as we had had to get two tables. They were very helpful at Beaches and Cream and told us to let them know when the rest of our party had arrived and they would seat us all together. Yippie! That done we texted Teresa and let her know that we were at Beaches and Cream.

To be continued ..........​

 

[rteetz]

That food looks great!

Awesome room! We stayed BC with a first floor lagoon view this January and had an awesome view of the Star Wars fireworks. I'm glad they honored your request too.

I've never eaten at Beaches and Cream but I have done ice cream there a few times and it is one of my favorites.

 

[dizneeat]

That food looks great!

It was delicious!

Awesome room! We stayed BC with a first floor lagoon view this January and had an awesome view of the Star Wars fireworks. I'm glad they honored your request too.

It was a really great room and we were even able to catch Illuminations from the balcony, as we found out later. It was perfect for us and they do a great job meeting those requests!

I've never eaten at Beaches and Cream but I have done ice cream there a few times and it is one of my favorites.

We did have ice-cream this time, but we have eaten at B&C several times and the food is really good. Worth getting the ADR and waiting for the table, plus you always know that you are going to have one great dessert.

 

[franandaj]

What rude CMs! They are really stressing the no foreign drivers licenses now. I noticed that most of the stands in the parks that sell alcohol have signs up stating that you must have a passport for ID. Someone must have got busted and now they are putting their fists down. We had that food from America yesterday and it was divine! I never got the Tiki Torch, and now we're done with Epcot for this trip.

I hope things get better with your trip from here on out!

 

[dizneeat]

What rude CMs! They are really stressing the no foreign drivers licenses now. I noticed that most of the stands in the parks that sell alcohol have signs up stating that you must have a passport for ID. Someone must have got busted and now they are putting their fists down.

Isn't it funny, that any American can check in without even going to the front desk? I guess we might try and forgo the magic bands and use an old one. Guess then they won't even see a drivers license.
And having to produce a passport was less the issue than the tone the young lady was using. This was what really got me going. But I guess bad experiences at check in are something that becomes even more common. My friend Teresa just reminded me of her bad experiences when they checked into Pop the day before. Hope it gets better again soon.

We had that food from America yesterday and it was divine! I never got the Tiki Torch, and now we're done with Epcot for this trip.

It was really good. Remembering now, I think most of what we tried was yummy. And guess what, I was not too sure if I would like the Tiki Torch, as we are not used to those icy drinks and I think it had some tropical fruit that I was not sure about, but it was really tasty and there was a lot of alcohol in it.

I hope things get better with your trip from here on out!

We took those things as speed bumps. We had been so looking forward to the trip that we kind of forgot about those speed bumps a short time later.

 

[pas130]

Ugh not a magical check in at all! But yummmmmmmmmmm with the food pics! I had that Tiki drink with the Grey Goose last month, and DH and I loved it