mariamouse
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2001
- Messages
- 1,784
pas130, bowbat and pixarmom-- I'm glad that you found the review helpful. I try not to "sugar coat" my reviews, but do hope that the main takeaway is that we had a great stay. I wish we could repeat it all over again. 
pas130- your DH is right, but I agree with you that it is definitely worth seeing at least once! We felt that MVMCP and the resort decorations made the entire trip worthwhile.
bowbat- I definitely believe you that one can get used to it quickly! Come late January, I want to be away from the cold entirely! I do love my snow in December, though..
pixarmom- Your memory serves you correctly! As crazy as it sounds to me to say now, I joined the DIS when I was 11. I developed a passion for WDW when I was in elementary school and, by 6th grade, had developed an even stronger passion for WDW hotel planning... random, I know! My mom came across this site while helping me research for our trip to the CR in 2001 and suggested that I join since I loved planning so much. Given that my dad and siblings are not that crazy about WDW and my mom only had a "normal" passion for it at the time, I suppose I was a bit of an anomaly. My mom's love for WDW has almost grown to my level now, but I am still the only family member (or person I know, for that matter) on the DIS.
Interestingly, I never posted on any of the teenage or community/for fun forums when I first joined. I only knew about the trip planning forums and exclusively posted advice/questions there since I did not care about much else. I found that some DISers would not realistically take the hotel advice of an 11-yr old, though, so often just posted as if I was my mom since it required less explanation and I did not enjoy being patronized. I was always pretty mature, though, and did not have trouble writing convincingly as an "adult." As time went on, I gradually shifted to writing from my perspective and was able to help out DISers with questions pertaining to kids that were my age. Nearly eleven years later, I am an adult myself. Time flies. Looking back, it was sort of weird that I felt the need to portray myself as someone older, but I suppose that is just how I saw myself when it came to planning. I researched and knew a LOT even at age 11 and wanted to be taken seriously.
Given that you already know your children's planned screenames and are on the DIS yourself, I do not think it would be too difficult to supervise how and what they are posting. I know that my knowledge about WDW would not be nearly what it is today without my having joined the DIS at such a young age, so I fully support allowing them to join for that reason. That being said, I joined the DIS for the trip planning aspect-- not the "for fun" forums that can be a waste of time and distract kids from more important real-life activities. Here again, though, you can monitor that. Depending on their true intentions, I say let them join. Better that you know their screenames than that they go behind your back and create accounts that you are unaware of!
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions about being a teenager on the DIS! I hope this (sort of long-winded) explanation helped.
pas130- your DH is right, but I agree with you that it is definitely worth seeing at least once! We felt that MVMCP and the resort decorations made the entire trip worthwhile.
bowbat- I definitely believe you that one can get used to it quickly! Come late January, I want to be away from the cold entirely! I do love my snow in December, though..
pixarmom- Your memory serves you correctly! As crazy as it sounds to me to say now, I joined the DIS when I was 11. I developed a passion for WDW when I was in elementary school and, by 6th grade, had developed an even stronger passion for WDW hotel planning... random, I know! My mom came across this site while helping me research for our trip to the CR in 2001 and suggested that I join since I loved planning so much. Given that my dad and siblings are not that crazy about WDW and my mom only had a "normal" passion for it at the time, I suppose I was a bit of an anomaly. My mom's love for WDW has almost grown to my level now, but I am still the only family member (or person I know, for that matter) on the DIS.
Interestingly, I never posted on any of the teenage or community/for fun forums when I first joined. I only knew about the trip planning forums and exclusively posted advice/questions there since I did not care about much else. I found that some DISers would not realistically take the hotel advice of an 11-yr old, though, so often just posted as if I was my mom since it required less explanation and I did not enjoy being patronized. I was always pretty mature, though, and did not have trouble writing convincingly as an "adult." As time went on, I gradually shifted to writing from my perspective and was able to help out DISers with questions pertaining to kids that were my age. Nearly eleven years later, I am an adult myself. Time flies. Looking back, it was sort of weird that I felt the need to portray myself as someone older, but I suppose that is just how I saw myself when it came to planning. I researched and knew a LOT even at age 11 and wanted to be taken seriously.
Given that you already know your children's planned screenames and are on the DIS yourself, I do not think it would be too difficult to supervise how and what they are posting. I know that my knowledge about WDW would not be nearly what it is today without my having joined the DIS at such a young age, so I fully support allowing them to join for that reason. That being said, I joined the DIS for the trip planning aspect-- not the "for fun" forums that can be a waste of time and distract kids from more important real-life activities. Here again, though, you can monitor that. Depending on their true intentions, I say let them join. Better that you know their screenames than that they go behind your back and create accounts that you are unaware of!
Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions about being a teenager on the DIS! I hope this (sort of long-winded) explanation helped.
I'm sorry you won't be heading to RPC next year, but I do understand. DD and I are thinking about a May trip, but the discount isn't great at the GF. We will probably end up at BC, too, which is OK - we love being there in the warm weather!
Thanks for the review, I'm glad to hear you had a great trip overall, but sorry to hear about the room. Did you speak with the manager while you were there? I think I would have at least asked that the balcony be swept, no reason you should have to avoid it - how can you enjoy your lagoon view without a balcony?!
So, I may not be staying there, but I can enjoy a lot of what the GF has to offer. I also plan to sneak into Sugar Loaf to see Robert who works at the Concierge desk. We have become friends over the years during our stays there. He is trying to get me to go on Tower of Terror (he worked on the opening crew years ago), it will never happen! 
It's fun to have a banter with a cast member you see trip after trip.
. One year you should get to WDW for Christmas and see the decorations. As much as I love the Gingerbread House at the GF, I think the Chocolate Carousel at the BC is spectacular also. I am excited the decorations will still be up when we go in a couple of weeks.
But you know how I change 
How exciting, your first trip to the Grand!
I know you will love the resort, and the TPV. Stick with us here in the FAQ, we'll try to help you through the next few months.
