The One With All The Birthdays - Day 15 MK

[RobynPrincess]

I'm afraid today was a day with lots of hiccups, bare with me though as it gets better tomorrow...


After a very long and tiring day yesterday we really did not appreciate the fire alarm going off in our room at 3:10am. I dunno if you've ever been woken up by one before, they are meant to wake you up with a start to get you out of the place as quickly as possible. My poor heart was racing! We went out into the hallway to find out it was only going off in our room. We called the front desk (that isn't really the front desk but a call centre offsite somewhere but we weren't about to go walking half asleep in our pj's). They said they were sending someone to our room to investigate, 30 minutes went by but no one arrived. In the mean time the alarm had stopped but we couldn't go back to bed as we waiting for the maintenance guy to arrive, so we called up the front desk again to find out where he was and why it was taking so long. The person was quite short with Sy on the phone, they didn't understand what the problem was if the alarm had stopped going off, why were we bothering them? They also said no one had been called to come to our room (pffft) so they said they would send someone in the morning and go back to bed now.


It took an age to get back to sleep as we were all woken up with such a start (Anne and Cliff were woken up with a start too). I was back asleep shortly after 4am but I didn't sleep properly, tossing and turning and having nightmares about my poor Wilbur


Sunrise came and we were awake shortly after it. We got up and dressed at around 8am though we did slightly resemble zombies... My parents were none the wiser to anything happening as they were in a studio on the other side of the hallway, they arrived to see us all looking like death and wondered what the hell had happened lol. We filled them in and they were very pleased to have been in a separate studio! :O Sy and I went down to reception to speak to them about the alarm, the girl wasn't exactly sympathetic though she did give us each 3 extra fastpasses and $100 room credit towards dinner so I can't complain. She also said she would send a maintenance guy to our room while we were out to fix whatever had gone wrong.


We went back to the room to round up our parents and then headed out to MK. We had wanted to be at MK for the opening ceremony but after the nightmare we'd had, we were already too late We parked at TTC and got the boat over, walking through the gates at 10:30am. Our tummies were now a'rumbling as we'd skipped breakfast so we headed to Main Street Bakery/Starbucks to grab some munchies. Anne didn't want anything as she wasn't feeling very well so the rest of us got something. She then changed her mind once it was paid for and there was a huge queue - this was the setting for the rest of the day. She and Sy had another argument :-/ Today was gonna be fun fun fun!! We went to grab somewhere to sit outside the Plaza and ate our food in an uncomfortable silence. Once finished we made our way to Buzz as that was our first fastpass of the day.


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Sy beat me again, grrrr!


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We then rode the Peoplemover. I was naughty, as we went on I told the CM we were a party of 2 so we would get our own car :O I just needed 5 mins peace. I know, very bad Robyn.


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It was then time for our second fastpass, time to meet the girls themselves! Anna & Elsa! Woohoo! Well it probably would have been more of a Woohoo had there not been a bit of an atmosphere. Still it was a nice meet.


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We then went to use some of our extra fastpasses on Storytime with Belle. Of course Bill (my dad) was picked on to be a suit of armour! He loves to take part in stuff like this - which was the cause of great embarrassment to me as a child but now I love it





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Anne was still hungry & thirsty so we topped at Gaston's tavern for a cinnamon bun and a Le Freu' Brew. I didn't taste any bun as I'm not a cinnamon lover but the brew was really yummy.





We then went to use another fastpass on Voyage of the Little Mermaid.


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Next up was Mickey's Philharmonic. Love this! Such a Disney classic! I hope this never goes away, I'd be totally heartbroken.

 

[RobynPrincess]

Time was getting on for the parade now. We wanted to arrive early in the disabled space by Liberty Square so we could get a space near the wall for my dad to sit down, as after 2 weeks of being on the go his knees were really starting to play him up. We had about 45 mins to wait so people went off in various directions to get drinks/food etc. I grabbed a baked potato from Liberty Square Market, Sy went to Columbia Harbor House to get a tuna sandwich and my dad went with him to get him and my mum something.


The parade was fabulous, I really do love everything about it. I thought the parade at Disneyland Paris was my favourite but the new Festival of Fantasy just pips it to the post.


Afterwards it was time for our elusive Dwarves Mine Train fastpass. Anne didn't want to ride and my dad decided not to as well as he was worried about getting his legs into it (he can only bend his legs to a certain degree with the new knees), I think he made the right call as I'm not sure he would have been comfortable. The ride was good though, I think I like it more every time I ride it





We had 1 fastpass left so we decided to head to Splash for one last ride, its a firm favourite with us all (except Anne who was sitting it out) but as we arrived it went down boooo. We decided to skip doing any other rides and instead head back to the hotel for a swim.


As it happens, it was just me and Sy who wanted to swim in the end - our parents wanted to do some packing as they would be leaving the next day - so we made the most of having an hour to ourselves by the pool.


And what did I want to do with an hour to myself?? I wanted to DRINK! Yes I was at my stress limit and needed alcohol. I went straight to the pool bar and ordered a cocktail :O. I had a mango margarita but with vodka instead of tequila as I don't like it. And it was GOOD. Sy got a beer and the lovely bartender took a pic of us with our drinks.





We drank some of our drinks and then got into the fairly empty pool. I got into the pool in style - I finally tried out the slide! (sip of alcohol and all my inhibitions go out the window hahaha). There were no kids waiting so I didn't feel too much of an idiot lol


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I then hopped out of the pool and lay on a lounger in the sun with my drink, and promptly downed it. Yeah, it had been one of those days.





We then went to use the hot tub and sat in there for about 20 minutes together watching a squirrel play right beside us. We then headed back up to our room for showers etc.





We had a very special ADR tonight, I'd made this booking for our last night so we would have a special meal all together to celebrate the vacation. It was our first Signature experience too! We were dining at Yachtsman's Steakhouse. I was *so* excited! We showered, got ready and made our way out to the Yacht Club. We valet parked and headed inside, arriving 5 minutes before our ADR time. We checked in and were told there would be a 15 minute wait, which was weird as the restaurant was only half full - I wonder maybe if they were understaffed?


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We were soon shown to our table right in the corner of the restaurant in the window, it was really nice as it was private and quiet with hardly any tables around us taken, we were then introduced to our server Abe and given menus to peruse .


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We were all in much better spirits this evening, I believe words had been exchanged in private and the day had been forgotten, slate wiped clean for tonight, yay! We ordered some wine for the table and a diet coke for me (1 drink is my limit haha), and then took our time over the menu. I already knew there was just 1 thing I could eat (chicken) but I couldn't eat what it came with so I asked Abe if I could have a different side, he said no. oh. I wasn't really expecting that. I started to panic a bit as there was nothing else I could eat on the menu when Sy thought to tell him it was because I had dietary problems that I couldn't eat what it came with, and whaddya know, suddenly I was able to swap it! He said I could only have the sweet potato so that's what I had. Everyone else ordered their meals and we got a couple of extra sides including the famous mac and cheese!


In the mean time we had some of the super yummy break and roasted garlic, omgomg it was A-MAZ-ING!!


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Our food arrived shortly after, I took one cut into my chicken and it was all fatty it was like the gristle-y bits from chicken that had been stuck together with grease and rolled into round shapes. I was really shocked! That's not what I was expecting from a signature at all. And the sweet potato I'm sure would be lovely if you liked it but I hated it, it was covered in melted marshmallows and nuts (I can't have nuts and I didn't know it had them, nor did Abe tell me even though I'd said I had loads of food intolerances!). It got worse though, Sy and my dad had exactly the same meals, with the steaks cooked the same way but my dad's was perfectly cooked (med-rare) while Sy's was blue! :O And my mum had the same meal as Cliff but hers was under cooked (not quite blue but very rare) and Cliff's was cooked perfectly. We really weren't doing very well. I had read online that the servers usually ask you to cut into your steak at the table to check it was done to your liking however that didn't happen so we were left to wait for Abe to come back. We mentioned to him about the food, I asked him to take mine away as did my mum. I had been really put off by my food, and mum didn't want to be eating hers after everyone else had finished. We weren't rude or anything, just politely asked him to take it away and said not to bother with replacements. Sy didn't mention his at first as he hadn't really started his steak. The female manager came over to speak to us about our meals and that's when Sy told her about his and showed her how blue it was. She said that it wasn't right and asked Sy if he would like another but he said the same as my mum, he didn't want to be the only one eating, she didn't take his plate though which we did think was strange as Abe had taken my mums and mine. She apologised and was perfectly pleasant as we were too - its not her fault, there had obviously just been a bit of a mix up in the kitchen (I don't see the point in losing my temper in situations like this, doesn't solve anything). She said she would take the meals off our bill which we were very grateful for.


As our last meal was slowly turning into a bit of a disaster we decided to not bother with desserts and instead get the bill and head home. Only when the bill arrived Sy's uneaten dinner was still on there so we brought it up with Abe, he said he would send the manager back over to sort it out. She was annoyed now, she said she had offered to have it re-cooked for Sy but he didn't want it. We till weren't cross or moody with her, Sy just explained that he was expecting it taken off of the bill as that was what she had said when she spoke to us before. She said she would take care of it and as she turned around she ROLLED HER EYES. I kid you not, the manager. Visibly rolled her eyes. I was speechless. I just looked at my mum who looked back at me with the same horror, I said to her 'did she really just roll her eyes or did I imagine that?' my dad then said 'no she definitely rolled her eyes'. Well I'm afraid now was when I lost my temper a little bit. No one is rude to my husband but me, especially when we had been nothing but polite to her! We were most certainly not 'those' guests, we aren't rude people, we weren't moaning on and on, we even said to her 'don't worry, its not your fault, these things happen' all with a smile so she would know we weren't snotty. Well the red mist came down and before I knew it I was following her! She disappeared out the back so I asked a waitress if she wouldn't mind getting her for me so that I might have a word. She came out and I think her heart sank lol I was, I didn't shout or raise my voice, use foul language etc I simply told her that what she did was completely unacceptable. She denied that she did roll her eyes but there is absolutely no way 3 of us were mistaken. I did say that I accept that she may not have realised she did that but either way, feel free to roll your eyes once you get out the back where no one can see, doing it so obviously really was not what I would expect from anyone let alone a manager in a signature restaurant - especially as we had been so nice about the mistakes with our meal. She did apologise but still denied it. I don't think she expected me to say something. I still now can't believe it happened. I could understand if we had been rude to her, i'm sure she gets plenty of people who treat the CM's like dirt, but I will say this till I'm blue in the face - we weren't like that!! I'm gonna put it down to her having a bad day, she can't have made it to being a manager behaving like that.


We paid the bill and used our TiW card, we didn't leave Abe anymore of a tip than the 18% the card adds on, usually we leave a bit extra but didn't feel he had been very good and certainly didn't bother with us after the manger had been over, probably not worth working for the extra tip (he hadn't even offered us a dessert before bringing the check).


We went straight back to Kidani, our parents went to pack up the rest of their luggage while Sy and I went to the front desk to find out who we needed to contact about the manager. The CM who dealt with us was actually a supervisor, he was aghast when we told him why we wanted to email her manager (which I never did do as I put it down to her having a bad day and I didn't want her to get into trouble, but at the time I was going to), he gave us the email we needed. While we were there we asked if anyone had been to our room to fix the smoke alarm and would you believe a ticket still hadn't been raised to send someone into our room?! OMG this was the 4th time we had spoken to someone about it if you included the girl this morning and the 2 phone calls in the night. He said he was sending someone right away this time and he would take care of it personally. Sure enough about 15 minutes later we had a knock on the door and a girl was there ready to change every single fire alarm (3 in total in the 3 bed unit). She asked if the alarm had been chirping to say it was running low on battery but it hadn't. Well as soon as she fiddled with the one in the kitchen it went off, it was all because it had run out of battery! No explanation as to why it hadn't chirped but goes to show how often the alarm batteries get checked.... She was such a lovely CM, really chatty and friendly. She stayed with us probably a bit longer than she should have done just chatting with us, she was a total babe! Such a contrast from the manager earlier.


After she left we finished all of the packing, our parents were leaving tomorrow and we were moving over to the Grand Floridian for our last 8 night on our own. Anne was being a bit weird, she piled up all of her clothes and was going to throw them all away (she had lost weight and loads of it was big now), but she even included the stuff she had bought on the trip, new shoes, new dress etc. Was a bit odd. We tidied up and I took all of the trash to the trash room which was only down the hall. Anne then couldn't find her passport and went through everything including all of the bins, I think she even went to the trashroom to go through the trash I had put in there. She said someone must have thrown it out as she couldn't find it. She did of course find it in the end though in her room, though there was no apology for saying we must have thrown it out (and it was aimed at me as I was the one who took out the rubbish). Was the *BEST* last evening for everyone....


Finally in bed by midnight, all packed and ready for our 8 days on our own, they couldn't come soon enough.


A side note, I posted on a FB foodie page about our meal at YS tonight and someone else who was eating there tonight said their meal was awful as well, he said they eat there a lot and can only think it must have been the 'B' squad working tonight as usually it was amazing. It did kinda make me feel better though as hopefully it was just an off night and at least it wasn't just our table.


Tomorrow we say goodbye and move to the Grand Floridian Villas... or so we think...

 

[Disneymadhouse]

Shame about your meal, will you give them another chance?
Seems like you really needed the time on your own by now!

Claire

 

[RobynPrincess]

Didn't need the time on our own so much as time away from the MiL lol

I think I'd probably give YS another chance someday but with so many different places to eat, it probably won't be for a while yet. Was such a disappointment!