What a disaster!!

[Planning fanatic mom]

Great question.
Most of the CM did asked us about the meal plan. However, I think it's more of a confirmation to the CM. From what I understand, when we make our ADR, our dining plan information is already in the system. They printed out a little note and give it to the CM when we get seated. That way, the CM already know we have the meal plan. I believe the restaurant we "crash" in with out reservation did not ask us about the meal plan. We usually mention it to the CM before we order anything. CM will tell us what we can order since there is a different between regular meal plan and the deluxe meal plan which is what we have.

When the check comes, it does list every item we ordered and the price of every item we ordered plus the grand total of the food and tax. It also suggest how much tips you want to put down on the receipt. They printed out 18% and 20%; it even shown the dollar amount too. All I did was to circle one of them and the CM will take it with my Kingdom key card then charge it to my room. You also has the option to write down more or less tips in dollar amount as well should you opt not to choose the 18 or 20% tips.

When CM came back with the receipt for me to sign, there were 2 receipt I need to sign. One is for the tips only (for most of the meal, I gave the CM a minimum of 18%. There were a couple I gave 20% because the CM did worked very hard.) and the other is for the food but it should show $0, I think. We did get a copy of the receipt too but it also show $0 plus how many point we have left on our meal plan. Every meal we ate is 1 point per person per meal. 7 day for 2 people with 3 meals per day, that's 42 points all together. After TTS, the receipt shown we have 38 points left.

For the most part, that's how it work on every restaurant we went to. There were a couple that work a little different. But in general, that's how it work.

One other thing I forget to mention is every single CM knows the menu like the back of their hand. Not one CM has forgotten anything what's on menu or how it was prepare. Very impressive. There was no cheat sheet either.

Thank you for the compliment about the pictures. No, I don't take notes through out the trip. It's a work habit of mine. My way of think is if I wrote it down then I don't have to memorize it. Then when I loose my note, I won't remember anything anymore. But if I force myself to memorize everything, then the information stays with me for good. I've been doing this since after college. However, it does has some draw back. If I got some major distraction, I will forget some details. Case and point; look what happened to my camera bag.

However, there is a little trick I have to help me remember every thing we did during vacation. Doing Disney for 7 days is a lot of stuff to cramp in. Even this brain can't retain every thing we did. Since I took so many pictures along the way every day, I just organize all my picture at the end of the trip by day. Day1, day2... Every picture has a time stamp. I just follow the chronological order of the files and that will tell me where did I went to or stop by at what date and what time. No need to remember anything. Very easy to follow. It takes a little time to organize them but once it's done, it tells me the whole story.

As for the food, I did took picture on a few menu. Mostly I rely on surfing the net. Disney site has some. Allears.net has some and DIS has some also. As soon as I see the menu, I can put 2 and 2 together. I believe there might be one or two I can't find the menu. That's because of Valentine day. The restaurant has a special menu create for that day so I won't able to find it any where on the net. I will just have to do my best to remember it.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer. It really does clear it up. I'm sure we will be fine.

Thanks

 

[kjh73]

What is the name of your point and shoot camera that you were using...the pictures are really nice. Hoping everything goes well with the delivery of your camera bag...I would be on pins and needles as well and not able to sleep.

 

[topdog]

What is the name of your point and shoot camera that you were using...the pictures are really nice. Hoping everything goes well with the delivery of your camera bag...I would be on pins and needles as well and not able to sleep.

The point and shoot camera I was using is a Nikon Coolpix P80. I picked it up from Amazon for a decent price. Fate of the camera bag will be review soon.

 

[chrisw127]

Ahhh! You've left us hanging--we need to know if the camera bag made it there safe and sound.

Also, love the title. How can you not read a TR entitled "What a Disaster"?

 

[topdog]

Ahhh! You've left us hanging--we need to know if the camera bag made it there safe and sound.

Also, love the title. How can you not read a TR entitled "What a Disaster"?

Unfortunately, I have very little time to write about this every day due to my work schedule. I promise I will try to speed this up as quickly as I can along with the photo processing.

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

Joining in on you TR...I love WL, and cant wait to be back home in Nov-Dec 09.

 

[Mrsdisneyb2b]

SO sorry about the bad things on your trip, but I am excited to continue reading your TR!
~Jenny

 

[saralexander97]

Im bitting my fingernails to know if you camera bag made it safely. I'm lovin the TR and cant wait to see more of your beautiful pics.

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Topdog, I love the updates. Great castle photos, especially with a point and shoot. Just goes to show the importance composition and style. Looking forward to finding out how the camera bag drama unfurls.

 

[topdog]

Joining in on you TR...I love WL, and cant wait to be back home in Nov-Dec 09.

Thank you for stopping by. I can't wait until we go back to WL either. Soon I hope.

SO sorry about the bad things on your trip, but I am excited to continue reading your TR!
~Jenny

Thank you for the kind word Jenny. I promise, I will post the TR soon.

Im bitting my fingernails to know if you camera bag made it safely. I'm lovin the TR and cant wait to see more of your beautiful pics.

Thank you for the compliment. Will post the TR soon.

Topdog, I love the updates. Great castle photos, especially with a point and shoot. Just goes to show the importance composition and style. Looking forward to finding out how the camera bag drama unfurls.

Thank you for the compliment. I will post the TR soon.

I just want to thank every one for the encouragement. Work is crazy right now. Projects to deal with. In the middle of all that, I have to pack and move my office to another state by this Friday. Not to mention, I drive 2 hours each way to and from work every day. That certainly eats up a lot of my time. 24 hours a day is just not enough even I start my day at 5:30am every day. Therefore I have very little time to update my TR. I apologize for the delay.

And the reality is...I've been working at my current office for over 7.5 years and 5 years from the previous one. Most of the people what sat next to me are the same people who move with me from the previous office. I felt sad to move and leave them behind after working together for almost 13 years. Even I will still visit this office once or twice a month but it's just not the same.

Thank goodness for telephone, email and IM. I still can connect with all my co-workers & friends without missing a beat.

Anyway, enough of my sob story. I promise my next post will be the TR of Day #2.

 

[KeepSwimmingDory]

Topdog - Thanks for letting us travel along with you! Such a nice detailed report. Pippin was our server last time we ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe. She was great! It was breakfast though--your food does tempt me to try it for lunch or dinner. LOVE the castle pics and they do show what a good photographer you are to capture such beautiful images with the point & shoot. It is certainly more than just what camera you use. I agree that Haunted Mansion is creepy late at night. We kind of felt the same about Tony's as you did. Like the theme and location, but the food was not anything to go back for so we haven't.

Enjoying all the pictures and details. I will be glad to hear when "the eagle" has landed at WL.

 

[Dustmouse]

A four hour commute is CRAZY!!!! I'm glad you are moving closer to home even if you have to leave friends behind.

As for the TR.....it's great! Can't wait to hear and see more!

 

[topdog]

Day #2 (Monday) Part 1
Despite my best effort, I got maybe about 5 hours of sleep and I think I am only running in 70% capacity. Since I am an early riser, 5:00 am is my normal wake up time. I woke up at about 6:00am. Looked out the balcony and it was dark and peaceful. Temperature must’ve been pretty cool last night because there were some fog this morning.

Our breakfast ADR at Kona Café is at 7:35am this morning. I got off the bed at 6:20am for my morning shower and then my DW afterward. By the time we got to the boat dock, it was a little after 7:00am. Every thing was so peace and quiet. Water at the lagoon was like mirror.

We were the first and the only passengers in line. The CM greeted us with a smile as always. We told him we are going to CR to catch the monorail.
The boat ride was a little chilly. Temperature was in the low 60s and rising. Lucky us, we have our sweatshirt on. It was quiet refreshing when the fresh cool morning air blew against our faces. With only DW and I on the boat, I was very content with DW in my arm and listening to the sound of water splash against the boat every now and then. I wish the boat ride would last a little longer. At least that took the edge off from thinking about the camera bag.

Once the boat arrived the dock, we walked up to the CR and got to the monorail waiting area. The monorail came fairly quickly. We board the monorail but then we were stuck right before the main transportation terminal. I say we were sitting there for good 10 minutes. Not sure what's the hold up but it's not like we can get off. Then by the time we actually arrived the main transportation terminal, there were a slew of people got on the rail. I think Disney might be doing some kind of school program because I saw two group of kids got on. Each group has an assigned imagineer explain some of the thing they do in Disney, can’t remember what they were. It was pretty nice to see how Disney try to reach out to the next generation. It must be some kind of education program. Next stop, Polynesian Resort and that’s where DW and I get off.
It was a short walk from the monorail to Kona Café.

We were a few minutes late from our ADR because of the monorail delay. The CM said that’s not a problem and brought us in to the restaurant immediately. The restaurant was relatively empty at that hour in the morning. Another CM came and got us coffee and drinks. We went through the usual ordering process. Next thing, food was on its’ way.

First, I ordered the South Pacific Smoothies – A creamy blend of tropical juices served frozen. Flavors: Orange-Passion Fruit.

These smoothies are addicting. DW has the Raspberry Smoothies.

For main course, I have red meat for the third time. Steak and Eggs – 5-oz New York Strip Steak char-grilled and served with two eggs (over and easy), home fried potatoes and biscuits.

DW has Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes – served with Macadamia nut butter, pineapple sauce and ham. (This picture didn't come out well but I didn't care. I just want to eat at that point.)

I can't understand why there is no desert for breakfast. Mickey and I need to talk.

So after our breakfast, as we were walking out of Kona Café, I saw a chef was preparing some kind of desert for lunch I guess. Don’t know what they are though. I can’t help myself and stop for a snap shot.

Then as we walked out of the restaurant, there is a small coffee shop next to the restaurant. A lot of fresh pastries were on display. How can I not take another shot? LOL…

I figure the more I practice with this new camera, the better I get, I hope. You’ll be the judge on that.

We then decide to walk around the gift shop upstair and I was just fascinate on some of the display.

While we were in the gift shop upstair, DW saw a Mickey margarita glass that she like. It’s make out of plastic even it looks like glasses. We thought, we were still early into the trip. Lets’ wait and pick them up later toward the end of the trip. That turns out into a major treasure hunt of the century.

So we finally left that gift shop and proceed to the gift shop downstair. As we walked down the step, I spotted tons of hidden Mickey. Can you spot them?

As we walked in to the gift shop downstair, I then realize the one upstair is mostly toys and this one is mostly clothes. More pictures obviously.

We did found a lot of stuff we like but we have pretty good will power not to buy anything yet even we have a $200 Disney gift card dying to use.

As we left the gift shop, I spotted a statue for photo op and here I am in my “silly” mood.

After that, it’s time to head for MK. So we left PR and instead of taking the monorail, we decide to try the boat ride from PR. Unforturnately, we were kind of lost looking for the boat dock. So we then decide to follow the sign to go back to monorail instead of walking back through the PR lobby.

We just thought there was another way to get up there from outside. We were wrong. We end up walking all the way back to the main transportation terminal but that’s okay. We don’t mind walking off the food anyway.

By the time we got to the main transportation terminal, we changed our mind and decide to try the ferry instead. That’s was some crowd but not too bad. We don’t feel like sitting down so we end up leaning by the rail through out the ride anyway. So we got on “Richard F. Irvine”(not sure how Disney name this ferry) and on our way to MK.

Again, I just can’t get enough of the boat ride at Disney and I love that light wind on my face feeling.

Next post "the big news"…

 

[topdog]

A four hour commute is CRAZY!!!! I'm glad you are moving closer to home even if you have to leave friends behind.

As for the TR.....it's great! Can't wait to hear and see more!

Thanks. I've been doing the extreme commute for a very long time. It doesn't bother me that much and it's very common from where I live. Many of my neighbor either drive or take a bus commute into NYC or NJ every day. When I get call in to Hartford, CT, that's a 3.5 commute each way. I spend more time in my car than in my office.

 

[Planning fanatic mom]

OUstanding update. I love your pictures. Now I want to go to the Poly.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[heath-and-javens-mom]

Love the update. WL is so beautiful in the mornings..well all the time really.
Kona look sooo good..we have never ate there, I think I will make a adr there for this year. I also love Ohanas.
Boat ride is my transportation of chioce.
Cant wait for the next installment!

Oh and I forgot to tell ya..our room was almost excatly in the same location as yours! We had the same view of the DVC property and the quiet pool...may have even been the same room....WEIRD.

 

[GoofyFairie]

LOVE the pictures topdog! They add so much to the trip report. I hope you have more of WL to share at some point. So..... WHAT"S THE BIS NEWS?!

 

[topdog]

OUstanding update. I love your pictures. Now I want to go to the Poly.

Thanks for all the info.

Glad you like the pictures. We stayed at Poly back in 1995. My DW loved it. I like it too but prefer WL.

Love the update. WL is so beautiful in the mornings..well all the time really.
Kona look sooo good..we have never ate there, I think I will make a adr there for this year. I also love Ohanas.
Boat ride is my transportation of chioce.
Cant wait for the next installment!

Oh and I forgot to tell ya..our room was almost excatly in the same location as yours! We had the same view of the DVC property and the quiet pool...may have even been the same room....WEIRD.

Kona is a great place to eat. When we went there in 1995. Kona was the very first restaurant we went to have dinner. My DW and I had this drink called the 7 seas. All I can remember was we can barely walk out of that restaurant after dinner and we even kept the glass.

I really like that room facing the second pool. The room we stayed last time was facing the large pool. It was good too but it can get a little noisy some time.

LOVE the pictures topdog! They add so much to the trip report. I hope you have more of WL to share at some point. So..... WHAT"S THE BIS NEWS?!

Glad you like the pictures. I have plenty more pictures of WL, I promise. You'll just have to wait for the news.

 

[LaurenMic]

All caught up! Great updates, all those food pictures are making me hungry! That cake from WCC looks amazing, I wish I'd tried it when we were there in January!

 

[piglet50]

just found your tr. i am enjoying it very much. love the pictures.