What exactly DID you do at Disney? May 2011 TR (TR link pg 44)

[tinacaplan]

Glad to hear you survived the hurricane ok. We were very fortunate in that we never lost power and had no damage, but I know plenty of people who weren't quite so lucky. A few of my friends just had power restored in the last twenty four hours! I'm not sure how I'd survive that.

Personally, I'd go for a mod for your night. You'll get bigger beds at POFQ and CSR, which would be worth it, in my opinion. Have you shown your husband pictures of the pool and the interior of the rooms at CSR? He might change his mind. I didn't think too much about CSR at all until I saw the interior of the rooms and we've since stayed there twice and loved it both times. I love that they have the fluffy, white linens on the beds. I know...its a weird thing to care so much about, but I so prefer them to those scratchy comforters a lot of hotels still have.

Good luck deciding and I hope Caitlyn gets off a to a good start at school.

 

[ksl5f123]

I am so glad you have power back. I think it is really hard to predict what you will really need in those situations. For us, the biggest threat is from tornados. After years of dithering, we are finally getting a shelter. But, after this year's outbreak there is a waiting list and we won't get it until January. I have been working on my list of what I want to store in there once it is built.

I enjoy your debates about resort choices - you consider things that I never even think about. For one night, I would probably go to Pop, but a hot tub isn't important to me. Since it is important to you, I would go with a moderate. I can't wait to see what you choose!

 

[TinksThree]

Glad you made it through the storm okay! We are currently sitting here in the midst of TS Lee...lots and lots of rain but thankfully that is it--winds are pretty calm and we have electricity!

The decision on the resorts is a hard one. For the price, one night at the Poly is steep but I really hope to swing that one day! But then for just one night...POP isn't that bad of a location!

 

[amandaw]

I think that's a good decision to stay at POP. You'll save loads of money & it's only for one night. And especially if y'all are going to spend some time at TL. If I were you, I would go ahead & set what time y'all are leaving TL before y'all go in there. That way, you won't get stuck there all afternoon. And maybe everyone can rest up for MNSSHP that night!

 

[PirateKate]

It's so hard to pick a Disney resort sometimes, isn't it? Luckily, with Disney, it's hard to make a bad choice. I agree that the Poly would be fun, but not if you're planning on spending the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Pop is always very cost effective. That's what won me over to it for our next trip.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Hi there! I am finally all caught up on your TR. I have been gone for a while because of a crazy work schedule, but I am slowly catching up on everything.

I really loved your night time pictures of the pool at BC. You can tell what a beautiful night it was, and the architecture looks so pretty at night!

I would have a hard time picking a hotel for one night too. If I was paying for the Poly, I would want to spend as much time as possible there, you know? If we weren't going to be around, it would be hard for me to mentally spend the money. Hopefully you will get it figured out soon, so you can just look forward to the trip!

 

[pinkxray]

Glad to hear you survived the hurricane ok. We were very fortunate in that we never lost power and had no damage, but I know plenty of people who weren't quite so lucky. A few of my friends just had power restored in the last twenty four hours! I'm not sure how I'd survive that.

Personally, I'd go for a mod for your night. You'll get bigger beds at POFQ and CSR, which would be worth it, in my opinion. Have you shown your husband pictures of the pool and the interior of the rooms at CSR? He might change his mind. I didn't think too much about CSR at all until I saw the interior of the rooms and we've since stayed there twice and loved it both times. I love that they have the fluffy, white linens on the beds. I know...its a weird thing to care so much about, but I so prefer them to those scratchy comforters a lot of hotels still have.

Good luck deciding and I hope Caitlyn gets off a to a good start at school.

The beds at CSR look so comfy. DH has said he doesn't care were we stay but I am trying to avoid places he has said in the past he doesn't like. He hates GF and when I asked him if we could stay there he said "It is one night, I don't care."

I am just hoping if he at least enjoys himself he won't have a bad attitiude when I want to go back one day.

I am so glad you have power back. I think it is really hard to predict what you will really need in those situations. For us, the biggest threat is from tornados. After years of dithering, we are finally getting a shelter. But, after this year's outbreak there is a waiting list and we won't get it until January. I have been working on my list of what I want to store in there once it is built.

I enjoy your debates about resort choices - you consider things that I never even think about. For one night, I would probably go to Pop, but a hot tub isn't important to me. Since it is important to you, I would go with a moderate. I can't wait to see what you choose!

Tornados must be awful. Yay, for getting a shelter. That must be a huge relief.

I hate my resort debates. I drive myself crazy. I am thinking Pop sounds good. I enjoyed the refund I got on my credit card when I downgraded and I can't really see the Poly being worth that differnce.

Glad you made it through the storm okay! We are currently sitting here in the midst of TS Lee...lots and lots of rain but thankfully that is it--winds are pretty calm and we have electricity!

The decision on the resorts is a hard one. For the price, one night at the Poly is steep but I really hope to swing that one day! But then for just one night...POP isn't that bad of a location!

I think Poly is going back on my one day list. Too much for one night.

Ugh. TS Lee. There doesn't seem to be a break in between storms.

I think that's a good decision to stay at POP. You'll save loads of money & it's only for one night. And especially if y'all are going to spend some time at TL. If I were you, I would go ahead & set what time y'all are leaving TL before y'all go in there. That way, you won't get stuck there all afternoon. And maybe everyone can rest up for MNSSHP that night!

I'm still not sure about TL yet, but then I remember our next trip will probably be during Nov. or Feb. when we go and TL is usually closed during that time. I originally scrapped the idea b/c to be honest I am kind of sick of Caitlin always getting her way. I think we will stay at Pop and decide whether or not to go to TL once we get there.

It's so hard to pick a Disney resort sometimes, isn't it? Luckily, with Disney, it's hard to make a bad choice. I agree that the Poly would be fun, but not if you're planning on spending the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Pop is always very cost effective. That's what won me over to it for our next trip.

Pop does look fun. Your boys seemed to like it

Caitlin seems to want ASMo over Pop but it looks like Pop is close to TL so I think we will stick with that.

Hi there! I am finally all caught up on your TR. I have been gone for a while because of a crazy work schedule, but I am slowly catching up on everything.

I really loved your night time pictures of the pool at BC. You can tell what a beautiful night it was, and the architecture looks so pretty at night!

I would have a hard time picking a hotel for one night too. If I was paying for the Poly, I would want to spend as much time as possible there, you know? If we weren't going to be around, it would be hard for me to mentally spend the money. Hopefully you will get it figured out soon, so you can just look forward to the trip!

I think I need more time at Poly. At least a long weekend. One day I will stay there.

I feel relieved about finally picking a resort. Now I just have to get through the next 6 weeks

I did notice that you have finally updated you TR. I need to head over and catch up.

 

[KatMark]

Glad to hear you all survived the hurricane. Did you make a decision on your one night resort? Or are you still contemplating?

 

[pinkxray]

Glad to hear you all survived the hurricane. Did you make a decision on your one night resort? Or are you still contemplating?

I think we are going to stick with Pop. I have a feeling we are going to end up at TL and there is just no reason to stay at a mod or deluxe if we won't be there. Besides maybe we will love it and have a great time. We won't know until we try it.

Disney still has not released any room discounts for our dates so that is making it really easy to pick Pop.

 

[lbuzz52]

Diane, I agree poly would be best saved for at least a long weekend
Whenever I break down and stay there I will schedule my relax day while I am there and resort hop and watch fireworks/ movies from the beach.

 

[pinkxray]

Finally we are on our last day. I was nervous about how badly this day could go. DH seemed to want to leave yesterday morning, plus we had to switch rooms again which I didn’t mention until the previous night. Originally we were scheduled to fly out Friday and return the following Sun. However it became cheaper to fly out Sat and return the next Monday. I contacted the renter of the dvc points but there were no studios available at BCV. I could either book a one bedroom or book through Disney. It ended up costing only an extra $30 to move to the one bedroom over a regular room at BC so I picked the one bedroom.
I had also booked Cape May for the morning. I told DH we had a breakfast planned and he was like “Another character breakfast, really?” He is the one that told me he wanted a sit down breakfast every morning and that he loved character breakfast. I thought about cancelling but I already knew that we will most likely never stay at BC again so we should try it now.
We called bell services to grab our bags and we headed off to breakfast.
We had to wait about 5 minutes. The restaurant was so pretty and not very full. We still had 5 dxdp credits that expired at midnight.

Breakfast was great. The food was good and the characters are able to come over at least twice each. It was much more relaxed than other character meals. I gave the waitress our card which still had 5 dxdp and sent DH to check us in and out of our room. The waitress come back and told me we had no credits left so I paid cash and left.
I headed right to the desk and asked about the credits. It took forever and the lady was very pissy. She told me we had no credits and that they expired since we moved to another room. Um, no they are good until midnight and we didn’t really check out until after. It was such a nightmare getting it straightened out. It took almost 45 minutes and the clock was ticking down. It was past 9 and I wanted to be at DHS for SWW early. That wasn’t happening. I had to agree with the lady and according to DH I laid it down for the lady. I might have been a little mean but honestly she was mean first. Once she realized that I did indeed have 7 credits left she turned sweet as pie. She had to get a manager to refund the cash and deduct the dxdp credits.
I made sure to have them recheck our new cards and old room cards to see which on the credits were on and they said everything was all set and the credits were now on our room key. Okay then. The manager also said it was much easy to refund the credits if you charge the meal to your room instead of using a different method of payment.
We didn’t get on our way until after 9:30. I was pissed we were so late but DH didn’t seemed to mind at all. I think he was entertained by the whole thing since usually I am the type of person to let stuff like that just go and pay for it. However once the lady gave me an attitude and told me our credits were expired my niceness went right out the window.
We debated on whether or not we should take the boat. We decided to take the boat so we headed to the lighthouse.

It was a smooth ride over. Once we arrived at DHS I headed straight to Star Tours for a fast pass. The return time was somewhere after 12.

We didn’t really know what to do. TSM had a huge wait and the park was pretty crowded. I suggested the Beauty and the Beast show so we made our way over there. After DH’s mood was ruined by being forced to watching the Nemo show in AK , I was a bit nervous about seeing any shows but I really wanted to see this one and there wasn’t anything else to do.

On our walk over we stopped at Writers stop to grab some drinks. We had something like 6 snack credits. I was standing in line and I was next. All the sudden some lady walks right past me and goes up to the register to check out. I was kind of stunned so I didn’t say anything. The CM gave me an I’m sorry look and I just let it go. It was really kind of funny b/c it was just so strange.
We got three bottles of powerade. The CM rang them up and slid the card. Denied. We don’t have any snacks . UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH, really? I gave her the old card and she was able to take them off. Okay, then. We just need to use the old key card.

 

[pinkxray]

Caitlin and I enjoyed the show. DH was amused by one of the dancers. He was convinced the dancer looked exactly like him. I didn’t think so.

The one on the end.

After the show we had some time to kill so we headed to the Honey, I shrunk the Kids play ahead. For some reason we skipped it last year. Caitlin seemed to enjoy it.

We also took the tour. While waiting to start we caught a bit of the car show and wished we had picked that instead.

Finally it was time to use our fast pass for Star Tours.
We headed over and I finally saw the umbrella. I have never taken a picture there since I always seem to miss it.

We enjoyed the new Star Tours. It seemed a bit smoother and it was cool seeing C3PO and Darth Vader.

Afterwards it was time for lunch. We were saving our last 2 dxdp credits for dinner so CS it was. We picked the one that was the closest. DH had a burger and Caitlin had chicken tenders. I shared with Caitlin and used a snack credit to get a Darth Vader cupcake. It is the same PB cupcake from Starring Rolls. I had one last year and wasn’t that impressed so I don’t know why I got it again. I ate maybe a quarter of it. It is just too much for me. I really want to try one of the other ones from Starring Rolls one day.

After lunch it was close to 1pm and I still hadn’t gotten a text that our room was ready. I gave them a call to see if maybe they forgot but it still wasn’t ready.
I am going to be completely honest and say I have no idea what we did after. I don’t have any pictures. We stayed at DHS until about 3-3:30. I am guessing we just checked out the SW stuff and the shops.
Around 3:30 we called again and our room still wasn’t ready. We decided to head back to BCV and just grab our swimsuits from our luggage and hit the pool.
DH went to check and our room was finally ready by the time we were back. It was a little after 4. DH headed to the room to meet bell services and Caitlin and I headed to the Marketplace to pick up some Doritos. Once again no snack credits available. She tried a few times but nope, nothing. I paid cash and headed over to the desk again. I didn’t care about the snack credits but I did care about the 2 credits we would be using for dinner. They claimed to straighten it out. They said the credits showed up on the screen but weren’t attached to a card. I should have no problem using them at dinner. Okay.
Caitlin and I headed to our room which was on the 5th floor. DH looked happy when he opened the door and told Caitlin to close her eyes. When she opened them and saw that we were in a one bedroom unit with a huge tub and separate living/ bedroom she was thrilled. DH loved the room and wants to stay in a one bedroom at AKV next time we take a trip. After being very worried about switching rooms and having it not be ready it worked out well b/c DH loved the room and it will be a much more enjoyable trip in the future if we have a one bedroom at AKL.
The room was beautiful and had a great view.
To the left

To the right (That’s right, WS- we could see the fireworks again!)

Close ups of the bedspread (just b/c I thought they were adorable)

 

[pinkxray]

And some room pictures

View from 2nd balcony

Up next- our final night
We have a 7:15 adr at Tony’s and MK has extended magic hours until 2pm. Caitlin and I am up for it. DH isn’t feeling it. What will we do our last night?

 

[pinkxray]

Diane, I agree poly would be best saved for at least a long weekend
Whenever I break down and stay there I will schedule my relax day while I am there and resort hop and watch fireworks/ movies from the beach.

I still really want to stay there one day. I already know our next trip will be at AKL. I told DH that if I haven't been to the Poly by the time I'm 40 he needs to take me there for my 40th bday. He asked me why he would ever do that but I am sure I will be able to convince him.

 

[KatMark]

Diane, the BC villa is absolutely beautiful. That is the next DVC we want to try (after AKL and Old Key West in two weeks)...thanks for the great pictures.

I hate when the CM's get snippy when you know you are right and they don't want to admit they are wrong. I hope it STAYED straightened out for dinner.

 

[All7OfUs]

I agree with a PP that if TL is in your plans already you really only need the resort to sleep at, and the pool/ slide/ hot tub would only be a bonus, that you'll likely not even use. I'd play it cheap here and go with POP.

 

[TinksThree]

Wow! I really like that room! And the bedspread pattern is way too adorable!!

How annoying about the credits! I hate when your vacation gets disrupted with tedious tasks!! Hopefully those credits will be there for dinner!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

This was the Sunday right? We too were at SWW that day, another missed meet!

The room looks so nice! I would love to stay in a one-bedroom, too bad they are so pricey and I am so wary of renting points.

 

[Nermel9]

Haha, I can't picture you being mean to a CM in Disney World! I'm so nervous about our dining credits getting messed up since I'm picking up our tickets a day earlier than our package starts, but I guess it should be ok if I keep the tickets separate from the room key.

Wow the BCV one bedroom is so nice! I know Brandon and I have no reason to stay in a one bedroom, but it would be nice to have a hot tub right in the room! And a kitchen!

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like y'all had a nice breakfast & a good day @ DHS.

But, man, what a mess with the dining credits! I think I would've come unglued with that CM! I sure hope they really did get it straightened out before y'all went to dinner.

Love the view of Spaceship Earth from the balcony!