DemonLlama
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2000
So Monday morning bright and early we call bag services to come get our luggage for our big transfer to the Polynesian.
I've never done a split stay. DH has always insisted he wants to unpack and stay put. Plus, I'm a bargain hunter and there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that we can justify the cost of a deluxe resort these days. Two kids in college (by next fall)? And good grief how the prices have skyrocketed.
Wayback machine: on our first trip in 2000 when DH was working as a state employee, I got us the Magic Kingdom card (remember those?) with a discount that ended up being $144.00 a night for Courtyard Wilderness Lodge. Sigh.
Now, we're paying that for the mods and may bump down into the Values at this rate by the next trip. The new 2014 Poly rates just came out and the room we stayed in this night is more than $1000 rack rate per night. Just... no.
So how did we end up there?
That goes back to the conference trip in April. When we were booking the room, Bob, who served on the board of directors for this particular professional association, had set up and signed all of the contracts that brought the conference to the Contemporary in 2013. He'd since retired (they set these things up years out.). But it had always been a dream of mine to either stay in the Tower or at the Poly. When they offered us rooms at either at the conference rate he called THREE TIMES with THREE DIFFERENT CMs to confirm that we could actually stay in the TOWER at that rate. Otherwise, we'd go with the Poly.
On arrival? Oh, no, sorry, you're out in the Garden Wing, despite everything you were told multiple times. And no, we can't move you to the Poly now -- all those rooms are taken. Bob wrote a very nice, very long letter after our stay, especially after discovering some other conference attendees WERE put in the Tower. As a result, we had one free complimentary night at the Deluxe resort of our choosing.
So, naturally, after how we were treated at the Contemporary, we chose the Polynesian.
One free night -- our last night of our trip -- and here it was.
Bag services was at our room within ten minutes of calling and we were out the door to Studios for the day. Our luggage would meet us at the Poly that afternoon.
Our first stop was RnR and this time I was determined to grab the camera for the ride shot. (Yes, we're cheap. I've done Photopass the past couple of trips and decided I love our pictures way more than the staged shots. Wasn't worth it.)
Our best pre-show ever was last April, when a very bored CM stood at the back and made snide comments. "Free passes? You guys are sooooo lucky!" "Oh, that never happens!" "Ok, I'll be right here waiting for youuuu." as the doors swing open.
One more time to wait for the front. We kind of love doing that, especially since it means we get to take in the details of the themeing. And riding in the very front on RnR is my favorite, because you actually make out the inversions ahead of you and have some great cool wind on your face the entire time. You are hurtling into the darkness without any other heads in the way.
Our turn!
Rock on!
After that, we went around the corner and decided to pull some FP for Tower of Terror for the guys to ride while Sam and I hit up the Animation Academy.
I went through and grabbed two and had Sam pose with what was about to turn obsolete within the month.
Since the Academy was going to take more time than a single ride, it occured to us to use our other two and grab a second set. Bob walked around and this time encountered a CM who stopped him and told him, because he had a magic band, he wasn' allowed to use the machines.
Um, what?
So some guests can pull as many FP at multiple parks in a day, and it's not fair that we get anything beyond the three on the band in the single park? Why give us the ability to do so and tell us (multiple CMs) to use them while we could?
Bob walked away quite hurt, because the CM basically told him he was cheating the system and being unfair to other guests.
Sam pulled her magic band off, handed it to me, grabbed the Keys from him, and marched around and pulled them in under 60 seconds. Done.
We left them on Sunset and got ourselves back to the Art of Animation in time for the 10:30 session.
This is, hands down, her favorite thing to do. We started going in 2004 and haven't missed it since.
In fact, this session was the first time since our very first one that we drew Donald Duck again, so it was fun to see what 10 years time has done for my little artist.
So we made our way towards Toy Story for the next FP+ to meet back up with the boys and played around a bit on the way.
Hey! They have Rapunzel in Sam's size!
Rawwwwrrr
Woody Cookies? That just sounds AWFUL.
I've never done a split stay. DH has always insisted he wants to unpack and stay put. Plus, I'm a bargain hunter and there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks that we can justify the cost of a deluxe resort these days. Two kids in college (by next fall)? And good grief how the prices have skyrocketed.
Wayback machine: on our first trip in 2000 when DH was working as a state employee, I got us the Magic Kingdom card (remember those?) with a discount that ended up being $144.00 a night for Courtyard Wilderness Lodge. Sigh.
Now, we're paying that for the mods and may bump down into the Values at this rate by the next trip. The new 2014 Poly rates just came out and the room we stayed in this night is more than $1000 rack rate per night. Just... no.
So how did we end up there?
That goes back to the conference trip in April. When we were booking the room, Bob, who served on the board of directors for this particular professional association, had set up and signed all of the contracts that brought the conference to the Contemporary in 2013. He'd since retired (they set these things up years out.). But it had always been a dream of mine to either stay in the Tower or at the Poly. When they offered us rooms at either at the conference rate he called THREE TIMES with THREE DIFFERENT CMs to confirm that we could actually stay in the TOWER at that rate. Otherwise, we'd go with the Poly.
On arrival? Oh, no, sorry, you're out in the Garden Wing, despite everything you were told multiple times. And no, we can't move you to the Poly now -- all those rooms are taken. Bob wrote a very nice, very long letter after our stay, especially after discovering some other conference attendees WERE put in the Tower. As a result, we had one free complimentary night at the Deluxe resort of our choosing.
So, naturally, after how we were treated at the Contemporary, we chose the Polynesian.
One free night -- our last night of our trip -- and here it was.
Bag services was at our room within ten minutes of calling and we were out the door to Studios for the day. Our luggage would meet us at the Poly that afternoon.
Our first stop was RnR and this time I was determined to grab the camera for the ride shot. (Yes, we're cheap. I've done Photopass the past couple of trips and decided I love our pictures way more than the staged shots. Wasn't worth it.)
Our best pre-show ever was last April, when a very bored CM stood at the back and made snide comments. "Free passes? You guys are sooooo lucky!" "Oh, that never happens!" "Ok, I'll be right here waiting for youuuu." as the doors swing open.
One more time to wait for the front. We kind of love doing that, especially since it means we get to take in the details of the themeing. And riding in the very front on RnR is my favorite, because you actually make out the inversions ahead of you and have some great cool wind on your face the entire time. You are hurtling into the darkness without any other heads in the way.
Our turn!
Rock on!
After that, we went around the corner and decided to pull some FP for Tower of Terror for the guys to ride while Sam and I hit up the Animation Academy.
I went through and grabbed two and had Sam pose with what was about to turn obsolete within the month.
Since the Academy was going to take more time than a single ride, it occured to us to use our other two and grab a second set. Bob walked around and this time encountered a CM who stopped him and told him, because he had a magic band, he wasn' allowed to use the machines.
Um, what?
So some guests can pull as many FP at multiple parks in a day, and it's not fair that we get anything beyond the three on the band in the single park? Why give us the ability to do so and tell us (multiple CMs) to use them while we could?
Bob walked away quite hurt, because the CM basically told him he was cheating the system and being unfair to other guests.
Sam pulled her magic band off, handed it to me, grabbed the Keys from him, and marched around and pulled them in under 60 seconds. Done.
We left them on Sunset and got ourselves back to the Art of Animation in time for the 10:30 session.
This is, hands down, her favorite thing to do. We started going in 2004 and haven't missed it since.
In fact, this session was the first time since our very first one that we drew Donald Duck again, so it was fun to see what 10 years time has done for my little artist.
So we made our way towards Toy Story for the next FP+ to meet back up with the boys and played around a bit on the way.
Hey! They have Rapunzel in Sam's size!
Rawwwwrrr
Woody Cookies? That just sounds AWFUL.