Trip of New Phases, Friends & 40! Updated 8/31 - As If Goodbye Wasn't Enough! The End

[PracPerfPatricia]

Oh no honey...I thought you meant you weren't going to leave the Contemporary......

Oh heck we don't leave the Disney property most of the time either-not for years now-although with Harry Potter... I think we're going to be tempted...

love the room photos btw...rooms have very New York-urban chic vibe...

[brookelizabeth]

Your view is STUNNING! Wow, what a sight to wake up to each morning. Love the pics of you down below the room - great idea!

Originally Posted by TyRy

I'm SO glad to see they do this on a regular basis!

Your foreshadowing about going off property again (medicine? )...and I hope NOT about your DH getting hurt again...

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Oh no honey...I thought you meant you weren't going to leave the Contemporary......

Ok - where's the I'm a dork smiley face...I totally thought you meant Disney property and read that wrong.

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

Oh heck we don't leave the Disney property most of the time either-not for years now-although with Harry Potter... I think we're going to be tempted...

We've never been to Island of Adventure since some coasters and I don't like each other and any type of spinning or eye type ride (like Star Tours) gets DH sick. BUT - for Harry Potter I may just suck it up and make DH do the same thing!

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

love the room photos btw...rooms have very New York-urban chic vibe...

They really do have that NY feeling - that was one of the only things I didn't like. Unless I was staring out at Bay Lake, I didn't feel like I was necessarily at Disney.

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

Your view is STUNNING! Wow, what a sight to wake up to each morning. Love the pics of you down below the room - great idea!

Thanks Brook - I really thought I was going to regret not having that MK view, but waking up the two mornings we were there to the sunrise on Bay Lake really made up for it.

Originally Posted by brookelizabeth

Your foreshadowing about going off property again (medicine? )...and I hope NOT about your DH getting hurt again...

Stay tuned...although with how I sometimes write, it may be a while before we get there!

[DisneyJo]

Sorry I missed this Ty and it seems as though we were so close to meeting each other too

Wow that was a long drive, it takes me 9.5 hours to fly there but at least I can watch movies, move around and have my meals brought to me

Your room looks lovely, the view is gorgeous and that cake looks so delicious!

Sorry about CM's having fake sprinkle tubes I always thought they were real too

[TyRy]

Originally Posted by DisneyJo

Sorry I missed this Ty and it seems as though we were so close to meeting each other too

Wow that was a long drive, it takes me 9.5 hours to fly there but at least I can watch movies, move around and have my meals brought to me

Your room looks lovely, the view is gorgeous and that cake looks so delicious!

Sorry about CM's having fake sprinkle tubes I always thought they were real too

Hi Jo - I thought the same thing about just missing each other when I read your TR. You went the time we've gone the last couple of years, but we went early so we could get a second trip out of our AP's.

The drive was long, but was pretty nice (at least on the way down ) but we'll probably end up flying next year.

And yep - the Chef Mickey's thing is still making me mad won't be going back there!

[TyRy]

We spent the afternoon being lazy and swimming, before heading to the MK. Our CRT reservation wasn’t until 6:30pm so we did not have to rush over. We finally hopped on the monorail (late as usual)


and I was hurrying DH until we got the park. Then he was ready to rush in, but I made him stop. Had to visit our brick of course!




Our brick is only two years old and it looks horrible. I have no idea who to call, but somebody really needs to do something about it. Bricks around our have been there for 15+ years and look way better. While I’m grateful I have one at the MK, I still think it should look better.

We then checked in with our MNSSHP tickets and headed down Main Street. We then had to stop and get our first Photopass pics of the trip –




And it was right after those pictures that the day of the rude people began. No one was ever rude to us (well kind of, but that’s later) but something must have been in the air.

As we walked down Main Street and got to the bridge where you can see Tomorrowland, a mom was just railing on her son. The kid was probably around five and he didn’t want to take a picture. I really thought DH was going to say something to her, which is very unlike him. But she was yelling and poking, yes poking, this kid in the face over and over. I’m not a mom, but I understand when parents punish kids for being bad, even if they are spanking them. But this kid just did not want to take a photo. And why she was poking him and yelling – she was literally causing a scene on Main Street. It was just shocking to see. So we now have the poking mom rude family.

We finally made it to CRT to check in and it looks like they had a new system. You used to be allowed to walk right in after checking in. Now they made you line up outside before bringing you in as a group. Ok – besides it being hot, it was fine. Only one family was already in line and one was checking in. And guess who was trying to check in…..yep – the I have no confirmation numbers rude family from the night before at the CR concierge desk. I grabbed DH and told him those were the people who claimed they had ADR’s but nothing was in the system and they had no back up.

Once again, they argued they had ADR’s, but had no confirmation numbers. The manager was very nice and kept his cool, and just kept explaining that without a number there was nothing he could do as they were nowhere in the system under any name or phone number and CRT was completely booked if not semi-overbooked for the night. They kept saying then get us in somewhere else, and again he was very calm and explained everything was booked and they would have to eat counter service. I really have to wonder if they kept trying this every day and night. Another CM stepped up and checked us in and everyone behind us as well. And this went on and on while we waited to be let in! I think I was getting a headache!


We also probably waited about 15 minutes just to be let in…CRT has never run on time, and I think was probably the restaurant that ran the latest in terms of seating for us. So we took a few pictures while waiting outside.




We were finally let in the doors, and weren’t sure if we should line up or not. A couple people behind us who came in thought it was a good idea and were very nice and said we and the other people should be in front of them since we were first. Good – the evening of rudeness was over. Ummmm no. All of a sudden, this woman comes barreling in and states for the entire MK to hear “WE WERE HERE FIRST!” We were all stunned and looked at each other. She continued “CINDERELLA TOOK AND BREAK AND I TOOK MY DUAGHTER TO THE BATHROOM WHILE MY FAMILY WAITED FOR HER TO COME BACK.” Again, we were just stunned, no one was in CRT when our group was let in and we had already been in the line for about ten minutes when this lady appeared.

I wish you could have seen the look on the faces of the people around us…this woman would just not stop. I will say we then made fast friends with the people in front of us and started calling the rude lady, the big hair rude family (I have big hair too so I can say that!) Think of the bully on the schoolyard and you have her. To try and amuse ourselves away from the madness while still waiting, DH snapped a couple of pictures.










I made him take a picture of me by the fireplace


He wanted to know why I was sad by the fireplace. I couldn’t help but laugh at him and I think the mom I made friends with was also laughing. I then explained Cinderella, fireplace cinders…she had to clean them. He then got it. I was just shocked I had to explain it, but it was a good distraction.

Cinderella finally came out and here we go again. The whole line had given in and let big hair rude lady and her family in first, but then we got a whole new round. Well, not us, but my new friends in front of us. The rude lady was literally stepping on one of the nice family’s children trying to get not one, but literally 25 pictures of her child with Cinderella. Nice mom finally said something out loud about the rudeness, but it just went over rude mom’s head. The nice dad had to step in as well and basically tell rude mom off and how she is stepping on her children and everything else. I really wish I had it on video – it was insane. It then became the joke of the line of “excuuseeee me, I’m trying to get this picture – get out of my way.” I swear, half the line was using that jokingly as it became their turn. And rude mom and her family were not called right away, but I have no idea if they knew they caused this new found camaraderie or not.

DH took a picture, and of course, the “official” one you get with your meal.




Continued in next post...

[TyRy]

We were eventually called and DH wanted to take the elevator up.




We were shown our seats which were again, not a window seat. There was confetti on the floor, but not on our table, or well. This is what our table looked like.












Fernando was our waiter and he was from Italy. This made him an instant friend since I am Italian and had used my last name on the reservation. He took our pop order and then returned and brought us our rolls….I love these rolls. BUT – they changed the butter to just regular butter from the mustard butter they used to have. Fine with me as I was not a big fan of it before, but it was just surprising.




Our appetizers were brought out, DH had the Corn and Crab Soup, and I had the BLT Salad. The soup had a nice touch on it.




Both were good, but my salad had shrunk in size since last time we were there. For dinner both had the Prime Rib.



I have to say, last time it was actually pretty good. This time it was not. It looked good, but was so super dry. It was like eating sandpaper. Not a good thing.

For dessert DH had the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle and I had the Sorbet. And yes, we kinda forgot to take the pictures here until we were almost finished! So I can say these were good.




We were going to go, but then the show with Fairy Godmother and Perla and Suzy started. So we waited, and lo and behold guess what. Rude family reared their heads again. This time even though the handlers were not letting anyone go up to the characters, they quickly pop by you, rude mom’s daughter kept following them around with her camera and tugging on them trying to get them to stop and the handlers were constantly sending her away. I felt bad for her, that either her mom had sent her and she was afraid to go back, or she will now grow up just like her mom as she has already learned the same behavior. But we got over it and DH started snapping away.














We then tried to flag down Fernando, to grab our check as we wanted to get to the party. But now we knew why he disappeared.

Continued in next post...

[TyRy]

We couldn't figure out why Fernando had suddenly disappeared...then we discovered why. I got a special birthday treat!




This brought to an end our CRT experience and also hopefully the end to the rude people!

DH put together a video of the whole CRT experience:
Click Picture to Play


OH and thanks to the DIS I knew to ask about a little refund or gift card for our meal. Since we paid in full up front, and have the TiW card which nets us a discount, I knew they would give that money back. Fernando had a little trouble finding a manager to sign off (they were probably still dealing with no ADR family ) but eventually did and said they would refund my credit card the difference, which they did. I also asked Fernando how much tip was figured in originally as I think last time it was some amount like 13%. He wouldn’t tell us, but said it was more than enough, so we left him a little more anyway as I didn't want it taken off even more with the money they were giving us back.

It was then off to MNSSHP and I was really hoping DH would not be crabby about going to it like he'd been all day!

[PracPerfPatricia]

Tracy,

I love this update...the castle looks so pretty inside and your food looks really good too...

I watched the video and was trying to figure out who the rude family was...ot should I saw rude lady...

I'm so sorry about the poking mom...what a lousy think to do to any child let alone your own...and its hard to know what to do in those situations because she might just take it out on him later if you saw anything...

AS for rude big hair lady at the Castle...)and I have thick curly hair so I'm a big hair lady too......it's times like that that I just wish I had a tazer so I could zap some sense into people...

(at least it brought everyone else together...

[meeko_33785]

Just found your TR and I'm enjoying it thus far. The videos really give the report an extra spark. I like it.

Cinderella's Royal Table looks so beautiful on the inside. I'm really missing it now since I haven't been in years. I can't convince anyone else to go because no one else in my family likes the food or wants to go to a Princess meal. The desserts look great though.

[DisneyJo]

So sorry you encountered so many rude people and in such a short space of time too Did these people forget they were in the happiest place on earth?

Glad you had a nice meal though and how sweet you got a little cake

[TyRy]

[QUOTE=PracPerfPatricia;34202956]Tracy,

I love this update...the castle looks so pretty inside and your food looks really good too...

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

It is always so pretty and it's just cool to be inside. The food did look good, just wished it had tasted a bit better. It seems to be good every other time we try it.

Originally Posted by PracPerfPatricia

I watched the video and was trying to figure out who the rude family was...ot should I saw rude lady...

I'm so sorry about the poking mom...what a lousy think to do to any child let alone your own...and its hard to know what to do in those situations because she might just take it out on him later if you saw anything...

AS for rude big hair lady at the Castle...)and I have thick curly hair so I'm a big hair lady too......it's times like that that I just wish I had a tazer so I could zap some sense into people...

(at least it brought everyone else together...

We have no video of the rude big haired lady, only the families we made friends with. You can kind of see her daughter wandering in and out...not standing in line, yet "THEY WERE FIRST!!"

I also didn't want to make it worse for the poor kid we saw on Main Street and I think DH finally thought the same thing. Hopefully it was a one time incident (at least that's what I'm going to think!!)

Originally Posted by meeko_33785

Just found your TR and I'm enjoying it thus far. The videos really give the report an extra spark. I like it.

meeko. I passed on to DH what you said about the videos and he was really happy. I then told him to get cracking so I can post more days .

Originally Posted by meeko_33785

Cinderella's Royal Table looks so beautiful on the inside. I'm really missing it now since I haven't been in years. I can't convince anyone else to go because no one else in my family likes the food or wants to go to a Princess meal. The desserts look great though.

That stinks about not being able to go to the castle. Could you convince them that dinner is not a princess meal. We kind of dragged out dinner to see the show, but if you time it right, you don't even see the show with the Fairy Godmother and mice. You could also skip the picture with Cinderella if you wanted to do that. It is pricey at dinner and can be hit or miss with the food. But it's just a great experience, at least once. I don't think we'll be back on our next trip.

Originally Posted by DisneyJo

So sorry you encountered so many rude people and in such a short space of time too Did these people forget they were in the happiest place on earth?

I think they must have forgotten, or they figured it was the happiest place on earth where my trip must be perfect and who cares if I screw up someone elses. I'd just never seen that much rudeness on any of our trips, let alone in such a short span of time.

Originally Posted by DisneyJo

Glad you had a nice meal though and how sweet you got a little cake

It was very sweet to get the cake, and as DH says, you go to the castle for the experience and not the food. He used to say that about the steakhouse in the Contempory as well since it was right below the monorail.

[TyRy]

UGHHH - why does the drama never seem to end? If anyone has any advice, please please let me know!!

We just received a letter in the mail from ACCC Insurance Company of Georgia asking for all our details for the accident we were involved in on the highway. The problem…we were never involved in an accident. We did get two flat tires while driving in the HOV lane on 175, and immediately pulled over onto the shoulder. But there was no accident. DH called this company and they said someone is claiming we sideswiped them. I called Alamo since we were in their car, and they said the only damage the car had (we were in downtown Atlanta) when we returned it was two flat tires. No other damage. We had also called Georgia State Police since we were from out of town and didn’t know who else to call since we were semi-blocking traffic. The trooper did write a report that we had two flat tire by caused by something on the road.

The letter came with the wrong street name (we had two words and they inserted one in between) and our city spelled wrong. The insurance company told DH to return the letter saying we were not involved in any accident, but I really want this taken care of now.

Perhaps it’s also a Georgia law or something, but the insurance company also asked for a copy of our title. I’ve unfortunately been involved in a major accident years ago (I was hit by a drunk driver) and neither company asked for a title.

Something doesn’t seem right here. I've also posted this on the transportation board.

Thanks!

[Flossbolna]

Obviously I can't help you with that horribe car/insureance issue! Being from Germany I know nothing about US insurances... But I wanted to say that I am so sorry that you have to go through this. It's just such a sour ending to the memories of your trip which was supposed to make you feel good after what you have be thrrough this year... So lots of hugs from me!!

[heaven2dc]

This sounds like some sort of scam to me but not sure how an insurance company could try to do that. Is the name of the ins. company a well know company? I recently got a call from a Loan place saying they had some money they wanted to deposit into my account and asked for my banking info. Although I did inquire about a loan, it wasn't through this particular company and he got really rude when I asked information from him (address, name of company, phone number, etc.) I sent a letter to them asking that they never contact me again and if I did receive another call, I was reporting them to the FBI.

I hope you get this straightened out. It sounds like you have taken all the right steps so far. Good luck!