Pre-Trip Those banked points aren’t going to use themselves Part II: Code Name DMCA

Cast:
DW(Laura)

Me(Sean)

Where:
AKL Jambo 1-bedroom for 2 nights
Disney Dream for 3 nights
Bay Lake Tower for one night
When:
September 16-22
What:
Operation DMCA

Prologue:
For those interested, part 1 with the banked points back story can be found here and followed up here:

This fall will mark seventeen years of marital bliss to my best friend. Lots of back story of here
and I won’t throw it all at you again but long story short; my wife sat in front of me in the 5th grade and I think that is pretty awesome! Anyway, we had a blast this time last year when we embarked, get it embarked, on a trip that included our very first cruise, read more about that here.

I was never one for the boat idea and was against it for so long but my better half wore me down and I am hooked, this stuff just writes itself! When we left we decided that we would be back on the boat and bring the DD too! So a few months later we had a nice April 2016 booked for the family, hooray! Fast forward a few more months and we’re hip deep in DVC resale purchasing and planning our next anniversary trip with these banked points we have. No talk of a boat trip, just a week-ish stay around our Fall teaching schedule. The plan is set, when we hit the 7month mark we will try to nab some split stay action and see what resorts we can get for fun. This is where I saw my opening!

Operation DMCA

1,000 internet points for why I used “DMCA” in all my file folder, calendar reminder, and email subject naming during this operation.
My opening was there! There would have to come a point during our stay where we would be changing our resorts and THAT is where it would happen! “What would happen” you say? Well that is where I would slyly make my way to Osceola parkway, hop on I-4 and make that right on 528 towards The Dream. THAT is where I would drop the bomb! We’re heading to the boat! It was early February and I had an abstract plan that needs fine tuning. I quickly made a checklist of what needed to happen:
How to get DD’s approval so she doesn’t blow a stack when she finds out we’re going to WDW without her.
How to covertly pay for this without raising suspicion.
How to get DW’s mom in on it so she can watch DD while we are gone.
How to get all the boat needs into our luggage without raising suspicion(passport, fancy clothes for Palo, beach attire,etc.)

So I have a rough plan, time to take action…

 

[blreinsel]

Following along of course.

 

[lostpro9het]

Following along of course.

Thanks! I've been slacking this weekend and today and need to get back at this. Today was the first day of classes at the college and its been crazy busy. I also scored a sweet deal today for one night at AKL Jambo that Ill talk more about later. Update to follow soon!!

 

[catmom46]

Thanks! I've been slacking this weekend and today and need to get back at this. Today was the first day of classes at the college and its been crazy busy. I also scored a sweet deal today for one night at AKL Jambo that Ill talk more about later. Update to follow soon!!

 

[lostpro9het]

Bullet Dodged
So here we are, just under 30 days until the trip and I’m recollecting the first scare. Not two weeks after I book the cruise do I get a work IM from my DW.[oh yeah we both work at the same college; her in Arts & Letters and me in IT] Anyhow, the IM she sent was that she got some of my mail and I needed to come get it. WHAT!?!?! My heart jumped into my throat as I typed back “What is it”, just hoping it wasn’t cruise related. Thankfully it was just some campus mail. What really irritated me was that after 10 years of working Campus Mail decided to forget that my DW and I are not the same person! So now after sending multiple emails to ensure DCL sends all documentation to work now I’ve got to worry about Campus Mail sending those documents to the wrong person! A few weeks pass of me getting my mail as normal and I begin to forget the incident ever happened. (Random hint: millennium)

I’ve run out of 1-ups
Fast forward a month of covert activities, planning and hoping Campus mail doesn’t let me down and I have cached away enough gift cards to pay for the trip. Paying off the trip happened to coincide with us finally closing on our DVC resale purchase after about 3 months of waiting so emotions were high. I sent the agent my final payment and promptly received my email confirming it. SWEEEEET! So the next morning I receive an email from DCL about our vacation protection plan, no biggie this is expected. Then it happened. I get an IM from the DW asking why she just received and email from DCL about trip protection for September when our cruise is in April…..

My mind races on how to recover from this. I cannot think of a story to spin this without raising further suspicion so I simply respond with “surprise, happy anniversary”. There are so many words to describe how I felt at this moment that would not get past the censors here. MONTHS of work gone in a single email! Confused, the DW pushes more wanting clarification so we meet and I unload the story in about five minutes of anger. She, of course, is happy and surprised claiming she had no idea. I’m still pretty furious. So after a goodbye kiss we head back to our offices and immediately shoot off the following email to our agent:

“Sadly the vacation protection company emailed my wife our policy information with our trip/reservation information today. This was pretty disappointing…”


Still to come, the fallout.

 

[catmom46]

 

[lostpro9het]

Ok, ok,ok, maybe fallout wasn’t the best adjective

So very shortly after I send off the above message to our agent I receive a very sincere call from our agent. She is beside herself and very disappointed as well. She reassured me that she took every precaution informing DCL of the situation and would get to the bottom of it. I had really checked out I was so angry; not at her but just in general. A short while later I receive another call from our agent, she then goes into detail of what happened. She went on to explain that since both my DW and I were already in the system with contact info from a previous and future cruise there was some trigger set to fire off the email to all in the party that had an email listed. This was an unknown issue to DCL as it stemmed from the cruise line vacation protection company. Our agent again expressed great regret and informed me that DCL would like to offer us dinner at Palo; we had already had plans to book their anyway. I let her know that I wasn’t really interested in DCL making it right because they really couldn’t. I reiterated my complete disappointment and frustration with the situation but reminded her it was not targeted at her. I think I may have ended the call with something along the lines of “whatever, it doesn’t matter”. Later that afternoon I receive an email from DCL informing us that we have a night at Palo on them.

And the weeks go by

It took a good week or two for me to get over the issue but I put on my big boy britches, maybe a week too late , and started planning with the DW what we were going to do now. Previously we had travelled with a passport card and the DW wanted to upgrade to a passport since we had a few cruising planned in the future so this made for a good opportunity for the whole family to get their passport made. After a few weeks the whole crew was armed with documentation to go global! So moving ahead more we needed to plan our Palo night and decide what rotation we would request. Not being particularly interested in Pirate night, outside of enjoying the fireworks, we chose to do Palo on the middle night again but a little earlier this time so maybe we can catch a sunset. We had no problems booking our Palo ADR when our check-in window opened up. I then contacted our agent to request the AP/EG/RP rotation for our dining. We missed Royal Palace last cruise and enjoyed our Animator’s Palate so we knew we wanted to get those in and miss Enchanted Garden. Our agent popped in the request and hopefully DCL can oblige! Several weeks later and boom Castaway Club!

DVC: Disney Vacation Creep

I’ve talked about “Vacation Creep” in the past but for those that are unfamiliar it’s the act of slowly expanding your vacation as your get closer to your vacation. I, personally, have a terrible habit of wanting to add a day here or a day there, which is partly why we have so many MagicBands(about 50), as we get near our Disney trips and this one is no exception! I LOOOOVE going down a day early just to be that much more rested for the “real” part of the vacation, plus the bonus of a few night hours at MK never hurts either . So for a few weeks I’ve been dropping hints and suggestions to the DW about going down a day earlier. Just yesterday we agree to leave the day before after we send the DD to school. Now, where to stay!?!? We could go halfway like we tend to do and spend around $100 for a night in Tifton, but we’re leaving so early we might as well go all the way! So we’re set on Orlando. AP discounts has rooms available for $96+tax for a value up to $300+tax for a deluxe standard studio, decisions decisions. I check out the DVC availability tool and see there is plenty availability at AKL Jambo, which is where we would be staying the next two nights before the cruise. Not wanting to use any of my banked points on this since we’re saving for a big Christmas 2016 trip, I start hitting up the point rental vendors and find it! Someone trying to rent 11 points for $8/point! Any guesses how many points it takes to rent a standard studio at AKL Jambo on a Tuesday in early September? 11 POINTS! It’s like it was meant to be, at least that’s what I tell myself! So, a few email exchanges and a prompt paypal payment and we have a reservation number in less than 2 hours!! BOOM, $88 for a deluxe standard view room at AKL Jambo!! If there had been AP discount availability for this night, which there wasn’t, it would have run us $300+tax!

How DMCA shook out:
Who: Still the DW and I!
Why: 17 years of marital bliss!
When: September 15-22
Where: AKL Jambo Standard Studio(1 night) $88!
AKL Jambo 1-Bedroom (2 nights)
Disney Dream (3 nights) (not a surprise but she’s still pretty happy)
Bay Lake Tower (1 night)
What:
Tue: TBD, thinking maybe Il Mulino or Trattoria al Forno
Wed: Shula’s(dinner)
Thur: Jiko (dinner)
Fri: Kona Breakfast (breakfast), Animator’s Palate(dinner)
Sat: Palo(dinner)
Sun: Royal Palace (dinner)
Mon: Citricos(dinner)


Also, the DW went ahead and booked each of us a full day pass yesterday to the spa on The Dream. It will be our first time experiencing that. Soooo, that puts us at about 28ish day now that the creep has set in ! Ill post more details as they come as well as the inevitable trip report!

 

[fractal]

Bullet Dodged
So here we are, just under 30 days until the trip and I’m recollecting the first scare. Not two weeks after I book the cruise do I get a work IM from my DW.[oh yeah we both work at the same college; her in Arts & Letters and me in IT] Anyhow, the IM she sent was that she got some of my mail and I needed to come get it. WHAT!?!?! My heart jumped into my throat as I typed back “What is it”, just hoping it wasn’t cruise related. Thankfully it was just some campus mail. What really irritated me was that after 10 years of working Campus Mail decided to forget that my DW and I are not the same person! So now after sending multiple emails to ensure DCL sends all documentation to work now I’ve got to worry about Campus Mail sending those documents to the wrong person! A few weeks pass of me getting my mail as normal and I begin to forget the incident ever happened. (Random hint: millennium)

I’ve run out of 1-ups
Fast forward a month of covert activities, planning and hoping Campus mail doesn’t let me down and I have cached away enough gift cards to pay for the trip. Paying off the trip happened to coincide with us finally closing on our DVC resale purchase after about 3 months of waiting so emotions were high. I sent the agent my final payment and promptly received my email confirming it. SWEEEEET! So the next morning I receive an email from DCL about our vacation protection plan, no biggie this is expected. Then it happened. I get an IM from the DW asking why she just received and email from DCL about trip protection for September when our cruise is in April…..

My mind races on how to recover from this. I cannot think of a story to spin this without raising further suspicion so I simply respond with “surprise, happy anniversary”. There are so many words to describe how I felt at this moment that would not get past the censors here. MONTHS of work gone in a single email! Confused, the DW pushes more wanting clarification so we meet and I unload the story in about five minutes of anger. She, of course, is happy and surprised claiming she had no idea. I’m still pretty furious. So after a goodbye kiss we head back to our offices and immediately shoot off the following email to our agent:

“Sadly the vacation protection company emailed my wife our policy information with our trip/reservation information today. This was pretty disappointing…”


Still to come, the fallout.

Yeah, I would have been PO'ed!

 

[sheriffwoody]

So sad that the surprise was ruined It sounds like an amazing trip!

 

[fractal]

Ok, ok,ok, maybe fallout wasn’t the best adjective

So very shortly after I send off the above message to our agent I receive a very sincere call from our agent. She is beside herself and very disappointed as well. She reassured me that she took every precaution informing DCL of the situation and would get to the bottom of it. I had really checked out I was so angry; not at her but just in general. A short while later I receive another call from our agent, she then goes into detail of what happened. She went on to explain that since both my DW and I were already in the system with contact info from a previous and future cruise there was some trigger set to fire off the email to all in the party that had an email listed. This was an unknown issue to DCL as it stemmed from the cruise line vacation protection company. Our agent again expressed great regret and informed me that DCL would like to offer us dinner at Palo; we had already had plans to book their anyway. I let her know that I wasn’t really interested in DCL making it right because they really couldn’t. I reiterated my complete disappointment and frustration with the situation but reminded her it was not targeted at her. I think I may have ended the call with something along the lines of “whatever, it doesn’t matter”. Later that afternoon I receive an email from DCL informing us that we have a night at Palo on them.

And the weeks go by

It took a good week or two for me to get over the issue but I put on my big boy britches, maybe a week too late , and started planning with the DW what we were going to do now. Previously we had travelled with a passport card and the DW wanted to upgrade to a passport since we had a few cruising planned in the future so this made for a good opportunity for the whole family to get their passport made. After a few weeks the whole crew was armed with documentation to go global! So moving ahead more we needed to plan our Palo night and decide what rotation we would request. Not being particularly interested in Pirate night, outside of enjoying the fireworks, we chose to do Palo on the middle night again but a little earlier this time so maybe we can catch a sunset. We had no problems booking our Palo ADR when our check-in window opened up. I then contacted our agent to request the AP/EG/RP rotation for our dining. We missed Royal Palace last cruise and enjoyed our Animator’s Palate so we knew we wanted to get those in and miss Enchanted Garden. Our agent popped in the request and hopefully DCL can oblige! Several weeks later and boom Castaway Club!

DVC: Disney Vacation Creep

I’ve talked about “Vacation Creep” in the past but for those that are unfamiliar it’s the act of slowly expanding your vacation as your get closer to your vacation. I, personally, have a terrible habit of wanting to add a day here or a day there, which is partly why we have so many MagicBands(about 50), as we get near our Disney trips and this one is no exception! I LOOOOVE going down a day early just to be that much more rested for the “real” part of the vacation, plus the bonus of a few night hours at MK never hurts either . So for a few weeks I’ve been dropping hints and suggestions to the DW about going down a day earlier. Just yesterday we agree to leave the day before after we send the DD to school. Now, where to stay!?!? We could go halfway like we tend to do and spend around $100 for a night in Tifton, but we’re leaving so early we might as well go all the way! So we’re set on Orlando. AP discounts has rooms available for $96+tax for a value up to $300+tax for a deluxe standard studio, decisions decisions. I check out the DVC availability tool and see there is plenty availability at AKL Jambo, which is where we would be staying the next two nights before the cruise. Not wanting to use any of my banked points on this since we’re saving for a big Christmas 2016 trip, I start hitting up the point rental vendors and find it! Someone trying to rent 11 points for $8/point! Any guesses how many points it takes to rent a standard studio at AKL Jambo on a Tuesday in early September? 11 POINTS! It’s like it was meant to be, at least that’s what I tell myself! So, a few email exchanges and a prompt paypal payment and we have a reservation number in less than 2 hours!! BOOM, $88 for a deluxe standard view room at AKL Jambo!! If there had been AP discount availability for this night, which there wasn’t, it would have run us $300+tax!

How DMCA shook out:
Who: Still the DW and I!
Why: 17 years of marital bliss!
When: September 15-22
Where: AKL Jambo Standard Studio(1 night) $88!
AKL Jambo 1-Bedroom (2 nights)
Disney Dream (3 nights) (not a surprise but she’s still pretty happy)
Bay Lake Tower (1 night)
What:
Tue: TBD, thinking maybe Il Mulino or Trattoria al Forno
Wed: Shula’s(dinner)
Thur: Jiko (dinner)
Fri: Kona Breakfast (breakfast), Animator’s Palate(dinner)
Sat: Palo(dinner)
Sun: Royal Palace (dinner)
Mon: Citricos(dinner)


Also, the DW went ahead and booked each of us a full day pass yesterday to the spa on The Dream. It will be our first time experiencing that. Soooo, that puts us at about 28ish day now that the creep has set in ! Ill post more details as they come as well as the inevitable trip report!

That is a great deal! Always wanted to stay at AKL.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Well, that just stinks that the surprise was ruined! I guess the upside is that you can plan everything together now and know that she will be 100% pleased with the plans. It's getting so close now! Soooo jealous!!

 

[lostpro9het]

So sad that the surprise was ruined It sounds like an amazing trip!

I actually started to get that pit in my stomach as I wrote this and felt my temper rising! Still a little raw I suppose. Yes! We are going to try to make this one count as it may be the last couples trip for a little while.

That is a great deal! Always wanted to stay at AKL.

We were on cloud nine Monday. We would just look at each other during dinner or while watching TV and say "$88!"

Well, that just stinks that the surprise was ruined! I guess the upside is that you can plan everything together now and know that she will be 100% pleased with the plans. It's getting so close now! Soooo jealous!!

If there is a silver lining to this it is that she gets to plan with me now, and she does love herself some planning! For example, the spa passes, I would have never have thought of that and at $16 a person for the whole day it's a no-brainer!
I wont lie, it feels pretty good being in the 20's!

 

[imahistorygeek]

DW here...

I've been following along since the beginning of this pre-trip report. Matter of fact, I read all the the pre-trip and trip reports. Nothing spoiled...

I was kinda disappointed about the ruined surprised, but I'm still going on a cruise! I'm still surprised we are going on another cruise, booked by the same guy who said its just a boat on water before our first one. I'll admit, which I'm not sure I ever told him, I was scared he'd hate the first cruise. So now he knows.

I'm not sure if he realizes how excited I am for this next cruise or trip to WDW. It's not like I'm scratching hash marks into the wall...

Back to the surprises....I couldn't believe he managed to pull this off. DD did an admirable job of keeping her mouth shut and I was completely oblivious. Fast forward to that fateful morning. I opened up my email to see and emails from the cruise line confirming our vacation insurance (which right now I'm really glad we have). I looked at the dates and they were the same as our 1st cruise. My first thought was that Disney screwed up. You can understand my lack of confidence considering their IT kinda stinks. I immediately emailed the TA. She did not respond. I'm assume she was trying to connect with Sean. You know the rest of the story.

Regardless of how it went down, I am still over the moon! Sean is an amazing person and after all these years, he still continues to surprise me.

On to our trip. We are finally trying Jiko's! Sean is very traditional with food, a meat and potatoes guy. This is a big deal. He resisted Sanaa for the longest time, but finally tried it and now it's one of our favs. He recommends the butter chicken. oh and did he mention $88 for a deluxe studio?!

Everything is falling into place. We will continue to work our 9 to 5s and side jobs, while all the while counting down the days, hours, and minutes until we can return home.

 

[imahistorygeek]

Not a bad guess, but it actually has nothing to do with Disney. I'm probably the only one that will appreciate it at the end of the day . I'll drop a hint: I teach a computer ethics course and DMCA came up as a topic of discussion but the reason I chose it has nothing to do with computers.

He was disappointed I didn't immediately remember what this meant. Now I remember, but I'm not sure how it ties in except for one thing...

 

[catmom46]

DW here...

I've been following along since the beginning of this pre-trip report. Matter of fact, I read all the the pre-trip and trip reports. Nothing spoiled...

I was kinda disappointed about the ruined surprised, but I'm still going on a cruise! I'm still surprised we are going on another cruise, booked by the same guy who said its just a boat on water before our first one. I'll admit, which I'm not sure I ever told him, I was scared he'd hate the first cruise. So now he knows.

I'm not sure if he realizes how excited I am for this next cruise or trip to WDW. It's not like I'm scratching hash marks into the wall...

Back to the surprises....I couldn't believe he managed to pull this off. DD did an admirable job of keeping her mouth shut and I was completely oblivious. Fast forward to that fateful morning. I opened up my email to see and emails from the cruise line confirming our vacation insurance (which right now I'm really glad we have). I looked at the dates and they were the same as our 1st cruise. My first thought was that Disney screwed up. You can understand my lack of confidence considering their IT kinda stinks. I immediately emailed the TA. She did not respond. I'm assume she was trying to connect with Sean. You know the rest of the story.

Regardless of how it went down, I am still over the moon! Sean is an amazing person and after all these years, he still continues to surprise me.

On to our trip. We are finally trying Jiko's! Sean is very traditional with food, a meat and potatoes guy. This is a big deal. He resisted Sanaa for the longest time, but finally tried it and now it's one of our favs. He recommends the butter chicken. oh and did he mention $88 for a deluxe studio?!

Everything is falling into place. We will continue to work our 9 to 5s and side jobs, while all the while counting down the days, hours, and minutes until we can return home.

Aha, the truth comes out! Yes, to be surprised would have been nice, but what's most important is the actual trip, right? You two are going to have such a fabulous time! And we all expect a highly detailed TR when you return! Perhaps it could be sort of a "he said, she said" version?

 

[lostpro9het]

Got some mail today:

I'm working now on moving around our ADRs. Going to move Jiko to Tuesday and Shula's to Wednesday. Thinking about adding Il Mulino and Chefs de France for lunch too.

 

[catmom46]

Got some mail today:

I'm working now on moving around our ADRs. Going to move Jiko to Tuesday and Shula's to Wednesday. Thinking about adding Il Mulino and Chefs de France for lunch too.

I wish I was getting mail like that now!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

My husband wants that card so badly!

 

[FlaggNL]

OMG! You have the SW card! Would love to have it Enjoy your stay and the pre feelings!

 

[lostpro9het]

My husband wants that card so badly!

OMG! You have the SW card! Would love to have it Enjoy your stay and the pre feelings!

I'll say this, Chase was surprisingly efficient in getting it out. I'm very happy with it.

 

[FlaggNL]

I'll say this, Chase was surprisingly efficient in getting it out. I'm very happy with it.

I understand and that is great! Here in Europe VISA does not have cards like yours