Trip Report Rise of the Popcorn Bucket

Hello everyone & a warm welcome to you!! As always, lots of fun was had on this trip with the star of the show(besides J, of course;)) being none other than E's nemesis, the popcorn bucket!! I'm super excited to share our adventures with you!!

WHO: I think you know us but.....myself-Patti, R(I think I've converted him to a full blown Disney fan even though he claims he likes coming for the restaurants), my sister E & my super fun, partner in crime(in more ways than one on this trip) J!!
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WHEN: Friday, January 17th - Monday, January 20th(gotta go around those darn school schedules when you have family in the education field)

WHERE(I hope you're sitting down for this one!): Art of Animationo_O
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There was no room at the inn at Riverside so we decided to stay here b/c we thought J would really like the Cars suite. In the end we created a monster b/c he has now decided that AoA is his favorite!!

PREAMBLE
We last left off with JSR smuggling the popcorn buckets out of his house for me. BTW--J was in on this too & I was very proud of him for keeping it a secret for so long!!
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They were heading to WDW with me!! Also, you may be wondering why there are two. You see, E's hatred for the popcorn bucket didn't just start on our trip in November. A few years ago she, JSR & J were on a Disney cruise & JSR bought the Santa Mickey bucket that you see there. She couldn't stand it back then on the cruise & her feelings really haven't changed. If anything, they've gotten worse!!
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We had a 3:50 flight b/c someone(the guy in education) had a half day of school & didn't want to miss work. We met at E's at 12:30 & JSR drove us to the airport. I had went to work that morning & before I left I bought a case of water & put 12 in my suitcase. My boss was busy making fun of me for not buying it in Disney. I told him I had the space in my suitcase & these bottles were for the room. Why spend $3.50 per bottle when I could spend $4.99 for a case of Aquafina?? BTW--it was well worth it. We only had 2 bottles left at the end of the trip!!

Check out J's cute suitcase!!
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He's ready to go!! J said that he wanted me to sit next to him in the car. On the way to the airport he told me that he wanted to sit next to me on the plane & the ME. I asked E why he wanted to be my BFF. She said she didn't know but earlier that day out of the blue he told her, "I really like Aunt Patti". I think he saw jelly beans in his future!!
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We checked our bags in at curbside & the Southwest agent started humming The March of the First Order when he saw J's suitcase. It was cute. He also profoundly thanked us for the tips b/c he said that it had been a slow day.
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J was excited to get on the "monorail". Even though R was still in his work clothes he was somewhat in Disney mode with the Star Wars tie he was wearing!!
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We went to TGI Friday's for lunch. We got some kind of combo platter & shared everything. The potstickers & breadsticks were especially good!! That wine wasn't bad either!!;)
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Meanwhile, J was enjoying the cheese sticks!!
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riverside

riverside

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Swissmiss said:
Welcome E! Your J gets cuter and cuter by the minute!

@MickeyCB Good idea at getting some practice in on being a doting grandma 😉. I 💕 your t-shirt.
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Thanks!! He's getting taller by the minute I swear!!
ajrwdwgirl said:
Such a fun meet up! And Welcome to E!
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It was a lot of fun!!
Songbird76 said:
Welcome, E! Nice to have you here!

Wow, @MickeyCB ! Don't get in trouble now, bringing big bags of Jelly beans!!

@riverside , I have a question for you. I have a friend in California who has an immuno compromised system, and she's having trouble finding lysol. Is that one of those things that is impossible to get? She said her grocery store won't help her at all. They won't set any aside for her or let her know when it's supposed to come in, even though it's life threatening for her. But I was wondering if that's just her area that is not getting lysol in or if it's everywhere. I thought you would know, since you mentioned shortages being a problem in your store. Is that one of the things you can't seem to get in?
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It's not impossible to get but you have to get there at the right time b/c it goes quick--at least where I work. It's a shame that they won't do that for her--esp. to not even tell her when the orders come in. When I order I don't know until about 8 hours before what is exactly coming in but I at least tell customers what days the orders come in & that's when there best chance of getting it is. The tp & paper towel situation is much better now. The wipes & disinfecting sprays are a bit tougher but they still come in. Our warehouse does allocate how much we can get of those items just so that they can distribute to all their customers which is understandable so that's why we only get a little at a time. Can it be sent through the mail? If so I could round up a few & send them to her if you would like.
MickeyCB said:
We had so much fun hanging out in the parking lot! 🤣
I was thinking after we left that if we ever get to sit down and chat we won't know how to behave ourselves!
It was so much fun meeting E, she is very sweet!
And I'm glad J liked the lego set, but I will say he must be genius material because he built that soooo fast!

And if I could I'll tell the "witch" story I forgot to tell you and E as we were gabbing so much.
Gary and I were headed to meet you guys and he asked me about the "witches". I was highly insulted, I said "what are you talking about"???
And he said, "you know the group of you are the witches". And then I realized he genuinely was mixing up his fantasy folks and not being insulting to us! (After being married almost 37 years you never know)! :cautious:
"Oh you mean the magicians"! 🤦‍♀️
Gotta watch that guy!
Hopefully one of these non-covid days we will actually be able to sit down and chat like normal witches magicians!
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It was a lot of fun!! I'm really glad E could make it. I don't know if J is genius material but he is pretty intelligent.

Sorry--I think that was my fault. You started talking about that then I jumped in with a question & the conversation changed. My apologies. You'll have to fill me in on that!! Curious....
Gary's a nice guy--he keeps putting up with these parking lot meetings!! 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
Swissmiss

Swissmiss

Premium Member
riverside said:
It's not impossible to get but you have to get there at the right time b/c it goes quick--at least where I work. It's a shame that they won't do that for her--esp. to not even tell her when the orders come in. When I order I don't know until about 8 hours before what is exactly coming in but I at least tell customers what days the orders come in & that's when there best chance of getting it is. The tp & paper towel situation is much better now. The wipes & disinfecting sprays are a bit tougher but they still come in. Our warehouse does allocate how much we can get of those items just so that they can distribute to all their customers which is understandable so that's why we only get a little at a time. Can it be sent through the mail? If so I could round up a few & send them to her if you would like.
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Reading this, I have to say that customer service like you provide (even something as “simple” as telling people when they might have a chance of finding a product) is HUGE to me. I will go out of my way or go to a business that might be a bit more expensive if the employees are friendly and/or kind. And I’ve been known to “boycott” businesses that I observe treating their employees badly while fawning over customers, or not giving a toss if the customer comes back.
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Swissmiss said:
Reading this, I have to say that customer service like you provide (even something as “simple” as telling people when they might have a chance of finding a product) is HUGE to me. I will go out of my way or go to a business that might be a bit more expensive if the employees are friendly and/or kind. And I’ve been known to “boycott” businesses that I observe treating their employees badly while fawning over customers, or not giving a toss if the customer comes back.
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^^^^This! I would think telling people when shipments are do would be an easy thing to do, but my friend said they won't do anything for anyone because they want it to be fair for everyone. How is it fair for someone whose system doesn't work to have to compete with all the healthy individuals for things that could save their lives that the healthy people probably don't need as much? That's just a bogus excuse to not have to make an effort.

@riverside , thank you soooooo much! I will pm you her address. Let me know if there's something I can do for you in return! If there's anything Dutch you want to try, I will send you something!
 
riverside

riverside

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Swissmiss said:
Reading this, I have to say that customer service like you provide (even something as “simple” as telling people when they might have a chance of finding a product) is HUGE to me. I will go out of my way or go to a business that might be a bit more expensive if the employees are friendly and/or kind. And I’ve been known to “boycott” businesses that I observe treating their employees badly while fawning over customers, or not giving a toss if the customer comes back.
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Good customer service is very important esp. considering how tough it is to get/keep people's business these days. I am grateful that the majority of the employees are genuinely nice, friendly, helpful people. On our google reviews people always comment on how nice they are.
Songbird76 said:
^^^^This! I would think telling people when shipments are do would be an easy thing to do, but my friend said they won't do anything for anyone because they want it to be fair for everyone. How is it fair for someone whose system doesn't work to have to compete with all the healthy individuals for things that could save their lives that the healthy people probably don't need as much? That's just a bogus excuse to not have to make an effort.

@riverside , thank you soooooo much! I will pm you her address. Let me know if there's something I can do for you in return! If there's anything Dutch you want to try, I will send you something!
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Yeah--we want to make it fair for everyone too. So we limit it to the customer just like our warehouse limits us. But I don't see how it could be unfair to tell someone when the orders come in. It just sounds to me like they don't want to be bothered.

Sounds good!!
 
lindawdw

lindawdw

Well-Known Member
riverside said:
Today was an absolutely spectacular day!! I had an awesome visit from my dear friend @MickeyCB & her husband, Gary!! And look who joined their fellow magicians!!
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FYI—E has an account here now so she’s part of this magician family!! I’ll let her disclose her info if she’d like!!

Unfortunately J partied too late last night at my nieces(his cousins) 7th birthday party so he was still sleeping & didn’t make the big meetup.

We had so much fun talking & I’m so thankful for another meetup!! And, let me tell you, @MickeyCB is going to be one heck of a grandma!! Look what she got for J!!

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She’s as bad as me with those jelly beans—& I love it!!

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He had so much fun building his new LEGO set. E sent me a text: “He said it was the best LEGO set he ever got”

We had a great time talking & I was glad that E was able to make it!! And more than anything, @MickeyCB thank you for stopping by & being such a sweet friend!!
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That was so sweet of MickeyCB to give J such a wonderful gift! He looks so happy with his Lego set and Jelly Beans!!!
 

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