Trip Report The “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket…or Two….or Three” Christmas Experience.**Completed**

So here we are again for another fun filled journey that is sure to include some poor spelling, beer, poor grammar, great food, beer, plenty of animals, a fourth wheel, park visits, beer, and judgement for said poor spelling and grammar. For those ignorant to the primer for this journey you may read all the funivities HERE. The Cliff’s Notes version is we’ve got five nights in the bubble at one of the most beautiful resorts on property and are accompanied by two teens that can watch each other so lets get this ball rolling!!!


Sunday December 17th


So yesterday after a viewing of The Last Jedi we made our way to the half way point, Tifton, for a night’s stay. Not being a complete barbarian, insensitive to his three female traveling companions, I offered to get up this morning at 04:45 to get breakfast for the tres muchachas while they get ready because, you know, ladies be taking forever to get ready in the AM. Hats off to the trio as they were downstairs by 05:30 and we were on our way to the bubble. A very uneventful three and a half hours and we hit the Super Target on 192 to pick up some cold staples before making our way home!
IMG_1168.JPG

IMG_1169.JPG



After dropping our gear off with bell services I needed to head to the front desk to make sure the 4th wheel’s band and charging privileges would work, OH BOY, what an ordeal!!! What should have been simple ended up taking an hour with an overly confident CM, Jeff. At one point he had lost the 5-day hopper pass associated to her band and had to call IT to get it back! He instructed me that he had set 4thWheel’s limit at $400, corrected her band, and that all our bands were ready to use. A bonus of it taking so long was our room became available while we waited and it wasn’t even 11:00!!! During my interaction with Jeff I specifically asked that he verify that all bands would work. I even made mention that “I guarantee at least one of these bands will not open our door”. He thought all the issues he was having with charging and losing the ticket had me worried, I assured him it was experience that had me worried. So, with Jeff’s assurance we made for room 5130! Guess what? 3 of the 4 bands WOULD NOT open our door! So I told the ladies to head inside, call bell services, and I would take care of the bands. I made my way back down to see Jeff who was probably tired of seeing me by now and politely let him know. Jeff said one thing that really bothered me and that was “You have too many magic bands and that is why you can’t get into your room”. He followed that up with “You do know you can decline the bands, you don’t have to get one each time”. He then proceeded to count all the bands I had on my MDE account. I didn’t care for being blamed for Disney’s lack of foresight or design so I asked Jeff if Disney had a rule on the number of bands a guest may have associated with an MDE account to which he answered “no”. So then I pointed out that I was playing by the rules and the number of bands should have no bearing. So another 10 minutes and he assured me the bands where set and then asked where we were headed this evening. I told him HS and he gave us our first golden ticket of the day to ride RnR.
IMG_1207_edit.jpg



So back up I went and thankfully the bands worked! Bell services had arrived and the teens were itching to get to MK so the DW and I said go! That’s when the 4th wheel informed us that her ticket was no longer showing up on her MDE account!!! Back to see Jeff! Another 15 minutes with Jeff and the ticket was back with further reassurances that it would work. This lead to our second golden ticket of the hour! Jeff gave the girls a golden ticket for 7DMT and they made their way to MK but not before being forced into taking one of the only picture we would get of them this trip
IMG_1173.JPG



Still to come: Room 5130, Sanaa, our third Golden Ticket, and I promise a lot fewer issues going forward.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday December 17th cont.

So it wasn’t a few minutes before I received the text that our Sanaa table was ready. I nabbed a few pics on the way back to the restaurant. There is so much African art/artifacts going on in the lodges that it is so easy to walk by them unnoticed. This piece caught my eye for some reason.
IMG_1189.JPG


IMG_1187.JPG


IMG_1188.JPG


So we were quickly greeted and seated by our server. I was not particularly hungry but you can’t come here and not get the bread service! So we decided to share the naan, with all accompaniments, and the salad sampler. I miss the large wooden naan platters. The salad sampler included Berbere black-eyed peas, jicama and citrus, and Tunisian beet chermula. I’ve never had fond memories of eating beets, in fact beets tend to resurrect memories of eating dirt flavored cooked carrots. I must say that of the three salads the beet one was my favorite! They didn’t taste like dirt at all! While we enjoyed our meal I got a text from the kid that she and the 4th wheel had no problems getting into MK, this was a huge relief. As I mentioned in the PTR our TiW card had expired and since you can’t get them at the hotel we were eating this meal sans discount, or so we thought. Upon paying our bill our server informed us that he gave us our AP discount because he saw the AP slider on my band, win!
IMG_1191.JPG

IMG_1192.JPG

IMG_1190.JPG



Relieved that the teens were having fun and just finishing a great lunch we decided to make for Jambo’s pool. We probably should have walked back but as we exited Kidani the resort shuttle had just showed up! We did a double take because the resort shuttle had changed! In the past the shuttle was just a simple white passenger van but now it was a true 14-person shuttle with luggage storage, similar to what you’d see with airport hotel shuttles. 5 minutes later and we were on our way back to the room to change for the pool, The Jambo tree from a different angle:
IMG_1193.JPG



Up next: Pool time, Poolside animals, and more magic band drama.
 

krisri18

Well-Known Member
So now that I have the go-ahead......

During the first 12-18 months of the MM+ roll out, I had accumulated quite a few MagicBands (shocker!) and began having difficulty opening room locks. At two different resorts I was told that the system got wonky (my term) if there were more than 8 active bands on my account. When it happened at a third resort, the CM said 6 active bands were about all I should have at one time if I didn’t want to have door opening issues. He suggested deactivating ones I no longer used (this was before the “decline” option.) So now I make sure I have 6 (or fewer) active bands at any given time. When I receive a new band, I deactivate one. Since then I have never had a problem with a door lock or at a tapstile.

YMMV.
That's what Disney gets for offering them in a variety of colors! My obsessive need to have one active band in each color at all times overrides any and all door unlocking issues! Lol
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday December 17th cont.

My relief of the magic bands working was short lived. On the way to the pool we got a call from the teens that charging was not working…back to the desk I go! CM Jeff must have been on lunch, or hiding from me, as he was not at the counter so I visited with a new CM who worked some magic, called IT, and eventually said it “should” be working now…sigh. Anyhow, for our troubles she provided us with our third golden ticket, this time for a “merchandise purchase”. When I inquired to what/how much this constituted she simply said a “piece of merchandise”.
IMG_1208_edit.jpg


Now, my mind immediately spanned the spectrum of “piece of merchandise” from Tusker Lager purchase, @MeeskaMooska0714 , to that $37k Crystal Cinderella's Castle sold at MK. So, again, I pressed the issue as to what we could use this voucher for. She kindly replied “I think around $50”. Fair enough, I thought. I thanked her for her time and made for the pool. I was sooooo looking forward to some pool time this trip and was very appreciative that the weather was most cooperative in allowing me to relax. Naturally, this occurred:
IMG_1194.JPG


We spent a few hours lounging by the pool with some intermissions in the water. The crowd was lite and thankfully not very rowdy. Around 4:00 we decided to make our way back to the room to get cleaned up for HS. Before heading out we had to check in on our wildlife friends. These flamingos were pretty chatty and I don’t believe they appreciated their duck visitors.
IMG_1197.JPG

IMG_1198.JPG



We made our way over to the savanna next and were fortunate to see the baby giraffe out mingling with mom and another baby giraffe, #cuttepatootie.
IMG_1199.JPG

IMG_1202.JPG

IMG_1203.JPG

IMG_1204.JPG

IMG_1205.JPG


I had to nudge the DW away from the wildlife because we had a night at HS to get to!



Up next: The search is on for “The” Christmas ornament, cashing in some golden tickets, and dinner.
 
Last edited:

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
My stomach still growls when I see the bread service even though I've now tried it and thought it was :depressed: lol

The bread service is Sanaa's standout dish, however, I do believe you should be able to choose the bread you would like. There's one, maybe the one with paneer cheese, that I'm not 100% crazy about. Plus, I'd like a whole bowl of the green stuff and not bother with the rest of the dips. Too bad it wasn't your favorite, but I can understand why.
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
As I look back through these pictures, it reminded me that I really prefer Kidani over Jambo. The wonderful Jambo smell wasn't there. Instead it was something like WD40. Plus, we made a mistake. We brought two teenage girls (that wasn't the mistake) and Jambo one bedroom only has one bathroom and a tub, no separate shower. However, Jambo is the only one with a value room. Kidani one bedroom has two bathrooms, plus a walk-in shower. Lesson learned. There was SO MUCH hair in the sink and tub. :hungover:
 

Tuvalu

Well-Known Member
The bread service is Sanaa's standout dish, however, I do believe you should be able to choose the bread you would like. There's one, maybe the one with paneer cheese, that I'm not 100% crazy about. Plus, I'd like a whole bowl of the green stuff and not bother with the rest of the dips. Too bad it wasn't your favorite, but I can understand why.
You can request which breads you like! We have done that on our last two visits to Sanaa. (Paneer cheese bread :depressed:)
 

Zipadeelady

Well-Known Member
As I look back through these pictures, it reminded me that I really prefer Kidani over Jambo. The wonderful Jambo smell wasn't there. Instead it was something like WD40. Plus, we made a mistake. We brought two teenage girls (that wasn't the mistake) and Jambo one bedroom only has one bathroom and a tub, no separate shower. However, Jambo is the only one with a value room. Kidani one bedroom has two bathrooms, plus a walk-in shower. Lesson learned. There was SO MUCH hair in the sink and tub. :hungover:
Before our trip last September everyone would say how wonderful Jambo smelled but J and I couldn't get over how much we loved the smell of Kidani. The few times we walked over to Jambo we never smelled anything. I guess smelling nothing is better than smelling WD40.
 

imahistorygeek

Well-Known Member
Before our trip last September everyone would say how wonderful Jambo smelled but J and I couldn't get over how much we loved the smell of Kidani. The few times we walked over to Jambo we never smelled anything. I guess smelling nothing is better than smelling WD40.

Jambo used to have this great smoky, wood-burning fire scent. We loved it.

I have this great candle that smells exactly like the hallways of Kidani. I also have some that smell like Beach Club and the Contemporary. They are pretty spot on.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom