The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Cesar R M]

Oh, she knew alright!!!
I started working at the Disney Store in Aug. of ‘09, and that promotion started in Jan. of ‘11. We hadn’t been to WDW since Dec. of ‘08.
As I posted, she was a regular customer. I was on shift one morning in early ‘11 and greeted her and her son when they came into the Store. She came directly over to me and was so excited to show me the picture (the pic I posted is one I took when we finally went back to WDW in July of ‘12)...!!!

just how many times did this person go to the disney parks and disney stores?

 

[Cesar R M]

All right friends and Disney fans...

Trip Report:


Background: My mother has been eyeing a full family cruise since she fears she might be unable to do so in the future. As my grandmah's health deteriorates.. and so does hers.. She wanted to splurge so we could be most of us together (my brother backed down for X reasons..)
So we had to balance between certain dates, price point of the planes, hotels, etc..
Originally we had planned in March or February. But most of my sister's family were unable to make it because of exams and school. So we ended selecting (after 6+ months of paranoiac investigation and research from yours truly) The Royal Caribbean from Miami to the upper Caribbean (San Juan, Sint Maarten, Labadee, 7 nights). At first it seemed like we were going to be in our favourite ship.. the OASIS. But we ended in the ALLURE for those dates. (both Oasis class but with very different shows).

So, We were a total of 5 persons ( Me, My mom, My Sister, My niece and nephew ).
I'm 35, my sis is 7 years older than me, my mom is in her 70's and my niece and nephew are between 18 and 22.

Now the wierd part.
During the planning phase, We found some dirty tactics of pricing by our local airlines.
Lying in every single site that you could have X price for this trip. But as soon we put more than 2 people in our group, the prices miraculously went to the roof.. (from let's say.. 350 USD per person, to 900 USD per person). Multiple reviews and sites showed that the plane was almost empty (80% free) so there was some dirty tactic where only a tiny amount of seats lower than normal prices and the rest were MORE than the average price.

So we ended doing a huge mess up with airlines to get the cheapest and most reliable possible flying.
So my nephew and I, we flew from my home ( Puerto Vallarta) to Mexico City, then to Miami from there.
My mom, sister and niece, went from Guadalajara (Jalisco's state capital city) directly to Miami.

We would land pretty late in the afternoon (almost at night) while my mom, sis and niece would arrive late morning.

The other mess up was the ports.. I swear to god that during purchase.. the port said FORT LAUDERDALE.
Later I received a few warnings of change of itinerary and events. But nothing mentioned that the ship was moved from FORT LAUDERDALE to PORT MIAMI.
I found this until the last day (my original prints still say FORT LAUDERDALE, weird..)

Anyway, we had one free full day after arriving, then we would board the next day (so we were 2 nights, 3 days on miami).
So we planned a few things... on arrival. Including visiting CASA VIZCAYA (Biscayne House), which was gorgeous as ever but with a few issues as usual lol.


(tonight , continued on part 2)



(we managed to see the Symphony of the Seas before it left port miami one day BEFORE the Allure)

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

All right friends and Disney fans...

Trip Report:


Background: My mother has been eyeing a full family cruise since she fears she might be unable to do so in the future. As my grandmah's health deteriorates.. and so does hers.. She wanted to splurge so we could be most of us together (my brother backed down for X reasons..)
So we had to balance between certain dates, price point of the planes, hotels, etc..
Originally we had planned in March or February. But most of my sister's family were unable to make it because of exams and school. So we ended selecting (after 6+ months of paranoiac investigation and research from yours truly) The Royal Caribbean from Miami to the upper Caribbean (San Juan, Sint Maarten, Labadee, 7 nights). At first it seemed like we were going to be in our favourite ship.. the OASIS. But we ended in the ALLURE for those dates. (both Oasis class but with very different shows).

So, We were a total of 5 persons ( Me, My mom, My Sister, My niece and nephew ).
I'm 35, my sis is 7 years older than me, my mom is in her 70's and my niece and nephew are between 18 and 22.

Now the wierd part.
During the planning phase, We found some dirty tactics of pricing by our local airlines.
Lying in every single site that you could have X price for this trip. But as soon we put more than 2 people in our group, the prices miraculously went to the roof.. (from let's say.. 350 USD per person, to 900 USD per person). Multiple reviews and sites showed that the plane was almost empty (80% free) so there was some dirty tactic where only a tiny amount of seats lower than normal prices and the rest were MORE than the average price.

So we ended doing a huge mess up with airlines to get the cheapest and most reliable possible flying.
So my nephew and I, we flew from my home ( Puerto Vallarta) to Mexico City, then to Miami from there.
My mom, sister and niece, went from Guadalajara (Jalisco's state capital city) directly to Miami.

We would land pretty late in the afternoon (almost at night) while my mom, sis and niece would arrive late morning.

The other mess up was the ports.. I swear to god that during purchase.. the port said FORT LAUDERDALE.
Later I received a few warnings of change of itinerary and events. But nothing mentioned that the ship was moved from FORT LAUDERDALE to PORT MIAMI.
I found this until the last day (my original prints still say FORT LAUDERDALE, weird..)

Anyway, we had one free full day after arriving, then we would board the next day (so we were 2 nights, 3 days on miami).
So we planned a few things... on arrival. Including visiting CASA VIZCAYA (Biscayne House), which was gorgeous as ever but with a few issues as usual lol.


(tonight , continued on part 2)


View attachment 348478
(we managed to see the Symphony of the Seas before it left port miami one day BEFORE the Allure)

My family really likes Royal Caribbean. We've sailed with them three times.

 

[donaldtoo]

just how many times did this person go to the disney parks and disney stores?

I used to see her/them in the Store about a couple of times a month, not including times they came in when I wasn't on shift, of course.
I remember her mentioning in conversation one time that they went to WDW 2-4 times a year, depending on trips to other places they wanted to go.
We had a lot of Guests like that, and they usually purchased a decent amount of merch. when they came in.
Then, of course, we had a lot of guests (of all ages) that had never even been to a Disney Park before.
It was especially fun when Guests would come in to buy Parks tickets for their first ever Disney Park trip (for WDW - back when the Store still sold them - we never sold DLR tickets) and they would engage me in conversation regarding any advice I had for their trip...good times...!!!!!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Oh, she knew alright!!!
I started working at the Disney Store in Aug. of ‘09, and that promotion started in Jan. of ‘11. We hadn’t been to WDW since Dec. of ‘08.
As I posted, she was a regular customer. I was on shift one morning in early ‘11 and greeted her and her son when they came into the Store. She came directly over to me and was so excited to show me the picture (the pic I posted is one I took when we finally went back to WDW in July of ‘12)...!!!

That is so cool that she cared enough to show you the picture.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

All right friends and Disney fans...

Trip Report:


Background: My mother has been eyeing a full family cruise since she fears she might be unable to do so in the future. As my grandmah's health deteriorates.. and so does hers.. She wanted to splurge so we could be most of us together (my brother backed down for X reasons..)
So we had to balance between certain dates, price point of the planes, hotels, etc..
Originally we had planned in March or February. But most of my sister's family were unable to make it because of exams and school. So we ended selecting (after 6+ months of paranoiac investigation and research from yours truly) The Royal Caribbean from Miami to the upper Caribbean (San Juan, Sint Maarten, Labadee, 7 nights). At first it seemed like we were going to be in our favourite ship.. the OASIS. But we ended in the ALLURE for those dates. (both Oasis class but with very different shows).

So, We were a total of 5 persons ( Me, My mom, My Sister, My niece and nephew ).
I'm 35, my sis is 7 years older than me, my mom is in her 70's and my niece and nephew are between 18 and 22.

Now the wierd part.
During the planning phase, We found some dirty tactics of pricing by our local airlines.
Lying in every single site that you could have X price for this trip. But as soon we put more than 2 people in our group, the prices miraculously went to the roof.. (from let's say.. 350 USD per person, to 900 USD per person). Multiple reviews and sites showed that the plane was almost empty (80% free) so there was some dirty tactic where only a tiny amount of seats lower than normal prices and the rest were MORE than the average price.

So we ended doing a huge mess up with airlines to get the cheapest and most reliable possible flying.
So my nephew and I, we flew from my home ( Puerto Vallarta) to Mexico City, then to Miami from there.
My mom, sister and niece, went from Guadalajara (Jalisco's state capital city) directly to Miami.

We would land pretty late in the afternoon (almost at night) while my mom, sis and niece would arrive late morning.

The other mess up was the ports.. I swear to god that during purchase.. the port said FORT LAUDERDALE.
Later I received a few warnings of change of itinerary and events. But nothing mentioned that the ship was moved from FORT LAUDERDALE to PORT MIAMI.
I found this until the last day (my original prints still say FORT LAUDERDALE, weird..)

Anyway, we had one free full day after arriving, then we would board the next day (so we were 2 nights, 3 days on miami).
So we planned a few things... on arrival. Including visiting CASA VIZCAYA (Biscayne House), which was gorgeous as ever but with a few issues as usual lol.


(tonight , continued on part 2)


View attachment 348478
(we managed to see the Symphony of the Seas before it left port miami one day BEFORE the Allure)

I think a lot of airlines do that with ticketing. At least you found your solution to their sneakiness.
Symphony of the Seas is one heck of a humongous looking ship.

 

[donaldtoo]

All right friends and Disney fans...

Trip Report:


Background: My mother has been eyeing a full family cruise since she fears she might be unable to do so in the future. As my grandmah's health deteriorates.. and so does hers.. She wanted to splurge so we could be most of us together (my brother backed down for X reasons..)
So we had to balance between certain dates, price point of the planes, hotels, etc..
Originally we had planned in March or February. But most of my sister's family were unable to make it because of exams and school. So we ended selecting (after 6+ months of paranoiac investigation and research from yours truly) The Royal Caribbean from Miami to the upper Caribbean (San Juan, Sint Maarten, Labadee, 7 nights). At first it seemed like we were going to be in our favourite ship.. the OASIS. But we ended in the ALLURE for those dates. (both Oasis class but with very different shows).

So, We were a total of 5 persons ( Me, My mom, My Sister, My niece and nephew ).
I'm 35, my sis is 7 years older than me, my mom is in her 70's and my niece and nephew are between 18 and 22.

Now the wierd part.
During the planning phase, We found some dirty tactics of pricing by our local airlines.
Lying in every single site that you could have X price for this trip. But as soon we put more than 2 people in our group, the prices miraculously went to the roof.. (from let's say.. 350 USD per person, to 900 USD per person). Multiple reviews and sites showed that the plane was almost empty (80% free) so there was some dirty tactic where only a tiny amount of seats lower than normal prices and the rest were MORE than the average price.

So we ended doing a huge mess up with airlines to get the cheapest and most reliable possible flying.
So my nephew and I, we flew from my home ( Puerto Vallarta) to Mexico City, then to Miami from there.
My mom, sister and niece, went from Guadalajara (Jalisco's state capital city) directly to Miami.

We would land pretty late in the afternoon (almost at night) while my mom, sis and niece would arrive late morning.

The other mess up was the ports.. I swear to god that during purchase.. the port said FORT LAUDERDALE.
Later I received a few warnings of change of itinerary and events. But nothing mentioned that the ship was moved from FORT LAUDERDALE to PORT MIAMI.
I found this until the last day (my original prints still say FORT LAUDERDALE, weird..)

Anyway, we had one free full day after arriving, then we would board the next day (so we were 2 nights, 3 days on miami).
So we planned a few things... on arrival. Including visiting CASA VIZCAYA (Biscayne House), which was gorgeous as ever but with a few issues as usual lol.


(tonight , continued on part 2)


View attachment 348478
(we managed to see the Symphony of the Seas before it left port miami one day BEFORE the Allure)

Sorry to hear about the craziness and stress with the planning, flights, port mix up, etc. But, very much looking forward to hearing about the rest of y'all's cruise and all the fun y'all had, and thanks for sharing!!!!!

Plus, your report will help keep me more psyched up than I already am for our next family cruise in October...!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

OK gang, gotta’ fly for now...!!!!!!!!!!!



Y’all all have a Magical day...!!!
Laterrrrrrr...!!!!!!!

 

[93boomer]

All right friends and Disney fans...

Trip Report:


Background: My mother has been eyeing a full family cruise since she fears she might be unable to do so in the future. As my grandmah's health deteriorates.. and so does hers.. She wanted to splurge so we could be most of us together (my brother backed down for X reasons..)
So we had to balance between certain dates, price point of the planes, hotels, etc..
Originally we had planned in March or February. But most of my sister's family were unable to make it because of exams and school. So we ended selecting (after 6+ months of paranoiac investigation and research from yours truly) The Royal Caribbean from Miami to the upper Caribbean (San Juan, Sint Maarten, Labadee, 7 nights). At first it seemed like we were going to be in our favourite ship.. the OASIS. But we ended in the ALLURE for those dates. (both Oasis class but with very different shows).

So, We were a total of 5 persons ( Me, My mom, My Sister, My niece and nephew ).
I'm 35, my sis is 7 years older than me, my mom is in her 70's and my niece and nephew are between 18 and 22.

Now the wierd part.
During the planning phase, We found some dirty tactics of pricing by our local airlines.
Lying in every single site that you could have X price for this trip. But as soon we put more than 2 people in our group, the prices miraculously went to the roof.. (from let's say.. 350 USD per person, to 900 USD per person). Multiple reviews and sites showed that the plane was almost empty (80% free) so there was some dirty tactic where only a tiny amount of seats lower than normal prices and the rest were MORE than the average price.

So we ended doing a huge mess up with airlines to get the cheapest and most reliable possible flying.
So my nephew and I, we flew from my home ( Puerto Vallarta) to Mexico City, then to Miami from there.
My mom, sister and niece, went from Guadalajara (Jalisco's state capital city) directly to Miami.

We would land pretty late in the afternoon (almost at night) while my mom, sis and niece would arrive late morning.

The other mess up was the ports.. I swear to god that during purchase.. the port said FORT LAUDERDALE.
Later I received a few warnings of change of itinerary and events. But nothing mentioned that the ship was moved from FORT LAUDERDALE to PORT MIAMI.
I found this until the last day (my original prints still say FORT LAUDERDALE, weird..)

Anyway, we had one free full day after arriving, then we would board the next day (so we were 2 nights, 3 days on miami).
So we planned a few things... on arrival. Including visiting CASA VIZCAYA (Biscayne House), which was gorgeous as ever but with a few issues as usual lol.


(tonight , continued on part 2)


View attachment 348478
(we managed to see the Symphony of the Seas before it left port miami one day BEFORE the Allure)

Oh my you had a time. Can’t wait to see what happens!

 

[Rista1313]

I think a lot of airlines do that with ticketing. At least you found your solution to their sneakiness.
Symphony of the Seas is one heck of a humongous looking ship.

They aren't being sneaky.. airlines have done this for years, hotels do too.

 

[Figgy1]

Well, on Tuesday night I was arguing with DD. Dance is on Tuesday night, about a 30 minute drive from home. DH joined in, saying the whole thing was over blown, and it wasn't doing anything. Then Jim C had a nice graphic, that made the decision for me. First big ice storm in 10 years. We will stay home, thank you. Dance was not cancelled. Our school districts do not believe in delayed starts, so the morning was kind of fun...not. And, once again, indoor recess. The ice was falling off of everything. Last night, apparently we had a big storm, with a giant crack of thunder. Happy to say I slept through it. Last I saw, 50's today, but it is rainy.

Aren't you glad you asked?

*edit- The weather forecast for today is high of 40, (lost 10 since the last weather report yesterday). Showers becoming more steady as the day goes on, possible thunderstorms. Thank goodness I don't live by a river. With all of the water, we are under river flood advisory. I had better enjoy this warm weather, though. Tomorrow's high: 14. Highest temp in the 10 day is 34 next Tuesday.

Sorry, not really. Sending rum and ammo asap!

 

[Figgy1]

It cleared out today and we went from rain and 34 up to 54 with clouds I need to move to FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Figgy1]

@Cesar R M sorry to hear all your plans aren't what were planned but you're still off to a better start than a certain ferret on his last Disney trip Can't wait for the rest of your TR!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Me: "I don't understand why parents hand their children electronic devices to their children to keep them entertained."
Me when my brother is getting antsy: "Here, look at pictures on my camera."

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It was especially fun when Guests would come in to buy Parks tickets for their first ever Disney Park trip (for WDW - back when the Store still sold them

I did that for my first trip!

It cleared out today and we went from rain and 34 up to 54 with clouds I need to move to FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was only 78 today.

 

[Cesar R M]

NAAAP TIMEEE!

 

[StarWarsGirl]

 

[StarWarsGirl]

 

[donaldtoo]

3 shots of this evenings sunset from my car, stuck in traffic, on my commute home.
The first is the sky off to the northeast, and the last 2 are of the western sky from my drivers side window and drivers side rear passenger window...yes, the first 3-ish miles were a bit of a slow-crawl sloth fest...!!!!!

 

[StarWarsGirl]