Beach Club Babe
10-02-2013, 12:52 PM
Cast:
Heather (Me)
Ron (DH)
Matt (DS)
Emily (DD#3)
Hallie (DD#4)
Supporting Cast:
Courtney (DD#1)
Jason (DFSIL)
Wall-E (puppy)
Trip Dates:
9/13/13 - 9/23/13
Accommodations:
Courtyard By Marriott Melbourne 9/14/13
Disney's Art of Animation 9/15/13-9/22/13
Lion King Section
Building 6 (Timon, Pumbaa, Simba on the log)
Room 6613
Background:
We are taking this trip a little later than we usually do. We try to get the big family trip in in August before school starts but due to some health issues and my husbands super demanding work schedule, we had to push it back to September. As long as we were going in September, we decided to go with the free dining package. Also, when we first booked the package, Ashleigh (DD#3) was going to be joining us, so since we were going to be a party of 6, I booked The Art of Animation suites. As it turned out, Ashleigh's dbf had made some plans for them not knowing our trip dates. She had to make a tough decision, but ultimately chose the plans with Jeff since he couldn't change them. I thought about changing resorts, but decided to stay put. Planning this vacation was already stressing me out.
How can planning a trip to WDW stress me out? Two words Magic Bands! Since there is so much to cover on these "little beauties" I am going to cover everything (in great detail) in one installment.
Let's go back a few months to when this journey began. As I mentioned, I had some major health issues at the end of April into May. That landed me in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks. Then I would have to wait another 6 weeks until I could have surgery to resolve my issues permanently. Luckily the surgery was successful and my recovery was quick.
I had not been able to visit Intercot as often as I would have liked, but I was aware of the Magic Bands testing in August. It didn't really dawn on me that this would affect our vacation.
When I booked the package, I booked only 2 days worth of tickets because my AP was still valid, while Ron and Matt's had expired. I figured I would up grade to a 8 day MYW with park hopping and water parks and more for the rest on arrival. Then I would just keep my 2 day ticket to either put toward my renewal or for another trip after my pass expired.
In July, as I was making our dining reservations, I discovered the My Disney Experience App for Android and downloaded it. I played around with it, linking all of our reservations. While doing this I noticed a section that said "Make Fastpass + selections. Then the bells went off and panic set in! Even though I received nothing informing me we were selected, it was obvious that since they were allowing me to do so, we had been selected.
My initial reaction had not been a very positive one and I was not very eager to participate in the testing. I began to gather as much info as I could both here at Intercot, and their own website. After reading the FAQ's on their website, I came to believe that if I chose not to participate, I would not even be eligible for regular fastpass. As I read further, I also came to believe that the old machines were either already removed or the process of being removed. Neither proved true. After reading about Ed's experience my fears were somewhat eased, but not entirely and I was still a bit skeptical.
One of my biggest issues was knowing that every family is different in so many ways. We do not fit into an average travelling party category whatsoever. I was sure this was going to be a disaster, but I really wanted to try to stay positive. Some of my fears were also allayed when I found out that Jason's mother had recently participated in the testing, and according to Courtney, his mother had nothing but rave reviews about them. She had a few very minor issues, but overall was extremely pleased with them. Of course I grilled Courtney endlessly about her experience.
Just as I was feeling a bit better about all of this, it hit me. My annual pass would not be linked to my band and therefore not to the rest of my family. I called Disney, and although the CM on the other end was very patient, concerned, and supportive as she could be, she could not fully understand my dilemma and the repercussions. She got a supervisor on the line who also tried to allay my fears, but after many attempts to explain the ramifications, she finally understood, but could not really help. She finally got me transferred to the actual Magic Bands department. The woman I talked to here assured me it was no problem at all. All she needed to do was manually link my AP to my band and then all would be right. She then took my pass info, but after all that she could not get the pass to link to the band. She assured me that once we were off the phone she would be able to get it done and then she would e-mail me to confirm. My other question for her was, would I still be able to book my fastpass + for my length of stay if I had only purchased the 2 day tickets thus far. She told me I could book the LOS FP+s. I still had my doubts. I waited anxiously for the e-mail to come. It did not come that day, nor the next, nor for quite a while. It took about 2 weeks til I received it.
I had waited for the confirmation before I booked any FP+'s. So when it came, I logged on to tried to make them. Just as I had thought, for everyone else I was only going to be allowed to book for 2 days. If I wanted to continue for the rest of the week, I was going to have upgrade the tickets now, which included mine extra ticket as well since all tickets must be the same. Ugh. I now have an 8 day MYWPHWP. Since I was misinformed on that, I double checked to see if my AP was indeed linked, it was, but I discovered that it was not prioritized so that the AP would be read first and not the MYW ticket, as was promised to me. That CM was able to get that fixed for me.
As I mentioned, I found out about the bands quite accidentally, and with no official documentation. But about 2 weeks before the trip, I received an overnight letter requesting my participation, instructing me to download the App, instructions for making FP+ and to personalize my bands. Had I not discovered the participation earlier, I would've had even more trouble since it had taken over 2 weeks to sort out all of the problems we already had.
I figured the personalization would not be such a big deal, so I put that off to the last day I was eligible to do so. Wrong again! The website pulled up my correct dates and resort, but not the correct travelling party. I called the number and was told it had to be done by computer and if I did not I would be issued the standard gray ones upon check in. I used a friends computer and that allowed me to be able to personalize. i chose 5 different colors so it would be easy to distinguish in the mornings. They arrived the next day.
I went on too long. Have to make a part 2 to the Magic Band thoughts.
Heather (Me)
Ron (DH)
Matt (DS)
Emily (DD#3)
Hallie (DD#4)
Supporting Cast:
Courtney (DD#1)
Jason (DFSIL)
Wall-E (puppy)
Trip Dates:
9/13/13 - 9/23/13
Accommodations:
Courtyard By Marriott Melbourne 9/14/13
Disney's Art of Animation 9/15/13-9/22/13
Lion King Section
Building 6 (Timon, Pumbaa, Simba on the log)
Room 6613
Background:
We are taking this trip a little later than we usually do. We try to get the big family trip in in August before school starts but due to some health issues and my husbands super demanding work schedule, we had to push it back to September. As long as we were going in September, we decided to go with the free dining package. Also, when we first booked the package, Ashleigh (DD#3) was going to be joining us, so since we were going to be a party of 6, I booked The Art of Animation suites. As it turned out, Ashleigh's dbf had made some plans for them not knowing our trip dates. She had to make a tough decision, but ultimately chose the plans with Jeff since he couldn't change them. I thought about changing resorts, but decided to stay put. Planning this vacation was already stressing me out.
How can planning a trip to WDW stress me out? Two words Magic Bands! Since there is so much to cover on these "little beauties" I am going to cover everything (in great detail) in one installment.
Let's go back a few months to when this journey began. As I mentioned, I had some major health issues at the end of April into May. That landed me in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks. Then I would have to wait another 6 weeks until I could have surgery to resolve my issues permanently. Luckily the surgery was successful and my recovery was quick.
I had not been able to visit Intercot as often as I would have liked, but I was aware of the Magic Bands testing in August. It didn't really dawn on me that this would affect our vacation.
When I booked the package, I booked only 2 days worth of tickets because my AP was still valid, while Ron and Matt's had expired. I figured I would up grade to a 8 day MYW with park hopping and water parks and more for the rest on arrival. Then I would just keep my 2 day ticket to either put toward my renewal or for another trip after my pass expired.
In July, as I was making our dining reservations, I discovered the My Disney Experience App for Android and downloaded it. I played around with it, linking all of our reservations. While doing this I noticed a section that said "Make Fastpass + selections. Then the bells went off and panic set in! Even though I received nothing informing me we were selected, it was obvious that since they were allowing me to do so, we had been selected.
My initial reaction had not been a very positive one and I was not very eager to participate in the testing. I began to gather as much info as I could both here at Intercot, and their own website. After reading the FAQ's on their website, I came to believe that if I chose not to participate, I would not even be eligible for regular fastpass. As I read further, I also came to believe that the old machines were either already removed or the process of being removed. Neither proved true. After reading about Ed's experience my fears were somewhat eased, but not entirely and I was still a bit skeptical.
One of my biggest issues was knowing that every family is different in so many ways. We do not fit into an average travelling party category whatsoever. I was sure this was going to be a disaster, but I really wanted to try to stay positive. Some of my fears were also allayed when I found out that Jason's mother had recently participated in the testing, and according to Courtney, his mother had nothing but rave reviews about them. She had a few very minor issues, but overall was extremely pleased with them. Of course I grilled Courtney endlessly about her experience.
Just as I was feeling a bit better about all of this, it hit me. My annual pass would not be linked to my band and therefore not to the rest of my family. I called Disney, and although the CM on the other end was very patient, concerned, and supportive as she could be, she could not fully understand my dilemma and the repercussions. She got a supervisor on the line who also tried to allay my fears, but after many attempts to explain the ramifications, she finally understood, but could not really help. She finally got me transferred to the actual Magic Bands department. The woman I talked to here assured me it was no problem at all. All she needed to do was manually link my AP to my band and then all would be right. She then took my pass info, but after all that she could not get the pass to link to the band. She assured me that once we were off the phone she would be able to get it done and then she would e-mail me to confirm. My other question for her was, would I still be able to book my fastpass + for my length of stay if I had only purchased the 2 day tickets thus far. She told me I could book the LOS FP+s. I still had my doubts. I waited anxiously for the e-mail to come. It did not come that day, nor the next, nor for quite a while. It took about 2 weeks til I received it.
I had waited for the confirmation before I booked any FP+'s. So when it came, I logged on to tried to make them. Just as I had thought, for everyone else I was only going to be allowed to book for 2 days. If I wanted to continue for the rest of the week, I was going to have upgrade the tickets now, which included mine extra ticket as well since all tickets must be the same. Ugh. I now have an 8 day MYWPHWP. Since I was misinformed on that, I double checked to see if my AP was indeed linked, it was, but I discovered that it was not prioritized so that the AP would be read first and not the MYW ticket, as was promised to me. That CM was able to get that fixed for me.
As I mentioned, I found out about the bands quite accidentally, and with no official documentation. But about 2 weeks before the trip, I received an overnight letter requesting my participation, instructing me to download the App, instructions for making FP+ and to personalize my bands. Had I not discovered the participation earlier, I would've had even more trouble since it had taken over 2 weeks to sort out all of the problems we already had.
I figured the personalization would not be such a big deal, so I put that off to the last day I was eligible to do so. Wrong again! The website pulled up my correct dates and resort, but not the correct travelling party. I called the number and was told it had to be done by computer and if I did not I would be issued the standard gray ones upon check in. I used a friends computer and that allowed me to be able to personalize. i chose 5 different colors so it would be easy to distinguish in the mornings. They arrived the next day.
I went on too long. Have to make a part 2 to the Magic Band thoughts.