rdancemom... Pam

with Bob.

 
Ran across this picture and couldn't remember if I had posted it before. Feel very sure that I have but just in case, here it is again.

You all know I have a mean purse monkey on my back. It's time to share! 
 
Went to the disnneystore site today just to look and saw that 3 Dooney & Bourke purses have been marked down by more than 30%. Then I started to add codes just for fun. DOONEYTEN takes off an additional 10%, SHIPMAGIC gives free shipping, and if you pay with a disney visa or rewards card, there's an extra 10% on top of that with DRVCMEMBER. DOONEY will add a cosmetic case in the comic pattern to your order for just $35 with a purchase too.
 
sooo...before adding the disney visa code it breaks down as follows. If you have a disney visa, you can subtract another 10% off these totals with code. BTW - those of you who are lucky to have a cm discount will obviously do way better, but shhh, my wallet's sleeping so don't tell me, I couldn't bear to know, So far, I have resisted all temptation today...
 Disney Sketch Wristlet Bag by Dooney & Bourke#400000024844                         $37.80              was $60
 
Minnie Mouse Bow Patty Pouchette Bag by Dooney & Bourke
#400003757220                           $91.35   was $145
 
Balloon Mickey Mouse Patty Pouchette Bag by Dooney & Bourke
#400001123140                            $103.95   was $165

excuse me...
 
'scuze me...
 
pardon me...
 
need to get by...
 
carry on, nothing to see here...
 
pay no attention to the dancemom as she runs to be first in line for the Mama Swap...  :doodebug:

We've never rented while at the fort but we used to rent when staying at BC all the time. Sometimes even just for a day or two to hit Universal Studios and the outlets. Alamo/National at the Swalphin offer great service and more flexibility, especially when dropping off. You can easily get there & back from DTD, Epcot or DHS. After hours you just leave it with valet parking. Haven't rented a car in a few years now, but I highly recommend the budget option of picking a day or two at the beginning or end of your vacation instead of paying to have it sit parked most of your vacation.
 
You can also drop off cars rented at the airport or other locations at the Swalphin. It may have changed but in my experience we've never been charged a late fee when leaving it with the valet after hours either. The rental office at the Car Care Center always had limited hours. The Swalphin Valet is 24/7.

Universal has cute welcome baskets and pet beds for dogs and cats when they check in. Not sure, I'm totally in favor of allowing dogs but I'd sort of like to see what Disney would put in theirs if they did one...

Save your coke codes! Mycokerewards offers Disney GCs occassionally. They also have AMC movie tickets you could use at DTD. I enter points throughout the year but usually only redeem after Thanksgiving when they do their big GC promotion unless I see they have the Disney GCs back up or a free theme park ticket. The pre-Christmas GC promo is terrific. I got over $200 in walmart, McDonalds, AMC, Best Buy, & Dominoes last December with coke points.
 
Enter your Disney movie codes too - both from movie tickets and dvds. Occasionally Disney movie rewards will also offer a Disney GC but those tend to go very fast when they're available.
 
MyPoints offers Rainforest and Landry's GCs as a reward. You don't have to shop thru their links, by just doing surveys and clicking email links, I usually get enough points in a year for one or two $25 cards. They also have a good selection of other merchants - including walmart, cvs, and gas cards - but IMO the best deal is usually for restaurants. There used to be a referral bonus for extra points too, so if anyone doesn't have a MyPoints acct and would like one please drop me a note and i'll send you a link for whatever bonus points they're offering.
 
Since we always spend july in wdw, we also have Landry's select club cards with July birthdays registered for DH & Starla. We ate at T-rex a few weeks ago using two $25 free birthday rewards combined with the Landry's GCs from mypoints and actually had $$ left over to buy a beach towel at Rainforest afterwards. :beer:

She is not into D&B purses which is lucky for me.  I'm running out of internal organs to sell to afford my Disney trips and races.
 
 
 
And it's one of the reasons I have gotten so into this forum so fast.  It is a real blessing to find a whole group of people who love the Fort as much as I do AND that have a healthy amount of snarkiness.

Further proof of my rationality:
 
From the Disney Marathon a few years ago:

 
Yes, that's me running as Tigger.  Case closed.

Whether they're Mears or Maruti drivers, my experience with DME drivers is a negative one.
Too many of them exceed the speed limit, don't come to complete stops, disregard traffic lights, routinely cut you off, and in general are unprofessional.
It gripes me that they are not held to the same standards as the Disney drivers.
Rear ending a vehicle will be hard to defend. I think the driver will be found to be at fault.
I can't tell you how many times I've encountered a car stopped on a WDW roadway, and had to find a way to avoid hitting it.
It's almost that people think that the roads at WDW are not real and that nothing bad can happen?

I took our DD June of 2010. She is not very athletic but she loved it. My biggest complaint is the distance from where they hit the shore to where they have to pack the surf boards back to. It is a long way. I think DD got to try over 20 waves on her morning. I packed the board most of those tries. She did make one good ride before she got to tired to get up. She had a small group in her class, one of which was a reporter for a travel magazine that was doing research for an article. There is a photo pass photog on site and they get some very good shots. It was a very good event and DD loved it. It is very early for people from the western time zones. For us it was like getting up at 4am to make it on time. I would recommend that anyone attending be able to pack a surf board up a hill for 100 yards over and over, again and again. 

We will take pookie for photo evidence. He's getting tired of hanging out on the bed anyway...

We will take pookie for photo evidence. He's getting tired of hanging out on the bed anyway...

Yikes!  The food there is bad enough without glass in it.  Glad no one was hurt. 

High winds, rain, lightning, same old, same old. 

love the kitty snow play tunnel. Lil Lou is even more adorable surrounded by all that cold white stuff. I'm still thinking you got one of the bestest souvies evah!!

On July 1st, the Grand Floridian will be celebrating its 25th anniversary which reminds me of my time there. I was a Front Office CM when it celebrated its 10th anniversary. I started out as a Bell Captain, then after a few months was offered a Concierge position.
 
Below are a couple of the mementos from the 10 year celebration.
What appears to be a CM nametag is actually a door name plate, it's quite large. The other item is the 10 year anniversary pin.
 

 

 
 
Some of the CMs that worked at the GF when I did are still there. Here are two of them.
 
Below is Richard, one of the current door greeters. He was a greeter 15 years ago. You'll notice that he's wearing a Legacy name tag, which is awarded to special CMs. If you could make out where he's from on his tag, it would read NH, my, and MOs home state.
 
Other than being CMs at the GF, Richard and I have a connection of sorts. I've told this story before, so if you've heard it, nothing to read here.
 
Back in the day, the Cadillac out front was used to chauffeur newlyweds to their reception and Richard was the chauffeur.
On this particular day, they couldn't find him to drive the Caddy. The managers were panicking, what are we going to do. We need to find a replacement, but the replacement had to fit into the special greeters costume, which was made to fit Richard, and only Richard.
They searched the resort high and low for someone that was Richards size, and guess who that was, yup, me.
 
In a frantic mood, as the newlywed couple was going to be out front in 15 minutes, the manager asked me, will you take the Caddy and bring the newlyweds to the Boardwalk convention center for their reception? I said sure, and rushed up to change costumes, including into the straw hat. I came down and was given a quick 5 minute driving lesson around the GF grounds. I pull up to the GF's Porte Cochere and whisk the happy couple away. They had no clue what it took to be able to give them that ride.
 
The Cadillac was very scary to drive. I white knuckled all the way over and back.
It's a great memory and my co-workers had a great time laughing and  seeing me in the greeters costume. Unfortunately, no photos
 


 

 
 
Another CM that is still there is Ollie. He's the portly gentleman in the greeters costume and straw hat. He's a door greeter now, but was a Bell Cap, like me, when I was there. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. He was very helpful when I started at the GF. I try to stop by to say hi.
 

 
I realize that to most of you the GF has the reputation for being the resort where snobby rich people stay, but as a place to work, it was a lot of fun and I made lots of CM friends.
But just like the times before, it did come to an end, as once again after a 9 month hiatus, I returned to the real world.
However, I might just make a return performance as a GF CM if I decide that I need a change.
 

Tell me abot it.
 

Oh yes.  He's real, and he's spectacular. 

Larry would tell us that IMHO the use of poles to block off the use of this hill is a good idea in that people have been sadly misusing hills all over the Fort for years now with no thought to the impact that their golf carts have on the natural beauty of the hills and that IMHO all cart owners should modify their carts to include hydraulics that would allow them to load and unload their carts from their trucks without the need for scarring a poor defenseless hill and IMHO you should look at my mods for step by step instructions on how to create a self loading cart and also no one should try and use those poles to string up a clotheslines because that would damage the poles and is uncalled for

stacy and britt and I will be there, just might have to leave early

Aha!! That explains why not even one of you stopped down to say hi to me waiting in line all night and half the morning at DTD. Yup, that must be it. It wasn't me, or a desire to avoid the temptation to join us purse-crazy line-standing loonies at all. You were merely suffering from a mass epidemic of spreadsheet withdrawal. :smug:

I've only been back from the One of a Kind Samples Trunk Sale at TrenD in DTD for a few days so I'm not buying today. Still, I  can't let an opportunity to stack discount codes on purses get by me unnoticed so thought I'd share it here and tempt a few of my fiends...
 
DOONEYTEN = 10% off
 
DRVCmember = 10% off $50 and over
 
DMRmay = $15 off $100 (note - the total has to be over $100 after the other codes are applied or this won't work so you may need to add a pin or something small if neccessary to use it)
 
SHIPTODAY = free shipping
 
BTW - if you go to the disneyshopping site via ebates that'll work for an extra 3% rebate. And as Mo is likely to add, there are still points to be earned with your disney visa in addition to the discounts.
 
http://www.disneystore.com/dooney-bourke/mn/1000812/
 

Happy Birthday Sil!! I know we did this on fb that day but good fiends like you should be recognized whenever possible!! :bighug:

Well you "might" have to worry bout a Fiend knocking on your door

Whatever works... I'll take this thread as a sign to stop shaving my legs and drink a lot more just to be sure :fly-swat: .