WonkaKid
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
I was eating my lunch on the Pizza Planet patio today when I received a text from a friend. He’d just been sent his renewal email from Disney and renewed his Inspire MK. Moments later, my phone buzzed and my notification arrived. I was concerned that many people with Aug 29 expiration dates would overwhelm the servers today (Disney IT: I’m looking in your direction) but to my surprise and delight, the renewal process took only about three minutes.
One thing that tripped me up slightly was that when it came time to pay, the site defaulted to monthly payments. I’m not a fan of debt and carry little if any. Just as in the non-Disney segments of my life, I prefer to pay balances in a lump sum. It took a slight bit of navigating before I found the option. I’m very sleepy now and can’t remember exactly how I did it but a friend suggested that I scroll to the bottom of the page to find the pay-in-full option, which I did, ultimately. Once that was seen to, the process completed in less than 30 seconds. Also to my great surprise and delight, there was no price increase and there weren’t any discernible access changes. One friend was concerned that they’d nix the included parking from Inspire. Thankfully, they did not.
Once I was renewed (now through 8-28-24!), I was able to make all six of my new-pass reservations, so I now have the next ten Sundays booked
.
Park report. My morning felt cursed. Even though there were only three cars ahead of me to enter the structure at 7:00, they all moved at the pace of chilled caramel set to thaw on a frigid sidewalk. I suspected that each car ahead of me was trying and failing to make payment in some complex combination of pennies, foreign coins and several maxed-out credit cards. Once I got through that traffic trauma and parked, I moved towards the escalators.
There were a good number of people already ahead of me, thanks to my delay at the entrance. But just then an elevator door to my right opened. I hopped on and the door began to slide closed. It was 99% complete when the family that had been standing there before I even arrived decided that suddenly they had to be on it and pressed the call button. The door reopened at the pace of Eeyore with a hangover and an attitude problem. All of this contributed to my arriving later than usual at security. Lines were already long and supremely slow. Everyone ahead of me had at least two bags with no fewer than nine zipped pockets to inspect.
In short, I missed my friends at the park gates by about 20 seconds. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a problem, merely a mild annoyance and I’d meet them at the rope. However, on this particular day, they’d met a fellow guest who was staying at the California Grand and invited them both to join their party for early entry. I missed that plum opportunity and being first on PP (as they were). Buzz also being exasperating², which all made for a challenging morning. However, I met a really nice woman at the Adventureland rope named Jodi from Salt Lake City, so that helped to make up for all of the trouble. Moreover, as I always remind myself, any trouble or complaint at DL is a pure First-World, one-percenter problem. I need to keep things in perspective.
Some park pics. I didn’t take as many as I usually do today. These will have to suffice until y’all take your own trip or until I post again next week.
One thing that tripped me up slightly was that when it came time to pay, the site defaulted to monthly payments. I’m not a fan of debt and carry little if any. Just as in the non-Disney segments of my life, I prefer to pay balances in a lump sum. It took a slight bit of navigating before I found the option. I’m very sleepy now and can’t remember exactly how I did it but a friend suggested that I scroll to the bottom of the page to find the pay-in-full option, which I did, ultimately. Once that was seen to, the process completed in less than 30 seconds. Also to my great surprise and delight, there was no price increase and there weren’t any discernible access changes. One friend was concerned that they’d nix the included parking from Inspire. Thankfully, they did not.
Once I was renewed (now through 8-28-24!), I was able to make all six of my new-pass reservations, so I now have the next ten Sundays booked
.Park report. My morning felt cursed. Even though there were only three cars ahead of me to enter the structure at 7:00, they all moved at the pace of chilled caramel set to thaw on a frigid sidewalk. I suspected that each car ahead of me was trying and failing to make payment in some complex combination of pennies, foreign coins and several maxed-out credit cards. Once I got through that traffic trauma and parked, I moved towards the escalators.
There were a good number of people already ahead of me, thanks to my delay at the entrance. But just then an elevator door to my right opened. I hopped on and the door began to slide closed. It was 99% complete when the family that had been standing there before I even arrived decided that suddenly they had to be on it and pressed the call button. The door reopened at the pace of Eeyore with a hangover and an attitude problem. All of this contributed to my arriving later than usual at security. Lines were already long and supremely slow. Everyone ahead of me had at least two bags with no fewer than nine zipped pockets to inspect.
In short, I missed my friends at the park gates by about 20 seconds. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a problem, merely a mild annoyance and I’d meet them at the rope. However, on this particular day, they’d met a fellow guest who was staying at the California Grand and invited them both to join their party for early entry. I missed that plum opportunity and being first on PP (as they were). Buzz also being exasperating², which all made for a challenging morning. However, I met a really nice woman at the Adventureland rope named Jodi from Salt Lake City, so that helped to make up for all of the trouble. Moreover, as I always remind myself, any trouble or complaint at DL is a pure First-World, one-percenter problem. I need to keep things in perspective.
Some park pics. I didn’t take as many as I usually do today. These will have to suffice until y’all take your own trip or until I post again next week.
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