136 days until Park Hours! 
167 days until ADRs! 
287 days until FP+! 
347 days until WDW! 
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Hey, ya'll!
Okay, so some of you more eagle-eyed readers already know how this story ends, but I'm going to share it anyhow! What story is that? Why of course, it's the tale of alllll the resort drama and how we ended up booked in the one Disney resort I never dreamed in a million years that I'd be staying at!
So originally, when I made this booking back in June, it was for...
Port Orleans Riverside, in a Royal Guest Room! But then it turned from a solo trip to a mother/daughter trip, and the wheels got to turning. See, when I do stay at POR for the first time, I want to be able to take advantage of two things at this resort, namely the boat to Disney Springs, and dinner at Boatwright's. But with the short trip that my mom is insisting on, 4 nights, I realized that I wouldn't be able to do either.
So I left it as is for the time-being, and decided that when the military rates were released in the Fall, I would look at some place else for us to stay. I also talked to Mom about it, and told her that if I couldn't find a moderate at a discount, that maybe I could find a Deluxe resort with the discount that would bring the total down to around what we were already budgeting at rack rate for POR ($1,800-ish), and she was fine with that.
So on Wednesday last week, Disney released their 2017 military discounts, and I got to work. Time to pick a new resort! The thing is that so far I have managed to adhere to my strict policy of not repeating any resorts until I have managed to stay at every single one. Now by the time of this trip, I will have stayed at all five Value resorts, and 2/4 Moderate resort. POR is out because of the above stated reasons, so that leaves only one Moderate option remaining...
Caribbean Beach! So I asked about it first, and the ONLY room that were offering a military discount on during our dates was the Pirate standard rooms. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some pirates just as much as the next person, hpwever (1) Mama gives exactly zero craps about pirates, and (2) I know that all of the Pirate rooms at CBR are waaaaaaaay out in the Standard section. With as vastly spread out as this resort is, I absolutely refuse to stay anywhere but in a Preferred room. So that was OUT.
So from there, I inquired about Deluxe resorts. My very first choice, and the one I had my heart set on, was...
The Polynesian! I've noticed on recent trips that I seem to spend a LOT of time there, visiting 2-3 times per trip. So I figured it's high time I actually stayed there! Plus we are having an early dinner at Ohana (of course) one evening before heading out to MK for th night, so it would be really nice to save the time it takes to get from another resort over to the Poly to do so. We're also having breakfast at 1900 Park Fare on our departure morning, so staying right next door to the Grand Floridian would also be super convenient.
Sadly, it turned out that the ONLY rooms coming up available at a military rate was the Club Level rooms. Which, would be nice, but not at a price tag of $2,700+. But then I was like, "Hey, I'm also an AP holder, can you check AP rates for me?" Now, clearly this lady must have been new or something, because she gave me information that I learned later was totally bogus. She said that while AP rates weren't out yet, she could put an "AP marker" on the booking, and see if that did anything for the rates. So was like, "Yes, do that!" And she came back with a Garden-View standard room at a total of $2,036. SO TEMPTING. But still about $200 more than we wanted to pay. So I sighed, and moved on to...
The Contemporary! Now this isn't one I'm necessarily DYING to stay at, but I certainly wouldn't cry, either! Plus I figure, hey, it's still on the monorail, so it'll still save us a ton of time getting to those two previously mentioned ADRs. So here, they did have a military rate on a couple of room categories in the Garden Wings, and the price was right, about $1,850 or so.
However, both rooms had a King bed with a sleeper sofa! That was ALL they had under the military rates! One was "Deluxe" room, which I looked up online, and it would be nice because it's HUGE so finding a place to park Mama's ECV (I'm just going to rent the ones from Disney inside the parks for this trip to make things easier) at night wouldn't be an issue, but ain't neither one of us about sleeping on no pullout couch. The only other room options? Club Level again. So NEXT! Which then brought me to inquiring about...
Wilderness Lodge! But here, once again, we ran into room type issues. The ONLY regular room they had our military rate on was a Courtyard View with Bunk Beds. Ummm. Okay, we're back to where we were with the Contemporary... The queen bed would be great for one of us, but ain't neither of us tryin' to sleep on no twin-size bottom bunk on this vacation!
At this point I had already told the agent that I needed to keep it around that original $1,800-ish mark. That's when she brought up Club Level (of course), and there it was actually only $1,900-ish for a Standard View 2 Queens Club Level room. And one of the things my mom has been most concerned about is getting her coffee and her breakfast without having to wake up any earlier than I'm already making us get up for rope drops. But the thing that interests me most about CL is the evening stuff, the savories and cobblers and such, none of which we'd be able to take advantage of because the lounge will be closed by the time we get back from the parks at night. But, with the breakfast and coffee in mind for Mama, I said yeah, okay, let's do that for now, and booked it.
Now through all this, I really really wanted to be on the monorail, specifically at the Polynesian, so I kept thinking about that rate she gave me there with the "AP marker." So what I decided to do was let my Mom decide. I sent her a long email, explaining how much I'd like to stay at the Poly, but I know it's a couple hundred dollars more than we originally budgeted for, etc. I also told her about the Contemporary being the same price as what we had at POR, but one of us would have to sleep on a pullout. And I told her all about the Club Level room at Wilderness Lodge that I grabbed, and about how we would lose to monorail but gain the Club Level lounge, and asked her which of the three she thought would be best.
Well, much to my IMMENSE surprise, she came emailed me back that night and told me she wasn't all that interested in the Club Level lounge at Wilderness Lodge, and to go ahead and book the Polynesian since it's the one I want the most!!! WHAAAAT!!! So I jumped right back on the phone to switch the booking to the Poly!
Now at this point, any of you who are or have been AP holders probably know how this turned out. Yeah, a year in advance, there are no AP rates. As a first-time AP holder, I didn't realize something was funny about what that first agent was telling me. So when I told the agent this time around about the price the previous agent gave me, she was baffled, apologized for the misinformation, and explained to me how AP discounts actually work. Actual price for that room at the Polynesian? $2,600+. Way more than we were willing to pay. You wanna talk about a super frustrated, super sad Billie?
So while we were on the phone, the agent was like, "Well, what about next door at the Grand Floridian?" I told her no, not to bother, there's just no way we can afford that resort. And she was like, "Well, with the military discount, maybe it'll be close to that price the other agent gave you for the Poly. How about we just check?" So I told her sure, why not, while I'm still sitting there pouting and expecting it to just astronomically expensive. So imagine my surprise when she tells me that she can do an Outer Building Garden View for just a tiny bit more... $2,148.
Blink blink. WHAT? It was a WAY lower price than I was expecting, but it was still another $112 over what Mama had already agreed to pay for the Polynesian, so I thanked her for her help but that I would need to think about it. I hung up and emailed my Mom about the call and the GF option/upcharge.
However.... Within less than hour, I decided to make an executive decision. I called back, booked it, and redid my own budget to cover the extra $112. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to stay at the GF, where I never dreamed I'd be staying any time soon. I also knew that I could handle the extra expense myself and didn't want to burden my Mama with it after she'd been nice enough to agree to the additional cost for the Poly just because I wanted it. So I emailed her again and told her I went ahead and booked it and not to worry about the upcharge, that she can just pay her half of what she agreed to at the Polynesian, and that I would cover the rest. (She tried to fight me on this, but I insisted. We'll see how long it takes her to bring it up again!)
So... there you have it. It's official.
WE'RE STAYING AT THE GRAND FLORIDIAN!!!!!!!!
Ya'll, I am seriously SO freakin' excited!!!
I'm really glad it worked out for you, but I hate it when you get bad information from cast members! I know it's not usually their fault, but I feel like this is something Disney should really be on top of 
.
That was Thursday though, so those rooms must go fast!
The GF! now I'm the peanut butter and jealous sandwich! It's so beautiful! That's exactly where I'd choose to stay if I was doing a mother/daughter trip with my Mom, but mostly because she's snooty...
