I use an umbrella that collapses and fits inside my bag. My DD carries a full-blown parasol, and sticks it in the bottom of the ride car near her feet. Hers would be a problem at Universal where they make you put things in lockers.
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News update
I canāt remember if I told you all how the Booking thing worked out?
I kept sending complaints to Booking and kept getting weirdly worded replies. Iād say āYou charged me $X without authorisationā and theyād reply back āIt wasnāt us, contact Booking directlyā.
I eventually realised that when you send a complaint to Booking, they just pass it on to the hotel. And when the hotel responds, it looks as if it has come from Booking. I figured out who was actually writing the replies and called the hotel directly and asked to speak to them.
They were super nice and sympathetic and agreed to let me cancel the non-cancellable reservation. This triggered Bookingās systems into refunding both the original cost of the room, and the rogue additional charge.
However, when I went to rebook the room (this time fully cancellably) the rate had gone up. By a non-trivial amount. My victory had been a Pyrrhic one.
Now that both of our rooms are fully cancellable, I did look around for better deals, especially with the price increase on the room that caused all the trouble. There literally isnāt a better deal in the whole of NYC. I know. I spent hours looking.
Meanwhile, Barclaycard decided to respond to my complaint by freezing my account and cancelling my card āso that Booking canāt make any more chargesā. Theyāre sending a new card, and in the meantime I can use Apple Pay, but itās somewhat irritating to have to change my card number everywhere.
No word back from the insurance company about the Abba tickets. My hopes arenāt high. At all.
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Hotels in NYC are wicked expensive. Itās frustrating. And even Brooklyn or New Jersey arenāt cheaper!
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I know! I brilliantly thought, āHa! Iāll book one not in Manhattan with crazy good views and easy subway access. No-one else will have thought if this so it will be super cheap.ā
Apparently they have. And it isnāt. At all.
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Wonder if they realized they didnāt ask enough for the room. If they knew they could get more they would be happy to cancel your reservation. Uggh. Maybe closer to your trip date you will find better deals.
That sucks. But keep looking! Maybe you will find something cheaper later.
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Have you ever looked at Travelzoo? Iāve gotten some good deals there. Right now Iām seeing this for NYC hotels in August:
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I would definitely take the $149 at Hilton Garden Inn! But Iām always leery when itās ā& up!ā because you know that $149 is for a single Tuesday in July and every other day is double. Although NYC is kinda nice for us because the rooms are more expensive on weekdays and cheaper on weekends.
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Earlier I think you said you told the insurance company you couldnāt attend because of the transportation strike. Could you change your story to you were āsickā in order get your money back?
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That bothers me so much!
Not changing the story of course. But why the reason matters. You pay for insurance. You couldnāt attend. You should be able to make a claim and get your money back. I dont know how they would be able to confirm you couldnāt attend. But that is the insurance companies problem as they offered the insurance.
It really should be that simple!
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I stayed at that kimpton theta in December. Itās clean but not at all anything special or up to brand standards imo.
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I donāt know if you are married to ASMu, but if thatās negotiable ASS just went down in price on both Disneyās site and Priceline.
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I paid for my room on the UK site, and that is not-changeable or refundable. I did so because the rate was much lower than the one on the US site. I just checked and the rate I paid was $210 (inc tax) per night, which is cheaper than the current ASSp offer.
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Now that Iām back from my really last minute trip, I will focus my postings on this thread and my merely last minute trip. I learned a lot last week and that will have implications for next monthās carefully planned schedule.
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Iād cancel the dessert party at MK. One person can get in to a good viewing spot not long before HEA starts. No need to spend that extra $$$$
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When we were there they closed off access to the main street and hub area about 20 minutes before it started. (There was an announcement over PA.) Not sure how common it isā¦but it CAN happen. We were already in position, but the group next to us they had another in the party who couldnāt get to them (overheard them talking on the phone).
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Hopefully not having your work obligations during this next trip will make it easier to go with the flow (no needing to return at a certain time or find places to work, etc). From what I recall from earlier posting, it sounded like you have some neat tours and such lined up, too!
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Iād already made that decision. Not least because, having had such a great experience with the @DisneyDooleys, Iām not sure Iām even going to bother with HEA in June. Or I might do one of those cool things some people do, where I ride PM or something during the fireworks. The theme more generally of the trip is going to be doing things I havenāt done before. Mostly.
Iāve also cancelled the Typhoon Lagoon umbrella ā my visit to Volcano Bay demonstrated I wouldnāt need it and, actually, Iām not sure Iām going to go to TL at all, given that VB is surely much better and will eclipse it.
And Iāve cancelled the Wild Africa Trek ā that was indulgent. Iāve done it twice before. If I do do it again, Iāll do it with Paul in December.
Which leaves:
Behind the Seeds
Dolphins in Depth
Keys to the Kingdom
Up Close with Rhinos
Caring for Giants
and Hoop-Dee-Doo, which is on the DDP and, therefore, āfreeā.
This should go some way to recoup some of Mayās overspend. Figures to follow once Iāve done them. And all these things are new to me.
In other news, the journey to Orlando was not so bad, but the journey home was awful. Overnight flight + 5 hour time difference = zero fun. Itās currently 1.30am ā itās not unusual for me to be up this late ā but I did give in to overwhelming tiredness earlier on and took a maybe two hour nap.
Iāve seen more rain in Harrogate today than I saw in total in Orlando during the week I was there. And itās humid, yet warm rather than hot.
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Oh, and HS After Hours, which I canāt cancel, and have done before, and seems like an indulgence after having had a successful day at HS last week. Though I didnāt do ROTR or MFSR.
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My pick would be BTM. Over the years Iāve ridden Splash during FW many times and itās a fun experience. Itās a little tricky to time but the show is pretty long compared to the rides.
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