How long?

Photo Credit: Jehane

:D 250 days to go! WHOOP WHOOP! :D

That is all for today :)

REVIEW: Saving Mr Banks

Last week, I managed to pop to the cinema to see Saving Mr Banks... I'm very lucky to live near a lovely (and cheap) cinema (adult ticket, small popcorn and bottle of water for £5.50? Thank you very much!) and a unusual Monday off work in which to enjoy a quiet afternoon enjoying a wonderful story.

I'll start with prefacing this with some of the discussions about the film I've been involved with over at the DIS Boards. Some of them have expressed surprise that Disney have made this film, as "nobody knows Mary Poppins anymore"... as a Brit, I was happy to defend a national icon, as Mary Poppins is still well known here (guest spot in the London 2012 opening ceremony anyone?). The question being "are there enough people interested in the story behind the film to make it worth while?" and I guess the answer depends on what makes a film worthwhile. For me, this story was worth telling, and has been done very well.

Photo Credit: mydisneyadventures

I must admit I haven't seen Emma Thompson in something I didn't enjoy her performance in, and this was no exception. She was wonderful as Mrs P.L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins, as she dealt with her past, her future and her loathing for Walt Disney's vision for the film of her beloved Mary Poppins. Interwoven with the story of Mrs Travers and Walt Disney's time together in California is recollections from Travers' childhood in Australia, particularly focussing on her father and their relationship. The child actor playing the young Travers was excellent too.

I've heard a fair bit of criticism of Tom Hanks as Walt Disney (interestingly, mostly from Americans who haven't seen it yet as it hasn't opened over there yet!) I'm too young to have seen Walt Disney on TV as a child. He died long before I was born, and I don't think I saw any footage of him until I was an adult. This film was the first time he felt like a real person to me. I don't care if his accent was wrong (I couldn't tell, which apparently makes me "from a different planet" but when they can tell the difference between Yorkshire and Devonshire accents without ever having met someone from both places, I'll start to worry about that). Walt felt real to me for the first time- more than a name or an idea, and more than the sugar-coated, rose-tinted image so many people have tried to present to me.

I was surprised by how moving the film was (I spent a chunk of the last 30 minutes in tears) and also how much I loved the score (it's a long time since I've come back from the cinema and checked out a largely instrumental score on Spotify, but I've listened to this one a few times now.

Overall, I'd rate it

Photo Credit: Yuliana

Thank you, Disney, for making this one!

The Saga of Linking our Reservations

Well, I'm back. This has been a much longer absence than I expected, but I went from being very busy to very ill without much space in between, and so I've not been spending very much time at the computer.

An important update on our WDW planning came last week, when at long last our reservations linked with our My Disney Experience account. This has been a bit of a palaver, and so far the most annoying and unpleasant thing about our booking. I would have thought as we booked directly with the Walt Disney Travel Company via their website, that this kind of thing was automated, but it wasn't and even with quite a bit of effort, I wasn't able to solve the problem myself (or find a Cast Member who could help).

I first tried to link out account after booking at over 11 months out from our travel date. It didn't work. I checked around on the website, and found this in their FAQS:

I’m staying at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs – why can’t I link my reservation? If you’re still more than 10 months away from your holiday arrival date and are staying at Disney’s Old Key West Resort or Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa your reservation may not have yet downloaded to My Disney Experience to be linked. Rest assured your reservation is guaranteed, but until you’re within 10 months of arrival it unfortunately can’t be linked in My Disney Experience.

(You'll find it under the My Magic+ tab on the drop down menu...)

So, the website clearly says it's not possible to link until the booking details are downloaded to the system at 10 months out, right? Wrong! Not one of the Cast Members I spoke to knew anything about this, and they each told me something different.

Photo Credit: Mike Baker

The first CM I spoke too knew nothing about the 10 months out stated on the website. She pointed out the 6 digit code that was issued to me as my reservation number as a UK guest was not the number I could use to link my account. I needed a 8 character alpha-numeric code to link the reservation, but she couldn't help provide it. She suggested I leave it a couple of weeks and call again. She also wished me a "magical day"... which as a Brit, I found hard not to take as sarcasm!

The second CM I spoke to was LOVELY... but similarly couldn't help. She did add to our reservation that it would be our first visit, and that we were celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary whilst there. She told us we wouldn't be able to link before 190 days out, but to try after we'd come under 200 as we might be lucky. She told us this was because we were staying at a DVC resort, but said we'd be able to link before the time for ADRs opened up at 180 days out.

The technical support CM was USELESS. I was on the phone over an hour. He couldn't find my reservation, because he's a) not listened when I told him the number and b) not checked the name on the booking (he looked for my name- it was booked in my husband's name). When we finally got that sorted out, he couldn't link it either. He told me it probably wouldn't be possible until March (bear in mind, ADRs open up for us mid-February) and it was because we were staying at a DVC resort AND had a dining plan.

That last phone call was around 20th of October... after which, I kinda lost the will to fight the system. It was stupid. Lovely UK guests from the DIS Boards told me it was possible to link, but I was having no joy, and had no time to fight them. Then I was busy. Then I got sick... and then earlier this week I thought I'd try again. I'm not sure why, but I did.

I was 259 days out. I put in my 6 digit UK reservation number into the manual linking bit on MDE... and the link went through! I'm not sure what changed, but it finally worked, and I was doing a happy dance at last. Turns out the first CM I spoke to was most correct, although I didn't need the 8 digit code (that I do now have access to on my MDE account).

Photo Credit: Bianca de Blok

This felt like a huge jump forward in our journey to WDW, and I wanted to share it to give hope to anyone else having the joy of fighting with MDE to make theirs work too!