UPDATE #293 FINAL LIST : DVC Christmas Tree, Sharing Holiday Magic!

[rsschneck]

Glad you had a nice New Year's. I hope the last family gets to enjoy the tree too!

 

[twotoohappy]

They were not sealed and so I did not find a money envelope. I started a new envelope and I hope there will be enough funds to ship the box back home.

Not sure who had it after me, but the boxes were sealed when bell services picked them up on the 7th, everything inside and $5- in the envelope. My name was crossed off so the next family's name showed. What's up with the BCV lately My ME bags took over 7 hours to "find" before they were delivered to our room

 

[Groucho]

I'm here with SSR Tree 3 at the moment... it wasn't too big of a deal to find it, they had me go into the storage area and there was tree 1, tree 2, and tree 3!

Unfortunately, there's no envelope with anything to help defray the cost of shipping, so I'll eat that. Not sure if it "grew legs" or just got misplaced?

There was a nice Christmas card, an indoor ext. cord and an outdoor one, and a choice of white or colored lights for outside. Unfortunately, the colored lights were missing a bulb so only half worked, and the white ones were fine but I just couldn't find any way to secure them to the balcony (I couldn't just wrap them around the railing like the colored one), so I gave up on outside lights. (I also removed all the styrofoam peanuts from the box looking for the missing colored bulb, to no avail.

The tree topper was also kind of mashed down to the side rather than detached (the tree owner mentioned that it'd need to be wired on) and there's no tape - the box was hanging open when I got it. There was a pen, though, as well as a red tree skirt and a white tablecloth (I think it's a tablecloth)? All in all, it looks like this poor tree has been through a bit. Maybe a good idea for future tree-swappers is a ziplok bag with all the "bits" in it, like any envelopes, tape, pen, etc. Unfortunately many ornaments were dislodged from the tree and there were several loose hangers (and ornament) in the box.

The last thing of note - I did find a safe key and (separately) the safe key fob, that warns you of a $35 charge if not returned. I'm not sure where this is from - it looks a litle dirty and old to be an SSR safe key? I'll leave it with the front desk unless someone can tell me otherwise.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

Thank you for the update Groucho.
Remind me, are you last on the list?

I don't like the idea of you eating the cost to return the tree.
I don't mind having paid the cost to ship, it was my pleasure to donate it.
PM with your address so I can send some money for the return cost.

It really sounds like the tree has been through a lot. When we had it I had re-attached a couple of ornaments that had fallen off, but overall everything was in good shape and nothing was missing from the box.
The money envelope was taped to the inside of the box with approximately $20 in it.
Sounds like a few things have been added, but that some things have also gone missing.

 

[Groucho]

Thank you for the update Groucho.
Remind me, are you last on the list?

I don't like the idea of you eating the cost to return the tree.
I don't mind having paid the cost to ship, it was my pleasure to donate it.
PM with your address so I can send some money for the return cost.

Yes, I'm the last one. Another person who had it PMed me that they had added money to the envelope so I can only assume that it went missing at some point. Since there was no tape (I'm guessing that it got lost somewhere along its travels), it was wide open and maybe an unscrupulous Bell Services cast member noticed some green paper in there and decided to liberate it?

Don't worry about the shipping cost, that'll be my donation. (Hopefully Bell Services don't stick me too hard! We don't have a car so can't take it to UPS/FedEx/wherever.) There's no reason for you to pay twice.

The money envelope was taped to the inside of the box with approximately $20 in it.

I assume that this was the envelope that had the Christmas card in it? I just triple-checked to make sure there wasn't anything hiding, and all that's there is the card itself. Actually in opening it up wide, the tape came off one side so it may not stay attached for much longer - I guess that's my share of "wear and tear" on it.

 

[LBurg93]

To ceejay,
Thank you so much for sharing the tree with our family. My daughter loved the stoking idea, but she wanted to take it home. I explained it to her how it worked & she was happy that in the future she would share another christmas in disney without being there.

To all families who donated a tree, thank you.

To wdwstar,
Words cannot express the joy on my daughters face when she saw a tree & she knew Santa would find her in Disney on Christmas morning. Thank You for doing this.

Lauren

 

[canwegosoon]

BWV tree #1 made it home to me in fine shape. Thank you all who shared the tree, each of you added some special gift and shared your thoughts in the memory book. There was one family who didn't come, and if there is anyone who would like me to ship back the gift that was left, please PM me. I've asked if the family wanted the gifts sent to them, and the offer was declined.

Special thanks to our last family canwegosoon for doing such a great job shipping the tree back and for adding special touches to the tree for next year. They even replaced the broken bulb that we were unable to get out of the socket. We were going to bring that string of lights home with us, but in the end, we packed it with the tree because some of the bulbs did work.

Happy New Year, fellow DVC Dis'ers!

Bobbi

Hi Bobbi...Thanks again...I am glad you got it in one piece!!! I am hoping someone can enjoy the little extras(and they are very light so that is alwaus a consideration in a shipping box). It was really a wonderful tree, and I truly appericate you donating it !!! (DH is an engineer and can fix anything )
Thanks Again,
Terri

 

[canwegosoon]

WDWSTAR, Just wanted to thank you for all your hard work and organizational skills...this made my boys Christmas!!
Thanks,
Terri

 

[larrytau]

To mrsswat: we are most sorry, but we were unable to find your tree at SSR upon our checkin on Thursday, Dec 28. I checked at both the front desk and bell services on both Thursday and Saturday, and they could not locate the tree. There was no sign of it on Jan 2 when we checked out, either.

I could call SSR again and see if it has shown up. I would take care of the FedEx charges if it had and you would like it back. Please let me know!

Thanks for your willingness to share! I hope we have not lost something that is treasured by you or your family!

 

[Groucho]

To mrsswat: we are most sorry, but we were unable to find your tree at SSR upon our checkin on Thursday, Dec 28. I checked at both the front desk and bell services on both Thursday and Saturday, and they could not locate the tree. There was no sign of it on Jan 2 when we checked out, either.

I could call SSR again and see if it has shown up. I would take care of the FedEx charges if it had and you would like it back. Please let me know!

Thanks for your willingness to share! I hope we have not lost something that is treasured by you or your family!

SSR Trees one, two, and three were all in storage at Bell Services on January 1st - saw 'em with my own eyes.

 

[Groucho]

GOOD NEWS! I found the missing money from SSR Tree 3!

I thought that the envelope on the inside of the box was the only one - when I had opened the tree, it'd gone against the wall with the flaps out, and when I went to start packing it up this morning, I saw the donations envelope on there! Complete with a $5 and fifteen $1s. Phew, that'll save me from having to eat the whole cost of shipping.

It also makes me feel a lot better that it wasn't taken.

 

[TracyK]

I hope the person after me got BCV tree 2. I called her room but didn't hear back in the afternoon(this was a crazy day...new years eve, so Im sure we just missed each other.) Brought the boxes to Bell services.......

Thanks so much for leaving a message Karen. We didn't get to our room until the early hours of New Year's Day, bell services brought the tree up straightaway.

Thanks again to Wdwstar for arranging this. I hope that there wasn't a problem when you came to pick the tree up.

Also, a big thank you to Laurabearz for the lovely tree.

Tracy

 

[mrsswat]

Thanks for the information larrytau (I sent you a PM) - no, the tree wasn't valuable to us. It was, however, only 2 years old and still in really great shape when I sent it. Of course, there were other items there also; garland and lights for the balcony, ornaments, a nativity set and tree skirt that were donated by families last year - stuff like that. I feel very badly that you didn't get to use it and wonder if there were any other families in the same boat. And thanks Groucho, for letting us know you saw it. I will call down and see what I can find out.

Thanks Larry for the offer to pay the shipping, but that won't be necessary. It's very considerate of you and your family to offer, but I will handle it if found.

If there are any other SSR TREE#1 users out there still reading this thread could you post or PM me with your experience with the tree? Were you able to use it, was it packed in it's original box etc?? It will help me with infor when I call down.

Terry S

 

[rascalmom]

I guess my family was the last to use SSR Tree #1. They had no problem finding it when we checked in - bell services brought right to our room. We left it with them (with a tip) when we checked out. I had taped up the box & marked my name off the list - the bellman even asked if it was one of the trees for the swap.

LarryTau - I am sorry your family did not get to enjoy it. It is an adorable little tree.

MrsSwat - if it is not found, please let me know. I would like to donate to your costs - for the tree & shipping it down. We had chipped in for shipping costs along with others in the envelope, but I want to help out again if that was lost.

 

[Groucho]

If it helps Bell Services, the SSR tree boxes were on the top of the luggage racks, SSR Tree 1 was on the right as you walked in and SSR Tree 2 was on the left, both in brown cardboard boxes, clearly labeled as "SSR TREE 1" and "SSR TREE 2". Hopefully Bell Services can get them shipped back. I'm not sure that there's much more I can do since my name isn't on those boxes.

SSR Tree 3 is boxed up and will be dropped off to Bell Services first thing tomorrow morning.

I have a picture but haven't put it online yet.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

GOOD NEWS! I found the missing money from SSR Tree 3!

I thought that the envelope on the inside of the box was the only one - when I had opened the tree, it'd gone against the wall with the flaps out, and when I went to start packing it up this morning, I saw the donations envelope on there! Complete with a $5 and fifteen $1s. Phew, that'll save me from having to eat the whole cost of shipping.

It also makes me feel a lot better that it wasn't taken.

I am so glad the money had not gone missing. Makes me feel a lot better.
The envelope had been taped on the inside of the box.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

If it helps Bell Services, the SSR tree boxes were on the top of the luggage racks, SSR Tree 1 was on the right as you walked in and SSR Tree 2 was on the left, both in brown cardboard boxes, clearly labeled as "SSR TREE 1" and "SSR TREE 2". Hopefully Bell Services can get them shipped back. I'm not sure that there's much more I can do since my name isn't on those boxes.

SSR Tree 3 is boxed up and will be dropped off to Bell Services first thing tomorrow morning.

I have a picture but haven't put it online yet.

I would ask as they should have been shipped back on the 2nd and 3rd.

All they can say is no.

I also relise that it should not fall on you to do so .

Anyhow glad it sounds like your on top of them I didn't have any problem both picking up or dropping off.

 

[Groucho]

I am so glad the money had not gone missing. Makes me feel a lot better.
The envelope had been taped on the inside of the box.

It was still on the inside, but I hadn't looked at the flaps. I don't think the envelope was moved at all.

I would ask as they should have been shipped back on the 2nd and 3rd.

All they can say is no.

I'm pretty sure that they'd say no, mostly because part of the process would be opening each box and taking money out of it. I will certainly mention the situation, though.

 

[Laurabearz]

SSR TREE #2
-----------------
LauraBearz (Donating a Tree) *
Nedlo2 Nov. 25th - Dec. 2nd *
Poohbear158 Dec. 3rd - 9th *
boettj Dec. 9th - 18th *
tmt martins Dec. 18th - 22nd *
Feigned Dec. 24th - 30th *
gamomof2 Dec. 30th - Jan. 3rd *

OKW/SSR TRAVELING TREE
----------------
LauraBearz (Donating a Tree) *
pohhj80 Dec. 3rd - 8th SSR *
Gymbomom Dec. 10th - 15th OKW *
lisaviolet Dec. 17th - 22nd OKW *


Both these trees made it home to me this week!! Thanks so much for the little notes and gifts. Very sweet of all of you to do.

The following tree is not back yet, but it's still early..

BCV TREE # 2
--------------
LauraBearz (Donating a Tree) *
twotoohappy Dec. 3rd - 8th *
Andriade Dec. 10th - 17th *
susieab Dec. 17th - 21st *
rsschneck Dec. 21st - 26th *
BoardwalkTigger Dec. 26th - Dec. 31st *
Tracy k Dec. 31st - Jan. 5th *
wdwstar to pick up the tree to ship home. *

I think this year went well... a few glitches which always suck, but overall another great year for the exchange.

 

[larrytau]

Good eyes, Groucho!! And, good eyebrows too!

Thanks for the feedback regarding SSR 1 tree. mrsswatt is trying to contact Bell Services now, and I hope to be able to pay outstanding shipping charges back home - if she lets me!!