Goodbye-Pod?

I promised myself that I wouldn't post a thing about this incident until it was resolved--trying not to use this blog as a reason to gripe.

During our trip to Disney, Jon took Gem to a dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian Resort. While driving there, they listened to music through the cool gadget that my parents got Jon for Christmas: it uses your AM/FM radio to play your ipod. All you have to do is stick the ipod in the cradle, press a button or two, and you're good to go.

When they arrived at the resort there was no parking available in the lot so Jon valet parked. He turned off his ipod, handed the guy the key . . . and that was the last we saw of the ipod.

Needless to say, it has been a long road. We filed a compaint, called the manager, called her manager, emailed a copy of our origial receipt, talked to the claims department that "doesn't replace persoanl property", talked to the Disney hotel manager (valet was sub-contracted), were directed back to the parking company, were ignored for a week and a half, talked to a new Disney hotel manager---and she contacted her boss who contacted the president of the parking company and they cut a check that day.

It's in the mail. ?

In the meantime Jon reordered his ipod and has been enjoying it. We ordered it from Apple because they engrave your name and phone number on the back.

The morals of the story are: First: Disney good. Sub-contractor bad. Second: if you can't find a parking space, grass is a good option-- because, hey, a $50 ticket is better than having your ipod stolen by the valet. Third: if you're a valet and you are going to steal an ipod, make sure you take the cool $100 gadget that charges the thing and lets you play it through your car radio.