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Hey guys, I finally can sit down and tell everyone about our trip. Not going to do a traditional trip report but I will share some highlights and less than magical moments.
First off I don't think I was meant to go on this trip. This trip was a pain in the butt to plan from the beginning. I stressed over everything. Then a week before we went my husband's car was hit by a deer. Yep you read that right. A deer ran into the side of my husbands car as he was getting on the highway. Car needed $2000 in repairs. Luckily all we had to pay was deductible. The day before we left for our trip my dog had to be rushed to the vet. He had a fatty tumor on his neck that he ruptured. If I believed in signs I would have stayed home. The vet kept him entire time we were on vacation. He had surgery and he is doing great now.
Details
9/26-10/6 (10/6 was my birthday but I celebrated our whole trip)
Caribbean Beach Resort
10 day park hoppers (that we upgraded to waterparks and more option after we arrived)
Vacationeers: Me (Jen), Freddie (DH), Tyler (DS 11), Dylan (DS 10), Terry (Stepfather), Sherry (Mom)
Added Bonus people: Jay (my brother), Stacy(his girlfriend), Trinity, Taejon, and Javon (Stacy's kids) they just moved to Florida in April and met us for dinner, visited our resort, and shopped in DTD with us.
We arrived in Orlando at 8 am. I did online check-in. Our rooms were ready for us upon arrival. Jay and Stacy came over to the resort with our grocery order. They picked up a case of Pepsi (I prefer Pepsi to Coke and get so tired of drinking coke products in Disney), case of water, cereal for the kids, and assorted snacks. We hung out at the resort for a little while and had lunch in food court.
Since I got home and told people about my trip, they have begun to think I didn't have a good time. I want to be clear while my trip may have had some less than magical moments, I had a great time. I just think that after 12+ visits to the world I notice when things are not quite magical. There is no where I would rather vacation.
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Caribbean Beach Resort: This was not my first pick. When I booked last August I had booked us in POFQ, however when they released Free Dining to general public and I tried to apply Free Dining to my reservation they were completely booked for that resort. They had me choose between CBR or CSR. On the spot decision with no around to consult, I was hoping I didn't make a mistake.
I did not pay for a perferred room, however Freddie and Terry both have mobility issues, so I made room requests. Nothing extreme but they do rent scooters in the parks. I requested Aruba or Jamaica close to Port Royale food court. We were in Aruba 5161 and 5160 overlooking a parking lot.
The rooms were nice. I liked the theming. DH loved the hammocks. The kids loved the pool at Port Royale.
The food court was ok. Not crazy about some the food choices. I preferred the food court at POP or POFQ to this one. However we only actually ate here a couple times for lunch. Most of the time we were there for breakfast. Breakfast was great. The snack options were also very good. Get to the foodcourt before 8 am. We made the mistake of going after 8 a couple of times. It was a madhouse. People were rude(we have encountered rudeness on all of our trips, but it happened everywhere the entire trip it was like being there in July which I have done many times). A man threw away my mom's cup of coffee that she left on the table while she went to get creamer. He apologized and told her that it had been sitting there awhile so he got rid of it. It was still hot and she only walked away to get creamer. I was ran into, People cut infront of me. I was run over by more strollers this trip than ever. Nobody even said sorry or excuse me.
The store had everything I needed during our trip. Even gauze and bandages. My DH cut open the bottom of his feet a couple times during our trip and a bandaid wasnt enough.
The staff was very nice. One morning a cashier in the food court gave me a trading pin from her pocket for my birthday. another morning a cast member trading post had his pin board out for trading. He gave me any pin on the board I wanted for my birthday.
The bus system: It wasn't bad. We did have to stand most night leaving the parks. Sometimes the bus went to Jamaica for the first drop off sometimes Jamaica was last. It was a shorter walk from my room to Jamaica's bus stop, so we used that one.
Laundry Facilities are small and you do risk them being full. We grabbed the last 2 washers the one night we went.
If I had to stay at this resort again, I would request a room closer to the bus stop. That way if I wanted to go to Port Royale I could just hop on an internal shuttle. Or I would pay for a preferred room. The resort was just too big. We had our refillable mugs and rarely used them because nobody wanted to walk to the foodcourt. The one morning I had to go back to the room 3 times because of forgotten things. I was exhausted before I even got to the parks. On nights that my DH didn't venture to the parks with us, he stayed in the room and ordered pizza because he was hurting and didn't want to walk to the food court or the bus. It was almost the same distance.
Word of warning the bridges get slick if it rains. I saw more than one person slip and fall.
The food:
I have found that allears.nets menus are not always what is available. Especially desserts and the sides described with entrees.
Coral Reef: This is a family favorite. I love the scenery. I am not a big seafood person but I did enjoy the grilled New York Strip Steak. I can't remember what my dessert was called but it had champagne in the the name. It was amazing. It just melted in your mouth. I loved it.
Sci-Fi: We love Sci-Fi. The food is good. In our group a few of us are pooh sized people and sitting in the cars can be a little tight, but I can't imagine not sitting in one of the cars.
Tony's: Great experience here. Food was good. I had my favorite dessert of the whole week here. Seasonal cheesecake which was pumpkin while I was there. It was so good. I still daydream about this dessert. My family loves this restaurant. In the past we have had some of the worst service but this trip even the service was great.
Teppan Edo: This was our first time trying this restaurant. It is now on our must do every trip. My husband has a shellfish allergy which I noted on the reservation. after we were seated they came out and talked to my husband. They prepared his food first and separately. We were seated with a couple from the UK celebrating their 45 wedding anniversary. They have been coming back every year for the last 20 years on their aniversary. I was worried the kids wouldn't enjoy their food but they both had clean plates.
Liberty Tree: i prefer this restaurant for lunch. I like ordering off the menu since we all like different things as opposed to everyone being served family style.
Donalds Safari Breakfast: This was a great breakfast buffet. The character interaction was good. the options where great and the layout of the buffet was also very good.
T-rex: We eat here for the atmosphere. It is loud but keeps the kids amused. My brother and his family joined us there for dinner. Not a place for conversations. May end up with a headache after it is all said and done. The food is good, there are a lot of choices.
50s Primetime: Patty our server was a hit. Dylan (10) is normally very shy with strangers but she really brought him out of his shell. He tattled on me for elbows on the table. He then was labeled the tattletail. He was told to set the table. He even got a tour of the kitchen when he had to take the dishes back after our meal. He thought he would get his revenge when he pointed a ketchup bottle at her but didn't squirt it. She took it from him and squirted ketchup on his arm. She took him back to help carry desserts to the table. He ran away from her and came back to the table. She then took a bite of his dessert. It was fantastic. i laughed so hard I had tears. Before we left we took their picture together.
Le Cellier: Went there for lunch. Its always been one of my favorites. This will probably be our last time eatting here since it is going to 2TS all the time. I don't want to really use 2TS for any meal. The food was very good. But to be honest we come here for the Canadian Cheddar Cheese soup and the pretzel bread. My steak was very good though and cooked to perfection.
1500 Park Faire: This was our first time eatting here. I wanted a special experience for my birthday. Characters were Cinderella, Prince Charming, anastaisa, drisilla, and fairy god mother. While I enjoyed the character interaction I have yet to find a dinner buffet that really is worth the money spent to eat there. Since the kids are older I don't think we will be eatting at buffets (besides breakfast) anymore.
Chef Mickeys: This is our #1 must do every trip. We eat here on our last day before we leave to come home. Its a great way to say good bye to Mickey and the gang. However this particular time. We had eatten all our food, been up to the buffet table multiple times and had only met Goofy, Pluto and Donald. It was over an hour and we had to leave so we didn't get to see Mickey or Minnie.
On another note I had a seasonal cupcake at Backlot express for a dessert with one of my lunches. It was huge. It was carrot cake with an orange icing. It was so delishious. It was right up there with my favorite desserts.
Have you tried Cape May Cafe or Boma for dinner? Those are both on our must-list, and especially if you're on Disney Dining, worth it. At least in my opinion. The only caveat with either is resort-to-resort hopping can be messy. We had quite the adventure trying to get to Boma from POFQ this last trip, and that was even after I bumped the ADR an hour later.
Oct. 31-Nov. 5, 2014 BWV with DH and DS, Nov.9-17, 2013 BCV with DH, DS (7), my parents and sister, October 2013 WL with just DH
Dec. 10-15, 2010 POR with DH, DS (4) Ddad(60)
DS on his first trip! January 2008 Windsor Hills
TR http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...irst-trip.html
Glad your trip wasn't all bad. Want to hear more! We had good and bad when we recently went in September. I want to go back, so the bad is already fading away.
Great start - sorry you were dealing with less than magical encounters
We were there overlapping you - 10/2-10/9 at SSR
Quote:
Originally Posted by a&a's mama
Thanks for sharing your trip!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Sounds like a great time!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NanaTink
Thanks for sharing your adventures! sounds like you had some good, some bad, but it's Disney!
I love Disney and I will be going back again and again. Its in my blood. LOL It was a great trip no matter what.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giselle
Have you tried Cape May Cafe or Boma for dinner? Those are both on our must-list, and especially if you're on Disney Dining, worth it. At least in my opinion. The only caveat with either is resort-to-resort hopping can be messy. We had quite the adventure trying to get to Boma from POFQ this last trip, and that was even after I bumped the ADR an hour later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sazzifrazz
good report...hope your DH's foot is ok
I have never tried to eat at Cape May or Boma. They are on my list of places to try. We haven't done a lot of the places to eat at resorts, mainly because it can take so long to use transportation to get there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheldoal
Glad your trip wasn't all bad. Want to hear more! We had good and bad when we recently went in September. I want to go back, so the bad is already fading away.
The best way to get over some bad experiences is to dive right back in and plan another trip. Of course I do that even if my trip was perfect.
So we went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on Friday 9/28.
I have attended this party once before in 2009. This was something I was looking forward to doing this trip.
Our last trip we rode rides, went trick or treating, saw fireworks, met characters, went to the Villians Mix and Mingle. I even went to the dance party with Chip and Dale. My kids were able to play the games that are set up all over the place with cast members and get stickers. It was so much fun. I didn't get to see the headless Horseman because it had rained right before the party. That was my only disappointment.
This time I was so disappointed with the whole night.
We had spent the day at Animal Kingdom. Then we had an ADR for 5:40 at Tony's. We got to the Magic Kingdom and changed into our costumes. We were going to wait until after dinner but there were so many costumes already and I felt left out. I was dressed as Flower (altho many cast members commented on my Pepe Le Pew costume ), my husband had a t-shirt that made him look like he was peeling off a jacket to reveal he was a wolf, my oldest son wore his soccer uniform, my youngest son wore a skeleton t-shirt, my mom wore a headband that had a witches hat on it and a t-shirt that said witch and famous, my stepdad had a skeleton t-shirt. (FYI walmart t-shirt costumes are super popular) As we came out of the bathroom we noticed a sign that said the event was sold out.
We went to dinner. After dinner we got a place for the parade. I finally got to see the Headless Horseman. he was amazing. The only candy we got during the parade was my kids got mickey lollipops, one each. Last time I remember all of us having candy in our bags after the parade. We then went to fantasyland to see if Enchanted Tales with Belle was previewing. If it was I didn't see it. The park was so crowded. The lines for trick or treat were so LONG, we didn't trick or treat. The lines to meet characters were 30 minutes, we didn't meet characters. We then went to see the Villians Mix and Mingle, where I did get to meet the Evil Queen from Snow White. That was neat. I wanted to meet Dr Facilier but he had the LONGEST line. We waited to see the fireworks. The crowds were so heavy that I ended up seeing the fireworks from behind a tree.
From there my Stepdad was tired of fighting crowds and it was hot so he went back to the room. We started to headover to the Haunted Mansion. There was a scary moment on the bridge to Liberty Square. It was deadlocked nobody was moving. People were pushing, I got separated from my most of my family. A fight almost broke out but the one woman walked away shouting some less than Disney appropriate language. (I have had this happen once before on the bridge to tomorrowland after fireworks, one of the scariest moments of my life. Thank goodness that castmembers enterveined in that instance)
The Haunted Mansion line was about 35 minutes when we got there. We jumped in line. Lady Renatta was outside entertaining the people in line. She was fanatastic. My DH decided he was had had enough with the people so he left for the night. When we left there we headed over to tomorrowland and jumped on Space Mountain. Stitch's dance party was going on so I watched that for a little bit. I was hoping to catch another mix and mingle but the crowds did not thin down at all. We left around 11 pm.
So basically I paid 59.59 per person 6 adults, to see the parade, fireworks (even if they were kinda hidden behind a tree, ride 2 rides, and watch the mix and mingle once.
I was so upset that i wrote Disney a letter about the need to further limit ticket sales for these events. Its nice to have these events but when its that crowded it takes away from the experience for other park guests.
I later found out that not only was the event sold out but they were honoring peoples tickets for the previous party because it had rained.
I don't know that I will be going to a MNSSHP again for a long time. I know I will not be attending on a Friday night ever again. The worst part of it was that we had 3 days at MK and all 3 the park closed at 7 for the parties. It was disappointing, especially since I love this event so much
October 1st: Epcot's 30th
We had decided to avoid this park because of this. We were supposed to go to Universal Studios this day but in the last year Universal Studios had raised ticket prices 2 times and then when you factor in cab faire or renting a van for the day, we decided not to do it.
DH, me and the kids decided to upgrade our tickets to waterparks and more. it worked out to $22 a person to upgrade. The weather was perfect. My mom and Terry decided to stay back and relax. Mom wanted Epcot 30th pins. she ventured out to buy pins.
We went to Typhoon Lagoon for the day. It was fun. The kids really enjoyed themselves. DH and I had been to Blizzard Beach before but this was our first trip to Typhoon Lagoon. We left about 2pm when the sky was getting black and looked like a storm was on the way.
We get back to the room and my Mom was not there. She decided to go alone over to Epcot to purchase pins from Epcots 30th. She had no idea what she was in for. Her plan was to get in buy pins, get a map and button, and come home. There was only one place to buy the Epcot 30th merchandise. Mousegears and there was a line to get in. She waited 4 hours in line to purchase pins. While she was in a line a storm came lucky for her she was under an overhang by then. She got in purchased pins and got out. She went over to the pin shop by the fountain. There a CM came out and started handing out CM exclusive Epcot 30th pins. She lucked into that. (The rest of our trip while she was trading with CMs they would ask her where she got her pin because they hadn't received them yet)
After that she came back to the room. We went to MK that evening to see Wishes since all the other days scheduled there were MNSSHP nights and I was going to miss wishes. Once again i didn't have the best viewing spot, but at least I could see them.
I had never attended Food and Wine Festival before. I mistakenly planned for us to be there the day after it opened on a weekend. We went to World Showcase 1st. We were stuffed about half way around the world. We tried some amazing food. We made it a point to try something in each country. Even my kids enjoyed trying different foods. We rode Maelstrom, Mexicos ride, and saw the American Adventure. We headed towards the front of the park to meet Terry for dinner at Teppan Edo.
We made our way back to Japan and had dinner. The plan was to eat dinner and then go grab a spot for Illuminations. After dinner we headed around World Showcase looking for a spot. The crowds were so thick you could barely move. The worst part about it was the people who had enjoyed World Showcase a bit too much. One guy was chasing after my husband on his scooter trying to jump on the back. I saw someone else push their teenage son into a trashcan where a woman was standing, her beer was on the top of the trashcan and spilled over. Again less than Disney appropriate language flew. I saw a woman who was very amorous with her boyfriend. We decided that not only did we not want to stand with these people to see Illuminations but we didn't want to leave with these people after Illuminations. So we left. We had another night that we could come and see Illuminations.
I'm sorry you had such a bad time at MNSSHP! We were there the same night, although it seems like we had a completely different experience. I'm sad you skipped the trick-or-treat lines; some of them looked long, but they moved SUPER fast. We never were in line for candy for more than 3 minutes (except the treat trails, but those are way longer and have a bunch of candy stops). We also found really short ride lines...none anywhere near 35 min. I wonder if Haunted Mansion line got shorter later in the evening, because we didn't ride it until about 11:00 (just after the second parade) but we were in within 10 min. I have no idea why we seemed to have such luck and you didn't. All I can say is we started in Tomorrowland and worked our way counter-clockwise for rides and candy stops (saw the fireworks from behind the castle which was really neat and the second parade from Frontierland). I guess we had the lucky path that night?
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
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About This Page: 
The vet kept him entire time we were on vacation. He had surgery and he is doing great now.
We hung out at the resort for a little while and had lunch in food court. 
I want to be clear while my trip may have had some less than magical moments, I had a great time. I just think that after 12+ visits to the world I notice when things are not quite magical. There is no where I would rather vacation.
Jen
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he was amazing. The only candy we got during the parade was my kids got mickey lollipops, one each. Last time I remember all of us having candy in our bags after the parade. We then went to fantasyland to see if Enchanted Tales with Belle was previewing. If it was I didn't see it. The park was so crowded. The lines for trick or treat were so LONG, we didn't trick or treat. The lines to meet characters were 30 minutes, we didn't meet characters. We then went to see the Villians Mix and Mingle, where I did get to meet the Evil Queen from Snow White. That was neat. I wanted to meet Dr Facilier but he had the LONGEST line. We waited to see the fireworks. The crowds were so heavy that I ended up seeing the fireworks from behind a tree. 
I wonder if Haunted Mansion line got shorter later in the evening, because we didn't ride it until about 11:00 (just after the second parade) but we were in within 10 min. I have no idea why we seemed to have such luck and you didn't. 
Hybrid Mode
