The Light at the end of the tunnel to the Caribbean Beat Trip Report Sept 18 to Sept 29 - **Updated 3/31** COMPLETE!! - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
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To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
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The Light at the end of the tunnel to the Caribbean Beat Trip Report Sept 18 to Sept 29 - **Updated 3/31** COMPLETE!!
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL TRIP.
HERE IS A LITTLE ABOUT ALL OF US. THIS IS A MUCH NEEDED FAMILY TRIP. READ ALL ABOUT IT AS IT IS MY FIRST TRIP REPORT. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TELL ME IF I NEED TO ADD MORE INFO TO THE REPORT
Danny (DDad): 50 something y.o. works for the Ohio Turnpike. He is actually my stepdad but more like a dad than the real one & I call him dad. He is very hard working & seems to enjoy disney. He makes a fuss about going again b/c he is given a hard time at work . People just don't understand DISNEY like we do.
Debbi (DMom): 40 something y.o. works at a Ice Cream/Cheese Shop owned by my grandmother & her. She is my best friend & we are very close. She works hard at ice cream shop & I feel bad for her b/c she miss out on family time with us from April to Sept. We are the disney planners in the family b/c the men don't care about the details. We try to schedule time in were the two of can do stuff together.
Amy (Me) 28 y.o. work at a Restuarant/Golf Course as a hostess/waitress & at the ice cream shop 3 nights a week. I love everything disney. I have tried to get my two best friends to bring there families but they don't have the money. I am single & still looking for prince charming. I LOVE TO SHOP!!! I also have obession with TINKERBEll. I love the sassiness & tude. Stich is my second favorite character.
Shayne (Bro) 15y.o. helps out at the ice cream to earn money for pins & a 4-Her shows market hog at the county fair. His favorite character is GOOFY!!!! This is my baby brother who is taller to me. He has hit the teens & out came the attitude. We are big into 4-H as a family. He also has a hobby of garden tractor pulling, which my dad & he does together.
I also have another brother Tony who is 25yo & is married with 3 kids. His family can't afford to go right now.
The reason of this trip is for much needed family time. My mom runs the ice cream part of the business her & my grandma own. So in return she works 7 days a week from April to September. In the winter time she helps my grandma out with with the cheese room. She miss out on alot of family time during the summer & the trip is the light at the end of the tunnel. It helps her get throught the long hours she works. My dad works at the turnpike as road maintence so in the winter time he works lots of hours if we have snow. I worked at the restaurant 5 to 6 days a week & help my mom down at the ice cream shop. My brother shows market hogs at our county fair & is into garden tractor pulling on the weekends.
This will be our third trip to WDW in the past 3 years. 2005 Pop Century (April) 2006 CBR (Sept FREE FOOD) 2007 CBR (Sept FREE FOOD again)
So my mom & I pay for quite a bit of our trips. The first year (2005) my dad & my mom paid for that one we went for 6 days & 5 nights. Well my mom & I got Disney in our blood & we wanted to go back. So we decide if we could come up with most of the money my dad couldn't say too much. So they put in some of their income tax return & I put some of mine. Then my mom & I make out weekly payment books & put that much money in the bank a week. We were able to CBR (2006) for 8 day & 7 nights. My dad's 2 sister & mom stayed at the Pop Century & went the same time that we did. So we meet up with them time to time. This year it just going to be the 4 of us. We did the same thing this year except we started clipping coupons & the amount we save with the coupon we put in a jar to help pay for the extra such as MNSSHP, Mickey Milestone tour & tipping money. We love the weather in Sept./Oct. so that is why we are going again this year fpr 10 days & 9 nights. Plus FREE FOOD helps decided when to go.
There has been many changes to this trip so far. (I know no trip is complete without some kind of change. They are still coming.) Orginally we where going to go Sept 27 to Oct 6 to the CBR for 9 nights. Then the rumor mill started about the free dining & its dates, So we made another reservation for the CBR for Sept 20 to Sept 29. My great mind started running numbers & for just a little more money we can go to the wilderness lodge so we made yet another for the WL from Sept 20 to Sept 29. It is offical they are going to offer free food from August 26 to Sept 22. So we cancelled the first reservation Sept 27 to Oct 6 at the CBR. Now we down to the two reservation one at WL & one at CBR. Since we didn't have the Disney VISA we had to wait. To make a long story short, there was to room at the LODGE for us it was all gone we we called. We went back to Sept 13 & up to Sept 22 , there was nothing available. So we try to CBR & yes free food was available for it. So my mom decided since we are not staying at the WL that we would stay at CBR from Sept 18 to Sept 29. Yes that is right people we are staying at the CBR for 12 days & 11 nights preferred. Which mean adding two more ADR's. Where are we going to eat at????
I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world.
__________________
Heather - "I'm Tinkerbell's biggest fan!"
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
This sounds like a dreamy trip. Can't wait to hear how the rest of the plans work out!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Great start! you weren't able to get into WL, but I'm sure you will have a magical time! More please
It was a little upsetting that we could not stay at the WL. So in return we saved $1600 & get to stay 2 more days than the orginal plan. What more can you ask for?
Here comes some changes with airfare. We flew SW last year down. So I had been waiting for their schedule to come out so we could book our airfare. I am not sure why southwest makes you wait so long for schedule to come out. Sometimes I felt like I was going to get a ulcer if it did not come out soon! Finally there schedule comes out. Oh no $99 that's not a good price. What will we ever do. Someone had posted that Air Tran was having a sale . So I got on & checked, sure enough our flights are on sale. The only problem, SW has a nonstop flight from PIT 7:50am to MCO arriving at 10: 00am, okay get flight price not so great. Air Tran flight PIT 6:50 to 10:50 arriving at MCO with a layover for $59. So that means us having to be at the airport at 4:50am & leaving our house between 3:00 and 3:30am. So we end up booking SW for our flight down. The flight home was on sale $59 on Air Tran leaves MCO at 8:11pm with at hour layover at Alanta & arriving PIT at 12:35. So a couple of weeks later SW lowered their fares. So I kept getting credits for it. On Air Tran I kept seeing the the times were changing. Just a couple of minutes here & there. I started reading that some other passenger had trouble with them changing the flight & not letting them know. I started checking our flight regularly to make sure it's alright. Oh no they did not do that. Sept 29th lastest flight out of MCO 3:11pm where is our 8:11pm flight. So we called & sorry maam that flight has been reschedule. Well the reason we chose that flight was because of it being late. We want as much time at WDW as we can get. I know 11nights & 12 days are not long enough LOL. So they end up refunding our money. We went to SW & got a flight for $120 that leaves 8:50 pm MCO arriving at PIT 11:05 pm non-stop. Now we have great flight not so much on the price. We have a hardship of caring for own luggage LOL. Just the weekend before you know that the flight was on sale for $59. So I was not happy about that. Okay so the price has come down to $69 is what we are paying for our flight home. I quess I can pay 10 extra dollars to deal with my own luggage, have a nonstop flight , & get in a hour early that what we planned. Our airfare round trip for a party of 4 for $595. Finally we have airfare for a decent price.
UP NEXT: Oh where Oh where do we eat. We had a our ADR already by the time free food came out. So we let my dad choose one & we chose another. Where ever will they be?
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you weren't able to get into WL, but I'm sure you will have a magical time! More please
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