Goin' Down the Bayou ~ The TR (November 1-10, 2012) - Page 32 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sound like a great last day. That pic of the girls with Duffy sad to leave, it looks like Kaeli is about to burst into tears.
Don't worry about embarassment over crying. I walk out of MK for the last time every trip, with tears flowing. I think we are not the only ones by far.
What a great last day! Quick question. I saw you said you were getting a new Mickey family decal set. How do you get the old ones off? I'll be doing the same thing. Glad to see I'm not the only on that cries when leaving! I think most people do, even if they hide it well.
So sad that your TR is ending! Sounds like you guys had a great last day though! We have a T-Rex here in KC and we like to go there every once in a while, and I agree about the food. It is okay, but the atmosphere is what keeps us going back.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts.
What a wonderful last day! I didn't know that they had craft stops for the kids during the festival at DTD. Great idea. Were the kids at all apprehensive about returning home, given how it was when they left?
Sorry your trip has come to an end - I so know that yucky feeling, and the tears - get them myself every time!!!! But it certainly sounds like you all had a fantastic trip!!!!
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sounds like an amazing trip. Glad you were feeling better your last day. Thanks for the T-Rex review. I don't think I'll be going there next trip. Evan still doesn't like load noises and isn't into dinos too much. perhaps when he is older.
Love the day at Down Town Disney. Sounds like the girls had fun spending their money.
looking forward to hearing your final thoughts
It's always fun spending money, right I think that's a wise choice to skip T Rex for now, especially if Evan is still afraid of loud noises and not into dinos anyway.
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Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
exactly!
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Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
It isn't just you, honeybee (Melissa) didn't help either. It's always crazy and my list of places to go is about 3x the size of what we are able to actually do.
Especially considering next trip, unless it's free dining, we plan to do OOP and do only 1 sit down per day. With the exception of 1 breakfast, one day.
TRex might end up working bc now I want to go to DisneyQuest. Yeah, thanks!
Oops, sorry about the double post, I kept getting an error on the first one and didn't think it went through
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has influenced your dining plans
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Sound like a great last day. That pic of the girls with Duffy sad to leave, it looks like Kaeli is about to burst into tears.
Don't worry about embarassment over crying. I walk out of MK for the last time every trip, with tears flowing. I think we are not the only ones by far.
She does look like she's about to cry, right It was so hard to leave this year. I mean, it always is, but for some reason this year just hit me harder. Probably because of the way things were when we left home, we had escaped reality for a bit and I did not want to go back!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dutchdisneyfamily
What a great last day! Quick question. I saw you said you were getting a new Mickey family decal set. How do you get the old ones off? I'll be doing the same thing. Glad to see I'm not the only on that cries when leaving! I think most people do, even if they hide it well.
That's a good question! I assumed that the old ones would just peel off, but I haven't tried. We are in the market for a new car, so I got the new decals to put on that.
Oh, and I'm sure you're right, I'm sure there are lots of tears shed when others are leaving Disney too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
So sad that your TR is ending! Sounds like you guys had a great last day though! We have a T-Rex here in KC and we like to go there every once in a while, and I agree about the food. It is okay, but the atmosphere is what keeps us going back.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Looking forward to hearing your final thoughts.
I'm sad it's all over too, but it was a great trip and a fun last day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Wonderful last day! Great shopping, too! The sad girls and Duffys picture is priceless.
I love that one too! I didn't know what they were doing with Duffy's hands, and when I asked they said he was sad to be leaving Mickey too
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Originally Posted by chezp
What a fun last day, but I'm so sorry to see this come to an end.
Me too
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Originally Posted by lauriep
What a wonderful last day! I didn't know that they had craft stops for the kids during the festival at DTD. Great idea. Were the kids at all apprehensive about returning home, given how it was when they left?
I didn't realize they had crafts for the kids either, but I'm glad we found them! There weren't many, just a few here and there, run by sponsors like Michaels and Lego, but the girls loved them. They are addicted to arts and crafts! Usually, my kitchen table at home is just covered with googly eyes and pipe cleaners
Oh, and the girls were not at all apprehensive about going home. Being gone for 10 days, I think they forgot about what had gone on at home. Also, they knew the powere was back on, I'm sure if it was still out they would not have wanted to go back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfredsbo
Sorry your trip has come to an end - I so know that yucky feeling, and the tears - get them myself every time!!!! But it certainly sounds like you all had a fantastic trip!!!!
We really had a fabulous time, I can't wait for the next one!
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Originally Posted by bsblady01
sounds like you guys had a great trip
We had so much fun!
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Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a great last night! Sorry everyone was so sad to leave! Looking forward to your final thoughts!
Leaving is the hardest part
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Originally Posted by Russi01
Sorry to see your trip come to an end. Ready to hear your final thoughts!
Hopefully I'll have my final thoughts up this weekend!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Great last day! But, as always, sad the trip had to come to an end.
It was a fun day, but I always hate that last Disney day
Sorry guys, it's taken me longer than I thought it would to get back on here to post my final thoughts. We've been hit by the stomach bug here in our house, it started over the weekend with Abby, and now Kaeli has it. My stomach is starting to feel a bit queasy too, I guess it was inevitable after taking care of the both of them for me to come down with it too.
Anyway, on to my final thoughts ....
On Flying - Plain and simple, it was great! We always drove down to FL for our past trips, and if you read my last TR you know that I do love road trips. However, last years trip did take it's toll on us, and I was exhausted before we even got there. Not a good way to start a Disney trip at all It did feel a little weird getting to Orlando so quickly, but I'm not compalaining about that! This was the first time flying ever for the girls, and they loved it. I thought they might be a little nervous, especially at take off, but they were completely fine and have already told me they can't wait to fly again!
On POR - LOVED it!! Besided the long wait we had at check in, we had no issues at all at the resort. Our room was nice, neat and clean, and the girls loved the murphy bed. It was nice for them to not have to share a bed, especially since both of them are pretty "wild" sleepers, constantly rolling and moving about as they sleep.
The size of the resort is quite large, and some of the outer buildings could be a long walk to get to the main building or pool area, but we didn't find it to be that bad. In fact, I sort of liked that our building was set back away from the hustle and bustle of Ol' Man Island and Riverside Mill. It was very peaceful and serene, and once we were back there we hardly ever saw any other guests. After dealing with crowds at the parks, it was nice to have that quiet retreat back at the resort.
On Transportation - I've heard lots of complaints online about the bus system at POR, but really we didn't have any major issues, except for one long wait on our first day. We had gone to the South Depot (outside of the main building) because the woman at check in told us that it was the closest stop to our room. The bus stop was pretty crowded and we had a long wait for a bus to come along, there were lots of unhappy people that morning. Later that night, the bus home stopped first at the West Depot and we decided to get off there. Lucky we did, because it turned out that this stop was closer to our room then the South Depot. For the rest of the week we used this stop and never had more than a 10 minute wait for a bus and it was never crowded
On the Dining Plan - This was our first experience with the Dining Plan. Being that we've always stayed off property, we were never eligible to purchase it. I'll start off first by saying it was A LOT of food. Way more than we were ever used to eating when we paid OOP for our meals. Typically, we don't usually order dessert with our meals, we'd rather save the room for a Mickey Bar or some other treat later on. In that respect, I wish that you were given a choice of ordering either an appetizer or dessert with your meal on the plan, rather than having the dessert "forced" on you. I think I would much prefer that, and I'm pretty sure there are other families out there that feel the same way. I did like the freedom we had in using our snack credits though, especially since we were able to use them for some treats at the F&WF booths too.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all about our meal plan, I mean, afterall it was free. That being said, if Free Dining was not offered during another time we were to visit, I don't think that we would purchase it. I'm pretty sure that we could do better going OOP for our meals, and would probably have less TS sit down meals.
Overall, we really enjoyed staying on property! Being inside of the Bubble just cannot compare to staying off site, as nice as the acommodations were at my Aunt's timeshare resort. We've definitely been bitten by the bug, and it will be hard going off property again for any future trips. Not that I wouldn't, because I'd stay in a shoebox if it was the only way to get my Disney fix! Well, maybe not a shoebox, but you get the idea
After the whirlwind of events that happened at home before our trip, it was so nice to have this vacation time together as a family. I think it really put into perspective for Chris and I just how lucky we are, and that we need to cherish these moments together. It was definitely harder to head home when this trip came to an end, but we had some beautiful memories to take with us!
We knew that we would be coming back this year, just not all of the details, since we had to wait for Chris' vacation schedule and the school calendar to be released so we could start planning. Well, we finally got all of the info we needed and we are planning on going back this August, rather than November. We wanted to take a longer trip in celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary (which is actually in May), and this way the girls won't have to miss any school. Soooo, we are booked for 9 nights again at POR (this time in a Royal Room ), and to top it off, we are going to follow that with 3 nights on the Dream!!!! I am just bursting with excitement, this will be my first cruise ever and I can't wait!
Thanks to all of you for reading along with this TR, it was fun to share and relive our trip all over again with all of you!
Great wrap-up! I think your point about dessert on the dining plan is a very good one. I'm never eligible for free dining, since I use DVC points, but I usually don't order dessert with meals and would much prefer having dessert a couple of hours after the meal in the form of a Dole whip! I'm so excited about your long trip in August and a CRUISE!
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The sad girls and Duffys picture is priceless.
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exactly!
It's always crazy and my list of places to go is about 3x the size of what we are able to actually do.
It did feel a little weird getting to Orlando so quickly, but I'm not compalaining about that! This was the first time flying ever for the girls, and they loved it. I thought they might be a little nervous, especially at take off, but they were completely fine 
and have already told me they can't wait to fly again!
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