Tink's first journey to the mainland!

[Shaniyah]

Since I have been back from Disney for 3 months now, this is a fine time to begin my trip report! I have went through with drawl, my Disney blues, with drawl again. And now I am ready to relive my trip again and hopefully begin planning the next one!

About our trip:
Well I haven't been to Disney world since 1998 . So in essence this is my first trip all over again. We went to Disney May 29 - June 3rd. We stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort. It was a beautiful resort.

Let me introduce the cast:

First up there is me Shaniyah. I am a slightly pooh sized single mom to Tink (you’ll meet her below), I love doing crafts and being creative, and of course I love ALL things Disney. I would love to say I am a super organized OCD planner, but that would only be 60% correct. The other 40% succumbs to my ADD (no that is not a joke)! I started a PTR here which I did not finish (the story of my life). So feel free to read up on my trip plans. My favorite Disney character is Daisy.

Next up is Tink (5). She is also a Disney addict. She has a great personality and thinks she is a "America's nep nop model"! She wants to be a doctor, gymnast, and soccer player when she grows up. I just love this little girl. Her favorite Disney characters are Tinkerbelle, Tiana, and Rapunzel.

Last but not least… Grumpy, Tink’s father. He is camera shy. So throughout the report you may see a hand or the back of his head but that is about it.

 

[Shaniyah]

Links to Chapters

Chapter 1 Are we there yet?

Chapter 2 Why didn't I register online??

Chapter 3 On the hunt for Mickey Ears

Chapter3 On the hunt for Mickey Ears part 2

Chapter 4 What do you value more Time or Money?

Chapter 5 Enjoying the view

Chapter 6 To DVC or not to DVC? That is the question!

 

[Shaniyah]

Since I live in the Atlanta area I decided to drive down to Disney. It is a lot cheaper to drive than it would have been for Tink and I to fly. I also love driving because then I can decide when I want to come back home! This would be Tiana’s(my SUV) first road trip, so I was also looking forward to getting her on open road. Grumpy was flying to Orlando from NY so he was going to meet us at the hotel.

Reading other TR’s I often heard of people not being able to sleep the night before and having a superhero like burst of energy the next day. Well that was me all the way. My plan was to leave at about 4 am. This way I would have about 4 hours of drive time with Tink still being asleep. Can you say peace and quiet?? After I triple checked the luggage and cooler, I packed up the car. I then forced myself to go to bed around 10 pm on Saturday night, and I think I woke up every 2 hours to check the time to see if it was time to go. Eventually I fell into a deep sleep and I woke up at 4:30 (insert expletive) I was supposed to be on the road 30 minutes ago. So much for things going as planned. I jumped up, got Tink in the car, stopped for gas, I set Maggie (my Magellan GPS) and then we were on the road by 5:30.

I love driving to Florida because it is a nice, smooth, flat drive. Another reason I wanted to leave at the crack of dawn was because I was concerned what traffic may be like due to it being Memorial Day weekend. Surprisingly traffic was pretty light. Right on time Tink woke up around 8 am. So we took a food and bathroom break. We got back in the car at about 9am. And the questions began..

Tink: So how much longer?

Me: If you watch a movie after the movie is done we should there.

So Tink pops in a movie and 30 minutes later she asks “So are we there yet?” I responded no. She reminded me what I said earlier. Who knew she would put in a Dora video… lol! I advised her to go back to sleep and we should be there when she wakes back up. Surprisingly she did it! But she woke up about an hour later, stretches then asks “Are we there yet?” And again 15 minutes later! Now do you see why I start my road trips so early??
Finally about 11:30 I saw this sign!

That was my attempt at getting the Disney sign while driving! Here is Tink reaction to seeing the sign!

After Maggie lead me the wrong way through the World, I finally saw the signs leading me to the resort. About 15 minutes later I finally saw this sign.

We are here!

Up next Registration...

 

[ZFamily5]

I'm in! Your daughter is adorable! And I love her face when she sees the sign! Too cute!

 

[Shaniyah]

Yaaayyyy I have one person to respond! Welcome to my TR!

 

[ZFamily5]

Yaaayyyy I have one person to respond! Welcome to my TR!

Thank you! Can't wait to read all about your trip!

 

[heathsf]

That was my attempt at getting the Disney sign while driving! Here is Tink reaction to seeing the sign!

Oh my gosh that picture of your dd is *amazing*!!!!! What a perfect reaction!

Can't wait for more!

 

[Shaniyah]

Oh my gosh that picture of your dd is *amazing*!!!!! What a perfect reaction!

Can't wait for more!

Welcome to my TR!! Yaaaayyyy more readers!!!

 

[kokotg]

Hi neighbor! We're about an hour north at ATL, in Cherokee Co.

I'm so impressed that you got on the road at 4 AM--I am not a good early riser.

Tink is adorable--looking forward to reading more

 

[Shaniyah]

I left off with Tink and I arriving to Coronado Springs. And thanks to someone in a black Tahoe driving like he had a lead foot, I arrived to Disney 30 minutes earlier than expected.


When I arrived I sat in the car for a minute or two because I had to soak in I was finally in Disney. The moment I walked into registration, immediately I wished I had done online registration.. wanna know why.. Good, I’m gonna tell you.. because the online registration line had no one in it. As you can see from the picture above, the regular registration line was almost out the door, smh… thank goodness there was a movie area for the kids, so Tink hurried over there to watch the Disney selection of the day. Well about 30 minutes later, I was called and a nice CM named Fernanda registered us. She was very helpful. I added an extra park day to my card, I planned to do emh at Magic Kingdom later that night. Then Fernanda handed me the registration packet. I opened it up and… Casistas Building 5 SWEEEETTT that is the building I requested. (I was secretly hoping for an “upgrade” to a preferred room, but no such luck! I can't ask for too much.)
Before we finished Fernanda gave Tinkerbelle a first time visitor pin, an “I’m celebrating” pin and a birthday pin (we were celebrating her being 5 ½ ). Backstory: I wanted to take Tink for her birthday, but with her being a Christmas baby, that was not financially feasible this year. So I convinced her a 51/2 birthday celebration would be best! In total registration took about 45 minutes for start to finish.

Okay after a short drive, I reached my room 5272.

Super sweet I even received the floor I requested, I need to sleep on the second floor or higher. I have a phobia of sleeping on the first floor. Only down fall is our room was facing the parking lot. But it was a parking lot in Disney!! After I checked for bed bugs, I put our bags down and took some pictures of the room. Here are a few pics of our room.

I love the little Mickey details they add in the room. It is subtle and beautiful.

Hidden Mickey’s on the roll pillow, tooooo cute.

One of many poses by Tink! I think all little girls do the same pose!

All in all I loved our room!

up next... On the hunt for Mickey ears!

 

[Shaniyah]

Hi neighbor! We're about an hour north at ATL, in Cherokee Co.

I'm so impressed that you got on the road at 4 AM--I am not a good early riser.

Tink is adorable--looking forward to reading more

Hey Neighbor! The ONLY reason I was able to get up so early was because that was the week after school let out. My body was used to getting up at 5 anyway! After two weeks of vacay I was sleeping until a solid 9am!

 

[keholman15]

I'm here! Your daughter is so pretty! I like her .hope you are all good

 

[Lucille1963]

I can't wait to read more!!

 

[ronnmel]

Great start to the trip so far, besides that wait at check-in.

 

[Shaniyah]

I'm here! Your daughter is so pretty! I like her .hope you are all good

Yaaay! Welcome to my TR! And thank you, Tink is a great kid!

 

[Shaniyah]

I can't wait to read more!!

Great! I will be posting the next chapter tomorrow. Welcome to my report!

 

[Shaniyah]

Great start to the trip so far, besides that wait at check-in.

I know right! I was kicking myself the whole 30 minutes I waited in line! Great to see you again! How is your school year going?

 

[ronnmel]

I know right! I was kicking myself the whole 30 minutes I waited in line! Great to see you again! How is your school year going?

Great to see you too! You had been gone for so long.
Today was the second day with the students. It's been going well so far, but I'm exhausted!

 

[Shaniyah]

Last I left you I just arrived to our room which was BEAUTIFUL!!! So my original plan was to take a nap, then go to MK later to catch extra magic hour. Well, I was too excited to take a nap. Grumpy hadn’t arrived yet so I gave him a call. He had just landed, literally. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you… Grumpy decided to fly into Miami, then drive up to Orlando. Why would he do that you ask… to this day I am still trying to figure it out. After my initial tongue lashing when he told me of his plans, I left it alone, my Grandma always told me “Cain’t make sense out of nonsense”! (Yes I said “Cain’t” on purpose! LOL) He told me he would be to Orlando around 7 or 8. Mind you we have a dinner ressie for 7:35 I didn’t want to wait around for him so I asked Tink, would she like to go to MK or DTD to get Mickey ears. (Yes I know we can get Mickey Ears in MK too, but I heard DTD had a bigger selection)

“I want Mickey Ears” Tink replied.

So I changed my clothes and Tink decided to change her clothes for the second time that day and off we were. We walked to El centro to catch the bus. The walk from our room wasn’t bad, it was only about 3 or 4 minutes. On the way we passed by the quiet pool, and the fitness room, we went in to check it out! I should have taken pictures but I forgot. Finally we made it through El Centro, we walked towards the bus stop. As we got closer a DTD bus was sitting there.. sweeeeeettt or not! Tink and I began to run for the bus, the bus driver closed the door, I waved… he looked at me and drove off. If I wasn’t in Disney I would have had a few choice words, it’s funny how Disney will bring out the nice in you.
We waited for about 15 minutes then another bus came. Finally we made it to DTD and we were both famished. So our first stop was…

Tink got the chicken fingers with frenchfries. She said they were good.

I got the Salmon. It was AWESOME…. It was cooked perfectly, it was moist and flaky. OMG my mouth is watering just looking at the picture. This dish gets 2 thumbs up from me. I will DEFINITELY be going back on our next trip! 2 QS credits used.

For dessert Tink had a brownie, I got an ice cream sundae.
“Can we go get my Mickey Ears now?” Tink asks. I told her sure and off we went.

Our first stop was

I forgot to take a picture of the outside so I hijacked this photo from Mouse planet! This store was pretty cool. Here are some pics of Tink making a Mr. Potato Head.

By the last picture you can tell she was tired of pictures!

Our next stop was …

It was nice in there! I was tempted to buy one of those dipped marshmallows. But unfortunately it wasn’t worth a snack credit (I thought it was) and I really wasn’t hungry. Tink just had to have one of those twisty lolli pops. I really didn’t want her to have it. So I told her she needed to use her own spending money. Do you think that detoured her… nope. So she bought the cavity on a stick. (uhg)
Then we went to…

OMG this store is awesome… I was in Disney overload! We checked out the store I wanted a new coffee mug for work. Something different, something with Daisy on it! And of course we were on the hunt for ears. Well come to find out there are no Mickey ears in the world of Disney. But that didn’t stop us from having some fun with hats…

The cavity stick is making it’s first experience.

Con't on the next thread

 

[Shaniyah]

After the World of Disney. Tink took some time to cool off.

She ran from the water more than getting wet.

Finally we found the store to with the Mouse ears. I can’t remember the name of it. She chose Tinker Belle ears. Am I surprised…. No.. Here she is waiting for her hat to be embroidered.

Tink is all smiles now!

Mission Accomplished!!



Up next Did Grumpy make it to Orlando yet?? Dinner at Cape May!