Just back.. few notes

[niasmom]

Just got back on 10/ 31 from 7 days in the World.

We arrived on 10/25/09 and were celebrating my DD 8th birthday. Upon arrival, she had a 102.0 temperature. I knew we were getting out of Michigan just in the nick of time, but this was crazy. Not sure where you are all from, but here in MI, they are closing schools left and right due to the flu/ H1N1 virus. I knew our time was coming, but was hoping to be gone before it arrived. Luckily, she was only feeling crummy for 24 hours and was ready to go on the 26th, her birthday. She got the birthday fun card and loved using it. She was able to use it throughout the week and spent all $68.00. She received lots of attention wherever we went when she was wearing her birthday pin. It was really nice and made her feel really special.

DD #2, age 6 unfortunately did not fare as well as her sister. She came down with it on Tuesday night and was down and out for the rest of the week. She had high fever, cough. I would like to think it was the flu, but I think it was something else mentioned earlier. Her fever was up and down for too long and was too high to be the regular flu—anyway, I am sure we did not pick it up in Disney, but we brought it with us from Michigan. So we had to keep her out of the parks, events and in the room for several days. She felt crummy and did not really care about missing much as she was too sick to care. And wouldn’t you know it, DH also got the flu bug as well and volunteered to stay in with her. What a mess!!

Funny, but it does not matter how much you plan these vacations, the ADR’s or touring plan, you have to be ready to roll with the punches if kids are involved. Many of our ADR’s were altered from 6 in our party to 4. Luckily none of the ADR’s seemed to mind the change. I also spoke with the hotel and housekeeping prior to check out to advise them of our “illnesses” and asked them to clean as much as possible before putting a new family in our room. Hopefully they listened.


We stayed at Caribbean Beach and had a wonderful time. We were in Aruba, building 56—closest to the bus stop. It was very quiet, clean and again, close to the bus stop. They had a nice, newly refurbished quite pool and the main pool is very nice as well. It was 5-7 minute walk to Port Royal and it was quicker than the internal bus. We had connecting rooms with my parents which is something we requested. I also requested a 2nd floor room originally, but did not receive one. I did not ask or pursue this request as first floor worked out perfectly for us. The buses at CBR were average at best, some times we waited a few minutes, sometimes we waited 15-20 minutes. With the resort being so large I think it is to be expected. Just give yourself some extra time—like an hour.

We took the Disney transport from the airport to hotel. Caribbean beach was the first stop on our route. Our luggage arrived with in several hours of arrival without any problems. Made arrangement for wegoshop.com to purchase some grocery items for our stay. They arrived on time and it is well worth the money to have someone else shop for you. Great service and I highly recommend them.

A few note worthy things I wanted to share about our trip… It was hot, way hot during our stay. Orlando was setting record breaking temperatures the whole week we were there. We went to the parks in the early AM and we were home by early afternoon to enjoy the pool and AC.

As for the parks, in general, they were all very slow.

At MK-We did not wait longer than 10 minutes for a ride all week long. Most of the time, the wait time posted was 5 minutes. We walked on every ride throughout the week. The ride we waited the longest for was the Jungle Cruise and that was 10 minutes only because I failed to get a FP for it.

At HS- We arrive at rope drop and followed the mobs of people to TSM. Got a fast pass for later (for use after 9:45) and rode standby with a 10-15 minute wait. When we left the park at 1 PM, FP were still available for with in a few hours and wait time was only 20 minutes for standby. We were able to walk on everything else at HS without a problem.

At Epcot- we arrived at rope drop and got FP for Soarin and rode stand by with a wait of 5 minutes. When we used the FP about two hours later they were still available and wait time was about 45 minutes. Walked right on test track with a 5 minute posted wait and easily got FP for later in the AM. All other rides were walk on. In the evening at Epcot the wait for Soarin was still 45 minutes, but FP were still available. All other rides were very little wait.

We did the free dining and it worked out well. Unfortunately some of the TS meals seem to get in the way of your day, but the down time is kind of nice. With all the illness in the family we left several CS and TS credits unused as no one was eating.

We ate at the following:

Askerhaus- Norway for the princess breakfast- Good food, great character interaction. I would go back again. Got several “free” photos of the kids with Belle and of the family with Belle. Good service.

Kona Café—this was probably the worst meal we had all week. The service was poor and once they found out we were a party of six and on the dining plan the service seemed to dissolve even more quickly from there. The food was good—I had the Mahi, Mahi, but the service was slooooow. I would not go back there again.

Mama Melrose- Great food, good service, quick and prompt with requests. I had the chicken flat bread pizza and the others in the party had various pasta dishes. Everyone was very happy with their meal. Would go back there again.

Cape May- WONDERFUL dinner. The Crab legs were awesome, they also had peel and eat shrimp, clams, various meats, potatoes, salads, fruits, soups, etc. Lots and lots of deserts. The service was good and attentive. Everyone was very happy with their meal. Would definitely go back there again.

Tutto Italia- Food was good, service was slow. Waitress really struggled with our orders. This was our second time there, would still go back even though the service was slow as they have great food.

Crystal Palace- Not real sure about this one. This was an add on while we were there. Since the family lost so many TS meals together we wanted to at least use a few more of the TS credits we had. The food was ok, but the place was a mess. Food just seemed to be spilled everywhere, pancakes were on the floor, etc. The characters took a while to come around, but when they did they interacted quickly and went on their way. I don’t think we would do this one again.

Teppan Edo- Fabulous food, great entertainment. Wonderful cooks and servers. Everyone was very happy with their meal and experience and we would definitely go back there again. Great way to end our week.

We also went to the Wishes Dessert Party 10/30/09. We had a great view for the fireworks show. The desserts were good and there were plenty of them available. It was nice to do once and have the great view of the show without the hassle, but we would not do it again.

Tues 10/27 we went to MNSSHP. Loved it! Got there around 5 PM. The parade was awesome and the fireworks show was good as well. There was a lot of character interaction throughout the park and we got various autographs with minimal wait. We also were able to walk on everything we wanted to between 5 PM and 7 PM. Did some trick or treating, but the kids were more focused on rides and characters. The candy was average, but nothing spectatular—kids didn’t complain. We left the party around 10 PM or after the fireworks as the kids were DONE!


Michelle

[Chellymouse]

Sounds like you had a great trip! Hope your family is feeling better!

[Nadjalu]

Welcome home to the coldest Fall in a long time!!

Sounds like you have a wild vacation. Sorry to hear you had some sickies while there, poor babies, including DH, it is terrible to be sick on vacation.

We are from Michigan and yes H1N1 is here, not to much in my county but the surrounding counties, so it is a matter of time.
We are headed to the World at the end of this month...can't wait!!

[SnowWitch]

Crab legs at Cape May Cafe???? They have added them back?? Years ago you could pay an extra $10 per person but they had discontinued that the last time we ate there.

[mommyrom]

Yes, buckets of crab legs, steamers and peel & eat shrimp aplenty at Cape May Cafe on 10/31!!!1 Our family of 6 had an awesome dinner there Hallowen night and then enjoyed a Dance Party, etc. for Halloween over at the Boardwalk!

[dolphindan1]

I have had it planned for 2 years now and cancelled cause it never really fit into our plans...Well this year we are doing 2 Epcot days with one being a WS day and play to walk over for dinner...cant wait...even more excited for crab legs...we go 3 or 4 times a year to Myrtle Beach for crablegs...we love them

[KellyNY]

Welcome back!

[TLinden16]

Welcome back.

I'm going to move this to our trip report board now.