"Leave them alone they are just lovin' each other"A 5/12 TR *Updated 12/30*

[BMC423]

Welcome to my May 2012 trip report here are the basics for those of who missed the PTR.

Who: DH - John, DS3 - Michael, and Me- Bicki


2011 Castle Picture

When: May 6th - May 12th

Where: WDW - Caribbean Beach Resort



Table of Contents

The Day Before Disney
A Wake Up Surprise & A Almost Perfect Departure
A speedy flight, and a even speedier check-in
More On Caribbean Beach and A Very Pirate Room!
To Assemble or Not?
A DTD Tour, New Shoes and Raglan Road
A Few Forgotten Things
A Disney Jr. Morning
Toy Story Mania, Finally & A Very Long Lunch
A quick splash, followed by a thorough soaking!
Epcot Challenge Part I
The Epcot Challenge Part II

[BMC423]

As I upload all my pictures and videos I'll type up a intro to the trip. The week before we left was crazy for me as I was wrapping up the semester. Note to self: Do not make any travel plans for the last week of the semester! More on that later. I even abandoned my PTR and my trip planning was not what I would have liked it to be.

So it was the Saturday before the trip and while I had wanted it to be a easy day spent cleaning, relaxing with family, and going to church in the evening for Sunday mass it was anything but. John had decided to wait to get his haircut that Saturday. He also had failed to mention he needed new sneakers for the trip until the night before, so he was also out shopping for those. I spent most of the morning cleaning and organizing. My parents were planning to visit later in the day, and we were going to stop in at my in-laws (who live downstairs) as well to say good bye to them and my BIL who would also be visiting.

Michael had no idea this trip was even happening, we didn't plan on making it a surprise but it turned out that way because we wanted to make sure he slept that night. So the plan was to put him to bed at 8:30, which is pretty much his bedtime on a school night. I had planned to go to be at 10:30 which is my normal "bedtime" since we planned on being up at 4:45.

My parents did come to visit and in fact they went to church with us. When we got back home we stopped at my in laws, and learned my BIL was on his way, we went upstairs and ordered take out and ate while we waited for my BIL to arrive. He didn't arrive until 9:00 and just like that my plans were derailed. We didn't put Michael down for bed until 10:00 and we were off to sleep ourselves.

If you read my TR last year you know about my pre-Disney insomnia. This year was no different the hours just ticked by as I tried unsuccessfully to go to sleep. My excitement with our trip, mixed with the fear of missing our flight because we overslept, along with John's snoring were all keeping me wide awake until 3:00am when I finally managed to sleep. For a whole hour and a half because yes I was up before the alarm.

Up Next: A Wake-Up Surprise & A Almost Perfect Departure

[jerzyzkat119]

welcome back! i'm in - can't ait to read about your trip

[Echo queen]

Pre trip excitement, yeah

[BMC423]

After waking up from a great hour and a half of sleep I dressed quickly and started packing Michael's bag with snacks and plane activities. By the time I was done John had woken up and was getting dressed. Soon it was time to go wake up and surprise Michael. He is constantly saying that he's going to Disney World, and would pick up his bag and say bye to me. So when we woke him up saying it was time to go to Disney World he didn't seem too sure and really wanted to stay in bed. It wasn't until he saw John in his Mickey shirt that he started to get excited, and was very eager to get dressed and go. I will try to upload the video later.

We had made arrangements with our local car service to pick us up at 5:30, and thankfully they were right on time. Unfortunately, the rest of the service was pretty disappointing, the second I stepped into the car I smelled cigarette smoke and started making me queasy . I rolled down the window a bit and that helped. As we approached LGA I told our driver twice that we were flying Jet Blue, and since I was preoccupied with Michael I didn't noticed he missed the Jet Blue terminal until he was out of the car and unloading our luggage. He dropped us off at the American Airlines terminal, which would have been ok if it was not at the other end of the airport. I am one of those people who tries to not sweat the small stuff, I try to not worry about things I can't change or control but this for some reason really annoyed me. Looking back I realize that it was probably because of my lack of sleep and the fact that I had not had any coffee yet.

Thankfully check in was a breeze and we were seated at our gate by 6:30. John went in search of breakfast and I was double checking my bad to make sure I had not forgotten anything, (I always do this for any trip we make, and I know it's quite silly because it's not like I'm going to go back home but old habits and all that) so yes I'm going down my mental checklist, wipes- check, wallet - check, cameras - check, diapers - ???, that's right I forgot to pack diapers on my carry-ons. Michael is at this weird potty training stage where he does go to the potty but sometimes gets lazy especially when he's in a new place. I immediately start explaining the situation to him and stress how he needs to tell us if he has to go the bathroom. At this point and John had returned with breakfast and coffee. Not long after that we boarded.

Up Next: A speedy flight, and a even speedier check-in
(and Pictures... I promise!)

[BMC423]

Originally Posted by jerzyzkat119

welcome back! i'm in - can't ait to read about your trip

YAY!!! Welcome!

Originally Posted by Echo queen

Pre trip excitement, yeah

Ha ha you are getting so close.. you must be feeling the effects

[budafam]

I'm in... maybe we'll see ourselves in the backgrounds of your pics... lol... we were there the 4th-12th.

[MHTeacher]

Can't believe your trip has already come and gone. Looking forward to hearing all about it!

[BMC423]

Originally Posted by budafam

I'm in... maybe we'll see ourselves in the backgrounds of your pics... lol... we were there the 4th-12th.

Welcome, and yes we might! Are you planning to write a trip report?

Originally Posted by MHTeacher

Can't believe your trip has already come and gone. Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Welcome Michelle, I know I can't believe it either! I felt like this trip went by really fast. I'll be over on your PTR in a few, I saw you had an update when I was away.

[mickeystoontown]

Welcome Home! I'm going back to read all the details I've missed so far.

[mickeystoontown]

Okie dokie, I'm all caught up. I, too, suffer from day before Disney insomnia. You had to be running off of pure adrenaline on your departure day.

[mommytominnie]

I'm in!! Can't wait to read about CBR. We almost booked this resort for our August trip but decided to book with POR instead. Looking forward to your next entry.

[BMC423]

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

Okie dokie, I'm all caught up. I, too, suffer from day before Disney insomnia. You had to be running off of pure adrenaline on your departure day.

I really was, which was why I was so cranky in the morning. Not a great way to start a vacation but it got better!

Originally Posted by mommytominnie

I'm in!! Can't wait to read about CBR. We almost booked this resort for our August trip but decided to book with POR instead. Looking forward to your next entry.

CBR was wonderful! It's funny because we almost booked POR for this trip but decided on CBR because of the pirate rooms.

[BMC423]

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30 am and was right on time. After all the safety instructions were reviewed I tried to get Michael set up with an activity, but all he wanted to do was watch the cartoons on Direct TV. That was fine with me I set him up with his headphones, and got comfortable in my seat and slept on and off for most of the flight. I woke up when we were already in Florida, it seemed like we got there very quickly. We took some pictures before our landing.



This was actually before the flight when we were waiting to board.



John & Michael



Michael & Me... Don't I look well rested?

Once we landed the captain got on the PA system and announced that we had arrived at Orlando and it was 9:40 am. 9:40?!?!?! We weren't scheduled to land until 10:20 so we 40 mins early!!! That made me very happy! Once we were off the plane we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee. Michael and I grabbed a seat while John ordered and Michael struck up a conversation with a traveling business man. The man was very nice and was on his way to Chicago. Michael told him we were going to Disney World, and then the man started talking to me about Disney and apparently Michael got bored because he grabbed one of the newspapers on the table and started flipping through it.




Soon John was back with my Venti Iced Non-fat Vanilla Latte, and I was a very happy girl! We got on the fake monorail and on to the Magical Express Line. The line was quite long but since we were a small party we were able to board fairly quickly.



Almost There!

We got an actual Magical Express bus, and sat near a mom with 3 kids who were visiting for the first time, and an elderly couple who were visiting again. Both parties were quite talkative and the bus ride seemed very short because of the conversations we were having. Michael fell asleep almost as soon the bus took off and that was no real surprise to me. I knew he was tired.

Caribbean Beach was the first stop, I didn't check the time when I arrived but I'm sure it was before 11. I had checked in online and only had one family in front of me on the check-in line. I'm sorry I have no pics of the Custom House, where check in is. Michael was very cranky when we got there, mostly because his nap was interrupted and I was just trying to check-in so we could get him settled somewhere.

The Cast Member that helped was very nice, but it took him forever to explain everything at least it seemed that way to me. He explained how our keys to the world worked and showed me the resort map highlighting the pools and bus stops. Once he was done he tells me we have to options to get to our rooms; Option A: Wait for the internal Shuttle to take us to our "Island" and leave our carry-ons with bell services and they would bring it later. Option B: We could ask bell services to take us and our carry-ons to our rooms in a van, we decided on option B. I couldn't believe that our room was ready, so I asked the cast member to make sure. He smiled at me and said " Yes Ma'm your room is ready right now"! I could have kissed him! That has never happened to us before. It was a very happy surprise. There were a few people waiting for the vans when we arrived at bell services but the van for Trinidad South (our Island) arrived first and we were off to our room.

Up Next: More On Caribbean Beach and A Very Pirate Room!

[mickeystoontown]

First off, I've got to say that Michael is such a cutie pie. You better watch out Mama 'cause the girls are going to be chasing him before you know it.

Woohoo for the flight arriving early and for your room being ready! Looking forward to seeing how you guys liked the pirate rooms.