Mother-Daughter Trip of a Lifetime!! WDW August 29-Sept 3 2015- NEW Link to 9/16 PTR!

[Mollydolly334]

Hey everyone!! I had discovered the wonderful world of Disboards shorty before my recent trip to Walt Disney World with my mom. After looking at all the awesome trip reports, I've decided to finally make one of my own! I've come down with a hard case of Post-Disney Depression, so hopefully re-living this trip will help me cope

About Us:

Me!

Name: Molly
Age: 21
Ever since my first Disney World trip at age 6, I have been sufficiently obsessed with all things disney. My other interests include singing, acting, dancing, reading, and shopping. I have only been to WDW in Florida, and this will be my 6th trip there! Previously, I've stayed at POR (back when it was Dixie Landings!), the Polynesian, Beach Club, and Yacht Club. A few things about me:

Favorite Disney Movie: Aladdin
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Attraction: Splash Mountain and Rock n Roller Coaster
Favorite Disney Resort: Polynesian

And now my beautiful mother, Lori!

My mom is my best friend, life coach, and partner in crime all tucked into one! This trip was about 2 years in the making, and I honestly couldn't have asked for a better vacation buddy than her. A few things about her:

Favorite Disney Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Attraction: Haunted Mansion
Favorite Disney Resort: Polynesian

Trip Lowdown:
5 nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort (first visit here!!). August 29- September 3 2015. First time with the Disney Dining Plan.

Back when my older sister was in college, my mom did a "girls trip" with her to Cancun, Mexico. Naturally, when I reached college age, I needed a trip too! My mom asked me where I wanted to go and my answer was "Disney World- Duh!" It was a no-brainer. My whole family loves Disney, but my mom and I just feel the extra "magic" when it comes to Disney. Plus, we are very alike in personality and travel well together. Thus. the trip was on!! We were tossing around ideas about when to go, and it was tough because my mother's job does not allow her a lot of time off. But, 2015 was our lucky year because Labor Day fell on September 7th, so I didn't start school until September 8th! Once we looked online and saw that we could also get the Dining Plan for free, it was sold.

Usually when my family goes to Disney, we like to stay at Deluxe resorts and go for a week so we can enjoy the resort. But since we were only going for 5 nights, my mom and I decided that we didn't need a fancy hotel since 90% of the time would be spent in the parks. I let her choose where we wanted to go (after all, she was paying!) and she chose the CBR.

And there we have it!! Day 1 of our trip should come soon, I'm so excited to write my first post on Disboards!!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Day 0: August 28th, 2015

Finally, the day before our trip! In just 24 hours we would be heading to sunny Orlando, Florida for an amazing trip! Needless to say, we were pumped! However... on this morning, my mom turned on the news and saw this lovely image....

WHAT?! A tropical storm heading straight towards Orlando?!?!?

We both started panicking. I may have shed a few tears (don't judge me). But, we were going to figure out a game plan. Gosh darn it, we were going to go to Disney even if it meant we had to swim there!! I must have called the Disney trip hotline about 23849032 times, but each time I got the same answer- "Nothing is for sure yet..Disney is very safe.. it will just be very rainy.." This calmed me down a good amount, and I was finally able to focus on packing!

Since we were on the Standard Dining Plan, we didn't need to pack much food in advance. But, I am a breakfast girl and need to have something in my stomach before taking on a huge park all day, so I took a quick stop at Target this afternoon while my mom tied up loose ends at work. I purchased the essentials: granola bars, pop tarts, snacks, gum, and magazines for the plane.

After I came home, my best friend came over and helped me pack (she loves to organize and help me pack before all of my vacations). It wasn't too hard because Florida's weather doesn't change a lot (hot and humid). Then, my mom came home that night and stayed up packing her bags. Since I was too excited to sleep, I helped her pack and watched TV. Then at about 1:30 AM, we both decided to call it a night. After all, we had to wake up at 4:15 AM to catch our flight to the most magical place on Earth!!

Coming up Next: Day 1- Arrival and Epcot!

 

[accountingbabe08]

Looking forward to more

 

[rdkeim]

Following along! Hope the weather turned out better than expected!

 

[nilla]

As someone who once traveled in spite of a hurricane forecast, I'm interested to hear about your voyage.
As a fellow first-timer at Caribbean Beach (this past June), I'm interested to hear about your stay.
As a former first-timer at writing Trip Reports, I'm supporting your effort!

In other words, I'm in

 

[nilla]

First impression from this report: whatever you are feeding your cat, you should probably back off a bit. I don't think they're supposed to get that big.

 

[purplelover88]

I'm excited to read about your trip! This sounds like it will be pretty good; my mom is also my travel budy. Can't wait to read about how the hurricane affected you and how you like Caribbean beach. We had a trip booked there for April but got scared of the bus stops and changed it to port Orleans riverside which in hindsight probably wasn't much better

 

[Mollydolly334]

Day 1, Part 1- Flight and Arrival at CBR!

At 4:15 AM, I hear the beautiful sound of my alarm going off. Instantly, I shoot out of bed and do a happy dance, because this day is finally here!! As I turn on my light and wake up a bit more, I also hear another sound....

Rain. Pouring rain.

Sigh. If this is not a bad omen, I don't know what is!! As I walk out into the hallway and greet my mom, I can tell she's thinking the same thing. But hey, let's not count our chickens before they hatch! Neither of us mind rain, and lucky for us, we still had our Disney park ponchos from our last family trip in May 2013. As my mom showers, I get dressed in my new Disney shirt that I had bought just for this morning!

We were also very excited to finally put on our magic bands! This is the first time we had ever had them and we wanted to do something special. About a week before the trip, I stopped at Target and bought some Disney temporary tattoos. I decorated the magic bands with these tattoos (just apply them to the band as you would on your skin) and covered them with a few coats of clear nail polish to seal. I think they turned out pretty cute! The pink one is mine and the blue one is Mom's.

Our flight leaves at about 7:00 AM, but we live about 20-25 minutes from the airport and we just prefer to be extra early just in case. My dad wakes up early to see us off and help pack up the car (in the pouring rain)! We also ask him to snap a few pics of us before we leave:

We thought that we were being clever adding in the one with the umbrella, since that was what our trip was starting to look like! Then, we were off in the car to Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport! On the drive, we listened to a Disney CD (duh). Before we knew it, we were at the airpot and parking our car in the lot.

Since we flew Southwest, checking our bags was a breeze. I was also pretty proud of myself since I managed to get us booked on the A boarding group! As we made our way to our gate, we stopped at Colectivo Coffee for a smoothie and bagel for me, and a hot chocolate and muffin for Mom. As we're starting to eat our breakfast, we end up running into my godparents!! It's a small, small world Turns out they were headed to Alaska for a 14 day cruise!

Once we finish eating, we head on over to our gate, and we had to hurry because they had already started boarding. However, as we step onto the plane, the pilot makes a strange announcement. Turns out, only 40% of the passengers showed up because of the incoming tropical storm, and they needed the rest of us to spread out so that the plane would be evenly balanced. We were starting to feel a little crazy, maybe the 60% of people who didn't show were the smart ones! :/ It was kind of nice having an emptier plane though, because my mom and I got a whole row to ourselves. Turns out, I didn't even need to get up early to book us on the A group!!

The flight was pretty smooth for the most part, and we ended up getting into Orlando about 20 minutes early. We landed at right around 10:45 AM Orlando time! As we look outside our window, we see *gasp* sun!! Hopefully it'll last

These are some excited gals!!

After taking the airport monorail and getting lost for a brief period of time, we made our way over to the Magical Express! It was cool, because we had gotten a glimpse of the CBR when we stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club, but this time, we were getting off there! We were the first stop (note, this is the only time the entire trip that we were the first stop anywhere )

We got dropped off at the Custom House and were instantly enamored by the bright colors and tropical decor. We checked in with an amazingly sweet CM, and ended up getting a FREE UPGRADE!! WAHOO! We got upgraded to a pirate room! We later realized that we would then be at the most isolated and far away part of the resort, but who cares! Yo ho yo ho! We took the resort shuttle to our room, walked in, and instantly started giggling. This room was awesome!

Coming Up Next: Day 1 Part 2- Epcot!!

 

[TeamSy]

Hey, we were in Disney at the same time

And what a great upgrade you got!!

 

[jandlinz]

Joining in! Cool room pictures.

 

[Cando86]

Love your report! Ah I would be so nervous seeing all those reports about the tropical storm!

Your MagicBands are so cute! We just got home from the World a few days ago and while we were there I was wishing I had decorated ours.

NICE UPGRADE! How exciting. Ah, I love those first few moments of the trip - they're so exciting!

Can't wait to read more !

 

[DisneyJo]

I'm so pleased your flight went smoothly and congrats on the upgrade, those Pirate rooms are awesome aren't they

 

[Mollydolly334]

Looking forward to more

Thanks for following along!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Following along! Hope the weather turned out better than expected!

Thanks! You'll find out soon!

 

[Mollydolly334]

As someone who once traveled in spite of a hurricane forecast, I'm interested to hear about your voyage.
As a fellow first-timer at Caribbean Beach (this past June), I'm interested to hear about your stay.
As a former first-timer at writing Trip Reports, I'm supporting your effort!

In other words, I'm in

Thanks for the interest and support!!

 

[Mollydolly334]

First impression from this report: whatever you are feeding your cat, you should probably back off a bit. I don't think they're supposed to get that big.

Haha! I loved petting that cub! It was like holding Simba

 

[Mollydolly334]

I'm excited to read about your trip! This sounds like it will be pretty good; my mom is also my travel budy. Can't wait to read about how the hurricane affected you and how you like Caribbean beach. We had a trip booked there for April but got scared of the bus stops and changed it to port Orleans riverside which in hindsight probably wasn't much better

Aren't moms the best?? And I'll talk a bit more about CBR in my next post, but I think you also made a good decision booking POR. I remember loving it when I was little

Thanks for following along!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Hey, we were in Disney at the same time

And what a great upgrade you got!!

Haha, I wonder if we saw each other! And thanks! I was so excited

 

[Mollydolly334]

Joining in! Cool room pictures.

Thanks for following along!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Love your report! Ah I would be so nervous seeing all those reports about the tropical storm!

Your MagicBands are so cute! We just got home from the World a few days ago and while we were there I was wishing I had decorated ours.

NICE UPGRADE! How exciting. Ah, I love those first few moments of the trip - they're so exciting!

Can't wait to read more !

We were freaking out! Being from Wisconsin, we barely even knew what a tropical storm was, let alone how it would affect our trip! I was actually surprised at how easy decorating the bands was, I'm not very crafty either! And thanks! It almost made up for the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean was closed.... almost