"Our TR - Now with 100 % less POFQ!" - Nov 10th-20th(3/5-Last Day & Final Thoughts!)

Welcome home! WE just got home yesterday. boooo hoooo waaaah.
Yep, we didn't run into each other but that's because I had a few snafus and my plans got switched some and I got SICK ON THE TRIP:scared1: I will fill you all in on my report when I get started.
Can't wait to hear all about your trip!
 
Welcome Home Pete!

Sorry we missed you! Hope your trip was as good as ours.

Welcome home! WE just got home yesterday. boooo hoooo waaaah.
Yep, we didn't run into each other but that's because I had a few snafus and my plans got switched some and I got SICK ON THE TRIP:scared1: I will fill you all in on my report when I get started.
Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Oh, bummer. I was fighting a cold early on the trip, and after we got back DD seems to have caught one. It can be the worst being sick at Disney. Hope it didn't bring you down too bad. Sorry we didn't get to meet, either. Only met one DISer the whole trip, and not one I had "met" before. (Well, I'm not counting the Illuminations cruise, which was all DISers I guess. That was a great bunch and we had a lot of fun.)
 
Welcome home Pete!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip.
Just think....your TR to write and then it's on to AUSTRALIA!!!! :cool1:
 


It was finally here – November 10th! The day we leave for Disney that we’ve been counting down to for 13 months! And it started out with me…going to work. (Yeah!) In addition, as of the day before – I felt like I was coming down with a cold. Not real terrible, but sinus headache and a little off. My DW insists on airborne leading up to Disney trips, and truth be told, the cold was pretty much gone by Saturday, but I thought I would mention it.

Anyways, don’t want to talk about work…so we skip ahead to meeting with DDs teacher for a Parent / Teacher Conference. Overall, DD is doing OK, though she really struggles at math. Teacher gave us a pile of homework to do during the trip, and we were off to get some lunch and finish packing up the car.

Off to the airport, which is about 20 minutes from our house. Friends were letting us store our van in their driveway, and they gave us a ride to the airport. Nothing exciting there! Flight left on time, we had Subway sandwiches on the plane. DD looking very excited on the plane:

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Landed in MCO right on schedule, and there is my mom waiting for us at the gate! Awesome! After a potty stop, we hit the ME line, and immediately board the bus for CBR. After about 10 minutes on the bus, it’s off to Disney and watching that great video.

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We get to the resort and it’s only about 1 hour 20 minutes since we deplaned. For those that follow our TR, I was stressing a bit over our reservations. We had three continuing reservations. One for one night in a preferred room (no standard room available for that night), one for a night in a standard room, and one for the last 8 nights with a package with free dining. So, I was concerned about having to move after the first night – and we had packed our bags accordingly so we didn’t even have to go into our suitcases.

Well, good ‘ol Disney had a happy surprise for me. Rather than have us move rooms after the first night…we were upgraded for our entire stay to a preferred room! As turtle crush would say…Sweeeeet! In addition to a preferred room, we also got our requested Building - #26. Apparently if you are booked preferred and you request a building, you almost always get it. Our room was on the first floor and literally a 90 second walk from Old Port Royale. We check into the room and I took a few pictures before we cluttered it up:

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Even though the whole check-in process was very smooth, it was now 9 PM and we were pretty tired. DW worked on getting DD to sleep, while DM and I went over the food court – we had eaten on the plane, but DM had not – to get a sandwich. DM got her first taste of Disney pricing sticker shock. We also picked up a ½ gallon of milk in the store. We came back and did a bit of unpacking. This was the nicest thing of the first night – being able to unpack. We had an early start the next day as Disney played an evil trick on us and changed the opening of MK to 8 AM. At least we don’t have to worry about our bags the next day, but we did have to get new room keys.

Normally at this stage I would give a review of the resort – but I think for now I’m going to hold off a bit. Our first few days were pretty busy, and we didn’t really get a good feel for the resort until later in the trip. The fact was the room was very nice though. It’s been a few years since we’ve been to a mod, and the room size is really just right. The room was clean and well kept and everything worked. The bed were full-size, but were fairly comfortable.

Next up – a long, long day and WDW! Here's preview with an early morning picture at CBR. That's the MOON up in the sky - not the sun!
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:goodvibes happy to see your report started!

That is so awesome about the room upgrade!!

Your mom had sticker shock huh? She has been before right? I guess it's been along time though.

Can't wait to hear more!
 
:goodvibes happy to see your report started!

That is so awesome about the room upgrade!!

Your mom had sticker shock huh? She has been before right? I guess it's been along time though.

Can't wait to hear more!

Well, the last time my mom and step-dad went was for 1 day to AK around 2001. Before that, the last time I went with them was '83, so I don't know if they've been there in between. In '83 admission was like $12 for the day...hard to believe it was EVER that low! She was more looking at the prices in the gift shop and food court. You know, $2.50 for a soda. $4 for 4 strawberries. Personally, I don't think Disney's prices are any worse than other entertainment venues...but they don't go out and due to much outside of casinos where they get comped for most things.
 
Sounds like the first day went very well -that's such a nice way to start the trip :thumbsup2
 
That's great Pixie Dust right there from Disney. How awesome to get that preferred room for the entire stay! :thumbsup2

And sticker shock? Wait till you see Aussie pricing. :sad2:
 
Awesome deal on the upgrade!! It's such a relief not having to move in the middle of the stay. I just can't fully relax until I have my stuff unpacked & spread out for the week. That must be one of the Nemo rooms, too, right? It looks so cute & colorful!

8 am opening after a day of traveling...braaaaave!!! :rotfl:
 
Sounds like the first day went very well -that's such a nice way to start the trip :thumbsup2

It really was. I always find with Disney trips you plan, and plan, and plan...but that doesn't mean things can't go wrong. Really the travel day went absolutely perfect. It sort of amazes me that we can leave our house at 2 PM and be checking in at a hotel at Disney World at 8:30 PM. Just - WOW!

That's great Pixie Dust right there from Disney. How awesome to get that preferred room for the entire stay! :thumbsup2

And sticker shock? Wait till you see Aussie pricing. :sad2:

Ugh - don't wanna think about Aussie pricing. I don't think I'll have sticker shock because I am already feeling prepared for it. I think it's much like with Disney pricing. I get it in my head beforehand what its going to be - so dealing with the reality wasn't so bad.

The preferred room was a pure slice of wonderful. One of my fears of the resort is how spread out it was, and how far away some rooms are. That fear was confirmed, you can easily end up with a room that's a 10 minute walk from the main body of the resort. One thing I hate at Disney is having to walk a lot at the resort. After being upgraded to preferred, I have to say we would be very tempted in the future to PAY preferred if we were to stay at CBR again.

Awesome deal on the upgrade!! It's such a relief not having to move in the middle of the stay. I just can't fully relax until I have my stuff unpacked & spread out for the week. That must be one of the Nemo rooms, too, right? It looks so cute & colorful!

8 am opening after a day of traveling...braaaaave!!! :rotfl:

That was a Nemo room - though from what I understand, if you don't get a pirate room (which costs extra) ALL other rooms are now Nemo rooms. It definitely was a cute motif. There were also hidden mickeys in the bedsheets which I didn't take photo's of.

The 8 AM wasn't so bad - the mistake was at night ---- I'm getting there.
 
Our first full day in the world…hurray! We were doing something to day that most people do but we NEVER do – start out with Magic Kingdom. The reasons for this are many. The fact it was a MVMCP day we knew it would be a slow day. Saturday was no good as too busy (and they were open until 3AM which would draw people like crazy) and Sunday we wanted to hit Epcot for Food and Wine. Since Monday was an off day it was either do MK today or wait until 5 days into the trip, and that was too long.

As I mentioned before, Disney threw us a curve this morning by opening the park at 8 AM. The weather was very cool today, the coolest of the trip, and while I had shorts and t-shirt, the rest of the party started out with jackets. In addition, we collectively managed to forget our Sunglasses. I forgot, DW forgot, and neither of us remembered DD. So, we were up and out of the room by 7 AM - and stopped at the shop to drop a cool $50 on sunglasses. Not souvenirs I was really looking for.


We made it to the bus stop by 7:15 AM, which was my goal. The bus came quickly, and it was nearly empty, only two other families on it. The good news – apparently no-one actually wanted to be there at 8 AM – and the opening ceremony crowd was very very sparse – probably not more than 500 people. When we got there at 7:30 AM, they were still holding people outside the turnstiles. Here's a view you don't see to often at Rope Drop - no one in front of the train station:

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The whole day was actually pretty slow really, especially considering it was Veteran’s day.

We started out with our normal Dumbo Dash. DM kept up with us, but was afraid to ride Dumbo lest she get sick. (It would NOT have made her sick, but she wouldn’t listen.) So DD and I rode in one Dumbo, and DW rode in the other.
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This was our last ever ride on Dumbo in this location, so a bit bitter-sweet. I will miss circling just outside the castle, moving the spinners off aways certainly removes the small amount of appeal this ride has to me. (The reason we ride it first is to ride it with ZERO wait. We barely missed the first ride, instead getting on the second.) What is super cool right now is you get to get up in the air and look over the wall. The construction of the Fantasyland Expansion is well along. Both Beast’s Castle and the Little Mermaid rides are well built, and even the Mine Car ride appears to be getting very close. What impressed me most is their appeared to be hundreds of workers. When on the ground, you can’t see ANY of them! I didn't get any pictures of the construction, because I was videotaping at the time. Sorry!

After a spin on Dumbo, we rode Peter Pan…a family favorite with no wait at all. Also pulled some FP for it, while also getting Philharmagic Passes. (Note to newbies – if you are at MK on a busy day, get Peter Pan FP early, and they give you bonus Philharmagic Passes. Use them later in the day, and you walk right in to Philharmagic .)

Following PP was Small World – another family favorite, DD and DW put this as one of their top attractions. I won't go that far, but I do enjoy that there is so much to see here. As usual I took a bunch of pictures. My mom first rode this ride in 1964 at the World’s Fair, so she got a real kick out of riding it again 47 years later. (And yes, she had rode it in-between as well.)

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Next up – Snow White – and DD first fit thrown. I don’t know what it is with this kid – she is 8 years old, yet she gets in these jags where she is scared of a ride she rode numerous times before, and she basically was bawling and we had to really cojole her to go on the ride. I wouldn’t have even really cared, but with this ride closing soon – I really wanted her to have the chance to experience one last time. She basically closed her eyes the whole ride though, so what was the point! No wait for this ride. There never seems to be much of a wait for this one anymore, so I see why they chose it to be eliminated, that combine that they are installed another Snow White ride.

Fifth was Winnie the Pooh – almost ZERO wait – let’s call it less than 5 minutes. While I am not a big fan of this ride, it does have it’s charms. After seeing the movie, it appeals to me more. I think I still prefer Mr Toad’s, what with its dual track and its conclusion where you are killed and go to hell…so NOT Disney.

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After a potty break, DM came out of the bathroom with a small lizard, which fascinated DD no end. We put the lizard down near the planters by the tea cups.

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Rode the tea cups next – again DM sitting out. Couldn't blame her on this one - fortunately DD is not a spinning maniac on this ride.

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It’s now about 9:15 AM, Fantasyland is complete with 6 rides down - DD doesn’t like doing the carousel for some reason, and Philharmagic is a “later in the day” show.

Next up - Adventure is calling my name! (Anyone get that reference?)
 
Great update :) So sad Dumbo is going to be closed for our trip. I don't remember going on it all those years ago, and its the first trip for DH & DS. And with Thunder Mtn closed as well...I feel like we are missing the classics! But, alas...all the more reason to book a return trip soon :woohoo:

Love the empty rope drop pics. Hoping ours will be similar. Should be pretty cool in Feb, so maybe everyone will stay in bed :)
 
I'm impressed that you guys could get there so early!! We didn't make rope drop one single time:scared1: Usually within an hour or so but still....You guys are awesome!

Cool about how you get a bonus fastpass too. I had never heard that before.

Also pretty neat how you saw so many workers. It's crazy how they keep all the mess and goings-on so well hidden!

p.s DD is super cute with her lizard. See you could have saved tons of money and instead of Disney trip, just went to a pet store to look at lizards!
 
Great update :) So sad Dumbo is going to be closed for our trip. I don't remember going on it all those years ago, and its the first trip for DH & DS. And with Thunder Mtn closed as well...I feel like we are missing the classics! But, alas...all the more reason to book a return trip soon :woohoo:

Love the empty rope drop pics. Hoping ours will be similar. Should be pretty cool in Feb, so maybe everyone will stay in bed :)

Meh...Dumbo is a "classic" in that its traditional. The ride itself is a bore, and there's three of the same ride available elsewhere (Aladdin's Carpets, Astro Orbiter and Triceratops Spin). I wouldn't say your missing that much missing it, especially if you have no "tradition" with it.

BTMRR is a different story, a great ride in that it is a full size coaster that's mild enough that you can take your 5 year-old on it, and also most ride chickens will ride it. A very cool ride. Sorry you will miss it. However, it's an excuse to go back again!

Oh - and if you love the empty rope drop pictures, wait until you see our TL pictures.

I'm impressed that you guys could get there so early!! We didn't make rope drop one single time:scared1: Usually within an hour or so but still....You guys are awesome!

Cool about how you get a bonus fastpass too. I had never heard that before.

Also pretty neat how you saw so many workers. It's crazy how they keep all the mess and goings-on so well hidden!

p.s DD is super cute with her lizard. See you could have saved tons of money and instead of Disney trip, just went to a pet store to look at lizards!

I'm really militant about rope drop, at least early in the trip. You can just get so much done in those first few hours without anyone around. Of course, us rope-droppers rely on all the people that can't make it.

For us - we are normally up at 6 AM every day at home. Getting up at 7 AM for a 9 AM rope drop is not even difficult at all. The 8 AM one was a little rough, but doing it one time a trip is not that big a deal.

The only other thing I insist on is I have a "rides first" policy. For the first 60-90 minutes, we don't look in shops, we don't stop and watch shows, we don't wander around. We do rides. Mostly applies at MK, and to a lesser extent DHS.

This is the only place I've seen a bonus FP. They set it up a few years ago when they took out the Philharmagic FP machines. Philharmagic doesn't even HAVE FP anymore, but we always get an early AM FP from Peter Pan, and I think the last 6-7 times we've also gotten the Philharmagic FP. It hardly necessary, as Philharmagic doesn't really have a wait usually, but it still back-doors you to the front of the line.

Oh - and as far as going to pet stores and looking at lizards - our DD loves this! We have a friend that has pet lizards and snakes, and she loves to hold them and carry them. We won't let her get one though, because (1) DW doesn't like lizards/snakes and (2) I find them to be really lousy pets..because, well, what do they do? Why do I really want a pet that just sits there and does nothing.I might as well have a pet rock. But, she does really love animals, that's for sure. And she's not afraid of much - except not a big fan of spiders.
 
That's a great first hour to get 6 Fantasyland rides done!

And with Adventure calling your name....I can't wait for the next update.
 
Wow - what a great first morning! I love it when the park is so empty!
 
Wow you guys did a LOT in that amount of time! I was pretty impressed with all we got done on our 9 am rope drop morning at MK, but y'all definitely have us beat. :rotfl: I guess as hard as it is for some people to be there early enough for a 9 am opening, it is even harder for them to get to an 8 am one. Very impressed that y'all made it after a day of traveling!

Side note, I love your DD's Minnie jacket!!
 

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