15 nights on DDP takes an unexpected 180 from CSR to SSR.

Sorry for the double post-- but DH was getting agitated with me a little for wanting food pics as well, but he got over it. :)

Oh no.... hope all the electronics are ok!!!:headache::headache::headache:
 
So excited to have stumbled on your report!!!! It sounds like a magical vacation....well...minus the current wet situation you have going on in your room! :surfweb:
 
Great start! We're going to Disney World in 10 days now and are very excited! :banana:
We are staying at SSR for a week (not long enough :sad2: ) So can't wait for your opinion on that. :)
 
Enjoying your trip report so far!!! :thumbsup2

GREAT JOB and CONGRATULATIONS on paying off your "stupid debt!" :worship:
 

Great start! looking forward to reading on!
Can't wait to hear about your upgrade and the fondant cake ordering process! that cake you got for your hubby is amazing!
xo Christina

ps...congrats on getting yourself out of stupid debt!
 
So thrilled to see more followers!! yay! :banana:

Today we woke up bright and early for Magic Kingdom - Early Magic Hours. We made it to the park before opening and was able to watch the opening ceremony.



And here's how you know you are in the MAGIC KINGDOM:


My strategy for EMH at the MK is Fantasy Land. We are able to get ALL of Fantasy Land done in a little over an hour. Philharmagic last. Philharmagic is one of me and Torrie's Favorites!


Cayden was REALLY looking forward to riding in the honey pots at POOH -- of all things to do at Disney - that's what excited him the most!


Stop to see Pinocchio before leaving FantasyLand!



From there, we headed to Tomorrowland.
We did the Monster's Inc thing --- wasn't one of the things that i was really looking forward to doing - but it was actually kinda cute! AND AND AND!! I got picked and was on the big screen -
and the monster was talking to me--- the kids got a real kick out of this.

While in tomorrowland, i received a phone call from CSR -- basically, in a nutshell - that we would need to move again -- they had another room available in the same building - and that we could move AGAIN that afternoon!!!

Long story short -- i was not nice about it - and told them we were not interested in moving AGAIN. I told her that because of the inconvenience, i wanted to be upgraded to a suite. That having 3 rooms in 48 hours was a huge inconvenience and packing and moving and waiting for our luggage was cutting in to precious park time. I was asking for typical hotel rooms with an adjoining door....

to be honest, it didn't require a lot of pushing and pressuring on my part, she immediately agreed w/ me that we deserved the upgrade... then later said that there weren't any suites available at CSR - but that she would be able to find something at a different property --- like: "Animal Kingdom or Contemporary". I asked, "So we're talkin' Deluxe?" -- she said, "yes" -- I said, "DONE". and stopped complaining.

She told me she would call back w/ more information as soon as she found a resort/room. Now the hard part: Telling my husband that we were moving again. I tried to explain to him how big of a deal a deluxe resort was. He didn't care -- he was mad that they put us in a room that had problems to begin with.

In the meantime, ... somewhere in there... Torrie and I rode Space Mountain with a FP - and then she and Jeff rode it. Space Mountain is the ONE ride at MK that Cayden can't ride. (he is EXACTLY 40 inches). While Jeff and T were riding, CSR called back and said they had a two bedroom villa available at Saratoga Springs. She described it... sounds nice... but to be honest: Saratoga was the one resort that i hadn't looked at AT ALL through all of my researching. I've peaked at Contemporary, Polynesiand and Animal Kingdom Lodge... but none of the other Deluxes.. they are so out of our league -- no reason to sit and drool over something you can't have! As she talked us through the 'moving' process and that a bellman would come get our bags (again) and that we would be transported by van to SSR -- I reminded her that we had already completely unpacked - and it was going to take some time to pack it up again --- and to make it a little easier, could we have a few boxes to throw stuff into (i had very stragically packed the suitcases and didn't want to do all of that again).

Because of all of this mess, we originally had a ressie for Liberty Tree Tavern (a restaurant at MK) for 5:30 --
I knew that getting back to the resort, packing, transporting to SSR and getting back to MK by 5:30 was probably not doable --- so I made another phone call and changed the ressie to 8:30 -- meanwhile - my husband is still mad as a hornet -- and i'm trying to explain to him how HUGE of an upgrade this is!! and we have THIRTEEN NIGHTS LEFT!!!!

For this next part -- pay attention: THIS IS HOW you play the FP game!!! HA!!!
Before we left - we decided that we wanted to try to squeeze in Splash and Thunder Mountain before leaving. We got a FP for Thundermountain - which was not to return until MUCH later... 5 or 6:00. And then we did stand by for Splash.. Well -- Long story short -- we were in that line for well over 30 minutes - we were in the tunnel and it started to rain - they closed the ride. We tried to wait it out - but then realized that the rain was not letting up. We got out of the line - and were then given FP's for Splash. so -- now we have TWO FP's to use when we come back.
BTW: FP's do not expire. You do not have to come back within that exact window of time. We used 'expired' FP's multiple times. . Then when we came back later to MK -- after we ate -- we jumped right on Splash and Thunder mountain using both of our FP's back to back. Then after that we jumped right on Pirates!!! Then went back right before closing and did Thunder Mountain again with no waiting.

OK -- back to our MOVE!!! When we got back to our CSR room, there were boxes in our room as promised. I had planted a very special envelope in the room right before we had left that early morning. So the kids saw this large envelope on the bed:


This is something that i had planned throughout our trip to make it a little more magical




We were packed and ready to be picked up at 4:30.


We were then transported to SSR -- on the way i asked, since we are going to have a kitchen now, would she stop at a gas station for me to pick up some food/snacks?? Surprisingly, she agreed. I went in and grabbed as much as i could as fast as i could!!

When we arrived at SSR, a bellman was immediately available outside and unloaded all of our bags out of the van. They kept the bags there at the main entrance -- i went into the lobby and checked in -- they had record of us in the computer - for a two bedroom villa -- as promised. We were given new 'keys to the world' - she gave us a choice of a couple of rooms -- again - having not done the research and never been on the property - we chose a building on the edge of the "Paddock" buildings - but right across the street from the Congress Park bus stop. When I went back out to the front where my bags were, the bellman already had a large golf cart packed and waiting for us. He drove us to the our room. The room was on the third floor (yes they have elevators)... room 6721. I'm putting a link here to a video tour of our room.. but just turn off the sound, please! LOL -- i really stumble through my words and sound like a dork! OH! btw -- the kids DID have a toilet/bathtub/shower bathroom just adjacent to their sink area -- I didn't show that part!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDvFMx3mVh4


As soon as we got to our room -- we headed out back to MK. We ate at Liberty Tree Tavern. This restaurant did not make the first "cut" of the list of restaurants that we wanted to eat at. This used to be a character meal - which we did last time. Now, it wasn't a character meal anymore, so I didn't see a reason to go. But after talking to Jeff, he remembered the food at this restauarant from before and wanted to go again. The theming is civil war/colonial era. The food is traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes. Two veggies. Salad. bread. and dessert. It is served family style -- and it's all you can eat. This was CONFIDENTLY another one of our favorite restaurants! So glad we decided to make it to this restaurant.

As mentioned earlier in this post we used FP's from earlier in the day for Splash and Thunder. Rode Thunder twice - and then rode pirates.

What a LONG day this was!! I convinced my husband to let the huge 'mess' go --- and "Can we just start the vacation over from scratch??" we still had 13 nights left -- most don't get THAT many... my husband agreed to 'start over' and to let it go -- after spending a couple of nights in that villa, it didn't take long for him to forget about it.
 
You got so much done at MK! Way to play the FP game! :thumbsup2

We are staying at CSR in T-minus 53 days....I hope we don't have a similar experience to yours. :scared1: I've heard nothing but amazing things (well...minus your unfortunate experience) so I am hoping it will be okay! :lmao:

I'm looking forward to seeing your new room! :surfweb:
 
You got so much done at MK! Way to play the FP game! :thumbsup2

We are staying at CSR in T-minus 53 days....I hope we don't have a similar experience to yours. :scared1: I've heard nothing but amazing things (well...minus your unfortunate experience) so I am hoping it will be okay! :lmao:

I'm looking forward to seeing your new room! :surfweb:

Uploading the video tour now to youtube... it takes forever - I'll post it tomorrow.

One thing that i will say about CSR... it is TERRIBLY noisy!!!! We were right by a "quiet pool"... yeah - it was quiet alright - until about 10:00 - then the party started and went until past midnight - literally 50 people out there havin' a good ole time. I called the front desk to complain twice, but it didn't do any good --- then i was woken up again at 3 am by yelling/laughing/doors slamming. Hopefully if you are going into the fall, you won't run in to the teens/kids that we did -- they are there for tournaments/conventions/etc.
 
Uploading the video tour now to youtube... it takes forever - I'll post it tomorrow.

One thing that i will say about CSR... it is TERRIBLY noisy!!!! We were right by a "quiet pool"... yeah - it was quiet alright - until about 10:00 - then the party started and went until past midnight - literally 50 people out there havin' a good ole time. I called the front desk to complain twice, but it didn't do any good --- then i was woken up again at 3 am by yelling/laughing/doors slamming. Hopefully if you are going into the fall, you won't run in to the teens/kids that we did -- they are there for tournaments/conventions/etc.

We are going at the end of September. There are 2 conventions while we are there. The "Food Industry Truck Driving Competition" (that doesn't seem too scary? lol) and an "ARFF Convention" but I don't know what ARFF is. :confused3 They are each only 3 days though, so it isn't the whole time! :woohoo: Ha!!!
 
I was getting really nervous not knowing what ARFF was, so I did some more digging! :surfweb: It is an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters group (not that you REALLY need to know :lmao:) My husband is a volunteer fireman, so he is through the roof that they will be there! (Different departments love to trade patches, etc)

Now to just make sure we get a DRY room! :scared1:

Looking forward to the video!
 
I was getting really nervous not knowing what ARFF was, so I did some more digging! :surfweb: It is an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters group (not that you REALLY need to know :lmao:) My husband is a volunteer fireman, so he is through the roof that they will be there! (Different departments love to trade patches, etc)

Now to just make sure we get a DRY room! :scared1:

Looking forward to the video!

SOUNDS LIKE EYE CANDY CENTRAL!!! :goodvibes:cool1: :lmao:
 
Enjoying your trip report!!! Awesome on the upgrade woohoo!

The cake came out beautiful!!! Did it taste yummy??

Can't wait to read the rest :)
 
Sounds like your trip lived up to your long time expectations! I am so happy for you. Sorry you got off to a bumpy start!
We just added another night to our trip in November so we'll be staying 7 nights this time!
 
Wow, nice upgrade! Did you love it? We stayed in a 2bdrm at SSR last year (on rented pts) and we will be back this year to use our own pts at our new 'home!'

Will you ever be able to stay in a regular room again?
 
ugh! I've been offline a couple days - I've started to crop/scrap some pics. I'm having a hard time balancing the trip report AND the scrapbooking!!

July 15 - Today was supposed to be a planned "DOWN DAY" --sleep in, swim at the resort - and head to Epcot just for the afternoon/evening for a character hunt.

We had JUST arrived to SSR --- so what a perfect day to check out the resort and the pool!!

We slept in today -- and as much as I like to sleep, sleeping in on vacation just wastes the day away!! It was nice to have the kitchen facilities to have cereal/milk/juice -- couldn't have really enjoyed this in a typical hotel room -- that's for sure! Able to throw some laundry in as well -- SO CONVENIENT!!

If you haven't researched SSR - (which prior to this trip I had not) --- they recently upgraded/renovated one of their smaller pools. I have NO idea what it had looked like before --- but we LOVED this "smaller pool". It is called, "The Paddock". It was a bit of a walk from our building.. but the "main pool" was even further. This pool is zero entry pool and a REALLY cool water slide - great for my four year old -- and adults alike. There was a completely separate gated kids area with the typical slides, tunnels, dumping bucket/etc. There were planned/ organized games with the lifeguards every day and a VERY nice quick service food court -- I will be chatting about that a bit here as well. This was the pool we came to every time we went swimming - we made it to the "main pool" on our final check out day. We LOVED LOVED LOVED this pool! Oh yeah - there WAS a hot tub there as well -- but I never got in it.



This pool area is also directly linked to a laundry area - that was VERY clean! The bathrooms here were also VERY clean... didn't feel like that typical "pool bathroom" - if you know what I mean!!

I suppose the one down side to this pool area - is that there wasn't enough seating in the shade -- to eat or to sit in.

We were able to use our quick service DDP credits towards lunch here. BTW --- the drink station was so nice... and clean. FRESH lemons at the drink station for tea. I usually don't like "instant" or tea from a fountain - but with the lemon - it was perfect for the heat of the day -- it was also nice to have our resort/refillable mugs here. There was a huge draft blowing on the drink station (that was ALWAYS clean) and condiment station. My husband noted this before I did and said it was to keep the flies away. This makes sense -- didn't see ONE fly -- and my husband HATES eating around flies.

Here is the menu -- click on the pic and go to my Photobucket.. you can enlarge it there if you are interested:


More pictures of the pool and Counter Service: (I did not get pics of the kids area.. don't know what i was thinking there!... sorry -- but it was VERY nice.


For lunch, I had a chicken salad that was SOO good--- probably one of the best quick service meals I had in the entire trip --- it had roasted corn, black beans, cucumbers -and i don't remember what else. We were always able to get fruit cups in place of the dessert...


The main "artist palette" quick service restaurant at the main building does not serve burgers, but the PADDOCK's QS restaurant does.

OH!! And this area ALSO serves breakfast! I will say, that the wait for the food did seem to be quite long, but the food was always very fresh... but, hey! I'm at the pool! I can wait -- i didn't mind.

The slide is open from (I think) 10 am to 10 pm. But the pool itself is open from 7 am to midnight. When we were there, it got busy on occasion, but never felt that it was overly crowded.

Posting more pics of the resort here -- many of these pics were taken on our walk from our room to the pool --- some are from closer to the main building:



After lunch and heading to our room to freshen up - we headed to Epcot. We left around 2 or 3 -- the plan was to walk around the "Worlds" at Epcot - go on a Character hunt - then Dinner at 6:30 - and then Illuminations. When we arrived - we went to Canda first and saw the 'movie' there.
When we came out - the skyline went from this:


to this:


By the time we went into Morroco to see Aladdin and Jasmine, it started to POUR. We took shelter there for awhile - but it never really let up.

Of all the characters in Epcot - these two are probably the hardest to find - go into Morocco and wind around the back --- They ARE indoors... many of the characters in the "Worlds" are outdoors.

We waited a LONG time to see them - in a line - in the rain - we were at the end -- what i noticed was - they 'closed' the line and wouldn't allow anyone else to join the line very soon after they started - I don't know if it was cuz of the rain -- but although it was a long wait it was worth it. Aladdin went on and on w/ my son about Monkeys.. or something --- he WAS very funny -- and as he was teasing him and talking to him he 'stole' one of my sons pins. I didn't notice and neither did my son!! but if you look at these pics, you can see him holding the lanyard while he's talking... the line was def.ly worth it -- Aladdin spent a lot of time talking to and teasing the kids.
 












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