2400 Miles- A March 2012 trip to remember, and some parts to forget!

[emcclay]

Jambo!
I am Liz, and I will be guiding you through my most recent trip with my best friend Pat. When I returned from WDW in October, the free dining offer really made me want to book another trip. Yes, I know going during peak season and getting the free dining plan does not really save any money. But, if we had paid for it, we would have spent more than we saved.. There are hardly any pictures of myself or Pat in this TR because we both hate having our picture taken. I am better behind the lens, anyways!

A quick re-cap for those of you who did not read my PTR:

The whole vacation was supposed to take place March 22 2012 – April 1, 2012. Unfortunately, a friend and former teacher of Pat passed away earlier in the week that we were going to leave. The services were to be held Thursday night and Friday morning. We pushed our departure date forward one day. It was not a problem at all to do this because it meant we would be at WDW quicker than previously planned!

**NOTE: This is a repeat of the same TR I am posting on WDWMagic. I just don't see all the same people on both boards. So, here's to the DIS!

Here is a link to my PTR
It's a Long Way Down the Holiday Road

Here are the links to the chapters in this TR:

Chapter 1: Goodbye, Connecticut! Hello, Florida!
1-1: Great Timing
1-2: The Longest Road, Ever
1-3: No Stopping?
1-4: The Faultima Made it to WDW!
1-5: Our First Night on WDW Property, and we Choose to Leave?

Chapter 2: The Kingdom of Magic
2-1: Up Early on Vacation, and it was Worthwhile!
2-2: Walk-On City
2-3: The Hub Models
2-4: "Do you know what 'Ohana means?"
2-5: 'Ohana Review
2-6: Resort Hip-Hoppin'
2-7: I Don't Feel Like we are in WDW Anymore..​

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[emcclay]

It was March 23, 2012.. a Friday.. and I was patiently waiting for my best friend, Pat, to pick me up and start our drive to WDW!

He arrived at my house, we loaded up the car with all of my over-packed luggage, and hit the road at 2:53pm.

Now, we live practically in the middle of CT. Pat is a pro at driving and if he was not working at a very well-known insurance company, he would be a truck driver. Now, how different are those two careers? In my notes, it has us entering NY at 4:02pm. This is where the drive really started to suck. We ended up getting on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which led us to a boat-load of traffic. It really wasn’t THAT bad. We even saw people on the highway selling electronics. I have never seen that before.. and I thought it was illegal for a pedestrians to stand on the highway? We soon made it past all of the traffic..

..and into New Jersey at 5:12pm..

..Delaware at 7:17pm..

..Maryland at 7:31pm, Virginia at 9:34pm, and North Carolina at 12:32am.

That was a long drive. Pat did the majority. I took over from Virginia through some of North Carolina. We mostly listened to 80’s music and Howard Stern the whole time. Sirius is a great thing to have! If you are into Howard Stern humor, he did a great mock-up of Paris Hilton’s newest song. It’s way too explicit to post here. But, truly hilarious! Anyways, it was during my time driving that Pat decided to drive the whole way through. We stopped at a rest stop, picked up energy drinks, filled the gas tank, and were on our way. Oh, and this only lasted about two hours! We crashed from the energy drinks and had to stop. I quickly looked on my phone and found a Red Roof Inn that we could stay at. We checked in at 2:30am. It was a long day, especially for Pat.​

 

[emcclay]

Over night, I slept as much as I could.. which was not much. It was only because I knew we would be at WDW that same day. Around 7:00am I woke up, and got ready. Pat then got ready. Of course, bcause he is a guy, that did not take long. We hit the road! I did not write down our departure time from North Carolina. But, we did arrive in South Carolina at 9:18am!

How could we miss South of the Border? It’s not like they don’t have literally 100 billboards on the side of i95..

Bye, South Carolina! It was nice to see you for three hours!

We crossed the Georgia border at 11:53am. Pat made a comment about all the "green" along the side of the highway. It was lovely to see spring approaching the further south we drove.

I have in my notes that we stopped at 12:00pm for lunch and gas. Two hours later, we reached Florida at 1:52pm!

Felt like it took forever to get there. Now, I just wanted this drive to be done with. Never mind that idea, we had 3 more hours to go!

A lovely surprise was waiting for us in Jacksonville- a classic Florida rainstorm!

We were in the clear about 10 minutes later. We had blue skies through to Daytona!

 

[emcclay]

It was Blue skies from here on out!

I was so happy to see this sign:

Love how there are WDW billboards all along that curve once you take the exit. I got carried away and took two pictures of each one, haha!

Pretty soon after, we were in Orlando. We hit some serious traffic there. I just kept an eye out for exit 67!

Who else loves what is coming up next? I know I do!

Honestly, I took 8 pics while driving up to, and under, the gate! So excited that this was going to be home for the next week! Pat made a comment about the “No Stopping” signs. I told him that people try to slow down or stop on the side of the road to take pictures of and/or with the gate! We followed the signs to Animal Kingdom Resort area and found our turn into CSR.

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[emcclay]

We pulled into CSR and were greeted by a friendly attendant at the gate. He asked if we had been to CSR before. I proudly announced that I have, and he said “Welcome Home!” Love it! Pat parked the car, and immediatley posted a status on Facebook letting everyone know his Faultima made it to Florida. Poor, Pat- he just replaced his transmission in his Altima last year. A few weeks ago, his transmission had been acting up, hesistating and knocking when shifting gears. He brought it to the Nissan dealership. They informed him it was “out of warranty” already! His family's mechanic inspected it. Basically, his transmission is eating itself. He was kinda hoping it just would not start when we had to check out of CSR..

Ah, there is nothing like walking into the lobby at CSR! The water smell from the fountain.. you know it’s Florida water. But, WDW makes it smell.. magical? We checked in and found out we would be in Ranchos 6B.

Heading back out to the car.. all the stress of weeks past just lifted off my shoulders. There is something about being at WDW that just makes you feel carefree. We drove around CSR and parked in the lot for Ranchos 6B. I really wish I had not over-packed because I had trouble lugging at all to the room! We found our room, on the first floor, which happend to be a corner unit! I was stoked on having two windows.

(bottom left corner!)

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the room. I also did not want to take pictures of the room with our belongings all over the place. It was your standard room at CSR, two queen beds, a couple towel animals (I brought home one), and TWO WINDOWS. :sohappy:​

 

[emcclay]

Our original plans had us arriving in Florida the night before and spending the day at DAK with lunch reservations at Yak & Yeti. I rescheduled DAK for Friday, with lunch still at Yak & Yeti. So, this night we did not have dining reservations. We decided to call up an older (literally) friend, Jeanette, to see if she wanted to have some visitors for a bit. Jeanette and her husband Bob, live in Kissimmee half of the year and in Connecticut the other half. She owns part of, and contributes, to a local paper here in our town. We sat and talked with them for about 45 minutes. A former Cinderella lives next door to her, and a chef lives down the street!

After our visit, we went out to 192. The last time I was on 192 was in 2008 and do not remember much from that visit. I love how the signs are allowed to be so tall, the lights from Old Town, and all the palm trees. We decided on Cracker Barrel for dinner. This was my first time ever eating at one! The food was good. I have had better corn muffins, though. Our waiter, Tyron, ended up being from our hometown. What are the chances of that? He was asking if certain things were still in our town. There was a skating rink he raved about. We were the bearer of bad news when we told him it had been torn down, and a shopping plaza was built in its place.

When we finished dinner, I browsed the Cracker Barrel Country Store. My mom loves candles and I found her a S'mores scented candle! It is not a WDW souvenir.. but she loves it!

Next, Pat took me to the neighborhood in Kissimmee where his parents used to own a house and where his aunt currently owns a house. Maybe it is because I am from up north, but I love how Florida houses and neighborhoods look.

We made a stop at Publix for some Corona! There was no way we were going to pay $13 for a 6-pack of Coors at Panchito’s! We headed back to CSR after that.

We each had a beer, then went to sleep. The next day, we were getting up early to get some rides done at Magic Kingdom, eating at ‘Ohana, then spending some EMH at MK! Did we make it until 3am?..​

 

[emcclay]

Sunday.. WDW.. alarm set for 6:15am. Why?! To get to the Magic Kingdom for the rope drop show! After I had finished getting ready, I went outside and took some pictures of the Ranchos before the sun really had a chance to come up. CSR is such a pretty resort at sunrise and sunset.

We made it to Pepper Market by 7:30am. There were literally 5 other families there!

We loved the buffet! Every morning it was so delicious. Pat became obsessed with the frittata. I tried it one morning and did not care for it. On the other hand, I LOVED the southwestern scrambled eggs. So yummy!

Sorry, Mickey is missing an ear! :lol:

So many receipts! $31.93 every morning really adds up.. if you are not on the dining plan!

After we ate, bus stop 1 was calling our names! Just as we arrived at the bus stop, the MK bus pulled up. This was a running theme this trip. Call it luck, if you must! It was a fine ride and we were at the MK in no time. I do not understand how people complain about the buses at CSR. Personally, I never have had a problem with them.

You know you are early at the MK when they have not even let people through the ticket entry yet!

I want to say they let us enter through the ticket lines around 8:20 or 8:30. We went through and headed to the right. The wait seemed like it took forever! There was a big group behind us talking about stampeding and hoping that "people watch out" for them. The last time I checked, MK was not going anywhere. Sigh! About eight minutes before they let us in, we heard music! It was time for the rope drop show! This was my first time seeing it, besides watching videos on YouTube. It was such a great start to a day at the MK.

Main Street U.S.A. after RD

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[emcclay]

They let us in after the countdown from “10”. According to our Touring Plan, we were to get on Space Mountain first. Us, and a bunch of other people, were met at the gateway to Tomorrowland by a CM. They also had us countdown from “10”, then guided us back into Tomorrowland.

As you can see, we were pretty far back in line, and the wait time said “10 min”. I assume they just did not let people in right away. Once they did, the line moved fast. We walked through the whole queue, straight back once in the loading queue, and got right on Space Mountain! It was a great choice as a first ride of the trip in WDW.

Next up was Snow White. It was about a 5 minute wait. Pretty sad that this ride most likely will not be around on my next trip.

After that, we were supposed to ride PotC. We walked over to Adventureland, and it was closed. At this point, we were ahead of our TP. Liberty Square seemed a little deserted. This meant Haunted Mansion also was a walk-on.

We grabbed FP for Jungle Cruise since the standy-by line was too long to wait in. The queue is interesting. But, if you have seen it once, once is enough. I was itching to get on Splash. It was also a walk-on! Splash is my favorite, favorite ride! You could leave me on there for a whole day and I would be quite content.

PotC was open when we walked by, and we decided to get in line. I would say it was about a 15 minute line. The longest one that day! We finally got on a boat. There was a family sitting in the row ahead of us who brought their young children on. It was obvious their children really did not like the drop. Come on people, don’t torture your little kids. Anyways, we got stuck right in front of Jack Sparrow/Johnny Depp. Sadly, I was unfamiliar with the “George” tale till after we had already been home. If Pat and I knew about George while we were stuck on PotC, that would have been an interesting ride.

Our FP’s for Jungle Cruise were able to be utilized after PotC. The CM at the FP line did not check our times at all. We got right on a boat.

Since we were in Adventureland, it was TIME FOR DOLE WHIP! Pat and I placed our order. The CM gave us an extra float. No complaints here!​

 

[emcclay]

It was not even 11am yet after Pat and I had gone on 7 rides! It pays to get to the parks early. We finished up our dole whips and continued on. I knew I wanted to get some pictures of the little statues in the hub. So, off we went!

Pat was so patient while I was taking all of these shots. He is great. Actually, he was able to play photographer himself. A foreign tourist came up and asked if he would take her picture in front of Cinderella's Castle. Pat told me as soon as he went to take her picture, she threw up two peace signs. Haha!

It was getting hot and the MK was super crowded. Pat really wanted to ride the TTA. It was just the kind of rides we needed- relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, the quiet pool at CSR was calling us to it..

When we arrived back at CSR, our room had been cleaned. The Mousekeeper arranged my plushies on my bed!

We brought some drinks to the pool in our resort mugs (shh!) and swam for about 2 hours. Pretty soon, it was time to get ready for our ADR that evening- 'Ohana! Did we conquer the Lapu Lapu?​

 

[emcclay]

Our ‘Ohana reservation time was 4:30 pm. We cleaned up after swimming and caught a MK bus just as one was pulling up. I guess we were still lucky with that sort of thing. It was a mutual decision to take the boat over to the Poly. We had to wait for another boat because the one loading at the time was full. No problem! I just took pictures from the dock.

..then some pictures from the boat ride

The Polynesian is aboslutely beautiful. Hope I will be able to stay there sometime soon! We made our way into the Great Ceremonial House. The stairs that go to the second level totally remind me of the 70’s. I wonder why..

We headed to the Tambu Lounge to order none other than a couple Lapu Lapu’s!

Walter was at the bar and I swear he could make these drinks with his eyes closed. He was watching the game on TV, so close enough. The Lapu Lapu is a very, very strong drink. Pat wanted to sit at the bar because he felt dumb carrying around a pineapple. I told him I wanted to walk around and look at things. He insisted on staying at the bar. I thought that was kind of weird- you’re at THE POLY. Of course I went off on my own and he followed, haha. Isn’t that something?

One of the main things I was looking forward to seeing here was the waterfall in the lobby.. WHICH WAS COMPLETELY DRY. Sadface! There was no one working on it and I was not aware of any refurb going on at the time.

We made the loop around the second floor then got in line for ‘Ohana. ADR’s are great at places like this.. you really feel bad for the people in the line with no reservations! So many people in line asked about the Lapu Lapu and were planning on trying it. One woman even told her husband he was going to have to make her one. Walking around with a pineapple drink is not a bad thing! Especially on vacation.

Checking in was simple, and they informed me the chef would be coming to the table as a result of my shellfish allergy.

As guests were being called into ‘Ohana, a couple chairs freed up. Pat and I sat down. There was a man sitting there with what looked like his kids and maybe some of their cousins of the same age. One of the girls said to Pat, “Excuse me sir, what kind of drink is that?” The kids could not have been older than 7. It was so cute! Pat told them it was an adult drink. He was very impressed that she addressed him as “sir”. Gotta love a child with manners!

Our buzzer went off soon after that. The hostess welcomed us and started walking us to where they have some of the food on display. “Do you know what ‘Ohana means?” I said “FAMILY!” Pat and herself both giggled at me. Yes, I am a Disney Geek and proud of it!​

 

[emcclay]

We were sat right by a window at a small table.

Mike, our server came over and introduced himself. He explained to us how ‘Ohana works. His words of advice were to pace ourselves because we were first-timers there. Since we already had drinks, Mike said he would bring out the bread first. Next, the chef came to our table and explained to me what I could have and could not have. Pretty much it was only the shrimp! Mike came out with the Pineapple Coconut Bread.. delicious.

Michaud, a food runner, brought the salad with honey-lime dressing. It was so light and fresh.

The wings and pot stickers were next- SO YUMMY! Mike brought us the dish with the noodles and broccoli. Both were very good!

Now, I’m pretty sure the meat was served in this order: chicken, pork, shrimp, steak. At this point, I was really pacing myself. The food had been spectacular so far. I needed to leave room for dessert and not be so stuffed that I could not enjoy the MK that night. We both needed another drink. Pat ordered another Lapu Lapu, which I just could not do. I am a lightweight by ALL means. So, I settled for my usual Malibu Bay Breeze.

After we finished our plates, Michaud took them away. Pat and I enjoyed watching the Ukelele player. Mike came over and asked if we were ready for dessert. Of course! Ever since I found out about the bread pudding, it was on my “Must Do Disney” list, haha!

Since it was Pat’s birthday the next day, Mike brought out a cupcake and two plates. He lit the candle, then stood behind Pat and held up two plates, like Mickey ears!

Since Pat was full from all the food, he actually hid the cupcake in his pineapple because he could not even think about eating it. Pat and I were both feeling great, so we found this so freaking hilarious. We hope Mike did not take any offense from that. If you are reading this, we apologize! Haha!

On a scale of 1-10, I give ‘Ohana a 10/10! Wonderful service and such delicous food. Mike’s personality fit in so well with the atmosphere. All of the food was brought out at a relaxed pace. We did not feel rushed at all to finish and get out, which was nice. I hate being treated like that at a restaurant!

Pat and I let the food digest a little bit before heading out of ‘Ohana. Had to give myself a round of applause (literally) because I came out feeling “just right”. Pat felt stuffed. We decided to walk around the Poly a bit.

This waterfall was outside. I guess one is better than none!

We sat down on the beach closest to Luau Cove and just took in the surroundings. There was no one in sight! It was great to chill there after such a long and filling dinner.

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[emcclay]

The beach was a comfy spot for 20 minutes. But, 20 minutes was long enough- we had resorts to see! Our tour starts off by walking to the GF.

Duck friend!

Grand Floridian and Wedding Pavilion

Wedding Pavilion.. it’s so preeeetty!

The Poly from walk-way to GF

Another Wedding Pavilion shot.

The main building at the GF

Beautiful chandelier in the lobby!

Fisheye of the lobby.

We soaked in the ambiance of the GF. It was soothing- the band was playing, Basin smelled great. We walked out to catch the monorail to the Contemporary.

 

[emcclay]

Arriving at the Contemporary, Pat was in heaven. He has wanted to stay there ever since he was younger.

Beautiful sunset on BLT and Contemporary Tower. Saying “BLT” always makes me laugh.

Our next destination was the Wilderness Lodge! I was super stoked for it. We waited about 15 minutes for a boat. Bay Lake was slightly choppy that evening.

It was funny to hear people on the boat talking about Discovery Island.. or talking about the abundance of vultures above the island “with a building on it”..

Our first stop was Fort Wilderness, then continued on to the Wilderness Lodge

Ah.. so pretty. Are we still at WDW? Because if you blindfolded me and dropped me off here, I would think we were elsewhere.

I would love to sit outside on a balcony here and watch the sunset. Hopefully I have convinced my mom to stay here next trip. As soon as my dad saw the pictures he said, “I want to stay THERE!” Two against one always wins!

The huge atrium lobby..

Eagle totem!

Continued..
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[emcclay]

As Pat and I walked around the Wilderness Lodge, I felt more at home there than at CSR. That should not be surprising. WL just has a special ambiance about it..

Sadly, we had to catch a boat back to the MK if we had any hopes in getting a good spot for MSEP or Wishes.

The moon and sunset from WL boat dock.. Who would not want to see this every night?!

 

[JHMCARTY]

We also stayed at CSR in March, loved Pepper Market! Maya Grill on the other hand, was so slow and I wouldn't recommend it at all. We are thinking of driving from Connecticut next year. You make it seem like it went so fast! Although it isn't, we actually drove when i was 12 and stopped at Pedro's for the night. I told my wife she hasn't lived until she has seen that place and all of the billboards.

 

[CarolineB]

Thanks for your trip report. Very interesting and it looks like you a had a lot of fun.