3 girls, 4 parks, 8days... and go!

[CamoMama]

After a full year of planning, my teen daughters, 14 and 16 and I have finally arrived at CBR for our post-Afghanistan vacation.

As planned, we drove the two hours south to Sacramento yesterday after we all went for manicures and pedicures. We got to the Four Points by Sheraton at around 7pm, ordered dinner and went to bed early. Our wake up call came at 3am. We got up, dressed and repacked our overnight bags to be downstairs by 4 for the airport shuttle. We arrived at the airport at 4:30 got our boarding passes and checked our bags and headed to security, once through the gate we grabbed breakfast and boarded the plane. I'm rather unhappy with United, but it worked out. They put my girls in one row, and me in the next row on the opposite side of the plane on both legs of the trip, and refused to change our seats. Thankfully on both flights the 3rd seat was held by older men who were nice enough to trade seats with me so I could sit with my girls.

We arrived at MCO at about 10 minutes to 5 this evening and made it to the Magical Express where there was absolutely no line. One of the cast members opened the rope for us to get through without winding through the maze, he said that earlier there had been about 10,000 cheerleaders come through (great). We hopped on the bus, waited a few minutes and were off to drop off the first group at the Beach Club then on to CBR. We checked in at 6pm and received a message that our Hoop-Dee-Doo tickets were waiting at the concierge desk. We ran over to the concierge and got our tickets, I asked whether we could add our separately purchased park tickets to our kttw cards, and surprisingly it was no problem and done very quickly. Every cast member that we've had contact with so far have been amazing.

Once we were all checked in we found our room, a pirate themed room with a slightly obscured view of the lake in Trinidad South. We love it. I was a little concerned as I've read horror stories about the cleanliness of the theme rooms at CBR, but our room is lovely. Kid #1 had a quick shower and we headed out for a walk to Old Port Royale for dinner and some shopping. Kid #1 had refused to pack a bathing suit as she insisted that she wouldn't want to swim... then she saw the feature pool. So we picked up a suit for her and som PJs for me, that's the one thing I forgot, of course. Dinner was at the food court, which was not at all bad and we picked up our mugs.

We returned to our room at about 9pm, and I jumped in the shower. After everyone was showered and dressed in PJs and ready for bed I realized that our bags still hadn't arrived. I called bell services and was told that they were not picked up from the airport until 9:51, he asked if I wanted them tonight regardless of the time and I said yes. We have the overnight bags, but I still want my stuff as soon as possible. So the kids are in bed and I'm waiting for our stuff. This is the only real annyance so far. Tomorrow we hit the Magic Kingdom, beginning with breakfast at the Crystal Palace!

We're so excited to finally be here!

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Yay! Glad to hear such good things about CBR so far.

I always forget sunglasses or pajamas on vacation, so I feel ya there.

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Is this TR that you are typing up as you go?! Sounds too cool! It makes me feel like I'm there

Is this your first time in the World? I see you have been to Disneyland a couple times.

 

[CamoMama]

Yes, this is our first time in the World, and I'm going to try to do the report live as much as possible. I guess maybe I should add some kind of introduction.

Kid #1 is a 16 year old who happens to have Asperger's Syndrome, and is currently off all medications (this vacation may be interesting, although she's been off meds for several months with no problems). Kid #2 is a 14 year old, who I hesitate to say is neurotypical as nothing about a 14 year old is at all typical. I am Heather, happily divorced (for 10 years) mom of the above, member of the California National Guard who returned from a year long deployment to Afghanistan just over a month ago. I planned this trip as a family bonding getaway after my absence. My dad moved into my home to care for the girls, and after a year of that they really deserve a treat. I let their schools know what was up, got homework set up in advance and yanked them out of school for some serious mom/kid time.

Regarding luggage: I called bell services again at midnight and was connected to DME to find out when I could really expect our bags. the CM that I spoke to assured me that the truck would be arriving within the half hour and my luggage would be priority for them. I thanked him and sat down again to relax and wait. Sure enough, just before 12:30 a very nice young man dropped off our luggage, we had a chat about cheerleaders and how much I despise them (I had no idea when I booked that this was the worst time of year for someone like me to visit WDW), I slipped him a tip and he went on his way. I spent the next hour putting everything away and finally organizing (all of my organizational aids were in the bags including trays for our pocket stuff, the laundry bag, extra hangers and hooks), I realized that I should have brought twice as many hangers, but managed to at least get all of the girls' clothes hung up, mine are folded away until I get more. Now it's nearly 2am, but I'm still on California time! I'm going to sleep right now, I swear.

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

Joining in. It sounds like you and your kids deserve a wonderful vacation together; I'm hoping you have an amazing time!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Sounds like a wonderful bonding trip for you and your girls. I am also very excited to hear about your first experience in the World! I look forward to reading more Enjoy!!

 

[CamoMama]

Wow! It's just day 1 and I'm already wiped out! We are in no hurry and have promised not to kill ourselves trying to see everything in one day. So we're having an afternoon break. I've never seen the wisdom in adults taking a couple of hours off during prime park time, so I never did it at DLR, but today I totally get it.

I didn't get to sleep until well after 2am last night, so you can imagine how unhappy I was when the alarm went off at 5:45. I let it go until 6, then we all dragged ourselves out of bed. Kid #1 and I showered last night, but kid #2 was too tired, so showered this morning. She has a very short hairstyle, so it's easier for her to get ready in a hurry in the morning. We left the room just before 7am and had a lovely walk to the bus stop; the bus arrived literally seconds after we walked up, no waiting at all! We got to MK let the security guys have a glance into my little camera bag and then stood in the line for breakfast reservations. Our ADR wasn't until 8:35, but I wanted to get there early because I wasn't sure of transportation times, but since there was no waiting anywhere, we got to the Crystal Palace just after 8am and were given a table almost immediately. We got pictures with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger and had a terrific breakfast, fresh fruit, yogurt, biscuits and gravy, bacon, eggs, croissants and on and on. Our server Kathy was lovely, and we had a great time.

We left the Crystal Palace just at 9, right after rope drop. We headed straight to our favorite ride at DLR, Pirates of the Caribbean. Wow, I have to say I was disappointed. The ride is much shorter than at DLR, there's no bayou, no Davy Jones projected onto the mist and the drop was only about a foot, no splash at all. It is still Pirates, though, so it was fun, just not a ride we're going to get off of and run around to get back in line. After that it was the Swiss Family Treehouse and the Jungle Cruise, which surprised me by being better than at DLR. We finished up Adventureland with the magic carpets and the Tiki Room (different than California, but not necessarily better or worse, one of our favorite diversions at either park) and headed on to Frontierland.

We were all disappointed that BTMR is down for refurbishment. That leaves Frontierland pretty sad. But we went straight to Splash Mountain and got drenched. Kid #1 and I were in the front seat and got soaked to the skin. The riverboat scene was working today! I was worried when we got in line (which by the way was just about nonexistent, we walked right on to nearly every ride, waiting about 5 minutes for Splash) because I had seen the YouTube video of the scary unmoving chickens and the ghostship riverboat. But I was pleasantly surprised by every character dancing and singing and the boat was definitely rockin'. Next was a snack and then Country Bears, which the girls loved as much as I did as a kid. Pretty soon we realized that popcorn wasn't helping the hunger, so we went to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. I had the broccoli/chicken salad with peppercorn ranch and the girls had chicken nuggets and fries. Not a bad meal, but definitely not worth what we paid for it even with the dining plan. After lunch we stopped by the Hall of Presidents, which we all loved. The plan was to finish off Liberty Square with Haunted Mansion and the Riverboat and come back to the room, but for the first time today we ran into lines, the sign said 35 minutes (I'm sure it wouldn't have been that long but we were all tired) and the boat had just launched. So we decided to come back later before dinner and finish Liberty Square. We'll tackle Fantasyland and Tomorrowland tomorrow.

When I got back here my gardengrocer order had been delivered to bell services. I called and they delivered it to my room. I finished organizing and put away groceries while the girls went out and enjoyed the feature pool. There were activities going on, and they had a great time.

Now we're just relaxing, kid #1 is having a shower to wash off the chlorine and kid #2 will be doing the same in a minute. We'll head back to MK shortly for the Haunted Mansion and stuff. We have an ADR for Hoop Dee Doo at 8:30, so we'll jump on a boat at around 7:30ish and head over there. After the show we're going to call it an early night and crash out. It's been a great day, we've been laughing and holding hands (my teenagers are actually still okay with this! At least here, anyway) and goofing off together all day. Crowds have been negligible, even with the cheerleaders and we're loving it! Woohoo!

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Great that you girls are having such a fun time. That's awesome that you're getting to experience such low crowds.

 

[CamoMama]

Way too tired to type it up tonight. Pirates and Pals was awesome. Tomorrow is Epcot, so maybe I won't be quite as exhausted at the end of the day.

 

[CamoMama]

I have barely touched the computer all week! After I posted on day 1 we went to Hoop Dee Doo and had a great time. The food was good and the entertainment was hilarious. The girls played washboards and I took pictures. It was a very late when we left Fort Wilderness (they had buses waiting for us, we didn't have to boat back to Mk and then bus back to CBR, thank goodness) and we didn't get to bed again until nearly midnight.

Day 2 was a bit stressful in the morning. Kid #1 decided that she didn't want to go back to the park that day. I tried, but wasn't able to persuade her. Since she's 16, I let her stay in the room with instructions not to leave or let anyone in and Kid #2 and I headed off for day 2 at the Magic Kingdom.

We started where we had left off on day 1, the entrance to Fantasyland. We rode everything except Peter Pan and the Carousel and had a great time, it's nice now and then to just spend time with one kid. Unfortunately because of Kid #1's issues she often receives more attention than Kid #2. After Fantasyland we rounded the bend into Tomorrowland and decided to have a sundae at Auntie Gravity's. While we were relaxing at a table outside, a trash can rolled up and started chatting with the little kids. I had heard about Push, but was totally surprised to see him. It was really fun to watch the little ones interact with him. After a minute I looked around and spotted a guy who was talking into his left hand and had his right hand shoved inside a bag, the voice of Push! He stood behind Kid #2 for a minute and I took a picture of her with him in the background. I'll try to get some photos uploaded here soon, lots are on facebook, but I can't link them here. Kid #2 stood up to throw her sundae dish in another can as he was busy talking to a kid and he chased her yelling "Mine! Mine! Mine!". I cracked up, it was so funny. She dutifully threw her trash in the talking can and he became very excited about the ice cream.

We took the bus back to CBR to check on Kid #1 and failed in getting her to join us for the afternoon. We went back to MK and spent a couple more hours in Tomorrowland and had a blast. We had 5:30 reservations at Wave and 6:30 at Pirates and Pals, so we went back to CBR and picked up Kid #1 who was finally fit to be seen in public. Dinner was good, but not as good as I would have expected. Modifying an entree for my picky 16 year old was not as easy as it should have been (especially since it was all abut leaving stuff off). The waitstaff was nice, but it was tough to make them understand what she wanted. Dessert was creme brulee, strawberry cheesecake and some kind of chocolate. The chocolate was far too bitter, but everything else was pretty good. After dinner we headed upstairs for the Pirates voyage.

We met a few CMs at the desk next to the ballrooms who provided us with our bandannas and boat assignment (we were with Hook!). We had some munchies and lemonade, got pictures of Kid #2 with Hook and Smee (Kid #1 has decided that she does not like character pictures all of a sudden) and then followed a kid with Hook's flag out to the boats. The fireworks were amazing, I got a few good pictures, but they still didn't do the show justice. Patch was funny, and we missed the rain, which was great. It apparently poured while we were on the lake, but I totally failed to notice what with the singing and goofing off and the fireworks. Once the show was over we headed back to harbor where Pan was waiting for us. Apparently Kid #1s aversion to character pictures does not include Pan, so we got a great shot of the 3 of them. Once we were done we rode the monorail back to MK and wandered around Main Street a bit. By that time we were really too tired to do anything, so we bused back to CBR and crashed.

 

[CamoMama]

I totally screwed up on Day 3. I had made all of the ADRs based on which park we were visiting each day. I had them all in my e-mail backed up, but I also thought that I had them straight in my head and didn't double check, like an idiot. I was sure that I had planned Epcot for our 3rd day. So we got up Monday morning and toddled off to Epcot. We had a great time, but didn't do a whole lot. We were there for rope drop and were the first guests on Spaceship Earth, which was really cool. We then headed over to Innoventions and made our own thrill rides, which I found to be really awesome. The girls didn't seem too impressed, though. Ellen's Energy Adventure was very fun, I adore Ellen and Bill Nye, as do both of the girls. We headed from there over to World Showcase and did the Gran Fiesta Tour and Maelstrom, both were nice relaxing rides. We headed back to the room for a midday break and I then decided to doublecheck our reservations. I'm so glad I did because we had and ADR for Sci Fi Dine In Restaurant that evening, not Le Cellier! Oops.

So we put our park hopper option to good use and went to Hollywood Studios after our break. That was very awesome. Kid #2 decided that she really didn't want to do the Tower of Terror, so I have mercilessly made fun of her ever since. Rock n' Rollercoaster was absolutely awesome, we went twice. Star Tours was awesome, as was the Great Movie Ride although our guide was the worst actor ever. Her delivery was just... wow. The gangster who hijacked us more than made up for it, she had a great Irish accent (not sure if it was real or affected). We also walked through One Man's Dream, which was awesome, and did lots of shopping and taking pictures. Dinner at Sci Fi was really fun. The girls had milkshakes which they raved about. The rib eye was extremely fatty and hard to cut in the dark, but everything else was good, especially the peanut butter chocolate cake, wow. Also we need to find the movie Cat Women from the Moon. Or was it Mars? Whatever, the girls didn't shut up about it for the rest of the day. We headed back to the room that evening and crashed yet again, trying desperately and in vain to avoid the invading hordes of cheerleaders.

 

[Annal606]

That's awesome that you're getting to experience such low crowds.

 

[CamoMama]

Day 4! We decided that since we had started out at Epcot and finished at Hollywood Studios that we'd do the opposite the next day. Again, Kid #1 was not up for it, so Kid #2 and I hit up Hollywood Studios alone. It was a good morning. We went back to One Man's Dream and wandered the exhibits a little more slowly than we had before, not anticipating watching the video again.

We rode Rock n'Rollercoaster again, which was, of course, awesome. Near the end of our time at DHS we walked through Pixar Place and looked at the wait time for Toy Story Midway Mania, it said 50 minutes. I looked at Kid #2 and then at the line, which was not at all visible from the outside. I then asked the CM at the entrance if it was really 50 minutes, she said that it was more like 20, so we ran inside. The wait was actually more like 10 minutes, and we had a blast, I won!

We had lunch at Pizza Planet (massive meatball subs!), then started for the exit. Of course we had to stop and buy a Kermit hat for Kid #1, because she is a hat freak, and some guy was taping right outside of the restaurant. There were two camera people and the guy with the mic. We never did figure out what they were taping. We picked up Kid #2 at the resort and we were off to Epcot. We hit up everything that we had missed before, plus watched Chinese acrobats and Mo' Rockin, both of which were absolutely awesome. I am in awe of the contortionist and the belly dancer, no way could I ever do anything like that, wow. We had an ADR for Le Cellier at 6, so headed over there just a bit early. Dinner was amazing, I highly recommend the cheddar soup. When I raved about it the waitress brought out a card with the recipe on it. I can't wait to try to make it at home! We did some more wandering, then headed to Test Track, which Kid #1 was not overly thrilled about, but afterward wanted to do again and again. Not a bad afternoon and evening at all.

 

[Holly]

Good report!


I love the first picture- the one of your girls on the plane. So reminiscent of my own teens.