A Mickeystoontown Report: 19 Days, 2 Resorts, 3 Parties, 2 Concerts and Stamos...Yep, Stamos! Updated 5/5/26

[mickeystoontown]

LOVE your POR pics. I can't wait to be there in August!

When you say "It was cold," are we talking 50's, 60's? Being from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, 50's is chilly, but not cold. My kids probably would have been in the pool.

Yeah, that cast member could have been nicer, especially when you showed her on your phone you checked in. I would have wanted to go back and prove her wrong too!

CBR. We'll miss you this year, but we'll probably visit!

BR. We'll miss you this year, but we'll probably visit!

Hey Clare! I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you I had started. Good thing you text me. LOL

Hum, well not cold like y'all are used to. It was probably in the 50s.

I don't know why the castmember at CBR was rude like that. She could have be nice and asked that we check with the concierge desk or something.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Setting things a - Blaze!

We drove from Old Port Royale to the Jamaica parking lot since that's what the cast member had "suggested". We knew it could be a while before our room was ready and we were getting hungry and wanted something other than food court food. Not that the food court at Caribbean Beach is bad but we had something else in mind.

We walked to the bus stop in Jamaica and waited for a bus to Disney Springs. You know...for years and years, we never visited Disney Springs but once we did, we loved it. That was back in the day when it was Downtown Disney and there were different areas to visit. When the kids were little, we'd have to go around Pleasure Island because it was just for adults. It has changed so much since then and, while I liked the old Downtown Disney, I like Disney Springs just as much. It has a more upscale look and feel to it but yet still has all the Disney touches.

The bus ride was a short one and we were soon at Disney Springs. We had two counter service restaurants in mind. One was Blaze and the other was D'Luxe Burger. Both are very good so we decided to go with whichever had the shortest line and Blaze was the winner.

We ordered a berry something or other salad, cheese stick bread and a custom pizza. When you place your order, they give you a number to put on your table and they bring everything to you except your drinks. Y'all, the salad was amazing and the cheese stick and pizza were delicious.

​

While we were waiting on our food, I received a text that our room was ready. After eating, instead of sticking around Disney Springs, we made our way back to the bus stop and rode back to Caribbean Beach. I took a couple of quick pics on our way to the bus stop.

**Up next: I'm gonna text Clare! ​

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm gonna text Clare!

One of the Dis friends who became a client is Clare a/k/a Clarf. She and I have exchanged lots of goodies from our hometowns with each other. We have seen our kiddos grow up. (virtually of course) and just "get" each other. They love Queen so when I saw "Hey Disney", I immediately told it to play a Queen song for me. I took a quick video and text it to her. I later made a tiktok:

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7614493880154705166

We were in a King Bed Room:



A cute little Mickey shaped towel "animal":


The coffee maker in the room:



The dresser. The beverage cooler is located in the middle section:



Looking towards the bathroom area with the sliding doors that can be closed for privacy:

Oh wait, I forgot the picture of the little bench near the dresser:




The open closet with ironing board, extra pillow and blanket, luggage rack and the safe which you can see sticking out a little bit on the right of the picture:



The bathroom with tub/shower and toilet:



And the vanity with double sinks and storage underneath:



I had brought along some Fall decorations for our window. I had purchased several things from Amazon including a fall foliage garland, battery operated tea lights and then some Fall colored paper fans. I also had some Fall colored streamers. We listened to Hey Disney plan the Queen songs while we decorated the window. I was getting frustrated because some of the decorations didn't have directions and they were wonky because they didn't spread out correctly. I ended up tossing a lot of them in the garbage...the recycle garbage can.

Now that we were at our "home resort", we unpacked and got settled in.

**Up next: Trying a new restaurant after having cancelled it many times before

 

[Clarf]

Yes!!! I remember that text! I look forward to the day we can finally meet in person and get our 2 crazy families together!

Well, don't leave us in suspense! Were you in the Jamaica section??????

LOVE the CBR pics. You know it's our favorite.

Blaze pizza is good! We have one here!

Ooooh...can't wait to see what restaurant you're going to!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yes!!! I remember that text! I look forward to the day we can finally meet in person and get our 2 crazy families together!

Well, don't leave us in suspense! Were you in the Jamaica section??????

LOVE the CBR pics. You know it's our favorite.

Blaze pizza is good! We have one here!

Ooooh...can't wait to see what restaurant you're going to!

One day....it's gonna happen! We were in the Jamaica section which is one of our favorite areas of the resort.

Blaze is sooooooo good!

Reveal coming right up!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Trying a new restaurant after having cancelled it many times before

I have a notebook that I used for probably four or five years until I used all the pages. It's worn out from so many notes, changes, etc. Every now and then, I'll pull it out and look at it and see what we had planned years ago. One of the restaurants that was written in but then marked out was Paddlefish. I don't really know why we kept making the reservation but changing it but we did.

This time, we said we were going no matter what. We could find something on the menu that we'd eat. I mean, heck, all menus have a beef dish, a chicken dish, a pasta dish and a seafood dish. We wouldn't starve.

We got a little dressed up and took our picture before walking over to the Jamaica bus stop.

​

You never know if the buses will run right on time, if you'll have to wait a while, etc. so we were there with plenty of time to spare. As a matter of fact, we got there more than 30 minutes prior to our reservation and couldn't check in. So, we found a place to sit and peruse the online menu.



If nothing else, I could order the catfish or the crispy shrimp. Yeah, we'd find something.


We waited about 15 minutes and then checked in. It wasn't long after that we were escorted into the restaurant and seated.

Our bread service. Y'all, John is all about bread and can knock out a bread service like this in no time. Me, on the other hand, prefer to eat just one and wait for the good stuff.




Speaking of good stuff, we had chosen an entree while looking at the menu but our server delivered a yummy looking dish to the table near us so we asked what it was. It was the crab cakes and they weren't even on the menu. We both decided to give them a try and we were so glad that we did. They were so very good! There were large crab cakes sitting on a fried green tomato on a healthy spoonful of succotash-ish stuff. Yummy!

Even though we were stuffed, we both chose a dessert since it came with the dining plan:





Good golly Miss Molly! We were so pleased with our meal at Paddlefish and will for sure be going back!

**Up next: How many ears did you bring? Where you gonna put 'em?​

 

[mickeystoontown]

How many ears did you bring? Where you gonna put 'em?

I already told you guys that I pack a lot and when we park hop, I need two shirts and two sets of ears. I can't have on a shirt for the Magic Kingdom and then hop over the Epcot in a Magic Kingdom shirt. That ain't going to happen. It would drive me bananas. Bananas! When I packed, I packed the shirt and put it with the matching ears just so I'd know that I packed both. Once we got to the resort, I was okay separating them. I couldn't figure out where to put them though. Oh I know! I can put them on the little ledge of the dresser. Ta-Da..My Mickey ears!







While I was unpacking, I was looking at the DTA site and found a reservation for Caribbean Beach for part of our 2026 trip! Super excited!

**Up next: Another Skyliner perk!​

 

[rndmr2]

Your dinner at Paddlefish looked good! We ate there years ago back when it was Fulton's and we really enjoyed it.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

You are having a great trip so far. And I am JEALOUS of the number of ears you have. Goals have now been set!

I almost never go to Disney Springs anymore. I hate the bus stop. It is just too far from everything. In addition, I always stay at Pop and their bus stop might as well be in Georgia. I miss the old days when there were 2 bus stops because everything I want to do is down by World of Disney.

 

[Clarf]

Yum! Those crab cakes look amazing. I have to add that place to my list.

I can't believe you made a reservation for CBR 2026 while you were there!

Who am I kidding? Yes I can believe that.

I love all your Mickey ears! I wish I could wear them for longer, but they always seem to give me a head ache after a while.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Another Skyliner perk!

Today was a day to sleep in and do nothing until 4:00 or so. We had plans for the evening but nothing during the day. We thought that we'd do a little resort hopping for no other reason than, well, for no reason. Because Caribbean Beach Resort is the main station for The Skyliner, it makes it super easy to hop over to Pop Century and Art of Animation and have some lunch. As you can see, the early morning crowds had already gone. We were standing in the line to take the Skyliner over to the resorts and I turned to snap this picture. Straight across there is the line that will take you to the Riviera Resort and Epcot.



This next picture is of guests getting off the Skyliner from Hollywood Studios:



And we are about to get on this line and ride over to Pop Century and Art of Animation:




We first went over to Pop to look at their menu and to "pop" our heads into the store. We then walked over to Art of Animation and decided to try something on their menus: I ordered the nachos:



John got the meatball sub:


We found a table outside and enjoyed the pretty day and our food. We both said that we'd recommend the Art of Animation food court for a counter service meal. The portions were good and both were made to order so they were hot and fresh. John and I walked inside to leave our dishes and I took a few pictures of the lobby and their arcade.











Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

Another Skyliner perk! cont'd

One more of their arcade:



Sorry for the lack of pictures of the resort itself. I was taking a few videos for clients who would be staying there soon.



From Art of Animation, we moved on to Pop Century.



Petals, the Pop Century pool bar














Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

Another Skyliner perk! continued

Welp, I didn't realize that I only had one more picture of Pop.



As you can see, the weather was fantastic! Nice and sunny and blue skies. We were glad that we had gotten out and about and did a little resort hopping but it was time to go back to our home resort and rest up before one of the big nights/highlights of our trip.

**Up next: Get it boy! You've got the moves!

 

[rdkeim]

Following along! Nice you took an easy start to your day. The Skyliner sure makes it look easy to resort hop - nice you missed the morning crowd! We've stayed at Pop and the mornings can be pretty crazy getting on the Skyliner. Wonder what you have in store for the evening? I'm guessing either Jollywood or MVMCP.....

 

[mickeystoontown]

Following along! Nice you took an easy start to your day. The Skyliner sure makes it look easy to resort hop - nice you missed the morning crowd! We've stayed at Pop and the mornings can be pretty crazy getting on the Skyliner. Wonder what you have in store for the evening? I'm guessing either Jollywood or MVMCP.....

Yeah, I've seen those Pop and Art of Animation lines at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. It can get busy but, thankfully, the Skyliner is almost always moving.

Good guesses!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Pop is my main resort to stay at. In fact, I just added a night to my May trip (I realized I was checking out and driving back to VA on Memorial Day. Can you imagine the traffic???) Oh no, an extra night. Whatever will I do??

Petals pool bar is one of my favorite places. I'm dreaming of a Pina Colava right now.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Get it boy! You've got the moves!

We left Pop and Art of Animation and took the Skyliner back to Caribbean Beach. Let me stop a minute before moving on. If you have read any of my trip reports before, you know that it's not unusual for me to make changes to our plans. Several changes. Who am I kiddin'? Lots of changes. I have a year to plan which means I have time to perfect everything.

When the cruise got cancelled......Whoa!...Hold up Mickeystoontown! You didn't tell them about the cruise! Tabitha has a love/hate relationship with the ocean. She knows that there are things that could "kill me" in the ocean but she is also fascinated by it. One weekend, we were talking about the Disney cruise we took years ago and how much we liked it. Before you know it, I was trying to talk Lacey and Jesse into cruising (they were not onboard...pun intended) but Hunter and Tabitha were had their Captain's hats on and were ready to head to the Bahamas. I booked the cruise and we were to set sail for 4 days/3 nights. John and I were going to drive and stay at a hotel near the port in Port Canaveral for a day or two before the cruise and check out some local "stuff". Hunter and Tabitha weren't sure if they were going to fly or drive but were going to arrive the evening before no matter what they did. After the cruise, they were going home and John and I would go to Disney for the remainder of the time we had off.

Not too long after booking, a knot was wrapped in our cruise plans. Tabitha teaches at our local college and things were really shaky budget-wise and they were doing away with some of the courses. Tabitha was worried that she wouldn't be able to take her vacation and was kinda sorta afraid to even bring it up since they were letting people go left and right and back left again. So the cruise was canceled. Insert boo-sad face here. I modified our vacation dates and we were set. (Remember the part of the report where I had to modify dates...realized I was messing myself out of a day of vacation, etc.? That came after we canceled the cruise portion of the trip.)

Hunter and Tabitha quickly swiveled and decided to go with us to Walt Disney World. Not for the whole time we would be there but for the part that fell during the college's Thanksgiving break.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program err trip report:

When Hunter and Tabitha's decision to come during the Thanksgiving break was made, John and I said we needed to make sure that we did anything and everything we wanted to do just in case Hunter and Tabitha didn't want to do some of the things we wanted to do. Good gosh! Look at that sentence! Lawd have mercy, I hope you all understood it.

As soon as the dates for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party were released, we saw that it would be held on the last day of our trip. That meant Hunter and Tabitha could go with us! They had never been so we knew that we would be attending. I added that to our trip plan.

The more I thought about it, the more I thought "why not go twice?" If we went twice, John and I could do our thing and when Hunter and Tabitha came, we would do things together.

So, when the tickets went on sale, I was Johnny on the spot and purchased two pair.

Because our trips are long and we don't have an annual pass, I purchase the 10 day hopper passes for John and I. They are only good for a specific length of time so the first couple of days of our trips are "no plans" days. Going to MVMCP would allow us into the Magic Kingdom early so it's like having an extra half day in the park.

Now, let me get back to where I left off. We went back to Caribbean Beach, rested a little and changed. Y'all, I take random pictures of things everywhere we go. Like this one of the newly replaced landscape edging at CBR:



I like to decorate our resort window. Last trip, I decorated it for our anniversary. I wanted to decorate it Fall this time. I found some paper fan decorations and some hangey downey things on Amazon and some Fall leaves. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. The leaves didn't open up like they should have so I had to tape them together. The hangey downey things didn't hang straight. I was disappointed.​

We took a picture of the window as we were walking out the door and over to Old Port Royale. We thought that the buses may be crowded due to the party so we walked over to Old Port Royale to the main bus stop.



Oh wait! I forgot the pictures that I took in the room and outside of our door:

The shirts came from Old Navy as did our pants that you will see later. The pants were PJs and I had to talk John into wearing them to the party. He thought that it would be dumb but then I reminded him that we always see a lot of people with them on at the party. He remembered and obliged. (or he figured that I'd keep pestering him about it and to just go with it) My ears are some that I made. They were fuzzy red ears with a colorful bow adorned with a gingerbread girl and sparkly snowflakes.

In what seemed no time at all, we were at the Magic Kingdom and it was time to get our party on. Well, it wasn't officially the party yet but we could get in and go along the backside of Main Street and get our party souvenir and filter into the park.

​

Tabitha loves Stitch but John can't stand him. He says that it goes all the way back to when Stitch had his own attraction and he burped chili dog in John's face. Knowing that Tabitha loves him, we went to the right and posed underneath the Stitch there on the wall. I took a really crappy selfie and sent it to Tabitha.


​

Cinderella Castle is always beautiful when she is all lit up!



Dang it! Work calls....I'll be back

​

 

[micandminforever]

I am looking forward to hearing all about the party, and seeing pictures.

 

[Clarf]

Oooh yay! Party time! I like your window decos! They looked lovely. The extent of our window decorating ls leaving a random swimsuit or resort mug in the window.

I can 't wait to see the PJ pants!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am looking forward to hearing all about the party, and seeing pictures.

I'm about to post another update now. Lots of pictures coming up!

Oooh yay! Party time! I like your window decos! They looked lovely. The extent of our window decorating ls leaving a random swimsuit or resort mug in the window.

I can 't wait to see the PJ pants!

Clare, come on now...you gotta do more than a swimsuit or mug in the window. LOL

John was so worried about the pj pants.