A pain in my back, my foot, and my you know what!! A Sept 2012 TR! CRT Review! 1/18

[mxkris]

Hello and !! If you'e here from my PTR (which you can find HERE) then I'm glad you found me, and really, you guys are the only reason I'm doing this TR!! Let me explain real quick.. I had every intention of taking tons of awesome pictures... Yeah right. SOOO.. this won't be the world's greatest TR ever made! It won't have tons of great high quality pics... it won't have adorable children doing adorable things.. and it won't even have many pictures of us!! It's pretty much just for me to have a chance to sort of re-live our few days at Disney to pass the time so I'm not totally depressed that we're home and I don't have another countdown!! So if you still wanna tag along then pull on the yellow strap and we'll get rollin!!!

 

[mxkris]

Chapter Links... even though I dunno if I'll be able to figure out how to use them!

* Cast of Characters
* And we're off...
* Arrival Day
* CRT
* Day 2 - Epcot
* Coral Reef
* Day 3 - Animal Kingdom/MK
* 'Ohana
* Day 4 - DHS and WPE
* Day 5 - Big Surprise/MK/Epcot
* Tokyo Dining/Via Napoli
* Departure/Daytona

 

[BearcatsFan]

I'm here!

 

[mxkris]

Yay! I hoped I would see you!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I'm here too! I hope to start my TR soon. Just uploaded my pics and now I have to work on my Photopass pics....not nearly as many as I've had in the past. I'm pretty disappointed because we had the Photopass+....at least we got our ride photos!

 

[cfw213]

Hello, I'm joining in! Can't wait to read about all your adventures

 

[BearcatsFan]

Sooo ..... Are you gonna give us some details?

 

[mxkris]

Okay okay!! I finally have some time to sit down and start this thing so lets get going!!


I'm Kristin!

26 year old Disney lover and the planner and chauffeur on this trip! If you didn't read my PTR then you may not know the thing I was worried about most for this trip... MY BACK!! A few weeks before our trip I had a flare up in my back and it was hurting me so bad I could barely walk!! I ended up in the hospital!! Long story short I had to see a spine specialist who told me I had degenerative disc disease and I was pretty much just going to hurt!! I reallly didn't want to be on an ECV on our trip and my back was still hurting me pretty badly about 3 days before we left.... Do I end up needing one??? I guess you'll have to stay tuned!!!

This is DBF, Matt..

(Pic from 2010)
He's goofy! He definitely doesn't love Disney like I do but he likes to go! I know he probably goes for me! He went a lot as a kid though so he knows a lot about the parks! His favorite park is definitely Epcot!

My parents came along on this trip! Here they are!

When I was planning this trip my parents kept mentioned they wanted to go back sometime, so I was like, well why not this time?!
This is one of the only pictures I got of them on this trip!! I know.. I know.. shame on you.. bad DISer!! But didn't I warn you, this trip report wouldn't have a bunch of pictures??[

Well, that's our cast our characters! Stay tuned and I'll get started on the actual trip!

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

 

[mxkris]

Sorry it took so long to update but i've been SO busy!!

Departure Day!! The day I thought would never get here!!!

I seriously had a count down going since like 100+ days so when this day did finally come, it was almost hard to believe! Originally, we were going to ride down together with my parents to save gas.. however, at the end of the Disney part of our trip, Matt and I were going to hop over to Daytona for 2 days and my parents were going to head home, so we were now taking separate cars.

Let me back track a little... It's Friday night.. about 6 pm (we JUST got home from work).. and we have to take Skeeter, our 3 yr old toy poodle over to his Grandma's (Matt's mom's) so she can baby sit him for the week! So of course we end up over there for til about 11 pm.. Now we have to finish packing and get everything straight around the house. By the time we get everything done it's like 1:30 am!! We're supposed to get up at 4 am to meet my parents near the interstate at 5!!! So I decided to get my 3 hour of sleep, where as Matt says he'll just be more tired if he sleeps for 2 hours and then gets up!! So I go to bed and when the alarm clock goes off at 4 he wakes me up.. I think he slept for about an hour and a half? Either way, WHATEVER! Lets go!!!

We met my parents near the interstate and drove for about 2 hours before stopping at a cracker barrel where we traditionally stop! In the parking lot we saw two SUV's with "Disney Bound" on the rear windows!! I picked out the group when we got in there but I didn't want to interrupt their breakfast...

Around 1 pm we were pulling onto Disney property and into CBR!!

 

[saintstickets]

I'm in. Looking forward to your TR!

 

[mxkris]

I'm in. Looking forward to your TR!

Yay! I just hopped over to your Aulani report! Man it looks beautiful! Definitely on our bucket list!

 

[mxkris]

Hi everyone! Small life update.. My back has been giving me big problems.. pretty much since the week before our trip!! I finally saw a chiropractor yesterday and she thinks it's fractured!! She took even more films and sent them off to a radiologist and I should have some results tomorrow.. We'll see.. That's why I haven't been updating too often, but I should be able to update this weekend!!! Thanks for sticking with me!!

One another note.. can anyone show me how to use the chapter links?!

 

[BearcatsFan]

Oh no! So sorry to hear about your back! I hope everything turns out to be okay.

I'll PM you about chapter links.

 

[mxkris]

Don't hate me! I'm a horrible DIS'er and a horrible Trip Reporter, BUT HERE I AM!!

Sorry it's been so long but if you still wanna read some more here it is!!

I've decided that since I'll have some "real life" updating mixed in, i'll put it in THIS COLOR, so if you don't really care to read about what's going on with my back then you can just skip that part! Other wise it will probably be in this usual purple color! I might throw in another color if I do some small reviews on some of the places we ate!

I guess first off I'll update you on my back... I spoke to the chiropractor I saw and she heard from the radiologist who seems to think my bad was/is fractured. So from here I've made ANOTHER appointment with a orthopedic to see what needs to be done from here... Best case the break is 2 months old now, and nothing, but worst case, the MRI will show I need surgery to remove the bone spur from my spinal column. I guess we'll see what happens, and once again... I'll let ya know!!


Alright... now where were we... oh yeah that's right WE'RE AT DISNEY!!!!!

Around 1 we pulled into CBR and were ready to check in. I had my parents go check in first, and then had Matt wander around the lobby because I needed to ask about paying for the surprise I planned for Matt and my dad. I also had to get my Mickey Mail which was lost in the mail. I needed the coupon out of it for the 15% off of the surprise I had planned later in the week, so I couldn't pay yet.

We were assigned Aruba 52 which was fine with me, it was close enough to walk across Caribbean Cay to Old Port Royale, and right by the beach. Our rooms were right next to each other which was also convenient! It was a little far from the bus stops but we had cars and mostly drove all week so it ended up not being much of an issue.

When we got to the room I looked down at my Mickey Mail and it wasn't mine.. it was another family's.. Really? So I called the desk and they said they would come swap it out with mine because I HADDD to use the coupon with my name on it. So a few minutes later they showed up and swapped them out while we unpacked!

Here's some basic CBR room pics and some pics from around CBR!!

Our standard room.

Greetings from Mickey!

Outside our room in Aruba

View from Aruba over to Old Port Royale

Thirsty palm tree walking across Caribbean Cay to Old Port Royale

The view of Aruba from Old Port Royale

Once we unpacked we headed over to Old Port Royale for the first time and grabbed our refillable mugs! After a quick fill up everyone was ready to head off to Magic Kingdom! We made sure everyone had everything we needed and jumped on the bus for the first time! I was ready to do a few attractions I hadn't done/seen since I was a kid, or never done for that matter, and eat at Cinderella's Royal Table!

 

[scottny]

Coming along for the ride. great start and pics so far.

Hope your back is better soon.

 

[GSD4ME]

Hi, Kristin!

We're heading to CBR for Thanksgiving . . . Looking forward to hearing about your trip.

Hope your back is doing better!!!!

 

[saintstickets]

Never stayed at CBR. It looks beautiful. Great start to your TR!

 

[mxkris]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give you guys a little life update real quick!! I got an independent contractor offer to be a travel agent specializing in Disney destinations!! I'm affiliated with Mickey Vacations which is a very big company that has been doing this for 15 years, so i'm really excited! SOOO if anyone would like any help booking their future trips let me know!! I've been busy the last few days getting my stuff together that I'll need to get started but I should be able to start booking soon!!

 

[mxkris]

If you're reading this, don't hate me!!!



YES... It's been MONTHS since I have been able to update this TR, but here I am, ready to do some posting. I've been so busy with work, and Dr. appointments and everything else! The prognosis with my back isn't good. I finally saw another spine specialist and got an MRI. I have pretty bad DDD and the discs at L5 and L6 have lost their ability to hold their shape or "hold water". So they are bulging and will be (wasn't just from an injury) forever. Just stretching and stuff for now will keep my pain away. Later I can have an epidural or surgery! but for now I think I'll try other options!

ANYWAYS... BACK TO DISNEYYYYY!

When we last left our adventurers they had just arrived at CBR! Let's see what kind of shananagans they get into!


So after we settled into the rooms and walked over to Old Port Royale to pick up our mugs, we were ready to head to Magic Kingdom! I knew this had to be our first park! Not only because I just wanted it to be, but I had made our ADR that night at CRT!

Even though we had our own cars we hopped on the bus so we wouldn't have to deal with the TTC and monorail and everything. The bus was at the stop pretty quickly and we were in the park around 3! Our ADR wasn't unitl 8:30 so we had plenty of time to ride some of the things I wanted to hit. We headed over to The Enchanted Tiki Room since I have not seen it since I was a kid! I never saw the "Under New Management" version. I thought it was really cute, but we love tikis and tropical stuff, so I wasn't surprised! Then we headed over to the Jungle Cruise which was another goodie I had not ridden since I was a kid!

It was about this time we were realizing how packed the park was.. For September it seemed to be reallyyy crowded compared to when Matt and I had been there is September in 2010. The stand-by line for Jungle Cruise said 30 minutes! at like 4 pm! It was actually about 20 too! Most of the lines ended up only being about 10 minutes at the most, if not walk ons, however, the actual park was VERY crowded compared to 2010, I'd say like a 7 out of 10. Where as I would rate 2010 a 2!

After our close call with the natives we hit Pirates..

and then headed over to Tomorrowland! We rode The People Mover, and...

I still laugh hysterically the whole time on Space Mountain! It's so awesome! after walking around for awhile, checking out what we could see of the new Fantasyland, and riding a few more rides, it was time for our ADR!

CRT Mini-Review in next post!!