All Aboard! An August Princess Extravaganza!!!

[DisMom1981]

Greetings! We are well into being over a week back from the Happy Place and settling into a new routine of Kindergarten, day care and mommy back to work after being away for 2 wonderful weeks, 8 nights of which were in the World. Who are we?

I'm Ann, the mom, the planner, the Dis Lover. I grew up team Disney. My mom and aunt are both ex Disney Store cast members. My favorite character growing up was always Goofy and my favorite movie was Beauty and the Beast. As a grown up I have come to love Minnie and the Princesses and Chip and Dale. Frozen is now my favorite movie and my family really enjoys watching the classic cartoons.

My family took about 3 big trips to Walt Disney World when I was growing up. As an adult I went into the field of education and while it is a rewarding career in many ways, it is not very compatible with optimal Disney vacation planning for two very important reasons: cost and crowds. I have been back as a high school graduate with my cousin and for a day trip during a South Florida trip with my husband and two close friends about 7 years ago. Two years ago we took our one year old daughter and 3 year old son on the Disney Fantasy for an amazing week with extended family where we booked a bounceback for this summer. Last year we embarked on our first ever Walt Disney World vacation and it was apparent that we would not be having a Disney free year anytime soon (if it was up to me, anyway). This year we looked forward to cruising again, but, quite frankly, THE COST. We traveled to the World for less than half the price and although we LOVED the Disney Cruise, I was very sad that we would not be repeating our magical trip to the parks. Around December we made the decision to cancel the cruise and book another Disney World vacation. There is no future trip booked, but I am not worried about this as I know it is inevitable that one will be planned, hopefully for next summer or perhaps next fall. Fall?! I'm a teacher! I'll be working! You'll just have to speculate and hang in there to see what and how we possibly get back at an 'off peak' time.

My husband is Tom. In October we will be married 8 years I don't know how we are old enough to be married for 8 years.

Tom is a car insurance adjuster. He loves NY sports, his lawn, and rock radio music. Sadly, he is not a Disnerd. Like, at all. But, he does appease and go along with my plans to continue touring each year.

TJ is our five year old. He was celebrating pre-school graduation and he has just one day of kindergarten under his belt. He loves telephone poles, cars, iPad, music, and riding his bike. His favorite Disney character is Lightning McQueen and he also enjoys the classic Donald, Chip, and Dale cartoons. TJ is full of energy and impulsiveness. This was a challenging trip for him and those traveling with him. He cannot go with the flow. He gets an idea in his head and cannot deal with any straying from that idea. There were many moments like this during our trip

The highlight for TJ on this trip was getting to announce "All aboard!" twice on the Walt Disney World railroad. He was very excited about it.

Our three year old is Aly and she is me in training. She LOVED Disney World. She was fun, excited, cooperative, flexible, and we had so much fun. Some neigh sayers argue that she will not remember this trip and I say, perhaps, but I am fulfilled from witnessing her joy on this trip and I will never forget it. Aly was celebrating her birthday this trip and received lots of fun attention when wearing her pin. Her favorite characters are Minnie and Princess Aurora and really, she loves all of the princesses. We had GREAT fun meeting and interacting with almost all of them.

My parents joined us on this trip- Grammy and Pop Pop, along with my sister, Auntie. We had connecting rooms at Pop Century.

Traveling with extended family is a great way to capture many many memories and also secure some extra sets of hands! It requires patience and flexibility, but we were so happy to all be together.

Are you ready for 8 nights in the World? Did a year's worth of planning work out or fall into failure at the mercy of traveling in the excruciating heat and humidity and among high crowds? The next post will take you to our first day, extended family and park free, at a resort we've never stayed in before.

 

[Goofy442]

Joining in!!!

 

[DisMom1981]

Joining in!!!

Welcome!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DisMom1981]

I know it is customary to include travel to and before getting to Disney- but I am missing it so much today that I need to just get right to day 1. We said good-bye to our cousins in Ft. Pierce, Florida around 9am on Wednesday morning. Everyone was excited for Disney which led to no naps on the long, boring car ride and nerves about behavior to come.

The plan was to get to our first destination, Caribbean Beach Resort, as early as possible. Last year we stayed at Pop Century and while there was a few things left to be desired (um.....a separate bottle of shampoo/conditioner as opposed to the 'value' combo bottle shampoo/conditioner that we all know FAILS to detangle the hair......oh and trying to push/manuever/shove/park a sit and stand through a door that opens into bed number one) we decided (with the help of family who refused to pay about $500 more to upgrade to a mod for the week) that it worked well enough for us and we would stay for the duration of our park days again. Now. Me being the DisQueen that I am-

it was EATING at me that I would not get to experience a new resort and since we were driving I rearranged our whole pre-trip to get us into Disney a day earlier before our family. We chose Caribbean Beach Resort for three reasons. 1. The Pirate Ship Splash Pool and water slides seemed to be the best of the mods and maybe even one of the best in the entire resort. 2. We liked the theming best out of all the mods. 3. It was the cheapest of the mods for the one night just to check it out.

We got into the resort around lunch time.

Throughout our short stay here the resort seemed empty. Sure, a whole section was closed for renovations, but I was immediately hopeful that thousands of people canceled their reservations resort wide and we would experience crowd levels consistent with OFF-PEAK travel times.

The kids were given a pirate sword and eye patch and a princess wand at check-in which was a cheap, but fun, touch at check-in as opposed to the thousands of "Don't know what to do with all these " Mickey stickers given at Pop (and everywhere,for that matter). As expected, behavior was going to be an issue....for TJ. He wouldn't hold hands in the parking lot. He wouldn't stay with us during check in. He wouldn't come back to the car with us. He didn't want to go to lunch. He didn't want to go to the pool. Wah. Wah. Wah. We stopped at Old Port Royale to feed the beasts and hope for the best. Insert frustrated, blurry, iPhone shot.

We enjoyed the theming of the food court. It was pretty. The kids liked the seating area up a few steps where they have a TV playing classic cartoons. They have a similar area at POP. Also, the confusing layout of utensils, napkins, drinks, straws, condiments, etc was consistent to Pop Century's Everything Pop food court.

Tom and I split. He was getting our lunches and I would get the kid lunches. I think I had both kids with me? The kids had plain spaghetti and chocolate milk. I asked him to bring me a Vegetable Wrap, and he insists he ordered it, but I was brought this

A Lime Chicken Wrap. I had no idea what was on it. I'm picky about mayo-y things, but the frustration on my husband's face in addition to the on the edge behaviors led me to give it a try. It was ok. It did not sit well later though.... Looking at the ingredients now- Chicken, lime cilantro yogurt, and dried papaya is not too appealing to me. Yogurt on a sandwich? I eat yogurt for breakfast! Tom had the Royale Sandwich- a mixture of a bunch of meats- which led to illness and complaints. Luckily- the remainder of our Disney meals were significantly better, but this was one major dislike of this moderate resort. The CS menu options - we could find things we would eat like pizza/burgers, but there was nothing that we liked and would only be able to get here as there are a few options at POP- example nachos, turkey dinner type sandwich.

After lunch it was time to jump back in the car and drive over to our preferred room in Trinidad North. Another deterrent to this resort is the proximity of the standard rooms from the main pool- too far. We had our car so it would have made sense to drive to the main area/pool if we were staying standard, which we would have been if we were staying the whole week.

I immediately snapped a picture of the proximaty of parking to some rooms and sent it away to my mom to make her feel bad- one of our complaints at POP is how FAR the rooms are from the parking- but in all fairness, I think this depends on where your rooms are at both resorts.

So, how did we like the room? Were we able to tame the children and enjoy some pool/resort time? Did Tom's lunch choice put him out of commission for the rest of the day? Who knew that a resort day could lead to separate posts!

 

[ach222]

Joining in! I see a lot of similarities with our families (boys' ages and inability to go with the flow haha - also DH's who aren't Disney fanatics) looking forward to reading!

 

[DisMom1981]

Joining in! I see a lot of similarities with our families (boys' ages and inability to go with the flow haha - also DH's who aren't Disney fanatics) looking forward to reading!

Thanks! A first timer?! I will have to subscribe to your PTR and give you lots of unsolicited advice and generally live through you for the next few months!

Currently, I'm working on the HUGE picture sizes!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Joining along for the fun!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm def in on this one! CBR is such a pretty mod resort and was my first choice years ago to stay at before I learned about renting points (we stay at BWV which ends up pretty much the same price as a mod because we rent points - otherwise we couldn't afford to stay at a deluxe resort).

Your kids are so adorable! I can empathize with your DS - my grandson has always been one who has a hard time adjusting to changes in schedule but I see that he is getting more adaptable as grows older (he's almost 7 now).

Can't wait to see pics of the room and hear all about the rest of your trip!

 

[DisMom1981]

Joining along for the fun!

Happy to have you!

I'm def in on this one! CBR is such a pretty mod resort and was my first choice years ago to stay at before I learned about renting points (we stay at BWV which ends up pretty much the same price as a mod because we rent points - otherwise we couldn't afford to stay at a deluxe resort). Your kids are so adorable! I can empathize with your DS - my grandson has always been one who has a hard time adjusting to changes in schedule but I see that he is getting more adaptable as grows older (he's almost 7 now). Can't wait to see pics of the room and hear all about the rest of your trip!

Ahhh renting points. In my research it cannot compete with the price of value. However, if we decide we MUST stay mod next time it will be interesting to see a price comparison! Where do you rent?

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'm not going to lie, I am going to follow along because you listed 'telephone poles' as being one of your son's favorite things. That is hilarious. Looking forward to hear all the parks stories!

 

[DisMom1981]

I'm not going to lie, I am going to follow along because you listed 'telephone poles' as being one of your son's favorite things. That is hilarious. Looking forward to hear all the parks stories!

Ha! In the second post of my trip report there is a lot of telephone pole back story from last year's trip. There are telephone poles as part of THEMING at all 4 parks- I only know that because we ha to take PICTURES with all of them! I can't link from my phone but I think you can get there from my signature. The kid LOVES telephone poles. He has names to distinguish between them and inquires about the transformers. He draws them- like covers pages. It's his thing

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DisMom1981]

If you are interested in reading a 'run down' of last year's trip, click the link to my pre-trip report. It is my second post on the first page titled "Flashback Friday" I have yet to learn how to link to particular posts?

Link to my pre-trip report

 

[WAHkoMom]

I'm subscribing! You are way more ambitious than I, doing a TR. Nice to see pictures of you and your family - beautiful!

 

[DisMom1981]

I'm subscribing! You are way more ambitious than I, doing a TR. Nice to see pictures of you and your family - beautiful!

Thanks! I'm hoping to stick with it slowly but surely.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[JessseJ]

Subbing along! We were there in August (20th-27th) too, it was our first summer trip (holy hotness!!), our first trip as DVC members and our first time wandering around different resorts. This was definitely not one of them, I love that theming!

A Lime Chicken Wrap. I had no idea what was on it. I'm picky about mayo-y things, but the frustration on my husband's face in addition to the on the edge behaviors led me to give it a try. It was ok. It did not sit well later though.... Looking at the ingredients now- Chicken, lime cilantro yogurt, and dried papaya is not too appealing to me. Yogurt on a sandwich?

I'm sorry you didn't love it but looking at those ingredients makes me want to try that sandwich right now!

 

[DisMom1981]

Subbing along! We were there in August (20th-27th) too, it was our first summer trip (holy hotness!!), our first trip as DVC members and our first time wandering around different resorts. This was definitely not one of them, I love that theming! I'm sorry you didn't love it but looking at those ingredients makes me want to try that sandwich right now!

Thanks for joining along. It wasn't HORRIBLE- just not what I was expecting to begin with so it wasn't really given a fair chance?! I definitely liked the lime flavor of it.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DisMom1981]

We got to the room and immediately noticed it was larger than what we remembered at POP. Probably not much bigger, but the little bit more space was enough to open the door into the room the whole way and have enough room to push the sit and stand into the door, maneuver it into a parking spot and then close the door with much more ease than at Pop. We loved the Nemo theming and the double sinks. We enjoyed the larger dresser- again, I don't think it was significantly larger, but the slight difference seemed to make a difference (although we weren't here long enough to "unpack" so who really knows). We liked the separate bottle of shampoo and conditioner......and the in room coffee maker.

Not a great picture, but.......So much excitement.

We quickly got everyone into bathing suits, but if you remember the iffy food we consumed prior to arriving at our room- well Tom was not up to the pool just yet. So, I took the kids to the Fuentes del Morro pool. It was a short walk- probably 6ish minutes. I couldn't wait to get the kids into the Pirate Ship play area

That photo is actually from early the next morning, hence why there are no people. Here is where the BEST PART ABOUT THE MODERATE comes into play. Yes, even better than separate shampoo and conditioner bottles. There are towels at. the. pool. Hallelujah! My biggest value gripe is that you have to schlep towels from your room to the pool and then call and beg (ok maybe not actually much begging- more like asking once or a few times...) for more towels so you can, ya know, SHOWER.

So we went right to the pirate ship and TJ was too tall- like right up to the cutoff. I wasn't sure if the lifeguard would say anything or not, but it didn't matter. TJ was not interested in this AWESOME play area. He didn't like the bucket at the top that would fill with water and then dump all over the kids. I tried to show him where the 'safe' spots were where you wouldn't be impacted by this function of the pirate ship, but he was not having it. In the meantime, the lifeguard literally was kicking kids out (in a nice way, but still) of this play area. My gripe is that the really short kids are probably afraid of the dumping water bucket. I don't get the height restriction here at all, but would understand an age restriction maybe? Anyway, I think lifeguard left us alone b/c TJ really wasn't entering into the ship area. Aly figured out where she would be 'safe' from the bucket dumping and she played for a little bit, but would not try the little water slides.

We left the pirate ship area- I was convinced it was a matter of time before TJ was also kicked out of the place and didn't want anything to happen that would contribute to his anti-Disney sentiments. We made our way over to the other nice moderate feature- the zero entry to the big pool. The kids and I strapped on the complimentary life jackets and went for a swim. Tom joined us not that long after and we had a blast. The kids loved watching Daddy go down the two water slides, but neither child was interested in trying them. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it was a gorgeous day turned Florida summer torrential downpour. By the time we were out of the pool it had stopped raining, but we were cold and done.

We headed back to the room to shower and regroup and then made our way to the Surrey Bikes.

The CM was super nice and we were super happy to be able to rent a two seater, as both children fit into the basket in front of the bike. TJ was disappointed not to be able to have a wheel, but upon seeing how big the four seaters were, the kids would have been too small for the seats and the bike would have been too heavy to pedal.

The Surrey Bikes were a GREAT time. We went around the course twice in the half hour. There was one downhill part that the kids loved and I cringed on! It was a good work out, but it was hot. When we returned the bike, we went to the pool bar and I ordered this

It was amazing and just what I needed. Tom ordered some kind of beer, I believe and we headed inside to get the kids ice cream.

After cooling off, it was time to think about dinner. Well, there wasn't much to think about. Since this was our only non meal plan day we needed to head off property a bit to our favorite brewery ever. Sea Dog Brewery. We discovered it last year- the original breweries are in Maine- and ate here several times since we loved it and didn't have the meal plan. Also, it is literally right outside of Downtown Disney resorts gate- so about 10 minutes or a little less from Pop/Caribbean Beach.

We love their craft beer. It was Happy Hour. We had pumpkin beers- yum. We also had Buffalo Chicken sandwiches. The perfect level of fried crispiness and buffalo sauce- not too much and not too little!

Tommy's meal

Alyssa passed out for this whole meal and many others on this trip

And- the receipt

Three craft beers for under $9!

Oh my- one day is going to extend into 3 posts! It is dinner, but still lots more to share- all leading up to a very special evening that I never thought we would last for.

 

[Goofy442]

I didn't know that about the towels at the value resorts. Wow didn't even know that place was in Maine, have to try it out. either in Maine or Florida.

 

[DisMom1981]

I didn't know that about the towels at the value resorts. Wow didn't even know that place was in Maine, have to try it out. either in Maine or Florida.

Yes you must try this brewery! It is amazing. I follow the Orlando one on Facebook and get so sad when I see all the fun events all year long.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DMGeurts]

I am late - but I am finally here Ann!

I have really enjoyed your TR so far.

Your room looks great! The girls and I have never stayed at CBR or any other Mod (besides FQ)... Do you know why?? Hahaha... You're gonna love this... because there is only ONE mirror over the 2 bathrooms sinks... With teen daughters - this is UBER important.

The food court looks really cool. What a bummer that the food was less than optimal for you.

TJ sounds a LOT like V was when she was little... Sadly - she still has her moments, even though she is taller than I am. Sigh. Since she is old enough to roam the parks now - we just ignore her when she gets into her moods, and she goes off on her own to do her own thing. She finds us again when she is ready to be with people (ahem ~ us).

Sounds like you guys had lots of fun with the surrey bike - we have never done that. Some day, maybe we will?

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

D~