All Aboard my 11 day trip report!Choo-choo!6/27-7/9 updated7/24 great pics

[lisa-upnorth]

Hello fellow disney lovers! Welcome to my first trip report!We just returned from 11 days with the mouse and had a dream vacation time!I will post over the next few days and add some of my 1000+ pics too!Cast of characters is-
Me-age 38
Hubby-age49
Daughter-age 17
Daughter-age 4 1/2
As you can see we have a wide range to please!We stayed at Carr. Beach and loved it!A few topics-
1.Yes, we did matching themed outfits!
2.Yes, we ate too much!
3.Yes, it was HOT!!!!
4.Yes, the 4th of July fireworks were amazing!
5.Yes, we do know that it takes only 3 hours to fly to Disney and 28 hrs aboard Amtrak!(but where is your sense of adventure???)

More details to come...

UPDATED-items to cover:
6/28 arrival,rental car,check in Epcot and dinner at Garden Grill
6/29 MK 1st time breakfast at the castle!!!!Dinner at The Wave-my fav!!
6/30 DHS with lunch at 50's prime time.Run to Target in evening(cheap disney stuff!)
7/1 Epcot,lunch in France with REMY!!So cute!
7/2 AK,we dress alike in full zebra gear!!Yikes stripes!!Lunch at Rainforest Cafe-yummy!
7/3 MK,lunch at crystal palace and AMAZING fireworks show at 9pm!CROWDED!!!!!
7/4 AK,HOT DAY!!Dinner at Whispering Canyons"Who has the ketchup???"
7/5 DHS,lunch at Hollywood&Vine,dinner at 50's primetime then Fantasmic!
7/6 Epcot,Afternoon in Carr Beach pool(ahh!) dinner in Italy!
7/7 MK-I was sick and dizzy and gonna hurl!!Got to visit first aid!Family carried on without me,dinner at Tony's
7/8 checkout(boohoo) and turn in rental then board train at 1:50pm
7/9 return to NY

 

[Villainess]

All aboard - ticket in hand!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

Vacation officially started on June 26th-when the car was packed after dinner
We live in upstate NY on the Vermont border.Located between Lake George NY and Rutland Vermont areas.We are northerners that cannot wait for the sun!
Went to bed by 10pm on Friday 26th since we have to be up VERY early to head out to Amtrak Sat morning in the wee hrs.

3:30AM wake up time!!I had everyone clothing laid out next to their beds since I knew it would be too early for everyone.Hubby and I were up and ready in 10 min and then dressed the 4yr old as she was 1/2 asleep.All in the car by 4:05am and headed to Albany NY where we catch our first train.This is my 4th trip to Disney on AmtrakTrip to Albany takes 2hrs. and our train leaves at 7AM so we are all set on time!We arrive and park($40 due when we return) enter and get tickets printed for trip.Everyone is tired but very excited!!!We are off to DISNEY WORLD!
7:00AMTrain leaves Albany headed to NYC Penn station.-where we will connect to our 'overnight train'.We are having fun and enjoying the fabulous views of the Hudson River on this sunny morning!Saw tugboats and tankers and lighthouses-OH MY!We arrive in NYC by 10 AM and are greeted by the mobs of people there"We are not in Kansas anymore..."nothing like the rural life we have at home!

To be con't...

 

[tiggerfan6]

Sounds like fun! i'm in!!!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

count me in!

 

[VanniGirl]

Looking forward to more!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

6/27-28Boarded train in NYC by 11AM and headed south.We had 2 roomettes(private rooms with 2 beds each) and that includes all our meals in the dining car.Enjoyed our meals and the views.Washington monuments for lunch!Went to bed by 9pm-so tired!

6/28 I SEE A PALM TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were all excited when we opened our curtains to see palm trees!Also glad to find we only had 2 more hours until we were in Orlando!We are freakin out now!
Arrived in Orlando by 11AM and headed right to Hertz counter inside train station.This was my 1st time renting a car-EVER!I had scoured the net gathering codes and prices for months.I had finally got Budget to give me a price of $295 for the trip(6/28-7/8)FABULOUS!Only catch was I had to get a shuttle to bring me to Budget since they were not at train station area.SOOOOO, I called Hertz and told them my deal and asked if they would like to do a price match of the competition-and they said yes!I arrived at the counter and the offer was honored and I was on my way in under 10 minutes!
The car had 150 miles on it!!!!A Kia Rio, and believe it or not, we fit 3 large and 2 med. suitcases inside it with 4 people!Like a clown car really!
Off to Carr Beach Resort(our 1st time staying on disney property

 

[SunnieRN]

Wow!! You're in Orlando!!! How cool about going on the train. I rode the train once from CA to CO. It was a trip of about 30 hours also. It was actually a lot of fun. I met a lot of people who travel by train on a regular basis.

Looking forward to more adventures!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

here we go!

so tired

the views!

headed to NYC

 

[goofy's_gurl]

great update!! a train sounds fun way to get to WDW!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

6/28-We were at Caribbean Beach before noon!The driving here is very easy and well marked.We went and checked in and luckily they had a room ready.Got 1st trip pin for the little one and headed to our room.Martinique 25-room 2506.Facing back courtyard not lake, but nice large room.Parking for car was close by
We all showered and toured the giftshop and foodcourt.They are quite nice here!At about 3pm we drove over to Epcot.The drive took less than 15 minutes!Love the rental car!Headed in and found no line on spaceship earth, so we hopped on.We all liked it.Had pics taken by photopass and headed to World Showcase.Every year we head right and lose steam by Norway and Mexico SO we decided to start with them.
Norway-feel free to skip the boatride!!Dumb!Had 25 minute wait and I wouldn't have waited had I known how bad it was.Some nice picture spots in the 'country' though.
Mexico-Beautiful inside.Nice gifts and jewelery.Had pic done with Donald outside(in his mexican finest)
China-we to find our fav princess-Mulan- but she had just left.Took some nice pictures and enjoyed the shops. Time to head over for dinner.
Dining at Garden GrillGreat spot in the Land building.We love this dinner for the interacting with characters,views and great food.Since this would be the little ones 1st time seeing a character, we were a wee bit psyched.Food is family style and was great.Chloe LOVED when Mickey came to see her!!!Then, chip and dale and I think goofy.She was quite excited and posed with them all.
We then did the Seas and nemo ride-cute for our little Nemo fan.Walked around until about 7pm and then headed back to hotel.Have to get up early to go to Cinderella's house, don't ya know?

 

[onelilspark]

That's the Comcast building in Philly!

It's amazing how you can live away from home for over 2 years and still get homesick

Subbing!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

Ashley admiring the view

dinner is served

daddy takin' a nap

beautiful!

we made it

http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv290/lisaupnorth/DSCF1368.jpg our room-yes,I know I am a geek!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

DC

Masonic Temple

Not the trees we have up north!!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

love the pictures

 

[heaven2dc]

A train trip sounds like so much fun! At first I thought I wouldn't do that since it only takes 2 hours to fly from Washington, D.C. but I love the scenery passing by too! Now you have me all interested - I just checked online and even tho it would cost twice the airfare, it is an adventure in itself! (I love the roomettes! I looked up Amtrack online to see what is included and it is alot! How fun!)

Can't wait to hear all about Caribbean Beach hotel too. We've only stayed at BWV and got spoiled (rented points 2x's and it was less expensive than if we stayed at a moderate). I've always wanted to stay at CBR but can't convince my oldest kids to stay anywhere else - altho my oldest son wants to try CBR. They will definitely have to read your report and see your pics!!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

June 29th-we are off the Cindy's 'house!

Had 8:30 ressies for castle breakfast(1st time ever in the castle!) so we had a 6:45 wake up call to get our butts out of bed!Got all showered and dressed in our princess themed outfits=geeks.We got loads of compliments and fun comments!!Drove to MK and must say we LOVE having the rental car.20 minutes from hotel room to tram bringing us to transportation center.Rode ferry in for great view of the park!Headed through gates at 8am.Just told them I had ressies at CRT-no list,no confirm # asked for??Loved the 1st walk down Main St the little one was in awe!Took a few pics and enjoyed the benefit of a nearly empty park.Had photopass pics done too.Arrived at 8:20 for breakfast.Thought my little princess was going to pass out when she met Cinderella!!You walk into a room and have your pics taken with Cinderella and then head up a staircase to the dining room.Great medieval look to it!Be sure to look up!Got seated and plated breakfast arrived.At $172 for the 4 of us, it was our most expensive breakfast ever!!!After about 5 minutes Chloe saw Snow White and went into shock!Then she noticed Aurora too, and we thought she just might go crazy with happinessFood was good but she never touched it!We all ate and enjoyed watching her meet her dream princesses.Worth every penny!They give each girl a wand and a wishing star.At one point during breakfast there is a wishing ceremony and everyone makes a wish(my oldest wished for more bacon!) and waves their wand.Cute.We met Snow White,Sleeping Beauty,Jasmin,Belle and of course Cinderella.We headed out before 10am to tackle fantasyland before the crowds.Dumbo first...

 

[lisa-upnorth]

ferry ride over-waiting to see the castle

1st time headed down Main St!!

Be sure to pose for this great photo spot!

"MOM,I see a castle!"

can't wait to go in!

Chloe about to faint

husband about to faint!

castle dining room

Baby of Mine

 

[lisa-upnorth]

By 11amwe had done castle breakfast,Dumbo,Ariels grotto pics,Small World,Winnie the Pooh,Cinderella's carousel,tried to pull the sword from the stone,woke Tinkerbelle at Tink's Treasures store(cute! They had her ring a bell and Tink 'appears' on a screen.Then she got sprinkled with fairydust=glitter.She loved it!Even though she was not the 1st one in the store to wake Tink they let her wake her again.),then we decided to head over to Pirates of the Carribbean.We noticed that it didn't seem very crowded(yeah) and figured most people would be arriving in a few days for the 4th of July vacation week.The crowds did pick up after noon.As usual, Pirates had a 5 minute wait at most and we all loved it!The new additions are fabulous!Love Capt Jack!Decided to head over to see the Dance party parade on Main St. Addictive music and fun for everyone.Characters were dancing in the street-with guests.Song will be stuck in your head for weeks!!!Walked around and did a few more attractions and shops.
By 1pmit was heating up and I thought we better take a break at hotel to cool off in the poolCarr.Beach is a beautiful resort and the main pool was great with the zero entry for the liittle ones!I spent my time there lying near the entrance area, in about a foot of water.Cool and great for getting a little tan!Even did a little reading there!We were well rested to head back to the park-and to dinner at THE WAVE in the Contemp. hotel.(to be con't)PS-this was my favorite meal the whole trip!

 

[goofy's_gurl]

great start off to one magical day!!