Disney dangled the visual weinee & Mickeystoontown gobbled it up! 10/26

Chicago Mo · May 6, 2015

Kills me there is not photography on the tour!!! especially in HM! I have to wait 5 more years until we can do the tour. BUT WE WILL!
My one question in regard to the tour. Did it kill any of the magic for you?

Bethislucy · May 6, 2015

The tour sounds like so much fun

ddstratton · May 6, 2015

That tour sounds like fun! But the no photography rule would kill me - I just love taking pictures of EVERYTHING.

jandlinz · May 6, 2015

The Keys to the Kingdom Tour sounds so interesting. I've always wanted to do it. It sounds like you learned a lot. It's neat that you were able to see the opening show from the inside!

nittanyliongirl02 · May 6, 2015

I may have missed it somewhere, but what were the dates of your trip? I ask because you talk about Memorial Day weekend, and Hunter's birthday. My mom and I are leaving in 15 days (15 days!) for a stay at Wilderness Lodge to celebrate my birthday which consequently falls over Memorial Day weekend. My birthday is May 24th. Loving your trip report so far!

jenseib · May 6, 2015

I am so jealous of the tour. I have always said that when Claire turns 16 we're doing it too!

BarbieGal457 · May 6, 2015

I have been wanting to do the tour for ages! I think we may actually add it on to our trip. My boyfriend said he would get it for me as a birthday gift

In related news, I can't believe your trip and ours are coming up so quickly!

mickeystoontown · May 6, 2015

rteetz said:
The tour looks like a lot of fun. I've always contemplated trying something like that but only going to the parks for 5-6 nights it just doesn't seem like we have the time. If I took a longer trip I would definitely do it.

I couldn't see taking four hours out of park time on a 5 or 6 night trip either. It is hard enough trying to fit in enough park days.

rndmr2 said:
That's great that you did the Keys to the Kingdom tour! Sounds like you had a fun day, I would love to do that someday.

It's a really neat tour!

Chicago Mo said:
Kills me there is not photography on the tour!!! especially in HM! I have to wait 5 more years until we can do the tour. BUT WE WILL!
My one question in regard to the tour. Did it kill any of the magic for you?

I know! I didn't even take my camera or phone out of my bag. It did not kill any of the magic for me at all. It actually made me appreciate the park even more.

Bethislucy said:
The tour sounds like so much fun

It was!

ddstratton said:
That tour sounds like fun! But the no photography rule would kill me - I just love taking pictures of EVERYTHING.

Darla, it was killing me! I wanted to take pictures so badly.

jandlinz said:
The Keys to the Kingdom Tour sounds so interesting. I've always wanted to do it. It sounds like you learned a lot. It's neat that you were able to see the opening show from the inside!

It was extremely interesting and I'm so glad that we did it.

nittanyliongirl02 said:
I may have missed it somewhere, but what were the dates of your trip? I ask because you talk about Memorial Day weekend, and Hunter's birthday. My mom and I are leaving in 15 days (15 days!) for a stay at Wilderness Lodge to celebrate my birthday which consequently falls over Memorial Day weekend. My birthday is May 24th. Loving your trip report so far!

We arrive on the 23rd of this month and leave on the 6th. We'll be there at the same time!

jenseib said:
I am so jealous of the tour. I have always said that when Claire turns 16 we're doing it too!

That's what we always said too. I was so happy that we went on the tour.

BarbieGal457 said:
I have been wanting to do the tour for ages! I think we may actually add it on to our trip. My boyfriend said he would get it for me as a birthday gift

In related news, I can't believe your trip and ours are coming up so quickly!

Do it! The tour would be an awesome gift!

Clarf · May 6, 2015

Ooooh, the tour sounds like so much fun! I'm guessing the minimum age is 16? Probably a good idea since it's so long! The no picture taking would drive me batty!

If you don't mine my asking, how much was the tour? We have a few years until the girls are 16, but it's never too early to plan!

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

Clarf said:
Ooooh, the tour sounds like so much fun! I'm guessing the minimum age is 16? Probably a good idea since it's so long! The no picture taking would drive me batty!

If you don't mine my asking, how much was the tour? We have a few years until the girls are 16, but it's never too early to plan!

Yes, the minimum age is 16 and we counted down every single year!

I believe that it was about $70 a person which I didn't think was bad. I asked about a discount if I paid with my Disney Visa and they did offer one. It wasn't a lot but I'll take any savings.

ddstratton · May 7, 2015

mickeystoontown said:
We arrive on the 23rd of this month and leave on the 6th.

Hey there! We're vacationing at the same time, although different places! We leave for our little family trip to Asheville, with a side trip into Georgia on the 22nd! We will arrive in GA on the 23rd. We'll be home well before the 6th though, as we're only travelling for a week.

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

What's available at Caribbean Beach? Let me show you!

I've looked at my notes and I see that I made three Fastpass choices in case we wanted to use them after the tour but we opted to head back to the resort and do nothing for a while. The hammocks on the beach were calling us and we were answering the call. As soon as we got back to the resort, we dropped our things and headed to the beach. There were very few people on the Jamaica beach which was fine by us as we had our choice of hammocks and beach chairs. John, of course, went straight for the lounger in the middle of the Florida sunshine. Hunter and I chose hammocks. It was so nice and relaxing to just sit back and listen to the birds chirping and feel the slight breeze. Every once in a while, we could hear some work construction work going on but it was mostly quiet.

I took pictures of our lazy behinds but they were on my phone and those were lost when I dropped my phone. Yes, I know that I should have pulled them off my phone before it went splat but I didn't. Lesson learned. A couple of ducks were walking along the beach and went right underneath my hammock and then stopped to look at me. Like they were saying hello. After a while, Hunter and I decided to walk over to Old Port Royale and fill our mugs. He also wanted to play a few games in the arcade.

The Caribbean Beach Resort page is always busy and people are always asking what is available in the store, in the food court, etc. This was an opportunity to take some picturse to share with the CBR thread.

Some of the seating in Old Port Royale:

Central cashiers:

Cereals available in the grab n go area:

Some of the items available in the bakery case in the grab n go section:

Premade sandwiches in the grab n go section:

Sandwiches and desserts and pickles in the grab n go section:

Salads and packaged fruits:

Packaged fruit and yogurt:

**Continued in next post

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

Apple slices, yogurt and worms in dirt:

There are lots of drinks and snack items to choose from in the grab n go section:

Coffee machine, microwave, utensils and condiments:

Toasters available for guest use and condiments:

**Continued in next post

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

I guess that I didn't take any of the food stations and moved on into the store. The store at the CBR is divided into two sections. Right under the Calypso Trading Post sign is the entrance to the other area of the store.

You can see a little bit of the concierge desk in this next picture. It's the desk to the left. with the guy in the blue and white shirt and the person in the suit is standing. Just beyond that is the arcade:

Going into the other area of the store. Some of the assorted sundries available:

Packaged food items including baby items:

**Continued in next post

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

Over in the left corner of the store is a cooler and I took pictures of what is available:

At the time of our visit, this was some of the merchandise being sold in the store:

**Up next: Do you want to build a rootin' tootin' snowman?

Clarf · May 7, 2015

Wow, the tour was only $70/person? I was going to guess at least $150, so that sounds like a steal to me! Guess I'll have to start counting down the years until my girlies are 16. 7 1/2 to go with Lucy and about 10 with Maura. It will be a while for us.

Loving your OPR pics. And oh how I'd love to be laying on one of those hammocks right now. I can't believe in just over 2 weeks you'll be back!

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

ddstratton said:
Hey there! We're vacationing at the same time, although different places! We leave for our little family trip to Asheville, with a side trip into Georgia on the 22nd! We will arrive in GA on the 23rd. We'll be home well before the 6th though, as we're only travelling for a week.

Darla, you got me all excited and then I saw "different places". Your trip to Asheville and Georgia sounds like a fun time!

Clarf said:
Wow, the tour was only $70/person? I was going to guess at least $150, so that sounds like a steal to me! Guess I'll have to start counting down the years until my girlies are 16. 7 1/2 to go with Lucy and about 10 with Maura. It will be a while for us.

Loving your OPR pics. And oh how I'd love to be laying on one of those hammocks right now. I can't believe in just over 2 weeks you'll be back!

I just looked at the Disney site and the current price posted is $79. I do know that we had a discount for the Disney Visa at the time and I know that we paid around $220 ish total.

DisneyJo · May 7, 2015

The tour sounds great

mickeystoontown · May 7, 2015

Do you want to build a rootin' tootin' snowman?

When I went into my next picture folder, I did find some pictures that I took while at the beach:

I'm so happy that I'll be right back on that beach come May 23rd! After spending some down time at the resort, it was time for us to get ready to go out for the evening. Lucky for us, the mousekeeping cart was parked near the end of the stairs and I was able to use it to sit the camera on and take a family picture.

There were just a few people at the bus stop and the bus mojo happened for us again....a Magic Kingdom bus came within a few minutes. After arriving at the park, we walked over to the boat dock and waited for the Fort Wilderness boat. We were going to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue tonight! We've been several times but were looking forward to going again.