Doesn't everybody have Disney on speed dial? Seriously? Mickeystoontown does! 5/14

[amytech]

Just found your pre-trip repost and I'm in

 

[Mommy Poppins]

Another great update, Lisa! DD and I have a dinner ADR at Beaches and Cream on our arrival night as well! Still not sure how many park days we are doing because we won't know when she is playing softball until we get there! So, I figured B&C was safe since it wouldn't require park admission! DH and I ate at Boma before and he really liked it -- me, I'm not very food adventurous so I definitely did not get my money's worth! LOL DD and I are trying to avoid buffets this trip since we can pretty much share a meal and save some money.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[vtfretwell]

I am trying to do more posting! With that being said, I love reading your reports. Your family has a lot of similarities (except my kids are 7 and 14). We love having fun and playing jokes.

Your trips always looks like fun and I am really looking forward to reading your trip reports.

Also need to get with you about the bags and dress

 

[cmaee]

It's going to be a great start to your Disney vacation! I so wish I were in that hammock right now!

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Did you see the Free sandwich from Earl of Sandwich offer on your birthday? I noticed it on Disney Dining on Facebook last week and thought of Hunter on your arrival day. Now I don't know if they have a pizza option , but perhaps there is something else on the menu that would interest you all. http://www.****************/free-birthday-sandwich-and-earl-of-sandwich/

 

[mickeystoontown]

Add us to the driving club! It's 1192 miles from our front door to CBR, but we do it. It saves SO much money. My kids are also good travelers, though, and we threaten them with turning around and not going if they ask "how much longer," too often. (yeah, like that would happen!) We leave about 9am and will drive until we can't drive anymore. The way down, we usually make it to south of Atlanta so we don't have to deal with that traffic during the day. Then we have just 5 or 6 hours the next day. I think I want to try your way down Hwy. 192 this time and see all that crazy stuff. We usually take a different way in, the tollway/turnpike I think, so we don't see all that stuff. This year, though!

Yeah right....like you'd turn the car around and go home. Keep telling them that until they stop believing. Won't ya'll be taking I-75? If so, then just don't go on the turnpike. Get off when you see US 27 and head towards Kissimmee/Hwy. 192.

I do most of the driving also because my DH is a terrible driver. And then, he can deal with all the kids needs and I can just drive. I get the good end of that deal!


Beaches and Cream sounds awesome and we'll definitely have to try BOMA sometime. I've heard nothing but good things about that place. I'm so excited for you that your trip is so close!

I've heard nothing but good things about Beaches & Cream and we know that we enjoyed Boma so I'm glad that we could fit in both.

Also, non-trip related, but my girls have been wearing their dresses a lot lately! I have to remember to take some more pictures next time so you can see them.

Aww, I'd love to see pictures.

I love that you guys just go with what feels right and don't care that you have been to the Caribbean Beach resort a bunch of times. I always go through the dilemma every time we plan a trip- I want to try all the resorts at some point, but sometimes a particular resort that we loved just 'works' better!

We have stayed at the Caribbean Beach resort once and really enjoyed it. It was a shorter trip (maybe 4 nights) and we stayed in a Pirate Room which our little boy loved!

We have only had ice cream at Beaches and Cream so far, but I must say that I am happy about them now taking ADRs!
Boma is a personal favorite of mine. It is so nice to try so many unusual dishes, but still have a great variety of solid favorites to fall back on!

Every single trip, I look at other resorts...other moderates and then WL and AKL. But, every time, we end up at CBR. I thought about booking a pirate room just to change things up too.

Yeah, if we are going to try "different" foods, then a buffet is the place to do it. You can always find something that you'd eat on a buffet.

Forgot to add before that our first ADR the day we there is Beaches & Cream. We stayed @ BC last trip and ate there the first night as well. We have fond memories because we were starving when we got there and it was like 9:30PM due to some delayed flights due to weather. We hadn't eaten there before but since it was about the only thing open we tried it and got lucky there was seating (before ADRs). I gotta say, it's the best darn cheeseburger anywhere on property IMHO. I been there a couple since and still really like it. I think this time we may go all in and get the Kitchen Sink!

I'm so happy to read your mini B&C review! It makes me feel even more happy that I booked an ADR there.

I lovebeaches and Cream...and we made our first ADR for this poast trip and we still have not had anything but icecream. LOL we went with the no way jose again. I asked Claire if she wanted real food and she said no, and I really was only hungry enough too tackle the ice cream.

If I could, I'd eat ice cream every single day! I love any kind of milk product but am allergic to it. I don't have tummy issues like most. It gives me headaches and nosebleeds if I have too much.

I don't think I could take the drive to Florida again (unless it is when we permanently move there). I don't even remember how long it is...18 or 19 hours? Nope...I'd go crazy.

I knew you'd end up at CBR again.

I like the Beaches & Cream for lunch and Boma for dinner. There's always the Boardwalk to visit as well after strolling around the Beach Club.

Oh yeah, if you were moving, I bet the drive wouldn't be all that bad now would it?

Wow, that's quite a long drive! But so worth it. Beautiful water view at the beach club!
I think it's great that you can get an ADR for Beaches & Cream now, I'm in the same boat as you, never tried it but want to.
Mmmm Boma. One of my favourites!
I think the plans sound great so far!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

The drive is long but I guess since we've done it so many times, it's a pretty easy drive. We know the good places to stop.

We have a 24 hour drive from home to WDW and we do it only because it is SO much cheaper than flying 4 of us down. I probably would only get to go every 3 or 4 years if I had to pay for flights. We have a pretty good system - we leave in the evening around 5 and I drive until we get close to Chicago. DH is supposed to rest/sleep so he can drive all night. The kids have movies and sleep in back and they are pretty good with the rules - don't ask if we're there yet, "go" when we stop and let us know if you have to before it's urgent! The only problems arise if there's bad weather to slow us down.
Plus then we have our own vehicle to use and can pack however and whatever we want. I discovered how hard it is to pack for flying this last trip. Although I love how fast flying is, really you usually lose a whole day for travel when you fly too, so what's another 12 hours?
We joke that if we lived within 12 hours we'd be going two or three times a year! it would seem so close!

Ya'll sound so much like us! I'm serious! If we flew, we'd have to drive for 2 1/2 hours, pay to park and then it'd take another 2 1/2 to get to Orlando. I would love the extra time but I love the money we save more than the time saved.

Enjoying your pre-trip report. We stayed at Caribbean Beach last year and loved it! We try to get to the world every other year, so this isn't our year. We did Beaches and Cream last year, yummy!

Thank you! Glad to have you! We fell in love with the CBR during our first stay there and have been back every year since.

Our drive is just under 800 miles but we are lucky and only live about 50 minutes from international airport; so we can get pretty decent fares and with only 3 of us it is only a little more to fly than drive. DH also does a lot of driving for work and would rather pay the extra for a break. However we have and will drive if we can not get cheap enough flights.

I have always wanted to try Beaches and Cream. Can't wait to hear how it is!

If the airfare weren't so high, then I'd fly too! You are lucky that you live so close to an international airport.

After reading your plans I just added an ADR for Beaches and Cream for our family trip. Thanks for that idea!

Yay! I hope that we both have great meals there!

On this day a year ago I was on the road for WDW. With no trips in our future, I'm going to live vicariously through your trip report. So far so good!

Oh, I'm so sorry that you don't have any trips to Disney in the near future. Keeping my fingers crossed that you get to go back sooner rather than later.

Following along. I'm bummed we were going to go this year and would of been there at the same time as you. Unfortunately with me not having steady income and the harsh winter no trip for us again this year. So I live through you and Kathy's trips.

Welcome! It's always a bummer when the money fairy doesn't come around and leave extra money under the pillow. Hope that you'll get back to Disney soon!

Our drive is a little over 1200 miles from Norther IL. Flying just isn't in the budget and we've come to enjoy the drive. It's nice to have our car if we get tired of the buses and it takes the pressure off as far as packing. If it fits in the car, we take it

We rarely use our car once we get there but, like you said, it's nice to have it just in case.

I'm really enjoying your PTR so far. You've already given me tons of great info. This is our first Disney trip.

First trip! Yay!

Your travel plans sound just like ours except that we're a one state West of you (Texas). Leaving on a Friday afternoon, stopping somewhere along the way (still trying to decide where) and arriving on Saturday. Sounds like you are pretty flexible on your stop-over. Do you normally make a hotel reservation or have you found it pretty easy to just find somewhere along the way. I'm a little OCD about where we sleep so I'm afraid of taking the risk with somewhere that I haven't researched to death but would LOVE to make more progress and get closer to our destination. Also, I haven't heard about the traffic down I75. Is that always the case on the way to Orlando?

We do not make any hotel reservations on our first driving day and have never run into any problems finding a hotel. Most of our trips are over the Memorial Day holiday too and we still didn't have any issues.

Honestly, I'd say travel as far as you can that first day. We have stayed in Crestview many many times and the hotels there have always been clean and had decent rates. We usually try to find a hotel that's pretty close to the Interstate so that it's easy off and easy on.

If you want to do more research, I'd suggest that you go to hotels.com and plug in several different cities along your driving route. This is what I do:

1) Look at a map of the Florida panhandle and find cities along I-10;
2) Use hotels.com to find a hotel in each of those cities;
3) Go to MapQuest and use the hotel's address to give me drive times from our house to that particular hotel (even if we aren't staying at that particular hotel I can get an idea of how long it would take us to get there). Then, I use that same hotel's address to calculate the time and distance to our resort on Disney property.

**I hope that made sense. If it didn't, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

Right now, I have eight different stopping point options: 1) Crestview; 2) DeFuniak Springs; 3) Bonifay; 4) Marianna; 5) Quincy; 6) Tallahassee; 7) Madison; and 8) Lake City. It's my hope to get to at least Quincy but we shall see.

Also, keep in mind that the time will jump ahead one hour somewhere around Quincy/Tallahassee. I can't remember where exactly but it's somewhere around those two cities.

As far as I-75 goes, it can get bad at times but no worse than most Interstates. It's definitely never been as bad as Atlanta, Dallas, etc. We do not take the turnpike which, according to MapQuest would save us about 20 or so minutes. We like to get off of I-75 at US 27 and then down to Hwy. 192 which takes you to Kissimmee. We enter Walt Disney World on World Drive and drive by all of the various Disney World signs.

Love the beach pics. Looks like you will have a great spot to relax and unwind and relax. We may look into this resort for our next stay. This time, we are staying offsite.

I didn't look to see if you had a ticker that showed where you are staying offsite. Is it in Orlando or Kissimmee?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just found your pre-trip repost and I'm in

Welcome! I hope that you'll enjoy reading along!

Another great update, Lisa! DD and I have a dinner ADR at Beaches and Cream on our arrival night as well! Still not sure how many park days we are doing because we won't know when she is playing softball until we get there! So, I figured B&C was safe since it wouldn't require park admission! DH and I ate at Boma before and he really liked it -- me, I'm not very food adventurous so I definitely did not get my money's worth! LOL DD and I are trying to avoid buffets this trip since we can pretty much share a meal and save some money.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Looks like Beaches & Cream gets a lot of love!

We aren't really adventurous eaters either but we did get our fill at Boma. I hate to hear that you went away unsatisfied.

I am trying to do more posting! With that being said, I love reading your reports. Your family has a lot of similarities (except my kids are 7 and 14). We love having fun and playing jokes.

Your trips always looks like fun and I am really looking forward to reading your trip reports.

Also need to get with you about the bags and dress

Thanks so much for posting! It's fun having people share their thoughts about our plans.

Shoot me a private message about the bags and dresses when you are ready.

It's going to be a great start to your Disney vacation! I so wish I were in that hammock right now!

You and me both! I'd even share one with you!

Did you see the Free sandwich from Earl of Sandwich offer on your birthday? I noticed it on Disney Dining on Facebook last week and thought of Hunter on your arrival day. Now I don't know if they have a pizza option , but perhaps there is something else on the menu that would interest you all. http://www.****************/free-birthday-sandwich-and-earl-of-sandwich/

Oh my gosh! I didn't see that! I'm going to check it out now!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I’ll explain the meaning behind the title of this pre-trip report!

In the last trip report that I wrote, I titled one of the chapters “Round, round, get around, resort switch around” (or something very similar to that). I had changed up our resort reservations so many times, it was hard to keep up with what I had done. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t ever do that again. And, I didn’t. I really really didn’t.

That’s not to say that I didn’t channel that “switch around” mentality to our dining ADRs. I would book an ADR and then think “Would that be better on another day?” or “The timing of that ADR doesn’t work with so-and-so.” or “If we keep the ADR at “x”, then that means we won’t be eating at “y” restaurant.” I moved things around, changed restaurants, changed times, etc. that it was hard to keep things straight.

Think that I’m exaggerating? I’m not! I just looked at my 2014 WDW email folder and there are 103, count ‘em, 103 dining confirmations and cancellations. 103! That’s ridiculous! That doesn’t include the Be Our Guest lunch Fastpass ADR or whatever they are calling it.

One of those ADRs was snagged courtesy of Stacy (yep, Stacy, you get another shout-out!) when she posted on the May ADR cancellation thread that she was canceling her Wishes Dessert Party ADR. She was kind enough to coordinate with me and I booked it just as she dropped it. Yay Stacy!

For some of my ADRs I had to call and book them. Specifically, the Hoop Dee Doo Revue since we are on the dining plan. I also had to call T-Rex to get an ADR there.

I also called Disney a couple of times about our courtesy room. I had to call to modify our package from rake rate to take advantage of a pin code that came in my Mama’s name but used my email and my address. I had to call them when the Disney Visa promo came out because it covered all of our dates and the pin did not. I had to call to link the two reservations and ask that they be shown as “continuing” so that the likelihood of us having to change rooms are slim to none.

When we decided to do one of the tours, I had to call Disney again and book that.

So, now do you see why I have Disney on speed dial? If I didn’t, I’d spend all of my time dialing numbers.

Thank goodness, we don’t still have rotary phones! I’d have a callus on my dialing finger.

**Up next: What was I thinking when I had us going here on day 5? Time to change up the plans!

 

[KatMark]

WOW! That is a lot of reservations, cancellations, phone calls, etc. I think I only changed one of our ADR's for our May trip and I've not changed anything for our September trip.

 

[mickeystoontown]

WOW! That is a lot of reservations, cancellations, phone calls, etc. I think I only changed one of our ADR's for our May trip and I've not changed anything for our September trip.

I can't believe that I changed things up so very much! I wish that I could be like you and leave well enough alone.

 

[Clarf]

Holy ADR changes! You must be really organized. I'd probably loose track of what I had and didn't have if I did that.

Thanks for the tip on 192. We'll definitely do that this year, and then we can avoid the tolls. We do take I-75 through Florida (and most of Georgia), so that should work out well!

We're trying T-Rex this year for our first dinner since we won't go to a park on our first afternoon. Your pictures make it look like such a cool place, I think my girls will love it! I also called for that ressie and had no problem getting the time I wanted.

The Hoop De Do Revue looks fun. One of these years we'll make it there.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Oh boy~ there are a lot of you folks with ADRSA...ADR Switch-a-roo Addiction...on these threads! I have read some PTR's that just left my head spinning.

And then there are those that plan EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND of each day they are there. I used to think I could do the same thing...until I actually visited the parks for the first time.

I just think you have been so many times you know exactly what you like and what works for your family...and good for you!!! Before long, those folks on the other end of the line at 407-WDisney are going to just give you a direct line to call!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Holy ADR changes! You must be really organized. I'd probably loose track of what I had and didn't have if I did that.

Thanks for the tip on 192. We'll definitely do that this year, and then we can avoid the tolls. We do take I-75 through Florida (and most of Georgia), so that should work out well!

We're trying T-Rex this year for our first dinner since we won't go to a park on our first afternoon. Your pictures make it look like such a cool place, I think my girls will love it! I also called for that ressie and had no problem getting the time I wanted.

The Hoop De Do Revue looks fun. One of these years we'll make it there.

Taking 192 won't add that much time to your driving and you'll get to see some of the orange groves and quirky stuff.

I had no problem at all getting a reservation at T-Rex when I called. Like you, I got my chosen time.

It took us a few years before we tried HDDR but we loved it when we did. This will be our third or fourth time going.

Oh boy~ there are a lot of you folks with ADRSA...ADR Switch-a-roo Addiction...on these threads! I have read some PTR's that just left my head spinning.

And then there are those that plan EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND of each day they are there. I used to think I could do the same thing...until I actually visited the parks for the first time.

I just think you have been so many times you know exactly what you like and what works for your family...and good for you!!! Before long, those folks on the other end of the line at 407-WDisney are going to just give you a direct line to call!

Oh yeah, I've got the ADRSA! That's for darn sure!

I don't go so far as planning every single minute but I do like to kinda sorta have a plan. At least know where we are going to be on what way.

Boy what I wouldn't give for a direct line to call!

 

[MaryAz]

CBR holds a special place in my hear since it is where we stayed on our first trip

Lets see from my house to Disney it is approx 2, 130 miles. Yep that's why we fly. And pay a million dollars. Was so much cheaper just a few years ago...

Beaches and Cream is very yummy. So is Boma and AKL is one of my favorite places on the planet.

 

[mickeystoontown]

What was I thinking when I had us going here on day 5? Time to change up the plans!

In the past, we have been to Star Wars Weekends and it was busy. Too busy for our liking but Hunter was into Star Wars and wanted to meet the celebrities so he and I got up quite early and stood in line to get ticket/passes to see certain people. To me, personally, it was a pain in the rear end. To me, as the Mama, it was worth it to see the look on Hunter’s face when he got to meet the celebrities. However, this trip, I really wanted to avoid Hollywood Studios on Star Wars Weekends if at all possible.

Other than avoiding Hollywood Studios, I kind of just wrote down plans willy-nilly since the May park hours hadn’t been released yet. Over the years, we have come to realize that we need days that we don’t have anything, or much of anything, planned. Everybody can catch up on their beauty rest and get re-energized. John especially. If he gets too tired and worn out, his facial twitches will increase which is definitely not a good thing.

So, I slapped together the plans, keeping in mind the fact that we had no tickets on the first day and a half since we were on Disney’s nickel. I worked in the “down days” in between park and water park days. And, I was done. Or, so I thought.

I looked at the plans and realized that we wouldn’t be going to the Magic Kingdom until day 5 of our trip. What the world was I thinking? I can’t be in Walt Disney World and not go to the Magic Kingdom until day 5! Time to change up the plans!

Changing up the park and down day plans also meant changing ADRs.

Park hours came out and a few adjustments were made.

Lacey and Jesse had to cancel their portion of the trip. Changes to both park plans and to ADRs were made. (They weren’t staying as long as we were and they wanted to hit up the four parks while they were there which meant not much down time.)

I don’t remember what day it was that I could begin making our Fastpass+ but I made them on that first day. I was quite pleased with myself and thought that the times that I had chosen were quite good.

On April 6, 2014, I took out my trusty notebook once again and handwrote every days’ plans. That’s when I realized that I had made every single FP+ for morning times. Initially, I thought that would be great. But, after thinking about it, it didn’t seem so great. The afternoon lines were always the busiest (granted, we haven’t been since the FP+ implementation so I don’t know how it effects the lines). I mentioned this to John who agreed that I should try and change some of the FP+ to afternoons and we’d see and do all that we could as soon as we arrived in the parks.

I also had to keep in mind that now that I had snagged Stacy’s Wishes Dessert Party reservations (which is a surprise for John and Hunter), I couldn’t let on why we weren’t doing anything other than eating an earlier dinner at Kona. I had to work around the surprise.

Sooooooo, long story long (not short since I can’t say anything in a short and timely manner), I moved around some of the park days, dining times and FP+ times.

Now, I can finally get around to talk about what we are doing on our first park day which is May 26th. We are headed to the Magic Kingdom!

Our FP+ the day are:
Pirates of the Caribbean: 9:35 to 10:35 a.m.
Big Thunder Mountain: 10:35 to 11:35 a.m.
Space Mountain: 3:20 to 4:20 p.m.

I was also able to make a lunch time ADR at Be Our Guest from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. I had a dinner ADR there but gave it up in favor of lunch since it would work better with our schedule and the food at lunch appealed to use more than the dinner menu.

Dinner will be at Planet Hollywood at 8:30 p.m. I have two different meals that are two table service credits so we are paying out of pocket for a couple of meals. One of those is our dinner at Planet Hollywood. At least we’ll be able to use our $15.00 voucher that comes with our package.

As I said, I have no idea how the new FP+ system has effected the stand-by lines but hope that they won’t be too bad and we can see and do other things. I would like to do everything in Adventureland and Frontierland for sure. We do have a FP+ for the Jungle Cruise on another Magic Kingdom day but it’s very possible that we won’t have time to use it. So, if we can work it into this day’s plans, we will.

It may or may not be possible. John has no desire to “get my butt wet” on Splash Mountain and then “walk around in droopy drawers”. He’s quite the man with words. We’ll see what happens and play that by ear. He may or may not be walking around with a wet butt and droopy drawers.

Our last FP+ for the day is in Tomorrowland. Depending on how long the wait times are, we may have time to see some of the attractions before using our Fastpass. If not, we’ll ride Space Mountain (we’ll have to see if John will ride since he says that it hurts his back) and then leave the park to get ready to head to Downtown Disney.

**Up next: This whole tier thing sucks! I’m not changing these plans even if you threaten to shoot me.

 

[mickeystoontown]

CBR holds a special place in my hear since it is where we stayed on our first trip

Lets see from my house to Disney it is approx 2, 130 miles. Yep that's why we fly. And pay a million dollars. Was so much cheaper just a few years ago...

Beaches and Cream is very yummy. So is Boma and AKL is one of my favorite places on the planet.

Oh my word Mary! I never realized that you lived soooooo far away from Disney. I can certainly see why you'd fly.

I wish that I could talk John into staying at AKL. I'm hoping that he'll change his mind once we walk around a bit more.

 

[melnbil]

Great updates! You sound like me with the ADR switching, but I got you beat... I have 130 e-mails with ressies and cancellations!! John with Splash Mountain reminds me of my husband. Our FP+ is at 7:15, then as soon as we ride, we have to leave cause he "ain't walkin around with wet drawers and shoes." I can't believe we are getting so close! Enjoying the plans so far.

 

[2jboysmom]

Joining in on the fun! Loved stalking your last TR, so this time I will not be so shy!

 

[hhockman]

Okay, 1. I'm here and following. I don't think I've even BEEN to the Dis in like three or four years (which means my signature will be horribly outdated), but I downloaded the app so I can keep up because...

2. We're staying at CBR too and even though I've stayed there once it was a LONG time ago...before my kids were born. Which, of course, means my kids have never stayed there. Everyone else is staying at WL, but I can't afford that, so oh well. So I'm looking forward to seeing your stuff and getting tips.

3. Hunter is SEVENTEEN?!!! WHAT?!!!

4. What is the Wishes Dessert Party and what is the new ADR cancellation policy? All of the ADRs are in my name and have anywhere from 7-9 people so if stuff needs to be fixed I need to fix it now.

5. Give me the link to your eBay site. I always buy the backpacks when I get there with the current year on them, but I've realized when the next year comes I don't want to use them because they're outdated so that's a waste of money. I'll stick to just the dated scrapbook from now on. I'm not positive I'll buy on of yours but I'd like to look. If you can't post it here then you can message me on Facebook. K, I guess that's it...for now...

 

[jenseib]

Wow!!! Thats one heck of a lot of changes!
I am not a fan of the FP+ at all and it does seem to be affecting lines, sadly.

 

[pktbMouse]

May 26th your first day in the park is Memorial Day! your a brave soul lol Have you been on this day before?? is it not as bad as they say? just wondering as we planned this intentionally as a "quiet" day because of this..hmm