Four Brits hit the world the TR! ~~~Completed 28/11~~~

[DisneyJo]

Now we were meant to be meeting quite a lot of other DISers on the beach to watch wishes and we were late. We made it down the stairs but OMG it was still pouring so whilst LL and V went for a quick smoke T, S’Late and I lingered in the lobby bit. At this point T decides if she has anymore Lapu she would definitely keel over so she ummm watered the plants with it and swore me to secrecy which I totally kept till she blabbed on her TR

I then hear a lovely English accent asking if I was DisneyJo and it was Claire (Fizz13) she was also with Michelle and Carly who had come to watch the fireworks, unfortunately Carly was feeling really unwell so they couldn’t stay It was really nice meeting you girls even though it was very brief and I hope Carly soon felt better! I had to get Claire to meet LL though as they had become quite friendly on LL’s TR so we braved it outside and took these!

It was still chucking it down so we just stood and chatted undercover near some stairs, again I really can’t remember what we talked about but just remember lots of laughter especially when a little frog decided to go in the Poly via the automatic doors. At some point David and the girls joined us, I assume they’d gotten fed up playing their DS’s, again there was much laughter mainly about the men’s golf that morning oh and I’m sure a certain DISer (LL) was flirting with my hubbie She kept doing something very strange with her straw LY/MI LL

All of a sudden we hear loud boom’s, Wishes had started and without us realising the rain had stopped too, we dashed to the beach and watched

Before long it was time for the party to end, we saw a boat about to leave for the MK and jumped on after lots of hugs goodbye. It was a beautiful ride and we had to stop for this to pass!

It was so neat to watch the water parade, especially out on the water with the boat to ourselves, Jess did freak a bit when we stopped and were just bobbing up and down though, I think tiredness was getting to her!

We hopped on a bus to CSR and were soon home and more than ready for our beds!


Endnote……

It was so great to meet up with such wonderful people it was so great that 5 strangers, who had only communicated via the web, just acted like long lost friends, I’m so pleased we arranged this meet and I can’t wait till August for the reunion with the chance to meet lots more of you too And you all needn’t have worried about me remembering outrageous stuff you’d done because I think you all remembered more than me

 

[natalielongstaff]

great report Jo .......sounds like you had a great meet

 

[KayleeUK]

Wow what a brilliant meet Jo

Shame you missed out on the Lapu Lapu I am sure you will do them proud next year

 

[Fiona R]

More fantastic reports Jo. It's great meeting up with fellow DISers, my family think I'm odd too!! I can't believe you were nearly chucked out of the Poly, gosh no sense of humour there but what a great way to treat you!!

Keep eating, keep drinking, keep on at those little white balls and keep telling the tales!! I must admit to sneaky peeking on the main TR boards, but it's so hard to keep up with all your mates' and their comments that it's easier to read and comment on the homegrown board.

 

[arieljasmine]

A great meet, Jo, sounds like you had a crazy good time.

Laur's

 

[DisneyJo]

great report Jo .......sounds like you had a great meet

we had a great time thanks Nat

Wow what a brilliant meet Jo

Shame you missed out on the Lapu Lapu I am sure you will do them proud next year

Yep I was a real light weight, at least I could remember all the fun though

More fantastic reports Jo. It's great meeting up with fellow DISers, my family think I'm odd too!! I can't believe you were nearly chucked out of the Poly, gosh no sense of humour there but what a great way to treat you!!

Keep eating, keep drinking, keep on at those little white balls and keep telling the tales!! I must admit to sneaky peeking on the main TR boards, but it's so hard to keep up with all your mates' and their comments that it's easier to read and comment on the homegrown board.

Thanks Fiona, I still can't believe the Poly ran out of pineapples Feel free to come and chat with all those crazy Americans at TFW chat the links in my siggie

A great meet, Jo, sounds like you had a crazy good time.

Laur's

Thanks Laur's we did have a great time and next years is going to be even bigger and better

 

[DisneyJo]

Today was meant to be a nice lazy day, catching up on our favourite rides at Epcot before meeting S’Late and her family for a meal at MGM. That was until we decided to meet T, LL and V at MK for LOEMH at *gasp* 8am

We struggled to wake up but the girls had really fallen in love with T’s DD Maddie and so wanted to see her one more time, so they were up and ready before me today!!!

We missed the 8am opening but only by 5 minutes so not too bad, as we wandered down Main Street we saw T’s parents TE and Waldo trying to get into the Main Street Bakery, it was closed though and the whole of Main Street could hear them rattling the doors

I thought our best bet of finding T and family was to check out Dumbo and I was right and they were already flying!

The girls soon got reacquainted and found some characters.

The LOEMH’s were really great the characters were out in force playing games with all the kids, mine didn’t join in though as I told them it was for the little ones!

Sometime around now T got a call to say that V and LL had arrived, I was really surprised to see that LL’s DH and DS weren’t there, apparently they were still asleep!!!!

We now hit a couple of rides, Pooh first followed by PP, it was so sweet as on both rides the 3 girls rode together, Jess and Ellie sandwiching Maddie in the middle of them

After PP we asked Evan if he wanted to chose a ride, big mistake, he dragged us all on IASW I think this was where Leo decided he wanted to do SW so we split up for a while. This time Jess and Maddies sat together.

So cute!

It was now nearing 9am and we desperately wanted to get some more rides on TT done as today was our last park day, so after lots of hugs we said goodbye to the DisneyLandMama family vowing we would meet again. T phoned LL to find they were on IASW so we waited a few minutes so we could say bye to them too.

We agreed to meet up again in August 09!!!!!

We made our way out of MK and you know what we weren’t sad at all, we had spent so much time here in the last 2 weeks, had many happy memories and we knew we’d be back one day, plus Epcot was calling


Upon leaving the MK we caught the monorail to the TTC then to Epcot, we just managed jump on one that was about to leave so we were at Epcot pretty quickly.

First stop was to get TT FP’s we then asked the girls if they were happy to do the single rider line, which they were, so within a few minutes we were at the front of the queue. The CM working here was a complete pain in the neck though, he deliberately split the single riders into completely different cars, I know, I know it was a single rider line and in no way did we expect to sit together but when there are 4 of you you expect to have at least 2 of you in the same car. He purposely put people the furthest cars away from each other Oh well it didn’t matter we had loads of fun as usual although you can’t be silly when there are others in the car can you

We headed over to Soarin and the FP time was already too late in the day for us so we jumped into the normal line, it was actually pretty fun playing the games and only took 20 minutes. Today’s ride was slightly different though as we all noticed the smells were a bit off, the pine forest smelt of orange and visa versa We still loved it though

Off back to TT and this time all together On the way out we let the girls explore the cars a bit, the American cars are quite different to ours, for a start they’re much larger!!!!


On our way out I spotted Elton, yeah I know Elton Now if it wasn’t for my American DIS friends I would never have know who he was and for those of you that don’t he’s the Dream Team CM who is on the US adverts. Well he was escorting some lucky guests into TT via the back door, wonder if that was all they won or if it was part of a big prize

We grabbed a bite to eat at EU, I think we had the normal chicken strips and burgers to share, MouseGear was just opposite and we still had my nephew to buy for so in we went. After lots of browsing we bought Oliver a lovely cuddly Mickey Mouse and a MM plate and cutlery set. The girls bought a few bits and I treated myself to 2 fridge magnets, yep I pushed the boat out didn’t I?

The time had come to leave Epcot for the final time, but honestly there were no tears, I really think having the 2 weeks there and knowing we will definitely be back stops you from being upset, or maybe I’m just hard and have no feelings

 

[DisneyJo]

A long swim and laundry was what was planned for this afternoon, I know we’re going home tomorrow but I worked out that to get the laundry done now would save so much work once home also it really didn’t cost very much!

The girls went off to refill the mugs whilst David and I chilled (Oh and did laundry ) in the pool. Now the most bizarre thing happened, a man probably about 60 walked up to the pool, he had obviously just arrived, well he started doing handstands at the side of the pool, he must have decided he didn’t like that area so went to a grassy area the other side of the pool and did a few handstands again. He then flipped over into the crab position and stayed like that for ages David and I just kept looking at each other trying not to laugh too much. Well it didn’t stop there, the man moved to the pool, he was still dressed in normal shorts not swim ones and didn’t have a towel, he stood right on the edge of the pool backwards and did a back flip So much for the no diving signs, I suppose it didn’t say anything about back flips He repeated this about 3 or 4 times before shaking himself off and leaving!!!! Literally a few minutes later the girls returned with the mugs and they really didn’t believe us

We had a lovely lazy couple of hours swimming and playing, fitting in the laundry too! At one point I took a load of laundry back to the room and totally went to the wrong room, I only went up one flight of stairs instead of 2, I wondered why my key wouldn’t work

All rested we showered and we were soon off to MGM, this time though we made sure we’d packed the ponchos!!!! We had an ADR at 50’s PT and were meeting S’Late and her family, we were originally booked at Teppanyaki which was still shut so we were lucky to get this although we were now a table for 4 and a table for 5 we hoped we’d be able to dine together!

We were pretty early arriving so tried again for the GMR but once again the queue was just way too long, we obviously weren’t meant to ride it this trip! So what to do, what to do? Oh why don’t we just do a bit more browsing, as we wandered, buying a few golfing bits, the girls were asked if they’d like to be princesses for the day, they got to write a note to their favourite princess and got stickers and a cardboard crown

It was nearly time for our ADR so we made our way to 50’s and checked in well half checked in anyway, S’Late wasn’t there yet and the place was packed so we just kind of hung around, this place really does look like the old US comedies I used to watch as a kid, so cool!

A little while later S’Late her DH and children turn up and we get shown to our table which was for 9 They’d managed to sit us all together Our waitress was nice, not too strict which actually was pretty good, well I thought so anyway!

I ordered the strawberry milkshake which was absolutely gorgeous, so thick and really yummy, it was huge too. For appetiser I had the onion rings which were enormous but I did get some help eating them For main course I ordered the pot roast, this was the first time I’d ever had it and OMG the meat was beautiful so tender but the veggies on top were so hard

At some point during the meal poor Jess spilt her drink and she was actually terrified of being told off that she switched seats with David, now she loved the idea of 50’s and didn’t mind deliberately getting told off actually being told off was another matter!

Us adults hadn’t finished all our meals (well they were huge) so when our waitress saw she fed us It was funny though, David was first and she even made the choo choo noises then S’Late’s turn followed by me. She really loaded the fork up including those yucky veg But it was all good fun.

The dessert menu here is in a viewfinder, you know those toy camera’s that you hold up to the light which we had as kids. I chose the angel cake, again never had it, and it was nice but I was so stuffed with the other courses that I didn’t eat much.

During the meal S’Late’s DD and Ellie became firm friends she even gave Ell’s a bracelet, which I think she’d made, poor old Jess got stuck with the boys though and I think she thought they were a bit too silly for her, boys hey, hope she stays that way for a while yet I think we were a bit of a disappointment to S’Late’s DH as we weren’t into Star Trek and Monty Python but we found other things to chat about!

The heavens had opened again but we were prepared and after lots of hugs we braved the rain and found the bus home, we had been so lucky with the weather this trip but it was still a bit sad leaving our final park on our final day dodging the puddles!

 

[Fiona R]

Three parks in a day, quite impressive!! I have read so many Sci fi Diner reports now, but it still doesn't appeal, really must be brave and try it!

...and it's far less depressing to go home with clean washing, especially in the winter when we have been! Nothing worse than shorts hung on the radiators when it's piddling down and dark outside!!

Shame your holiday is nearly over, no more trippies for a bit!

 

[arieljasmine]

Great, busy day. I love the idea of the theming of the 50s Prime Time, but that sort of "entertainment" terrifies me We always try to cram in three parks on our last day. But opposite to you I always cry - a lot!

Laur's

 

[fizz13]

Hi Jo, finally took the time to get caught up on all your adventures What a fantastic time you've had with all the DISers, and I think you all had a blast. Shame I'm grinning like a cheshire cat in my piccie but I was very excited to meet you all. btw the pot roast is my fav entree in all of wdw, glad you liked it, sadly i quite like those veggies on top too Will have to pop over and say hi to the others on the thread soon.

 

[Chilly]

I loved the pot roast as well.

What a great Dis Meet you had, it sounded like a lot of fun.

 

[DisneyJo]

Three parks in a day, quite impressive!! I have read so many Sci fi Diner reports now, but it still doesn't appeal, really must be brave and try it!

...and it's far less depressing to go home with clean washing, especially in the winter when we have been! Nothing worse than shorts hung on the radiators when it's piddling down and dark outside!!

Shame your holiday is nearly over, no more trippies for a bit!

Fiona we went to 50's Prime Time not SciFi (I want to try that next time though!) and the food was nice, I was wary about going as I wasn't sure about the humour but it was all good fun!

Oh doing the washing was a great idea, for about £2 I went home with tons of clean clothes

Thanks for reading

Great, busy day. I love the idea of the theming of the 50s Prime Time, but that sort of "entertainment" terrifies me We always try to cram in three parks on our last day. But opposite to you I always cry - a lot!

Laur's

Thanks so much for reading Laur's and 50's terrified me too but it was all good fun

Hi Jo, finally took the time to get caught up on all your adventures What a fantastic time you've had with all the DISers, and I think you all had a blast. Shame I'm grinning like a cheshire cat in my piccie but I was very excited to meet you all. btw the pot roast is my fav entree in all of wdw, glad you liked it, sadly i quite like those veggies on top too Will have to pop over and say hi to the others on the thread soon.

It was great to meat you too Claire even though it was briefly adnd you don't look like a Cheshire cat at all you look lovely. You must come and say Hi

I loved the pot roast as well.

What a great Dis Meet you had, it sounded like a lot of fun.

The pot roast is delicious isn't it and obviously very popular with us Brits

I did have a great DIS meet well several they're so much fun

 

[DisneyJo]

Today is going home day, we or should I say I did most of the packing yesterday and it sure was a struggle, we had an extra case with us and I really didn’t think we’d bought that much but we only just fitted it all in Next time we take 2 extra bags

We weren’t catching the ME till about 1.30pm but with a long flight ahead of us really didn’t want to go to a park and get all hot and sticky again. Mousekeeping had allowed us to have our room till 12pm so we went swimming, well except David who decided to nip to DTD to see if they had his cap yet, ummmm no they didn’t!!!!!!!!

The girls and I had a lovely swim I the quiet pool and for about an hour had the pool to ourselves

The girls started having handstand competitions to see who could stay up the longest and I was the official judge, they both won some and both lost some, phew that was lucky

Whilst the girls were doing this, it did go on for a while, a lady and her DD were also swimming and the Mum said for her DD to try, she was about the age of my 2 but bless her just couldn’t get her legs up so her Mum decided to show her how to do it, you’ve never seen legs flailing all over the place in all your life it was so funny, well me being non-competitive had to do my handstand and ummm got to about 40 seconds, she wasn’t impressed

It got to about 11.30am and we decided we’d better go get showered and pack the last few things before calling to get our bags taken down.

We went and had our final Disney meal and as we had a couple of CS credits left I asked the CM if we could have some rice crispy treats instead, well she gave me 9 they totally filled my bag up and I daren’t show David We used our final few SC’s in the shop on some chips and cookies and left our refillable mugs on top of a garbage can, we didn’t have room for them in our luggage, wouldn’t use them at home and knew we wouldn’t return to use them again!!!!

We still had a while before our bus so we found a nice bench near the convention centre, sat the girls on the carpet and played go fish, lots of people smiled at us as they went past, they either thought aww cute or weird English people

Pretty uneventful trip home, we spent several hours at MCO playing more cards and browsing the shops. Our plane on the way home was called Jersey Girl and poor old David didn’t have a working TV neither did the 3 people the other side of me and all they got was £25 ($50) worth of duty free He wasn’t too bothered though and we arrived back to Gatwick near enough on time. Our taxi was there to meet us and we were soon home!!!!



Thoughts on CSR.

CSR is a very beautiful resort and not as big as I was expecting, we were one of the furthest away but were still within a 5 minute walk of the main building.

The dig site pool was nice, not as good as I was expecting though, I always like to have quiet pools as you often have them to yourself!

CSR is a convention hotel and this really didn’t bother us, our first week it was the gospel workshop of America (or something like that) and it was actually quite nice as they often sung on the buses and were really happy. The second week was some irrigation convention but we never saw them and the last few days was an insurance company who had obviously paid for the whole family to come, as there were a lot of families with balloons etc.

Buses, these were on the whole great, they were never crowded and the CSR bus stops were never that far away at all the parks. Maybe because it is a convention centre less people use the buses which made them less crowded

Pepper Market I really didn’t like it and if I wasn’t on the DDP would have not wanted to tip the staff as they hardly did anything, the few times we did eat there the food was good but very slow and the girls had often finished their meal before we even got ours. Also all the CM’s seemed to tell you different things about what was and wasn’t included on the plan!

Saying all that we did enjoy our stay there but personally we preferred POR where we’re staying next year!


Final thoughts.

This was an amazing holiday; I was worried the magic would be less as it was our second trip (yes I know it was my 6th so I should have known that it wouldn’t!!!!) but I think it was actually more, phew

All the planning paid off and we rarely waited in any queues, we really learnt how to play the FP system, always making sure we got a new FP before we used the current one, also many times we used them late and the CM’s always told us we could!

To actually meet up with people I’d chatted to on the DIS was fantastic it was like meeting long lost friends rather than brand new ones. Our meets were great fun and I can’t wait to do it all again next year and meet even more of you.

Even though we were there for 2 weeks and packed loads in we still missed so much, some on purpose some not, we never did get to see the HSM show or the GMR and I still think there’s loads more to explore in WS oh and I’m sure we could have gotten another ride on TT to make it up to 15 rides

When we got home we decided to go back in 2 years time and to do a cheaper holiday summer 2008 well a few weeks later David told me to book WDW I didn’t need asking twice so we’re staying at POR from 14th to 28th August with free dining again And the big DIS meet is already arranged for the weekend around the 24th, WDW had better watch out

 

[natalielongstaff]

oh I can't beleive your trippie is over !! its been a great read, im so pleased you had such a great time

 

[arieljasmine]

Thanks so much for sharing your reports with us, Jo, I have loved reading them. We were not overkeen on CSR when we stayed there, so it was interesting to see what you guys thought. I did see an armadillo there one night though, and I haven't seen one anywhere else! Happy next trip planning

Laur's

 

[BRobson]

Thanks for a great trippie Jo There are some lovely photos of your family - roll on next year eh

 

[Fiona R]

Great reads Jo (and I am mortified I have mixed up Sci Fi and 50s Prime Time, never been to either, and neither appeal. But I should know better!)

Your thoughts on CSR were exactly ours, and when you return to POR it is even nicer than you remembered!!

Lucky you going again for free dining, yum yum!!

 

[DisneyJo]

Thank you all so much for reading and your kind comments

 

[Chilly]

Great trip report and lucky you going back next year, have fun planning!