January 2009. . . Calling all Snowbirds ~ Part V

[MelXThree]

How did you like CBR? Where was your room?

I was in Barbados and it was a really good location - I had asked for Jamacia or Aruba but was happy with where they put me

The grounds are beautiful and the pools are great! but the mousekeeping - well SUCKED! The first night we went to pull the blanket back to put the kids to bed and there were muddy foot prints on the sheets, the mirror looked like it had never been cleaned. Most days the garbages were not emptied so by the end of our stay we had garbage all over the bathroom floor - we ate breakfast in the room so we had bannana peels, cereal, ect.

Also the bed are just too small

There were some goo things: The food court was great! All the CM's at the hotel was amazing! The buses were SO SO SO good. (that was the one this I was really worried about) NEVER waited more than 5 mins.

All in all I don't think I would stay there again, mostly because of the beds but It wasn't to bad

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I was in Barbados and it was a really good location - I had asked for Jamacia or Aruba but was happy with where they put me

The grounds are beautiful and the pools are great! but the mousekeeping - well SUCKED! The first night we went to pull the blanket back to put the kids to bed and there were muddy foot prints on the sheets, the mirror looked like it had never been cleaned. Most days the garbages were not emptied so by the end of our stay we had garbage all over the bathroom floor - we ate breakfast in the room so we had bannana peels, cereal, ect.

Also the bed are just too small

There were some goo things: The food court was great! All the CM's at the hotel was amazing! The buses were SO SO SO good. (that was the one this I was really worried about) NEVER waited more than 5 mins.

All in all I don't think I would stay there again, mostly because of the beds but It wasn't to bad

Glad you enjoyed CBR, other than the mousekeeping issues. . . I hoped you complained and got it taken care of!

We had great mousekeeping. But we only had them come in twice during the whole week. After reading so many things on the DIS about doors being left open and germs and so on (at all WDW resorts) we thought the less people in the room the better.

The beds are full size, not queen if that's what you are used to. The kids slept on an air mattress so DH and I each had our own bed!

Yes the new pool is fabulous!

How about them buses??? That was amazing!! We've never experienced such excellent bus service! We had one morning we had a long wait for the Epcot bus, but other than that just like you said 5 minutes or less!

 

[pamouselover]

Hello snowfriends!
I assume everyone's snow is slowly melting like ours here!
Welcome home snowbirds, returning from WDW.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

 

[debbieandroo]

Yes, absolutely you at least need to start planning your next trip!

If Mama Snowbird says I should, then it's a go! Thanks, Mama S!

I'm glad that you seem okay. Perhaps not perfect, but okay! And I'm glad you had a great trip!!



See, in 2005, we went the same week. Place was much MUCH busier (with the exception of restaurants!) the whole week, no matter where we were. However, in 2005, we never waited for anything. There were also no tour groups. If a wait said 20, you could expect 10 minutes, not 60+

I'm mostly disappointed in how poorly managed the advertised waits were! Otherwise, I've been there when it's more crowded and worse weather!

We noticed that, if the wait was listed as 10 minutes, we generally waited 20-25. If the wait was listed as 30-45, the actual wait was also 20-25 minutes. Go figure....

Hey all - So sorry about the sicknesses and car accident. Yowza... Laura - so glad you're okay!!!

We're getting settled back at home - just started my trip report - would love if someone would share how to make the hyperlink for the trip report in my siggie...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2075477

How 'bout that snow when you came back home? Or was it melted already? We had a teacher with us who could only take a couple of days off so he went back on Monday only to get Wednesday off as a snow day - bummer.

And I'd like to know that hyperlink thing too. Can't wait to read everyone's TR!

Hey, did any rides break down on y'all? We were on Splash Mountain when it broke down, waited for 30-45 minutes before being evacuated and never got to ride it [this was our last day and it was out of commission the rest of the day]. Some of us were waiting for Space Mountain and, just as our group was about to get on, the ride broke down and stayed that way for the rest of the day. TTA pooped out for a little while but started running again in time for me to ride it a second time [I do like that one a lot - so futuristic/retro, all at the same time]. The Carousel of Progress broke down so I got to hear the 'It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow' loop several times as well as that first segment. It was revived so I did get to see the end but not before that song was permanently implanted in my head. One of our group was riding the monorail and a car broke down ahead of him - he spent 45 minutes bonding with a Spanish family while they fixed it. All in all, just part of the adventure - I'm just glad we didn't break down upside down on the RNRC or in the ToT elevator -

I think my trip caught up with me today - my day off from work and all I've done is make Mickey pancakes, DIS, and watch one of the WDW programs I had recorded a while back. Now, it's time for a nap!

 

[debbieandroo]

I don't know what Sharadoc's experience was but we loved the All-Star Music Family Suites. They were much larger than we had expected and the front desk provided us an extra rollaway bed so that we each could have our own bed. Everything smelled clean and Mousekeeping came every day, as far as we could tell. It was quiet in our area, too.

I'm sorry to hear about the CBR's beds. I would have loved to do more resort-hopping but time got away from us. We did visit Wilderness Lodge, the Contemporary and Grand Floridian - gorgeous!

 

[debbieandroo]

One thing was odd - we did want to do a photopass. Because there were several of us, we could split the cost fairly reasonably. I had read that it would be a good idea to wait to 'pre-purchase' the photopass after the trip in case you didn't like your pictures. So we went that route and it was a good thing we did - we rarely saw a photopass photographer, perhaps only a handful of times. Wouldn't that have been a ripoff?

Did y'all feel like you used your photopass?

 

[trixiequilts]

I was very surprised by the lack of Photopass photographers. I guess I wrongly assumed they would be ALL over the place. I'm entering my numbers tonight, so we'll see what we get!

 

[crzyred]

Hey, did any rides break down on y'all?

Expedition Everest! We were almost done with the ride. After the big drop, then you circle around a few times, go inside then come out again. That's where we stopped, just before you go inside and see the Yeti. We could hear the other "trains" still going though scared: ) but I figured they couldn't stop them in the middle of the drop . We sat there for probably about 5 minutes. Then when we started going, we went around the corner very slowly, which really just ruins the "mood" of seeing the Yeti. You don't realize how tilted they have to have the track when you're going so fast, but you're basically sideways.

 

[MelXThree]

One thing was odd - we did want to do a photopass. Because there were several of us, we could split the cost fairly reasonably. I had read that it would be a good idea to wait to 'pre-purchase' the photopass after the trip in case you didn't like your pictures. So we went that route and it was a good thing we did - we rarely saw a photopass photographer, perhaps only a handful of times. Wouldn't that have been a ripoff?

Did y'all feel like you used your photopass?

I was very surprised by the lack of Photopass photographers. I guess I wrongly assumed they would be ALL over the place. I'm entering my numbers tonight, so we'll see what we get!

I saw photopass photographers EVERYWHERE! We got over 100 photos (without editing) and I felt like I wasn't doing enough!

 

[MelXThree]

Hey, did any rides break down on y'all?

Test Track broke down when we were in the cold room It started back up in about 5 mins but it could have broke down anywhere else in the ride and it would hav ebeen much better

 

[Fire14]

I was very surprised by the lack of Photopass photographers. I guess I wrongly assumed they would be ALL over the place. I'm entering my numbers tonight, so we'll see what we get!

Dh and I did the photopass thing. I had 249 Photos and as I'm doing edits and stuff and already up to 320 and I've barely scratched surface. I also know we didn't do a lot of magical shots we usually do.

 

[Fire14]

One cute thing I've been doing on photpass edits is turning pic B+W and than adding border which remains in color, so you end up with B+w photo and colored border.

 

[jenjolt]

I ended up with 291 pictures from Photopass and a ride only stopped twice for me one was SpaceShip Earth in the DARK which was kind of scary and once was on Haunted Mansion in the DARK which was just cool LOL!!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Test Track broke down when we were in the cold room It started back up in about 5 mins but it could have broke down anywhere else in the ride and it would hav ebeen much better

When was that? It broke down on us Monday. We were in the robot room. I remember thinking that I was glad we weren't in the cold room.

Buzzlightyear broke down on us too. But that's nothing new, it always breaks down on us!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

If Mama Snowbird says I should, then it's a go! Thanks, Mama S!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

We noticed that, if the wait was listed as 10 minutes, we generally waited 20-25. If the wait was listed as 30-45, the actual wait was also 20-25 minutes. Go figure....

Yes, this happened to us often too. It was very frustrating. Test Track said 30 minutes when it was actually 65 minutes. I wasn't happy!

Then when we used fastpasses for TT again later we still waited 20-25 minutes.

I'm not sure what the deal was with the times being off. We have never had that happen before. Usually they are right on or even less than the stated wait time.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I'm not sure how many photopass pictures we had taken. It's not my day to upload in the share yet. I would say between 100-150 or something like that if I had to guess.

We didn't have any trouble finding the photopass photographers. But it was our fourth trip since 2005 so we knew right where to look! And you have to approach them, they won't approach you.

 

[pamouselover]

One thing was odd - we did want to do a photopass. Because there were several of us, we could split the cost fairly reasonably. I had read that it would be a good idea to wait to 'pre-purchase' the photopass after the trip in case you didn't like your pictures. So we went that route and it was a good thing we did - we rarely saw a photopass photographer, perhaps only a handful of times. Wouldn't that have been a ripoff?

Did y'all feel like you used your photopass?

If I paid the whole amount and did not go in on a share YES!
I have a couple that are good,but the majority is either blurry or someone's eyes are shut.

I was very surprised by the lack of Photopass photographers. I guess I wrongly assumed they would be ALL over the place. I'm entering my numbers tonight, so we'll see what we get!

I also agree! The main ones like castle,tree at Ak, SSE at epcot, but most of the places I had a list of no one was there.
Also I had to beg the CM to do a magic picture for me. Guess what it was not the one I asked him to do either.

One cute thing I've been doing on photpass edits is turning pic B+W and than adding border which remains in color, so you end up with B+w photo and colored border.

I like that also. I am a big fan of B/W photos.
Snapfish has great things I like for borders.

I ended up with 291 pictures from Photopass and a ride only stopped twice for me one was SpaceShip Earth in the DARK which was kind of scary and once was on Haunted Mansion in the DARK which was just cool LOL!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

HEY SNOWBIRD FRIENDS!

We are finally home! We had an amazing trip! So many amazing and magical things happened on our trip! I can't wait to tell you all about it! I will hopefully be on tomorrow - so much unpacking and laundry to do!

 

[pamouselover]

HEY SNOWBIRD FRIENDS!

We are finally home! We had an amazing trip! So many amazing and magical things happened on our trip! I can't wait to tell you all about it! I will hopefully be on tomorrow - so much unpacking and laundry to do!

Welcome back to the real world!