Juan says "BAAAA!" - 12/24 - Our last few Disney hours. COMPLETE

[brookelizabeth]

Can't wait to read more!

Hey there!! I hope to get more posted tonight yet. Still working on getting the pics uploaded and all that.

Yeah! You started already. Your reports are always a favorite in our house because Liam loves the pictures of Henry.

PS thanks for all the food porn, especially the dessert party!

Aw! That's so sweet!!!!! Hi Liam!! Henry likes to see pics of other DIS kids too.

No prob on the food! I generally wait until I'm posting about that meal on my TR, but I was so tired that night and I just wanted to post something, itching to share my trip a bit! So food it was! There is a bit more beyond that, but the pics aren't uploaded yet. The dessert party was worth every single penny!

I can't believe how much Henry's hair has grown!

Can't wait for you to get started.

Isn't he just SHAGGY? It was really cute sometimes-that shaggy boy hair, but just awful other times. There is a hair cut in this report....

Hi, Brook. I'm here for the trip report (read your review of CSR--thanks for posting!).

Hi Kathy! Thanks for reading! Your welcome on the review. I will have more detail here, along with the pics - I'll also put the pics on the CSR thread. I LOVED taking pictures all over that resort. Absolutely gorgeous!

I'm here too, Brook!

Hello there!!! Thanks for joining up!!

I'm here! Can't wait to read all about your trips and fill in the blanks between "tweets".

Thanks for reading! I'll have quite a bit of extra stuff beyond the tweets - plus the pictures are always more fun!

My goodness! Henry is such a big boy with all of that new hair Can't wait to hear more!

Isn't his hair craZy?! I felt bad because it made him soooo much hotter. Just wait until mid-trip!

Yipppeeeee!!!! I'm super excited to hear all about trip!! Henry looks too cute playing with his favorite light spin!!! Can't wait for more

Thanks for joining in!! I am going to try to get a bit more posted here and at least get us to CSR. I can't wait to share some of my favorite Henry moments...

I am here as well! Intriguing title, is Baaa what a sheep says? I am always intrigued, how animals say different things in different languages...

You were very smart to post a pre hair cut picture of Henry in order to keep the suspense wether you made it to the barber shop! He lloks so happy in that picture!

I am really looking forward to your report, especially to your experience at CSR, that's a resort that I find very appealing as well.

Isn't it funny how animals say different things in different languages? During my Spanish classes in high school I thought that was hilarious!! And yep, you are right, in English a sheep says "baaaaa"...what does a sheep say in German?

Overall, we really enjoyed CSR...I have a lot more detail-and pics of course-coming up, but we both said we would stay there again in the future!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm in - I love all your trip reports.

Thank you!!!

You know I am here!!! I am so excited to read another Brook and Co. TR!!!

Hey CP! Thanks for reading! You are going to be writing a TR for your upcoming trip, right?

Woo Hoo!

You've started! Can't wait to hear all about it.

I love that little emoticon! Thanks for reading...and I owe you a PM back...I'll get to it, I will!

Subbing! I can't wait to hear all about it. I loved your last TR and I am excited that I get to read this one from the beginning.

Hey there! Thanks for joining in here too!

I'm in!! Can't wait to read all about your fun trip and find out the meaning behind your title!

Thank you for reading! The TR title is just goofy...I seriously couldn't think of anything else that would fit. The "Baaaa!" part fits VERY well, and the Juan part was just a very silly moment!!

Just discovered your PTR's I am halfway through all of your old stuff...love reading it all!
We are staying at CSR in April/May and am so excited to read your trip report Hooray!
Subscribing!

Hello there! Thanks for reading!!! CSR is a beautiful resort! I'll be sharing our thoughts on it, and lots of pics.

You know I'm along for this ride!

Hey there!!!

I'm in for the ride too!!! I'm ready, I'm ready - let's go!

I'm so stinkin' excited, I swear....

Heather

Glad I can provide some good excitement! I hope to entertain ya'll! I think it will be pretty easy being we are all Disney World freaks....

Wow!!! Not even 6 hours and you have a page 2!! I had better hurry up and write or I'll be on page 3! Can't wait to hear ALL about the adventures of you three!!

You were the last poster on page 2! I couldn't believe I came back to 3 pages of responses! It really is so sweet!

Hi! Just found your TR- here for the review of CSR and to hear your adventure! Quick question- no pastries as a snack credit- what about a bagel and cream cheese? Any idea?

Welcome! Thank you for joining in! I'll be sharing our thoughts on the resort, and quite a few pics!

I am not certain on the bagel/cream cheese...I don't recall even seeing a bagel... Pepper Market has all the pastries in one section that you can just pic up and put on your tray, and Rix kinda has the same...KatMark, do you know if there are bagels at Pepper Market or Rix?

Page 3 and not even to Day 1! I'm in for the ride!

I know it-we aren't even in Disney World yet! Thanks for reading!

I'm late, I'm late for a very important trip report. This will teach me not to clean house and wash clothes before checking the dis.

Oh no, you aren't late - no worries!!! But, it still makes for an excellent excuse to DIS first thing in the morning.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here too!

Hey there!!! AKV pics coming soon....

Glad to hear that you made it without the boot. I've already been enjoying your food porn. I hope to have a few corn dog nuggets on your behalf in about 11 days.

11 days.... Despite just coming back, I'm still jealous! I just want to sit on Main Street and listen to the music, take in the sights, and the SMELL of the food. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! ENJOY those nuggets for me!

Can't wait to hear how CSR was. leaving in 1 week 6 days for CSR on a 12 night vacation!!!!!!

Oh, wow! VERY NICE!!! For a quick review-we really enjoyed CSR! We both said we would stay there again in the future. It's a beautiful resort - I couldn't get over how pretty it was everywhere we turned!

i'm here!! Can't wait to hear about your trip!!

Hey there! Thanks for reading!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Joining in to see if we crossed paths while we were there

We ended up in the AK on Sunday and not DHS though.

Can't wait to read all about it....I wasn't privy to the tweets so it will all be new to me

Wouldn't it be fun if you were in some of my pics? Though, it would be a bit of a bummer because we didn't meet up!

I kept my eye out for 'marked' DISers, but didn't see any the entire trip...I know there were quite a few of us there though!

 

[KatMark]

I am not certain on the bagel/cream cheese...I don't recall even seeing a bagel... Pepper Market has all the pastries in one section that you can just pic up and put on your tray, and Rix kinda has the same...KatMark, do you know if there are bagels at Pepper Market or Rix?

KatMark reporting to her calling!

I know in the past they've had bagels at the Pepper Market. Now, whether or not they were on the DP, I'm not sure (probably because I don't eat bagels). I'll see if I can find out when we are there next week.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Our adventure starts on Wednesday, September 2, 2009. We arrived in the Minneapolis area around 10:30 am. Joe had a computer nerd certification test scheduled for Noon, so to kill some time we found a Home Depot store and he and Henry buzzed around the store looking at cool guy stuff while I slept in the car.

Yep, I slept in the car.

I had went to bed the night before not feeling the best, and that morning I felt terrible. I had a nasty cold and I could tell I had a fever, as I was wrapped up as tight as I could be in my sweatshirt. While this summer in Minnesota has been cool, it wasn’t that cool.

I was pretending the cold and fever didn’t exist, I was determined not be sick this trip!!! (If you read the last two TRs, you well know about our sickness at WDW ) But that cold was kicking my butt that morning.

Eventually it was time for Joe’s test, so we dropped him off and Henry and I pointed the car for the nearest Target. I needed some meds.

Meds were found and purchased, a nap by the little Mister was taken, and we were soon back to pick up Joe. After a very short time, he came down in the elevator with a giant smile,

“I passed!”

It’s official. He’s a real geek now. He’s got initials after his name on his work email signature. We now had two reasons to celebrate, Henry is two, and my hubby is a Certified Nerd.

We then set our goal on food. Despite the cold, my stomach was growling pretty good and I knew I should get some serious fluids going in me. TGIFriday’s was the winner because of a great coupon I had for a BOGO entrée.

Burgers were consumed (sorry no food pics) and I think I drank about 5 glasses of water along with taking the meds. By the end of the meal I was feeling a tiny bit better.

Next up, we stopped at the Mall of America. Again, Joe and Henry went in while I napped in the car. Joe took him on a couple rides in Nickelodeon Universe. After a short while I woke up and when I called Joe to meet up with them – guess where they were? None other than the Disney Store!

We browsed for a good while and resisted buying anything considering where we were headed later that night.

A few other quick stops at various stores, and eventually it was time for us to head to the Park N Fly and onto the airport for our flight.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time for security…except that I had forgotten to take the little plastic baggies-o-fluids out of the carry-ons. (and for those of you who didn’t read my PTR, we only took carry-ons, so there were a lot of little 3 oz bottles and tubes!).

“Bag check.”
“Bag check.”
“Bag check.”

A raised eyebrow stare from the security officer to me…

“Oh geez…sorry…”


They were good about it, but every single bag of ours had to be double checked.

Oops.

After holding up the line for a good 10 minutes (sorry folks!), we were on the way to our gate.

A cheeseburger Happy Meal was purchased, a diaper was changed, and more meds were taken. I am very happy to report, it was in the airport that I started to feel better and my fever broke.


Soon we were boarding the plane.

The very teeny little plane.


I couldn’t believe how small this plane was; our knees literally hit the seat in front of us. Joe somehow managed to wrestle the car seat into the chair. I’m fairly certain it was an act of God that he was successful in this as I haven’t a clue how he managed to fit himself in between the seats and contort his body in the manner which is required to secure a giant car seat in those wee little plane chairs.

But he did it. The Certified Nerd is not only a smarty, but he’s also quite determined…and apparently flexible.

Before we were even left the tarmac Henry was asking to watch the movie “Cars”.

This kid is an addict!

We tried to explain to him we had to wait until the plane was in the air, which I sincerely don’t think he understood, but he did wait pretty well, and shrieked with excitement when the laptop came out and “Cars” started.

This was the most relaxing flight I’ve had in two years. He happily wore Joe’s headphones and watched his movie. I actually NAPPED.

The flight went smoothly, and I am thrilled to report since the merger between NWA and Delta they now serve a snack again! For free! I munched on pretzels and a Diet Coke. Sweet.

Approximately 10 minutes before the flight landed, Henry finally fell asleep….of course!

Our flight landed right around 11:20 pm Eastern. WE ARE IN ORLANDO!!

Another item that has changed since the NWA/Delta merger…the location of where NWA flights arrive. We were on the opposite side of the terminal and completely disoriented. Thankfully, MCO is pretty simple and after a bit of wandering we found the ME area without much of an issue.

Much to my surprise there was a slight line, but it all moved very quickly.

Our luggage went under the bus, and we boarded.

It all hit me at that moment in staring at the red seats with the gold stars…we are here…we are about to be taken to the Happiest Place on Earth! It’s real!!

I couldn’t stop smiling.

Henry curled up on Joe’s lap as we waited for more people to board the bus.

Joe isn't really sleeping in this picture...but Henry is!



About 15 minutes later a GAGGLE of teen girls boarded the bus and sat all around us. It seemed they were a sports team of some sort.

One girl left her phone on the airport monorail.

They recovered it by calling airport security and a few other phone calls.

Just in case you wanted to know that.

Henry slept through all their excited talking and shouting – so all was well and very soon we were arriving at our first drop stop of Pop Century.

I thought of MeMom and Jill.


The teen girls thought Pop was “so cute!”

Next stop, CSR!

When the bus pulled up, Joe and I looked at each other and grinned. It was just as beautiful as we remembered and we were excited for our trip to finally begin.

We entered the beautiful lobby, gasped and grinned some more.

Joe took his traditional check-in desk shot

While I checked us in.

Henry slept.

As soon as we set him down in the car seat, he rolled right over onto his belly!


We were directed to Casitas 5. I mentioned this was not what we had requested, and she said she didn’t have anything noted on our reservation…so….either our TA didn’t put that through, or something got screwed up along the way.

The awesome CM showed us on a map where we were currently located, then checked for a Cabanas room-which there was one. She allowed us to choose which we would like – I let Joe pick – he opted to keep where we were first assigned in Casitas 5.

She gave us a birthday button for Henry and “I’m celebrating!” buttons for Joe and I, a coloring book with crayons for Henry, and all the other necessary information. Soon we were on our way to Casitas 5.

Despite being exhausted, and still not feeling 100%, I was thrilled to be there. The resort was stunning. The walk wasn’t too far, and we found our room without any problem. I knew what to expect when we opened the door, but Joe always resists looking at resort pictures so he can be surprised. He approved with a big smile and a comment about how nice it was…I agreed. The room was great. Very clean and the décor is truly beautiful.

The rest of the night kinda blurs. Henry was still crashed out, so we just laid him on one of the Queen beds with pillows all around him (I still worry he’ll tumble out!). He slept solid for the rest of the night. I think Joe unpacked…I took the “night” meds I had bought and zonked out in seconds flat.


Up next: A manly Annual Pass

 

[wsdl1085]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm here. Finished reading your last TR a few days ago, so was happy to see this today. Can't wait!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

KatMark reporting to her calling!

I know in the past they've had bagels at the Pepper Market. Now, whether or not they were on the DP, I'm not sure (probably because I don't eat bagels). I'll see if I can find out when we are there next week.

Thank you!! I love me a bagel, so generally I spy them out, but I was probably too distracted with the other stations. I love the options!

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm here. Finished reading your last TR a few days ago, so was happy to see this today. Can't wait!!

Thank you for reading and posting!!! Glad you are enjoying it.

 

[MaryAz]

Pge 4, I am either a loser or you are toooo popular. Great first post, can't wait to see resort pics.

 

[ljcrochet]

Great start! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

 

[A.Mickey]

I am here too! I didn't even realize you were back already!

Wow a certified nerd! Congrats, Joe!

And happy belated Birthday Henry!!

You actually got to take a nap on the plane!?! That is great! I don't think Aaron would leave me alone long enough for me to fall asleep .

Can't wait to read all about your trip!!!! Henry sleeping is precious!

 

[Flossbolna]

What a great start to yur report! Once again your pictures are fantastic, both of you really are very talented in framing your pictures. I was blown away by your food porn pics as well. I did not want to comment there as it just makes that thread even longer, but wanted to post here to say that the dessert pictures were amazing!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Oh no Brook! I hope the fever didn't come back once it broke!! That would truly stink!!

Sounds like you guys had a great travel day! Henry is too cute asleep in the car seat and the pictures of CSR lobby are beautiful! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I am so glad that the meds and fluids worked to make you feel better!!!

Did Joe have the CM write Certified Nerd on his celebration button?

I imagine the entire Magical Express heard the entire saga of the girl's missing cell phone! Teenage girls in packs never seem to know how to modulate their voices. Never!

Your pictures of the CSR lobby really capture its beauty!!! Now I am wishing I was staying there instead of Caribbean.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Yeah - you started!! Oh gosh, sorry you were a little sickly! I do hope it gets better and you don't have to deal with it too much!

Henry is so adorable in his pics while sleeping! Tell Joe congratulations on his test and way to go!!!

Heather

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Hurrah!! You've arrived. So sorry the trip started out with a fever. But if anything can fix it, the happy place can!

Thanks for the "warning" about Northwest flights arriving into a different part of the airport. That would have freaked me out! I am totally directionally challenged.

My goodness CSR looks like a BEAUTIFUL resort!

Can't wait for more!!

 

[jenjolt]

Awwww...I'm sorry you started off your trip not feeling so well, but I'm glad to hear you started recovering quickly! Henry is just so cute!!! He looks just adorable sleeping in his stroller!!!

Loved your check in pictures, the lobby at CSR looks amazing!!!!

I can't wait to hear about your first full day!!

 

[jenseib]

My DD Paige who is 17 would be one of those girls to lose her dang phone. LOL!
Henry is so cute sleeping.
So where is all this food porn posted. I want to see it!

 

[Flossbolna]

Brook, I just remembered - did your bus go to AKL after CSR? Did the driver say something wether Jambo or Kidani would be the first drop off there? I have this panic about being stuck on the ME bus for ages...

 

[onelilspark]

Great start! I'm in for the duration!