Just Back (12/7-12/13 CBR).....and I only hit 7 ankles with my stroller all week!

bdiddy

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Mar 12, 2008
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LOL! Just kidding!

I know that is a touchy subject around here but I couldn't resist! :rotfl2:

Thanks to this board though I was extra observant of our stroller at all times and did my best to watch out for all the ankles. I will say that didn't stop some people from not looking where they were going and walking right into us. I had one lady all of a sudden vear in our direction while she was looking in another and practically fall on our son! And then leaving MK late one night was pretty hairy but then again I was getting my ankles hit then too so I think it all evened out.

So...we had a GREAT time and I have lots of thoughts and interesting stories to chat about!!

First things first - I cannot talk about this trip without telling you what happened the morning of our flight!

The night before we left when I took our cats to the kennel and I noticed our truck making a weird rattling noise in the backend. I told DH and he drove it all around later that night and said he didn't hear anything and that it was fine. So, my Dad comes over in the morning and we drive to the airport in the truck and literally as we get to the exit there is this big bang and the most terrible grinding noise that was so loud. It sounded like something was dragging on the ground. DH pulls over but they don't see anything. The plan was my Dad was going to drive our truck back home but that obviously can't happen so we made it into long-term parking and I realize I don't have my purse with everything in it!! I had it lying by the camera bag and the diaper bag and right before we left my DH says to me "I loaded everything" so I just went out the door to get the kids in the truck. He said that he left my purse because it was "my purse" and he never puts that in the car and of course I said that he should of said "I loaded everything BUT your purse" Anyway - needless to say I was freaking out and we were arguing about it. So, my Dad said my brother is off that day so I call him and wake him up and send him to our house to get my purse and then to the airport to drop it off and take my Dad home. Good thing we got there really early and it was the closer airport that was only 20 min away. Once we got through security we made all the calls to get the truck towed and taken to the mechanic while we were gone. The mechanic called the next day and luckily it wasn't anything too bad. Basically the emergency brake system just fell apart and was rattling around and banging into stuff. He just took it all out since it is really expensive to get fixed. It only cost $75 to get fixed and the tow was $85!!


H1N1.....I was so worried about this. I bought lysol and wipes after reading this board and planned on wiping the plane seat down, our room, etc...I planned on washing hands non-stop. Well....we didn't do any of it and we were all stayed healthy and have been home 2 days and are fine so far. I don't think I noticed anyone sick at all although I did see two Asian girls face masks one day.

Buses - We did not like taking the buses around at all! Granted we have 2 little kids, a bag and a double umbrella stroller but I couldn't get over how much time is spent waiting. When we went last year we drove and it was 1000x better. At least half of the time we had to wait 20 min to even get the bus at our resort, almost all the time we were standing (except when people gave up their seats but more on that later). It sort of became a joke because on our first night there we went to Epcot and waited 20 min for the bus then the next day we see 3 Epcot buses in 5 min while we wait another 20 min for the bus we need. DH and I were just laughing and shaking our heads by the end of the week mouthing "this sucks" to each other on the bus. One of the days our bus pulled up and it was really full and we barely got on and there was a family there with someone in a wheelchair and the driver told him he couldn't fit them on and he was sorry. The mother got upset and said they had been waiting a half an hour and this was the 2nd bus that was full. He said all he could do was put in a call for another bus. I felt really bad for them! And standing in those awful queue's every night was terrible. The worst was we had to wait for the 4th bus on Sat when we left Magic Kingdom. We were so jealous of those people leaving walking right to their cars. DH swears that the next time we fly we will be renting a car and he doesn't care about the cost. All that lost time in waiting is worth the cost. I know that when our kids are older or even if there is a time DH and I go ourselves it might not be that bad but I always here people saying how great the buses are and we just didn't have a good experience.

Weather - it was great! Even a little hot two of the days at 83-85 with 95% humidity. My DH actually said it was too hot although he hates to sweat. We had two cooler days around 70 and he liked that much better. I liked the warm weather though especially knowing it was 15 degrees back home!! We did have a little rain one day which happened to be the day of the Christmas Party but it cleared up by early afternoon.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - this was fun but so not worth the cost or the crowds. I don't think we'll be doing this again. Yes, the show was neat, the dance party fun, the parade and Wishes cool but it was so crowded you could barely move and not worth the extra $200 it cost us. We also got some pictures taken and got the special MVMCP photopass card only to get home and there are no pictures on it! What a bummer! I filled out the lost photo form so hopefully they can find them but I'm sure not in time for me to get Christmas cards out.

ECV's - Another touchy subject on this board but I noticed there were so many of them almost as many as strollers!! And while *most* people looked like they needed them there were a few people I did think in my head "what do they need one for"....Granted there might be something wrong with them I don't know about but when a young person is in one and then gets out of it to ride Rockin Roller Coaster I can't help to wonder why they have one in the first place? Again....just some of my random thoughts at the time...

People/CM's - I was so pleasantly surprised at how nice many people were. Several times when we were holding a sleeping child on the bus someone would offer up their seat. At a parade we were back a row and a woman offered my 5 yr old DD to go up with her kids so she could see better. Also, a lot of nice, helpful CM's. I love how if they see you looking at a map some will come up to you and ask if you need help. We had one CM help us figure out a plan with shows, etc.. at Hollywood Studios. As for rude people, we of course did encounter them and I hate to say this but 99% of them were foreign. I think many of them just don't practice the same ettiquette when it comes to lines and personal space in their own countries. The other 1% was some guy at Spectromagic who actually made a really rude comment at my DH at the parade who was standing and taking pictures. Sorry, but we staked out our parade spot an hour early since we missed Spectro on our first trip so we had every right to be there.

Carribean Beach - we did not like it as well as Port Orleans Riverside (where we stayed on our only other trip). To be fair though we were there one less day and didn't get the chance to explore the resort or swim like we did on our last trip. I didn't like how the Custom House was so far away and the Port Royale area seemed smaller and more crowded then it was at POR. Other then that I can't really put my finger on anything that was "bad" about it - we just liked POR better. I think we liked the theme better at POR too. We did have a room close to Port Royale though...we were in building 31 Trinidad North and had a Nemo room. I thought the pool looked great and the beaches nice but then again we didn't get to experience them. Almost forgot - we used the Garden Grocer service and it was great! The groceries were at bell services waiting for us when we got back from Epcot that night. Would definitely use them again!

Park Hopper - we did not get it this time. We had it last time and only used it once so decided to try without it. We thought it went fine and had no issues not getting it!

And here is a run down of our days:

Day 1: Arrived, checked-in and headed to Epcot. We missed Illuminations on our last trip so this was a priority for us. We got to the park at almost 5 and the Soarin fast passes were gone so that was a must do on our follow-up trip there a few days later. We had dinner at Garden Grill which was ok - not bad, not great but to be fair I think we were all just a little wiped out from our flight and traveling. DH suffers from vertigo sometimes and he didn't like the way the restaurant spun but I couldn't notice it at all. The kids loved the characters of course but Dale never made it around to us so we just left. I actually had a terrible headache and was contemplating just leaving but I got some Tylenol and felt better and stayed for Illuminations. I got a great spot about 45 min beforehand. And while I enjoyed it I don't think I would make extra effort to stay for it since it was so late at night. Not really a "must see" for me I guess. DH thought the same thing. Oh yeah - I also road Mission Space for the first time - the high intensity one and loved it!

Day 2: Hollywood Studios all day - this is one of our favorite parks and we did our strategy of getting to ride TSM three times although we ended up only riding it twice. We got there at rope drop and DH went to the fast pass line and got them really quick. By the time I parked the stroller and unloaded the kids he was done and we got in standby which was took about 15 min. Then we got another set of fastpasses not too much later which we ended up not using due to time. On our last trip the Motor Cars show was closed for rehab so we got to see that which we loved. I thought my son would have loved it but he fell asleep about 5 min before it started and slept through the whole thing! We ate at Brown Derby for dinner and while it was good and we enjoyed it didn't think it was worth using 2 table service credits. We saw the early Fantasmic show at 6:30 and got there about a half hour early and got great seats. Last time we got there late and had to stand in the back so it was a much better experience this time! Also saw the Osbourne family lights which were awesome and we all loved!

Day 3: Animal Kingdom - got a later start today and got there about 11. Our priority was seeing the Nemo show since we missed it last time. Great show - loved it. It's Tough to Be a Bug is still one of our favorites. Had lunch at Restaurantosaurus and the kids enjoyed eating in the big booth in the "camper". Saw the Jingle parade which was really neat...rode a few more rides and then headed over to Boma for our dinner. What a beautiful resort! We had our picture taken in front of the tree in the lobby but of course non of them are good enough for our Christmas card. We all really liked Boma - great food, great atmosphere. I didn't think the Zebra Domes were as great as everyone claimed but still good. The one bad thing about this day is it took us almost an hour to get back to our resort with all the transferring and waiting of course!

Day 4: Back to Epcot to finish up things we didn't get in the day before. We got 4 fastpasses for Soarin even though our son couldn't ride just so we could each take our daughter and she really loved it! It was cooler this day and did rain for a little bit but we just did the Energy ride and it had cleared up by the time we came out. Had lunch at Coral Reef and we all really enjoyed the place. My DD was so proud of herself for trying and eating fish. We had planned on going straight to MVMCP but decided to go back to the resort for a little bit and change clothes. Got to the party about 6 and stayed until Wishes was over (see above for review of party). Ate dinner at Ray's.

Day 5: Hollywood Studios again - headed back to get in a few things we missed. Had lunch at Backlot and then decided to go to Downtown Disney early and we saw Princess and the Frog. Such a great movie and classic Disney!! Although I will say that DH and I both fell asleep for a bit in the middle. I think once we were both sitting in a dark, comfy theater we just collapsed! LOL....The other thing about that theater while very nice is that the back of the seats are too high! Both kids couldn't even see over the seats in front of them with the booster seats. Almost anyone in the theater with kids 5 and under were holding them on their laps up high...Didn't the theater test this???? Had dinner at T-rex which my DH did not think it was worth the $70 it cost to eat there. It was really cool and the kids liked it but the food was just ok. DD did do build-a-dino and she was so excited about that. She had been talking about it for weeks before we went so I know that was a highlight for her.

Day 6: Magic Kingdom all day. We had 10:30 ressies for 1900 Park Fare but got to Grand Floridian about an hour early. Another beautiful resort! And loved the real Gingerbread house in the lobby. Took some pictures and we decided to see if we could get into breakfast early and they could get us in. Enjoyed breakfast and all the characters - I love when they can actually talk and interact with the characters more. DD got a kick out of the Mad Hatter. We actually got out of there about 10:45 and headed over to MK. Now, here is where the day gets crazy!!! I could not believe how many people were there. I would have loved to know what level of crowd it was. We had manageable crowds all week and I know it was a Saturday but it was just crazy. You could barely move around - even in Fantasyland. When we got there we got Fast passes for Space Mountain which was already at 5pm so that really messed us up for getting FP's for the next several hours. And then the bad thing was almost all of the rides were an hour wait - for Dumbo, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, etc... The quickest ones were Small World, Pirates and Haunted Mansion which were all at 30-35 min. It really put a damper on our day and we found ourselves avoiding that area. We had dinner at Village Haus and finally it started getting less crowded with the rides that were an hour were now 20-30 min so we started riding them. DH also went on Space Mountain for the first time and didn't like it at all which I couldn't believe since it is one of my favorites. So...then at 8pm we stake out a spot for Spectromagic in Frontierland. Our plan was to see the parade, use some fastpasses we got earlier to ride Peter Pan (DD's favorite ride) and then leave. Well, we came out of Peter Pan and they had the castle roped off and Wishes had just started so we were stuck. We started making our way around front through Tomorrowland and by then it was over but the crowd traffic had pretty much stopped moving. I'm not kidding when I say this but it took us 40 min to get out of the park! It was crazy! I think my DH was ready to blow a gasket. He really enjoys Disney but he is not the most patient person so waiting, heavy crowds and heat really get to him. He's already sworn we are never going in the summmer. He was actually joking to me that he wants to find the day that historically has the least attendance and go then! LOL .....So, we make it out of the park and of course the queue for CBR was so long and this is where we had to wait for the 4th bus. Both kids were sleeping at this point so it made getting on the bus with our stroller and bag very challenging.

We had a wonderful time though and can't wait until our next trip although DH says it won't be until the kids are 8 and 10...but we'll see! ;)


Other random notes that melted my heart! ♥♥♥♥

On the morning we left my 5 yr old DD wanted to give someone her balloons so we found a family at the resort and she passed them along. I was so proud of her for making someone else's day magical!

At the end of the week our 3 yr old son picked what he wanted and it was an $8 little Wall-E and EVE figure and after we opened it he says "I'm so happy, I love Disneyworld" - brought tears to my eyes!
 
BTW - about scooters - Most people who are disabled look perfectly healthy, excpet for the whole not-walking thing. The reason there are more of them is because suddenly it is more acceptable to use aids like that and now people who would never have gone to disney before can enjoy the magic!
 
BTW - about scooters - Most people who are disabled look perfectly healthy, excpet for the whole not-walking thing. The reason there are more of them is because suddenly it is more acceptable to use aids like that and now people who would never have gone to disney before can enjoy the magic!

I know! You are definitely right but I was being honest with a some thoughts I had about a few people I saw. Can't help the direction my brain takes sometimes! :confused3
 
I know! You are definitely right but I was being honest with a some thoughts I had about a few people I saw. Can't help the direction my brain takes sometimes! :confused3

I know. I just wanted to point out the reason you see so many more. most people just think that americans have become "fatter" or "lazier" (not your words - others)... i am 25 and getting my first permanent custom powerchair, but i went through pretty much all the aids for the last few years - i get comments all the time about how healthy i look, so therefore i cant be sick! :confused3 i dont know what "sick" looks like, but i decided to take it as a compliment that i look so good.
 

Welcome back!
Glad you had good time. About CBR, you can solve all the problems at food court building, thay have couple people with computer working there, so you really do not need to go to main building for that. Some people just do not know. Too bad, you did not explore resort much. Parrot Island got some hidden places to relax. We spend once the whole morning playing cards and watching lake. Did your kids like new pool?
 
Nice report! We were there 12/5-12/12 and experienced many similar things that you did. We also will never use the busses again, not looking for a debate about scooters but 75% of the busses we were on had at least one or two on them and it just took us so much time. We will be renting a car from now on. We also found the MK to be crazy crowded all 3 times we visited during the week with long wait times. The other parks were busy but more manageable. We didn't even bother with the Christmas party this year....it was just too expensive and we didn't feel it was worth it anymore.
 
Thanks for the detailed trip report!!! Especially what you wrote about the buses! This will be our first time staying on site and what you wrote about time waiting for the buses has already been on my mind and it does not appeal to us at all! I totally think that we would be complaining about it as you did! We are driving down to Disney and planning on driving to each park rather than be at the mercy of the bus system.
 
I know. I just wanted to point out the reason you see so many more. most people just think that americans have become "fatter" or "lazier" (not your words - others)... i am 25 and getting my first permanent custom powerchair, but i went through pretty much all the aids for the last few years - i get comments all the time about how healthy i look, so therefore i cant be sick! :confused3 i dont know what "sick" looks like, but i decided to take it as a compliment that i look so good.

Let's not direct this thread to closing path. OP did not mean to offend anyone.
 
Sounds like a great trip - thanks for sharing your thoughts!! I love your little dude's comment... My DS and DD are always saying things like that while we are there and it just makes it all worth it.

Just curious: do you happen to know what the crowd calendar numbers were for your visit? I would not have figured that week would be so crowded! Glad you had fun anyway!
 
Sounds like a great trip - thanks for sharing your thoughts!! I love your little dude's comment... My DS and DD are always saying things like that while we are there and it just makes it all worth it.

Just curious: do you happen to know what the crowd calendar numbers were for your visit? I would not have figured that week would be so crowded! Glad you had fun anyway!

I didn't look at the crowd calendar before we went and the crowds were completely manageable the whole week until the Christmas party at MK and then MK that last day on Saturday. I think it was more crowded then it was when we were there last year in Sept for free dining.
 
We were there about the same time (Dec 6-13) and I completely agree with your report. Great write up. We had so many fun memories from this trip and the kids really enjoyed it (5 and 7). :goodvibes


Busses....We had our own car with us and stayed at the FW cabins. Each time we got on a bus, I thought "I could have driven this faster." Especially with our ability to park our car right next to the cabin. Next time, we're using our own transportation except for the MK since the boat from FW to MK is so easy. That would have saved a lot of time waiting around.

We had no issues with the scooters except that it seems to take a long time to load them on the busses. There's a good chance my daughter will need one at the parks someday, so I completely get it. My only suggestion for WDW is to turn the @#$% loud beeping thing off on the bus during the loading process. Especially at night when everyone is holding sleeping toddlers in their arms. Sheesh! :confused3
 
Next time, we're using our own transportation except for the MK since the boat from FW to MK is so easy. That would have saved a lot of time waiting around.

Good to know! We are staying at the cabins and that was our plan :cool1:
 
I will say that didn't stop some people from not looking where they were going and walking right into us. I had one lady all of a sudden vear in our direction while she was looking in another and practically fall on our son!

Heh! We were there the same time as you, and this was probably my second biggest "pet peeve" ... the aimless meandering back and forth on the paths and, even worse, "the looking in one direction and walking in another"!

Our DS13 has a custom wheelchair with light-up front wheels and we wrapped his large wheels in LED battery-powered blinking Christmas lights and people *still* didn't seem to be able to see him! :lmao:

(Though, we did get a LOT of positive compliments about his festive "ride" from both CMs and other guests!)

DS13, chair and accompanying gear weighs about 175lbs ... it is NOT easy to stop that much rolling weight on a dime!

However, my #1 "pet peeve" on this trip was the use of the Companion Restrooms! 99% of time we needed to use them, they were occupied and, almost without exception, the people coming out would be a parent (or two) and a small child (or two)!

These are NOT "family bathrooms"!!! They're for disabled people who *need* assistance; hence the "wheelchair" symbol and the word "Companion" on the door!

My only suggestion for WDW is to turn the @#$% loud beeping thing off on the bus during the loading process. Especially at night when everyone is holding sleeping toddlers in their arms. Sheesh! :confused3

I agree ... I have no idea why you need such a horrendously loud alarm just to indicate that the wheelchair lift or ramp is in use! DS13 hates it, too and covers his ears (even though he likes a ride on a wheelchair lift).
 
We are hoping to stay in the cabins next summer - and we are driving down. I guess I didn't realize we could take our car straight to the cabin! We will certainly try to drive some, especially when we go to AK since it's farthest.
 
When we got there we got Fast passes for Space Mountain which was already at 5pm so that really messed us up for getting FP's for the next several hours.

Why would this mess you up for several hours? I thought you could get another fast pass one hour after the time you got the space mountain ones?
 
The fast passes were for a return time of 5:30 to 6:30 and the small print at the bottom said next fp's available at 3:45....this was at 11am. Not sure if this had to do with how busy it was or what??
 
You can get another fastpass 2 hours after the time you get one. And you can keep doing this for free all day, every 2 hours.

This is regardless of the time it shows on the return time for the current FP ride.
My fiance and I remind each other about this sometimes too, no worries! :thumbsup2

We also rent a car almost every time we go, because we don't like waiting in long lines in the morning or at the end of the day. The few times we didn't rent a car, we grabbed a nearby taxi if the bus line was "too long"... a subjective estimation, of course.

Glad to hear that you and your kids had a good time!

- PrincessMonkey
 
It sounds like you had a great trip.

I did want to point out that as far as the Disney busses go, one every 20 minutes is what they plan for. So it sounds like they were running like they are supposed to, but you found out that that isn't good enough for your family. Which is totally fine!

I agree that the bus beeping noise is annoying, but I always thought it was to warn people that the lift was in motion. It is probably a safety measure of some sort. But it is very loud!
 
I did want to point out that as far as the Disney busses go, one every 20 minutes is what they plan for. So it sounds like they were running like they are supposed to, but you found out that that isn't good enough for your family. Which is totally fine!

You are definitely right, they weren't "late" and were doing what they are supposed to do but I think what became almost comical is how the bus we needed was always the one that came in 20min. All the other buses that we didn't need were there within minutes. Like I mentioned we would wait 20 min for an Epcot bus and then the next morning there were 3 Epcots right in a row while we waited another 20 for HS. I think we were just comparing it to using our own car and it just didn't measure up. Also, having two little kids, the stroller and a bag didn't help either! I just don't think we were prepared for all of the waiting involved when relying on the transportation system. I definitely think it doesn't bother people and does some others but when you think that if we spend 20 min every morning and longer every evening and up to an hour getting home on the busy nights or having to deal with transfers from other resorts that is hours and hours of time that could be spent at a park or sleeping! :)
 
I did want to point out that as far as the Disney busses go, one every 20 minutes is what they plan for. So it sounds like they were running like they are supposed to, but you found out that that isn't good enough for your family. Which is totally fine!QUOTE]

You are definitely right, they weren't "late" and were coming at the were doing what they are supposed to do but I think what became almost comical is how the bus we needed was always the one that came in 20min. All the other buses that we didn't need were there within minutes. Like I mentioned we would wait 20 min for an Epcot bus and then the next morning there were 3 right in a row while we waited another 20 for HS. I think we were just comparing it to using our own car and it just didn't measure up. Also, having two little kids, the stroller and a bag didn't help either! I just don't think we were prepared for all of the waiting involved when relying on the transportation system. I definitely think it doesn't bother people and does some others but when you think that if we spend 20 min every morning and longer every evening - up to an hour getting home on the busy nights or having to deal with transfers from other resorts that is hours and hours of time that could be spent at a park or sleeping! :)

I totally agree with you. I actually thought the busses were running fairly good and overall did a good job. But on Thursday my DH said, wow it seems like we have barely spent any time at the resort and have missed a lot in the parks compared to other trips. We did less ADR's this trip and were leaving the room at the same time each morning as on previous trips. Once we figured out how LONG we were spending riding the busses (which were running well, can't even imagine if they weren't) we couldn't believe how much it added up. Hours and hours of time. It NEVER takes us more than 30 minutes to get from room to park entrance with the car and usually much less (including the MK). Except for the AKL to the AK....each bus trip took more than that, usually much more. I think we have just outgrown the busses for our needs....at least for a little while.
 












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