Mask up buttercup! We're going to Walt Disney World! A 15 day trip like no other! UPDATED x lots 9/10!

[AquaDame]

Random question but would you happen to remember if you were able to smell cigarette smoke near your room..? I'm trying to decide what room/area to request for our November trip and wondering just how far away from a designated area I need to be... thanks!

 

[Bethislucy]

I'm with you on the carts. It's always just me and my cousin when we go on these trips and 2 girls clothing, cases of water etc gets heavy so last time we took our beach wagon. Heck yeah! That is now a every trip we are taking the beach wagon with us. We were able to unload everything in one trip so nice especially when you have to park so far away.

 

[pwdebbie]

Is luggage service no longer available?

 

[mickeystoontown]

For some reason, the Dis isn't quoting your real quote. Oh yeah, if you bring your pups along, you'll have to change resorts. But AoA and YC are great resorts too.

Random question but would you happen to remember if you were able to smell cigarette smoke near your room..? I'm trying to decide what room/area to request for our November trip and wondering just how far away from a designated area I need to be... thanks!

We did not and there was a smoking bench not far from our room. I'll be posting a picture of our view and that bench in the next update.

I'm with you on the carts. It's always just me and my cousin when we go on these trips and 2 girls clothing, cases of water etc gets heavy so last time we took our beach wagon. Heck yeah! That is now a every trip we are taking the beach wagon with us. We were able to unload everything in one trip so nice especially when you have to park so far away.

Carts are the way to go when it comes to lugging in all the stuff we brign along.

Is luggage service no longer available?

There is still luggage service but we never use it unless we are having to transfer from resort to resort or room to room.

 

[Bellhop97]

Loving the pictures and your review so far..

 

[rdkeim]

Your room looks so nice - and sanitized! Wow - that's a lot of stuff! That's a perk of driving vs. flying. With Disney food prices, nice to be able to at least bring drinks and snacks. Your vacation has begun - wonder what your first park will be?

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Ahhhhh, Caribbean Beach... There is just no feeling in the world quite like driving up to and walking into your Disney home away from home. Love the photos of all the familiar places and things. When else does seeing a picture of shampoo/ conditioner/ body wash bring such a smile to your face? I can just SMELL that stuff looking at the pictures. I fell in love with the H2O products on our very first DCL cruise 7 years ago. I always stock up from the gift shop before debarkation. I have now learned where to get the very same stuff minus the Disney packaging.... so, I use up my Disney stuff and save the containers, order the non-disney packaging and pour it into my Mickey bottles....and the magic continues!

Eagerly waiting for the Disney food porn to commence....

 

[mickeystoontown]

Loving the pictures and your review so far..

Thank you! I have tons of pictures to follow!

Your room looks so nice - and sanitized! Wow - that's a lot of stuff! That's a perk of driving vs. flying. With Disney food prices, nice to be able to at least bring drinks and snacks. Your vacation has begun - wonder what your first park will be?

I was very pleased when we walked into the room. It was so nice and clean. We like road trips anyway but the extra space to bring snacks and drinks is a great perk to driving.

Ahhhhh, Caribbean Beach... There is just no feeling in the world quite like driving up to and walking into your Disney home away from home. Love the photos of all the familiar places and things. When else does seeing a picture of shampoo/ conditioner/ body wash bring such a smile to your face? I can just SMELL that stuff looking at the pictures. I fell in love with the H2O products on our very first DCL cruise 7 years ago. I always stock up from the gift shop before debarkation. I have now learned where to get the very same stuff minus the Disney packaging.... so, I use up my Disney stuff and save the containers, order the non-disney packaging and pour it into my Mickey bottles....and the magic continues!

Eagerly waiting for the Disney food porn to commence....

Isn't it funny what makes a Disney fan smile?!?!

Food pictures coming up in the next update!

 

[GDubDIS]

Really enjoying following along! Nice to be transported to sunny Florida while I look out at the cold, wind, and snow outside

 

[cheryllarsen]

Exciting!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Great read. Thanks for posting!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Our first Disney meal of the trip!

It wasn't until we were walking out the door that we realized we hadn't called Mama to let her know that we had made it. John had called her earlier when we were about to exit I75 but that's not good enough for her. As she always says "she wants to know where her chicks are and that they are alright". Bless John's bones but he is loud when he is on the phone. He's worked around machines for so long that his hearing isn't the best so we decided to go back inside to call. But, first, I wanted to take a few pictures of our view.

The first two are pictures that I took standing with my back to our door and looking slightly to my left. The bench that was sitting along the promenade and which had a cigarette/ash holder thing beside it was further to the left. See those big rocks on the edge of the beach? You'd go down a little more to the left and bench was right along there. We never smelled smoke in our room or when we would walk out of the room. The only time that we did get a whiff of it was when we walked by and someone was smoking or if they had just placed their cigarette in the holder thing and it hadn't gone out yet.



You can see Disney''s Riviera Resort off to the left, the bridge to the island and the main pool in the distance.



The picture below was taken standing with my back to the door but turned to my right. That's Barbados (formerly called Trinidad North) across the lake and it's a preferred area of the resort.


We called Mama and she wanted to know what "resort" we were in at Caribbean Beach. We knew that she meant village and when we told her Jamaica, she remembered "exactly where that is". The call ended up being longer than anticipated because Mama was already having semi-withdrawals from us being at home. We live right next door to Mama and we see her every day. We get her mail for her. We take her trash out. We buy her groceries. I cook for her almost every night. I help her pay her bills. I fix her medicine. John keeps her yard mowed and kept up. That sounds like a lot and it is but she's pretty independent. She could do some of those things but it's easier on her if we do them instead. She just doesn't drive any more and her knees need replaced. Other than that, she's healthy. It's just this dang pandemic that has her all whacked out. But she's my Mama and I'll do everything that I can for her.

While we were taking turns taking to Mama, we also took turns stocking up the fridge, taking out the hanging organizer, etc. Almost an hour later, the phone call had been made, text messages had been sent, and pictures taken, we set off for Old Port Royale. I'll go ahead and insert this now since some of you may be wondering. How is the walk? Honestly, I didn't think it was bad at all. We don't mind the distance from Jamaica to Old Port Royale. But, we don't mind walking in the parks either. It may have taken us a total of 10 minutes. Maybe. John doesn't walk fast at all. He walks about as slow as he talks and that's slow.

During past trips, we had utilized mobile ordering but only occasionally because the WiFi sucked in the parks. Most times, we just stood in line, placed our order, gotten our food and found a table. This trip would be totally different as we would have to use mobile ordering. We were so busy admiring the beauty of the resort at nightfall that we forgot that we could be ordering our food and they would have it ready when we arrived. Instead, we ordered when we got to Old Port Royale. John and I found a table outside, ordered the food and waited to receive the notification that our food was ready. I'll give y'all more pictures and details on this later on in the trip report. I took some screenshots to help some folks going just a few days after we left.

This was our view while we waited on the notification. We had another view across the lake but apparently I took just this one picture.



My phone buzzed and it was Centertown Market letting us know that our food was ready. I showed the notification to the cast member standing at the entrance of Centertown Market and we were directed to the pickup window. Another cast member met us there, took a look at the notice and handed us our tray. We chose to go ahead and get the refillable mugs even though we brought drinks with us. John likes coffee and the mug would come in handy because we don't use the coffee maker in the room. Instead of filling the mugs yourself or getting your own drinks as you normally would, you now stand in a marked spot and a cast member give you your drinks in a paper cup which you will then pour into your refillable mug. But we weren't having any of that until we washed the mugs thoroughly. So, we just drank from the paper cup this time.

John ordered the fish tacos and chose mac and cheese as his side dish (I know! Not what you would typically eat with fish tacos but it's what he wanted.


And I ordered the cheesesteak sandwich with fries. Sorry for the sideways pic. I can't get it to turn for some reason.



Honestly, both were just okay and nothing to write home about but neither of us really cared at the moment. We were at Disney and it filled our bellies at the time.

Oh and for dessert, John ordered a Mickey ice cream bar. He had me take this picture and send it to Lacey because we send her a picture every year that she's not with us.



For my dessert, I ordered a Minnie cupcake which, again, was just okay. But it sure was cute.




**Up next: Fall is in the air and on the window!​

 

[rndmr2]

Glad to see you started your new report. Definitely living vicariously on this one. Glad you were able to go. Looking forward to seeing how it all worked out with the masks and social distancing, etc. Great that you were able to stay at CBR again. I love that resort, too, it's one of my favorites. I haven't been on the DIS much lately because we have been having internet issues so the laptop was out, it's not easy to do from my phone.

How are you doing with the Covid in your area? There has been a big upswing near me. We had a huge outbreak at the facility where I work in December -about 45 residents (22 deaths) and I think about 25 or so staff...including yours truly... I'm doing ok, pretty much recovered, I get tired easily and a little Short of Breath but mostly fine. I get my 2nd dose of the Vax tomorrow.

 

[MomOTwins]

Just want to say I love this trip report! Was in stitches laughing at all of John’s photos of the disney signs—sounds like something my DH would do. Can’t wait to see the rest of the report!

 

[aadaneboy]

Thanks for allowing us to enjoy the trip with you! We are headed to WDW on 3/12 and can’t wait!!!!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Ahhhhh, Caribbean Beach... There is just no feeling in the world quite like driving up to and walking into your Disney home away from home. Love the photos of all the familiar places and things. When else does seeing a picture of shampoo/ conditioner/ body wash bring such a smile to your face? I can just SMELL that stuff looking at the pictures. I fell in love with the H2O products on our very first DCL cruise 7 years ago. I always stock up from the gift shop before debarkation. I have now learned where to get the very same stuff minus the Disney packaging.... so, I use up my Disney stuff and save the containers, order the non-disney packaging and pour it into my Mickey bottles....and the magic continues!

Eagerly waiting for the Disney food porn to commence....

Oh? How do you get the H20 stuff without the Disney packaging (and I'm presuming without the Disney upcharge)?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

@mickeystoontown I'm enjoying your report!

The last time I stayed at Caribbean Beach was in 2007, I believe. This was back when that angled window by the door was still a window, the decor was different, and before they enlarged the main pool. I really enjoyed the foliage and ambiance of the resort - I stayed in the Aruba village. I haven't stayed since because I'm trying to try all the resorts (and now I have DVC), but I'm also not sure I'd like having the Skyliner and Riviera right there. It seems like it would change the overall feel of the resort, but maybe not?

 

[Bellhop97]

Love love love the Caribbean Beach.. stayed in Jamaica a few times.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

We loved the mobile ordering in the parks...it was a bit of a hassle at the resort, though. We stayed at Pop, so the store/restaurant/arcade/ and front desk were all in the same building. That lobby would be FILLED with folks ordering or waiting for an order, it felt chaotic to us. Add to that the fact it took forever for us to get our Disney Rewards card set up on the app for mobile ordering. Once we got that all figured out, it became a more seamless process. But, there was a LOT of frustration that happened to get us to that point. Like you, we were tired and HUNGRY when we made it to the resort after our travel day, so HANGRY is a better way to describe that first experience with mobile ordering at Pop.

MICKEY BARS!!! I am SO freaking excited that we can get them at the grocer now! I do not get them often, because I still want them to feel like a special treat. They are the best. PERIOD.

 

[KT0191]

Long time lurker of your trip reports and I’m here for this one!