Memories of Little Green Men and Sardines (6/8-17, 2010) **FINAL UPDATE 2-25-2011**

[Mombits]

I am very excited...I can't wait to leave!!! I'm anxious about the flight, but that is usual for me. I'm always worried about it even though I am a firm believer that flying is alot safer than driving!

I'm super excited to be staying at CBR!!! As soon as I get there, I think I'll drive everyone crazy and take a million pictures!!!

2 DAYS!!!!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! I'm really interested in hearing about CBR and seeing all 1 million of your pics

 

[photographymom517]

T-1 day and counting


Have a wonderful trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo!!! Hope you're going to Disney WORLD!!! Have a wonderful time!! Wishing you safe travels! Can't wait to hear all about the trip!!! Enjoy! You deserve it!!!

I missed posting before you left...have a wonderful time! You deserve this so much!

Have a great trip - can't wait to hear all about it when you get back!

Yay for you leaving today! Have fun!

I hope you are having a fabulous time!! Sorry to miss the send off. I am looking forward to reading all about your trip!!

I'm very jealous right now because...you're in DISNEY WORLD

I hope you're having a GREAT time and you have a vacation full of fun and pixie dust!

I can't wait for your TR and pics when you get back! I hope you are having a fabulous time!

Can't wait to hear all about your trip! I'm really interested in hearing about CBR and seeing all 1 million of your pics

Thank you all soooo much for the wonderful send-off wishes!!! I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to read them prior to leaving on our trip...but it was nice to read them this evening after the busy day we had! I am exhausted, but couldn't resist posting on DIS before going to bed!

Boy do I have alot to tell you...

I am proud to admit that I filled 2 complete 4GB memory cards, which even on the highest quality setting on my camera means that I took...umm...around 4,000 pictures! And I had to start ANOTHER memory card last night when I was at...oops...can't tell you that yet!

Tomorrow my plans are to catch up on laundry, gather my trip information, take some pictures of our souvenirs for my report, and work on my PhotoPass pictures online. I'm hoping to start my trip report sometime over the weekend or early next week. It just depends because I have to help a really good friend of mine move and she isn't 100% sure when she needs to leave. If its this weekend, I promise to start my trip report by mid-week. If she doesn't move this weekend, I will start Saturday!

Hope everyone has a good evening!!! Will talk to you very soon!!!

 

[stephielela]

Yay!!! Welcome Back!!! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

 

[Tinkermom76]

welcome back!!! I can't wait to hear all about your trip

 

[SoonerGirl]

Welcome home! I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Welcome back Hope!!! can't wait to hear ALL about the trip!!!

 

[photographymom517]

And so my Trip Report begins! I actually don't have my photos uploaded yet through Photobucket, but hopefully will be doing that this evening sometime. I was going to start by explaining the title for my Trip Report, but decided that would take away half the fun of reading my TR!

So I suppose you will just have to wait for another day...I know, suspenseful isn't it?!?

 

[BippityBoo]

HAVE A WONDERFUL TRIP!!!!! Can't wait to read all about it!!!

 

[stephielela]

your title is intriguing! can't wait to hear more!

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

The suspense is killing me Hope!!! Can't wait to start reading your report!

 

[photographymom517]

HAVE A WONDERFUL TRIP!!!!! Can't wait to read all about it!!!

Thanks, we did have a wonderful time!!! Of course, I think everyone ALWAYS has a wonderful time at Disney!

We arrived back home late Thursday night. We were exhausted & I just now finished unpacking everything. I still have a few piles of clothes laying around, but hopefully will be all caught up tomorrow (especially because I'm going to see Toy Story 3 tomorrow!)

your title is intriguing! can't wait to hear more!

I'm glad you like the title because I wanted to make it more creative, but couldn't think of anything else. Maybe once I start writing my report, I will think of something to add to it.

I was considering writing my first post & explaining the title, but I figured that would give away half the report...no fun! lol

The suspense is killing me Hope!!! Can't wait to start reading your report!

Reese, the suspense is killing me too!

I'm actually serious! I want to start my trip report soooooo bad, but things just keep getting in the way! This afternoon, I finally went through my memory cards & added them all to my external hard drive. I don't have enough room on my laptop so I can't add them to photobucket yet. My plans (as of right now) are to start my trip report by Tuesday.

I'm going to see Toy Story 3 tomorrow, so I'm excited for that!!!

 

[photographymom517]

Since I just put that in black & white for everyone to read, I guess that is my promise...to start my trip report by Tuesday!!!

I went through my photos from the trip and got a grand total of...4,744

I know that alot of them are going to be deleted after I look through them because I let my DH use my camera the very first day were were there & he hit a button. I tried to fix it, but didn't want to make it worse or accidentally erase all of the pics on my memory card already. Something happened that made it so I wasn't able to see a picture in "review mode." So after taking a picture, I wasn't able to see it. I also never used this camera for night photography or fireworks prior to our trip, so some pictures from the Electric Parade & the Summernightastic Fireworks show didn't come out. I think I took around 65 of the fireworks show trying to get a decent one & maybe 5 came out all together. I guess I'll have to look at them again & hopefully can get a few good ones to post on my trip report.

I also realized after getting back home from our trip that I haven't been updating the Table of Contents on my trip report, so I'll update that as well.

I'm planning to try to organize some of my notes tonight. I wrote in a journal each night (well, most nights) after getting back to our resort. I also took notes in my "notepad" on my cell phone. It was very convenient to keep track of wait times, arrival times, departure times, etc. on my cell. We also kept all of our receipts from the trip, so I could see if the dining plan was worth the money. I will also be able to tell what we ate from the receipts which will really help out with my report! I also want to consult the menus from Allears.net...its funny because I remember thinking at the restaurants, "Oh I will remember that I had rotisserie chicken with potatoes & carrots" but the meals are usually uniquely named so I want to make sure I describe it to you correctly!

Tomorrow I am off to see Toy Story 3 & then hopefully will find time to go through all of my notes! I promised Tuesday, so I will talk to you all again sometime Tuesday! (probably late evening you can look for my first post to my trip report!)

 

[wdwgirl03]

Welcome back and have fun at TS3! We saw it on Friday and we all loved it.

 

[photographymom517]

Unfortunately, I don't have my pictures uploaded to Photo Bucket yet, but tomorrow I'm going to stop by either Walmart, Kmart, or Radio Shack & pick up a few memory cards. I have too many video files (of the kids & holidays) on my laptop & thats why I can't upload my Disney pics yet! So tomorrow I'm planning to buy a few memory cards so I can add photos. I will either update again tomorrow evening or sometime Thursday afternoon so you can see the 1st day pictures!

First of all, let me say that I LOVED Toy Story 3...it was great! I was actually expecting it to be longer. I guess I was just so involved in the story & was enjoying it so much that the time flew by! I've heard others on DIS mention something about Lotso Bear (don't want to give it away to those of you who haven't seen it!) and I agree with everyone on that! He's a character at DHS and even though I didn't wait in line to see him, I did pass by him a few times the one day while we were waiting in line for a show. After seeing it, I can completely see how they will make a Toy Story 4...lol They will probably have Andy all grown up & married with kids...and the toys become Andy's kids toys! Hmm...good idea? or too obvious?

Since I don't have my pictures uploaded yet, I will save "Day 1" for tomorrow's update. This time, I was actually smart & typed into Microsoft Works prior to posting on here! Now maybe I won't lose everything I typed!

It was interesting to compare what I had planned & what we actually did after returning from our trip. As you know, I made a planning book prior to our trip & had it bound at Staples. I think I would have gotten better service & a better book at FedEx Kinkos, but just didn’t have time to drive down there before our trip. I guess sometimes when you do things last minute, you sometimes sacrifice the quality. In this case, it was honestly no big deal. I was able to get my planning book & my son’s autograph book both bound for under $8. They also put a clear cover on the front & a hard navy blue cover on the back. I was able to choose from 4 colors for the back & thought navy was good for both books. This was included in the price to bind the books.

It ended up that we were so busy during our trip that I only looked at my planning book once! After we got to the resort and I unpacked our suitcases, I actually put the planning book & all of my notes from my binder into the large drawer & never had time to look at them again! I wish I wouldn’t have brought either with me because it took up some space in my carry-on bag that I could have used for something else (like brining along magazines to read or a book for myself).

I’m not sure I ever explained my planning book, so I will now.

I set it up like this:
Page 1 -- Cover sheet with CBR mickey head logo
Page 2 -- CBR contact information including phone number/address
Page 3 -- CBR map (I shrunk it to fit the 5x7 page)
Page 4 -- Travel times from CBR to parks & checkin/out info
Page 5 -- Disney Destinations “Reservation Confirmation” page
Page 6 -- Southwest Airlines confirmation page
Page 7 -- Garden Grocer order details
Page 8 -- Important Phone Numbers
Page 9 -- ADR confirmation numbers & times
Page 10 -- Fireworks/Parades schedule
Pages 11-16 -- Maps of parks & DTD

The next sections were for each day. I printed 2 blank spreadsheet pages from DIS which were “at a glance” pages. I thought I would write on these throughout the trip, but I never ended up doing that. Then I typed up 1-4 pages for each day listing what I definitely wanted to do, what we definitely couldn’t do (usually due to height requirements), and what I wanted to do if we had extra time.

I also made a page for my “shopping list” for Downtown Disney. It’s interesting to read over it now & see what we actually purchased from my list!

On my son’s list, I had:
Build a Dino
Once Upon a Toy (Mr. Potato Head parts)
Goofy’s Candy Co (rice krispie treat)
Lego Imagination Center (play area, store)
Mickey’s Mart
Ghirardelli’s Soda Fountain & Choco. Shop (ice cream)

For me:
D-Street (Vinylmations)
World of Disney (use Disney Visa discount for Dooney)
Basin (bath products)
Disney’s Days of Christmas (ornament)
Wonderful World of Memories (scrapbook)
Magnetron Magnetz
Tren-D

I also added about 5 pages of information on the Boardwalk, which we ended up not visiting this trip. (You’ll find out why later in my report!)

Ironically I also had about 5 pages dedicated just to Disney transportation & how to get from place to place (you’ll also find out why its ironic later! Lol).

After the transportation section, I had 16 pages about the Caribbean Beach Resort. It had information on boat/bike rentals, general history of the resort, a bus schedule (which stops each bus takes first/last), info about buying tickets, doing laundry, and the pools.

At the end of the planning book, I had a blank page, each labeled “Day 1” through “Day 10” and then I had 4 blank sheets just in case I needed more space.

In all honesty, I think next time we plan a vacation, I will make a book as soon as we start planning instead of a few days prior to leaving. I think it would be more useful & I would definitely write in the book as I planned! Now that I know about the books, I’m planning to make one for a few family members going on trips. I’m going to make them after they return from their trip, sort of like a mini-scrapbook of everything they did while on vacation!

You’ll learn about this later in my report, but we never used my son’s autograph book. He was afraid of all of the characters & since I had to hold him in the pictures (and my husband was using my camera to take pics for me when we did Character Greetings), we just never used the autograph book. I have mostly generic pages in the book and the cover has a pirate theme, so I’ll just save it for a future trip. When he gets older, I’m sure the characters will be more interesting to him.

 

[BippityBoo]

YAY!! Can't wait to read about your trip!

 

[lledman]

Looking forward to reading all about your trip.

 

[photographymom517]

I got my memory cards today & will be working on my Photopass pictures & adding my videos to the memory cards tonight.

Then tomorrow afternoon I will start DAY 1...yippee!!!

​

 

[Charlefours]

Looking forward to hearing about your trip!!

 

[Spartangirl]

Joining in...can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[photographymom517]

Welcome back Hope!!! can't wait to hear ALL about the trip!!!

Welcome home! I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip

welcome back!!! I can't wait to hear all about your trip

Yay!!! Welcome Back!!! Looking forward to hearing all about it!

Looking forward to reading all about your trip.

Looking forward to hearing about your trip!!

Thanks everyone!!! Looking forward to telling you all about it!

Joining in...can't wait to hear about your trip!

Perfect timing! I'm just about to start my trip report! Hopefully I'll get something posted today!