Gina
Remembers the Great DIS Board Crash of '99
- Joined
- Aug 16, 1999
- Messages
- 4,648
Cast of Characters: Me, 40-going-on-5, DS-10, my aunt-who-is-more-like-my-sister, my dad, and Newley, Dad's guide dog
Trip dates: 12/7 - 12/11
Resort: Caribbean Beach Resort
I don't really have time to write out a full trip report, so I thought I'd just hit on a few points of interest. I'll try not to ramble too bad!
The four (and a half) of us make an annual pilgrimage to our home-away-from-home this time every year, but we didn't get to go last year so we were really looking forward to it. Our beloved Dixie Landings was booked up (wah!) so we decided to try CBR. My aunt had stayed there years ago and really liked it, and she and I both love to Caribbean-island-hop whenever we can, so we were excited about trying this resort.
Overall, we really did love it -- the landscaping and theming is just gorgeous, and we *loved* the island-themed-Christmas decorations. We couldn't get enough of the steel pan Christmas music playing all over the resort. The food court/gift shop area is so cute, with seating both plentiful and comfortable. We walked over to Caribbean Caye, and it is so peaceful and relaxing there! Lots of nice benches in shady places.
I had requested Martinique 26, so that Dad and Newley wouldn't have any trouble getting to the food court themselves, and that is where they put us. We were in room 2615, and we couldn't get over how much more storage we had in the CBR room vs. DxL or ASMo. It really came in handy.
The only drawback to CBR is the size and design, as many before have already said. It is really a pain to have guest services in a whole separate place than the food court and other public areas, and an even bigger pain to have to sit and wait for an internal bus to take you to the Custom House if you need to go there for some reason. Plus, with all the internal stops, it took quite a well just to get out of the resort itself when trying to get to one of the parks. But like I said, it really is a beautiful resort, and we did enjoy it.
We did MVMCP on Thursday the 7th, and as always, the parade and the special fireworks made the ticket price completely worth it. SO much fun. We also saw "Mickey's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" this time, and thought it was really cute. It will definitely get you in the Christmas mood! It was pretty darn crowded, though, even for a weeknight. Gone are the days of Disney limiting the number of tickets sold, I think. They kept announcing around 7pm that the park was closing for MVMCP, but that anyone could still pop over to City Hall and buy tickets.
We saw the Candlelight Processional on Friday the 8th, and I will just say this: We go every time, and you would have to have no soul, no spirit, and no heart whatsoever to not be moved to goosebumps by this. Even if I weren't a Christian, I would be moved and inspired by such a glorious telling of *any* religion's tenets. It is just very, very powerful and moving. Brian Dennehy was the guest narrator, and he was just awesome. And funny! At the end he said, "Thanks for having me here in Fargo, North Dakota." (It was VERY cold and windy that night -- we were freezing.) Everybody cracked up. I just kept waiting for him to say, "Come on up here, Tommy Boy!" LOL Someone behind us did yell out "Yay, Big Tom Callahan!" which drew cheers from others.
The night of the shuttle launch, we were coming out of MGM. We stopped and sat right there outside the main gates, where we had a perfect, completely clear view of the eastern sky. All the sudden, to the East, the sky began to turn orange. It looked like dawn, sped up a hundred times. Then, the shuttle went up like a huge glowing orange comet. We watched as it kept climbing, and even got to see the booster separation. We kept watching until it was nothing more than another star in the sky. To say that it was amazing, awesome, incredible, and extremely moving would be a massive understatement. I feel so lucky that we got to experience seeing it.
We didn't see any of the Dream Squad, but we did experience several magical and really neat moments. We ran into a CM who is a DIS-er, Pandypaws (hi Donna!!) who is an engineer and conductor on the Walt Disney World Railroad. She was so sweet, and she let Tyler Dean (DS) be the guest conductor and call out "All aboooaard!" He was thrilled. In Morocco, the storyteller (who was so engaging and interesting) had a few children come up and try and duplicate some drum rhythms after him. DS was the last one up, and he copied him perfectly. (He's really into drumming.) The crowd all clapped for him, and was so happy and proud of himself. I loved seeing that look on his face.
The characters, as always, were so sweet and attentive with all of us, especially Newley. We loved to watch the interaction between Pluto and Newley, especially when Newley gave Pluto a big wet kiss. My character highlight was meeting Belle and the Beast (my absolute favorites.) The CM kept announcing that Beast would have to leave in a couple of minutes, and I was dancing around in impatience. The CM noticed all my Belle pins, and I told him what a fan I was. Turns out he was from Texas too, and he asked if I had brought him any Tex-Mex food. LOL He said he really misses it. He then whispered to me that Beast would stick around for a couple minutes more so that I could be the last one to greet them. I was sooooo happy, and it made my day.
As far as crowds go... it was definitely way more crowded than any other early December trip. I've never seen hour waits before at that time. DS and I didn't even get to ride our favorite, RnRC, because the line was too long and the FP return time was hours later when we would be at dinner.
The Osborne Lights were amazing, as always, but SO crowded. Sheesh. But it was Saturday night, so that probably accounts for a lot of the crowds. Still, it was surprisingly crowded.
Every CM we encountered was really wonderful and helpful. As usual, it was the other guests who were less-than-polite, to put it very very mildly. I think people must check their common sense and/or manners at the gate. So many people really act as if they either rule the road, or they just do not grok the concept that other human beings share the same planet. They stop when they went, oblivious to anyone behind them, mass in doorways, let their kids run wild, and just generally behave like morons.
One lady stopped and squatted on the floor right inside a doorway to rummage through her backpack, and my dad fell over her. Newley spotted her just as we entered the doorway, but there was no time to steer Dad out of the way. He ended up with several big bruises. The woman half-apologized, but acted like no one else should have even been there. She laughed and said, "Guess I picked a bad place to stop." No, ya think?!??
At the risk of being flamed, I have to say that the strollers are completely out of control. Newley was hit twice by ridiculously huge double strollers, and people drag them onto crowded busses where they block the entire aisle. And you gotta love the ginormous strollers in crowded little shops. Red Rover, Red Rover, send some common sense right over.
But that was our only complaint. The trip itself was magical, joyful, and a ton of fun!! We really took time this trip to just sit and take in all the decorations (how can people say there are few decorations??) and we just marveled at how beautiful everything was. It was sad coming home, and we're exhausted, but we're sure in the Christmas spirit now!
I'm going to post our DDP dining reviews on the dining board, if anyone is interested. (Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time, LTT, Chef Mickey's, and a few others)
Thanks for reading this far!
-gina-
Trip dates: 12/7 - 12/11
Resort: Caribbean Beach Resort
I don't really have time to write out a full trip report, so I thought I'd just hit on a few points of interest. I'll try not to ramble too bad!
The four (and a half) of us make an annual pilgrimage to our home-away-from-home this time every year, but we didn't get to go last year so we were really looking forward to it. Our beloved Dixie Landings was booked up (wah!) so we decided to try CBR. My aunt had stayed there years ago and really liked it, and she and I both love to Caribbean-island-hop whenever we can, so we were excited about trying this resort.
Overall, we really did love it -- the landscaping and theming is just gorgeous, and we *loved* the island-themed-Christmas decorations. We couldn't get enough of the steel pan Christmas music playing all over the resort. The food court/gift shop area is so cute, with seating both plentiful and comfortable. We walked over to Caribbean Caye, and it is so peaceful and relaxing there! Lots of nice benches in shady places.
I had requested Martinique 26, so that Dad and Newley wouldn't have any trouble getting to the food court themselves, and that is where they put us. We were in room 2615, and we couldn't get over how much more storage we had in the CBR room vs. DxL or ASMo. It really came in handy.
The only drawback to CBR is the size and design, as many before have already said. It is really a pain to have guest services in a whole separate place than the food court and other public areas, and an even bigger pain to have to sit and wait for an internal bus to take you to the Custom House if you need to go there for some reason. Plus, with all the internal stops, it took quite a well just to get out of the resort itself when trying to get to one of the parks. But like I said, it really is a beautiful resort, and we did enjoy it.
We did MVMCP on Thursday the 7th, and as always, the parade and the special fireworks made the ticket price completely worth it. SO much fun. We also saw "Mickey's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" this time, and thought it was really cute. It will definitely get you in the Christmas mood! It was pretty darn crowded, though, even for a weeknight. Gone are the days of Disney limiting the number of tickets sold, I think. They kept announcing around 7pm that the park was closing for MVMCP, but that anyone could still pop over to City Hall and buy tickets.
We saw the Candlelight Processional on Friday the 8th, and I will just say this: We go every time, and you would have to have no soul, no spirit, and no heart whatsoever to not be moved to goosebumps by this. Even if I weren't a Christian, I would be moved and inspired by such a glorious telling of *any* religion's tenets. It is just very, very powerful and moving. Brian Dennehy was the guest narrator, and he was just awesome. And funny! At the end he said, "Thanks for having me here in Fargo, North Dakota." (It was VERY cold and windy that night -- we were freezing.) Everybody cracked up. I just kept waiting for him to say, "Come on up here, Tommy Boy!" LOL Someone behind us did yell out "Yay, Big Tom Callahan!" which drew cheers from others.
The night of the shuttle launch, we were coming out of MGM. We stopped and sat right there outside the main gates, where we had a perfect, completely clear view of the eastern sky. All the sudden, to the East, the sky began to turn orange. It looked like dawn, sped up a hundred times. Then, the shuttle went up like a huge glowing orange comet. We watched as it kept climbing, and even got to see the booster separation. We kept watching until it was nothing more than another star in the sky. To say that it was amazing, awesome, incredible, and extremely moving would be a massive understatement. I feel so lucky that we got to experience seeing it.
We didn't see any of the Dream Squad, but we did experience several magical and really neat moments. We ran into a CM who is a DIS-er, Pandypaws (hi Donna!!) who is an engineer and conductor on the Walt Disney World Railroad. She was so sweet, and she let Tyler Dean (DS) be the guest conductor and call out "All aboooaard!" He was thrilled. In Morocco, the storyteller (who was so engaging and interesting) had a few children come up and try and duplicate some drum rhythms after him. DS was the last one up, and he copied him perfectly. (He's really into drumming.) The crowd all clapped for him, and was so happy and proud of himself. I loved seeing that look on his face.
The characters, as always, were so sweet and attentive with all of us, especially Newley. We loved to watch the interaction between Pluto and Newley, especially when Newley gave Pluto a big wet kiss.
My character highlight was meeting Belle and the Beast (my absolute favorites.) The CM kept announcing that Beast would have to leave in a couple of minutes, and I was dancing around in impatience. The CM noticed all my Belle pins, and I told him what a fan I was. Turns out he was from Texas too, and he asked if I had brought him any Tex-Mex food. LOL He said he really misses it. He then whispered to me that Beast would stick around for a couple minutes more so that I could be the last one to greet them. I was sooooo happy, and it made my day. As far as crowds go... it was definitely way more crowded than any other early December trip. I've never seen hour waits before at that time. DS and I didn't even get to ride our favorite, RnRC, because the line was too long and the FP return time was hours later when we would be at dinner.
The Osborne Lights were amazing, as always, but SO crowded. Sheesh. But it was Saturday night, so that probably accounts for a lot of the crowds. Still, it was surprisingly crowded. Every CM we encountered was really wonderful and helpful. As usual, it was the other guests who were less-than-polite, to put it very very mildly. I think people must check their common sense and/or manners at the gate. So many people really act as if they either rule the road, or they just do not grok the concept that other human beings share the same planet. They stop when they went, oblivious to anyone behind them, mass in doorways, let their kids run wild, and just generally behave like morons.
One lady stopped and squatted on the floor right inside a doorway to rummage through her backpack, and my dad fell over her. Newley spotted her just as we entered the doorway, but there was no time to steer Dad out of the way. He ended up with several big bruises. The woman half-apologized, but acted like no one else should have even been there. She laughed and said, "Guess I picked a bad place to stop." No, ya think?!??
At the risk of being flamed, I have to say that the strollers are completely out of control. Newley was hit twice by ridiculously huge double strollers, and people drag them onto crowded busses where they block the entire aisle. And you gotta love the ginormous strollers in crowded little shops. Red Rover, Red Rover, send some common sense right over.
But that was our only complaint. The trip itself was magical, joyful, and a ton of fun!! We really took time this trip to just sit and take in all the decorations (how can people say there are few decorations??) and we just marveled at how beautiful everything was. It was sad coming home, and we're exhausted, but we're sure in the Christmas spirit now!
I'm going to post our DDP dining reviews on the dining board, if anyone is interested. (Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time, LTT, Chef Mickey's, and a few others)
Thanks for reading this far!
-gina-
