Momto2funkids
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2002
Cast:
Me - Age 38, mom
DH - Age 38, Navy man
Last time we were at WDW together was 1995.
DS1 - Age 9 (was at WDW with me and grandma once when he was 2, but doesn't remember)
DS2 - Age 7 First timer
We aren't really the ORANGE family, but each day we'd try to coordinate our shirt colors to make it easy to find each other and so the CM's would always say things like "Hey, it's the Green Family" "Hi Orange, Family"!
(Due to the generosity of another DIS'er, we had a free night at CBR, before we headed to FW campground. Our actual park days won't start until day 4!)
******************************************
Days 1 and 2: Lets save money and sleep in the car AND CBR
In the interest of saving a bit of money, we decided to leave late Wednesday and sleep on the way and time our arrival to be at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station for 9:00am when they opened their ticket office. JAX is the cheapest place we found tickets for military, cheaper than Shades of Green and our local ITT office. After eight hours of switching drivers and one package of no-doze, we took a 3 ½ hour nap at a truck stop and arrived at JAX at 8:56am---what timing!
Continuing on to WDW, we got to the Caribbean Beach Resort right around noon. Our room wasnt yet ready so we went to the main pool, where dh had a three hour nap and the boys and I swam and sunned. While at the pool, the boys and I decided to check out Parrot Cay Island and were disappointed to find that there was no longer a childrens play area therethere was just some empty sand pits where I imagine it used to be.
As I sat by the pool, my resolve to stick with our plan of eating PBJ sandwiches for dinner was fading fast. When Dh awoke from his nap, I told him about the great reviews that Ohanas always gets on these boards, and we decided to go there. From the pool, I called on the cell phone to Disney Dining and was able to get a priority seating for 5:20 just like that. When we got to the restaurant, I found out why it had been so easy to get a PS: They had made it for OCTOBER 29 instead of August 29th. No problem, cousin, we were seated anyway. It really wasnt crowded at all that early. DH, DS2 and I enjoyed the meal immensely, DH especially loved the beef and DS2 really liked the Turkey. But for some unknown reason, DS1 picked this moment to decide to become a vegetarian. He had a little of the fixins, some rice, some salad, but he wouldnt try any of the meat! We asked our waiter if there was any other option and he said he could bring a grilled cheese, to which DS1 agreed. After the waiter left, I jokily muttered something that I guess I shouldnt have about paying over $10.00 for grilled cheese at which point DS1 broke into tears. It was then that we realized that he probably was overtired from the trip and the pool, so we let him be. A round of coconut broom race and he was all better, but he never did try any of the meat. BTW, the grilled cheese sandwich never came, the waiter must have forgotten it, but DS1 decided he didnt want it anyway.
A note about Ohanas entertainment: When I called for PS, I asked if 5:20 was too early for the entertainment and was told no. But when we got there, the waiter said the main entertainer doesnt come on until 7pm. So the only thing we got to do was the coconut race.
Another aside: My DH loved the food at this place so much that for the rest of the vacation anytime we were on the monorail and the recorded announcement mentioned Ohanas, his eyes would glaze over and hed say in Homer-Simpson style mmmmm, Ohanas
We left via monorail and then decided to ride the other monorail to Epcot just to look. At this point it started to rain. We asked for and got to sit in the front of the monorail with a nice driver named Stan. Even with the rain it was still an impressive view. We got off at EPCOT to take the bus back to CBR when the rain really started and us w/no ponchos. The bus arrived within 5 minutes but too late for us to have any remaining dry clothes.
Our room at CBR was wonderful. We had requested ground floor and we got that. I was very pleased with our room in Martinque 24 because it was facing the quiet pool, which made it oh so convenient for a late night swim--which we did. It was also great for an early morning swimwhich we did. We stayed at CBR until Friday at around 2pm or so, pretty much just swimming at both our quiet pool and the main pool, and then we headed over to Ft. Wilderness Campground.
Jo
Me - Age 38, mom
DH - Age 38, Navy man
Last time we were at WDW together was 1995.
DS1 - Age 9 (was at WDW with me and grandma once when he was 2, but doesn't remember)
DS2 - Age 7 First timer
We aren't really the ORANGE family, but each day we'd try to coordinate our shirt colors to make it easy to find each other and so the CM's would always say things like "Hey, it's the Green Family" "Hi Orange, Family"!
(Due to the generosity of another DIS'er, we had a free night at CBR, before we headed to FW campground. Our actual park days won't start until day 4!)
******************************************
Days 1 and 2: Lets save money and sleep in the car AND CBR
In the interest of saving a bit of money, we decided to leave late Wednesday and sleep on the way and time our arrival to be at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station for 9:00am when they opened their ticket office. JAX is the cheapest place we found tickets for military, cheaper than Shades of Green and our local ITT office. After eight hours of switching drivers and one package of no-doze, we took a 3 ½ hour nap at a truck stop and arrived at JAX at 8:56am---what timing!
Continuing on to WDW, we got to the Caribbean Beach Resort right around noon. Our room wasnt yet ready so we went to the main pool, where dh had a three hour nap and the boys and I swam and sunned. While at the pool, the boys and I decided to check out Parrot Cay Island and were disappointed to find that there was no longer a childrens play area therethere was just some empty sand pits where I imagine it used to be.
As I sat by the pool, my resolve to stick with our plan of eating PBJ sandwiches for dinner was fading fast. When Dh awoke from his nap, I told him about the great reviews that Ohanas always gets on these boards, and we decided to go there. From the pool, I called on the cell phone to Disney Dining and was able to get a priority seating for 5:20 just like that. When we got to the restaurant, I found out why it had been so easy to get a PS: They had made it for OCTOBER 29 instead of August 29th. No problem, cousin, we were seated anyway. It really wasnt crowded at all that early. DH, DS2 and I enjoyed the meal immensely, DH especially loved the beef and DS2 really liked the Turkey. But for some unknown reason, DS1 picked this moment to decide to become a vegetarian. He had a little of the fixins, some rice, some salad, but he wouldnt try any of the meat! We asked our waiter if there was any other option and he said he could bring a grilled cheese, to which DS1 agreed. After the waiter left, I jokily muttered something that I guess I shouldnt have about paying over $10.00 for grilled cheese at which point DS1 broke into tears. It was then that we realized that he probably was overtired from the trip and the pool, so we let him be. A round of coconut broom race and he was all better, but he never did try any of the meat. BTW, the grilled cheese sandwich never came, the waiter must have forgotten it, but DS1 decided he didnt want it anyway.
A note about Ohanas entertainment: When I called for PS, I asked if 5:20 was too early for the entertainment and was told no. But when we got there, the waiter said the main entertainer doesnt come on until 7pm. So the only thing we got to do was the coconut race.
Another aside: My DH loved the food at this place so much that for the rest of the vacation anytime we were on the monorail and the recorded announcement mentioned Ohanas, his eyes would glaze over and hed say in Homer-Simpson style mmmmm, Ohanas
We left via monorail and then decided to ride the other monorail to Epcot just to look. At this point it started to rain. We asked for and got to sit in the front of the monorail with a nice driver named Stan. Even with the rain it was still an impressive view. We got off at EPCOT to take the bus back to CBR when the rain really started and us w/no ponchos. The bus arrived within 5 minutes but too late for us to have any remaining dry clothes.
Our room at CBR was wonderful. We had requested ground floor and we got that. I was very pleased with our room in Martinque 24 because it was facing the quiet pool, which made it oh so convenient for a late night swim--which we did. It was also great for an early morning swimwhich we did. We stayed at CBR until Friday at around 2pm or so, pretty much just swimming at both our quiet pool and the main pool, and then we headed over to Ft. Wilderness Campground.
Jo
