We arrived at MCO at 10:15 a.m., right on time. The weather was bright and sunny and already very humid. 
The cast on this WDW trip is as follows:
Me-Kristin (hulabird), 43
DH-Russ (to be later named "Uncle Weezy Octopus" by my 4 y.o niece, to be explained further in the report...), 47
My sister, Sue, 39
Maria and Jessie, twins, 8
Nicole, 4
and here they are minus me, and no I am not the green one! LOL
Big Budget Car Rental Problems
After getting our bags we headed to the Budget counter. I had booked a 7 passenger minivan for $400.05 total. My husband got to the counter and immediately was getting the "hard sell" for insurance and any other thing the salesperson could try to sell him. We declined everything and it seemed to annoy this guy, so next he tells us about this new Florida law, that you now need to show proof of insurance if you are stopped by a cop for even a traffic violation. We had our insurance with us so it was no problem, but if you don't, they will try and scare you into this insurance. The guy told us that if you are stopped for speeding or any traffic violations and you do not have your proof of insurance that the police will confiscate the vehicle and then you will have to pay Budget, but if you have the special insurance than you are covered. I would make sure you bring along insurance proof before renting. Anyway, after about 20 minutes of all this b.s., we come to find that they have no vans at all to give us! They tell us NONE of the rental companies have any vans at all because people did not return them because of Hurricane Charley. They told us to sit and wait. I had rented the minivan for 10:45 a.m. and it was now that time. We sat down while my DH just paced up and down the area by the counter, and after talking to others who were sitting waiting, discovered that we were 3rd on a list of people also waiting for a van! One family was already approaching the 3 hour mark for waiting! This was unacceptable. My DH was very persistant and after 1 hour and a half he finally got a manager and complained to him, by 12:30 p.m. we were told they found a van for us, although not the Ford Windstar that we were supposed to have. My DH led us out to the area where they keep the cars and was really pissed when we saw about 10 vans sitting in the parking area! A few were those 12 passenger types, but the one they gave us was a Chevy Venture and I also saw a few others that were similar in size. I was angry that we had to spend from 10:30 until 12:30 waiting around when they had vehicles available! If my DH had not pestered them as much as he did, we may have sat in the airport even longer! We were so happy to get out of there and drive to CBR.
On our way we saw lots of Charley damage, mostly to the roofs of homes and condominiums, and some trees that were down. CBR however looked picture perfect as always. Our original plan was 3 days at CBR and 7 at my beloved BWI, however, that was changed after our first day when my sister and my nieces fell in total love with CBR. My DH did not back me up when I said I wanted to continue with our original plan, because he hates having to split a stay. They all felt CBR was more suited to the kids, so I was overruled. CBR was very good about changing everything for us and I ended up saving $, so I grinned and beared it (it is not so hard, I love CBR too!)
There was no line at all at checkin and our rooms were ready. Our CM was very nice and at first she started writing down room 4231 on our key holder, I knew right away this was Jamaica, which I had requested, but I knew I didn't want building 42 (only because I wanted a shorter walk to OPR) and so I kindly spoke up and asked to be closer to the bridge. She said no problem and looked to check availability for 2 connecting rooms in Jamaica. The best she could do was building 46, which I accepted immediately. So we were given 4604 (King room for me and DH) that connected to 4603 (2 full beds for my sis and the kids). When we got there I was kind of dismayed because we had a parking lot view, but it proved to be an excellent location for everything and the view never really mattered. Here are some shots of the rooms and the views:
Room 4604 in Jamaica
Room 4603 in Jamaica
and the views from those rooms:
This worked out good because our van was only 30 seconds away, the pool and the bridge were less than 2 minutes away...and we never sat and looked out the window at the view. It was a very quiet area as well.
The only problem was when me and DH entered the room and were hit in the face with "SMOKE"...yuk! And not good for my allergies so I immediately called mousekeeping. I did not want to be moved unless totally necessary, so I asked mousekeeping to spray our room and bring a new bedspread and blanket, which they did while we went down to OPR for lunch. The spray worked wonderfully and it was as if no one had ever smoked in the room at all. It was nice to have a new bedspread and blanket too, only they didn't change them for us, they just left them in the room for us, but later came by to bring us additional towels and then asked if we wanted them to make the bed which I said they did not have to do, I just gave them the old bedspread and blanket and then made the bed myself. No big deal. My sister's room was fine, no smoke smell at all.
The kids wanted pizza and so we had lunch at OPR. Me and DH opted for mostaciolli and the kids had pizzas. We bought our refillable mugs too which came in handy the whole trip. The food at OPR is not the greatest cuisine, but it is ok for lunches and quick snacks. After visiting the Pepper Market this trip, it made OPR really seem inferior and I really wish they would upgrade CBR to the quality of the PM. I will show you pictures of PM further into my trip report.
We decided today was a resort day and we decided to hang at the pool. This is where I made my first mistake......
DON'T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN!
Well, you would think after 43 years and having gotten 3rd degree burns from the sun when I was a teen that I would be smart enough to put on the sunscreen before embarking on a trip to the pool. After all I brought a huge tube of 50 spf with me, so it was convenient, yet, I decided I could beat the sun... yeah, right....
You see, when DH and I vacation on our own, we do swim, but usually for less than an hour a day, but when you have three kids to entertain and they love the pool, 3 hours go by very quickly, and a sun burn also develops just as quick as I found out. Now, I didn't find out while we were frolicking in the warm waters of the quiet pool, I couldn't tell at all that my white "chicken" skin was turning lobster red, or that my nose was starting to resemble that of Rudolph, no...I didn't realize the pain that was to follow until I got out of the shower. But anyway, here are some pool shots I took before I was scorched:
Jamaica quiet pool
The only time I felt good was in the water, that night I could barely sleep, in fact it took 4 nights until I was able to have comfort, it was mainly my shoulders and back that got burned. Aloe vera lotion helped some, but every time I moved, all I could say was "ouch!" My advice to everyone, use tons of sunscreen!
My nieces loved the pool and my sister mainly loved the beach, she is going through a divorce from a loser husband so she really needed some quiet time on her own and she just loved the CBR beach area, here is a picture of that area and some of my niece who decided to play in the sand there as well:
The kids made their own water slide by using their buckets from their kids meals purchased at OPR, and filling them with water and then dumping the water before sliding down the slide. (Kids always think of good things to do...lol)
Day 1 was filled with hanging around the resort and eating at OPR. My first night wasn't super comfy, but at least I was spending it in one of my favorite places! Day 2 will be posted sometime tomorrow!
I will also include some food pictures in the upcoming days!
The cast on this WDW trip is as follows:
Me-Kristin (hulabird), 43
DH-Russ (to be later named "Uncle Weezy Octopus" by my 4 y.o niece, to be explained further in the report...), 47
My sister, Sue, 39
Maria and Jessie, twins, 8
Nicole, 4
and here they are minus me, and no I am not the green one! LOL
Big Budget Car Rental Problems
After getting our bags we headed to the Budget counter. I had booked a 7 passenger minivan for $400.05 total. My husband got to the counter and immediately was getting the "hard sell" for insurance and any other thing the salesperson could try to sell him. We declined everything and it seemed to annoy this guy, so next he tells us about this new Florida law, that you now need to show proof of insurance if you are stopped by a cop for even a traffic violation. We had our insurance with us so it was no problem, but if you don't, they will try and scare you into this insurance. The guy told us that if you are stopped for speeding or any traffic violations and you do not have your proof of insurance that the police will confiscate the vehicle and then you will have to pay Budget, but if you have the special insurance than you are covered. I would make sure you bring along insurance proof before renting. Anyway, after about 20 minutes of all this b.s., we come to find that they have no vans at all to give us! They tell us NONE of the rental companies have any vans at all because people did not return them because of Hurricane Charley. They told us to sit and wait. I had rented the minivan for 10:45 a.m. and it was now that time. We sat down while my DH just paced up and down the area by the counter, and after talking to others who were sitting waiting, discovered that we were 3rd on a list of people also waiting for a van! One family was already approaching the 3 hour mark for waiting! This was unacceptable. My DH was very persistant and after 1 hour and a half he finally got a manager and complained to him, by 12:30 p.m. we were told they found a van for us, although not the Ford Windstar that we were supposed to have. My DH led us out to the area where they keep the cars and was really pissed when we saw about 10 vans sitting in the parking area! A few were those 12 passenger types, but the one they gave us was a Chevy Venture and I also saw a few others that were similar in size. I was angry that we had to spend from 10:30 until 12:30 waiting around when they had vehicles available! If my DH had not pestered them as much as he did, we may have sat in the airport even longer! We were so happy to get out of there and drive to CBR.
On our way we saw lots of Charley damage, mostly to the roofs of homes and condominiums, and some trees that were down. CBR however looked picture perfect as always. Our original plan was 3 days at CBR and 7 at my beloved BWI, however, that was changed after our first day when my sister and my nieces fell in total love with CBR. My DH did not back me up when I said I wanted to continue with our original plan, because he hates having to split a stay. They all felt CBR was more suited to the kids, so I was overruled. CBR was very good about changing everything for us and I ended up saving $, so I grinned and beared it (it is not so hard, I love CBR too!)
There was no line at all at checkin and our rooms were ready. Our CM was very nice and at first she started writing down room 4231 on our key holder, I knew right away this was Jamaica, which I had requested, but I knew I didn't want building 42 (only because I wanted a shorter walk to OPR) and so I kindly spoke up and asked to be closer to the bridge. She said no problem and looked to check availability for 2 connecting rooms in Jamaica. The best she could do was building 46, which I accepted immediately. So we were given 4604 (King room for me and DH) that connected to 4603 (2 full beds for my sis and the kids). When we got there I was kind of dismayed because we had a parking lot view, but it proved to be an excellent location for everything and the view never really mattered. Here are some shots of the rooms and the views:
and the views from those rooms:
This worked out good because our van was only 30 seconds away, the pool and the bridge were less than 2 minutes away...and we never sat and looked out the window at the view. It was a very quiet area as well.
The only problem was when me and DH entered the room and were hit in the face with "SMOKE"...yuk! And not good for my allergies so I immediately called mousekeeping. I did not want to be moved unless totally necessary, so I asked mousekeeping to spray our room and bring a new bedspread and blanket, which they did while we went down to OPR for lunch. The spray worked wonderfully and it was as if no one had ever smoked in the room at all. It was nice to have a new bedspread and blanket too, only they didn't change them for us, they just left them in the room for us, but later came by to bring us additional towels and then asked if we wanted them to make the bed which I said they did not have to do, I just gave them the old bedspread and blanket and then made the bed myself. No big deal. My sister's room was fine, no smoke smell at all.
The kids wanted pizza and so we had lunch at OPR. Me and DH opted for mostaciolli and the kids had pizzas. We bought our refillable mugs too which came in handy the whole trip. The food at OPR is not the greatest cuisine, but it is ok for lunches and quick snacks. After visiting the Pepper Market this trip, it made OPR really seem inferior and I really wish they would upgrade CBR to the quality of the PM. I will show you pictures of PM further into my trip report.
We decided today was a resort day and we decided to hang at the pool. This is where I made my first mistake......
DON'T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN!
Well, you would think after 43 years and having gotten 3rd degree burns from the sun when I was a teen that I would be smart enough to put on the sunscreen before embarking on a trip to the pool. After all I brought a huge tube of 50 spf with me, so it was convenient, yet, I decided I could beat the sun...
yeah, right....You see, when DH and I vacation on our own, we do swim, but usually for less than an hour a day, but when you have three kids to entertain and they love the pool, 3 hours go by very quickly, and a sun burn also develops just as quick as I found out. Now, I didn't find out while we were frolicking in the warm waters of the quiet pool, I couldn't tell at all that my white "chicken" skin was turning lobster red, or that my nose was starting to resemble that of Rudolph, no...I didn't realize the pain that was to follow until I got out of the shower. But anyway, here are some pool shots I took before I was scorched:
The only time I felt good was in the water, that night I could barely sleep, in fact it took 4 nights until I was able to have comfort, it was mainly my shoulders and back that got burned. Aloe vera lotion helped some, but every time I moved, all I could say was "ouch!" My advice to everyone, use tons of sunscreen!
My nieces loved the pool and my sister mainly loved the beach, she is going through a divorce from a loser husband so she really needed some quiet time on her own and she just loved the CBR beach area, here is a picture of that area and some of my niece who decided to play in the sand there as well:
Day 1 was filled with hanging around the resort and eating at OPR. My first night wasn't super comfy, but at least I was spending it in one of my favorite places! Day 2 will be posted sometime tomorrow!
I will also include some food pictures in the upcoming days!
