Starting 2007 Off Right - Final Day is Up!!! Pg 16!

[DreaGirl]

I'm hoping we haven't heard from you because you sold your house and you are on the move!

 

[Avivasmom]

Just read your whole report! It is great...what a cute couple you guys are.

I love all the pictures...keep them coming.

 

[Marc A.]

Where did your husband get his T's from???

I'm assuming the parks

 

[snowbell]

subscribing.....

 

[arizonacolbys]

I just got caught up with your TR. It's great! Your pics are so fun!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for reading along - I've been enjoying your TR, too!

I'm hoping we haven't heard from you because you sold your house and you are on the move!

Good one!! LOL No, seriously, the house selling has not gone well at all - we went almost 4 weeks with no showings, then had 3 over the weekend, which was hopefully a good sign. It's definitely one of the most frustrating things we've ever gone through.

Just read your whole report! It is great...what a cute couple you guys are.

I love all the pictures...keep them coming.

Thanks for joining us!

Where did your husband get his T's from???

I'm assuming the parks

Hi! Actually, a lot of his T's are from our local Disney Store & some are from the parks. We both have dozens of Disney T's after so many trips.

subscribing.....

Welcome!

 

[arizonacolbys]

We both ended up konking out for about an hour or so in the room after our morning of escaping the Yeti at AK. This was also a bittersweet afternoon, since it would be our last night at POP Century this trip….but we were moving on to Caribbean Beach Resort – our first time experiencing a moderate resort at WDW – which we were very excited about!!! So, after our naps, we went ahead & got most of our stuff together for the big move on Sunday so that we’d have one less thing to do after we came back to the room exhausted at the end of the day.

I don’t believe I mentioned this earlier, but we actually had an ADR originally scheduled for 7:30 am this morning for breakfast at ‘Ohana, but we decided to pass on it since we were in a hurry to get over & see the Yeti! Since we didn’t have a huge breakfast as planned, we started talking about the possibility of trying someplace new for dinner that night. After some discussion, I suggested Maya Grill over at Coronado Springs – we both wanted to check out this resort anyways since my in-laws loved it there last summer – and I had read some good reviews on it here on the DIS! So, I grabbed the phone in the room & easily made an ADR for the two of us when Maya Grill opened at 6 pm.

We decided the easiest way to transfer over to Coronado Springs was via MGM since it is so close to POP Century & also on the way to Coronado. Now, once we arrived at Coronado Springs, we had some to kill before our ADR at Maya Grill. Out of all the Moderate resorts, this is the one that really intrigued me the most – if I had been able to get an AP discount on our room, this is in fact where we would be staying. Sooooo, I was very happy to be able to check out this Resort while waiting for our ADR time slot.

I must say, we both really loved the atmosphere at this Resort. Growing up my family used to go on 3-4 week long trips every summer to every state in the Western & Southwestern U.S. – my favorite stops were always in the Southwest, so the look & feel of Coronado Springs Resort was really right up my alley. The lobby was really beautiful – I especially loved the painted ceilings & the fountains.

We took a nice, leisurely stroll around the resort & lucked out by finding an empty hammock to enjoy in the sun.

After what turned into a short siesta in the hammock, we got up & strolled back over to the main building & did some window shopping at the Resort gift shop. I enjoyed perusing the various Mexican souvenirs they had available here – I think it really helps with the “feel” of the Resort & attributes to the great theming here. On our way to the Maya Grill to check in we got a big kick out of some of the breads & pastries that were on display outside the food court – they had some type of bread that was shaped like a little alligator! It was too cute!!

We checked in for our ADR when the restaurant opened & we were only one of 3 or 4 couples there to check-in upon opening. This restaurant was really beautiful inside – it gives you the feel of eating inside a pyramid. We both really enjoyed the bread that was served here before our meal – it came with some sort of olive oil dipping sauce that was delish!! We both had steaks as our meals & they were very good – definitely one of our favorite meals of the trip. We both gave this meal & will definitely return some day. It was a nice & quiet meal with good service.

After our dinner at Maya Grill we hopped a bus to Epcot for the evening. It was really starting to get chilly out & we were both glad that we had put on jeans for the evening & brought along our sweatshirts, too!! It was getting pretty late at the park & of course, all of the Soarin’ Fastpasses were gone for the evening. We headed over to Test Track & although the wait time was listed as 30 minutes, it really didn’t look bad at all, so we decided to wait it out & enjoyed our fun (yet, very chilly! ) ride on Test Track.

We both decided that we could use a tasty beverage to top off our evening & I was thrilled to find one of my favorite seasonal beers on tap at Disney World!! If you like seasonal beers – you should check out Winter Bourbon Cask Ale – it is actually brewed by Anheuser Busch, so it was on tap everywhere that Budweiser was during the Winter months. It is this delicious darker beer (well, darker than I usually drink anyways ) that is brewed with a hint of vanilla. A lot of people think that sounds weird, but everyone that I’ve had try it out has really liked it (even my FIL who doesn’t like any flavored or fruity beers. )

We strolled our way thru Mexico while sipping on our beer & just enjoyed the evening together. We ended up in Germany where hubby decided he wanted to try the German beer they had on tap. He tried a Franziskaner Weisse & really enjoyed it – I wasn’t brave enough, so I ended up with a Beck’s Light, which frankly wasn’t very good. I think it had to do with the flavorful beer I had already had, but the Beck’s Light just really tasted like water after that! LOL I really thought I had a Beck’s here on our last trip that I enjoyed, but I’m thinking it wasn’t of the “Light” variety. For some reason we’ve never spent a lot of time in Germany, so we enjoyed strolling thru the shops & then found a nice bench right in the middle of Germany to sit & enjoy some conversation & people watching while enjoying our German Beers.

After we finished our beers we were absolutely shivering!! We decided that it would be a good time to call it a night, and started moseying our way back to the exit. We got a nice night shot in front of Spaceship Earth on our way out of the park:

We hopped our bus back to POP Century for our last night at POP….would we miss the POP Century? Or, fall in love with Caribbean Beach?? Find out next!

 

[Spartangirl]

Great update! We have yet to visit Coronado Springs or the Maya Grill. The resort looks really nice and your meal sounds like it was great!

 

[ThinkTink75]

Can't wait to read more! We are staying at CBR in one month! Cant wait to hear your review!

 

[disneymoon_0307]

Great update. Y'all are so cute together. We are staying at CSR in Sep and I can't wait. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[DisneyJunkieLC]

Great report!!! The Coronado Springs looks beautiful. I can't wait to hear about Caribbean Beach!!

 

[arizonacolbys]

Sunday, January 21st:
Well, there was no Extra Magic Hours this morning, so we got to “sleep-in” today. LOL We have always gotten up for early entry days, so it always seems a bit strange to us while at WDW to sleep-in & not get to a park until 9 am. This morning, it actually worked out well for us since we were moving out of POP Century today! I had called Bell Services from our room the night before & told them the number of bags we would have & what time we would be vacating the room. We were simply told to pile our bags up together under the window in our room & they would come up & grab our bags to transfer them over to Caribbean Beach Resort for us.

We enjoyed another yummy breakfast at POP Century this morning before saying goodbye to our room. We decided we really enjoyed staying in the 80’s – it was fun for us since we both grew up in the 80’s & with the short-cut across the parking lot to the bus stops, I really don’t think this location is any farther out than the 50’s that I usually enjoy staying in. We were off to the Magic Kingdom today since we never made it there the day before as planned.

We got our usual - Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White, Space Mountain & Buzz Lightyear – done, probably within the first hour. It really does pay off to get to the parks early!! When we came out of Buzz, we found Stitch just wandering around Tomorrowland! People were walking right past him without even noticing he was there!! It was too funny! It’s really amazing how sometimes people are on a mission & they really aren’t noticing what’s going on around them – especially at WDW. He was a good Stitch – he tried running off with me – LOL After we stopped & talked with Stitch, a huge line formed for him. Great timing for us to see my favorite furry, blue alien.

We ended up spending another hour or so at the Magic Kingdom before deciding that we wanted to head over to the Caribbean Beach Resort & get checked in! We were really very excited to stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort – we had tried to stay here back in 2002 & then it closed for refurb (we ended up at the Polynesian for only $20 more a night – so definitely no complaints there!! ) then, we talked about staying there a couple of other trips, but it just never worked out for some reason.

We hopped over to our new bus stop for the rest of this stay - the Caribbean Beach Bus Stop - & got on our new bus. We had to ask our bus driver which stop to get off at in order to get us closest to the check-in area & he was very nice & helpful. When we got into the lobby there was nobody in front of us, so we were able to walk right up to the counter & get checked-in! I decided to keep my trap shut & just see what room the luck of the draw would get us. I was very happy when she pointed to Jamaica on our map & that we were given a room on the second floor (always quieter on the top floor!)

So, with check-in over with we started the hike to our room. And let me tell you, it was definitely farther than I thought it would be! It wasn’t a big deal to me though, because other than checking in and out, there really wasn’t much need to go back to the check-in building. We enjoyed our stroll through the Resort grounds & it had really warmed up nicely today (considering there was about 2 foot of snow on the ground back home, we were pretty easy to please.) Finally, we found our building in Jamaica & after some initial confusion, we found the staircase & walked around the back of the building to our room.

Now, maybe I had built it up in my head too much since we had wanted to stay here for several years & considering this resort is hubby’s Aunt’s favorite resort & one of my best friend’s favorite resort, but we were just really kinda disappointed from the minute we walked into our room.

It was very hot & steamy in our room & the AC unit under the window was very loudly trying to do something to cool down the room. Upon entry there was just this musty kind of smell. I’m not really sure how else to describe it – but, it really didn’t smell good. The room itself was also just OK in my opinion. There seemed to be a lot of stains on the carpet in our room & all of the furniture really needed some TLC. It was just really worn & looking like it had all seen better days. Maybe we are just used to our stays at POP Century where everything has always seemed new & squeaky clean, but for some reason we just didn't feel all that excited to be there once we were checked in. I think it may also have something to do with being at Coronado Springs Resort the night before - it seemed newer & cleaner there as well.

Some views of the room:

The view from our window:

We decided to leave our backpacks & hike over to the food court & get our refillable mugs for the remainder of our trip.

The beach in front of our building:

From our room in Jamaica, it is a hike out of Jamaica & over the island – Caribbean Cay – to get over to the main pool area & food court. We really enjoyed walking over the island & getting to the food court (at least the first couple times.) We browsed thru the shop & got our refillable mugs & filled them up with some Diet Coke for our hike back to the room. By now it was close to 2 pm & we called down to inquire about our luggage, but alas it had not arrived yet. So, we tossed our sweatshirts in the backpack & headed back out to the parks.

 

[ThinkTink75]

Aww... it stinks you were disappointed with CBR! Your pictures look just wonderful!

 

[DreaGirl]

Still no Disney Crocs?! Just kidding!

I'm sorry you were disappointed with you room at CBR. When I originally called I wanted CBR, but changed to POFQ. All the walking you talk about makes me glad I did since we will have DD with us.

I must say that you and your hubby are the cutest! I love your pic. with Stitch.

Also, the restaurant at CSR sounds *so* good. All our ADRs are set, but you have me thinking...and you know it is never good to start thinking about your ADRs once they are set.

Thanks for the updates!

 

[shellbelle]

I'm sorry to hear your disappointment in CBR, too. We love to stay at POP and have thought about staying at CBR on our next trip.

Thanks for your great TR. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[arizonacolbys]

Great update! We have yet to visit Coronado Springs or the Maya Grill. The resort looks really nice and your meal sounds like it was great!

We really enjoyed both the resort & the meal there!

Can't wait to read more! We are staying at CBR in one month! Cant wait to hear your review!

Unfortunately, we weren't crazy about CBR, but I have a lot of family/friends that really do love it there - I think it just depends on your expectations & what you're used to.

Great update. Y'all are so cute together. We are staying at CSR in Sep and I can't wait. Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks

Great report!!! The Coronado Springs looks beautiful. I can't wait to hear about Caribbean Beach!!

Thanks for following along!

Aww... it stinks you were disappointed with CBR! Your pictures look just wonderful!

Thanks! We still had a great time - I'm also wondering if it was warm enough to swim & lay in the hammocks on the beach there, maybe we would have enjoyed the atmosphere enough to like the rest of the resort more? With the cruddy weather it just really made everything else (like the LONG hike to refill our mugs in the cold or rain) that much more aggravating. We decided that if we are that far from our room again, we'll just keep pop/water in our fridge instead of getting the refillable mugs. We're just so used to the ease of refilling at POP.

Still no Disney Crocs?! Just kidding!

I'm sorry you were disappointed with you room at CBR. When I originally called I wanted CBR, but changed to POFQ. All the walking you talk about makes me glad I did since we will have DD with us.

I must say that you and your hubby are the cutest! I love your pic. with Stitch.

Also, the restaurant at CSR sounds *so* good. All our ADRs are set, but you have me thinking...and you know it is never good to start thinking about your ADRs once they are set.

Thanks for the updates!

LOL - no Disney Crocs....yet! I know POFQ is very popular here - sounds like a good decision! I totally know what you mean about those ADR's - we have ours made for August & I can't tell you how many times I've rethought them!

I'm sorry to hear your disappointment in CBR, too. We love to stay at POP and have thought about staying at CBR on our next trip.

Thanks for your great TR. Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for reading along! For us, the POP just really can't be beat! LOL We love staying at POP & the Deluxes, but are kinda turned off on the Moderates right now.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Now, my memory is a little fuzzy now on what exactly we did this afternoon, but I’m fairly certain that we returned to Epcot for some strolling around the countries & yummy food at Cantina de San Angel – our favorite little Mexican place in sunny FL.

After leaving Epcot via the Monorail, we got off at the TTC & decided to take the ferry boat over to the Magic Kingdom – they were, after all, having Extra Magic Hours tonight! We always have to ride the big ferry boat to the Magic Kingdom at least once every trip – it is a little tradition we have. We saw this guy while waiting on the dock:

I love getting some pics from the boat:

They also had these cute little set-ups for the New Pirate & Princess Party happening at the Magic Kingdom (stay tuned for our visit to the 1st Ever Pirate & Princess Party tomorrow night!!) at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom:

Now, as much as I tend to rave about the greatness of Early Morning Extra Magic Hours, we don’t hold the same candle to the Evening Extra Magic Hours. I don’t know what the deal is, but we’ve never experienced one of these evenings with lesser crowds – to us, the parks always seem just as crowded during this time & we end up regretting our decision to be shoulder to shoulder with all these people also trying to get onto all these rides during the “Extra Magic Hours.” Unfortunately, this night at the Magic Kingdom was no different from our previous experiences – just wall to wall people & long waits at all of our favorite attractions. We ended up over in Toontown for some fun pictures with our pals:

And we ran into Pluto behind the castle in Fantasyland:

Considering we had already done everything at the Magic Kingdom earlier this morning, and that we would be back there again the next night for the Pirate & Princess Party….after taking in Wishes, we ended up calling it a night & heading back to our Resort.

Arriving back at Caribbean Beach Resort, we realized that we sometimes had it good with our bus stop in Jamaica – if the bus came in through the side entrance, we were the first ones to be dropped off! (Yeah!! ) But, keep in mind, on the flip side of this benefit…..if you are the first stop, you are the first picked up on the way out of the resort & it will take you at least 10 minutes of driving around the resort making many (7 ) stops every minute or so. This turned into one of our biggest complaints about the resort – way too many bus stops .

We also found it strange that the bus stops were all across the parking lot from the rooms – if you haven’t been to Caribbean Beach the set up is with the lake in the middle, the rooms surrounding the lake, parking lots on the other side of the buildings & then the bus stop on the far side of the parking lots. It just seemed like an odd set-up here especially with lots of excited little kids running around anxious to catch a bus. None of the other Disney resorts that we have stayed at were set up this way, so we just found it odd.

After we strolled back to our room, I put in a call to Luggage Assistance & requested that they deliver our luggage that was “hopefully” transferred over from POP earlier in the day. A very nice Cast Member delivered ALL of our luggage safely arrived from POP within 20-30 minutes. We then decided to stroll over to the food court to get a refill of Diet Coke for the evening. On the way back, we found a nice, comfy hammock to relax in. We really enjoyed this …..for about 10 minutes. Then……the rain came. It wasn’t a downpour or anything, but for a chilly evening, it certainly chased us back up to the room! LOL

We unpacked a few things & got our things ready for the next morning – we would be off to AK for EMH and another date with the Yeti before our big evening of pillaging at the Pirate & Princess Party!!

 

[Spartangirl]

We too, have never had much luck with the Evening Extra Magic Hours. Maybe it's because of the times of the year that we visit the parks???

Your character pics are cute! I'm looking forward to the next installment!

 

[arizonacolbys]

We too, have never had much luck with the Evening Extra Magic Hours. Maybe it's because of the times of the year that we visit the parks???

Your character pics are cute! I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Thanks! I agree - it really could just be the time of year that we tend to visit (the off-season) - when the parks are open later, the Evening EMH's probably aren't as swamped. In January the MK was only normally open til 8 pm the week we were there, so with the Evening EMH that made it open til 11, which isn't very late for most people. It just seems like less people leave the park in the evenings for EMH than drag their butts out of bed for the Morning EMH.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Day 6 ~ Monday, January 22nd:

Another early up & at ‘em morning for us – it was off to the AK for a Morning EMH! We stopped & got a Photopass picture with the single most aggravating Photopass Photographer I’ve yet to encounter. There was one family ahead of us & it took SO long for them to get pictures done. There were four of them & each one had their own camera & wanted a picture with these two people & then these three & then these other two. Now, I totally understand that that’s what the Photopass Photographers are there for & it’s great to have that capability. But, I was just frustrated & in a hurry to get to EE. We started to move on several times, but kept thinking that these people were almost done. We finally got our picture done & I wasn’t even happy with it – I think you can tell my frustration in the picture, so we should have just come back later.

You guessed it, our first thing on the agenda this early morning was getting on Expedition Everest again. We just love this ride & in some ways it is my new favorite ride. It is just awesome & we both get off this one laughing & giddy after seeing the Yeti yet again. After riding EE & getting FP’s for another date with the Yeti later in the day, it was off to Kilimanjaro Safari. We saw a lot of great critters out & about on this early morning safari. It was probably the warmest day of the trip yet, and it looked like the animals were all enjoying the warmth as much as we were. The baby giraffe on the savannah was very active this morning.

Pumba! (one of my best pictures ever of him - usually the truck speeds up here to catch the "poachers")

Now, I believe it was this morning that we had one of the best Safari experiences ever. Something was wrong with the speakers/tape & the recording of the chasing down of the poachers could not be heard. We had an awesome Safari with a driver that was just able to focus on pointing out all the animals & enjoying the actual Safari. I understand their desire to make the Safari more exciting with the Poacher Chase, but we really think it would be SO much better if it just focused on the animals & not the poachers.

After the two biggest rides were accomplished, we headed into Tusker House for breakfast. We just discovered coming here for breakfast back in September – the first time we were on the DDP – and we really enjoy it. They have a breakfast that consists of: scrambled eggs, yummy home fries, a biscuit & your choice of sausage or bacon for about $5. I don’t like bacon or sausage, so I was able to get either double eggs or double home fries instead of the meat & I went for the home fries! Hubby didn’t want too much grease with going on Dinosaur & back on EE, so he actually opted for the same thing. We both got a chocolate milk to go with our brekkie & found a nice & quiet table in the far back of the restaurant where we enjoyed our food & discussed our plans for the rest of the day.

After a fast & delicious breakfast, we headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey for some photo ops whilst our breakfast digested. Apparently, everyone else in the park had the same idea, because this place was packed!!! (I’m guessing a Lion King show must’ve just let out, because we couldn’t get near half the characters over there.) We got pics with Mickey & Goofy & decided we were ready to roll out.

By now, our stomachs were settling nicely, so we ventured over to Dinosaur. We have really learned to enjoy this ride. The first time we went on it back in 2000 we both felt very ill after getting off of it. Not sure what has changed, but we both do just fine with it now! (This is one of those rides that you can see some of the best Ride Pics on – some people are really terrified on this one. My hubby, of course, loves to be very “scared” in the pictures for fun. We’ve seen some funny ones here! ) After Dinosaur, it was time to head back to EE with those FP’s from this morning! Yipee!!

Since we were trying to stay rested up for our late night our partying with Pirates & Princesses later in the day, we headed back to CBR pretty early – I’d say by lunchtime. This was the warmest day we’d seen so far & according to the upcoming forecast, it could be our only opportunity to swim for the week. After we got back to our room at CBR, we got changed into our swimsuits & grabbed our mugs on our way to Old Port Royale. Of course, now that we had the swimsuits on & were on a mission it started to cloud up on us a bit…we got our mugs filled with pop & popped a squat on a chaise lounge.

As we were sitting there, it started to drizzle on us. We also both dipped our arms in the water & you guessed it…it was FREEZING!!!! We’ve had back luck over the last couple years with the pools not being very warm. I know they are supposed to be heated year round, but sometimes they are certainly more “heated” than others. I’m guessing with all the chilly weather we had been experiencing that the water got rather chilly overnight & they hadn’t been able to heat it back up sufficiently. There were only a couple of young kids in the pool…nobody else was braving that water.

So, very disappointed, we started our trek back over the bridge & back to our room to go with Plan B. We just ended up napping & just watching some tv to relax before our big party evening. Up next…our big night out with Pirates & Princesses!!

 

[IluvXU]

Excited to hear about the Pirate and Princess Party!