Day 1...The Rest of the Day
Let me start out by apologizing that I don't have any room pictures to insert right now. Almost as soon as we got into our room, we both collapsed on the beds and took a nap. I was so tired out that I simply forgot to snap any pictures at this point. I do have some from later in our trip. I think getting up way earlier than normal combined with traveling all morning and walking around the resort drained us. We slept/watched tv/vegged out for a good two hours. At that point, I got busy and got us unpacked and did my best to do so without waking my napping
626.
As soon as he awoke (about 5:00 PM) we made our way to the bus stop for DTD. You may notice that I hadn't mentioned our room placement yet. We were in Casitas building 3. After hours of pouring over threads here on the DIS, maps of the resort and getting feedback from others who had stayed there I had come to the realization that although I would make it work anywhere, I really wanted to have a room with good 'everywhere' access. I wanted to not only be close to El Centro's shop and food (which was a only a short walk from our room) but also to El Centro's bus stop for going to DTD (it's the first of four stops on the DTD route). In my pre trip reading, I had read about how the CSR has four bus stops (internal ones) and how they fill up quickly on the first or second stop and how people at the other stops are left hoping for standing room on the buses. I did NOT want to be one of those people who was going to have to ride the bus standing. And, being as I didn't have a vehicle with us this trip, I knew we would be doing more than a bit of bus riding. Thinking we might end up at DTD a few times during our trip, I wanted to be close to the El Centro bus stop which is the first stop on the DTD route. Also, knowing we would be going to the parks a lot, I wanted to be close to the Casitas bus stop which is the first bus stop on the parks route (for every park, Casitas is always the first stop). Not only was it good for leaving the resort, but it was great for coming back too. Instead of waiting while the bus dropped everyone else off first, we could just hop right off at the first stop.
I also wanted to be somewhat close to the main pool. I was willing to do a bit more walking to the pool as I assumed (correctly) we would walk to the bus stops and food at El Centro much more often. Had I not wanted to be close to the Casitas bus stop to be the first park bound pick up at the resort, the Cabanas section would have served our needs very well. However, it just came down to I didn't want to take the chance on having to stand for the entire bus trip to a park in the morning.
Casitas 3 was the perfect location for us. It was about the same distance to either the El Centro (first DTD bus stop) or the Casitas (first park bus stop). We were a very short (less than two minutes) walk from our areas quiet pool and less than a five minute walk from El Centro (and it's food, store and bus stop). We were about a seven minute stroll from the main pool. However, that walk was always beautiful and we often stopped to swing in a hammock or observe the resort's beauty from a bench instead of walking the entire way at once (we were on a very relaxed pace this vacation).
Also, it came down to personal taste, I loved the many fountains in the Casitas section. Here is
Stitch on our way to the DTD bus stop. I never got over the beauty of the fountains. I really appreciated them.
Kicked back on an over sized love seat on the patio outside of Pepper Market/ Maya Grill.
With the donkey in the resort's gift shop.
Another light fixture picture.
Within a few minutes of us arriving at the bus stop at El Centro, the empty *woo hoo* DTD bus showed up. We climbed aboard and chose a seat (from all of the empty ones) and sat happily as the bus continued around the resort to the other three stops. By the second to last stop all of the seats were taken and some people were left behind at the last stop as not everyone would fit behind the white safety line at the front of the bus. Thanks to the DIS CSR thread for providing bus pick up order information!
Once we arrived at DTD we headed straight for the make your own t-shirt shop.
Stitch had been looking forward to this after hearing about it from one of his friend's who had been at WDW the month before. Once there we were able to easily navigate through the process on the touch screen computer. In no time at all, we were in line to turn in our ticket and pay for our shirt. I won't give away his design as he will be wearing it later in the trip report.
While we were there, a CM noticed his birthday button and led us over to a slightly more quiet area of the shop (toward the collectible shop next door, they are connected inside) and told
Stitch that she had a phone call on hold for him. She handed him the phone and he got a very surprised/pleased look on his face. Goofy was on the phone wishing him a very happy birthday.
**TIP- If you are interested in making your own t-shirt, do it first thing (or as close to it as you can) when visiting DTD, it takes anywhere from an hour to three hours for them to get it done (depending on the number of shirts ahead of yours in the que). So, design it, buy it and then go and enjoy the rest of DTD, that way, it should be done when you are ready to head out.**
What followed was a frenzy of buying.
We had gotten a $250 gift card as part of our booking package and we were enjoying using it. I don't know if this is such a positive sign for the economy but it was of great benefit to us, toys, stuffed animals, baseball caps and assorted other items were on sale! And I am not talking a dollar or two. I believe it was 30% off of all toys for our entire trip! The sales really helped our money (or gift card dollars) go farther. We also saw several items on clearance at the CSR's gift shop. It was great to find deals on lots of great Disney stuff!
When we saw Buzz, I was missing my little
Buzz(formerly known as our
Little Prince)a whole lot. He had loved this statue on his first trip to Disney World (September/October '08) and I wished that I could once again watch his eyes light up when he saw it. Lucky for him, I chose to drown the feelings of missing him by buying him gifts (got to love the 30% off toy sale). All three of the boys who stayed home ended up with their fair share of fun things brought back from WDW especially for them.
After shopping for almost two hours it was getting late and we were once again, really hungry. We wanted to eat at the Earl of Sandwich but the line there was CRAZY long. I am talking you could barely walk in the door there were so many people in there. I don't often think of the fire marshal when I walk in somewhere, but it popped into my mind that he would not like what he saw here. It was seriously CRAZY packed. So crazy that I passed on joining in the throng of guests who were packed into every nook and cranny in order to enjoy my favorite CS meal in all of WDW. I still wish I wouldn't have had to skip it, but the wait had to have been at least 25 minutes to order and I wasn't in the frame of mind that would have been needed to wait that long to order food.
Being as we were both still feeling a bit tired, we decided that we would just head back and either eat room service or stop by the Pepper Market. We just had to grab his t-shirt before leaving. When we arrived back at the t-shirt place, his shirt was not ready...and the promised time stated on our receipt was an hour earlier. I asked if they could just make sure it was next in line and I was told that they couldn't 'skip' the orders that had come in since our order got skipped (somehow it ended up being set down 'out of line' and never made it into the line). I pointed out we had been there much earlier than those people who had shirts currently being printed. The CM told me that "we don't skip other guests and insert shirts in the middle of the que, everyone waits." I was very upset with that comment. It wasn't that I thought I should be first when I ordered, I thought that since they had made a mistake, that I shouldn't have to go to the end of the line 'again' because of it. I didn't want to wait behind those who had mistakenly been moved in front of us. Somehow the t-shirt shop had made a mistake and now I was being pointedly told I couldn't 'skip' others. I was not happy with that answer, but I was tired. Why argue with someone who obviously is not capable of wanting to help rectify a mistake? At that point, I told the CM I would just have it sent back to our resort when it was ready using resort delivery (even though we had wanted it sooner, I wasn't going to press any farther, she was just not going to be helpful). However, she then made a mistake I wasn't willing to just overlook, she ROLLED HER EYES and mumbled about 'waiting our turn'. I told her it was time for her to get a manager. I was very nice in how I spoke with the manager, but I expressed to her that in no uncertain terms would I be spoken to that way by anyone (it really was totally more rude sounding than it comes through) and explained the situation showing her the time which was marked on my original receipt and explaining to her that
Stitch had been very excited about his shirt and had wanted to wear it before the resort delivery schedule would even have it arriving at our resort. She instantly apologized and called for another CM to come up and find our ticket in the que and put it in front. Even doing this though we realized once she explained the printing process that it would be too long to wait as it still had to be printed and dry. We were simply too worn out to wait.
As we were talking and she started asking
Stitch about his favorite characters and rides and places. She made him feel special by really listening to his answers and telling him all about her favorites as well. She was such a truly nice/kind person that we forgot all about our upset and started smiling again. She also agreed that she would have someone (or do it herself if she had to) bring the shirt over to CSR later that night so that he could pick it up the next morning and wear it the day or the day after if he wanted. I thanked her and told her that we were once again in a great mood (after she had fixed the situation, apologized and been so gosh darn nice you just couldn't stay upset).
Stitch and some cool marble art that he was drawn to while we had our discussion.
After our extended stop at the t-shirt shop, we were both too tired to stop at the Pepper Market, instead, we headed straight back to the room and ordered up room service. We both chose to share nachos. I also had a salad with grilled chicken while Stitch chose a chicken quesadilla. The CSR having room service is just another example of why it felt more like a deluxe than a moderate. I was very happy to have that choice available to us...especially on this night when we were both so tired.
As we got ready for bed, we called home and talked to everyone there and shared about our day and asked all about theirs. It sure was good to hear their voices! As I finally crawled into bed for the night, I couldn't help but smile, our vacation was only a few hours old and we had already had a fantastic time!
Up next: Our first day at the parks!
TO BE CONTINED...
Sounds like a beautiful day out and by the looks of the pics the place is pretty as ever. Stich looks so happy to be there with his mama; he is such a little sweetie. 
) later this afternoon. I am hoping to be able to find again once he starts to clean under his bed (it has a club house built in under it and that place usually collects anything and everything until I tell him to clean it out). 
