"We're basically here for the food..." A September 2016 TR**Updated 4/21/17

[kollerbear]

I'm enjoying your trip report! Always love the food reports! Sorry about that disruptive family, but I think Disney shares some culpability in that. By charging per person for a missed reservation, it makes it expensive for a family to opt out if the day didn't go according to plan. I understand why they made the change, but I understand why a family of 4 would have a hard time choosing to spend $40+ to cancel. Not saying they shouldn't have stepped out, but its hard to pack up and leave from a buffet. (Do they even let you do that?) I know you might be able to get that cancellation waived if you explain the situation but it's not posted anywhere and you might not know to do it. Some of it is what you do when you've got kids, it's the cost of doing business so to speak, but Disney could do better by families and other diners by giving some flexibility without a steep penalty.

 

[VACamm]

Day 1 Part 5

We left Crystal Palace with full bellies, and walked straight to Tomorrowland!



As we were walking, we checked the Disney Parks App and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, otherwise known as the Peoplemover was showing no wait. We hopped on, and zipped around Tomorrowland!





When we got off of the Peoplemover, we walked straight into the Incredibles Dance Party!! We danced and danced with Frozone, Elastagirl, and Mr. Incredible! We did the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide with them… and OH MY GOSH the selfies that we took with the characters were amazing!! We love the dance parties!




Then we hustled over to New Fantasyland for our first Fast Pass of Seven Dwarves Mine Train! We LIKE this ride, but we do not LOVE this ride. However, we do LOVE Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was unfortunately closed for refurbishment during our week. Boooooooooooo. I will say that the animatronics in the dark portion of the Mine Train are absolutely wonderful! The first drop on the Mine Train is pretty awesome too!




We checked the wait times again, and saw a super low wait time for the Ariel Meet and Greet. Since we have never ‘met’ Ariel, we decided to go check it out. We had a GREAT time, and we were so glad that we went to visit her. Honestly, she was totally in character and we had a great conversation talking about fun things like dinglehoppers, and Prince Eric. She was GREAT!





We had to speed walk BACK over to Tomorrowland to use our 2nd Fast Pass for the GREATEST RIDE IN ALL OF MAGIC KINGDOM: Space Mountain!! Love Love LOVE Space Mountain! I laugh and laugh during the entire ride. It is so super fun and my entire family loves it! There is just something about riding a rollercoaster in the pitch darkness that is so scary and fun at the same time!





I made a major rookie mistake in planning out the Fast Passes for this night because our next Fast Pass for The Jungle Cruise was all the way over in Adventureland. Our legs were starting to get tired, but we made the long criss cross across the park, and got into our Jungle Boat. Our Skipper was probably the most animated and out of control crazy that we’ve ever experienced…. She was hilarious. I wish that I had photos, but it was night time and every photo that I took was blurry or dark. SORRY!!! We did make it back to the dock in 1 piece even though our Skipper wanted to leave us with Trader Sam.

Our PLAN was to watch Wishes from behind the castle in Fantasyland, but honestly we all had been up since 5:00am and we were absolutely EXHAUSTED. It was already 9:55pm, and we literally were feeling like we could fall asleep standing up. We took a vote, and decided to head back to the resort to get some sleep. Thus began the long walk ACROSS the entire park AGAIN. I believe that this was the 4th time we walked across the park in 5 hours, and our legs were hurting already. Its gonna be a long week! Haha!

As we were walking out of the park, we could hear and see Wishes behind us…. Awwwwwwwww. It was so tempting to stay and watch, but honestly our day was so long that we all needed to get to bed because I think we all were getting a bit cranky.

The bus stop for Caribbean Beach Resort is not ANYWHERE near the front of the pack at the Magic Kingdom bus stops. OF COURSE It literally is ALMOST the furthest bus stop from the park exit that there can possibly be. The super positive news is that we only had to wait a couple of minutes before a bus came, and we were back at our resort in no time. The bad news was that we had to try and find our room at the resort again. UGH. Our room was on the back of the building that was the furthest away from the Martinique bus stop. Finding our room on the winding pathways that first night was not fun, but eventually we did find it.

Our luggage had been delivered to our room, so we all decided the best thing to do was unpack as quickly as possible and take turns in the shower. Fairly quickly everything was unpacked, and we were all tucked in our beds. I think that we fell asleep in about 30 seconds that night, which was great because we had an EARLY day planned for Sunday!

Stay tuned for the next post where we Rope Drop Animal Kingdom!

Day 1: 20,632 Steps / 9.65 miles walked

 

[VACamm]

I'm enjoying your trip report! Always love the food reports! Sorry about that disruptive family, but I think Disney shares some culpability in that. By charging per person for a missed reservation, it makes it expensive for a family to opt out if the day didn't go according to plan. I understand why they made the change, but I understand why a family of 4 would have a hard time choosing to spend $40+ to cancel. Not saying they shouldn't have stepped out, but its hard to pack up and leave from a buffet. (Do they even let you do that?) I know you might be able to get that cancellation waived if you explain the situation but it's not posted anywhere and you might not know to do it. Some of it is what you do when you've got kids, it's the cost of doing business so to speak, but Disney could do better by families and other diners by giving some flexibility without a steep penalty.

HI and thank you for reading! I'm so glad that you're enjoying this trip report! It was a great trip, and its so much fun to relive all over our fun memories again through pictures. I do understand and appreciate your view regarding the cancellation policy, and you do make a very good point for sure. I agree 100% that Disney could do a better job of assisting in situations such as we experienced that night. My husband (standing right here) just reminded me that 1 of the little kids that night kept RUNNING AROUND the tables and chasing after the characters and kept getting in other peoples photos and were trying to TOUCH the characters again. It was very uncomfortable for us to watch this terrible behavior. BUT.... I totally do get your point about the cancellation policy. In this instance, I feel like some of it was maybe the parents not making good choices. Trust me, I remember having little ones and I know that being a parent is the hardest job on the planet for sure . Heck, my 21 year old and 13 year old do some crazy stuff that make me cringe now !!

 

[Raeven]

I've always wanted to do the dance party it looks so fun! But Josh doesn't really like dancing. We danced at Club Villain and that's where I learned be doesn't know how to do the Cha Cha Slide or any of those

I hate walkiing to the bus stop. When we were at Pop Century my main complaint was it seemed like we were the furthest. The mods we stayed at were a little closer, but I'm looking forward to staying deluxe partially because they seem to be the closest

 

[VACamm]

I've always wanted to do the dance party it looks so fun! But Josh doesn't really like dancing. We danced at Club Villain and that's where I learned be doesn't know how to do the Cha Cha Slide or any of those

I hate walkiing to the bus stop. When we were at Pop Century my main complaint was it seemed like we were the furthest. The mods we stayed at were a little closer, but I'm looking forward to staying deluxe partially because they seem to be the closest

Yessss! You must put the Dance Party on your to do list for your December trip!!! Its great! You can get some really good selfies with the characters hehehe

I agree with the bus stop situation totally! We have always only stayed at Pop or Mods, so the walk is usually pretty long. The deluxe bus stops are always first, so you will have to let me know how you LOVE it after your next trip! Maybe I can convince Kevin into letting us stay Deluxe one of these days

 

[kollerbear]

HI and thank you for reading! I'm so glad that you're enjoying this trip report! It was a great trip, and its so much fun to relive all over our fun memories again through pictures. I do understand and appreciate your view regarding the cancellation policy, and you do make a very good point for sure. I agree 100% that Disney could do a better job of assisting in situations such as we experienced that night. My husband (standing right here) just reminded me that 1 of the little kids that night kept RUNNING AROUND the tables and chasing after the characters and kept getting in other peoples photos and were trying to TOUCH the characters again. It was very uncomfortable for us to watch this terrible behavior. BUT.... I totally do get your point about the cancellation policy. In this instance, I feel like some of it was maybe the parents not making good choices. Trust me, I remember having little ones and I know that being a parent is the hardest job on the planet for sure . Heck, my 21 year old and 13 year old do some crazy stuff that make me cringe now !!

You're so right!!! I'm a new mom and know that I feel uncomfortable when my baby starts to fuss, even if it's only for a minute while I get her ready to eat herself. It's hard to imagine ignoring behavior like that and I think part of taking care of all guests is being proactive to fix some of those situations. Just trying to imagine what I'd do if I knew my baby was extra fussy and had missed a nap. Due to the policy, I think I'd go anyway and take turns eating and keeping her outside, which my husband and I have already had to do a couple times. Not ideal for the restaurant either, since then we'd be eating in 2 shifts and possibly taking longer than otherwise. If I could cancel without penalty obviously that'd be so much better! Maybe they could issue it as a $40 dining credit you could use anywhere, like at your hotel's quick service?

Can't wait to read more, esp. about your gluten free finds!

 

[VACamm]

You're so right!!! I'm a new mom and know that I feel uncomfortable when my baby starts to fuss, even if it's only for a minute while I get her ready to eat herself. It's hard to imagine ignoring behavior like that and I think part of taking care of all guests is being proactive to fix some of those situations. Just trying to imagine what I'd do if I knew my baby was extra fussy and had missed a nap. Due to the policy, I think I'd go anyway and take turns eating and keeping her outside, which my husband and I have already had to do a couple times. Not ideal for the restaurant either, since then we'd be eating in 2 shifts and possibly taking longer than otherwise. If I could cancel without penalty obviously that'd be so much better! Maybe they could issue it as a $40 dining credit you could use anywhere, like at your hotel's quick service?

Can't wait to read more, esp. about your gluten free finds!

You're so right!!! I'm a new mom and know that I feel uncomfortable when my baby starts to fuss, even if it's only for a minute while I get her ready to eat herself. It's hard to imagine ignoring behavior like that and I think part of taking care of all guests is being proactive to fix some of those situations. Just trying to imagine what I'd do if I knew my baby was extra fussy and had missed a nap. Due to the policy, I think I'd go anyway and take turns eating and keeping her outside, which my husband and I have already had to do a couple times. Not ideal for the restaurant either, since then we'd be eating in 2 shifts and possibly taking longer than otherwise. If I could cancel without penalty obviously that'd be so much better! Maybe they could issue it as a $40 dining credit you could use anywhere, like at your hotel's quick service?

Can't wait to read more, esp. about your gluten free finds!

That's a tough decision isn't it?! I see your point and dealing with little ones can be so unpredictable.

10 years ago when my boys were 10 and 3 years old, I was a newly divorced single mom and decided it would be a GREAT idea to take them to Walt Disney World Port Orleans Riverside BY MYSELF FOR 8 DAYS. I literally must have been crazy. I can remember sitting in the restaurant inside of Mexico at EPCOT for dinner, and my 2 overtired cranky kids were acting up so bad that I was overwhelmed and I started crying at the table. We ended up barely eating half of our meal and i asked for our check and we left. As soon as we got outside and into the stroller, my 3 year old fell right asleep. Disney can be very overwhelming for children and parents alike. I remember all too well... it's hard to be a parent of little ones.

 

[Judgey Judgerson]

Day 1 Part 5

The bad news was that we had to try and find our room at the resort again. UGH. Our room was on the back of the building that was the furthest away from the Martinique bus stop. Finding our room on the winding pathways that first night was not fun, but eventually we did find it.

This is the exact reason why I refuse to stay at CBR again and never recommend it to people. Too big and too spread out for me. I just remember being confused the entire time we were there. In fact, the only time we made it to the main house was when we checked in and checked out. In all fairness, it was only my second trip to WDW and I did not research the resort very well...so i'll own some of that.

With that said, great report so far!

 

[VACamm]

This is the exact reason why I refuse to stay at CBR again and never recommend it to people. Too big and too spread out for me. I just remember being confused the entire time we were there. In fact, the only time we made it to the main house was when we checked in and checked out. In all fairness, it was only my second trip to WDW and I did not research the resort very well...so i'll own some of that.

With that said, great report so far!

Hello and thank you for reading!!! I appreciate your comment completely!! And I accept full responsibility also for not fully realizing how far I would be walking each day just in the HUGE resort. My fault 100%! Like I previously said.... location is everything at CBR. I will now be a huge cheerleader for encouraging others to book Preferred Room locations only at CBR

By the way.... I love your screen name. Not sure what it means but I'm guessing there's an interesting story behind it

 

[kfcamm]

Hello everyone! I am going to add my two cents in on my wife's trip report (and because I am totally not even ready to do my own trip report yet)

So I will introduce myself - My name is Kevin and I am married to a Disney FAN. All I knew about Disneyworld before I met her was that Cinderella's castle was there and there was a huge golf ball thingee. HA HA! Now, her love for all thing Disney has rubbed off on me and I get totally psyched for the next trip because there is still so many things that I haven't seen yet. We have been together for 8 years and we are about to go on trip #6.

But enough about me, I will show you DisneyWorld from my eyes on my wife's TR (Aimee just told me that trip report can be written as TR)

I love taking pictures of the landscape at WDW. It is always so friggin awesome. The colors, the depth, the different plants. It grabs you and brings a smile to your face...the best welcome ever.

But you do see other interesting things like Elsa's slipper laying on Main St. A little cross with Cinderella I know, but the little Princess was nowhere to be found.



Disclaimer - I take random pictures of things that are interesting...to me.

After several obligatory pictures of the Cinderella's castle - we saw the WDW duck which we had to take a picture of and rolled on.

Since my wife was going to meet every chef to go over gluten free options, I thought that was so cool, and because of that, I had to get a picture of her with the chef. The way that they went out of their way to help her and walk her through the menu or buffets really impressed me. Here is the Crystal Palace chef:



He set the bar so high for all of the other chefs that week. Food was awesome and we were hungry and after meeting Pooh and his gang, we headed back out.



So we definitely zig-zagged our way back and forth MK. Which was good because we totally needed to work off what we just ate at Crystal Palace. A little bloated ... Since we were on a roll meeting characters, we had to meet Ariel. She was a princess that we never had met and the line wasn't that long, so why not!? Aimee taught me how to interact with the characters like a pro. She walked straight up and asked about Eric, swimming, and Ariel was just talking back to her. It was like they were close friends. And I just said, "Hey Ariel!" I totally "floundered" at the moment so I watched the pro interact with Ariel vowing to get my confidence later! Then it was off to the Jungle Cruise for the most interesting Skipper ever...

More to come as my wife rolls through the trip!

 

[VACamm]

REAL LIFE UPDATE!!!

My husband Kevin (kfcamm) has decided to get in on this trip report! He has been a 'silent Disbooards stalker' and was reading along on my trip report. He decided that it would be super cool to interject with his perspective at certain points and post some of his photos along the way! So whenever you see him post, he will be doing so in BLUE font PS>>> he is super NEW on the Disboards, and is still trying to figure it out. I just gave him a crash course, so hopefully he will be able to offer some good Disney tips!

Everyone say HI to Kevin!!

 

[kollerbear]

REAL LIFE UPDATE!!!

My husband Kevin (kfcamm) has decided to get in on this trip report! He has been a 'silent Disbooards stalker' and was reading along on my trip report.

Everyone say HI to Kevin!!

View attachment 201906

Hi Kevin! I love your picture of Elsa's shoe!

 

[ALEXandFAB]

I’m just saying that after all the planning and preparation that I do for each vacation I feel like I’m so mentally exhausted that I need a mental health day BEFORE the vacation even starts! The months, weeks, and days prior to leaving for this vacation I had completed every item on a 2 page TYPED To-Do list.

You just described me. I love planning although I agree it can be exhausting!

we were being picked up by a family friend at 5:45am!

Now THAT is a great friend!

we actually flew OVER some of the hurricane clouds which was very cool.

WOW!

We made our long trek back to our room with our purchases, and without my dads jacket.

Oh, hello duck

On our way to our first Fast Pass... we saw a cute little bunny!

Are you sure you're not secretly Snow White, with all these forest animals crossing your path?

When we got off of the Peoplemover, we walked straight into the Incredibles Dance Party!! We danced and danced with Frozone, Elastagirl, and Mr. Incredible! We did the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide with them… and OH MY GOSH the selfies that we took with the characters were amazing!! We love the dance parties!

Oh, this looks like so much FUN!


Hi Kevin! Very cool to know we'll be getting your perspective too.

 

[VACamm]

Are you sure you're not secretly Snow White, with all these forest animals crossing your path?

Hahaaaa this made me laugh outloud! We did actually see a lot of wildlife this trip including frogs, squirrels, and TONS of lizards at CBR!!

Oh, this looks like so much FUN!

Yesssss!! If you havn't done the dance party before, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi Kevin. Great post. Looking forward to reading more.

 

[kfcamm]

Hi Kevin. Great post. Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks!

 

[annie170]

Hi Kevin! Good job on your post! You're quite the photographer. Very cool that the chef posed for a photo and that picture with you and the Beast is definitely frame worthy. I also love the pic of the lost slipper. Is it just me, or do you wonder how upset that little princess was when she discovered one slipper was lost?

Now back to Aimee. (I have a daughter with that name, but with the more common spelling). Your dance party looked like a blast! Those are always so much fun.

We're big fans of BTMR and Space Mountain, also. Your ride photo on the Mine Train is hilarious with three out of four of you capturing selfies!

It's always great when you get a good skipper on Jungle Cruise. It makes for such a better ride.

Lastly, I love your tank top!

 

[Ciandella915]

Ha! I went to LU, and as soon as I saw your plane picture, I went "Ahhhhh, the Burg."

 

[VACamm]

Now back to Aimee. (I have a daughter with that name, but with the more common spelling). Your dance party looked like a blast! Those are always so much fun.

The dance party was so much fun! We love the Incredibles movie so much, so its always a blast to dance along with them!!! Its so much energy, and it makes me happy!

We're big fans of BTMR and Space Mountain, also. Your ride photo on the Mine Train is hilarious with three out of four of you capturing selfies!

When I look at the Mine Train photo, I laugh outloud because we look way too ridiculous LITERALLY all with our cell phones out. hahaaa We are so ridiculous

Lastly, I love your tank top!

Thank you so much! I got it at World of Disney last December when we were at WDW for Christmas! I still saw them there last month! Hmmmm... You can maybe make a special trip to WDW to pick yourself up one

Ha! I went to LU, and as soon as I saw your plane picture, I went "Ahhhhh, the Burg."

You're kidding!!??!?!? Thats great! hahaaa! I actually went to LU also!! You know you miss the Burg lol I actually live in Forest, but its literally next door to Lynchburg

 

[dgthree]

Curious that you were able to have the couscous, as I thought it was a pasta product, so it would have gluten?

That said, it looks like you had a fun dinner.