WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 MOS. MAKES (or how I learned to love MK) COMPLETE-WRAP-UP 12/29

[amandaw]

That's great that y'all will get an extra night! And at least you know that y'all will love the resort!

 

[tinacaplan]

That's great that y'all will get an extra night! And at least you know that y'all will love the resort!

Thanks, Amanda! I cannot say enough about how warm and welcoming the CMs and the whole atmosphere at the BC is. And the smell in the lobby...AMAZING! And I'm happy about the extra night; gives us two days at MK, a day at DHS, and one day to play around with, depending what we feel like doing. Because we're staying at the BC, we can spend our evenings at EPCOT.

 

[MEK]

Woo Hoo on the Beach Club! that's awesome!!!!! I agree with you - 4 nights is just too short. I have found that anything 5 nights or more works well. 4 nights is a tease!

 

[pinkxray]

Geez, I miss a few posts and you have gone from CR to CSR back to CR and now you're staying at the BC. Glad you found somewhere that you loved Five nights sounds much better than four too.

 

[KatMark]

We've come to realize that four nights is just not enough; glad you added an extra night.

 

[annmarieda]

I promise that despite all evidence to the contrary, this is not becoming my February PTR. Promise. However, I had to share with everyone that some decision have been made:

1. We are going to stay at the Beach Club.
What can I say? We fell in love! Even my spendthrift husband agreed and, in fact, pushed for it.

2. We are going to go down on Monday and come home on Saturday, which gives us five nights of Disney bliss. I realized that four nights just wasn't quite enough time. As it is, we are probably going to skip AK entirely. Max just isn't that into it, aside from the Boneyard.

3. I've purchased tickets for our outbound flight (early morning, direct out of Hartford!! ) on Jet Blue! We're both excited, as we've been wanting to try them for awhile now. I'm waiting on buying our flights going home, as they're crazy expensive on every airline and I don't foresee them getting worse and am hoping they might come down a bit. I'm sure we'll end up flying on Southwest on the way home, though.

I am hoping to have an update up before the weekend...we'll see! Can't wait to share out MK day with you all... it really was magical.

Thanks for everyone who's hanging in there with me on the painfully slooooow TR!

5 nights is much better... and I too have wanted to fly Jet blue.. I can't wait to hear how you like them.

 

[eandesmom]

Having been over President's weekend, missing it is a VERY good thing and worth planning around if you can.

As today draws to a close and we put Evan's first week of middle school to bed I just have to say




What a bummer about cancelling the ADR, it was very considerate of you though and I'm sure you made someone's morning.

 

[Moira222]

Hi Tina! When I clicked in tonight I found that I was 6 weeks behind.
Not sure how that happened but I was happy to see that your first day turned out well, and the construction man was not a bad story after all.

I am not convinced cancelling your ADR was a bad thing - My DH is in love with the DP for the prepaid meals. I am not completely sure. I am wondering what your family's eating style is w/o DP - do you eat a sit down daily anyway? or not so much. Do you find that when you do sit down that you feel a bit of sticker shock? just wondering!
How exciting to go back in Feb & to the BC! Speaking personally, I don't mind at all if this TR is a TR/PTR all together. more fun to go round!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I was catching up and it went CR, CSR, CR, BC! Regardless where you end up, I'm excited for you and I hope that return flight DROPS in price!!!

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your MK day!

 

[dizneeat]

All caught up again ........ FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

4 weeks of Disney travelling sure gets ME out of the loop!

Okay, and may I tell you, young lady ........ you are giving this OLD lady a heart attack with your resort changes!
My heart skipped when I read CR and I thought, yeah, we are going to be neighbours and we could "steal" cute little Max for an hour or two, then you mentioned CSR and my heart just FELL - too far away! and within a few minutes it was back to CR again and I was like dancing around the room, just to find out you are now going back to the BC - hey that IS far away! Remember we are staying BLT for our "all so short" visit!
But maybe you'll change your mind again ........

Otherwise I loved your updates - I had the same pizza you had with the artichokes and LOVED it! And for Karamell Kuche - may I recommend the chocolate covered strawberries?

And to comment on CM friendlyness - you know that we had a very sobering experience at CSR last time and when we discussed resorts for next years trips, we were both sure we did not want to return there. Sorry!

We have found exceptional CMs at the AKL, the YC and OKW! I might be biased with OKW, as they make me teary eyed every time they say "Welcome Home" when driving through the gate!

But I guess you won't be disappointed with the BC I know you loved it this year!

Can't wait for more!

 

[tinacaplan]

Woo Hoo on the Beach Club! that's awesome!!!!! I agree with you - 4 nights is just too short. I have found that anything 5 nights or more works well. 4 nights is a tease!

I agree, Mary Ellen...four nights IS a tease! We probably could see most of what we want to see, but we wouldn't have a lot of time for much else and this is our mid-winter get away and I want some time to relaxing, hopefully pool-side!

Geez, I miss a few posts and you have gone from CR to CSR back to CR and now you're staying at the BC. Glad you found somewhere that you loved Five nights sounds much better than four too.

We did love it there! The CMs were fantastic and SAB cannot be beat!

5 nights is much better... and I too have wanted to fly Jet blue.. I can't wait to hear how you like them.

We're very excited about the tvs!

Having been over President's weekend, missing it is a VERY good thing and worth planning around if you can.

As today draws to a close and we put Evan's first week of middle school to bed I just have to say




What a bummer about cancelling the ADR, it was very considerate of you though and I'm sure you made someone's morning.

Thanks, Cynthia. I love middle schoolers, actually. Watching all of their changes are so interesting. One minute they're kids and the next they're like full-fledged teenagers.

Hi Tina! When I clicked in tonight I found that I was 6 weeks behind.
Not sure how that happened but I was happy to see that your first day turned out well, and the construction man was not a bad story after all.

I am not convinced cancelling your ADR was a bad thing - My DH is in love with the DP for the prepaid meals. I am not completely sure. I am wondering what your family's eating style is w/o DP - do you eat a sit down daily anyway? or not so much. Do you find that when you do sit down that you feel a bit of sticker shock? just wondering!
How exciting to go back in Feb & to the BC! Speaking personally, I don't mind at all if this TR is a TR/PTR all together. more fun to go round!

Hi Moira! I will say this about the DDP... if you like buffets and want to do character meals, its totally worth it. However, we don't love them and having done a lot of them once already, we're happy to move on. Honestly, a lot of the CS meals we had down there were just as good as what we had at TS meals and Max is at an age where sitting through a prolonged TS meal isn't his first priority. Maybe we'll go back to it when he's a bit older. I loved having the flexibility, to be honest.

We can't wait to go back in February. I can't face the next six months without knowing we have a trip on the horizon!

I was catching up and it went CR, CSR, CR, BC! Regardless where you end up, I'm excited for you and I hope that return flight DROPS in price!!!

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your MK day!

Thanks, Brook! Who knows...we might end up at CR after all. Doubtful...but who knows? Thus, my nondescript ticker.

All caught up again ........ FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

4 weeks of Disney travelling sure gets ME out of the loop!

Okay, and may I tell you, young lady ........ you are giving this OLD lady a heart attack with your resort changes!
My heart skipped when I read CR and I thought, yeah, we are going to be neighbours and we could "steal" cute little Max for an hour or two, then you mentioned CSR and my heart just FELL - too far away! and within a few minutes it was back to CR again and I was like dancing around the room, just to find out you are now going back to the BC - hey that IS far away! Remember we are staying BLT for our "all so short" visit!
But maybe you'll change your mind again ........

Otherwise I loved your updates - I had the same pizza you had with the artichokes and LOVED it! And for Karamell Kuche - may I recommend the chocolate covered strawberries?

And to comment on CM friendlyness - you know that we had a very sobering experience at CSR last time and when we discussed resorts for next years trips, we were both sure we did not want to return there. Sorry!

We have found exceptional CMs at the AKL, the YC and OKW! I might be biased with OKW, as they make me teary eyed every time they say "Welcome Home" when driving through the gate!

But I guess you won't be disappointed with the BC I know you loved it this year!

Can't wait for more!

Sorry, Karin! I'm still holding out hope that we could be at CR for our trip. Part of the problem is that the only rooms that are left are TPV, which I'm not totally sure I want to pay for. We'll see how the next couple of months play out. I might go for it, after all! It would be great to be neighbors again.

Truthfully, Karin, had the CMs at CSR been a bit nicer, I wouldn't think of booking anywhere else. I truly love everything else about that resort, especially the rooms and the busses. The bus service, actually, is what scares me off of POR/POFQ. But... we were treated so much better at BC! You can't compare it, you just can't.

My really frugral, no-frills husband actually has been pushing for the BC. He loved SAB, as did Max (OK, I did, too) and the super comfy rooms and the really friendly CMs.

Hopefully I'll get an update up before the end of the month..that would be nice!

 

[dizneeat]

Sorry, Karin! I'm still holding out hope that we could be at CR for our trip. Part of the problem is that the only rooms that are left are TPV, which I'm not totally sure I want to pay for. We'll see how the next couple of months play out. I might go for it, after all! It would be great to be neighbors again.

Truthfully, Karin, had the CMs at CSR been a bit nicer, I wouldn't think of booking anywhere else. I truly love everything else about that resort, especially the rooms and the busses. The bus service, actually, is what scares me off of POR/POFQ. But... we were treated so much better at BC! You can't compare it, you just can't.

My really frugral, no-frills husband actually has been pushing for the BC. He loved SAB, as did Max (OK, I did, too) and the super comfy rooms and the really friendly CMs.

Hopefully I'll get an update up before the end of the month..that would be nice!

No pressure, Tina, I really understand about you loving the BC, but I would just love having you as our neighbours as well!

As for CSR - you know, the room situation, as much as we laughed it off was really getting to me and the CM at check in didn't make us feel welcome at all. If it only were for the resort, which is beautiful we would love to go back.

We loved POR and would love to go back rather sooner than later, but I can't comment on the buses - never used them as we prefer to drive.

I just wanted to let you know that I had, well, Tom and I had such a laugh with all your changes, because we are exactly the same way! I came home with 2012's vacations all planned out and we have thrown our plans out a few times already and I still have nearly 11 months to go ... should be fun!

 

[tinacaplan]

I swear I am THIS close to have a new update completed. Promise it will be up before the start of the weekend. I'm terrible about updating. Blame my aversion to Photobucket.

Anyway, I've had quite the rollercoaster ride with plane tickets and resorts for our February trip. I think I've had four or five different plans at various points over the past few weeks...thus the nondescript ticker. But..... I think I've nailed it down, once and for all!

I really did want to extend our trip, but in my indecision prices for plane ticekts have done nothing but go up, up, up. Particularly for a Saturday return. Blasted school vacation weeks. I don't even want to talk about how much cheaper tickets are the following week. Oh well...

I cannot bring myself to pay over four hundred bucks a person one way for plane tickets that Saturday. That would bring our total for plane tickets up to an absurd number (think in excess of two thousand dollars). And I tried nearly everything I could think of; every airline, flights with layovers, even flying home into a different airport and nothing.

So..bottom line...we'll be flying down on Monday, February 20 on Jet Blue. So excited to try them out! And Magical Express will be taking us to....our TPV room at the Contemporary. I'm going for it! Especially if our trip is going to be a bit shorter, staying at the CR sweetens the whole deal. And if I ever get around to updating this TR, you'll know why I want to be so close to MK.

Yes, its a shorter trip than I'd like, but we'll be flying out fairly late on Friday on Southwest, so we can do rope drop at a park that day without a problem. And...um....did I mention we're staying at the CONTEMPORARY!!!???

And...for even more exciting news...Karin and Tom (aka Dizneeat) are also going to be at Disney for part of that week, too! We met them (and Mickeynicki) last year and had a great time together. One of the things missing from my July trip, for sure, were any Dismeets, so I'm thrilled that we'll get to see them again.

Now...I promise...no more changing my mind! Now that plane tickets have been purchased things should be pretty set. I'd say that I can't wait for February, but the fall brings so many wonderful things: apple picking, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then there's Christmas! So lots of good stuff happening between now and then...its February that's the killer month, as far as I'm concerned, and spending five days of it at Disney will certainly help ease the pain!

 

[tinacaplan]

When last we spoke (which some of you might not even remember at this point), we had walked right down the middle of Main Street, USA and around the corner into Fantasyland. What to ride first? The greatest thing about getting to MK at rope drop is seeing this:

A pretty empty Fantasyland!

While many of you suspected that our first ride of the day would be Dumbo, you would be wrong. Its a natural choice, given how long the line gets, but between February and July, Max had come to adore Peter Pan. This was a ride we hadn’t even ventured on in February and come July it was the very first ride we wanted to go on.

I wish there was some way for me to truly capture how amazing experiencing this with Max truly was. I really was seeing it for the first time, through Max’s eyes. Our wait was blessedly brief (and we had FPs in hand already for ride two) and before you could say pixie dust, we were sailing away over the lights of London. Max’s sense of wonder and excitement was palpable. We waved as we passed the characters by and made our way through Neverland and back to London.

Oh, and the other thing I wish I had...MORE PICTURES!

I think we parked the stroller in the parking area by the Peter Pan FPs and I managed to leave my camera sitting in the tray. And, if you can believe this, it was still there quite a while later. Truly magical, in my opinion.

Next, we got on Dumbo after the briefest wait. I spied the construction over the wall and got a great look at Beast’s castle. I cannot wait for this to open! Mark has decided that Beauty and the Beast is his favorite Disney movie, so I’m sure we’ll be making a bee line for this once its open. And to think we weren’t going to go back until summer of 2013.

After Dumbo we were off to check out Winnie the Pooh. Max fell in love with the play area which is great, on the one hand, but not so great on the other. Its nice for him to have a spot to run around in, but it also means forgoing FPs for this ride, as he would be devestated if we didn’t wait.

And again...a ride that six months ago did not interest me all that much suddenly became the most magical experience as the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down and finally...the party! So much fun. Max loved it and again was pointing out his favorite characters and waving and otherewise being enchanted by the whole thing.

It was finally beginning to dawn on me...oh, yes...THIS is what Magic Kingdom is all about. I was falling... A run-in with an English nanny, some pirates and some pixie dust and a trip around a very small world just might seal my fate!

 

[amandaw]

What great updates!

First of all....TPV at Contemporary?!? Y'all are going to have such a great vacation in February! Don't forget to let me know when you start your TR for it - I have to know what you think of CR & if the TPV was worth it!

And what a magical morning in the most magical place in the world! I got all teary-eyed reading about your experience with Max on Peter Pan. I so know how you felt! Funny thing is I never liked Peter Pan as a kid, but now that I see how much Reid loves it & I see it all thru his eyes, I love it!

Can't wait to hear about what other fun y'all had that day!!!

 

[natebenma]

Well, Tina, this has been quite a rollercoaster ride on your resorts! Sounds like you have some decent reasons for staying at the CR. But I haven't put it in pen yet in my head!

May I echo what Cynthia said about teachers!?!
Last year, I told two of my son's 7th grade teachers "Bless you for what you do!"

Great start at MK- an early start in Fantasyland really makes such a difference in the crowds. I'm sure you will find that staying at the CR will make it very easy and convenient to get to MK early.

Love your choice of Peter Pan first thing- this is what we usually do. This is one of my family's favorite rides but we won't wait standby later in the day- the lines get sooooooo long!

The WTP play area is so cute!!! How does it work? Is someone in line while the kid(s) play and they rejoin you later. Or is it like a deli, where you get a number?

Yeah, on not losing your camera!!! Everyone was probably so busy dashing to PP and WTP and Dumbo that they didn't have time to scoop it up. Oh, what I mean is "Doesn't that really restore your faith in humanity?"

 

[MEK]

Well - your trip keeps getting better and better and you will absolutely love TPV at CR. When I had a view of the castle every morning while staying at BLT, it was breathtaking - morning, noon, and night!!!!

Glad you were able to nail things down with the plane tickets!!!!

Very fun kick-off to your MK day!

 

[GrammyJudy]

We fly JetBlue out of Hartford and LOVE it...in fact they are my #1 choice.They are so nice and so on time!

 

[KatMark]

Terrific update, Tina. I'm glad you found the "magic" of the Magic Kingdom.

 

[annmarieda]

I swear I am THIS close to have a new update completed. Promise it will be up before the start of the weekend. I'm terrible about updating. Blame my aversion to Photobucket.

Anyway, I've had quite the rollercoaster ride with plane tickets and resorts for our February trip. I think I've had four or five different plans at various points over the past few weeks...thus the nondescript ticker. But..... I think I've nailed it down, once and for all!

I really did want to extend our trip, but in my indecision prices for plane ticekts have done nothing but go up, up, up. Particularly for a Saturday return. Blasted school vacation weeks. I don't even want to talk about how much cheaper tickets are the following week. Oh well...

I cannot bring myself to pay over four hundred bucks a person one way for plane tickets that Saturday. That would bring our total for plane tickets up to an absurd number (think in excess of two thousand dollars). And I tried nearly everything I could think of; every airline, flights with layovers, even flying home into a different airport and nothing.

So..bottom line...we'll be flying down on Monday, February 20 on Jet Blue. So excited to try them out! And Magical Express will be taking us to....our TPV room at the Contemporary. I'm going for it! Especially if our trip is going to be a bit shorter, staying at the CR sweetens the whole deal. And if I ever get around to updating this TR, you'll know why I want to be so close to MK.

Yes, its a shorter trip than I'd like, but we'll be flying out fairly late on Friday on Southwest, so we can do rope drop at a park that day without a problem. And...um....did I mention we're staying at the CONTEMPORARY!!!???

And...for even more exciting news...Karin and Tom (aka Dizneeat) are also going to be at Disney for part of that week, too! We met them (and Mickeynicki) last year and had a great time together. One of the things missing from my July trip, for sure, were any Dismeets, so I'm thrilled that we'll get to see them again.

Now...I promise...no more changing my mind! Now that plane tickets have been purchased things should be pretty set. I'd say that I can't wait for February, but the fall brings so many wonderful things: apple picking, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then there's Christmas! So lots of good stuff happening between now and then...its February that's the killer month, as far as I'm concerned, and spending five days of it at Disney will certainly help ease the pain!

I am going to get confused at some point with all your changes...so you will have to forgive me. But...right now i am not confused right? You are staying at the CR??!!??!! I know how much you want to do this.

Your update was awesome btw. Love that you enjoyed MK - fantasyland. It is a magical area!!!