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

[dizneeat]

Yeah, almost home!!!!!!!!!!!! ............ at the Beach Club, that is!

Can't wait to hear where your room was located. My friend Mary Ellen loves the BC too and she has had a few amazing room locations!

Sorry you go back to school on Monday. Your vacation was over far too quickly!

 

[annmarieda]

Great idea getting the starbucks. I think I will put that on my to do list. Oh.. well, we will be getting in fairly late. Maybe it would not be such a good idea. It is still good advice though since coffee... good coffee can be hard to come by.

 

[natebenma]

Almost there! I can hardly wait!!!

I can't believe how early school is starting for you.

We don't start until after Labor Day (but then again, our last day of school was June 24 this year)

 

[Sherrkel]

How long is your flight to MCO? We're under three hours, so going early makes a ton of sense; we get a full day in Florida (more or less) that way.

Our flight is a little over three hours; we've flown from Manchester and Boston; I definitely like Manchester (Southwest) , the airport is easy to navigate. When we fly in the evening; we like waking up to a full first day ahead at the parks.

 

[glennbo123]

No matter where you stay...."your" stop always seems to be the "last" stop. You're almost there!

 

[KatMark]

Glad you found REAL coffee when you got to the airport!

Happy you found Max earphones and that you are almost at your destination.

 

[MEK]

What a cute picture of you and Max on the bus!

Almost there now!

 

[eandesmom]

Stopping at that Starbucks has become a requirement for me! You are almost there!!!!!!!!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I am finally here! I'm soooooo thrilled that the Beach Club was a hit! I can't wait to hear all about it!!!!

And I so know the McD's/DD meltdown. Henry is the SAME way. For some reason the kid thinks McD's is the most fabulous food on Earth.

 

[tinacaplan]

I feel like I'm way behind on my own thread! How embarrassing. But I'm back at work and the beginning of the new year always means that I'm super busy. Maybe I can get an update done tonight?

Nice you could stop for that last cup of "real" coffee!

Yay for being "almost home."

Tip I picked up from Cynthia! In my haste to always get to DME, I think I've just run through MCO and not noticed that Starbucks is there.

Yeah, almost home!!!!!!!!!!!! ............ at the Beach Club, that is!

Can't wait to hear where your room was located. My friend Mary Ellen loves the BC too and she has had a few amazing room locations!

Sorry you go back to school on Monday. Your vacation was over far too quickly!

Oh...our room location... that's a whole story unto itself.

Great idea getting the starbucks. I think I will put that on my to do list. Oh.. well, we will be getting in fairly late. Maybe it would not be such a good idea. It is still good advice though since coffee... good coffee can be hard to come by.

Yes, it can. Unfortunately. Don't understand why...but that's how it is

Almost there! I can hardly wait!!!

I can't believe how early school is starting for you.

We don't start until after Labor Day (but then again, our last day of school was June 24 this year)

I teach at a charter school. Regular schools around here don't start until very late August/beginning of September.

Our flight is a little over three hours; we've flown from Manchester and Boston; I definitely like Manchester (Southwest) , the airport is easy to navigate. When we fly in the evening; we like waking up to a full first day ahead at the parks.

I love that we can catch that flight out of Hartford and be in Orlando by nine a.m.

No matter where you stay...."your" stop always seems to be the "last" stop. You're almost there!

So true.

Glad you found REAL coffee when you got to the airport!

Happy you found Max earphones and that you are almost at your destination.

Gotta get that last run into Starbucks!

What a cute picture of you and Max on the bus!

Almost there now!

Thanks...I thought so.

Stopping at that Starbucks has become a requirement for me! You are almost there!!!!!!!!!!

Yep...got that move from you Cynthia.

I am finally here! I'm soooooo thrilled that the Beach Club was a hit! I can't wait to hear all about it!!!!

And I so know the McD's/DD meltdown. Henry is the SAME way. For some reason the kid thinks McD's is the most fabulous food on Earth.

We loved it! It is an amazing place.

Max went through a phase where he loved McDonald's, but apart from the incident in the airport, he never asks for it anymore. He doesn't like french fries, if you can believe that!

 

[tinacaplan]

And finally...we pulled into the Beach Club! My first glimpse of the Beach Club:

I apologize for sharing such blurry photos...but they are all I have.

Before we are off the bus, Mark turns around and oh-so-nonchalantly says, “Hey, there’s the ball.” And I turned and sure enough...there it was! Spaceship Earth, symbol of all that is EPCOT, visible from my resort. Really? Yes, really!

The excitement was building as we made our way off the bus. Excuse me, the motorcoach. As a frequent guest on Disney transportation, I swear, I can hear that announcement in my head so clearly right now and it brings me right back and makes me yearn to be at Disneyworld for some reason I don’t even understand.



Check-in:

We were quickly greeted by a friendly CM who escorted us into the lobby and over to check-in. We were warmly welcomed by numerous CMs and the CM at check-in was also wonderful. In fact, the first thing she said to me was, “You’re here celebrating your anniversary and your son’s birthday?” and handed over our pins. Next thing I know, she’s handing me my folder and KTW cards and mentions nothing about contacting me when our room would be ready. It was around eleven at that point, so I had no hope that our room was ready.

“Um...is our room ready now?” I asked, tentatively, as I did not want to come across as demanding or expecting something that I had no rightful reason to expect.

She smiled sweetly and said, “Yes, it is!” Hallejulah!

So far, we were off to a fabulous start! Would there be more pixie dust when we got into our room...or just dust?

 

[amandaw]

I just love it when the room is ready so much earlier than you expect it to be!

Can't wait to hear more about Beach Club.

 

[Missyrose]

While we were on the bus, Max wanted to know who else would be joining us this week.
“Who’s meeting us here? Is Grammy meeting us here? What about Meghan? Is she?”
“No Max, I think Meghan has to work… “
“But she’s my girlfriend!”

Joining in! Max is too cute! Can't wait to hear all about your De-luxe stay

 

[annmarieda]

aHHHHH I want more. Great update. I can't wait to hear all about your room. How cool to have it ready right when you got there.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

for Pixie Dust right away!!!

 

[natebenma]

Beautiful description of your arrival at the Beach Club! I'm excited! Glad to hear your room was ready. I think.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Max went through a phase where he loved McDonald's, but apart from the incident in the airport, he never asks for it anymore. He doesn't like french fries, if you can believe that!

I can, because Henry isn't a big fan of them either! He'll eat maybe 2. He prefers the apples.

What a perfect arrival at the Beach Club! A glance of Epcot, and a room that is ready....

 

[tinacaplan]

I just love it when the room is ready so much earlier than you expect it to be!

Can't wait to hear more about Beach Club.

Thanks! It was pretty cool!

Joining in! Max is too cute! Can't wait to hear all about your De-luxe stay

I think Max is pretty cute, too!

aHHHHH I want more. Great update. I can't wait to hear all about your room. How cool to have it ready right when you got there.

It was fantastic!

for Pixie Dust right away!!!

Yup!

Beautiful description of your arrival at the Beach Club! I'm excited! Glad to hear your room was ready. I think.

It was ready right away. I was shocked.

I can, because Henry isn't a big fan of them either! He'll eat maybe 2. He prefers the apples.

What a perfect arrival at the Beach Club! A glance of Epcot, and a room that is ready....

I know...it was perfect! And Max is just like Henry with the apples.

 

[tinacaplan]

Feeling fine, the three of us set out to find our room, which was on the fourth floor, in the last hall of rooms in the building, as you walk towards EPCOT. I was thrilled to walk in and discover a beautiful room, with the obligatory Mickey head towel on the bed, something I’d not seen before.

My one request had been for a full balcony and, YAY..we got one!

But wait...there’s a man on our balcony! Uh-oh. A very nice man, doing some sort of construction work. Max made fast friends with him, too. We asked about what was going on and the very nice man said he’d be done by four. Um. OK. At the time, we didn’t think much of it. Our luggage wasn’t there yet, so the only thing to do was get our suits out of our carry-on and head to Storm Along Bay and Max’s much anticipated pirate ship.

Our first stop was for a little lunch at Hurricane Hanna’s. I bought a refillable mug, which I made great use of on this trip. Mark and I split a wrap and fries and Max had a hot dog. It was good, for what it was, the wrap was light and crisp and flavorful. Perfect for such a hot day.

At first, I have to admit, the pool seemed a bit overwhelming. I mean, its huge! And there are places you have to walk out to get to other sections of the pool and a lot of it is hidden from clear view. I will say, though, that it wasn’t super crowded at all.

Max took one look at the sandbar and was enthralled, so that’s where we headed.

Now, I should stop for a moment to say that one of the more amazing things that had happened in the six months since we were last at Disney, was that Max has learned to swim. OK..that’s taking it too far, but he’s learned to not be terrified of water, that his little life vest thing will actually keep him afloat, and now swims like a little tadpole, all on his own! The first time he swam on his own this summer was a truly momentous occasion for me. I swam competitively for several years as a kid (don’t get too excited...I wasn’t great at it, but it was mine for awhile), and have always felt like water was my true natural habitat. Until this summer, Max seemed to be indifferent to the whole swimming/beach/pool thing at best, downright terrified at worst. This was breaking my little beach bum heart! So, when he began swimming on his own...well, I’ve had fewer moments thus far when I’ve been more proud of him!

The sand bar area was really cool. Max enjoyed digging and playing in the sand, trying to build sand castles with sand that was far too wet for such applications. Mark and I enjoyed lolling about in the two feet of water. At some point, I snuck off to do a little exploring and found myself floating along the lazy river, which I loved. I felt completely relaxed and peaceful. It was my first moment of, yeah, we’re REALLY on vacation.

I also set out to locate the kidding slide, which is actually the back of the entrance to the big slide and across the main walkway from the rest of the pool. A bit odd, but nothing that was too big of a problem. I returned to the sand and grabbed Max to go and check out the pirate ship, the very ship I had been telling him for weeks would he HIS VERY OWN. He was rather impressed with the whole thing and, much to my pleasant suprise, went straight for the kiddie slide. And then he did it again...and again...and again. It was truly magical to be in a pool that was more or less sticking out into that lake, the view of the Boardwalk and the lighthouse so close, while my son was having the time of his life on the slide.

But, alas, after two hours it was time to get out of the Florida sun and head back to our room. Of course, with Max so excited about the slide and showing no signs of fatigue, this involved a small bribe in the form of the very first Mickey bar of the trip! Which his dear mother promptly proceeded to open incorrectly and dump on the ground at Hurricane Hanna’s. Another super friendly CM was right there, though, to not only take care of the mess, but get Max another one, right away.
But there was more pixie dust in store for all of us!

 

[KatMark]

I am so glad that Max enjoyed the sand, pirate ship and the slide at SAB.