You mean I DO get to go to WDW in 2014?? - Link to TR in post #523

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Great re June 2nd. We have a rental car that week and are use to changes due to health so we are on the same no pressure page there!

I know re MB and waste of money! We also have two sets for one week in May! I also wanted to use my cute yellow one from AK last year. Jo has come up with the idea that we choose a colour for each resort so we don't get mixed up. Then every year we are going to always pick that colour so I know ahhh red is SSR. They gave us a little tag with the year on last year so I know which one is current and to stop up mixing up our bands between the two of us we have little clip on buttons we bought in the AK shop that are different that clip on to the bands ( an excuse for bling )

Should work in theory...

It's as bad as the refillable mug.....how many of those have we got..I threw them all away in the end... Plastic mountain what a waste.

But do love FP+ !

 

[GiantsNiners11]

Great balcony pics. Thanks for posting your TR!

 

[dgbg100106]

I'm so baffled by the whole MB thing anyway. I'm going to need a serious tutorial for our next trip....whenever that is. The packaging is neat if nothing else. Of course, I'm the girl who keeps every ticket, every map, every everything.

I am in the same boat.. When and If I every make it back, I will have to have tutorial on how to use them..

 

[scottny]

I think 2 bands is a waste too but we got them.
I never got the drive.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

We will be visiting VGF in Feb... and excited to hear you'll be visiting us up here in Cleveland this year!!!

 

[lisaviolet]

Just when I come over to catch up, there's NEW too! Oh no.

Yeah VGF and you.

 

[franandaj]

Great re June 2nd. We have a rental car that week and are use to changes due to health so we are on the same no pressure page there!

I know re MB and waste of money! We also have two sets for one week in May! I also wanted to use my cute yellow one from AK last year. Jo has come up with the idea that we choose a colour for each resort so we don't get mixed up. Then every year we are going to always pick that colour so I know ahhh red is SSR. They gave us a little tag with the year on last year so I know which one is current and to stop up mixing up our bands between the two of us we have little clip on buttons we bought in the AK shop that are different that clip on to the bands ( an excuse for bling )

Should work in theory...

It's as bad as the refillable mug.....how many of those have we got..I threw them all away in the end... Plastic mountain what a waste.

But do love FP+ !

I probably need to just toss the old ones and get over it! We always save too many things. I'm planning on pitching a lot of stuff in the move, either that or trying to unload it at a yard sale. Our new neighborhood is so swanky, they don't allow yard sales! Fran will have to drive far from our neighborhood to get her Saturday morning entertainment, but at least we won't be tempted by neighbors across the street!

Great balcony pics. Thanks for posting your TR!

Thanks! I haven't quite gotten to the TR yet, these are just the plans!

I am in the same boat.. When and If I ever make it back, I will have to have tutorial on how to use them..

They're pretty simple, for a smart gal like you. They work for everything, room key, DME pass, park pass, charge card. I doubt we will use them like that, but if our passes truly get linked to the bands it will save us a lot of hassle. We have "funny" passes, and CMs have even told us "that's not a valid pass" we had to bring the lead over to convince them.

It's pretty easy to make them work, at least so far. I haven't got to the point where it get to select my FP+ attractions. We'll see how I feel about them when I get to that point!

I think 2 bands is a waste too but we got them.
I never got the drive.

I think you guys went while they were still in testing mode. I think now they are in full roll out so folks are getting the whole nine yards. Such a waste that they send of two of everything. You'd think that since DL has a dossier on us, that WDW could get it together that they have already sent us one and hold the second one. The information on the drive wasn't customized to us. Here are the links that it sent us to.

Part 1 of our special message

Part 2 of our special message

We will be visiting VGF in Feb... and excited to hear you'll be visiting us up here in Cleveland this year!!!

I'd love to see pictures from your stay! The resort looks fabulous! We will be in Cleveland from the 8th of August until the 13th. The opening ceremonies are on the 9th so we plan to attend that. When they had Gay Games in Chicago we got free admission to the opening ceremonies and had a special area for the band people to sit in. It was really fun. We have intense rehearsals from the 10th until the 12th and on the night of the 12th we give a concert somewhere in downtown. There will be over 200 musicians on the stage for the concert. Something you don't see too often! It's usually a pretty cool even to witness!

Just when I come over to catch up, there's NEW too! Oh no.

Yeah VGF and you.

Yeah, I always try to have one in the hopper! It keep the depression away! I can't believe that we're going to be staying at the VGF so soon! I thought it would be booked up for a couple years and not available at the 7 month mark, but what do you know? It did book up rather quickly, but I got in a week after it opened for non owners.

I just set my dates for the next WDW trip. We are bringing two friends of ours and staying for a week at the VWL, after that Fran and I plan on taking a 4 day cruise on the Dream, but they have to go home. Who wants to come babysit the house while we are on vacation?

 

[rentayenta]

Me! And cats. Can I bring my kids?


WDW then a cruise? Is this your October trip? Awesome!

I can't believe you'll be at the VGF so soon either. I like it so much more than I anticipated.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Jo has 'issues' throwing things out or getting rid of things so I remove them when she is at work lol. Sell them on ebay or give them to charity.

No yard sales lol! You know you've made it when your house deeds say 'no RV's or Satellite dishes' lol...

 

[franandaj]

Me! And cats. Can I bring my kids?


WDW then a cruise? Is this your October trip? Awesome!

I can't believe you'll be at the VGF so soon either. I like it so much more than I anticipated.

Well you could, but I'm not sure that they could miss two weeks of school! This is our April 2015 trip.

Jo has 'issues' throwing things out or getting rid of things so I remove them when she is at work lol. Sell them on ebay or give them to charity.

No yard sales lol! You know you've made it when your house deeds say 'no RV's or Satellite dishes' lol...

I would kill you if you did that to me! Fran has been packing up stuff and she has these boxes labeled. "Unpack new house" She has been throwing MY things in those boxes. I'm never going to see those things again!

Yeah, I'm not sure how we're going to measure up in this new neighborhood, but it's got to be better than where we are now, or the one we were going to move into where her father's old house is located.

 

[franandaj]

Day 1 - Plans

Our flight leaves at 6:30AM which is really early for us. I need to make sure that we are all packed two days before we want to leave because I am not pulling another all nighter this time!

I was able to find out that the American ticket counters at LAX open at 4:00AM, so no problem on the outgoing flight. Hopefully well be there at the airport rested and packed, waiting at the gate at 5:30AM, ready to board the plane. Theyll serve us breakfast on the plane.

We land at DFW just before lunchtime. Im hoping that the plane gets in on time. Maybe well grab something for lunch in the terminal on our layover. The next flight takes off at 1:40PM and gets in around 5:10PM. We probably wont get much more than some snacks on the flight. Once we get to Orlando, well be looking for this.



From what I can tell, this resort is absolutely HUGE!



From what I can tell, we want to be in either the Casitas or Cabanas areas of the resort. They are the two sections closest to the main building where the restaurants are located. The other section, the Ranchos, is very far from the restaurant building.

With a 5:10 arrival time at MCO, I imagine that we will arrive at CSR around 7PM. Depending on where our room is located, we may go directly to the Pepper Market to get dinner instead of dropping off our carry ons in the room. In fact that is probably the more likely option as Fran will not want to leave the room once we get there. Here are some shots of the Pepper Market that I found online. It seems that they have quite a selection of food choices, burgers, sandwiches, pastas, salads, and Mexican options.









Once we get our dinner, Im sure well head directly to the room and crash. Since were checking out in the morning, we wont need to unpack, but we might need a couple of things like toothbrushes, and other stuff, but well keep that to a minimum here tonight and just worry about sleep.

Here are some shots of the rooms. Evidently the Rancho rooms look like this.



The Cabana Rooms look like this.



The next morning it will be back to the Pepper Market for Breakfast before we head out and explore the resort. I learned that there is a resident of the CSR named Glenn, we might be on the lookout for him.



Other than searching for the Alligator, Im not sure how far well get, its a big resort. Next stop will be Magic Kingdom bus drop off!

 

[ACDSNY]

Good start to your trip. I didn't know about the alligator.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Okay. We stayed at the Cabana section. CSR is a big resort and our room felt like it was quite far away from the facilities. Good idea to hit Peppers before the room.

 

[lcataldimay]

Hope you have a safe flight

 

[dgbg100106]

They're pretty simple, for a smart gal like you. They work for everything, room key, DME pass, park pass, charge card. I doubt we will use them like that, but if our passes truly get linked to the bands it will save us a lot of hassle. We have "funny" passes, and CMs have even told us "that's not a valid pass" we had to bring the lead over to convince them.

It's pretty easy to make them work, at least so far. I haven't got to the point where it get to select my FP+ attractions. We'll see how I feel about them when I get to that point!

ok what are "We have "funny" passes"?

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Not stayed at the resort but it looks really nice! We we to see it once and really liked it. I was impressed with the Pepper market. Lol the resident Gator! Sometimes SSR has these cute otters. Such a lovely vision in the morning. I was thinking about the MB's it might have made more sense for Disney to theme them by resort.

 

[Leshaface]

Glad i'm not the only one who thought the packaging was so wasteful!

The resort is SO BIG! I requested Casitas too and we got building 5....doesn't look too far away but it's FAR! Trust me, it was exhausting after a long day at the parks. If you can get the first building that would be great!

 

[dolphingirl47]

With that early start, it would make sense to stay at an airport hotel the night before. I had not appreciated how big the resort is. I love the photos of the rooms.

Corinna

 

[disney ny]

I was so excited to see your plans for the next trip. I religously follow all your reports. I am so excited that I am back in planning mode again finally. It has been way too long since I had a trip on the horizon but now I am at the 7 month mark for our August trip and am playing the waiting game as I check in constantly on the DVC site to try and get just what I want. I look at it as a challenge. I think the planning is so fun and obviously we think alike because your detailed plans are right up my alley. It keeps me from depression to plan my next trip! I am planning to do my first trip report this time and have started typing all of the back story/plans into a word document. I thought about doing a pretrip report but it is still so far out. I guess I could just start the report like you did but I don't have a cult following like you! Anyway I am always excited to hear about the adventures of you and Fran! (My 5 year old who is watching me just insisted I add that smiley face ....)

 

[rentayenta]

Well you could, but I'm not sure that they could miss two weeks of school! This is our April 2015 trip.

They can miss a little.





Your plans look great and CSR looks huge. The Cabana rooms look a little more up to date decor wise.

I hope you sleep the night before, that's a dang early flight.

I looked at the pepper Market menu on Allears; nice selection.

Resort alligator? No thanks! I don't do scales and nails and tails. Scares the bejeezus out of me.