My sunglasses rode SDMT with Paul Rudd - a Nov 2015 TR

[mrsjoannh13]

No lie. Today my sunglasses rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with Paul Rudd, aka Antman.

That's him in the front row - not sure I like the beard on him. At any rate, he sat on my sunglasses but they made it through the ride in tact. I got them back unbroken and slightly warmer than before.

 

[kollerbear]

Antman? It's JOSH!!!!



ETA: "We might get Marky Mark to plant a celebrity tree." (I think I just liked hearing him say "Marky Mark")

 

[mrsjoannh13]

INTRODUCTIONS:

Okay, so I guess it's time to get this report started now that we're back and only have 276 loads of laundry left to do.

Here's the cast of characters:
1. Hailey - darling daughter who turned 3 the last day of our trip. For her 1st and 2nd birthdays we did big parties at the house but figured 3 was a good age to introduce her to Disney. And we were really tired of throwing parties at the house.

2. Rob - darling hubby and daddy.

3. Me (Joann) - wifey and mommy. Vacation planner extrodinaire. Seemingly calm on the outside; stressing about every possible trip detail on the inside. You know the type!

4. Nonna (my mom) - Came along to experience the magic of Disney through the eyes of a 3 year old. Unfortunately had to use an ECV for the trip and found out just how rough it can be to get through crowds of people in a wheelchair. Seriously folks, be kind to those in wheelchairs. It sucks. Don't cut in front of them because they're slower than you. Don't go get in front of them to get on an elevator when they've clearly been waiting longer than you. Just remember how lucky you are to have full use of both your legs.

5. Poppa (my dad) - grumpy old marine.

We treated Nonna & Poppa to the vacay to thank them for all their help with Hailey. They had only been to Disney once about 40 years ago when I was little.

You'll see plenty of pics of us below! Please forgive the snail's pace of this trip report. Going through all the photos, then uploading and resizing them is taking forever.

 

[accountingbabe08]

Cool

 

[mrsjoannh13]

TRAVEL DAY - DRIVING TO DISNEY & CHECK IN AT CBR

Okay so day 1. We were lucky to have added 2 extra days to the front end of our trip. Unfortunately the rates at Contemporary were astronomical compared to when we booked, so we decided to book the Caribbean Beach Resort for our first 2 days. I read that there are no elevators at CBR, so made a couple of calls and faxed room requests to ensure we would get ground level due to mom in a wheelchair.

This is the scene at our house the day before and day of our departure. We decided to drive as it was less than 9 hours and not that much quicker than flying when we factored in commute to the airport, flight time, MDE time, etc. And we could bring everything we wanted from home if we drove. So that's what we did! Our first road trip with a toddler. She's a good egg, so I wasn't too nervous. We hit the road at 4 a.m. with Little H still asleep in her PJs. We got about 3 hours on the road with her still asleep. Yay!


Our countdown calendar at the house. It started at 7 months and filling in ONE DAY was the greatest feeling!




Part of the packing chaos at the house.



We barely packed all of our luggage into our Jeep. Had to get mom and dad to take the stroller in their car.


4:05 a.m. Normally I would NOT be happy about being up this early. But today it was A-okay with me!

 

[TravelE]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

WE'RE FINALLY HERE! 1ST NIGHT DINNER.

On to arrival time. We got to Caribbean Beach Resort about 4 pm that afternoon. We stopped 3x along the way to stretch our legs and grab snacks. It was so exciting to finally see the DISNEY WORLD sign! I thought I would cry. I actually was just super happy which is odd because I'm a big time crier. Anyway, following my lack of tears, we got to our rooms - CBR had booked us in ground floor adjoining rooms just like we requested. Rob went back to the check in building to get mom's ECV we rented (we used Best Price Mobility and everything ran smoothly). After getting settled we walked around the resort, did some shopping, Hailey made a pit stop in the arcade, and we had dinner at Shutters. Everything at Shutters was very good - glad we stayed at the resort.


The best sight in the world!!!!





Little H excited about her Magic Band (or her "watch" as she called it).





Rob driving mom's ECV back to the room.




Dinner spot - Shutters at CBR. Surprisingly good.


Hailey demanded a pit stop in the arcade.



Crabcakes from Shutters. I thought they were good but they had kind of a sweet sauce on them that not everyone was a fan of.



Grilled fish of the day at Shutters. Super good.






We told Little H should could pick out one early birthday present in the gift shop. She went for a Captain Hook hand and a pirate sword. Go figure!



And some Jake the Neverland Pirate hair.

 

[Mom2JPL]

Excited to read your report!!! We're driving from PA in 24 days!!! Staying at CBR from the 15th to the 22nd (stopping to visit friends in Florida before our trip).

 

[mrsjoannh13]

FIRST PARK DAY - ANIMAL KINGDOM

Originally when we planned our trip, we weren't going to do AK due to time limitations. Since we added 2 days on the front end, we decided to go check it out.

We started with breakfast at the hotel - quick and easy. I had been trying for an 8am at Tusker House but couldn't get one. But we did have it booked for lunch, so all good! Here's Rob and little H heading to CBR food court. Mickey waffles and Mickey milk for breakfast. Just what a growing girl needs!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

After breakfast we were off to Animal Kingdom. We got there about 9:20 and headed straight for the safari. I'll spare everyone the 10,562 photos we took of random animals on the safari, but I am going to post a picture of these awesome trees they have there. I've never seen anything like them. I forgot to ask if they were shipped in from Africa or grown in Florida. They are so amazing. I should have asked!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

It was incredibly hot the week we were there - about 90 degrees with tons of humidity. One of the CM's told me it was record heat - not this hot since 1911. Hooray (sarcarsm). So after the safari we headed over to the Festival of the Lion King. It was a great show and we really enjoyed it. Nice to get a break in the A.C. and it was a really nice production.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

After FOTLK, we hopped right next door for our Tusker House lunch. So much fun! The characters were great with Hailey and we got tons of photos - and food! As you can see from the table below covered in dishes. This was the first of many LARGE meals on our trip. We got the deluxe dining plan due to the amount of character and signature dining we wanted to do, but it was just TOO much food. Even for my hubby who is a big eater. But live and learn. We gave it a shot. But next time we'll either stick with the regular dining plan or just pay OOP.




Seriously - look at this table full of uneaten food!



After lunch, we stopped to meet Baloo and King Louie. Everyone was fading fast from the heat, so we decided to head back to the hotel for naptime. We had dinner at The Boathouse that evening and were heading to Downtown Disney after a nap and freshening up.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

DISNEY SPRINGS

I don't know if I'll ever stop calling it Downtown Disney.... So this was probably a logistical mistake but we headed to Disney Springs. We had a hard time figuring out parking and finally got into the new garage. It was kind of annoying from a transportation perspective. The signage given the construction was not very clear.

We walked around a bit and I don't know that I would ever go back to Disney Springs. We had fun shopping and checking out the lego sculptures, but I would rather spend my time at one of the parks. I think everyone else agreed. Live and learn!



So we headed over to the Boathouse after doing some shopping. I thought the amphicars were really neat. Surprised nobody wanted to ride on one, but I guess for $100+ a pop, it wasn't as appealing as I thought it would be. Still fun to watch.



Dinner was good and it's a beautiful restaurant. Not nice enough to get us to go back (nothing wrong with it - we just had more fun in the parks and at some of the resort restaurants). I ordered the salmon. Rob got the lobster roll and dad got the stuffed lobster. I was kicking myself later for not getting lobster but talked myself out of it because we were going to Narcoossee's tomorrow. But seriously, why would I ever turn down lobster?


Sad little salmon wishing it was a lobster.


Dad's lobster. He's mocking me.




The only decision worse than NOT ordering lobster, was ordering the Baked Alaska after dinner. Why? I mean... just WHY????






Hailey busting a move to one of the bands playing on our walk back to the car.

 

[felynn]

This looks like it will be a fun report! Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

FULL DAY #2 - EPCOT

Decided to give Epcot a whirl. I thought there would be some things there that the grown-ups would enjoy. Turns out no one really liked it that much so in hindsight it would have been better to do another Magic Kingdom day. But we still had some fun experiences.

Started out with an 8 am at Garden Grill. We got to Epcot about 7:15. Don't ask me why. We just got there super early. I left my sunglasses so had to buy a pair from the vendor cart outside. I'm sure they make a mint from folks like me. But they are super cute Minnie rhinestone sunglasses so I'm actually kind of happy I left my other ones behind!



Entering Epcot...




Have I mentioned yet how STINKING HOT it was? 90 degrees, full sun and at least 75% humidity. It was like July heat. Sunglasses were a necessity. I will say that we expected rain (80% chance) the first two days so I wasn't complaining about the heat. I know my parents wouldn't have gone out in the rain and they would have kept Little H at the hotel also. Even though it was hot, at least we were out at the parks in Disney!!!

Okay, so enough about that...


Garden Grill was really nice for breakfast. They bring the food out family style. We liked this better than a buffet because you stay seated and don't risk missing any characters. We met Pluto, Mickey, Chip and Dale. On the menu - Mickey waffles, sticky buns, POG juice, eggs, bacon, sausage, and a bunch of other stuff that was super good. Seriously - we were STUFFED.


I think Chip was trying to eat little H's hand here. I guess she tastes like a nut.




Here's Pluto. The characters came around several times. Great character interaction. Pluto even took Hailey's hand and walked her around the inside of the restaurant to look at the various scenes.





OMG the FOOD. The sticky buns and POG juice were my favorite. Serious carb loading here.




After Garden Grill it made sense to do Living with the Land. It was an interesting and relaxing ride. Don't know that I'd ever do it again, but we enjoyed it as a way to start the day before we had to use our first FP.





After The Land, we headed over to Nemo. It was a cute attraction and we followed it up with Turtle Talk with Crush. I got a kick out of how Crush interacted with the kids.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

I wanted to head to Japan to do Pick a Pearl for Hailey's birthday. I bought a silver Cinderella cage necklace for her on ebay. On the way, we ran into Belle in France and stopped since the line was fairly short. Little H asked Belle where was the Beast and where was her Daddy. Belle was a great character - sounded just like the girl in the movie. She told Hailey that Beast was probably eating breakfast and her poppa was back at his cottage. It was a cute meet.

Then on to the Japanese store for Pick a Pearl. We got there right after they opened so there were not many people in the store and only 1 worker behind the counter. We picked 3 oysters for H's 3rd birthday. We did the "sun, knee, itchy" countdown and Little H got a gray pearl from her first oyster! So exciting. I put that one in her Cinderella cage necklace. The 2nd and 3rd were pretty white pearls. All of them were 7MM.

I wanted to get the 2 white pearls made into necklaces - one for me, one for mom. But they didn't have any workers there to do it and they said they would only put them in cages - they wouldn't drill the pearls. So that was disappointing. But probably good, because we needed to get Little H into her Belle dress and over to Akershus.


Here is Hailey picking her oysters. Well, she picked 2 and I picked 1. I heard you should pick the ugliest shell so I did. Not sure if that's where the gray one came from or not.


Hailey's 3 pearls. In the shape of Mickey - of course!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

I was very excited to get to Akershus. I heard good things about the princess experience and I knew Hailey would enjoy it.



Hailey was wearing her little Belle dress and it looked so adorable when she walked in and saw the real Belle in her matching yellow dress. They talked for the longest time. I don't know what they were saying to each other but they had a serious conversation going on. I felt kind of bad for the people behind us in line, but I got the feeling they spent more time with the little girls who were all decked out in their princess garb.


Rob got better photos than me from his super duper mega camera, but here's one I got from my phone. They were just too cute.



After Belle we met Cinderella Ariel, Aurora, and Snow White. They were all amazing characters.





The food was okay. We got the traditional Norwegian meatballs. Mixed reviews. The desserts came out - you get 3 desserts on a platter. There was some sort of rice pudding (least favorite), an apple pie thing (incredibly good) and some kind of chocolate mousse cake (amazing).

During lunch they did the princess processional. They asked all adults to stay at their table (????) so I didn't get to see it as it was in the main room and we were tucked away in the back. Rob got some photos.

As lunch was winding down, I called Contemporary to see if our rooms were ready as we were checking out of CBR and into Contemporary today. The rooms were ready although we had not received texts nor emails from them. But good news nonetheless.

We made one last pit stop to Club Cool to try the Beverly and the other international Cokes. The Beverly is as disgusting as we thought it would be. The pineapple version was our favorite. We used it to wash down the Beverly.

Here's Dad's face after trying the Beverly. Bleh.


So we headed back to CBR to pick up our Jeep and head to Contemporary. Hailey only napped about 10 minutes in the car, but not much we could do about it. It just wasn't a midday nap kind of a day! She is not a child that can sleep in a stroller unfortunately. She was a trooper, though. Not overly cranky (well, not until later).

 

[mrsjoannh13]

CHECKING IN - CONTEMPORARY: FAMILY OF THE DAY



Once we got to CR, we went straight up to the rooms. Unfortunately, our Magic Bands didn't open the doors even though we confirmed our rooms were ready and assigned. So back down to the lobby we go. At this point we are hot, sweaty and tired. Little H is starting to act up and no one is in the best mood.

So I head over to the concierge while everyone else plants it on a couch in the lobby in front of a TV playing Disney toons. The concierge got the Magic Bands squared away pretty quickly (the rooms and linking our Dining Plan) then said I had something from Disney florist. I was like - no I don't. Then she was all like - Yes, you do. So she went to the back to get it and was gone for like 5 minutes. Felt like an eternity. She comes back with a gorgeous gift basket from one of my coworkers and fellow Disney fanatics. Such a nice surprise! I wanted to hide it from Little H until we got up to the room so the concierge tells me - I'll go get you a bag from the back. And then I'm all like - no don't leave me again. And she's all like - no, really - I'll go get you a bag. Sigh...

Several minutes later this publishers clearinghouse type gaggle of Disney employees surrounds me and says we were selected as family of the day. I assume this means something huge like a club level room upgrade or a suite so I start crying (happy tears). Unfortunately, it wasn't a room upgrade. But it was still very nice. We got 3 fast passes, balloons, and some toys for Hailey. So a nice surprise. The Fast Passes were awesome as we wanted to take H to see ANna & Elsa and now we could! Yay!




So finally we get up to our rooms. It's about 3:30 at this point. Our rooms were awesome and the views of the Magic Kingdom were incredible. Here are some photos of the hotel and our room before it got trashed.

View from the concourse:




The view from our room. Can't beat it!



Our room before we unpacked.




This cute guy came with the room:

 

[mrsjoannh13]

IT'S LOBSTER TIME - NARCOOSSEE'S

So I'm still lamenting my lack of lobster at The Boathouse, and very much looking forward to dinner at Narcoosee's. We planned to head out around 5:30 for our 6:00 ADR. I learned it's a good idea to always tell a large traveling party an earlier departure time than what you are really hoping for. We were a little late getting out the door so a bit rushed. But we still made the ADR right on time. It was Little H's first time on the monorail. She had on her sparkly Minnie dress and was as charming and adorable as ever.

She's going through this stick out her tongue phase - we are hopeful it will end soon.





In the lobby we were admiring this sculpture and then I read the plaque on the outside - it was all made of chocolate! Really amazing. Is it wrong that I wanted to remove the glass cover and eat it? (someone please say no).








Dinner was very good - everyone got the bisque appetizer. And of course, I devoured this LOBSTER. YUM!!!!





I also had the "unique white" wine flight. And the almond crusted cheesecake for dessert.







They brought Little H a birthday dessert. She had some of it and Rob declared it was some of the best ice cream he'd ever tasted (for what that's worth - just tasted like regular vanilla to me).





We were all pretty pooped after dinner - we were there until about 8:45 so Rob requested that I drop any future late dinners. I agreed as it's no fun to have a cranky group of humans around you at the end of the day. I had to make some adjustments to our ADRs for later in the week but it was for the best. Thankfully Little H had her bath before we left for dinner so we all just crashed when we got back to the room. Well, we crashed after I had to request bed rails (again) for Hailey so she wouldn't fall out of bed. We got those just as she was dozing off and Rob and I were not far behind her.

Tomorrow - an early start at Magic Kingdom - YAY!!!!!

 

[Kari0180]

Following, can't wait to read more!