Trip Report May 2017 Caribbean Beach Resort/ Flower & Garden Trip **COMPLETED**

We're back already!! As always, it went far too fast!

A little intro: We are myhappyplace (Amber) and Mrhappyplace (David). This was our 4th trip to the World as married folks (I've gone over 10 times prior to meeting DH, and he went on one day trips several times as a child).

(from our last trip)



Our Pre-Trip thread for this vacation can be found here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-pin-code-spring-caribbean-beach-trip.921077/ . Also, if you care to, searching will bring up past trip reports: our Disneymoon/WL trip, our Boardwalk/ F &W trip, and our Christmastime BLT trip.


On to this trip!


When: Saturday, April 29th- Saturday May 6th
(Even through 2 of our days were technically in April, I still referred to this as our 'May trip')

Where: Caribbean Beach Resort (our first moderate!)
Previous to meeting DH, I had only stayed in Value resorts. For our Disneymoon, we splurged (with the help of wedding gift money) and stayed at a Deluxe....well, and got spoiled. Now having stayed at 3 Deluxes, we weren't sure how our stay at a Moderate would go. I was fairly sure that as long as I had a shower and a bed and was at Disney, I was good. DH's main concern was transportation, as we really enjoy those resorts that have choices (boat & bus, monorail & walking, etc). Would we like CBR???

Why: sort of silly, because...why not?? Truthfully, we were going to take a bit of a break after our December trip, but we ended up getting a pin code in the mail, and after price checking, found we could swing a trip to enjoy Epcot's Flower & Garden Festival- a time of year we hadn't ever visited. Booking THIS trip then made us realize that we should upgrade to an Annual Pass in December, which THEN made us book a September and probably December trip to get the most use of the AP. So, thank you pin code!

Here we go!

 

[myhappyplace]

Now, some Wishes pictures! They didn't turn out the best but we had to cut heads off of the bottom.

The sight of Tink flying out of the castle never fails to thrill me! I had misty eyes, and will miss Wishes!










After Wishes, we were hungry. We went to Casey's, where DH got corn dog nuggets, and I got a chili hot dog.


We were having real trouble finding a place to sit. I darted toward what I thought was an empty table, but was mistaken. A man sitting by himself at a table saw us struggling, and invited us to sit with him. Turns out he was with a group of people who were sitting at the table beside him. We came to find out that he is a CM who waits at Tony's but was off for the day, as were several members of the group. We had a nice chat with him (never did ask his name). His friends were teasing him that only strangers want to sit with him. After eating, we thanked him for his kindness, and went to go find a standing spot for the Once Upon a Time projection show. We found a pretty good place to stand, until the people that were standing down from us decided to move over. This is the one show I just feel I can't capture on film very well anyway, so it was fine.



It was evening EMH, so next we headed off to Tomorrowland (that's why I go to Adventureland in the morning, Tomorrowland is better at night, IMO)






Off to Buzz! (My little brother used to think that by defeating Zurg, we were really helping to keep Magic Kingdom powered)





Neither of us is really good at Buzz, so here was my score:


Here was DHs:


I call this picture "I beat him with my eyes closed"


Next up, was something I hadn't done since it moved locations.

 

[myhappyplace]

Such a nice picture of you and your hubs in the Tangled picture.

Thank you! It is my facebook cover photo for now, but I want to frame it!

 

[myhappyplace]

Finishing up our Magic Kingdom evening:

We sort of wandered after that:




Past the best bathrooms in the world again...maybe I should get a tattoo of this sun?


I don't have any pictures, but we visited the 999 happy haunts, then decided our last ride would be 7DMT. We had never ridden at night. The wait was posted at 45 or 50 but we thought it would be less that that. It was less, maybe 35 minutes? This is blurry as heck, but DH had fun spinning the barrels


I guess we liked it better at night!


Then, we walked through the castle (after taking a couple of pictures- I think the back of the castle is every bit as pretty as the front!)






And twinkly lights in the trees make me so happy


We never really had plans to, but we made it till midnight!


I stopped in the restroom before exiting, and while I was in there I heard the sounds of the Kiss Goodnight!! I RAN out of the bathroom (yes I washed but didn't dry) to watch the last part from the flagpole. What a perfect ending!




Coming up tomorrow- another Epcot Day!

 

[joshsprincess921]

I was in MK this night Although, we were riding the Jungle Cruise during Wishes and we headed out of the park during the projection show.

 

[PacNWTigger]

The Tangled pic of the two of you literally gave me the happy shivers. Such a great shot!

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

That Tangled picture is amazing!

 

[gdisneyfans]

Such a nice picture of you and your hubs in the Tangled picture.

The Tangled pic of the two of you literally gave me the happy shivers. Such a great shot!

That Tangled picture is amazing!

What they said!!

 

[myhappyplace]

I was in MK this night Although, we were riding the Jungle Cruise during Wishes and we headed out of the park during the projection show.

Aw, we might have passed each other!

The Tangled pic of the two of you literally gave me the happy shivers. Such a great shot!

That Tangled picture is amazing!

What they said!!

Thank you all!

 

[myhappyplace]

Thursday, May 4th- Epcot

This morning we had breakfast reservations at the Boardwalk, so we were hoping that the DHS bus was running (but I had downloaded uber just in case...), and it was! We were the only people going to DHS at the resort, so we had a bus to ourselves. We sat right behind the driver and every once in awhile we heard notification sounds from a phone. DH assumed it was mine (because I did used to use the same sound) but we found a phone lying on the platform thingy right behind the driver. We couldn't figure who would have been on the bus before us because I think we were the first. We informed the driver when we got to DHS and it was hers! She accidentally left it there. That mystery solved, we planned to walk to the Boardwalk from DHS.

I wish these had turned out better, but the lighting just wasn't right for it...it is a cardinal in the tree near the beginning of the walking path to Boardwalk. I love cardinals and I always think "hi Grandma" when I see one, so it was nice to see on our vacation. It was a beautiful morning!






Right when we were about to start on the path, we saw a jogger, who ran ahead of us. Up ahead was a couple, and an older gentleman. We thought the older gentleman was with the couple because they were walking side-by-side, but later the older guy separated, so we're not sure. Regardless, this jogger didn't say anything like "on your right" or "coming through" or anything, and literally pushed his way between them! My mouth dropped open! DH and I always roll our eyes at people walking so many abreast on a path, but I'm sure since no one was walking in the opposite direction, it didn't even occur to them that there would be a jogger, so we though it incredibly rude of the jogger. The people looked back toward us and I said "well that was rude!". We continued walking (we were about 20 feet behind the threesome), when ANOTHER jogger did the same!! This one at least did say something of a warning, but not soon enough, before he went right between them.

Some pics of ToT and looking back at the DHS entrance as we walked along.




Looking toward the Swolphin:




We arrived in time to our ADR...where?


I was so excited!! Back when this was announced, I was hoping I'd be able to try it. DH isn't a big breakfast eater period, let alone any of the breakfast buffets. Being that this was a la carte, and not a bad price compared to buffets, he was game. The Little Mermaid and Tangled are my two favorite Disney movies, respectively, so I was so glad to be able to do this! Our ADR was 7:30.

We checked in and only sat for a couple of minutes before they called our name. When you enter the restaurant, the servers line the entrance holding frying pans!! I should've taken a picture, it was so adorable!

Each table receives a frying pan of pastries






Each person gets a choice of a fruit salad or yogurt/granola parfait. We both chose the parfait. I thought the crab detail was cute!


I had the Golden Frittata and potatoes. The potatoes were kind of plain, but I really liked the frittata


And DH had the King Triton's Shipwreck al Forno, which was basically a calzone. He didn't realize that the metal rod holding the pieces together was King Triton's trident, until the server said "King Triton requests that his trident be returned to him, so take a picture if you want it" and then pulled it out and took it. So it's cut off in the pic...

 

[myhappyplace]

So, this was our first character meal! (I think we did better at eating and visiting the characters than the woman beside us who ordered the pancake stack and didn't eat a single one! I think she was too occupied with her daughter visiting the characters, but still, not a single pancake!)

First out was Flynn Rider *sigh*...he was pretty dreamy! We talked about frying pans, and how they could be used for food-- who knew?






Then up was Rapunzel




Then Prince Eric (I loved that he was in his prince's garb). He liked my fish scale fingernails. He also noticed that I was wearing the same color as Ariel (yes on purpose)


And then Ariel. We talked about how I am secretly a mermaid, and how we both are still getting used to our legs and walking on land, because we both trip on things.




Overall, I was very happy with our breakfast! DH was worried that he wasn't going to be able to eat at the food booths at Flower & Garden, and admittedly it did take us awhile to walk it off, but we did succeed in enjoying the food booths too, don't worry!

We walked along the Boardwalk toward the International Gateway. It was past 8:00 (Epcot had morning EMH) but it was before the regular 9:00 opening.


We took a pic across the water. Yes, I know this is Yacht, but being in this area made us even more excited for our next trip, when we will be staying at the Beach Club for the first time!

 

[myhappyplace]

We really enjoy entering through the International Gateway when possible. Even though nothing (except Frozen and Akershus) is open, we love strolling through Great Britain and Canada with no crowd. Before Frozen opened, you could walk in France in the morning as well, but this doesn't seem to be the case anymore...I would have loved to get some pics there this trip without people in it!

Like this (only this is Great Britain of course)




Wait, what's this!? This was something we failed to notice the other day...but there he was!


While I stopped in the restroom (and yes I did go right as we were leaving from breakfast...) DH took some more pics.










We watched the horticulturists (I assume that's what they're called?) tidy and trim up our Pooh friends






And stopped to smell (well, photograph) the flowers...what a beautiful morning!






Wandering through Canada






I would love to live in that little cottage




An escapee?

 

[myhappyplace]

We had a FP for Test Track, so we leisurely strolled that way.

Monorail!








We had a goal today (not only food) to find all of the topiaries. So here we have ones from the upcoming Cars 3





It had been several trips since I'd ridden Test Track. I just don't care for it as much since the redo. I let DH create our car


Not the best pic, stupid wind


More topiaries and pretty flowers:











Monorail! (Yes we actually say it everytime we see one)


We explored the Purple Martin area (it took me a minute to realize it was birds, because for some reason I always thought it was spelled Marten)




While we were looking at this area, DH got a work-related phone call, so I took pictures till he was done

 

[myhappyplace]

Club Cool was open, so we wanted to hit it early so the floor wouldn't be sticky yet.


And here are our updated, improved (?) butterfly pictures







Then, it was back over to World Showcase, with a first stop in Mexico.






We were in the market for something in the marketplace. We really wanted one of the wood carvings, but they were a little more than we wanted to spend, so we wound up with one of the painted ceramic cats!





Then it was time for our first food booth item! We shared the Beijing Candied Strawberries from the Lotus House booth, which we really enjoyed. It was VERY hot today, so we found a shady bench to eat it.


Next up, was the Primavera Kitchen booth, near Italy. There I got the Antipasto Misto, which I forgot to take a picture of. The only time I forgot! It contained Cerignola Olives, Sweet Soppressata and Salami, Ovolina, Mozarella, Sweet Roasted Peppers and Ciabatta Bread. I ate all but the pepper, and enjoyed.







At the Hanami booth near Japan, we split the Beef Teriyaki Udon. The noodles were a bit plain, but the meat & onions were delicious!!


Is this always there?

 

[myhappyplace]

More food!
At the Florida Fresh booth, we split the Carne Asada with Black Bean Cake and Cilantro Lime Sour Cream, which we enjoyed. I am a person who LOVES cilantro (it tastes like lime to me) so it was perfect. I don't eat beans, so the bean cake was all DH.


We also got the Key Lime Tart


DH got the Fresh-squeezed Watermelon Juice (non-alcoholic)


DH doesn't eat grits, so he didn't get the shrimp and grits, but took a pic of the shrimp a-cookin'.


We somehow missed Lumiere and Cogsworth the other day




At the Fleur de Lys booth in France, I got the Tarte a l'Onion Alsacienne, which I LOVED!!! I also got the Macaron Chocolat Framboise, which also was delicious. These were my favorites from the Festival


Annnnd, that's where I'll have to stop because all of a sudden, photobucket is not working for me.

 

[Tiggerish]

And, my most favoritest picture of DH and I EVER

That is a great photo. Love the story behind it!

I really like how this turned out (idea stolen from Pinterest):

It took me way too long to figure out what was going on there. At first, I thought you'd made the ears using a Pinterest idea.

We really enjoy entering through the International Gateway when possible. Even though nothing (except Frozen and Akershus) is open, we love strolling through Great Britain and Canada with no crowd. Before Frozen opened, you could walk in France in the morning as well, but this doesn't seem to be the case anymore...I would have loved to get some pics there this trip without people in it!

Like this (only this is Great Britain of course)




Wait, what's this!? This was something we failed to notice the other day...but there he was!


While I stopped in the restroom (and yes I did go right as we were leaving from breakfast...) DH took some more pics.










We watched the horticulturists (I assume that's what they're called?) tidy and trim up our Pooh friends






And stopped to smell (well, photograph) the flowers...what a beautiful morning!






Wandering through Canada






I would love to live in that little cottage




An escapee?

This is my favorite route into Epcot, too. Lovely photos, I can almost feel the sunshine and the warm air.

Your breakfast looks like so much fun, and delish, too! Great character pics. Walking over on the DHS path is a great way to start the day (and get ready for eating!) too bad about the rude joggers, but I agree, no one should take up the entire path just because they "can". Especially at that hour of the morning, there are a lot of runners out and that's a popular route.

Looking forward to more!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Catching up, but had to go ahead and comment. Loving it!

Well, turns out that all Caribbean Beach Resort pins are sold out, property-wide. (we ended up buying one on ebay on the drive home)

This is really interesting! I saw them when we were there, so they must have just sold out. I wonder if they pulled them for some reason? Maybe they're changing the name with the refurb? Who knows!

 

[myhappyplace]

That is a great photo. Love the story behind it!



It took me way too long to figure out what was going on there. At first, I thought you'd made the ears using a Pinterest idea.



This is my favorite route into Epcot, too. Lovely photos, I can almost feel the sunshine and the warm air.

Your breakfast looks like so much fun, and delish, too! Great character pics. Walking over on the DHS path is a great way to start the day (and get ready for eating!) too bad about the rude joggers, but I agree, no one should take up the entire path just because they "can". Especially at that hour of the morning, there are a lot of runners out and that's a popular route.

Looking forward to more!

Sorry I should've explained the picture better, I meant the photo itself.

I really enjoyed our breakfast! And the morning walk too! We've done it in the middle of the day before and it isn't quite as fun then when it's hot, but it is always nice to have the option to walk to two parks from any of the Epcot resorts.

Catching up, but had to go ahead and comment. Loving it!



This is really interesting! I saw them when we were there, so they must have just sold out. I wonder if they pulled them for some reason? Maybe they're changing the name with the refurb? Who knows!

I'm guessing that they just did because they're back in stock now too, apparently, according to the Caribbean Beach facebook group I joined. Figures. We did ask, and the CM told us they were out property wide, and we did look at every pin shop we could, even the one at Disney Springs.

 

[myhappyplace]

So, we stopped on the bridge between France and Great Britain, we watched this bird dive down under the water, come up with a fish, toss it up in the air and catch it. Then it would dive down for a another, and be gone SO long.


We decided to head on out for our typical midday break. But first...yes that's a dole whip with rum!


Stitch has got some purple martins (I'm guessing) on him!


I think we napped, it sounds like us. Then according to my pictures, it seems we boarded a bus back to Epcot just before 6pm. Don't know if any of this means anything, but we didn't think these posts were up the previous day we went to Epcot. I have NO sense of direction of how everything lies on property, but I was curious if these had anything to do with the gondola...so I took a picture.


When we got back to Epcot, we walked straight over to the food booths, and began eating again!
This is the Sugar Cane Shrimp Skewer with Steamed Rice and Coconut Lime Sauce. I do believe I tasted the rice and sauce and it was okay...I'm not big on steamed rice. DH wasn't terribly impressed with the whole thing.


Birds, birds everywhere


This was the Beef Tenderloin Tips, Mushroom Bordelaise Sauce, Whipped Potatoes with Garden Vegetables. The flavor of the sauce was good, as were the potatoes. Overally it was ok.


DH got the Seared Scallops with French Green Beans, Butter Potatoes, Brown Butter Vinaigrette and Applewood Smoked Bacon, which he thought was okay as well. We liked the bacon especially. (I don't eat seafood but did sample the beans)


We stood at a table just as you enter the World Showcase Promenade, and watched several species of birds in and near the water while we ate.


This bird sat with its wings out the entire time. It looked like he was flashing someone!


And a gull trying to find discarded food


Next up was the Pear Brined Shredded Corned Beef with Braised Cabbage and Branston Dressing with Pears. We both really enjoyed this, and could probably have each had one. DH isn't huge on cabbage but there wasn't so much that he couldn't eat it. This meat was delicious!!


We revisited Japan to check out in more detail the bansai collection and the sand gardens (I'm not actually sure that's what they were called but we'll go with that)

 

[myhappyplace]

Then it was to the U. S. of A! We did something we've never done, and ordered one of everything (food-wise).






I got in line for our food, and was behind a man who had no clue what he wanted whatsoever. I'm not exaggerating when I say he stood at the counter for 3-4 minutes just saying "I'm gonna get the...", "I'll go with the...", etc, over and over like he could not make up his mind. I'm thinking you shouldn't get in line if you don't know and let us that know go first!

Anyway, DH took a pic of the smoker while I got the food.




So, here are the Smoked Pork Ribs with Black Bean & Corn Salad, which DH was hoping would be better. He loves trying ribs out at different places. But they weren't bad.


The Pulled Pig Slider with Coleslaw


The Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash with White Cheddar Fondue and Pickled Jalapenos


And the Warm Chocolate Cake with Bourbon-Salted Caramel Sauce and Spiced Pecans. You could really taste the bourbon!! And the pecans were delicious



Then, we had the famous Frushi. It wasn't really anything I need to have again. It wanted to be sweeter, or something...not sure.


BUT for our sweet tooth, we had something else in mind to close out the night anyway!! A cronut! We really enjoyed this on our 2015 trip.


Then, it was past the twinkly frinkly sidewalks, and back to our resort.

 

[bee]

This bird sat with its wings out the entire time. It looked like he was flashing someone!