Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

Welcome to my newest Trip Report. For those who don’t know me, I am Jen.

That’s my Daughter Claire with me.



We just got back from an amazing vacation with several family members.

We traveled Nov. 1st thru the 15th, 2012. We rested our headed at 6 different places on this trip, and though it wasn’t always easy to keep moving from place to place, I am happy to have tried some new resorts out and stayed at some familiar ones as well.



This trip came about over a year ago. My Mom’s cousin Vicki wanted to take a trip with her and my Aunt Mary. Her Daughter Katie also wanted to come along.

After some talking and planning it became a group of 16 traveling. I was elected ring leader since I have quite a bit of Disney experience.

Plans were made, some were changed, and some were a little slower at making decisions than others.

My husband Skip is what is known in the Disney groups as a resistor and he decided NOT to come along. He was not so happy about the amount of time I was going to be gone.



The dates for the cruise were set first, Nov 4 through the 8th on the Disney Dream. We all planned to arrive a day early and stay at the Residence Inn near the port. Soon I decided that I must add a few Disney days, and so did everyone else eventually. I thin decide…heck lets add some more, and Claire and I ended up staying 3 more days after the rest left.

Then after doing some research and with a heads up from my good Dis-friend Carey, I was alerted to the fact that the last Halloween party was on Nov. 2nd. How could I pass that chance up? So Claire and I decided to fly in a day earlier than everyone else to hit that party. Claire and I also decided to fly out of Columbus. My family lives near the Toledo, OH area, and the best direct flights are out of Detroit. My youngest sister, who was not going on the cruise, lives in Columbus, and I was able to get a decent priced direct flight from there, so Claire and I drove down Nov. 1 and spent the night before our early flight.



Plans were finally all set in stone and we just had to wait for our time to arrive. Not an easy task, but we all managed.



Let me introduce you to the crew. This is a picture of a picture. My sister has the CD with the actual digital copy, but hasn’t yet loaded it to the computer, so I had to go with this for now till I can get a copy.

In the back row, left to right, we have my parents, Joe and Paula, next to them is my Uncle Geoff. Next to Geoff is cousin Vicki and her son in law Thad. Next to Thad is Pete, Vicki’s husband and then me. Aunt Mary is on the end, she is married to Uncle Geoff and my Mother’s sister.

Down towards the front, left to right, is my nieces Alexis and Abby with their parents Rob and Gail. Gail is my sister. Front and center is Claire. Behind Claire are Jude, and Katie. Katie is married to Thad and is Pete and Vicki’s Daughter. And then we have baby Luke in the stroller. He is only about 9 months old and what a cutie he is.



This trip had the usual ups and downs that most every family will have, but I have to admit things went much smoother than I planned. We never felt the need to kill each other for the most part. LOL

We had several cruise newbies and several Disney World newbies as well.



Please join me in reliving a very magical trip with all the places we traveled and all the people we met along the way!

 

[jenseib]

With it just being the 2 of us, it didn’t take long to get filled up. Sadly our waitress seemed more interested in other tables. I had to flag her down to get the check and then it still took a bit before she came back with it. After she took our card, and we again waited, I actually stood up next to the table with my backpack on to give the universal signal of “We are ready to leave”.

Finally she came back and we headed off again.





I tried to take a few quick pictures as we left, but most came out pretty blurry.








Our thoughts on ‘Ohana for breakfast….. The food was decent. Not fabulous, but good and there were enough things for both of us to like. The character interaction was decent, with Stitch being the best. Our waitress was slow and I never did get my milk and because I reminded her twice I reflected my dislike in her tip, which was less than I would normally give. Would we go back? Yes…In fact in March we have a reservation. But the reason we do is because my cousins are going down the week before us and we have a day where we both can meet up and this was a breakfast she wanted to do for her boys, so I made it for all 8 of us to get together. It’s their last FULL day and our first FULL day at the parks.





I took a quick peek at Kona….we do have a reservation for her next year at this point, but I may have to cancel it once I get my plans more set.








So we decided to head to the monorail.

 

[jenseib]

Looking down.





Here it comes!





A little closer…..





Here it is.

 

[jenseib]

Our Next Stop! Magic Kingdom!


Now I mentioned this before, but it was quite a few days ago on this report, that when I booked our trip I booked 7 days worth of tickets. But after getting plans all in place I really only needed 6 days. BUT the ticket price had increased since I booked and to take a day off would actually cost me more than to keep that days tickets, so I just kept them. Since we still had time I figured let’s use them or lose them. I knew we wouldn’t have much time in the park, but going in would give us that one last fix.





We headed straight to the Candy store as we still had several snack credits left with the deluxe dining plan.








We picked out several bags of candy and Claire made a “make your own” pixie stick, which was marked right there which sizes were included in the dining plan.








When we went to check out, the CM told us pixie sticks weren’t included. I told her yes they were and 2 sizes were actually listed. She still told me no and I again said yes they are, and it was the only reason I allowed her to get it. If it’s not included, we aren’t getting it. So she said she would “try” to put it through and guess what? I was right. (Don’t ever doubt me!)


With our package in hand, we left and headed down Main Street. I had one other thing planned.

 

[jenseib]

We had to have one last dole whip float before going and I saved a snack credit just for that.





Of course the line was moving slowly.





But finally we had that precious snack in our hand.





We sat down and shared one last yummy treat. I think I called Amanda again to confirm her picking us up later and to talk about my car and its tire.

Nothing like Pixie stick and dole whip float.






We had been conversing a bit over the last few days and it was just a mess. She had the tire changed by AAA to the spare and then drove it to a couple of different places to have the flat one fixed. They said the wheel was bent and there were some other issues and it was going to cost several hundred dollars to replace it…and it would have to be ordered. I talked to Skip and he made a call to his buddy who owns a tire shop and he said to just drive it home on the spare and just to not go over 55. This made me a little nervous, but they assured us we would be fine if we didn’t hot rod it.


I put that to the back of my mind for now. I wanted to enjoy my last moments.


Claire and I discussed what to do. She wanted to either do Carousel of Progress or the Laugh Floor. Though we had time, I was still worried about how the buses would run and how long the wait would be. In the end I decided we should head back up front and get back to AoA. It made me nervous to think if something went wrong and we missed the bus or flights. I am sure we would’ve been fine, but I just didn’t want to test my luck.





And this was a first for us…some MK streetmosphere!





I can’t recall seeing any in the past, but we usually walk through her pretty fast. We did stop and watch.





This girl was walking around in the area and we asked for a picture.





And then we headed on towards the front.

 

[jenseib]

It didn’t take long and the bus was there and we headed back to AoA.

 

[jenseib]

It appears flickr isn't working tonight, so half my pictures are not showing up. I guess I'll stop for now and post tomorrow if it's back up and running.

 

[jenseib]

Back at AoA we made a quick bathroom stop.








And then we roamed around since we made such good time and still had quite a bit of time to waste.























We had not been by the bridge yet this trip, so we headed over there.

 

[jenseib]

It was neat being on this side of it after so many stays at Pop Century with this end being closed off.

















We decided we had time to take a quick wander around Pop.

 

[jenseib]

We have always been big fans of Pop! It was our first onsite Disney stay and we have stayed there several times. In fact it’s the only onsite spot Skip has stayed at so far.











The pool games have been added since our last stay there.








This guy totally cracked me up. He was hard at work spraying and checking his phone.

 

[jenseib]

This used to be the smoking area and a lot of people complained that it was right out the door that everyone walked through. I see it is gone now.








We had to go inside to see the Christmas décor.








Finally I get to see the Pop tree! I have always wanted to see it.














I liked the decorations, but I liked AoA’s better.

 

[jenseib]

I have no clue why Claire is making that face.




I really thought this tree was cute!





Thinking back now, I am not sure why I didn’t take any close ups of some of the decorations.


A quick peek outside.








Claire felt the need for another picture.

 

[jenseib]

Look at all those lucky people going to a park…and we would be leaving soon.








We then headed in and checked out the gift shop, which is always one of my favorites on property.

















See that security guard in the next picture. We saw her quite a bit and we think she was following someone, though I never figured out whom.

 

[jenseib]

She talked on her radio quite a bit though.








Again I eyed this shirt, but again, I couldn’t justify the price.





Out to look at the arcade.








There she is again. We watched her for a bit. I also wondered if we looked suspicious since we kept seeing her. LOL.




We made our way around the pool.











Lots of work was going on.

 

[jenseib]

I tried to get this bird, but my focus was completely off.





Pop had a few plant issues as well.








Time to head back. A view to the right as we got off the bridge.

 

[jenseib]

And a view to the left.











A little bit of running around once again.

 

[jenseib]

Time was starting to tick down unfortunately now.








Another quick bathroom stop.





And we then went back outside to have a seat for a few more minutes and just take it all in.





While sitting there I noticed a group of people walk by. Hey, that’s Rita!!!! (in the blue shirt). I had done a convention a few years ago and she was one of the leaders and she and her partner Timmy took us on tours of resorts. She must be leading a tour! I looked around, but didn’t see Tommy.





We decided to head back in and took one more look around the gift shop where I debated on a couple of shirts once again. I didn’t buy them, but I did buy an AoA magnet that was really cute. I think Claire bought something too, but I no longer remember what. We then went to go get our carryons and who do I see outside?????? Tommmy! (he’s in the yellow shirt with his back to us)






Tommy was the one that led my particular group and he was fabulous!!!!





We had a seat on the bench to wait for unMagical Depress.

 

[jenseib]

Backside of entrance sign.








While sitting there I saw Tommy and his group walk by and get on their tour bus. I said hi to him and told him I had done this program in 2011. He asked how I liked it and I told him it was awesome. He said he didn’t remember my face, but was better with names and so I told him and he did seem to remember that…or so he says at least! He then introduced me to his group and told them to ask me any questions. LOL. Basically I just told them that it was a fun trip and I learned a lot and got to do new experiences. Tommy asked if I had been staying at AoA and I said yes and told him about my long trip and how sadly this was our last day and introduced him to Claire, who just stared at him…because she is shy and not friendly when she should be!


I sat back down with Claire, who had pulled out her popcorn bucket and proceeded to eat what was left.








Finally the bus pulled up and we got our front row seats for the 3rd time in a row! SCORE!!!!!


Claire’s thoughts about leaving!





We did have to wait a few minutes for stragglers.








Claire sat patiently waiting for the movie to start, though I told her it wouldn’t for awhile.





Here we go! Good by Art of Animation!

 

[jenseib]

I think we had a full bus. I kind of remember someone asking if they could ride this one instead of the next and they guy told them no. I also don’t think we stopped at any other resorts. If we did, then I didn’t take pictures, but I am pretty sure we headed straight to MCO.

We made good time getting to the airport and let me just say it was sooooo wonderful not to have to go and check our bags in, or struggle with them for that matter.

Since we were early, we headed in to a few shops to have a look around. We really liked the Sea World shop.





I would love to go to Sea World on a Holiday trip.





Claire thought we should get one of these guys……Um no!





We then moved on and made a quick stop to see Snow White.





And then we wandered around the Disney store, and Claire tried to talk me into buying something there and again I said no.

 

[jenseib]

And then we went to get in line for security. HOLY! CRAP!





It was insane! But we got in line and finally got through. I did have a few moments of panic, thinking we may not make our flight after all, but we did get to the gate with time to spare.


That is the last picture I took of the trip.

The rest was of this day was fairly uneventful. We made it on the plane on time and we dozed off and on, worked on a bit of homework and Claire watched a movie on her ipod touch (which we have since lost in no mans land).


Amanda was there promptly to pick us up. I think we swung into a fast food place to get something to eat to bring back to her place for dinner. We told her about the trip and laughed and talked a bit till it was time for bed. There was no way I was going to drive home tonight. I had done that after my Sept. cruise and I was about to fall asleep by the time we got close to home. That was too much travel in one day.


Amanda had gone to Sears automotive and they did move the spare tire of my car to the back and put the good tire on the front, at the suggestion of Skip‘s friend. So we were good to go for the morning. I was going to let Claire sleep in and Amanda had to work, so she gave me a key to lock up.


We said our good nights finally and went to sleep in yet another bed….the first bed that we had slept in at the beginning of this trip almost 2 weeks earlier.

 

[jenseib]

Nov. 15, Thursday, Day 15……..


Amanda headed off to work and I let Claire sleep in and I just lounged around a bit. Once she got up we set off for home. We barely made it out of Amanda’s condo complex when I noticed a weird sound coming from my front tire…the good tire. I drove down the road a bit and it sounded awful and I was nervous. I noticed an AAA repair shop on the corner and we stopped in. I talked to the guy and told him the long story about the tires and how I had to drive back to Toledo and was worried something else was wrong. He said my car would be next, but it might be about 30 minutes, so Claire and I walked across the street and got some lunch while we waited.

When we returned, he told us that the wheel dust cover was bent and rubbing on the tire. It’s nothing major and they just took it off and all was good to go and to just drive slowly. Good deal. And it didn’t cost me a dime!

The guy was so friendly and he is a big Disney fan (Had a picture of his daughter in her princess costume on his desk) and we talked about our trip a bit before heading off once again.

We now were officially on the road and I gave Skip a final call to let him know we were on our way.

I kept the car at 55 the whole way and we did fine, though at times I felt nervous. More so because I know I was holding up traffic at times, but I needed to be safe. It took us a little longer to get home, but not by much, which impressed me.

It was good to be home and of course the unpacking and laundry started then.

Skip ended up ordering a used rim from a junkyard that was only about $50, compared to the several hundred dollar charge for a new one and the tired itself was never actually damaged…. in a few days everything was fixed good as new.


Sadly life went right on after we got home …with school for Claire and work for me. I do love my job, but it took a few days to get back in the swing of things.

Up next, my recap and thoughts of the trip.