TR - Return to WDW 2017
This trip to WDW was unexpected up until my wife said ‘let’s do this’ in November. We had gone to Disney back in February 2016. That was our first trip to Disney w/ the kids, a trip that had been cancelled for one reason or another over the previous 8 years. When it was over, we both said, we’re not gonna do this again for awhile. But about the time we had a night out with some friends who were telling us about their upcoming trip, my wife got a letter from Disney with an offer for 30% off room rates. We did some math, and ended up setting up a trip in February that coincided with the President’s Day weekend holiday from school. My wife settled on the CBR. We had stayed at the WL last year. No complaints with the WL, but 30 % off a Moderate was a great deal. ( at this point I learned about the Unofficial Guide, trip reports, blogs and discussion forums, and how to plan a WDW trip) It helps to have been on a trip recently. I now knew some do’s and don’ts. Do plan ahead. Don’t stick to the plan to the point that people are getting miserable. If something comes up that someone really wants to do, do it. Enjoy the moment, don’t pass it by to drag someone to something YOU think they’ll like more. Get input from people. My daughter was definitely more involved with this trip than last year’s. I encouraged her , because last year she had some issues with just enjoying being at WDW, and it had a negative effect on the time we spent there.
Our trip got an unexpected bump just prior to leaving when my daughter sprained her ankle at gymnastic practice 4 days before we left. She intended to use crutches to get around the parks while we were there. Hmmmm. That does not sound like a good idea. So I went on the forums and got some info for renting a wheelchair. ( thanks all who responded) That was easy. Getting my daughter to actually sit in the chair while I pushed it. That was comedy.
But not very funny. 
Our next bump was our room assignment. I got in touch w/ the resort reservations a week or 2 before we arrived to request a room with a fold down bed, as a number of rooms at CBR are equipped with them. We have 2 teenagers, boy and girl - the spare bed was what we wanted most for a room request. We were dropped off at a lovely room in Trinidad N - that did not have the fold down bed.
A lead house service/CM was training a new CM as we got to the room. She spoke w/ the Front desk to get the issue resolved. I was completely out of it at this point. Due to pulling an extra shift at work and final preparations for the trip, I had been awake for about 50 of the previous 54 hours by the time we got to CBR. My wife spoke with her while I stayed out of the way. The Lead instructed us to go over to Port Royale, and we would be contacted with our new room assignment shortly.
So I owe that Lead CM a huge thank you. But I was too tired at the time to recall her name or realize just how much she improved our stay. We got a new room assigned to us, with the fold down bed. It had a water view, it was 50 yards from Port Royale, and less than 100 yards from the bus stop.
This was what the view looked like from the balcony in front of the new room. WOW! Disney magic. From Trinidad to Martinique in about 45 minutes. That’s good sailing weather.
(I hope it survives the now scheduled remodeling. It’s an idyllic location)
After getting settled in the new room, we got on the bus to Epcot. The bus made a couple more stops in CBR, then headed to Epcot. Took 17 minutes after the last CBR stop, just as the Unofficial Guide had posted was an average bus run from CBR to Epcot. ( those guys are good)
Our first FP of the day was set for The Land, but we spent a little too long settling in at the CBR, so we missed that window. Our next FP was Soarin’.
Finally went thru Soarin’- that was enjoyable- Last year, this was closed for refurbishment when we visited wdw.
- I recall seeing images of . . .
Lotsa places. ( i do have a list of them, but in the off chance someone reading this has never been on Soarin’, i left it off from here.)
I enjoyed all of it and I’m really glad I reserved 2 FPs for this ride. My wife, who doesn’t like heights, enjoyed this ride as well. It was our first ride on Sunday, and our last ride on Friday.
I tried getting everyone onto The Land, but we were too late on Sunday, and too early on Friday.
Now comes the wheelchair part. My daughter did not like it.
Glad I can’t see her face here. ( but i wish i could’ve seen it.)
She’s a gymnast and can probably do every move those cheerleaders can, and then some. So, it’s a gorgeous day, she’s in Florida instead of up north. At WDW. Her birthday Is the next day. Good times? Nah, she hates being here in a wheelchair. Oh well.
We went through Mission:Space, then shopped. And checked out Mexico and the 3 Caballeros boat ride. Believe it or not, there was a long line at Frozen. Go figure. We skipped it. We saw the China movie. My son bought a metal goblet at Germany he had been wanting since last year. He saved up and made that his reason for being there. We now had to get to the International Gateway to catch a boat to the Boardwalk for dinner at The Flying Fish.
(We caught the boat. It was being captained by a CM from Connecticut, a UCONN grad ( Go Huskies) who would soon be joining the Coast Guard and was working on his PH.d. He was aware of the recent storm that had dropped 16" of snow on CT and was looking forward to getting back up North and seeing snow again. he seemed pretty smart . . . )
My wife and I had gone to The Flying Fish on our honeymoon, 20 years ago. We wanted to go back. It was worth it. My daughter finally got a smile on her face when she got to eat the steak she had ordered. My wife said it was the best meal we had all week. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the CBR from BW.
It’s after 10 pm Sunday nite. I’ve been awake since noontime Saturday, after sleeping for 4 and a half hours and pulling a double shift on Friday. Flying 1000 miles or so. And it still took me a couple chapters of reading to finally fall asleep. All in all , this was a good day. It was a long day, but a good one.
( my son is lucky he survived the day. Each time I started to doze off - at 3:15 in the morning the night before, on the plane, back at the room - he came by and poked me awake. I don’t think he realized how long I had been awake, but still. After the 3rd time, I was considering infanticide)
But who could kill such a good looking kid? Line forms to the left. ( in case you’re wondering, my son is the one that’s sitting)
This trip to WDW was unexpected up until my wife said ‘let’s do this’ in November. We had gone to Disney back in February 2016. That was our first trip to Disney w/ the kids, a trip that had been cancelled for one reason or another over the previous 8 years. When it was over, we both said, we’re not gonna do this again for awhile. But about the time we had a night out with some friends who were telling us about their upcoming trip, my wife got a letter from Disney with an offer for 30% off room rates. We did some math, and ended up setting up a trip in February that coincided with the President’s Day weekend holiday from school. My wife settled on the CBR. We had stayed at the WL last year. No complaints with the WL, but 30 % off a Moderate was a great deal. ( at this point I learned about the Unofficial Guide, trip reports, blogs and discussion forums, and how to plan a WDW trip) It helps to have been on a trip recently. I now knew some do’s and don’ts. Do plan ahead. Don’t stick to the plan to the point that people are getting miserable. If something comes up that someone really wants to do, do it. Enjoy the moment, don’t pass it by to drag someone to something YOU think they’ll like more. Get input from people. My daughter was definitely more involved with this trip than last year’s. I encouraged her , because last year she had some issues with just enjoying being at WDW, and it had a negative effect on the time we spent there.
Our trip got an unexpected bump just prior to leaving when my daughter sprained her ankle at gymnastic practice 4 days before we left. She intended to use crutches to get around the parks while we were there. Hmmmm. That does not sound like a good idea. So I went on the forums and got some info for renting a wheelchair. ( thanks all who responded) That was easy. Getting my daughter to actually sit in the chair while I pushed it. That was comedy.
But not very funny. Our next bump was our room assignment. I got in touch w/ the resort reservations a week or 2 before we arrived to request a room with a fold down bed, as a number of rooms at CBR are equipped with them. We have 2 teenagers, boy and girl - the spare bed was what we wanted most for a room request. We were dropped off at a lovely room in Trinidad N - that did not have the fold down bed.
A lead house service/CM was training a new CM as we got to the room. She spoke w/ the Front desk to get the issue resolved. I was completely out of it at this point. Due to pulling an extra shift at work and final preparations for the trip, I had been awake for about 50 of the previous 54 hours by the time we got to CBR. My wife spoke with her while I stayed out of the way. The Lead instructed us to go over to Port Royale, and we would be contacted with our new room assignment shortly.
So I owe that Lead CM a huge thank you. But I was too tired at the time to recall her name or realize just how much she improved our stay. We got a new room assigned to us, with the fold down bed. It had a water view, it was 50 yards from Port Royale, and less than 100 yards from the bus stop.
This was what the view looked like from the balcony in front of the new room. WOW! Disney magic. From Trinidad to Martinique in about 45 minutes. That’s good sailing weather.
(I hope it survives the now scheduled remodeling. It’s an idyllic location)
After getting settled in the new room, we got on the bus to Epcot. The bus made a couple more stops in CBR, then headed to Epcot. Took 17 minutes after the last CBR stop, just as the Unofficial Guide had posted was an average bus run from CBR to Epcot. ( those guys are good)
Our first FP of the day was set for The Land, but we spent a little too long settling in at the CBR, so we missed that window. Our next FP was Soarin’.
Finally went thru Soarin’- that was enjoyable- Last year, this was closed for refurbishment when we visited wdw.
- I recall seeing images of . . .
Lotsa places. ( i do have a list of them, but in the off chance someone reading this has never been on Soarin’, i left it off from here.)
I enjoyed all of it and I’m really glad I reserved 2 FPs for this ride. My wife, who doesn’t like heights, enjoyed this ride as well. It was our first ride on Sunday, and our last ride on Friday.
I tried getting everyone onto The Land, but we were too late on Sunday, and too early on Friday.
Now comes the wheelchair part. My daughter did not like it.
Glad I can’t see her face here. ( but i wish i could’ve seen it.)
She’s a gymnast and can probably do every move those cheerleaders can, and then some. So, it’s a gorgeous day, she’s in Florida instead of up north. At WDW. Her birthday Is the next day. Good times? Nah, she hates being here in a wheelchair. Oh well.
We went through Mission:Space, then shopped. And checked out Mexico and the 3 Caballeros boat ride. Believe it or not, there was a long line at Frozen. Go figure. We skipped it. We saw the China movie. My son bought a metal goblet at Germany he had been wanting since last year. He saved up and made that his reason for being there. We now had to get to the International Gateway to catch a boat to the Boardwalk for dinner at The Flying Fish.
(We caught the boat. It was being captained by a CM from Connecticut, a UCONN grad ( Go Huskies) who would soon be joining the Coast Guard and was working on his PH.d. He was aware of the recent storm that had dropped 16" of snow on CT and was looking forward to getting back up North and seeing snow again. he seemed pretty smart . . . )
My wife and I had gone to The Flying Fish on our honeymoon, 20 years ago. We wanted to go back. It was worth it. My daughter finally got a smile on her face when she got to eat the steak she had ordered. My wife said it was the best meal we had all week. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the CBR from BW.
It’s after 10 pm Sunday nite. I’ve been awake since noontime Saturday, after sleeping for 4 and a half hours and pulling a double shift on Friday. Flying 1000 miles or so. And it still took me a couple chapters of reading to finally fall asleep. All in all , this was a good day. It was a long day, but a good one.
( my son is lucky he survived the day. Each time I started to doze off - at 3:15 in the morning the night before, on the plane, back at the room - he came by and poked me awake. I don’t think he realized how long I had been awake, but still. After the 3rd time, I was considering infanticide)
But who could kill such a good looking kid? Line forms to the left. ( in case you’re wondering, my son is the one that’s sitting)
and 
But I had enuff sense to realize that I was about to become a jerkosaurus about the room request, so I left it to my wife and the CM. Best decision I made all week.