Trip Report Our 20th Anniversary Trip to the Caribbean...December 2018 COMPLETED

Caribbean Beach Resort, that is!!

Well, we've been back awhile, and the Disney Blues have hit me really hard this time for several reasons to be discussed later, so I have put off starting this report, but I am finally ready. I had arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder this past Friday and took this whole week off, so hopefully I can finish before I go back to work!

If you didn't catch my semi-live report, my husband (Brian) and I (Amy) were at WDW from December 16-20 celebrating our 20th anniversary.

Sunday, December 16, 2018
We had an early (6:00am) flight from Columbus, OH which is about an hour from our house, so we had a very early wake up call! My mom had come over the night before since she was staying with the kids while we were gone, so we quickly got ourselves ready and were out the door with minimal fuss.
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I had my nails done up to match my new MagicBand!
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We had an uneventful trip to Columbus and got checked in and through security very quickly. One of the gate agents had lived in Florida for years, and spent a good bit of time talking to us about WDW which made the time go faster. We got to see the sun come up while we were in the air.
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It was very foggy in Orlando, and we thought we were still making our descent through the clouds, when all of a sudden we were on the ground! It was quite a shock, but luckily it was very smooth since Brian is not a good flier!

We were quickly in the main terminal and admiring this:
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Had to stop to get a picture of:
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Also had to stop in the Universal store to see if they had anything Harry Potter for Lily.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then followed the parade to the castle and got some side shots.


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Then on to the hub to get some Partner Statue pics.
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We found some snow on Main Street!
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And then it was time to head back to CBR. I wanted to stay all the way until midnight, as I really wanted to get another ride on BTM and wander around some more, but Brian was done, so I conceded and allowed the night to end. I'm still kind of bitter about that! I kept trying to include him in the planning and even throughout the evening I kept asking him if he wanted to ride anything or do anything specific, and all he kept saying was "I don't care, I'm only here for you"! Not exactly what I wanted to hear from him, so we didn't end on the best note!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wednesday, December19
Happy 20th anniversary to us!!

Before the trip, I had ordered decals for my magicband to wear this particular day.

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I also ordered special anniversary pins to wear. I alternated which one I wore, but I mostly wore the one we got from Disney, except today when I wore the one with the date on it.
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We slept in some, then headed to MK.
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It was a beautiful morning, so we caught a boat to the Grand Floridian.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Our ADR was at 10:15 and we checked in a few minutes before 10:00.

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And we waited, and waited, and waited. All the while, multiple walk up parties of 2 were seated as well as all of the larger party ADRs. I was getting pretty agitated that the walk ups were being seated before us, but I waited nicely and didn't say anything. At about 10:20, one of the CMS approached and asked our name since we had been waiting so long. She went back to look at the computer and ask about it. I heard the gentleman who checked us in say, "they are a 10:15" but I didn't hear anything else that was said. I honestly think that he didn't check us in. Finally, at 10:30, a different CM called us to be seated and asked what was wrong since she could tell I wasn't happy. I expressed my displeasure that all of the walk ups had been seated before us. I explained that I understood that there is sometimes a wait beyond the ADR time, and that larger parties may have been seated before us due to usually having fewer 2 tops, but having the walk up parties of 2 seated before was unacceptable.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were seated and waited for our waitress. She seemed pretty harried and disorganized, but she approached us fairly quickly with a disapproving look. I think the CM that seated us must have warned her that we weren't happy. I had every intention of treating the waitress nicely. It wasn't her fault we hadn't been seated quickly. She started off kind of gruff, but loosened up after she realized we weren't upset with her.

I started with a Lilikoi mimosa and Brian had the Lilikoi juice.
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Brian, of course, enjoyed his POG juice, but I didn't care for my mimosa. I could hardly taste the POG juice and it was just very dry.

We both ordered the Tonga Toast with bacon which was delicious, as always!
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We noticed that they had comped our drinks once we got our bill, which was nice, but still didn't eliminate the bad taste left in my mouth from our earlier experience. Our waitress was fairly attentive to us, but I noticed the tables around us all complaining about their lack of service. Not sure what was going on that morning at Kona, but we won't be visiting again anytime soon!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were not off to a great start, but I was determined to not let it get me down! I really wanted to see the Christmas Tree Trail, so we hopped a bus to Disney Springs.
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We went to the Days of Christmas store first to purchase our anniversary ornament. We picked one, ordered our personalization, and were given a pick up time of about an hour later.
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The parks tree was one of my favorites!
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