Trip Report Caribbean Beach Spring Break Trip - Lounging Around



Hey y'all! I have all my pictures uploaded to Flickr, so I guess I'm ready to go with this report. I didn't take notes, so just be prepared for a lot of "I think we did ____ next....wait no, I'm 16% sure we did ____....or wait. I don't know"

You ready?

WHO: Me (alone for the first day) & my husband, R.
WHY: We have APs and I had to be in Tampa for work so DUH
WHERE: Caribbean Beach
WHEN: April 9, 12-16
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That friend moved to a really cool place! The sunset pic is just beautiful.:)
I agree! I LOVE St. Petersburg. The city is great, the little bungalows everywhere are so cute and it's right there by the beach. It's a great place. I have a feeling my friend will be there for a while, so I'll have lots of excuses to visit. My husband has a work trip there in August, so we'll be back pretty soon :D

Loving your photos as always :joyfull:
Thank you!

Phase 1 (solo) and Phase 2(work) are done
Now on to Phase 3!!!
Still following

Max
Yes! On to the best part!
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 - Arrival at CB

I worked until about 12, then ducked out and drove to Orlando. It was around 1.5 hours again...traffic really wasn't bad. I hit a few spots going from St. Pete to Tampa every day, but Tampa to Orlando was smooth. The tolls though...ugh. I'm not used to that in Tennessee. I have a sunpass, but I forgot to bring it. It hurts less when you don't have to actually stop your car.

I arrived at MCO around 1:30, which was perfect. I wanted to turn the car in before two, so I didn't have to rush. Drop off was just as easy as pickup (thanks Alamo!) and I headed in to wait on R by the Magical Express checkin.



Got a new color this time. I don't like it that much, but it matched my luggage :D

I had time to read a little while I waited, and around 2:15 I saw R coming toward me. Yay! Reunited :inlove:

We hopped on the bus (only had about a 10 minute wait) and away we went. We were the first ones to be dropped off. We got off the bus and just kind of walked around because we were SO. LOST. Well we ended up walking into a "no man's land" as a cast member put it. He got us on the right track and kept saying they could help us with our bags, but I insisted on walking.

I didn't have any small bills left to tip a bellman, so I figured we should just walk. I regret this, and if I could go back in time, I'd say YES, get me a van and take me to my room! We took off walking and 20 minutes later we finally made it to Jamaica. Since I had my camera gear on top of regular luggage, I was suffering. I finally let R take some of the weight (I'm stubborn). I was NOT loving Caribbean Beach at this point. This is my fault though...so learn from me. Ask for someone to shuttle you and your bags to your room.

Also, I know there's an internal shuttle, but I'd read that you can't take luggage on it? So that was another thing that was confusing me.

Ok so whatever, we made it to the room.



It was fine. I didn't take pictures because I just wanted to throw my bags down and continue whining about the walk. It wasn't super different from the other moderates, just the more beachy vibe. We had a corner room, so the big window was nice.

We didn't linger very long. Once again I hadn't eaten (saving room for Disney food) and neither had R, so we had to get some food.


At the bus stop. We quickly realized we were the first bus stop at the resort (out of SEVEN...holy crap). On one hand it was good because we always had empty busses, but on the other hand we had to stop at 6 more places before heading to the park. It was tedious...I was wishing I still had the rental car.

Are you tired of me complaining? I'll be more magical from now on, I promise.

So where were we headed?

You heard me say we were hungry, right?



:D:D:D:D

I had to get a shot of the Figment topiary. It's so cute!






Up next: Flower & Garden Festival sampling
 

kaitertot5249

Well-Known Member
33903218740_7feae7fc17_b.jpg
Your photos are amazing! I saw this one and died, it's incredible. Honestly, Disney should use it to market F&G.

I have always wanted to spend a weekend in Disney on my own but I'm afraid I'll hate not being with family and friends (I'm a big believer in the idea that half of the enjoyment of time in Disney is time with loved ones :inlove:) but I'm also really wanting to get down to Disney and hone my photography skills and do things at my pace. Who knows. Maybe I'll do it someday.

I can't wait to read more about your time together with your husband!
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Your photos are amazing! I saw this one and died, it's incredible. Honestly, Disney should use it to market F&G.

I have always wanted to spend a weekend in Disney on my own but I'm afraid I'll hate not being with family and friends (I'm a big believer in the idea that half of the enjoyment of time in Disney is time with loved ones :inlove:) but I'm also really wanting to get down to Disney and hone my photography skills and do things at my pace. Who knows. Maybe I'll do it someday.

I can't wait to read more about your time together with your husband!
You're too sweet! What's funny is that I almost didn't include that shot because of the lens flare :joyfull:. I enjoyed the one day, but I don't think I would enjoy a whole trip by myself. I got a little self-conscious during dinner, and a few other times. I agree that half the fun is being with people you love!

Thanks for following along!
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued - dinner

At some point, I think while we were still in the room, R said he was so excited to eat at Biergarten again on Friday (this was on Wednesday), and I was like "why don't we just go tonight?"

I got on the app and found a reservation for 5pm and cancelled the Friday reservation. We had some time before we went there, and we needed a little something to hold us over. We stopped by Jardin de Fiestas since I'd hyped up the chili relleno. Here's what we ordered:

Chile Relleno de Picadillo: Battered Poblano Pepper filled with Ground Beef covered with Tomato Sauce and Garnished with Queso Fresco and Toasted Almonds – $6.00
Brocheta de Pollo con Salsa Morita: Grilled Chicken with Red and Green Bell Pepper served with Salsa Chile Morita and Garnished with Micro-Cilantro and Edible Flowers – $6.00



R ended up not liking the chile relleno :rolleyes: but he liked the chicken dish. I thought both were quite good!



The crowds were manageable so we were able to relax and enjoy the view. We continued on toward Germany and I took some more pictures before dinner.





I just noticed the head in the bottom of the frame :joyfull:




We sat by the fountain and watched the ducks bathing.


He LOVES selfies

It wasn't long before our buzzer went off and we were seated. We always get a table right by the stage, which is fine with me! I was hoping we would have the same server as last year, but it was someone different. We did see our other server in another section though. I wanted to say hi, but I knew he wouldn't remember us. Anyway, our server this evening was very nice as well! I have always had great service here. Honestly the food isn't my favorite, but it's always a good experience.





I tried almost everything up there! The schnitzel with the gravy stuff was my favorite. Cucumber salad was a close second.




Forgot to photograph my third plate of dinner and then forgot to photograph dessert until I was half done with it :hungry:. You'd think I'd feel AWFUL after all that food, right? Surprisingly I felt ok! I had a half quart of the dunkel, which was yummy. I think doing a half instead of full quart helped. Last time I got a full and felt like I was going to burst when I left that place.



We were there long enough to see the musicians come back out.



We were the first to leave from our table. On one side was a family of four. They were fine, and pretty quiet overall, but the dad was calling the kids bro/sis and being really "frat bro"-y with them. It was strange, and just noticeable... We ran into them every other day of our trip, and the only way we realized it was them is the "bro-ness" :hilarious:

On our other side was an older couple from New York. They were cute and the lady chatted with me a little. She took the hint that I wasn't interested in being buds though...it's too loud in there to try to make new friends :cautious:.

Up next: More around the world.
 

gobstoper27

Well-Known Member
Day 1 - solo day
A big example is with Harry Potter. I refused to care until about 3 years ago, and now I am constantly reading through the series. Anyway this is one of those cases! This stuff was BONKERS good. I knew I'd be getting more of this later in the week. So glad it wasn't alcoholic so it wasn't $10!

Up Next: Park hopping. I'm sure you can guess where I'm going....

Have you visited the Wizarding World of HP?? If you haven't I'm sure your camera would thank you :D
 
Last edited:

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Another fun trip report! I enjoyed your report of your solo time. Trips with my hubs are definitely fun, but I like a little solo time too.
Yeah it was fun getting to just wander around!

This picture of R is great - we could play the "thought bubble " game
What is he thinking at this point??

Max
ha! There's really no telling. He was probably thinking about whether or not he wanted to eat more dessert.

Following along, your pictures are beautiful!
Thank you for joining!

Hush! It's a nice picture...you look totally fine! I look waaaaay worse without makeup...perhaps I'm just uglier hahahaha
:hilarious: That's definitely not true! We are our own worst critics though, that's for sure. I actually did like a few of the other pictures we got later in the trip. It was just that day...yikes. And I really should hush...I get so irritated at people who complain about how they look in pictures that I take (which is seriously every day), but here I am doing it! :facepalm:
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued - Continuing around the world

After dinner, we kept walking around World Showcase. I made R stop for this picture



I don't like it very much though. I like the idea of using the topiaries in Photo Pass shoots, but this one is odd. It's focused on Snow White instead of us. As beautiful as Snow is, I wasn't expecting her to be the focal point.

Even though we were stuffed completely full of schnitzel and dunkel, we stopped at Primavera Kitchen outside of Italy to get another beverage:
Frozen Italian Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila – $10.00



It was yummy! I kept getting bad brain freezes because I was drinking it so fast. I'm also shaking my head at the price. I would NEVER pay $10 for a drink of any kind on a normal day. I guess "vacation me" thinks she's flush with cash :rolleyes:. The good news is that I had a decent amount of money on my Disney Rewards card, so that took us pretty far with the Flower & Garden snacks and drinks.



Making a goofy face (he hates having his picture made), but the hanging plants almost make Mickey ears on him :joyfull:.





Had to take a picture with Woody in America. That's our last name, so I have a special place in my heart for Woody. I love Toy Story too!

Next we stopped at Florida Fresh and ordered:
Watermelon Cucumber Slush with Tamiami Florida Gin – $11.75
Key Lime Sparkling Wine, Florida Orange Groves Winery, St Petersburg, FL – $11.75




Again with the prices :eek:. What was I thinking?! I honestly didn't care for either of these. The watermelon slush was my choice, so I drank most of that and just tasted the wine. This is the second time I've gotten a drink with cucumber in it and not liked it, so I think I'm just going to have to keep that in mind for next time. I like to eat them, just not drink them apparently.



The sun was setting :inlove:





We stopped at Northern Bloom near Canada and ordered:
Maple Popcorn Shake with Crown Royal Maple Whiskey – $11.75
Unibroue À Tout Le Monde Saison, Chambly, Québec – $5.00



That shake was all R. I tasted it, and it was super weird, but he really liked it. I enjoyed my saison though! Plus $5 seems a little more reasonable for a teensy drink. Only at Disney :rolleyes:






I kept taking pictures as we headed back out of Epcot. Went a little crazy on the tint slider in those last two...oops.




Kind of wish I'd focused on Mickey in that one. Next time!



I wanted to get this shot on the way in, but it was sooooo crowded. Thankfully R agreed to it on the way out. It ended up really dark though, so I had to try and edit it. I pulled the background up enough that I'm satisfied, but I do wish they had shot it differently to let in more of the ambient light...it wasn't even that dark yet.

Up next: Saying goodbye
 

Courtney6682

Well-Known Member
:hilarious: That's definitely not true! We are our own worst critics though, that's for sure. I actually did like a few of the other pictures we got later in the trip. It was just that day...yikes. And I really should hush...I get so irritated at people who complain about how they look in pictures that I take (which is seriously every day), but here I am doing it! :facepalm:

LOL...I was just being dumb...I love myself lol
 

sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued: Goodbye already?

Well, not goodbye to Disney, but goodbye to Wishes :(

Since I missed it on my solo day, we decided we'd hop over to Magic Kingdom and see it on this night.




We walked past Tomorrowland. Everything had crazy waits, and I didn't feel like wasting time in line. The only thing I could get a FP for was the Mad Tea Party, which R reluctantly agreed to.



We had SOOOO much time to kill before Wishes. Like an hour or more. I hate waiting around, but like I said, we didn't want to get in line for anything (looking back, we should have...waiting to do something is better than just sitting around). We sat on the benches between Crystal Palace and Casey's for a while, then I got bored over there.

We made our way back to a crowded Main Street. I think the flag pole was still down? I could be wrong. I know it was back up on our full Magic Kingdom day, but it may have still be down on this night. Either way the train station was covered up, so we didn't try to go up there. We just awkwardly walked around Main Street for a while until it seemed ok for us to just stand in the middle of the street. It wasn't that crowded toward the end. Most of the people were closer to the hub.





Of course when Wishes started, the children went up on the shoulders. :cry:



Mainly just that one girl. She had to have been like 7. She was clearly too big for this because dad put her down after about 2 minutes. The lady in front of me held her kid on her hip and switched him back and forth a few times. I wanted to hug her. :joyfull:





Full disclosure: I have never been that attached to Wishes. My first experience with it, on our 1st anniversary I think, wasn't that great. We stood further down Main Street in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd for 30+ minutes waiting and it was just unpleasant. Watching it further back where you have more room is MUCH nicer, and I admit it moved me a lot more this time. The music just got to me and I was welling up. I'm so glad we took the time to see it before it changes!

As soon as it was over we power-walked out. I didn't want to get stuck in a super long bus line. I think we ended up waiting about 10 minutes for a bus, which wasn't bad at all. We were in bed by 11!...I think. If Wishes was at 10, that's right. I'm pretty sure. I should have taken notes.

Up Next: Back to MK
 
Last edited:

gobstoper27

Well-Known Member
Day 4 continued: Goodbye already?



Mainly just that one girl. She had to have been like 7. She was clearly too big for this because dad put her down after about 2 minutes. The lady in front of me held her kid on her hip and switched him back and forth a few times. I wanted to hug her. :joyfull:





Up Next: Back to MK

Random bald head=DISTRACTING, lol
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom