Trip Report "I'm COLD!" : Our chilly (to me!!) & then hot April TR!

It’s so hard to believe we’re back already! All the planning and waiting and thinking about your trip and then the trip comes and goes so fast it’s like you blinked and it’s over. Just like that you are waiting for your next trip again! It’s fun to re – live however, so here is my trip report for our trip from 4/8-4/16 at Caribbean Beach Resort!

You can read my PRE TRIP Report here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/we-have-to-go-back-april-2016.906141/

CAST:
Me- Brittany aka Mom!
AJ- My Husband
Harper- Our princess 21 months.
Gigi- My mom
Pappy - My step dad

Where: Caribbean Beach Resort

When: April 9th - April 16th


Thursday 4/7

After I left work on Thursday night, I decided that I’d get my “Disney nails” done tonight rather than going in the morning since I’d agreed to take my mom’s dog to the vet to be boarded because they worked until lunch time on Friday. So I zipped out to the mall and got my nails done in what seemed to be record time, and got back home while Harper was still awake. I remember she was up late this night and sat with us watching cartoons. We didn’t care since we didn’t have to get up early in the morning.

Friday 4/8
I think we woke up around 6:45am on Friday. Harper woke up really early and I remember being bummed because I didn’t want her nap time to be before we left and have to wake her up to leave (luckily, this wasn’t an issue). Most of my stuff was packed up so I left around 8:15am to go over and take my mom’s dog to the vet. Mom was still there so we chatted a bit before we went off our different ways. Since I was taking her car, I went straight home after dropping him off.


This part is all kind of a blur, but we packed the car, moved the car seat, and attached her DVD player. We also finished cleaning up around the apartment and made sure nothing was on, and made sure we turned the air off before we left. Before we knew it, we were headed over my mom’s house to meet my parents there to leave together! (something we decided to do fairly last minute)

First thing we did before leaving town was getting some coffee’s from Dunkin! It’s not a road trip without drinking coffee on the way out of town! We ended up getting on the road RIGHT around 1:30pm which is exactly what we planned on! We were taking a new route this year! We took I-81S to 77 (and eventually I-26) which was a BEAUTIFUL ride. I could not stop taking pictures over the mountains.

Good thing I wasn’t driving! J One big difference this year on the trip? IT WAS COLD! Every time we stopped, I was freezing. I am NOT used to this!

Most of the drive was uneventful and easy. When Harper took her nap eventually, I read some of my book and stared out the window! We stopped somewhere in NC for dinner at K&W Cafeteria. These places are pretty cool and made for a pretty quick stop. Harper wasn’t real interested in eating, but she was happy running around a little bit. I think it was about 8pm when we were done dinner and we tried to decide how much further we thought we could go. After last year when we WAY overdid it, we decided that we’d only drive until 11pm and then stop for the night. My mom made reservations at the Hampton in Orangeburg, SC. When we got there the place was BOOKED and the parking lot was full. They said it was because of the Master’s. The room was gorgeous, and modern. The bathroom was bigger than ours at home, and had a nice spacious tub.

We went right to bed though, and woke up early the next morning.

 

[kimberlymautz]

Following! Your daughter is so cute!

 

[disneygirl1]

Loving the report! We are heading back to the World in a few weeks. How was the City mini in the parks? I just brought one solely for our Disney trips!

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Interesting report so far. Kids and their irrational mood swings are funny, but perhaps not for you at the time.

I'm interested in what you have to say about CBR, as it's my plan for my next trip, having already experienced Coronado and French Quarter moderates.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I always feel terrible for the kids forced to go on rides like TOT. I went willingly when I was five and I can still remember how much I hated the experience!

Right! I witnessed another incident on Thursday on space mountain. The child was sobbing in line and the mom just kept saying "you'll be fine!" over and over. The kid was still crying when it was over. WHY? why traumatize the kids?

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Great start! CB was where we stayed on our first trip as a family way back in 2000. Brings back great memories.

Looking forward to your Ohana dinner!

Thank you for following! We really liked CBR! We didn't feel cramped and barely saw anyone else in our "neck of the woods" it was lovely. The beach part was cool too.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Loving the report! We are heading back to the World in a few weeks. How was the City mini in the parks? I just brought one solely for our Disney trips!

Thanks for following along!

The city mini is great! It folds up SO easily and it gets around really well. My favorite part is the large canopy. When she is napping it comes down really far and blocks a lot of sunlight out!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Interesting report so far. Kids and their irrational mood swings are funny, but perhaps not for you at the time.

I'm interested in what you have to say about CBR, as it's my plan for my next trip, having already experienced Coronado and French Quarter moderates.

Kids certainly are interesting at times. Her meltdowns really aren't her fault. She's usually tired, or overstimulated and it's a reaction to that. however, it doesn't make it less hard to deal with! LOL

I usually do a wrap up at the end and go over everything! Thanks for reading!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Following! Your daughter is so cute!

Thank you! & Thanks for following along!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Tuesday 4/12 Magic Kingdom - PART 1

Up early to the sound of an alarm today. I think the alarm went off at 6:40. Yeah. Early! We all had to take showers and get ready. My mom said we should be at the bus stop around 8ish (9:35 ADR) so we aimed for that. We waited a bus or so for the parents to show up, but eventually we just went ahead and jumped on the bus for MK. Our original plan was to take the monorail to the poly, but on the bus ride to MK, I noticed that I never saw the monorail, not a single time and I said “I bet it’s broken down” sure enough, when we got there we could see it sitting out there. We decided to just take the boat across, which is something I’ve not done in a long time! We stood around for a while and were the ONLY people there and right when the boat showed up a ton of people seemed to come from nowhere. It was a fun way to get over there, and I really enjoyed getting to see the Grand Floridian up close. It’s so pristine. We talked to another family on the boat who I believe was from New Jersey. They were really funny and we enjoyed talking to them.

I was in awe when we pulled up to the Poly. It really does feel like you aren’t in FL anymore and are in a tropical paradise. This is my dream resort, and one day I’d love to stay there!

My mom texted me as soon as we docked and said they were on the next boat so we waited around for them to arrive and walked in together. We found Ohana, checked in, and wondered around in the gift shops until we were paged.

We were seated in the inner part of the place and I was surprised how dark it was! I felt like I could barely see! It wasn’t long until they did a little parade around the restaurant with the kids and the characters. Pluto tried to walk with Harper but she was tired, and she wouldn’t take his hand. I really like the family style way they do the food here, it’s nice to not have to go up to a buffet and risk missing the characters that are coming to your area. The food was really good too. I think that was the best pineapple I’ve ever had!

Lilo was coming around when we got back to the table and Harper was just okay. She doesn’t really know her so she was just like “eh”.

I’m pretty sure Mickey came next. She was a in such a bad mood by then that she wasn’t even all that interested in Mickey, she was flopping around, so Mickey gestures that he just wants a picture with Harper. He popped her right up on his knee and we snapped this adorable picture. She looks HUGE for not even being two, but then again Mickey is not very tall!

I knew we were hitting that point in the meal where Harper was DONE. I’ve found that this happens a lot with morning ADR’s because she’s tired by the time we arrive at our destination. Finally, my FAVORITE character was making his rounds.. STITCH! I was so excited about this. We even had Harper in a shirt that we made of Stitch eating. She was basically checked out, so we snapped a few pics and I got my stitch hug!

After Stitch left, I chugged my coffee and we decided to get out of there and head over to MK. We decided to take the Monorail which my mom was not excited about. She doesn’t like being on the monorail because it always breaks, and guess what? We got stuck. Luckily it wasn’t very long, but we did hang out up there on the rails for 10 minutes or so. I don’t know that OUR train was broke, but something was up!

More to come...!

 

[buseegal]

I always feel terrible for the kids forced to go on rides like TOT. I went willingly when I was five and I can still remember how much I hated the experience!

guess I have the weird little one as Tower was grandson age 4 years old favorite ride of the trip still talks about it. had to sit in an upper row so he could se over the wall. he just made the height and I think we rode it about 6 times that short trip

 

[ScarletBegonias]

guess I have the weird little one as Tower was grandson age 4 years old favorite ride of the trip still talks about it. had to sit in an upper row so he could se over the wall. he just made the height and I think we rode it about 6 times that short trip

If he likes it, that's great!! But this child didn't want to go on! Poor Kiddo.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Tuesday 4/12 Magic Kingdom – PART 2

I’m pretty sure this is the morning that my husband was “randomly selected” to get a security check. We all had a good laugh about that one. My step dad got picked a couple times too. He said he thought it was the cargo shorts! For some reason I cannot remember this morning that well, but I’m betting we stopped for coffee at Starbucks first!

Harper really needed a nap at this point and because we didn’t have a FP until 12:25, we decided to just walk around so Harper would sleep. When we came across BTMRR, I saw the standby line wasn’t too long (I think 20 minutes) so I jumped in line by myself. The only thing that made the wait that long was the FP people. Other than that, I would have walked right up! I ended up getting on all by myself in the very first seat! I do love the ride, but it’s more fun with another rider!

Harper was still asleep when I got off, so I got myself a Mickey bar and we proceeded to look for a place to sit near POTC to wait for our FP.

We found a seat just past Pecos Bills at Tortuga tavern at a table with an umbrella outside. We sat there for what seemed like ages while Harper napped. It was nice to get a break to sit, and talk and just people watch.

My parents texted and said they could head over so we could get on POTC together, so we waited for them and then ran over and got in line. I had to laugh. There was a guy in front of me who tried to go through the FP line again after just doing it. The CM said “it says you just used your FP” and the guy just stood there. Really? He tried to argue but the CM held firm. I haven’t been on POTC in about ten years. It used to be my favorite ride ( it’s now Space!). The smell on that ride was oddly amazing. It was like watermelon booze. LOL.

After reuniting with my parents and the now awake Harper, we settled on lunch at Pecos Bill’s. I really liked the fact that it wasn’t burgers and fries and would definitely go back. The place was super crowded though, and very cramped where we were sitting. We had a FP for Peter pan after that, so we went our separate ways again, and after that we were trying to kill time before our most coveted FP ever…. Anna & Elsa!!!

We tried to go see Gaston, but he’s ALWAYS leaving, so we walked over to the Carousel. I’m not joking when I say that this may have been one of the longest waits this week! Look at this grump while waiting in line..

Once we were on, Harper didn’t like it and was iffy through the first couple rounds, but ended up making it through. A quick shirt change, and we were in line for Anna & Elsa! I stayed up until midnight to make this FP, so I was pretty excited for this. Harper is obsessed with A&E and I was soo anxious to see how she would do.

The minute we walked in Harper saw Elsa and yelled “ELSA!” and then she didn’t want to wait for everyone in front of us. Luckily it wasn’t very long and Elsa walked right up and took Harper’s hand. She gave Elsa a few big hugs, and then sat down beside her! She did equally as well with Anna. They were both so sweet with her. We got some excellent pics, and I’ll post them when I get my MemoryMaker stuff, but for now, here’s a preview:

When we got to the little gift shop after A&E, Harper ran over to the Barbie’s, and picked up an Elsa Barbie. The kid has us wrapped around her finger, so it was hers!

After this we walked around and got on the Peoplemover. During this ride, I noticed that Harper’s eyes were really red and watery again (literally just running) and I started getting really nervous. About a week before we left Harper got a double ear infection, and this was exactly how it started. I was worried that maybe the meds didn’t work, and it was coming back. AJ and I talked about what we should do, and we decided that maybe we should take her to urgent care to make sure it was gone. Little did we know how crappy the rest of our night would go. I’ll leave that for another post.

We stopped in Cosmic Ray’s for a drink of water and to hang out for a little bit, and then slowly made our way out of the park.

 

[bee]

Great report! I'm enjoying following along with your updates!

My first ever trip to Disney was in the 90s when I was eight years old. We lived in north Florida and my mom's sister and brother-in-law and their three kids came to visit us for Christmas this particular year. My uncle took me and my three cousins (ages 15, 13, and 7 at the time I think?) to Magic Kingdom for a day trip since we lived 2-ish hours away. I was NOT NOT NOT into roller coasters AT ALL at that age , but my two older cousins and the one who was close to my age all were. I was scared of Space Mountain but they convinced me to ride by saying that the people riding were screaming because they were "having fun" and not because they were scared. I absolutely HATED IT and was fighting back tears afterward and they wanted to get right back in line. It ruined me for thrill rides for years! All I wanted to ride the rest of the day was Peter Pan and Small World. Needless to say I don't have fond memories of that trip!!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Great report! I'm enjoying following along with your updates!

My first ever trip to Disney was in the 90s when I was eight years old. We lived in north Florida and my mom's sister and brother-in-law and their three kids came to visit us for Christmas this particular year. My uncle took me and my three cousins (ages 15, 13, and 7 at the time I think?) to Magic Kingdom for a day trip since we lived 2-ish hours away. I was NOT NOT NOT into roller coasters AT ALL at that age , but my two older cousins and the one who was close to my age all were. I was scared of Space Mountain but they convinced me to ride by saying that the people riding were screaming because they were "having fun" and not because they were scared. I absolutely HATED IT and was fighting back tears afterward and they wanted to get right back in line. It ruined me for thrill rides for years! All I wanted to ride the rest of the day was Peter Pan and Small World. Needless to say I don't have fond memories of that trip!!

Awww! That's awful!! that makes me sad!

Thanks for reading!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Tuesday 4/12 – Evening- Urgent Care

As always once we were on the bus, Harper seemed okay so I started second guessing myself. By the time we got back though, the weepy eyes were back and we decided yes, we’d go. The cool thing here is that Disney provides a free shuttle service to Urgent care. I’d rather do this because I don’t know where I’m going. We rode with another family who was going too.

I’ll give you the abridged version..

Waited in the waiting room for an hour. Waited in the exam room for an additional hour. I got very angry at the ridiculous wait time, and Harper was bored out of her mind. We were hungry, tired, and grumpy. At home I can I be in and out of urgent care in about 25-40 minutes, so this was completely crazy. Doctor finally comes in, looks her over and says she’s fine. She probably caught another cold while she was here, but her ears are fine and her flu test was negative.(the “ten minute rapid flu test” took another 25 minutes) so naturally we’re bummed we wasted all this time, but know at least we have the peace of mind that she’s not sick.

We have to wait for the shuttle again and ride back with the same family we rode in with. There was nothing wrong with their kid either, so we all had a big laugh about it.

Back to resort, I don’t think we did much. Probably got some food, and went right to bed.

Next up.. Our wonderful day at Epcot (the park I don't usually care for..)

 

[bee]

Awww! That's awful!! that makes me sad!

And yet here I am, a certified Disney Addict almost 20 years later. Guess I got over my first bad trip experience!

The cool thing here is that Disney provides a free shuttle service to Urgent care.

I never knew that. That's really good to know! Glad Harper was okay...not so glad you had to waste your whole evening to find that out!

 

[pirategal]

So sorry to hear about your Urent Care night. At least you got peace of mind!

And I'll chime in set Tower of Terror too. Totally agree that you shouldn't push an unwilling or scared child to do a ride!! I had the "opposite" happen with my 6 year old and TOT.
I decided she shouldn't go because I remembered the whole theme and que being pretty scary to me, not to mention the ride! Well, this girl *insisted* she ride it....I finally relented and took her. It was her favorite ride!! And I was so worried I'd be "one of those parents" with the hysterical child halfway through the ride!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

So sorry to hear about your Urent Care night. At least you got peace of mind!

And I'll chime in set Tower of Terror too. Totally agree that you shouldn't push an unwilling or scared child to do a ride!! I had the "opposite" happen with my 6 year old and TOT.
I decided she shouldn't go because I remembered the whole theme and que being pretty scary to me, not to mention the ride! Well, this girl *insisted* she ride it....I finally relented and took her. It was her favorite ride!! And I was so worried I'd be "one of those parents" with the hysterical child halfway through the ride!

LOL! Well that's different too! what can you do if your child insists on going!?

I love ToT!!!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Wednesday 4/13 EPCOT! (Flower & Garden Festival)

My mom had texted me the night before and said they’d be in touch when they woke up, and not to wake them, so we were on our own this morning! We had an uneventful drive to EPCOT. Today it was HOT. First time all trip I was actually hot, and in EPCOT you have NO shade, so once we got through the bag checks, we stopped at the first little kiosk right inside and I looked for a hat for myself! Of course Harper wanted this adorable Minnie ears hat, and she actually wore it, so I was happy we got it!

We had gotten there JUST in time for our first FP which was Test Track! Because we were so late, I got a rider switch ticket even though we had FP’s and I’m glad I did because it still took forever for me to get on this ride! I went first this time, and my car won second overall! Sweet. I met AJ at the end where all the cars are, and he went on next. Harper had a great time walking between and getting in all the Chevy’s they had there on display. It’s actually a really neat way to get to see what they sell.

After what seemed to take FOREVER for AJ to finish, we were back out in to the sunlight. Our next FP was for the Epcot Character spot to meet Mickey, Goofy, & Minnie! Again, Harper was tired and getting impatient and I had to hold her back so she didn’t barge into someone else’s pictures! She loved everyone, but especially Goofy! I was so surprised because he is so tall compared to the rest of them! [We only have MM pics of this..to be posted later]

After that, guess what time it was? Starbucks time! Harper was winding down a little, so she sat in the stroller while we ordered and we made sure to keep our coffee cups out of sight to avoid another melt down. We had a little bit of time left, so we decided to stroll over to see some of the flowers and topiaries for F&G and we came across one of the playgrounds! This place was awesome! The ground was very cushy, and they even had big shaded tents with comfortable chairs for parents! Harper loved running around, but we had to go after a bit to get back to Figment for our last FP.

After Figment (which she loves!) We finally got her to settle in the stroller. We really wanted to go to Sunshine Seasons for lunch, but no strollers allowed, and there was no way we were going to pull her out now, so we kept moving. Turns out, Baymax had practically NO LINE, so I waited with the stroller so AJ could go, and then ended up letting me in so I could get my picture too! very cool!

[on Figment!]

To be continued....

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Wednesday 4/13 EPCOT (Flower & Garden Festival) Continued..

At this point we decided to walk over to World Showcase and start checking out some of the little food Kiosk’s. Harper was still sleeping, so we had plenty of time to walk around and enjoy it. I think this may have been one of my favorite things about the whole trip! The food was amazing and most of the stations had gluten free options marked on the passport, so it made it easy to identify!
Napping child...

First stop.. cannot remember what this was.. Some kind of seared meat!

Grouper with mango salsa! YUM!!

Currywurst with paprika chips. Omg. my favorite. I should have gotten another one.

This dessert from Italy was to die for. (but very small)

I saw this one on the Menu and just had to have it. Shrimp and grits. It was SO Spicy, but it was delicious.

Harper woke up around China and wanted out of the stroller so we let her walk around a little bit. We had a bathroom pit stop in Germany, and then we stopped in Morocco for some mint tea for me . I love this stuff! So refreshing.

more to come.....