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.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Two excellent examples of efficient usage of Disney transportation! I'm impressed.

Thank you! My mom is really the one to be impressed with! She was our guide, but I know now for future trips! Either way, it was wayyyy better than waiting for busses.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Hey, this is supposed to be a trip report, not a place for you to make excuses about your poor performance on Buzz!

Broken, sure it was...

Yeah... broken!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Friday April 15th – Last Day – Magic Kingdom (again!)

First thing we did this morning was retrieve Harper back from our parents room, but we all ended up leaving together to head towards the buses.

First stop? Yep! Starbucks! My mom and I waited outside with Harper who was running wild, and tried to hide out on that little quiet side street but Harper was really entranced with the guy carrying all the balloons. She really wanted one, so I got some money out later with the intentions of buying her one. As we were waiting for the guys to come back with the coffee, the Move it Shake it parade comes rolling through! We’ve never seen it before and it was great for keeping Harper’s attention.

She just loved it. She waved to everyone going by and screamed “hi!!!!”
This is when it hit me. It’s my last day in Disney. It’s the last time I’ll stand here on MSUSA for who knows how long. It didn’t help that Harper looked so happy in that moment, so I was seriously holding back the tears. I did NOT want to go home, and even though we still had a whole day ahead of us, the sad feelings started creeping in.

My parents had a FP for BTMRR, and we didn’t have anything then so we walked around with Harper hoping she’d go to sleep. I got some popcorn and munched on that while we walked around. We got some Photo pass pictures near Big thunder too. When my parents got off, we tried to get on the big boat, but we missed it, so they said they were going to hall of presidents. So we just happened to walk by and see Chip & Dale and the line wasn’t long at all, so we got in line. Harper actually sat in the stroller until we were next which helped a lot. Right before it was Harper’s turn my parents came back and said the HOP show wasn’t starting for a while, so they stood in line with us and helped get some pictures.

This interaction between Chip & Dale may have been the best all week. She ran towards them and gave them giant hugs and was just so adorable with them. At one point I glanced back at the line and everyone just had this “aww” look on their face! We got some really great photo pass pictures here too!

I don’t know if I’m getting everything in order because it all seems jumbled but I think our first FP was with Talking Mickey! Since we saw him the day before, we wanted this one to be all about Harper. She loves him, but mostly just stares at him when he’s talking! He asked her to do the Hot dog dance and she just stared while Mickey did the entire dance. It was super cute. Maybe one day she’ll have a little better interaction with him!

Next up was with Ariel in her grotto. Harper was kind of unsure about her, and we didn’t get much of a reaction from her as we did from everyone else (but now that we are home she says “ariel!”) but we did get a few cute pics!

From there we stopped and got a Mickey Bar for Harper and we sat and ate it while just kind of taking in the last few hours of our vacation. She was getting the darn thing all over herself, too.

Somewhere in this day we met Mary Poppins, and Stitch too! Cannot figure out the time line though!

more coming....

 

[bee]

I didn't want to pre order ahead of our trip because I don't know what i'll feel like eating that day!

Fortunately you can change your order when you get to the register! Next time!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Friday April 15th - Last Day - Magic Kingdom - Part 2.

AJ and I were in search of the giant turkey leg so we went back to Frontierland and grabbed one.

Harper still hadn’t napped at this point and we were hoping she would at any moment so we pushed her around. We were by pecos bills again and we noticed that they had tape down and knew that a parade was starting, so we grabbed a table outside and got Harper out of the stroller since she was STILL not asleep. I went in and got her some mac n cheese and milk, and we caught the very beginning of the festival of fantasy parade.

This is when the rain came. HARD. Everyone was running and panicking and crowded all around us at our table. We managed to watch a few minutes of the parade before I was feeling very cramped and we decided to head out.

It was a very un-magical way to end our last day.. working through the park in torrential rain, and in a mass of bodies that were leaving too. We looked through the stores one last time, and made our way slowly and unhappily to the bus. Once I was on the bus, I felt a pang of guilt, because I had really wanted to get Harper a balloon. Darn. I also realized that we didn’t get our family picture on Main Street and I was pretty upset by that, as well. Sigh.

The ride back seemed really long. Harper was grumpy from the lack of nap, and I was just bummed out and hungry. I told AJ that I was going to go, get my last meal, look through the gift shop and come back so he could do the same. I sat for a long time outside with my food, just gazing around and taking it all in for the last time.

I walked as slow as I could through the gift shop, and bought an Anna doll for Harper which she LOVED when she saw it...

We finished packing up the room, and the car and went to bed.

The next day we left FL at 7:45am and we dealt with a stomach bug with Harper which was not fun, but still made it home in 14 hours driving time. (15 hours total. 4 stops at 15 mins each). Once we got home, AJ and I both got the stomach bug, and are finally coming around.

The Disney depression has been pretty bad after this trip. We are already trying to decide if we want to go in March of 2017 or go to the beach. Naturally, right now Disney is winning.

My final thoughts are coming.. and I'm not done! Memory Maker Pictures will be posted soon too!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Fortunately you can change your order when you get to the register! Next time!

Didn't know this!!! I do now! Thanks!

 

[Tiggerish]

Awww, I'm sorry your last day at the MK was cut short. I did the 5K that morning and by the time I cleaned up and took a nap (4am wake up call for that race!), I got to MK in the afternoon. I remember that rain! Who knows, maybe I was entering the park as you were leaving.

Harper with 'munks--so cute!

Looking forward to your final thoughts.

 

[MinnieM123]

I burst out laughing over the picture of you and hubby tearing apart the giant turkey leg! What a great photo!! I realized that you really do need two people, per turkey leg. (I tried one once, and I don't think I even ate half of it.)

All the pictures of Harper are precious, especially the one where she's waving toward CMs in the parade. Her expressions are always so cute

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Awww, I'm sorry your last day at the MK was cut short. I did the 5K that morning and by the time I cleaned up and took a nap (4am wake up call for that race!), I got to MK in the afternoon. I remember that rain! Who knows, maybe I was entering the park as you were leaving.

Harper with 'munks--so cute!

Looking forward to your final thoughts.

Yes, the rain really bummed me out. Last year we lingered for what seemed like ages on our last day, but the rain really threw us for a loop. I really wish we hadn't have rushed right out.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I burst out laughing over the picture of you and hubby tearing apart the giant turkey leg! What a great photo!! I realized that you really do need two people, per turkey leg. (I tried one once, and I don't think I even ate half of it.)

All the pictures of Harper are precious, especially the one where she's waving toward CMs in the parade. Her expressions are always so cute

That turkey leg was HUGE! Even for two people it was hard to finish! It was delicious though, and I'll be getting another one when we get back!

 

[DarthDaddy]

Thursday April 14th – ADULT DAY! Part 2.

Next up is finally our BOG ADR! I’ve never been here and Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, so I was super excited about this. We went up and checked in and they gave us a menu. We then had to get in line in the beating hot sun and stand there for about 10 minutes. Interesting. I thought having an ADR would prevent this, but oh well.
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We got in, ordered, and went to find a seat. The ballroom was soooo beautiful and it is exactly like the movie!! I wanted to sit there but it was really crowded, and the west wing was completely full, so we went to the other big room on the other side (not sure if there is a name for this room?)

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AJ went up to get the drinks and we settled in at our seat. We only waited a few minutes and then like MAGIC, they show up knowing exactly where we are sitting with our food! I got the GF turkey sandwich. I did not expect TWO full size sandwiches, but I will tell you, I ate both of them, and they were delicious.
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Anthony got the roast beef sandwich, but what ended up coming was turkey. We waved someone down, and they took it back and came back promptly with the correct sandwich!

After I finished eating, I wondered around to get pictures of the rose, and of the “outside” where it was snowing. Seriously so cool.
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I’m so glad we went. Everyone says the food is just okay, but I was really happy with it. We didn’t even THINK about getting dessert. We totally forgot.

We snapped a picture of the mural and got moving!

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More to come….

We thought the food was really pretty tasty. Again, a nice departure from the routine Burger and Fries found so many other places. Not to mention, for me at least, the toasted deli sandwich sits a little easier on the stomach when walking around in the Florida heat than some other dining options do. I suppose we'd call that room the "East Wing?" It really was beautiful and the magical food deliveries zipping around every which direction were amazing to me, for some reason. I attempted to record a bubble (from an app called Bubbli that records a 360 degree photo that can be viewed by moving your phone in different directions, as if you were there) but it was too crowded and I was in everyone's way.

 

[DimpledDevil18]

I'm sorry to hear that your last day in the parks was kind of rushed. It seems like you guys had a great time though.

 

[DarthDaddy]

Thursday April 14th – Magic Kingdom ADULT DAY! Part 4.

By the time we got to Tony’s it was 6pm right on the nose, and we were taken back a few minutes after we checked in. I’d say we got one of the best tables in the place. It was inside, but looking out at the square so you could still watch the hustle and bustle of The square into Main Street.
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Our waitress ended up being a girl that lived in Cumberland, MD which is only about 40 minutes from where we are! We had to laugh because during the week, we kept encountering CM’s who lived closer and closer to us. I said to AJ “Next we will find someone from Hagerstown!” (where we live). I took a look over the gluten free menu and ended up ordering the grilled chicken over noodles with spaghetti sauce and cheese! I think AJ just got spaghetti but I remember it had two different sauces on it.

Our pomegranate lemonades came, and then the bread. They even had gluten free bread for me which made me super happy because I didn’t think I was going to get any.
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Not long after, the entrée’s came. They were so good, but I was already pretty full from the bread. I feel like I hardly ate anything, but what I did eat, I really enjoyed. I just knew we had a long night ahead and I didn’t want to be miserable.
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From here we went over to Guest Services to check what we had spent on our magic bands this week, and gave our Jungle Cruise skipper a shout out, because we thought she was awesome. While talking to the CM here I noticed her name tag and about lost it!! It said "Hagerstown, IN" oh.... Indiana! Darn! I found a Hagerstown, just not the one we are from! How about that! Making our way to the bus for DHS, it was starting to look really ominous outside. It was windy, and the sky was getting dark. I was a little worried they’d cancel the fireworks we were going to DHS to see.

When we pulled up, a ton of people were leaving which I was excited about.
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We had plenty of time until the fireworks so we checked out Star Tours and ended up walking right on. I really wanted to do ToT again, and it was dark out now, so we walked over there happy to see it was only a 10 minute standby time AND we got the red card, so of course we had to take a picture
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We ended up getting grouped in with a bunch of teenage boys who were being quite obnoxious, but after a while, it was actually pretty funny. I just love ToT. It’s terrifying!

When we got off here, we realized the rain had started and we pulled out the trusty ponchos. I really hate these things, but at least we were able to stay dry.

AJ really wanted to meet Chewbacca, so we headed over to the Launch Bay and went in. It was DEAD in there and we walked right in to meet Chewie and Kylo Ren. The experience with Kylo Ren was just weird for me, but Anthony seemed to enjoy it! The Jawa’s were something else AJ really wanted to do. We didn’t have anything to trade with them though, so they really wanted nothing to do with us.
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After that we had a tad bit more time so we wondered through some of the stores and tried to stay out of the rain. It had amazingly ended right before the fireworks so we got to enjoy them in all their glory!
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However, afterwards there was a mass exodus going on. We knew we were going to wait FOREVER for a bus, so we texted my mom quickly for alternatives. Since we were going to Disney Springs to go shopping, we decided to take the boat from DHS, get off at Beach Club and catch the DS bus from there! It was really cool to get to see another resort up close and personal. I’m a huge fan of all things nautical, so I enjoyed getting to see it. We didn’t wait too long for a bus, but the ride to DS took nearly 30 minutes. We didn’t get there until 10:30.

The sheer exhaustion started setting in on the bus to DS. We’d been moving since 8:30am. We walked through some stores and made it to World of Disney. We got what we wanted, and when we went out we noticed that everything was starting to close up! AJ grabbed some ice cream and we headed towards the bus.


The long day was over. Just to recap.. here is what we did today:


Buzz

Space (x2)

Jungle Cruise

7DMT

Merida M&G

Mad tea party

BOG

Haunted Mansion

Splash

BTMRR

POTC

Dumbo

Watched flag retrieval

Mickey at town square

Dinner at Tony’s

Star tours

ToT

Chewie/Kylo Ren M&G

Star wars Fireworks

And Disney springs! Woooo!


Up next.. our final day in Disney.

I believe the dish I ordered was Cannelloni shells filled with a mixture of ground beef and sausage, mozzarella and ricotta with marinara and a crème sauce, which I really loved. It was a pretty filling but delicious dish. It was wonderful being in the brightly lit room and being able to view the passerby outside. Remember watching the young lady who was having photos taken of her in her quinceanera dress? She was like a princess, herself!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I'm sorry to hear that your last day in the parks was kind of rushed. It seems like you guys had a great time though.

We had a wonderful time!! Thank you!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Final Wrap up:

With only six short months between our trip in September 2015, and this trip, I will admit there were long periods where I wasn’t super excited. Not that I didn’t want to go, just that the turnaround time was so fast, we missed a lot of the building anticipation of the trip. Once we decided to go, it was already time to make ADR’s! There wasn’t a lot of time to think about planning and get wrapped up in it, which admittedly is some of the fun!

I had a lot of people say “you’re going again!?” and “your daughter might not do as well in the car this year!” and I’ll admit, I did worry a small amount that a trip this soon may not be a good idea, but I’m incredibly glad we took the opportunity and went. Harper is a completely different child than she was six months ago. She did far better in the car this year than she did last year, and we didn’t think it was possible because she was so good last year! I don’t think she cried at ALL. We did have a DVD player, and that helped a LOT when it got dark.

As far as the resort, I did love it. It was a very calm, laid back resort. There was almost zero noise. I never saw anyone else near or around our rooms. The entire trip. It kind of felt like we were alone in section 42! The room was wonderful. Maybe it WAS the king bed, but it was felt so spacious and not cramped, and that’s always nice when you are sleeping somewhere else for 7 nights. The bed was awesome and comfortable. When I try to come up with anything I didn’t like about the resort, I can’t come up with much except that we were so far from everything. The big pool, the food, the gift shops, the playground, the bar, and the nightly movies were all a 10-15 minute walk away. When you get caught in the rain on the main island, It’s a LONG, drenching walk back. However, this could be remedied a bit by asking to stay in building 45 rather than 42. 45 is right at the foot of the bridge.

The food court was HUGE, and had plenty of options. Comparing to AKL and The Mara, CBR was far better, hands down.

I did love that Jamaica was USUALLY (99% of the time) the first bus stop to be picked up and dropped off. We never had to stand on the bus and always were usually the first on the bus and got to pick seats all the way in the back. I also loved that the parking lots seemed a lot closer to your section. At AKL, there was one giant parking lot and it sometimes seemed impossible to be able to find your own car and when you did, you were pretty far away!

As far as going in April? I liked it. I was pretty cold the first couple days during the mornings and evenings. It wasn’t bad, and thinking about how hot it is in September, it was nice, it was just so odd being there when it was chilly. I’ve never experienced that before. The crowds this week seemed a little all over the place. It seemed very crowded in the beginning (it was Sunday) and then it thinned out a good bit by Wednesday/Thursday. We got on a TON of standby stuff Thursday in MK! Friday seemed to pick back up again, and that makes sense because of the Star Wars race happening.

Harper had a great time this year. She was 21 months for this trip. Her interactions with the characters were much better than six months ago. In September, she wouldn’t even approach the characters without me right there beside her. This year she was like “bye mom!” and was practically running into their arms. It was awesome to watch, and resulted in some great pictures! I think this year her favorite was Goofy, and then Chip & Dale. She really seemed to love them.

She was out of the stroller a lot more this trip than last. She wanted to walk around, and for the most part, we let her. It stressed me out a bit because she doesn’t understand she can’t just stop in the middle of the crowd and stand there, but she is getting more and more independent, and strong headed as she’s getting older. We also figured it’d help to burn her out and then she’d want in the stroller. Plus, it’s her vacation too, so I hate to lock her in a stroller the entire time!

All in all, this trip was amazing! We had a wonderful time. We didn’t rush, or stress. We just take everything on Harper’s time and let her do what makes her happy (like playing on the playgrounds in EPCOT, and at the boneyard in AK). We got to see three parades this week which was amazing! We rode the train, which I’d never done too. Leaving was extra hard this year, and even though we’ve been back for over a week, we are still missing Disney really really bad!

It’s a good thing we don’t have to wait long for our next trip!!

We have decided to scrap the idea of going to the beach next year, and get another trip in while Harper is free! What can we say? The Disney bug bit us HARD! We will be back in March of 2017!!!

Thanks to everyone who has read along and commented, I really love for other people to read along, and enjoy my trip reports. As I said, I am going to come back and post some of our good Memory Maker pics, so I’m not done yet!!!

 

[Zipadeelady]

You've brought back a lot of memories for me in this report but the one with Harper and the Mickey Bar hit home. Here is my son at 2 1/2 on our very first trip. That ice cream got everywhere.

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed your report!!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

You've brought back a lot of memories for me in this report by the one with Harper and the Mickey Bar hit home. Here is my son at 2 1/2 on our very first trip. That ice cream got everywhere.
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Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed your report!!

Oh my! This is precious!!!

Thank you so much for reading along!

 

[TheMouseFan]

So glad you had a great time! Good to hear that CBR was good to you. We can't wait to get there in June! I specifically requested building 45 or 46 in Jamaica to be close to the bus stop and the footbridge! So jealous that you already have your next trip planned!!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

So glad you had a great time! Good to hear that CBR was good to you. We can't wait to get there in June! I specifically requested building 45 or 46 in Jamaica to be close to the bus stop and the footbridge! So jealous that you already have your next trip planned!!

You will be set if you are in bldg 45 or 46! That will put you right at the foot of the bridge and you can walk right over! I hope you do a TR when you get back, I'd love to read it!

We just have to get back! My parents are going again in march, so I think we are going to try for the same week, and maybe the same resort! It's just shy of 10 months, so we have some serious saving to do, but I think we can do it!

So excited!

 

[fractal]

Enjoyed the report! thanks for sharing.