Trip Report Oh, the Places We go, The People We See

Welcome to my newest Trip Report. For those who don’t know me, I am Jen.

That’s my Daughter Claire with me.



We just got back from an amazing vacation with several family members.

We traveled Nov. 1st thru the 15th, 2012. We rested our headed at 6 different places on this trip, and though it wasn’t always easy to keep moving from place to place, I am happy to have tried some new resorts out and stayed at some familiar ones as well.



This trip came about over a year ago. My Mom’s cousin Vicki wanted to take a trip with her and my Aunt Mary. Her Daughter Katie also wanted to come along.

After some talking and planning it became a group of 16 traveling. I was elected ring leader since I have quite a bit of Disney experience.

Plans were made, some were changed, and some were a little slower at making decisions than others.

My husband Skip is what is known in the Disney groups as a resistor and he decided NOT to come along. He was not so happy about the amount of time I was going to be gone.



The dates for the cruise were set first, Nov 4 through the 8th on the Disney Dream. We all planned to arrive a day early and stay at the Residence Inn near the port. Soon I decided that I must add a few Disney days, and so did everyone else eventually. I thin decide…heck lets add some more, and Claire and I ended up staying 3 more days after the rest left.

Then after doing some research and with a heads up from my good Dis-friend Carey, I was alerted to the fact that the last Halloween party was on Nov. 2nd. How could I pass that chance up? So Claire and I decided to fly in a day earlier than everyone else to hit that party. Claire and I also decided to fly out of Columbus. My family lives near the Toledo, OH area, and the best direct flights are out of Detroit. My youngest sister, who was not going on the cruise, lives in Columbus, and I was able to get a decent priced direct flight from there, so Claire and I drove down Nov. 1 and spent the night before our early flight.



Plans were finally all set in stone and we just had to wait for our time to arrive. Not an easy task, but we all managed.



Let me introduce you to the crew. This is a picture of a picture. My sister has the CD with the actual digital copy, but hasn’t yet loaded it to the computer, so I had to go with this for now till I can get a copy.

In the back row, left to right, we have my parents, Joe and Paula, next to them is my Uncle Geoff. Next to Geoff is cousin Vicki and her son in law Thad. Next to Thad is Pete, Vicki’s husband and then me. Aunt Mary is on the end, she is married to Uncle Geoff and my Mother’s sister.

Down towards the front, left to right, is my nieces Alexis and Abby with their parents Rob and Gail. Gail is my sister. Front and center is Claire. Behind Claire are Jude, and Katie. Katie is married to Thad and is Pete and Vicki’s Daughter. And then we have baby Luke in the stroller. He is only about 9 months old and what a cutie he is.



This trip had the usual ups and downs that most every family will have, but I have to admit things went much smoother than I planned. We never felt the need to kill each other for the most part. LOL

We had several cruise newbies and several Disney World newbies as well.



Please join me in reliving a very magical trip with all the places we traveled and all the people we met along the way!

 

[jenseib]

Claire was very happy with her results.

Abby was very impressed with the backsack.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Finally all caught back up!!

The girls look so cute with their makeup and hair and Princess gowns on! That's really cool Abby sat still for it all. What a little Princess!

 

[jenseib]

Finally all caught back up!!

The girls look so cute with their makeup and hair and Princess gowns on! That's really cool Abby sat still for it all. What a little Princess!

We were happy that she went through it. We had a good laugh during the whole process but she was so darn cute too.

 

[jenseib]

Claire still had one more finishing touch needed. She had to have her crown that we brought along placed on her royal head.



Now she looks perfect.



And so does Princess Alexis.



Princess Abby, in true Cinderella fashion, kept losing her glass slipper.





Early on during the appointment, Aunt Mary had handed me a gift card. She said she still had money on it and was probably not going to use it, so we could use it to pay for the girls. She said she wasn’t sure what was left on it. Well I think she did and she was being sneaky. During the appointment a Fairy Godmother in Training came over to take my payment and I handed her the gift card. I figured I would find out how much was on it, use it on Claire and divide the amount by 3 and give Gail her portion in cash. Well it more than covered Claire’s amount and it still had a large amount left on it ….like $120 or more. I was shocked. I don’t know why Aunt Mary didn’t apply this to her shipboard account, but she is sneaky that way, always spoiling the girls. So I handed off the card to Gail. I told her how much was left, but I don’t think she understood me and she paid hers in cash. I then told her again how much was left. She said she would just have the girls buy something then for themselves later in the day. Well somehow Aunt Mary felt Claire didn’t get enough use out of the gift card. I told her it worked out perfectly and it basically worked out to an equal amount for each kid. She told me not to argue and gave me another $40 for Claire to spend. I am not quite sure how that math worked out at all. LOL.

We all gathered our belongings then and headed out.





Our next stop was to get a photo shoot for the girls at Castle Couture. We had to wait a bit as there were a few kids in front of us.

 

[jenseib]

Then it was our turn. Abby wasn’t sure about this and at first said no pictures. We then played the game with her that always works.
“Abby, if you don’t want your picture, that’s ok. Uncle Geoff will go in and stand by the girls.” It’s so hilarious but it works every time. If she won’t do something, we tell her Geoff will do it instead and she runs quickly before he has a chance to get there and do it. It’s going to be funny some day when she doesn’t care and Geoff will be force to do whatever it is. LOL.











Abby did tire, so we did a few with just Alexis and Claire.







And then Alexis by herself.

 

[jenseib]

Abby found something to occupy herself.



We coaxed Abby to get a few with Alexis then.







Claire’s turn.

 

[jenseib]

They then got the chaise out and all 3 girls came back.

 

[jenseib]

She looks so innocent there.







“Hey Uncle Geoff! Don’t even think about sitting on this chair!”

 

[jenseib]

Claire got a turn on the chaise as well.



















And then Alexis.

 

[jenseib]

As you can see, getting the photopass CD was well worth it for us. We had a ton of pictures taken during the experience and after.

The girls did a little shopping afterwards.

 

[jenseib]

I don’t think we bought anything because I didn’t want to carry it around for the rest of the night. This was Gail’s last day so, so I am sure the girls found a few things they liked.



After all the fun with BBB and the photoshoot, Claire and I hightailed it over to Pooh. We had pulled fastpasses earlier and I knew it would be cutting it close. We arrive and were about 10 minutes past the time. I asked the CM if we could still use them as we had been at BBB and he said sure thing and let us in.



Claire already started complaining about how itchy her dress was. In years past she never would say a word about any dress, even ones I knew had to be itchy. She would chose beauty over comfort. Not so anymore. I told her she needed to wear it longer, but she still kept complaining. I need to remember for future visits that she will need to wear a shirt under the dress to make it more comfortable.

After our ride on Pooh, we headed over to Dumbo to take a spin.







We then checked out Barnstormer but it was a bit too long of a wait for us at the time.



I finally gave in then. I was tired of hearing how itchy she was. I had hoped to at least get through dinner with the dress, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant if I made her wait so we headed to the bathroom and changed back into her skirt outfit.
We then walked over towards Space Mountain as I wanted to get fastpasses.

 

[jenseib]

We grabbed fastpasses for several hours later that evening and then decided we needed a quick snack. It was around 4 and our dinner reservation was in about an hour, but we were to the point that we just couldn’t last quite that long. Claire got a frozen treat.



I got a pretzel and we sat down under the People Mover and ate them. We people watched and talked and laughed because we heard the spiel from the People Mover over and over and over again.



After I ate about half of my pretzel I realized I never took a picture.



While we sat there I looked over my receipts to see how many snack credits were left. Everything would have to be used by midnight the next day as we were checking out of the Beach Club Villas in the AM and switching resorts and dining packages. Claire’s receipt showed a certain amount but mine didn’t show anything. That’s odd. It also appeared my parents weren’t using the snack credits as well. There were quite a few left according to Claire’s receipt. I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but they had a hard time understanding the dining plan. Each day my Mom would tell me that drinks and appetizers from dinner were charged to the room, which meant, charged to my credit card. She would give me money and I would go and pay it off each day. I even asked at the desk if they would take them off my credit card and the CM totally ignored me.

So I knew we would have to make sure they got some snacks or Claire and I would have to use up some more snacks before they expired.

After we finished our treats we decided we should head to the front and work our way over to the Poly for ‘Ohanas dinner.



We excited the park and took the monorail over. We were a little early so we slowly made our way to check in.







It was quite busy in there, but we did get checked in. They told us we could have our picture taken, which we declined. I don’t see this as a winner of a photo op. Now if I had purchase the photopass plus, then I would’ve done it, but without it being included in the meal, it’s not something we would want.



We had barely sat down and we were called in. Our ADR was for 5:05 and we got called in a few minutes before 5 with the first group being called in for the first dinner round. Cousin Joe led us to our table.

 

[jenseib]

We had a window seat, but our view wasn’t really all that grand. Well we could SEE the Grand, but there were quite a few trees in the way.



It’s very dark in there and it was hard to get decent pictures.





Our bread.



Now I have heard people RAVE about this bread. I asked about this bread too ….. to many people. It is described as a pineapple coconut bread. I do NOT like coconut. Many people told me you cannot taste coconut at all and some didn’t even realize it had it in it. I am here to set the record straight. YES you can taste it!!!
My first bite….mmm this is pretty good, sweet and tasty, but after about 20 seconds I got the aftertaste of coconut. Darn it! I did keep eating it, hoping it was mind playing tricks, but it wasn’t and I gave up on it after a bit. I just couldn’t get that taste out of my mouth. Claire enjoyed it and did eat quite a bit, but she also mentioned it had a funny taste to it as well.

The salad was very good though. Claire wasn’t so much a fan, but she did eat some.



The sauces.



Again, I heard many people talk about how wonderful they were. I only liked one of the 3 and it was just OK. The others were not good at all. Claire didn’t like any of them.

The potstickers and chicken wings. This was the best part of the meal.



Both were good and we cleaned the plate (well Claire only at the chicken)

I slacked in picture taking after this. The veggies were good, but Claire wouldn’t touch them. The noodles …not our thing, we both took a bite or 2 and were not impressed.
The meat …good if it had no sauce on it. We did not like any of the sauces on them and Claire just stopped eating. Our first few bites of the steak were great, but again, after a minute the sauce taste came out and it was just off to us. Not our thing at all. We would’ve preferred to have sauce less meats.



Luckily we had enough of the chicken wings and potstickers to fill us up. And I had more salad and veggies.
The lady came out to entertain and called the kids up. Claire refused to go, but we enjoyed watching her sing. I tried for a photo, but not very good at all.



After a while she called up adults too and we had to do some dance or something. Claire said if I went up, she would go too and the only way to get a lei was to participate, so we went up and made fools of ourselves. It was fun though.

When we got back to the table the bread pudding had arrived.

 

[jenseib]

Claire got a birthday treat as well.





The ice-cream was good, the bread pudding, just Ok. Again, it’s not a big thing for us. Actually I think it’s only the 2nd time I ever had it and probably Claire’s first. I do know the reason we liked it was the caramel sauce. If it didn’t have that, I probably would’ve taken 2 bites and pushed it aside.

We paid the bill with our dining credits and left a tip. Our server was decent, but not great. He didn’t do anything wrong really, he just had kind of a been there done that tone to everything. ….Just not energetic at all.

As we left I tried to get a few more pictures.









The whole meal was just ok to us. It wasn’t bad; it was just not to our tastes. I really don’t know if I will ever go back for dinner. I have heard since that the sauces have changed, so that is a reason to give it another try. I probably will only do so if Skip is with us so he can give it a try too. At least now I don’t have to worry about trying to get it right at the 180 day mark. I have looked at trying to dine here for a few years, but we are always so last minute with planning trips I just never had a chance. Now I know we are not really missing much at all.

I did have Claire stop and get a picture with the Tiki God.



And I took a few more pictures around the resort.



I hear good things about Kona too, so someday we will give that a try as well.

 

[jenseib]

We then hopped the monorail and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

It was very exciting to see trees lit up.



And the whole reason to come to the Magic Kingdom during the holiday season!!!!!!



This is absolutely stunning. I love the castle this way and if I never saw it looking normal again, I would be ok with that. I fell in love with the icicle castle immediately.







The down side to this night ….it was so freaking crowded. I was just amazed at the amount of people here.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

If you can, definitely try Kona Cafe. It is really good. We love Ohana and that's a must do for us, but I think it's because we love pretty much everything they serve there. I absolutely LOVE the noodles and pot stickers! I could make a meal off those two things and the salad lol Kona has really good breakfast. I had the pineapple macadamia pancakes and those were delicious!!

I do also love MK during the holidays. I can't wait to see it decorated this November. We're going relatively early this time (Nov 6-11) so I doubt all the parks will have decorations but we are going to the first Christmas party so at least MK will be done up!

 

[jenseib]

If you can, definitely try Kona Cafe. It is really good. We love Ohana and that's a must do for us, but I think it's because we love pretty much everything they serve there. I absolutely LOVE the noodles and pot stickers! I could make a meal off those two things and the salad lol Kona has really good breakfast. I had the pineapple macadamia pancakes and those were delicious!!

I do also love MK during the holidays. I can't wait to see it decorated this November. We're going relatively early this time (Nov 6-11) so I doubt all the parks will have decorations but we are going to the first Christmas party so at least MK will be done up!

I hear Kona is great and I have heard about those pancakes, but honestly, they sound awful to me too. I don't like nuts in any foods at all. And the Tonga toast wouldn't be something I like either. But one of these days I will go there.
I bet you will see decor. We arrived on the 8th and Ak and Epcot were already decorated then. And the 9th DHS had decor up too. I am not sure what day it all went up, but I had some friends there while I was cruising and they acted like it went up right away after the 2nd.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I hear Kona is great and I have heard about those pancakes, but honestly, they sound awful to me too. I don't like nuts in any foods at all. And the Tonga toast wouldn't be something I like either. But one of these days I will go there.
I bet you will see decor. We arrived on the 8th and Ak and Epcot were already decorated then. And the 9th DHS had decor up too. I am not sure what day it all went up, but I had some friends there while I was cruising and they acted like it went up right away after the 2nd.

Yeah the Tonga Toast doesn't sound appealing to me since I don't like bananas very much. We have had dinner there before, too. It was pretty good. I didn't like what I ordered. Not because it was bad, but it wasn't my taste. I got the coconut almond chicken. My mom and sister took and bite and like it so it must have been just me. They got the pan Asian noodles and those were really good!

 

[jenseib]

Yeah the Tonga Toast doesn't sound appealing to me since I don't like bananas very much. We have had dinner there before, too. It was pretty good. I didn't like what I ordered. Not because it was bad, but it wasn't my taste. I got the coconut almond chicken. My mom and sister took and bite and like it so it must have been just me. They got the pan Asian noodles and those were really good!

I'm not too into bananas in things either. I like a plain banana, but thats it.

 

[jenseib]

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the castle. It was just so beautiful.





I think the greenish blue colored castle is my favorite.





We headed over to the Laugh Floor. We have only done this a few times and decided it was time to give it a go again.





We had so much fun. We laughed so hard. I can’t remember all the details anymore, but we had a great group of people with us. One kid kept getting the camera on her but she was so clueless, and it was funny and then a nearby kid kept trying to get in the shot. We had some adults that were also not really with it and the answers they gave were hilarious. And even Mike was rolling his eye at times and making jokes about the slow responses he was getting. You could tell this was a crowd they don’t get normally and did a lot of improvising. Like I said, we have only done it a few times in the past, but this was by far the best time ever and it will be disappointing in the future because I know it will never live up to this one show.
Claire kept asking to go back all through the trip, but we never made it and I did tell her it just wouldn’t be as good as this time because of the people we had in there.

When we came out we texted the family. I can’t remember what they were doing. I know Rob and Alexis were in line for Space Mountain. I think only Gail, Rob, & kids and Uncle Geoff were left in the park at that time.





Geoff had gone to dinner with the other adults at the Contemporary and then Gail texted him that the girls wanted to spend more time with him so he came back while the rest headed back to their hotels.
While we had been having our dinner, Gail’s family had gone to CRT for dinner. Later on when I caught up with Gail I asked how it went. She said not so good. It started out well in the lobby, but then when they were called Abby lost her shoe on the step in true Cinderella fashion. I guess this triggered something and she started crying. I don’t remember the whole story, but I think she then did NOT want to be there and didn’t want to see the princesses. It was less than magical for them. Alexis enjoyed it, but it was sad her sister was in one of her moods. They did say the food was good, which I was glad to hear as the last time it was not very good at all.





This is not my favorite Cinderella at all. In person she looks normal, but in all her pictures she looks like she is in pain when she smiles.