Trip Report Our "It's 'Disney' real" June 2016 trip

We're back!!:(:( We had a fantastic time with some not so fantastic moments thrown in, but what trip doesn't have those!

For those of you that haven't read my pre-trip report, here is a quick synopsis:
Who: Me (Amy), my husband Brian, and our kids Logan (13), Lily (11), and Owen (8)
What: 10 day trip with free dining
When: June 2-11, 2016
Where: Caribbean Beach resort

Unfortunately, our flight was set to leave from Columbus at 5:30am. We live in Dayton, which is a little over an hour away from Columbus, so my goal was to leave our house by 3am on Thursday, June 2. We made it!!

Everyone was very excited!

We made it to the airport before the security check even opened!:eek: By the time we got our bags checked in to Southwest, we only had to wait a few minutes to get through security.
We were in early boarding group A, so we were on the plane in no time! Still excited!


We got to see the sun coming up once we were in the air.



 
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TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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Original Poster
ScarletBegonias said:
Love seeing all the water park pictures! I haven't been to a water park since the 90's, so I love seeing all the detail. I'd love to take Harper, but think we should wait until she's older and will enjoy it more.
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I agree about waiting. I feel like mine were the perfect age! They probably would have enjoyed it a few years ago as well, but not as much as they did this year.
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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We got back to CBR, and decided to get off at Old Port Royale instead of staying on the bus.




My blood pressure is starting to rise just thinking about this next part of our trip!! We were back out at the bus stop by 3:30 so we would have plenty of time to get to our 5:10 ADR at 1900 Park Fare. We waited at least 30 minutes for a Magic Kingdom bus to show up. When it did, it was so packed full that people were having a hard time getting off when they needed to. So a few people would get off, and a whole bunch would get on at every stop. The bus driver finally turned someone with a stroller away at Trinidad South. It was the most miserable ride of the trip, not to mention that I was constantly checking the time. We finally get to MK and get in the monorail line. We get to the front, and they announce that there will be a delay in the monorail service. We all waited a few minutes to see how long, but they never would tell us. We had to turn around and get in line for a boat with the rest of the monorail line. The boat service was soooo slow. We saw @Tuvalu and her family get off one boat, but it was too crowded to even try to get her attention! We just missed getting on one of the boats, and had a terrible experience with a particular CM. I'm not even going to talk about it because I will just get super angry all over again. We finally got on a boat and made it to the Grand Floridian. I had no idea where we were going, but we power walked across the property and into the main building. We reached the check in desk at 5:40. I was devastated! I cannot stand to be late to anything, and here we were checking in 30 minutes late! They assured me it was fine, but we'd have to wait awhile. While we were standing there waiting, another CM approached us and asked how our day was going. I told her she didn't even want to know! We gave her an abbreviated version of our troubles, and she was very sympathetic! She was also the CM that finally seated us, and she was telling us that she had heard lots of complaints about the transportation recently.

I wasn't terribly impressed with the food other than the strawberry soup, but the character interaction was superb!


Owen insisted I get a picture of his plate:



Then Allison came back with a surprise FP for us since I was so stressed and concerned that we would miss our first FP+ time at MK because of the transportation delay. That was so sweet of her!
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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Then the fun really started! Anastasia stopped by and Brian mentioned to her that both of the boys were available. She flirted for awhile, then decided she would marry Owen.


Then Lady Tremaine came over and Brian again mentioned that both boys were available. Well, Anastasia came back to make sure she knew that Owen was now actually taken! It was a fun back and forth between them. So Lady Tremaine started laying it on thick with Logan. She kept winking at him and making suggestive comments. Brian and I were dying!!



And here she just told him she would see him tomorrow at sunset for the wedding:



The kids weren't sure what to make of Drizella's dry humor! Once again, Brian and I thoroughly enjoyed it!


I ended up not getting any dessert.:( I think it was just the stress, but my stomach started bothering me part way through the meal. At some point, Owen asked of he could go get dessert. We could easily see the buffet, so we told him to go ahead. I can't believe I didn't think to take a picture of the plate he brought back. He had like one cookie and a HUGE pile of gummy bears.:eek: Lesson learned, never send an 8 year old alone to get dessert!!:rolleyes:
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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Original Poster
A quick pic of Mary Poppins before taking the monorail to MK:

Finally made it to MK:


We decided to ride the PeopleMover first to let our food settle, so we made our way over to Tomorrowland.





This is what you get when you let an 8 year old take your picture:


11 year old did a little better:

 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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I really wanted to watch Wishes since we missed it the first night. Nobody wanted to go to the front of the castle with me, so we ended up watching it from Liberty Square. Definitely not the best vantage point! And there was a street light that made it impossible for me to get any good pics!:mad:


After Wishes, we headed over to ride the Haunted Mansion. It just adds something when you get to ride it after dark!

We did stop to see Celebrate the Magic on the side of the castle. Not quite the same, but still good!






MK was open for 2 more hours for EMH, but everyone wanted to go back and sleep!:arghh: Another disappointing end to the night!
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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Original Poster
ScarletBegonias said:
Transportation issues always freak me out!!!! I was so worried we'd miss our Ohana ADR when the same thing happened to us! The monorail was down and we had to wait a long time for a boat!
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What really bothered me was that all of the CMs kept saying that they would still honor our ADR because they knew about the monorail problems. I know they would still honor it, but I shouldn't have to leave over 90 mintutes before my ADR and still be 30 min. late for it!! Nobody really seemed to care! Maybe it's just my OCD personality, but I was soooo bothered by the whole situation.
 
Second Star to the Right

Second Star to the Right

Well-Known Member
Your nighttime pictures came out fantastic! I also love the BTMR pic with the reflection in the water.

I completely agree with you about not needing to leave 90 minutes early just to arrive late to your reservation. I will be going at the end of September and I have made a few reservations at restaurants at other resorts, so I'm a bit nervous about having enough time to get to them as I understand going from resort to resort can be a bit complicated.

Really enjoying the trip report though!
 
JustPlainBill

JustPlainBill

Active Member
TheMouseFan said:
After Wishes, we headed over to ride the Haunted Mansion. It just adds something when you get to ride it after dark!
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I know what you mean. The first time I rode it was with my grandfather shortly after the Magic Kingdom first opened when I was 7. We rode it at night and it was soooo creepy waiting in line at night outside! Back then I actually thought it was really haunted!
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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Original Poster
Second Star to the Right said:
Your nighttime pictures came out fantastic! I also love the BTMR pic with the reflection in the water.

I completely agree with you about not needing to leave 90 minutes early just to arrive late to your reservation. I will be going at the end of September and I have made a few reservations at restaurants at other resorts, so I'm a bit nervous about having enough time to get to them as I understand going from resort to resort can be a bit complicated.

Really enjoying the trip report though!
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Thanks!
This is the first trip that we had any problems getting places with Disney transportation. I've got to wonder what is going on. We are paying more than ever, and there were lots of issues!
 
TheMouseFan

TheMouseFan

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I forgot to include our SDMT PP pics in the last post. I also forgot to mention that Brian decided to not ride Big Thunder or SDMT with us because he didn't want to feel bad after. I really wanted to just kick him!! He knew that it was Space Mountain and not the others that made him feel bad!:banghead::banghead::banghead:

 
mousefreak

mousefreak

Well-Known Member
I know what you mean about being late. LeAnn and I are the same way.
We're eating at 1900 Park Fare for dinner for the first time next month. I hope we enjoy the food more than you did. But your bad transportation experience probably didn't help with enjoying the dinner.
 

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