Pre- Trip Report: A birthday celebrating newbie and me!

Hi Guys!


Hope you are all well, and having magical days!

I'm totally new to this, have been surfing these boards for a few months now (ever since I got back from my first trip in April!), and have only posted a few times, but i LOVE reading everyone elses pre-trip reports, and am soooo excited about my upcoming Feb 10 trip that I just HAD to share my excitement with everryone (especially since all my friends, workmates, family and even my DBF are so sick of hearing my voice... lol).

So, I'm not really sure where to start.... hmmm....

The Characters:

Me (Dommie, F, 23)
and
my DBF (Chris, M, will turn 23 on Valentines day!)

what else do you need to know about us? DBF is a Disney Vrigin, and.... drumroll please....... it's his first time overseas since he was 2!!! We're from Melbourne Australia, so it's a LONNNNGGGGGG hike over there, but worth any second.

This will only be my second trip, my first was with A Disney obsessed girlfriend in April this year. She lives in Sydney Australia, but her Dad lives in Miami, so she's been going to Disney for years! And knowing how much I love all thngs Disney (and Pixar, yes, shoot me now if you want to) and since we live in different states we dont get to see a whole lot of each other, she brough me along with her for the Disney part. and Omg!!! it was the best week of my life! I had sooo much fun, and a magical time, and wow! And so when I got home I vowed to bring the DBF back with me (Im hoping he'll fall in love with the magic too, so we can start coming every second year, that would be AWSOME!).

Well, I was begging for an October 2010 trip, but then, in September, Chris just came out and said, "you know, I havent been overseas in forever, so let's go to America for my birthday, we can go to Disney like you want, them go to Vegas!" I was like " YESSSSSSS" and then the epic trip planning started again!!!


Thanks for reading, I'll post more again soon, promise, the washing machine just finished, and is beeping like crazy, and since DBF is still asleep (night shift, he works in hospital), I better go stop it beofre he wakes up)

Thanks again for reading this. You have no idea how excited I am just typing this, whooooooooo

 

[Dommiekazommie]

Grrrr, so annoyed, typed this huge block of text then lost it!

Anyway, the washing is now on the line, and I have a fresh cup of coffee sitting on the desk next to me (don't you just love coffee? That is one thing I didn't absolutley love about the world, I didn't have a decent cup the whole time I was there, any ideas of great coffee places so I can get my java fix? )

So, the original plan was to do 8 nighst in Disney, from 7th Feb - 15th Feb, leaving the day after DBFs birthday (Feb 14, Valentines day). Then we encountered our first problem, Presidents Day! Airfares were just astromnoical!!!! At one stage an option we were seriosuly considering had our domestic flights LAX - MCO - Vegas - LAX costing more than our return international fight!!!! So, after days of playing with different options, then waiting a week, hoping things would get cheeper, then playing some more, then waiting some more, we found a doable option, and DBF ran down to our local travel agent (who do a price beat gaurantee, gotta love it!), and we had our flighst booked! We are going to DISNEY!!!!!!! and Vegas.

So, this is what we ended up with....
Sat 6th Feb
Melb Aust - LAX (depart Melb at 6am our time, arrive LAX 6.30am local time)
LAX - MCO (depart LAX at 9am, which makes me a little nevervous, does anyone ahve any experince passing customs etc and making it onto a new flight in 2.5 hours? Can this be done?) Arrive at MCO at 4.50pm on the SAME DAY!

Friday 12th Feb, depart MCO at 6pm ish, and then arrive in vegas at like 11.30 I think? Anyway (as you can see I am MUCH more excited about the Disney portion of our trip), and spend 5 nights in Vegas before home to Melb aust, arriving home at ike 6am (blergggg) on Friday 19th Feb!

All for under $au 1700!!!!!!!! we were so impressed! I know we ended up with 2 less Disney days, and one more vegas day than we had originally hoped, but for such a saving it was worth it, and Chris would actually rathetr spend his actual birthday in Vegas than Disney (he is no where near as into Disney as me, any ideas on how to make him more enthusiastic? I already bought him the 2010 official guide, which he is reading atm, and that seems to help. everymorning when he comes home from work (as I am having breakfast), he tells me what he read about the night before.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, after some more penny pinching, discusssion, reading resort reviews, making Chris look at pictures of everything, the buy 4 get three free deal (yay!) and plenty of help from Mindy at Dreams unlimted vacations (who I totally recommend, they are AWESOME). we are staying at....


Carribean Beach Resort!!!!

This is particulaurly exciting because for a while there (before buy 4 get 3 free was annonced) it looked like we would have to stay at a value (we were thinking Pop), so being able to upgrade to a moderate was sooooo great! It actually worked out chepper (by like $300!!) for us to stay at a Moderate, even though we're only staying for 6 nights, not 7

Why did we pick CBR? Well, I stayed at POR last April, and as much as I loved it, wanted to stay somehwere differernt, and it was marginally chepper than CSR. Plus I like the beach, and the tropical theme looks really pretty, so it seemed like the best bet. After reading more reviews, and some quite heated discussions on this board, I am not so sure now tho. In fact I'm getting a little nervous. It's not like we have little people who will be exhausted after a big day in the parks (just 2 big people who will be exhausted after a big day in the parks), but we wont be renting a car, so we will be totally relient on Disney bus services. I thought they were great at POR, nice and efficent, sometimes crowded, but no more than a rush hour commuter train (and without the pervert trying to look down my top!) But I have read so many bad things about CBR that I'm beggining to doubt my decision, especially since DBFs fave meal of the day is breakfast (im happy with a granola bar), so he'll be wanting to head into the food court every morning (while I'll be wanting to head straight for the parks.

SO, what do you all think of CBR? If you could give me the good, the bad and the ugly, as well as any advise you have? which rooms (non -preffered), are the best to ask for?


Thanks for your help guys

Coming soon, part 3, the plans and ADRs begin! :ROFLOL:

 

[LovingDisney]

WOW- I am so excited for you. That is great that you were able to work it out. I hope you have a great time and that your BF loves Disney as much as you.:sohappy:

 

[harveyt0206]

That is so great! Congrats on making it all come together for you. Sounds like an amazing trip and good price. Where are you staying in Vegas? We have traveled to Vegas several times and while I don't love it as much as I do Disney, I do enjoy going there. It's like a big Disney for adults. ha ha. Now, the fun planning phase of where to eat and when starts. Have a great time. :wave:

 

[corey154]

Don't worry about CB and everything you read. Although CB isn't my favorite resort, it's not bad and I'm like you I like trying new resorts. You might end up loving CB the best. It's all a personal decision and I think you have to try it yourself. Don't let what you read scare you!!

I enjoyed your pre-trip report, I can't wait for the rest!

 

[Adventure]

Hi, I have stayed at Caribbean Beach twice. We really like it. We do rent a car so the room location has not been an issue for us. If we are far from the food court we just drive there in the rental. That being said, if we didn't have the rental it would be a pretty long walk from some of the outer buildings. Taking about 20 minutes to get there. I think you can call the week before you leave to request a room closer to the food court.
We had breakfast most mornings at the food court and never had to wait long in line.
The beach area is nice, especially at night you can see the Illuminations fireworks from Epcot. Just remember you can't swim in that water.
Hope you enjoy your stay there.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

I hope you have a wonderful trip!!!