Trip Report Sometimes you have to spend money to save money!

Hi! My name is Amy, and I am a Disney addict!!

Let me first provide a little backstory for those of you who haven't read my June 2016 PTR. My family of 5 is scheduled to stay at CBR in June 2016, Disney recently released a new bounce back offer of free dining with arrival dates that happen to include the day we were scheduled to arrive! The offer is only good for one week in the spring, what are the odds that our arrival would actually fall into that week!?! With 2 of my 3 kids being "adults", we will be saving a ton of money with the free dining, so I had to book a quick trip for myself so I could take advantage of this offer!!
When: Sunday, September 6 - Tuesday, September 8
Where: Pop Century
Who: Just myself this time!!
Just a warning, after this first post, this TR will be very photo heavy, as I don't really have much to say, but I did manage to take almost 600 pictures!!

Sunday
My plane didn't leave Dayton until 2:40 pm, so I had a leisurely morning to pack and spend some time with the kids before leaving for my "work trip". Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the kids don't know about the June trip yet, so I couldn't exactly tell them I was going to WDW without them!
The flight itself was uneventful, but my seatmate was a real treat!! She got on the flight at the very last second and just flopped herself in her seat. She hit me and the lady in the aisle seat numerous times with her sea tbelt, she sang (and not well!) almost the whole 2 hours, and then she kept leaning into my seat so she could see out the window! I was never so happy to get off of a plane!!
I waited about 10 minutes for DME, and was quickly seeing this:

Unfortunately, those are raindrops on the windshield!
We stopped at AoA before finally arriving "home".

I got all checked in (I did online check in, but still had to stop at the desk because I needed to pick up my MagicBand and pay for my second night since I made the reservation 8 days prior!), and was told that I didn't get my requested 70's lake view room, but they were able to give me a lake view room in the 80's building.
A few pics on the way to the room:




So, remember that 80's lake view room I was getting? This is the view I had from my room:

Not exactly a lake view!! Oh well, it didn't really bother me, but it was loud at night!
At least I got a king room!

Love the artwork since The Little Mermaid is my favorite!

 

[DisSplash]

How ingenious! A "work trip" to paradise and a few extra $$ in your pocket come next June! I love the pics and the sense of adventure. Although, I can only imagine how hard it was to be so close to the parks without going in them ... but you are doing what we always said we wanted to do and never did - spend quality time exploring the rest of the non-park world!
So when are you going to spring it all on the kids?

 

[TheMouseFan]

loving reading this! and look forward to your June trip report already!

Thanks!

 

[TheMouseFan]

How ingenious! A "work trip" to paradise and a few extra $$ in your pocket come next June! I love the pics and the sense of adventure. Although, I can only imagine how hard it was to be so close to the parks without going in them ... but you are doing what we always said we wanted to do and never did - spend quality time exploring the rest of the non-park world!
So when are you going to spring it all on the kids?

Thanks! It was really difficult not going into the parks, but I just couldn't justify the price of a one day ticket!
I think we may tell them at Christmas, but maybe not until Easter. We'll have to see how long I can hold out without telling them!

 

[TheMouseFan]

It started to sprinkle as I made my way to the bus stop. A bus for Caribbean Beach was waiting for me as I approached. It was a very quick trip. I got off at the Old Port Royale stop to do some shopping first.




By the time I was done shopping, the rain had stopped and I made my way outside, only to discover that the bridge to Jamaica was closed! I was wanting to concentrate my pics on Old Port Royale, the pool, and Jamaica, as that is where we requested to be, but I ended up walking all the way around the lake since the bridge was closed.

 

[TheMouseFan]

There was a path along the edge of Caribbean Cay that was still open, you just couldn't get all the way across.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Back to the pool:



Then I moved on to walk around to Jamaica. Some pics from across the lake:

 

[TheMouseFan]

I finally made it around the end of the lake and into Jamaica.

 

[TheMouseFan]

Then on past Aruba:



And around the other end of the lake!



The water taxi they were using to go from Aruba to Old Port Royale since the bridge was closed:

And I finally made it back to Old Port Royale!!

I had to buy a Coke and relax for a few minutes before continuing on!

 

[SweetEvangeline]

I am absolutely loving your TR! What a brilliant decision to take a short trip alone...something my husband would totally do if he could. ;-) The only difference is, he couldn't do it without entering Magic Kingdom at least once! LOL

I am so disappointed that the bridge is closed. We had specifically requested Jamaica or Aruba for our trip next week, but our travel agent has contacted the resort and asked that we be placed as close to Martinique as possible since Grace will be using a wheelchair for most of our transport outside the room. Fingers crossed that they grant our request. Thanks for all of the CBR pictures! We can't wait!

 

[TheMouseFan]

I am absolutely loving your TR! What a brilliant decision to take a short trip alone...something my husband would totally do if he could. ;-) The only difference is, he couldn't do it without entering Magic Kingdom at least once! LOL

I am so disappointed that the bridge is closed. We had specifically requested Jamaica or Aruba for our trip next week, but our travel agent has contacted the resort and asked that we be placed as close to Martinique as possible since Grace will be using a wheelchair for most of our transport outside the room. Fingers crossed that they grant our request. Thanks for all of the CBR pictures! We can't wait!

Thanks! I REALLY wanted to go to MK, but a one day ticket was just too expensive, so I decided to wait until I have the whole family with me! I absolutely love CBR! Hopefully, you guys will too. It does really stink that the bridge is closed, but the CM I spoke with said they were doing work so that it was easier to maneuver wheelchairs on it. Have a great trip!!

 

[fractal]

Thanks for all the pics of Caribbean Beach! Our first stay as a family in 2000 was there, this brought back great memories.

 

[Zipadeelady]

This was so smart to go for a few days to get a bounce back offer. How were you able to see the bounce back offer? Do they post it somewhere? We are wanting to go next July but I havent seen any Dining offers for quite sometime. I know there is controversy over whats better between room discounts and free dining but with a family of five, 3 of which are teenagers that can never get enough to eat the Free Dining Offer works better for us!

 

[Tuvalu]

This was so smart to go for a few days to get a bounce back offer. How were you able to see the bounce back offer? Do they post it somewhere? We are wanting to go next July but I havent seen any Dining offers for quite sometime. I know there is controversy over whats better between room discounts and free dining but with a family of five, 3 of which are teenagers that can never get enough to eat the Free Dining Offer works better for us!

Free dining in July is highly unlikely. To my knowledge it has never been offered. But it was a surprise to see it offered the first week of June so you never know.

A Bounce Back offer (when there is one; we have been when there hasn't been an offer) is located in the information packet in the room. The month of July has never been included in the room discount bounce back offer.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Thanks @Tuvalu for the info. Our first trips to the World in 2006, 2008 we had free dining but haven't gone back during the month of July since then. I assumed that @TheMouseFan read about the bounce back offer on the internet somewhere rather than her last trip. Oh well I had about twenty minutes of I SHOULD DO THAT!!!!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Thanks for all the pics of Caribbean Beach! Our first stay as a family in 2000 was there, this brought back great memories.

You're welcome! I love CBR and can't wait to stay there again! I was so excited when they converted to the 5 person rooms.

 

[TheMouseFan]

This was so smart to go for a few days to get a bounce back offer. How were you able to see the bounce back offer? Do they post it somewhere? We are wanting to go next July but I havent seen any Dining offers for quite sometime. I know there is controversy over whats better between room discounts and free dining but with a family of five, 3 of which are teenagers that can never get enough to eat the Free Dining Offer works better for us!

There was a thread going on here about the current bounce back offer where I saw the free dining offer. I couldn't believe that the 1 week it was offered in the spring included our arrival dates! What are the odds of that happening!?

 

[TheMouseFan]

So, after resting for a few moments after my 1+ mile walk around the lake, I caught a bus to DHS.





It was pure torture to not be able to go in and ride ToT!!

 

[TheMouseFan]

 

[TheMouseFan]

Here comes my ride:

I had originally planned to walk over to the Boardwalk area, but after my impromptu hike at CBR, I decided riding the boat would be perfect!



I got off at the Swan and Dolphin.



And then walked over to the Boardwalk.

 

[TheMouseFan]