Sorcerers, Spies and Superbowl Adventures - A February Trip Report

This trip began a very long time ago. In fact, over 15 months ago, I assumed that this trip would be our first trip back to WDW in over a year. But that hasn't been the case! Never the less - we were super excited to join my husband in Orlando for a conference Feb. 6 - 11. The reservations were made for the Beach Club (conference rate.) My husband's ticket was purchased for Tuesday and we were all set........ or so I thought.

Two weeks ago, my husband called and said he wanted to go to an additional 'meeting' in Orlando on Tuesday - the day he was supposed to arrive. He said we should all just drive down together on Friday.........so that he could go to the meeting on Tuesday...........hmmmmmmmmmmm.......... a meeting he 'had' to go to..... that we 'had' to arrive 3 days early for...... sounds like someone figured out they'd get more park time by arriving early! So we booked the Caribbean Beach at a great rate and added on a few more nights.

Friday, we left home, stopping overnight in Georgia. On Saturday, we pulled onto Disney property promptly at 3 pm. We only had time to check in quickly and throw our bags into the room, before we had to rush off to my son's 4:30 haircut appointment at the Barbershop in the MK!

Hey! I know that place:

We were getting ready to walk out the door when my daughter spilled a bottle of water on her outfit. She insisted she HAD to change clothes, so I told my husband and son to head on to the bus stop without us and to get on the first MK bus. I told them we'd be right behind them.

They were right on time to their appointment, but sadly, I missed the whole thing. It took my daughter and I a good hour to catch up with them with the whole outfit changing, waiting for the bus, etc.

(Pictures of haircut to come - all are on my husbands phone at this time.)

It was a perfect evening in the MK though, so who can be sad???

 

[erstwo]

Most of these were taken by my daughter:

Do you think all those construction guys working on BTMRR sing "I've Been Working on the Railroad, all the live long daaaaaay." All. the. time? Because I would totally be doing that!

After the train, we headed to Hollywood Studios.

Up next..... a fun afternoon/ night at DHS and will we ever get on Soarin???

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

The Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom looks so much fun! I was so bummed when they closed the firehouse for the night already That was one of the things I was looking forward to the most!!!!! But I will live it through your trip report So thank you!!!

And I'll have to chime in and say your daughter is super cute and I love how she takes her stuffed animals with her! You can tell her that even when she gets older she can still do that :animwink: I'm going to be 23 and I still take stuffed animals with me to WDW..hey they have to go back and visit their home!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Love the TR so far!! Well, except the Eli Manning part... I'm a die hard Pats fan and was absolutely crushed that the Giants won

The new game looks really cool. We tried Kim Possible once but I got bored with it quickly. This one looks better. Maybe we will give it a try in April/May.

Can't wait for more!!

 

[tiaragirl]

Hey! Aren't you supposed to be cruising?? Must be next week!

Thanks so much! I know, I feel the same way - they grow up so much from TR to TR.

I'm going to update more now - had to upload more photos.

Hehe, I love that we all keep track of each other :wave: We fly early Sunday morning - crossing my fingers that we get through this he** week of school safely and land in LA on time!

I'm loooving how many pictures there are in this TR! Very neat about the interview (I was in class when I read so I couldn't check it out). It's nice that you guys can separate and keep in touch via cells - I know this sounds like such a small thing, but when we're vaca-ing in the States it's so expensive to have our phones on.. so that seems like a luxury!

Looking forward to more.. I hope you make it on Soarin', and that your daughter continues to have the most adorable outfits EVER (both likely).

 

[erstwo]

The Sorceror's of the Magic Kingdom looks so much fun! I was so bummed when they closed the firehouse for the night already That was one of the things I was looking forward to the most!!!!! But I will live it through your trip report So thank you!!!

And I'll have to chime in and say your daughter is super cute and I love how she takes her stuffed animals with her! You can tell her that even when she gets older she can still do that :animwink: I'm going to be 23 and I still take stuffed animals with me to WDW..hey they have to go back and visit their home!

It really is a LOT of fun. I didn't get to play myself, the kids both wanted to play their own set of cards, but I really wanted to! By the last day, we were already seeing people do all sorts of new/ fun things with it that we hadn't even tried - like combining spells, seeing their spells become more powerful, etc. I think the game is designed to be easy enough that a 4 year old can play, but can become complex enough that it would keep a local, AP holding adult interested. Neat stuff. There are over 70 spell cards too.

Thank you! She does love her stuffed animals - and she thinks they like to visit their 'home' too! I have some really cute pictures with Chip & Dale coming up later in the TR.

Love the TR so far!! Well, except the Eli Manning part... I'm a die hard Pats fan and was absolutely crushed that the Giants won

The new game looks really cool. We tried Kim Possible once but I got bored with it quickly. This one looks better. Maybe we will give it a try in April/May.

Can't wait for more!!

Thank you! So sorry about the Pats. I really didn't care either way, except that we have 2 sets of sweet neighbors who are big Giants fans and I was hoping to get some kind of autograph for them, but it wasn't to be.

In some ways, I like Kim Possible better - more 'tangible' interaction like the photo from the Eiffel Tower or the statue hidden in the water - but this is so fun too! And I think it can be as complex or as easy as you want to make it. Definitely try it and see what you think!

Hehe, I love that we all keep track of each other :wave: We fly early Sunday morning - crossing my fingers that we get through this he** week of school safely and land in LA on time!

I'm loooving how many pictures there are in this TR! Very neat about the interview (I was in class when I read so I couldn't check it out). It's nice that you guys can separate and keep in touch via cells - I know this sounds like such a small thing, but when we're vaca-ing in the States it's so expensive to have our phones on.. so that seems like a luxury!

Looking forward to more.. I hope you make it on Soarin', and that your daughter continues to have the most adorable outfits EVER (both likely).

Oh so fun! Some of the best days of a trip (to me anyway) are they days right before. Even if they are crazy busy, there's that excitement about the trip that's coming up! I hope you do very well on all of your exams this week, are able to study a little on the cruise (but not have it cut into your fun) and do great on your exams when you get home!

You know - I never thought about how lucky we are to be able to use our cell phones, but you are right! The funny thing is, I am the world's most notorious 'never have your cell phone when you should have your cell phone' person. The joke is - if I'm at home, my phone is in my car (in the garage) and if I'm in the car, the phone has somehow magically appeared in my house. So there have been quite a few times that my husband and I have had to use the old fashioned 'I'll meet you at this lamp post in exactly 35 minutes' meet up method at Disney. Drives my husband bananas as he can't imagine being without his phone for even 5 minutes. So sorry you can't use your phones - I guess you've looked into all the options - prepaid US, etc. - and it just isn't worth the hassle/ expense?

Sooooooo funny to me that you can read this TR in class! When I went to college they issued me my first EVER email address and I remember thinking "I'll never use this!" :lookaroun:lol: We only used our computer for printing typed papers, etc. My how things have changed! (In defense of my age, I will say by the end of my 4 years, I couldn't imagine life without the internet or my email address. )

 

[erstwo]

Day 3 - Afternoon at DHS

When we arrived at DHS, the boys ran off immediately with 2 things on their minds - Star Tours and Rockin Roller Coaster. I believe they headed to RRC first.

The parade was going back 'in'

After we finished watching the parade, we made our way towards the Animation Courtyard. I really wanted to take my daughter to see the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage, since she really enjoys it and I'm not sure how much longer that will be the case. It's not something we make a priority every trip, so it's always nice when we can fit it in.

Right before we got to the courtyard, we stopped at the popcorn stand to get a snack. The couple in front of me ordered 2 boxes of popcorn and a drink. For whatever reason, the (obviously new CP) CM scooped out 3 boxes of popcorn. So that when I walked up to the window to order, the CM said "Here, have a free box of popcorn." Score!

It's the little things.

While my daughter ate her popcorn, we chatted with a very nice man who had also driven all the way from California in his motorhome to bring his daughter and her husband to WDW to work in the College Program as CM's.

It had started to rain a little and it wasn't quite time for the next Playhouse show, so we stood in Handy Manny's M&G line-

Then it was time for Playhouse Disney! (Which, come to think of it, is probably called Disney Junior now?)

We love Jake and the Neverland Pirates, especially Sharkey and Bones!

 

[erstwo]

After Playhouse/ Disney Junior, Jake was out, so we got in line to meet him:

We walked across the courtyard to do some shopping. My daughter shared with the CM inside the store how much fun she had had at the Playhouse show and the CM said we should come back to the Playhouse theater for a dance party with the characters during EMH. Okay then!

We went to get in line for TSMM. I think the posted wait time was 40 minutes, but we waited more like 30.

The guys called to say they were watching the end of the LMA stunt show and were getting hungry. We tried to converse about dinner plans via text, but reception wasn't very good inside the TSMM building.

We ended up at Hollywood Brown Derby. Our first time there and it was awesome!

Owl, so distinguished, fit right in:

No pics of our food, but I do have pics of the dessert!

Kids dessert

Our desserts

 

[erstwo]

We then headed over to the Playhouse theater to check out the dance party.

My daughter loved it:

My son was less impressed. So I took him to ride RRC and Star Tours again. Both were basically walk on (although, I *think* we had fastpasses for RRC that my husband had picked up earlier.)

My son collects Mickeys in different outfits. After riding Star Tours for the first time that day, he had purchased Jedi Mickey in the gift shop. So we took Jedi Mickey for his first ever ride on Star Tours!

Meanwhile, my husband and daughter were still having a blast at the dance party:

They had a balloon artist there too. My daughter got 2 balloon creations. It was awesome - totally reminded me of something like you'd see on the cruise ships.

We finished Star Tours and came back to the dance party. The boys hadn't ridden TSMM yet, and the wait was minimal, so we went to ride

After our ride on TSMM, we headed out of the park

We stopped for just a minute to watch the band (I believe it's Mulch, Sweat, and Shears?)

before taking the bus home!

Up next........... we are moving to the Beach Club tomorrow!!!!! And the cutest Chip & Dale interaction photos we've ever gotten.

 

[erstwo]

Day 4 - Tuesday

On the way back to Caribbean Beach from DHS the night before, my husband tried to talk to me about plans for the next morning, but I was pretty tired and was just in one of those 'let's talk about tomorrow morning when it gets here' moods. My husband had to be at his meeting (the meeting for which we came early) at 8:30 am. I also had to switch us from Caribbean Beach to the Beach Club alone that morning.

My husband said he needed to get up at 6, and be on the road by 7:15 in order to arrive on time (taking into account possible traffic, etc.) I figured by the time I got up at 6, got 2 kids in the car, drove him to his meeting and then drove back to WDW it would be at least 9am. (Figuring in the extra time for me to get lost in Orlando - I don't know what it is about Orlando, but I can never find my way around, GPS or not!) If I wanted to have the car to move the luggage to the Beach Club, that's what I had to do.

At that moment, I would rather have slept in until 9, so that's what I decided to do. My husband got up and out the door without waking us up and was off to his meeting. I woke up just after 9.

As I lay in bed mentally packing all of the stuff we had in the room, I realized I might have made a big mistake. Transporting the 4 small suitcases was no problem, I'd just call Bell Services. But transporting all the loose junk.... errrr.... stuff that comes out of a car trip - kids toys, laundry detergent, etc. was going to be a pain in the rear! I wasn't sure if Bell Services would be able to take the open top bags that we had all of that stuff in.

Nevertheless, we had to get up and get going, so we did just that. I packed up almost everything while the kids were still sleeping and then I woke them up to head to breakfast.

My only CBR pictures:

This kids head kept getting in my photos!

Breakfast was uneventful. The food court was PACKED for 10 am on a Tuesday morning! We had to sit outside at one of the farthest tables from the food court, so no pictures because I spent all my time running back and forth to get condiments, napkins, etc. that were forgotten or needed.

After breakfast we headed back to the room to call Bell Services. They were pressure washing the roof of each building.

My plan at this point was to just ask Bell Services when they got there if they could take the open top bags. I didn't want to get a no over the phone without them seeing the bags. If they said no, I was going to take a bus to Epcot then immediately get on a bus to the Beach Club and drop off our open bags with Bell Services there.

It took about 30 minutes for Bell Services to arrive. When they finally did, they said it was no problem to take the open top bags! :sohappy: They said people transfer all kinds of things - they've even been asked to transfer a single teddy bear. They wrote down how many bags we had (9!) and then they were off with our stuff and we were off to Epcot!

 

[erstwo]

Our new plan was to go to Epcot and walk through the park to the Beach Club.

We were going to stop at the Land on the way to get Fastpasses for Soarin later that night when my husband was with us.

Chip and Dale were out on our way to the Land so we decided to get in line to see them. Some of us were more willing to wait than others:

He was excited to get to the Beach Club.

This was so cute - this gentleman was on his first trip to Disney and he was so excited to meet the 'munks!

We had all of my daughters plush with us. They were considered too valuable to go with Bell Services (of course!) So when the character attendant saw my daughter holding Chip & Dale's plush she said they should play a little game with Chip and Dale.

She told my daughter to hide the plush behind her back and then after she said, "Guess what this girl brought for you to see?" to pull them out and show Chip and Dale.

What followed was just the cutest series of photos (yes, I know I'm biased - but they were a great Chip & Dale!)

Hiding them behind her back - What have you got?

No way!

 

[erstwo]

Okay, tired of the Chipmunk pictures yet???? Ha!

We left the chipmunks and headed toward the Land. The wait for Soarin was only 40 minutes, so we got our Fastpasses and hopped in line.

NO problems this time! We were Soarin in no time!

 

[erstwo]

After Soarin, we headed toward the World Showcase and the International Gateway AND the Beach Club!!!

Along the way we met Mary:

And then Tigger and Pooh

Alice came out while we were waiting in Line

Very in Character

She was looking for a White Rabbit

 

[erstwo]

Pooh and Tigger

(We didn't have Pooh with us, so we took Owl instead)

It was such a neat feeling walking out of the gates of Epcot knowing that our resort was only steps away!

We haven't stayed at a Deluxe since Easter 2008 and only stayed at this one because it was the only Disney property to offer a shuttle to my husbands convention at the Convention Center (evidently parking there is expensive and a total headache and he didn't want to drive himself.) So this was a real treat.

I think I see it!

Yep, there it is! (Or at least the general area!)

Up next - we check in - room pictures!- and go to lunch - Kitchen Sink!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

First off...sooooooo jealous that you got to see the Super Bowl MVP parade. I know it's not much of a parade, but as a long time Giants fan- yeah- I'm envious! The dance party at DHS EMH looks like so much fun! And LOVE the whole picture series of your daughter w/Chip and Dale in Epcot! I'll be looking forward to seeing your pics and thoughts on BC. We're considering upgrading to BC or YC for our Nov trip. Can't wait to read more! :wave:

 

[mamamouse]

It's so funny you said something about going to the Nemo show either before or after a pic of your hubby n the look on his face in the pic made me think...ya know he kinda looks like Nemo your report seems so fun and I'm excited to see what else is in store for us(loved the chipmunk shots)

 

[tiaragirl]

Oh so fun! Some of the best days of a trip (to me anyway) are they days right before. Even if they are crazy busy, there's that excitement about the trip that's coming up! I hope you do very well on all of your exams this week, are able to study a little on the cruise (but not have it cut into your fun) and do great on your exams when you get home!

You know - I never thought about how lucky we are to be able to use our cell phones, but you are right! The funny thing is, I am the world's most notorious 'never have your cell phone when you should have your cell phone' person. The joke is - if I'm at home, my phone is in my car (in the garage) and if I'm in the car, the phone has somehow magically appeared in my house. So there have been quite a few times that my husband and I have had to use the old fashioned 'I'll meet you at this lamp post in exactly 35 minutes' meet up method at Disney. Drives my husband bananas as he can't imagine being without his phone for even 5 minutes. So sorry you can't use your phones - I guess you've looked into all the options - prepaid US, etc. - and it just isn't worth the hassle/ expense?

Sooooooo funny to me that you can read this TR in class! When I went to college they issued me my first EVER email address and I remember thinking "I'll never use this!" :lookaroun:lol: We only used our computer for printing typed papers, etc. My how things have changed! (In defense of my age, I will say by the end of my 4 years, I couldn't imagine life without the internet or my email address. )

Definitely excited - after tomorrow it'll all come together. Last midterm, and another one of my midterms is moved until the Friday we get back (so I write W/TH/F instead of W/W/TH) which makes a huge difference! There's so much packing and cleaning to be done - eep! Thanks for the luck, it's always appreciated =)

I'm sure my professor wouldn't find it as funny that I'm reading this in class (always the same class, too - silly Clinical Psychology, why aren't you as interesting as you should be?). Mom tells me all her stories about getting someone to type her papers with a type writer (definitely indicates her age!) - no computers then either! Funny how fast technology picked up - I'm scared to see what my kids will have for tools when they're in university, ick! The world moves too fast.

Cutest Chip and Dale pictures! Also regretting not making the time for the DHS parade in the last few trips - I actually don't remember the last parade I saw in full other than MSEP/Spectro. Definitely a waste, I want to see those Monsters!

Can you imagine sending one teddy through Bell Services - the fact taht they'd do that is magical!

Can't wait for more + pictures of the resort, eeeee.

 

[erstwo]

First off...sooooooo jealous that you got to see the Super Bowl MVP parade. I know it's not much of a parade, but as a long time Giants fan- yeah- I'm envious! The dance party at DHS EMH looks like so much fun! And LOVE the whole picture series of your daughter w/Chip and Dale in Epcot! I'll be looking forward to seeing your pics and thoughts on BC. We're considering upgrading to BC or YC for our Nov trip. Can't wait to read more! :wave:

I know - I kind of felt bad that I was there and not a true Giants fan! I would have glady given up my spot to someone who had waited so long for their team to win (cheering them on all season, etc.) but there's really no good way to do that and my son is a BIG fan of Eli, I figured that made it okay.

Thanks! I'll go ahead and tell you - we LOVED the Beach Club. The pool can't be beat. And the decor is totally 'me.' So much more me than the Poly (although I do love the Poly for sentimental reasons.) Most of my house is white - furniture, slipcovers, etc. so the light and airy look seemed so home-y to me.
I will say that you might consider Beach Club over Yacht ONLY because it felt more child friendly AND the Yacht Club doesn't have any type of food service. You have to walk over to the Beach Club for any type of hot breakfast. Lunch and dinner too, unless you want to eat at Beaches and Cream or Yachtsman or other sit down on the Boardwalk. Also (and I'll get to this later in the TR,) the Beach Club has the Sandcastle Club which we used to have some adult time. It was great! Yacht is beautiful though and very, very calm and quiet. Beach Club is quiet and relaxing too, but Yacht is even more so.

It's so funny you said something about going to the Nemo show either before or after a pic of your hubby n the look on his face in the pic made me think...ya know he kinda looks like Nemo your report seems so fun and I'm excited to see what else is in store for us(loved the chipmunk shots)

:lol: Yes, he does have very big eyes for such a skinny guy! He also has a big heart though, (in the kind and loving way - not a physically large heart:animwink so it's all good.

 

[erstwo]

Okay, I have to start this part of the report by saying - I love ALL Disney resorts. I love the Values (we've stayed at Pop more times than I can count, once for 10 days! and All Star Music several times), I love the Moderates (Caribbean Beach is the only one we've stayed at - both time because we couldn't get a room at a Value), and I love, love, love the Poly (mostly because it reminds me of my grandparents and it's the only Deluxe I've ever stayed in.)

We really have never had a need for anything other than a Value room. If we want more space, we get 2 rooms at a Value. It's cheaper than 1 room at a Deluxe and we get 2 bathrooms.

My personal opinion of Value vs. Moderate is that it's not worth the money to upgrade (unless the upgrade is minimal cost) because besides an extra sink and a few extra square feet, now that the values have privacy curtains, there's really no difference in the rooms. Both Values and Moderates have a long walk to the food court - depending on your room location. Both Values and Moderates have crowded food courts - especially in the morning. The pool at CBR is MUCH better than the pool at a Value (as far as having slides and hot tubs) but we rarely swim.

Now, the difference between a Value and a Deluxe? Especially this Deluxe? Huge. Huge I tell you! You definitely get an upgrade for your money at a Deluxe. Especially at the Epcot resorts. Monorail resorts seem so busy and crowded. Which makes sense, with all the popular character meals and how easy it is to resort hop from the monorail. Epcot resorts seem so calm and laid back, even with the Cape May Cafe breakfast crowd.

That's my $.02. It's probably worth about what you paid for it though! :lol:

So - we walked into the Beach Club and it smelled wonderful. Now, don't take my WDWmagic membership away, but I wasn't entirely sure we were in the right place - I was worried we might have walked into the Yacht Club. I walked toward the check in desk and someone hovering outside the check in asked me if he could help. After confirming I was in the right place, he escorted us to someone to help us check in (lovely!) and we were given a room right away.

It was about 1 pm and our bags weren't certain to arrive until 3, so we went upstairs, mostly to check out the room. We were excited!!!

Love this desk set up. That round white table underneath is on wheels, so you can push it over to the 'couch' and let your kids eat breakfast on it.

 

[erstwo]

I was exceptionally glad we weren't on the third floor. My kids would have scaled that Juliet balcony for sure! (And no, I don't usually allow my children to climb on balcony furniture. She's just always been my climber and was determined the the view must be much better when unobstructed by the annoying handrails, etc. I made her get down immediately.)

ihome!

The one thing that bugged me about this room? No privacy curtain! Were there doors here at one time? As the mother of a growing boy, even with the bathroom turned away from the room, it was difficult to get dressed privately (the tub/ potty area was rather small.) If I remember correctly - at the Poly, the entire bathroom - including double sinks- is behind a door. That would have been so much better.

 

[erstwo]

After checking out the room, we were starving. We had no idea where the quick service was located. At the time, I had only seen the gift shop portion of the gift shop/ quick service. So we decided to go with what we knew - Beaches and Cream.

My kids love this place. And this day, there were Kitchen Sinks galore. Loved this group celebrating a birthday!

I am not looking at you.

Stop with the pictures!

Yummy food!

Even though the kids really wanted one, I vetoed getting our own Kitchen Sink until my husband could join us. Their meals came with dessert anyway.

We settled up the bill and headed back to Epcot.

How amazing is it that we were just a 2 minute walk away???

That's all I have time for! Up next - an afternoon in Epcot, a trip to Hollywood Studios, and then back to Epcot! Quite the afternoon/ evening!