Quick ... We had a few lost images from PP.. including our 1900 park fare pictures which means we didnt get our prints. Well PP has found ALL our images ( hitching ghosts is the BEST..so glad they found em!!).. and are mailing us the 1900 prints. They have restored my faith in the service ..so my disc is ordered and I can start adding those pictures in soon!!
You have eased my worries!! my son (10) is going to have to sleep on the fold out bed at POR and I've been worried about him fitting. Seeing Declan on the bed helped!
So ..we are there.. the room is clean ( and bed bug free..score..lol)... the kids are all in decent moods..no one is exhausted from a 22 hour drive.. so now what? We don't exactly sit still well..so we decided to hop on a bus.. silly us we walked ALL the way back to the main building to get on the bus.. I still really didn't have my barrings as to where we were in relation to bus stops and such. I'll get back to ya on that walk.. oh vey..lol
So we are now at the South Depot.. and from experience we know Hollywood Studios is the best park to use as a hub..so we hopped on a bus headed to HS!
We would see this sight a few times.. as we resort hopped..
We already knew we were going to book the bounce back.. well that is if my little minions didnt drive me absolutely BONKERS for the next 16 days. Only thing we hadnt decided was which resort. We need 2 rooms as my mother is coming with us , and I do NOT want a suite. So off we went to visit our 3 resort potential choices.
Up first was All Star Movies.. this was #3 on our list.. not really value people PLUS once you upgrade the food plan you may as well have just spent the money on a moderate!
First stop..the food court for a few cupcakes!
Then a little exploring..
So All Star Movies...well its over the top in your face Disney... but nope..we wont be staying there. We like to spend a lot of time at the quiet pools and enjoying the resort.. you just can't do that the same way at a value. Even the kids, who's first ever Disney resort was Pop, said NOPE.
We go and hop in the bus line for HS.. off we go again to our hub.. from there we hop on a bus to....
I'm in! Our days overlapped by a few! Maybe we'll see each other in pictures!
Isn't flying just the best? I don't know how you guys did the driving from here in MA those times....24 hours vs 2.5 hrs....ya I'll take the plane LOL. Can't wait to hear what resort you guys ended up choosing for next year!
So ..we are there.. the room is clean ( and bed bug free..score..lol)... the kids are all in decent moods..no one is exhausted from a 22 hour drive.. so now what? We don't exactly sit still well..so we decided to hop on a bus.. silly us we walked ALL the way back to the main building to get on the bus.. I still really didn't have my barrings as to where we were in relation to bus stops and such. I'll get back to ya on that walk.. oh vey..lol
So we are now at the South Depot.. and from experience we know Hollywood Studios is the best park to use as a hub..so we hopped on a bus headed to HS!
We would see this sight a few times.. as we resort hopped..
We already knew we were going to book the bounce back.. well that is if my little minions didnt drive me absolutely BONKERS for the next 16 days. Only thing we hadnt decided was which resort. We need 2 rooms as my mother is coming with us , and I do NOT want a suite. So off we went to visit our 3 resort potential choices.
Up first was All Star Movies.. this was #3 on our list.. not really value people PLUS once you upgrade the food plan you may as well have just spent the money on a moderate!
First stop..the food court for a few cupcakes!
Then a little exploring..
So All Star Movies...well its over the top in your face Disney... but nope..we wont be staying there. We like to spend a lot of time at the quiet pools and enjoying the resort.. you just can't do that the same way at a value. Even the kids, who's first ever Disney resort was Pop, said NOPE.
We go and hop in the bus line for HS.. off we go again to our hub.. from there we hop on a bus to....
We stayed at Movies in the past - it was a fun resort. Like you said - in your face Disney. The last year we stayed there, we actually requested the Mighty Ducks section which was the farthest away from the main building but the quiet pool was always empty and the Music bus stop was really close. Julia would love to go back or stay at POP but I agree with you, once you upgrade the dining it doesn't make sense.
Ok so we are now back at HS.. in line for our next resort stop.. Caribbean Beach. Now I stayed here wayyyyyy back in 2000. We came for 14 days over Christmas.. and it was COLD.. like snowed in the AM"s and very glad we had fleece vests and stretchy gloves at night COLD. Needless to say we didnt get to enjoy the resort.. between that and the fact we were about as far as one can get from the main building ( see a running theme ??). So I allowed the kids to put CBR on the list even though my goal is to stay in a different resort every year. I figure they have never stayed here so..
So we hop on a bus.. and what does it start doing.. why is almost 4 pm so....
RAINNNNN
yep it was pouring.. so much for exploring ( hey I'm a poet..did ya know it??)
I have very few memories of being here. We rarely went down to the food court because of the distance ( wuss apparently am I ).. and that was they year the Millennium Village was at Epcot and we spent a LOT of time with the CM's from Brazil.. they LOVED Noah..lol
Like I said..pouring:
Though apparently not there? I dunno
We ordered a Pizza as we were all starving.. of course Taejan wanted to bring the box back to the room to color.. if it wasnt' pouring I would have allowed him to!
Ok I can not remember which resort this was from.
.so its either from CBR or from our 3rd stop... we left CBR went back to... guess...guess.. DING DING Hollywood studios... jumped on a bus to Coronado Springs!
This was MY choice for next year.. it was pouring still.. we looked around..kids were unimpressed. Decision made.. looks like CBR for 2014 it is!!
So we went back to NOPE not HS ha ha got that that time..We hopped on the first bus that came and it was to Epcot.. then got on a bus to our OWN resort.Got off at the North stop so I could figure out how to get to our room from that point.. score..we did.. one quick walk thru some shrubbery, across a parking lot, up a retaining wall, around a corner and we are there.. really..that was easier than the walk to South I swear..LOL
We opened the door and YES..all our luggage was in the room.. relief. like mega relief!! The kids got in their swim suits and we troddled off to the Main pool.. where..I..got .... a Banana Cabana..YUMMY
After the swim we went over to the store to grab a 2 liter and some chips.. main this place is so pretty!
Work was still being done on the water wheel
As we left the store a older than us couple called us over.. asked if we were staying longer.. told them yep this was only our first day of 16. The lady then offered us 5 use anytime on any ride in MK good until the 15th... SCORE and our first Pixie Dust moment!!
We went into the food court , grabbed a few snacks and headed back to the room. We had an early morning planned and we all needed to sleep!
That's awesome your kids loved flying!! No driving = 2 more days at Disney!! (My son figured that out about 10 yrs ago LOL) Loving the pics!!! Looking forward to updates
That's awesome your kids loved flying!! No driving = 2 more days at Disney!! (My son figured that out about 10 yrs ago LOL) Loving the pics!!! Looking forward to updates
LOL..yeah.. I told em today we decided to drive in Sept.. mind you the entire day at the pre-trip hotel my 11 year old said he missed the drive... and they all flipped out...guess they really do prefer flying...lol
So where we were..ok.. we picked a resort for next year, we crashed..I had set the alarm for 6am...
Alarm goes off and we all jump excitedly out of bed... really I swear we did.. because today was MAGIC KINGDOM DAY!!! Whoot whoot!!
Now we had to get dressed and go down to check in to check out and then check back in( was not yet 7am..lol).
I also wanted to be sure our Magic Bands worked. See we had 2 sets.. and when they shipped them there was no way to tell which ones went to which. I was hoping we could just use the set I decided was the first set. They were all sized and I really wanted to keep the other set unused and in their pretty Disney box.
While getting this all done we saw them doing some work in the check in area:
and of course my little pin traders went to work!
We got that all straightened out and off to the South Depot we went. Bus for MK was there in less than 2 minutes and we were alone on said bus.
So now we are at my happy place.. and dang are we early.. it was only about ..LOL.. oh well such is life.
We waited around.. enjoyed people watching. The kids got a stern talking to from CM Clifford...about fighting with each other and being smart in life.. In fact every time they fought the rest of the trip I threatened them with finding Clifford again. I worried our magic bands wouldnt work and we wouldnt get in the park..
I somehow became the unofficial official photographer because i think I took 15 pictures for different families.. prolly because I took up residence right in the center so we could see the opening show better.
I got a few pictures of my own..
Oh i went and bought the Mickey Mouse sunglasses I had been wanting since seeing them on a friend.
Finally it was time for the opening show!!
And then..we are IN! and if you even have to ask if I had tears welling up then....
First stop was to trade in my voucher for our PP+ card... then we switched sides
and got our packs of Sorcerer cards at the Firestation.
I waited and we got a pic from Photopass oh and I swear we didnt PLAN on us all being in Under Armour..lol..Declan owns a LOT, taejan and Ziah a little..me ONE and Eric a few.. amusing how we all picked UA for that day ( no I dont plan my kids outfits or tell them in any way what to wear what day)
We stopped again for another vantage point of a castle picture..this has to be the best picture of us all trip
Sigh..darn good thing I looked before we left and I at least had a chance to get that shot retaken!
We headed over to Tomorrowland.. it was dead over there..
We had a Fast Pass Plus for the speedway but Buzz had to be our first ride...
Buzz was up and running..
Let's pause for a minute right here. This trip we are a group of 5.. yep just 5.. and of course that means someone is going to be sitting alone on some rides. This would be an issue the entire trip.One minute the tween would be fine riding alone the next he wouldnt be.. it made for some FUN times people..lol
Ok so Buzz is talking to us, we are walking along, and then guess what..we are riding!
Ah ride photos.. they are SOO flattering and dont at all make me look wacky...
Poor Eric.. his pictures are worse than mine.. just wait.. Im posting them ALL as we go thru this trip!
Great report so far!! I would like to see a pic of the Mickey sunglasses you bought, as I would love to have a pair of some sort. Please, and thank you!! I can't wait to read more!