Trip Report We're on "Vay-Cay-Tion!" A Sept./Oct. TR

Hello everyone, and welcome to my very first trip report! We went to Disney 9/26-10/1, hopped on the Disney Dream 10/1-10/4, and hit up DTD and MNSSHP 10/4. We flew back home Monday morning. We had a whirlwind of a trip planned!

*A little note here. We accidentally left our camera bag (with the DSLR, 2 lenses, memory cards, and my digital camera charger) on a bus at MK. We did not notice until we got off the second bus we took to the Poly. We literally were back at MK not even 30 minutes after we left it (maybe around 8:15am, we had breakfast reservations at Kona). They sent out a radio call to all buses, and of course no one had it. Pretty sure either the bus driver or another person stole it. I was SUPER bummed and many tears were shed from me. I know Cody felt super terrible, we didn’t even have that camera a year I believe. We lost a lot of pictures, including a video of Aubs’ first time seeing the castle. We called the lost and found at TTC more times than I can remember. Unfortunately, after a week they close out the ticket, so i’m pretty sure the camera is long gone. I hope whoever has it turns it in, or drops it so they can’t use it. Luckily, I have my phone pics and the ones off my digital camera before it died. My parents also have pictures on their phones they took. And of course, I took my laptop on vacation JUST to be able to load the pics off the camera everyday. Did that happen? Of course not. But what can you do? There are many worse things that could have happened on our trip, and I am extremely thankful for the pictures that I do have. I also need to purchase the Photopass photos still, so i’ll add those in later *

So, with that sadness out of the way, its time to get on with the report!

When-Sept. 26-Oct. 5
Where- Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney Dream, Pop Century
Who- Me (Morgan), Husband (Cody), Daughter (Aubreigh, we call her Aubs for short). My parents, and Cody’s mom.
What- Family Vacay! We also celebrated Cody’s college graduation! It was Aubs’ first trip to Disney, and my mother in laws first trip since the 70’s. Last time she went she stayed in the Contemporary and the only park was the MK. She was way overdue for a trip! And my parents hadn’t been since 2004.

Day 1: Travel/Check In/DTD/MK

My day started super super early. Like stupid early. Why? Well, the night before I take a vacation I can never sleep. I tossed and turned for maybe 2 hours before finally drifting off around, oh 11pm? At 12:45ish, Aubs comes into my room. I hear “mommy, mommy, hey mommy, there’s a fly in the bathroom.” Oh dear goodness child, it is a FLY. So, guess what? Now i’m wide awake. I try to get her to go back to bed, but she doesn’t want to go. Honestly, I don’t feel like fighting with her about it tonight, so I put her on the couch and she was out in about 1 minute. Hmm. I go in her bathroom and low and behold, there is a dead fly in the toilet lol. Sorry, no pic of that!

Anyway, I take a shower and get ready. The alarms are set to go off at 4am. I blow dry and straighten my hair, do my makeup, get dressed then hang around till about 4. Get Cody up and make sure he gets in the shower, get Aubs up and dressed. In laws get here at 5:00 to get us to the airport by 5:30am. Cool! (FIL took us to the airport)

I don’t know why, but MIL (she drove there) took some weird back way to get to the airport. This stressed me out big time! We made it a little after 5:30am.

Check out this blurry pic of Memphis International Airport. Woo.


We said our goodbyes to FIL (aka Papaw) and headed in to check our bags! That was quick and painless (Memphis Airport is rarely ever busy), and went to wait by our gate. We grabbed some breakfast and didn’t have to wait long until boarding began at 6:30

We’re ready!


My parents and MIL!


The flight was great, and we landed at MCO a little early!


Heading to DME! We had a little wait in line for DME, but it wasn’t bad


They say its a 45 minute ride to Disney property, but it totally isn’t. Maybe 25-30. At least to me it seemed that way! The time flew by!



Yay! We’re on our way! Except MIL isn’t looking at the camera!


We’re here! This was the best I could get! We were near the back of the bus.


Hello Caribbean Beach sign that you can barely see! On the way to CBR, we got a text that rooms weren’t ready yet, darn.


We arrived at the Custom House, and went to the check in line, which took forever because they had like 2 people working the online check in counter. The family in front of us was NOT happy about that either! Geez! Anyways, we got checked in and given what location our room was in. We were in Aruba, building 56. Only bummer was that the bridge was out that connects Aruba and Jamaica to Old Port Royale. They did have a van shuttle and pontoon boat that helped people across. It ended up being not a big deal.

We headed to Old Port Royale after for lunch. Sorry, no pics. We were all starving! I had a burger and it was good.


After, we headed to DTD for Aubs’ BBB appointment at 3pm! We headed out around 1:15pm
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After meeting Daisy, we had our first FP+ of the day, Expedition Everest! Mom in Law sat with Aubs and had a snack while me, Cody, and my parents rode.



This is one of my favorite pics I took this whole trip

My parents were one and done after that ride! Haha! They had fun though!




We could see the Yeti, but it wasn't moving :(

After EE, Flights of Wonder was about to start, and we had some time to kill before our next FP+, so we decided to stay and watch!

Aubs took my camera for these and became our little personal photographer.


Look! Its our pretty camera :( sure miss that thing!


 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


For a 3 year old with a camera, not bad! If only she hadn't put her little grubby fingers on the lens! :)

We all enjoyed Flights of Wonder! I had no clue how low the birds flew! Wow! Aubs (again) loved it! She does call me "mommy bird" sometimes, so I call her my baby bird. We're weird, I know! :D

Next up, FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safari! We had one bumpy bumpy ride! But it was great!









We had a great safari! Lots of baby giraffes!
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our safari, we hopped on the train to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch? Or is it Conservation Station? I dunno lol.


It was really neat to see where they kept all the animals!




We didn't have much time here, so we did the first thing we saw to do. Meet Chip & Dale!!!




This was one of my favorite character interactions she had! They were fantastic!

After the thrill of meeting Chip and Dale, we went back to the train to our next FP+, Dinosaur! Cody, my dad, and I rode this. My mom and mom in law took Aubs on Triceratops Spin! (You guessed it, she loved it lol)


Blurry Dino!


Dinosaur was fun, but it seemed darker than normal?? Also, one scene was completely dark, I guess that dino is broken! I think it was the Bracheosaurus? (I know I didn't spell that right. It was at the scene where the narrator says "I think this one's a vegetarian" or something like that)
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
...
First stop at AK was.. Starbucks! We needed some good coffee! Also, my souvenir mission this trip was to collect every "You Are Here" mug from each park.

That sounds like an awesome idea ;)
:D
20150727_190644.jpg
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
I am completely putting those mugs on my souvenir list! I have one from NJ from when I visited my family a couple years ago and I regret not buying one when I was in Philly! We love coffee just as much as we love Disney in our house!
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am completely putting those mugs on my souvenir list! I have one from NJ from when I visited my family a couple years ago and I regret not buying one when I was in Philly! We love coffee just as much as we love Disney in our house!

The mugs are great!! They're $14.95/each. I didn't think that was too bad of a price! They will make good soup mugs too!
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After Dinosaur, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Restaurantosaurus since it was right there. Me and Aubs shared a kids meal of corn dog nuggets and broccoli, parents split chicken nuggets I think. I know Cody had a burger, and I think my mom in law had chicken nuggets also. For a quick service meal it was good, not great. I forgot to take pics of this meal, though!

After we finished our lunch, Aubs spotted Donald, so we headed to his line! His line took a while, and once we got near the front it was time for his break :( I swear this happened to us almost every. single. time.

Waiting in line for Donald, I noticed this plant. Those leaves were sharp! I was kinda shocked they were right next to a character meet and greet!


Hiiiiii Donald! Another great character meet!






Once we said goodbye to Donald, we went to see the Finding Nemo show!

Aubs LOVED Finding Nemo when she was 2 1/2. She watched it over and over and over and over. I love Finding Nemo also, but I really have no desire to see the movie again for a while :cautious:

Anyway, the show was great!! The puppetry was really cool!



 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next, we started to make our way out of the park. We stopped at a few stores along the way to do some shopping!



Bye bye, birds! (ignore my finger in the top left lol)

We exited AK right about 4:00pm. We had a really great day at AK! I love that park (I love it even more when its not 1000000 degrees outside with 100000000% humidity ;))

See ya later, Animal Kingdom! We will miss you!!!


We hopped on a bus to Animal Kindgom Lodge since we had a dinner reservation at 6:35. Figured we could kill some time checking the resort out :)

Loved this right outside the entrance to Kidani


The lobby for Kidani is so gorgeous! Its funny though, every time I saw a picture like this before I came here, I pictured the lobby being so big. It's really not. It's nice and quaint! I guess its the huge windows that make it seem like its much bigger in pictures, I don't know lol!



We explored a little, then I went downstairs to go ahead and check us in for dinner. It was around 4:50 or so?? I asked if possible if we could be seated a little earlier since we were here. They said they were only seating tables per reservation time. I said ok, and they gave me a pager.

Outside I went!




5 minutes later, our pager went off! We were seated around 5pm :D So much for seating at the reservation time!
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
Looks like Donald was worth the wait! So annoying when it's their break, but we understand. It makes me feel more lucky when I get to talk to them before break! Dinosaur is one of my favorites! This year, I vow not to close my eyes so much! :geek: Lucky to have Grandmas to help you guys take her while you get the adult ride!
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dinner at Sanaa was fantastic! It is a beautiful restaurant. Everyone enjoyed their meals!




For starters, we had the bread service. It was soooo good!


Mom in law, Cody, and I had the butter chicken for our entree. Aubs had the kids cheese pizza (no pic of that)


My mom had the tandoori chicken


The winning entree though, was my Dad's. He ordered the Braaivleis, which was the South African Braai Sampler Platea Boerewor, lamp chop, and pork tenderloin with seasonal accompaniments.
Sorry the pic is a little dark!

Let me tell you about those lamb chops. They came medium rare and absolutely delicious!! Best thing on the plate! When we go back that is what I am getting!

I really liked these lights


Once we finished dinner, we headed back outside to watch the wildlife

 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


Bye bye AKL! We went to the bus stop to take a bus to DTD!


CBR could use these...


This little one danced around while waiting for the bus


Finally a bus came, and O.M.G. longest ride to DTD EVER! It rained the whole way, but stopped once we got there.

First stop was Disney's Day of Christmas!





We then headed over to World of Disney. My parents bought Aubs a Minnie Mouse dress that is identical to the same dress I had when I was younger (these pics are coming on our MK day)

Ghiradelli Ice Cream HAD to happen!
This is one scoop! Wow! I worked at Baskin-Robbins for 6 years and I am so used to regular/kids scoops (4 oz./2.5oz.)

My old DM would have a heart attack if we gave a customer that much ice cream for one scoop lol!

Aubs had her strawberry ice cream of course

She's like a little ice cream eating machine! I got her a scoop, but she didn't even eat half. I'm sure she could have if I let her! (NOT happening!!)

Cody got some kind of delicious brownie sundae. Can you tell he did not want his picture taken? HA!
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looks like Donald was worth the wait! So annoying when it's their break, but we understand. It makes me feel more lucky when I get to talk to them before break! Dinosaur is one of my favorites! This year, I vow not to close my eyes so much! :geek: Lucky to have Grandmas to help you guys take her while you get the adult ride!

He was sooo worth the wait! Dinosaur is always fun, although its really loud! Hurts my ears!
The grandma's were wonderful this trip (and the grandaddy also!) My mom in law is not to keen on thrill rides, and my mom was still trying to get over Everest lol! We usually took turns with rides! One group would go, then another. Ducks were great entertainment for Aubs. And snacks! :D
 

slipperalwaysfits

Well-Known Member
Dinosaur is always fun, although its really loud! Hurts my ears!
WOW! I never realized it was so loud! I wear hearing aids and they hear what's loudest. I'm a kindie teacher so I hear the argument in the corner over the kid reading next to me if he's not speaking up. When I'm in a crowded place, I tend to turn my hearing aids on a setting that controls crowd/background noise. I've noticed in some restaurants/areas of Disney are really loud and I get out of there quick. The nice thing about All the Disney parks is that they are all open air so it's not like a million people are all in one room and the noise is loud. Even with millions of people at the Osborne Lights, the music is loud but you don't notice the crowd noise and I've never noticed the music being uncomfortably loud. Sorry to get off on a tangent there. :rolleyes:
 

DisneyMorgan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WOW! I never realized it was so loud! I wear hearing aids and they hear what's loudest. I'm a kindie teacher so I hear the argument in the corner over the kid reading next to me if he's not speaking up. When I'm in a crowded place, I tend to turn my hearing aids on a setting that controls crowd/background noise. I've noticed in some restaurants/areas of Disney are really loud and I get out of there quick. The nice thing about All the Disney parks is that they are all open air so it's not like a million people are all in one room and the noise is loud. Even with millions of people at the Osborne Lights, the music is loud but you don't notice the crowd noise and I've never noticed the music being uncomfortably loud. Sorry to get off on a tangent there. :rolleyes:

Well, my ears have always been pretty sensitive to loud sounds. :) It always seems loud to me haha

Eagerly awaiting the rest of your TR!
More coming in just a little bit!
 

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