Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me...a December 2012 TR

Welcome to my TR. Let me cover some of the basics first in case you haven't read my PTR. I am Amy, a 39 year old veterinarian. This trip was planned last minute (about 60 days out) and the dates were Dec. 9-14, 2012. We stayed at CBR in a pirate room. We being me, my mom, and my 4 (almost 5) year old son, Owen.

Our flight left Dayton at 11:16am. We arrived at the airport at 9:30am and quickly made it through security. We stopped at the coffee shop for some OJ and potato chips for Owen. He had already eaten a good breakfast before leaving home, I promise! We had a little time at the gate before we had to gate check our stroller and were able to check our carry-on luggage after attaching our DME tags to it.
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We loaded on the plane and were quickly pulling away from the gate. Owen was so excited to be flying again.
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We had an uneventful flight. The flight attendants were very playful that day. They had a prize available for the person with the oldest penny, they had Christmas trivia questions for the kids, and they had someone sing the Oscar Mayer song for a prize. It was enjoyable and helped pass the time.
We landed in Orlando a few minutes early, and quickly made our way to DME. We were shown to this line:
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We waited about 10 minutes for our bus, which was a cruise line bus. Owen was excited to watch everything that was going on outside.
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Then he just crashed.
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A few pictures on the way to CBR:
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And then we were there!
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great TR love pictures. What camera did you use?
Thank you so much for reading. I used my Canon Powershot SX210. Not too bad for a little point and shoot. I'm sure a lot of the pics could have looked better, but I'm too lazy to edit them all before posting them on here!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After breakfast at Chef Mickey's, we headed over to get in line for the monorail.
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Owen was excited to see that we would be on the Avengers monorail.
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We stopped at the Poly to look at their Christmas decorations.
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Then Owen found all the tiki statues and wanted his picture with every one of them!
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Sorry the next one is a little blurry, Owen had an issue holding still for very long!
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Then we saw these guys behind the counter and Owen was so upset he couldn't get his picture with them.
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A manager happened to be standing nearby and heard our exchange. He rushed over and took Owen to the counter right in front of the window and let us get his picture!
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One last scenic pic before leaving the Poly.
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Then on to the Avenger monorail again.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back inside, we decided to get a PhotoPass pic in front of the tree. Owen is pouting because he wanted to sit in the chair and the photographer wanted me to sit in the chair.
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After that photo, we tried to get him to sit in the chair for a pic of just him and he refused!
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One more Avenger monorail pic.
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Then we took the bus back to CBR.:(
I couldn't resist getting one last pic of TOT on the way back!
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We got back just in time to stand here for a few minutes.
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We had an uneventful trip back to MCO, but the security line was horrendous, so we made a potty stop and Owen wanted to get his picture taken before we got in line.
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We got a quick meal at McDonald's and boarded our plane. Both of us were sad to be leaving, but happy to be seeing the rest of the family.
Owen couldn't wait to wear his new t-shirt and insisted on wearing it the next day before I could even wash it.
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some final thoughts:
-We had a wonderful time and I am glad that Owen and I got the quality time together.
-Our touring style was much different this time. We usually have hopper passes and spend more than one day in each park, so it was difficult for me to only have one day in each park. We couldn't say that we would do something the next day we were in the park, because we didn't have a next day, so I was stressed that we wouldn't see everything that we wanted to. I didn't see everything that I wanted, but Owen did and that was what this trip was about, so it didn't matter to me! I'm not sure when, but we will be back and we can try to see those things then.
-We didn't get to explore all of the New Fantasyland, but what we did see was nice and I can't wait for the rest of the family to see it next time. Most likely it will be completely finished by then and Owen and I will have new things to see also!
-We loved our pirate room at CBR. I wish the other two kids could experience it, but that's unlikely to happen since their are five of us and we would have to get two rooms. I know there is not a lot of love on here for CBR, but I wouldn't hesitate for a second about staying there again.
-It was a bittersweet ending to the vacation. I was happy to go home and see the rest of the family, but it was hard to leave not knowing when we would be back. My husband isn't too keen on going back anytime soon and thinks we need to go other places. I agree, but I also want to return to the World soon. My husband will probably win this one. If that is the case, we will probably start saving so that our next Disney vacation can be to Disneyland and other areas of interest in California.
-I hope everyone enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this report.
 

Cassie S.

Active Member
What a wonderful trip report! I loved all the pictures. Can't wait until we get to see some of those things for ourselves in May. :) And the lions were HILARIOUS. ;)
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What a wonderful trip report! I loved all the pictures. Can't wait until we get to see some of those things for ourselves in May. :) And the lions were HILARIOUS. ;)
Thank you so much! Those lions made my day! I was sad that it was our last day in the parks, and they just made me smile and forget for awhile that we were leaving the next day. Definitely something to talk about for quite some time! Hope you have a great trip!
 

Raven66

Well-Known Member
I so enjoyed reading your report and looking at the pictures. Your son is adorable. For some reason I loved where the manager took your son behind the counter and let him get his picture taken there. Just a really sweet gesture. Glad you had a great vacation.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I so enjoyed reading your report and looking at the pictures. Your son is adorable. For some reason I loved where the manager took your son behind the counter and let him get his picture taken there. Just a really sweet gesture. Glad you had a great vacation.
Thanks so much for reading! I thought it was great that the manager did that, and it really made Owen's day.
 

journ116

Well-Known Member
-We loved our pirate room at CBR. I wish the other two kids could experience it, but that's unlikely to happen since their are five of us and we would have to get two rooms. I know there is not a lot of love on here for CBR, but I wouldn't hesitate for a second about staying there again.
-It was a bittersweet ending to the vacation. I was happy to go home and see the rest of the family, but it was hard to leave not knowing when we would be back. My husband isn't too keen on going back anytime soon and thinks we need to go other places. I agree, but I also want to return to the World soon. My husband will probably win this one. If that is the case, we will probably start saving so that our next Disney vacation can be to Disneyland and other areas of interest in California.
-I hope everyone enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this report.

First off, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your TR...I put off reading the very end until this morning, because I didn't want it to end!

Second, I "second" your sentiments about CBR: We stayed there, prior to having children, and really loved the resort! My in-laws, who were along for that trip, really enjoyed their stay there as well! We all loved the theming, the QS and arcade, and the general feel of the place! If we weren't DVC members, we'd probably stay there!

Lastly, my DH echos the thoughts of your DH, "We really should explore other places." But, not too far below the surface of that comment, he would chose WDW any day of the week! Like you, we really do want to go where it all started: Disneyland. So, I ran some numbers yesterday, and factoring in everything (including paying someone to run his delivery route), it would cost us close to $5000! For that much, we could make two, 10-day trips to WDW:eek:! I guess we should start saving now!

Thanks again for taking time out of your days to re-live your trip and for letting all of us peek in on it!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
First off, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your TR...I put off reading the very end until this morning, because I didn't want it to end!

Second, I "second" your sentiments about CBR: We stayed there, prior to having children, and really loved the resort! My in-laws, who were along for that trip, really enjoyed their stay there as well! We all loved the theming, the QS and arcade, and the general feel of the place! If we weren't DVC members, we'd probably stay there!

Lastly, my DH echos the thoughts of your DH, "We really should explore other places." But, not too far below the surface of that comment, he would chose WDW any day of the week! Like you, we really do want to go where it all started: Disneyland. So, I ran some numbers yesterday, and factoring in everything (including paying someone to run his delivery route), it would cost us close to $5000! For that much, we could make two, 10-day trips to WDW:eek:! I guess we should start saving now!

Thanks again for taking time out of your days to re-live your trip and for letting all of us peek in on it!
I'm so glad you enjoyed reading! I ran the numbers at the end of last year for Disneyland and it is astonishing how much more expensive it is than WDW. Of course, when we go, I want to go all out and stay on site which adds quite a large chunk to the bottom line! Airfare is awful too! We at least have the option of driving to WDW if tickets get too bad, not really the case with California! Oh well, maybe someday!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I finally got my mom's photo CD. She had a few different pics that I thought I would share.
DHS:
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Owen in the room with his stuffed animals "playing" on the pirate ship:
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MK:
Casey Junior splash area:
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Tomorrowland Speedway:
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Peoplemover:
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TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
AK:
Kilimanjaro Safari:
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Apparently she did take pictures of the Maharaja Jungle Trek, even though she said she didn't. She must have been confused and thought I asked about the Pangani Exploration Trail, because she really didn't have any pictures from it!
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Jingle Jungle parade:
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