1 crazy family+2 resorts+5 parks+1 snake+1 surprise=A Mickeystoontown report 4/3x2

[mickeystoontown]

Holy smokes! Page 5? I'd better get started....

I know! This report blew up immediately! Great to see you!

**If you get a chance, do you mind sending me pics of your sweet little niece in the dresses?

subscribing - looking forward to another one of your fantastic trip reports!

Welcome aboard!

I'm subbed...looking forward to the madcap adventures of the mickeystoontown gang!

Hey there! We do have some madcap adventures!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm in too!

Now please just forget about work & do another installment already.

Hellllllooooo! You're in luck! I wrote an installment before the boss came in this morning. Just have to tweak it a little before posting it.

Hi Lisa. I'm Connie. I've read several of your trip reports but I'm not sure I've ever said "hello".

So... you know... "Hello."

I'm all subbed up and looking forward to another fun report.

Hello Connie! I hope that you'll chime in every once in a while!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Round round, get around, I get around! Round round, get around, resort switch around!

First off, I’d like to shout a big WELCOME and THANK YOU to those of you who are here! I am overwhelmed by the number of you folks who have come over to join in on our family’s fun.

The original plan was to be in Disney for 10 days and I booked the package. But, after a week or two, I figured, hey, if the boss lived with an extra day off for the cruise last year, he can live with the extra day off this year. My plan for next year is to add yet another day and be in Disney for two whole weeks! Might as well start prepping the bossman for it now.

Many of you, if not all of you, know that our family are Caribbean Beach Resort lovers all the way. We fell in love with it the minute we arrived 9 trips ago and we’ve never looked back. But, I have looked around. As in looked at other moderate resorts but we keep going back to the CBR.

There’s a resort changers thread somewhere on the Disboards for those who have an addiction (so to speak) to changing their resorts. This year, I should have joined it. I had a serious case of resort changer syndrome.

I booked the initial vacation package at Coronado Springs Resort because it had a beach and looked like it had a similar “vibe” as the CBR. But, then, I found out that there was going to be a convention during our stay and that the beach would be closed off for one of the evenings. Ugh!

We talked it over and we booked at Caribbean Beach. Why try to fix something that, obviously, ain’t broken? Right? Lacey & Jesse were invited to come along and their package was booked (for a week). After changing over, Mama decided that she would like to go with us. Yay! We booked Mama a package at the CBR too.

A little while later, Mama had surgery and some other medical expenses come up and she thought that she would have to back out of going because the cost was prohibitive. So, I started looking into other alternatives. How about a suite at Art of Animation or a suite at All Star Music? That would eliminate the need for two rooms and save money but what if Mama had to back out and John and I would be stuck paying for a suite that we didn’t need? We couldn’t just put Lacey & Jesse in our suite either because they were coming in several days after us. Darn! What to do? What to do?

One evening, I started pricing out value resorts despite the fact that we’ve never stayed in a value nor have we ever really wanted to stay in a value. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t resort snobs but I do like having a larger room and I do like covered bus stops. After looking at the new Art of Animation, it looked like the bus stops were covered and we could probably live with the smaller room. We called Mama over and had her look at the Little Mermaid rooms and she said that she was fine with whatever we decided. But, I could tell from the look in her eye, that the savings was a plus for her. The next day, I called and changed us over to Little Mermaid rooms.

Doubts lingered though and, eventually, we all decided that we’d rather stay at Caribbean Beach since we spend several days at the resort, we have a lot of stuff because I overpack and, well, we just love the CBR.

This was before any special offers had come out and I felt pretty sure that there would be something for our travel dates. The switch back was made and we all let out a deep breath that we didn’t really know we were holding. Shoulda went with our gut instinct and not changed over to AoA.

This is about the time that John and I talked about adding a day to the front of our vacation. Bosses and hissy fits be damned, we were doing it! We were doing it! We were going to book another day! We were going to expand our vacation! We were going to stay where? Where? Oh, I don’t know. Where? And, we were back to looking at pictures and talking and wondering and......... I took the initiative and booked a standard room at Port Orleans Riverside so that we could try out something new. Yeah, that lasted about two weeks. Why not pay a little more for a garden view? Modifications were made.

Then, there was a very active poster on the POR thread who came back from his vacation complaining about a roach infestation and how the room was quarantined and his child got sick from food poisoning (not from POR food) and how his fiancé got sick from knowing bugs were in the rooms, etc. Oh my! I don’t want to stay there now! None of us do! Another modification was made and we were booked in a standard room at Port Orleans French Quarter. Before that modification was made, there was even talk of splurging and staying at Beach Club. Admittedly, that talk went on in my own mind but, in the end, I just couldn’t justify the cost for just one night.

So, both my new and old friends, in case you’re a little dizzy from all those changes, let me break it down while you cop a squat:

We were originally booked here:

Convention list posted and we switched to:

Medical expenses reared their ugly heads and we made another change to:

But doubts lingered about staying in a value so we went back to:

We added an extra day to the beginning of the trip and we were set to stay at:

Something really “buggy” occurred and we switched that night to:

See I told you that I should have joined the resort changers thread. Why I do this to myself every year, I’ll never know. Even as I type this, I’m thinking about a possible resort change up for our 2014 trip. There are simply too many Disney resorts to choose from. It’s like walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store. Do I want this one or that one? Oooh, look over there, there’s a nice looking one. Or, possibly, we should give that one down on the end a try.

Anyway, to sum it up, we ended up adding a day to the trip and were staying at French Quarter and, then, we’d go back to our beloved Caribbean Beach Resort for the rest of the trip. Look out Disney! Mickeystoontown is a coming your way!

**Up next: Running down the road, trying to loosen my load!

 

[hlrababy]

Hey Lisa!!!

I would not miss your TR for the world!!!

 

[Koh1977]

So excited to read your trip report!! We usually stay in deluxes (poly and BC), booked for AKL in August, but thinking about switching to a pirate room at CBR for a number of reasons...just not sure about all the walking in the heat and humidity from room to the main building and pool.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hey Lisa!!!

I would not miss your TR for the world!!!

Welcome! Glad to see you!

 

[mickeystoontown]

So excited to read your trip report!! We usually stay in deluxes (poly and BC), booked for AKL in August, but thinking about switching to a pirate room at CBR for a number of reasons...just not sure about all the walking in the heat and humidity from room to the main building and pool.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I'm excited to have you! While we have never stayed in a pirate room, I have walked over to Trinidad South many many times during our stays and, honestly, the walk wasn't that bad. From mid-village (Trinidad South) to Old Port Royale (food court, main pool, etc.), it took me about 7 minutes to walk it.

 

[Koh1977]

I'm excited to have you! While we have never stayed in a pirate room, I have walked over to Trinidad South many many times during our stays and, honestly, the walk wasn't that bad. From mid-village (Trinidad South) to Old Port Royale (food court, main pool, etc.), it took me about 7 minutes to walk it.

Most people think I'm crazy for thinking of switching from AKL to CBR...

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[TinksThree]

You have my head spinning! LOL but then I do the same thing with ADRs. My chances of staying anywhere other than POR/POFQ are not good unless we go deluxe...Keith has nixed most other options!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I remember from your PTR all the changes! Too funny! It's almost amusing to me that we all rely so much on everyone's experiences to make these decisions. I hope I never read about bugs etc in a resort I'm about to go to!! UGH!

Or Snakes! Not sure I want to hear that story!

I really like your family picture at the beginning - you all do really clean up nicely.

 

[shan23877]

I've been following the POR thread ever since we made our resort switch. I have to admit that bug situation has me nervous, but what can you do? The little princess has her heart set on that Royal Room!

Looking forward to more!

 

[MissLiz]

Great start! I really can't wait to hear how your trip went!

And you already have another ticker! That's awesome! We had to postpone my birthday trip for a month this fall so that I could be a good parent and not have my new middle-schooler miss school within the first month. Good parenting can kiss my behind.

Other than not getting the resort we wanted and having to use more points, we lucked out because our school district added 2 furlough days in October, so instead of going for 4 days, we get to go for 6! And we book our 2014 trip this month! Woo HOOO! (Just an FYI: we are planning 10 days at the end of May/beginning of June, so beware!)

Now, let's get your party started!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Most people think I'm crazy for thinking of switching from AKL to CBR...

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I say if you were going to make the switch to the pirate room, do it before the kiddos get too old to appreciate them. The AKL will always be there for future stays.

You have my head spinning! LOL but then I do the same thing with ADRs. My chances of staying anywhere other than POR/POFQ are not good unless we go deluxe...Keith has nixed most other options!

Keith and John are a lot alike. Once they settle on a resort, they don't want to change. John said that changing from FQ to CBR "sucked" and "we should have just stayed at Caribbean the whole time".

I remember from your PTR all the changes! Too funny! It's almost amusing to me that we all rely so much on everyone's experiences to make these decisions. I hope I never read about bugs etc in a resort I'm about to go to!! UGH!

Or Snakes! Not sure I want to hear that story!

I really like your family picture at the beginning - you all do really clean up nicely.

Isn't it crazy how we can think we've decided on a specific resort but then read something here on the Dis and it totally throws you off?

Why thank ya m'am! We can look like decent folk if we try really hard.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I've been following the POR thread ever since we made our resort switch. I have to admit that bug situation has me nervous, but what can you do? The little princess has her heart set on that Royal Room!

Looking forward to more!

I'm not afraid of bugs at all but I don't like the thought of them crawling around on my things. Honestly, though, after that original post, I haven't seen a lot of complaints about bugs at POR. That princess of your's deserves her princess room.

Great start! I really can't wait to hear how your trip went!

And you already have another ticker! That's awesome! We had to postpone my birthday trip for a month this fall so that I could be a good parent and not have my new middle-schooler miss school within the first month. Good parenting can kiss my behind.

Other than not getting the resort we wanted and having to use more points, we lucked out because our school district added 2 furlough days in October, so instead of going for 4 days, we get to go for 6! And we book our 2014 trip this month! Woo HOOO! (Just an FYI: we are planning 10 days at the end of May/beginning of June, so beware!)

Now, let's get your party started!

Why in the world does school have to interfere with our Disney trips? What? Do they think our kids need a good education or something?

I'm super excited at the thought that we may finally get to meet in person! Do you know when the 2014 rates will come out. I looked at my 2013 reservation and it looks like I booked it on July 11th.

 

[MissLiz]

Why in the world does school have to interfere with our Disney trips? What? Do they think our kids need a good education or something?

I'm super excited at the thought that we may finally get to meet in person! Do you know when the 2014 rates will come out. I looked at my 2013 reservation and it looks like I booked it on July 11th.

I know, right? I will admit that it probably took me longer than a normal parent to make the decision to postpone the trip. It was the whole "Watch Wishes on my actual 40th birthday vs a month later" thing that was the problem. I'm okay with it now.....I think.

We will definitely have to meet up! I'm not sure when the rates come out normally. If I recall, they've been coming out earlier than they used to, though. I think we've decided to stay at Animal Kingdom Villas, so we'll be able to book it at 11 months out with our points. (Of course, I may catch the resort switcher bug and change that at 7 months)

 

[mommytothreeboys]

WOW! I can't believe I'm on page 7 already!! Good grief Lisa!

I'm here and ready to get going....except for the snake part. That I can live without.

Your resort changes make me dizzy! LOL!

 

[Koh1977]

I say if you were going to make the switch to the pirate room, do it before the kiddos get too old to appreciate them. The AKL will always be there for future stays.

Keith and John are a lot alike. Once they settle on a resort, they don't want to change. John said that changing from FQ to CBR "sucked" and "we should have just stayed at Caribbean the whole time".

Isn't it crazy how we can think we've decided on a specific resort but then read something here on the Dis and it totally throws you off?

Why thank ya m'am! We can look like decent folk if we try really hard.

Did I mention I am part of that RCer thread here on the DIS?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[lovethattink]

I had to go searching for your 6/6 update...found it. I was disappointed you switched from CSR. I bet ya'll would like it.

2 whole weeks! How fun! You better wait a 'lil 'til the boss man forgets about the temp.

LOL, I never noticed that the mods and deluxes have covered bus stops and the values do not. I guess that's because we rarely use the bus. But now that I think of it, that's true.

The Beach Club would have been really nice, but quite honestly since you use the food courts, I think you'd really miss that. I know we did. We stayed at the Beach Club on our very first Disney stay. It was great walking to Epcot. We stayed there our 2nd stay too because we loved the pool so much, Grumpy was a baby. But as he got older and we stayed at the Boardwalk, it was difficult with a picky eater without a food court. So we stuck with the mods and values after THAT trip.

 

[Bethislucy]

I was thinking about doing the whole add a day thing but when I looked at the price to add just night changed my mind. We just going to drive in closer and stay the night then get there early in the morning (downfall to holiday weekend travel) Can't wait to see how everything plays out for you.

 

[pattiken]

Ok great start... Love the switching of resorts...I agree it is so hard to decide when so much is available. We have stayed at POR and loved it but I don't blame u with the bug thing. Ewwww
Can't wait to hear about loosening my load