Accident
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
I'm not much into documenting my trips but decided to take some not usual for me photos as I roamed around this trip.
Trip Details:
10 years ago when Katrina passed through, I was preparing to take my daughter on her second trip to WDW (but our first together). It was a very interesting trip back then as Katrina passed by southern florida and we happened to be able to fly in. This was an amazing trip for us as everyone canceled and there had to be 10 cast members for every visitor the entire week. We're not talking 10 per resort guest, we're talking to per visitor. A trip we could never repeat with absolutely nobody in your way for anything you wanted to do or wherever you wanted to eat.
Or so we thought. We started turning into tween school girls watching Erika's path towards Florida. We weren't worried about being in WDW if it came over but was our dream vacation that can never be repeated started to come together and we're getting a repeat? The last week before we left couldn't go any slower, we were ready!!
Amtrak to Kissimee:
Taking the 21-24 hour train (depending on what time you go) between NYC and Kissimee was something I that came about by accident the first time. I had a chance for a someone else paying, leave right now trip but couldn't get any flights for several days. My parents having raved about their great 3 week explore the country via rail trip and I found myself on the train from NYC to Orlando getting down there faster than I could get a flight.
One thing I never noticed is I always arrive tired. Between work schedule leading up to time off and the hectic nature of getting ready I always arrive exhausted and need a few days to recoup. With 1 train ride and sleeping most of the way, I wake up ready to go and in vacation mode. Because of this, I know investigate a train for any trip I do to see if I can fit it in. It really works well for me. The ride home, that sucks and I plan to switch back to train down, plane back.
We actually leave from a station in NJ and this is the only picture I took the entire ride. Again, I slept the rest
The ride was nice. I had our normal Deluxe bedroom. I used to save some money with the smaller roomettes but the way the train shakes and how the bed is the side to side motion, I don't sleep well. Also the deluxe you get your own bathroom and shower. We only arrived 15 minutes late. There was an issue switching from the electric to diesel that had us leaving Washington DC late. We made up some time but not all of it. The only downside is amtrak has stopped including a diner car on this trip so your stuck with what you brought with you or what their normal club car has in stock (and standard club car that runs out of food on long trips). This is a trial they are doing specifically for this train (91 and 92 between NYC and Miami). i'm assuming it's going to become normal and you'll see the diner cars go away on other lines.
I like Kissimee better than orlando because orlando doesn't offer much more than we need at Kissimee. One trip we actually hit heavy heavy traffic and almost missed our train back. Kissimee doesn't require highway driving and we've been able to cut it much closer with no worries or stress about missing the train which only comes twice a day. It's also physically closer so transportation is cheaper to the resort and only 15 minutes longer on the train (same price ticket). If you needed a rental car, orlando would probably still be a better choice. Also there is a line of taxi's readily available there.
This trip I decided to use Ultimate Town Car to get to/from the station. Overall, great professional driver. We did not include a stop to do some grocery shopping since we were free dining this trip. We called about 90 minutes early to update them that the train was about 15 minutes late. We got a call back when we hit orlando and they had some car trouble and letting us know the driver was going to be a little late, get an update on how late the train was and kept us in the loop of what was happening. No complaints there.. We were told to expect a call near when we would be arriving which never happened. After waiting 20 minutes, we then called to find out where they were. They did quickly get someone over to us but I feel if I never called they wouldn't have. They were very apologetic however the charge for service didn't reflect them being an hour late. Again overall they handled it professionally, just this 1 little bump.
I did see someone else use the mears taxi app to call a cab from across the street. They had a taxi van in 10 minutes and were off. In the future, this is exactly what I plan to do when using the train from now on. There is a taxi service that does wait, but they try to pile in a few people to 1 larger van. Mears app seems the best way to go if your doing a taxi. There was a couple people that used something called $5 taxi, and they seemed to come quick but the cars were smaller and we wouldn't fit in them.
Check In
We arrived about 1pm. We did get the email that we would get a text when the room was ready but we had our bags and needed to put them somewhere. The lobby was swamped. 2 MDE buses dropping people off, 1 MDE bus picking up and 1 cruise bus picking up. It took a few minutes for all the baggage chaos to clear out before we could get a bell hop to put into storage. No biggy and nobody ignored us, it was just timing.
Upgrading to AP
While we were waiting and because the train has no decent meals we headed over to DTD to upgrade our tickets to Annual Passes. Since we weren't officially checked in it took a few extra moments to find our tickets, get them upgraded and then activate our meal plan so we can use it while waiting. No complaints at all and it was incredibly painless. I've read that people say use the ticket your upgrading first to get the maximum value but the numbers worked perfectly and we had our passes for the difference of tickets to AP. We didn't even have to confirm the expiration date as we were told it was the same day. Can't be happier with the process.
I'm really kicking myself now though. We took 2 trips last year, one was a fully out of pocket no discount trip but we were never the go yearly or biyearly disney fanatics. We thought we were saving money with a long trip and going normal tickets. I completely forgot about the discounts you get being an AP member. In hind sight, I spent about double what it would have costed as an AP in the last year. Lesson learned and I recommend you really run the numbers, including some insanely good room deals you get as an AP.
I skipped also getting a tables in wonderland card since we were on the meal plan and will get than when we're on a trip that will need it.
Disney is listening to Pete
A recent disunplugged webcast, Pete had mentioned how while at WDL, everyone kept asking if he had anything that would give a discount. Our first stop after being upgraded to AP was for my daughter to raid the TSUM TSUMs. We were surprised that the first thing they said was "hello, do you have anything to that would give you a discount". We almost spaced that we get a discount with an AP and boom, already saving money and Disney reminded us. I'd like to say we heard this everywhere but we didn't. We did have several cast members ask if we had anything for a discount but it wasn't widespread yet. It did seem everywhere outside of Magic Kingdom they were asking.
Quick Lunch
We noticed the crowds weren't very big which surprised us. While walking towards the better restaurant options we got our txt that the room was ready so we decided to just hit the Puck Express on the way back to the bus. I do like that restaurant for a nice quick service meal and it hit the spot for fast, good and get us on our way.
A quick run into Magic Kingdom
We had a Keys to the Kingdom tour planned for day 2 and never stayed at CBR so we decided to see just how long a bus really took so we could plan correctly for the morning to get there in time. We didn't do too much, just took a quick "ah we made it" circle of the park. We had some good fast passes setup so we got a quick ride on BTMRR and HM.
Crowds weren't light but they were reasonable. Nothing was summer long waits but it wasn't walk on (yet).
We didn't intend to spend long so we did a quick circle, checked out the central hub progress, haunted mansion and some other quick rides. We hit the country bears as we haven't seen them in 10 years and I finally got to see carousel of progress. It might sound funny since it's one of the oldest rides there, but it's never been opened when I at WDW. Another group while there happened to accidently hit their flashlight option on the phone as the room went completely dark. I have to say, it really added to the show and they should incorporate it. I was surprised to see that the animatronics were moving as the narration kept going on. Normally you can't see it in the dark.
We came out to a huge rain storm. This was a little harder than just the normal afternoon. Our 7DMT turned into a use the rest of the day pass, but the rain didn't really let up so finally about 8pm we decided this is a good start and lets get some sleep and try out the food court (aka get my coffee mug) at CBR before our tour.
Minor Magic Band Fixes
Since my daughter is grown, I can trust her with room charging and she is more than able to do everything on her own. She always does the first couple purchases with her band to make sure it's fully working. She couldn't charge to the room or activate our drink mugs. A quick concierge stop to reset the pin and double check her privileges and we were good the entire week. Since it was CBR, they were right there and no biggy to walk the 50 feet to the side to do it.
The Rain didn't let up.
It turned out to be a good choice as the rain was still going. Lighter now but still raining.
Trip Details:
- On Site 8/29 - 9/6
- East Coast train ride via Amtrak Silver Star Line.
- Caribbean Beach Resort, preferred room, Martinique
- Father/Daughter trip (she is 20).
- Free dining offer + upgraded to deluxe.
- Part of the trip was to research a possible move to Orlando next year.
10 years ago when Katrina passed through, I was preparing to take my daughter on her second trip to WDW (but our first together). It was a very interesting trip back then as Katrina passed by southern florida and we happened to be able to fly in. This was an amazing trip for us as everyone canceled and there had to be 10 cast members for every visitor the entire week. We're not talking 10 per resort guest, we're talking to per visitor. A trip we could never repeat with absolutely nobody in your way for anything you wanted to do or wherever you wanted to eat.
Or so we thought. We started turning into tween school girls watching Erika's path towards Florida. We weren't worried about being in WDW if it came over but was our dream vacation that can never be repeated started to come together and we're getting a repeat? The last week before we left couldn't go any slower, we were ready!!
Amtrak to Kissimee:
Taking the 21-24 hour train (depending on what time you go) between NYC and Kissimee was something I that came about by accident the first time. I had a chance for a someone else paying, leave right now trip but couldn't get any flights for several days. My parents having raved about their great 3 week explore the country via rail trip and I found myself on the train from NYC to Orlando getting down there faster than I could get a flight.
One thing I never noticed is I always arrive tired. Between work schedule leading up to time off and the hectic nature of getting ready I always arrive exhausted and need a few days to recoup. With 1 train ride and sleeping most of the way, I wake up ready to go and in vacation mode. Because of this, I know investigate a train for any trip I do to see if I can fit it in. It really works well for me. The ride home, that sucks and I plan to switch back to train down, plane back.
We actually leave from a station in NJ and this is the only picture I took the entire ride. Again, I slept the rest
The ride was nice. I had our normal Deluxe bedroom. I used to save some money with the smaller roomettes but the way the train shakes and how the bed is the side to side motion, I don't sleep well. Also the deluxe you get your own bathroom and shower. We only arrived 15 minutes late. There was an issue switching from the electric to diesel that had us leaving Washington DC late. We made up some time but not all of it. The only downside is amtrak has stopped including a diner car on this trip so your stuck with what you brought with you or what their normal club car has in stock (and standard club car that runs out of food on long trips). This is a trial they are doing specifically for this train (91 and 92 between NYC and Miami). i'm assuming it's going to become normal and you'll see the diner cars go away on other lines.
I like Kissimee better than orlando because orlando doesn't offer much more than we need at Kissimee. One trip we actually hit heavy heavy traffic and almost missed our train back. Kissimee doesn't require highway driving and we've been able to cut it much closer with no worries or stress about missing the train which only comes twice a day. It's also physically closer so transportation is cheaper to the resort and only 15 minutes longer on the train (same price ticket). If you needed a rental car, orlando would probably still be a better choice. Also there is a line of taxi's readily available there.
This trip I decided to use Ultimate Town Car to get to/from the station. Overall, great professional driver. We did not include a stop to do some grocery shopping since we were free dining this trip. We called about 90 minutes early to update them that the train was about 15 minutes late. We got a call back when we hit orlando and they had some car trouble and letting us know the driver was going to be a little late, get an update on how late the train was and kept us in the loop of what was happening. No complaints there.. We were told to expect a call near when we would be arriving which never happened. After waiting 20 minutes, we then called to find out where they were. They did quickly get someone over to us but I feel if I never called they wouldn't have. They were very apologetic however the charge for service didn't reflect them being an hour late. Again overall they handled it professionally, just this 1 little bump.
I did see someone else use the mears taxi app to call a cab from across the street. They had a taxi van in 10 minutes and were off. In the future, this is exactly what I plan to do when using the train from now on. There is a taxi service that does wait, but they try to pile in a few people to 1 larger van. Mears app seems the best way to go if your doing a taxi. There was a couple people that used something called $5 taxi, and they seemed to come quick but the cars were smaller and we wouldn't fit in them.
Check In
We arrived about 1pm. We did get the email that we would get a text when the room was ready but we had our bags and needed to put them somewhere. The lobby was swamped. 2 MDE buses dropping people off, 1 MDE bus picking up and 1 cruise bus picking up. It took a few minutes for all the baggage chaos to clear out before we could get a bell hop to put into storage. No biggy and nobody ignored us, it was just timing.
Upgrading to AP
While we were waiting and because the train has no decent meals we headed over to DTD to upgrade our tickets to Annual Passes. Since we weren't officially checked in it took a few extra moments to find our tickets, get them upgraded and then activate our meal plan so we can use it while waiting. No complaints at all and it was incredibly painless. I've read that people say use the ticket your upgrading first to get the maximum value but the numbers worked perfectly and we had our passes for the difference of tickets to AP. We didn't even have to confirm the expiration date as we were told it was the same day. Can't be happier with the process.
I'm really kicking myself now though. We took 2 trips last year, one was a fully out of pocket no discount trip but we were never the go yearly or biyearly disney fanatics. We thought we were saving money with a long trip and going normal tickets. I completely forgot about the discounts you get being an AP member. In hind sight, I spent about double what it would have costed as an AP in the last year. Lesson learned and I recommend you really run the numbers, including some insanely good room deals you get as an AP.
I skipped also getting a tables in wonderland card since we were on the meal plan and will get than when we're on a trip that will need it.
Disney is listening to Pete
A recent disunplugged webcast, Pete had mentioned how while at WDL, everyone kept asking if he had anything that would give a discount. Our first stop after being upgraded to AP was for my daughter to raid the TSUM TSUMs. We were surprised that the first thing they said was "hello, do you have anything to that would give you a discount". We almost spaced that we get a discount with an AP and boom, already saving money and Disney reminded us. I'd like to say we heard this everywhere but we didn't. We did have several cast members ask if we had anything for a discount but it wasn't widespread yet. It did seem everywhere outside of Magic Kingdom they were asking.
Quick Lunch
We noticed the crowds weren't very big which surprised us. While walking towards the better restaurant options we got our txt that the room was ready so we decided to just hit the Puck Express on the way back to the bus. I do like that restaurant for a nice quick service meal and it hit the spot for fast, good and get us on our way.
A quick run into Magic Kingdom
We had a Keys to the Kingdom tour planned for day 2 and never stayed at CBR so we decided to see just how long a bus really took so we could plan correctly for the morning to get there in time. We didn't do too much, just took a quick "ah we made it" circle of the park. We had some good fast passes setup so we got a quick ride on BTMRR and HM.
Crowds weren't light but they were reasonable. Nothing was summer long waits but it wasn't walk on (yet).
We didn't intend to spend long so we did a quick circle, checked out the central hub progress, haunted mansion and some other quick rides. We hit the country bears as we haven't seen them in 10 years and I finally got to see carousel of progress. It might sound funny since it's one of the oldest rides there, but it's never been opened when I at WDW. Another group while there happened to accidently hit their flashlight option on the phone as the room went completely dark. I have to say, it really added to the show and they should incorporate it. I was surprised to see that the animatronics were moving as the narration kept going on. Normally you can't see it in the dark.
We came out to a huge rain storm. This was a little harder than just the normal afternoon. Our 7DMT turned into a use the rest of the day pass, but the rain didn't really let up so finally about 8pm we decided this is a good start and lets get some sleep and try out the food court (aka get my coffee mug) at CBR before our tour.
Minor Magic Band Fixes
Since my daughter is grown, I can trust her with room charging and she is more than able to do everything on her own. She always does the first couple purchases with her band to make sure it's fully working. She couldn't charge to the room or activate our drink mugs. A quick concierge stop to reset the pin and double check her privileges and we were good the entire week. Since it was CBR, they were right there and no biggy to walk the 50 feet to the side to do it.
The Rain didn't let up.
It turned out to be a good choice as the rain was still going. Lighter now but still raining.
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