The Tenth Honeymoon is the Best One of Them All! - May '14 TR - COMPLETED 4/19

[TheMaxRebo]

Bummer about Pepper Market seeming not as great as you remember it - the wide variety of choices I have seen in the past was definitely a selling point to me

Glad that you met up with your friends too - always fun to reconnect!

Good job staying on top of uploading Photos!

 

[Clarf]

Love the Hidden Mickey in the resort sign! Awesome.

Thanks for the clarification on the bug. No matter what it was, it was gross and apparently bites. Glad they got it out of the pool.

Sorry your meal was not as good as usual at Pepper Market. That's always a letdown when you expect something and it doesn't deliver. Does Dylan eat more now?

Cool turtle! Was it a snapping turtle?

Looking forward to hear about your first park day!

 

[Britbrie]

Awesome trip report so far!! We stayed at CSR yearssssss ago, and liked the resort... but didn't have a very good experience at the Pepper Market with the food. I guess we gave up on staying there, but your pictures bring back memories and make me want to visit it next trip!

 

[courtneybelle]

Mickey rice krispies!!! My fave

That hidden Mickey in the lobby is too cool.

Bummer that Pepper Market wasn't good

I love that celebration board with FIESTA HOY!

Sulley Duffy is too precious for words!

 

[MEK]

Great first day. Sorry the food at the Pepper Market was not as good as usual.
Your burger looks good, but then again - it IS a burger!

I have never eaten at the Maya Grill, so I need to put that on my dining bucket list.

Fun pictures. Such a lovely resort.

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm subbing!

I totally stalked your last TR, but just completely forgot to subscribe. Bad me. We overlapped briefly on our trip. We were there from 5/16 through 5/25.

 

[nilla]

Just found this TR this morning and I am subscribing. I am from a suburb of the city "East" of you . We fly Jet Blue out of Newark direct to Orlando. Even though Philly is closer, it is easier and quicker for us to get to Newark. I wish LVIA would get another direct flight. It's really a pain to do Sanford!
I'm interested in reading about CBR since its one resort I would like to stay at.

You may be in the wrong place if you're looking for CBR. We're at CSR

I miss the direct flights, too. I like driving to Newark better than Philly, too, but the flights worked out better from Philly this year. We took Southwest.

Kristin and I used to spend quite some time at the bars down in that city you speak of

Hope you enjoy this trip report!

Bummer about Pepper Market seeming not as great as you remember it - the wide variety of choices I have seen in the past was definitely a selling point to me

Glad that you met up with your friends too - always fun to reconnect!

Good job staying on top of uploading Photos!

It gets repetitive, but it has to happen! Pepper Market was a letdown, but that should be rare. We're at Walt Disney World!

Love the Hidden Mickey in the resort sign! Awesome.

Thanks for the clarification on the bug. No matter what it was, it was gross and apparently bites. Glad they got it out of the pool.

Sorry your meal was not as good as usual at Pepper Market. That's always a letdown when you expect something and it doesn't deliver. Does Dylan eat more now?

Cool turtle! Was it a snapping turtle?

Looking forward to hear about your first park day!

That was one of the coolest Hidden Mickeys I've seen. That was one of the scariest bugs I've seen.

Not sure if that was a snapping turtle, but he had a long neck!

Park day update coming right after these responses!

Awesome trip report so far!! We stayed at CSR yearssssss ago, and liked the resort... but didn't have a very good experience at the Pepper Market with the food. I guess we gave up on staying there, but your pictures bring back memories and make me want to visit it next trip!

Siestas (the pool bar) was better than Pepper Market, and Maya Grill makes up for it for dinner. Rix Express also has QS meals, but we've never gotten them.

Give it another try! CSR is the best!

Mickey rice krispies!!! My fave

That hidden Mickey in the lobby is too cool.

Bummer that Pepper Market wasn't good

I love that celebration board with FIESTA HOY!

Sulley Duffy is too precious for words!

He's also "extra cuddly", according to Emily. She knew this before we even got here.

The celebration board and push-pin map (did I post a photo of that) were great! I love the extra stuff like that.

Great first day. Sorry the food at the Pepper Market was not as good as usual.
Your burger looks good, but then again - it IS a burger!

I have never eaten at the Maya Grill, so I need to put that on my dining bucket list.

Fun pictures. Such a lovely resort.

Maya Grill report coming soon! Well, on Day 5

Happy to have you here! You're a huge motivation for my trip reports!

I'm subbing!

I totally stalked your last TR, but just completely forgot to subscribe. Bad me. We overlapped briefly on our trip. We were there from 5/16 through 5/25.

Maybe you'll see yourself! It was a great time to be there, IMO.

Thanks for reading!

 

[nilla]

 

[nilla]

As I mentioned before, I typically don't sleep well when on vacation, for whatever reason. But not last night. I slept beautifully! Woke up at 5:45 am (earlier than if I were at home) and got ready. I even ironed, which is unheard of back home, but an every day thing here. Thanks to the individually bagged per-day clothing selections, I already know what to iron.

The cabana doors are still shut back here by the bathroom since everyone's still asleep, so I'm ironing in a sauna now. The wake-up call finally comes, and Kristin wants to snooze. 15 minutes later, she's up.

I'm pretty much ready now, so I'm getting the bag ready. The bag's got all the necessities: camcorder, water, baby wipes, various meds, sunscreen, and hats. Not quite as heavy as other years.

One of morning jobs is to go to El Centro and get the kids a muffin for breakfast. I'm also filling the mugs. Kristin gets the usual unsweetened iced tea, and I get the green tea. Good stuff! The tea also doesn't force you to use that new commie refill system like the soda does.

But wait - first, we have to get there! Emily's accompanying me today, and she would like to remind you that there are ONLY walking sharks at this resort.



Hey, look - hot air balloons!





Where are they coming from? You can't really see the balloons as well here, but I'll use it as an excuse to take another CSR shot!



The trip through the Cabanas:



A pose...



And we're there!

 

[nilla]

We remember today to take a photo of the red velvet cake from last night, which they conviently have at Rix.



We get a chocolate muffin with chocolate chips, which the kids will be splitting. We got milk last night.

There's some Indy Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull stuff going on in terms of workers trimming vegitation.



This machine would then elevate the operator up to palm tree height, where the work can be done. Big palms falling off the trees. I guess it takes a lot of work to look this good!

 

[nilla]

We're ready to leave now! Magic Kindom has Extra Magic Hours from 8:00-9:00 am, but it's already 8:00. No worries. We'll still get there for park opening.

Speaking of park opening, we were unsure of how park opening worked on EMH days, so Kristin called someone (not sure whom) and was told that the opening ceremonies would happen at 9:00 am.

Off to Station 4, which is between Cabanas 8 and 9. This is the third station that gets picked up, after 2 and 3, but Station 1 (last) is the one with the most people, so the bus usually isn't crowded when it arrives. Station 1 has the Downtown Disney busses arive there first, but all other busses start at Station 2. So, if I can give any advice about CSR, it would be don't go to Station 1!

Alright, Magic Bands in. This is on, right now.



At the station and on the bus, we talk with a woman there with her young son (3? 4?). After a few minutes, she says she wants to be in our family

We get to the Magic Kingdom by 8:30. Our new friend (I don't think we got her name ) tells Kristin she reminds her of someone on TV. She asks if we watch "The Goldbergs". Why yes, we do!

She says that Kristin reminds her of Beverly Goldberg, but the actress who plays her - not the character. Kristin informs her that she's actually more like Beverly Goldberg the character, which is 100% true.

Speaking of The Goldbergs, if you don't watch it and grew up in the 80s, watch it!

We get to the gates. Dylan decides to try to leapfrog one of those cylider barricade things and ends up on the ground. He's alright, but that could've ended the vacation right there. Don't do that!

Alright, let's get inside!

 

[nilla]

And in we go! I go through the bag check, which is something you learn how to navigate after one or two times through. We use our bands to scan into the park...success! That was great!

We position ourselves to see the opening ceremonies, but it's not really crowded here. Photo op time!





We still have some time before the mayoral address, so we walk over to see if there's a wait to meet Mickey. No! But it's almost opening, so back to the front of the train station. But first, pics!











We compare the tattoo to the real thing:

 

[nilla]

Next, it's into the Emporium. If I had a smart phone, I'd get (and use) this. I'd carry it everywhere.



Duffy shot!



Back outside, for more pictures!







In reference to that last one...no! Not doing it!

Back outside. Opening should be soon. More pics!





Ok, when is opening? The clock is no help.



Where are the hands? It usually has hands, right?

Ok, it's definitely past 9:00 now. We find a CM, who informs us there is no official park opening when there are morning EMHs. Grrrr! We just waited here for nothing!

 

[nilla]

Alright, this can all be made right if it starts with a mouse. After all of the accounts I've read recently (i.e., "two"), I'm thinking Mickey may talk now. Man, we hope he talks now. We hope he says, "hiya, pal!" This is going to be great!

This queue is fun, too.





Finally, we're in. There's the mouse! But...he's not talking. Shoot. That stinks. Emily gets love all the same.



He still signs, though.



And poses.



We all get in on it now.



We say goodbye, then exit out the door. We ask a CM when the talking Mickey would be around. He basically told us it's a big secret and they can't even give hints. And believe me, we tried to get hints.

Darnit. We just kicked off the Disney vacation by meeting the Big Cheese, but are we actually disappointed? That's REALLY wrong, but also really true. Man, we wanted it to be talking Mickey. First, no opening, now this. But it's Mickey! How can we not be happy?

The kids don't know that, though. And I'm sure something will shake that out of us really soon - hey, there it is! There SHE is, rather. Mary!





Mary is one of the best characters, IMO, and she even scolds Emily for not having great manners, which is a problem for her at times. Dylan complained about having to wait while we meet Mary, and we scold him, Poppins-style, for that. You won't ruin our jolly holiday, kid!

Alright, we're back in bidness now. So where to? Well, we have FastPass+es for Splash Mountain, so that sounds like a good choice!


[POST=51543389](next update)[/POST]

 

[chenbru]

enjoying this trip so far. sorry your son fell, but thanks for the heads up. I have 5 children that i can see doing that and i am sure that one if not more would have been hurt.

looking forward to reading more.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

I'm sorry there was no talking Mickey, he is awesome! When my oldest met him she was in awe and for the rest of the vacation all she wanted to do was spend time with him.

 

[Clarf]

Sorry about the talking Micky not being there. And that you waited around for the opening show that you thought was happening that didn't.

And about Dylan falling on the pole? Sounds exactly like something my husband would do. Yes, you heard me, my husband. Not my kids.

Glad your Magic Bands worked to get into the park. Now to see if they work for FP+...

 

[Tinatheneedle]

Great report so far. My son used to do stuff like that all the time, but he usually managed to have the accident right BEFORE we left. Then we had to make the decision to actually go on vacation- which we always did! We have traveled with a cast, crutches, various splints, etc. He's all grown up now, and still prone to accidents, but is surviving on his own quite nicely. Although he did show me where he cut himself on a pipe (don't ask) while mowing the other day...and hasn't had a tetanus shot since 7th grade...but does he listen to his mother? Of course not!

Can't wait to read more. Nice pictures, too!

 

[WishnDisney]

Your report is awesome as usual.

The rally bar is a candy bar from Caddyshack. It's floating in the pool and they evacuate the pool because they think it's something else.

Your pics of CSR make me homesick. I hope I don't regret booking us at WL this time around. Sorry about Pepper Market. A couple times we picked up lunch from the QS and took it back to our room to eat. It was very good. As always, lots of food.

I was in Bethlehem last year for work. Ate at the brewery one night and the fondue place another time. What a great city. We are from Pa too...north of Williamsport in the PA Wilds.

Can't wait for your next installment.

 

[JeanetteK]

We had the same thoughts on Pepper Market. Just kind of meh. It did the job satisfying hunger, but not the greatest food around. We are so, so glad that we listened to you guys and tried out Maya Grill this year. We loved it! Not sure if we'll be there next year, as Dan is wanting to go back to Vegas (we were supposed to go there this year to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, but I talked him into Disney again). But, if we do end up in Disney, I'll be talking to Kristin for sure about when y'all are going back.

We, too, will always stay at CSR unless we can afford a deluxe one of these days (we almost booked Old Key West this year, but - again - I talked Dan into going back to CSR).

Looking forward to reading more