Prairie & Cole Families—April 18-22, 2011—Caribbean Beach Resort (Pirate Room)

[iheartwdw]

Prairie & Cole Families—April 18-22, 2011—Caribbean Beach Resort (Pirate Room)

(Pre-Trip Report)

Resort: My mom (39) and I (16) agreed during winter that we needed to get out of the cold weather and down to Florida to visit the grandparents and spend some time during spring break at WDW. We went ahead and booked a Pirate Room at Caribbean Beach in early March. We had been split at the time between whether to try Coronado Springs for the first time or to try the Pirate Rooms for the first time (though all the other members of our party have stayed at CBR before—my mom stayed there with her parents on her high school graduation trip :P). Ultimately, Coronado Springs was booked for the dates we needed and the Pirate Rooms sounded more exciting to our family anyway, so we ended up booking there.

Travel Method: We decided after much searching for affordable flights to Daytona Beach, near where my grandparents live, that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to pay when we could just as easily drive down now that there are two of us to cover the long drive (actually, we live quite a bit closer than most people on here seem to—only about 9 hours driving to my grandparents’, then another hour and fifteen minutes from the beach into Orlando). Though Mom still maintains hope that we may magically find a cheap flight a couple days before we travel, I’m not expecting us to, and I don’t think she is, either.

Ages and Disney Experience Represented in Group: As I said before, my mom and I are 40 and 17, respectively. My grandmother is in her mid-60s (not sure of her exact age) and my grandfather recently turned 70. Though they are older than us, they still have just as much energy for navigating the parks as ever—and because they are lucky enough to visit every other week, they know the ropes better than we annual visitors do!

Planning: As of today (March 20, 2011) we have not yet purchased our park tickets. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so we will be able to order them, but since so many people wait until they are at the park gates to buy their tix, we aren’t too worried. No car rental because my grandparents will be driving their car to the resort, and we generally just use Disney transportation while we’re on property (now that it’s the habit, it would throw us off to use our personal car on property—the buses sometimes are “part of the magic” if the driver is particularly entertaining or the bus is playing music from the parks)!

Along with this trip we are constantly busy planning our upcoming trip to DLR through my high school. We are going in late December through early January to be in the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade on January 2, in Pasadena, California. I am in the high school color guard (basically flag-twirlers) and the band and color guard are going to be in the parade. With a group of around 400 students, parents, and siblings, the planning going into the trip is enormous. We will be in Disneyland, in a parade there, on New Year’s Eve this year! It seems so far away but I’m thinking it will be here before we know it! Last year we got to do a WDW parade right down Main Street (AWESOME!) and I’m really excited to be having the same opportunity at another Disney theme park! Not sure if I should post that report in the DLR forum since we’ll only be at the parks a day or two, but we’ll see!

Hope to have more to write about soon! As for today, we went to the Disney Store in our local mall and bought a new 3” Vinylmation—only our second purchase. The first time we got Alice in Wonderland, but this time we just got a dog (can’t figure out what movie it’s from).

Thanks for reading, and have a magical day everyone!!

[Bkwrm3]

Wow, Emma, sounds like you, your Mom and Grandparents are set to have a great time. I hope you'll be writing a trip report because I'm one of those poor folks who do live far away from WDW and can only get there once every few years or so. Your upcoming trip to DLR sounds awesome too, girl!
Sharon

[pmilesdisneyfan]

Sounds like a wonderful trip ahead! Our family really loves CBR. Yes, definitely post a trip report to DLR! Congratulations on the upcoming Tournament of Roses parade - what a big deal! When I was in the band (25 years ago :P) we were invited to that parade but we couldn't go. Savor every moment!!!

[iheartwdw]

Thanks for reading and for the feedback! Can't wait to write all about the California trip in a few months!!

More of our plans have begun to fall into place since I last wrote, so I'll post a quick update . . .

We're planning to order our five-day park hopper tickets in the next couple days, then off to a quick weekend trip to Virginia Beach on Friday . . . it'll be cold, but good Disney-trip planning time with Mom! My grandparents have Annual Passes, so they obviously don't need to bother with ticket-ordering. Today we sat down and tried to figure out our game plan for what day to spend in which parks, and we figured we'd go from there on dining.

DAY 1--Monday, April 18, 2011
We should be up around 6:30 and then sleep on the hour-and-a-half car trip from Daytona (where my grandparents are) to Orlando. We'll go first to Caribbean Beach, drop off the car and (hopefully) check in. If need be, we'll take the phone number if our room isn't available yet and come back in the afternoon. But hopefully we'll arrive and our room will be ready to go. If so, we'll drop off our bags there and then proceed to coat down with sunscreen before catching the Magic Kingdom bus (maybe not the best day to tour MK, but it wouldn't feel right to us to start anywhere else). We'll do some rides, and probably grab lunch in MK (we usually don't do any table-service meals the first day because we're just so excited to be there and don't want to spend any extra time away from the park itself!). We generally do Columbia Harbour House or Pecos Bills when we're looking for quick-service meals in MK, but that could be just because we're always in Frontierland/Liberty Square around lunchtime . . . . Then more rides (got to check out the new Haunted Mansion queue and Splash Mountain lap bars!) and, when we're ready, probably head back to the hotel in the afternoon, either to check into our room if it wasn't ready that morning or to relax and enjoy the pool or a nap!

There aren't any evening EMH at the 4 theme parks, so we'll probably just end up going back to MK, since it's open until 1 a.m. Monday night. This is fine by me--even if MK offered EMH for this night, we wouldn't make it to 4 a.m.! Hopefully get some more rides and the parade/Magic, Memories, and You show in! We haven't really figured out dinner for this night--either we could do a very early meal at the hotel, try to get a reservation in MK, or plan on grabbing something from a counter-service place in MK. Suggestions?

DAY 2--Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Disney Gods were looking down upon our family when they made the calendar for our trip dates. Our next-favorite park, Epcot, has evening EMH the second day of our trip, so naturally we intend to at least end up there. In the morning, we can kind of wing it, but I'm hoping to run over to Hollywood Studios, get a couple early rides on Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror before we head over to Epcot. But I know our family better than that, and I'm gonna guess that if we're in DHS we'll end up riding the Great Movie Ride, and possibly even grabbing FastPasses for Toy Story Mania . . . we'll just have to wait and see. Ultimately, the important thing is that we get to spend time at all the parks and get to do at least our most beloved attractions while we're there.

For our midday break, we were thinking about going over to the BoardWalk area (all the Epcot resorts) for lunch, or, if we eat lunch in Epcot/DHS, for an afternoon snack. This is one of my family's favorite places on Disney property, and it has a great atmosphere for kids and adults. If needed, we'll go from there back to the hotel for a more extended rest, but if we're still going strong, we may just postpone our break. My guess is we'll end up back at CBR for some pool time, but I guess it depends on the weather and our exhaustion levels at this time.

When we head back to the parks, we'll probably go to Epcot, for the EMH. Gotta get rides on Test Track, Mission: Space, Spaceship Earth, and Soarin' in before it gets too late (maybe we'll go to Epcot early in the morning and get FastPasses then, and then head over to DHS?). Once we eat dinner (we're thinking about a LOT of possible places on this: La Cantina de San Angel, Sommerfest, Tangierine Cafe, or maybe La Hacienda de San Angel--so many yummy things from around the world to try!), we plan to spend some time just wandering World Showcase and enjoying some time to people-watch and hang out. We generally like to go to the Kringla Bakery og Kafe (my grandfather is Norwegian) for Kringla (we'll probably have to grab a churro at some point from the Cantina if we don't have dinner there). If the line isn't long, we may do Maelstrom when we go by, or the Gran Fiesta Tour. I definitely want to do Journey into Imagination with Figment. It's cute and never has a line!

Probably should stake out a good spot for IllumiNations, but what we did last time worked fairly well--grandparents found a spot they liked for all four of us, we sat down and enjoyed our dessert in that spot, and then either I or my mom and I did some quick shopping at the nearest shops while they enjoyed a break from all the walking. Then we all regrouped a little while before the show and had good seats and maybe even a couple souvenirs.

After IllumiNations we'll probably try to get a few more runs on our favorite attractions during the EMH (until midnight) before heading back to our Pirate Room.

DAY 3--April 20, 2011
I'm really not sure what we'll want to do today. It stands to reason that we might want to go to Animal Kingdom, since it would most likely be the only park left that we haven't seen on this trip, but I can't say what I'll feel like doing almost a month from now. So I'm going to leave that up to our future family, because I have a creeping suspicion that we may find ourselves back in Magic Kingdom for morning EMH. We'll see though--we mght feel like riding Everest or the Safari! Don't get me wrong, we all love AK for it's own unique magic, but it's going to be a crowded week at WDW and AK handles crowds a little worse than all the other parks. In addition, it always feels about 10 degrees hotter there than at the other 3 parks. So weather will play into our decision as well. If we go to AK, we might go to Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch. It's delicious, and there's a back patio dining area that is great and has a lovely view, if it isn't full.

A midday break will most likely be vital. We might even take this day to nap, rather than going to the hotel pool. Who knows what we'll feel like doing, though? Again, this is just a rough draft of our trip, and I can't predict what might change over the next few weeks.

We'll probably go to DHS in the afternoon because there are evening EMH, and I'd like to see Fantasmic if we can. Last year we came to WDW with the high school band (color guard for me!) and Fantasmic is one of my best memories from our last night there before heading home. My friends and I got to enjoy the show with good seats, and it was just really fun!

Park closes at 1 with the EMH, so another late night if we decide to stay the whole time. Maybe dinner at 50's Prime Time? I know this restaurant gets mixed reviews, but we've always enjoyed it. If we decide to go for quick service, we're definitely going to Backlot Express! Mom and I discovered this place in a rainstorm last year (grandparents were stuck at POR with a horrible stomach bug and told us to just go to the parks without them, it wasn't one of our better trips) and loved how low-profile it was. We ended up talking to a very nice CM who told us all about how he was going to University of Central Florida and was working for WDW via the Disney College Program. Really inspired me to look into it when I go to college in a year!

Anyways, this is probably not our most well-planned day, but I have faith that we'll do the right things for our family in terms of choosing which parks we'd like to spend time in. Knowing us, we'll go to AK this day just to knock out the biggies, then spend our remaining times at Epcot and MK the last 2 days of our trip.

DAY 4--April 21, 2011
I think we'll start this day at MK. There are morning EMH there all week long, so it's not a bad bet for mornings on any day. Maybe we'll grab breakfast from the Bakery or something after getting a few rides in during that first hour. If we haven't done them already, I think this day will be our day for all relaxing rides. PeopleMover, PhilharMagic, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Peter Pan, and other relaxing attractions. I'm sure we'll end up doing Big Thunder, Splash, and Space Mountains (probably multiple times), but I think our focus should be on enjoying some down time. Maybe we'll take a break and head over to the Polynesian for a little while. My grandparents were married there and it was the first resort I stayed at, when we came when I was 6.

We'll definitely have to make our way over to Adventureland for a Dole Whip (actually, I guess we could get it at the Poly, but it's kind of a tradition for us to get it in Adventureland and then either do the Treehouse or Jungle Cruise). And Mom and I always enjoy doing the Mad Tea Party in the evening, when the lights are on. Her favorite thing at WDW is being at the top of the Swiss Family Treehouse right at dusk, with the sun setting and the beautiful views of the castle and Space Mountain and all of MK. It's beautiful, and we try to squeeze it in on every trip.

No EMH here, but the park's open til 1 a.m. anyway. So we'll be able to just decide what time we want to head back to CBR.

Day 5--April 22, 2011
Check out :( this is always a very sad part of our trip. We'll have to load up the car and pick which park we'd like to end up at. Actually, we haven't decided whether we're going to go to the parks on this day or reserve it for Downtown Disney and enjoying some of the hotels. Regardless, this is the day we've made NO plans for and intend to just "wing it" in case we wake up that day and realize we just can't go home without experiencing something one more time.

Any input on our plans, dining suggestions, or other ideas are welcome! We have put some time into this but haven't set anything in stone yet.

Thank you for reading!

[iheartwdw]

Almost time to go! Have a few last-minute questions regarding current happenings at the parks, but I'll post them in the other forum in case no one on here answers...
1. Is the Main Street Electrical Parade still running at Magic Kingdom? I thought it was, but Disney's Web site is kind of ambiguous regarding it and SpectroMagic.
2. If Magic Kingdom has Morning Extra Magic Hours the entire week we're there (opening at 7 a.m.), will the opening festivities still happen at 8 a.m., like they usually would, or will they happen at 7 instead? Thanks so much guys! We are SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!

[iheartwdw]

Final Trip Report (April 18-22, 2011)

We had a wonderful vacation and came home last night! Disney was extremely crowded this trip however, which we attributed to the Easter holidays and spring breaks across the country. Though we’ve traveled during my school’s spring break before, I think most school systems try to stagger them, but with the holidays so late, it seemed that everyone got spring break on the same week. The crowds didn’t keep us out, though, and we learned how to use our time wisely and were able to do basically everything we’d intended to do when planning this trip!

Day 1 (April 18, 2011)
We woke up just after 7 at my grandparents’ house. I showered and dressed, then packed up my suitcase. We ate breakfast together and watched the news (my mother and I narrowly escaped a line of severe tornados back home on Saturday, but had confirmation that our home was not damaged, but the nearest tornado destroyed businesses less than two miles away) to see the local storm damage.

We headed out after 8:30 (our intended departure time), but it didn’t end up affecting us much. Our party did something unusual for us this time and took two separate cars to Disney. My grandfather had to leave Disney on Wednesday afternoon so that he could go to work on Thursday, but he was originally planning to come back on Friday (mostly to help us pack up the cars and stuff—he likes Disney, but the first three days would certainly be enough for him since they go all the time). My mom knew this and convinced him to stay at home and play golf on Friday, and that we would have “girl time.” So Mom and I were in our car (we’d driven down to FL) and my grandparents were in their car.

We arrived at Caribbean Beach Resort around 10:15 or so and had to wait in a pretty decent line before we were able to check in. Then we had to explain that my grandfather was leaving for two of the four nights, because there was a cost difference in having 2 adults and having 3 adults in the room, and my grandmother was unwavering in getting the hotel to refund my mom the $15 or so for each night that my granddad wouldn’t be there. To our surprise (Disney was obviously busy, just from what we had seen along I-95 and here at the resort), our room was all ready to go.

We drove from Custom House where you check in to Trinidad South and parked in a corner of the parking lot that was shady and pretty much empty. We carried all our bags up in one trip (a miracle really—by the end of the trip it was taking us three trips) and LOVED the pirate room! So cute! In the future, if we were going to stay at Caribbean Beach again, we’d probably get a regular room that was closer to Old Port Royale (where the main pool, food court, gift shop, etc. are), but not because we didn’t like the pirate room. The only issue was the remoteness from the rest of the resort.

Our room wasn’t too far from the bus stop and the “island pool” (each island at the resort has its own pool and the big, Spanish-fort-themed pool is at Old Port Royale). Our view wasn’t bad, it overlooked the courtyard between the different Trinidad South buildings. We were on the second floor of building 38, and didn’t pay to get a water view.

Though we were enjoying our room, we were all eager to get to the parks! We took the bus to Magic Kingdom and were thrilled to discover that the bus came so quickly. My grandparents had stayed at Caribbean Beach a couple times over the past several years and their only complaint was the slow-running bus system. This would reoccur later on in our trip, but on the first day we got lucky. When we got to Magic Kingdom, I think each of us was secretly discouraged. It was jam packed. And it was so hot! We’d been to the beach the day before with my grandparents and had been so cold we’d had to leave! Now we were here and we were all talking about how it had been cooler last August when we’d been here.

First stop was Guest Relations. My grandmother has been through a lot in the last few years: she has a serious knee problem that has acted up since she had surgery on it a few years ago, but it doesn’t bother her when she walks, only when she stands still for long periods of time. This becomes an issue when we have to stand in unmoving lines. Also, she was involved in a drunk driver’s extreme accident, where the driver hit a woman from behind at a red light. The impact pushed that woman’s car into the back of my grandmother’s, and since then it has caused her a lot of neck and back problems, so she’s been doing a lot of physical therapy. The Disney people were extremely understanding and helped us out by letting her have alternate access to certain attractions so that she wouldn’t have to just stand there while her knees hurt her.

When we came out of there, the afternoon parade was just starting. We stood and watched it, and of course it was great and fun :) The four of us headed for Adventureland by taking the bridge over near Crystal Palace. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean first, which had a 40 minute wait (it seems like it never gets that long!) but were ushered through a gate behind-the-scenes and entered the ride through a backstage door. I really believe without my grandmother with us we would have ended up waiting most of the trip in lines. Pirates was good, but the effect at the beginning with Davy Jones wasn’t working!

It was getting to be lunchtime by now, so we decided on Diamond Horseshoe. If you didn’t know, Disney put extra coupons in the Times Guides at all 4 parks during the week we were there that gave you 25% off your meal purchase if you ate before 11:30 a.m. or between 3 and 4:30 p.m. at certain restaurants at each park. We didn’t use the coupon this time (we were too late) but it was good to know. Diamond Horseshoe had been like an oasis last summer, because it seemed like no one even knew about it when we entered the place in August. There were empty tables everywhere and no masses. This time was the opposite. It took us quite a while to get through the line and find a table upstairs (where it’s more like eating at a bar than at a table). We were all thinking we shouldn’t have come this week if it was going to be like this. Mom and I split a barbecue-chicken sandwich and apples, which was pretty good.

Then we went to Haunted Mansion, which again had a long wait. We were sent through the exit of the attraction to get on at the exit and then just stay on. The effect at the end with the hitchhiking ghosts is AWESOME!!!!! The ghost we had took our heads off and switched them! SO cool!

We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad just for fun really quick after that, but it was even a bit of a wait for the FastPass line (which is how they handled my grandmother’s disability at this attraction). Then Splash Mountain, which was fun of course. We were in the back row and managed to avoid the worst of the wetness.

By this point we’d had enough of the crowds. We decided to go to Epcot because it always seems to handle crowds better than the other parks. I was getting a little panicked just because we’d been at MK for several hours and had managed to do only four rides, and wouldn’t have even been able to do them without the special assistance for my grandma.

We stopped at the bakery along the way down Main Street. I got a yummy chocolate croissant. After I finished, I went next-door to the glass-blowing store and bought a beautiful ring. I got a ring from the store inside the castle (before Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique) when I was 6 and still have it and, now that I’m old enough for my finger to fit into it, I wear it all the time. Ten years later, I decided I needed another Disney ring.

Then we took the monorail over to Epcot. During the monorail ride where you circle through Epcot, we were all relieved to see that it was emptier than MK had been. Thank goodness! We stopped at the Art of Animation store near Spaceship Earth. An artist was in there displaying his work, which was very good. We enjoyed looking at all the stuff in there.

Then we went to Club Cool (like I said, it was a HOT week in Orlando) and got our free little drinks to cool off. I got the Krest ginger ale from Mozambique. Then we walked over to Soarin’ and went through the FastPass line there. Such a wonderful ride!

We went ahead and did Living with the Land since it didn’t have a line and we hadn’t done it in a few trips. It turned out to be a really fun ride. I especially like the baby alligators :) and all the vegetables and fruits are fun to watch during springtime when they’re really growing.

We decided we wanted Kringla for breakfast the next morning, so we went to Norway for dinner and to pick up the next morning’s meal. We ended up splitting up a Kringla for dessert and getting two (which would give each of us a half) for breakfast. We ate a lot of times on this trip, but we split meals or got kid’s meals everywhere, so we got hungry quick! Mom and I split the apple-and-turkey sandwich at the Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe. It was pretty good, but the Kringla was yummier!

Then we did Spaceship Earth, which is always a necessity. We made funny faces when they take your picture, and then of course when we exited the ride they were up on the huge screen on the map of the world. Greattttt.

Now we took the bus back to Caribbean Beach because we were kind of tired. We got off at Old Port Royale and went to the food court to get orange juices for the next morning. The guy working there gave me a free cupcake! My family was teasing me about it for the rest of the day…but it was delicious. We walked around and checked out the big pool, and also took a look at Trinidad South’s beach. It was very private and quiet, and so pretty.

We rested in our room for a little while, and I changed clothes. After a while, Mom and I took the bus to Magic Kingdom, but my grandparents decided they had done enough for the day and went to bed early. Mom and I headed for PeopleMover. We noticed that it was no longer being called Tomorrowland Transit Authority, but that the sign now reads PeopleMover again. I was surprised but glad, because we’d never stopped calling it PeopleMover in the first place! Then we rode Space Mountain (we’d picked up FastPasses for it earlier in the day, since we knew we’d want to ride later). We love this ride!!

She bought us popcorn and drinks from the cart just outside Space Mtn. and then we walked toward Main Street to get a good view of Wishes. The Magic, the Memories, and You show (projected onto the castle) was excellent! I have no idea how they use their Disney magic to make this show incredible, but it was definitely a must for people who haven’t seen it before. It is shown just before Wishes, so make sure you try to catch it if you have a vacation coming up! Then we watched Wishes. We both got to talking later about how much we wondered one performance of Wishes costs for Disney. Fireworks must be so expensive, and to put on such an extravagant show each night must be costly.

Then we walked over to Fantasyland and rode it’s a small world before staking out a good viewing spot for the Main Street Electrical Parade. We’re so glad Disney is still displaying this classic parade! Wonder if SpectroMagic will ever return…I think we enjoy the music of MSEP more in our family. Then we saw PhilharMagic, which is my favorite 3-D movie Disney has done.

Afterwards we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventures. I had a horrible experience on this ride as a child and have still not totally conquered the phobia. I rode it in an effort to convince myself that I wasn’t scared of the ride but…I still am. The witch’s orange eyes just creep me out, and I spent the entire ride with my eyes closed, except the dwarf scenes and the end when Snow White is okay.

For some reason (I don’t remember in retrospect), we did PeopleMover again before doing some shopping on Main Street and heading back to the hotel. Overall, we had an excellent first day. Disney was crowded and hot, but we were determined to make it a successful vacation.

Day 2 will come soon! Thanks everyone!

[iheartwdw]

Day 2
April 19, 2011

We started out our day pretty early in the room. I got a shower and then dressed before coating down in sunscreen. We ate our Kringla in the room and talked about the big upcoming wedding in England because it was on the news in our room.

We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom because we had only a few things we wanted to do there. The Extra Magic Hours today were at Epcot, so we knew we wanted to end up there at some point later on in the day.

First we headed for the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We were there pretty early, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that AK was relatively uncrowded, especially after MK had been so overrun the day prior. The safari was the best we ever had—we saw almost all the animals and had a funny tour guide. Our family even got to sit in the front row of the jeep!

My memory is blurred here. I kept impeccable records of what we did and in what order, but for some reason, they were completely wiped out between when I wrote the first day of our trip and now. I’ll do the best I can to roughly reconstruct the rest of our days. Stupid technology—I should’ve hand-written our itinerary instead.

I’m pretty sure we rode Expedition Everest next, which was even more fun than I remembered! Then we decided to eat an early lunch so we could use the 25% off coupon out of the Times Guide (this was offered the entire week of our visit). We ate at Restaurantasaurus. It was pretty tasty, and relatively empty when we decided to eat because it was still so early. I got chicken tenders and my mom and grandmother got salads, and my grandfather got a burger or sandwich. We found an adorable table inside an old-fashioned RV off in a side room of the main dining area.

Afterwards, Mom and I rode Dinosaur quickly before doing the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We loooove to watch the tigers play; they remind us so much of how our house cats play with each other.

Next we took the bus to Hollywood Studios, where we rode Great Movie Ride (wonderful—and we got to ride in the front row again!), Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, and Rock n’ Roller Coaster. All of these are such great rides! We decided to go back to the hotel to enjoy our pool though, because it was pretty crowded in the parks at this point and we were tired from getting up and out early. So far, though, we were all in agreement that it had been a successful morning.

The hotel pool was a great reprieve from the hot, crowded park. We got non-alcoholic drinks from the Banana Cabana (pool bar) and relaxed in the lounge chairs while we sipped them. I probably should’ve gone swimming before enjoying the drink, though, because I was chilled from the icy drink by the time I got into the pool, and the water was chilly! Still, once I got used to it, it was so relaxing.

After changing back into park-appropriate clothes, we rested for a little longer in our hotel room before we took the bus to Epcot.

My brain is soooo fuzzy at this point, but I’ll do the best I can. I think we went to the Land first, to eat at Sunshine Seasons. I got a kid’s meal of Mac & Cheese, as did my mom (neither of us was very hungry). After that we walked over to Canada to watch the O Canada! movie. Believe it or not, we still hadn’t seen the updated version, even though it’s been in place for years. We liked it a lot!

My grandparents were getting tired and it was just starting to get dark, so they headed back to the hotel while Mom and I worked our way around World Showcase and took in many of the pavilions. We tried to see the France movie, but it had already shown its last performance for the night. We peeked into the pizzeria in Italy and also did some shopping at each of the countries we passed. Eventually IllumiNations began and we watched from the America pavilion.

We rode Test Track before heading back to the hotel. It had been an early morning, and we knew we hadn’t done a whole lot at Epcot, despite the extra hours, but we also knew that we’d need to save up our energy if we were going to be doing this for the next 3 days.

More soon!

[WdwGurl4life]

Emma, I have to say, you write beautifully for a 17 yr old!

I love the detail in your report. It makes me so excited that I TOTALLY understand everything you talk about, and relate to it. I LOVE Disney World- 9 days till I am there!! I can;t wait to read the rest!!

[Teenkerbell]

Emma, I have to say, you write beautifully for a 17 yr old!

I agree. Your writing style is wonderful, and your grammar is spot-on.

I'm loving reading about your trip. Keep the awesome details coming!

[Guardboy21]

[QUOTE I am in the high school color guard (basically flag-twirlers) and the band and color guard are going to be in the parade. ]

No way, I'm in color guard too!!!!!!! Yes, i'm a guy, but it dosen't matter

[TinaMouse]

Emma, another great trip report so far! I love that your grandparents have so much get-up-and-go. And your grandfather wanting the $15 a night off for those 2 nights? PRICELESS!!! LOLOLOL!!!

Looking forward to more.