Hey all, we’re at approximately the halfway point of the trip and I’m waiting on the rest of the family to finish breakfast/shower before heading off to animal kingdom, so I figured I’d start my trip report.
First Caribbean beach resort is BEAUTIFUL. It’s our first time staying here and I got the exact room I requested through touring plans. Very pleased with that. We’re starting in the Jamaica section, approximately a 3 minute walk to the lobby/pool and about a 5 minute walk to the skyliner. The only issue we’re having with the resort is strangely enough, the electric outlets in the room. They’re very…loose? Like your plugs just randomly fall out of them loose. Every person in our group has already had their phone/watch not charge overnight at least once already because of this. Very weird and annoying. Other than that, the room is comfortable, the pool is a pool and nicely themed. I’ve taken a nap in a hammock on the beach already and we have frequented banana cabana ( the pool bar) twice now. The pull apart rolls with onion jam are a highlight.
Another Caribbean beach highlight, you can see the Epcot and magic kingdom fireworks from here, and you can see the top of spaceship earth, so the nighttime shows are a nice addition while you sip rum at the pool bar.
Epcot always seems like the park we miss out on stuff the most. It’s hard to balance the rides with the cool festival stuff and cram it all into one day. We attempted to save some time by splurging on genie plus and paying for remy and frozen. Eh, I said I wouldn’t, but when you’re staring down the barrel of 90 minute waits, one tends to make dumb decisions. We rope dropped test track, then LL’d Soarin’, living with the land (which had a 30 min wait!) figment, Nemo, before our Frozen and Remy passes. In all, we knocked all the rides out before 1pm with a 10:30 entry.
From there, we did a couple laps around world showcase eating festival food (the kahlua pork was a highlight).
About world showcase… Pictures online can not prepare you for how big the doom tacos are. They are so much bigger then I thought… And you can’t look at anything without noticing them. Oh, Junior check out the cool LEDs on spaceship earth. Doom tacos. Check out the lights on the Christmas tree! Doom tacos. Oh hey, the Norway barn Santa is out. Doom tacos. Ugh.
That being said. Harmonious was actually a wonderful show. Videos also do not do it justice. I actually plan on catching again Saturday after we do candlelight processional.
All in all, loved Epcot, it’s my favorite park. Genie plus was sadly worth it and the festival of the holidays is always fun.
First of two days at Hollywood studios, so we chose to go easy. Junior and I rope dropped RRC, then used genie plus for a TOT LL. The family did some shopping while I enjoyed a beer and watched a couple cavalcades. The park really busy and LLs went faster than I anticipated. By 1030, all slinky dog LLs were gone for the day and the only MFSR available was at 8 in the evening. I was rather unhappy with that news. We did get to ride ROTR(which was AMAZING) and MMRR. Junior and I then built lightsabers, capping off a ridiculously expensive day, totally worth it.
Much needed break day tomorrow. 13,567 steps: 6.4 miles
@loch I prob walked right past you at CBR! We were staying at Jamaica too at the exact same time! I totally agree with you on the resort! It was our 1st time too and I loved it! Sorry we missed a Liner meet!
I know it definitely has some mixed reviews but you should try it! I’ve only stayed at moderate hotels at Disney so my frame of reference isn’t wide. Even though I love POR, I would pick CBR again for our next trip. That’s how much we enjoyed it. The Skyliner, view of the lake, the pool and renovated rooms/lobby were all great! And the CM’s were so friendly and helpful! Big thumbs up!
Where was I? Dec 2? Now that I’m sitting in MCO far away from Disneys dreadful Wi-Fi and even worse T-Mobile reception I can continue on.
Break day. Junior hit the resort pool, whilst I sipped a rum drink pool side. We made our way to Disney springs for Gideons cookies and dinner at morimoto Asia, which was fantastic. Junior met his favorite YouTube vlogger in line at Gideons, which was neat.
Unpopular opinion: Gideons is overrated. The peanut butter cold brew was nice and the Kringle cookie was ok, but not worth waiting 45 minutes for.
