Family of LSU Tiger Fan's stay at CSR 3/7-3/12.....*Day 6 finally completed!* About This Page:

[baileygirlsmom]

Can't wait for the rest! We leave in 4 days!!! [img]graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img]

[joyjoy]

I hope you loved CSR! I can't believe you're already back. Looking forward to the rest of your TR. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Mouseketeer]

Enjoying the beginning of your report! You arrived at WDW the day before my trip ended. I didn't know you could buy after 2pm passes at the hotels, this is good information for future trips.

Lynda

[LSUtigerfan]

Okay, now where were we...Ahh...visions of the entrance to MK are coming back to me! Today was absolutely beautiful, it was sunny with a few clouds, temp. in the mid 70's with a wonderful breeze in the air. So, up to the security check point we went, why don't they check beneath the strollers? I had all sorts of things in the basket under our stroller, but they never even glanced at it, I sure hope the security tightens in the future. Then we go to the turnstiles to enter the park. Now, the last time dh & I were at WDW was in 1996, before they had the wonderful computerized system [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] (you'll see what I mean on day 5), so we asked the CM which way to insert our tickets. Well my dh accidentally handed her the 4 day PH pass instead of the "after 2pm" pass we purchased for this day. The CM started to put it in when I yelled, "No, wait! That's the wrong ticket!" I then asked her if it went through, and she said "No" and I asked if she was sure, and she again replied that it did not. So, we gave her the correct tickets and proceeded into MK. (The CM's response would prove to be inaccurate...more of that on day 5).

We enter the park and immediately realize that we left Princess Face's autograph book at the resort, so we stop & get her a new one along with a Winnie the Pooh oversized autograph pen (now I'm using it to write bills at home!) Thank goodness we stopped for that purchase, because we saw Baloo & King Louie, Gov. J Ratcliffe, and Meeko in front of Tony's/Town Square Exposition Hall. We did not stand in line for Dopey or Pinnochio...not sure why? Just didn't. Baloo was great & King Louie doesn't sign autographs, my dd loved getting the autographs and we probably stood in line for more autographs than rides/attractions during this trip! Next we made our way down Main Street & caught the parade in front of the castle. We also met our friends while we watched the parade, their dd's are 3 yrs. (another B-day girl!) and 5 1/2 months (most well behaved person on the trip, honestly!). Princess Face was so excited to see that her Paran (Godfather) & his family came to her birthday party at WDW. It really made it special for her to have a friend there (their 3 yr. old) to ride the rides & giggle with. The parade was precious, Grumpette actually smiled, yelled "Mouse" and clapped her hands, while Princess Face sat on her Paran's shoulders & cheered for all but the villains. She was booing and stuck her tongue out at them, especially the Wicked Stepmother.

Next, we went to Fantasyland. The fast passes for Pooh were already gone, so we got FP's for Peter Pan. Our first magical moment was on Cinderella's Golden Carrousel. We were all so excited, grinning ear to ear, to finally be getting on our first ride at MK. The CM lets us on & we marched around the ride trying to find a vacant horse...there were none to be found, the ride was full! So, I told the CM that it was my dd's birthday (actually tomorrow) and she said, "Be sure to find Cinderella's special golden horse, he has a gold bow tied around his tail." So, MIL & I watched the carousel go round and round and round [img]graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img] until we spotted it. When it was our turn, we made a mad dash for the special horse and Princess Face was beaming as she announced to everyone that she was riding on Cinderella's horse! I'm sure they had no clue what she was talking about. **Complaint here: People were entering through the exit on this ride (it was ony a 5 min. wait)...adults teaching their kids good habits! That's a big southern hospitality "no-no." Anyway, everyone loved this ride, except dh who stayed on the sidelines to video, he doesn't like spinning rides. Next we rode It's a Small World (no wait), used our FP's for Peter Pan, Dumbo (10 min wait), Snow White's Scary Adventures (no wait),and the Tea Cups (10 min wait). One word of caution, on the Peter Pan ride my 5 yr old dd couldn't decide if she was going to ride with us or her grandparents, so she got in my MIL & FIL's pirate ship at the last minute & the safety bar came down on her cheek. This scared her more than it hurt, I hope. She did have a red mark on her face, and kept asking why "that ride did that."

We were finally ready to travel to "infinity and beyond!"...so we grabbed FP's for Buzz (although it was only a 20 min. wait!) because it started to drizzle a little. We rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority while we waited for our FP time, which was only about 20 mins. away. This was a nice relaxing ride, especially since we had been awake since 4am! And of course, I could not sleep the night before, just like the commercial, only dh was sawing logs next to me...no one to share the anticipation with...poor, poor, pitiful me (I like to quote different songs here & there!)

Sorry for the digression, now it's 6:20pm and we have 6:30 PSR at Chef Mickey's!!! Don't you just hate late people? Well, MIL & I call it fashionably late! Luckily, we only had to wait ~15 minutes. It was crowded, and there was a sea of strollers at the entrance, very cluttered I must say, although mine was right along with them. Mary Poppins would have been disappointed. We were seated along the back wall of the restaurant, the murals were cute. Our table was decorated with metallic, Mickey shaped confetti for the birthday girls (our friend's dd & our dd). First, I went to the buffet line & filled 2 plates for our dd's enjoyment. They ate the usual fare: pizza, chicken, mac & cheese, & fresh fruit for Grumpette. I loved the Mickey ravioli (so did Grumpette, until I put them on her plate) and parmesan mashed potatoes. Everyone else raved over the prime rib, they said it was really delicious & tender. MIL said the boiled shrimp weren't seasoned. The rest of the meal was a blur, I sampled every dessert (almost). I do remember the chocolate mousse pie and the key lime pie (better than @ CSR), actually the only thing I tasted that I didn't care for was the mac & cheese. It was terrible, unless you like Stouffer's, my dd's wouldn't eat it either, Easy Mac by Kraft is much better in my opinion. Chef Mickey, Minnie, & Dale came around to our table for birthday kisses, hugs, autographs & pictures. Goofy never came, but we saw him from afar. The girls had special birthday cupcakes & received keepsake placemats from the restaurant. Of course, we sang Happy Birthday and joined in the celebration in the restaurant with spinning napkins & all (everybody watch your eyes!) When Minnie came to our table she noticed the Minnie Mouse outfit bib that Grumpette was wearing, and she paid her lots of extra attention for it! Grumpette loves Minnie & especially Mickey. We all had a wonderful time at Chef Mickey's and would like to try their breakfast next time!

We were all so exhausted, so we finally left the restaurant & headed for the monorail...or so we thought. It was pouring down rain outside, we knew we had to transfer to a bus at MK, so we stopped at a gift shop in the Contemporary. This was an hour long pit stop. MIL wanted to get Princess Face an outfit to wear to CRT in the morning (Yes, I was able to get a PSR for CRT on a Saturday morning, which happened to be her 5th birthday...and on my first try!). So, they tried on several different outfits and finally decided on the complete Minnie Mouse ensemble. She had the dress, socks, shoes, purse and ears. It was too cute to say the least. New Orleans "yats" would say she looked gorgeous (you have to say it like gawgeous...like the beginning of "gawdy"---no she didn't look gawdy). Grumpette & I browsed the pin trading area while dh shopped & FIL slept in the lobby on a bench! We finally left CR via the monorail, transfered to our CSR bus and made it to our room. It only took about 20-30 minutes total. The girls were already asleep & I think the adults were sleep walking. Showered, laid out clothes for tomorrow, called for wake up call (6:57 am) and got into bed. Turned on the weather channel & realized...our package! I had mailed a package via UPS to our resort with food, room decorations, etc. in it. So I called guest services and they bring the box to our room.

Now I thought dh was going to kill me, but he got up and helped me decorate the room, I think Grumpy was more into it than I was! Wow, Disney just has that effect on you! We decorated the room with pink & purple crepe paper, a Disney Princess banner, and balloons. Thank goodness I remembered to put Scotch tape in the box. Dh even hung crepe paper streamers from the ceiling fan. Imagine the mousekeepers surprise when she came in our room [img]graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] ! I also set out 2 Minnie beanies, one was a March Minnie dressed in a shamrock dress with a birthstone necklace, and the other Minnie matched her new Minnie outfit. Now, we could finally go to sleep...

Favorite Rides/Attractions: Princess Faces favorites were Cindy's Carrousel, Tea Cups & Buzz Lightyear. Grumpette's favorites were the Carrousel, Dumbo and Small World. The adults loved Buzz & TTA (because we needed to sit for awhile).

Magical Moments for today: Getting an upgrade on both of our rooms to a lake view! Finding Cinderella's horse on the carrousel and dd riding on it. Most magical moment was seeing MK through my dd's eyes for the first time, they each had their own marvelous reactions [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

First Impressions: This is going to e a great trip! We love our resort, it is beautiful and has awesome buses. Our bus stop is right outside our bldg & I'm glad we are in 8B, the pool is really close too. The buses come around very quickly, about every 5-10 minutes in the morning. It's great having friends & family here with us. Princess Face is really enjoying the character autographs. And finally, I am going to gain 5 pounds on this trip!

Next: Princess Face's Royal Birthday Celebration at CRT and Epcot

Hope y'all enjoy this TR...constructive criticism is welcomed by all, except grammar teachers! Call me a rebel, because I love to begin sentences with conjunctions! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Lea,

I can tell I am going to love this report, given your dessert detail so far! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Great start - please tell us more about the after 2:00 p.m. pass. I have never heard of it before. Is it only available at the resorts?

Looking forward to hearing all about Princess Face's (great name! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] ) birthday!

[LSUtigerfan]

Okay, while I'm on a roll I'll try to add day 2. It will probably come in 2 parts because this was an exceptionally magical day! But hopefully I can finish it tonight. So without further adieu, here is
Day 2: Princess Face's Royal Birthday Celebration at CRT and Epcot!

6:57am...ring...ring...I turn over and hit the speaker phone button (I familiarized myself with it's location last night!) It's Mickey...he says, "Up and at 'em!" they can't wait to see us! Princess Face opens her eyes & says, "Was that Mickey? What did he say?" All the while I'm staring at pink & purple streamers hanging above my bed, wondering how long could it possibly take for the birthday girl to notice. She says, "Hey! Who did this to our room?" We told her Mickey must have come in last night while we were asleep...only little white lies. She was so excited! We knocked on our connecting door & woke the grandparents. They loved the new decor. The balloons kept Grumpette very busy while we dressed Princess Face in her Minnie "get-up." She looked adorable, but I just knew the outfit (especially the shoes) wouldn't last the entire day, so I packed a change of clothes in the backpack. Boy, was I wrong about that! We all finished dressing and we opened our door to a beautiful partly cloudy, and rather balmy day. I made sure the backpack contained our $ 0.87 Wal-Mart rain ponchos... To the bus stop and beyond!

Our PSR at CRT was at 9:45 am...I was rather bummed out about the late seating, but hey, who's complaining? This late seating would prove to be the best time! So, we walk to our bus stop and I find myself humming "Zip a Dee Do Dah" as I envision walking down Main Street, busy with people, & a CM off in the distance in front of Casey's Corner selling balloons (are y'all there yet? Can you see it too?) Quit daydreaming!!! Here comes our bus! We hop on the bus to MK, and it was a nice ride. I'm looking out of the window and I tell my family, "It's amazing how much WDW has grown since 1996, there's so much to see. I'm actually noticing things I didn't see on our ride (to MK) yesterday." Then I have this feeling of warmth come over me and my stomach drops (no, we didn't hit a bump) [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Do my ears deceive me? Did our bus driver say we were at Animal Kingdom? No way! We stop & 2 couples get off of the bus and 3 other parties (including us) sit there in amazement! Animal Kingdom? We thought the sign said Magic Kingdom..."No Ma'am, this bus is for Animal Kingdom." Everyone looked confused. Dh went to talk to the driver, along with another man, and our driver said he'd take us to MK. Whew, I did not want to miss our PSR for CRT! I still think we were right! Anyone else have a similar experience?

Thank goodness we left our resort a little early, we made it to CRT with 5 minutes to spare. When we were checking in there was a family in front of us who had extra family members with them. Being the nosy (but helpful) person that I am, I heard the Dad of the family tell the Mom that he & the grandpa & someone else would stay behind while they ate in the castle. Well we had ressies for 10, and our friends declined on the b'fast (they ate there in Dec.) so we had a table for 4 that wasn't being used. (When I made the ressie the CM said we would have 2 tables, one for 6 & one for 4 people.) Well, the Mother looked so relieved and thanked me graciously, but old Cruella behind the podium announced that we could not give them the table for 4..."It doesn't work like that!" I felt so sorry for that family...not sure what they eventually did. We went inside and waited at least 30 minutes to be seated. Princess Face visited with the Fairy Godmother while Grumpette showed her true colors. All she wanted to do was go up & down the stairs, so I let her...until people started coming down from the restaurant. She almost wore herself out, I think she really worked up an appetite, because by the time we were seated she was fit to be tied! She fussed & cried until the food arrived. I'm jumping ahead of myself...the table was beautiful. We were seated right in the middle of the restaurant, but still had a view out of the windows. Our table was decorated with that metallic Mickey shaped confetti again! Our server was Gustavo, he was phenomenal, when it came time to sing Happy Birthday, he had the whole restaurant join in! No other server did this. Many, many thanks to him. He called Princess Face his "Boss" throughout the entire meal because she was dressed like Minnie Mouse. He brought us our delicious breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, sausage links, potato casserole (yummy!), stuffed french toast with blueberries, fresh muffins & croissants, yogurt with granola, french toast sticks for our dd's and last but certainly not least, the freshest most delicious fruit (even fresh, sweet blueberries). Grumpette & I just love fresh fruit. The honeydew melon was so tasty, it kept her busy for awhile, then she hit the bacon. I loved (and ate) everything but the yogurt, it was too soupy for my taste. My dh was in heaven, pretty women & b'fast food at the same time...what more could he ask for? I'm talking about me, our dd's & his mother, of course [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] !!! Our Princesses of the day were Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Mary Poppins and Snow White. My review of the princesses:
Cinderella: She was wonderful, a very close second to Mary Poppins. She was beautiful and very loving toward my dd's. She told Princess Face that her castle was the only place she could stand on the furniture & prompted her to stand in her chair for the ultimate photo op!
Belle: Was very sweet, I saw her sitting on the floor behind me playing with the b-day boy next to us, she did this for about 5 minutes. Gotta love that last seating...lots of extra time & attention! [img]graemlins/pout.gif[/img] Why don't they let her wear her beautiful yellow ball gown?
Aurora/Sleeping Beauty: My least favorite, although she was good and left a great impression on the b-day girl, I thought she was a little reserved. Her wig didn't look right either.
Mary Poppins: She was the best. You can tell that she has done her homework on this character. She was very witty and answered all of Princess Faces questions beautifully. Like when she asked her, "Why don't my toys go in the toy box when I snap my fingers like you do?" She told her she, "Mustn't be doing it properly" all with her British accent. By the time we left Princess Face was singing Just a Spoon Full of Sugar and was telling me, "I sure hope the wind changes soon, so she can come to my house!" Mary Poppins was "most delightful" in our book.
Snow White: She was very bubbly and very true to the character. She paid lots of special attention to Grumpette, since she is nicknamed after one of the dwarfs. She also got to see one of Grumpette's nasty little faces she makes at all strangers [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ! Poor Snow White.
We never felt rushed, which is probably the most common complaint I've heard about CRT. In retrospect, this was by far our favorite character meal. There wasn't a negative to be found and was worth every penny--except Cruella who checked us in. CRT lived up to every expectation that I had, & scored a perfect 10 by everyone in our party of 6.

We finally exited the castle and was on our way to Fantasyland when we noticed Cinderella was out on the balcony waving to the crowd. We stopped to wave at her & she waved, blew kisses to our dd's, and even remembered Princess Face's name & wished her a Happy Birthday from the balcony! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] This was so special for our dd on her 5th birthday! She proceeded to tell Cinderella how she rode on her horse yesterday, and Cinderella said, "Oh! Did you find him? The one with the golden bow on it's tail?" Wow! It's true, that is her horse...uh oh, the secret's out! Did any of y'all know about it, or am I the last one on the planet to hear about this?

We decided to go to Epcot, because Princess Face wanted to see China.

Next: Day 2 continued...Our trip around the world (showcase, that is) and our encounter with Beverly...she's not very nice!

[LSUtigerfan]

[img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] Thanks for all of the kind remarks about my first TR! Hope it's not too long! I'll try to finish day 2 tonight, after the President speaks... God help our nation & Bless the USA [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img] !

Tikibird & Mouseketeer: The after 2:00 pm passes were recommended by a CM at our resort, Coronado Springs. We decided to purchase our passes at the resort instead of at MK, for convenience purposes. When I asked the CM if we could add a day to our 4 day parkhopper tickets, he said that we could not because they had no monetary value since they were complimentary passes. So, I was going to have to purchase 1 day passes and he told me that if I wanted to purchase them now at the resort, they had special "After 2pm" passes. They were only $35 each vs. $53 (I think) for a 1 day ticket at the gate. He said they were only available at the resort [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] , boy was I excited! So, we purchased them and went to MK for the rest of the day. I think I bought them right at 2pm, so I don't know if you can buy them at say, 12:00 noon and save them for entry after 2pm. Who knows, might be worth the inquiry.

[CRCrazy]

I notice that you were staying at CSR, the convention hotel. I know they make after 2 pm tickets available to convention groups, but I've never heard of them being available to the general public. I wonder if the CM sold you convention passes??

Either way, congratulations on a great deal!

[LSUtigerfan]

Day 2 continued...Our trip around the world (showcase, that is) and our encounter with Beverly...she's not very nice!

It was around 11:30 am when we exited the castle and we decided to hop on a monorail & head for Epcot. Princess Face is fascinated by foreign countries & cultures, and really wanted to see Mexico and China. So we left MK and had a nice monorail ride to Epcot. There were hardly any cars in the parking lot, it was a strange sight for dh & I, as we have only been to WDW between the months of May-August. We went through the security line, no stroller check again! There was no line for Spaceship Earth, so we walked on this ride. We all enjoyed this relaxing ride, especially the planetarium-type room; Grumpette fell asleep on this ride. I kept her in the Baby Bjorn carrier and I went to Guest Services to obtain a B-day pin for Princess Face. The CM asked if she had received any special phone calls today, and I told her she had not, and she said there was one waiting for her. It was Goofy singing Happy Birthday to her, she was elated! Dd came out telling her Dad and grandparents all about it, talking like Goofy and everything. Then we went to Universe of Energy (no wait) and Princess Face loved this ride. I was worried she would be scared, but during the ride she said she wanted to get out & touch the dinosaurs to see how soft they were.

Next, we tried Wonders of Life, and Princess Face did not like this pavilion at all...as soon as we walked in, she said, "Is this about your blood and stuff?" She immediately wanted to leave. Mission: Space was next door and I wanted to sneak in, but decided against it. It looked really neat. It was drizzling outside so we donned our ponchos and headed over to Test Track for FP's. We had an hour to kill, so we decided to go to Ice Station Cool...which I renamed Ice Station Cold when I went through the igloo part after being rained on! There were alot of people in here trying all of the drinks. I told dh to try Beverly and he fixed himself a cup and took a BIG swig of it! The look on his face was sheer disgust [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] ! He literally almost threw up right then and there. I tasted it next, but barely let it enter my mouth... Yuck! That stuff is nasty, it tastes like Jagermeister mixed with Robitussin, only worse! Dh said it is the nastiest thing he's ever tasted & I agreed. And I thought I would never taste anything worse than mincemeat pie (the only dessert on the face of the earth that I don't like). I liked the watermelon choice. Grumpette woke up during the Beverly episode so she was able to taste the watermelon one, and being the fruit lover she is, she loved it & wanted more, more, more! Princess Face only drinks water or milk, and won't taste anything else, especially carbonated drinks...she has beautiful teeth by the way [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ! We purchased a cool light-up, bouncy Coca~Cola ball in this shop while we watched other unsuspecting tasters get their first taste of Beverly...it wasn't very nice...I renamed this place again: Ice Station Cruel! It really was funny to see their faces, this place is an America's Funniest Videos goldmine.

From there we went to the Living Seas, Grumpette loves to see the fish. We then went to use our FP's for TT and the ride was shut down for 1 to 2 hours due to problems with one of the cars, according to a CM. We decided to feed the dd's at the Electric Umbrella...they had hot dogs. Their fixings bar looked great, with really fresh lettuce & tomato, MIL really wanted a burger after seeing that, but we were still stuffed from CRT. I did manage to help the girls with their fries! After lunch, TT was still closed, so we made our way to the World Showcase. We rode the ride in Norway (10 minute wait) and both dd's liked it, Princess Face wanted to ride again. MIL & FIL stayed behind to watch the movie & we took dd's to the kidcot station. Grumpette was too rowdy so I brought her to look at all of the trolls. She was fascinated with the giant troll and loved pointing at his huge nose, eyes, ears, hands, tummy & toes on command. She giggled at his nose & tummy. They had a cute Billy goats Gruff book in there, but I resisted. My dh decided he was ready to eat and wanted to eat at Nine Dragons in China. I was hoping to grab a bite in Morocco and have dessert at Beaches & Cream, but everyone, even my dd wanted Chinese. It was a ghost town in this restaurant, it probably wasn't even 25% full. The spring rolls and almond crusted shrimp appetizers were delicious! Our entree was my usual fave, General Tso's chicken, but it tasted different here, it had a BBQ flavor to the sauce...surely they don't use Bulls Eye at Nine Dragons! MIL & FIL's peanut chicken (don't remember the exact name) was not very good. We tried red bean ice cream, it was pink and tasted alot like vanilla, but it had a funny texture to it, due to the bean casings in it. During dinner, Princess Face was asked to join in their Chinese New Year style parade. She looked so cute under the dragon with her Minnie outfit on, the video is adorable. This experience only fueled her curiosity about other cultures, her little brain is like a sponge right now! **One complaint about this restaurant is there are no facilities to change a baby's diaper. I mean there isn't a single place to lay a baby down...so I had to go to restaurant Akershus to freshen up Grumpette. Overall, I'd give this restaurant a 6 out of 10 rating.

In the distance, we heard the sound of maracas and the Mexican Hat Dance (not really, but I thought it sounded good!), so we visited Mexico. The boat ride in this pavilion was enjoyed by all, as was the gift shop, where Princess Face conned her grandfather into buying her a little pinata for her "stuffed animal's Mexican party at home." When we passed China again, my dh spotted the Chinese umbrellas/parasols and decided to get dd one that said Happy Birthday to her with the date on it. She chose a pink and blue one. The monogramming was really neat. One funny thing that happened here is a girl that was from Beijing walked up with some friends and commented to them "I've never seen these for sale in China before." Makes you wonder. Oh well, dd loved it, and she paraded through the entire World Showcase with it dancing around & singing. We breezed through the other countries and made our way to the bridge between France and the UK for Illuminations. We reserved our spot ~45 minutes before the finale. Princess Face performed for the crowd of people around us while waiting for 9pm to roll around. She danced & spun around in her Minnie dress, it was very entertaining! The fireworks started soon, and we had a really great spot. I was let down by the show, I remember a lot more fireworks and a really cool laser show on Spaceship Earth back in the 90's. Although I did enjoy the overall message of the presentation, I just wish the fireworks would have been a little grandeur! We stopped in a restroom in the UK...**complaint here: this was the filthiest restroom I have ever seen at WDW. I am not blaming it on Disney, it was definetly the same people who left a HUGE, nasty mess of food, beer, and trash outside in the same general area where they undoubtedly had a great time watching Illuminations. This was really a sad sight to see. Shame on them. Okay, enough complaints for the day!

We had an excellent ride home on our wonderful bus, which again had a really close bus stop location at this park too. My feet were so happy, they were whistling Dixie!

Back at CSR...we decided to forgo the Mickey wake-up call and sleep in. Everyone was exhausted. Ate some snacks in the room and called it a night. We are dying to get in the pool or hot tub (they are both huge!) but we are just too tired at night.

Magical Moments for today: The character interaction at CRT was priceless. Seeing my dd wear the Minnie outfit that my dMIL bought her for the entire day! Shoes and all! Grumpette walking around (while we waited for Illuminations) with her favorite yellow crayon showing it to everyone saying "yeh-yo" over and over again. The crowd loved her too, she really can be sweet! Most of all, seeing how happy my whole family was today...they thanked me for planning such a great day [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] !

Things I wish we had done today: Broke into Mission: Space and declared a free for all, Rode Test Track, tried Beaches & Cream or a Beaver Tail in Canada, and visited The Land. And as always, I wish we would have videoed (sp?) more and more! (Thanks to my dh [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] for doing such a great job on that part of the trip!)

Next: Day 3, Disney/MGM Studios, dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe, & Hercules sighting!!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Goodnight! [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]

[LSUtigerfan]

CRCrazy, I'm not sure about the passes being for convention guests...the CM didn't mention anything about that, although, he did ask what our room number was as he was making the transaction. Yet another reason to stay at CSR! I loved this resort, it never seemed crowded, and the buses were quick and never more than half full. Gotta love those conventions that keep the guests onsite! See y'all tomorrow [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img] .

[ 03-17-2003, 11:56 PM: Message edited by: lsutigerfan ]

[LSUtigerfan]

[img]graemlins/puter.gif[/img] Okay y'all, I am going to attempt to write a trip report! I'm sure it will be full of southern terms & lingo, so if you read it with a southern accent I'm sure it will make it "mo better, cher!"
Bare with me, I have a 19 month old running around here, so I could have to stop at any minute! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Who: Me (30 yrs.), my dh (34 yrs., aka "Grumpy"), dd #1 (5 year old birthday girl, aka. "Princess Face"...her self proclaimed nickname), dd #2 (19 months old, aka "Grumpette"), MIL & FIL (ages withheld! ~early fifties [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ). We also met up with my dh's best friend, his wife & 2 dd's.
Where: Coronado Springs Resort, rooms 8505 & 8506, Cabanas bldg. 8B
When: Friday, March 7 through Wednesday, March 12
Why: Princess Face's 5th Birthday Celebration!

We woke up at 4 am Fri. morning completely exhausted! I had dressed the girls in matching Marie (The Aristocats) t-shirts the night before so it would be a little easier in the morning...all I had to do was put their capri pants on, brush dd's teeth & go...after getting ourselves dressed & the truck loaded, of course! I decided I would fix their hair at the airport, which didn't amount to more than putting it in a pony tail. We got on our plane (Southwest) and the flight was wonderful, except the descent. Grumpette doesn't suck a pacifier and I could only get her to drink a little from her sippie cup, [img]graemlins/cry2.gif[/img] she cried & pulled at her ears. Poor thing, the Benadryl I had given her before we left did not phase her. Normally, it makes her sleep for ~3 hours...she knwe something was different about today! We arrived & I was excited to see what my MIL & FIL's reaction was going to be about TTC being there holding a sign w/our name on it. My MIL was walking through the airport saying, "Last time we came to Orlando, it was so nice, we had a towncar pick us up & they had a sign with our name on it! We felt like big shots!" Alas, there were all of the drivers standing at the bottom of the escalators! And my dh's name was completely botched! The first name was correct but the last name wasn't even close. So, we all laughed & said so much for the surprised reaction I was looking for. TTC was great, I only have one complaint, actually two [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] (only one is within their control). They said they would bring a car seat & a booster seat for my 2 dd's. The car seat was actually a booster seat too, no 5 point harness for Grumpette to sit in, it was the same on the return trip to MCO. The other thing is how long we had to wait for our driver when he went to retrieve the van, it was about 15-20 mins. He warned us about this, security will not allow them to park in or near the pick up area, so I guess they have to park in Timbuktu!

We finally arrive at CSR, the grounds were so beautiful. Check in was a breeze, the girls colored & watched cartoons while I asked for an upgrade on our 2 connecting rooms. The CM asked if ground floor was ok, and of course I said "YES" without hesitating! We prefer ground floor anyway with 2 little ones. She also put us in Cabanas 8B, which I requested (8B or 9B). We finally pulled the girls away from their crayola masterpieces & went to our room, then to Pepper Market for lunch. The food here was very yummy, and the portions were huge. The fruit was very fresh which made me & Grumpette very "Happy" (no pun intended!!!) The Key Lime Pie was delicious! Now that everyone was in better mood, we decided to go to MK. We had four, 4 day complimentary passes which you cannot add any days to, so we purchased four "After 2pm" tickets and one 5 day parkhopper. The "after 2" ticket was only $35 and was only available at the resort. It was probably 2:30pm by the time we caught our shuttle & arrived at MK. I swear, CSR has the best buses!

Gotta go pick up Princess Face from school! I'll finish day 1 in a little while [img]graemlins/wavin.gif[/img]
Next: Our MK excursion! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ 03-24-2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: lsutigerfan ]

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Thanks for taking the time to write a report! You're off to a great start. Can't wait to read more.

[AKLRULZ]

Nice start!

[Suzie]

More, more!
Suzie

[PS - I LUV WDW]

Am loving hearing all about your trip and your daughter's reactions! Glad to hear that she had such a great birthday.

We also like CSR a lot (it used to be our favorite resort before the YC).