Trip Report 12/23-12/30 at CBR

[Deleted]

I already wrote a live report of the trip but I wanted to write up a full trip report in case it helps anyone else plan. Plus I took a million pictures. But not enough. Cute pre-planned outfits don't make a lot of difference if you can't get both children to look at you at the same time.  Or if they're on a bus and just done with Disney.

So here goes:

Pre-travel Day - 12/22

We took the whole day off work but didn't send the boys to daycare.  This was a mistake.  I thought I just needed to throw the bags together in the morning and we would be all set but in reality I was running around doing six million things while the kids were crawling all over me.  As a result I left out a CRUCIAL bag containing all of my shorts and all the boy's extra clothes (i.e. anything that wasn't their planned outfits for that day).  This was a major annoyance.  I had one zillion kid activities, Christmas presents and extra crap but no pants. Anyway I wanted to leave early so that we could get to my parent's house in time to relax before a big family dinner.  My parents live 2.5 hours from us and only 15 minutes from LaGuardia Airport.  We got to there house around 3, went out to dinner with them and my sisters and nephew at 5 and were home in bed early for our flight the next day.

Day 1 - 12/23

Our flight was at 10 a.m. so we left the house by 7:30 fearing traffic and it was a straight shot to the airport.  We were incredibly lucky because the airline had sent us an email saying to prepare for the worst.  DH has TSA Pre so he and the kids went through the TSA Pre line while I went by myself through regular security.  I felt weird by myself and I was carrying the diaper bag so luckily there was no diapering emergencies!  We brought our umbrella stroller so Ethan sat and Ben walked.  We cleared Security pretty early so we headed straight to the Delta Lounge.  We fed the kids some food and had some Bloody Mary's and pretty soon it was time for the flight.

We were in First Class so that was nice.

I got an email before we even left saying where our room was which was cool.  I looked at the map of CBR and was happy to be in Aruba.  We own a timeshare in Aruba so we had spent last Christmas there.  It was a nice coincidence.

After takeoff we stuck Ethan with Ben.  They're weren't thrilled at first but they figured out how to make it work.

Our plane landed early and we walked right onto a Disney Magical Express bus.  Actually that's not true.  First Ethan had a blowout.  Luckily he saved it until the flight had landed.  We had to put a swim shirt on him because that's the only clean shirt I had with me.

The bus dropped us off at the Customs House at CBR, which I had read was a pretty useless building since there's nothing to do there except check in and check out.  We did online check in and already had our room number so the only thing we needed was our stroller.  We rented from Kingdom Strollers.  Our stroller was ready but the case of water I paid for was not there.  We asked a cast member to look for it but they couldn't find any.  Eventually I called Kingdom and they said they would drop one off later but long story short we never got it. We walked to our room in Aruba. 

I guess online check-in is convenient but we felt very un-welcomed.  There was nothing in our room letting us know about activities.  Luckily I knew to grab a map at Customs House but the whole process just felt very informal.

The room was fine, nothing special.  I noticed it didn't have the Murphy Bed and the newer bathroom design like I had seen online so I guess it was an unrefurbished room.  The bedding was the same as this picture and I think the carpets too but there was no sliding door like that (well there was a sliding door but it was the absolute worst and never stayed close.  There was also no separation of the sink area with the toilet area.  I had planned to put Ethan's Pack N Play in the "sink area" of a newer room so we could still use the toilet while he slept but we made out okay with him just in a big bathroom even if we had to pee quietly sometimes).  So anyway it was not this room:

I would have liked the Murphy Bed for Ben but it wasn't really necessary.  Sometimes when DH and I travel we each take a Queen bed because we don't like to share but half of the time DH fell asleep on Ben's bed and I had my own.

Ben always sleeps with a blanket over his head so he wouldn't even notice.

Notice the armoire.  I hated that thing.  We had to tie the doors closed so the kids would stop messing with it.  It was a nice place to hang our stockings though.

We changed into bathing suits and headed to the Aruba Quiet Pool.  I didn't take any pictures and we were only there once the whole trip but here's one from Google.

We were the only ones there and it was nice to cool off until THE GREAT PHONE INCIDENT.  Anyway DH had put his stroller in the bottom of our umbrella stroller, which I had used to transport Ethan the short distance from the room to the pool.  You see where this is going?  I didn't notice it was there.  I had put my phone in the diaper bag.  Anyway when we are done swimming I notice there are no towels, as in none are provided at the pool.  So I throw the baby back in the stroller, grab my cover-up and book it back to the room so I can get him out of his wet bathing suit and into a dry diaper.  In the process I guess the water from Ethan's body dripped down to the stroller storage compartment and got DH's phone wet. resulting in its eventual demise.  I would just like to pause this story and say while it's an unfortunate thing to happen it's not my fault, correct?

Anyway we all got dressed and ready for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Café at the Wilderness Lodge.  I had read that getting from CBR to WL was going to be a PITA so I suggested we take an Uber.  We don't have Uber in my area so I've never used it before.  I got a free ride for downloading the app.  It was a bit of a learning curve and our driver didn't know WDW at all (!) but we got there eventually.

The Wilderness Lodge was beautifully decorated for Christmas.  I wanted to wait on line to take a Photopass picture in front of it but DH said we all looked messy and he just wanted to eat so here's the only one I got.  It was a beautiful tree.

We got seated early for our 5 p.m. reservation.  The food at WCC was good.  The service, as I reported in my live report, was BAD.  We each ordered the skillet so luckily other servers showed up sometimes to replenish things but we didn't see our server for 40 minutes.  The boys liked doing the pony race around the restaurant.  I ran around with Ethan and his horse and it was hilarious.

OOP cost - Tip $15. Plus return Uber I think was $12.

By the time we got back to CBR it was 7 and Ethan was ready for bed.  We set up the Pack N Play in the bathroom and he went right to sleep.  DH wanted to try and dry out his phone so I took Ben to the big pool at Old Port Royale and to pick up our refillable mugs.  Look who we ran into!

Festive Holiday Mickey, just chilling at the Food Court.

Then we swam for about 90 minutes.  Ben would have stayed all night.  He loved the pool, especially the water slides.  What he didn't love was the Toddler Pool, which came as a big surprise.  More on that later.

Right by the pool bar they were showing Frozen on a big screen.  We watched that for a few minutes and then made our way back to the room to sleep.

[was5]

Hmm, I am thinking of CBR for our trip next January since it sleeps 5. I guess if I need it for 5 people I would have to get one with the murphy bed, right? Would you stay there again? POR is our other option for a resort with rooms that sleep 5.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2017 12:01:43 GMT -5 was5 said:

Hmm, I am thinking of CBR for our trip next January since it sleeps 5. I guess if I need it for 5 people I would have to get one with the murphy bed, right? Would you stay there again? POR is our other option for a resort with rooms that sleep 5.

I would stay there again, especially if we had planned for more pool time. But I would probably like to try to go at a cheaper time and maybe rent a DVC place. Or even stay in a Cars Suite for more room/theming. There's so many choices!

About the 5 person thing I would confirm that the room you booked has the Murphy bed. I don't know if there's a way to guarantee it but we only had 4 so it didn't matter for our reservation.

[was5]

Jan 10, 2017 12:41:31 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Jan 10, 2017 12:01:43 GMT -5 was5 said:

Hmm, I am thinking of CBR for our trip next January since it sleeps 5. I guess if I need it for 5 people I would have to get one with the murphy bed, right? Would you stay there again? POR is our other option for a resort with rooms that sleep 5.

I would stay there again, especially if we had planned for more pool time. But I would probably like to try to go at a cheaper time and maybe rent a DVC place. Or even stay in a Cars Suite for more room/theming. There's so many choices!

About the 5 person thing I would confirm that the room you booked has the Murphy bed. I don't know if there's a way to guarantee it but we only had 4 so it didn't matter for our reservation.

Thanks. I would assume they have no choice but to put us in a room that sleeps 5 if we have a reservation for 5 but I will know to double check.

My first idea was a suite at AoA, but then realized a moderate that sleeps 5 would be more economical. Still deciding what I want to do.

I saw on the check- in there are several people going to CBR this year. It will be interesting to see all the reviews.

[Deleted]

Day 2 - 12/24

I had hoped to get everyone up and moving so we'd arrive at Hollywood Studios before it opened at 8:30 but I also didn't hustle anyone either, it being our first full day of vacation. As a result we were at the bus stop by 8:30 and officially at Hollywood Studios by 8:50. It wasn't crowded at all.  The first thing we did here was trade pins....with a garbage can.  I had bought a set of 50 pins from ebay so I was excited to try out pin trading but I really didn't see too many trading stations after this first one, which was two cast member janitors standing near a trash can that had a pin board attached to it saying to take whichever one you wanted as long as you left one.

 We rode The Great Movie Ride first then we used our Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. We probably could have switched them and rode Standby but I was in a hurry to get to our breakfast ADR. But before we could cross the road we were bombarded with storm troopers!

It's a cute parade but we saw it like three times in five hours so it gets a little annoying.  And those people following behind them filming it were even more annoying.  Like Storm Trooper Paparazzi.  Just let me cross the street!  We arrived at Hollywood and Vine and were seated after a short wait and some confusion.  But first a picture.

If you recall my frantic months of planning I had switched this reservation up a few times and ultimately planned to make a Game Day decision to keep either breakfast or dinner at Hollywood and Vine.  Dinner would have been Minnie's Seasonal Dine with the Gang in their holiday finest which would have been cute but I'm glad I kept the breakfast reservation.  Because the boys dig Disney Junior.

Ben was smitten with Sofia, which is weird because he never watches her show.  He touched her dress.

The characters were very efficient at 10 a.m. that we met them all twice!  Ben was freaking out when they came around a second time (as a result he tried to get us to stay and meet Winnie the Pooh a second time at Crystal Palace but I nixed that plan).  Ethan fell asleep at the table which was funny since we had only been at the park for 90 minutes at that point.  He enjoyed breakfast though.  We all ate a lot, except for Ben, who was allowed to have ice cream for breakfast.

OOP: $16 tip

Afterwards I walked Ethan around in the stroller so he would fall asleep.  DH and Ben went to see Muppets Live in 3D.  Then we all went to see it again together when Ethan woke up.  We stopped and got some ice water because it was so hot.  Then I took Ben on Star Tours with our Fastpass and got a Rider Switch pass.  He LOVED it.  He is almost 40 inches but they didn't check.  DH went to go and take Ben with me right afterwards.  I was nearby watching the Jedi Training.  All of a sudden I see DH carrying a hysterically crying Ben..  I guess the second time around they didn't let him on the ride.  He was inconsolable for a while.  I forgot what else we did but we left by 2 and went back to the hotel for a nap.  Ethan and I napped while DH and Ben went to the pool.  Ethan and I met them at around 5 but I think Ben was actually swimming for 5-6 hours total by the time we left.  But first we ran into this guy:

Santa!  At the Food Court!    We also sat outside and watched the 90's classic The Santa Clause while Ethan slept in the stroller. 

DH bought Ben a light saber and he played with kids who also had light sabers.  We got back to the room around 9 but left a sleeping baby at 9:30 to go check out the fireworks on the beach outside our room.  Unfortunately we could mostly just hear them and not see them.  No surprise it was hard to sleep after all that excitement so we watched some Disney Junior and finally went to sleep at around 10.

OOP: $22+17+20+53 at the Cabana Bar.  Some of that was for nachos and other stuff I guess not covered in the DDP? Including tip.  $112 + $16 light saber.

[prosecco]

Wait, please tell me I'm not reading this right, you left your sleeping baby alone in the room?

Jan 10, 2017 15:41:21 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

Day 2 - 12/24

I


We got back to the room around 9 but left a sleeping baby at 9:30 to go check out the fireworks on the beach outside our room.  Unfortunately we could mostly just hear them and not see them.  No surprise it was hard to sleep after all that excitement so we watched some Disney Junior and finally went to sleep at around 10.

OOP: $22+17+20+53 at the Cabana Bar.  Some of that was for nachos and other stuff I guess not covered in the DDP? Including tip.  $112 + $16 light saber.

[Deleted]

prosecco, yes for like a minute to see if we could see the fireworks. We couldn't.

[prosecco]

Jan 11, 2017 11:33:04 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

prosecco, yes for like a minute to see if we could see the fireworks. We couldn't.

But what was your plan if you could see them? That's so scary to me and would be illegal in a lot of states.

[Deleted]

Jan 11, 2017 11:36:47 GMT -5 prosecco said:

Jan 11, 2017 11:33:04 GMT -5 @notquiteblushing said:

prosecco , yes for like a minute to see if we could see the fireworks. We couldn't.

But what was your plan if you could see them? That's so scary to me and would be illegal in a lot of states.

It was so loud we thought we could see it right from the door. We went like 20 steps away. Anyway thanks for checking!

[wesleycrusher]

We stayed at CBR in Aruba earlier in December- my DS also loved the pool water slides but didn't care at all for the kiddie area, which I thought he'd enjoy. If I knew how much the pool was liked, I definitely would have planned more time there.

[Deleted]

Jan 11, 2017 12:09:08 GMT -5 wesleycrusher said:

We stayed at CBR in Aruba earlier in December- my DS also loved the pool water slides but didn't care at all for the kiddie area, which I thought he'd enjoy. If I knew how much the pool was liked, I definitely would have planned more time there.

Oh yes the kiddie area was a bust.  I had showed them both pictures of the pirate ship before we left and thought it would be a big hit.

But every minute or so that giant bucket fills up with water and dumps it below with a big crashing effect and both kids were freaked out.  I got Ethan to go down the little slides a few times but Ben wouldn't even go into the fenced area he was so afraid of it.

[Deleted]

12/25 - Christmas and Animal Kingdom

Today was our day to sleep in! So naturally Ethan woke up at 7 but that's okay because it was Christmas!

Santa came.

He brought candy and Matchbox cars etc.

We walked over to Old Port Royale and had breakfast at the food court and then played in the playground for a while.  Then we went back to the room and got dressed.  We got to the bus stop a little before 10.  Headed to Animal Kingdom!

Their shirts have Simba and say "I made the Nice List" but there's not one good picture of them.  Sigh.

Arrived at AK and took some Photopass pictures, like this one:

We signed Ben up for the Explorer's Club and headed towards Dinosaur Land. DH took Ben on the Primeval Whirl twice. The kids played in the Bone Yard and would have stayed there until the end of time but I didn't want to miss our FP window for the safari so we headed there just before 1.  The safari was awesome.  We saw two lions.

Then we had an ADR at Tusker House but we still had some time to kill and everyone was cranky.  I remembered it taking a long time even after checking into Tusker House last time we went there and Ben was hungry so I bought him a Dole Whip and I got us boozy Dole Whips.  Yummy but probably not the best idea right before we ate.

Went to Tusker 15 minutes before our reservation and got seated pretty much on time.  The characters and food was great.  My phone was dying so DH took the pictures but here is one:

After that we rode the train.  DH and Ben did It's Tough to Be a Bug.

We were about to head to the Lion King which I haven't seen yet but Ben said he was getting tired and wanted to take a nap.  So we left right before 4 and headed back to CBR for a nap.  Me and Ethan napped at least.

To be continued in Christmas Part 2!

[bronxgirl]

Sounds like a great trip! Did you do memory maker?

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2017 19:29:35 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Sounds like a great trip! Did you do memory maker?

My H's aunt paid for it so we have all the pics.  We should have done more but there are a few good ones.