Mask up buttercup! We're going to Walt Disney World! A 15 day trip like no other! UPDATED x lots 9/10!

[PhoenixStrength]

Sorry your food was just okay, both meals look really tasty! Great pictures of the resort. We are thinking we will be staying at CBR again for our trip next year!

 

[donna6635]

Thanks so much for the updates. Our first stay on property was at the Caribbean and it holds a special place in my heart. Our neighbors tagged along on our daughter’s 5th birthday trip when we stayed there and that became the only place they ever stayed, they loved it there that much.

 

[vamassey1]

He did a good job!

Yes he did! Excellent photo.

Over to our right, we could see Star Wars Land at Hollywood Studios. I'm still surprised that Disney didn't try to hide the backside.

I thought the same thing when I saw this on our last trip.

Back in the Jamaica lot, we decided to just pull into any parking spot and find our building and room before we lugged everything over.

Good plan.

I used a room finder site and had put in a request for room 4220 because it had a view of the lake, was very close to the promenade, and the walk to the Skyliner looked to be a short one. When I received the text that we were assigned to room 4220, I was a happy woman.

This has never worked for me yet.

Once I was done with the room pictures, I stopped long enough to take a picture of our Magic Bands and a picture of our smiling faces!

Nice! I can see John's Grumpy band, but what did you get? I just ordered our bands for May and I got DH Grumpy too.

That's a lot of luggage. I think you have even out did me. Love all the matchy-matchy.

 

[piglet1979]

If you think that it is tough to stay at home during all of this, think about how it effects a senior's mental health. A person who was already a loner and didn't get out much but now knows that they can't get out.

We have been helping DH's grandmother through this. It definitely has been rough on the seniors. We haven't really seen her other drop things off to her. We never stay long. We are too worried of getting her sick. We call a lot and we have taught her to do video calls. She will be 80 in a few weeks so I glad we were able to teacher this. She got her first shot of the vaccine about a week ago and the 2 will be around the end of the month. After that we will have her over for dinner and that. We did in the summer when it was warm but we are in Northeast Ohio and it is too cold right now.

There's the tunnel!

I hate tunnels. On our drive we go through one in WVA or VA. It is close to the boarder so I can't remember which state. I always hope that I am asleep when we go through.

Hi. My name is Lisa and I'm an over packer.

Me too. First trip I wasn't and we ended up taking DD (4 at the time) to the doctor because she got pink eye our first day. She got it a lot when she was little because she slept with her eyes open. I looked at the drops before I left and said " I don't need them" and left them at home. It took me two to three years of dealing with this doctor to pay the bill. They were horrible. Since then I take everything just in case.

 

[vamassey1]

It wasn't until we were walking out the door that we realized we hadn't called Mama to let her know that we had made it. John had called her earlier when we were about to exit I75 but that's not good enough for her. As she always says "she wants to know where her chicks are and that they are alright".

That's so cute!

Beautiful view!

But she's my Mama and I'll do everything that I can for her.

You're a great daughter. Bless you!

I'll go ahead and insert this now since some of you may be wondering. How is the walk? Honestly, I didn't think it was bad at all. We don't mind the distance from Jamaica to Old Port Royale. But, we don't mind walking in the parks either. It may have taken us a total of 10 minutes. Maybe. John doesn't walk fast at all. He walks about as slow as he talks and that's slow.

I was wondering. We're booked at CBR for first week of May. We're booked standard view, 5th sleeper so we should be in Jamaica or Aruba. I don't mind walking either.

This trip would be totally different as we would have to use mobile ordering.

How did you feel about this? We liked the convenience on pre-Covid trips but when we had to do it in October it was a pain at times. Even with ordering way ahead of time we had long waits at times.

One of my favorite snacks!

Super cute!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Sorry your food was just okay, both meals look really tasty! Great pictures of the resort. We are thinking we will be staying at CBR again for our trip next year!

The food wasn't bad, it just wasn't great either. If I am remembering correctly, didn't you and your mom stay in Jamaica once? I think you were leaving the day we arrived.

Thanks so much for the updates. Our first stay on property was at the Caribbean and it holds a special place in my heart. Our neighbors tagged along on our daughter’s 5th birthday trip when we stayed there and that became the only place they ever stayed, they loved it there that much.

Ours too. I think that's why we love the resort so much.

Yes he did! Excellent photo.

He did well.

I thought the same thing when I saw this on our last trip.

It's weird seeing the backside especially since Disney doesn't like anyone to see backstage.

Good plan.



This has never worked for me yet.

This was the first time that it worked for me.

Nice! I can see John's Grumpy band, but what did you get? I just ordered our bands for May and I got DH Grumpy too.

I had the band with Happily Ever After on it.


That's a lot of luggage. I think you have even out did me. Love all the matchy-matchy.

We bought the luggage mid-Summer when everybody was putting it on sale. The large luggage was regular $299 and I got it for $99. The Vera Bradley was all on clearance at Dillard's.

We have been helping DH's grandmother through this. It definitely has been rough on the seniors. We haven't really seen her other drop things off to her. We never stay long. We are too worried of getting her sick. We call a lot and we have taught her to do video calls. She will be 80 in a few weeks so I glad we were able to teacher this. She got her first shot of the vaccine about a week ago and the 2 will be around the end of the month. After that we will have her over for dinner and that. We did in the summer when it was warm but we are in Northeast Ohio and it is too cold right now.

It really has been hard on the seniors. I'm so glad that she got her vaccine! Mama is suppose to have hers on the 11th and it will be such a relief when she does.

I hate tunnels. On our drive we go through one in WVA or VA. It is close to the boarder so I can't remember which state. I always hope that I am asleep when we go through.

They have never bothered me but my sister absolutely hates them.


Me too. First trip I wasn't and we ended up taking DD (4 at the time) to the doctor because she got pink eye our first day. She got it a lot when she was little because she slept with her eyes open. I looked at the drops before I left and said " I don't need them" and left them at home. It took me two to three years of dealing with this doctor to pay the bill. They were horrible. Since then I take everything just in case.

Heck yeah, take it all! It's better to have it just in case than not have it at all.

That's so cute!



Beautiful view!

Isn't it!?!

You're a great daughter. Bless you!

I try to be. If it will help calm her nerves, it's worth the extra time to cal lher.

I was wondering. We're booked at CBR for first week of May. We're booked standard view, 5th sleeper so we should be in Jamaica or Aruba. I don't mind walking either.

I'd suggest anywhere in Jamaica. Building 42 was a short walk to the Skyliner and not too terribly far from Old Port Royale.

How did you feel about this? We liked the convenience on pre-Covid trips but when we had to do it in October it was a pain at times. Even with ordering way ahead of time we had long waits at times.

I didn't mind it at all. I was nervous about having to do the majority of meals via mobile ordering. Even during our Thanksgiving trip, we had short waits.

One of my favorite snacks!



Super cute!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

The food wasn't bad, it just wasn't great either. If I am remembering correctly, didn't you and your mom stay in Jamaica once? I think you were leaving the day we arrived.

Yeah, I've stayed at CBR 3 times, in 2013 on a solo trip I stayed in Barbados, in May 2014 with my Mom in Jamaica in 45 and in December 2014 with George in Jamaica in 42!

 

[vamassey1]

The Vera Bradley was all on clearance at Dillard's.

We have a Vera Bradley outlet in Tanger Outlet in Gonzales. I have done some damage there. Love their bags.

Thanks for the recommendation on the room location. I hope we get something close to the Skyliner but not far from the bridge.

We only really had trouble with mobile ordering in DHS. We set our orders up while on the bus for Docking Bay 7. We waited in the hot sun for 20 minutes after letting the system know we were there.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yeah, I've stayed at CBR 3 times, in 2013 on a solo trip I stayed in Barbados, in May 2014 with my Mom in Jamaica in 45 and in December 2014 with George in Jamaica in 42!

I thought I was remembering correctly. I think that we were there when you and your mom were there.

We have a Vera Bradley outlet in Tanger Outlet in Gonzales. I have done some damage there. Love their bags.

Oh I know y'all have one there 'cause I've looked up the closest one to me and that's the one. LOL

Thanks for the recommendation on the room location. I hope we get something close to the Skyliner but not far from the bridge.

Our room was a little far from the bridge but close to the Skyliner. We didn't mind the walk at all because the resort is so beautiful.

We only really had trouble with mobile ordering in DHS. We set our orders up while on the bus for Docking Bay 7. We waited in the hot sun for 20 minutes after letting the system know we were there.

Ugh! We had that happen to us but we were in Pecos Bills and people were the first in the line for lunch but we waited forever for our food. Other people would walk up, get their's and go on their way.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Fall is in the air and on the window!

We left Old Port Royale and started our walk back to our room in Jamaica Building 42. There was a slight wind that evening and it was a little bit cool because the sun had set. It was a beautiful evening at a beautiful resort. Ahh, if felt good to be back at Walt Disney World.

When I first joined the Dis a long time ago (2006), the big thing was going to Lowes (or it may have been Home Depot) and getting the Mickey head paint color splotch/sample cards from the paint department. The lime green ones were the best since they were what helped identify your room as someone from the Dis. I'd go to Lowes (or Home Depot), get the sample card and decorate our room window. Then, they stopped the sample cards and it seemed like the lime green room decorations kinda faded out as the thing to do.

During our 2017 trip, I decided to decorate our room window again. I did the same in 2018 and 2019 and I used Christmas decorations. This trip, I brought along decorations again but went with the Fall theme since we were there the week before and the week of Thanksgiving. I had leaves, scarecrows, window clings and some cute little hanging decorations too which I put on with suction cups. I made sure not to use any tape or anything that would leave residue on the room. No need to make the mousekeepers work even harder than they already do.

John helped me put the decorations on and apparently we were quite pleased with ourselves because I took a crapton of pictures.













Actually, it was hard to get a good picture because I couldn't stand back far enough and when you stood at a certain angle, there was a glare. Window decorated, we stood for a minute, took in our view, took a selfie (cause I needed the practice) and then went inside to get settled in.

**Edited to add: All decorations came from Dollar Tree and we spent less than $10 for everything.





**Up next: The key to staying sane in a resort room for two weeks is organization.​

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

Fall is in the air and on the window!

We left Old Port Royale and started our walk back to our room in Jamaica Building 42. There was a slight wind that evening and it was a little bit cool because the sun had set. It was a beautiful evening at a beautiful resort. Ahh, if felt good to be back at Walt Disney World.

When I first joined the Dis a long time ago (2006), the big thing was going to Lowes (or it may have been Home Depot) and getting the Mickey head paint color splotch/sample cards from the paint department. The lime green ones were the best since they were what helped identify your room as someone from the Dis. I'd go to Lowes (or Home Depot), get the sample card and decorate our room window. Then, they stopped the sample cards and it seemed like the lime green room decorations kinda faded out as the thing to do.

During our 2017 trip, I decided to decorate our room window again. I did the same in 2018 and 2019 and I used Christmas decorations. This trip, I brought along decorations again but went with the Fall theme since we were there the week before and the week of Thanksgiving. I had leaves, scarecrows, window clings and some cute little hanging decorations too which I put on with suction cups. I made sure not to use any tape or anything that would leave residue on the room. No need to make the mousekeepers work even harder than they already do.

John helped me put the decorations on and apparently we were quite pleased with ourselves because I took a crapton of pictures.

View attachment 556156

View attachment 556157​

It was Home Depot! I miss those little Mickey head paint samples. One year, before the MDE app, I printed out my trip plans and glued them to the back of those paint samples. Then, I laminated and punched a hole in them and put them on a binder ring to toss in my park bag.

Your window looks so fun!

Edit: Wait, now I'm second guessing myself too. Maybe it was Lowe's, although I'm pretty sure it was Home Depot. It doesn't even matter.

 

[Paulaparm]

Your window looks great!

 

[mickeystoontown]

The key to staying sane in a resort room for two weeks is organization!

Unlike some, we can't live out of a suitcase for very long. If it's for a day or two, then yes. If longer, then I need to get unpacked. For our Disney trips, I bring hangers that I've saved during the year. When I buy something from a department store and they ask if I want the hanger, I usually say yes. Well, not if they are the hard white plastic kind but if they have the wire hanger part and then the plastic for the rest, then I tell them yes. I'm not doing very well with the description so I just stopped to take pictures of the hangers I am talking about.



You'll notice that there's a little thing in the middle of the hanger. There's a hook there.



I also bring along the hangers that pants or shorts are hung on in the stores. That hook that I showed in the picture above....you can attach the pants/shorts hanger on it.





And wallah, you have twice the hanging space if you like to coordinate outfits or you can simply hang your shorts/pants on the clip type hangers. In the picture below, you can see the closet area. On the left of the picture, that's our hanging organizer. I put almost all of our toiletries in that as well as brushes, combs, etc. This year, I had also brought along lots of extra hand sanitizer, wipes, and disinfectant spray. Those all went into the hanging organizer. The picture was taken before we had everything in it.

Over in the bottom right corner of the picture, those are two mesh bags. Those are used for our dirty clothes. If we end up having to do laundry on the trip, i can simply take one of the mesh bags down to the laundry room. We can also toss the two mesh bags into the luggage carrier on top of the car and have the extra luggage room for souvenirs.



Underneath the sinks, there was plenty of space for my makeup bag, John's shaving items and then the miscellaneous "extras" a/k/a "junk" that we may need while on the trip but rarely do.



On top of the dresser, I had two collapsible containers. These came from Dollar General and I think that I paid $1.50 each. We both had our own and they are perfect for keeping various receipts, wallets, Blistex, etc. You'll notice in the picture below that I brought along a charging station and Disney has stepped up their game when it comes to ports to charge your various devices. They were along the dresser and then also on the table by the bed.



Our shoes went underneath the bench so that they weren't in our way. Yes, we did bring all those shoes (that's not all of them either...there were two more pair.


As I said earlier, I am an overpacker especially when I know that we will be gone for a while. In order to stay sane in a resort room for two weeks, we needed all of our things to be organized and we were pleased with the outcome of our efforts.

**Up next: I've never! I've never ever! I've never ever seen anything like this before!​

 

[mickeystoontown]

It was Home Depot! I miss those little Mickey head paint samples. One year, before the MDE app, I printed out my trip plans and glued them to the back of those paint samples. Then, I laminated and punched a hole in them and put them on a binder ring to toss in my park bag.

Your window looks so fun!

Edit: Wait, now I'm second guessing myself too. Maybe it was Lowe's, although I'm pretty sure it was Home Depot. It doesn't even matter.

I can't remember which store it was either. It was one of those two. I remember giggling when I would go to the store and pick up about two dozen of them at a time and sticking them in my purse. Simple things that make us happy. LOL I still have an envelope of them somewhere.

Thanks on the compliment on the window.

Your window looks great!

Thank you! I thought that it turned our pretty good given that everything came from Dollar Tree.

 

[pwdebbie]

When I first joined the Dis a long time ago (2006), the big thing was going to Lowes (or it may have been Home Depot) and getting the Mickey head paint color splotch/sample cards from the paint department. The lime green ones were the best since they were what helped identify your room as someone from the Dis. I'd go to Lowes (or Home Depot), get the sample card and decorate our room window. Then, they stopped the sample cards and it seemed like the lime green room decorations kinda faded out as the thing to do.

​

I joined the DIS in 2007 for our first trip (Oct. 2007) and got in on the Lime Green Mickey Head trend. We came back from a park one day to find a box in our room filled with bottled drinks and snacks and a few other things with a note that a DISser several rooms down had seen my LGMH in the window, and since they were checking out, they asked mousekeeping to deliver their leftovers to us. That was the one and only time my LGMH attracted attention. By the 2013 trip (our fourth trip), I didn't bother with it any more.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I've never! I've never ever! I've never ever seen anything like this before!

Friday afternoon and evening was our driving day. Saturday was our second driving and arrival day and we had settled in our room at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. It felt good to be back at Walt Disney World and back at our home resort.

Today was Sunday and our first park day! We were a little anxious to see how wearing a mask outside all day long would be. For months, I had purchased (and made) various masks. Today, we would be putting them to the test and would find out which ones worked best for all day wear.

In my park bag, I had a large ziplock bag just for masks. I had three for each of us. There was an empty ziplock bag for...for...well whatever we might need it for. I had a ziplock bag with disinfecting wipes (sometimes the packages leak once opened). I had extra hand sanitizer. I also had a little zippered pouch that I carry almost everywhere with me. In it, I have my "you never know" items: barrettes (for when when my bangs start their stupid swirly thing because of the weather), a ponytail elastic, toothpicks, a travel toothbrush, a few tylenol, a couple of benadryl tablets, some stomach meds, a bandaid or two, some safety pins, an extra tube of lip balm, a small carabiner clip, and a tube of super glue gel. All of that fits nicely into a little zippered pouch about 4x3 inches.

At Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, each village has their own bus stop. Our room faced the lake which meant we were on the opposite side of the village from our bus stop. Even still, we only had to turn to our left, around the side of the building and the path led us to the parking area. We hung a right and were soon at the bus stop.

One of the things that we like about Caribbean Beach is the fact that each village has a bus stop so we are never far from a bus stop. Given that fact, we have ever had a problem with the size of the resort. Having said that, it is annoying when you've been at the bus stop for a while, a bus pulls up and the guests who just walked up could "break in line" because there's no dedicated "line" at the bus stops. We wondered how that would work with social/physical distancing and when Disney was assigning seats on the bus. We would soon find out.

On this morning, there were already guests in the bus stop so I couldn't take pictures like I wanted. There were four markers near the front of the stop and guests were to stand behind the markers and form a line. John and I took the fourth marker which was near the left/far side of the bus stop. I was quite happy that the other guests were adhering to the physical distancing for the most part. Some would get a little closer than they should but that was mostly younger kids who were anxious to get to the parks.

Here comes our bus!

I'm looking at the time stamp on the picture and it says 7:46 a.m. All pictures were taken on my phone this trip and it automatically changes from our time zone to Disney's time zone so the time is correct. Over the years, we've become non-rope droppers but this trip, we weren't sure how it would work and how busy it would be so we set out early.



The bus driver started with the first marker/group. He asked how many in the party and then assigned them a seat. Again, I couldn't take pictures because I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of others but I'll have pictures from later in the trip that I'll share with y'all. He went in order of the lines and we were able to board the bus. I don't remember if there were others waiting on the sidewalk but I know that there were on other days. If the bus hadn't reached capacity, the bus drivers would take on those on the sidewalk and assign them seats as well.

The process went smoothly and I was very pleased. The seats had numbers on them and there were dividers in between the numbered sections. The hand straps were tied up so that no one would be tempted to stand and hold on to the hand rails/straps. We were soon on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

We were dropped off at an open bus stop and our bus driver reminded us of our bus stop number for our return trip to the resort. I could see a tent set up ahead and a cast member was directing guests in that direction. The tent is where they did the temperature check. It also went quickly and smoothly and we were through in no time. Next, we had to go through security. My bag went off and I'm sure it is because of my "you never know" pouch since it had little metal items it. They felt through it and sent me on my way.

We could already tell that this visit was unlike any before. There were so few people. Usually, there are so many folks, we would have to stand in line just to get through bag check/security. Not this time. It took us very little time.

Before going through the tapstiles, I made a quick stop in the bathroom just outside of Guest Relations. I figured it would be less busy than the ones in the parks and I was right.

We made our way to the tapstiles and didn't even have to stand in line. We saw an open line and went right on through. How long did it take us to get the Magic Kingdom, through security, have my bag checked, take a pee break, tap our Magic Bands and walk under the railway? I'll tell you how fast. My next picture has a time stamp of 8:12 a.m.!



Our first "oh my goodness!" moment of the day was the non-existent line at the tapstiles. This was our second "oh my goodness!" moment. I mean, look at that picture! Where the heck are the people? I've been in that area before and we could barely walk through because there were so many guests. Not today!

See that white fold out sign in the picture below? That size reminded everyone of the face mask requirement. They were located throughout the parks.


We could not get over the lack of crowds. I've never had a picture of the Christmas tree with so few people in it. Never.





The Christmas decorations were beautiful!



One of the good things about longer trips is the ability to take things slower and soak it all in. Our first stop for the day would be Starbucks to get John's morning coffee. There were some other people waiting and this is where we would also experience our first real physical distancing line. Disney had installed markers on the ground for guests to stand on and all were six feet apart. It did make the lines appear long but it took us no longer to get through the line than before.



John's coffee in hand, we found a table outside of Casey's Corner and once we were stationary, we were allowed to remover our masks. You can not walk and eat or drink anywhere in the parks or at the resorts. We sat at our table took in the views.

There she is! The castle in all of her glory! The castle had gotten a fresh coat of paint and looked more vibrant. Before the trip, I had seen pictures and wasn't sure if I liked the new colors or not. While it was different, it was still beautiful.





Coffee done, we continued going left and entered Adventureland. Again, there were so few people. It was crazy to us and was hard to believe.



**Continued in next post.


​

 

[mickeystoontown]

I've never! I've never ever! I've never ever seen anything like this before!

The first attraction that we came to was the Jungle Cruise. It's not one of John's favorites but the line was 20 minutes so down the stairs we went. I was able to take pictures of the physical distancing markers since there weren't many people in front of us.







There were Christmas touches in the queue.



And they even had a gift for John. We just had to figure out how to get to it.





The entirety of the attraction had undergone a Christmas overlay and was now the Jingle Cruise.







Like always, the cast member asked how many were in the party and were assigned seats. John and I were seated near the Captain and there was a shield/barrier between us and the Captain.



**Continued in next post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Duplicate post​

 

[mickeystoontown]

I need to stop here for the evening but I'll add more tomorrow!​

 

[mickeystoontown]

I joined the DIS in 2007 for our first trip (Oct. 2007) and got in on the Lime Green Mickey Head trend. We came back from a park one day to find a box in our room filled with bottled drinks and snacks and a few other things with a note that a DISser several rooms down had seen my LGMH in the window, and since they were checking out, they asked mousekeeping to deliver their leftovers to us. That was the one and only time my LGMH attracted attention. By the 2013 trip (our fourth trip), I didn't bother with it any more.

Another person who remembers the lime green Mickey heads! That was really nice of your fellow Diser to give you the extras! I think once the paint samples went away so did the trend on the Dis.