[MerlinMatt]

All I can say is WOW! We saw the fewest rides of any of our previous trips, and yet we had a great time.

Here's a quick summary:
Day 1 - GREAT dinner at Mama Melrose, but Osborne Lights got rained out
Day 2 - AK was a blast but no soft-opening rides at EE. Dancing at PI was fun, but not earth-shattering.
Day 3 - Chef Mickey's was phenomenal. Our table had a view of the castle. Holiday IllumiNations was spectacular
Day 4 - MVMCP was a whole lot of fun, especially riding BMTRR at night... WITH DW!!!! The Holiday fireworks were 10 times better than last year (which was really Wishes + a bonus)
Day 5 - Great weather (chilly, but very sunny) to close out the trip.

I'll have more over the next few days. I took great notes for the first couple of days, but I was having too much fun to continue. So, I'll need to get my thoughts on paper quickly.

Fortunately, I took over 60 pictures....

Hope you don't mind the tease.

[Erin]

I can't wait to hear more...I'll be waiting, Merlin! Don't tease me too much!

[missy H]

Matt that's not fair, I saw your TR and thought great a report to read in my last few days! Now you are saying it will take you the next few days to get it here, I only have 2 days, now what am I going to do???????

I need more!

[Princess Tessa]

sounds great...more more more!!!
I'll be waiting..............

[tinkerbell]

hurry up you ol' wizard ... I want to read details and see pictures!!!

[EmpressJenny]

Maybe I DO mind the tease you old tease!

[Dana]

Matt-
WElcome home. I am very anxious to hear about your trip, but am patient enough to wait for you to get your thoughts together. Your trip reports are always very detailed and exciting, so in my opinion, worth the wait. Can't wait to read it and see your pictures.

[jk8]

Can't wait to read it and hopefully see some pictures....

[MerlinMatt]

Day 1 - Getting there is half the fun

When we woke up in Boston on Thursday morning, it was clear & cold - 25 degrees and adventure started early. We had told DGPs to call us as they got to the airport and we'd meet them at the terminal. They've never done e-tickets before and I wanted to help them out.
The plane was scheduled to board at 8:20, so we agreed to meet at 7:15.
We actually got the the aiport around 6:50, so we sat for a snack and went back to the entrance of the terminal around 7:15.
As we waited, we saw lots of interesting people, including a group of middle-aged "ladies", wearing yellow jump-suit happy face pants and singing "Happy Birthday" to Rah-Rah. Let's call them the Rah-Rah girls, as we found out later, they would actually be part of the trip.
So, 7:30 rolls around and no sign of Mom and Dad. OK. No biggie. They're not really late. But when I call Dad's cell phone, of course, it's off.
RANT - yes Dad, I know that having the phone means you can call anyone anytime. But if you don't turn it on, then no one can call YOU! - end RANT
7:45. Now, I'm a little annoyed. With added security and whatnot, it could take some time to get to the gate.
7:55. Where the heck are they???? Honestly, I'm getting a little nervous now.
But, they're adults. If we don't see them by 8, then we're going to the gate.
Then, just as we're getting everything together...
My cell phone rings.. It's Dad.
Dad: "Where are you?"
Me: "Where am I?? Where are you???"
Dad: "At the airport."
Me: "Where??"
Dad: "At the terminal."
Me: "WHERE??"
Dad: "At the gate. Where are you?"
Me: "We've been here for an hour!, you were supposed to call us."
Dad: "Oh yeah, sorry about that."
LOL
So, off to the gate, everything's going to be fine.
And then we see...the Rah-Rah girls.
I'm not so great a writer that I can describe this group and really do them justice. They were a group of 11 40 and 50-something women who were obviously out to have a great girls' weekend. They were unmistakably together. Each of them wore bright yellow jump suit pants with large smiley faces all over them. They were constantly singing Happy Birthday to Rah-Rah. It was great thay they were having fun, but all I could think about was, "so long as they're not on our flight."
Yeah right.
So, when we board, they're sitting right behind us. Oh goodie.
They weren't horrible, but they were obnoxious. We had hoped that some of them would be sleeping it off, but for 3 straight hours, we dealt with them.
I have blurry photographic evidence of the smiley pants.....
Oh, and the flight took off late because JetBlue had to replace a monitor in the cockpit. So, should I worry that parts are breaking on a fairly new plane? Or should I be impressed that they fixed it in 15 minutes? I go with impressed. We took off about 20 minutes late and the flight was otherwise uneventful. We made up some of that time and we arrived about 10 minutes late.
When I tried to call DS's godfather, he had just landed. Excellent timing.
Shortly after that, I got a call from Gregory and told him we were all on the ground and getting our baggage. Chris from Quicksilver met us about 2 minutes after we got the DGPs bags. We drove around to Terminal B and picked up DS's godfather and we were on our way!!!

It was raining.

A lot.

But it was warm (around 70).

The lines at CBR weren't really long, but checking in was a little annoying because they hadn't ket all three rooms together. As a result of the confusion, we ended up in South Trinidad right next to the bus stop. The rooms were on the first floor as requested, but we weren't thrilled. It was Disney however, so no bad complaints.
We got to the rooms, got some snacks at Port Royale (not a horrible walk actually, but certainly longer than I had planned.)
We got park hoppers for everyone that didn't have them and we were on our way to MGM and Osborne Lights. Don't forget that it was raining... that does impact us later.
MGM is generally managable in the rain, and it wasn't raining too bad either.
DD and I went on ToT. It was her first time. Everyone else went to RnRC. DS and his godfather went on and everyone else took the back way out. So far, everyone was having a great time. It was time for the Great Movie Ride. That was fun. DGM really enjoyed it.
Oh, and so far, there were no lines.
After TGMR, we got out and the clouds had opened. We still had time before our ADR at Mama Melrose, so we did Star Tours. This was the longest line we had at 15 minutes.
I told DGM, after we buckled ourselves in, that the seatbelts were helpful when they tiped us upside down. She freaked until she realized I was kidding.
Dinner at Mama Melrose was actually quite good. We had a great time and we were all looking forward to Osborne Lights.
When we got out, the rain had stopped and it was warm, perhaps 68 degrees. We walked over and...
NO LIGHTS!!!
Apparently, when it rains, they don't turn it on because of the high voltage.
It made sense, but, I think they should have consulted me first!!!
DD and I ran up to ride RnRC before we went back. No line. About a 1 minute wait to get into the pre-show and we were on the first limo we saw.
And then, we were done. We stopped for some sweets on the way out and were all back in our rooms, ready for Day 2 at Animal Kingdom.
One of the great things about CBR is it's location. It's right on top of MGM, Epcot and DTD, which is very cool. The bus ride was about 5 minutes.

NOTE: I hate the beds at CBR. Ours creaked with every little movement. I still have yet to experience beds that are better than Pop Century.

I'll try to post Day 2 by tomorrow.

[Cincy]

Thanks Matt. Sounds great so far.

[Peppertink]

Yay!! More...more! Great job so far:)

[tinkerbell]

in true Matt fashion .. so far this TR is highly entertaining !!! also glad you didnt let the problem at CBR spoil anything :) and I hope there are no more problems at the CBR .. it is a beautiful resort.

[PrincessJill]

Sounds great so far!! Sorry you didn't get to see the lights, but the wait times are fabulous!! :) Can't wait for the rest!

[Baloo85]

Glad you liked Chef Mickey's and Mvmcp...I'll have to try that some day...I hear only good things about it

[Dana]

Sounds like a great day. I am so happy you enjoyed momma's as it's one of my all time WDW favorties. Good food in a relaxing setting...very laid back...very Dana..lol Can't wait to read on.