Kristie911
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 11, 2014
Foreword: This was my 4th trip to WDW but it's been 17 years since I had been there. This was the first trip for hubby, DS10 and DD3.
We flew into MCO on 9/24 at noon and thanks to our amazing ME driver (I wish I could remember his name...he was so much fun!) we were at Coronado Springs resort by 1:30. Room was ready when we checked in and we were in Cabanas 8A on the second floor which is pretty much what I had requested because we wanted to be close to the pools and I wanted second floor so we didn't have to worry about noise from upstairs. We were really close to a bus stop and had a great view of the parking lot (haha...I didn't pay extra for the view, we weren't there that much). Got settled a bit, walked around to check out the pool and then hopped on a bus for our ADR at 1900 Park Fare.
Park Fare dinner was excellent. Loved the character interaction and the food was really good.
First park day was Epcot. Got there just after 9, breezed through bag check and hit the ground running. At the Living Seas we were just watching the sting rays and a CM came up and started talking to us. She invited us to watch them get ready for feeding time and we all got to go up to the top of the aquariums and watch the divers get ready behind the scenes. We talked to several of the divers and they explained how they feed and what fish get what food. We were up there for probably 20 min and the kids got a card afterwards that said they got extra Disney Magic with a top of the aquarium tour. It was really cool. Hit a few more rides and then went over to Food and Wine fest. Spent way too much money and way too much food and had a lot of fun!!! We headed back to the hotel around 5 and relaxed at the pool before an early bedtime.
Second park day was spent at Magic Kingdom. It was our 5th anniversary so hubby and I wore our pins and got lots of congratulations from CM's. Headed to BTMRR and Splash Mountain which we had fastpasses for but lines were short so we just boarded standby for both and saved our FP's for later. I swapped them out on my phone for other rides later in the morning. DS and I sat in the front on Splash and got soaked. But then it started raining so it didn't matter anyway. Had lunch at Crystal Palace and loved it. Food was average but the characters were fun. We're a big Winnie the Pooh family, so this was a must do!! By the time we finished, it had quit raining so we hit a few more rides. Lines weren't bad, the longest was Jungle Cruise at about 25 min. Had a 6pm dinner at BOG which was definitely the highlight of the trip. The food was so amazingly good. All of it!! The Grey Stuff really is delicious!!! Our dinner ressie was at 6:10 so we didn't leave until about 7:45 and two CMs walked us to the front because it was a party night and we didn't have tickets. They were super nice about it and we had a few laughs on our way out. Went back to the pool for a bit but someone's kid pooped in the pool and they cleared it. I never went back to the main pool after that...ick. LOL
Took Saturday off and met a friend for lunch at DTD and then did some shopping. LOVED being able to send packages back to the resort so I didn't have to carry them all day. So relaxing.
Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom. It seemed really crowded though we enjoyed the rides, it was just hot and crowded and we burned out kind of fast. Ate at Tusker House for lunch and were pretty disappointed. Food was just so-so, characters were kind of rushed and the whole restaurant felt ick. I know it's supposed to feel like you're really in Africa but it was kind of depressing feeling. Didn't enjoy it at all.
Monday was Hollywood Studios and we were there early to get DS signed up for Jedi training!! Did Little Mermaid show and then Tower of Terror (loved it but I don't know I'd do it again...eek!!) Lunch was at Hollywood and Vine and it was loud and chaotic but DD LOVED the characters and it was a must do for us. It wasn't bad, food was typical, characters were very good and it was fun. Loud. But fun. Jedi training was excellent, DS had a blast!!! Hubby and DS enjoyed Indiana Jones and it's one of my favorites so I was happy I got to see it before it's gone for good. Started raining in the afternoon pretty hard so we squeezed in a few more rides and headed over to catch the afternoon stunt show...which was cancelled 5 minutes into the show. We caught Beauty and the Beast and the Great Movie Ride and some dinner on the way out.
Tuesday was our last day and DD's 4th birthday. We had Akershus for breakfast which was amazing. Loved the food (potato casserole!! Yum!!) and the character interaction was so good. Everyone wished her happy birthday and she got to lead the princess parade with Aurora. Our waitress brought DD a cupcake and a card signed by the princesses. We saw Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella. After that we scooted over to meet Mulan and then headed back to MK. Hubby and DS went to HS to catch the car stunt show and DD and I went on all the kiddy rides again at MK in the rain. Flying carpets, Dumbo, carousel, Ariel (twice!!) and then had lunch at BOG again (had a late lunch FP). Lunch was just as good as dinner!! Got to meet Gaston and then met up with hubby and DS and did meet and greets with Cinderella and Rapunzel (FP) and later Anna and Elsa (also FP). A&E were so much fun!! I think I was as excited as my daughter was to meet them! Stayed for Wishes which was just gorgeous. I was happy we stayed even though the kids were exhausted.
ME back to MCO on Wednesday for a 2:55 flight...which was later delayed to 4:10, so it was a lot of airport time. Fortunately MCO is pretty nice and it shortened our layover in St Louis which isn't such a nice airport!! We were happy to be home but we can't wait to go back (maybe in two years...)
Overall, I really liked the FP system but I haven't been to Disney in 17 years so I missed the era of the paper FP's and don't know what I'm missing. Several times we chose to just use standby instead of burning our FP and I was easily able to pull a new FP on my phone for later in the day. It was so easy!!!
We flew into MCO on 9/24 at noon and thanks to our amazing ME driver (I wish I could remember his name...he was so much fun!) we were at Coronado Springs resort by 1:30. Room was ready when we checked in and we were in Cabanas 8A on the second floor which is pretty much what I had requested because we wanted to be close to the pools and I wanted second floor so we didn't have to worry about noise from upstairs. We were really close to a bus stop and had a great view of the parking lot (haha...I didn't pay extra for the view, we weren't there that much). Got settled a bit, walked around to check out the pool and then hopped on a bus for our ADR at 1900 Park Fare.
Park Fare dinner was excellent. Loved the character interaction and the food was really good.
First park day was Epcot. Got there just after 9, breezed through bag check and hit the ground running. At the Living Seas we were just watching the sting rays and a CM came up and started talking to us. She invited us to watch them get ready for feeding time and we all got to go up to the top of the aquariums and watch the divers get ready behind the scenes. We talked to several of the divers and they explained how they feed and what fish get what food. We were up there for probably 20 min and the kids got a card afterwards that said they got extra Disney Magic with a top of the aquarium tour. It was really cool. Hit a few more rides and then went over to Food and Wine fest. Spent way too much money and way too much food and had a lot of fun!!! We headed back to the hotel around 5 and relaxed at the pool before an early bedtime.
Second park day was spent at Magic Kingdom. It was our 5th anniversary so hubby and I wore our pins and got lots of congratulations from CM's. Headed to BTMRR and Splash Mountain which we had fastpasses for but lines were short so we just boarded standby for both and saved our FP's for later. I swapped them out on my phone for other rides later in the morning. DS and I sat in the front on Splash and got soaked. But then it started raining so it didn't matter anyway. Had lunch at Crystal Palace and loved it. Food was average but the characters were fun. We're a big Winnie the Pooh family, so this was a must do!! By the time we finished, it had quit raining so we hit a few more rides. Lines weren't bad, the longest was Jungle Cruise at about 25 min. Had a 6pm dinner at BOG which was definitely the highlight of the trip. The food was so amazingly good. All of it!! The Grey Stuff really is delicious!!! Our dinner ressie was at 6:10 so we didn't leave until about 7:45 and two CMs walked us to the front because it was a party night and we didn't have tickets. They were super nice about it and we had a few laughs on our way out. Went back to the pool for a bit but someone's kid pooped in the pool and they cleared it. I never went back to the main pool after that...ick. LOL
Took Saturday off and met a friend for lunch at DTD and then did some shopping. LOVED being able to send packages back to the resort so I didn't have to carry them all day. So relaxing.
Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom. It seemed really crowded though we enjoyed the rides, it was just hot and crowded and we burned out kind of fast. Ate at Tusker House for lunch and were pretty disappointed. Food was just so-so, characters were kind of rushed and the whole restaurant felt ick. I know it's supposed to feel like you're really in Africa but it was kind of depressing feeling. Didn't enjoy it at all.
Monday was Hollywood Studios and we were there early to get DS signed up for Jedi training!! Did Little Mermaid show and then Tower of Terror (loved it but I don't know I'd do it again...eek!!) Lunch was at Hollywood and Vine and it was loud and chaotic but DD LOVED the characters and it was a must do for us. It wasn't bad, food was typical, characters were very good and it was fun. Loud. But fun. Jedi training was excellent, DS had a blast!!! Hubby and DS enjoyed Indiana Jones and it's one of my favorites so I was happy I got to see it before it's gone for good. Started raining in the afternoon pretty hard so we squeezed in a few more rides and headed over to catch the afternoon stunt show...which was cancelled 5 minutes into the show. We caught Beauty and the Beast and the Great Movie Ride and some dinner on the way out.
Tuesday was our last day and DD's 4th birthday. We had Akershus for breakfast which was amazing. Loved the food (potato casserole!! Yum!!) and the character interaction was so good. Everyone wished her happy birthday and she got to lead the princess parade with Aurora. Our waitress brought DD a cupcake and a card signed by the princesses. We saw Belle, Aurora, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella. After that we scooted over to meet Mulan and then headed back to MK. Hubby and DS went to HS to catch the car stunt show and DD and I went on all the kiddy rides again at MK in the rain. Flying carpets, Dumbo, carousel, Ariel (twice!!) and then had lunch at BOG again (had a late lunch FP). Lunch was just as good as dinner!! Got to meet Gaston and then met up with hubby and DS and did meet and greets with Cinderella and Rapunzel (FP) and later Anna and Elsa (also FP). A&E were so much fun!! I think I was as excited as my daughter was to meet them! Stayed for Wishes which was just gorgeous. I was happy we stayed even though the kids were exhausted.
ME back to MCO on Wednesday for a 2:55 flight...which was later delayed to 4:10, so it was a lot of airport time. Fortunately MCO is pretty nice and it shortened our layover in St Louis which isn't such a nice airport!! We were happy to be home but we can't wait to go back (maybe in two years...)
Overall, I really liked the FP system but I haven't been to Disney in 17 years so I missed the era of the paper FP's and don't know what I'm missing. Several times we chose to just use standby instead of burning our FP and I was easily able to pull a new FP on my phone for later in the day. It was so easy!!!
