Should We Winnie the Pooh this Thing? - July/August 2018 Trip Report -Complete 8/18

Following! Yep, I would have a very difficult time staying off-site too. We stayed at CSR last July and liked it too. We didn't find the construction to be a bother either and really appreciated the refurbished rooms. I would totally stay there again...
 
My internship was in Austin, TX. We live in DFW. It wasn’t feasible for my family to pick up and move with me, as we have house, schools, and DH’s career here so instead I spent the last year living in two cities. I got up super early every Monday to drive to Austin for work, spent the week in Austin staying with a cousin, then drove back to DFW every Friday and spent the weekend at home. This was my life every week for the past year. While also completing a dissertation. Needless to say, my free time amounted to about zilch. So we needed this trip in the worst way to celebrate me Phinnaly being Ph.inisheD.!!

Amazing! Congrats!
 


Oh my gosh, you had me laughing with that update! I love the selfie (because I STINK at taking selfies), and the MB story. :tongue: Can't wait for more :).
 
I just got here so I have lots to say!

Congratulations on finishing your PHD! I know that was a grueling year for you with so much commute and being away from your family, but you did it! Be proud of yourself and enjoy the ride from here on out!

We don't have children, but I understand the Disney bubble. We have stayed offsite the night before our trip officially starts, and it's just not the same. We are doing it again this year on Halloween, but my husband is insistent that we go to Disney Springs to be immersed in the magic.

CSR is quite lovely! I've never been, but I would love to stay sometime. Your pictures are gorgeous.

I love Cora's adorable Lion King romper.

I didn't know about the secret menu at ASMo, but that's cool that you ordered it! I'm not so sure about that burger. . .

More please!
 
Sorry I've been MIA for a while! I started my new job and it's at a hospital, which is a setting I've never worked in before, so I've been trying to get acclimated. I switch over to my non-training schedule this week and should finally be able to settle into a routine!

Thank goodness they didn't give him any trouble with the lost magic band.

I've eaten at Tusker House before. Love it!

It's probably going to be an every trip place for us now. So good!

Joining in.

Congrats on your PhD. What an amazing accomplishment.

Your matching manicures are adorable.

:welcome:Thank you and thank you! I'm just so glad to have the thing done!

That is pretty good, even with your Griswald Parking expierence.

That is the perfect way to describe it and how it will now come to be known in our family I'm sure! :rotfl:


What is with kids and naked mole rats?!? My girls love naked mole rats.

I don't get it! They're pretty nasty looking, but the kids could have stood there for as long as I would let them.

I am trying to get Morgan to make one like this, She draws all the time.

It worked out well and was a guaranteed point of interaction with the characters. If she already likes to draw I think it'd be perfect for her!

Coronado really does look beautiful! Is that tower that is being built there DVC or regular hotel rooms?

It's regular rooms. That was DH's question too, as he liked CSR so much he was talking about looking into getting into DVC there at some point in the future if it was going to be a DVC tower.

I sure hope the rest of your mornings don’t start like your AK morning. I cannot believe that your husband’s magicband was in the car the whole time. Too funny!

I'm pretty sure this was the worst - started out with nowhere to go but up! :rotfl2: I was ready to smack him when he held that dang thing up after getting out of the car.

We rode FoP for the first time in June, and wow, we all loved it! It’s a new favorite for us, too! The whole Pandora area is just so well themed and truly beautiful to walk around, especially at night.

We missed seeing it at night and I'm not happy about that! Something to look forward to for next time. It really is just so well done!

OMG the lost Magic Band would have made me crazy! Sounds like a great morning at AK.

It did make me crazy! Lol I'm amazed that we ended up having such a great morning despite the craziness we started with.
 


Following! Yep, I would have a very difficult time staying off-site too. We stayed at CSR last July and liked it too. We didn't find the construction to be a bother either and really appreciated the refurbished rooms. I would totally stay there again...

I was surprised by how unbothered we were by the construction, as it really is a large portion of the resort. Just speaks to the beauty of the resort as a whole as it was gorgeous enough to still be amazing despite the cranes and walls.

Amazing! Congrats!

Thank you!

That's awesome everything worked out with DH and he was able to get to the ride.

I couldn't believe he made it. Talk about Disney magic! ;)

Oh my gosh, you had me laughing with that update! I love the selfie (because I STINK at taking selfies), and the MB story. :tongue: Can't wait for more :).

I'm glad someone appreciates my poor selfie-taking skills! :P

I just got here so I have lots to say!

Welcome!

Congratulations on finishing your PHD! I know that was a grueling year for you with so much commute and being away from your family, but you did it! Be proud of yourself and enjoy the ride from here on out!

Thank you! It still doesn't quite feel real that it's over, but I'm so happy to be able to finally settle into some stability on this ride!

We don't have children, but I understand the Disney bubble. We have stayed offsite the night before our trip officially starts, and it's just not the same. We are doing it again this year on Halloween, but my husband is insistent that we go to Disney Springs to be immersed in the magic.

I think that's a good compromise. I know heading into All Star Movies and getting a taste of the Disney experience helped us tolerate the off-site night a lot.

CSR is quite lovely! I've never been, but I would love to stay sometime. Your pictures are gorgeous.

Thanks! I highly recommend it.

I love Cora's adorable Lion King romper.

My MIL made that for her and I thought it would be perfect for Animal Kingdom as soon as I saw it.

I didn't know about the secret menu at ASMo, but that's cool that you ordered it! I'm not so sure about that burger. . .

I totally get it - that burger sounds disgusting! It really doesn't make sense that it works and is delicious. :confused3
 
Day 3: July 23, Part 2 – I don’t care what you say, she’s creepy

We took about a 3 hour break at the resort. Of course, DH and the kids used a decent chunk of that time to swim. I told them I’d come get them when it was time to stop. I walked up to find CM’s leading folks in a dance through of YMCA as one of the activities and DH was participating right along with the children. So, of course, I took pictures and videos before he realized I was there.

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This is when he realized I was filming. Gotcha!

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The kids got necklaces for their participation before we headed back to the room.

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The weather on this morning had been amazing! Most of the morning it was in the 70s, the humidity was completely tolerable, and there was no sign of rain . We didn’t even break a sweat and we had been in Animal Kingdom, which many folks (including me) consider to be the hottest feeling park. We crossed our fingers for a similar experience at our evening park – Epcot!

The kids decided that they wanted to take the bus, so we headed over to the bus stop. We didn’t have to wait long before we were on our way and soon we were walking up to this.

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This sight makes me so so very happy. Future World gives me the Disney feels like no other place, probably because I have memories of being absolutely in love with it when I visited as an 8 year old. I literally clapped and jumped up and down as we walked in. I know I looked like a complete idiot and I care not.

Our first stop was a new experience for us. We wanted to check out the Spectaculab show that had opened since our last visit. It was really cute! Cora got picked to come on stage for one of the demonstrations. I think hers was about force.

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Both kids gave this show a thumbs up. Next up was a completely unnecessary FP.

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Alex had requested Figment as our first ride in Epcot. He loooooves Figment. Like, he sleeps with a Figment doll and regularly bursts into renditions of “One Little Spark” at home. I love Figment too, but this ride is junk. Still, we did it and I held my nose at the appropriate moment. Of course the ride had to be followed up with some time in Imageworks.

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Next up was a more necessary FP reservation – Soarin’! I prefer the California version, but still love this ride. The kids requested that we wait for B1. The way it worked out with other people waiting they had 3 spots on B1 so we would have to wait for the next cycle. I decided to take one for the team and sit in B2 and let DH and the kids take the B1 spots.

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The ride was still great with a few feet dangling in front of me and we’ll be able to do this one again in a couple of months when we go to Disneyland, so it didn’t bother me.

We were thirsty at this point and decided to quench our thirst with a stop at Club Cool. The kids have tried the Beverly before, but it had been years and they didn’t remember, so I decided to take advantage of that and get them to try it again. Here is the progression:

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And I laughed and laughed…

We checked out Mousegear for a little bit before heading to our last FP.

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My favorite spot in WDW – standing under Spaceship Earth.

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The best animatronic…
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…and the worst.
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This girl creeps me out! I wrote about this creepy girl last time and here she is again. It just seems like she has no face and is likely the purest embodiment of evil in disguise as a Disney animatronic. This time Alex was determined to verify that she has a face so he craned his neck around as far as he could as we went by. He swears she does, but I still cannot stand her. #isurvivedcreepygirl2018 #thestuffofnightmares #nottodaysatan

Last time we were here the photo thing wasn’t working, so I was glad to see it operating this time.
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Power City!
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We decided to head back after a little quality time with Project Future. This time our wait for the bus was a bit longer. We watched bus after bus go come for different resorts, but nothing for Coronado. Eventually we saw a bus with an Incredibles wrap coming around the corner.

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The kids got excited and said maybe we’ll get to have the Incredibles bus! I said I doubted it and just be patient. Guess who was right.

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So we boarded the Incredibles bus and headed back to the resort. We grabbed dinner at Pepper Market again. This time I at least got pictures of my food and DH’s.

He had this cheesesteak thing with garlic parmesan fries.
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I had a calzone
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DH liked his a lot. I wasn’t crazy about mine. It was okay, but the texture seemed a little grainy for me. However, I let Alex try some and he loved it. We walked around the resort a while before turning in for the night. It was nice to just take some time to take in the atmosphere and enjoy the beauty of CSR before our first resort transfer the next morning.

Up next: Goodbye CSR, hello BCV!
 
Day 4: July 24, Part 1 – Strike a pose!

We took our time getting up and getting ready this morning, as it would be one of our few non-rope drop days. We ate a small breakfast in the room and the kids lounged around and enjoyed the Disney cartoons they show on the resort TV.

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Cora loves this picture of her eating ;)

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The array of art supplies was for Cora to finish up her autograph book. As I mentioned before, the kids had wanted to draw the characters for their autograph books and Cora hadn’t quite finished hers before we left home, so she thought this would be a good time to get that done.

We checked out and had our luggage transferred by about 10:00. Easy peasy! We piled in the car and soon were seeing this sign:

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We again figured we would not have a room ready as early as we were arriving and this time we were right. We had fun walking around the resort and checking everything out. We stayed here for the first time on our trip in June 2016. We love Beach Club (Villas) so much and it was great to be back.

And now I present to you…drum roll please…a bunch of duplicate photos! We got a lot of the same shots this time as we did in 2016.

2016
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2018
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2016
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2018
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2016
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2018
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2016
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2018
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We also spent a little time just enjoying the beach and the gorgeous view of the Crescent Lake area.

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Sand writing courtesy of Cora.

After we felt like we had soaked up enough of the feeling of just being at Beach Club we headed out to our park for the day – Magic Kingdom! Here is our picture:

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Ok, now the smarter ones of you here may be saying “…hold on…something’s wrong here…can’t quite put my finger on it…”

So this is obviously Epcot. We decided to take the long way to Magic Kingdom. Rather than just hopping the bus from Beach Club, we entered Epcot through the International Gateway, walked to the front of the park, and hopped on the monorail! Time consuming? Yes. Extra steps? Yes. But the kids wanted the experience of arriving to MK by monorail for their first view of the castle, so I obliged. We literally just walked through Epcot and stopped nowhere except for this photo.

Monorail!
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What is happening with Alex’s face? I do not know.
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When we arrived at the TTC to transfer from the Epcot beam, cast members were directing people to buses and ferries and saying that the monorail was having trouble. Of course. But I was not going to be deterred that easily. As I watched the masses head off to the buses and boats we stayed the course and headed up to the monorail platform and it was just as I suspected. The express beam was down, but the resort beam was fine and had pretty much no line because the assumption was “the monorails are down.” Mission accomplished! But I forgot to take a picture of our approach. Mission failed…

We are typically rope droppers, so I’m not used to entering MK when it’s already this hot and crowded. It had rained while we were on the monorail.
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First stop – Tomorrowland! The kids had to stop to pose in front of the purple wall. I died a little inside realizing that I now have kids who are old enough to know and care about that kind of thing.

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Alex had to stop for one of the Incredibles scenes.
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We headed to our first ride – I love me some Peoplemover and wanted that to be the first thing we did. Well it had a line. A long one. Like, for real. I had never seen that before. They were using the extended queue and it was full. We decided to skip it and get some food. I had mobile ordered from the monorail and since I knew we were planning on Tomorrowland, I’d scheduled us for a visit with this guy.

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Once again, I have no food pictures, but it was basic fare – burger for DH, chicken sandwich for me, nuggets for the kids. We were full, hydrated, cooled off, and ready to ride something, dangit!

Up next: so will we actually get on a ride in MK?
 
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Spectaculab - I never heard of it. If it’s still there next time we visit, we’ll have to check it out. I’m always looking for things indoors in the summertime to sit and cool down.

I don’t think I’ll ever get my kids on Figment again. They hate that ride. I don’t hate it, but do miss the older Figment ride.

I love the BC! Nothing beats walking to/from Epcot! This summer we tried the YC for the first time and really liked it - more than the BC actually.

The Peoplemover always had a long line when we were there in June. In all my trips, I never saw that line as long as I saw it this summer. We always waited though; it’s one of my favorites.
 
Loving all the pictures!

The kids decided that they wanted to take the bus, so
Lol now that they've been bus"christened" (I just can't use that other word when speaking of your children) they like it, they really like it!

and the worst.
Omg lol but I actually love this scene in SE :rotfl2:it makes me think of sitting in my grandparents living room watching TV with them in the late 70's/early 80's. I however have a face........
 
Finally got to read this. I thought of your Disneyland TR when we were there this summer. Now, I can revel in your WDW report before we go back in November. I love the title. We are big Pooh fans, so it's greatpooh: Looking forward to reading the rest. Congratulations on the PHd! That's a massive accomplishment. Hope your new job is going well. Sorry I never got to see you in Austin.
 
I walked up to find CM’s leading folks in a dance through of YMCA as one of the activities and DH was participating right along with the children. So, of course, I took pictures and videos before he realized I was there.
Ha! I love it!

I love Figment too, but this ride is junk.
So, so so true. We usually ride Figment, once a trip and all I can think is how can this could be a better ride. Maybe one day.

We were thirsty at this point and decided to quench our thirst with a stop at Club Cool. The kids have tried the Beverly before, but it had been years and they didn’t remember, so I decided to take advantage of that and get them to try it again. Here is the progression:

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I love it! I did this with the girls and they actually didn't find it that bad... They both drink seltzer water with me, and I think Beverly tastes a little like seltzer or club soda.

This girl creeps me out! I wrote about this creepy girl last time and here she is again. It just seems like she has no face and is likely the purest embodiment of evil in disguise as a Disney animatronic. This time Alex was determined to verify that she has a face so he craned his neck around as far as he could as we went by. He swears she does, but I still cannot stand her. #isurvivedcreepygirl2018 #thestuffofnightmares #nottodaysatan
Ha! Now, I will always have to see if I can see as well!

2016
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2018
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I love the comparison pics!

So this is obviously Epcot. We decided to take the long way to Magic Kingdom. Rather than just hopping the bus from Beach Club, we entered Epcot through the International Gateway, walked to the front of the park, and hopped on the monorail! Time consuming? Yes. Extra steps? Yes. But the kids wanted the experience of arriving to MK by monorail for their first view of the castle, so I obliged. We literally just walked through Epcot and stopped nowhere except for this photo.

Monorail!
How long did it take you door to door? I always figured it would be long but wasn't sure exactly how long..

I died a little inside realizing that I now have kids who are old enough to know and care about that kind of thing.

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It's so bitter sweet, isn't it?!

We headed to our first ride – I love me some Peoplemover and wanted that to be the first thing we did. Well it had a line. A long one. Like, for real. I had never seen that before.
The lines for the people mover seem to be more normal these days. Boo.
 
Enjoying your report! Can't wait to read more and see more pictures!
 
Next up was a more necessary FP reservation – Soarin’! I prefer the California version, but still love this ride.
I rode the new version for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I agree, I prefer Soarin' over California. But it's still fun.

We were thirsty at this point and decided to quench our thirst with a stop at Club Cool. The kids have tried the Beverly before, but it had been years and they didn’t remember, so I decided to take advantage of that and get them to try it again.
Hehe...isn't it fun when you can give Beverly to someone who doesn't know? I may have done this to DW and DD. They had no idea, and were not impressed.
 
This girl creeps me out! I wrote about this creepy girl last time and here she is again. It just seems like she has no face and is likely the purest embodiment of evil in disguise as a Disney animatronic.

I remember you saying this in your last TR and it still haunts me! Every time I see a picture or video of that scene in SE she gives me the creeps :rotfl:
 
We arrived at the toll plaza at 6:48am and I was quite pleased as I pulled into the parking lot…and then somewhat less pleased as I proceeded to drive right by all of the parking and back out the exit. What can I say? It was early, it was kind of dark, there were no CM’s out directing traffic yet, and I haven’t driven through the AK lots all that often.

So I sheepishly made my way back up Osceola to the turnaround to get back into AK, made the wrong turn again and ended up back at the exit! By this point DH was laughing at me and the kids had had it with me.

:rotfl: Sounds like something I would do!

We stood waiting until about 7:30ish, when they started letting people into the park. Cue misadventure: the sequel. As people in front of us started tapping in, DH says “where’s my Magicband???”

O. M. G. I'd kill him! Glad it all worked out in the end!

Next it was time for a new dining experience – Tusker House! I have had a reservation booked at TH for every trip we’ve taken at some point, but always ended up cancelling for one reason or another. DH, who as I mentioned is a huge Donald fan, insisted that we were keeping the reservation this time, dangit (possibly with more *colorful* language)! So we did. And it immediately became my new favorite character meal. Our ADR was for 10:50 so we could head over right after the first FotLK show and the timing was perfect, as we got to sample breakfast and lunch foods. So so soooooo good!

I love TH :love:

The kids had drawn pictures of the characters for our homemade autograph books, so Mickey insisted on taking pictures with the drawings of him, which was really cute.

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Adorable!
 
Hi. Joining in your TR. I can confirm that girl on spaceship earth has a face. I did my CP there and we used to walk the track. But I can see why people would think she didnt.
 

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