Now that's what I'm talking about! Our magical May trip report.

Hi there! We just got back from our vacation yesterday. Technically we've been gone from Disney since last Thursday , but we stayed in Florida with family until Monday night. It's probably going to take me awhile to get this whole thing posted as I need to go through over 1300 pics, but I wanted to get this party started. So here goes.

Who: Me (Em), My DH (Luke) and our two DSs (7&3)
Where: Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Riverside Royal Guest Room
When: May 17-23
PTR here http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/first-time-for-everything-ptr.860419/

A few things changed from that schedule including the cancellation of the Aloha show and switching around park days.


Day One

So this year we opted for something a little different and decided to take the Amtrak auto-train from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL. On paper it looks great- they load up your vehicle and you spend the night on the train. Then voila you wake up the next day in Florida with your car. But in reality sleep is not something that happened for us because we opted for normal seats instead of purchasing a private room. If we ever do it again that will be a necessity.
We woke up early on Friday morning and were out of the house by 9am on our way to Lorton. We figured we'd give ourselves plenty of wiggle room for the 2pm cutoff time. We arrived around noon and were finally allowed to board at 2:30. I'll insert some pics of the station and playground when I unpack my other camera. Amtrak provides dinner and I have to say that it was a very pleasant experience. The food was good and they kept our wine glasses full throughout the meal.

Packed up and ready to go:

Train station:

On the train:

Next up was sleepy time and I will spare you the details of the nightmare that ensued. The children were able to sleep well because they are small and fit perfectly into the seats, but Mom and Dad were not so lucky and unfortunately I barely slept. Oh well. At least we got into the station an hour early and by 9:15 am we were on our way to DISNEY!!!

 

[pluto13]

Looks like fun. I'm dying to hear more! Hope ya'll had a magical time!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Will be following this in case we photobombed any of your pics as our vacation dates overlapped

 

[Ember]

Day Two (Part One: Coronado Springs)

We're on our way to Disney World Yay!!!! It took about 40 minutes I think from Sanford, but I don't really remember because I was too busy bouncing in my seat and singing with the kids. Finally we saw this sign :

And then this one:

and I about lost my mind
There was a short line for online check-in, but the CMs were wonderful and about fifteen minutes later we had our room as requested and lots of personal additions from the CMs. I was not expecting anniversary buttons and champagne and balloons and all of the other little things they did for us. I almost cried at check-in. We were located in the Casitas 5:

View from the "porch" looking right

 

[wsmith1978]

Very nice-looking resort! We've been toying with the idea of staying there, as we've only stayed at the WL on all of our 5 trips so far and would like to try something different. Did you have a good experience with buses?

 

[wdwmom2+1]

I am curious about your nightmeres on the Amtrak Maybe send me a PM only because next year we are doing a trip to DC and are contemplating driving or taking Amtrak

 

[Ember]

Day Two (Part Two: Magic Kingdom)
After settling into our new digs and listening to our very first Mickey message on our room phone, we decided to head over to the bus stop and hitch a ride to the Magic Kingdom. We had lunch reservations at Kona Cafe, but wanted to hit up at least one ride beforehand. The bus took forever to get there and this would be a running theme for the whole trip, but we tried really hard to just deal with it and not let it spoil our days.
We're Here!!! Tears of joy!

It looks crowded in this picture, but it was really pretty empty. We had one hour until we had to catch the boat to the Poly so we collectively decided that Pirates would be our first ride of the tri

Quick stop to check out these guys:

Then on to Pirates, which for some silly reason I did not take a picture of.
The wait said 10 minutes, but we pretty much walked on to which my husband responded "Now that's what I'm talking about". This became his expression for the whole trip. Our last Disney vacation was not so magical and it had spoiled his attitude towards Disney, but I think this trip really converted him into a Disneyholic. After Pirates, which my 3 yr old DS fell head over heels in love with, we decided to head out to the Poly. On the way out we passed what was probably the longest line we saw the entire time- THE DOLE WHIP line

On the boat we got to see the Iron Man monorail:

GF Construction:

This looked a lot smaller in real life:

We took in some of the beautiful scenery and then it was off to find Kona Cafe. The atmosphere of Kona was a little disheartening, but this made up for it:

Lapu Lapu where have you been all of my life?!!!
It was very tasty and my DH had one as well. This almost made up for the TERRIBLE service we had there. The waitress was very nice, but she brought us out two completely wrong meals and we had to wait for over an HOUR before they finally brought us the correct ones. Can you imagine drinking an entire Lapu on an empty stomach? Well that's what I did so at least I was chipper during the fiasco. When I finally got my burger it was amazing!! I got the surf and turf burger and my husband had pan-fried noodles and both dishes were fantastic. I didn't take pics because I scarfed it down. To make up for the waiting we were given free dessert:

The banana and chocolate creme brulee was fabulous! So now with full bellies and tipsy minds we decided that we needed to head back to CSR and take a break.

 

[Ember]

I am curious about your nightmeres on the Amtrak Maybe send me a PM only because next year we are doing a trip to DC and are contemplating driving or taking Amtrak

Everything was great except that if you are going to take it then I would absolutely spring for private bedrooms. We had lower level level seats so there was only two other couples in our compartment, but the lady in front of us snored so loud that I could still hear her through earplugs and the seats are super comfy to sit on, but not at all comfortable for sleeping on unless you are used to sleeping on airplanes and such for long periods of time. They have leg rests and they recline, but after awhile you can feel the bars in the seats and I just couldn't find a comfortable position. But dinner was nice and so were the snacks (both free) they even served free wine with dinner. The bathrooms were clean and the movement of the train wasn't bad. If we had our own room I think I would have loved it, but if you are planning on using coach seats I don't recommend it.

 

[Ember]

Day Two (Part 3: Back to CSR)
After lunch we hopped on the Iron Man monorail and then caught a bus back to CSR. It was time to go check out the pool!

Love the theming of the pool area. And the water slide was awesome! I felt a little silly being in line with all the kiddos, but whatever I'm at Disney and I'm going on the slide too!
Let the kids play on the playground, be careful about letting them on the big slide after they've been in the pool. Sunscreen + water + slide= DISASTER! My oldest DS shot out of the slide like a cannonball, skimmed across the rubber playground mat stuff and ended up with some nice scratches/burns.
Small slide:

Big slide:

This was the first time down and you can see his little legs muscles trying to stop him lol.

And then it was nap time- my favorite time of day

Since MK was open until 1am we knew we had plenty of time to be lazy and that's just what we did. We finally headed back to the park around 5 or 6.
The first place we headed was the cars that I can't for the life of me remember the name of. We were about five minutes away from getting on and my 3 yr old decided he needed to go potty and he needed to go NOW. So my husband left the line and I got on with our oldest son.

I feared for my life and he thought it was hilarious.

By the time we got off the ride DH and DS had already gotten back in line and were about to get on so we were able to catch them leaving:

Next up:

 

[Zman-ks]

Awesome TR!

 

[Ember]

Day Two Continued
As we approached new Fantasyland I couldn't believe how many people there were crammed back there. But everything was beautiful! I don't have a lot of pics because there was no where for me to stand out of the way, but here are the few that I managed to snag:
Mine train construction. Looks really good and can't wait until it opens. We are already planning to come back when they finish it.

After we rounded the corner we saw Beast's castle:

and I am super glad we had this:

because people were trying to have dinner there and were unaware of the reservations and they were not happy. I think some of the adults at the reservation window were giving my three year a run for his money in the hissy fit throwing category. Even though we were about 15 minutes early our buzzer went off in about 5 and we were allowed to exit the bridge.

Some pics from the bridge:

They stopped us in front of these doors :

And then two CMs opened the doors and welcomed us to the Beast's castle. It was very dramatic and just amazing.
They led us to our table in the ballroom right by the giant windows with the snow scene. Every little detail was accounted for. It was really stunning. A lot of the following pictures are really blurry because I didn't want to use my flash, but if you get a chance to eat here do it. It blew me away.

Napkin:

View from our table:

About halfway through our meal there was an announcement presenting our host: THE BEAST!! He walked through the ballroom greeting everyone and then retired to his study where you could get pics with him. So cool.

I got the french onion soup and my husband and I shared the cornish game hen. Both sons got steak. I only took a pic of the soup:

It was good, but the hen was not good- no flavoring and bland. The boys steak was ok, veggies were good, but overall we were not impressed with the food at all. I'm glad I decided to share with DH. Their alcohol selection is good though. I got a Chimay blue which was delicious I felt kinda naughty drinking at the MK The cupcakes were also really good. We got a chocolate one and a strawberry one. I would eat there again just for the atmosphere and the cupcakes.

By the time we left BOG it was dark and beautiful out. We were going to try to ride the new Little Mermaid ride, but the wait was about 50 minutes and Peter Pan was the usual 75 so we headed over to Haunted Mansion instead and walked right on. HM at night is extra special. It was little son's first time on and poor guy was scared. He said he liked it, but he didn't want to ride it ever again lol. I don't have pictures of the rest of the night because my battery died and we hadn't planned on staying out as late as we did and therefore didn't bring the stinkin' camera bag. Grrr. But after HM we stood in line for Splash, another first my littlest guy. We got right up to the building when thunder started rumbling, but luckily we were able to get on before they made a decision about shutting it down. Love that ride so much and it looks fantastic after its refurb!! And we didn't even get soaked. That was a first! After that we watched Wishes and then had to hit Pirates again, after which the clock struck midnight and we headed back to CSR. It was truly a laid back and magical first day at MK. It's amazing how taking our time and not worrying about riding everything really changed our attitudes and the way we experienced the park. We didn't rush in between rides, we even checked out the SFRT and just took in all the small details that make the MK so magical. We interacted with characters and signed up for the card game, which we completely forgot to play lol. It was just exactly the way we pictured the perfect day "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

 

[Ember]

Day Three : Animal Kingdom
So the plan was for us to get up and be at AK for rope drop. Ahaahahhahaha. After our previous day's escapades and the little bit of sleep we got on the train we ended up sleeping in (another reoccurring theme throughout the trip and I never made it to a rope drop for any of the parks, almost made it to MK, but the bus was so slow we just missed it. Oh well- next time.)
Even with our late start is was empty:

There were some school groups, but once again the lines were very short. I made my husband run and get FPs for EE and then we walked on to the Triceratops.

Then my oldest made me go on this:

I think I screamed louder than anyone else on the ride. I am NOT a fan of wild mouse roller coasters. I hate that feeling of impending doom when you hit the corners. I made my DH go on it with him a second time.
Next up was Dinosaur. I was very hesitant to take my 3 yr old on it as it really scares me and I get tossed around on it, but he insisted and he ended up LOVING it! Thankfully our FPs were up so I was not subjected to that twice in a row lol. On to EE. My oldest is finally big enough to ride, but I had to convince him that a Yeti would not jump out and sure enough disco Yeti was not scary to him at all. All the other effects were working, but I really do miss the days of the working Yeti.

We took our time after that and did some animal watching. We saw this:

Which was really cool. They have them at the National Zoo too and we have never seen an animal actually use them. Then it was time to get our grub on and we headed to Flame Tree. We were going to eat at Y&Y, but I just have a soft spot for FT especially because we always eat in the garden.

Anniversary cupcakes:

View from our table:

Love this spot:

A lot of people gave us flack for "wasting" a day at AK, but I love the landscaping and the animals, and just being in nature. It's so pretty there and it was really relaxing. If you go to Disney just for rides, then I can see how this park wouldn't really be exciting for you, but we love it there. Next up was Tough to Be a Bug which I had never been on! I didn't even realize it was there! I wish there was a line because the queue was really cool, but we moved too fast to take it all in. It began to rain after we got out of the theater so we decided to check out the safari as someone on here had mentioned that the animals like to come out during the rain or right after. And they were right- we saw so many animals that we had never even seen before. We saw this hippo and didn't think it could possibly be real until it shut its mouth and swam away. The animals were so active in the rain!

After that we headed to Rafiki's Planet which was another thing we never knew was there. That was really cool and I wish we had more time to spend there, but by this time it was time for our dinner reservations at:

Let me just say that out of all the places we ate on this trip and all the experiences, our experience here was by far the best. Amazing service, amazing food, and amazing views! We had a 5pm dinner reservation and got to see their dinner opening presentation (does that count as a rope drop show? lol). We waited about 5 minutes and then were shown to our table with a window. It was so cool to watch the giraffes and zebras grazing and all of the other animals.

Waiting:

In the middle of dinner this bird showed up and obviously had an issue with Eli hahahaa

He stayed there the entire rest of the time we were there and every time Eli got up, the bird pecked at the window and fluffed up. It was hilarious!

For dinner we started with the 9 sauce bread service and then got the three meat and three veggie dishes. We shared the plates with the boys and we were all full and so happy. The food was amazing! I should have taken pics, but as you can probably already tell, I am terrible about that. I really should have taken pictures because the waitress brought us champagne and strawberries to celebrate our anniversary and we also had the dessert trio. The chai mousse is absolutely outstanding. Also noteworthy was the pressed pot coffee. Mmmm. We were really, really, happy with Sanaa and will definitely be back. After dinner we hung around and checked out some animals and the lobby of AKL. Pretty place, but it's so far away from everything else. Then it was back to CSR for swimming and resort time.

 

[Ember]

Very nice-looking resort! We've been toying with the idea of staying there, as we've only stayed at the WL on all of our 5 trips so far and would like to try something different. Did you have a good experience with buses?

The buses were a consistent issue no matter which resort we were taking them from. It was probably because attendance was low and therefore they didn't feel the need to have more than one or two buses running per park. We waited a long time for buses, about 25+ minutes each time, but at least at CSR our bus stop (#2) was the first pick-up point so we did not have to deal with buses being full. The resort is beautiful, but we probably won't be back, only because we have found our "Disney home" at Port Orleans Riverside, which I'll be posting about later in the week.

 

[farrellbarrel]

The pictures you took are beautiful!

 

[Ember]

Day Three Continued
After an amazing meal at Sanaa we caught the first park bus out of AKL and eventually made it back to CSR. Man that place really comes alive at night. It's really gorgeous. We opted for a swim at the quiet pool near our room to spare our feet the hike to the "cool" pool and found it to be really, well quiet lol. It was nice to float around and relax for awhile. Then it was off to explore and check out the night life. Turns out we had just missed the campfire. Oh well we should probably just retire so we can get up early for Epcot rope drop.

This was the exact hammock that I had posted in the countdown thread! And it was right near my room!

 

[Ember]

Day Four: Epcot
I'm going to do a separate post for the Behind the Seeds tour because there are a ton of pics. So we went to bed early so we could wake up and get to Epcot for rope drop. Yea that didn't happen lol. The drapes were so good at keeping out the light that we slept like babies. I guess if we were truly serious about seeing a rope drop show we would have set an alarm, but I really wanted to avoid doing that on vacation. So another late start for us. We got to Epcot around 10 and it was a bit more crowded than the other parks had been. It was really cool to see that the F&G stuff was still up.

Stopped for a PhotoPass pic

The first thing we did was hightail it back to Soarin to get FPs because we didn't do that last time and we were not able to ride it due to wait times of 2+ hours. The FPs were for an hour and a half away which was perfect because my husband had arranged for me and our oldest son to go on the Behind the Seeds tour. After the super awesome tour we finally got ready to ride:

After all the hype and waiting years to finally ride it, it was just okay. The orange groves were cool, but it was really tame and to be honest a little boring. I'm very happy that we never waited in the huge lines for it. Next up was Finding Nemo and I have been on this ride so many times that I ended up playing with my settings on my camera during the ride (sans flash of course).

We spent a good amount of time watching the dolphins and manatees and all the other pretty aquatic life and then it was off to Coral Reef for a surprise reservation for the kids.

Once again we scored a window seat and the kids were really excited to watch the sharks and sea turtles swimming by.

While we liked the atmosphere, I don't think we'll come back here. The food was not very good. The lobster soup tasted very bitter and kind of like dirt TBH, the fish was very dry, the shrimp was good, but I can't even remember what else we got so it must not have made an impression. The dessert was yummy. I convinced my son that I ate plastic mwahahaha:

Hey! That's not plastic!!

After lunch we spent some more time checking out the F&G stuff. The Cars set was blocked off, but we could still see Mater.

Seemingly out of nowhere the skies opened up and it started storming like crazy. We ran for cover and accidentally ended up at a M&G with Mickey Mouse!!! The wait was only 5 minutes and we just could not believe our luck. We had planned on setting aside at least an hour for this and here we were practically walking in! When it was our turn to meet Mickey I cried as I watched our littlest guy run up and hug Mickey. He was so happy and it was truly one of those magical moments.

We also got to meet Pluto, but the boys passed on meeting Minnie. When we got back outside it was sunny again.

So we headed over to test track to use our FPs. Test Track is another ride we have always skipped due to long lines. However, we thought this one way worth the wait. It was really fun!

Our sweet ride

After TT we couldn't believe it was already 8pm!! We ran over to the WS, hit up Norway and Mexico, did the respective rides at each, grabbed some school bread, a troll's horn, and an alcohol imbibed coffee and before we knew it the lights were dimming for Illuminations. We've seen it a bunch of times so we made the decision to high tail it out of the park before the masses. Before we left we made sure to ride SSE as there was a certain tour group in the line earlier and we skipped it to save our eardrums and sanity. Luckily this was the only time we saw said tour group. Goodnight Epcot!!

Next up: Switching resorts and Hollywood Studios

 

[Ember]

I lied. Next up is Behind the Seeds

We headed to The Land and were directed to a waiting spot for our tour guide. There were only 9 of us. Our tour guide Nick showed up promptly at 10:30 and led us through the Soarin chaos and through a Cast Members only door. First up was pest control where we got to see the pests they were working on and Nick gave my son a vial of ladybugs that he would later release in the greenhouse.

Then we were led to the greenhouses!

This is one plant!!!

The plastic Mickey shape is used to grow pumpkins into Mickeys!

So many hidden Mickeys!

Baby gators!

Loved this greenhouse the best. Would love to have one of these in my house!

Drae releasing the ladybugs

The tour was very informative and enjoyable. Plus we got to taste fresh cucumbers and learned how to make our own hydroponic tanks at home. If you're into gardening or biology then this tour is a must!

 

[Ember]

Some additional pics from Epcot:

 

[Ember]

Day 5: Port Orleans Riverside and Hollywood Studios
Today's the day we packed up and checked out of CSR and headed to our new room at PORS! We took our time leaving, went for a swim at the quiet pool, went shopping at Panchito's, and then loaded up the van and headed to PORS. Our check-in did not goes as smoothly as it did at CSR and our room was not ready so we headed off to DHS with a promise of a text(that never came) when our room was ready.

 

[Zipadeelady]

Love your report! looking forward to the rest