Trip Report Somehow I'll make a fan out of you - January 2018 **COMPLETED**

The post-Disney depression has officially set in. Actually, it set in as soon as I took the Tragical Express to MCO.

WHY does departure day exist?!?! Why can't I always be in my happy place!?! Why do I live in a place where the air hurts my skin?!?! Why can't I live in Orlando??

Such is life I guess!! To help cure my Disney blues and to hold me over until my next trip (which fortunately is never too far away), I thought I'd share my travels with all of you

[You can find my PTR here]
WHO: Myself (Rebecca/Becca) and my boyfriend Daniel

WHEN: January 16th-22nd 2018
WHERE: Coronado Springs and Beach Club
WHY: Long story short, we've been dating for 3 years and wanted to celebrate!

This was Daniel's first trip as an adult (my 16th), he hasn't gone since he was 3 years old. He told me the only thing he remembered was riding Dumbo, so I knew that I had a challenge before me.... so I got inspiration from Mulan and thought to myself...

Somehow I'll make a FAN out of you!!!

 

[Rebel Scum Mama]

Other than a wet booty, Daniel looks like he's enjoying himself! The Chip magic shot turned out great! You both are adorable.

 

[becca_]

Other than a wet booty, Daniel looks like he's enjoying himself! The Chip magic shot turned out great! You both are adorable.

Thank you!! I'm glad he didn't let the wet bottom ruin our evening!

 

[becca_]

Epcot continued:

After our rendezvous in France, we continued around the world for a little sunset stroll.

The sunset this night was PERFECT. Like the kind of sunset you dream about seeing. The sky was absolutely beautiful. I was having a hard time not taking 10000 photos but Daniel reminded me that I didn't have that much storage on my phone

From there, we went into the Odyssey building to check out the festival center. I was super excited for the attraction poster exhibit that was being displayed and so after changing into leggings and joggers (for myself and Daniel, respectively ) we made way inside.

This was SOOO cool. They had posters from the attractions in each park.

I love the Cars Land one!! I promise I will come back to you Radiator Springs!

Whats weird is that there was another Skyliner, for the new system, poster on the day that the festival opened, and just 2 days after it was gone. Hm.

I want this framed in my house!!!!!!!

Up next: dinner finally!

 

[becca_]

More Epcot:

I love the Space Mountain ones so much!!

These are too cute for words.

I looked around at the store they had set up in there and was eyeing the Passholder shirt, but I just thought it wasn't worth buying. So we left and headed back around the world to dinner.

Ughhhhh

Soon we made it to Italy and sat for about 10 minutes outside on a bench before we decided to check in at Via Napoli. I had never eaten here but seeing @Doc Disney eat here often I knew I had to try!

We checked in and I was yet again inspired by Megan and took a light fixture picture

We only waited maybe 5-10 minutes before we were called back.

Up next: more dinner

 

[becca_]

Via Napoli con't:

Our waitress was decent, not the best and not the worst I've ever had. I got a coke and Daniel got a diet coke

We placed our order and maybe 15 minutes later, we were presented with this goodness:

Holy. Cow. I want to lick my screen. It was SO GOOD. I know this style pizza isn't for everyone but wow I cannot put into words just how perfect this was. Especially after a long day of walking and not having a real meal all day, this was awesome.

We got our pizza at 6:49pm and by 7:04pm it looked like this

We settled the very inexpensive bill and waddled out of there.

Nice & grainy!

I really should stop trying to take pictures

We stopped in Morocco's bathrooms and we headed toward Future World next.

With only a 25 minute wait and time to spare, we went around the world (again???? yes! but this time, a bit differently)

It was then that Daniel claimed Soarin' to be his favorite ride! I told him he needed to wait and see the other three parks before saying that

Up next: Day 1 continued

 

[Doc Disney]

I know there's rumors of Coco overlaying this attraction and I really hope it doesn't happen I love everything about this ride!! Please Disney gods, be in my favor this time!!

So as a Coco lover I still totally agree. I LOVE Gran Fiesta Tour! I just heard on a pretty reputable podcast that if it were to happen at all it would be several years down the road because Coco did not make as much as they thought it would. And it may not happen at all.

We got the caramel filled chocolate cookie & popcorn. We didn't end up eating it until Thursday afternoon and by then both items were soggy and kinda gross

OMG agreed. I tried to eat my popcorn the next day once and it was so gross

Soon we made it to Italy and sat for about 10 minutes outside on a bench before we decided to check in at Via Napoli. I had never eaten here but seeing @Doc Disney eat here often I knew I had to try!

We checked in and I was yet again inspired by Megan and took a light fixture picture

I'm so happy you liked it And that you took some light fixture pictures

 

[becca_]

More Day 1:

After Soarin', we wanted to grab a quick drink to warm us up and keep us up a bit as we were getting pretty exhausted from the long day we had. So we stopped at a Joffree's kiosk to get a mocha latte (for me.. more on this later) and a black coffee (for Daniel). I was channeling my inner @bee !

We had a pretty good spot for Illuminations. It was in Mexico before La Cantina. I don't know where has the best spot but we could see everything and were at a railing so we weren't competing for space with others.

Now I have only seen Illuminations maybe twice before this and I just don't have a personal connection with the show but I do love the music (I listen to it at work pretty often). So the show was decent for me, but I just took it all in and remembered how LONG it took for Daniel and I to finally go on a vacation and how we had saved up for a year and a half. We were finally HERE!! It was our vacation and no one else's. I felt those warm and tingly feelings as the fireworks concluded and Daniel looked so in awe. He loved this show and placed it behind HEA at the end of the trip.

We made our way to the front as Epcot was now closed.

There was a bus as soon as we walked up to the bus stop (Did I mention our great timing with busses this trip??)

Our room was pretty far back but we kept saying "We are young and able-bodied!!!"
(more on the able-bodied part later)

We stopped in the gift shop/quick serve area to grab our mugs. No pictures yet but I got pink and Daniel got blue.

And we finally made it!
I wanted a refurbed room but alas we were not so lucky. I was going to ask the front desk but at that point I was too tired and wanted to shower & sleep.

It was clean (the tiles in the shower were kinda gross but oh well) and the beds were pretty comfortable!

Next up: finally the end of day 1

 

[becca_]

Last bit of Day 1:

Other than the shower, the wallpaper peeling was the only thing I noticed that was "old".

I thought the room was fine for our purpose which was to sleep and shower! It worked for us and we were near a bus stop. I requested a top floor but we got ground floor. It ended up being fine and we only heard people once. I think it depends where you stay though, like at an All Stars I bet you would hear lots of little kids!!

I think I'd be lying if I said knowing they were handing these out didn't influence our stay here

We turned on some Stacey, I unpacked, showered, and we settled into bed.

Now, one would think that after a very full day I would have crashed immediately. NOPE
Remember my latte?? Yeah, that was the worst idea ever. I was up for hours tossing and turning. I think I finally fell asleep around 1 or 2. Ugh. Oh well.. what are you gonna do?!

Next up: our first full day!!

 

[GoofyCathy]

Love your trip details! I agree, the countries are enough. So interesting and fun. Maelstrom was great.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I miss maelstrom while I think the frozen ride is cute, it doesn’t belong in Epcot. I know they are trying to get people to go to other parks besides MK, but Frozen belongs with the other princesses! Idk!!! Maybe I’m just an old bitter Epcot lover. LOL! I missed the bearded red man on the painting before boarding.

Loving all your pictures and that Pizza looks so yummy!!!! Definitely not comparing the the chili I have for lunch today LOL

 

[bee]

Great report! Thanks for the tag! Congrats on your AP!

 

[becca_]

Love your trip details! I agree, the countries are enough. So interesting and fun. Maelstrom was great.

Thank you!!

I miss maelstrom while I think the frozen ride is cute, it doesn’t belong in Epcot. I know they are trying to get people to go to other parks besides MK, but Frozen belongs with the other princesses! Idk!!! Maybe I’m just an old bitter Epcot lover. LOL! I missed the bearded red man on the painting before boarding.

Loving all your pictures and that Pizza looks so yummy!!!! Definitely not comparing the the chili I have for lunch today LOL

Is using #SaveMaelstrom too late now?? LOL
Yes!! The red beard guy!! I miss him!!
I wish I could have that pizza now... college food does not cut it!

Great report! Thanks for the tag! Congrats on your AP!

Thank you!! I was thinking of you when I took the picture of the coffee so I had to tag you

 

[Lyssa]

Justin hated World Showcase, I wanted to walk around and explore, but he just found it so boring It made me sad, seeing you're picture, there was so much more to see

 

[becca_]

Justin hated World Showcase, I wanted to walk around and explore, but he just found it so boring It made me sad, seeing you're picture, there was so much more to see

I used to be the same way! When I was with family we would barely look at any pavilion. I think you should bribe him next time

 

[becca_]

Our First Full Day!

After my awful night of sleep, I woke up and immediately wanted to go back to bed... but I knew I had better things to do than to sleep! We were headed to Hollywood Studios this day!!

I got up a little later, not by much, than Daniel did. I think by 6:30 we both were awake.

We had cereal in the room and got ready to go. Obviously we had to take a selfie first!

We left the room at 8am and DHS opened at 9. Not too shabby!

The sun was already out and warming things up! It was shaping up to be a great Disney day.

Coronado Springs is hands down one of the prettiest resorts in my opinion. So I may have some photo overload but I promise its worth it!! I would 10000% stay here again even with the construction, it really didn't effect our stay at all since it is pretty localized to the tower and room renovations.

We went into Cafe Rix (I think thats what it's called?) and filled up our mugs!

Up Next: more pre-DHS pics!

 

[becca_]

Day 2 continued:

I had a coke and Daniel had coffee. I personally don't really like coffee immediately when I wake up, and I only like "coffee/espresso drinks" as I call them (think mocha latte or caramel macchiato)

We stopped at the front desk to grab some anniversary pins but they only had/give out the happily ever after ones. I thought it was weird since I saw people with the Happy Anniversary pins but whatever! I guess a pin is a pin LOL

Another thing I really loved about CSR is the location to the parks. It is very central to DHS, AK, and Epcot, and only a 10ish minute ride to MK. It was AMAZING being so close!! Most people like to stay at monorail hotels for convenience, but I would stay here for sure!

We were let into DHS at 8:40 and were held right before Sunset Blvd.

It didn't really feel that crowded!

Then we were finally let loose! We had a date with an attraction...

Had to take this since Daniel works out

Soon we were ready to Rock n Roll!!

Up next: more DHS!

 

[LeighM]

I felt the same way about Frozen Ever After. Some parts of the ride were awesome but those black/dark corridors really took away from the experience. The queue was so much better We're staying at CSR for the first time in March and I'm hoping to get a renovated room. Those bathroom tiles were gross lol. I'm not picky about too many things but a dirty looking bathroom in a hotel gets me every single time

 

[fractal]

Getting a lot done! Never stayed at CSR but sure does look nice!

 

[ELeigh]

More Day 1:

After Soarin', we wanted to grab a quick drink to warm us up and keep us up a bit as we were getting pretty exhausted from the long day we had. So we stopped at a Joffree's kiosk to get a mocha latte (for me.. more on this later) and a black coffee (for Daniel). I was channeling my inner @bee !

View attachment 260726View attachment 260727
We had a pretty good spot for Illuminations. It was in Mexico before La Cantina. I don't know where has the best spot but we could see everything and were at a railing so we weren't competing for space with others.

Now I have only seen Illuminations maybe twice before this and I just don't have a personal connection with the show but I do love the music (I listen to it at work pretty often). So the show was decent for me, but I just took it all in and remembered how LONG it took for Daniel and I to finally go on a vacation and how we had saved up for a year and a half. We were finally HERE!! It was our vacation and no one else's. I felt those warm and tingly feelings as the fireworks concluded and Daniel looked so in awe. He loved this show and placed it behind HEA at the end of the trip.

We made our way to the front as Epcot was now closed.
View attachment 260728View attachment 260729
There was a bus as soon as we walked up to the bus stop (Did I mention our great timing with busses this trip??)

View attachment 260730
Our room was pretty far back but we kept saying "We are young and able-bodied!!!"
(more on the able-bodied part later)

View attachment 260731
We stopped in the gift shop/quick serve area to grab our mugs. No pictures yet but I got pink and Daniel got blue.
View attachment 260732
And we finally made it!
I wanted a refurbed room but alas we were not so lucky. I was going to ask the front desk but at that point I was too tired and wanted to shower & sleep.
View attachment 260733View attachment 260734View attachment 260735
It was clean (the tiles in the shower were kinda gross but oh well) and the beds were pretty comfortable!

Next up: finally the end of day 1

More Day 1:

After Soarin', we wanted to grab a quick drink to warm us up and keep us up a bit as we were getting pretty exhausted from the long day we had. So we stopped at a Joffree's kiosk to get a mocha latte (for me.. more on this later) and a black coffee (for Daniel). I was channeling my inner @bee !

View attachment 260726View attachment 260727
We had a pretty good spot for Illuminations. It was in Mexico before La Cantina. I don't know where has the best spot but we could see everything and were at a railing so we weren't competing for space with others.

Now I have only seen Illuminations maybe twice before this and I just don't have a personal connection with the show but I do love the music (I listen to it at work pretty often). So the show was decent for me, but I just took it all in and remembered how LONG it took for Daniel and I to finally go on a vacation and how we had saved up for a year and a half. We were finally HERE!! It was our vacation and no one else's. I felt those warm and tingly feelings as the fireworks concluded and Daniel looked so in awe. He loved this show and placed it behind HEA at the end of the trip.

We made our way to the front as Epcot was now closed.
View attachment 260728View attachment 260729
There was a bus as soon as we walked up to the bus stop (Did I mention our great timing with busses this trip??)

View attachment 260730
Our room was pretty far back but we kept saying "We are young and able-bodied!!!"
(more on the able-bodied part later)

View attachment 260731
We stopped in the gift shop/quick serve area to grab our mugs. No pictures yet but I got pink and Daniel got blue.
View attachment 260732
And we finally made it!
I wanted a refurbed room but alas we were not so lucky. I was going to ask the front desk but at that point I was too tired and wanted to shower & sleep.
View attachment 260733View attachment 260734View attachment 260735
It was clean (the tiles in the shower were kinda gross but oh well) and the beds were pretty comfortable!

Next up: finally the end of day 1

I noticed you mentioned picking up mugs, did you do the dining plan? I am wondering how the 2018 plan is working out for people.

 

[ELeigh]

Our First Full Day!

After my awful night of sleep, I woke up and immediately wanted to go back to bed... but I knew I had better things to do than to sleep! We were headed to Hollywood Studios this day!!

I got up a little later, not by much, than Daniel did. I think by 6:30 we both were awake.

We had cereal in the room and got ready to go. Obviously we had to take a selfie first!
View attachment 260965
We left the room at 8am and DHS opened at 9. Not too shabby!
View attachment 260966View attachment 260967
The sun was already out and warming things up! It was shaping up to be a great Disney day.
View attachment 260968View attachment 260969View attachment 260970View attachment 260971View attachment 260972
Coronado Springs is hands down one of the prettiest resorts in my opinion. So I may have some photo overload but I promise its worth it!! I would 10000% stay here again even with the construction, it really didn't effect our stay at all since it is pretty localized to the tower and room renovations.
View attachment 260973
We went into Cafe Rix (I think thats what it's called?) and filled up our mugs!

Up Next: more pre-DHS pics!

Your matching Star Wars outfits are so freaking cute!