Trip Report JenniferS is live - 9/3 - 9/16

Technically this is a pre-trip report, but we’ll be going live in less than a week!

This will be my third live September trip report.
2016:
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/jennifers-is-live-9-7-16-9-17-16.918342/#post-7389286

2017:
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/jennifers-was-live-9-6-17-9-16-17.931263/#post-7871205

It’s going to be a lot of same old/same old, as the cast, location, and ADR’s are pretty much the same. What can I say - we like what we like. And what we like is each other, Walt Disney World, Coronado Springs, and Free Disney Dining.

First, the who.
Me, JenniferS - Uber planning, pixie dust snorting Disney-aholic, 51 year old kid at heart (despite what the mirror says).

This is Hubby. He likes the Tar Heels, the Blue Jays, food, beer, and me. Not necessarily in that order.
The words most often heard coming out of his mouth are “Whatever you want, Baby.”

This is us. We are adorable together. We’re each other’s ride or die.

Last year, we were celebrating my 50th birthday (as much as women celebrate these “milestones”).

This year, we are celebrating Mike’s 50th (both of us born in August, so it’s close enough to count) AND our 25th wedding anniversary earlier this year.

We have children, but we don’t bring them to Disney very often anymore. If they decide to get married and start giving us grand-babies, I will re-visit this decision. But for now, they stay home. We are on Jen and Mike time.

After two live trip reports, I’m not sure how wordy this report will be, but it will be heavy on pics, most especially of food! As Mike says - I’m only here for the food.

To be continued ....

 

[Andrew C]

first to like!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Looking forward to the TR proper.

 

[fractal]

Love your reports!

 

[riverside]

Looking forward to it!! Have a great time!!

 

[JenniferS]

So, that’s the who. Now for the what, where, and when.

This will be our fifth stay at CSR (after 6 stays at Pop Century and 4 off-site.). Mike had numerous WDW trips prior to us hooking up when we were in high school, but they don’t count.

Prior to leaving CSR last year, we booked a BounceBack offer, electing to give POR a one-year shot. I figured CSR would be a mess this year, and it turns out I am right. The Dig Pool site closes down for a multi-month refurb two days before we arrive. Pepper Market is also undergoing an extensive refurb and a number of food bays are closed. The tower construction is ongoing, and Lake Dorado is a mess.

This was the view from our front door last year:

Despite having booked a preferred room location (Casitas 1, 2, or 3), I would be quite content to NOT have a lake-facing room this time around.

So yeah, you ask, if you booked POR for all of the reasons you just mentioned, why are we back at CSR? In a word ... dogs.

Construction disruptions < dog phobia. I don’t hate dogs; I fear them. Not even all dogs, just the larger breeds that don’t include the word poodle.

I am currently dog-sitting my brother’s Yorkie/Bichon puppy while he and the family are at WDW, and our own precious Holly crossed the Rainbow Bridge in May; so no, I don’t hate dogs.

When I see a large dog, I start to hyperventilate, and I must emit some or other fear hormone, because even the nicest tempered large dogs snap and snarl at me. Their owners always say, “I don’t know what the problem is. He NEVER does that!” The problem is me. All me.

So, we’re back at CSR. As to the Dig Site pool and water slide being closed - with my ongoing hip pain, I wouldn’t have been able to climb those stairs 10 or 15 times in a row anyway. Closed food bays at Pepper Market, no biggie. Mike’s burgers are still there, and my Philly cheesesteak and roasted chicken are still there. It’s all good.

I am a “The glass is 90% full” kind of person.

 

[King Racoon 77]

So, that’s the who. Now for the what, where, and when.

This will be our fifth stay at CSR (after 6 stays at Pop Century and 4 off-site.). Mike had numerous WDW trips prior to us hooking up when we were in high school, but they don’t count.

Prior to leaving CSR last year, we booked a BounceBack offer, electing to give POR a one-year shot. I figured CSR would be a mess this year, and it turns out I am right. The Dig Pool site closes down for a multi-month refurb two days before we arrive. Pepper Market is also undergoing an extensive refurb and a number of food bays are closed. The tower construction is ongoing, and Lake Dorado is a mess.

This was the view from our front door last year:
View attachment 307111View attachment 307112View attachment 307113

Despite having booked a preferred room location (Casitas 1, 2, or 3), I would be quite content to NOT have a lake-facing room this time around.

So yeah, you ask, if you booked POR for all of the reasons you just mentioned, why are we back at CSR? In a word ... dogs.

Construction disruptions < dog phobia. I don’t hate dogs; I fear them. Not even all dogs, just the larger breeds that don’t include the word poodle.

I am currently dog-sitting my brother’s Yorkie/Bichon puppy while he and the family are at WDW, and our own precious Holly crossed the Rainbow Bridge in May; so no, I don’t hate dogs.

When I see a large dog, I start to hyperventilate, and I must emit some or other fear hormone, because even the nicest tempered large dogs snap and snarl at me. Their owners always say, “I don’t know what the problem is. He NEVER does that!” The problem is me. All me.

So, we’re back at CSR. As to the Dig Site pool and water slide being closed - with my ongoing hip pain, I wouldn’t have been able to climb those stairs 10 or 15 times in a row anyway. Closed food bays at Pepper Market, no biggie. Mike’s burgers are still there, and my Philly cheesesteak and roasted chicken are still there. It’s all good.

I am a “The glass is 90% full” kind of person.

Am interested to hear what you think of CSR with the work and if the new additions are going to change the resort for the worse.

 

[JenniferS]

We will be flying out of Buffalo on Tuesday, September 4th. Flight 85, the flight we ALWAYS take used to be a daily 7:30’ish morning flight. Now, it’s a 4:00’ish afternoon flight. That’s no good. I am not wasting a whole Disney day.

So, now we are flying in a day early, will collect our rental car (I booked the worst one yet!), and head to Disney Springs for some Chicken Guy. I love milkshakes. If you play the “you’re on a deserted island, and can only eat the same thing for the rest of your life” game, my answer will be “milkshakes!”

That chocolate mint shake looks to die for. Plus, I might even have a bite of chicken.

I talk a good Disney food game, but the truth is, I seldom have an appetite in Disney. Mike ends up eating half of my food and all of his. Now that boy can eat. At 6’ 8”, his weight is down to 230, making him skinnier than I would like right now, so that’s right Baby, eat up.

We will be spending our first night offsite at a lovely DoubleTree on International Drive, and will hit the parks fully refreshed and raring to go on Wednesday morning. We’re using last year’s bands, so we don’t even have to hit CSR on our way to Epcot.

We have 10 nights booked at CSR, and then will stay off-site again on Saturday the 15th, before flying home on the 16th.

I will then have one day to do laundry and grocery shopping before having hip surgery on the 18th. I’m “too young” for a hip replacement, so I am having FAI and labral tear (with anchors) repair. Far less invasive than a full hip replacement and hopefully buys me 6 or 7 years. It’s 4-6 weeks on crutches though, and we live in a 5-level backsplit, so that should be fun, right?

Full itinerary to follow.

 

[JenniferS]

Am interested to hear what you think of CSR with the work and if the new additions are going to change the resort for the worse.

Us too. We’re thinking of booking two Bouncebacks. The regular September one, and a quickie December one at Pop to try out the gondolas and maybe SW:GE.

Where we book for September 2019 remains to be seen. I think it will be okay. We’ll see.

 

[riverside]

So yeah, you ask, if you booked POR for all of the reasons you just mentioned, why are we back at CSR? In a word ... dogs.

I've stayed at POR a few times since they started allowing dogs. I only recall having seen a dog once but I totally understand your reservations regarding it. If your luck is anything like mine you would go there & there would be tons of them!!

and our own precious Holly crossed the Rainbow Bridge in May

I'm very sorry for your loss.

I will then have one day to do laundry and grocery shopping before having hip surgery on the 18th. I’m “too young” for a hip replacement, so I am having FAI and labral tear (with anchors) repair. Far less invasive than a full hip replacement and hopefully buys me 6 or 7 years. It’s 4-6 weeks on crutches though, and we live in a 5-level backsplit, so that should be fun, right?

I wish you all the best with the surgery. A friend of mine had that done about 6 years ago or so & he's doing great with it!!

 

[Rista1313]

I'm in! Looking forward to your resport!

 

[JenniferS]

I’ll break our itinerary into chunks of a few days at a time. We’ve already dealt with Tuesday, the 4th.

Wednesday, 9/5:
Straight to Epcot.
Hoping to do Test Track Single Rider, and then Soarin’.

FP’s start at 10:00 for SSE, LwtL, and Frozenstrom. In between “listening to the land” and “letting it go”, we will have lunch at Sunshine Seasons. We always get the same thing. I don’t see that changing. There’s a new dessert there though, so maybe only one of us will get the strawberry shortcake, and one of us will get this:

(Photo credit to AJ @ Disney Food Blog. I just love her.)

Frozenstrom FP’s are 2:00’ish, so we will meander around WS or FW for a bit.

The plan is to be at CSR by 4:00, and get settled into our room. Mike will probably nap while I unpack.

Mike likes to start our vacations with ‘Ohana and end with Narcoossee’s ... but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Dinner tonight is indeed at ‘Ohana. Our good friend @Eric1955 will be joining us. For those of you who were surprised at his youthful visage last year, he was not born in 1955.

Dinner is at 7:15, so we should be able to watch HEA from the restaurant. From there, it’s hop on the monorail to MK for EMH. Same as last year.

Thursday, 9/6:
The schedule says “rope drop”. With the advent of FP+, we stopped being “rope drop” kind of people.
(Or at least stopped pretending to be.)
But this year, we have to do it twice. Unfortunately, it’s back to back days, but we really want to experience SDD and FoP, so there you have it. You have to suck it up sometimes.

My calendar says out the door by 7:45.

We will be headed to DHS today, and the plan is to stand-by SDD immediately, and then TSMM.

FP’s start at 10:00 for RnRC, ToT and A$$.
Plan is to stand-by ride a couple more attractions, but the truth is, Mike will park himself in Launch Bay. After last year, and the year before, I’m not sure if I can even bring myself to go in with him to see Kylo Ren. (And yes, I know I have the warmies for Kylo but that is sans mask.)

The plan is to be back at the resort by 1:30. My carefully crafted calendar says we will park in the front, and head straight to Pepper Market.

Epcot by 4:00, where I will have already booked a bonus FP. I’m sure we’ll ride SSE and Soarin’.

Dinner is at Garden Grill just before 7:00.

This is IllumiNations night, and I will not be distracted by 5-minute stand-by times with Puddy this year! (Mike is not crazy about IllumiNations, so he will try and skip it. Not this time, my friend.)

Back to the resort for an early night, because we get to do this rope drop nonsense again.

 

[Andrew C]

Dinner tonight is indeed at ‘Ohana. Our good friend @Eric1955 will be joining us. For those of you who were surprised at his youthful visage last year, he was not born in 1955.

Woohoo! Eric!

 

[Swissmiss]

Love your TRs so I'm in

 

[ELeigh]

Following along, looking forward to the live tr

 

[JenniferS]

Friday, 9/7:
Out the door again by 7:45.
Again with the .

AK this time. This is the park at which we spend the least amount of time. It’s just too bloody hot.

Last year, Mike was blown away by FoP. We did it twice on our single, weather-shortened AK day last year. (We totally lost our second AK day due to Irma.)

The plan is to stand-by FoP, and then to stand-by NRJ. We’ll see. FP’s start around 10:30 and include KS, NRJ, and EE.

I’ll try to book a bonus FP for Dinosaur right after EE, but I know from experience that the stand-by wait should be very short anyway.

Lunch is at either FTBBQ or Satu’li Canteen. A/C or no A/C, that’s what it will come down to.

There is no scheduled return to the resort (although sometimes we have to, post-AK so Mike can change his shirt).

The plan is to go straight to Epcot, do some rides using bonus FP’s and stand-by.

Out the IG by 6:40, because dinner tonight is at the Yachtsman. (The Yachtsman? Maybe I should leave an extra shirt in the car for Mike.)

We really enjoy this restaurant. For Mike, it’s his second favourite meal of the trip. For me, it varies between first or second with Narcoossee’s.

Narcoosse’s has this:

But Yachtsman has these:

After dinner, it’s back to the resort. No IllumiNations, unless it’s from the Boardwalk.

Saturday, 9/8:
I had the brilliant idea earlier this week to totally re-do this day. I couldn’t adjust ADR’s to my liking, and in retrospect, I’m not sure why I wanted to upend everything anyway.

As it stands:
MK by 9:00’ish
Stand-by a couple of low-key rides like PoC, Treehouse, etc. (I’m just reading from the itinerary, I KNOW PoC is not low-key, but in early September, there is scarcely ever a wait.)

We have a breakfast ADR @ BoG. This is not a good use of a Dining Credit now that alcohol is included, and there is not a lot of food at breakfast.
I am totally going to scam the system by ordering separately and sitting apart so that we each get a small pastry platter. Once food is delivered, we will of course sit together. Please don’t hate me, but otherwise, we’d be headed straight to Gaston’s afterward. Did I mention that Mike can EAT?!?

After brekkie, we will hit more “low-key” attractions, such as PeopleMover, CoP, and MILF.

Schedule also calls for Dole Whip floats in the Tiki Room. Who am I to argue with the schedule?

Also, by hook or by crook we WILL watch the FoF parade for the first time. This looks the day to do it. Mike is not keen, but if I can actually time it right, I’ll get a “Whatever you want, Baby”.

The plan is to be at DHS by 3:30 because that’s when our FP’s start. RnRC, TSMM, and ToT.

Dinner is at SciFi tonight, and we will be paying OOP. The food here is so cheap that it’s not worth using a TS credit.

Tonight is Fantasmic! (Mike says ) or Star Wars fireworks night. Pretty sure which way we’re leaning.

No late evening plans, so we’re back to the resort. We like to swim in the evening, in case you’re afraid we’re actually in bed by 10:00. We’re old, but we’re not that old!

 

[DisneyGigi]

We will be there at the same time and also at CSR! This will be our 4th stay there and likely our last. I don’t think I am going to like it as much with Tower. What I loved about the most was that it never really seemed like that many people were there, at least at night even with conventions going on. Anyway, have a great trip! Hopefully we will have low crowds and good weather.

 

[JenniferS]

Sunday, 9/9:
My Daddy’s birthday. Not with us anymore, but still his special day.

Today, we are doing something different! But first, we are doing something familiar.

We are sleeping in! Yeah, Baby.
And then we are headed to Disney Springs.
I’m considering lunch at Blaze Pizza, but we will probably take the boat to POFQ for lunch, weather permitting. We like the Po’Boys and we like the beignets. It’s also nice to stroll around the grounds, meander through their gift shop (ours is also being refurbed), and the boat ride is relaxing.

Now for the new ... MNSSHP.
We can enter using our hard ticket (without wasting a Park day) at 4:00 pm. Based on advice I received in the associated thread, I was even able to book 3 FP’s. Pooh, Buzz, and Jungle Cruise. (Thanks to Irma, we ended up totally missing JC last year, and I loooove this ride.)

For sure we’ll watch Boo to You, and fireworks. Might as well catch the midnight showing of Hocus Pocus, as it will not cut into what we are really here for ... rides and candy.

I can’t see us wasting time on M&G’s, aside from maybe Elvis Stitchie. (We have brekkie with Stitchie on our last day, but he’ll just be regular Stitchie, not Elvis Stitchie.)

The boys (and the GF) want the Oogie Boogie popcorn buckets, so we will need to grab them early. Don’t tell anyone, but the shortest lines are at the StoryBook Circus popcorn cart. From there, we will need to book it back to the front to stash them in a locker, as we are not lugging three buckets around all night. (Make that four. Might as well buy the max number we’re allowed. I’ve someone in mind to give the extra one to anyway.)

It will be a late’ish night. I’m sure we won’t be back to CSR before 1:00/1:30. That being said, I remember when MK was open until midnight, with 3! hour EMH, and we didn’t fall into bed until after 4:00. Aaaah, the good old days.

Mike is really looking forward to the short wait times, and all the candy. Most of the special food offerings have received hearty , so we’ll be saving our snack credits for F&WF.

I think CHH is open until 8:00, so hopefully we can grab a quick Anchors Aweigh sandwich - without tomato, of course. Mike will get the lobster roll. We will share both.

 

[JenniferS]

Monday, 9/10:
Yay, more time with @Eric1955. “But first” (that's only funny if you’re a Big Brother fan - if they’re smart, they’ll evict Haleigh before Fessy), we’re headed to Epcot. Not early. Maybe 10:30. If you’ve read previous trip reports, you know, “or not”.

First FP’s aren’t until just before noon, so 10:30 is a pretty optimistic guesstimate at best.

FP’s today include LwTL, SSE, and Frozenstrom. Stand-by will include Soarin’, Figment, Nemo, and some WS offerings. Darn you Epcot, with your stupid “tiers”.

Lunch will be either at Sunshine Seasons again, somewhere in WS, or just using snack credits throughout F&WF. Whatever we do, we must not get too full, as we are going to HDDR tonight. Tier 1 seating for the 6:15 show. Eric has never been, and we are so excited to share tonight with him. This is always such a fun evening, and the food ain’t half bad.

This is from 2015. Even my son who wrecks every picture by scowling or making a stupid face, is clearly having fun.

Plans indicate that we’re leaving Epcot by 4:30, so we can freshen up and drive to FW with time to spare.

We have no plans for after dinner, so we’ll see what, if anything, Eric wants to do. Either way, I’m driving.

Tuesday, 9/11:
I hate typing the date that way. The memories are not good. For anyone.

Today is an MK morning. We are planning on getting there at 9:00’ish. Not rope drop per se, but certainly not too much later. Or that’s the plan anyway.

Brekkie at Gaston’s. We’ll split the ginormous cinnamon bun.

FP’s start at 10:00, and include 7DMT, Splash, and PPF.

Lunch is just before 2:00 at Liberty Tree Tavern. Mike can use a TS credit, I’m just getting salad. We’ll split this:

We were originally headed to Epcot by 4:00 for an early’ish ADR, but then a week or so ago, Mike mentioned that he was sad that we weren’t eating at “Mexico”; prompting me to drop a 6:20 Chefs de France and pick up San Angel Inn. At such short notice though, the best time I could get was 9:00. We generally eat late at home, so no biggie.

There was supposed to be an after dinner stroll to Ample Hills today, but instead, we’ll go before dinner. Mike is obsessed with the ice cream here. I don’t care for hard-scooped ice cream, so I could take it or leave it. Given that we’ll be going BEFORE dinner, I’ll probably “leave it”.

No plans for after dinner. Probably just some swimming, as Wednesday is not an early start.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I’m looking forward to your report and pictures. I’m sure Mike will look handsome in his food tee shirt.