Trip Report 2025 The Year of Last Minute Trips

Still having computer issues so please tolerate my slowness LOL. The last post I did was for our last minute Disney Wish trip in February. What I don't think I've posted is anything for our May and July trips. Horrible I know. These two trips will be more of a quick summary because 1. my short term memory now sucks and 2. I can't differentiate between the two trips But this report is more of a start of a trip planning/report for the last trip of the year - the Disney Treasure in November!!!

Who: Me and my husband R
When: Friday, May 16th - Tuesday, May 20th
Why: Flower and Garden redo attempt, if you remember what happened during last year's Festival
Where: Coronado Springs, standard room

We only had one day tickets for either Sunday or Monday for Epcot. I think it was on a Sunday because I was concerned about Festival crowd levels. I didn't take many pictures during this trip because I just wanted to soak it in. I really needed the mental break going into this trip. Most of the pictures are of food, I think LOL. And the same goes for the July trip

Friday, May 16th

Our plane was waiting for us when we arrived so we were lucky to not have a delay.

We had to change our entire trip dates when Jetblue cancelled the flight we were on so we ended up taking the last flight out a day before on a Friday so that we wouldn't lose Disney time. Luckily, there were still available rooms at CSR to allow us to do that cheaply. Because JB cancelled the original flight times, we got free upgrades to Boarding Group A. Which wasn't fantastic for one of our travel days because the airplane had gotten hot and they stopped boarding the plane after Group A boarded so that the AC could cool off the plane. I had a hand travel fan so I was able to stay cool in the meantime. And our pilots for both trips were fantastic. One pilot had such a smooth take off that I didn't even know we were in the air. And the pilot on the return trip had one of the best landings I've ever experienced. Can't ask for more when you're a scared flier.

We landed early and got to Mears check in. Where we waited. And waited. Then waited some more. After an hour of waiting, we finally got on the bus. And then ended up being the very last stop. Again. I did complain in the survey and the CSR gave me a refund for a portion of the trip, which I did appreciate.

The dance/cheer competitions were ending so we would not be there with the large, loud groups. And a professional conference was starting on Tuesday so people were starting to trickle in on Monday. It was a great weekend at the resort with low crowds and it was very quiet. I had asked to be close to a bus stop but I didn't make any other requests. I got the room request while waiting in the lobby. I think they honored that request

This was the first time we've stayed in the Ranchos section since 2018. They used to keep the cheerleaders in Ranchos but after Gran Destino opened, the cheer groups are in every section except Destino. In other trips, I would request a section away from them and it was always honored and we would get quiet rooms. So I was so excited to stay in Ranchos again, which is my favorite section at CSR.

This was the view from our room.

And this was our room placement.

The one thing I did notice this trip is that some of the foliage was getting really overgrown and unkept. I guess they haven't been able to hire the people they had prior to covid. But the rooms are still in great order.

 

[LeighM]

Saturday, July 5th

We slept in later than I wanted to so we were a little late getting to Disney Springs. I popped into the L'Occitaine store to try one of their perfumes to see if it worked with my body chemisry. I will definitely be ordering Osmanthus the next time they have a sale.

We got in line for Gideon's hoping they had my favorite cake but the line wasn't moving, R was getting cranky, so we left to get in line at Polite Pig. He got his new standard order

I got their Cobb Salad, which I love. I forgot to take a picture before I mixed it. It's a really good salad!

Afterwards, we to Savannah Bee Company so R could buy more of the honey flavored lip balm. While there, we did a mead tasting. We didn't want all 6 so she gave us a reduced price for 3 tasting deluxe.

The blackberry was really nice. Light and not artifical tasting. It didn't remind me of medicinal tastes at all.

The Orange Blosson mead had a strong taste of honey, which R really enjoyed. And I can't remember if this was the 3rd option or if it was one the employee recommended to us that we needed to try and order online based on his taste preferences.

We might not have taken a picture of the 3rd if R determined he didn't like it. I also purchased these because they caught my eye during our last trip but we didn't have the time to drink them.

I wanted to take them back to the room to get cold and have the next time we're just relaxing in the room. I had them the next day. The Orange Cream Delight was really nice and it did have a slight taste of dreamsicle so R claimed this one. The Yacht Rock, which was originally his, became mine when he thought it tasted too much like beer. I didn't get the beer flavor but it was definitely stronger than the Orange Cream.

We got in line for Gideon's, which was moving a lot faster than before. Unfortunately, they did not have my fav chocolate cake

But the Valentina's Cake was a calling my name. I'm always a sucker for cool marketing and pretty colors. The sky was beginning to look ominous so we decided to go back to the resort. We got off at the lobby stop so that I could buy some milk. I can't eat cake or cupcakes without milk no matter how much I love and want cake. It's a lifelong quirk of mine.

The cake itself wasn't sweet at all but the cookies and cream icing was a lot. And that black food coloring icing stained everything LOL. It was a really good cake but apparently I'm too messy to eat anything dyed black.

On our walk back to the room the skies were looking better so we decided it was probably the best time for us to check something else off our POR to do list and that's the main pool/slide. We got changed and made the short walk back to Ole Man Island. R did the slide and said it wasn't as much as the AKL Kidani slide or the slide at CSR. The pool was nice and refreshing. We were probably there for 45 minutes when the lifeguards blew the whistle for lightning in the area. So we headed back to the room, showered, and played a card game while the skies to drop buckets of rain.

It's the first time we ever played a game of cards at WDW and it was most fun! I was very thankful to have had this table. That's my one complaint about the rooms at CSR. They don't have a table like this for 2.