Trip Report Completed: How to Avoid a Rebel Invasion: a dual August trip report

Hello all! It's pre-trip report time, title explanation to follow!

Who:

That's all of us back in August of 2017 at Whispering Canyon Cafe.
From the left: SIL @NessNewt, myself with my younger niece E on my lap, mom C, bf P, my now middle child R, my oldest hiding his head T, with older niece L in front of him, and my brother Z. We're all going back and we're bringing this cutie:

It's baby E's first trip! Well, outside the womb that is. Lol
Where: Pop Century for Me (K), P, baby E, C, R, and T
Coronado Springs for @NessNewt (V), Z, L and E
When: August 10-16 for Myself, P, baby E, C,R and T
August 14-21 for @NessNewt (V), Z, L and E
We're getting out before Star Wars Land opens and the masses flood the parks, hence the first part of our trip title. And @NessNewt and I will both be reporting, so it's kind of like 2 trips in one!

 

[NessNewt]

OK, new school year and new job have gotten in the way of me finishing this trip report. But I will finish this today!

Day 7
We woke up earlyish and caught a mini van to Epcot for a PPO breakfast.

The Garden Grill breakfast was awesome! It was fun to be rotating and we got a nice view of a lot of the living with the land ride.

Breakfast was family style. It wasn't anything super special, but it hit the spot. There was a cinnamon roll, Mickey waffles, fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon and tater tots. There was some salsa on the side that Z and I dipped the tots into and that was really good.

I also got to try POG juice for the first time! Delicious.

The characters were fun and we got to see some more than once.

L was scratching behind Pluto's ear.

The best part was our server asking if we wanted to ride Soarin' because they were opening it a little early. We said yes and he made sure to settle us right away.

Then we got a PRIVATE RIDE on Soarin'!!!!

That was awesome. The next ride was full of people so we must have just missed park opening!

We took a quick ride on Spaceship Earth before walking towards the International Gateway.

Stopped for some Photopass:

We took the boat to Hollywood Studios to give ourselves a little break. Day 7 and there was plenty of grumpy to go around.

We had FP's for HS. Z and E went to Star Tours. L and I did RNR again.

Then the four of us met back up for SDD. Even E liked it! But I clearly didn't know where the camera was

We had a third FP for the Frozen stage show but decided we were ready to go back to the resort and skipped it. We did use some snack credits on the Jack Jack cookie and some slushies on the way out.

It was so good but we got two and it was too much. Waiting for the bus was too hot to eat.

After a rest we decided to try and get a swim in. It was raining but the pool was open so went right in. The rain stopped and then the lifeguards announced we had to clear the pool and the pool deck.....

We had been there maybe ten minutes. The girls played on the playground for a bit, and Z and I got drinks at the bar. We waited 30ish minutes for an all clear but it never came. It was very sunny and hot at this point so we walked back to the room with two very disappointed children.

We decided to meet up with P2 and K2 at AK. Nomad Lounge actually had some open seats so that was our first stop. I also snagged a FP for L and I for EE. But first, a very leisurely "dinner" at Nomad Lounge.

Z, P2, K2 and I enjoyed the drinks and food. The girls don't really drink soda, so they didn't love the mocktails we ordered them. They did love the fries we asked for

EE was down for a long time. We even got a push notification in MDE. I managed to get some FP for Z and E for Kali River, and L and I had multiple experience ones from our EE FP. Z gave his magic band to P2 to ride Kali with us and he and K2 set their sights on getting us wet.

As soon as we were off I checked MDE. EE was back on! K2, L and I speed walked over. We had a reasonable wait (15 ish I think).

It is extra intense in the dark!

Z,P2 and E traumatized themselves with It's Tough to be a Bug while we were riding EE.

We called it a night and headed back to the resort.

 

[NessNewt]

Day 8

Our last day.

We slept in a little. Finished packing and took our bags to airline check in. Then we caught a bus to MK.

We had FP's for Splash, Big Thunder and 7 Dwarves.

We also took a spin on the carousel before our lunch at Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace was a bigger hit than I was expecting! The food made everyone very happy and it was so beautiful inside! It did take awhile to meet all the characters but we took our time with the food and just relaxed.

So there was a couple celebrating an anniversary right before us and Tigger had put their hands together and clapped and it was soooo sweet. I "aw"ed and actually almost teared up and Tigger barrelled right past my kids to give me a big hug!

But of course the girls jumped in for a picture.

Then Z got his hug

So cute.

We left with a snack credit burning a hole in the pocket. We were stuffed but I really wanted to try the churros ice cream sandwich.

We didn't even come close to finishing it. Too stuffed and it was hard to eat.

We slowly strolled out. L was having a hard time saying goodbye. We stopped for a picture.

Funny side story. We were standing in the Photopass line behind a young woman by herself. The girls started chatting with her and she had a British accent. It came up that she was from England, and L who has recently been learning about American history from listening to Hamilton, said "Oh we used to be against each other!" Luckily she laughed and we explained that was so long ago and things are much different now.

We caught a bus back to the resort, chilled in the lobby for a little while before catching the TE.

We had a comfortable drive to MCO and a tolerable wait at security. We walked past a security worker with a dog and apparently that meant we didn't need to take liquids out or our shoes off?

We grabbed some food court food and Z jealously watched other passengers playing with their new droids from GE.

Our flight back was very, very turbulent, but the girls got some rest anyways.

I sent Z ahead to get the car while the girls and I managed the luggage claim. Somehow we got it all outside to wait for Z! They are champs!

And with that we were home again.

The exciting news is that we have already have another trip planned!

 

[NessNewt]

A few last thoughts:

Dining Plan
This worked for us! But only because we shared snacks and quick service with our family who didn't have the dining plan. Otherwise it might have felt like too much. That said, we definitely liked the feeling of inclusiveness that the dining plan gives, so we would consider it in the future under certain circumstances.

Big Group
This has its ups and downs! It is a little stressful feeling like so many people's vacation rests on your shoulders. Obviously not K and crew #1, but I did a lot of the planning and instructions for my sister, mom and stepmom - anytime something went wrong I felt kind of guilty. That said, it was awesome having extra hands around, and the girls had a lot of special moments with their family. Plus I felt like I got a lot of special time with my sister and my mom especially. And witnessing pieces of baby E's first trip was so special! So despite the stress, it was absolutely worth it.


Coronado Springs Resort
I love this resort. Z loves this resort. My mom, sister, stepmom, etc. loved this resort.

The girls were meh about it. They were fans of the pool but that was about it!

We had a great time. Thank you for following along. It was a whirlwind, but there was plenty of magic to balance out the stress.

 

[Swissmiss]

Thanks to both of you for this TR - it made it really (double the?) fun

 

[krisri18]

Disney keeps sending P and I pin codes this week, clearly they can't understand why we don't have another trip booked! P says no more trips for awhile, apparently paying for a new roof and a wedding are more important.

 

[riverside]

Disney keeps sending P and I pin codes this week,

I don't understand. I have never received a pin code. And my sister gets AP emails that I don't & vice versa.

Great TR!! I really enjoyed it!! Thank you both for sharing!!

 

[Darstarr]

Great report both of you!!!

 

[Rista1313]

Disney keeps sending P and I pin codes this week

Nice... I keep watching for a Pin code... I've got one in the past...

 

[krisri18]

I don't understand. I have never received a pin code. And my sister gets AP emails that I don't & vice versa.

Great TR!! I really enjoyed it!! Thank you both for sharing!!

I've NEVER gotten a pin code before, I swear Disney is just doing it to taunt me! Mine was in an email, P got one in the mail. He actually got one right before our August trip too which was weird since we were obviously already going. He's never gotten them before either and now 2 of them within 3 months!

 

[krisri18]

Great report both of you!!!

Unfortunately, the math says our roof needs replacing and weddings are expensive! So unless I'd like to earn some extra cash Phoebe's way...

Disney trips are going to have to wait a bit

 

[krisri18]

Nice... I keep watching for a Pin code... I've got one in the past...

I'll keep fingers crossed for you! It would be nice if they could be passed on if the person they were sent to didn't plan to use them

 

[sheriffwoody]

LIFE IS TOO EXPENSIVE! I think we talked about that on instagram. It's annoying, I'd so much rather spend money on Disney trips than boring house stuff

 

[krisri18]

LIFE IS TOO EXPENSIVE! I think we talked about that on instagram. It's annoying, I'd so much rather spend money on Disney trips than boring house stuff

Agreed!