Trip Report I know every mile will be worth my while! (A Princess 5K trip report)

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Somehow I knew this TR title would reference a song from a Disney movie. I'm a singer after all, and the Disney Renaissance was basically my childhood. A few titles I considered relating to the theme included:

"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small"
"If I go there's just no telling how far I'll go"
"Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest"
"There ain't nothing gonna stop me now cause I'm almost there"
"We must be swift as a coursing river"

But I went with Hercules for several reasons, not only because I relate to the themes of the song, but because it kept popping up during the trip.

In case you missed my PTR, visit A first, a second, and a third.

Otherwise, continue reading for a journey full of family, fun, and OF COURSE food!

 

[bee]

Day 1, cont.

As we neared the Coronado bus stop we saw that there was no line, so we assumed a bus had just come and we'd be waiting awhile.

Hi, monorail!

Then, less than three minutes later, a bus arrived!!

Again, not quite Shirley Status, but close!

We loved staying by Bus Stop 3. It was the second stop so we always got a seat but never had to wait long after getting on to get to the parks.

The Ranchos area was so beautiful and relaxing! We've now stayed in all three areas at Coronado (Casitas, Cabanas, Ranchos), and Ranchos is my favorite by far!

I met a fellow bee at the resort!

Up next: Drinks and dinner, and finishing up Day 1

 

[becca_]

You were SO close to where Daniel and I stayed!! I miss it SO much

I could go for a Mickey Pretzel right now....

 

[LeighM]

I'm finally caught up! This is making me so excited for our trip in 9 days. I've requested Ranchos 7a for our upcoming stay so fingers crossed I get it! I usually stay at Riverside so I'm excited to try CSR I didn't realize Pepper Market is closed from 11-11:30am though. Thanks for sharing! And fingers crossed Coronado is the first bus stop when we take ME. We land at 1:30pm and have a 5pm ADR at 'Ohana. There should be enough time but I also stress over stupid things like that

Ahhh I am at work sneak reading your report as I stalk festival ears but the suspense is killing me!!!!! I hope you got the cupcake!!!/QUOTE]

@prfctlyximprct not sure if you saw my previous message but the ears are at Epcot. I saw a personal shopper on FB selling them for $35. With several of us being at Epcot within the next few weeks, I'm sure you'll be able to get a pair I'm thankful I'm not in love with the Festival Dooney this year! My wallet gave a sigh of relief!

 

[Tuvalu]

Ok so now this Rose Gold mocker is gonna have to try that cupcake......

(Confidential to @sheriffwoody ~ Yes, Disney does charge the $10/pp no-show/cancel fee. I discovered a $30 charge on my Visa after one trip for a restaurant we had eaten at but the CM had forgotten to check us in.)

 

[Figgy1]

Day 1, cont.

Little did I know the display cupcake was just that: a display! There was a whole tray of them in the back and soon I was devouring (half of) this:

Nicole, you were so right about this! It MAY have been the best cupcake I've ever had. The perfect balance of chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut! The cake was so moist and the icing was just magical. 10/10 would eat again!

After we enjoyed the best cupcake ever, it was time for the Vegetable Boat Ride! We had a FP but the standy line was nonexistent, so we decided to standby first and then with our FP!

There was lots of activity in the greenhouse as CMs planted and replanted various plants. (How many times can I say "plant" in one sentence?) When we first entered the greenhouse we heard a kid ask his mom, "Are we inside that big ball?" No, but I can see how you might make that conclusion.

NERD ALERT! Time for a second ride!

New Jersey!

NOT GETTING POLITICAL. I sent this to my little brother because he is a Democrat but he likes the Bush family and I knew he'd appreciate this.

On our second ride we were seated in front of a Spanish speaking family with a little girl. The girl was SOOOO excited to see all the plants. Over and over we heard, "Mira, mami! Mami, mira! Mira, mami!"

Lettuce? "Mira, mami!"

Micro greens? "Mira, mami!"

"Mira, mami!" PS there's Stanley!!!

After two journeys on the Vegetable Boat Ride we were hungry again! What better snack than a Mickey pretzel?

We had another FP to make so we headed to the front of the park.

After SSE we realized we were way too tired to stay in the park for IllumiNations. So I cancelled our dinner reservation at Rose and Crown ( ) and we exited the park. We considered doing a little resort hopping (and eating) but decided we'd rather just go back to our resort.

Up next: Back to Coronado!

Go Jersey

 

[sheriffwoody]

Ok so now this Rose Gold mocker is gonna have to try that cupcake......

(Confidential to @sheriffwoody ~ Yes, Disney does charge the $10/pp no-show/cancel fee. I discovered a $30 charge on my Visa after one trip for a restaurant we had eaten at but the CM had forgotten to check us in.)

Good to know! I like Bee's hack....if I ever need to "cancel" I'll try that method.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I wasn't planning on getting the Rose Gold cupcake but now after reading some good reviews and seeing it's deliciousness in your picture, how can I not get one?!

 

[Tuvalu]

I wasn't planning on getting the Rose Gold cupcake but now after reading some good reviews and seeing it's deliciousness in your picture, how can I not get one?!

I double dog dare ya!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I double dog dare ya!

Oh, it's on now! I am so going to get one of those cupcakes!

 

[bee]

You were SO close to where Daniel and I stayed!! I miss it SO much

I could go for a Mickey Pretzel right now....

We really liked the area where we stayed. There will be more Mickey pretzels later in my report.

I'm finally caught up! This is making me so excited for our trip in 9 days. I've requested Ranchos 7a for our upcoming stay so fingers crossed I get it! I usually stay at Riverside so I'm excited to try CSR I didn't realize Pepper Market is closed from 11-11:30am though. Thanks for sharing! And fingers crossed Coronado is the first bus stop when we take ME. We land at 1:30pm and have a 5pm ADR at 'Ohana. There should be enough time but I also stress over stupid things like that

We were in 7A! Fingers crossed you get it as well! We have taken DME to Coronado three times and all three times we were first...so here's hoping!

(Confidential to @sheriffwoody ~ Yes, Disney does charge the $10/pp no-show/cancel fee. I discovered a $30 charge on my Visa after one trip for a restaurant we had eaten at but the CM had forgotten to check us in.)

Wooooow!

Good to know! I like Bee's hack....if I ever need to "cancel" I'll try that method.

Hopefully Disney doesn't notice the loophole and change it. But I've heard of several people calling to cancel and not being charged because they let them know.

Go Jersey

Jersey strong! (That's what M and I say when we rent a car and are driving aggressively somewhere!)

Ok so now this Rose Gold mocker is gonna have to try that cupcake......

Haha! I have no opinion of rose gold, but I had to try it and now I just want another one!!

I wasn't planning on getting the Rose Gold cupcake but now after reading some good reviews and seeing it's deliciousness in your picture, how can I not get one?!

I double dog dare ya!

Oh, it's on now! I am so going to get one of those cupcakes!

DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!

 

[bee]

Day 1, cont.

Since we no longer had an ADR, didn't feel like walking too far, and wanted a drink (or two), the obvious choice for dinner was...

Siestas! Yes, we had two meals at Siestas in one day.

On the way we observed the construction at the resort...

Nearly there...

We ordered our food at the window (a taco salad sans chicken for me and nachos without beef for M) and sat at the bar to enjoy a beverage. The bartender was Arina and she was super nice and funny...and made good drinks, of course!

Our food was ready shortly and the food CM was nice enough to bring our tray right to the bar instead of making us get up to pick it up from the window.

Taco Salad and Margarita al Classico: Tequila, Orange Liqueur, Agave Nectar & Lime

Nachos, and Mojito Frambuesa: Raspberry Rum, Sweet & Sour, Sprite, Guava, Simple Syrup, Lime, Muddled Blackberries & Mint
(except that they were out of mint, so it's a mint-less raspberry mojito haha)

Obviously we needed a second round...

Passion Fruit Caipirinha: Cachaca, Passion Fruit, Lime & Sugar Cane
(hold the passion fruit)

Margarita El Girasol: Tequila, Agave Nectar, Triple Sec, Sour Mix, Pineapple & Mango

When we asked for the bill, Arina teased us about going to bed so early.

We enjoyed the stroll back to the room.

Props to whomever was in this room...was it one of you forum people??

We noticed that Toy Story Land is already on the map!

And with that we called it a night!

Up next: Day 2! Including: the snorkeling section, the race weekend expo, and "What was in that sangria?!?"

 

[Swissmiss]

Good to know! I like Bee's hack....if I ever need to "cancel" I'll try that method.

I too used the same hack as Bee when I was there during Marathon weekend. But sometimes you need to think of changing it for months in advance or at off times in order to find a réservation to change it too.

 

[becca_]

Re: ADRs...

Spoiler alert, I cancelled a Beaches n' Cream ADR and the woman I spoke to on the phone offered to change it first to a different day so I wouldn't have to pay the $$. I hope they don't close that loophole!

 

[bee]

Day 2: Thursday, February 22

Confession time: We are not morning people. M has a traditional 9-5 job and she does the absolutely minimum in the morning so she can wake up as late as possible. My schedule is more erratic between singing and teaching music, but most days I don't have to leave home until 2:00 or 3:00, and sometimes I get home after midnight if I'm coming home from a late rehearsal. We are not rope-droppers or park commandos. I say all this because Epcot had morning EMH on Thursday, and though we tried to get there, it was not in the cards.

Instead, we stayed in bed until almost 10:00, got dressed, and took a park bus to the main building to avoid the 10-15 minute walk. Normally, we would have just walked, but we were having a lazy morning.

Look at that bus backup! We picked the least popular bus (I think it ended up being DHS) since it didn't matter which park it was going to.

Would you look at that Shirley Status???

Luckily we knew the Pepper Market breakfast schedule after yesterday's misadventure and arrived with plenty of time to order a breakfast bowl.

Roasted Veggie Breakfast Bowl

I always like a savory, vegetable-y breakfast, so this was a great choice and was PLENTY to share. I think there must have been six eggs' worth of scrambled eggs.

What's life without a little hot sauce?

This morning I realized we hadn't printed our race waivers, which we needed to turn in in exchange for our race bibs. We knew Coronado had a business center so we walked over to the Convention Center. There was an option to email a document to be printed for $1.00 per page, but we weren't able to save the waiver and send it, and computer use would have cost $6.00 PER MINUTE, so we gave up and decided to take our chances printing the waivers at the expo later.

After our printing failure we went outside to Bus Stop 1 by the main building. A CM named Dejuan asked us where we were going and the answer was "Epcot" of course. He apologized and said we had just missed an Epcot bus. But we weren't in a rush so we didn't mind waiting a little longer. A bus showed up maybe five minutes later and soon we were on our way!

We didn't see any tour groups today!

As we passed one of the little ponds on the way to The Land, M said, "There's the snorkeling section." It took me a moment to realize she had actually said it was the "smoking section," and throughout the rest of the trip I annoyed her by pointing out the "snorkeling section" every time we walked by it.

It was a busy day for The Land!

I think the cause of this backup was a group of confused guest who either didn't have a FP, or were early/late to their FP.

On the ride I was seated next to a rowdy group of obvious Soarin' first-timers. The rider immediately to my left was especially enthusiastic and continually shouted at the screen, her friends, or maybe no one in particular. It was mostly things like, "Whoa!" and "Look at that!" but during the Great Wall scene she kept shouting, "We're in China! We're in China!" When the Taj Mahal appeared she asked, (no one in particular?) "What is this? What is this?...What is this???" Finally I answered her since no one else did! She thanked me. She also shouted, "Eiffel Tower!" when we saw the...Eiffel Towel. Normally I might be perturbed at guests being so loud during a ride but she was so excited that I found it more amusing than annoying.

Up next: MILLIONS of LWTL greenhouse photos

 

[bee]

Day 2, cont.

We had arrived near the end of our Soarin' FP window, so we were able to get right on line for our LWTL FP.

Here comes a huge flood of LWTL photos...and one video!

Notice the Carrot sign. This will come up later in the report.

In the part of the ride before the greenhouses I noticed something seemed...off....



Do you know what it is??

Up next: Lunch at a new (for us) restaurant!

 

[Figgy1]

Good luck with the weather and I hope your power stays on.

 

[bee]

Good luck with the weather and I hope your power stays on.

Thank you! So far so good (knock on wood)! Of course, I might not still be saying that when I leave to teach in half an hour...

 

[Tuvalu]

“In farmlands across America” and “In Saudi Arabia” montages were mixed up! I have experienced that before and after a couple rides over a few days, I mentioned it to a LWTL CM. He seemed shocked that I noticed and that I even cared about it.

 

[bee]

“In farmlands across America” and “In Saudi Arabia” montages were mixed up! I have experienced that before and after a couple rides over a few days, I mentioned it to a LWTL CM. He seemed shocked that I noticed and that I even cared about it.

AND, there was no sound with the video! All the sounds you can hear in the video were from the boat and/or the people on the boat!

PS that is such a Tuvalu thing to happen!

 

[Tuvalu]

AND, there was no sound with the video! All the sounds you can hear in the video were from the boat and/or the people on the boat!

PS that is such a Tuvalu thing to happen!

I wasn’t sure if the sound was on in your video (didn’t turn up the volume). When I saw the mixup the sound was on, making the mistake even more noticeable. It was shocking it had gone on for at least two days and no one bothered to check on it (or fix it.)