Trip Report It can only go up from here

Hello everyone. I have been a long time follower on this sight, and have enjoyed reading many of your trip reports. My wife (Sara) and I (Bob) just got back from a November 16th-23rd trip, and I figured I would try my hand at this trip report thing. I hope you enjoy it.

Our trip almost came about as a necessity, if there is such a thing when it comes to Disney. We had been to Disney World 3 times before as a couple. We had gone each year from 2005-2007. 2005 was a belated honeymoon, and my first time ever to Disney (Sara had been several times before), and after 2007 we decided we would try going to a few other places. We always planned to go back though, and shortly after our last trip in 2007 we got the Visa Disney credit card. One of the perks of this card is the 200 Disney points they give you as a sign up bonus. However, these come with a expiration date, and we were quickly approaching ours. It got to the point where we had to make a decision to go to Disney, or lose our points. Well, losing the points wasn't an option since that was the reason we got the card in the first place. So we began planning our trip to Disney.

One rather important event had occurred in our family since we had been to WDW...we had a son named Luke. Luke was born in August 2011, so he was almost two as we began planning our trip. The big question became, were we going to take Luke along with us, or leave him with family. We had lots of advice on both sides of this issue, and we went back and forth many times.

Ultimately, we decided to leave Luke with our awesome parents for the week. Each of our parents took some time with him. There are probably some out there who think we are horrible parents for this, but there were several reasons we came to this decision. First, Luke has never been a big fan of people in costume. He enjoys seeing them from a distance, but up close he gets scared. This below picture of Santa Claus will give you some idea of what I mean.

Second, Luke is not a big fan of rides. We have tried to take him on several rides at carnivals, fairs, etc, and they all end the same way, with Luke screaming that he is all done. The below video (if it comes through) is Luke on a elephant ride outside Mr. Ed's elephant museum, and is the standard Luke behavior on rides.

http://s850.photobucket.com/user/lyear/media/IMG_1291_zps5ac9aa36.mp4.html

Finally, and this was the biggest argument on the pro leave Luke at home side, Sara and I hadn't really had any time away since Luke had been born. Other than a Saturday here and there, Luke had mainly been with us, and the thought was that it would be nice to have some time with just Sara and me. Also, leaving Luke at home meant we would have the freedom to get on rides we enjoy together, rather than trying the child swap plan.

Ultimately, we made the decision to make it an adult trip to Disney. It felt weird as the trip approached thinking we were going to the pinnacle of children's vacation spots and leaving our child behind, but we were looking forward to some time away. Finally, Friday the 15th came, and before we knew it my parents were at our house to pick him up. We quickly finished packing for our early flight the next morning.

 

[Lyear]

Great,great report! loved the pictures and all the details - felt like I was there with you. Love how you squeezed every moment out of the trip!

Thank you very much. We usually keep all our vacations pretty full. We're not really the type to sit around. Some people like sitting on a beach all day. We would go stir crazy.

Gosh...loved your trip report, love the poignancy you captured of the last day, the last ride, the last snack, and moments at WDW.

Thank you, it was weird how when I was writing it, all those emotions came flooding back.

 

[Lyear]

Still a great report! Hope I can build such a TR after the October trip

Thanks, I'm looking forward to reading about it.

 

[chrisd68]

Really enjoyed your trip report.

Your observations and commentary was funny, interesting and engrossing.

Glad you to had a great time and I do understand how you feel about the final walk down Maine Street as you're leaving - it's heart wrenching!!

 

[Lyear]

Really enjoyed your trip report.

Your observations and commentary was funny, interesting and engrossing.

Glad you to had a great time and I do understand how you feel about the final walk down Maine Street as you're leaving - it's heart wrenching!!

Thank you Chrisd68, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, that final walk is so tough.

 

[Joe B]

Thanks so much for your trip report and terrific pictures - made me feel like I was there! Your commentary was very entertaining and I especially liked your attitude about encountering the occasional rude guest: that 80% probably don't even realize they're being rude and that we all should just let it go and not let it affect our vacation.

You also truly capture that feeling you get as the your time at WDW starts to wind down, seeing people just arriving and remembering that just days ago you were doing the same. Hopefully we'll be back the spring of 2015 - trying to convince my wife it would be a great way to celebrate my retirement! I may not be a kid, but I do love going to Disney! Thanks again for your report - almost as good as being there!

 

[Lyear]

Thanks so much for your trip report and terrific pictures - made me feel like I was there! Your commentary was very entertaining and I especially liked your attitude about encountering the occasional rude guest: that 80% probably don't even realize they're being rude and that we all should just let it go and not let it affect our vacation.

You also truly capture that feeling you get as the your time at WDW starts to wind down, seeing people just arriving and remembering that just days ago you were doing the same. Hopefully we'll be back the spring of 2015 - trying to convince my wife it would be a great way to celebrate my retirement! I may not be a kid, but I do love going to Disney! Thanks again for your report - almost as good as being there!

Thank you Joe. Disneyworld seems like the perfect way to celebrate retirement! I'll need to keep that in mind a few decades (sigh) down the road. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[Lyear]

The Review...

Overall we had a great trip. Came back with a ton of memories. I'm going to break this review down into several categories.

Coronado Springs Resort

CS is a fine moderate resort. The cm's there are friendly, the food we had at Pepper Market was really good, and the architecture and decoration is immaculate. There is a table service restaurant called Maya Grill, though we didn't get to experience this. The main pool, the Dig Site, is a very well themed pool, and they have three other quiet pools as well. It was just a bit too cold, and we were just a bit too busy to use them. I was also surprised by Coronado's central location. If you look at it on a map, it looks like it's off in a corner of the park near Animal Kingdom. But it had very short trips to AK, HS, and Epcot, and only a moderate trip to MK. The trip to DTD was quite a haul, but that's understandable given that DTD is in it's own corner of WDW.

There is a lot of love about CS. Unfortunately for us, CS never had the same magical appeal that our previous resort, POFQ had. It's difficult to place my finger on exactly what caused that. It may be that POFQ was the place Sara and I first stayed at WDW together (my first trip ever). It could just be that a New Orleans theme reaches us like a southwest theme does not. Whatever the reason, if we stay moderate again, we will be trying to get back to POFQ.

A few specific things about CS that didn't measure up...

First, it's a very big resort. This is good because it gives you lots of scenery to look at, but bad (obviously) if you're trying to make it to your room in the rain. They counteract the large-ness of the resort by having multiple bus stops, but getting to El Centro (the main lobby) still seems like a trip in itself. I was also disappointed that the Casitas buildings were considered premium rooms, but we weren't aware of this until check in. Probably not a huge deal, except that Sara and I had researched it and specifically decided on the Casitas ahead of time, only to find out there we couldn't have them. We instead go in the Ranchos, which while well themed, just were too far away from the lobby for our enjoyment.

Overall, we had a good time there, and I would recommend it to anyone, but CS does not hold the special place in our heart that POFQ does.

The Food

Overall a very good experience with the Disney Dining Plan. It was free of course, getting this perk was why we stayed in Coronado. The dining plan is really good, but the problem is that it's simply too much food. By the end of the trip, you become far too familiar with the feeling of being stuffed.

It's too tough to pick a favorite meal between our first three, San Angel Inn, Boma, and Rose and Crown. If you twisted my arm, I'd say Rose and Crown might be a half-step ahead, but just because I felt we lucked into the perfect atmosphere for a couple without kids. All of these dinners were top notch. On the other end, I'd say most disappointing were Mama Melrose and Via Napoli. I must say that these were the two restaurants I didn't finish my meal at, so it may just be I didn't come in hungry enough. Maybe it was pizza overload, as we had this a good bit while there. But these were the two restaurants I walked away from feeling the most disappointed.

The quick service meals were all good. We really didn't have one that stood out. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food at the pepper market, and the outdoor seating at Rosie's in HS was really nice.

The snacks we had were really good. We tried to be a little more creative than just getting a popcorn, soda, piece of fruit, etc. We both really enjoyed the Boulangerie Patisserie, and I liked the Confectionary in MK. Of course, best of all may have been the dole whip!

Favorites

So many great experiences on this trip, it's difficult to narrow it down. On the top, I'd place Festival of the Lion King. This is such a great show overall. I love it so much and each time seems to get better than the last. I can't imagine what it's like not being able to experience it currently in WDW. We also love Soarin'. The majesty of this ride hasn't worn off on us, and we love the orange scent. Walking through One Man's Dream and getting my official citizen pin was a great moment as well. I'd also throw Buzz Lightyear's spin in there, just because it's so much fun. Illuminations the first night was certainly the best fireworks experience we had. And I mentioned it before, but the dinner at Rose and Crown deserves special mention here too.

Disappointments

We had such a great experience, and there's very little I would change, but still, there comes a few regrets. I wish we would have made time to ride the railroad the whole way around MK. I wish we would have spend some time during the day in the Adventureland/Frontierland area of MK. Our only time here came that one night during EMH. We only got to see the one parade in Animal Kingdom, which wasn't truly enjoyable because of the crowd situation. While we're not huge parade people, I would have liked to see the MK parade, but it never worked into our plans. I also wish we would have gotten a prime spot to view Wishes, so we could both see and hear it, but again never were willing to put in the time to do this. Lastly, I wish I would have gotten our camera out more, especially towards the end. I did a good amount with the camera early on in our trip, but towards the end, was shooting mostly with the iphone. The photos look good on the iphone screen, but not when you load them onto a cpu. I wish I would have taken the time to get the camera out on our last few days, and especially at IOA, where all the photos were from the iphone.



So was it the right choice leaving Luke with the grandparents??? It, of course, is impossible to say. Who knows how our trip would have been different with him along. But in the end, I'm glad we made time to go away with just ourselves. It was awesome to spend time with Sara, and to be free to experience WDW as adults the way we wanted to.

That being said, I can't wait to go back with Luke. We're thinking probably fall of 2016 will be our next trip. Luke will be 5 then, and I can't wait to experience WDW with him. I can't wait to see the wonder in his eyes at his first trip to WDW. To see Lightning, Buzz, Mickey, and all the other characters he'll grow to love between now and then.

I have to add here that since we got back, we took Luke to Hersheypark for their Christmas opening. And much to our surprise, he loved it. He wanted to go on all the rides, and was running to hug the chocolate character mascots they have walking around the park. What a difference from six months ago. It made me feel pretty bad for not bringing him along to WDW.



When I first arrived at MK this trip, I did not like the banner that read, "Let the Memories Begin," at all. I felt like it was too cheesy and too much marketing. While I don't like their announcing so blatantly about this, Disney truly is a place where you make memories for a lifetime. It's such a magical place where you can go and leave the world behind, a place where good will always triumph over evil, a place where you can slow down and enjoy time with those you love. Sara and I walked out of WDW with such great memories.

If you walk through One Man's Dream, you learn that Walt Disney created his parks out of a desire to have a place to take his children to enjoy time together as a family. This goal has been accomplished and then some in WDW. We have always enjoyed our trips together to WDW, and this one was no exception.



Thanks again to all those reading along. I plan to do one more post, a (hopefully) comical look at some of the questions you get to answer when you return from your vacation.

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to reading about it.

We are looking forward for going in October and after that share all the magic with you all

 

[Lyear]

As I have mentioned before, I am a big sports fan. In following my favorite teams, I'm constantly visiting various sports blogs. I follow one in particular from a writer I enjoy reading. He is always lamenting how he is asked the same question over and over again, and every 3-4 months he authors a post called "Because you asked," in which he lists the different questions and answers them.

When I got back from Disney, I realized that I too was being asked the same questions over and over again, so I thought I would compile them into a question and answer below...

Q: So you made it back from your vacation?

A: Yes, I'm back

Q: So how was it?

A: It was really, really fun. Sara and I had a great time.

Q: What did you do?

A: We went to Walt Disney World and stayed there for a week.

Q: Yeah, but what did you do while you were there?

A: Well, we did a lot. I'm actually writing a trip report about it...

Q: Yeah, I'm not going to read that, just give me some highlights.

A: Fine. We stayed in a Disney Resort and did all 4 theme parks while we were there, and also did Universal's Islands of Adventure one day.

Q: So what was your favorite thing?

A: That's a tough question, I'd probably have to say Festival of the Lion King.

Q: What is that?

A: It's based on the Lion King movie, and there's different actors and singers who sing the different songs from the movie, almost like a musical.

Q: But that's not a ride.

A: And that's not a question.

Q: Fine, how can your favorite thing not be a ride? You went to an amusement park.

A: Disney is about so much more than the rides. We went on the rides and enjoyed them, but there's so much more to do.

Q: Um, sure, if you say so. What was your favorite ride?

A: Probably Soarin' in Epcot.

Q: Did you get your picture taken with Mickey?

A: No, we actually didn't get our pictures taken with any characters other than Minnie and Pluto, and the Winnie the Pooh gang.

Q: Wait, you're vegetarian, were you able to eat anything?

A: Yes, Disney actually has vegetarian options at almost every restaurant there. Trust me, we did not go hungry.

Q: Did you meet Donald Duck?

A: No, we're not big into waiting for long times to meet characters, so we only saw those I mentioned above.

Q: How did your son enjoy it?

A: Well, we actually left him in Pennsylvania. He had a great week visiting his grandparents.

Q: Wait, you went to Disneyworld, and didn't take your kid?

A: Well, he didn't really like rides in the past and has been scared of characters. We had some Disney Dollars through a credit card deal that were going to expire, so we decided to go ourselves. Luckily our parents were willing to watch him.

Q: Why would you go to Disney without your kid? Isn't that a children's park?

A: Well, kids definitely have a great time there, but it's much more than a children's park. Lots of adults go there, for their honeymoon, special events, etc. There's plenty there for adults to do.

Q: Did you meet...?

A: Please stop!

Q: Ok, ok. So anything else new?

A: Why yes actually. Sara and I are expecting our second child in August. We're very excited.

Q: Wait...in August? Did you bring home an extra Disney souvenir?

A: Ha ha, Sara would kill me if I answered that here. So I'll just say that this trip to Disney World is one we'll always remember.

 

[lbrad]

Awwww ... CONGRATULATIONS on your new bundle of joy arriving August

 

[Lyear]

Awwww ... CONGRATULATIONS on your new bundle of joy arriving August

Thank you