Trip Report JenniferS (and Mike) will be live 9/2-9/13 ... maybe!

Yes, it’s that time of year again, time for another live trip report from two of your favourite Canadians ... which means of course, that another hurricane is headed to Florida.

This will be my fourth live WDW trip report. The “who” and “where” remain the same, but the “how” and “when” are very much up in the air right now.

2016 here: (No, I don’t know how to embed links in a little blue “here”)

Hi, my name is JenniferS, and I am a Disneyholic. I have been accused of being a Pixie Dust snorter. I've been accused of worse, so no biggie.

Once we get home from a Disney trip, I am always in a bit of a funk, and never really up to doing a proper trip report. For those of you who know me, I generally post live over in Chit Chat somewhere. This is my first dedicated live trip report in the actual Trip Report Thread.

The cast:
Me. JenniferS. Just turned 49. Honestly friends, I don't know how that happened. I still feel 27. But, my passport and driver's licence insist I was born in 1967, and I have two 20-something sons, so it must be true.

This is me, on my way to work this morning. All smiles, because this is my last day of work for almost two weeks!
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And this is Hubby. He is not on his way to work today, as he has been off work for 6 months. He is 48 years old and this is the first entire summer he has had off since he was 14. In 31 years together, this is only the second time I have seen him with a tan.

Goofy is his favourite character.
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And last year, he was obsessed with this over-sized "Stitchie". There was no room in our luggage, but this year, I am determined to buy it for him, and bring it home by any means necessary. Actually, I'm just going to bring our big SouthWest duffel bag, and pay for an extra bag coming home.

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This will be our first Disney trip, just the two of us, since 1992!

Okay, that's the Who.
Coming up next - the Where.

2017 here:

This will be my fourth live trip report in a year, and after NYC last week, I thought Hubby had reached his limit, but he says, "No, go ahead, do a live trip report. It lets me control the tv while you talk to your friends." (As we meet more of my WDWDisney friends, he uses finger quotes around "friends" less and less.)

So, here we go, another live trip report. I really don't have the will to do a post trip report, so it's "live" or nothing. Once I'm out of the bubble, I'm out.

Introductions.
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That would be me, Jennifer, on the left. Big Disney fan, big Blue Jays fan, big Hubby fan. Ace, in the middle - although he will always be BJ Birdie to me. Hubby, Mike, on the right. Although Mike is the one who first introduced me to Disney in 1991, it's not really his thing. He goes with me most years to make me happy. And also for the food.

As with our past three trips, we will be spending 11 days, 10 nights at Coronado Springs Resort. We booked a BounceBack offer before checking out last year, before knowing how much construction would be going on. Oh well, it is what it is. And what it is, is my favourite resort in my Happy Place; so it's all good.

We have a Preferred King room booked, which means Casitas 1, 2, or 3. Nonetheless, I think I will be sending in a room preference fax tomorrow asking for a refurbed King room in either 7A or 8A. I'll be happy either way. I am ridiculously easy to please whilst in WDW.

Yes, I am one of those Free Dining parasites. By booking the BB offer last year, we are actually getting the full DDP for free, instead of having to upgrade from QDP. I put great thought and effort into our ADR's. Mike is a big guy and eats a lot. The heat and humidity really kills my appetite, so Mike eats at least half of my meals too. (I've recently packed on 20 pounds, so that may be a good thing.)

Next up, our somewhat loosey goosey itinerary.

2018 here:

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

To be continued ....

 

[Rista1313]

Also, it may or may not happen, but just in case, I added J & K to our Garden Grill ressie on Tuesday and Toledo on Wednesday.

If we get put on lockdown for any length of time, we may hunker down together in one room, or ride it out at our separate resorts. We’ll see.

Once they lockdown, I don't think they allow you to leave the resort to go to another one.... although, may I suggest you pack a deck of cards?

 

[JenniferS]

Once they lockdown, I don't think they allow you to leave the resort to go to another one.... although, may I suggest you pack a deck of cards?

We rode out Irma two years ago. We know the drill.

Bestie called me a “hurricane magnet”.

 

[PUSH]

I was staying at CBR during Hurricane Wilma in October 2005. I was a kid at the time, but all I remember is the parks were closed. We stayed at the hotel, took a walk around our building, and the main building was teaching kids how to make animals out of towels. I think they played Disney movies on the room TVs, too.

 

[Eric1955]

 

[JenniferS]

Car rental canceled. Flights canceled.
$570-something credit issued in future travel benefits. Good thing we’re booking BounceBack again, eh.

 

[JenniferS]

By the way, J sings. Like our dad however, he sometimes messes up lyrics on purpose.

Apparently he LOVES the Frozen singalong. His wife says she’ll be joining Mike at the tune-in bar while J and I sing with the sisters. One of us will “Let it go”; the other will “Let it snow”. I’ll leave it to you to figure out who sings what.

You’ll probably hear us at CoP too. Mike never sings with me in there either. (Mike just sings Billy Joel songs. Time and place, honey. Time and place.)

 

[DryerLintFan]

By the way, J sings. Like our dad however, he sometimes messes up lyrics on purpose.

Apparently he LOVES the Frozen singalong. His wife says she’ll be joining Mike at the tune-in bar while J and I sing with the sisters. One of us will “Let it go”; the other will “Let it snow”. I’ll leave it to you to figure out who sings what.

You’ll probably hear us at CoP too. Mike never sings with me in there either. (Mike just sings Billy Joel songs. Time and place, honey. Time and place.)

My daughter (4yo) does this as well and is pretty adept at making it relevant, which i think is impressive for her age. Someone's when she's going potty, for example, she belts out "let it go, let it go, let the pee pee bubbles flow"

 

[Darstarr]

I was staying at CBR during Hurricane Wilma in October 2005. I was a kid at the time, but all I remember is the parks were closed. We stayed at the hotel, took a walk around our building, and the main building was teaching kids how to make animals out of towels. I think they played Disney movies on the room TVs, too.

I was there too! We considered staying put. When they called us to “move us to higher ground” we said ba byeee.
We had a rental car and hit 95 north and didnt stop until we got to Virginia.

 

[JenniferS]

Mike just reminded me to pack my bathing suit.

Ugh, it doesn’t fit quite right. It’s too old ... or I am. Whichever.

There will be no “JenniferS in swimsuit” pics. I promise.

Waiting to hear from my boss if I can dip an hour early tomorrow. Ideally, I would like to be on the road by 7:00 pm. Y’all know that is NOT happening.

In other news, I spilled coffee at work today - all over my favourite all purpose ivory coloured sweater. It just came out of the laundry for Pete’s sake. Now I need to re-wash it as soon as we get home, so it has time to dry before we leave.

 

[JenniferS]

P.S. It was a flavoured coffee(creamy caramel), so I smell quite lovely

 

[Darstarr]

Mike just reminded me to pack my bathing suit.

Ugh, it doesn’t fit quite right. It’s too old ... or I am. Whichever.

There will be no “JenniferS in swimsuit” pics. I promise.

Waiting to hear from my boss if I can dip an hour early tomorrow. Ideally, I would like to be on the road by 7:00 pm. Y’all know that is NOT happening.

In other news, I spilled coffee at work today - all over my favourite all purpose ivory coloured sweater. It just came out of the laundry for Pete’s sake. Now I need to re-wash it as soon as we get home, so it has time to dry before we leave.

It is 1000 degrees in Florida. No sweater needed. No matter how yummy it smells. ️

 

[JenniferS]

It is 1000 degrees in Florida. No sweater needed. No matter how yummy it smells.

I freeze in the restaurants.

 

[Eric1955]

P.S. It was a flavoured coffee(creamy caramel), so I smell quite lovely

Timmie’s?

 

[JenniferS]

Timmie’s?

Si.

Good thing I bought XL. By the time I was done pouring it all over myself, I was down to a Medium.

 

[Eric1955]

Si.

Good thing I bought XL. By the time I was done pouring it all over myself, I was down to a Medium.

I think about Iced Capps all the time. It’s been so long since I’ve had one.

 

[JenniferS]

First of all - I have to turn off the audible notifications from WESH 2 News. Every time they go off, I jump out of my skin.

And second - son of a B - MCO is not closing on Monday after all. I cancelled our flights for naught.

There must be some reason God wants me and J (and Mike and K too, of course) in an enclosed vehicle for 24 hours. Maybe He thinks we have some talking to do about our deceased brother. Not sure, but I do believe everything turns out for a reason.

And yes, my heart is still pounding from those bloody notifications.

ETA:

 

[JenniferS]

Packing is done, except for toiletries.

I stripped the bed and put clean sheets on because I love coming home to clean sheets.

I’m at work with an XL coffee, waiting for the time to pass. (Not planning on wearing any of the coffee today. It was a very late night, and I need EVERY drop.) I’ll probably go fix those little boo boos on my calendars as well.

In other news, I dropped LTT for lunch on arrival day, but added Kona brekkie on departure day. Trading ooey gooey toffee cake for macadamia nut pancakes.

As always, it is so hard to tell with these storms, but I’m thinking J & K’s Wednesday night flight might still be impacted. Just as well we’ve decided to drive.

We can all stop worrying about that part of the trip, and start worrying about whose tunes get played in the vehicle. I say Disney BGM or bust, Baby!

 

[JenniferS]

And we’re on the road. J is driving, I am in the front seat, Mike and K are in the back seat.

Hopefully Mike has a wee nap, as we didn’t get much sleep last night.

We’re in a Ford 150 Lariat. It’s ginormous. It’s funny how differently you pack when you’re driving vs flying.

Prayers were said. Blessings were invoked. Coffee (for J) was purchased. Gas tank is full. Navigation is set. It’s a little more than 2 1/2 hours to the border.

We’re coming.

 

[PUSH]

And we’re on the road. J is driving, I am in the front seat, Mike and K are in the back seat.

Hopefully Mike has a wee nap, as we didn’t get much sleep last night.

We’re in a Ford 150 Lariat. It’s ginormous. It’s funny how differently you pack when you’re driving vs flying.

Prayers were said. Blessings were invoked. Coffee (for J) was purchased. Gas tank is full. Navigation is set. It’s a little more than 2 1/2 hours to the border.

We’re coming.

Safe travels!

 

[riverside]

Wishing you safe travels & a wonderful trip!!