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 ....

 

[LadyBelle]

Be safe with the Hurricane coming that way this weekend!

 

[Andrew C]

Guess I will follow

 

[JenniferS]

We are supposed to fly out from Buffalo on Monday afternoon, arriving at MCO just after 7:00 pm. Didn’t happen last year as planned due to issues with the plane, and I don’t see it happening this year due to Hurricane Dorian.

Until JetBlue or MCO makes the decision for us, we are still hoping to fly - but planning to drive. Work schedules do not allow us to leave any earlier than 6:00 on Sunday evening. This will probably have us driving into the thick of things on Monday, so rather than drive straight through, we would be stopping somewhere for a day/night. In the Hurricane thread, some people have suggested stopping in Macon. If we arrive in Orlando by supper time on Tuesday, that would still be faster than waiting for a rebooked flight.

I will proceed with this trip report like everything is going to go by my meticulously planned schedule, knowing full well it’s not.

Okay, the “who” - me and Mike, same as always.

The “where” - Coronado Springs, same as the past five trips.

The “how” and exactly “when” are yet to be determined.

And the “why” of course is because I love Disney World. It is my happy place, and without being too maudlin, this year more than any other, I need my happy place.

If the Queen can have an annus horribilus, so can I.
Less than 48 hours after leaving WDW last September, I had hip surgery - a scope, debridement, and general clean up. Unfortunately it didn’t accomplish much, so I am scheduled for a total hip replacement later this year.

In addition to that, I was putting up Christmas decorations on 12/15 and fell off the bottom step of the stepladder and suffered a fractured tibia and torn meniscus. This has been such an ongoing problem despite attending physio therapy once (sometimes twice) a week, that I had to have surgery last month. Alas, the knee is still locked and mobility issues continue. Worse than ever.

But worst of all, my brother unfortunately passed away of an accidental prescription opioid overdose in February. My heart is still broken, and I cry more days than not. At the risk of sounding like a big fat whiner, I NEED this holiday.

What I don’t need is to put us in harm’s way, so we will proceed cautiously and prudently.

 

[JenniferS]

Okay, the much ballyhooed schedule:
Monday, 9/2 - Day 1:

Nope, not happening.

Tuesday, 9/3 - Day 2:

I really don’t see this happening either. Also, it looks like I forgot to do some edits when I over-wrote last year’s itinerary. Last I checked, TT and Soarin’ were not at MK.

Wednesday, 9/4, Day 3:

Now we’re getting into “maybe” territory.

My brother J and his wife K will be flying in on Wednesday evening; staying at Pop. (Fingers, toes, and everything that can be, are crossed that the Skyliner opens up for them.) I know many speculated that the DHS line would open in time for today’s SW:GE edge opening, but that clearly didn’t happen. Dorian may further complicate things, but I’m really hoping they get to ride it first.

If Day 3 goes according to plan, Mike and I will be able to experience GE before my brother, so I will concede him riding the gondolas before me. J and I are VERY competitive. You’ll see.

 

[JenniferS]

The next six days will be spent with J & K. My brother is an uber Disney planner like me, but he told me to book all ADR’s for 4, and FP’s for 2, and he would try to get the same FP’s. With the exception of the first FoP, our FP times are within 5 minutes of each other. Score.

Thursday, 9/5 - Day 4:

J is going to see if he can convince the FoP CM to let them advance their time to align with ours (apparently this can be done on a discretionary basis - who knew?), but if not, either he or his wife can have my MagicBand and take my place. I’ll go get me some lumpia.

Friday, 9/6 - Day 5:

Another 6:00 am rope drop for DHS. Really hoping J & K can take the Skyliner to the park.
Mike and I are building a droid! I couldn’t get two concurrent ressies for this, so we’ll be going back to build a second one later in the week.

Saturday, 9/7 - Day 6:

Resort morning means swimming or sleeping in. Time will tell.

‘Ohana is our favourite 1-credit TS meal. J’s too.
I see the schedule says “Wishes” from the beach. Ummmm, no - that would be HEA. Old habits die hard.

 

[susan lees]

So sorry for the loss of your brother. Hope this trip helps you heal a little. Love your previous reports so I'm following along.

 

[JenniferS]

Sunday 9/8, Day 7:

Woo hoo, it’s party day! Mike and I did this for the first time last year. We absolutely loved it. Without me even suggesting it, he insisted that we do it again this year. We’ll miss @Eric1955 though. It won’t be the same without him.
But first, the one ADR that J requested - brekkie at Garden Grill. I’m game.

Monday, 9/9 - Day 8:

Yay, a new restaurant this year. Mike is not really into the parks and insists he’s “Just Here for the Food” (he even has the t-shirt to prove it), so I try to mix old favourites with new experiences every trip. This one looks fun!

Tuesday, 9/10 - Day 9:

Last full day with J & K.
Also, we are building droid number 2. I’m building an R-unit for sure. Mike is a huge BB-8 fan, so I suspect he’ll go that route.

He’s also a little Porg obsessed.

 

[JenniferS]

Wednesday, 9/11 - Day 10:

J & K don’t board the Tragic Express until late afternoon, so we will close out their trip by trying to devour as many snack credits at F&W as possible.

Also, this might actually be the year we keep our Skipper’s Canteen reservation. Ya never know.

Thursday, 9/12 - Day 11:

And we round out our final WDW day with dinner at Narcoossee’s, as is our wont. Mike secretly confessed to me that he is glad that J & K won’t be joining us as this is “our special evening” every year. It’s a secret though, so shhhhh.

Friday 9/13 - Day 12:
Either way, this is departure day.
If we fly, we pack up and head straight to the airport. If we end up driving, I think I’ll book a farewell brekkie at Kona. Macadamia nut pancakes ... mmmmm! With bacon though, ‘cause I don’t like Kona sausage.

And that’s it. Now we sit back and wait to see what Dorian does, what MCO and JetBlue decide, and then we’ll decide how we proceed.

Should be fun. Mike and I have a wonderful time together. It will be neat to travel with J, as our last family vacay was the summer I was 18, just before I moved out. It will also be handy to have an extra set of arms to push the wheelchair, if the brace and cane don’t cut it. He had no idea what he was signing up for.

 

[PacNWTigger]

So sorry about your string of not so good stuff. Make sure you fit in plenty of downtime to enjoy a drink (or two) and give your healing self a bit of a break. I'm curious to see if the gondolas are running for you guys...I haven't seen anything in the other TR's about the gondolas at all, so you might be the first to experience it out of our forum friends.

 

[JenniferS]

K made matching t-shirts for MNSSHP. This one is clearly Mike’s:

 

[JenniferS]

So sorry about your string of not so good stuff. Make sure you fit in plenty of downtime to enjoy a drink (or two) and give your healing self a bit of a break. I'm curious to see if the gondolas are running for you guys...I haven't seen anything in the other TR's about the gondolas at all, so you might be the first to experience it out of our forum friends.

Thank you. Better times ahead.
I love your profile pic. My cat hangs out in the sink too.

She doesn’t even move when I turn the water on.

 

[PacNWTigger]

I'll give you one better...Mo actually takes over my computer to read TR's.

 

[JenniferS]

And a little hurricane humour, ‘cause if you don’t laugh, you cry.

 

[PacNWTigger]

Your beautiful cat looks a lot like my son's cat, Morgana.

 

[JenniferS]

Your beautiful cat looks a lot like my son's cat, Morgana.
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We have two calicos, but only one of them is obsessed with running water.

 

[MegRuss626]

Saw this meme on Instagram and figured it would fit with your “ya gotta laugh” post! Hopefully the hurricane is kind to you and Disney magic does it’s job for you!

 

[LSV]

It's been such a quiet hurricane season...and @Darstarr was supposed to take Dorian home with her. I am northeast of Disney, storm prep is no fun but disrupted travel plans are also stressful. Hoping your trip is not impacted too much - I love reading about your adventures. Also, sorry about your brother and your mobility issues, and your pets are adorable.

 

[JenniferS]

This year’s Mousekeeping envelopes are a step up from last year’s. Because K bought and made the t-shirts, I offered to make and stuff her envelopes too. Not quite a fair trade, but I’ll make it up to them.

 

[Darstarr]

It's been such a quiet hurricane season...and @Darstarr was supposed to take Dorian home with her. I am northeast of Disney, storm prep is no fun but disrupted travel plans are also stressful. Hoping your trip is not impacted too much - I love reading about your adventures. Also, sorry about your brother and your mobility issues, and your pets are adorable.

I tried to lure Dorian home with me (trying to keep my son and Dad safe down in Fla). It was pouring while I was flying home from Disney World last night. But it was dry as can be when we landed. ️🌪

@JenniferS so sorry about your crap year! I have a good feeling about your trip! (But, alas, my feelings are usually useless)