Trip Report JenniferS was live! 9/6/17 - 9/16/17

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.

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.

 

[Eric1955]

Looks like it was a fun day. Wish I could have joined you.

 

[JenniferS]

Looks like it was a fun day. Wish I could have joined you.

You'll be back.

 

[JenniferS]

Alrighty, let's give this a whirl.

We ate all of this, and more than half of a second serving. I say, eat your veg in Disney while you can.

Perfectly fine warm rolls, with absolutely to die for honey-butter. We each ate two.

Pickles "from our garden".
Sadly, they were of the bread and butter type. Yuck.
Mike ate them all. He said they were very good.

Goldfish on top of creamy mac'n cheese is kinda like croutons. I picked around them.
The fries were hot and salted, and probably quite good, but I seldom eat fries.

Sausage," (we split it), some kind of beef (didn't have any), turkey, stuffing, veg, mashed, and green beans "from our garden".

Second serving of items Jay decided Mike would like.

My plate. I did have a second half of a sausage.
Three fries. What a loser.

 

[JenniferS]

I asked if it was possible to have our dessert deconstructed. (Two reasons - if it sits around soaking up fruit juices the cake gets soggy, and I wasn't really sure what the "fruits" were.) Anyway, Jay said it was no problem at all, so here is our "deconstructed" dessert:

I picked around the blueberries, but there were no other offending berries, so I happily reconstructed.
This was soooooo good.

Two sugar cookies (currently residing in our fridge):

And yes, Mike ate my birthday cake. Considering his birthday was more recent than mine, it seemed fitting. Plus, I don't really like chocolate cake.

 

[JenniferS]

Day 2 wrap up:
Perfect weather, despite the ominous warnings on my weather app.
8 rides/attractions at MK.
2 rides at Epicot.
1 snack credit spent - on soup, of all things.
12,670 steps on my Fitbit.
600 mg of Advil between us (400 for me, 200 for Mike)
30 minutes of pool time.
0 minutes of nap time.

Good night everyone. Back at ya around 8:30.

 

[JenniferS]

Oh darn, I just realized I forgot character pics. Until tomorrow, here's one:

 

[Songbird76]

Mike: Why didn't we go to Momento Mori last night?"
Me: Because we were only here for 90 minutes.

I like this:
View attachment 227307

And these:
View attachment 227308 View attachment 227309 View attachment 227310 View attachment 227311

Assuming this is the "letter bag", then I have this:
View attachment 227313

I want this:
View attachment 227314

I bought this:
View attachment 227315

And these: (for Son #1)
View attachment 227316

And Mike tried on the first on numerous hats.
View attachment 227317

Love that top you bought!!

 

[Songbird76]

Longest line of the day:

View attachment 227399 View attachment 227400

Even with reservations, we waited a solid 30+ minutes between check in and getting to the ordering kiosk; at least 20 of which was standing in an outside line in the full 1:00 sunshine.

And then, once we got inside, at least 1/3 of the tables were cleared and available. I honestly think the backup is at the ordering kiosks. We were directed to a CM, and despite having to do two separate transactions, we were done in less than a minute.

This was surprising. We were able to use a snack credit for the French onion soup.
View attachment 227401

Speaking of which, this is probably the best FO soup I have ever had. I only had three spoonfuls, (one of cheese, two of broth), but yowza, I wish we'd ordered two. Mike said I could have it, but how fair would that have been? Weather permitting, we're back here for dinner next week. I'll order my own then.
View attachment 227402

Not in the mood for the braised pork for once, so I got the beef dip. I ate half, and gave half to Mike. Shockingly, I WAS in the mood for fries. They were stone cold, but I actually ate about 10-15 of them anyway. Mike ate the rest.
View attachment 227403

He got the braised pork. This is really good, but there's not a ton of it there for him, so 1/2 of my meal was probably appreciated.
View attachment 227404

Pics from inside.View attachment 227401
View attachment 227405 View attachment 227407 View attachment 227408

View attachment 227414

How was the beef dip? That's one thing I really miss, foodwise, from the US.

 

[Kiwiduck]

I'm curious how much the cutlery set cost. Looks charming! Hope you keep having a wonderful trip.

 

[JenniferS]

I'm curious how much the cutlery set cost. Looks charming! Hope you keep having a wonderful trip.

Thank you. We are having a great time. Decided not to worry about Irma until it's time to worry about Irma.

The cutlery set was $65.00. Currently available at the Emporium in MK and the gift shop in the Contemporary.

 

[JenniferS]

I'm up, as you can tell. Whether I remain up is another story. I could go for a coffee. Wonder what time Pepper Market or The Rix open.

 

[JenniferS]

How was the beef dip? That's one thing I really miss, foodwise, from the US.

The beef dip was good. The baguette was crusty and fresh. The meat was a tad overdone, but flavourful. I know the braised pork overall, is better; I just wasn't in the mood for mashed and gravy, knowing we would be having more of each that night.

 

[JenniferS]

Pluto, Chip and Dale each came within moments of us being seated; Mickey, the second I took my first mouthful of salad. In total, every character passed by three times. The restaurant was not busy. The entire pavilion was pretty deserted. I'm not sure how busy F&WF was, as we never made it to that side of the park.

Chip:

Dale:

The characters were quite fond of the "you're so tall" schtick.

 

[NYwdwfan]

In a blatant manoeuvre to manipulate Disney, I included the information that we were celebrating my 50th birthday in the fax I sent requesting a refurbed room. (Didn't pan out, as you'll recall.)

Instead though, I got this today.

View attachment 227473 View attachment 227474

And a birthday pin when we checked in.

I guess we know where Ann is working!

After dinner, we were able to squeeze in a ride on 'Soarin just before it closed. Top row, middle section. Perfect.

Mike wants a whole driveway of these:
View attachment 227475 View attachment 227476

Goodnight Epicot. We'll be back in a few days.
View attachment 227477 View attachment 227478 View attachment 227479

Tomorrow is our DHS day, with dinner at Cape May. Yay, another all you care to eat buffet ... followed by 'Ohana.

Mike is 2 for 2 in the eating so much he feels sick category. Time to break that streak.

My daughter ate 7 plates at Cape May. The clam strips were yummy. And the clam chowder.

How was the beef dip? That's one thing I really miss, foodwise, from the US.

For us it was good - althouh one half had a piece of meat with an inedible fat line thru it hat we had to pick out and as with Jennifer, the meat was a bit well done but the dipping sauce and bread made up for it..

 

[JenniferS]

Pics into LwtL:

The last time we were here, the restaurant's rotation seemed slower. I'm sure nothing has changed, just my perception of it. I actually couldn't look at the floor, as I felt a little motion sick. Bring on those roller coasters though.

 

[JenniferS]

I guess we know where Ann is working!



My daughter ate 7 plates at Cape May. The clam strips were yummy. And the clam chowder.



For us it was good - althouh one half had a piece of meat with an inedible fat line thru it hat we had to pick out and as with Jennifer, the meat was a bit well done but the dipping sauce and bread made up for it..

Clams, in any form, are nasty. Mike will eat pounds of it tonight. There will be no smooching afterward.

I booked Cape May for him. I'm not a huge fan of buffets - especially ones heavy on seafood.

I can eat my weight in salad though, so it's all good.

 

[Lucky]

The last time we were here, the restaurant's rotation seemed slower.

They're just preparing you for Irma. It's very thoughtful of them.

 

[DryerLintFan]

I love your live report so far! I think you might have the right idea, about doing it as you go rather than trying to piece it together when you get home! I might try it in December for our trip!

Like everyone else, I'm going to say.... be safe!!

Also, curious,... did the water leak or did it all make it there?

 

[JenniferS]

Forgot to mention that while Hubby was suffering from an excess of food last night, I fetched coffee.
While he was slooooowly waking up this morning, I again fetched coffee. For those of you keeping score, that's Jen - 3, Mikey - 0.

I went for a little stroll on my way to Pepper Market, and took some pics.

 

[JenniferS]

Breakfast? Hellllllll no!

Our room is just up these 4.75 stairs.
(For those of you who do not compulsively count stairs by 4's ... that would be 19.)