My Dolphin win trip. Thanks WDWMagic!!

Here I am again, writing another trip report. Didn’t I just do this?

I am at the end of yet another wonderful time at Walt Disney World. This trip was rather unexpected and I owe it all to Harvey Plum...

...ok, and Steve too.

And by the way, there will be no loafing or loitering allowed in Laura's trip report. :fork:

While at Epcot on Thanksgiving 2007 I received a phone call from Rain letting me know that I had won the WDWMagic 4 night Swan & Dolphin resort stay, a result of answering 9 difficult trivia questions, and 1 impossible :lookaroun trivia question.

I intended to use the prize with my husband, but due to all of his pre-deployment restrictions (he goes to Afghanistan in a couple weeks) bringing him wasn’t possible and the certificate would expire by the time he returned. So instead I brought my father, and my mother stayed at my house with my kids and Andy hung out with her after work each night. It worked out great.

MONDAY

My dad and I flew out bright and early Monday morning (Feb 4th) and headed to our first destination: Coronado Springs. Neither of us had been there before. I instantly fell in love with the resort. It’s absolutely gorgeous and one of my new favorites now. The only downside is the incredible amount of walking you have to do to get around the place. Luckily our building (Casitas 2) was fairly near the lobby, though a long way from the main pool. The best part is the lack of children at this resort. It's crawling with peace and quiet!

Our first park was the Magic Kingdom. We had left my house at 5:15 a.m. and were standing on Main Street USA by 2:15 p.m. By 6:30 p.m. we had done every single ride and attraction we wanted to except Pirates, Thunder Mountain, and Hall of Presidents. It is incredible how fast you can fly through a park without children or people who walk slow or go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. By the way, why on earth is the Space Mountain queue so crappy now? It was so much better back in the day when you’d actually wait for the ride up in the part with the coaster and it played all those funny space commercials on the TV’s. I hate the way they have had it set up for the past few years.

Normally I include the list of all the grumpy pictures of my kids from each trip outside of Crystal Palace, but since my kids weren't with me my dad had to take over...

It goes with these:
July 2004
February 2005
September 2005
December 2005
February 2006
May 2006
June 2007
November 2007

Next we watched SpectroMagic and then went to my “X” spot on Main Street for Wishes. (There is a secret little spot on Main Street where the trolley tracks split apart in the back of the Roy and Minnie statue that forms an X on the ground. For some reason no one ever stands in this spot until about a minute before Wishes starts, and it’s dead center on Main Street with a perfect view, so it’s where I always go.)

Here's the view from the X:

While standing on my X, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen happened. It was a fairly gusty evening and there was a CM with a ginormous bouquet of Mickey balloons hanging out a bit in front of the X. Well anytime a wind gust would come all of the Mickey balloons would start blowing all over the place, smacking about 10-15 guests in the face as they walked by. Many of the guests would be stuck in a sea of bobbing Mickey heads for a good 5-10 seconds trying desperately to escape. I couldn’t even contain myself laughing at everyone. Of course I was safe on my X. At one point I decided to film what was going on and just as I got the camera out the Mickey balloons began attacking the lady in front of me. I only got a 6 second clip of the action because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe and tears were running down my face, but even after I stopped filming the sea of balloons swept down the street plowing down everyone in the way. I really had a difficult time watching Wishes after that as I was doubled over in laughter.

Mickey balloon video


After we got back to the resort we decided to check out the dig site (the main pool). We swam for a few minutes and the pool was really nice, but all of the water features had shut off just before we got there so it was a bit boring. Next we had a late snack at the Coronado food court, which was very confusing at first. It’s kind of like a sit down restaurant, but also kind of like a fast food restaurant, but also kind of like a cafeteria. It took us about 15 minutes to figure out how the heck you eat in there! :lol:

 

[Laura]

TUESDAY

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. We wanted to do a “quick” park so that we’d have plenty of time to go back and enjoy the pool while we were still at the Coronado. We rode Everest a bunch of times and did all the shows and rides we wanted to do by 2 p.m. The highlight was while we were sitting at Festival of the Lion King. A few minutes before the show my dad started saying all this goofy stuff in a loud voice to see how long it took the people around him to notice. At one point he blurts out “Maybe this will be the joke show where instead of the Lion King they bring out all the Care Bears.” He said it so seriously that I about fell over laughing. Then the two women in front of us turned around and looked very confused, and then they also burst out laughing when they realized he was kidding. It wasn’t until about halfway through the show when I was finally able to control myself.

We got back to the resort around 3:00 and enjoyed the pool for a couple hours before heading to Kona Cafe for dinner. We didn’t have a reservation, but had no problem walking right in. I ordered chicken and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The chicken was incredible and had some sort of honey sauce on it, and I ate a whole loaf of the Hawaiian bread by myself.

After dinner we went to Epcot and started off with the new and improved Spaceship Earth. I was a little anxious about riding as I’ve read nothing but negative reviews about the ride for months and expected the worst. I ended up being completely blown away. Everything about it is excellent. The new paint job and the new music are so much better. I love the narration and I think I’d ride it 100 more times if I could just to hear Judi Dench say “papyrus” again. The added and revised scenes are much better than the old. But by far, the best (but somehow most complained about?) improvement is the descent. The part where they stick your faces onto the cartoon people is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. My dad and I were in hysterics long after the ride was over. Just because of that one thing I think Spaceship Earth is now one of my favorite rides on property.

While still composing ourselves from the Spaceship Earth hilarity we moved on to World Showcase for Gran Fiesta Tour and finally, IllumiNations. After fireworks my dad went off to the Boardwalk and I met up with Monty and Morgan for the first time. At last, I was able to hear Monty’s Canadian accent, though I tried to be polite and didn’t giggle whenever he said “aboot” (at first anyway). We went over to the Polynesian where we watched the end of the Pirate and Princess fireworks from the beach and then Monty dropped off Morgan in the room. We then had a little while before Rain got off work so Monty kindly filled the time by talking about eating live monkey’s brains. He’s such a pleasant man. :lookaroun (GRRR Monty!)

Rain showed up eventually and we headed up to Tambu lounge after a bit to see if we could get some drinks. When we got up there we couldn’t tell if the bar was open or not, but rather than ask if it was, we just kinda wandered around like idiots for a while. Finally Rain called the Polynesian and confirmed that they were open so we sat down and had some drinks, courtesy of Monty. Then the laughing fits began. Anyone who has hung out with Rain and I knows that we cannot be together for more than a couple minutes without laughing ourselves to tears over nothing. It didn’t help that I chugged 2 glasses of wine, intoxicating myself in about a 10 minute period. Rain and I then spent nearly 3 straight hours laughing uncontrollably while Monty looked on helplessly, but in an amused sort of way. I already had a cold and a sore throat to begin with, but by the end of all that my voice was completely shot. We finally called it quits a little after 2.

And then there was the bird.

It was about 2:15 in the morning and Rain and I were walking out to her car when suddenly we see this gigantic, Muppet-looking bird staring at us. It was the biggest, freakiest bird that’s ever looked at me before. As we walked to her car, it followed with a psychotic look in its eyes. Thankfully we made it into the car alive, and the bird sighed and went back to its birdy house in the ditch.

 

[Laura]

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning my dad and I slept in a bit. I had a little bit of laryngitis and an even more sore throat, Worse yet, my dad had food poisoning from something bad he ate at the Boardwalk Bakery the night before. So we decided to take it easy. First we had to check out of the Coronado and check into the Dolphin. We weren’t quite sure how to do this, but decided to take a $5 taxi ride over which made the process a cinch. Of course the Dolphin portion of the trip was the part I had won through WDWMagic so we didn’t expect to get any sort of decent room, but to our surprise they upgraded us to a balcony room overlooking the Studios. Our room was wonderful, and I cannot even begin to describe the “heavenly beds”. When you lay on one it feels like you’re sinking into a big puff of heaven. I would kill to have a bed like that at home! I think I will definitely be staying at the Dolphin again in the future just for the chance to be that comfortable again.

So we hung out in our heavenly beds for quite a while because dad wasn’t feeling well at all, but finally by late afternoon he was ready to try World Showcase, which happens to be extremely convenient from the Dolphin. Oh, and another thing about the Dolphin is even though the place is absolutely humungous, it takes no time at all to get around and there’s very little walking involved, unlike the big Disney resorts. The elevators are the fastest I’ve ever been on, so we were out of our room and to the boat dock within 60 seconds. We walked around World Showcase and saw the Canada show and the America shows and then dad was ready to go back to bed.

Back to the Dolphin we went to drop him off in a heavenly bed and then I decided to use the rest of the evening to impose on Monty, though he didn’t seem to mind. He had told me the night before that he and Morgan would be doing an Animal Kingdom Extra Magic Hours Expedition Everest Marathon (or AKEMHEEM for short? :lookaroun) and it sounded like fun so I butted in and joined them. We rode it more times than I was able to keep track of, though I’m sure he knows the official count. He was even kind enough to take a detour and ride Dinosaur with me a couple times before going right back to Everest for a few more rounds. It was so awesome in the dark. It was a crystal clear night so when we were going up the big lift it looked like we were heading right into the stars.

After a couple hours of Yeti I was so hungry I thought I’d fall over and Monty was nice enough to let me barge in on his dinner reservation at Boma too. I was a bit apprehensive about Boma because I don’t like a lot of foods, but thankfully they had my favorites - chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. What really made it worth it though was the amazing dessert buffet. I’d have skipped the mac n cheese and gone straight for the dessert if I had known how good it would be! But then the problem after dinner was the logistics of getting back to our resorts. We couldn’t catch a bus to a park and go from there because all the parks were closed so our only choice was to go to Downtown Disney. All in all it took me about an hour and a half to get back to the Dolphin from Boma, and I imagine it took Monty and Morgan the same to get back to the Polynesian. Oh, the endless joys of not having a car!

 

[maggiegrace1]

So you were at the Polynesian and you called to see if the bar was open?

You guys are weird..

Loving it so far..

 

[Laura]

THURSDAY

Thursday morning we slept in a little bit and we were both feeling back to our normal selves again so we went to Kona Cafe again for some Tonga Toast before heading to Magic Kingdom to finish up the last few rides we had left. We used Fastpass for Thunder Mountain to bypass the 40 minute wait and were kinda laughing about all the losers waiting in the big, long standby line, and then I look over and Monty is standing there in the big, long standby line. :lol: I gave him a poke and proceeded directly to the ride with my fastpass. :lookaroun

Next we went to Epcot for the 3rd time to do some Future World attractions. We went on Spaceship Earth again for the SOLE purpose of taking funny pictures at the beginning for the video at the end. We made really hilarious faces, and then when we got to the end they didn’t even use our pictures!! That was a big disappointment so we decided next time we’d try to be a little less funny in case there was a funny threshold on the ride.

We also rode Mission: Space and Test Track and then watched the space shuttle launch. It was the first time I’ve ever seen one and though it only lasted about 5 seconds it was way cool. Unfortunately I had my camera on video mode instead of photo mode so I have very little proof that I actually witnessed the event except for a 2 second clip of my dad’s right shoe. After the launch we checked out the Epcot’s 25th tribute thingy and then went to Innoventions and rode Segways before finishing with Impressions de France on the way back to the boat.

Next it was time for our one and only dinner reservation at Shula’s Steak House at the Dolphin. Good thing we brought a set of nice clothes because this place is FANCY. Best service I’ve ever had in my life. We had 2 servers, an assistant server, a headwaiter, and a manager all taking care of us. We never lacked for anything. The second my dad finished his soup the waitress said “I’ll let the chef know you’re ready for dinner” and our dinner was out within a couple minutes. My dad ate a $48 filet mignon and I had chicken with a side of crab mac n cheese. The mac n cheese was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. I can’t even begin to describe it. Our meal was $105 plus tip, but the Dolphin gave me a $100 dining gift certificate when they found out my husband had recently served in Iraq, so we basically only had to pay the gratuity.

After dinner we were thoroughly stuffed so we went and sprawled out on the heavenly beds for a bit and watched Fantasmic from the balcony. Then we walked across the street and played Fantasia Mini Golf, which was great until the last 2 holes when some random kid who apparently had no parents was running all over our holes and getting in the way and driving us nuts. We had to ask him a bunch of times to please move so we could golf, and no adults in the vicinity were claiming him. *shrug* My dad creamed me at golf, but I’m terrible at it so I was not disappointed. Then we went back to the room and watched Lost while IllumiNations reflected off the windows across the courtyard, and then we went to sleep.

View of Fantasmic from our room:

 

[Laura]

FRIDAY

All we had left to do by Friday was Hollywood Studios. I couldn’t use the last night of my Dolphin stay because we had to get back so my parents could drive to NY by Monday, so I gave it to Rain. She came by Friday morning and put her stuff in the room (so the maid wouldn’t know that anyone left) and I gave her a key, then she went over to the Studios with us. She rode a few rides with us before going to work, and then my dad and I rode a few more. On the Great Movie Ride we got the front seat for the first time ever and spent the whole ride plotting different ways to sabotage it, none of which we carried out. The best idea we had was to drive away the cars while the Gangster was climbing the temple thingy to get the jewel, but we didn’t. We finished everything we wanted to do at the Studios in 4 hours so we decided to go back to Epcot for the 4th time. :lol:

Dad driving the GMR car when the CM wasn't looking:

The first stop HAD to be Spaceship Earth again. My dad and I were still bummed about our photos not being put in the video during our 2nd ride so we wanted to give it one last try. We decided to be a little LESS funny than last time so as not to break the funny threshold of the ride, and luckily it worked. I took a video of the entire ending which kills me every time I see it because of my dad’s hilarious expression. This is definitely the funniest attraction in all of Disney now.

Spaceship Earth video

Then it was time to choose one final attraction for the trip. It had to be something thrilling and Earth-shattering. What better way to end a wonderful vacation to WDW than with Ellen’s Energy Adventure? :lookaroun

So after cursing out stupid Judy for a bit we went back to the room and packed and stuff. And then dad decided he was done vacationing and just wanted to chill in the room. I, on the other hand, wanted to soak up every remaining second of kid-free vacation time that I had so I went for a walk around the Yacht and Beach Club and the Boardwalk. I watched 3 street performers which were all hilarious. Then Monty showed up to hang out with me for a little while before I had to leave. Other than a brief interruption from his naked friend, it was a good time! I went to bed at 11:00 but just laid there awake for 3 hours before finally drifting off at 2 a.m. Unfortunately, I had to get up at 3:15 to catch a plane. At least I was awake to enjoy those last few hours in my heavenly bed!

 

[Laura]

SATURDAY

We caught our Mears shuttle to the airport at 4:10 a.m. so I really have no Disney stuff to report for Saturday, but I had to throw it in here because of the funny experience we had at the Atlanta airport. If you’ve ever been there you know it has these long underground tunnels with trains running back and forth through them to get you to your concourse. They’re kind of like the Disney monorails, except the doors are only open for a split second to let passengers in and out. Well the amount of time the doors are open is not sufficient when the trains are packed because it takes a few seconds for passengers to scoot around and let the old people out and the new people in. We had to ride from concourse A to concourse D and at EVERY SINGLE STOP only about 2 people would make it into the train and then the 3rd person would have the doors close on them, pinning them. Then the train would start announcing “there is an obstruction in the doorway” and the person would be flailing around and finally manage to shove their way into the train, leaving the rest of their group behind. The doors didn’t shut hard enough to hurt the people, so it was just utterly hysterical watching this happen over and over again. Everyone on the train was dying laughing. I wish so badly I had thought to record a video!

Anyway, that concludes my trip report. One thing I did differently on this trip was not lug around my huge camera, so I only had my point and shoot with me and only took a couple pictures during the trip. I only got out my big camera to take out photos at the resorts so I’ll include those at the end here just for the heck of it.

Thank you Steve for this wonderful site that allowed me to win such a magnificent trip. I had a GREAT time and so did my dad! We appreciated it so much and can’t say enough about how nice the Dolphin was.

Coronado Pictures (excuse my poor white balance technique):

 

[SpongeScott]

CSR is a great resort! All the naysayers have it wrong on this one--we loved it! And the Swalphin is a great place too! Best beds in the world.

 

[Laura]

Dolphin pictures:

Boardwalk/Yacht & Beach Club pictures:

 

[Jeff456]

Great trip report! I only hope the crowds can somehow be as light when i go next week

 

[Nemo14]

Great report, as always, Laura! I love the SSE video! :ROFLOL:

Please give your DH a big thank-you from all of us too.

 

[maggiegrace1]

Amazing Pictures Laura..

Where are the pics of you and Monty?

The Dolphin is great.. Drew used to work there and we visit every time we go..It is beautiful!

Glad you had a great time..you deserve it!

 

[TwoTigersMom]

So after cursing out stupid Judy for a bit we went back to the room and packed and stuff. And then dad decided he was done vacationing and just wanted to chill in the room. I, on the other hand, wanted to soak up every remaining second of kid-free vacation time that I had so I went for a walk around the Yacht and Beach Club and the Boardwalk. I watched 3 street performers which were all hilarious. Then Monty showed up to hang out with me for a little while before I had to leave. Other than a brief interruption from his naked friend, it was a good time! I went to bed at 11:00 but just laid there awake for 3 hours before finally drifting off at 2 a.m. Unfortunately, I had to get up at 3:15 to catch a plane. At least I was awake to enjoy those last few hours in my heavenly bed!

Helloooooooooooooo!!?? Am I the only one who cought this sentance? Laura, do we want a little more explaination here or should we just leave this one alone? :lookaroun

 

[Laura]

So you were at the Polynesian and you called to see if the bar was open?

:lookaroun We called when we were 10 feet away from it. :lookaroun

Actually Rain called cuz I don't call people. :lookaroun

CSR is a great resort! All the naysayers have it wrong on this one--we loved it! And the Swalphin is a great place too! Best beds in the world.

Both awesome places. I miss the beds already!

Great trip report! I only hope the crowds can somehow be as light when i go next week

It was nice. The weather was great too.

Great report, as always, Laura! I love the SSE video! :ROFLOL:

Please give your DH a big thank-you from all of us too.

Will do. Thanks

Amazing Pictures Laura..

Where are the pics of you and Monty?

As if I'd let anyone take a pic of me! Monty tried to when he caught me crashed out in a hammock, but I sensed his presence and opened my eyes and jumped a mile just as he took the pic. I can't even imagine what a dumb picture it is.

 

[Laura]

Helloooooooooooooo!!?? Am I the only one who cought this sentance? Laura, do we want a little more explaination here or should we just leave this one alone? :lookaroun

I'll let Monty defend that one. :lol:

He owes me. :fork:

 

[unkadug]

Helloooooooooooooo!!?? Am I the only one who caught this sentence? Laura, do we want a little more explanation here or should we just leave this one alone? :lookaroun

I caught it too, but thought better than to bring it up! :lol:

 

[doop]

Great report thanks for sharing! The expression on your Dad's face in that SSE video is hilarious!

 

[mousefan1972]

Nice pics! The Dolphin looks nicer than I thought it would be. Glad you had a nice time!

(and I can't wait to hear Monty's naked friend story!) :lol:

 

[H20Babie]

Another great TR! I may have to check out the Dolphin for the next trip since I can get the teacher's discount. Those beds do look heavenly!

 

[diddy_mouse]

OMG, that SSE video was too funny! :ROFLOL: I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the ride. Also it sounds like you and your dad had a great trip, and what a wonderful thing to win! :sohappy: