Trip Report Tales From the Two Goofs Vault

Greetings again my friends. During my large amount of available free time, I have been working to digitally backup some of our old photos, as well as track down and backup any digital files as well. So far I have come across 3 Disney trips that I haven’t shared on these boards before. One from March 2019, one from September 2016, and another from June 2015. I will be doing these TRs from newest to oldest. Please note that I have no notes on our activities, so the pictures will likely not be in perfect order. I will try and provide commentary on things I do remember. So let’s get started!

Trip 1.

When: March 8-11, 2019

Who: Myself and A as always, plus our closest friends C and M.
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Where: POFQ for just one night, and Coronado Springs(more on why we did a split stay on such a short trip later).

Why: A top secret mission to photograph and celebrate C and M’s engagement.

A little background on how this trip happened.

C is one of A’s oldest and closest friends, he is the closest thing she has to a brother, and she does refer to him as her brother. He had been dating M for about a year at this point, and we all knew she was perfect for him. He’d decided to pop the question on their spring break trip to Disney. For months he had been asking A and I to come down with them to take pictures of the big event, and to celebrate with them(or console him if she said no!). It didn’t look like we would both be able to make the trip though. I finally agreed to at least get A a plane ticket and she was going to go alone for just the weekend and return.

Well as fate would have it, right at the 60 day mark I was finally able to secure the 4 days off needed to take the trip. Unfortunately there was extremely limited availability at the resorts. The only resort with full availability for the weekend was grand Floridian, which was at a non discount rate. We finally found 2 nights at Coronado, and one night at French quarter. We also purchased APs because we had already planned on being at WDW for several day’s in the summer, so it ended up being less to get the AP rather than buying separate tickets for each trip. I was also able to get the AP spring discount applied to our reservations.

With all of that business out of the way, we were able to make FP reservations right at 60 days! C wanted it to be a surprise for M that we were going to be there. We went along with this plan, but boy was it hard not to spill the beans at our super bowl party that year!

Day 0/Night1:

While I was able to get Friday-Monday off, A had no such luck, and had to work a half day Friday. This meant taking a later flight than normal. We had a 7:15 flight out of Dallas Love Field. Our plan was to be at the airport around 5:30. 5:30 on a Friday driving through downtown Dallas, what could possibly go wrong?! Fortunately while traffic was pretty heavy, and my phone told me to take the wrong exit one time, we still made it to the airport on time.

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Already a little tired before takeoff!

Our flight down went smoothly and a few hours later we landed in Orlando. Because of the time change, by the time we got down to DME it was approaching 11 pm. We were both more than ready to get to our room and get a few hours of sleep. Our bus only had a few parties on it. We stopped at riverside first, then French Quarter. Our room had been ready since lunch time of that day, so we went straight to our room. It was well after midnight when we made it to our room.

Apparently we knew that @Nunu would like some room photos at the time!😜
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Another boring redesigned room.

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The beads were a nice touch!

We finally got showered and in bed just before 1 am.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So glad you've decided to do this TR!
Me too. It’s been nice going through old trip pictures!
Yay for this report! I love seeing all the topiaries! Thanks for sharing 😊
My pleasure! I will have more topiary pictures soon. Did a little more outdoor social distancing for the day today!
Me too!
I am here!

Just kidding! Always glad to have you. I’ll try and find some old citrus swirl pictures for you! 😉
 
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Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
May 2, 2020.

A and I got a very special treat this weekend. Our niece C was able to come have a slumber party Friday night, followed by some outdoor fun today!

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She loves to hula hoop!

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Today’s location was beavers bend in Oklahoma.

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The water is cold, but it was warm enough today to at least put your feet in the water!

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Pickle the Jack Russell decided to try out the river too!

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C has always been one of pickles favorite humans.

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Hitting the first trail of the day.

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It was a pretty tough climb!

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But the payoff was worth it!

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💩 beetle doing it’s job. Reminds me of the it’s tough to be a bug song!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More from today.

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Our first trail was a fairly challenging climb over several hills. Even pickle needed to cool down in the water!

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C loves to be photographed. Luckily she didn’t make too many silly faces today!

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Trail number two was much easier.

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We finished the day off cooling down in the creek.
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Out for the count!

We had a great day! It was more crowded than I would have liked, but we still managed to keep a safe distance from people! Your regularly scheduled Disney TR will resume tomorrow.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday March 9, 2019 continued.

More from F&G

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We made our way back to Soarin.

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We would’ve liked to have tried some of the food booths and exhibits, but we weren’t willing to stand in the long lines. We did enjoy all of the beautiful flowers though!
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These were some of As favorites. They lined all of the walkways around the odyssey.

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I always enjoy the floating flowers.

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I assume at some point we got our ride on Soarin. I’m sure it was great as usual. Or I may be remembering wrong, and we didn’t do it at all.

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We were starting to lose steam quickly. We headed for the exit to go take a rest(I had received a room ready text shortly after lunch).

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You can never have too many spaceship earth pictures.

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The PP photographer here was a lot of fun, although I don’t recall her name now.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday March 9, 2019 continued.

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Missed this one earlier. You can almost see the fountain in the back.

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Near the park entrance now.
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The entry display from last year

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It was a very pleasant day that day. I remember being able to see my breath early in the day at Animal Kingdom.

We left the park for the bus stop. There was one other person at the bus stop who struck up a conversation with us. It turned out she was originally from the same area of Texas as us, and even had kids that lived no more than 10 minutes from us. Her husband worked at CSR, so she was going there to meet up with him after he finished working.

We stopped by bell services to see if our luggage had arrived. They told us the transfers had not arrived yet, so we went to our room empty handed. I don’t have any room photos, but we were in the casitas section. There was a large convention of tool salesmen taking place that weekend, so the place was full of very loud, very vulgar salespeople. I deal with that kind of language at work all the time, but don’t care for it. I really felt bad for families with small children who were around.

Anyways we were able to get a nice little nap in before heading to DHS for the evening’s festivities. We were going to do the after hours event! I hailed us a Lyft, and we were at the park quickly.

Our first stop inside the park was to visit on old friend we hadn’t seen in a while.
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Chewbacca! One of my all time favorite meets! He wasn’t quite as interactive as normal, but was still pretty great.

We were able to do star tours and muppets before the park closed. Olaf was showing a 30 minute wait, but there was nobody in the queue, so we walked right in.
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Warm hugs for everyone!

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Since there was Nobody else around, Olaf had quite a bit of fun with us! After our meet with everyone’s favorite snowman the park was officially closed. We headed down sunset boulevard first instead of toy story land, where most people seemed to be headed.

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Our first ride of the event was of course our favorite! This is the only time that night that we had to watch the pre show, and had a full elevator.

More after hours coming up.
 
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k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
There was a large convention of tool salesmen taking place that weekend, so the place was full of very loud, very vulgar salespeople. I deal with that kind of language at work all the time, but don’t care for it. I really felt bad for families with small children who were around.
I guess I never thought about that negative aspect of CSR being a convention hotel. I can’t stand when people refuse to watch their language in front of other people’s children. 🙄
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I guess I never thought about that negative aspect of CSR being a convention hotel. I can’t stand when people refuse to watch their language in front of other people’s children. 🙄
Yes it drives me nuts to hear super foul language used around small children. I was raised in a small town in the south, we were always taught not to curse at all, but especially around children, and NEVER curse in front of your momma! CSR seemed to generally separate the convention people from the rest though. We just happened to be put in the same section that most of the conventioneers were in, most families with small children seemed to be more in the ranchos section. They still had to share all the common areas though.
Enjoying your report!!
Many Thanks, and right back at ya!
 

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
CSR was the first resort we stayed in without children! We stayed in Casitas #3 and really thought it was beautiful. I guess we were lucky that we didn't encounter the kind of atmosphere you did. I hate it when people feel they have to cuss with children around, and with others too. I am from a time when men did not cuss around ladies. I remember my boyfriend telling some boys to stop with their language because there was a lady around. I laugh at that memory now, but it is kind of sad that anything goes now, even at Disney!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday March 9, 2019 continued.

After ToT we jumped over to RnR for ride #2.
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While I enjoy this one, I can’t do more than one ride on it!

We headed back to ToT for ride #3
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They left the library room open, and allowed us to walk straight on to the ride. Those who wanted the full experience were directed to the right hand library. The ladies next to us seem to be enjoying an intense game of cards.

After a few rides of ToT we decided to check out toy story land. This was our first visit since the land opened, and we were excited to check out our second new land of the day!

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We snapped a quick photo on the way. They had just started the theater projection show when we took this photo. It made for a creepy background!

We arrived to a pretty empty TSL.
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There were only a few parties in the area taking photos.

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Buzz was all by himself, so we stopped to say hi!

We made our way down to slinky, We waited maybe 5 minutes.
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First ride on SDD!

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We liked it enough to do it again! I really enjoyed SDD, and I think its a great little family coaster. I don’t think I’d wait more than about a half hour for it, but will gladly use a FP on it! Also it doesn’t take very good nighttime photos!

Woody and Jessie had a very short line, so we met them next.
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Woody gave me the Bro handshake!

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We stopped for sodas and popcorn before going on alien swirling saucers. I thought it was fine for what it is. They offered us another ride without getting off, but i’m not great at the spinning rides, so i declined. We did TSM at some point, but I have no photo evidence.

More DHS after hours next.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
CSR was the first resort we stayed in without children! We stayed in Casitas #3 and really thought it was beautiful. I guess we were lucky that we didn't encounter the kind of atmosphere you did. I hate it when people feel they have to cuss with children around, and with others too. I am from a time when men did not cuss around ladies. I remember my boyfriend telling some boys to stop with their language because there was a lady around. I laugh at that memory now, but it is kind of sad that anything goes now, even at Disney!
I think it was just bad luck on our part. Even so, we’d return to CSR in a heartbeat. We’ve been at yacht club when a convention was happening, and didn’t have any issues, so it may just be this particular convention was a little rowdy.
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
March 9, 2019 continued.

We checked out TSL for a bit before heading back to the rest of the park.

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The PP photographer for Buzz took this.

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We had a great first experience with toy story land! Having returned several times since, I definitely prefer this land at night. There is very little shade during the heat of the day!

Mickey and Minnie had no line, and the CMs at the entrance practically begged us to go meet them. We gladly obliged.
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Minnie was first. I think she was excited about something on my shirt, or maybe I said something funny, I don’t remember.
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Mickey was next.
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I think A was happy to see him.

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We made our way back to sunset to finish the night off on ToT.
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The park was empty!

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We made sure to get plenty of treats too!

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We even had a few friends join us!

We ended the night riding ToT in a nonstop loop. Due to the design of the load area, you do have to exit every time. We did probably five rides before we were just too tired to go anymore! We really had a blast at this event, and would love to do it again someday!

Very long, but great Disney moment up next!

We finally made our way to the bus stop around 11:30. Having been up super late the night before, and waking up early that day to spend it mostly in the parks, we were exhausted! We stopped by bell services to retrieve our bags. A young man named Chalmer came out to assist us. We handed him our tag, and he disappeared into the storage room to retrieve our things. We waited what seemed like an eternity before Chalmer returned empty handed, with a very worried look on his face. We knew something was obviously not right. He informed us that he had looked everywhere, and could not locate our luggage. He let us know that he’d called the night manager already, and she was on her way to help us get this situation sorted out. The manager(who’s name escapes me right now) arrived and took us into the storage area to ask some questions. We gave her a description of the luggage, and she sent out a mass email to all the resorts to be on the lookout. A was very upset because her camera bag was lost, and she was supposed to be photographing C and M’s big moment the next day. The manager assured her that the bags would be located, and promised that the event would be photographed one way or another. Then she had us make a list of all the things we needed to get through the night(toothbrushes, contact solution,etc.), as well as our clothing sizes. We handed her the list, and she took us over to the main lobby and told us to wait. She went into the gift shop, and 10 minutes later she appeared with all of the items we needed, plus clothes to sleep in and clothes to wear to the parks the next day if we needed them! There was probably about $200 worth of clothes and other items in the bags. She also informed us that our entire stay at CSR was comped for our troubles. I told her that was absolutely not necessary, but she would have none of it. After that chalmer gave us a ride to our room. We thanked him for handling the bad situation so well. We grabbed quick showers, and went to bed sometime after 1 AM. this was one of our most insane days of park touring we’ve ever done. Totals on my watch for the day were 39,551 steps and 21 miles walked with 20 hours active. This doesn’t include the time we spent after midnight at the hotel dealing with our little problem!


Up next: A morning at MK with our stuff?
 
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k8einwdw

Well-Known Member
The manager(who’s name escapes me right now) arrived and took us into the storage area to ask some questions. We gave her a description of the luggage, and she sent out a mass email to all the resorts to be on the lookout. A was very upset because her camera bag was lost, and she was supposed to be photographing C and M’s big moment the next day. The manager assured her that the bags would be located, and promised that the event would be photographed one way or another. Then she had us make a list of all the things we needed to get through the night(toothbrushes, contact solution,etc.), as well as our clothing sizes. We handed her the list, and she took us over to the main lobby and told us to wait. She went into the gift shop, and 10 minutes later she appeared with all of the items we needed, plus clothes to sleep in and clothes to wear to the parks the next day if we needed them! There was probably about $200 worth of clothes and other items in the bags. She also informed us that our entire stay at CSR was comped for our troubles. I told her that was absolutely not necessary, but she would have none of it.
WOW! Now that's service!
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WOW! Now that's service!
Yes it is! They took a negative and not only resolved the problem, but turned it into an overwhelmingly positive experience. The manager had been working for Disney for over 20 years and it showed.
Incredibly late to the party but looking forward to a trip back in time!
Thanks for following along. I’m just getting started!
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
We stopped by bell services to retrieve our bags. A young man named Chalmer came out to assist us. We handed him our tag, and he disappeared into the storage room to retrieve our things. We waited what seemed like an eternity before Chalmer returned empty handed, with a very worried look on his face. We knew something was obviously not right. He informed us that he had looked everywhere, and could not locate our luggage.

Years ago, I saved up $ to stay at the Grand Floridian, for 3 nights. (Just had to experience that hotel once.) Arrival day was early AM, and the room wasn't ready, so they put my luggage in the luggage storage room. That afternoon, I came back to get my luggage -- and it was gone! One of the bellmen didn't reconfirm the baggage check # carefully, and must have given my bag to another guest -- who departed!! Hotel manager apologized and said they'd continue to look. Asked me to list everything inside and the value of items. Offered me dinner, etc., and transportation to local pharmacy if I needed anything for the night. Assured follow-up.

The next day, I get a call that they are delivering my luggage to my room. Apparently, the guest (who had driven home the day before) noticed the wrong suitcase, and drove it all the way back to the hotel!! :jawdrop: Thank goodness there are still kind people in the world, and I was so appreciative.

Anyway, I can empathize with you and your wife about how disruptive losing luggage can be.

On another topic, thank you for sharing the lovely F&G photos. :happy: (It's been 2 years now since I've attended.)
 

Loco_driver

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Years ago, I saved up $ to stay at the Grand Floridian, for 3 nights. (Just had to experience that hotel once.) Arrival day was early AM, and the room wasn't ready, so they put my luggage in the luggage storage room. That afternoon, I came back to get my luggage -- and it was gone! One of the bellmen didn't reconfirm the baggage check # carefully, and must have given my bag to another guest -- who departed!! Hotel manager apologized and said they'd continue to look. Asked me to list everything inside and the value of items. Offered me dinner, etc., and transportation to local pharmacy if I needed anything for the night. Assured follow-up.

The next day, I get a call that they are delivering my luggage to my room. Apparently, the guest (who had driven home the day before) noticed the wrong suitcase, and drove it all the way back to the hotel!! :jawdrop: Thank goodness there are still kind people in the world, and I was so appreciative.

Anyway, I can empathize with you and your wife about how disruptive losing luggage can be.

On another topic, thank you for sharing the lovely F&G photos. :happy: (It's been 2 years now since I've attended.)
Wow, that was super nice of that person to drive back with your things! We have some pretty distinctive luggage to try and prevent things like that (and to make them easier to spot at the airport of course!).
 

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