Christmas at Coronado: Day 3 - A little less than magical

[JustCor]

Hi everybody. I'm here at the World again for another three day stint. There will be eating and griping and all of that fun stuff, as well as a very important non-Disney thing.

So, let's do the beginning stuff and get it all out of the way:

Me: Corey
You: Audience
Where: Disney
When: Now

Simple, easy, and quick. For more details, there's a PTR that can be found here. There's a Live Trip Report here that is quick snippets of stuff going on (roughly) as it happens. Somewhere at the bottom in my signature is a couple of links to past trip reports done in a similar fashion.

This will maybe/probably get updated daily, just to grab the stuff out of my head while it's still fresh. So, that's where we'll begin. Hope you enjoy!

 

[JustCor]

The Day the Fun Begins

I arrived in Orlando a day earlier than I had originally planned. A friend who lives in the area had a day off, so I came up early and crashed at his house. A night of food and drink was a nice way to start this vacation, especially since it's happening a day early. I took a leisurely drive from his house to Coronado Springs a little after 11 am and arrived to a sight that I hadn't expected to see.

Cheerleaders. Ugh. More on them in a bit.

This is the first year that I'm doing Disney during the Christmas season. I had expectations of trees and decorations practically flowing out of every building and hallway. I didn't see that at Coronado Springs. Instead, there was a kind of basic tree and a few bits and bobbles that could be called decorations. Maybe I'm early? Maybe. The check-in process went very smoothly and a clean room was found for me immediately. Sweet! I took my map to find Casitas Building 1 and took the quick drive over to my new temporary home. There's a lot of smoke in the air today, and the smell is pretty strong. It's a woodsy smell that almost reminds me of a fireplace, only ramped up to the nth degree. It's a little irritating, and my nose still has a little sting to it. It was nearly non-existent at MK, which was very welcome, but it's heavy by my room.

The Room

Home. At least for now. It's nice and bright, which I appreciate. Drab rooms are no fun. There's a smell in here, and it's a mix of a lot of different things. It's one part musty, one part cleaning products, and a dash of somebody has been smoking in here at some point. Cranking up the A/C has subdued many of the scents, but it's in the background. I didn't notice it at first, as my nose still had the smell of smoke lingering in it. Once that passed, the room's scent became more pronounced. It is what it is. This is a room that's seen some miles on it, and could use a nice renovation to bring it up to speed. Nothing a new carpet and a fresh coat of paint couldn't fix.

I know this all sounds kind of negative, but I really don't have a problem with the room. Unfortunately, I'm coming off of a recent trip where I had a fantastic stay in a beautiful room at the Grand Floridian. I think this is just the initial letdown/mental readjustment period to get my brain back into moderate mode. Still, there are some comparison's for the moderates that I've stayed in that I can begin to make:

1. Coronado Springs vs. CBR: My stay at CBR previously was in one of the newly refurbished rooms. That room was... fresher? Fresher, sure. It felt clean. This room feels slightly dirty. CBR, though, was awfully loud. Like this trip, there were cheer groups staying at CBR and they were obnoxiously loud all night. I got very little sleep at CBR and it may have tainted my opinion of the place. Coronado Springs is wonderfully quiet. So far, despite the older room, CSR beats CBR in a close battle.

2. Coronado Springs vs POR: I'll cut to the chase here and say that prior to my stay at GF, POR was my favorite resort. Forget Deluxe/Moderate/Value. It was my overall favorite. The room was nice and clean and the grounds are beautiful. They're area is a little spaced out, but that's not a bad thing to me. They were spaced out in a nice way. Coronado Springs has a spaced out area layout as well, but it just feels poorly laid out. The nearest bus stop is a bit of a hike from my building, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the elevators are situated. The nearest one I could find is over by Casitas Building 2, another hike away from my room. The grounds aren't nearly as nice. I am a little closer to the main building with the restaurants and shops, but that's nothing I've ever really needed on previous trips. POR beats CSR, easily.

Anyway, enough about the room. I'm here for the parks! Make haste for the bus!

I made my way to the bus stop and had a short wait before the bus to MK showed up. In hindsight, I should have probably jumped on the bus to Animal Kingdom that came earlier. I'm sure it was lovely. The MK bus was very nearly empty, with just 5 or 6 people on it when it pulled in to the bus stop. A very small handful of us boarded. I made my way to the very back of the bus along with two nice couples. A near empty bus seemed like a good sign. I was completely wrong. At the next bus stop the madness began. A large group of junior high (maybe middle school?) cheerleaders boarded the bus. Every empty seat was filled, and the rest of them packed the standing space. It was SO. VERY. LOUD. All of the girls seemed to be trying to talk with every other girl, and they only had one volume: yelling. The girls at the back of the bus were yelling to the girls in the front of the bus. The girls in the middle were yelling to the other girls in the middle. Every word was spoken at the highest possible volume they could muster. Each time we would pass a landmark, like Epcot or the Contemporary, they would all scream in delight. And yes, I mean scream. When we saw the castle, more screaming. When we came to a stop at the bus depot, more screaming. When they finally got off the bus, my ears were ringing. I was kind of frustrated, but one of the guys I had boarded the bus with just watched them get off and said in a matter of fact tone "this is why lions eat their young", and all of a sudden the world was back in beautiful balance.

Yay Christmas! Now that I had finally made it to MK, it was time to find my friend. We met up by the castle and immediately had to head back out of the park and make our way to Wilderness Lodge for a lunch ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe. Getting settled in my room and finally making it to MK had eaten up a lot more time than I had realized. I was starving though. I hadn't eaten yet and was getting a little grouchy. It was definitely time for a bit of food. We made our way to the boats to pop on over to Wilderness Lodge. I've never been to that resort, but the pictures look quite nice. Pictures really don't capture how amazing WL looks. It's a beautiful building, outside and in. Everything was decorated with Christmas stuff. It was how I expected every resort to be.

I've put Wilderness List at the top of my "must stay" list. It looks incredible. The lobby is HUGE. The tree is massive. Everything is decorated and looks beautiful. We stepped up to the Whispering Canyon check in a little early. My ADR was for 1:20, but it wasn't quite 1pm. I was hungry though, and waiting would be tough. The hostess gave me a buzzer and had us wait in the lobby. By the time we made it the twenty or so feet to the couches, the buzzer was going off. Awesome!

Whispering Canyon was a pick that I wasn't sure of. It serves food that I really enjoy (barbecue!) but has a schtick that I don't care much for. I like to eat in peace, without some kind of ongoing gag just waiting to happen. I almost skipped on this restaurant, but a number of reviews were good about pointing out a disk that they give you for your meal that will indicate whether or not you want to be part of the act. Imagine my surprise when we were seated and there was no disk. I panicked a little bit. I considered just leaving at this point, but when we were lead to a quieter area away from the main hall, I relaxed a little. Did they know I wasn't the type? I don't know. We had a wonderful server who was incredibly nice and attentive and knew just the right amount of the act that I could handle before it would start bringing down my meal.

I had looked over the menu many times before this trip, so I knew that the all you can eat skillet was my meal ticket. The lunch skillet comes with chicken quarters, corn on the cob, beans, mashed potatoes, pulled pork, ribs, and sausage, along with some corn bread. In a very (very, very) rare turn of events, there wasn't a single thing on the skillet that I wouldn't eat. Normally there's a funky vegetable or a strange side that I'll pick at but end up passing on at other restaurants. For the first time, though, I tried a bit of everything and enjoyed it all.

Everything was good. Not great, but exactly what I expected out of this meal. I was not disappointed. I had two and a half servings of everything before I felt like a blimp that may not make the transatlantic trip. I was so very tempted by the all you can drink shakes. I stared that one down long and hard. It would have been a bad choice though. I would have been completely immobile if I had thrown that into the mix. Instead, I went with a regular Coke and wished longingly for a bottomless stomach to fit the bottomless food into. After an annual pass discount (20%!!!), the meal was just over $20. That's a heck of a deal for a Disney lunch. I've spent nearly as much for considerably less at some of the quick service counters. I was quite happy with the meal.

After eating, we made our way back to the park and hit up a few rides (People Mover, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear). Afterwards, the park started to get really packed as the people began to show up for the Very Merry Christmas Party. While there was plenty of time left in the day, I tapped out early. I have big important things to do tonight for tomorrow: shave, shower, and iron clothes. Tomorrow will be more Disney, but it starts with a very un-Disney job interview! I'm already nervous.

Until tomorrow.

 

[JustCor]

What time is it again?

I shaved, ironed, and got everything ready for tomorrow morning then laid down to sleep and... nothing. I think there was a twinge of tired but it wasn't enough to create any Zzzz's. So I laid there, trying to figure out why I wasn't sleeping. A quick look at the time gave me an answer: It's 8pm. I've been obsessing over this interview and it's clouding my brain. Of course I'm not tired. It's not even close to my bedtime. I also realized I'm pretty hungry. While lunch was a very nice and filling meal, it was also a good number of hours ago. So, now I'm kind of stuck. I'm looking forward to the non-Disney part of my Disney vacation to be done with. I have a feeling that I may not sleep all that well tonight.

So, with that being said, a few more observations:

• This bed is quite uncomfortable. It's rock hard and lumpy. I can deal with one or the other to some degree, but both is a tough sell. If I didn't have tomorrow's clothes laid out on the other bed, I'd give that one a try.
• It's really nice and quiet here. With the very brief exception of some people rolling their suitcases down the hallway, it's very peaceful. I think the loudest noise right now is the faint hum of the mini-fridge and the whir of the ceiling fan.
• Tomorrow I get to eat at The Wave. Completely stoked about that!
• I think I should have picked up whatever that wonderful smell was coming from the candy shop.
• I get terrible cell phone service at almost every moderate resort, but haven't had that problem at the values or deluxes. Strange.
• Room service is incredibly tempting right now.

That's it for the quick update. In hindsight, I should have gone somewhere for a quick dinner. Whoops.

 

[RI Disney Star]

Hi...reading along.

Good luck with your interview.

I'll be staying at CSR at the end of the week. I hope the cheerleaders are gone by then.

Quick question...are there coffee makers in the rooms?

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[JustCor]

Hi...reading along.

Good luck with your interview.

I'll be staying at CSR at the end of the week. I hope the cheerleaders are gone by then.

Quick question...are there coffee makers in the rooms?

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

Hello and thank you for reading! There is indeed a coffee maker, though not the traditional pot style. It's this bad boy right here:

I don't drink much coffee, so I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Hope that helps!

 

[JustCor]

The non-Disney stuff

Today is/was interview day. I put on my nice and uncomfortable interview outfit, tightened the silk noose, and made my way to a potential future job site for an interview. Although I was nervous, I think I did pretty well in the interview. In my various jobs in life, I've gone through a couple of managerial classes and customer service seminars, and the information from each of those events has always stuck with me. It happens to be information that is now leaking out into job interview questions. Since I've probably been in similar classes as the team of interviewers, I kind of know what to expect. What does it mean in the end? Who knows. It could be that I'm the person they want, or they may go with somebody else. I'm in a fortunate position where I have a job and it's not the end of the world if I don't get this one.

Before the interview, I made an embarrassing discovery: I left most of my clothes at home in the dryer. The original plan for this trip was to depart yesterday (Sunday) and spend Saturday washing the car and doing laundry. Well, plans changed and I ended up coming a day early. In my rush to get things together, I kinda/sorta left my clothes in the washer. I had packed a few things earlier in the day, like my interview clothes, socks and underwear, and a few undershirts, but other little things like, oh I don't know, shirts and shorts, were blissfully tumbling in a warm dryer as I left. For some reason, I was completely scatterbrained this weekend. So, after finishing the interview and doing a finding my car in a complex parking garage, I decided to make a detour to one of the outlets somewhat close to Disney to see if I could find some basics.

It may be winter in much of the country, and it may even drop into the low sixties at night here in Orlando during this time, but I still prefer shorts during the day. It's going to be around 80 degrees today, I'll take shorts and a t-shirt happily. Unfortunately, most of the outlet stores that I popped int had their winter clothes out on display. I know 60 at night can be a bit nippy, but does it really justify heavy sweaters and flannel? No thank you. And EVERY place had nothing but slim and skinny jeans. That may be be my least favorite fashion trend going on. Very few people look good in skinny jeans. Almost everyone looks like they're wearing jeans that are entirely too small. I gave skinny pants a try once, and besides looking like a fat lollipop, the fabric clinging to my legs the entire day was the most disturbing feeling I think I've ever felt while wearing clothes. It's like everything below the waist is involved in a massive body wedgie. I managed to find a pair of shorts and some shirts at two different stops, but it felt like a crap purchase.

Nostalgia is a strong thing. Once upon a time in the many moons ago, I fancied myself a skateboarder. I wasn't a good one, mind you, but I was proud to be one. This was a bit before skateboard culture began to bleed into mainstream culture, so there was no style points to be had. Skateboard specific clothing was obtained through mail order catalogs and the random scumbag skate shop that may or may not have been a front for college drug dealers. Those were the good old days. In those days, I wore Vans and Vision and Airwalks, and any shoe that was affiliated with a skateboard company. The shoes were purpose made, lasted a long time, and best of all, cheap. As shoes edged up to the $100 mark, my Etnies Low Cuts would come in at just under $40. What's the point? I got away from that as I gave up skating. Shoes started to fit funny because my feet are ridiculously wide. I started having to learn about E widths. The more I learned, the less shoes would fit. I'm down to New Balance for the most part, with a handful of Asics barely making the cut. It's depressing. So, I walked around the outlet picking up shirts, all while wearing some miserable dress shoes that I only break out for interviews and funerals. They're awful, but they're good enough to look the part for a short period of time. I had passed that short period of time half way through the interview, but I soldiered on. As I walked from shop to shop, I could no longer tough it out. My feet needed out of these torture devices sooner than later. I passed by the Vans outlet and caught familiar waft of a scent I haven't smelled in many years. It's a very familiar scent that seems to be particular to skate shoes. I couldn't explain the details if I tried, but I knew what it smelled like to me: happiness. I haven't thought about wearing Vans for a long time. None of their shoes have a single E after the size, let alone my preferred EEEE. Some of the shoes are brutally narrow. Still, it felt like 1989 again and I swear that Regan had just told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down this wall just over a year before. I had no intentions on buying anything, even for the sake of nostalgia. There would be no point in owning a pair of shoes that doesn't fit and hurts my feet with every step. I've done that before.

*cough*Chuck Taylors*cough*
*cough*Puma*cough*
*cough*Adidas*cough*

Just looking around was filling up an empty spot in my heart that I didn't know existed. It felt like a warm blanket wrapped around my soul. And then words fell out of my mouth that had no origin in my mind but sprang forth from the core of my very being: "excuse me sir, do you have any shoes for fat feet?" and while the cynical being inside my head braced for the typical "no", the kind young man pointed me to shoes he claimed "tended to fit wider than the normal stuff".

And from the pitch black depths of my being I felt a tiny spark. It was the birth of hope. Hope, germinating from a past that felt at once like a forever ago and also like a comforting yesterday. And I found shoes that looked like they had been drawn in my memories and given form and weight by a distant wish. I pushed my hand through the barrier of a time almost forgotten and plucked a fragment of my youth into my current world.

And they fit.

No E's needed. No memory foam inserts. No gimmicks, or marketing speak, or flashy advertising magic. They fit like a memory should. And so did the next pair. And so did the next pair. Long dormant memories began to surface. Did I have the right pencils for Mr. Dwyer's drafting class? Did I read the right chapters for Ms. Lagerquist's english class? What was the combo to my locker? Do I smell the Electric Youth perfume from Kim, the girl had a crush on? A small pocket of the past had found its way to the present, resting lightly on the heart and mind of this sometimes overly cynical 37 year old. Nothing else in the world had any volume at this point as I wrapped up these memories into a carefully tied package and returned them to my soul. I let reality bleed back into my brain, but left a small window open to visit the past for just a few more minutes while I stood in line and purchased a small piece of my youth.

Quite the experience from just a pair of shoes, I know, but nostalgia is a powerful drug.

I wish it was as simple as driving back to the hotel and all is well, but there has to be a tiny hiccup to make things interesting. I've gotten very used to using Google Maps to take me anywhere I haven't been before. It's usually spot on for directions. Usually. I've used it to get to Coronado Springs twice without any issues. For some reason, Google forgot where Coronado Springs was. I didn't notice the problem right away. I was still slightly lost in 1989, accompanied by a soundtrack that was era and life appropriate for those memories. It wasn't until the kind Google voice was telling me that my destination was ahead on the right that I noticed that it was flat out wrong. Instead of the slightly familiar entrance to Coronado Springs, I was greeted with a sign for Typhoon Lagoon. What? Sorry Google, swing and a miss. Let's try again. Re-entering my destination, I made sure that it wasn't just asking me to hang a quick U-turn and pop on in to Typhoon Lagoon again. Nope, no U-turn. This must be it. The drive took me past Disney Springs and around Saratoga Springs Resort (looks like a nice place, add it to the list). After another eventual left turn, things felt wrong. I scrolled around the map while sitting at a light and noticed it was essentially a ten minute loop that would take me right back to Typhoon Lagoon. Oh crap. Now, I'm not one to get lost easily. I do a lot of driving around in areas I live to get familiar with backroads and shortcuts as well as looking for off the beaten path restaurants and destinations. I had a super vague idea of what direction to head in, so it was time to turn back the clock. Remember how great nostalgia is? It's not always fantastic. Remember those times not so long ago when GPS devices weren't a thing and paper maps and word of mouth were how you would get around? Those aren't such good ol' days. I made my way in a direction. What did I remember about my trip in the first time? Oh, right, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. So I followed signs to get me to the Epcot area. Things seemed right, but where they right because I was on the right path or where they familiar because I've been to Disney a bunch of times recently? I kept driving and heading in... a direction. A few signs later and I found what I was looking for: Coronado Springs! I did it! I navigated without the use of GPS to a destination I was trying to reach! Take that, Google! Now, never let me down again, because I love you.

And that's part one of today's update. We've traveled for a job, we've traveled through time, and we've traveled without the aid of technology. Now it's about time to travel to Disney. Game on!

 

[MrsIncredibleNY]

lol that you forgot all your clothes! I'm glad you remembered your interview clothes though.

 

[RI Disney Star]

Hello and thank you for reading! There is indeed a coffee maker, though not the traditional pot style. It's this bad boy right here:

I don't drink much coffee, so I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Hope that helps!

Thanks. That machine works for me. I'm a bear until I get my morning coffee.

 

[JustCor]

A little touch of Disney

After my interview and shopping, I crashed. The lackluster sleep from nerves and the additional bit of stress from the interview took its toll. Instead of heading to MK to do Space Mountain and putt around, I ended up taking a solid nap. It felt wonderful to sleep with no stress again. I woke up in time to get situated and slowly make my way to Contemporary by way of MK. A bus ride and a Mono trip should do the trick, right? The bus ride over was smooth No sign of cheerleaders this time around, just a handful of people on their way to the park. We arrived at Magic Kingdom after about 25 minutes and I made my way to the monorail. I could see a slight problem. The line for the monorail had backed up all the way down the platform and looked very stagnant. In the distance I could see a very not moving monorail just sitting in the middle of the stretch between Magic Kingdom and Grand Floridian. This could be an issue. I left the room with enough time built in to handle this kind of situation, so I did a quick 180 and decided to do the quick walk to the Contemporary rather than wait for a potentially long delayed monorail to show up and to battle the crowds to cram on. It turned out to be a good decision. By the time I reached the resort, the monorail was slowly pulling in to the station above me and the each of the cars looked completely packed. No thanks.

I walked up to the greeting station at The Wave a minute before 5pm, and 16 minutes before my ADR. I was seated almost immediately. Awesome. I love The Wave. It's quickly become my favorite food destination at Disney World. The food and the staff are consistently excellent. To top it off, it's not crammed full of people sitting a straws width away from you. It's quiet and spread out. I took notes this time around because I didn't want to forget any details and I wanted to give The Wave its proper dues.

Look at this lovely view. Take note that this is at just past 5pm. Next to me was a table of roughly ten people with some truly well behaved kids. It would stay this way until near the end of my meal. I love this place!

I was seated at my table and had Jim and Jess as my server. Jim was training Jess and she did a great job. You did good work Jim. They started me off with my Coke and a basket of bread with a side of butter topped with pink smoked sea salt. I love their bread and their butter. The butter was cold and hard, though, and would not spread despite my best efforts. So, I went with a little cheating and cut the pad of butter into four equal slices. Then I took each slice and wrapped the bread around it like a little taquito. After a little mushing, I had a nice distribution of butter to bread, and four rolled up pieces of buttered goodness. That AA in Psychology is finally paying off. A quick look at the menu and I decided on my meal.

The waiting team of Jim and Jess recommended the Lobster and Shrimp crab cakes, and it was as if they were reading my mind. That's what I had my eye on from the start. They did not disappoint. There was almost no filler in them at all, just enough of a binder to keep their shape. I've had many a crab cake that's been as much filler as meat, usually some sort of bread product. It makes the crab cakes dense and heavy. It's not overly pleasant. These were light and flaky. I didn't feel like a pound of cement had just hit my stomach to just fester for the next few hours. That alone made them good. The flavor made them great. On to the entree.

The rib eye was juicy and very well seasoned. That little sauce thing was completely unnecessary. The meat had all the flavor I needed. The sauce turned out to be a little too sweet anyway. I was thankful it wasn't drenched on the steak. The greens were greens. Whatever. I wasn't in the mood for leafy greens so I just left them on the plate. The mac and cheese was a bit of a let down. They weren't terrible, just kind of bland. I expected a heavier cheese flavor, especially since they're supposedly made with Tillamook cheddar, and I love Tillamook cheddar. The flavor just wasn't there, and the panko bread crumbs topping the dish were a little heavy. I ate about half of it. I reached a perfect balance of full, but not disgustingly so. As tempting as dessert was, I decided to pass this time. I'd regret it later, if only a little bit. By the time I had finished my meal, the restaurant was a little over half full. It was time to walk off some of this food. I figured a bit of walking around MK would do the trick, and maybe I could get something sweet to finish off the night.

I made my way up to the fourth floor to eventually get to the monorail and took a look around. I've never actually looked at anything in the Contemporary except for the area around the entrance to the Wave. This massive hunk of gingerbread was huge. It smelled good too. There were a few decorations around the building, but nothing like the Wilderness Lodge. It was ever so slightly disappointing. Oh well. I rode the escalator up to the monorail to see a familiar sight: a big ol' honkin' line. Looks like the monorail was still catching up to the crowds. I waited for the Mono to show up, and it was packed. No thank you. Time for a change of plans. I made my way back down to the lobby and made haste for the buses. It was time for some Disney Springs action.

Now that's one heck of a tree! I'm still very impressed by the expansion of Disney Springs. It feels like its own thing now. Before the expansion, it was a nice little throw away place that had a strip mall feel to it. After my first visit, back when it was still Downtown Disney and under massive construction, I left unimpressed. It wasn't until relatively recently that I gave it another chance. It's beautiful now. It feels like a destination instead of an afterthought. On this visit, I had a mission. I wanted to see this drone show.

Pictures will not do this justice, unfortunately. It's such a neat show! Despite the palm fronds blocking a decent portion of my view, I was very impressed. It's a short show, unfortunately, and it seemed to end much too soon, but I thought it was excellent. The potential for this kind of thing is endless. There aren't many great viewing areas though. A quick google search after the show mentioned that Saratoga Springs might be a far better place to view the show than anywhere in Disney Springs. Next time, that's my destination next visit. With the show over, I made a b-line to Ghirardelli's to get some ice cream. Unfortunately, so did the rest of the world, apparently. It was packed full of people, and I lost interest after looking at the lines. Dejected, I worked my way back through the rest of the shopping area. I passed Sprinkles and found it to be nearly empty. I love me a good cupcake, and I'd happily take that over any kind of ice cream anyway, and no line is icing on the proverbial cupcake.

It turns out that there may have been a reason for the lack of lines. The cupcake sucked. It was dry and had a weird flavor to it. If I had to guess, I would say that it was probably made earlier in the day and sat in the display case for a while. It just wasn't very good. Did I finish it? Yes. But maybe I should have just tossed it instead. It did not sit in my stomach very well. A brisk walk to try and get the digestive juices flowing to break down this mess only made me feel a little better. Maybe a trip to the room and a regroup would be in order. I took care of any shopping needs earlier in the day, and crowds were just kind of non-moving at this point. It seemed like the right move.

I made it to the bus about two minutes before departure time. It was half full, which was very nice, so no standing would be needed. A leisurely bus ride back would do wonders for my stomach. What I got instead was a bus driver who was heavy on the gas and then heavy on the brakes. The entire trip back to the resort was a constant series of gasbreakgasbreakgasbreakgasbreakgasbreak ad nauseum. And nauseous I did get. That put a damper on any future plans for this evening. Instead, I'm just lying here in bed, enjoying the serenity of not being in motion. It's truly a wonderful feeling.

 

[JustCor]

Thanks. That machine works for me. I'm a bear until I get my morning coffee.

Happy to help. In my more coffee heavy days, I picked up an Aeropress. I took it with every time I went on a trip somewhere. It packs small enough and is really easy to use. I'd use to coffee machine in the room to heat up the water and let the Aeropress make the coffee. Did I mention it makes amazing coffee? It really does, even with substandard grounds. If you're a coffee person, I highly recommend it, especially for traveling. If you can get hot water, you can get good coffee. There were many days where it meant the difference between a good morning and a bad morning. I brought mine to work and use it occasionally when I want a nice kick in the pants to get moving.

 

[JustCor]

A Kingdom of Animals

Day 3 started bright and early with a text from my father at 6:30 to ask how my interview went. He picks strange times to send a text message. The uncomfortable bed continued to be uncomfortable, so it took very little to wake me up from a janky sleep. After a quick text exchange, I managed to fall back asleep. Then, at 7:30, I got a text and call from the automated system at work to let me know that the Joint Commission would be rounding at work. Fun. I'm so glad they chose to text and call me on my vacation to let me know. I was now awake and going back to sleep was no longer on the menu. I quick shower and some slow moving towards getting situated and I had to figure out some plans. The day's agenda had a few fast passes at Epcot and a late lunch at Rose and Crown, which my brain continuously wants to call Crown and Thorn. Eventually, I managed to get dressed and situated and made my way to the bus stop. Apparently, it had rained at some point, and the ground was wet and the skies still grey. I did the long hike to the bus stop and waited for the Epcot bus to show. It had been slated to show up at the same time the Blizzard Beach bus was scheduled to arrive. The Blizzard Beach bus did indeed show up, and right on time. The Epcot bus, though was nowhere to be seen. The times on the screen reset, and the Epcot bus was once again showing the same time as the Blizzard Beach bus. Again, the Blizzard Beach bus pulled into the station, but the Epcot bus was a no show, and again the times changed and the Epcot and Blizzard Beach arrival schedule was identical. I changed my tactic. The next empty bus to show up would be the one I picked. The MK bus rolled into the stop already half full. A large herd of people piled on to the bus. I would be skipping this one, though it would give me a fairly quick route to Epcot after. Still, with a few stragglers still loading on to the bus, there were already a few heads starting to grab for straps. With two or three more stops to make, it would quickly become a sardine tin. The next bus to arrive, Animal Kingdom, was almost completely empty. Looks like I'd be going to AK!

The skies were still gloomy, but it was staying fairly dry. As long as the water stayed up there, things would be fine down here. I got through the gates fairly quickly and made my way up to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. The 20 minute wait time was promising, though it ended up being closer to 40 minutes. There were a number of large groups in line that seemed to slow things up. Eventually I was seated and we were ready to roll. So, here are the prerequisite safari pictures. Only a handful for now.

I was on the right side of the vehicle. Most of the action happens on the left. That was kind of a bummer. Still, the animals were out and about, which made it quite nice. Leaving the ride, I popped right on over into the nature walk thing. There's a much better view of many of the animals without being stuck on a vehicle that's constantly moving along. Additionally, there's some other stuff to see that aren't on the Safari. More Pictures!

Neat!

Since I was in an animal viewing mood, I hopped on the little train to Rafiki's Planet Watch to see the goats and sheep in the petting zoo and the exhibits in the building.

After petting and brushing some goats and sheep, I could hear a rumble in the background, as well as one in my stomach. Rain was coming, and it was coming in quickly. It was time for a new plan that involved being somewhere dry and maybe getting a snack. Back in the main park, everything smelled like food. Something heavily garlic scented filled the air as soon as I stepped off of the train. Closer to the entrance, pizza and barbecue could be smelled. It all made me even more hungry, but I didn't want a heavy snack now with lunch coming up fairly quickly. So, I made haste for the buses. The wind had picked up and the sky had gotten darker. It was about to pour.

 

[JustCor]

Something for the holiday spirit

I needed a plan. I was about three hours away from lunch and needed to fill some time. I hastily made my way to the buses as light drops of rain began to pepper the sky. It was time for some bus roulette. At some point I needed to get to Epcot, but there was room to fudge things if needed. There were very few buses at the terminal, so I went with the bus for Poly/GF. There were a few advantages to this bus: for one, it was there and not even half full. It was also brilliantly air conditioned. The biggest thing was that it would allow me to hit up the rest of the monorail resorts and see the Christmas decorations. I loaded up on the bus and took a seat just as the heavy rain began coming down. We waited at the stop for a few more minutes in case any additional people were looking to board (none did) then made our way to the Polynesian.

The conversations on the Deluxe buses tends to be a little different than every other bus. It's definitely a different crowd. There tends to be more affluence just because of the high resort prices. I listened as two different couples who had just met on this bus talked about what they did at home. The first couple were both former pharmacists. Now they owned a farm where they raise and tend to race horses, which started as a hobby 30 years ago. Couple number two coincidentally also had a farm and the husband had been around horses of all types, including race horses. Both couples were DVC members. The pharmacist couple each bought into DVC to have double the points and do longer vacations. Both couples picked GF as their "home". My envy levels might have been considerably high at this point. I had been dealing with small, niggling details of my room that would eventually become a bigger problem (more on that later). My satisfaction with CSR was trending downwards.

The bus reached Poly and I was the only one to hop off. I envied everyone else for staying at GF. Still, there was Christmas to see, and I was determined to see it.

Not a bad tree really, but I was expecting... more. Wilderness Lodge had been decked out so nicely, and even Contemporary had a fair share of stuff. Poly seeemd closer to CSR in the amount of decorations. How disappointing. No matter though, The monorail was upstairs and it goes right to GF. All of my Christmas decoration hopes hinged on GF to be as good as I had built it up to be in my mind.

The mono ride over to GF was quick and not very crowded. The rain had really picked up, so it was nice to be in something enclosed for the trip over. I hopped onto the platform and made my way to the door, brimming with anticipation. Thankfully, I was not let down.

The GF tree is massive. It almost engulfs teh family in front getting their picture taken. It's beautiful too. This shot just didn't capture the rest of the decorations that well, so I went to the other side.

Christmas trees everywhere! This totally made my day. It was what I had hoped to see. I walked around the resort a little bit, picked up a cookie and some milk, had a seat on one of the comfy chairs to soak it all in, and then finally decided to make my way to Epcot. This would easily be the high point of the day.

Now brimming with holiday cheer, I went back to the monorail platform. The line had backed up to the door. There was a delay on the mono. It was down for a bit. So, time to redirect myself. If it weren't for the rain, I think I would have hopped on one of the boats over to the Magic Kingdom and tried a monorail transfer there. I decided against it. The rain was definitely a factor, but this had been two different days where the monorail had been less than reliable. I needed to get to Epcot. I made my way downstairs and walked to the bus stop. Like the rest of the monorail resorts, there isn't a bus to Epcot (or Magic Kingdom) most days. The expectation is that you'll use the monorail or the boats, or even walk. That left me with limited bus options. I waited for the Hollywood Studios bus to show. I would be able to use the boat to get to Epcot if it was still running, or just hop on a bus if need be. The rain was coming down fairly hard. Each gust of wind would blow a wall of water onto all of us waiting for a bus to show. Eventually, the DHS bus showed and I was on my way.

 

[loves to dive]

Wait, where is the gingerbread house at the GF? Don't tell me you didn't see it or it wasn't there or you will break my heart.

 

[JustCor]

Wait, where is the gingerbread house at the GF? Don't tell me you didn't see it or it wasn't there or you will break my heart.

It was indeed there, and the house was mobbed with people. I kept waiting for people to clear out a bit to get a good picture, but ended up forgetting to go back.

 

[JustCor]

Lost in the mix

The rain had let up a bit on the bus ride from GF to DHS. It was looking like something resembling sunlight was trying to peek through the clouds. That was a good sign. The bus pulled into the stop and I made my way over to the boat dock for the trip over to Epcot. At this point, I had a little over an hour until my ADR at Rose and Crown (Crown and Thorn), so the roughly 20 minute boat ride was perfect and as an added bonus, the rain had stopped. Still, I had just about 45 minutes to burn before my lunch. That's where the World Showcase would come in. On any other day, I would have stopped at each country and hunted down some snacks. It was hard to resist that urge. I was hungry, and everyone seemed to have an item of food I wanted to devour. Eventually I swung around to England and within a reasonable time to check in for lunch. I was handed a pager and waited about ten minutes before it buzzed. Really, it was about what I expected in terms of a wait. It went off just about a minute after my scheduled ADR, so not unreasonable at all. I was early, anyway. So I brought my pager up to the hostess and waited.

And waited.

After about a minute and a half of standing there with a stupid pager buzzing in my hands and not being acknowledged, the hostess looks at it and apologizes. My pager wasn't supposed to go off. My table wasn't ready yet. Annoying, but whatever. It's five minutes, who cares. Mistakes happen. Like I said, it's just an annoyance. I'm eventually lead to my seat. It's outside in a covered area, which is kind of a bummer. The temperature outside isn't horrible, but the humidity is kind of miserable, especially after the rain. But to be fair, I didn't ask for a seat inside or any specific seating arrangement. The food will taste the same inside or out. I look over the menu but already have an idea of what I want: Welsh Pub Burger and fries. I've been craving a burger, so it was the obvious choice, and with a bottle of malt vinegar sitting on my table and begging me to dump it all over my fries, how could I resist? Burger it is. Yup, a burger. Just gonna order up a burger. Just a little burger.

Ten minutes pass and nobody's come to my table. They know I'm here, right? A few minutes later the server shows up. She apologizes for the wait and takes my drink order (orange Fanta, yay!) and a look over the menu when she leaves to see if I want an appetizer or something different. Nope. Burger for sure, nothing more needed.

Another ten minutes pass and the only thing on my table is a napkin, silverware, vinegar and a menu. What the heck is going on? My drink arrives and I place my order. It's busy, but the crowd is tapering off a bit. My burger eventually arrives.

The burger is very tasty. It didn't look like anything special, but it had so much flavor to it. I really enjoyed it. I also liked the fries. They were a good chunky size that sat right between typical fries and steak fries. I doused them liberally with malt vinegar. I went to add a dash of salt, but almost nothing came out of the shaker except a few granules. It was a solid block from all of the humidity. Oh well. The malt vinegar and ketchup would provide the flavor. I finished off everything on the plate. The check eventually came and I paid and left. I was hungry for something sweet, but the waiting kind of killed off my desire to stay any longer than necessary. Now, to clear things up a bit, my waitress was incredibly nice and pleasant. The staff in general was very nice. I just got a bad seat or came at a bad time. It's not the end of the world and not a deal breaker, just another annoyance. Unfortunately, I left full and still annoyed. I needed a reset. Time to head back to the resort and regroup. If the weather would hold up, I would go to MVMCP. If not, maybe a movie in Disney Springs. I had plans to make. So with that in mind, back to the resort.

 

[JustCor]

The wheels fall off

On the ride back to the resort, the skies open up again. This rain just sucks. It sucks and I'm annoyed, so two things going for me. I get off the bus and make a hasty retreat to the room, getting soaked along the way. I need a shower. That'll wash away the annoyance. It dos help. I feel better already, and the rain is letting up. A little while later and it's stopped again. I decide to head out and see if MVMCP is sold out or if I can get in last minute. That'll definitely make me feel better. I step out of the room and make it three feet before being assaulted by mosquitos. Not today my buzzing friends! I have spray in the room. I put my magic band up to the door and...

Nothing. No lights, no clicks, no buzz. Just nothing. Maybe the angle that I'm holding the band up to the door is wrong. Disney locks seem to be at the perfect height that I have to contort my arm to get the band lined up to the sensor so it'll unlock. It wouldn't be the first time I've missed the sensor because of a lack of flexibility. To avoid any odd contortion, I take the band off and put it right up against the sensor.

Nothing.

Once again, I'm annoyed by something that's essentially nothing in the big picture. Maybe my band is goofed up. I try my card ticket thing. I haven't used that thing in god knows how long, but I have it.

Nothing. Crap.

So, I do the walk over to the main lobby. The bus stop may be a hike, but it turns out I'm really close to the main lobby. That's kind of nice. The night is also clearing up a bit and would be quite pleasant if it weren't for the mosquitos feasting on me. Sure would be nice to have some mosquito spray. I've got some in my room, by the way...

I stand in line and wait. It's then that I notice there's quite a nice bit of Christmas decorations in the lobby that I missed when I checked in. The tree isn't huge, but it's well decorated. There are wreaths and other decorations done in a nice manner. I think about adding a picture to my collection, but I have to deal with the door thing now.

Here's the beginning of my exchange which maybe I should have expected:

Me: Hi, I'm locked out of my room. I tried my magic band and my card, but the light on the sensor isn't lighting up.
Her: You have your magic band, did you try that?
Maybe she didn't hear the first part and thought I was just talking about the card.
Me: Yes ma'am, and it's not doing anything.
Her: Did you line up Mickey to Mickey?
Me: Yes ma'am.
Her: Can I see your band so I can reprogram it?
I know where this is going. At this point she thinks it's the band and that reprogramming resolves things, which means I'm going to go back to the door and not have it open and return to the lobby in a less than pleasant mood. I need to head this off now.
Me: Sure, but there's no light coming on at all. If the band was the problem, wouldn't I see a red light on the sensor?
Her: Oh. Hold on one moment.

She goes into the back room to talk to someone else. It's close to ten minutes before she comes back out. I'm pretty annoyed but keeping calm. It's not her fault. It just happens, and it just happened to happen to me. She comes out and lets me know that someone will meet me by my door shortly and let me into the room, so I head back to wait. While I'm waiting, the fireworks are going off at Hollywood Studios. They're really loud, so they must be pretty close. I can't find a good place to view them without still seeing my door, so I just listen. The show ends and someone shows up. They tap their little sensor thing on the door and, not surprisingly, nothing happens. "Looks like your sensor's not working" no s**t "I'll send someone to fix it". She uses her key to open the door and let me in and lets me know that I don't have to be there when maintenance comes to fix the door if there's anything else I'd like to do. That's all well and good, but I'd like to know that my key works and that I'm not coming home at midnight to a still locked door. So, again I wait. Eventually maintenance comes and replaces the battery in the sensor. The door works again. It's nearly 8pm, I haven't done anything, and I'm worn out. I chalk the rest of the day up to a loss and decide to just lay down. The bed I'd been using was kicking my butt, so I decide to try the other bed for the night. A nice bit of sleep will fix everything. I turn down the bed and finally see it, the straw that broke the camel's back, only this time the straw is a long black hair.

I know, I know. It's a hair. But it was more than that. When I first got into the room, I found a long black hair next to my pillow. There was a long black hair in the bath tub. There were long black hairs on the bathroom counter. There was a long black hair on the table. The room seemed not so clean from the beginning, but this was it. All of these small annoyances had been adding up and I couldn't take anymore of it. I was done. I loaded my luggage into my car and decided to drive home. Trip over, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. My limit had been reached.

 

[JustCor]

The wrap up

So, from that previous post, maybe you'd think I would storm out of there and be a prick, or drive home stewing in my own misery. Actually, I had an amazing ride back. The music on the ride back was amazing. The weather was perfect. There was no traffic on the road and there was just smooth sailing. By the time I got home, I was in an amazing mood.

It wasn't a bad trip overall. I got to see some nice decorations and had some good food along the way. I did most of what I set out to accomplish. In the end, the room sucked and I had some minor annoyances, but the majority of the trip was pretty successful. Things could have gone better, but they were hardly terrible. It was just the end part that was a bit rubbish. Not quite a happy ending, but not necessarily an awful one.

I'll just have to do better next trip.

 

[Disney_traveler]

I'm sad coronado was such a bust for you.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry this trip had so many misses for you! But I'm glad you still enjoyed the good moments. Your meal at the Wave sure does look delicious! And the tree at the GF is gorgeous!

 

[Poohlove]

We stayed at Coronado on one of our trips and I was not pleased at all with the housekeeping there. When we first arrived my son made a beeline for the bathroom where we found a very dirty bandaid on the floor. I immediately called housekeeping who came in and thought that just picking it up would suffice. A couple of days into our stay we moved the ottoman thing away from the window and found a pair of underwear underneath of it. It went well with the food that was under the bed and the hairs that we had all over our room as well.