A Restful Spring Break? - A March/April 2024 Trip Report

[Stasieki]

I was behind so many updates and I didn't realize it! College visits are so fun. Abby is now two months into freshman year of college about 3 hours away. It's getting harder now on me but easier on her - ha. Abby wanted huge so she is at the University of Tennessee. 103,000 attend the football games there. I could have never gone to a school that big. How exciting about your first cruise. We have been on a few and my first one was Disney (and they are for sure the best!).

 

[Jabroniville]

Nice stuff! I'm impressed at the speed you put these out. I find I start in a hurry and then peter out to the point where I'm posting two updates a month in mine, at-best, and you post just as many pictures per update as I do, lol.

The Gran Fiesta Tour ride is definitely and underrated gem, and definitely impossible to replace for something big, shiny & new with the space they have! The beginning of the ride is some of the best ambiance in the parks!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hi Everyone!!!

I am sorry I feel off the face of the earth again. October got the best of me! The girls marching band season has come to an end. this past weekend was the Atlantic Coast Championship..... And they WON!!!!! It was a stressful season for them. they had alot of freshman this year and the season started out like it would be a rebuilding year. Which would have been fine. But somewhere in the middle of the season things clicked with the group and there was no stopping them!

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I do want to get this report wrapped up. December is usually the same for me, I get consummed in the holidays and all that needs to be done.

So, let's get back to it!

Day I don't even remember anymore.... Last Park Day. Must do's for Hollywood Studios!

I left us off headed to our new hotel. It was about 4:30 when we left.
We were headed to Coronado Springs. We had to extend our trip to go see my grandmother as by grandfather had passed away right before we left fo the trip. So I booked whatever I could get.

By 4:40 pm we were at Coronado Springs
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We were in the Casitas areas. We weren't too far from a bus stop and fairly close to the bridge to head to 3 bridges restaurant and the main pool. But we really weren't that worried about the location for this last leg of the trip.

We found our room and called down for our bags. The CM who brought our bags up was very nice. He gave us a general review of the layout of the resort and was just very nice.

We relaxed in the room and decided on a plan for the evening. Around 5, I got a text from my sister that they were moving my mom to a regular room. Which was good news!

We decided to go to Hollywood Studios tonight. Since it was our last park day, I pushed us to go to one more place. And today was the first day of the new Star Tours scenes, so we decided to go if nothing else to check them out.

So, after a nice 2 hour break, we finally headed out at 7:00.

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We made it inside the park by 7:20.
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Since our main goal was to ride Star tours, we headed that way first.

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Since it had new things, the line was still outside under the Ewok tree but moved pretty quickly.

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I feel like this guy never works. And we were a little too excited to see that he was actually working!

By 8:00, we were ready to Ride!
Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
The new scenes were pretty cool. I forget what we got, but it was really fun to get the new scenes. And everyone on the ride was excited to have gotten it. It just made it more fun!

We decided to ride again to see if we could get something else new.

Back in line. Also, tehre seems to never be a line at Star Tours anymore. So it was fun to watch the "show" in this area a little bit.





It moved pretty fast and we were ready to ride again at 8:20.
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Unfortantly, we got the exact same sequence as last time.
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But Gwen was the rebel spy!!!

We debated whether to ride again but I was afraid we would just keep getting the same combo. So, I suggest we go do Toy story Mania as it was posted at 5 minutes. Everyone agreed, so we headed that way.




We did standby, and as we headed in, the girls got excited to see Lifeguard Louie...


It was pretty dead in there!


There was a group in front of us who were clearly from Disneyland. They were amazed by the que. And sad that Mr. Potato head wasn’t working. They were a bunch of Disney adults and it was just fun to see them so excited to see the "other" version of a ride.

Did you ask, who the heck is Life Guard Louie? This is him!

I have no idea why they like him but they do!

Around 8:55 we were on the ride. I don't have Morgan and Gwen's scores but it was a tight one between me and Andy.

Unfortantly Andy beat me.... Sigh... he always does...

Once we got off the ride we had to decide what to do, the park closed at 9:30 tonight and it was about 9:10, so what we chose next would be the last thing. We debated going back to Star Tours or going to Rise of Resistance.

Rise of Resistance some how posted a 5 minute wait. We figured it had to be wrong. And said we would see what it says when we got there. And when we did, it infact said 5 minutes. So we headed in!!!


We walked the whole way! It was crazy how fast we were getting in. We decided that it must have gone down and just reopened. Like literally just reopened.

We got into the line at 9:13 and we were here at 9:18 PM!!!

I mean really!!! 5 minutes!! I am suprised we were able to walk through the que that fast.



We got the "side" that we like best.

When you get to the room with the AT ATs, we like looking directly at the AT ATs.



We saved the galaxy and were off the ride at 9:35. The park was closed once we were off, so headed to the busses. We took our time, it was nice and empty in the park and were back at Coronado around 10:05.

It ended up being a great last day. Tiring but a good day! Especially since we didn’t use Genie+. You def need to plan to not use Genie+ and obviously not do some headliners but it can be done!

We all headed to bed! Tomorrow was a travel day to Sebring, FL.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Day Ten: Sebring, FL

First, this will be very few photos, since it was a family day I turned off my trip report self and we just had a regular day. But I did want to share our experience getting a rental car.

We all woke up slowly. I went down to El Mercado de Coronado to get breakfast for everyone. Gwen requested the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Sandwich

She didn’t complain but it was literally on a hamburger bun! Really? But the hash browns that came with it were surprisingly good!

Morgan wanted the breakfast bowl but when I got down there, there was none, so I got her the Grande Fiesta Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs topped with Cheese and green onions and served with Breakfast Potatoes and your choice of Bacon or Sausage

This was standard Disney breakfast fare. It had ALOT of eggs. I ended up eating some of the left over potatoes and eggs with some hot sauce.

I also grabbed a Chorizo, Egg & Cheese Empanadas served with a side of Pico de Gallo.

I liked the idea of these. And they weren’t bad. It was pretty much what it says. Although the chorizo wasn’t stong, it was mostly egg and cheese. There was small containers of pico, pickled onions and sour cream to grab to go with it. Which really helped with the flavor.

Andy got in line at the bakery section, and got an iced coffee while I grabbed the food. All of the food was already made and it was just grab and go. Which is def a thumbs down to me.

Today, we had plans to go see my grandmother. My grandfather passed away just a few days before we left.
Luckily we were able to change our flight back till Monday. And it actually ended up being cheaper to fly home on Monday.

We had a reservation to pick up the rental car at the Car center at 10:00 AM. Andy arranged to have a shuttle to pick us up at 9:30 to bring us over, which is nice since we didn’t have to pay for a lyft.

A guy showed up in a van and brought us over to the car center.

We had to wait a little to get our car, there was a line of folks all checking in, we found out there computer system was down and they were doing everything my hand! But I think there was also a few people being picky about what car they were getting that was really holding it up.

We got our car and headed to Sebring.

Sebring is about 1 hour and 15 minutes south of Orlando. Literally directly South. It was practically a straight shot down!

We got to my grandmother’s and spent the afternoon with her. Mostly just talking and catching up. Finally she kicked us out, she was ready to rest (she is 88 years old and still living on her own). So we headed back to Disney.

We had ordered terrible pizza from a local place down there. It kept our hanger away but was honestly terrible pizza. So, we were ready for some real food when we got back.

It was about 6:00 pm when we got back on property. And passing under the signs! I was sadly excited to get a better picture of the sign coming back.
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We were able to get back to the Car Care center with time to fill the tank up (There is a gas station literally AT the car center). So it was super easy to make sure the tank was full. Since the car center was still open, we were able to get a shuttle back to the resort! It was super easy, Andy went in and gave the keys back and just asked for a ride.

There was about 3 other families leaving as well, and we all piled into a van and headed out!

Gwen was starting to get a park cold, as I like to call it. And was super tired from the day. And wanted to just rest. She was super happy to be back in the room. She said she wasn’t hungry either.

The rest of us were starving, so I checked to see if we could get on the wait list for 3 Bridges, but it was listed as over 2 hours. Nope!

So, I looked to see what Rix’s Sports Bar had and it said 15 minutes. That sounded better. So, Morgan, Andy and I decided to do that.

We headed down and it was pretty busy down there. It was Women’s Final Four, so it was extra busy. We did end up waiting longer than 15 minutes. But we were also hungry and tired so it felt like an eternity! But we were finally seated after about half an hour.

It seemed like there was a conference and it had just wrapped up, which we were thinking was the cause of the long waits everywhere as well.

Andy and I just ordered diet cokes. I had planned to drink one of the wines I had in the fridge once we were back. (spoiler alert, I didn’t)

We decided to share a few things.
Watchos
Crispy Waffle Fries loaded with House Blend Queso Blanco, Bacon, Scallions, and Queso Fresco.
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These were REALLY good. I had heard about these awhile ago, so I suggested we tried them. They were delish!

We also decided to share. Rix Bone-In Wings
Ten bone-in wings tossed in Buffalo. Served with Celery and choice of Ranch or Blue Cheese
Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

These were your standard wings, in a good way. Andy had asked how many were in an order, and the server said 10. And when he ordered for some reason he said 2 orders fo the wings. And while we were waiting for them, I said, I was surprised he ordered 2 orders, and he said he didn’t.

So when the server came over later, he clarified with her, and she said yes, he ordered 2 and she asked if we only wanted 1. Which we said yes. She was a really good sport about it.

I also said I felt like I needed a salad. I usually get the urge for lettuce towards the end of the trip. So we ordered a Caesar Salad
Romaine hearts, shaved parmesan cheese, house-made croutons, dressed with a creamy Caesar dressing and topped with freshly cracked black pepper.
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Andy wanted to add chicken to the Watchos but I said no. I don’t know it sounded un-needed (and probably would have been). So, when we ordered the salad she asked if we wanted chicken on the salad, Andy said yes.

The server again made a joke about Andy getting his Chicken on way or the other.
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All of the food was good. It was bar food, nothing you probably couldn't get somewhere at home but It hit the spot after a long day. I wouldn't say for anyone to make a trip to Coronado to eat at Rixs but if you are here it was a solid meal.

After dinner, we headed back to the room, relaxed and went to bed.

 

[SEAGULL59]

Hi Everyone!!!

I am sorry I feel off the face of the earth again. October got the best of me! The girls marching band season has come to an end. this past weekend was the Atlantic Coast Championship..... And they WON!!!!! It was a stressful season for them. they had alot of freshman this year and the season started out like it would be a rebuilding year. Which would have been fine. But somewhere in the middle of the season things clicked with the group and there was no stopping them!

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I do want to get this report wrapped up. December is usually the same for me, I get consummed in the holidays and all that needs to be done.

So, let's get back to it!

Day I don't even remember anymore.... Last Park Day. Must do's for Hollywood Studios!

I left us off headed to our new hotel. It was about 4:30 when we left.
We were headed to Coronado Springs. We had to extend our trip to go see my grandmother as by grandfather had passed away right before we left fo the trip. So I booked whatever I could get.

By 4:40 pm we were at Coronado Springs
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We were in the Casitas areas. We weren't too far from a bus stop and fairly close to the bridge to head to 3 bridges restaurant and the main pool. But we really weren't that worried about the location for this last leg of the trip.

We found our room and called down for our bags. The CM who brought our bags up was very nice. He gave us a general review of the layout of the resort and was just very nice.

We relaxed in the room and decided on a plan for the evening. Around 5, I got a text from my sister that they were moving my mom to a regular room. Which was good news!

We decided to go to Hollywood Studios tonight. Since it was our last park day, I pushed us to go to one more place. And today was the first day of the new Star Tours scenes, so we decided to go if nothing else to check them out.

So, after a nice 2 hour break, we finally headed out at 7:00.

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We made it inside the park by 7:20.
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Since our main goal was to ride Star tours, we headed that way first.

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Since it had new things, the line was still outside under the Ewok tree but moved pretty quickly.

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I feel like this guy never works. And we were a little too excited to see that he was actually working!

By 8:00, we were ready to Ride!
Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr
The new scenes were pretty cool. I forget what we got, but it was really fun to get the new scenes. And everyone on the ride was excited to have gotten it. It just made it more fun!

We decided to ride again to see if we could get something else new.

Back in line. Also, tehre seems to never be a line at Star Tours anymore. So it was fun to watch the "show" in this area a little bit.





It moved pretty fast and we were ready to ride again at 8:20.
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Unfortantly, we got the exact same sequence as last time.
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But Gwen was the rebel spy!!!

We debated whether to ride again but I was afraid we would just keep getting the same combo. So, I suggest we go do Toy story Mania as it was posted at 5 minutes. Everyone agreed, so we headed that way.




We did standby, and as we headed in, the girls got excited to see Lifeguard Louie...


It was pretty dead in there!


There was a group in front of us who were clearly from Disneyland. They were amazed by the que. And sad that Mr. Potato head wasn’t working. They were a bunch of Disney adults and it was just fun to see them so excited to see the "other" version of a ride.

Did you ask, who the heck is Life Guard Louie? This is him!

I have no idea why they like him but they do!

Around 8:55 we were on the ride. I don't have Morgan and Gwen's scores but it was a tight one between me and Andy.

Unfortantly Andy beat me.... Sigh... he always does...

Once we got off the ride we had to decide what to do, the park closed at 9:30 tonight and it was about 9:10, so what we chose next would be the last thing. We debated going back to Star Tours or going to Rise of Resistance.

Rise of Resistance some how posted a 5 minute wait. We figured it had to be wrong. And said we would see what it says when we got there. And when we did, it infact said 5 minutes. So we headed in!!!


We walked the whole way! It was crazy how fast we were getting in. We decided that it must have gone down and just reopened. Like literally just reopened.

We got into the line at 9:13 and we were here at 9:18 PM!!!

I mean really!!! 5 minutes!! I am suprised we were able to walk through the que that fast.



We got the "side" that we like best.

When you get to the room with the AT ATs, we like looking directly at the AT ATs.



We saved the galaxy and were off the ride at 9:35. The park was closed once we were off, so headed to the busses. We took our time, it was nice and empty in the park and were back at Coronado around 10:05.

It ended up being a great last day. Tiring but a good day! Especially since we didn’t use Genie+. You def need to plan to not use Genie+ and obviously not do some headliners but it can be done!

We all headed to bed! Tomorrow was a travel day to Sebring, FL.

Congrats to your girls on their band and guard season!!

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Way to go Marching Band!!!!!!! That is so exciting.

 

[vamassey1]

Congrats to the girls and their band. Hopefully things will slow down a little for you.

You had a productive night in Studios for such a short amount of time.

Happy you had a good visit with your Grandmother. It's good to hear how easy renting a car can be.

We ended up doing Rix's Sports bar when we stayed at CSR too for the same reason you did and our wait was longer that predicted but it wasn't too bad. We enjoyed our food too. I always hit a day where I really need a salad in Disney too.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Congratulations to the girls!!!! What a way to end the season!

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

That looks like my kind of dinner. Yum! Congrats to the girls on their great season

 

[Paulaparm]

Congrats to the girls and the band on their season!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Happy Thursday! I woke up today wishing it was Friday. It is New Jersey Teacher Conference today and tomorrow, so the girls are off today. And I am having dreams of wishing we were in Disney with all the other Jersey folks for Jersey Week. But allas we are not...

And I want to start planning our summer trip, so I am going to wrap up this trip today!!!

Last Full Day!

Today was our last full day. And we wanted to keep it pretty chill today. When we extended the trip to see my grandmother we weren't sure how long we would stay. It was all very quick. But the one day was enough for her. She was having lot of folks come and go. Originally we were to be home Friday and have the weekend to relax. So, it was nice to have a day to relax before leaving.

Since we hadn't done anything too crazy, aka not walking 6 thousand miles in the park. ... Andy and I were awake at 8:30. So, we headed down to get breakfast and coffee. Andy was out of his iced coffee and needed some caffine!

Andy went to get his coffee at Barcelona Lounge as Gwen also wanted to Ham, Egg, and Cheese Croissant from there as well. He grabbed a Iced Cold Brew for himself.

I went back to Cafe Rix to get something for Morgan. Cafe Rix was a little confusing... It was only open in the morning.
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I had texted her a picture of the pastry items, and she choose the Apple Danish. I also grabbed a Cronut for Andy and I to share.
They had coffee for me to get but no hot chocolate for the girls here, so I then headed to El Mercado de Coronado

I filled up one refillable cup with Hot Chocolate and one with coffee for me at El Mercado. And then I went to see if they had hash browns. They didn't have them to get by themselves but you could get them with the empanadas. So I grabbed the Chorizo, Egg & Cheese Empanadas

Andy met me here and we walked back to the room. It was nice that we could get everything everyone wanted but felt weird having to go to 3 places!!!

All the food was good. We shared the breakfast stuff and the girls had very little interest of leaving the room again.

Eventually Andy decided to head outside for a bit. He headed to sit at the quite pool but ended up sitting in a chair by the “lake”
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A little after noon, I came down to sit with him for awhile as well. We just enjoyed the view. And talked about what we wanted to do. It was borderline hot and cold. So we weren’t sure we actually wanted to swim.

We talked about going to Disney Spring instead of swimming. We decided to take a walk over to see the status of the main pool.

And then we headed to the gift shop to see if I could get rice krispie treats to bring home. But they didn't have any! This was a trend this trip. None of the resort gift shops had rice krispee treats. I feel like they used to be everywhere.

Once we got back to the room, we had built up a sweat, so we decided to take a dip in the pool. Gwen came with us, as we needed to finish off our test of the 3 water slides. Morgan had zero interest. So we left here in the room.

Gwen and I tried out the water slide.
We gave a ranking of the 3 water slides:
First Place: Stormalong Bay
Second Place: Coronado
Third Place: Wilderness Lodge

I don't think anything can beat Stormalong Bay. But Coronado's slide is pretty long as well! The pool is a little boring. But nice and big which is nice. And Wilderness Lodge's slide was def the least exciting but was surprisingly better than I thought it would be.

Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

And got a good family selfie....
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We floated around a bit and played Snack March Madness from the pool. Popcorn almost won, we were not “happy” with this result. I think Mickey Bar ended up winning.

We were just a little hungry when we got out of the pool. Gwen headed back to the room. And Andy and I got a few snacks from pool bar Siestas Cantina and headed back to the room.

We decided on the Mexican Fruit Salad
Assortment of Seasonal Fruit lightly dusted with Tajin and served with Chamo
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This didn’t really have Tajin on it but the Chamo was actually pretty tasty. We all picked at this. And it was nice to have fresh fruit at the end of the trip.

And some Jalapeño Mac & Cheese Bites
Deep-fried Ancho Chile dusted Mac & Cheese Bites filled with Jalapeños, served with a side of creamy Ranch Dressing
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These were actually pretty tasty! Sorry for the pic. We had dug in before I remembered to take a picutre. The jalapeno wasn’t super spicy but more of gave it a more interesting flavor than just regular mac and cheese bites.

We brought both back with us to the room. And shared both things, It was just enough to hold us over to dinner.

It was about 3 by now. Andy and I showered and I started to repack us up again! But this time we were heading home, so it was more sad.

We were determined to eat at Three Bridges Bar and Grill at Villa del Lago tonight. Half of why I booked here at the last minute to eat here. I was looking her or French Quarter so we could get beignets. Or here for Three Bridges.

They were scheduled to open at 4:00, so right at 4 I tried to get us on the wait list, but it wasn’t open yet. So we just headed down. And it was empty. I am guessing that they just didn’t use it since there was no wait.


We were sat right away at a table on the far side. The girls were a little sad that they had pretty much gotten ride of all of the couches, but the chairs they had were still comfy and more porch like.

Somehow, I have our first pictures of food didn't come till 4:45. But I don't remember it taking a long time....

We started with some House-made Guacamole
Tortilla Chips and Tajín
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This was excellent as last time. And we were able to get more chips, which was nice, as Morgan just ate chips, no guac.

Morgan also ordered Berry-Mint Smash
Strawberry, Blackberry, Lime, Mint, Soda Water
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She really liked this. And I think this trip she actually got a number of “fancy” drinks.

And Gwen went with water.
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She specifically asked me to take a picture of her drink... so Enjoy! water!!

I ordered the Sangria Flight. I was looking forward to this!
Sangria Flight
Sample all four of our House-made Sangrias
Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Espumoso (Sparkling) Sangria
Freixenet Blanc de Blancs Brut Cava, Peach Liqueur, Lemon.
This one was def my favorite! And I need to learn how to make this for this summer. It was nice and light and would be perfect for a pool day.

Rosado (Rosé) Sangria
Garnacha Rosé Wine, Cruzan Mango Rum, SKYY Infusions Citrus Vodka, Desert Pear.

Blanco (White) Sangria
Macabeo Wine, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, St. Germain Elderflower, Passion Fruit, Lemon.
This one was my least favorite. The Elderflower was well too flowery for me.

Tinto (Red) Sangria
Garnacha Wine, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, Orange.
This was alot of Sangria!

Andy went with a Diet Coke.we were planning to go to Disney Springs after this, and had his eye on one last moonshine!

Morgan and Andy got Pork Carnitas Tacos
Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Chipotle-Pineapple Salsa, Salsa Borracha, Cotija, Pickled Vegetables, Black Beans and Rice
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Morgan had gotten these before and was looking forward to having them again. They had since plused the meal with fancy wooden trays.
Andy and Morgan both enjoyed there meals. There was ALOT of meat. Andy liked the Chipotle-Pineapple Salsa but Morgan and I both thought it was gross. It was super smoky and sweet at the same time, it was strange to me. Morgan is a fan of verde salsa and said this one was good.

Gwen got Fried Chicken Bao Buns
Lime Mayo, Sweet-and-Spicy Gochujang Sauce, 'Kimchi' Pickles, Radish and a side fries
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She liked it enough. We told her she could have asked for it without stuff but she went with it as is. They server gave her a full side of fries to go with it.

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These were great. They were crispy and the sauce had a kick to it but not too much.

I got the Poke Bowl with Marinated Tuna*
Basmati Rice, Coconut Milk-Lime Sauce, Vegetable Melee, Sriracha "Aïoli”, Grilled Pineapple
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This was just ok. It was nice and fresh, but the Coconut milk-lime sauce was sweeter than I would have liked. It was surprisingly filling and I was able to eat around the sauce for the most part. There was plenty of tuna. I would get it again but maybe ask for the sauce on the side or light on the sauce.

Morgan and Gwen both got Warm Churros for dessert.
Espelette Sugar, Spiced Chocolate Sauce, Tequila Caramel for dessert.
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I needed time to finish my sangrias while they had there churros.

They also had a Strawberry Pineapple sauce to dip in. They liked the strawberry and chocolate sauces. The carmel did have a tequila flavor to it. And they didn’t really like it.

It was a nice and relaxing last meal! Three Bridges never disapoints! All said and done, we were there for 2 hours, but it didn't feel like we were waiting long, it was just a nice chill meal.

We all headed back to the room together. I grabbed my bag and Andy and I headed out as we saw a bus was coming soon.
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Andy and I headed to Disney Springs.
First stop was Homecomin for one last moonshine for Andy. Then we headed to Goofy’s Candy Kitchen to get some treats to enjoy at home.

We got treats, 3 rice kripsee treats, a carmel butter bar, a tea for my mom and a bag of carmel corn. Plus 2 bags of gummies, Gwen had been eyeing the Angel gummy worms, and I got a bag of sadness blue raspberry gummies that I thought Morgan would like.

The tea I ended up getting for my mom was called the UnBirthday Tea, and it is actually really good! It’s a black tea but it smells amazing!

We ended up just grabbed an uber back. As we were all the way on the far end. And we didn’t want to do anything else.
It was the Quickest visit to Disney Springs!
Ubber driver pointed out rocket had launched.
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We were back at Coronado at 7:33.
We sat in the lobby while Andy finished his Iced Tea Moonshine. I had put it in my bag to leave, but he really only had a few sips left.
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We headed upstairs to Dahlia Lounge
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This was another item I have been meaning to do. So we headed there! It was empty up there. It was almost strange how empty it was compared to yesterday where everything was so busy. A conference had def ended the day before.

We were seated outside and it was beautiful!
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I ordered the Gran Gin Tonic
Fords Gin, House-made Saffron-Orange Tonic, Soda Water
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I have been wanting to try this! And it was really good. The tonic wasn’t too strong and the drink as a whole was very light. I am not normally a big gin drinker, but I would totally make this at home.

And went with Tequila Daisy
Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, Grapefruit, Lime, Hibiscus, Soda Water

We just sat and enjoyed the view and sipped our drinks. Child free. We did text the girls a picture of our view. But we also commented that Morgan would never sit out there.
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I may have been planning my 50th birthday trip here. between Three Bridges and here, I had some of the best drinks of the trip! Now I really want to do the Sangria University.

After about an hour, we left Dahlia Lounge. We joked that we spent more time here than in Disney Springs!

It was a perfect end to the day and the trip! It was about 8:30 - 9:00 when we left. We haded back to the room, finished packing up and went to bed. We had an early leave tomorrow. So, nothing good to report from that day!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Wrap up

So, we flew home on Monday, and it was to be a solar eclipse. Andy's parents were VERY worried about us blinding outselves or something. Once we landing in Philly, they were texting him about it. We all had a good laugh about it.

We got home and Morgan and Gwen found little love notes that my sister and her kids had hidden in the girls beds.
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We were home around 2:00 I think. So we had time to unpack and relax. It was back to school and work the next day!

Hotels:
We ended up staying at 3 hotels this trip. We are seasoned hotel hoppers at this point. But I do recommend sticking with only 2. 3 gets to be too much. But we had to do what we could with this trip.

Yacht Club is still our favorite. The pool can't be beat and taking the boat to 2 parks is great. We just love the feel of the resort as a whole.

Wilderness Lodge really let us down this trip. I still love the feel of the resort but I dont' know if we will stay there for awhile.

And Coronado is still a solid Moderate resort. The quick service is def just meh but the other restaurants all make up for it. It's biggest downfall is that it is bus city. Caribean beach wins over Coronado just because it has the skyliner.

All are great resorts and push come to shove we would stay at all of them again. Just not as much for wilderness lodge.

Counter Service:
I will say that all 3 of these don't have the best counterservice options!

Yacht Club is def kind of limited. It's really just sandwiches for lunch. I think they assume most folks will eat at the pool or in EPCOT. They did have a freestyle soda machine and the pool bar options are not too bad.

Wilderness Lodge probably had the best quick service option. And the fact that you can mobile order from Geyseur point it nice as well. BUT there is no pool food. You would have to order from inside and bring it out. Where both, Yacht Club and Coronado have dedicated to the pool.

Coronado is def the worst. I think all of there food is pre-made and you just grab it to go. which is a big negative to me.

Outdoor Restaurants:
Three Bridges wins hands down for us! The food here is soo good and I love my Sangria Flight. Geyseur Point is good as well, but it felt way busier than Three Bridges. That might have just been luck. Although, it would be easy to leave MK and go to Geysuer Point. Where Three Bridges is a trek from any park. Both are nice.

Spring Break Crowds:
It was def busy while we were there. We lucked out with not being in the park the day the park closed for park hopping. But it is doeable. If you are looking to go during spring break, def plan to go early! Getting to park open is def the best plan. Save shows for the middle of the day. And plan evenings in the park.

Thanks to everyone for following along. It is always fun to reshare our trip. And always help with going back to reality. But now I need to start planning our next trips!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Happy Thursday! I woke up today wishing it was Friday. It is New Jersey Teacher Conference today and tomorrow, so the girls are off today. And I am having dreams of wishing we were in Disney with all the other Jersey folks for Jersey Week. But allas we are not...

And I want to start planning our summer trip, so I am going to wrap up this trip today!!!

Last Full Day!

Today was our last full day. And we wanted to keep it pretty chill today. When we extended the trip to see my grandmother we weren't sure how long we would stay. It was all very quick. But the one day was enough for her. She was having lot of folks come and go. Originally we were to be home Friday and have the weekend to relax. So, it was nice to have a day to relax before leaving.

Since we hadn't done anything too crazy, aka not walking 6 thousand miles in the park. ... Andy and I were awake at 8:30. So, we headed down to get breakfast and coffee. Andy was out of his iced coffee and needed some caffine!

Andy went to get his coffee at Barcelona Lounge as Gwen also wanted to Ham, Egg, and Cheese Croissant from there as well. He grabbed a Iced Cold Brew for himself.

I went back to Cafe Rix to get something for Morgan. Cafe Rix was a little confusing... It was only open in the morning.
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I had texted her a picture of the pastry items, and she choose the Apple Danish. I also grabbed a Cronut for Andy and I to share.
They had coffee for me to get but no hot chocolate for the girls here, so I then headed to El Mercado de Coronado

I filled up one refillable cup with Hot Chocolate and one with coffee for me at El Mercado. And then I went to see if they had hash browns. They didn't have them to get by themselves but you could get them with the empanadas. So I grabbed the Chorizo, Egg & Cheese Empanadas

Andy met me here and we walked back to the room. It was nice that we could get everything everyone wanted but felt weird having to go to 3 places!!!

All the food was good. We shared the breakfast stuff and the girls had very little interest of leaving the room again.

Eventually Andy decided to head outside for a bit. He headed to sit at the quite pool but ended up sitting in a chair by the “lake”
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A little after noon, I came down to sit with him for awhile as well. We just enjoyed the view. And talked about what we wanted to do. It was borderline hot and cold. So we weren’t sure we actually wanted to swim.

We talked about going to Disney Spring instead of swimming. We decided to take a walk over to see the status of the main pool.

And then we headed to the gift shop to see if I could get rice krispie treats to bring home. But they didn't have any! This was a trend this trip. None of the resort gift shops had rice krispee treats. I feel like they used to be everywhere.

Once we got back to the room, we had built up a sweat, so we decided to take a dip in the pool. Gwen came with us, as we needed to finish off our test of the 3 water slides. Morgan had zero interest. So we left here in the room.

Gwen and I tried out the water slide.
We gave a ranking of the 3 water slides:
First Place: Stormalong Bay
Second Place: Coronado
Third Place: Wilderness Lodge

I don't think anything can beat Stormalong Bay. But Coronado's slide is pretty long as well! The pool is a little boring. But nice and big which is nice. And Wilderness Lodge's slide was def the least exciting but was surprisingly better than I thought it would be.

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And got a good family selfie....
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We floated around a bit and played Snack March Madness from the pool. Popcorn almost won, we were not “happy” with this result. I think Mickey Bar ended up winning.

We were just a little hungry when we got out of the pool. Gwen headed back to the room. And Andy and I got a few snacks from pool bar Siestas Cantina and headed back to the room.

We decided on the Mexican Fruit Salad
Assortment of Seasonal Fruit lightly dusted with Tajin and served with Chamo
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This didn’t really have Tajin on it but the Chamo was actually pretty tasty. We all picked at this. And it was nice to have fresh fruit at the end of the trip.

And some Jalapeño Mac & Cheese Bites
Deep-fried Ancho Chile dusted Mac & Cheese Bites filled with Jalapeños, served with a side of creamy Ranch Dressing
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These were actually pretty tasty! Sorry for the pic. We had dug in before I remembered to take a picutre. The jalapeno wasn’t super spicy but more of gave it a more interesting flavor than just regular mac and cheese bites.

We brought both back with us to the room. And shared both things, It was just enough to hold us over to dinner.

It was about 3 by now. Andy and I showered and I started to repack us up again! But this time we were heading home, so it was more sad.

We were determined to eat at Three Bridges Bar and Grill at Villa del Lago tonight. Half of why I booked here at the last minute to eat here. I was looking her or French Quarter so we could get beignets. Or here for Three Bridges.

They were scheduled to open at 4:00, so right at 4 I tried to get us on the wait list, but it wasn’t open yet. So we just headed down. And it was empty. I am guessing that they just didn’t use it since there was no wait.


We were sat right away at a table on the far side. The girls were a little sad that they had pretty much gotten ride of all of the couches, but the chairs they had were still comfy and more porch like.

Somehow, I have our first pictures of food didn't come till 4:45. But I don't remember it taking a long time....

We started with some House-made Guacamole
Tortilla Chips and Tajín
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This was excellent as last time. And we were able to get more chips, which was nice, as Morgan just ate chips, no guac.

Morgan also ordered Berry-Mint Smash
Strawberry, Blackberry, Lime, Mint, Soda Water
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She really liked this. And I think this trip she actually got a number of “fancy” drinks.

And Gwen went with water.
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She specifically asked me to take a picture of her drink... so Enjoy! water!!

I ordered the Sangria Flight. I was looking forward to this!
Sangria Flight
Sample all four of our House-made Sangrias
Untitled by Ariella Saucier, on Flickr

Espumoso (Sparkling) Sangria
Freixenet Blanc de Blancs Brut Cava, Peach Liqueur, Lemon.
This one was def my favorite! And I need to learn how to make this for this summer. It was nice and light and would be perfect for a pool day.

Rosado (Rosé) Sangria
Garnacha Rosé Wine, Cruzan Mango Rum, SKYY Infusions Citrus Vodka, Desert Pear.

Blanco (White) Sangria
Macabeo Wine, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, St. Germain Elderflower, Passion Fruit, Lemon.
This one was my least favorite. The Elderflower was well too flowery for me.

Tinto (Red) Sangria
Garnacha Wine, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, Orange.
This was alot of Sangria!

Andy went with a Diet Coke.we were planning to go to Disney Springs after this, and had his eye on one last moonshine!

Morgan and Andy got Pork Carnitas Tacos
Tomatillo Salsa Verde, Chipotle-Pineapple Salsa, Salsa Borracha, Cotija, Pickled Vegetables, Black Beans and Rice
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Morgan had gotten these before and was looking forward to having them again. They had since plused the meal with fancy wooden trays.
Andy and Morgan both enjoyed there meals. There was ALOT of meat. Andy liked the Chipotle-Pineapple Salsa but Morgan and I both thought it was gross. It was super smoky and sweet at the same time, it was strange to me. Morgan is a fan of verde salsa and said this one was good.

Gwen got Fried Chicken Bao Buns
Lime Mayo, Sweet-and-Spicy Gochujang Sauce, 'Kimchi' Pickles, Radish and a side fries
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She liked it enough. We told her she could have asked for it without stuff but she went with it as is. They server gave her a full side of fries to go with it.

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These were great. They were crispy and the sauce had a kick to it but not too much.

I got the Poke Bowl with Marinated Tuna*
Basmati Rice, Coconut Milk-Lime Sauce, Vegetable Melee, Sriracha "Aïoli”, Grilled Pineapple
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This was just ok. It was nice and fresh, but the Coconut milk-lime sauce was sweeter than I would have liked. It was surprisingly filling and I was able to eat around the sauce for the most part. There was plenty of tuna. I would get it again but maybe ask for the sauce on the side or light on the sauce.

Morgan and Gwen both got Warm Churros for dessert.
Espelette Sugar, Spiced Chocolate Sauce, Tequila Caramel for dessert.
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I needed time to finish my sangrias while they had there churros.

They also had a Strawberry Pineapple sauce to dip in. They liked the strawberry and chocolate sauces. The carmel did have a tequila flavor to it. And they didn’t really like it.

It was a nice and relaxing last meal! Three Bridges never disapoints! All said and done, we were there for 2 hours, but it didn't feel like we were waiting long, it was just a nice chill meal.

We all headed back to the room together. I grabbed my bag and Andy and I headed out as we saw a bus was coming soon.
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Andy and I headed to Disney Springs.
First stop was Homecomin for one last moonshine for Andy. Then we headed to Goofy’s Candy Kitchen to get some treats to enjoy at home.

We got treats, 3 rice kripsee treats, a carmel butter bar, a tea for my mom and a bag of carmel corn. Plus 2 bags of gummies, Gwen had been eyeing the Angel gummy worms, and I got a bag of sadness blue raspberry gummies that I thought Morgan would like.

The tea I ended up getting for my mom was called the UnBirthday Tea, and it is actually really good! It’s a black tea but it smells amazing!

We ended up just grabbed an uber back. As we were all the way on the far end. And we didn’t want to do anything else.
It was the Quickest visit to Disney Springs!
Ubber driver pointed out rocket had launched.
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We were back at Coronado at 7:33.
We sat in the lobby while Andy finished his Iced Tea Moonshine. I had put it in my bag to leave, but he really only had a few sips left.
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We headed upstairs to Dahlia Lounge
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This was another item I have been meaning to do. So we headed there! It was empty up there. It was almost strange how empty it was compared to yesterday where everything was so busy. A conference had def ended the day before.

We were seated outside and it was beautiful!
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I ordered the Gran Gin Tonic
Fords Gin, House-made Saffron-Orange Tonic, Soda Water
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I have been wanting to try this! And it was really good. The tonic wasn’t too strong and the drink as a whole was very light. I am not normally a big gin drinker, but I would totally make this at home.

And went with Tequila Daisy
Don Julio Blanco Tequila, Torres Magdala Naranjas del Mediterráneo, Grapefruit, Lime, Hibiscus, Soda Water

We just sat and enjoyed the view and sipped our drinks. Child free. We did text the girls a picture of our view. But we also commented that Morgan would never sit out there.
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I may have been planning my 50th birthday trip here. between Three Bridges and here, I had some of the best drinks of the trip! Now I really want to do the Sangria University.

After about an hour, we left Dahlia Lounge. We joked that we spent more time here than in Disney Springs!

It was a perfect end to the day and the trip! It was about 8:30 - 9:00 when we left. We haded back to the room, finished packing up and went to bed. We had an early leave tomorrow. So, nothing good to report from that day!

It sounds like a great last day!

I also wish I was heading to Disney soon. I was trying to make a Thanksgiving trip happen but tough with schedules. So-I'll be waiting to my next DD and I trip in May.
Is your family heading back to Disney this summer?

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Great last day! I always feel like I HAVE to go to a park on the last day but maybe just relaxing and soaking in the Disney atmosphere is the way to end the trip. Hmm...I'll have to experiment with that (but not at Thanksgiving because Festival of the Holidays starts on the last day of the trip.)

I know how you feel about planning the next trip. I'm already toying with a trip end of May/early June. I'm going to be looking for a bounceback rate on the hotel and that may determine the days I'm there.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your trip and all the life updates with the girls!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Sounds like a lovely low key last day. Isn't it nice to be able to do some child-free time now that the girls are old enough to hang in the room, too!? I find that Rob and I enjoy our Disney time in such a different way now that Jimmy is older--in fact, he didn't even come with us on our last two trips, LOL! I'm SUPER excited that we are booked to go back just the three of us for Christmas next year. It feels like he is so grown up compared to the last time he was actually there. It will be like an entirely new trip with him so big!

 

[vamassey1]

All the food you had looks so good. I still need to try 3 Bridges. I would really like to stay at CSR again in the future just to do that and the lounges.

Thanks for sharing your report. I get so many great food ideas from your reports.

 

[amazingact21]

I came back to the DIS just in time to catch the end of your trip!
I'm not sure Three Bridges was ever on my radar, but since seeing your food pictures and reading about your experience I texted Alex and told him we need to try it next time we have down time on a trip. All your dishes are foods I love, and the atmosphere sounds very relaxing. Like Geyser Point at WL.

 

[RD Keim]

Really enjoyed reading about your Spring Break trip! Lots of fun park time, good eats and drinks. I like how you were able to work in some relaxation time. If I ever get my DH to go back, that will be a must! Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

[CariadMartin]

It's so easy to go from thrill ride to thrill ride but I actually think Carousel of Progress, Tiki Room and dole whip sounds like the ideal Magic Kingdom day! As relaxed as it can be when the park is busy.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

What an amazing trip. I still don't think I would go over spring break but I'm glad you survived the crowds and got to do it all! I hope the girls are enjoying the school year and good luck with the continuing college search.