Coast 2 Coast Disney! *Update 3/22 Crystal Palace and Keys To The Kingdom*

[JessicaKnits]

Hello Everyone!

Let's get started with the usual, shall we? If you are following over from my PTR, welcome back! It's nice to see that I haven't scared you off...yet. And if you are new, then let me be the first to welcome you. And remind you to please fasten your seat belts, and pull up on the yellow safety tab. This will be one crazy ride!

My name is Jessica, 24 year old big city girl living in....Wisconsin. I will be your tour guide, court jester, and ringleader for the next 3 hours of this tour. Oh wait...thats a different show, different channel.

My hostage...er, companion for this trip, is my wonderful fiance, Adam. He recently celebrated his last 20-something birthday. I will let you all do the math on that one.

We got engaged last year, and had hopes of taking a trip right afterwards to celebrate. You know the saying "People Plan, God laughs?" Well, in this case, it was "Jessica hopes, and dreams, and plans, and Work laughs." We had a very concrete plan in place. Really, it was good. But then I got the opportunity to MOVE to New York City for 4 months at the end of last year. Desperately trying to escape the frozen tundra since I came out of the womb (nevermind the fact that we didn't actually move to the frozen tundra until I was 6,) I immediately jumped at the chance. So that meant that Disney had to be delayed, again.

That really is neither here nor there any more, since we depart on our little adventure tomorrow!

If you are interested in reading about how this trip came to be, you can read all about it here.

Why coast 2 coast you ask? Well, I caught poor Adam in a moment of weakness, and someone coerced him into a second trip to Disneyland. He has never been, and its been 5 years since my last visit! Less than 2 months after we get back from Disneyworld, we will be off for 4 nights to Disneyland. Thats right folks! Ya'll are getting TWO trip reports for the very low low price of one mouse click.

Allow me to introduce "us."

This will be our second trip to Disneyworld. The first was in August 2010 and we stayed at the Pop Century.

Here are the details of Part 1 of our Trip:

When: March 3rd - March 11th

Where: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Preferred King Room

Dining: Disney Deluxe Dining Plan

Special Stuff Planned: Keys to the Kingdom Tour, Tea at Grand Floridian


For Part 2:

When: May 8th - May 12th

Where: Anaheim Hilton (still hoping for a discount for Disney Property for our dates)

Dining: None

We leave tomorrow afternoon for Chicago, where we fly out first thing Saturday morning.

I hope you will all join along for what I promise, will be an INCREDIBLE trip!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Day Zero: The One With The Epic Snow Storm

Day One: The One Where Nothing Seems To Go Right
Day One: The One Where Everything Starts To Go Right
Day One: The One With The Earl
Day One: The One With The Presents
Day One: The One Where Corey Did Something Wrong

Day Two: The One Where The Heat Is Broken

 

[amazingact21]

Coming over from your PTR. I hope you're having a great time in WDW right now!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Coming over from your PTR. I hope you're having a great time in WDW right now!

Yay, my very first reader! I promise I will catch up on your PTR as soon as I get everything uploaded. We had an AMAZING trip, and I can't wait to tell everyone about all of the surprises along the way!

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Welcome back!!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

 

[JessicaKnits]

There is no better place for us to start than Day Zero, aka the day before Disney!

We had always planned to leave Friday afternoon around 3 o'clock. It takes about 3 hours for us to drive to Chicago, so it would put us at our hotel for the night around 7 PM, which would be perfect. I had a hair appointment at 10 AM that morning in Green Bay, about 30 minutes from our home and also desperately needed a pedicure before I left.

Thursday night I had dinner with girlfriends at the Melting Pot. Came home, watched the news, they mentioned a few flurries around 3 PM, nothing major. So, I went to bed. Woke up about an hour before I had to leave for my hair appointment, grabbed a coffee and flipped on the news. I was still 3/4 asleep, but managed to hear the weatherman say that south of us was expecting 6-8 inches of snow, still not starting till about 3 or 4 o'clock though. Tuesday of the same week the weatherman had predicted we would get between 6-12 inches of snow. They made it seem like Snowmageddon was upon us. I even spent the night at my parent's house so I didn't have to face the commute into work the next morning (I drive about 70 miles round trip every day.) What we got instead was not 6-12 inches of snow, but rather an inch of snow and a lot of rain. I unwisely thought he was just blowing things out of proportion again. Even though he mentioned that he was really serious, this time. No really, he actually did say that.

Ok, no big deal I thought, we will leave when I get back from my hair and nails, should be around 2 PM.

I got in the car and headed north, while Adam stayed behind and mopped floors, vacuumed, etc. to get ready for the house sitter. It was around noon that Adam called me and said that it was already snowing and it was coming down pretty hard. I rushed through the rest of my errands, hopped in my car and set the cruise control to exactly 8 miles per hour above the speed limit (it wasn't snowing or raining in Green Bay at that point.) By the time I made it back to our house, the grass was already completely covered in snow and the roads were starting to get slick.

To add to my mounting frustration, as I was driving home I received an email from United (our airline for this trip) stating that the final merger between United's reservation system and Continentals reservation system was going to be completed around 4:00 AM the next day. You guessed it, right about the time we would be checking in for our flight. I made a mental note to allow for plenty of extra time tomorrow morning.

Adam bolted out the door like a wild animal and quickly loaded up my car with our 4 pieces of luggage and the snack bag. "Why are you freaking out?" I asked. It was snow. We live in Wisconsin so we had seen it before. He yelled out something only slightly coherent about how the area south of us really was going to get about 6 inches of snow, and we were headed straight for the worst of it.

We quickly topped off at the local Moto Mart and got some beverages and were off. For the first hour of our trip, everything was smooth sailing. It was mostly raining now, and the roads were wet, but nothing seemed to be sticking around. We then made it just south of Fon Du Lac, and the roads looked like this...

Now, we had to take my car because she gets such good gas mileage. Adam has a big truck, and only gets about half what I do. I don't ever let anyone drive my car, ever. But... I am from North Carolina, and am genetically predispositioned to be a horrible driver in all sorts of inclement winter weather conditions. So, Adam knew he was going to have to drive.

We drove on, and the roads were progressively getting worse.

About an hour and forty minutes in, and making excellent time, we hit our first traffic jam of the day in Milwaukee.

It took us almost 2 hours to get through Milwaukee, with no alternative route to be had. It was awful. I decided to scrap my plans for a dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Gurnee in favor of something quick so that we could just get to the hotel and stay there!

Once we finally made it through Milwaukee and hit the Illinois state line, everything instantly changed. There wasn't any snow on the road at all and it was just drizzling. It was a very welcome change, and after literally going no more than 10mph for the last 2 hours, I was incredibly happy to be in Illinois. The Land of Lincoln? No. The Land Where Snow Magically Disappears. We stopped at a travel plaza to stretch our legs and have some dinner at Sbarro. Not the greatest meal I have had, but no worries, there was plenty of Disney Dining on the horizon. Just a few miles past the travel plaza was our exit for the parking garage. We pulled into Pride Parking and said goodbye to my car. We loaded our bags into the shuttle, and headed for the airport. The shuttle driver dropped us off at door number 1 of the bus center. I looked up and saw this...

We skipped across the street, well we skipped as much as possible with four pieces of luggage and a laptop and a massive purse. We checked in without any hassle, I handed over my credit card for incidentals and off we were to our room. We were given a room on the third floor. Now, I had not done any research at all on the hotel as far as room locations go. After all, we were not in Disney and were just there for one night, so how bad could it be? It turns out, pretty bad. Our room overlooked the runways (read: planes coming and going at all hours, and they aren't doing so quietly.) We also happened to end up with the room directly across from ice and vending and next to the elevators. Since it is attached to the airport, there are people coming and going throughout the night as well, and it was a lot of noise. But...probably worth it for the convenient location.

The room was also very nice.

Bedroom

Large vanity.

A well stocked mini bar, but for $7 for a beer, we locked it right back up and left that alone.

I did a little bag rearranging for maximum efficiency (or so I thought) for the next morning, and it was time to go to bed. It was already after 10:30 and we needed to be up at 3:00 AM

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Glad to hear that the snow didn't hinder your travels to the airport!!! (Too much, at least!) How unwelcome and annoying! Hopefully it didn't have any effect on your flight the next day!

 

[Aussiesalad]

Looks like it's going to be an awesome trip!
Last year we did a couple of days at Disneyland and then went straight to Disneyworld the following week haha double Disney is always a good thing.
That weather looks crazy!!

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[JessicaKnits]

Welcome back!!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Thank you! I can't wait to share with everyone.

Glad to hear that the snow didn't hinder your travels to the airport!!! (Too much, at least!) How unwelcome and annoying! Hopefully it didn't have any effect on your flight the next day!

I think unwelcome and annoying is the perfect way to describe the snow!

Looks like it's going to be an awesome trip!
Last year we did a couple of days at Disneyland and then went straight to Disneyworld the following week haha double Disney is always a good thing.
That weather looks crazy!!

Any tips for Disneyland? Its been quite a few years since I have been there and so much has changed.

joining in

 

[JessicaKnits]

I had the alarm set for 3 AM, but I couldn't sleep past 2:45. The anticipation of Disney was just too great. I flew out of bed, showered and got dressed in record time. I did some final re-arranging of bags, and off we were out the door.

The fabulous thing about staying at the O'hare Hilton is that they have this very convenient tunnel that connects it right to the airport. We made one wrong turn that put us in the Delta terminal instead of United's but we easily backtracked and found our way again. I appologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this update. You will find out why in a moment.

We took the escalator up to departures and walked into an absolute nightmare. Despite it being 4 AM, the United terminal was a zoo. Literally hundreds of people crowding around. We quickly found a place in line, which stretched nearly to the door. An agent came up to us and told us to go check in at the kiosk. We were whisked out of line and up to the kiosk, which promptly told us that our reservation needed "special handling." We looked around for an agent, and none were to be found, so we got put back into line to wait. And wait, and wait. The line is moving nowhere. People (myself included) are becoming increasingly upset. I re-read my email from United from the previous day. It clearly said there would be additional staff on hand. There were a whopping 6 ticketing agents visible to us. To make matters worth, there was an awful lot of chatting and laughing going on between those agents. Not that they can't have fun doing their job, but I need to get to Disney folks, lets focus!

After nearly an hour in line, we finally approached the ticketing agent who swiftly issued boarding passes and tagged bags. We set our bags up on the scale. Adam's was 9 pounds under, and mine was 1.25 pounds OVER. Now, I will be the first to admit that my luggage was over because I had packed it with wine and spirits for our trip. The ticketing agent told us that we needed to even out the bags. Are you kidding me? I was extremely annoyed by this, but did as obeyed. As soon as I put the bags on the floor and started opening them up people behind us in line started yelling. Not at us, but at the ticketing agent. I agree with their point. 1.25 pounds is nothing. And between the two bags they were under the 100 pounds. So everyone stood by, and held their breath with anticipation as I removed one tennis shoe and placed it into Adam's bag. Success. We were both now under 50 pounds. We proceeded through security, where there was NO ONE in line. A sign at how badly things were going at the check in!

We proceeded through, and my carry on had to go through the secondary screening. Apparently Chi hair straighteners look like weapons. It was pretty simple and in a few minutes we were headed to the gate.

Yay....look at the pretty lights.

We got to the gate just as they were beginning to board everyone. We encountered the largest group of middle schoolers I had ever seen. They actually took up the entire back of the plane, leaving only economy plus and first class unoccupied. They were very well behaved though. Then, more problems. Apparently when they scanned our boarding passes, their system wasn't working, so after 30 minutes of waiting on the plane, someone came on with a paper manifest and performed roll call. We waited some more, and finally we were pushing back. Our 9:30 AM arrival was now slated for 11:05 AM. BOOO!!

Yay! We're finally going some where.

Excited to be on our way

Since we didn't have any time for breakfast, we got a snack box to split, along with a grown up beverage for each of us. A bloody mary with gin for Adam, and a glass of Chardonnay for me.

The snack box was actually really delicious. It had hummus, several varieties of crackers, almonds, a packet of olives, red pepper bruschetta, and a peppercorn cheese dip.

Our flight was relatively uneventful. We did encounter some turbulence due to some storms, but it was only for a few minutes. I had really wanted to sleep on the plane, but the excitement got the best of me and I just couldn't.

After what seemed like forever, I could finally see the fabulous sight of palm trees below as our descent continued. We were in row 8 on the plane, meaning we would beat just about everyone off.

We landed without incident and quickly de-planed. Wowza it was hot! It was already 86 degrees and headed for 90.

We hopped aboard the fake monorail...

To Be Continued...

 

[JessicaKnits]

Once we disembarked from the fake monorail, we made the mad, yet civilized, dash to the Magical Express desk. Since we had arrived after 11 instead of at 9:30 as originally planned, the Magical Express area was super packed and chaotic. We checked in at the podium and were directed into line number one, for Coronado Springs. And we went...all the way to the front. Darn, we just missed the bus.

Here is what the ME area looked like when we arrived.

No sooner had I taken that picture and a young lad approached and asked if we were headed to Coronado Springs. I said that we surely were. He said that there was room for two more on the bus, so off we went. This meant that I wouldn't be able to get that highly coveted picture of the entrance gate, but I was just happy to be on our way. We climbed aboard and were on our way in just a few minutes.

I couldn't wait for the movie to start! I LOVE all the clips with kids finding out they are going to Disney. Truly magical!

In no time at all, we were driving through this...

And finally arrived here!

A sign of things to come...

We headed to the registration desk, and were very excited to see that there were only a few people in front of us in the Online Check-In queue. We met a not very nice lady who kept referring to us as "bus people." "Oh, I'm so glad we aren't a part of the 'bus people'." Whatever lady, I saved a few hundred bucks on a rental car for the week, I thoroughly enjoyed being a bus person.

Check-in went very smooth. When I booked I had reserved the Preferred King room, so I knew it would not be a problem to get our preferred section, Casitas. My only other room request was not to be on the ground floor. We ended up being in Casitas 3 on the 2nd floor. It was a perfect location, halfway in between bus stops 1 and 2, and just around the corner from a quiet pool.

One thing I will say about Coronado, is there buildings are not set up in a perfect rectangle, there are a ton of corridors and twists and turns, and it took us awhile to find our room after we found our building. However, there was plenty of signage to help us navigate.

Fountain in between Casitas 1 and 3...

Another fountain in Casitas 3...

Finally we arrived at our room!

It really was beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice.

Hidden Mickey's in neck roll and on bedspread.

We quickly dropped off our carry-on luggage and I decided that I could wait no longer to head off to our first stop off the day. So off we went to bus stop number two where we boarded this bus to...

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Glad your arrival went well!! Your snack on the plane looks very nice! I've always wondered what those snack boxes were like.

Your room location sounds great, and the room looks so nice!

 

[amazingact21]

That airport situation sounds frustrating! I'd have been so impatient...

Coronado Springs looks so pretty! I love that the rooms are really subtle on the Disney. It seems like the perfect place for adults to stay, since you're not overloaded with Mickey. (Not that having a bunch of Disney stuff around is bad, but sometimes it's nice to get a break from it after being at the parks all day.)

 

[Lidian]

I'm here! Can't wait to hear all about it and compare notes!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Glad your arrival went well!! Your snack on the plane looks very nice! I've always wondered what those snack boxes were like.

Your room location sounds great, and the room looks so nice!

The snack box was great! The other ones just had like pretzels and crackers in them. Lame! But the Tapas one was super awesome. Our room location was perfect! If we ever go back to CSR, then I will definitely request the same location!

That airport situation sounds frustrating! I'd have been so impatient...

Coronado Springs looks so pretty! I love that the rooms are really subtle on the Disney. It seems like the perfect place for adults to stay, since you're not overloaded with Mickey. (Not that having a bunch of Disney stuff around is bad, but sometimes it's nice to get a break from it after being at the parks all day.)

I totally agree with you! It is very subtle Disney. There were also hidden Mickeys on the corner of the bathroom mirror frame and on the top of the desk lamp which I somehow forgot to get a picture of. I loved the colors too...very relaxing. I still cannot for the life of me figure out why they did not re-do that tile in the bathroom when they did their reno. It is one of those age old questions.

I'm here! Can't wait to hear all about it and compare notes!

YAY!!! You're back! Have you started your TR yet? I can't wait!

 

[heaven2dc]

Having fun reading your TR! CSR looks beautiful - I hope to stay there next trip (we have always stayed at BWV and want to try a new resort our next trip). Can't wait to see where you spend your first day!

 

[Aussiesalad]

That snack box looks so good! And adult beverages always make trips that much more special
CSR looks so nice! I just love the colours they use!

Any tips for Disneyland? Its been quite a few years since I have been there and so much has changed.

Hmmm let me see. It's so much more manageable then WDW but there is still so much to do and see. So many great rides there like California Screamin!
We always go straight to Indiana Jones as it's our favourite ride there and can get quite busy fairly early. Also the main thing is just drink loads and be prepared to wait in the sun. Rides like the Matterhorn and TSM can leave you waiting in the sun for quite a bit because of the limited shelter. We noticed that after going to WDW how much more shelter it has.
Also the Aladdin show at CA is really fun!
And we like the Disneyland version of Pirates a lot more
There are also lots of nice little diners in the area and a cute little outside mall thing which is nice to wander around. But there are some dodgy streets nearby which aren't so good to wander down.
I'll let you know if I think of anything else, but you guys will have a fab time!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Having fun reading your TR! CSR looks beautiful - I hope to stay there next trip (we have always stayed at BWV and want to try a new resort our next trip). Can't wait to see where you spend your first day!

I will trade you as I have always wanted to stay at any of the deluxe resorts, but the Boardwalk looks like such a nice area!

That snack box looks so good! And adult beverages always make trips that much more special
CSR looks so nice! I just love the colours they use!

Hmmm let me see. It's so much more manageable then WDW but there is still so much to do and see. So many great rides there like California Screamin!
We always go straight to Indiana Jones as it's our favourite ride there and can get quite busy fairly early. Also the main thing is just drink loads and be prepared to wait in the sun. Rides like the Matterhorn and TSM can leave you waiting in the sun for quite a bit because of the limited shelter. We noticed that after going to WDW how much more shelter it has.
Also the Aladdin show at CA is really fun!
And we like the Disneyland version of Pirates a lot more
There are also lots of nice little diners in the area and a cute little outside mall thing which is nice to wander around. But there are some dodgy streets nearby which aren't so good to wander down.
I'll let you know if I think of anything else, but you guys will have a fab time!

Thank you for reminding me about shelter areas for the ride queues!! I do remember that now that you mention it. California Screamin is one of my all time faves! Did you ever ride when they played Red Hot Chili Peppers music instead of that weird circus music? It's AMAZING!!

 

[JessicaKnits]

We boarded our very first Disney bus of the trip. Wow, its so comforting to hear that guy's voice announcing your destination! And where do you think we were headed to?

Well, I had my sights on one thing and one thing only. So it required a little stop at Downtown Disney. Before we made it to our intended destination, I found this peculiar man.

What do you think he is up to? I had never seen something like this in Disney before, so sheer curiosity caused me to delay feeding myself while I checked him out. When he was finished, this is what I saw.

Pretty neat! Its hard to tell, but he made this with a rigged up broom and water. So eventually, Mickey disappeared.

Finally, we made it to our first eating destination!

Earl of Sandwich!! Earl definitely did not disappoint. We had a big dinner planned, and we landed late. It was almost 1PM by the time we got to Earl, and our dinner was at 6, so we just needed something to "get us through." Wow, does this place get BUSY!!

Fabulous sandwiches being created.

A side of coleslaw. This was very nice. Light dressing that is very mild at the start, but does have a vinegary bite that comes back around. Exactly the way I like it.

Adam ordered the grilled chicken caesar wrap. I was a little disappointed that the chicken for this came in a plastic package that was simply dumped out on to the wrap, so chicken is not cooked on site. They did however toss the caesar salad after I ordered. This was ok, but not the best Caesar wrap thats ever been made.

I knew what I was going to have months before we got there...

The Original. This. Is. Amazing. Tender, juicy roast beef. Creamy horseradish. Sharp cheddar cheese. Bread that is magically crunchy on the outside, as well as where it was split in the middle, but somehow still soft on the inside. So, so, so SOOOOOOOOOOO good! My only regret is we didn't have time (or stomach space) to go back later in the week.

This was a GREAT way to start off our trip. If you're on the fence about going to Earl's, GO! I promise you won't be sorry you did.

Once we finished eating, I stopped in Mickey's Pantry. Conveniently attached to Earl. I ended up buying 2 Disney cookbooks and my ever elusive silicone pancake shaper! Next up, its off to dinner!!