cdoc29
Cruising with the Crazies
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2010
- Messages
- 459
Just returned (7/27 to 8/3) from WDW and it was HOT. Heat index reaching 110+ several days.
We are a family of 4 from Virginia and are routine Disney vacationers. Son age 14 and Daughter age 11.
We drove from Virginia to Jacksonville Fla. on 7/26 and then onto the world on 7/27
I have my review broken out into days so feel free to jump to section if you want to know what we thought/ did for that day
We went to each park once, Had LL and ILL as well as had DAS for our neurodivergent son.
To beat the heat we had cooling towels, Sun umbrellas and perosnal fans as well as planned to take an afternoon break every day.
Our plan for the week was:
Sunday - Typhoon Lagoon
Monday - Magic Kingdom
Tuesday - Resort Day
Wednesday - Animal Kingdom
Thursday - Bass Fishing Excursion, Character Breakfast, Resort Day
Friday - EPCOT
Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Sunday - Brunch Disney Springs and head home
We stayed at Coronado Springs in the Cabanas section.
Coronado Springs - We loved the hotel as it was close to everything. We were in Cabanas 8C which is where the quiet pool is located next to the laundry room.
The room itself was well laid out and since we drove we brought two camp chairs to have extra seating in the room. The bathroom is sorta split with sliding door separating the bathroom from the main room and in the bathroom another door separating the sink/closet from the Shower/Toilet. This allowed multiple areas for people to change which protected the modesty of my pre-teen and teenager. We booked a standard view but were given a room that was about 15 feet from the pool entrance. The beds were two queens and storage space underneath for luggage. The room had a hairdryer and a fridge that could hold about 12 cans of soda, 8 bottles of water and have a small space for leftovers in a box. Housekeeping comes every two days.
Amenities at the resort that we used were the main pool area (the dig site), the cabanas pool and the laundry room. Would have loved to walk over to the main resort more often but the heat in the afternoons was oppressive. The pools all have a maximum depth of 5 feet. The pool bottoms seemed very rough and the water was easily 85 or 86 degrees, felt bathtub warm. The quiet pool is a saltwater pool, the main pool is not. The kids used the pools some but in the afternoons it was so hot and pools did not feel refreshing as warm as they were. We found the pools more enjoyable in the evenings after the sun set. Kids loved the arcade and our plans on resort days and afternoon breaks of lazing by the pool were thwarted by the heat. We had planned to watch the movies on the lawn and do the marshmallow roast but again the heat prevented us from attending.
Cons to staying at a Disney Hotel we found that when we had an issue and called the front desk you are not actually calling the front desk but rather a central number who, when they cannot handle tell you to go to the front desk as they cannot actually put you through to the front desk. For instance I called when we discovered the access gate to the pool was locked and the Front Desk number told me we had to walk all the way up to the front desk to let them know.
Day 1 - Typhoon Lagoon.
Since we were driving down we arrived to WDW about 9:15 am and dropped off our luggage at the resort as we did not want it to sit in the car and headed over to TL for our free on arrival day, got there about 10am. We had reserved a chair and umbrella for $105 incl tax which gave a base of operations with which to explore the park. This was a wonderful start to the vacation. In all we splashed and played until about 5pm. I know all the blogs try to say both water parks are equal but they are not. The slides are the same, the food is the same and the lazy river is the same. The wave pools are not and with teenagers the surf pool is the way to go. If we had gone to BB we would have probably been done by 2pm but with the surf pool we go jump waves then ride a slide, go jump waves and then do the lazy river, go jump waves and then get something to eat. If it was bobbing waves all day we would have probably done the wave pool once.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
LL for Haunted Mansion 9:15am
Pirates of the Caribbean 11:15am
Tiana's Bayou Adventure 1:10pm
ILL 7 dwarves 6:05pm
Tron 7:15pm
We roped dropped the park which meant getting up at 6:30am. Grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds near the value resorts, parked at MK, took the ferry over and were at the gates by about 7:45. They started letting people in about 8am and we were able to access the early entry right away, made our way to Peter Pan and at 8:15 they opened up the ride. During the early entry we did PP, Winnie the Pooh and Tea Cups. Went and saw Cinderella when they opened at 9am, then Alice and the Mad Hatter characters, Walked over to the Haunted Mansion, then back to the Little Mermaid and while daughter waited to meet Ariel son and I rode Barnstormer. Afterwards we got a snack/early lunch at Gastons Tavern. Booked a DAS for Jungle Cruise, did tales with Belle, then walked over and did Jungle Cruise, POTC and Tiana's. Took plenty of water breaks and got our popcorn bucket for the week along the way, Finally got out of the park at 2:30 about an hour later than I wanted to. Got back to the hotel about 3:30pm (MK is the hardest to get out of due to the Ferry or Monorail requirement)
Back at the hotel we basically spent the afternoon in the room as it was so hot at that point outside and we had developed a few blisters due to the heat and walking in the heat. Afternoon rainstorm delayed our return to the park. Our plan was to grab a bite to eat off property in Flamingo Crossings but we wound up eating provisions we brought with us.
Returned to MK at 6pm and was back in the park about 7pm, planed to do our three evening rides, watch the 9pm parade and leave. Due to rain our 7 dwarves was changed to anytime. In the park we headed over to Tron first, got all the way to the ramp down to the train and ride broke, after waiting a few moments stepped out of line and got the LL added back to our tickets and headed over to Space Mountain for our LL we had booked earlier in the day. Got all the way through the line about to board the train and it broke down, got out of line got our LL restored and headed to grab a snack a Aunties Gravity as my daughter was dying for a churro, alas they were out of churros, could this night get any worse? Saw that 7 dwarves was up so after the snack headed over there and got in the LL only to get almost all the way to the train before the ride broke down. My Kids were kinds devastated at this point. It was now 9pm but hey Tron is back up so we trudged over there and finally got on a ride. By the time we were done it was now 10pm, Aunties suddenly had churros (they were not clear that the we are out really meant we are cooking more) so I grabbed one for my daughter and we went to the front of Main Street and grabbed some curb to await the Starlight Parade. My Neuro Divergent Son was starting to melt down so Mom took him to the car to sit and relax and cool down. My daughter and I waited for the parade which at 11pm was announced there was a delay (of course after the night we were having), the delay was 20 minutes so the parade started at 11:20pm. We finally made it back to the hotel at 12:30am, foot sore from the first day.
Day 3 - Resort Day
Breakfast at Rix Sports bar and grill - this was an excellent breakfast and I can highly recommend, then we went to Wal-Mart picked up first aid supplies for blisters and food/drinks for the week. Spent some time at the pool at the Dig Site, did the arcade and hung out in the room and rested our weary feet. in the evening went out and bought myself some Teva's and the wife got new sandals as well to help the blisters heal over the next few days. Had dinner off property at Longhorn with a friend who is a cast member who joined us at the resort for Thursday - Sunday activities.
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom
LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris 8:20am
Festival of Lion King 10:00am
Navi River Journey 10:40am
ILL Avatar 11:00am
Woke at 6:30 am, had breakfast in room and were at the gates at 7:30am for rope drop, early entry. We had already decided due to the heat we were going to skip the animal treks, Dinosaur Land and Rapid Rivers. Got to Everest to find out it was closed and would be closed for several hours. Went and got in line to Dug and Russell characters. Then onto Kilimanjaro Safaris. Afterwards grabbed a snack in Africa and some popcorn. Went and met Pocahontas and then watched Lion King. After Lion King rode Navi river followed by Avatar. Had lunch at Su'li Canteen, one of the best quick services in my opinion in the parks. Everest was still down, it was getting hot so we did some shopping were my son found a wild African dog plushy but decided not buy as he was saving his money for Legos (Important for my Day 5). Left the park at 1pm and was back at the hotel by 1:15.
Did laundry, went for a swim and cooled off in the room. Snagged a last minute reservation for Beaches and Cream at 6pm.
Dinner at Beaches and Cream. Wife and I split a grilled cheese with an extra order of tots and then the Minnie Sink Ice cream for dessert. This was our second time eating here, the first time several years ago before the expansion and during covid the Kitchen Sink was not an option. Our daughter who suffers from anxiety had an attack when the lights suddenly went out and the yellow flashing lights went on in the restaurant before they served someone the Kitchen Sink dessert, after Monday nights ride breakdowns she thought the place must be on fire and we needed to evacuate. So beware if you have little ones with similar issues.
Day 5 - Bass Fishing Excursion, Ohana Breakfast and Disney Springs for dinner
Had a 7am 2-hour Bass Fishing Excursion at Yacht Club. The advantage of this particular time and place is they take you into World Showcase Lagoon to fish before the park opens up. The guide (ours was big Rick) is awesome and even if you're a novice (like me) they will bait your hook, teach you how to properly hold the fish after they remove the hook and give you pointers. My son who is the fisherman of the group immediately caught the first fish of the day which made him excited as he had cajoled me into a bet on who would catch the most fish, if he won I would get him the wild African dog plushy, if I won he would do extra chores the following week when we returned home. My daughter and I had a similar bet for a princess doll only our bet was biggest fish. We spent about an hour in World Showcase lagoon in 2 different locations, Then went down to just outside of Hollywood Studious. My sone caught 9 Bass in total, I got 1. My Daughter claimed for victory for her bet after catching an enormous snapping turtle saying it was the heaviest catch of the day, she also caught and actually touched (held) her first fish in her life. I highly recommend this activity, it was relaxing and we had a great time.
Ohana's Breakfast to meet Stich, Lilo, Mickey and Pluto. The breakfast was Ok, nothing special, runny eggs, undercooked sausage, potato wedges, waffles (both mickey and stitch) and breakfast ham. Best part of the meal was the pineapple bread served at the beginning. You have to remind yourself your paying to see the characters.
Stopped by Disney Springs to make good on my bets only to discover the only place that had the Wild African Dog Plushy outside of AK was AKL. Returned to the hotel to drop off the wife and daughter and took the son for a quick drive over to AKL to get this plushy. Was not an easy thing to do, I explained to guard why were there but he said unless we had a dining reservation we couldn't park there, when I explained they didn't have the item at Disney Springs and it was they who told us we could get it at AKL the guard said we would have to drive back to Disney Springs and catch the bus. I said if that was the case I would drive to AK and catch the 5 minute bus from there, the guard told me I wasn't allowed to do that. I said Ok as I wasn't looking to argue and then drove over to AK and did exactly that. Sadly what should have been a 15 minute trip turned into 1.5 hours Parking at AK, walking to the busses, Catching the bus to AKL, getting off at the second stop and then waiting to catch the bus back after making the purchase. This is an area Disney could do better as I am staying on property and can park at the parks for free and I am not trying to game the system for free parking.
Dinner was at Chef Art Smith my favorite place to eat in all the world. Must be others too as it is a hard reservation to get. If you go I recommend the fried chicken and if you drink the Blue Hooch Moonshine.
Day 6 - Epcot
LL Soarin 9:10am
Nemo 10:10am
Remy 11:10am
ILL Gaurdians 1:10pm
Up at 7am, snack in the room and off for rope drop. Arrived at the gate after parking about 8:10am, through the turnstiles and early entry checkpoint and off to our first ride, Frozen. Got in line about 8:25 and the ride opened at 8:30am. Done with the ride about 9am. Made a change in plans to accommodate my Princess mad daughter. Grabbed breakfast Kringla's and my daughter got in line for Elsie and Anna about 9:10 for the 9:15 opening. Grabbed a DAS pass for Soarin, turned in my LL times for Nemo and Soarin for others to grab and then we did a nice leisurely walk over to France. None of the pavilions are open that early outside of the Norway, Morocco and France. Stopped in Morocco to look around and found a completely open Princess Jasmine, daughter was thrilled. Went to France for the 10:20am Aurora meet and greet. Beforehand went through the perfume shop, the wine shop and then grabbed some macaroons, a coffee and pastries at Les Halles. Got in line for Aurora at 10am and was fist for the next meet. Afterwards rode Remy and then made our way back to World Celebration stopping at UK and Canada pavilions to shop. Rode Soarin and then Guardians Cosmic Rewind. By now it was 2pm and we left the park to back and relax out of the heat.
Back at the resort mainly stayed in the room, napped and cooled off, took a cold shower before heading back to the park for dinner.
Son did not want to return with us so we allowed him to hang out at the resort and told him if wanted to go swimming it would be at the main pool with the lifeguards. He stayed back, ate dinner in the room, went swimming for the evening and got himself a Mickey bar at the pool. He said he went down the water slide dozens of times.
We headed back to to have dinner at Via Napoli at 6pm, best pizza at WDW then walked around World Showcase as the sun had cooled, went to Journey of Water at the end of evening and headed out of the park at 8:45 to beat the crowds, Back at the hotel by 9pm, quick night swim and in bed by 10:30pm.
Day 7 - Hollywood Studios
LL Slinky Dog 9:15am
Toy Story Mania 10:00am
Beauty and Beast 4pm
ILL Rise of the Resistance 12:05pm
Up at 7:30 am in the park at 8:15am and through early entry and at Mickey and Minne's runaway Railway at 8:25am. Afterwards made it to Alien Swirling Saucers at 8:55am with early entry. Afterwards had breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox and then Wife and Daughter (son wanted to sit and relax) went and saw Walt's One Mans Dream which had the costumes from the new Zombies movie on display. was able to snag a LL for Millennium Falcon, When they got back we rode Toy Story Mania and headed over to Star Wars Land. Got a photo op with Rey, Did some shopping at Dak Ondars and the droid shop. Rode the Falcon and grabbed some lunch ay Docking Bay 7. Food used to be better when the they first opened up but has become more bland over time. Rode Rise of the Resistance, went through the shops and picked up the souvenir storm trooper popcorn bucket. Wife and daughter headed to Hollywood Boulevard to shop while son and I hit up the First Order, Resistance shops and Tatooine Traders on the way out. Tried to get photos with Mando & Grogru as well as Kylo Ren but no luck. Left the park for a break about 1:30pm.
Spent the afternoon in the hotel room to cool off and then back to the park for a 5pm dinner. We had the Fantasmic Dining Package at Sci-Fi diner. This was our second time eating here and the food was just as as bad as I remembered from the last time 5 years ago. The theming is fantastic I just wish the food was as well. If it wasn't for the Fantasmic Dinning I don't think I would eat at any of the sit down restaurants in HS. After Dinner, Wife and Daughter went to the new Villains Show (which I wanted to see and my wife said was really good) while son I went back to Star Wars Land as he was wanting to spend time there and rightly explained he waited patiently the day before for his sister to see princesses. Once there he did get his picture with Kylo Ren this time as well as Rey again and even Chewbacca so his night was made. Met the wife at Rock'n'Roll Rollercoaster which I had snagged at LL for at 7:45pm. Afterwards went and grabbed seats for the Fantasmic which we got center stage thanks to our tickets. Munched on some popcorn and mickey bars while waiting for the show to start. Show was awesome, better than the Disneyland Version in my opinion. Got back to the hotel by 10pm, did one last night swim till 11pm and then off to bed.
Day 8 - Brunch and head home.
Woke at 8am and packed up our suitcases, packed up the car and said good bye to Coronado Springs. We had a 10:30am Brunch at Chef Art Smith's (did I mention it's my favorite at WDW) another great meal and then we shopped Disney Springs till about 2pm. I miss the old shopping when they had a Home Store, a Pet Store and more unique items. Nowadays every Disney Store carries the same stuff with the exception of the Christmas ornamet store and Disney Art. Heck even Trend-D had all the same stuff they were selling at the World of Disney and Pin Traders hardly carries Pins anymore. I wish Disney Springs carried a better variety of stuff, it's all so homogenized nowadays. We picked up some prints for our walls, pins for collection and couple of other things, said our goodbyes with our friend who works at the world and then headed home.
So what would I do different next time?
I think this will be my last trip in July, the heat this past week sapped all our strength everyday and we never felt like eating any of the disney snacks like we usually do. We also didn't do any other activities on non park days like mini-golf or smores by the campfire or movies under the stars. That will probably mean either a quick trip over a teacher workday weekend during the school year or wait until my 6th grader is out of school. If we do Disney during the summer again it will probably be to Disneyland or a Disney Cruise.
Also in the heat I wish we had booked lunches instead of dinners. It would have been easier on the feet to have lunch everyday at 1pm in the park where we could rest out feet out of the heat, then head back to the hotel trudging through the parking lot to our car and not returning to at least 6pm when things had cooled off.
Also maybe add in one more day to get another in-between park day. I am really glad for the two off park days and could have used a third.
Overall Disney as a large company gave us both joys and letdowns during the week. the majority of staff interactions was positive, my daughter loved pin trading everywhere we went but when a Cast member didn't know the answer they often had no clue who would know the answer. It took me asking several Cast members where I could find the African Dog Plushy at several different stores before one was able to use a computer to check where it was.
Anyway if anyone has any questions about my recent experience feel free to ask.
We are a family of 4 from Virginia and are routine Disney vacationers. Son age 14 and Daughter age 11.
We drove from Virginia to Jacksonville Fla. on 7/26 and then onto the world on 7/27
I have my review broken out into days so feel free to jump to section if you want to know what we thought/ did for that day
We went to each park once, Had LL and ILL as well as had DAS for our neurodivergent son.
To beat the heat we had cooling towels, Sun umbrellas and perosnal fans as well as planned to take an afternoon break every day.
Our plan for the week was:
Sunday - Typhoon Lagoon
Monday - Magic Kingdom
Tuesday - Resort Day
Wednesday - Animal Kingdom
Thursday - Bass Fishing Excursion, Character Breakfast, Resort Day
Friday - EPCOT
Saturday - Hollywood Studios
Sunday - Brunch Disney Springs and head home
We stayed at Coronado Springs in the Cabanas section.
Coronado Springs - We loved the hotel as it was close to everything. We were in Cabanas 8C which is where the quiet pool is located next to the laundry room.
The room itself was well laid out and since we drove we brought two camp chairs to have extra seating in the room. The bathroom is sorta split with sliding door separating the bathroom from the main room and in the bathroom another door separating the sink/closet from the Shower/Toilet. This allowed multiple areas for people to change which protected the modesty of my pre-teen and teenager. We booked a standard view but were given a room that was about 15 feet from the pool entrance. The beds were two queens and storage space underneath for luggage. The room had a hairdryer and a fridge that could hold about 12 cans of soda, 8 bottles of water and have a small space for leftovers in a box. Housekeeping comes every two days.
Amenities at the resort that we used were the main pool area (the dig site), the cabanas pool and the laundry room. Would have loved to walk over to the main resort more often but the heat in the afternoons was oppressive. The pools all have a maximum depth of 5 feet. The pool bottoms seemed very rough and the water was easily 85 or 86 degrees, felt bathtub warm. The quiet pool is a saltwater pool, the main pool is not. The kids used the pools some but in the afternoons it was so hot and pools did not feel refreshing as warm as they were. We found the pools more enjoyable in the evenings after the sun set. Kids loved the arcade and our plans on resort days and afternoon breaks of lazing by the pool were thwarted by the heat. We had planned to watch the movies on the lawn and do the marshmallow roast but again the heat prevented us from attending.
Cons to staying at a Disney Hotel we found that when we had an issue and called the front desk you are not actually calling the front desk but rather a central number who, when they cannot handle tell you to go to the front desk as they cannot actually put you through to the front desk. For instance I called when we discovered the access gate to the pool was locked and the Front Desk number told me we had to walk all the way up to the front desk to let them know.
Day 1 - Typhoon Lagoon.
Since we were driving down we arrived to WDW about 9:15 am and dropped off our luggage at the resort as we did not want it to sit in the car and headed over to TL for our free on arrival day, got there about 10am. We had reserved a chair and umbrella for $105 incl tax which gave a base of operations with which to explore the park. This was a wonderful start to the vacation. In all we splashed and played until about 5pm. I know all the blogs try to say both water parks are equal but they are not. The slides are the same, the food is the same and the lazy river is the same. The wave pools are not and with teenagers the surf pool is the way to go. If we had gone to BB we would have probably been done by 2pm but with the surf pool we go jump waves then ride a slide, go jump waves and then do the lazy river, go jump waves and then get something to eat. If it was bobbing waves all day we would have probably done the wave pool once.
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
LL for Haunted Mansion 9:15am
Pirates of the Caribbean 11:15am
Tiana's Bayou Adventure 1:10pm
ILL 7 dwarves 6:05pm
Tron 7:15pm
We roped dropped the park which meant getting up at 6:30am. Grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds near the value resorts, parked at MK, took the ferry over and were at the gates by about 7:45. They started letting people in about 8am and we were able to access the early entry right away, made our way to Peter Pan and at 8:15 they opened up the ride. During the early entry we did PP, Winnie the Pooh and Tea Cups. Went and saw Cinderella when they opened at 9am, then Alice and the Mad Hatter characters, Walked over to the Haunted Mansion, then back to the Little Mermaid and while daughter waited to meet Ariel son and I rode Barnstormer. Afterwards we got a snack/early lunch at Gastons Tavern. Booked a DAS for Jungle Cruise, did tales with Belle, then walked over and did Jungle Cruise, POTC and Tiana's. Took plenty of water breaks and got our popcorn bucket for the week along the way, Finally got out of the park at 2:30 about an hour later than I wanted to. Got back to the hotel about 3:30pm (MK is the hardest to get out of due to the Ferry or Monorail requirement)
Back at the hotel we basically spent the afternoon in the room as it was so hot at that point outside and we had developed a few blisters due to the heat and walking in the heat. Afternoon rainstorm delayed our return to the park. Our plan was to grab a bite to eat off property in Flamingo Crossings but we wound up eating provisions we brought with us.
Returned to MK at 6pm and was back in the park about 7pm, planed to do our three evening rides, watch the 9pm parade and leave. Due to rain our 7 dwarves was changed to anytime. In the park we headed over to Tron first, got all the way to the ramp down to the train and ride broke, after waiting a few moments stepped out of line and got the LL added back to our tickets and headed over to Space Mountain for our LL we had booked earlier in the day. Got all the way through the line about to board the train and it broke down, got out of line got our LL restored and headed to grab a snack a Aunties Gravity as my daughter was dying for a churro, alas they were out of churros, could this night get any worse? Saw that 7 dwarves was up so after the snack headed over there and got in the LL only to get almost all the way to the train before the ride broke down. My Kids were kinds devastated at this point. It was now 9pm but hey Tron is back up so we trudged over there and finally got on a ride. By the time we were done it was now 10pm, Aunties suddenly had churros (they were not clear that the we are out really meant we are cooking more) so I grabbed one for my daughter and we went to the front of Main Street and grabbed some curb to await the Starlight Parade. My Neuro Divergent Son was starting to melt down so Mom took him to the car to sit and relax and cool down. My daughter and I waited for the parade which at 11pm was announced there was a delay (of course after the night we were having), the delay was 20 minutes so the parade started at 11:20pm. We finally made it back to the hotel at 12:30am, foot sore from the first day.
Day 3 - Resort Day
Breakfast at Rix Sports bar and grill - this was an excellent breakfast and I can highly recommend, then we went to Wal-Mart picked up first aid supplies for blisters and food/drinks for the week. Spent some time at the pool at the Dig Site, did the arcade and hung out in the room and rested our weary feet. in the evening went out and bought myself some Teva's and the wife got new sandals as well to help the blisters heal over the next few days. Had dinner off property at Longhorn with a friend who is a cast member who joined us at the resort for Thursday - Sunday activities.
Day 4 - Animal Kingdom
LL for Kilimanjaro Safaris 8:20am
Festival of Lion King 10:00am
Navi River Journey 10:40am
ILL Avatar 11:00am
Woke at 6:30 am, had breakfast in room and were at the gates at 7:30am for rope drop, early entry. We had already decided due to the heat we were going to skip the animal treks, Dinosaur Land and Rapid Rivers. Got to Everest to find out it was closed and would be closed for several hours. Went and got in line to Dug and Russell characters. Then onto Kilimanjaro Safaris. Afterwards grabbed a snack in Africa and some popcorn. Went and met Pocahontas and then watched Lion King. After Lion King rode Navi river followed by Avatar. Had lunch at Su'li Canteen, one of the best quick services in my opinion in the parks. Everest was still down, it was getting hot so we did some shopping were my son found a wild African dog plushy but decided not buy as he was saving his money for Legos (Important for my Day 5). Left the park at 1pm and was back at the hotel by 1:15.
Did laundry, went for a swim and cooled off in the room. Snagged a last minute reservation for Beaches and Cream at 6pm.
Dinner at Beaches and Cream. Wife and I split a grilled cheese with an extra order of tots and then the Minnie Sink Ice cream for dessert. This was our second time eating here, the first time several years ago before the expansion and during covid the Kitchen Sink was not an option. Our daughter who suffers from anxiety had an attack when the lights suddenly went out and the yellow flashing lights went on in the restaurant before they served someone the Kitchen Sink dessert, after Monday nights ride breakdowns she thought the place must be on fire and we needed to evacuate. So beware if you have little ones with similar issues.
Day 5 - Bass Fishing Excursion, Ohana Breakfast and Disney Springs for dinner
Had a 7am 2-hour Bass Fishing Excursion at Yacht Club. The advantage of this particular time and place is they take you into World Showcase Lagoon to fish before the park opens up. The guide (ours was big Rick) is awesome and even if you're a novice (like me) they will bait your hook, teach you how to properly hold the fish after they remove the hook and give you pointers. My son who is the fisherman of the group immediately caught the first fish of the day which made him excited as he had cajoled me into a bet on who would catch the most fish, if he won I would get him the wild African dog plushy, if I won he would do extra chores the following week when we returned home. My daughter and I had a similar bet for a princess doll only our bet was biggest fish. We spent about an hour in World Showcase lagoon in 2 different locations, Then went down to just outside of Hollywood Studious. My sone caught 9 Bass in total, I got 1. My Daughter claimed for victory for her bet after catching an enormous snapping turtle saying it was the heaviest catch of the day, she also caught and actually touched (held) her first fish in her life. I highly recommend this activity, it was relaxing and we had a great time.
Ohana's Breakfast to meet Stich, Lilo, Mickey and Pluto. The breakfast was Ok, nothing special, runny eggs, undercooked sausage, potato wedges, waffles (both mickey and stitch) and breakfast ham. Best part of the meal was the pineapple bread served at the beginning. You have to remind yourself your paying to see the characters.
Stopped by Disney Springs to make good on my bets only to discover the only place that had the Wild African Dog Plushy outside of AK was AKL. Returned to the hotel to drop off the wife and daughter and took the son for a quick drive over to AKL to get this plushy. Was not an easy thing to do, I explained to guard why were there but he said unless we had a dining reservation we couldn't park there, when I explained they didn't have the item at Disney Springs and it was they who told us we could get it at AKL the guard said we would have to drive back to Disney Springs and catch the bus. I said if that was the case I would drive to AK and catch the 5 minute bus from there, the guard told me I wasn't allowed to do that. I said Ok as I wasn't looking to argue and then drove over to AK and did exactly that. Sadly what should have been a 15 minute trip turned into 1.5 hours Parking at AK, walking to the busses, Catching the bus to AKL, getting off at the second stop and then waiting to catch the bus back after making the purchase. This is an area Disney could do better as I am staying on property and can park at the parks for free and I am not trying to game the system for free parking.
Dinner was at Chef Art Smith my favorite place to eat in all the world. Must be others too as it is a hard reservation to get. If you go I recommend the fried chicken and if you drink the Blue Hooch Moonshine.
Day 6 - Epcot
LL Soarin 9:10am
Nemo 10:10am
Remy 11:10am
ILL Gaurdians 1:10pm
Up at 7am, snack in the room and off for rope drop. Arrived at the gate after parking about 8:10am, through the turnstiles and early entry checkpoint and off to our first ride, Frozen. Got in line about 8:25 and the ride opened at 8:30am. Done with the ride about 9am. Made a change in plans to accommodate my Princess mad daughter. Grabbed breakfast Kringla's and my daughter got in line for Elsie and Anna about 9:10 for the 9:15 opening. Grabbed a DAS pass for Soarin, turned in my LL times for Nemo and Soarin for others to grab and then we did a nice leisurely walk over to France. None of the pavilions are open that early outside of the Norway, Morocco and France. Stopped in Morocco to look around and found a completely open Princess Jasmine, daughter was thrilled. Went to France for the 10:20am Aurora meet and greet. Beforehand went through the perfume shop, the wine shop and then grabbed some macaroons, a coffee and pastries at Les Halles. Got in line for Aurora at 10am and was fist for the next meet. Afterwards rode Remy and then made our way back to World Celebration stopping at UK and Canada pavilions to shop. Rode Soarin and then Guardians Cosmic Rewind. By now it was 2pm and we left the park to back and relax out of the heat.
Back at the resort mainly stayed in the room, napped and cooled off, took a cold shower before heading back to the park for dinner.
Son did not want to return with us so we allowed him to hang out at the resort and told him if wanted to go swimming it would be at the main pool with the lifeguards. He stayed back, ate dinner in the room, went swimming for the evening and got himself a Mickey bar at the pool. He said he went down the water slide dozens of times.
We headed back to to have dinner at Via Napoli at 6pm, best pizza at WDW then walked around World Showcase as the sun had cooled, went to Journey of Water at the end of evening and headed out of the park at 8:45 to beat the crowds, Back at the hotel by 9pm, quick night swim and in bed by 10:30pm.
Day 7 - Hollywood Studios
LL Slinky Dog 9:15am
Toy Story Mania 10:00am
Beauty and Beast 4pm
ILL Rise of the Resistance 12:05pm
Up at 7:30 am in the park at 8:15am and through early entry and at Mickey and Minne's runaway Railway at 8:25am. Afterwards made it to Alien Swirling Saucers at 8:55am with early entry. Afterwards had breakfast at Woody's Lunchbox and then Wife and Daughter (son wanted to sit and relax) went and saw Walt's One Mans Dream which had the costumes from the new Zombies movie on display. was able to snag a LL for Millennium Falcon, When they got back we rode Toy Story Mania and headed over to Star Wars Land. Got a photo op with Rey, Did some shopping at Dak Ondars and the droid shop. Rode the Falcon and grabbed some lunch ay Docking Bay 7. Food used to be better when the they first opened up but has become more bland over time. Rode Rise of the Resistance, went through the shops and picked up the souvenir storm trooper popcorn bucket. Wife and daughter headed to Hollywood Boulevard to shop while son and I hit up the First Order, Resistance shops and Tatooine Traders on the way out. Tried to get photos with Mando & Grogru as well as Kylo Ren but no luck. Left the park for a break about 1:30pm.
Spent the afternoon in the hotel room to cool off and then back to the park for a 5pm dinner. We had the Fantasmic Dining Package at Sci-Fi diner. This was our second time eating here and the food was just as as bad as I remembered from the last time 5 years ago. The theming is fantastic I just wish the food was as well. If it wasn't for the Fantasmic Dinning I don't think I would eat at any of the sit down restaurants in HS. After Dinner, Wife and Daughter went to the new Villains Show (which I wanted to see and my wife said was really good) while son I went back to Star Wars Land as he was wanting to spend time there and rightly explained he waited patiently the day before for his sister to see princesses. Once there he did get his picture with Kylo Ren this time as well as Rey again and even Chewbacca so his night was made. Met the wife at Rock'n'Roll Rollercoaster which I had snagged at LL for at 7:45pm. Afterwards went and grabbed seats for the Fantasmic which we got center stage thanks to our tickets. Munched on some popcorn and mickey bars while waiting for the show to start. Show was awesome, better than the Disneyland Version in my opinion. Got back to the hotel by 10pm, did one last night swim till 11pm and then off to bed.
Day 8 - Brunch and head home.
Woke at 8am and packed up our suitcases, packed up the car and said good bye to Coronado Springs. We had a 10:30am Brunch at Chef Art Smith's (did I mention it's my favorite at WDW) another great meal and then we shopped Disney Springs till about 2pm. I miss the old shopping when they had a Home Store, a Pet Store and more unique items. Nowadays every Disney Store carries the same stuff with the exception of the Christmas ornamet store and Disney Art. Heck even Trend-D had all the same stuff they were selling at the World of Disney and Pin Traders hardly carries Pins anymore. I wish Disney Springs carried a better variety of stuff, it's all so homogenized nowadays. We picked up some prints for our walls, pins for collection and couple of other things, said our goodbyes with our friend who works at the world and then headed home.
So what would I do different next time?
I think this will be my last trip in July, the heat this past week sapped all our strength everyday and we never felt like eating any of the disney snacks like we usually do. We also didn't do any other activities on non park days like mini-golf or smores by the campfire or movies under the stars. That will probably mean either a quick trip over a teacher workday weekend during the school year or wait until my 6th grader is out of school. If we do Disney during the summer again it will probably be to Disneyland or a Disney Cruise.
Also in the heat I wish we had booked lunches instead of dinners. It would have been easier on the feet to have lunch everyday at 1pm in the park where we could rest out feet out of the heat, then head back to the hotel trudging through the parking lot to our car and not returning to at least 6pm when things had cooled off.
Also maybe add in one more day to get another in-between park day. I am really glad for the two off park days and could have used a third.
Overall Disney as a large company gave us both joys and letdowns during the week. the majority of staff interactions was positive, my daughter loved pin trading everywhere we went but when a Cast member didn't know the answer they often had no clue who would know the answer. It took me asking several Cast members where I could find the African Dog Plushy at several different stores before one was able to use a computer to check where it was.
Anyway if anyone has any questions about my recent experience feel free to ask.
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