Murphy's Law with a Touch of Pixie Dust: A Nov/Dec 2010 TR - UPDATE 2/2 Autographs!

[20thingamabobs]

Hello! For those of you who haven't read my PTR (you can find the link in my signature), I will do a quick introduction. For those of you who joined me on my planning journey to my TR!

Backqround Information:

When: Nov. 30 - Dec. 7, 2010
Where: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
What: Our First Disney Christmas (though it was really closer to Thanksgiving)
Why: Because it was our first and only chance at this time of year

And finally,

Who:

Hi. I'm Whitney. I'm a 24 year-old graduate student studying to get my Master's in School Psych. I've been to Disney World 14 times and Disneyland 3 times. My favorite attractions are Splash Mountain and Expedition Everest. And, my favorite character is Tinker Bell .

I wen't with my Mom, Christy. She's a retired High School Teacher. She's been to Disney World 13 times and Disneyland twice. Her favorite attractions are Soarin' and Expedition Everest. Her favorite characters are Eeyore and Jiminy Cricket.

This is us:

For those of you not reading my PTR, we have a very exciting year full of Disney ahead of us as this was only 1 of 4 trips. I'm so happy to have you along as I tell you about our trip.. the ups and the downs. As you can tell from my title, the trip seemed to have a few more lows than hoped for and certainly more than planned for...

Continued in Next Post

 

[DisneyDreamerMom]

Yippee! I'm first. Can't wait to read about your trip. Heading over to read the PTR now.

 

[mermaid764]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip

 

[20thingamabobs]

I suppose, in a way, that the night before your trip is an indication of what to expect. It should be a time full of excitement, last minute packing, and an attempt to sleep. The day before we left, I left work around 4:00pm to make the 2 hour drive to my parents. I met my mom at the spa, where we received pedicures. Once home, we ate a quick dinner and as my mom went off to pack, I sat down to finish the Epcot Passports I'd been working on for MONTHS. Shortly after, the phone rang... it was my Aunt. My Aunt, Uncle, cousins, and Grandpa live in Florida and I had sent my Aunt our schedule months in advance to see if they would like to join us as at all during our visit but of course, she waited until the night before our trip to call and make plans . She was hoping to meet us for dinner the following night, um.. sorry, but we have tickets to MVMCP. That's ok, we can do lunch instead. Alright, well, I had been planning on heading straight to MK but we could do lunch at DTD instead. No Harm. Around midnight, I headed to bed, completely exhausted. I had a couple of things to finish on my passports but I set my alarm to leave plenty of time to finish it up in the morning.
Our flight was at 6:15am so we needed to leave the house by 3:45am. At 3:20am, my mom came running into my room saying I needed to get up (she says it was the third time but...)! WHAT!?!? My alarm hadn't gone off!! I ran around the house quickly trying to get ready and get the car packed, etc.
Here's our luggage ready to go out:

We didn't leave until around 4:10am.. we were already 25 minutes late. About 10 minutes down the road, I realized I'd forgotten my cell phone so we had to turn around. I ran in the house to grab it, and as I was running out, my dad was yelling that we weren't going to make our flight! I drove as quickly but as safely as I possibly could. Here's what the drive looked like for the most part:

We dropped our car off at an Airport Parking/Shuttle business and took the shuttle to the airport. We were flying Southwest so we checked in, dropped off our bags and headed to Security. Luckily, we made it through Security pretty quickly. The Pittsburgh airport has only half switched to the full body scans so the left que still moves pretty fast. We used the bathroom, grabbed a bottle of water and made it to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding started . We used Early Bird Check-in so we were the 4th and 5th people to board. We sat in the exit row and off we went...
Here's the view out the window (you can't really tell but it was snowing):

I watched the sunrise and then closed my eyes to catch a little more sleep. It was a very uneventful flight, just the way I like it! We landed in Orlando around 8:45am and headed to Magical Express. There was NO ONE around. We didn't have to wait long before we headed outside to this:

I'm not entirely sure what's up with the new themed buses but I liked our Finding Nemo one! They loaded a few other families (all headed to Coronado Springs or Animal Kingdom Lodge) and we were off. We got to watch the fun Welcome video:

and before I knew it, we were passing through this:

Then, we arrived at Coronado Springs first!

Continued Next post

 

[Mickey_Mom]

I'm here!! Going back to read

 

[20thingamabobs]

We hopped off the bus and headed towards check-in. Here's the pretty, well I'm not sure what you would call them, Christmas arrangements hanging outside the entrance:

We headed inside to the registration area:

Isn't it so pretty, especially decorated for Christmas?
It was only around 9:45-10:00am at this time so I wasn't expecting our room to be ready but it was! I had requested a building close to the dining. Well, I probably should have been a little more specific. For those of you who haven't stayed at Coronado Springs, it's massive! We were assigned room 4150, which is in Casitas #4, first floor, back of the building. I would not consider this building to be "close" to the dining. It could have been worse though, the Ranchos are definitely a farther walk. I made a little map so you could get an idea of where we were:

It doesn't look too far here, but it was a descent walk, I didn't so much mind but my mom had some troubles. We did have a bus stop close by though so that was nice when coming back in the evening. I snapped a couple pictures as we walked:

and a view across the lake:

We opened the door to this:

This was our first time staying at Coronado but these newly refurbished rooms are beautiful.
We spent about 30 minutes unpacking and I decorated our window:

We freshened up a little bit and we were off to Downtown Disney to meet my Aunt and Grandpa! We walked over to the closest stop which was Bus Stop #2 which is actually the first stop along the loop. And we waited... and waited... and waited. My Aunt called to check if we landed and if everything was still set to meet at 11:15. I said we were just waiting for a bus and would hopefully be there shortly. Finally, after 30 minutes, a DTD bus showed. I hate to say it but this was the first bus we saw the entire time we were sitting there. Would it be a trend for the rest of the trip? I was sure hoping not. The bus ride to DTD is pretty quick from CSR and we met my Aunt and Grandpa outside Earl of Sandwich. I had randomly chose this place the night before while I was on the phone with my Aunt. I had read good things and was excited to try it for the first time! I ordered The All American sandwich which is roasted Turkey, cranberries, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and buttermilk Ranch:

and my mom ordered The Caprese which is sliced fresh mozzarella, roma tomatos, fresh basil and drizzled balsamic vinaigrette:

I'm pretty sure my Aunt got the same thing as my mom and and my Grandpa ordered the Chinese Chicken salad. They looked at me funny when I took pictures of my mom and I's food so I didn't ask to take pictures of theirs. All four of us really enjoyed our meal! The food was delicious and completely deserves all the good reviews it gets. I gave it 5 stars and placed at the top of my favorite Counter Service meals, we would definitely go again!

After lunch, we spent some time walking around DTD. We walked through TrenD, Disney's Pin Traders, Disney's Days of Christmas, and the World of Disney Store. We did make a few purchases in the WoD store but I'll post pictures later because I haven't uploaded them yet. At this point, my mom was needing a nap and my Aunt and Grandpa needed to start to head back. It was about 1:30-2:00pm. So we snapped a quick group picture:

said our goodbyes and headed out. We didn't have to wait too long for a bus. We got back to CSR and my mom laid down for an hour nap while I headed out to run 3 miles as part of my training for the Half Marathon. The loop around Lago Dorado is .75 miles so I just ran it 4 times. I really enjoyed my run, the resort is absolutely beautiful and it was nice to have a change of scenery! The only problem: it was HOT! There was a high of 87 degress that day and coming from Ohio, I was used to running in 40 degree weather at this point. Needless to say, I was feeling too well after. After my run, I headed in to grab a quick shower and sadly, ended up getting sick. The good news, I felt fine after so, I woke my mom up and we got ready to head over to the Magic Kingdom for our first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! We had reservations at 5:00pm at Crystal Palace. We headed to the bus stop around 3:45-4:00pm. And we waited... and waited... and waited...

Would me make it our reservation in time?

 

[20thingamabobs]

Yippee! I'm first. Can't wait to read about your trip. Heading over to read the PTR now.

Thanks for joining!

Looking forward to hearing all about your trip

Hi! Thanks for reading along!

I'm here!! Going back to read

Hello again! I can't wait to read your TR too! Our plans were so similar, it'll be fun to see how different our trips ended up being!

 

[KatMark]

Oh good...I found you. Now back to read.

****Okay, I'm caught up thus far. Love your pics of our home resort.

Sorry about the buses. I know that buses to and from DTD are the worse from every resort. But I was disappointed to hear that you had troubles with the buses to the parks. This seems to have been hit or miss the last two months at the CSR and I'm wondering why (we never use the buses, we drive everywhere to keep my sanity)--especially since this is NOT the norm for CSR buses.

I'm glad that you found CSR beautiful (I love just walking around the lake). I can't wait to hear about the party.

 

[jenseib]

I'm here!

 

[lexmas]

Wow you got a lot done already, I feel so behind! It's all so very beautiful decorated for Christmas!

Lunch looks amazing. I had the holiday sandwich when I was there, which was kind of like the All American Sandwich. It sounds great! Your moms sounds so yummy too...I think I will have to try it next trip!

I can't wait to hear all about the party! I hope this bad news bus stuff doesn't continue all trip. Although, based on your description of the trip, I wouldn't be surprised if it does!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Oh good...I found you. Now back to read.

****Okay, I'm caught up thus far. Love your pics of our home resort.

Sorry about the buses. I know that buses to and from DTD are the worse from every resort. But I was disappointed to hear that you had troubles with the buses to the parks. This seems to have been hit or miss the last two months at the CSR and I'm wondering why (we never use the buses, we drive everywhere to keep my sanity)--especially since this is NOT the norm for CSR buses.

I'm glad that you found CSR beautiful (I love just walking around the lake). I can't wait to hear about the party.

I'm glad you came over to my TR because the whole time I was there I kept thinking "I'll have to ask KatMark if this is usual for the busses" In the mornings it wasn't too bad but the evenings were horrible. Most resorts would have 2-3 busses before CSR had 1 and forget about taking a bus in the middle of the day.. they just didn't exist... I would definitely consider renting a car if I stayed at CSR again which is sad because we always stay onsite because we like Disney transportation. But, you'll see later that it wasn't just the busses...

I'm here!

Thanks for joining!

Wow you got a lot done already, I feel so behind! It's all so very beautiful decorated for Christmas!

Lunch looks amazing. I had the holiday sandwich when I was there, which was kind of like the All American Sandwich. It sounds great! Your moms sounds so yummy too...I think I will have to try it next trip!

I can't wait to hear all about the party! I hope this bad news bus stuff doesn't continue all trip. Although, based on your description of the trip, I wouldn't be surprised if it does!

Thanks for joining! We really enjoyed Earl of Sandwich and I would definitely give it a try if I were you! I know we'll be back. I'm very excited to talk about the party, and yes, unfortunately our trip was littered with a little bad luck all around...

 

[20thingamabobs]

I typed up a nice long update yesterday only to have it disappear.. let's try this again..

As we left off, we were sitting at the bus stop waiting to go to our 5:00pm dinner reservation at Crystal Palace and our first Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. First on the agenda was getting my mom a new autograph book because hers was full. We'd got to the bus stop at 3:45 and I thought this would be plenty of time... Well, we waited... and waited... and waited...
After about 35 minutes of waiting, a woman at the bus stop used the phone there to call and ask for an MK bus. After just under an hour of waiting, two MK busses showed up. It was not about 4:45 and by the time we made the loop around CSR, it was close to 5:00pm. We're already so late for our reservation. When we arrived at MK, I rushed in front of my mom to go get her a new autograph book before we met Piglet while she headed to check us in. We checked in around 5:30 and were seated around 5:40. Sorry, but by this time, I was so flustered that the only food picture I got was this:

The fruit and salad were very good. I also tried the Vegtable Pasta, mashed potatoes, and turkey. We typically avoid buffets for lunch/dinner but I thought the food was pretty good and I would definitely go again. Somewhere between the turkey and fruit, we got a visit from Eeyore:

We finished eating before any of the other characters made their way to us so we politely asked if Piglet could come say hi really fast. Because quite "frank"ly, he's a hard little pig to find. The CM kindly asked Piglet to make us his second stop rather than last in the rotation. We got his autograph, took a quick picture:

and we were on our way.

When I stepped outside, it was my first time seeing the castle lit up but sadly, there was no time to stop and enjoy it because we were headed to:

We didn't make it in line until close to 6:30pm and it was already pretty long. The Dwarfs came out sharply at 7:00pm and took a break around 7:30pm, we were about 3rd-4th in line when they came back. We got our picture (the Photopass one isn't as blurry) but no autographs here:

We said bye and headed towards Toontown. Turns out Mickey is quite the Holiday decorator:

We were planning to visit the Main Mice themselves but the line was pretty long so we diverted back to the Princesses. I was hoping to meet Snow White and Her Prince since Belle and the Beast do regular meet & greets at Epcot. We waited about 30 minutes before meeting:

Belle and the Beast

Aurora and Prince Philip

Cinderella and Prince Charming

On our way out, we asked the CM when Snow White would be out and she gave me the remaining two times. We headed back towards Mickey and Minnie. By this time, the parade/fireworks were getting ready to start so we only waited about 20 minutes:

Since Snow White was back out, we headed towards there again. I asked the CM if she thought we would make it in time... there was about 40 minutes left in Snow White's appearance time and the line said 15... so she obviously said yes. Well, After 40 minutes of waiting, I knew we weren't going to make it in while Snow White was still in there because we still had several parties in front of us and her time was up so we left.

We went over to Adventureland where we ran into two of my favorite Pirates:

Captain Hook

And Mr. Smee
I asked if they signed autographs but they made some weird gesture that I didn't understand and there was no CM with them to ask...

Our timing finally worked out when we made it to Agrabah though. Aladdin and Jasmine had 10 minutes left before Abu and Genie were coming out. I asked the CM if we got in line now, if they would be out before we got up there and she said yes so we lined up. We got to snap a quick shot of all four together:

Then there was one family in front of us before it was our turn to make a wish:

Now, it was time to make our way back over to meet Snow White.. well, hopefully.

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

On our way back to Toontown I finally got to snap a picture of the Castle:

Sorry it's blurry.. I have better ones but haven't uploaded them yet.
When we made it to the Princess area, the same CM was there. I told her we were back because we hadn't made it in last time and she was like "oh, I was wondering about you... Come with me." She then walked us around and took us in the exit of the Princess room. She looked at the CM and told her "these are the two I was telling you about". She placed us in line and the other CM told us to make sure we told Snow White this was our third attempt at meeting her. So, when it was our turn, we told Snow White hello and how much we wanted to meet her and she was soo nice. We got our autographs and picture:

before heading on our way. It was so nice and special of the CM to do that for us so we were sure to thank her again on our way out! As we were leaving Toontown, we checked out Minnie's house and she is quite the decorator as well:

Now, it was time to head to Frontierland. The goal was to meet the Country Bears and Toy Story characters. Well, the only bear we could find was Shaker and he was heading into the dance party so we followed. Let me tell you, that bear could move, like seriously, one of the best dancers ever!:

Now, the dance party is a little crazy, so don't count on getting an easy picture and autographs are a no. I knew we could meet Woody and Jessie some other time so I asked a CM if we could get a quick picture with Bullseye. This was easier said than done. My mom and I both almost got knowcked in the head with a hoof a couple times while Bullseye was dancing away unable to hear or see us until finally the CM got his attention and we snapped a quick pic:

then we made a run for it. On our way out, we stopped by one of the cookie and hot cocoa spots and found these two:

We'd met them before but the line was really short (only one family) and I thought the back drop was too cute.

As we left the party that night, I snapped a picture of Main Street and the Castle and the special lighting on the ground:

And to wrap up the night, we saw this really cute Photopass opportunity. I started to skip it thinking we could do it later in the week but then i remebered that they would be filming the parade and then bringing in the big Christmas tree so I didn't want to take any chances. This was a good call because we didn't see this spot again:

Sorry about the weird sizing and white background... I repost it when I get my Photopass CD.

Up next, Animal Kingdom, a Dis Meet, and was our luck taking a change for the better?

 

[Shannon84]

I am joining in to read along!!! I hope you dont mind me asking, but how do the busses work at Moderates...is there more than one stop within the resort itself? I have only stayed at Value resorts recently and there is just the one stop all together

I LOVE the dwarfs with their scarfs on how cute!! Snow White is sounding like one tough little lady to find...glad you finally got to meet her!

That is a great picture seated with all the Christmas decorations and the castle in the back...beautiful!

 

[20thingamabobs]

So, I realized I left out our Annual Pass ordeal. When I called reservations before my trip, they said after I checked in at my hotel, they would be able to upgrade our 7-day Park Hoppers to Annual Passes without it effecting our Free Dining Plan. Well after I checked in, I told the CM that we would like to upgrade and she said she couldn't do it that we would hae to go to Concierge. We went over to Concierge and told them we would like to upgrade and they said their computers weren't equipped to do that so we would have to go to a ticket counter at any of the theme parks. Well, we didn't have time before the Christmas party so we went at Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning... I'll pick up there when I start my next update

 

[2princesses2princes]

I'm here, I'm here. Sorry I am a little late jumping in. WOW what an awesome trip report. I am loving all the detail and pictures. Sorry to hear about 2 long waits for busses already, that's no fun, but sounds like there was some pixie dust involved in your meeting snow white. The pics are so beautiful.

 

[20thingamabobs]

I am joining in to read along!!! I hope you dont mind me asking, but how do the busses work at Moderates...is there more than one stop within the resort itself? I have only stayed at Value resorts recently and there is just the one stop all together

I LOVE the dwarfs with their scarfs on how cute!! Snow White is sounding like one tough little lady to find...glad you finally got to meet her!

That is a great picture seated with all the Christmas decorations and the castle in the back...beautiful!

It depends on the Moderate. It's been a while since I stayed at Caribbean Beach but it has about 7, but I'm not entirely sure if those are all main bus stops or some are just internal. Port Orleans-Riverside has 4 but occasionally stops at Port Orleans-French Quarter. Port Orleans-French Quarter only has one stop (but sometimes, though rarely, shares a bus with Riverside-typically only for DTD). Coronado Springs has 4 stops. To be honest, Coronado Springs is the only time I noticed the extra stops and the busses taking a long time. We've stayed at the Port Orleans resorts three times since 2007 and the bus service was great. The French Quarter is a great resort; I'm not a huge fan of its themeing but you really can't beat the size. It's a small resort, almost always has it's own bus stop that isn't far from any of the buildings. If I was going to stay at a moderate, this would be the one I would choose.

I didn't think we were ever going to meet Snow White, I was so thankful when the CM took us in the back!

Now, I'm heading over to your TR, I can't wait to hear about your Half Marathon. My b/f and I are running our first one in 2 1/2 weeks!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hey again! I just realized I didn't go back to comment earlier, so starting from your beginning.......

Hi Whitney and Whitney's Mom! So nice to see you again! Your plane dash would have left me a WRECK! You must have let out some pretty loud sighs when you finally sat in your seats! At least the flight itself was uneventful - whew!

I like the ME bus you got and what a great Welcome arch picture! Mine was really pitful. The CSR registration area looks really pretty and the rooms look incredible! Are those wooden sliding doors to the bathroom area? Seriously, I'd like to redo my master bedroom to look like that!

Your Mom's Caprese sandwich from EOS looks absolutely yummy!!

The CSR buses sound horrible.... I'm so sorry it rushed your meal at Crystal Palace but that was nice of the CM to redirect Piglet to you at least.

Yay you got to meet the Dwarfs!! That's coming up in my TR too and I'm so jealous you got to meet Snow White and her Prince! Ariana would have been in heaven

Bulleye is just too cute, we didn't get to meet him on our MVMCP night. If we go again at Christmas time, I'm seriously going to more than one MVMCP -- there's just sooo much to do!

Your AP woes sound very familiar and oh -- a DIS meet? Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?

 

[jenseib]

I can't beleive how many characters you have already met. How wonderful

 

[20thingamabobs]

I'm here, I'm here. Sorry I am a little late jumping in. WOW what an awesome trip report. I am loving all the detail and pictures. Sorry to hear about 2 long waits for busses already, that's no fun, but sounds like there was some pixie dust involved in your meeting snow white. The pics are so beautiful.

Hi! and Thanks for joining! Better late than never I always say! The busses were no fun at all... but we did get some pixie dust with Snow White. I hope you continue to enjoy my report!

Hey again! I just realized I didn't go back to comment earlier, so starting from your beginning.......

Hi Whitney and Whitney's Mom! So nice to see you again! Your plane dash would have left me a WRECK! You must have let out some pretty loud sighs when you finally sat in your seats! At least the flight itself was uneventful - whew!

I like the ME bus you got and what a great Welcome arch picture! Mine was really pitful. The CSR registration area looks really pretty and the rooms look incredible! Are those wooden sliding doors to the bathroom area? Seriously, I'd like to redo my master bedroom to look like that!

Your Mom's Caprese sandwich from EOS looks absolutely yummy!!

The CSR buses sound horrible.... I'm so sorry it rushed your meal at Crystal Palace but that was nice of the CM to redirect Piglet to you at least.

Yay you got to meet the Dwarfs!! That's coming up in my TR too and I'm so jealous you got to meet Snow White and her Prince! Ariana would have been in heaven

Bulleye is just too cute, we didn't get to meet him on our MVMCP night. If we go again at Christmas time, I'm seriously going to more than one MVMCP -- there's just sooo much to do!

Your AP woes sound very familiar and oh -- a DIS meet? Hmmm, I wonder who that could be?

Hello Again! it's nice to see you again too . I was very relieved to finally sit down on the plane. We were the first on the ME bus so I sat in the front seat so I could get a good pic of the welcome sign! CSR is a beautiful resort and the rooms are some of the nicest on Disney property. The sliding wooden doors were awesome in the morning since my mom got up about an hour before me to dry her hair, I could continue to sleep in peace. Snow White was a very difficult Princess to get a hold of so I was very excited when that very nice CM helped us out! I'm so glad we did two MVMCPs, one just wouldn't have been enough to get everything done. Between the two, we got to see everything we wanted and a few extras .

I can't beleive how many characters you have already met. How wonderful

We have met a lot already! We really got a lot accomplished at the party!