fizz13
<font color=33cc99>Dreams about being stuck on Spa
- Joined
- May 6, 2004
- Messages
- 5,791
I just finished doing an abbreviated report in my pre-trippie for August so thought I would post it here as I don't know if I ever did, and for those planning it might be useful:
The dates were 21st to 29th October, and it was booked about 13 months before, which meant I had lots of time to plan and re-plan It started out innocently enough, it was to be my first big girl solo trip to the "world", i was feeling confident and ready to go. Then I started to get cold feet about the whole thing. I had booked for half term holidays in England so that meant my children were out of school. My first brainwave was to bring my DD7 with me, she was quite a mature little girl (7 going on 16 actually) and i thought we would have a wonderful time together, she is all about fine dining and thrill rides, we are a good match. the booking was now for 2.
Fast forward to Xmas 2005, and we had a party at our house. i like to try and do open house the week between Xmas and new years. A lot of people take that week off and its good to catch up. DD's best friend from school came over with her mom, who is raising molly on her own. She was always fascinated by my WDW fascination and i mentioned that i was taking the trip with Cara. She hinted that it had always been an ambition of hers to take Molly to WDW but didn't feel confident to do it alone. we signed them up. cast count is now 4.
Fast forward to may 2006 and DS5, dean, is feeling a bit put out. he loves loves WDW and completely gets the magic. he adore all the characters, rides, and he did not want to miss out. I did my calculations and figured I would just about have enough money to make it work. cara was compensated with the fact the her best friend was coming so she really couldn't complain too much. cast count is now 5
Finallt, fast forward to late may 2006 and my grandfather is feeling put out. Apparently he would like to see his great grandchildren enjoying the mouse and as its not really a girls holiday with dean coming, he would like to come too. i was very apprehensive about including him, as he is a lot slower than he used to be, has no patience for anything and has a way of undermining me with the children. Of course i relented as if anybody desreves to come with me it is him. he is the one who took me to WDW first, he is the one that has always understood my addiction, he is the one who has been supportive my whole life without questioning and criticising, he is just too important to my life to turn him down. Of course he is coming. cast count 6
So there you have it, not exactly a solo trip huh? we had the dates, the hotel was set to Coronado springs, 3 seperate rooms so plenty of space for all, I bought all our park tickets and MNSSHP tickets and we were set.
__________________
TRANSPORT AND TRAVEL
So we flew direct with Virgin Atlantic, no delays thank goodness, really enjoyed catching up on my movies although I'm another person who tortures themselves with the little plane travelling at 0 miles per hour screen, the one where you track progress, aahhh why do i do it? Meanwhile grandad was enjoying his business class seat at the front It seemed like a long flight, although Dean didn't seem too bored
their first real ride of the trip:
We used Sunray transportation who were stars, no complaints there, very helpful, courteous, punctual etc.
CORONADO SPRINGS
Now i didn't love CSR as soon as i got here, and I'll tell you why: it wasn't the Polynesian i had a feeling I was gonna feel like this but as time went on it really grew on me. Everybody was very friendly despite what i had heard about the Pepper market staff, i didn't encounter any abrupt CMs, the only funny one was a very sweet little lady who was in charge of the bakery section, she took her job very seriously! however she was such a petite lady she couldn't actually reach all the baked goods, but no way was she going to let us help her, bless her heart. i loved the Pepper market food, and there was so much choice for everybody. I could eat as much mexican as i liked while the kids had their own section. It was a bit of a problem all sitting to eat together though as i had to queue here, then somewhere else. Btw, portions were huge, i don't think i finshed a whole meal all week here.
The rooms:
Our first night at CSR
the entertainment unit, good size draws, plenty of room for 3 of us
the bathroom obviously
Now I only had one adult and 2 kids in the room and we had just enough space. i thought the beds were a little small and i think with 2 adults in the bed you might be fighting for space a little bit so be warned. Of course it could be that I am too much of a stretcher
THE POOL:
Ok my kids thought this was awesome. The pool was plenty big enough and the water slide was fantastic for them, heck i even had a go. the hot tub was incredibly hot so please please do not get in too fast, I fear you may pass out! bar staff were a little slow but I guess when i want that cocktail i want it now. Oh yeah, one CM seemed to resent me coming to fill my mug too many times, I can't imagine how strenuous it must be to turn around and fill a mug! the play area was very cute, and plenty of equipment and sand, very well done.
Looking toward the bar.
Oh yeah, check in!! This took a little longer than i would have liked but it wasn't actually CSR's fault, it was Virgin Holidays. Firstly they didn't have enough nights on my booking, then they couldn't see the dining plan on my friends booking (which never got sorted actually and friend had to get a refund from Virgin when she got home ) so we stood there for a good 20 minutes trying to sort it all out, by which time my grandfather was having a little paddy at them, the man has no patience for anything. the redeeming point was that they honoured my room requests of cabanas 9B, which is closest to El Centro and main bus stop. I did this by getting my disney booking number from Virgin holidays and ringing about 10 days before we got there, it worked!!
__________________
So heres a little of what we got up to:
donalds Breakfastasaurus for 8am before park opening, it worked really well to get in the park before it opened, the kids had first dibs on the rides in Dinoland and cara tried Primeval Whirl for the first time, Dinosaur was not a hit, lets say, and for poor molly it put her off for the rest of the week, she was very cautious about what she rode from then on. Everest was totally awesome as usual, and the kids loved this, molly opted out.
Dean is a character fiend and made sure he met as many as possible, they were everywhere at AK.
Molly found something more to her liking:
Don't discount rafikis planet watch, the kids were fascinated by the things on display.
Some other shots;
THE DIS MEET
This was wonderful, it was a uk meet like never before, and it was bizarre how many of us were there at the same time. And of course i got to meet the legendary man that is Nathan Rose, from disney podcast fame.
The dates were 21st to 29th October, and it was booked about 13 months before, which meant I had lots of time to plan and re-plan It started out innocently enough, it was to be my first big girl solo trip to the "world", i was feeling confident and ready to go. Then I started to get cold feet about the whole thing. I had booked for half term holidays in England so that meant my children were out of school. My first brainwave was to bring my DD7 with me, she was quite a mature little girl (7 going on 16 actually) and i thought we would have a wonderful time together, she is all about fine dining and thrill rides, we are a good match. the booking was now for 2.
Fast forward to Xmas 2005, and we had a party at our house. i like to try and do open house the week between Xmas and new years. A lot of people take that week off and its good to catch up. DD's best friend from school came over with her mom, who is raising molly on her own. She was always fascinated by my WDW fascination and i mentioned that i was taking the trip with Cara. She hinted that it had always been an ambition of hers to take Molly to WDW but didn't feel confident to do it alone. we signed them up. cast count is now 4.
Fast forward to may 2006 and DS5, dean, is feeling a bit put out. he loves loves WDW and completely gets the magic. he adore all the characters, rides, and he did not want to miss out. I did my calculations and figured I would just about have enough money to make it work. cara was compensated with the fact the her best friend was coming so she really couldn't complain too much. cast count is now 5
Finallt, fast forward to late may 2006 and my grandfather is feeling put out. Apparently he would like to see his great grandchildren enjoying the mouse and as its not really a girls holiday with dean coming, he would like to come too. i was very apprehensive about including him, as he is a lot slower than he used to be, has no patience for anything and has a way of undermining me with the children. Of course i relented as if anybody desreves to come with me it is him. he is the one who took me to WDW first, he is the one that has always understood my addiction, he is the one who has been supportive my whole life without questioning and criticising, he is just too important to my life to turn him down. Of course he is coming. cast count 6
So there you have it, not exactly a solo trip huh? we had the dates, the hotel was set to Coronado springs, 3 seperate rooms so plenty of space for all, I bought all our park tickets and MNSSHP tickets and we were set.
__________________
TRANSPORT AND TRAVEL
So we flew direct with Virgin Atlantic, no delays thank goodness, really enjoyed catching up on my movies although I'm another person who tortures themselves with the little plane travelling at 0 miles per hour screen, the one where you track progress, aahhh why do i do it? Meanwhile grandad was enjoying his business class seat at the front It seemed like a long flight, although Dean didn't seem too bored
their first real ride of the trip:
We used Sunray transportation who were stars, no complaints there, very helpful, courteous, punctual etc.
CORONADO SPRINGS
Now i didn't love CSR as soon as i got here, and I'll tell you why: it wasn't the Polynesian i had a feeling I was gonna feel like this but as time went on it really grew on me. Everybody was very friendly despite what i had heard about the Pepper market staff, i didn't encounter any abrupt CMs, the only funny one was a very sweet little lady who was in charge of the bakery section, she took her job very seriously! however she was such a petite lady she couldn't actually reach all the baked goods, but no way was she going to let us help her, bless her heart. i loved the Pepper market food, and there was so much choice for everybody. I could eat as much mexican as i liked while the kids had their own section. It was a bit of a problem all sitting to eat together though as i had to queue here, then somewhere else. Btw, portions were huge, i don't think i finshed a whole meal all week here.
The rooms:
Our first night at CSR
the entertainment unit, good size draws, plenty of room for 3 of us
the bathroom obviously
Now I only had one adult and 2 kids in the room and we had just enough space. i thought the beds were a little small and i think with 2 adults in the bed you might be fighting for space a little bit so be warned. Of course it could be that I am too much of a stretcher
THE POOL:
Ok my kids thought this was awesome. The pool was plenty big enough and the water slide was fantastic for them, heck i even had a go. the hot tub was incredibly hot so please please do not get in too fast, I fear you may pass out! bar staff were a little slow but I guess when i want that cocktail i want it now. Oh yeah, one CM seemed to resent me coming to fill my mug too many times, I can't imagine how strenuous it must be to turn around and fill a mug! the play area was very cute, and plenty of equipment and sand, very well done.
Looking toward the bar.
Oh yeah, check in!! This took a little longer than i would have liked but it wasn't actually CSR's fault, it was Virgin Holidays. Firstly they didn't have enough nights on my booking, then they couldn't see the dining plan on my friends booking (which never got sorted actually and friend had to get a refund from Virgin when she got home ) so we stood there for a good 20 minutes trying to sort it all out, by which time my grandfather was having a little paddy at them, the man has no patience for anything. the redeeming point was that they honoured my room requests of cabanas 9B, which is closest to El Centro and main bus stop. I did this by getting my disney booking number from Virgin holidays and ringing about 10 days before we got there, it worked!!
__________________
So heres a little of what we got up to:
donalds Breakfastasaurus for 8am before park opening, it worked really well to get in the park before it opened, the kids had first dibs on the rides in Dinoland and cara tried Primeval Whirl for the first time, Dinosaur was not a hit, lets say, and for poor molly it put her off for the rest of the week, she was very cautious about what she rode from then on. Everest was totally awesome as usual, and the kids loved this, molly opted out.
Dean is a character fiend and made sure he met as many as possible, they were everywhere at AK.
Molly found something more to her liking:
Don't discount rafikis planet watch, the kids were fascinated by the things on display.
Some other shots;
THE DIS MEET
This was wonderful, it was a uk meet like never before, and it was bizarre how many of us were there at the same time. And of course i got to meet the legendary man that is Nathan Rose, from disney podcast fame.
The way I've done it is to include her in planning, like what restaurants she may want to eat at when shes there, and what rides go on the schedule, so it will be her trip too, she doesn't know when. I think she'll be a happy bunny
but healthy and safe. He will still need a lot of care for the next 6 moths but he is on the right road. Thank you for asking
