New Report-Just Returned! Summary

[Canbarker]

We just returned yesterday and what a great time we had! All of the tips on the boards prior to us leaving made the trip so much more pleasurable. I took the advice of many on the boards based on their experience. My husband continured to tell me throughout the trip what a great job I did. I gave credit to the boards but that was too techy for him!

We never encountered any rushing around in the parks or throughout the day. Our dollars spent were minimal and we bought our DD something each day. In fact when we left we did so with credits left on our dining plan. We are beginning to plan our next vacation for next year and this time we are planning on staying 10 days. We want a little more down time. Although we did make time for that each day.

When DH and I planned this trip we promised ourselves this is for our DD not us. So if she tires out we were not going to push her into seeing just one more attraction. We would follow her lead and it worked. Touring with a happy child is much easier than touring with a child crabby from not napping! Only once did my DH have a meltdown after waiting 45 minutes to meet Sully from Monsters, Inc. We were first to go up and because I went to find someone to explain the delay I was not there for the pic. She refused to meet them without me. I watched the video last night with the family and you could here my DH trying to get her to go up there and finally giving up and telling her " that is it....you're done" etc. But..the next couple of frames in the video show me going with her back to meet Sully. Moral of the story...she was tired and crabby.....worked herself into a big cry....fell asleep in the stroller...husband had to apologize to all of us for him not remaining in control....but when she awoke we went back and she was all smiles when she met them!

Although we had the dining plan, many times we paid out of our pocket for her meals. She is not the best of eaters under normal conditions so I didn't expect her to eat any better with all of the excitement and heat. Therefore we did not force her. I am a firm believer in when the hunger pains start ...she will eat! I would pay for a child's meal and save the dining credit. The dining plan was awesome and I would always purchase this. I was hesitant to buy this in the beginning as I didn't want to be limited to what I could eat. But I soon found out I was not limited. The dining plan is welcomed almost everywhere.

We brought 4 bottles of water with us and would continually refrigerate more everytime we went back to our room. You can purchase a bottle of water with your snack credits it but we only did this at the end so we could use some of our credits. I did pack the small packages of Cheese Its, Goldfish and fruit snacks in our luggage and brought some with us each day we left for the park. I brought a great deal of those home with me. We used snacks for icecream and popcorn which she loved.

We packed ponchos for the rain purchased at home from the dollar store. We brought 9 with us which would allow us to throw any away that we used. We only used 3 the entire week.

I brought with us Tinker Bell gifts from the Disney Store back home. Each night my husband or I would place a tiny gift under her pillow. She loved this. It helped her get up in the morning and kept her busy the first part of the day and not wanting to buy everything in site.

Our days began very early (we were up by 6) and ended by 11 or 12. We had down time each day by the pool or in our room. Then we would catch the bus and go to the park we had planned. I am glad I did plan what parks we would go to each day and I after researching All Ears and these boards I knew what rides/attractions I wanted to see. I did not take the recommendation of those more experienced on the boards regarding Epcot's attraction HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE. DD, age 5, is much to young for this. She was scared. So for those of you like me, thinking how scary can it be? For a 5 year old it can be! After that we had to beg her to go and see Mickey's Philharmonic as she was afraid she would encounter snakes and very large cats! Lesson learned.

Day 1-Arrival Coronado Springs Resort and Epcot. To be continued.

 

[pumba]

what a good plan you had and followed thru with. We are pooped sometimes in the pm and wonder how some of these little kids do it. thanks for your info on the dining plan too.....sounds fantastic too...

 

[Canbarker]

After all of the planning we were finally on our way. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time. I have one very small problem. I smoke. Well...I told my family as of the day we would leave for WDW I would stop. Prior to my family waking up that morning, I slithered out of the house, down to the gas station and bought a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. You know..just in case. I placed them in my carry on with no one to be the wiser. Until, I entered the security check at the airport. I was not aware that you can't bring cigarette lighters on airplanes anymore. I was stopped and as loud as they could the person scanning the bags announced I had a cigarette lighter. I tried to no avail for them to quitely scold me as I didn't want my DH or DD to hear. Caught. They asked my husband and daughter to stand aside while they checked my bag. The next thing I knew they told me to stand aside as they had put my bag on some kind of computer scanner and informed me my bag tested positive for explosives! I could not believe this. The brought a female officer in to frisk me while others searched my bag and search they did. My DD was asking if I was going to jail...and my DH had such disgust on his face that I tried to avoid him entirely. After about 20 minutes they let me go on with my family trip to Disney! (I later realized that in my bag, in one of the pockets I had two lighters that my college aged daughter must have had in the bag when she borrowed it). However what concerned me more is that they didn't find them. In any event, my not smoking was blown, my DH was not happy and DD may be scarred for life!

After that the trip to FL was really uneventful. The flight was on time and we were at our hotel (CSR) within 1 hour of landing with the help of Magical Express. Our room was ready so we were able to go directly there and our luggas arrived by 3. We decided to swim and leave for Epcot later in the day for our ADR dinner at Le Cellier to celebrate our anniversary.

The food at Le Cellier was excellent. I had read on the boards the Cheese soup was the best. Although I thought it was good, I wouldn't say it was the best I have ever had. The steaks were excellent and the server was very good and helpful. Don't pass up the desserts and do pass on the cheese appetizer tray if you are looking for a more tradiional cheese tray.

At the pool, we purchased our hotel refillable mugs for the week and did some reading to understand the shuttles and hotel information. We left for Epcot 2 hours prior to our resevation not sure how long it would take. The shuttle took about 1/2 hour from start to finish. It was fabulous. Upon entering Epcot we purchased our stroller rental for the week and began our tour of Epcot. We were able to ride Spaceship Earth immediately as there were no lines at that time of day. We then went to dinner at Le Cellier and had about a 5 minute wait for our table. Instead of using 3 dining credits, we used 2 for DH and myself and ordered a child's meal for DD. Dinner at Le Cellier was wonderful. Once done we wandered into the United Kingdom and listened to a wonderful British band perfoming all of the Beatles hits. I wish we would have done more of that during the week. Mental note for next time, find out the time of the local performers and take advantage of it. The entertainment was great and the break was good for the entire family. After that we walked a few feet back to the water where we secured an excellent spot to view Illuminations. That was a wonderful show. We did not know it yet but we had in our opinion the best spot to view as the next day we watched it again from the other side (I believe near Japan) and we did not feel you got the full effect of the show.
We walked back to the shuttle and we were back to our hotel by 10:30 in time to take our DD to the arcade and off to bed so that we could be up early for the next day's ADR in Norway for breakfast at Aukerhaus.

 

[TLinden16]

Oh my gosh, that must have been a horrible experience at the airport. I hope that you are doing well with the no smoking Brave of you to start on the day your vacation started.

I'm a big fan of Le Cellier, and the cheddar cheese soup. I find the steaks a bit hit or miss (usually more hit than miss).

Thanks for posting.

 

[mousebit]

Enjoying your report so far! I completely understand your airport dilemna. I always set the alarm off because I have a surgical steel knee replacement. Once, when traveling alone to WDW with my then 9 year old granddaughter, they did the whole isolate and search thing. They tried to move her to an area where I could not see her until I firmly protested. So, they gave in and let her stand just outside a little glass booth while they searched and patted me down. She was terrified! I don't mind, in fact I even appreciate the extra security precautions. I just think they could be just as thorough if they were a little more discrete, especially when children are involved.
But, even after a nerve-racking start, we went on to have a wonderful trip! Hope you did too!

 

[cdntourguide]

Great Report.
the chemical sniffing machine is a pain, I have to go through it everytime I get to the airport. I live in a farming community and there is probably fertilizer flying in the air everywhere: the machine picks up the nitrates from the fertilizer.
Waiting for your next installment.

 

[Hanover]

Nice job on the trip report. We will be staying at CSR in December so I'm interested to read your opinion on the resort.

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for sharing. You really had a great plan. I can't believe you went to bed at midnite and were back up by 6.

 

[Canbarker]

Well, with the first night under our belts we awoke by 6 to be at the shuttle by 7 as I we had the first seating for breakfast. It was wonderful walking through Epcot early in the morning. We took advantage of prime spots for picture taking as there were only a few people in the park. We walked over to Norway and and waited with a few others until the host arrived and began checking us in. It really didn't matter if you arrived first or third as after you gave your name they would call your party to enter. There seemed to be no order of first come first serve. You enter the building and immediately are brought to a princess who will pose with your children while you and professional photographer takes pictures. It takes my DD a little time to warm up so for me I wish we could have done this a little later as she was very distant. Once finished you are brought to your table and served beverages along with awesome cinnamon buns and then your breakfast. The food was very good and the server was excellent. Along with apperances of several princesses, Snow White & Mary Poppins was there. My DD was so excited to see Snow White that when she came to our table and took a pic and signed her autograph book, Mia started to cry tears of happiness. Those tears were worth every penny spent on this trip. Just to see the innocence of believing in something so simple made her so happy. Shortly after that though, DD was trying to see Snow White and tipped the chair backwards. She ended up on the carpet nose first with all four of the chair legs up! So much for tears of happiness...now we had different type of tears! Not to worry..she was fine (she actually does this quite often) you would think she would figure it out. My husband was running through the digital to view the pics of DD with Snow White and wouldn't you know he took a great pic of the bottom of SW's dress with DD breakfast to the left of her! Of course I said nothing as I was still treading on this ice after the smoking fiasco at the airport! I asked if SW could possibly return the table for a pic but understood if she could'n't. About 10 minutes later Snow White appeared and took another pic with her and spent a couple of minutes. Needless to say, I felt the staff and SW was more than gracious to do this for us.
The professional photographer brought over the pics which if I remember correctly were about $31 for one large pic and 4 smaller ones. You are not obligated to buy them and since my daughter was not smiling at all, I did not purchase them. When we arrived home, our digital actually caught the same shot so I have no remorse at not purchasing them.

After breakfast we found a spot at the Mexican restaurant to sit and look over our Epcot map and decide where we would go. Our first stop was Honey I shrunk the Audience as there was no line. I would not recommend taking a small child there. As I stated in a previous post, small children are scared. However for those older it was very good. We then walked to Soarin and fast passed that. We then went to see the interactive with Crush from Nemo. This was very good and the line about 40 minutes or so. Mia loved it! If your child is more outgoing, sitting up front offers them the possibilty of participating. We took some time afterward and went upstairs and viewed the aquarium and then walked back to Soarin. Mia loved this! I on the other hand am afraid of heights so for me it was a bit nerve racking. It really is a must see, but if you are afraid of heights I did feel a bit sick at certain parts. I think this was payback for the Honey I Shrunk the Audience attraction. By now it was almost noon and we were going to go back to the hotel but we saw they had a on hands baking class for children located on the lower level adjacent to the food court. This is sponsored by Tollhouse and the kids bake Choc. Chip Cookes. They only allow 18 at a time so I would suggest getting there 15-30 prior to each show. They give the little ones Chef hats with there name on it and each child helps make the choc chip cookies. The dough is put in to the "Magic Oven" and whala...Choc Chip Cookies are baked. They children leave with two cookies a piece. She really enjoyed this. Once done we returned our stroller and went back to the hotel for rest. By this time it was almost 2-2:30 in the afternoon. DD & DH slept for about an hour and I stayed by the pool. We returned to the park around 6:30 and began touring the World Showcase. This is one place I would like to spend more time next year. Mia is a bit too young for the pin trading, but I loved Germany and really would have liked to spend time in more countries. We did have a brat in Germany with Saurkraut and it was great. We then walked toward Japan and here is where we watched Illuminations for the second night. From here you are viewing at a much closer distance and you just don't seem to get the full affect of the show. After the show, we leisurely walked back to the exit of the park and found our shuttle and returned to our hotel.

Next Day 3-MGM & Magic Kingdom. To be continued.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.