Nifty Fifty: The Great return of the Sauciers! - April 2022 TR

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Welcome Everyone!

Welcome to my latest trip report! And man does it feel good to have a trip to write about! This trip has been in the making. Like most folks, we waited awhile before heading to the airports. Our last trip was February 2020, right before the world shut down. So, it was a full 2 years since we had been to Disney. For us, that felt like an eternity.

What to expect from this trip report:

• Honest opinions on Genie + and LL
• Navigating food options for an 11 year old who still eats more like a kid than an adult.
• Going to Disney with a full blown teen!
• Split Stay with 2 resorts to review and how we liked them both
• How we celebrated a Andy turning 50
• Review of a Dessert Party
• And everything else!

So, who are we?

Myself (Ariella)
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I am the writer of these trip reports and the planner of the trips. Although, I will say after this trip, I will def be getting more input from everyone! Planning these trip is basically my hobby and it was nice to finally have a real trip happening!
Favorite Disney Food: Bread Service from Sanaa
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain

Andy
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This is Andy. Andy turned 50 on this trip and I did try and plan some fun items for this trip. Andy enjoys going to Disney but really lets me plan 80% of the stuff.
Favorite Disney Food: Iced Tea Moonshine from Homeomin' (that's a food, right?)
Favorite Ride: Rise of Resistance and Haunted Mansion

Morgan
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This is Morgan. Morgan was 13 on this trip and recently turned 14! I frequently try and make her still 12. But I am just in denial that she is a full blown teen now! Morgan loves Disney as well, but I think he love to doing nothing was a bit of a struggle this trip. She loves all things Marvel, Anime, and Star Wars.
Favorite Disney Food: Gaston's Cinnamon Rolls and Gideon Peanut Butter Crunch Cookie
Favorite Ride: Space Mountain and maybe Toy Story Mania

Gwen
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This is Gwen. She is currently 11, soon to be 12! She has grown up sooooo much since covid hit. And it was easy to see when comparing photos from our last trip to Disney to now.
Gwen love Disney as much at me. And we spent a lot of Covid watching AllEar.net on YouTube together. One of Gwen's goals this trip was to see at least one of the disney youtubers.
Favorite Disney Food: Num Num Cookies
Favorite Ride: Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway

When:
We went over the girls Spring Break - For better or worse, Morgan and Gwen are old enough now, where missing school is just going to get harder and harder. So, going over Spring Break seemed to make the most sense. So, we flew down Saturday morning April 15th and flew back Wednesday, April 27th. A full 12 days! (I added a few extra days since it had been so long since our last visit with the mouse)

Where:
We started our trip at Coronado Springs, this was Andy's pick. He really loves it there. And then we moved over to the Yacht Club for the last half. This is a family favorite of all of us!

Why:
We were all finally fully vaccinated and ready to travel again!

I hope you all follow along on our adventure back to Disney!!!

 

[starousse]

Following along

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Travel Day

We had a very early flight. We were victims to Southwest changing flights on what seemed like just about everyone. And our choices were either super early or 2 in the afternoon. And I was pretty cure we would have gone crazy if we waited till the afternoon to leave!

So, we woke up at 3:00 AM!

We were 99% packed already, so everyone just had to brush teeth, throw charges in our bags and we left the house at 3:45 AM.

We live in the greater Philadelphia area, and the philly airport recently closed it's long term parking. THANKfully, since we were leaving Easter weekend, I had already booked off site parking.

We arrived at the airport parking lot at 4:16 AM
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Don't they look excited?

This parking location, has shuttles that pick you up right at your car and bring you to your terminal. There was a handful of families waiting for the shuttle! A surprising amount for it being 4:30 in the morning! But we were on a shuttle to main terminal @ 4:27 AM
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And let me tell you..... THE Terminal to check in was a MADHOUSE! There was both Southwest and Frontier the same area. Apparently, Frontier was WAY backed up but Southwest wasn’t thankfully. Southwest was making announcements that their customers basically needed to cross the Frontier line to get to the check-in desks. Once you did that there was no line!

We checked our bags in no problem and headed up to security. And was met with the next MADHOUSE.... the Security line!

It was super long. Andy and I had TSA pre-check but it wasn’t on our tickets. And Morgan being 13 needed her own. Which we didn’t realize until the week before the trip. So, it was too late to fix that problem. It went down the overhead to the parking garage and back to the security. But it was moving pretty steadily. They weren’t having you take off shoes or take anything out of your bags, so that helped keep the line moving. We thankfully had plenty of time, so we just tried to be patient.

We finally at our gate at 5:47 AM. We grabbed aMuffin for Morgan and a pre-made egg sandwich for Gwen from a stand where there was no one waiting. Andy and I were going to grab coffee somewhere else but ended up running out of time.

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We really had just enough time to take turns using the bathroom and the girls to eat there breakfast.

We boarded the plane at 6:09 AM
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The mask mandate was still in effect on our way down. Which was fine by us. (well, Morgan complained about wearing one)

Flight was fine, nothing special happened.
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We landed with no issues and got on our first ride of the trip! The shuttle to the main airport IMG_0427
It was only 9:05 AM!

We booked a private car service it was Spring Break and I wasn't sure how easy or hard it would be to get an uber. And out of principle, I didn't want to use Mears... We booked Tiffany Car Service based on a friends recommendation.

Which, they called literally as we were coming down the escalator. Good Timing! The gentleman helped us collect our bags, and walked us to the car. Which I wasn't sure where it would be parked, but it was parked in the middle area. And it was SO EASY! It was great!

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The best sight to see!!!

We arrived at Coronado Springs at 9:50 AM.
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So, from the shuttle at 9:05, we were already on property at 9:50. It was pricey but if you want to get there fast, a private car is the way to go!

Our room wasn’t ready yet, obviously. So, we pulled out just what we wanted for the time being and checked our bags with Bell Services. Bell Services is all outside for Coronado. We wandered inside and then back outside to finally find it.

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The girls were ready to get this vacation started!

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We grabbed a quick photo on the way back out to find the bus stop.

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We found the bus stop, and I realized I left my mask in the suitcases that we just left with Bell Services. Thankfully I had a smushed up one at the bottom of my bag. And I found out too, that Disney was provided disposable ones as well, if you didn't have one once a bus arrived.

I also wanted to share our cheat sheet for the day.
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I used to make these to keep track of the fast passes we had, and just like having them for each day.

We didn't wait too long for a bus, we were on a bus to Disney Springs at 10:19 AM and arrived at Disney Springs at 10:41 AM

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We were taking in the sites and a nice person offered to take our photo. I look like a hot mess! Not sure what is happening with my hair here. But we were really just SUPER excited to be here AND starving.

We put our name on the list for Gideon’s first. Quoted us 60 minutes. Which was fine as we wanted to get lunch and do some shopping.

After we went into the Joffrey's right around the corner for an Iced Coffee for Andy and I to split. I don’t think we ever got coffee at the airport. Gwen posed with the giant donuts they have there.
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It was almost 11. So, we decided to rope drop lunch!

Here is a clue where we ate, can you guess where we ate lunch?
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Up Next Lunch!

 

[suse66]

Oh my gosh, am I first? So excited for all your adventures to come! Glad your travel day was so smooth!

 

[Hubie]

Following! Did you have lunch at Jock's?

 

[PAdisMOM]

Omg!!! I started to read this report and saw your girls and remembered that I’ve read your reports in the past!!! I totally recognized your daughters and couldn’t believe how grown up they lookI have 2 daughters but they are grown now so I love to read these reports and vicariously relive my kids’ childhood through them I have a 50th birthday trip coming up on June 4th so I look forward to the rest of your report!!

 

[MikeWsGirl]

Oh wow! That first picture of Gwen at the airport- where’s your child? It looks like both of the girls are so grown up. Did you spot any Youtubers?

 

[JenLovesMM]

So fun that you started this report! Great beginning so far, even with having to get up in the middle of the night. Both girls definitely growing up but wow the difference in height for Gwen! Can't wait to hear all about your trip

 

[Wayland10]

Following along! My kids are the same age, and I keep feeling like I blinked during the pandemic and they grew up!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along

Welcome!!! Thanks for following along!!!

Oh my gosh, am I first? So excited for all your adventures to come! Glad your travel day was so smooth!

Welcome!!! I am so glad you are here!

Following! Did you have lunch at Jock's?

Thanks for following along! And correct!

I totally recognized your daughters and couldn’t believe how grown up they look

Welcome!!! Thanks for following along!!! I sometimes forget how old they are! All of the pictures from this trip reminded me how much they have matured!

have a 50th birthday trip coming up on June 4th so I look forward to the rest of your report!!

I hope I can get to some of the fun things... I don't know if I will make it to our birthday day before June 4th! We did a bingo card of things, like getting a picture with a 50th Mickey topiary and meeting Mickey in his 50th outfit. And we also attempted to ride 50 rides / attractions for turning 50.

Oh wow! That first picture of Gwen at the airport- where’s your child?

Welcome! Thanks for following along! I am not sure where she went! She disappeared during Covid!

Did you spot any Youtubers?

You will just have to wait and see!

Both girls definitely growing up but wow the difference in height for Gwen

Welcome! Thanks for following along! Just wait, we did our annual photo and the height difference on Gwen is crazy!

My kids are the same age, and I keep feeling like I blinked during the pandemic and they grew up!

Welcome!!! Thanks for following along! It is SO true!!!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
Can’t wait to read more!
I can’t believe how much the girls have grown
I hope your trip was everything you were hoping for!!!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm here!

I'm trilled you got your report started.

Oh my, the girls have grown up so much. I do know what it's like to take pre-teens and teens to Disney. It gets much better after the teen years.

I spy Jock Lindsays.

Looking forward to more.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

YESSSSSSSSSSSS

Welcome!!! Thanks for following along!!!

Following!
Can’t wait to read more!

Thanks for following along.

I'm here!

YEAH!!!!!

Oh my, the girls have grown up so much. I do know what it's like to take pre-teens and teens to Disney. It gets much better after the teen years.

Def good to know! There were moments where I thought, I am not sure I want to go with a teen again... oye.

I spy Jock Lindsays.

Correct!!!!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Excited to hear about your trip!

 

[Jeepdisney]

Yay!! I’m so excited to hear about your trip! My goodness the girls have grown!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

I’m here and so excited to read about your trip. Hoping you managed to get most of your bingo card done and curious as to how many of your 50 rides for turning 50 you actually managed.
Great photos and a smooth travel day

 

[amazingact21]

Yay!!! I'm so excited to read about your trip. Cannot wait to follow along.

Glad the flight and traveling went well, even if it was ridiculously early and you weren't able to grab some caffeine beforehand.

Are you eating at Jock Lindsey's? Hooray for Gideon's, though! I'm assuming since it's listed under Morgan's favorite snack that you were successful in getting some treats.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Excited to hear about your trip!

Welcome!!! So glad you made it here!!!! I am excitied to finally share the trip!

Yay!! I’m so excited to hear about your trip! My goodness the girls have grown!

Thanks for following along! The girls really have gotten so big!

I’m here and so excited to read about your trip. Hoping you managed to get most of your bingo card done and curious as to how many of your 50 rides for turning 50 you actually managed

Welcome! I am so glad you are here! I won't say if we were able to do it or not but I will say Andy didn't think there was anyway we could get to 50.

Yay!!! I'm so excited to read about your trip. Cannot wait to follow along.

Welcome!!! I am so glad you are here!

Are you eating at Jock Lindsey's?

Correct!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Yay! I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

And, goodness, the girls got big! I know logically we're talking about two years, but still...