Sleepy and Grumpy visit Tatooine–A SWW TR! - The End - All done and Link to new TR

[franandaj]

Sleepy and Grumpy visit Tatooine – A SWW Trip Report!​

Welcome to my latest WDW Trip Report! We had a fabulous time on this trip, and I’m looking forward to sharing our adventures with folks! To give you some perspective our plane left California on Wednesday May 29 and we returned home June 5. Normally I start my trip reports much more promptly, but I still have one more update to post for my Southwestern Road Trip Report that we took at the beginning of May. Since that TR is mostly wrapped up and written, I decided that it was time to finally start this one live.

For those of you who don’t know us, let me introduce the cast of characters. As usual it is myself and spouse Fran. Here we are at a recent visit to Disney’s California Adventure riding TSMM



And again out at the Disneyland Hotel for Valentine’s Day.



And on a recent trip to the Pixar Studios.



We both love to travel and while we do spend a fair share of our income with Disney, we do have non-Disney travels as well. I’ve just wrapped up a Trip Report of our Southwestern Roadtrip which you can find here. Southwestern Road Trip Report

We also like to travel with our Car Club, who also throw fabulous parties and we have lots of other exciting plans in the works.



But let’s get back to the trip at hand. We had eight nights at WDW, our first night was added on at Coronado Springs when we couldn’t get a flight to arrive on the first day of our week long stay at the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

Some of the highlights include Star Wars Weekends, opening of the Seven Dwarves Mine Train the week before our arrival, and lots of new dining adventures! Plus there were a few DISmeets, some planned and some a surprise!

If you want to read all about the plans, here is a link to the PTR, I’ll warn you, there are a lot of off topic posts and tangents, but you’ll find all the plans in the PTR. I’m not going to repost them here, well because we sort of threw them out the window a bit and just went for it! Pre Trip Report

Now why the title? And I bet you’re wondering which one is Sleepy and which one is Grumpy. Well both and neither, at any given time during the trip we traded off and sometimes we both embodied them, but either way it seemed fitting for the trip that we had. So come along and join us and I’ll tell you the whole story.

 

[franandaj]

Day 1
Getting There

Day 2
Getting Started Part 1
Getting Started Part 2
Our First Park of the Trip
Our Fabulous Room
A Yummy Buffet
Hanging with the Stepsisters
A Glimpse at MSEP and the Castle Show
Fireworks and Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion and our Final FP+

Day 3
On our way to a galaxy far far away
Shopping and Breakfast
Rides at DHS
Darth's Mall Haul
Motorcade Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
VGF Resort Tour
More Resort and Dessert Party
Symphony in the Sky Fireworks

Day 4
Back on Tatooine Part 1
Back on Tatooine Part 2

Day 5
A Refreshing New Day Part 1
A Refreshing New Day Part 2
And the Heavens.....you decide!

Day 6
A brand new day
Trip plans, drinking around the world and a ride
A ride and a meet
Dinner and Goodbye

Day 7
Safari
The Rest of the Day

Day 8
The Last Day Begins
The Last Night, Seven Dwarves Mine Train
The Last Night, Be Our Guest, Part 1
The Last Night, Be Our Guest, Part 2
Electrical Parade
Fireworks and Electrical Parade

 

[franandaj]

So it came to the day where we had one more sleep before the trip....





or most normal people would have.

Our plane left at 6:30AM Wednesday morning from LAX which is about 45 minutes from our house “without traffic”. Those who have lived in LA understand exactly what that phrase means. It implies that in all normal circumstances you double the “without traffic” time at best, and at worst, it’s more of a “you never know” kind of situation.

To add in further lack of sleep, we play in a community concert band that rehearses Tuesday nights. The rehearsal gets out at 9:30PM and it’s in Hollywood. It takes us half an hour to get to Hollywood “without traffic”, so guess what? It takes us about an hour to get home, and with dropping off our friend Jim who rides with us, well, we rarely see our front door before 11PM.

So if you “do the math”. 6:30AM flight, arrive 2 hours in advance, time for travel to the airport put us at a 3:00-3:30AM departure from home. Backing it up to 11PM getting home from band, even with two suitcases and a scooter already in the car it would still take an hour or two to pack up the rest, and put it in the car. Now our window of sleep has been reduced to 1AM to 2:30AM. Add in the fact that I wanted a shower and something to eat before we left and there went the sleep time!

So now you have it Sleepy and Grumpy all rolled up into one cruising down the freeway. And this would not be the last time we would be channeling these two dwarves. It’s a good thing that we have our airport drop off down to a routine. I leave Fran, the scooters and the luggage at the curb. She finds a porter to check the bags and issue boarding passes, I flash my ID to prove I’m not a registered terrorist and then go park the car. I really don’t remember any of that. But since the car was where it was supposed to be when we got back and the house and car keys were in the armrest (love that keyless entry), I suppose everything went as planned.

The next thing I have a memory of was being on the plane. It was a really cushy plane, the seats had a buffer between the rows of seats so that whatever the person in front of you did with their seat didn’t affect your personal space. There was a big pocket in front to fit puzzles, lap tops or whatever you wanted.



And the seats almost fully reclined into a sleeping position.



They brought us something for breakfast, I believe that I had oatmeal and Fran had some kind of an omelet or quesadilla. I ordered a Bloody Mary, and put the seat in full recline. I got my first sleep in over 24 hours.

Almost like the hypersleep in Mission to Mars wears off, I woke up to our descent into DFW. We had checked our scooters through to Orlando so we were at the mercy of the gate helpers to get us to our connecting flight. We had a planned long layover (about 2 hours) and the guy driving us around on the golf cart figured that we had arranged for the layover in order to get a tour of the Dallas Ft. Worth airport, because he took us all over the airport dropping off all kinds of other people before taking us to our gate. I think we spent about an hour riding around on the stupid golf cart. Once we got to the gate we had very little time to wait before they were boarding.

This plane had normal seats which were not conducive to sleeping for me. I did have a couple glasses of wine which made doing my puzzles a little challenging given my tired brain. They served us some lunch which was pretty “meh”, but we ate it anyways.



The best part about flying American First Class is the cookies they serve you just before landing, although we didn’t get any cookies on the previous flight. Maybe we slept through them.



Once we were on the ground, we had to deal with my oversight. You see I was so excited when I received my envelope from DME that I neglected to see if there were any luggage tags enclosed. While we were in our frenzy of packing Fran had asked me where the tags for our suitcases were and I panicked. I looked through the recycling next to my chair/computer as it is only emptied every few weeks and found nothing, only the empty envelope from my return DME tickets. So off to baggage claim we went. I think that was a first in over 15 years.

Hauling our suitcases back to the DME bus we also put on these puppies.



Now we also had a set of these for our second resort stay. I have since learned that your MBs stay active until you deactivate them, so ladies be sure to order a full array of colors and bring them with every trip because you can match them to your outfits!



After arriving at DME we learned that we could have just left the suitcases, come directly to DME, let them know of my oversight and they would have retrieved the bags for us. Oh well, live and learn. Soon we were on our way on the Magical Bus! They have changed the video, and while I didn’t particularly love the previous video, I did find it a lot more engaging than the current video. This was just one big advertisement for MBs and FP+.

Coronado Springs was the first stop and we couldn’t wait to get off the bus! We were greeted by a Bellman who happily took our bags to hold until we finished dinner. Then we went off to Registration to Check in.



There was a short line, but we were checked in relatively quickly.



One of the CMs suggested that I take this pic. Cool.



We made our way to the Pepper Market and took some pictures along the way.











This restaurant was an interesting concept. You choose your food from various stations, they stamp your ticket for what you got, and then you pay for all of it on the way out. Here were the choices.











We ended up splitting a bowl of Broccoli Cheese Soup. It was very good.



And a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich.



We also got a cookie and a brownie to go. Boy were these rich and tasty!





Then we headed off on a trek to find our room!

 

[Leshaface]

Wow I can't believe I made it on the first page!!! Now that i'm done bragging, off to read!

 

[Leshaface]

Oh my gosh. How did you even manage going to your practice the night before, I have no idea. For me, I cancel all plans DAYS before our trip and here you guys are hours before your trip having band practice.

I did not know about re-using MB's. So if I really wanted to, could I reuse my last years MB in accordance with the new one I would receive?

That is a really cool hidden mickey pic at CSR. Never noticed that before.

I really like Pepper Market!

 

[jedijill]

I'm here! Going back to read.

Jill in CO

 

[rentayenta]

Here too.

 

[jedijill]

What a first day! I would be a zombie with no sleep like that....my 5:30 AM flight was bad enough!

Can't wait to hear more!

Jill in CO

 

[AJaquins]

I'm a long time lurker of your reports. I love that you got to go this year and I'm happy to be able to read another one of your reports. You and Fran do so many cool things and I can't wait to read more.

 

[rentayenta]

I start my trips sleepless as well. Welcome to my world. Definitely not the best way to begin a trip but hopefully you bounced back quickly.

Food looks yum! Love the magic bands. You must have a few. Are they reusable?

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Can't wait to read about it!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Jumping in the hyperdrive.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I'm here! As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, "I'll be back."

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm here! Must come back and read but wanted to see if I made the first page

 

[podsnel]

OOOH! New restaurants!! Can't wait!!!

 

[franandaj]

Oh my gosh. How did you even manage going to your practice the night before, I have no idea. For me, I cancel all plans DAYS before our trip and here you guys are hours before your trip having band practice.

I did not know about re-using MB's. So if I really wanted to, could I reuse my last years MB in accordance with the new one I would receive?

That is a really cool hidden mickey pic at CSR. Never noticed that before.

I really like Pepper Market!

I'm not sure how we managed to go to band and then take the trip. Normally we don't go, but politics in band have changed this year. Fran wants to keep her spot as section leader, so she wants to set a good example by not missing too many rehearsals. This was one of those times where there was some SERIOUS negotiation. She had to agree to be almost all the way packed before we could leave to go to band otherwise we weren't going.

Evidently as long as the bands show active in your MDE account you can still use them. This was my first trip with MBs that actually worked so I only have the two from this trip. I got one for my AP so that makes a third one. I'll get a fourth next April when we go again. DisYoda has a whole complement of MBs and she was the one who let me know you could reuse them.

Pepper Market was good. I didn't know that there was a hidden Mickey and I didn't even see it until later when I looked at the picture. I couldn't see it in the regular light, but it showed up great in the picture.

What a first day! I would be a zombie with no sleep like that....my 5:30 AM flight was bad enough!

Can't wait to hear more!

Jill in CO

Who's to say that we weren't zombies that first day! The Sleep Number people actually called while we were having dinner to schedule the disassembly/assembly of the bed and you should have seen the squirrels in my head trying to concentrate and figure that one out in that state!

I'm a long time lurker of your reports. I love that you got to go this year and I'm happy to be able to read another one of your reports. You and Fran do so many cool things and I can't wait to read more.

Thanks for coming out of lurkdom! We got to some really cool things on this trip, but we also did some really mundane things too. It will be a balance!

I start my trips sleepless as well. Welcome to my world. Definitely not the best way to begin a trip but hopefully you bounced back quickly.

Food looks yum! Love the magic bands. You must have a few. Are they reusable?

This is trip #2 with no sleep. I do NOT want this to become a pattern! As I said above I have three. The ones from the Coronado part of our stay unlocked our next room door when we stayed there, and I was able to use Fran's CSR MB to use her FP+ for the ones she didn't want to use. Kind of convenient.

Can't wait to read about it!

Thanks for coming over!

Jumping in the hyperdrive.

Glad you're on board!

I'm here! As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, "I'll be back."

Cool! I'll be waiting for your witty repartee!

I'm here! Must come back and read but wanted to see if I made the first page

you did!

OOOH! New restaurants!! Can't wait!!!

New for me! I think you've been to most of these already, but I got to add a few more to my list!

 

[dolphingirl47]

That was an intense start to the trip. I was whining because I was up about 24 hours at the beginning of our last trip. I think I would have collapsed in a heap after 36 hours with very minimal sleep.

Good to know about the Magic Bands. I really like my blue and pink ones from last trip. I think they may need to be packed next year.

I love the photos of Coronado Springs. I know that Graham has visited this resort before, but I have never been. This looks like it is right up my street.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

That was an intense start to the trip. I was whining because I was up about 24 hours at the beginning of our last trip. I think I would have collapsed in a heap after 36 hours with very minimal sleep.

Good to know about the Magic Bands. I really like my blue and pink ones from last trip. I think they may need to be packed next year.

I love the photos of Coronado Springs. I know that Graham has visited this resort before, but I have never been. This looks like it is right up my street.

Corinna

Yeah, I'll say it was intense and the worst part was that most of it was real life stuff. I can understand it taking a long time to fly across the pond and then with the delays you experienced, you definitely had the frazzled nerves. Me I just had to deal with life for like 16 hours and then the rest were trip related.

You just made me realize and went back and edited, I had only been up for 24+ hours when the plane took off. The 36 hours was when we got to the hotel room, not when we got on the plane.

I don't know which to order for next year, I like both Blue and Pink and I wear lots of both colors. I guess I'll have to decide once the trip gets closer. Pretty soon they will be issuing them for the cruise line too, I'm pretty sure that's where they are headed.

I'll have more pictures of CSR in the next update.

 

[franandaj]

So we started on our way back to the room, but Fran couldn’t resist a turn in the gift shop, Panchito’s. Fran fancied a soft drink for the room, but we traversed the entire shop and I believe she bought the shot glass. If they had one that said “Coronado Springs” specifically.



Then we started on the road to our room.



I believe that we did see some lizards on the way, but I don’t think they made it into our count, yet. Our room was in the Ranchos section. I think that it was the farthest we could have possibly been from the lobby. I didn’t put in any requests, so what could I expect. By this time all we wanted was to get to our room.

Here it is.















It was clean and it had beds and a bathroom. That was about all that we needed. The Bellman brought our luggage and we got settled. Fran fell right asleep. Me not so much. I watched Jimmy Kimmel on the TV, took a bath and still couldn’t fall asleep. Somewhere in there, sleep did hit me for a few hours but by around 6AM I was awake again.

I got Fran up and convinced her that we should go get breakfast and get the day started. I took some pictures of the area around our room while she waited for the Bellman.



If we had been staying longer, there was a laundry facility right here.



And a quiet pool.



Looking down at our building. The room was right in the middle of the first floor. Our room was just to the right of the walkway.



While we didn’t hate the resort, we weren’t as impressed with it as it looked a lot like home. I mean not “our” house, but palm trees and rock sculptures in the yard are fairly common as they are water saving and many people have converted their yards to look like this with city incentives to save water.







Once our bags were picked up and happily on their way to the Grand Floridian, we headed back to the Pepper Market.

It is a very pretty resort.









However, I wanted to see something that is iconic for this resort.



The main feature pool. Practically all the pictures of this resort that you find online are of this pool. I wanted to see what it really looked like. It was cool, but I’m not going to cry that I didn’t go to it. But I have my own picture now!



We headed back out to the main path and back to the main building.





[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

We encountered Donald, Jose and Panchito along the way.



Back inside they had changed the signs over for breakfast fare.











We went with an Adult plate of Mickey Waffles and Bacon (which I thought tasted just fine, not sure what the complaint is with WDW bacon).



And Biscuits and Gravy with Sausage and Potatoes. We split both plates and totally got the best of both worlds. Sausage and Bacon, Waffles, potatoes and biscuits with yummy gravy!



We were definitely stuffed after breakfast and ready to move on to our next activity. What would that be?