Some pixie dust, some magic, and our dreams came true! Sept 20-27 W/Pics *COMPLETED*

[GraceLuvsWDW]

CHAPTER ONE

My dream started sixteen months ago when I booked a one week trip to WDW for my four year old daughter and myself. I had been counting the days since she was born to take her to the most magical place on Earth. To me, Disney represents the happy family. Taking a trip to Disney with the ones you love is a magical experience and I want my daughter to remember these magical times and grow up to take her children there someday. It just so happens that Grace is not as interested in fairytales, princesses, and Disney make-believe as I am. She is more of a “how does it work?” analytical minded four year old with a highly spirited disposition. Keep this in mind as I review and remember our experiences, it accounts for some humorous and some frustrating moments. My friend decided to join us with her four year old daughter, and so it became the four of us excitedly anticipating our trip.


I spent all of my spare time before the trip reading WDW travel books, subscribing to websites and message boards. I am a super organizer and planner and my OCD went into overdrive planning this trip. I created a spreadsheet which calculated my Dining Plan credits and planned each day based on various sources of recommended touring advice. I worked, re-worked, and re-re-worked our ADR’s until I came to what I considered the best Trip Plan I could imagine:

Sept 20 Arrive Coronado Springs for 3 nights with free dining
Sept 21 breakfast at Cape May Café, EPCOT, naps, MNSSHP
Sept 22 Lunch at Chef Mickey’s, MK, Spectromagic
Sept 23 Check out of CSR, check into Old Key West 1BR on rented points & dining plan, Disney MGM, Play n Dine at Hollywood & Vine, 50’s Prime Time, Fantasmic
Sept 24 EPCOT, Akershus Storybook Lunch, naps & pool, Illuminations
Sept 25 Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express
Sept 26 MK, Dreams Come True Parade
Sept 27 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Cinderella’s Royal Table breakfast, MK, Whispering Canyon Café

and then came the w a i t i n g for the trip to arrive.

In the meanwhile I bought rain ponchos, pins for trading, submitted postcard entries to the YOMD giveaway (we won a pin set), bought water bottles, new shoes, new bag (a Baggalini), new camera, and all the things recommended for a trip to Disney. I read trip report after trip report. I read dining review after dining review. I laminated. I couldn’t sleep at night. Finally I packed. And finally the day arrived, we were leaving!

**Disclaimer: This trip report is our experience. I won’t use nicknames because, well, we were all goofy, sleepy, grumpy, dopey, etc. at times in the trip. This was our experience, it may not be like your experience but I am going to write the true low down of our opinions and experiences, please don’t flame me if you don’t agree. I just wanted to write a report so you could relive the experience we had (which is what I like to do with a trip report), despite the fact that it may contradict some things I have heard or learned on these boards.**




DAY ONE-Thursday September 20th

Traci and Tatum arrived at 1:30 and we went to pick up Grace at school. We woke her up at nap time and said “it’s time to go to Disney!”

My mom agreed to take us to the airport so she picked us up at 2pm.

We arrived at the airport uneventfully and checked our bags curbside. We settled in at the gate and let the girls watch the DVD player until it was time to board.

I called Coronado Springs to let them know we were checking in late and tried to get a room assignment over the phone. My reservation, made through Disney Travel Company, requested Cabanas, close to Food Court. However, the man on the phone, who put me on hold several times, stated he couldn’t put us in the cabanas, all they had left at that time (3pm) was Casitas. Oh well, I said and hung up. Not a good start but we’d make do with what we got. Hey, we were going to Disney and nothing could get us down!
The first leg of our trip was to Dallas and it was a short flight. Once in Dallas, we grabbed a bite and checked in for our next flight to Orlando, which was delayed in departing about 30 minutes. We finally departed at 6:45pm and the girls colored and watched DVD’s all the way to Orlando. We had to fly around some thunderstorms in Orlando and landed an hour late at 10:30pm. Traci went to the baggage claim to get our bags while I ran to the Emerald Aisle to get a car. There were only intermediates and convertible PT cruisers (which our luggage wouldn’t fit into) so we selected a grey Impala with black leather interior, which seemed like a bonus at 11pm but will prove to be a mistake in the hot Florida sun.

We loaded up the car and drove to Disney, screaming and laughing everytime we saw a Disney sign and booing when we saw a Universal sign, and arrived at Coronado Springs at around 11:45pm. There was a small wait to check in and we were assigned room number 1270, second floor, in Casitas I. We found our room, cleaned up, fell into bed and suffered as the girls, who were way passed tired, fussed and whined until falling asleep. It was 1:30am when all was quiet and we had a 10:30 ADR at Cape May Café the next morning. Will we make it?

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

CHAPTER TWO-Friday September 21st

I awoke at 7:30am excited because I was in Disney! I brewed some coffee, and quietly showered and prepared for the day behind the curtain which separates the bedroom from the bathroom area of the room. I had brought large canvas bags that I ordered from Disney Shopping.com with their names embroidered on them, stuffed with 2 tshirts, Ariel pajamas, misters, wallets with Disney dollars in them, glow sticks, lanyards with pins, Cinderella pens, Princess beach towels, princess fanny packs, and large stuffed Minnie dolls. I set the bags up with cards from Tinkerbell and sprinkled “pixie dust” (aka glitter) around.

Traci woke at around 8:00 and the girls awoke tired and cranky around 8:45am. They spotted the bags and had wide eyes when we explained that Tinkerbell had visited during the night. We tried to organize the room somewhat and decided to take the bus to Epcot.

The Casitas room in the daylight was okay, nothing special, and Traci, who has always stayed in Deluxes, stated she thought it felt like a Days Inn or something similar. We are from Texas so the Southwest theme does nothing for us-even seemed a little cheesy. It seemed clean but was small and minimal. The commercial grade toilet was very loud and we could hear neighboring flushes from our room. The grounds were beautiful.

We left the room at 9:30am, got the strollers and headed to the lobby to catch the bus at stop #1, which is actually the last stop they pick up from. There was a mass of people at the bus stop. The Epcot bus arrived and people crammed into the bus until they had to kick some people off to stay within the legalities of keeping everyone behind the yellow line. So we thought the next bus wouldn’t come for a while so we started to trek over to our rental car which was way back at Casitas I. I want to tell you Coronado Springs is a HUGE resort. GIGANTIC. The idea of trekking all the way back through the lobby over to Casitas I and out to the parking lot was not a pleasant thought. And Casitas I is the closest building to the lobby. And we are in shape. I can only imagine what it would be like if you are disabled in any way (well, having 2 four year olds, strollers, and park bags we were somewhat disabled ourselves!). Luckily, another Epcot bus arrived just as we were about to leave and we made it on that bus.

We arrived at Epcot, went through bag check, went through the turnstiles and hot footed it over to the Land Pavilion. I ran inside and secured 4 fastpasses for Soarin’. At that time it was 10:15 and our ADR at Cape May Café was for 10:30am. It was hot outside-HOT and muggy but we made our way as fast as we could through the World Showcase, over to the International Gateway and over to the Beach Club. It was a very difficult walk/run and we were sweating profusely when we got there around 10:40am.. I was seriously doubting my plans when we checked in for breakfast. We were shown to a table, greeted by a very nice waitress and told to help ourselves to the buffet and the characters would be by shortly. We sat and tried to cool ourselves and dab our sweaty faces. I got the girls plates of mickey waffles, bacon, fruit, danishes, and eggs and then made a plate for myself. The food here was excellent. The juice was great, coffee filled constantly and we really ate a lot.

The characters came around and Grace was too shy to interact and wanted to be on my lap away from them.

Breakfast was really great and I was glad we had made the trip to Cape May. We walked back to Soarin’ and used the fastpasses. Soarin’ is a great ride, surprisingly both the girls were a bit frightened by it. We were front row, all the way at the top and they thought they were really dangling high above California. They refused to go on this ride again for the rest of the trip but I thought it was great! We needed to follow it up with something tame to calm their nerves so we walked over to Living with the Land, which obviously wasn’t on my touring plan but was not completely boring, especially for the girls.

After Living with the Land, the girls were begging for pool time so we took the bus back to Coronado Springs and had a little pool time before our naps. The girls tried the slide at the main pool at Coronado Springs, I narrowly caught them and saved them from drowning and that was the only time they tried the slide.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Great start! I love the bags you made up for the girls.

Looking forward to more!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Hooray! I am 1st to subscribe! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Then came the difficult process of trying to get two 4 year olds to take a nap. Luckily, after about 30 minutes all was quiet and we took about an hour and a half nap.

I had been expecting a delivery from Garden Grocer and upon awaking I had a message on my cell phone from the delivery guy stating I owed him an additional $20.00 and he wouldn’t deliver until I paid the balance. When I made the order I added some wine and they said they would call me three days before delivery to let me know how much it would be. I called Garden Grocer and gave them my credit card number over the phone and they stated they delivered my items an hour before. I went down to Bell Services to find the order and she stated there was no delivery. I called Garden Grocer back right in front of Bell Services and they told me the exact bin the order had been delivered to so the Bell services Rep walked me to Luggage Services where they searched and searched for my order (which included a case of water-how could you lose that?). She called the manager and he told me if they couldn’t find the order they would replace it. I told them we were going to MNSSHP and I would contact them the next day.

Then we all showered and changed and went down to Pepper Market for dinner prior to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Pepper Market is a bit strange in it’s set up, you are seated to a table then told to take your slip to one of many counters and order your food. We ordered 2 pasta kids meals which came with 1/4 of an orange, a bowl of pasta, and a cookie, plus a drink. I ordered a diet coke and chicken taco salad which was GREAT. There was some confusion when he told me to come back in 10 minutes and when I came back he wanted to see my slip that was stamped so I had to return to my table and retrieve the ticket. It was a huge portion of salad, shredded marinated chicken, sour cream, and guacamole. I really enjoyed the food at Pepper Market. Traci ordered diet coke and chicken quesadillas and said they were great. We didn’t receive dessert, I don’t know why? It didn’t matter, we were too stuffed anyway. When we checked out at Pepper Market, the check said a service charge of $4.80 was still due and it looked as if it was charged to the room. The cashier said Coronado Springs picks up this tab, I guess that is just there to show what amount went to the “wait staff”. The waiters were quite nice while we were there even though I have heard others have not been impressed. They were very attentive to our drink needs.

We then dressed the girls in their outfits and drove (yes, drove) to the bus stop #2 and parked our car there and waited for a bus to the Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP.

We arrived at MNSSHP at about 7pm. I had wanted to get there a little earlier but things happen! The park was all decked out and as we made our way down Main Street of the greatest Park on Earth, we marveled at the decorations.
As we walked down Main Street, the park looked crowded, and we were worried about spending almost $200 on tickets for the event. We walked right up and rode the carousel with no wait and noticed that all the people we were seeing did not have wristbands on and were being told to exit the park. After the carousel we rode Dumbo with no wait at all! At this point Traci and I were smiling at each other and realizing this was unbelievable. Next up, we walked right on Peter Pan, and by walk on I mean walk through the queue, through the turnstile, right up to the ride and right onto the ride vehicle. Not even a minute wait! We stopped to dance up a storm with Chip and Dale at the Dance Party near Ariel’s Grotto.

We proceeded to ride Winnie the Pooh, the tea cups and made our way to Toontown and walked on Goofy’s Barnstormer with about a 5 minute wait.

We then explored Minnie’s House and went to the Hall of Fame for autographs. First, we met Cinderella and Prince Charming. Grace was still pretty shy. Cinderella tried to coax her out of her shell.

Next up was Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. Aurora was very good and even got a hug out of Grace, after all Aurora is Grace’s favorite princess. W have a lot of good Photopass pictures but I won’t be able to post those until I get them on the cd.

After spending some time with the characters we mad our way down the path that leads to Space Mountain and switched off with NO WAIT at Space Mountain. Seriously, we walked through the queue, right onto the ride! That night, whether it was the perfect night we were having or the fact that Space is a great roller coaster in it’s own right, Space Mountain blew me away. I had so much fun in the front seat with only about three other people in the space “ship” with me. When I exited Space, Hallowishes was going on and we watched as the girls held their ears-it was really LOUD at the end.

We then did Buzz Lightyear and the girls loved it.
We proceeded to ride Buzz several more times.
We rode the Indy Speedway, which is fun in the dark and then on the way to Frontierland we watched the Boo to you Parade from Liberty Square. Then, we switched off at Big Thunder Mountain. I can’t say it too many times-we were amazed at the lack of people on the rides. We all rode Splash Mountain and then Pirates. By that time it was 11:30pm and we decided to call it a night. We caught the crowded bus and made our way back to our car and drove to Casitas I where we once again suffered while trying to get the wired girls to sleep. It was about 1am when all was quiet and I must say we all agreed that this night would go down in history as one of our best nights at Walt Disney World (and anywhere, for that matter) EVER!


Chapter three up next: would our Garden Grocer order ever show up?

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

We interrupt this trip report to bring you a report on the love bug conditions last wek at WDW. When we first arrived we saw a few love bugs here and there, nothing to be concerned about. As the trip progressed the numbers of love bugs increased and a few times they were a small nuisance, especially when we went to the pool. However, I know a lot of people are worried they will ruin their trip and I can tell you they are by no means that bad.

Just thought some of you would want to know.

We now continue our trip report.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Great report so far! The girls are so cute! And it sounds like MNSSHP was a blast!

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Saturday September 22nd
Traci woke up first this day and made her way to Pepper Market for coffee and strolled around the resort. I woke up around 8:30am and showered and got ready for the day. The girls awoke around 9:30 to yet another letter from Tinkerbell and some pixie dust, telling them to be good girls and all that they would do for the day. After the late night, the only thing on our agenda was Chef Mickey’s at 12:30. We bathed the girls, while they fought over who had a bigger section of the bathtub, who had the better washcloth, etc, etc. We struggled to get them dressed and motivated to leave the room. Our Garden Grocer delivery was delivered to our room, along with someone else’s order as well.(???!!!) Bell Services at Coronado Springs receives a grade of D-, be very careful if you are having anything delivered to that resort.
Finally around 11:30am, we managed to drive our rental car to the Contemporary. The security guard at the gate did not ask us for ADR name or number and waived us through. We parked the car, loaded up the strollers and walked into the Contemporary where a greeter explained how to get to Chef Mickey’s. We went up the elevators and found the desk at Chef Mickey’s around noon, thirty minutes early for our reservation.

It seems they were just switching over from breakfast and there was about a 15 minute wait for a table. Traci and Tatum took the pictures by the plate while Grace and I looked on, hungry and ready to be seated.

Finally, the pager went off and we were shown to our table. The restaurant was initially very empty but very quickly filled up and became VERY noisy. I understand that every parent has moments where their child is the unruly, disruptive one but it would be so much nicer if they would excuse themselves when that happens. I know, I have been the parent with the disruptive child my fair share. And have been red in the face and embarrassed as I have to walk out to calm her down or give her a time out (which I did a few times on this trip). It seems this day at Chef Mickey’s we had five or six infants or toddlers crying around us, which greatly diminished our experience. The characters started in the far other side of the restaurant, and were painfully slow getting around to us.

Our waitress was quite nice, but hurried and brought us our drinks and then vanished until the check came.

The buffet had a small salad bar, Mickey Mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, vegetable medley, potato casserole, pasta with mushrooms in cream sauce, roast beef, roasted chicken, and a few other items. I found the selection to be quite limited and we wound up not eating very much. We did indulge in the dessert bar but the rice crispy treats were stale, and we didn’t feel much like ice cream sundaes. We did order coffee (and were not charged extra for it) while we waited another twenty minutes for the characters to make it to our table.

The character interaction was not as great as Cape May, partly because of the crying babies, and partly because they were rushing to make it around to all the tables in a reasonable amount of time.
All in all, Traci and I both agreed that Chef Mickey’s was not a great experience for us and that it probably would not go on our “to do again” list. Maybe we just visited on an off day or maybe, with the recent addition of lunch service, they hadn’t worked out all the kinks yet.
Finally, after our meal we took the elevators down to take the monorail to the MK. Now, I asked before our trip whether it was okay to park at the Contemporary and leave your car there while you went to MK and everyone stated it was not okay but we were feeling daring (and we didn’t expect to be there long) so we went ahead and did it!

We entered the MK around 2pm, took some photos with Walt and Minnie and found a curb to set up for the parade.

Up next in Part II, I figure out my camera and get some great parade photos!

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

Such cute little girls!!! (All 4 of you ). We are trying to decide the best age to take our granddaughters to WDW. We took our grandsons at 4 and one was ready, one was NOT. Now that your trip is over, do you think 4 is a great age to take little girls or would you recommend waiting another year or two?

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I debated long and hard the best age to take my daughter to WDW. She is a little young for her age-still afraid of the characters and most rides so I think she represents the young age four. She has done nothing but talk about the trip since we returned and actually, by the end of the trip was very in to the characters and the whole experience. The trip has made a fantastic impression on her and I would do it again in a heartbeat. She was very afraid in the queue for each ride but I just encouraged her and she did fine on most of them. I think four is the perfect age to introduce WDW. They are young enough to believe in the magic and be deeply imprinted by the experience. However, I think the optimum touring age is a little older when they behave a little better and can handle the strenuous touring!
Thanks for posting on my report!

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

Yes, I know what you mean. I don't want to wait too long and loose some of the magic for the girls, but I don't want them to be traumatized by characters, mad about being too small for rides, or just missing mom & dad too much to enjoy the trip. It is a hard decision and I guess it really depends on the kids. I just LOVE sharing Disney with my grandkids and I can hardly wait to take them. I'm especially excited about taking the girls because I love the princess dresses and all of the princess magic! I'm loving your report and especially your pictures.

 

[carri5317]

Can't wait to hear more, going in January with my 4yr old.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Sorry you had such a bad experience at Chef Mickeys. It is usually one of our favorite places! Maybe/hopefully you hit it on an off day.

Regarding the age issues - I took my daughter once when she was 2 and once when she was 3. Though she had a good time she didn't enjoy the characters and wouldn't ride too many things. I don't regret taking her but our next trip was when she was 5 and it was perfect! She was so into the magic and princesses. The wonder in her eyes was priceless!

Great update and pictures - looking forward to more!

 

[KimAshton]

Love the TR. I have to say the girls are just adorable.

 

[princessreilly]

Can't wait to hear more!!!! Going in December with DD 5 AND DS 1.
Have a lot of the same ADRs.

 

[JoAnnPan]

Thanks for sharing...adorable little girls!!...can't wait to see the outcome of leaving your car at the Contemporary.

Enjoying your report very much

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

The Dreams Come True Parade was great and we had the soundtrack stuck in our heads for the rest of the week (or at least I did-I broke out in song quite frequently).

Here are some parade pics for your enjoyment:

The parade was great! The music and the characters were amazing. This trip I was really struck by how great the characters are-not just employees they found off the street but great actors who take being in character seriously and making the childrens’ (and adults’) experience the best is their highest priority!

We left the parade and made our way to Fantasyland. We started at the carousel, then we went into Ariel’s Grotto and let the girls play in the water for a while. It was very hot and muggy outside. There wasn’t really a line to see Ariel so we went in to see her after around a 10 minute wait. Now I know I am a dork because when Tatum went up and sat on the rock next to Ariel and looked at her with these eyes that said “you’re my hero” I teared up a little.

The way these characters interact with the children is just amazing. When Grace saw Ariel she said “mommy, are her legs inside her tail?” She was more interested in finding out how Ariel could walk without legs than being awed by the beauty of her. Grace would only go near Ariel if I put her on my lap so that’s what we did.

After seeing Ariel they rode Dumbo with a small wait.

While they rode Dumbo I ran/walked to Jungle Cruise and obtained 4 fastpasses. After Dumbo we saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic which Grace wouldn’t wear the 3D glasses, so she didn’t get the full effect, but the rest of us were blown away. I could see Traci trying to reach out and touch the characters. The whole audience erupted in laughter and applause at the end-what a show!
We made our way to the Jungle Cruise and giggled at the silly one-liners that never grow old. Even when you know what’s going to be said you can’t help but laugh!

After the Jungle Cruise we rode the Magic Carpets with no wait. Then we made our way over to Tatum's favorite ride-It's a Small World. Afterwards we ordered 2 adult pizza meals at Pinocchio's Village Haus. Two pizzas, 2 salads (the salad dressing was awful!), 2 diet cokes, a milkshake, and a strawberry shortcake. It was all pretty good except the dressing and we were all full on those 2 meals. By that time it was almost 6:30 and we wanted to avoid the crowd for SpectroMagic and didn’t think the girls would last long enough to see it. No nap this day meant we were sure to have some meltdowns if we didn’t get them back to the resort soon. We hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary and the whole time I was thinking “I hope our car is still there.” We took the elevator down to the 1st floor and walked out to find the car and guess what? It was right where we had left it! As we were leaving we saw a parking lot attendant marking tires to see how long they were parked (we assumed) so we were lucky to have made it parked there for seven hours. This was pure Disney magical luck and our luck was going to really pay off in the coming days (a little foreshadowing…)!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Thanks for all of your kind comments and thanks for joining this TR!
Will post again tonight!

 

[Nursejilly]

Great photos! The girls are too cute! Can't to hear more about your trip!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Great pictures of the parade! Looking forward to seeing what magic awaits you!