Alice, Mickey, and Pooh Bear ... Oh my! A First Timer's Trip Report -- Updated 8/19 - Page 15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Found this today and am all caught up. Thank you for the table of contents! Made it easier. I noticed you haven't added anything since April. I want to hear how the rest of the trip was! We're going in September, so I was able to guage some things (e.g. weather, crowd, etc.). I do appreciate the TR.
Found this today and am all caught up. Thank you for the table of contents! Made it easier. I noticed you haven't added anything since April. I want to hear how the rest of the trip was! We're going in September, so I was able to guage some things (e.g. weather, crowd, etc.). I do appreciate the TR.
Gad!! Life has been so busy, but I really do want to get this finished. Hopefully I will get some new posts up this week. Thanks for the nudge!! You will love Disney in Sept. We had a blast. it really is not that crowded at all, we went in June of this year as well and it was much more crowded.
So I know it has been an inordinate amount of time since I have worked on this trip report, but I am bound and determined to get it finished. We have already had another trip to The World since I started this trip report, but I don't want to ever forget our first trip. I hope no one minds if I keep adding to this report!!
Lounging on the Lazy River
Today started with me doing laundry. Not really something I enjoy doing on vacation, but when your trip is planned for one week and it gets extended to 2, it's a necessary evil. So I headed down to the laundromat and of course I picked the ONLY non-working washing machine to use. All seemed fine, until it decided it didn't want to spin dry my clothes and they weighed about 600 pounds when they came out of the washer. Luckily the front desk was kind enough to refund the cost plus some extra for more detergent, and I was finally able to get everything washed and dried properly.
Next I headed to the dining hall to pick up breakfast for everyone. I grabbed a grilled ham and cheese with bacon on the side for hubby and I to share, and a cinnamon roll for the boy. Normally we are not big eaters, though we did go all out when we had the dining plan. It was nice to be back to normal size portions though!!
After laundry and breakfast, we spent a little time on the computer checking Facebook and checking out our photopass pictures. I know many people don't like to check them till they get home because the 30 day clock starts once you check them, but we just couldn't resist reliving the last week!! We also made a plan for the day. Since we had picked up the Water Parks and more passes yesterday, we decided to give one of the water parks a try today.
Once we were all ready, we stopped into the hotel lobby. I told the boys to watch the movie that was playing while I talked to concierge. I wanted to see about a little surprise for them.
I asked the front desk how much it would cost to upgrade to a Moderate resort. I figured a change in scenery would be nice for our second week. We talked about which resort I would like, and we settled on Coranado Springs. The CM called the resort to see if there was availability and check on the price for me. The CM at Coranado Springs said there was availability, and so long as we didn't mind being more towards the back to head on over. The CM working with me asked about price, and they said no extra cost. Of course I was SUPER excited about this, but I think the CM that was helping me was even more excited. He couldn't believe they did it for free, and didn't even know how to put that in the system. He called over a manager and she was able to get everything put in the system correctly. It was so adorable how excited he was though.
Once everything was settled, I went over to the boys and told them the good news. Of course they were ecstatic!! We ran back up to the room and packed out bags. We called luggage transfer to have our bags sent to Coronado Springs, and then we headed back out to go to Typhoon Lagoon.
We soaked in the bus stop of All Star Movies, knowing this would be our last time here.
We didn't pack any towels with us since it was suggested on this board that we could just use the resort towels. I hoped that it didn't make a difference that we had grabbed ones from All-Star Movies and would be returning them at Coronado Springs.
Regardless, we were all pretty excited about the resort change ...
Well most of us ....
at least Perry was anyway ...
I took the time on the bus ride to make some notes about the morning thus far. I took really good notes about this trip as I did not want to forget a single thing. I am so glad I did as it has helped me remember pieces of the days that we didn't even take pictures of, especially since I have been less than stellar about writing everything up in a timely manner.
We arrived at Typhoon Lagoon and we got a locker rental and a water proof camera (note here .... if you plan on using a waterproof camera, buy one at home and bring it with you. They are NOT cheap in the parks). I didn't want my camera to get wet, so we put it in the locker after we took a few pics from up front. So most of the day I explain here won't make sense with the pics as we have not gotten the pics from the waterproof camera developed yet .... They are just slipped in to make this reading less boring.
The very first thing we did was hop on the Lazy River, Castaway Creek. This is the one ride we can all agree that we love. Since my son isn't a big ride person, this one was right up his alley. We went around a few times, and finally got out so we could have some lunch.
For lunch we all shared a basket of chicken fingers and fries and a chicken salad wrap with fries. We had a little trouble finding a table as it was a bit crowded that day, but we finally were able to find one a ways away from the dining area in the shade. After lunch, I found Keelhaul Falls and gave it a try. It was really fun, and the line was not long at all. Kolby talked to a CM about it and asked if it had any drops or anything. When he was satisfied it didn't, he went on with Dad and loved it!
We also tried Gangplank Falls, and though Kolby was nervous to try it, he ended up liking it. He didn't go on it too many more times, but at least he didn't hate it. He did, however, go on Keelhaul Falls 4 more times, so I guess he LOVED that one!
Kris and I took turns trying Mayday Falls. We both enjoyed that one, but Kolby didn't even want to try it. I think the name alone may have made him nervous about it. It was getting to be about closing time by now, so we hopped back into Castaway Creek to enjoy a few last go rounds before we had to go.
Finally we headed over to the lockers and gathered up our stuff. Kris convinced me that he needed a Typhoon Lagoon mug more than I needed my locker deposit back, so he nabbed himself one of those. Overall we had a nice day at the Water Park, and we were excited to be able to hop on the bus for Coranado Springs rather than having to wait in the line for the All-Star resorts.
So how was our check in at Coronado Springs? Was it everything we hoped it would be and more?
Our new bus took us straight to Coronado Springs and I headed over to the registration desk.
When we checked in, they presented me with a pretty big bill, and at first I thought they had done a bait and switch and charged me for the room. When I looked closer though, it turned out it was just all the charges I had been sending to my room over the last week. We had decided to put everything on the room key so I didn't have to carry my regular credit card with me around the park. In the end everything was fine, and we got checked in rather quickly.
The boys sat by the fountain while they waited for me.
Once we were all checked in, we headed over to the luggage center to retrieve our bags. They also called us a golf cart type thing to bring us over to our room. One thing that kept happening is when I would go from inside to outside, the lens got fogged up as you can see below.
It was nice to have a ride to our room the first time so we didn't have to figure out how to get there. We also enjoyed being able to check out the resort grounds while we were driving.
The buildings around the lake looked stunning.
The hammocks looked inviting (though I never got to try one out).
We didn't actually see the pool, but we did see the sign for it.
Finally we made it to our room, and I had a conundrum because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tip our driver. I figured it was better to tip when not necessary then the other way around, so I gave him $5. I was especially grateful that he brought all our luggage up to the room, which was on the second floor.
The room was beautiful.
It included a separate desk, and overall seemed much bigger than the other room. We felt like we could spread our wings a little more. It also just felt more polished. We definitely enjoyed it more, even though it was more walking to our room than the room we had at All Star Movies.
A requisite bathroom shot.
Even the large mirror in the little wing off the bathroom was pretty awesome!
The room came with a small fridge that we didn't end up using too much, but it was nice to have when we needed it. The room also had glasses for drinks, a coffee maker, and a ceiling fan.
Once we unpacked everything, all the tabletop surfaces were pretty much covered by all our souvenirs.
When we were done, Kolby and I headed out to see what the pool was like. We got there only 20 minutes before the slide closed, but he was able to ride it at least 8 times before they closed it up for the night.
Once Kolby and I got back to the room, we decided to order room service.
We ordered a pizza, buffalo wings, and a 6-pack of coke. To say we were disappointed in the food would be an understatement. The pizza looked like it was cooked just long enough to melt the cheese. It looked like an albino pizza, like seriously. But we ate it anyway, because it was either that or starve.
After eating, Kris took a little time to do some homework while Kolby and I relaxed.
Tomorrow we head to DHS for what was the absolute best day we had of the whole entire two weeks. We were in the right place, at the right time all day and were sprinkled with a healthy dose of magic as well.
Today we woke up nice and early to try and make sure we could make it to rope drop at DHS. We headed down to the bus stop for the first time.
Since we were at the back of Coronado Springs, we had an alternate bus stop to use. We were lucky that our room was actually really close to bus stop number 3.
We hopped the DHS bus and were on our way.
We arrived in plenty of time for rope drop. We had a plan of attack for where each of us would go once the rope actually dropped. The boys ran off to go get my son signed up for Jedi Academy ...
while I went the other way with all our tickets to get fast passes for Toy Story Mania. The nice thing about coming here for a second time, is I knew the importance of getting there early. I got into the FP line really close to the front and was able to snag tickets for 10:15. Once I had my tickets, I headed over to find the boys and see how they had fared. They were still in line.
But soon enough they made it to the front. The CMs asked Kolby a few questions and explained to him what was going to happen (I assume in case he might be scared of Darth Vader).
Then Kolby got his pass for his showtime. We were able to get a 12:40 show, which was great for us since we are early lunch eaters anyway.
With these two things crossed off our lists, we headed over to ride Star Tours. Since it was still early and most people were hopping on TSM, we were able to get on very quickly.
Since Kolby wasn't able to ride this one last time, he was nervous. Luckily Kris was able to explain what the ride was like from his previous rides.
As we continued on in the line, admiring the scenery ...
Kolby got more and more excited about riding.
Kolby loved the ride and wanted to ride it again immediately. The ride kind of made me sick though, because of the combination motion and the screen, so I stayed at the exit and Kris called me on the phone to tell me which door they would be loading into.
When they got out for the second time, they wanted to go for a third time.
But by this time, the line was getting long so they decided to hold off. We headed back out to the entrance to get our picture in front of the hat since we didn't have time to do that when we entered the park.
It was 10:00 now, so we decided to try and have lunch to make sure we ate before Kolby's Jedi Academy. We headed to Starring Rolls first ...
but they didn't have lunch out yet. So we kept wandering up the street trying to decide where to go next. We found a car to take us where we wanted to go ....
but unfortunately it didn't actually run. We tried Pizza Planet next, but they were closed, so we were pretty much out of luck at this point.
So where did we go next? The morning was off to a good start, even with a bit of a stall on lunch, but the best is yet to come!!
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Since lunch wasn't happening, we decide to move on to something else for a little while. Our Fast Passe times for Toy Story Mania were up, so the boys headed to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, while I dashed over to TSM to see if I could get some more Fast Passes.
Kolby really enjoyed playing in this area. We thought it was a ride at first, but really it was a playground with the theme that you are small while everything else is HUGE. It was a really cool place to play.
I met the boys here after I was able to snag some more Fast Passes for TSM. The passes were for almost into dinner time, but I figured that was better than not having them at all. The TSM line is always long!!
Although it seems weird for there to be a playground at Disney, I think it's actually kind a cool idea. It was a nice place for Kolby to let off some steam and Kris & I could kind of sit back and relax.
Next we walked down the Streets of America. I think this is such a neat little area to visit. The boys were fascinated with all the facades, and decided to try and make it into one of them, which didn't work out too well for them.
By this time, Pizza Planet was open, so we headed back there for lunch. Kolby had a kids cheese pizza, I had the adult's pepperoni pizza, and Kris had the chicken salad.
Kris did not like his salad very much, but he ate it anyway. Sometimes food is food. I really like the decor in the restaurant and I thought the aliens hanging from the ceiling were just the funniest thing!!
Once we were done eating, we decided to head over to TSM to use our first Fast Passes. We still had a bit of time before we had to check Kolby in for Jedi Training, so we figured we'd give it a go.
I had fun trying to snap pictures of the interior of the ride.
It's actually pretty hard to do since you move pretty quick, and I didn't want to miss out on any of the actual game playing!!
This was Kris' first time riding this one and he really enjoyed it. If I recall correctly, Kolby was upset because his score was very low this time around. Luckily we still had the other Fast Passes, so he would have a chance to redeem himself.
When we came out of the ride, we ran into the Army Man from Toy Story and stopped him for an autograph ...
and a picture.
As we made our way back to check in for Jedi Training, Kris found the umbrella that rains, but he could not for the life of him, figure out how to make it rain!! If anyone knows how it does, you'll get a kick out of his attempt here. So close!!
Kolby likes to mimic statues in his photos, so he is doing that with Kermit here, but so is Kris ...
which Kolby did not find very amusing, so he moved out of the way.
Finally we headed into the check-in for Jedi Training, we got him checked in at about 12:10.
Kolby was just a little excited to be doing this.
Kolby and I waited in the holding area for his turn, but Kris went outside to save us a spot. I would highly suggest this as the area in front of the stage fills up quick, and they don't hold any spots for parents.
At about 12:30, the kids went outside to get ready for their fight. Kolby was beyond excited for the adventure to come (or confused, not sure what's up with his expression here LOL).
So how did Kolby do? Was the experience all that he hoped it would be?
I just found your TR yesterday and have read the whole thing since then. It sounds like you had a really great first trip, and I can't wait to read about the rest of your extended stay!
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I want to hear how the rest of the trip was! We're going in September, so I was able to guage some things (e.g. weather, crowd, etc.). I do appreciate the TR. 
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The room looks great! 
Sounds like a great time at the water park! 
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