May 2012 Coronado Springs Trip

[sophiesmom]

Travel dates: May 2-6
Travel method: Southwest Airlines
Resort: Coronado Springs
Ages Represented in Group: 7-32
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: infrequent visitors
Comments: want this 2nd trip to be done right!
Cast of characters: 7 year old....me (32 years) and my sis 31 who plans to spend her time relaxing



I decided to write this in hopes of getting good ideas from everyone else! I love reading everyone's trip reports and will attempt one myself for my May 2012 trip!

A little background - last year I brought my daughter to Disney World on a trip I thought we would never be able to afford. It was just us.....I actually cried with happiness when we got there. It was a rather short trip - 4 days, 3 nights at Pop Century that we planned very last minute. I met a friend there who was vacationing with other people and we only spent a day and a half with them because they were rather stressed and didn't seem to be as happy as we were about being at Disney. It was my daughter's first trip and I wanted everything to be perfect! It ended up being a wonderful trip that I will never forget but I think I did somethings wrong planning wise so here I am again at my next attempt!
So this year I took my tax return and the 25% off room only and booked Coronado Springs and have been daydreaming since! I cannot wait to take my daughter back and do everything we were not able to do the first trip.
Now my daughter isn't much the princess type- she loves animals and her favorite characters are Chip and Dale and Mulan.....so last year I didn't even bother booking the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique or princess dining ...so you can imagine my surprise when she stood in front of the castle and cried because she couldn't' do the BBB! You should have seen me begging them for a walk in appointment (which so didn't happen)! We also didn't get to meet ANY princesses last year - so I vow this year to be different. As a 7th birthday present I booked the BBB and Royal Table....of course I spilled the beans long before her birthday, just out of excitement.

This year we are not on the dining plan and I worry that we will overspend on the food....has anyone else found that the plan saves a ton or does it work out the same? So far we have booked Royal Table, Garden Grill and Ohana's breakfast....

Any tips, planning suggestions or favorites I should include? We are excited to try Epcot and Hollywood Studios this time!

Just ordered my tickets from Undercover Tourist!

[TulaBelle]

Hi Sophiesmom!
I don't have kids but I've been to WDW a few times. At the Studios you must try the Prime Time 50's Cafe, and if Sophie is not affraid of monsters, the Sci-Fi Dine In. The 50's cafe is like at eating at Beaver Cleaver's house (hope you get that reference) it's lots of fun and the food is good. The Sci-Fi Dine In is set up like a drive in movie and they run short clips of old monster/sci-fi movies with comercials. Food is good there too, I've always enjoyed the burgers there, but there is more to choose from (see menus either here or at Disney dine site). If y'all are ok with Asian food the Yak & Yeti at AK is awesome. The Rainforest Cafe is great for atmosphere and basic food choices
(think Applebee's), and at Downtown Disney T-Rex is fun and the portobello ravioli is delish! All the places I've suggested have one thing in common LOUD! LOUD! LOUD! All of these places have kids menu choices if Sophie is choosy about what she eats, all of them are beautifully themed you can't make a bad choice. Do make those ADR's, if you find the schedule times are not working with your touring that day you can always ask the cm working the podium if they can seat you early. They may not be able to help you out, but they may, please and thank you go a long way with Disney cm's. Good luck!

[sophiesmom]

Thank you TulaBelle!! I booked Prime Time 50's Cafe for our first day! Thanks for the suggestion! It looks like alot of fun!!!

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

you wont go wrong with 50s prime time cafe

[WdwGurl4life]

I will be there (CSR) with my ENTIRE wedding party.. I am the skinny dark haired girl with the CRAZYY blonde fiance! Have an AWESOME time

[scoobydooby]

If you know where your TS meals are you can work out what you are likely to spend in advance. Look at somewhere like Pecos Bills for an average CS meal. Then you should know how much food money to take. Have a great trip. My DD has been at age 5, 7 and 9 and loves it. She loves Cindy's royal table and I'm sure your DD will too. I have managed to avoid BBB, I don't like to see little girls in make up. Don't all shoot me!!!!!

[mxrapu]

I'm in total agreement Scooby! I've managed to hide BBB from my girls long enough that my oldest (almost 11) is no longer interested. But it seems like Disney is getting more in-your-face with it and it's getting more and more difficult to hide it. My five-year-old is starting to suspect something and I'm sure there will be a discussion on our next trip. You can skip the make-up (which I would do) but even so, it's just not something I want to spend our time and money on. It's pricey! I'm hoping that when it comes to it, I can appease my daughter with a haircut at the Main St. barbershop, where she can get sparkles in her hair.

I'm also not a fan of of little girls wearing princess costumes in the park. This is a recent trend (something we rarely saw a dozen or so years ago). It's just not proper amusement park attire. My five-year-old wanted to wear her sleeping beauty dress to Cindy's Royal Table, but I told her it would get smashed in the suitcase, so she let it go. She was so happy to meet the princesses that she forgot all about it.

I guess I'm just a mean mom. Please don't shoot me, either!!!

[sophiesmom]

I think that is understandable....I don't remember the make-up being over the top (like Toddlers and Tiaras) but I get your point....I think I was so excited my tomboy wanted to do something princess like! We are bringing our own outfit...not sure what yet because she doesn't even own a princess dress but will let you know once we try it! I don't forsee her walking around in an itchy dress all day but we have 58 days to figure it out

[mxrapu]

I briefly contemplated letting my daughter dress up like Sleeping Beauty for breakfast before I decided to talk her out of it. My plan was going to be to have her change after breakfast and rent a locker for the dress so we wouldn't have to carry it around. So that's one option.

I understand what you mean about your tomboy. In my case, I was always the tom boy and can't figure out how I ended up with 2 girly girls!

Anyway, have fun!

[mxrapu]

I also forgot to mention that we stayed at CSR for the first time last month. It's a really beautiful resort and the kids LOVED the pool. You'll have a great time!

One thing I did to save money on food this last trip was to share meals from the adult menu with my 10-year-old daughter. She is an adventurous eater, so this worked out well. The adult entrees are so large that even sharing we usually didn't finish everything. If she wanted something I wasn't thrilled about, I just orders soup or a salad to go with whatever we were sharing.

[sophiesmom]

Thank you mxrapu - love those ideas!!

[Teenkerbell]

I will be at CSR May 2-5 for my son's first trip! He will be 18 months old at the time. We are planning to do Animal Kingdom, Epcot (for Flower & Garden) and Magic Kingdom on separate days, but since DH and I have been several times already we will mostly just follow DS' lead.

[sophiesmom]

Teenkerbell and Wdwgurl4life - we may unknowingly cross paths - have an awesome time!

[WdwGurl4life]

Teenkerbell and Wdwgurl4life - we may unknowingly cross paths - have an awesome time!

You also Just look for the girl with the BIGGEST smile * that will be me! :)

[kuchfam]

Hi! I've been to WDW 5 times now and can't get enough. I like alot of the above suggestions on dining tips. The one thing my hubby and I discovered this last time is quick serve (counter serve) have some great options other than burgers and dogs too. Sunshine Seasons at EPCOT is fantastic! You can get rotisserie chicken, pork chops, fresh sandwiches etc....and they are delicious and again could be split by 2 people if appetites aren't huge! Columbia House in MK has salmon (if you like that) and it was pretty darned good! Garden Grill was enjoyed immensely in 2010 for the first time! Oh my goodness! Chip and Dale were there with Mickey and Pluto. We personally love love love Crystal Palace. It's characters are Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger. It's an all you can eat buffet and it is scrumptious! You are going to have a fabulous time!

[sophiesmom]

Thank you kuchfam! I added your suggestions to my list of places to try
Last year we went to Crystal Palace and we loved it as well! I was actually surprised how much fun we had and my daughter still talks about how Tigger kissed my hand! That seems to be one of her favorite memories! Thank you!!

[sophiesmom]

Does anyone think the Fantasmic Dining is worth it? Does it really avoid the long wait when you still have to be there at least 30 minutes prior? I booked it because we really want to see it, however since we are not on the dining plan I wonder if it will be worth the price of dinner for this.
Thanks!

[foolishmortal]

They have movies and marshmallows roast at night now!

Lol we'll be there the 5th to 9th. Ill be the fluffy one with the bright red hair!

[sophiesmom]

I'm sure I must have passed you then foolishmortal - we went a couple nights to the marshmallows - my daughter liked that! Hope you have a great time! Just got home and it was amazing....now I need to organize my thoughts and write about it!!

[sophiesmom]

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[TinaMouse]

Adorable pic!

[sophiesmom]

So I'm embarrassed to be writing this a few months later than I planned but since I don't seem to have the time (or maybe the focus) to write as much as I want....here is the short version of our very awesome trip. It far exceeded my first trip!

SW flight to Orlando. Wasn't crazy about the checking in 24 hrs in advance to get a number to stand in line. I have not flown SW in awhile and was surprised by this but it turned out ok even though I checked in 23 hrs in advance and basically got one of the last rows... The flight attendant on this trip was a comedian and had us laughing throughout the trip....awesome! Perfect start to our vacation.
I feel like I had lots of good luck on this trip. Right before we got in line of the magical express they asked if we would take a survey about fast passes and return get 4 fast passes! yes! I was thrilled, and we had to pick from a list and we choose Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain and Jungle Cruise...

When we checked in they gave us the section of the resort we had asked for, and gave my daughter a happy birthday balloon! so cool! The lady who checked us in was really nice and what a beautiful resort!
Our room was in the cabanas (8A) which I thought was a pretty good location between the main pool and el centro and very close to a bus stop.

Highlights of the trip!
really liked Coronado Springs (even my hard to please sis)
never waited for a bus
my daughter was picked to participate in the end of the Lion King show!
Garden Grill was fun
Fantasmic
Cinderella's Royal Table
Mulan spending ALOT of time with my daughter
BBB -may not do it again now that she is getting older but glad I did it for her
Nicole who works at Mama Melrose who randomly gave us fast passes to Toy Story Mania
The nice couple who also randomly gave us their Toy Story Mania passes
I thought the photo pass cd was worth it

Not so great moments:
it was HOT HOT HOT for May, wasn't expecting that
I thought May was suppose to be a slower month? Not the case, I thought it was very crowded
Soarin fast passes were gone by noon, we never got to ride it
Hollywood Studios was so crowded we only got to ride Toy Story Mania, thanks to the kindness of the strangers giving us fast passes


Thoughts for next time:
I spend so much time planning, planning and planning and yet when I get into the park I walk around like a lost tourist. I need to fix this so we can get more rides in
I want to spend more time at Epcot and see all the countries
I'm going to listen to Touring Plans!!!!!

Overall, this trip was AMAZING! So glad I have 900 pictures and even more memories that we took home from this.

[wonderfulshana]

So glad that you had such a great time! I know that the BBB is pricey, but I think that it is awesome that you made it happen for your little princess! My son and I are going in September and it is always HOT then too so I know what you mean! Thanks for posting!

[EJ4Disney]

Thanks for the recap. I am so glad you had a good time.
Your daughter is precious.

[sophiesmom]

Thanks!!! Enjoy your trip in September!