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View Full Version : We're back, and we had the best time!!!



JTsMom
12-10-2008, 10:06 PM
Just thought I'd share a couple things about our visit. We stayed for 8 nights at Coronado Springs, visited all 4 parks and Downtown Disney, did the dining plan, 4 character meals, and saw a ton!

I loved all 4 parks, but we had the most fun at Magic Kingdom. DS loved it! We used Tour Guide Mike's plans, and we never waited more than 5 mins or so for anything. It was the best $18 I spent, and I highly rec it. (Go through disboards for a $3 discount).

Biggest hits with DS:
MK (we did 3 days here) Everything in Fantasyland, but especially the teacups and Small World (we skipped Snow White); all of the little playground areas, Minnie's house (esp. the kitchen), meeting Mickey, the fireworks and the train. He was just a hair too short to ride the big stuff. We did do the Barnstormer, and he was not thrilled with that, although he did agree to ride it a second time- still not a fan.

Epcot- The "mike mike mikes" in front of Nemo (seagulls), the boat ride in Norway and Soarin. Epcot was much more lax with the height checks, at least for Soarin. He was right on the borderline.

DHS-The Block Party Bash (which was really, very cool) and meeting Lighting McQueen and Mater, along with the tons of lights. He did not like sitting still for shows, so we missed most of those.

AK-Our day there was FREEZING, and he was miserable the entire morning. He did love the drums they have sitting out in Africa, and the little train ride to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We missed a lot of this park, and wanted to go back, but didn't get the chance.

I loooved Rockin Rollercoaster and Everest!

Shows were great- Spectro Magic, Wishes, and all of the parades were awesome.


Food- I could go either way on the dining plan. We definitely got our money's worth, but there were one or 2 nights I would have just stuck with counter service if we didn't "have to" use up our table service credits. One thing that helped was booking one night sepeately without the plan- it gave us an extra day to use the credits.

We ate at:
Hoop De Doo Review- TONS of fun, although it's a little long. The food was ok- not great, but fine. We took the boat to get to it, and that was fun.

Ohana's for breakfast- This was my favorite! Everything was awesome, from the service, to the food. Jason was flipping out over seeing Mickey, and he loved the parade with the maracas. :)

Chef Mickey's- just ok. The food was pretty bad, service was good, charachters didn't spend much time at each table, but it was cool to see them all together. We were there insanely early, so I think it was less hectic than it might have been otherwise.

Crystal Palace- Best food of the trip! I was a little annoyed b/c after an hour +, only one character had visited us, and then I found out they were all at the parade. :32:

Garden Grill- By FAR, the best character interaction. Mickey even stayed at our table to play cars with Jason for a few minutes. He was over the moon to say the least! :love-retry: The food was pretty good too. Service was excellent.

Tutto Italia- It was just ok. The servers were not very child-friendly imo. The food was ok. Tiramisu was excellent!

50s Prime Time- fun, good food, great service.

The best counter service stuff we found was at Cosmic Ray's, Flame Tree BBQ and Sunshine Seasons. The worst was the Pepper Market at CSR and Pizza Planet.

Hotel- CSR is absolutely gorgeous! Yes, it is very big. We had a decent location though- Casitas 4. We were right next to Bus Stop 2 (first on, first off) and a quiet pool. It took me about 5 mins to walk to El Centro, and slightly less for the Dig Site. Pool was awesome, and the playground was great! Rooms were nice- queen beds were a perk, and they were very comfy. I was very disappointed with the Pepper Market. Lots of selection, lousy food. I would probably try something different next time, but it really was a nice resort with the exception of the PM.

We did stop for a break on most days, which I definitely rec! The days we didn't were days the park was closing really early. If you really don't want to do that, don't plan on staying past 5 or 6ish, or it will really backfire on you. It's just too much, at least if you're going for a long stay like we did.

Hope this helps someone! Thanks to everyone for all of the advice. It was the best vacation- better than I'd even hoped for. I can't wait to go back!

Rainbows&Roses
12-11-2008, 02:11 AM
Thanks for the reviews! We leave in about 4 weeks.

I am surprised about the double duty the Crystal Palace characters are doing. I think we are going early, so I don't think the parade will interfere.

JTsMom
12-11-2008, 08:50 AM
I was surprised too! You'd think they'd have 3 Tiggers running around at all times! The parade was at 3, so that's the time to be careful of I guess. They did come back about 30 mins later, but by that time, we'd been sitting for so long, we couldn't wait any more.

Hope you have a great time. :) Bring lots of layers!

egoldber
12-11-2008, 09:40 AM
You'd think they'd have 3 Tiggers running around at all times

WDW is actually VERY careful to never have characters be visible in 2 places at once. That would ruin the magic of their being only 1 real Tigger. ;) Since you can actually see the parade from inside the restaurant (not very well....), they pull the characters from the restaurant during the parade.

JTsMom
12-11-2008, 11:00 AM
WDW is actually VERY careful to never have characters be visible in 2 places at once. That would ruin the magic of their being only 1 real Tigger. ;) Since you can actually see the parade from inside the restaurant (not very well....), they pull the characters from the restaurant during the parade.

Ah, that makes sense then. I didn't realize you could see the parade. All I could see was a crazed 3.5 year old saying, "Tigger?!?! Pooh??!! I want to SEE them!" LOL

I would definitely do CP again in any case. The food really was excellent, especially for a buffet, and the selection was unreal! The desserts alone- yum!!

Momof3Labs
12-18-2008, 03:52 PM
Lori - I'm glad that you had a great time!! Also glad to hear that you liked the food at Crystal Palace and the character interaction and food at Garden Grill - those are two that always stand out to us. I agree with your assessment of Chef Mickey's. We've done both breakfast and dinner there, and I don't know which one had worse food. Yuck. Crystal Palace we've done for lunch 3 times, and it's always at the top of our list when we go back.

We haven't tried 'Ohana's yet. Both boys love Stitch, so we should, but it just didn't work with our schedule this last trip (all reservation times were soooo early). I dream of staying at Poly one trip, so then we should be able to make it to 'Ohana's!

JTsMom
12-19-2008, 10:08 AM
Thanks Lori. :) We can't wait to go back. DS keeps asking me if we can go see the fireworks and ride the teacups tonight. LOL

Defintely try to make it to Ohana's some time. Our breakfast ADR was at 7:55 IIRC. We showed up a couple minutes early, were seated immediately, and made it to the MK just in time for the opening ceremony to start. It worked out perfectly!