We're Disney Bound

So with ten days to go I figured our plans are all pretty much set in stone, so this is our general reference. Hello to all of our 'new readers'. You are either very bored or... well... bored... if you're reading. ha ha. But we... or rather I... figured this would be the easiest way to keep everyone up to date on our travels once we are gone. We plan to log in at least once a day to let you know what we're doing, but as you can imagine, Disney internet is not so cheap, so we may not make it on as much as we want. We'll see.

Anyway... enough rambling.

Travel Info
Airline: Alaska Air
Toni - Anchorage to Seattle: Alaska Air Flight 96 Depart Jan. 11 @ 2:30a // Arrive @ 6:48a
Erin - Missoula to Seattle: Horizon Air Flight 2347 Depart Jan. 11 @ ???a // Arrive @ 7:35a
Both - Seattle to Orlando: Alaska Air Flight 18 Depart Jan.11 @ 8:45a // Arrive @ 5:00p

I get into Seattle before Erin, so I'll find her gate and prepare myself to kick her butt when she lands and exits the aircraft... because I can. :) We'll grab some food and eat on our way to our gate and off we'll go.

Once we arrive at MCO (Orlando International) we have to get to Disney's Magical Express. It's located on side B of the first level of the airport. I suspect we'll get to DME about 5:20p if all goes well and depart by 5:40p. I Suspect we'll be at the Coronado to get checked in by 6:40p. Then check in...

Home Sweet Home
We are planning a split stay, but seeing as how we don't go to our second hotel for 8 days I will leave that info for another post.
Resort: Disney's Coronado Springs
Phone #: 1-407-939-1000
Arrival: January 11, 2009 around 6:40p
Depart: January 19, 2009
Room Type: Standard Water View
Location: We've requested the Casitas

Plans for our first night is to get in, get checked in, get settled. And then feed ourselves at the Pepper Market. And just chill. We may or may not tour around the beautiful grounds... I wouldn't mind a dip in the hot tub because I know we'll be SORE from sitting on those uncomfy airplane seats for however long... plus my butt will be sore from sitting in the airport.

Erin also has to shoot footage and take pictures of me giving serious love to the resort. I plan to hug the dang thing when we get there. I am a dork. If you're just now realizing this you do not know me at all.

Next post will be our revised touring plans for the parks... again, broken up by day.

I stayed at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in June of 2007. I absolutely love the resort, it's big and relaxing and it doesn't matter to me that it caters to Convention goers, it just means more room on the bus to the parks.

Originally we were planning on staying at Pop, but with the buy 4 get 3 free promotion Disney has going right now we decided to go ahead and book a moderate. Again, I gave Erin the choice of which resort to stay at because I'm just that nice (And I really didn't want the responsibility). I gave her the links to all of the moderates with as little bias as I could, but she chose CSR anyway.

Not that I'm complaining, since I love the place. Come to find out that's why she picked the resort, she knew how much I enjoyed my time there. I have the best best friend.

Anyway, this is the write up about the resort. As with the Pop Century write up, I'm going to be giving my bits here and there, but also copying some of the info from AllEars.net.



Coronado Springs is another of Disney's moderately priced resorts that opened on August 1, 1997. The complex has 1,967 rooms and suites situated in three villages around a 15-acre lake called Lago Dorado.
This is Disney's first moderately priced convention hotel. There is a 95,000-square-foot convention center that includes a 60,214 square-foot. ballroom, as well as a full-service business center. The ballroom can accommodate 5,000 for a sit-down dinner or 6,500 meeting-style seats. There is also a 20,000 square- foot Junior Ballroom.

The resort is built around a 15-acre shimmering lake, Lago Dorado. Named for European explorer Francisco de Coronado, CS is a showcase of native architecture and landscaping. There is a stepped Mayan pyramid towering over an elaborate 120'x90' pool area with a water slide and a playground that doubles as an archeological dig site for kids. There is a jaguar perched over the water slide spitting water at guests as they slide down... and be sure to look for the Hidden Mickeys.
Coronado Springs is definitely a huge resort, but its expansiveness is also part of its beauty. From almost anywhere at the resort you can look across water and see the other areas.



The scenery that surrounds the Resort is stunning. Like I said, it's so relaxing, but it's also just a warm and homey feeling. It was always so nice to come back to the hotel after a long day in the parks and walk around the lake or take a dip in the hot tub... or just sit out by one of the fountains and watch the sun set. You can even see the high pyro of Epcot and the lights from Downtown Disney.

When the Sun goes down the lights go up and the lake is just a southwestern fairytale. The ambiance just can't be outdone.



The average guest room is approximately 314 square feet. There are 60 rooms with king-size beds; 1,718 have two queen beds; there are 1,181 non-smoking rooms and 99 disabled-accessible rooms.

Standard rooms accommodate up to four guests.The Casita Guest Rooms and the Cabana Guest Rooms are identical in size and furniture. The Coronado Rooms have only 1 sink and not the double sink setup that the other three Moderate Resorts have.

Guest room amenities include 4-cup coffee makers (with decaf and regular coffee packets) plus limited room service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Each room has a three-drawer armoire with television, small table with two chairs, night stand, ceiling fan, and small wall safe. Hair dryers, iron, and ironing board, and small refrigerator are also standard. Available on request are cribs, bed rails, refrigerators, and wheelchairs. There is no charge for wheelchair use at the resort. Newspaper delivery is $1.50 per day. There are several newspaper vending machines throughout the resort, located near the elevators.

The Rooms are *roomy* and are currently under refurbishment. All rooms on site now have queen beds, and they're switching out furnature all of this year. They've started on the Casitas and are going floor by floor, which is great. I'm hoping we can get a room in the Casitas (whether refurbed or not) when we go down as that's the first bus stop on the route around the resort.


The Coronado does not share a bus with any other resort, and has about a five minute travel time during slow times from any one park. It is in the Animal Kingdom district, and so it's closest to that park. It's in walking distance of the Blizzard Beach Water Park as well as the Winter Wonderland Mini Golf Course - which is a huge plus for Erin and me!


While the resort is big you don't have to walk to get to your room, there's an internal shuttle system (a longer version of a golf cart) that will gladly pick you up and take you to wherever you want to go.


Another great thing about the resort is El Centro. This is the lobby, dining, and shopping area of the resort. This is where we check in. It also is home to Panchitos, the quaint gift shop (with GREAT scrapbooking stuff!) that has a very Spanish flair about it. Pepper Market, located a little off the lobby has a GREAT flavor to it (litterally) and has a lot of yummy menu options for all times of day. The Maya Grill is their big sit down resteraunt and it hosts a nice menu (but pricey) as well. Yum!


Then there's the "Dig Site" which hosts the main pool (complete with mayan temple water slide) and the "spa" (aka HOT TUB!). It's on the opposite side of the lake from El Centro, and it is impressive just to look at it. I especially love the lighting system they have. Over all it's just stunning.

For Hidden Mickeys check carefully at the Hieroglyphs on the temple at the feature pool.

The Coronado Springs Quiet Pools are the first on Disney property to use Bromine instead of Chlorine!

The Pressed Penny Machines are off the Main Registration area near the phones.


I freaking CANNOT WAIT!

something, who knows what. But I am extremely bored and in want of our trip to Disney World today (like everyday) so I figured I better start revising our trip plans for probably the last time.

As was stated previously - we are now doing a split stay while we're in Disney. January 11-19 will be at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort it is a moderate resort with a deluxe feel. It is currently undergoing some refurbishments - all rooms now have queen beds - so it will have a decidedly *newer* feel to it than other resorts of its caliber.

I will probably do a write up similar to what I did for the Pop Century later this week[end]. But for now I'll just give a run down of plans.

From January 19-22 we will be staying at Disney's Pop Century Resort this is a value level resort, and is the newest of the values as it opened in 2004.

Interestingly enough, while Erin has been to neither resort, I've visited/stayed at both. Of the two I prefer The Coronado, and not because it's a "better quality" but I enjoy the fact that it's more spread out, it has a great theme, the service is above and beyond what I expected, and the busses don't just go to one central location. I like the Pop for its theming, and I hope that when we have to switch to Pop we won't be too homesick for Coronado.

Because we are staying at the Coronado from the first night we get down there, we have cancelled our Boma reservation we had set up for 8:30pm on the 11th. There was just no point to eating out when the Coronado has wonderful food service in both the Pepper Market and Maya Grill (Which is expensive but super yummy). At this point the plan is to get into the Coronado, check in, and - depending on where our room is - we will either grab something to go from the Pepper Market and take it to our room OR we'll settle into our room and then go grab something to eat. Either way will work and the first night we'll do exactly how my family did in 2007 - we'll get acquainted (or in my case reacquainted) with our vacation home... and we can SLEEP. *IF* we can sleep. Chances are we're going to rival that little kid in the ad ("WE'RE TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!")

I'm hoping to have enough energy that first night to head over to the dig site and visit the hot tub, and take some photos of the pool while there.

Have a ~*~Magical~*~ day. :)

Next post on here should be a write up on the Coronado.

We have 50 days until we touch down in Orlando, and head over to our most beautiful resort: Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in the Animal Kingdom district.



And I'm off!

Wow. I almost made it a week before posting again. Is that a record as of late? I'm not sure.

Still tryng to get into the Coronado Springs Resort. There seems to be a pattern with the CMs I get on the phone, the guys all try to get me exactly what I want within our price range. The girls are always upgrading me to deluxe rooms at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Erin and I were tempted to take them up on the offer, but it was just shy f 1300 bucks for 10 days and 10 nights, and I don't think we could handle that. The only other option I think that might make it, but I don't think we'll do, is if we split our stay where it's 4nights at pop and 7 nights at AKL... but I don't think it's worth all the moving around.

So we're still currently at the Pop Century, but we're still hoping against hope that we'll get CSR.




1 month, 4 weeks, 1 day till WDW!