We're Disney Bound

In order to have all the plans out by the time I have to have this laptop packed up and ready to go I have to double up on a day. No problem there, right? I may pull out my laptop if I get bored waiting to board my plane at Ted Stevens International (and I pray that it always stays Ted Stevens' International... I'm sure Begich has his eye on changing it and with Uncle Ted's conviction...) Sorry lost my head there for a minute.

Anywho, the 19th is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day and as such the parks will probably be packed all weekend, but I've decided that monday would be a good day to see stuff outside the parks. So it's our downtown disney mini golf do whatever else we want day. DHS has Extra Magic Evening Hours so we might pop over there for a bit, who knows. This is also the day we go from Disney's Coronado Springs Resort over to the value of The Pop Century Resort. It's only for the last three nights of our trip so I am not going to complain.

Day Eight: Take A Break Day!
08:00a - Check Out have luggage sent to Pop, say good bye to CSR *sniff*
08:30a - Catch bus for The Magic Kingdom
09:00a - Take Ferry to The Wilderness Lodge
10:00a - Breakfast @ The Whispering Canyon Cafe
11:15a - Head to Downtown Disney
11:45a - SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
02:30p - Catch Bus to the Beach Club
03:30p - Lunch @ Beaches N Cream
04:30p - Head over to Pop Century to Check In
05:30p - Hit Up Mini Golf @ either Fantasia Gardens or Winter/Summerland
07:30p - Debate going to other mini golf course, going to a park, or back to Pop.
09:00p - Lights out.

This is a very rough idea of what we'll do. Who knows what we'll end up really doing...

Now, onto the Resort Info...

Home Sweet Home: Pop Century
Resort: Disney's Pop Century
Phone #: 1-407-939-4000
Check In: January 19, 2009 around 4:30p
Departing: January 22, 2009 around 5:00a
Room Type: Standard
Location: We have requested the 1950s Buildings

...so, Erin had planned to get a pedicure a few days before our trip to Disney so her feet could look fab on our trip. That fell through due to her work schedule and she was bummed.

I told Judy earlier this month about it and Judy got a fantastic idea to book a pedicure there at the Coronado Springs Health Spa for Erin. She ordered a Disney Gift Card so that we could pay for it and not worry about the cost.

So, after playing phone tag with them for three days I finally booked an appointment for Monday January 12th @ 9am. So I guess we'll sleep in that morning after all. It was funny because the lady I was talking to had called me on Sunday morning at 4:30 (!!!) because she didn't realize that I was in Alaska, so she apologised and then said I probably didn't want to book the very first appointment of the day (which is at 9am) and I said that it wouldn't be a problem and the earlier the better. So now Erin is her very first apt. on Monday before we head over to eat with Chef Mickey. I have NO idea what I will do while she's getting her pedicure. Maybe just walk around and take photos... that way Erin's not stuck going around the place with me...

soooooooooooooooooooo now........ yet another revision...

Day One -- Magic Kingdom

08:30a - Wake Up
09:00a - Erin gets her pedicure
10:00a - Head to Magic Kingdom
10:30a - Grab fast pass for Big Thunder Mt. Railroad
10:45a - Head over to Contemporary (aka walk over there)
11:10a - Brunch @ Chef Mickey's
11:45a - Catch Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom
12:10p - Ride Big Thunder Mt Railroad if Fast Pass window has arrived / continue touring Adventureland & Frontierland
02:00p - explore Liberty Square
03:00p - Dreams Come True Parade (what time is the 3 o'clock parade?)
03:30p - Fast pass Mickey's Philharmagic / Haunted Mansion / ride the Liberty Belle / visit Tom Sawyer's Island
05:30p - Dinner @ Columbia Harbour House
06:00p - Head back towards main street
06:30p - stake out spot in hub/mainstreet for parade and fireworks!
07:00p - Spectromagic
08:00p - Wishes Nighttime Spectacular
09:30p - In room set wake up call for 7:00am



I've also planned a Passporter Meet Up with another PP member for the 15th (our Disney-Hollywood Studios day) but I will be posting our revised travel plans next week when we pretty much know our plans are set in stone! ha ha!

13 days till WDW, baby!!!

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!