Post trip report Anniversary and DD 21st Bday

DAY 2 Part 1 Monday September 8th

We were up and showered ready to hit the road by 8:00Am.
We enjoyed a nice hot breakfast that was included in our stay. We were waving goodbye to GA. by 8:30. We made it to International Drive by 12:30 we found a Super 8 hotel. It wasn't the prettiest place but it was clean and bug free! My DD works for a Resort here in Ohio and she how to strip the beds and where to look for those wonderful critters. Glad to say that we never found any in our rooms.

We intended this day to relax and do some retail therapy. We headed to the outlet mall. First stop lunch we found a Five Guys and knew we were eating there. Great sandwich and fries. Now that we had filled our tummies it was off to shop shop shop. First stop discount Disney store. I found a great Mr. Potato Head shirt for my Dad he was watching our cats for us.
DD and I found a Princess tank top. We wondered from store to store. DD was looking for some shorts that had pockets in them (workout ones). We couldn't find anything. I did end up buying DH some swim trunks as an anniversary present.

Then we headed to all those wonderful gift shops along International drive. I found a #1 Grandma shirt for my mom since she was helping with the cats. DD found a cute bag that had the princess's in toe shoes. The plan was to get that for her ballet teacher. But I'm not to sure if she will give up the bag. It was getting hot and humid and we were all wilting from going in and out of the stores.
So back to the hotel to shower and change and just cool off. The clouds were not looking very pretty. DD wanted to walk over the bridge to City Walk. DH decided to drive. Thank goodness for DH smart thinking. We were going up the ramp to park at City Walk and it started pouring. It was fun to watch all the people flooding out of Universal. At one point the security guard had to stop the people from getting on the moving walkway it was so full.
We stood undercover and watched the people trying to decide where to go for dinner. The rain finally let up after 35 minutes. Off we went to Pat O'Briens.

DH ordered a Cheeseburger and pepsi since he was the Designated Driver. DD and I ordered chicken sandwich and Hurricane. They had a piano player and she was very entertaining. We left there and went to Universal Guest Services so we could get our tickets for September 16th.
We then did a bit of people watching. DD had a couple electric lemonades and I ordered tropical punch.

We wondered through the shops and did some people watching. What should have been a 5 minute trip back to the hotel turned out to be and hour and half drive. DH took a wrong turn out of the parking garage and we ended up back on the highway paying a 1.50 toll. We finally made it back safe and sound to the hotel.

Day 3
We were up and ready by 8:30. We stopped to sample the hotels breakfast. It was so crowded you couldn't get into the little room. DH grabbed us a couple of muffins for the road. Lambie and Animal were excited that we were finally going to Disney World!

We arrived at Coronado Springs at @ 9:20 am. When we went to check in the lady at the front desk had to call over another worker because we were one of those people. They had some issues with their computers and nothing of ours would work. We were told to leave our magic bands behind because they wouldn't work. Not for getting in the parks, charging, or even purchasing our meals (we had the meal package).

The lady did present us with 3 cards telling us we were to use those to get into the parks that day. Our room wasn't ready but they had our cell phone and could contact us. We had planned to spend the morning at Blizzard Beach anyways. Off we go to wait for our bus. It was the 3rd bus to pull up and we had only been waiting about 15 minutes.

We spent some time on the lazy river and they they talked me into going up the mountain. I don't like lifts of any kind so I was very nervous getting on the chair lift. We made it to the top and took a 5 person tube down the hill with a very nice couple. DD had read about their sand bucket off we went to find one!

It was so much the 3 of us shared. We then did the lazy river for a bit longer and decided we were getting hungry for real food. We decided to head back to the hotel and see if our room was ready yet. We waited for about 15 minutes and a bus was there to take us back to the hotel.

We arrived about 1:45.
Good news our magic bands now worked but the room still wasn't ready
We headed to Peppers Market DD and I shared a roasted chicken meal DH had one also.
After lunch still no text about our room so we headed to the pool for a bit.
The clouds were starting to look a bit stormy and it was 3:30 and we had wanted to be dressed and at MK by 4:00 for the MNSSHP, still no text about our room. DD and I headed to the lobby to find out what was taking so long. I know they say that rooms will be ready by 3:00 but when we preregistered I had let them know we would be in by 9:30 I was hoping to have a room by noon no such luck.
The good news was our room was ready had been for a bit the lady stated she couldn't figure out why we hadn't got a text.
We did get a 2nd floor water view room on the corner. Now we had to unload and tote our thing to our room. Because I knew that we wouldn't want to do this after the party.

We walked into a NOT complete Mickey. I was glad I didn't have kids and have to explain why Mickey was missing an ear.

We got changed and made our way to MK and the party. We had reservations at La Plaza at 5:10. We arrived at MK at 4:45 got our bags and wrist bands. It started sprinkling while we waited for our table. There were quiet a few adults dressed up for the party. DD ordered the Plaza Club, I got the Chicken Strawberry Salad and DH ordered the Cheese Steak Sandwich. For dessert DH and DD had the Brownie Sundae and I ordered the Banana Split. Yum!

Sorry I haven't figured out how to post a picture then type underneath.

After dinner the sprinkles had stopped. Boy did it make it horribly humid. We headed for Buzz Light year and rode the ride with very little waiting. The Cm's were out working the guest without party bands to the front of the park. We headed for the Haunted Mansion we loved the make-up for the CM's. We headed over to BTM and hopped on board for our first night time ride. The parade was scheduled to start so we headed to FantasyLand and rode Peter Pan and It's a small world with very little waiting. We checked out a couple of the trick or treat spots.

DD wanted to ride Pooh after that we made our way to the Mine Train the wait time said 20 minutes it only took 12 minutes from the time we hopped in line until we were on our way to Under the Sea. We enjoyed the ride, DH thought it was to tame. I reminded him that this was a family ride. (We have season passes to Cedar Point and enjoy the big roller coasters.)

We headed to the castle so we could get a spot for the 8:55 Villain Mix and Mingle. Just our luck they cancelled the show. DH got the video camera out and realized that in our haste we didn't have the battery for the video camera. We really wanted to tape the Celebrate the Magic. After Hallowishes we headed to Liberty Square wanting to get a seat for the last parade. We were in luck there was a bench open. What a great place to watch the parade. The road was slick so the Headless horseman rode very slowly down the parade route.

We loved the parade the gravediggers were fantastic. DH missed the groundskeeper and his bloodhound. After the parade we headed to Club Villain. DH got abducted by one of the mean step sisters and she danced him away. She did eventually bring him back!

We were starting to get tired we headed over to Pirates for a quick ride before we called it a night. We left the party at 11:45 we only waited a short time at the bus stop.

When we arrived at our room my DD was very surprised her wand and tiara had arrived. For DH there was a bag(for me) and inside I had ordered beers from different countries with some snacks. They were both very surprised.

DD dressed up as Pooh(her senior year of ballet they had to choreograph,design costume and teach a dance to younger people.) She chose Return to Pooh's Corner since her nickname was poohbear and sis bear. DH dressed up like Goofy on vacation.

Day 4 part 1

We had brought bread, toaster and cereal with us so that we could have breakfast each morning in the room. Since it was a late night the night before we were slow getting around this morning. We were headed for Epcot and ended up waiting 30 minutes for a bus. There were several Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom buses.
We made it to Epcot a little after 10. We handed our book bags to DH and the security guards loved the see through bags.

We headed for Soarin since we had FP. After Soarin to the dismay of DD we walked right on to Living with the Land. She doesn't really enjoy that ride. It was time for FP to visit with Figment. He and Tinkerbell are my favorite characters. We still had time before lunch so we took in The Sea with Nemo.

We then headed to Test Track to see if we could get on before lunch. No such luck. The sky had started out a bit cloudy and was clearing up it was around 92 and high humidity. We signed in at Akershus in Norway and were seated withing 5 minutes.
They start you off with a cold bar with salads and shrimp ect. I tried a small piece of this smooth creamy cheese I wish they had labeled it since it was so good.
DD ordered a Magical Star Cocktail I a Kristiansand and DH ordered a new beer they had just gotten. We all enjoyed our drinks. DD had Open faced Chicken, I the Mushroom Stuffed Pasta and DH the Traditional Kjottkake. The princess each stopped by the table to chat and take a picture with DD. Ariel was in wonder of all our swim googles and why they were perched on our heads. For desert we had a variety of different Norway treats. Everything tasted great.
Our CM presented DD with a cupcake and card signed by all the Princess.

We had a FP for Malestrom right after lunch but it was broken down and they were not sure when it would be up and running. We headed back to Mexico and decided to beat the heat with the boat ride.

Since it was DD's 21st celebration we stopped and ordered a couple Margarita's and DH a beer. DD and I both decided that Tequila was Not our drink. I think we drank about half it had such a strong taste. We wondered around the gift stores in China for a bit. Then decided to try plum wine and peach Snapps. Neither of the 3 of us liked the wine and the snapps was a bit sweet but much better than the wine.

It was starting to get really warm and the clouds were rolling in we decided one more drink before we headed up to the Visa meet and greet. DD and I stopped at the Coolpost she got a slushy and I ordered the Starr African Rum drink. It wasn't to bad, not sure I would order it again. DH stopped in Germany while we sat and people watched. He ordered an Oktoberfest and a Berentzen Apfel shot. He got the beer and the CM gave him a Grapefruit beer instead of the shot. He liked the first but wasn't a fan of the grapefruit beer. I'm not a beer drinker so I didn't like any nor did DD.

We had our pictures taken with Mickey and Goofy and decided to ride Spaceship Earth while waiting for our pictures. Then we headed back to the hotel for a rest the humidity was getting to us. When we were going back to the hotel our bus stops were never to far away and buses were there within 5-10 minutes. Just wish buses leaving the hotel were that quick.
I ended up taking a nap and DD and DH went to take pictures of the hotel.

Jmed when we went last December we had lunch their also. The Princess just chat for a few a move on it's really great food.

Day 4 part 2

After a short rest we are headed back to Epcot. It was 5:15 and nobody was at the bus stops. We waited 20 minutes for a bus. When we arrived at Epcot there was no line for Spaceship Earth so we rode it for a second time. We headed out to find a kiosk so we could look at FP for TT.

The CM was great we only had to wait 5 minutes before we could ride. We were beginning to get hungry so we headed to America to eat a Liberty Tree. My DH and DD are not very adventurous eaters before we left we had to check out where they could agree on getting something to eat. I ordered the New York Strip Steak DD the Grilled Chicken Blt and DH the Hamburger.We met a CM that was going to school at Cleveland State ( about 1 hour 15 minutes from us) and she stayed and chatted for a bit.

We did notice that there were a lot of Ohio people staying at Coronado that week. There were a lot of little kids but we were all surprised by the amount of babies. After supper DH wanted another Oktoberfest so he headed to Germany DD and I decided to share a glass of wine from Italy. I believe it was Corbinello but neither of us liked it.

We wondered over to Japan and I ordered a Tokyo Sunset. I enjoyed this while watching Illuminations. We were all a bit hot and sweaty so we decided to call it a night. On the way out we stopped at Spaceship Earth for another ride.

Dinner food from day 4

Day 5

This was MK day and we were up bright and early some of us were chomping at the bit to get to the park while others really just wanted to sleep a bit longer. As we were turning the corner of the building to go down the stairs a bus was pulling away. I just knew it was for the MK. When we walked up their was a CM tracking the bus times. She assured us that since it was EMH at MK that another bus would be by shortly. While we waited their were 4 buses for AK, 2 for Epcot, 3 Hollywood Studios and DTD. 35 minutes later we were on our way to Mk so much for getting there for rope drop.

It was muggy but cooler this am. We headed to Space Mountain DD and DH rode while I hit up Buzz Light Year. We decided since there was no line we would hop on Buzz again. I believe we rode it 4 times in a row. It was time for our FP for Peter Pan. We decided we needed to head over to Sleepy Hallow for a Nutella and Fruit waffle. DH didn't want to try it so DD and I enjoyed it very much.
Our FP window for Mine Train was open we took another ride. We all agreed it was a fun ride but we enjoyed it more at night.

We made our way over to Liberty Tree for our lunch reservations. There was a very annoying family in front of us. They had 3 little boys and they needed to go to the bathroom (upstairs) the middle boy was scared of the stairs and the father was yelling at him to either go up or get back down and stop being a sissy. My heart went out to this poor little guy.

Our CM called our name and we seated in the Benjamin Franklin room. We had a terrible time getting our CM's attention so that we could get refills. Not sure where he was most of the time since it had just opened and there wasn't many dinners.
Their Freedom Pasta was really tasty DH had the hamburger and DD the Liberty Boy BLT this was rather good as well. For desert we all ordered the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake.

After lunch we headed over to ride HM the line was about 15 minutes. Then our FP window for Pooh was almost over so off we went to enjoy our trip through the forest.

Storm clouds are now rolling we decided we would look through the stores then find a spot for the parade. It was 2:25 and nobody at the start of Main Street. DD and I found a great spot just outside the doors of the store occasionally we would get a wonderful burst of air conditioning. DH saw some people on the train station and went to investigate. We get a call from him and he has found us seats up there. Just as we got to the stairs it started to rain. It rained just enough to wet the street and raise the humidity.

DD got an update from her phone that we were having tornado warning at home. I called my client to make sure she was doing okay. (I do home health care I knew she couldn't go to the basement and wanted to remind her that the bathroom was a safe place.)

We didn't get to see the Festival of Fantasy Parade but they did have the Rainy Day Parade. We decided to go back to the hotel and cool off for a bit.

When we arrived back to the room the Mousekeeper had forgotten to take out our trash and didn't leave any soap or shampoo. My DD wasn't to happy about the service we were getting she would shake her head and say yes be fast but attention to detail. We found a roll of trash bags on our vanity. She s a Supervisor over housekeeping at Kalahari in Sandusky.

We headed back to park and headed over to get some Dole Whip. We walked right into the Tiki Room. Then wondered over to BTM. We were starting to get a bit hungry and decided on Cosmic Rays DD and I shared the 1/2 Chicken meal and DH had the BBQ Pork Sandwich.
It was getting time to find a seat for the parade we found a spot on the sidewalk just before the start across from the Fire Station. DH spent some time looking at the patches in the Fire Station. The patch from our Volunteer Fire Department was on display. We had brought it down several years ago per request of my father-in-law. The patch brightened our night since it has been 3 years since we lost him. The CM told DH that they rotate the patches.

After the parade we headed towards the Castle so we could video tape Celebrate the Magic. YEAH we had the battery this time! After Wishes we headed back to our room.

Day 6 part 1

Our goal today was to be at AK just as it opened. Today at the bus stop there were several buses headed to MK we saw 3 within 5 minutes of each other. Like the days past we ended up waiting for the bus only 25 minutes today.

We enjoy AK early when there are not many people there, so much easier to walk about. We headed to to Dino USA and hopped on Dinosaur with a 5 minute wait. It didn't seem quiet as bumpy as in the past at least my back didn't bother me like in December.
Then it was off to Everest there we had a short 10 minute wait before we were off to find the Yeti. There were so many walls up around AK that it was hard to enjoy the view. It was time for our FP for Lion King we waited in line @ 15 minutes we sat in the Elephant section. We enjoy this show DD liked the birds but my favorite is the monkeys. First time we visited Disney they were doing Tarzan and I enjoyed the monkeys it that also.

Next up was KIlimanjaro Safari we had a very difficult time finding the FP entrance, the line wound around past the regular entrance line which had jumped from 20 minutes to 60 minutes while we tried to find the end of the FP line. It was by far the longest FP line that we waited in all trip it took 15 minutes to get to where we could scan our bands.
Great time to do some people watching and we were in a shady area.

DD was disappointed with the ride she thought it felt like they were rushing everything and there was no time to enjoy watching the animals.

Our tummies were rumbling about now we headed out to the Flame Tree, but first had to make a detour at Harambe Popcorn to get a Jungle Juice in a musical mug. Wow that was a really awesome drink!

DD and DH ordered the Rib and Chicken meal DD and I shared. The wind had picked up and clouds were looking bad. A CM from New York was telling people to find a table under cover. We were done eating and gave our spot to a family with little kids. We made it to the gift shop before the rain started coming down.

It wasn't a little shower it poured people were walking through water. It let up a bit so were crossed to the other gift shop. Or FP for Kali was canceled. I really wanted to experience that ride this time. We came prepared with flip flops and everything.
It was finally just a drizzle we decided that with it still thundering and some lightening that we would head back to the hotel to refresh before heading out for Studios.

Day 6 part 2

Since it was sprinkling we decided that laundry would be a good idea. We went to gather the laundry and found poor Animal just tossed on the bed.
DH decided that when we went to Studios that Animal needed to hitch a ride in the backpack. It stopped raining as the cloths went into the dryer so we decided to have a swim while waiting.

We headed to the bus stop a bit after 4 we had to wait for a electric cart to load. We didn't experience as many of these as we had in past trips. We only had to wait 20 minutes for the bus. We met a lot of people walking in but once inside it really wasn't to busy. We found the FP kiosk and booked a ride on the coaster. We had to wait about 40 minutes the wait for the GMR was 5 minutes so off we went. DH really wanted the western scene. We ended up with the gangster scene the CM was a very good actress and we enjoyed the ride.

We wondered through some of the gift stores on our way to our FP of Rockin' Roller Coaster. We visited the FP kiosk again and DD really wanted to see Fantasmic since she had never experienced.
We wandered over to Star Tours and walked right on. Animal was having a blast people were pointing at him and he would occasionally wave back at them.
He became really excited when we got close to Muppet 3-d we knew we had to go in so that he might visit with his Muppet friends.

We had a 6:50 dinner at Sci Fi after checking in we waited 25 minutes. We were seated at 7:15. Animal sat in the back with DH and the CM thought that he was really cool Animal got a Coke on the house. DD ordered Chicken Pasta, I the New York Strip and DH the Ribs. DH said they were very tasty. We ordered our deserts to go as we had 10 minutes to get to the other side of the park for Fantasmic. We arrived with 2 minutes to spare was a close call! We enjoyed our deserts while watching the show. Turtle Cheese Cake for DH and Sci Fi Candy Bar for us girls.

After the show we made our way toward the entrance to watch the Frozen Fireworks. It was very crowded a group of young men in front of us were talking so loud we hear what they were saying on stage. The fireworks were awesome.

We caught the 2nd bus back to the hotel there were a lot of buses lined up to get guests back to their hotels quickly.

Day 7 Saturday September 13th

Our plans for today were to chill out at Typhoon Lagoon for a bit in the Am. Then head to DTD for a 3:30 meal at T-Rex do some shopping and maybe head to a putt-putt course.

We were at the bus stop by 9:30 and on the bus by 9:40. We were the only ones on the bus besides a couple that had suitcases and got off at the lobby. Upon arrival we headed straight to a ticket taker only to find out our Magic Bands didn't have anything on them so she sent us to the Customer Service window. The line was very long DD decided to look on her phone to see if she could figure out what was going on. We had purchased a 5 day water park park hopper ticket.

She finally got an internet connection and it showed only 5 day park hopper. I had just the night before taken out our travel documents. I knew we would need the paperwork to get things straightened out. We had been in line for 10 minutes so back to the bus stop so we could catch a bus back to the hotel to get the documents.

There were several buses unloading for DTD none for Coronado Springs. After 35 minutes my DH asked a driver and he was very shocked we had been waiting that long and no bus had been by. He was going to radio that one was needed for us. We waited another 15 minutes and DH asked another driver and he said we needed to got to DTD and catch a bus from there. On board we loaded.

When we arrived at DTD we found our bus stop and waited and waited and waited. The couple in front of us got tired of waiting and the husband went after some help. One of the CM's rerouted a bus from Saratoga Springs and we and the line behind set up a cheer. Come to find out the couple was going to Animal Kingdom Lodge. The CM asked where we were all headed and the line told him Coronado Springs. He said he was sure there would be one shortly. A man farther back said "That's what you to us at 10:30 before we went and had a smoke, it's 12:30 now." The CM made a nasty remark and left.

We finally got a bus 5 minutes later. When we boarded the driver asked us if we were going to Typhoon Lagoon we all 3 said no were are headed back to our hotel. I guess the driver wasn't listening because we pulled in to Typhoon Lagoon and he kept looking at us like why are you just sitting there. We finally made it back to the hotel by 12:30. By this time my DH was rather hot under the collar. It takes a lot to get him upset. He headed for the room to get our paperwork and met us half way to the lobby.
We stopped at the connoisseurs desk and showed them the paperwork and asked that we be refunded our money for the waterpark and more options since we had lost so much of our day waiting on their bus to get us back to the hotel. She told us that AAA had deleted that option and that they had ruined our vacation not Disney. DH and I both said no it was your bus service that has been putting a damper on our vacation. Of course AAA is closed on Saturday so there wasn't much we could do but wait until Monday to get this sorted out.

We went back to the room and got changed and decided that we had better catch the bus since we didn't want to miss our reservation. We made it back to DTD only waiting 10 minutes for a bus. We meandered around the stores find some goodies to take home!

T-Rex was very noisy but the dinosaurs were very life like. There was a table against the far wall that had a little boy who kept coming over and touching the dinosaurs. At one point he climbed on the table behind us and was pulling and picking a the dinosaur. We sure why his parents weren't watching him. But when he went back with a piece of the dinosaur he was told to stay close.

Our server was very attentive when he found out the DD was newly 21 he made sure that she liked her drink before he left. DH ordered a been I a Category 5 and DD a cottontini. We were both pleasantly surprised at how good hers tasted.
DD ordered Fire Roasted Chicken DH Boneyard ribs and I the New York Strip. Desert was cheese cake for DH and DD and I shared Ice Age Indulgence.

DH and DD went into Disney Quest we had 2 free passes from AAA. I sat outside and watched the clouds and people that were out and about. Must have been shift change time for a lot of the places as there were a lot of workers leaving by a side door.

We wondered back to the bus stop and decided to go back to the hotel and do some swimming.

We found out when we got back home that when AAA called and changed our hotel from Port Orleans to Coronado Springs is when Disney dropped the waterpark package not AAA. Though AAA did give us a refund and their Disney rep gave all 3 of us a very nice blanket that was celebrating Disneyland's 50th year. Our rep. also phoned Disney and next time we are there they will give us preferred seating for an event and there will be a surprise in our room. We were very surprised by all of this we just wanted our money refunded if we paid for the perk and when we didn't we didn't expect anything. Just said it put a damper on a day that was suppose to be relaxing!

How was your dinner at Liberty Inn? I've heard pretty poor reviews of that restaurant but your meal looked yummy!