Disney World 2/14-2/17/14

Jay and I were lucky enough to book a last minute surprise getaway WITHOUT kids this weekend. Caitlyn, our almost 20-year old daughter, returned a favor to us by watching all three boys for the weekend. We left on Valentine’s Day and returned on Presidents day, escaping another 10” of snow. We’ve gotten well over 50” so far and the groundhog says we still have 4 more weeks to go! Ugh!

Since we were booking last minute we stayed at CoronadoSprings Resort using about 92 of DVC points for a huge studio with one of the few king size beds! Coronado has a Mexican theme, we stayed in the Rancheros (7A) close to the pools, and bus stop 3 (literally out the back of the building). Little bit of a hike to the main building but the bus can take you around if needed. The resort was really quiet until Sunday evening. The facilities houses a convention center, by 4pm on Sunday night the place was hopping with people networking, on laptops, in meetings or on their cell phone. Thankfully, for me when I escape from work it means no children. Sadly, for Jay this is a reminder of work. (In fact, we heard his boss was actually in Disney with his family, hopefully he knew how to relax). Although it wasn’t overly noisy, the congestion of people at the hotel was reaching park status. However, we still managed to snag a hammock on the beach by the lake for a 2 hour nap in the sun. Let’s pause and go back to that warm sun and beautiful blue sky….

Ok back to reality, there were 3 places to grab food at the hotel. One quick stop were we grabbed a quick cookie and drinks. We ate the Pepper Market twice for Breakfast. I liked the cafeteria style serving, you got a card when you purchased items they stamped your card, pay on your way out. The food wasn’t that great, but then again we never really like Disney food. Just seemed like it was sitting out too long. We never had trouble finding seats despite the convention and it being school vacation week. There is also the Maya Restaurant, we did not eat there, as I don’t really like Mexican.

The staff at Coronado was typical Disney, everything was super happy, super magical, just the way I like it. We even got a ride from the walk outside our room to the hammocks, because that’s what lazy people do on vacation! =)

Although we did not use the pool at the resort, they had like 3 of them, the main pool was super cool Mayan Pyramid with water slide. Since it was February the pools laid empty most of the time other than the few brave souls who I’m guessing were from Northern US and thought 60 degrees was 90! That would be Jay’s people. Mine are still wearing hoodies!

So what do you do when you go to Disney without kids? Eat around the world of course, I’d totally drink around the world if I actually liked the taste of alcohol. So loosen the belt because on our first day there we gained 20 lbs! We started off at the Polynesian for the O’hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. They stopped at our table despite no kids, we politely waived them away thinking… I’m only here for the waffles and sausages! Sausages! Let me tell you these things, they are the best sausages in the whole wide world. I love them! I can’t go to Disney without them. If you do anything, make sure it’s O’hana breakfast, even though O’hana means family, I really think it means SAUSAGES! After the family style breakfast of eggs, potatoes, Mickey waffles, sausage and bacon we headed to Epcot to work some of it off. (Thank you Disney Insider Tips for taking a picture of those beautiful sausages, I've yet to wait long enough to take a picture)

Ok let’s get the facts out the way, I read somewhere that the promenade of the World Showcase in Epcot is only 1. 2 miles from Canada to Mexico. They really need to make it bigger so I can work off more food or make more room, you decide. So we went to France for desserts, also Morocco, since I’ve never had baklava and it has nuts in it. Our oldest son is allergic to peanuts, we don’t dare try nuts so this was our opportunity. We walked all the way around to Mexico before trying anything else, where we split some nachos for the sake of me saying I ate Mexican! Are you proud Dad? We then walked back around since Germany was PACKED with Bachlorette parties, and I’m guessing all those convention guests? We made it in but if you want a beer plan on standing in line. We finished off our 7 hour day at Epcot with dinner in Morocco where I tried lamb for the first time. It was ok, I’m guessing lamb from anywhere else would be good, but in true Disney fashion it was blah. Other than those sausages and Mickey waffles the food stinks.

Few other noteworthy places we ate this weekend, Sci-Fi Dine In in Hollywood studios. CREEEEEEEEPY! The wait times for this place are outrageous, hour plus, so make reservations if you want to visit. They seat you in these car tables which is really just a row with a small lunch table in front of you. There are 3 rows per car, so we had strangers in front of us. But don’t worry about interaction as there is none. The place is eerily quiet because no one faces one another and there is a bad 50’s short films playing. $75 we got appetizer of Spinach and Artichoke dip served with Nachos, super yummy, never had it before. (I know there is a reason people call me oh one of limited taste buds.) 2 Diet cokes (cause I’m watching my girlish figure) and shared an Oreo cookie shake (again see girlish figure, well that if I had my own I wasn’t getting out of the booth it was so small). I got a burger for meal, and Jay got Shrimp Parmesan Pasta. Again, eh. The burger was big, not Triple D big lift those elbows up, but more like flying saucer big. Who knows maybe that was their theme? I will not go back, take my $75 to O’hana for more sausage.

Ok few Disney things I want to mention that have nothing to do with the hotel specifically. We got our magic bands here, loved them. We were told we could link our annual pass to them but didn’t cause we had limited time. With them we opened our room, used our fastpass + , and paid for everything. No longer digging for a wallet. I didn’t even bring mine which was nice for those days you have no pockets. It’s completely waterproof too. We also used the Disney Experience App for such an easy planning time. We booked dinner reservations, fastpass+, checked wait times, park hours etc. Only thing is it drained the battery on my Samsung Galaxy S4 fast. So if you plan your day online, instead of constantly checking it we took a screenshot to be able to check our fast pass times.

So something new to me at Disney resort was the new RapidRefill system. Normally we have a full kitchen and don’t purchase the cups at the resort restaurants. So this may not be new to you. The souvenir cups you can purchase now have day limitations on them that vary by pricing. The regular cups your purchase were allowed 3 refills by a certain time, I think it was like an hour but limits how much you can put in your cup per refill. I took a sip when I was filling the cup went to add more before I sat down, wouldn’t let me for another 2 minutes. I’ll link more info on this as I don’t have all the details. I can understand their point but really, you charged me $3 from the vending machine for a 20oz coke that wasn’t even that cold, you think I can steal an extra sip?! I guess this is why Disney makes millions and I don’t.

What we liked about Disney: This time, was walking around Epcot shopping and eating. And Sausages!

What we liked about Coronado Springs: The room, king size bed, larger room gave us some space and the décor was pretty not gaudy.

What we didn’t like about Disney: This time, convention. We saw Disney in a different light.

What we didn’t like about Coronado Springs: The Convention Center! Too many people working when I’m trying to relax. Now if I had to go to a family daycare convention I’d be MORE than happy, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. 

Orlando, FL Hilton SeaWorld 11/22-11/29/13

Yes, we went to Disney and did not stay on property. This time we stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation club as part of timeshare promotion. Long story short, we decided not to purchase it for several reasons.

The entire Hilton experience was a disaster from the moment we tried to book in Myrtle Beach but never had availability unless we wanted to go in winter. So we booked in their alternative location of Orlando, (Vegas was the other option). We tried to book a two-bedroom, what we got was what is called a lockout unit. A lockout unit is when they combine a one bedroom with a studio thus creating a two bedroom via connecting doors. Although this wasn’t horrible, still gave us plenty of room and bathrooms. A lockout unit is not a good idea when you have small children. When we first arrived the kids ran into the room and closed their door. There is no doorknob on our side for privacy reasons when unit isn’t being shared by the same family. So we would have to exit the hotel room and enter from the other outside door. Thankfully, our 8 year old was with our 1 year old and was able to open the door. A simple fix was to throw a small hand towel over the top of the door to keep it from closing all the way. However, that also meant we couldn’t close the door at night and was left with being quiet as not to wake the baby. Since my sister was traveling with us, and she has no kids this was a little bit of a hassle for us. Especially since the dining room table was DIRECTLY outside their door. Brings new meaning to a quiet dinner.

Overall the room was clean and comfortable and well stocked. I can’t say the same for the property directly across from the Hilton. There was a convenience/gas station right on the corner, and bus stops along the route both left liter everywhere. At first I thought maybe an animal got into the trash but it was pretty much there every day we came and left. The Hilton property itself was very clean, the pool was fun and the kids spray area and playground were fantastic for us with mixed age groups (8, 4, and 15months). The parking area was tough. You had to fight for a spot anywhere near your room. 

The location was pretty close to Seaworld, the entrance was just down the street. In fact, we could see the fireworks from our balcony which was fun! As I mentioned earlier there was a convenience store on the corner that my sister would walk to easily. Short commute to Disney, I don’t think traffic was ever a factor.

If you are curious on why we didn’t purchase with Hilton, we have several reasons. Mostly, it was super expensive, THREE times the cost of our Disney time share. While we were in our meeting we asked for a few minutes to talk alone.  30 minutes later our sales associate still hadn’t come back so we sat listening to the SUPER LOUD woman at the table next to us. She was complaining about the lack of room whenever she wanted to book using her Hilton timeshare. Booking this timeshare deal was such a nightmare for us that we already regretted the little commitment we had already made. This just confirmed their lack of availability. When our sales associate finally returned we decided to address to our concern. The minute I said “I don’t know if this is the right plan for us…” her tune changed she was completely uninterested in anything we said. She suggested getting someone to discuss other financial options for us. The ‘financial’ woman came over, I explained what we overheard and what we experienced; these were our concerns not just the price. She said she’d be happy to log into her account to show us the availability. This is all while answering her text messages right in front of us.  When we did ask about the price because we weren’t willing to pay the outrageous package she dismissed us like children who got in trouble with the teacher. We walked out disappointed because I felt like they should be honored to have our business not like they were doing us a favor! We’ll upgrade our Disney (DVC) long before I purchase with Hilton.

What we liked about Orlando: Obviously, we’ve been to Orlando many times, as our other time share is in Disney. So I’ll rate the area we stayed in, Seaworld. So close to Seaworld, walking distance to stores. Easy commute to Disney as well.

What we liked about the Hilton: Location was fantastic and it was clean and stylish.

What we didn’t like about Orlando: Seaworld area, outside the Hilton the neighborhood seemed a little sketchy. Trash in the streets put us off.

What we didn’t like about the Hilton: The onsite restaurant was overpriced, the staff was non-existent. We never saw anyone except when we pulled into the gate. 

P.S. I just want to comment this was the first time we went to Disney on Thanksgiving, it was so packed we left, it wasn't enjoyable. This was also the first time I've ever seen K-9 officer at Magic Kingdom. (I did see one again when I went again in February '14 which I'll post in a few minutes). I do NOT recommend visiting Disney on Thanksgiving. =)