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.
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