Trip Report: Arrival

Wow, have I been busy. We pulled into Nashville on Sunday afternoon, but then had to make a trip across town to pick up our puppy from the grandparents and visit some cousins while we were at it. Needless to say, we didn't get back to our home--where we had simply dumped the contents of our car in the floor--until nearly bedtime. We unpacked only the necessities and went to bed. As of Monday evening, there are still backpacks and bags to be unpacked and piles of things to be put away...and, of course, the laundry.

That said, there's really no way for me to report on our entire trip in just one post. There's simply too much to tell. So, instead, I'll start with our arrival and see how far I get. This is merely skimming the surface, mind you. We will delve deeper in upcoming posts.

We left TN on Friday afternoon and spent the night at my brother's home in Stone Mountain, GA. With conflicting reports from our GPS and Google Maps, we got up a bit earlier than really necessary, making it on the road by around 7. (We didn't want to take any chances, as Guest Relations at Downtown Disney--the location where we were told to pick up our Homeschool Days tickets--closed at 4:00.) Even with many potty and snack stops, as well as a visit to our fave FL Welcome Center for a quick cup of OJ, we made it with time to spare. We went straight to DD and got our tickets, with only one minor glitch (the CM tried to make me pay for them again, though I had pre-paid) that was remedied quickly. With tickets in hand, we hopped over to T-Rex to experience the Chocolate Extinction. We enjoyed the atmosphere--especially since we had just completed a unit study on dinosaurs in our homeschooling! The menu is pretty pricey, but we found the dessert to be very reasonably priced, even at $14.95. It easily feeds 4, and we actually had an entire slice of cake leftover.



After shopping at the World of Disney and Once Upon a Toy stores, we headed to Coronado Springs to check in. I intentionally skipped the online check-in this time, hoping I could perhaps get an upgrade or request a specific section of the resort (since online you can only make requests such as "near transportation" or "ground floor"). Sadly, waiting actually backfired this time, as there was no availability in the area we were hoping for, but the CM did switch us to a "better room"--whatever that meant.



Overall, I like the look of CS. The rooms have a clean, islandy feel. I love the dark wood with the turquoise trim, and I'm especially fond of the sliding doors that separate the bathroom from the rest of the room. I did, however, miss the table (there's only a desk), especially at breakfast time. And the bathroom had only one sink, although the vanity space was ample. We had a couple of problems with our room. First, the refrigerator did not cool consistently, and certainly not when filled. (We had a similar problem at Port Orleans French Quarter last year.) We did call maintenance about it, and they actually told us to turn the dial down, which didn't work. After that, we took all but a few items out and used our cooler when we needed to get something reliably cold. Our second issue was that the bathtub would not drain. We called and it did seem improved (although not entirely "fixed") when we returned from the parks that evening; however, it was less than sparkly clean. One other thing we noticed this trip was the utter lack of towel creations. On our previous visits, we have always had new "critters"--bunnies, mice, ladybugs, etc.--waiting for us each evening, provided by Mousekeeping. One particularly ambitious CM used our daughters' princess costumes in an elaborate window display (I'm still kicking myself for not taking a picture before I dismantled it!). But this trip: nada. Zip. Zero. Oh, I take that back. One evening we returned to find our daughter's sleep toys arranged on the beds somewhat artistically. But, seriously, how hard would a Mickey ear-shaped towel display have been? We've come to expect a little extra magic, and CS left us hanging.

Outside of the initial reservations CM, we didn't actually interact in person with any other resort staff during our visit. We did talk to a friendly lifeguard at the pool one evening. And aside from sleeping and the aforementioned evening at the pool, we didn't spend much time at our resort. We didn't even eat at any of the restaurants or food court. Still, my overall impression of Coronado Springs is that it is an adequate, average moderate resort. Is it my favorite? No. But I was satisfied with my stay there.

Tomorrow: the Parks. I'll explore what was fabulous...and the few things that were not so fabulous...about our time in the Parks.