Best Surprise Reaction to a Disney Trip!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

This Mom's Ultimate Checklist of what to take to the Disney Parks!

OK Guys - here we go - HELP ME make the Ultimate list of What to take with you to the Disney Park for the Day!!!  I will continue to add to this list - please comment with your suggestions and ideas too!!

ABOVE ALL ELSE - Have a PLAN!!
Then....
1- Comfy & compact bookbag to carry your supplies in!
2- smartphone with AWESOME apps showing Disney World wait times!!
3- camera
4- ponchos (& gallon zip-lock bag to stash them once wet)
5- water bottle
6- hand sanitizer!
7- travel sized sunscreen
8- pain relievers and antacids (Just trust me)! 
9- band-aids
10- sunglasses (it's sunny in FL!)
11- extra memory cards/batteries for camera!
12- snacks
13- trinkets to keep little ones busy while waiting in lines


Thursday, September 12, 2013

Why This Mom Thinks Disney Princesses are the Best!

Meeting ANY Disney character is exciting, but there is something totally enchanting about meeting the "Face" Characters, like the Princesses, who speak to you and ask you questions and interact with you and your children. They have been trained to fit their part very well and always stay in character! Every time we have had the opportunity to meet with them, either out in the parks for a meet & greet or during lunch at the Castle, the Disney Princesses have always taken their time with us and it has made such an impression! This is a video of when my children were about to have their picture taken with Belle at Epcot last year. She didn't just rush them into position and pose for the camera, even though there were others waiting to have their picture made... She took the time to learn their names and get to know them a little. She really made them feel special. As we walked away, they could not stop smiling, they were so excited!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

This Mom Loves Eating at Cinderella's Royal Table!!

Located in Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom, this chance to dine with the Disney Princesses INSIDE the most famous castle of all time, was our favorite Character Dining!! This was QUITE the royal experience! They first have you come in and have your picture taken with Cinderella herself. She talks to each child when you first arrive and hug them and take pictures. This is your chance to see Cinderella, since she won't be joining the rest of the princesses (Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine & Arial) upstairs while you eat. The castle is just as ornate and elaborate on the inside as it is on the outside! Unbelievable! After the first set of pictures, we were taken up a spiral staircase to a gorgeous dining hall complete with royal wait-staff and stained glass windows overlooking all of Fantasyland. Everyone who came to the table called us by Lord, Lady Princess, and Young Knight. They brought our daughter and son each a magic wand and a sword, and a wishing star. The meals were fancy and DELICIOUS! Maybe it was just the fact we had spent the whole morning walking, but I thought it was some of the best food I had tasted! Each of the Princesses come around to speak to your children and hug them and take pictures. It was the most magical lunch I have ever attended in my life. My daughter especially could not stop smiling and it was so precious! Then we each had desserts and at the end of the meal, they brought us a wonderful photo package of her with Cinderella which was included with the meal (which totaled $175 - but again – completely covered by our dining plan!!!). Stats: Character breakfast: $43 adults, $28 children; Character lunch $46 adults, $29 children; Character dinner, $54 adults, $33 children. *Note that prices increase during peak periods. **Reservations required - and highly recommended to book EARLY (up to 180 days in advance) **Dining here uses 2 Table service meals off the Disney Dining Plan

Friday, September 6, 2013

This Mom Loves Disney Shows!!! Top 3!

We LOVE to go to all the Disney Shows, but there are some that just stand out above the rest as our Favorites!!! #1- Finding Nemo the Musical (live performance show in Animal Kingdom) The quality of this show is top notch - Disney all the way! All of the props are poeple with ELABORATE costumes and the singers (who have amazing talent) are all singing WHILE they operate giant fish puppets to truly make the story come alive in a way that only Disney could pull off!

#2- Lights! Motors! Action! (Live stunt show in Hollywood Studios) Ok - If you don't like the singing stuff, then this show is for you! This is a awesome driving/action stunt show - featuring fast car stunts, motorcycles, and jet skis. It totally keeps your attention and is lots of fun to see time after time!

#3- Mickey's Philharmagic 3D Show (3D or really a 4D show in Magic Kingdom) If you are a lover of Classic Disney movies - you will LOVE this show!! Donald Duck tries on Mickey's magic Sorcerer's Hat which takes him on a whirlwind journey through major Disney Movies like Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid! Not only do you feel like you are experiencing these movies first hand because of the 3D wrap around theater, but puffs of air from the back of the seats in front of you and smells take you further into the magic of the experience!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

This Mom's List of Great Disney World Planning WEBSITES!!


When planning a trip to Disney World, the internet is going to be your BEST FRIEND!! But if Websites about Disney were friends, then you would have about a million!  So here is a list to start with!!

Great GENERAL Disney World planning sites:
www.TouringPlans.com
www.AllEars.net
www.EasyWDW.com
www.YourFirstVisit.net

Good Q&A Sites:
www.DisneyWorldMoms.com
www.DISboards.com

Good Money Saving Sites:
www.MouseSavers.com
www.TheMouseForLess.com

Good Site to See What Disney Attractions are Really like:
www.YouTube.com (type in the name of the Disney Attraction in the search box)

Have a great site you don't see here?  Let me know!!!

Friday, August 2, 2013

This Mom's List of What NOT to do in Disney World!




There are so many To-Do lists out there for Disney World... But here is a list of what NOT to do... That is, assuming you want to make the most of your long awaited trip to the most magical place on earth!

#1- DO NOT SLEEP IN.
 
 The early bird gets the worm, and that could not be more true when speaking about Disney World!  This is not the vacation to just kick back, relax and sleep in each morning. Set your alarm and ready to jump on the day when you are planning on going to any Disney Park!

#2- DO NOT TRY TO DO EVERYTHING

It's not going to happen. Unless you are planning a 12 -15 day trip, you are just not going to get to see and do everything in Disney.  So before you go, look at a list of all the shows and rides and have a PLAN! This way ou can make sure that you do see and experience everything that is most important to your family.

#3- DO NOT SKIP THE BREAKS / DOWN TIME

Even the most enthusiastic and energy-filled family will be completely exhausted and flat out if you just go, go, go from morning til night, day after day! This has the potential to suck all magic from your trip, so please, plan for some down time!!

#4- DO NOT GO TO THE PARKS EMPTY HANDED

Do your research and pack a small book bag to carry with you each day in the parks. There are lots of key items that can be extremely helpful to you to have on hand while touring around. A bottle of water, band aids, sunscreen, small umbrella, hand sanitizer, and maybe most importantly will be a camera and a smart phone with an app to check accurate live wait times for rides all over the park! What a time saver!!!

#5- DO NOT FLY BY THE SEAT OF YOUR PANTS

I cannot say this enough! Have a plan! You can go to www.touringplans.com and create a touring plan perfectly suited for your family's needs! If you do this, the amount of time it will save from standing in line is tremendous! And who wants to go down to Disney and wait in lines for longer???

Hope this list of DO NOTS will help you have a more magical trip!!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

This Mom's Steps to Planning Your Disney Vacation!!!



Ok - So you have made the happy decision to plan a Disney World vacation!  Well, who doesn't want to have the most magical time at Disney as possible??  Here are the first 4 steps to planning your dream vacation!

With each step - please DO YOUR RESEARCH!! 

Step 1 - CHOOSE YOUR DATES CAREFULLY!

First look at a predicted crowd calendar for the year you are going and choose your week wisely.  For example, HERE is the 2014 Crowd calender from www.yourfirstvisit.com. 

If you have school age children you will have to decide whether to pull them out of school only look at weeks when they are out of school already.  Obviously the most crowded times of the year are also peek season in prices so you are spending more money to wait in lines longer (and I am talking about hours of waiting) than the low season times. 

Step 2-  CHOOSE YOUR RESORT THOUGHTFULLY!

In Choosing a Disney resort, there is much to consider - Price, location, accommodations...  This will be a large chunk of your budget, and granted you will spend most of your time at Disney World away from your resort, but you should make your resort selection with much research.  First you will need to narrow down your search by deciding if you are headed for a Value, Moderate, or Deluxe resort based on their prices and level of accommodations for the number of people in your traveling party.  

To get a good idea of what you will be paying, run some different scenarios on Disney's website, (This is why it is good to have your date already decided because you will need to enter that in to get accurate pricing for the resort during your vacation time).
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/

Once you have your eye on 2 or 3 resort options that fit your needs, go out there to the WWW and start looking them up.  It's not enough to just read what Disney says about their own resorts, read what others have said too. 


Step 3- CHOOSE YOUR HOW MANY DAYS FOR YOUR TICKETS & ADD ANY OPTIONS!
 
OK - Once the dates and resort finalized - this is when the real fun begins! Choosing tickets!! WOO HOO! 
-You can choose to have a base ticket (which gets you into one park, one day)
-or add the Park Hopper option (which allows you to go from park to park on the same day, as many times as you wish)
-or add the Water Park Fun & More option (which allows you the same number of visits to Disney Water parks and Disney putt-putts as the number of days you are staying...  for example - 5 Day tickets with the Water park Fun & more option allows your 5 visits to water parks and putt putts)
-or you can go for the whole sha-bang and get the Park Hopper and Water Park Fun and More All together.
Obviously, each time you add an "option" to your base ticket, the price per day increases.  But, it is good to know that the more days you buy tickets for, the less they are per day. 
-One more option to throw in there is the Non-expiring option.  This is attractive to those who are paying for tickets that may not all get used this trip, in which case, you can always use them your next trip. 

***PLEASE NOTE****  In my opinion, you should plan for your number of days conservatively, because you can always just pay the difference to add on another day or two to your tickets ONCE YOU GET TO DISNEY!  So why not save on the front end and if you get down there and decide you'd like another day in the parks, just pay the extra $$ per person.  In the same way, you can always ADD THE NON-EXPIRING option once you get down there.  If someone from your party is sick or for whatever reason, all your paid for tickets are not used, simply take them to the resort front desk and they can add on the non-expiration option for any of the days not used.


Step 4- DECIDE ON DINING AND MAKE RESERVATIONS!

First things first, you will need to decide if the Disney Dining Plan is for you and which one to get! (I go into more detail about my opinion of why the Disney dining plan is awesome HERE if you are interested in reading)

Here are the different levels of Disney Dining Plan

Quick Service Dining plan includes:
Two Quick Service Meals, per night of your resort stay
One Snack, per night of your resort stay
One refillable mug
Plus Dining Plan includes:
1 table service entitlement, per night of your resort stay. The table service meal will include an entrée, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage per guest.
1 counter service entitlement, per night of your resort stay. The counter service meal includes the same things outlined for the  quick service dining plan.
1 snack, per night of your resort stay
1 refillable mug, per guest

Deluxe Dining Plan includes:
3 meals, per night of your resort stay
2 snacks, per night of your resort stay
1 refillable mug

Once you have decided about your dining options,  you will need to be prepared to make any reservations up to 180 days before your trip!  Definitely consider Character Dining if you have young kids with you!  (Read more about my opinion of the different character dining options HERE)

You can look through all the dining options here:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/

Hope this has been helpful!  Let the magic begin!!

Predicted 2014 crowd Calendar for Disney World!!!

Planning a trip to Disney World in 2014 already?!!  GREAT!  Here is the first step in your planning process!! Look at the crowd calendar for 2014 broken up week by week!!  This is from the site www.yourfirstvisit.net which is SO full of great info and ideas that it should not be overlooked in your planning research!!  Go there now and hit your BOOKMARK button!!


http://yourfirstvisit.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Disney-World-2014-Crowd-Calendar-v2.jpg

Saturday, July 20, 2013

This Mom's Opinion of Disney's Character Dining...

Ok, so It's no secret if you have read any other posts on this blog - we love us some Disney Character Dining.  But let's be honest.  All Character Dining is not created equal.  We have been to our fair share and I will outline them below...

Over Spring of 2010 & Spring of 2012, we visited 6 Character Dining spots - some that we loved were repeats...

Cinderella's Royal Table -



Located in Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom, this chance to dine with the Disney Princesses INSIDE the most famous castle of all time, was our favorite Character Dining!!  This was QUITE the royal experience!  They first have you come in and have your picture taken with Cinderella herself.  She talks to each child when you first arrive and hug them and take pictures.  This is your chance to see Cinderella, since she won't be joining the rest of the princesses (Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine & Arial) upstairs while you eat.  The castle is just as ornate and elaborate on the inside as it is on the outside!  Unbelievable!  After the first set of pictures, we were taken up a spiral staircase to a gorgeous dining hall complete with royal wait-staff and stained glass windows overlooking all of Fantasyland.  Everyone who came to the table called us by Lord, Lady Princess, and Young Knight.  They brought our daughter and son each a magic wand and a sword, and a wishing star.  The meals were fancy and DELICIOUS!  Maybe it was just the fact we had spent the whole morning walking, but I thought it was some of the best food I had tasted!  Each of the Princesses come around to speak to your children and hug them and take pictures.  It was the most magical lunch I have ever attended in my life.  My daughter especially could not stop smiling and it was so precious!  Then we each had desserts and at the end of the meal, they brought us a wonderful photo package of her with Cinderella which was included with the meal (which totaled $175 - but again – completely covered by our dining plan!!!).
Stats:
Character breakfast: $43 adults, $28 children;
Character lunch $46 adults, $29 children;
Character dinner, $54 adults, $33 children.
*Note that prices increase during peak periods.
**Reservations required - and highly recommended to book EARLY (up to 180 days in advance)
**Dining here uses 2 Table service meals off the Disney Dining Plan

Chef Mickey's -



Located in the Comtemporary Hotel, Chef Mickey’s allows you to eat while Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie and Pluto all make their way around the room greating the children at each table, giving them hugs and taking pictures with each one.  This Mom gives Chef Mickey's a happy thumbs up! These are the MAIN Disney characters that we were here to see so this huge buffet was perfect for us!  As soon as you are seated, you can help yourself to the great variety on the buffet and then wait and watch the characters while they go around.  The food was delicious and a nice relief from the standard quick service options we faced each day in the parks.  We returned to Chef Mickey's both visits and really enjoyed it!
Stats:
Breakfast $35 (child $19),
Dinner $40 (child $20).
*Note: Prices increase during peak periods.
**Reservations required - and highly recommended to book EARLY (up to 180 days in advance)

**Dining here uses 1 Table service meal off the Disney Dining Plan

Play and Dine at Hollywood and Vine

Located in Hollywood Studios, this is a buffet where we saw the Characters from Playhouse Disney (JoJo & Goliath from JoJo's Circus and Leo and June from Little Einsteins - but now host an updated cast).  After you eat and the characters visit with you, they choose children to join them and dance in a floor show which was fun to see.  I have to be honest and say that I do not remember the food at ALL... which means it wasn't so good that it made an impression, but at the same time, it was not so bad that I felt compelled to write a bad review of it.  I also have to be honest and say that we have no desire to ever go back to this character dining again.  These characters are just not as desired to see or eat with and it just did not make for that awesome of a dining experience.  This is also more for younger kids who watch these shows which feature Disney Junior characters (which are now: Jake, Handy Manny, June, and Special Agent Oso)
Stats:
Breakfast buffet $31 (child $17);
Lunch buffet $35 (child $19);
Dinner buffet $40 (child $21)  
*Note: Prices for character meals increase during peak periods.
**Reservations Recommended
**Dining here uses 1 Table service meal off the Disney Dining Plan


Donald’s Safari breakfast at the Tusker House!


Located in Animal Kingdom park, this was quite the breakfast buffet spread!! The food was VERY yummy and they had everything that you could possible imagine eating for breakfast!  Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Daisy (all decked out in their Safari gear) were there for us to see and love on and get our pictures with.  Plus they time the breakfast perfectly so that when it's over, you are right in time to go into the park and start your day!  I would highly recommend this character dining experience.  We have not been at lunch or dinner, so I cannot comment on the food other than the breakfast options, but I know that they do serve foods with African and Indian flares.
Stats:
Breakfast $24.50 (child $11),
Lunch $21 (child $12),
Dinner $29 (child $14).
*Note: Prices for character meals increase during peak periods.
**Reservations Recommended
**Dining here uses 1 Table service meal off the Disney Dining Plan



Crystal Palace


Located in the Magic Kingdom, the Crystal Palace has a beautiful name, but don't let the name fool you!!!  Yes, it has a buffet and you will see Winnie the Pooh and his Pals there.  But this was by far my least favorite Character dining experience we have ever had!!  The food was not the best, and it was overly crowded and loud and we felt rushed.  I don't know if there had not been enough time to clean thoroughly between guests, but the floor was dirty with old food and it seemed dimly lit (we went for dinner after dark).  My kids enjoyed seeing the characters (although not their favs) but I couldn't wait for this one to end, and you really should not be feeling that way about character dining!!
Stats:
Breakfast $27 (child $15),
Lunch $29 (child $16),
Dinner $41 (child $20)  
*Note: Prices for character meals increase during peak periods.
**Reservations Recommended
**Dining here uses 1 Table service meal off the Disney Dining Plan


Garden Grill


Locate in Epcot, this was a whole kind of Character Dining for us!!  First, it was a rotating restaurant which slowly turns the whole time - half of which puts you right into a space overlooking the ride "Living with the Land."  This really gave a whole new way to enjoy dining since the scenery was always changing.  Because the floor is revolving, the staff don't like for anyone to get up and move around, to it is truly table service, not a buffet.  The one thing I didn't realize before we ate there, was that you don't order.  Everything is already planned family style.  So they bring out several large portions of that night's menu and plates for everyone to share.  This left my picky eater rather perplexed as to what they would eat...  But the characters that were there made up for any disappointments they felt over food!  Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Chip & Dale were there!!  And Chip and Dale are not easy to find in Disney World!  It was a really different and wonderful dining experience and I would recommend it to others!!
Dinner $35 (child $17);  
*Note: Prices for character meals increase during peak periods.
**Reservations Recommended
**Dining here uses 1 Table service meal off the Disney Dining Plan

Friday, July 19, 2013

This Mom's Take on Disney Dining Plans...

If you are staying on Disney Property -  you will be given the option to purchase a Disney Dining plan for the time of your stay.  Disney Dining plans cover each person in your party for each day of your reservation, giving you each an specified amount of food to use...

The different options are as follows: (PLEASE NOTE- 2013 PRICES!!!)

(as explained in great detail at http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/disney-dining-plan )

The very first time our family stayed on Disney property (in spring of 2010 with our 2 children who were 7 and 3) we thought it would be a great idea to take advantage of the Deluxe Disney Dining plan.  What were we thinking!??  This was WAY TOO MUCH FOOD everyday for our family!!  I cannot even begin to tell you how much food was wasted on this plan.  It paid for us each to have 3 full meals a day PLUS 2 snacks! Wowzers, we could hardly do anything but eat!  Haha! We agreed that a dining plan was a GREAT thing to have for several reasons which  I will detail below, BUT not to this level of amount of food, for sure. Maybe if we had several strapping young lad who ate everything that didn't eat them!

So, the next time we went to stay in the world (in Spring of 2012, when our children were 9 and 5) we again got the Disney Dining plan, but this time the Standard (now called "Plus") plan and it was absolutely PERFECT for us! There were a few days we had planned to spend away from Disney (one at Sea World and one at Siesta Key beach) so we were able to use any "Extra" meals to go towards our Character dining experiences that required more than one meal credit per person.

What we LOVED about the Disney Dining plans:

1- CARE FREE ORDERING!

©Disney   
     Now, don't let this factor be misleading.  Disney Dining plans CAN be confusing when you are trying to figure out at a resort quick service place how many different items you can get and what it will count for- a snack or a quick service? etc
    BUT when I say care-free ordering, I mean going into a restaurant (be it quick service or table service) and knowing we can order whatever we want off the menu and not even LOOK At the prices!  Now, THAT is what I call being on vacation!!  Because I don't know about your family, but at home, we try to be conservative with our spending and do not splurge on high priced foods on a regular basis.  I know what you are thinking - you ARE Paying for it, just all rolled into one lump sum in the trip price (unless you are blessed enough to get the free dining option).  But at least by the time you get there, everything has been paid for and you are covered for the rest of your trip!  So even if getting the dining plan ends up being more than we would have spent on all of our food expenses otherwise, it is full worth it just for the experience!

2- CHARACTER DINING!!

    If care-free ordering wasn't enough to sell me on getting the Disney Dining plan - then Character Dining sealed the deal!  Yes, you can get character dining if you don't have a dining plan, but it can be painfully expensive! So if you do decide to take advantage of a dining plan, then by all means, do character dining and do it often!  We would schedule a character dining event for every day we were at a Disney Park (both in 2010 and in 2012) and we were so glad we did!  There is no meal more magical than when Disney characters are constantly coming around to your table to hug and take pictures with your child!  I will speak more about our experiences with Character dining in another post, but just know that this is one of the best uses of the Disney Dining plans (in this mom's opinion!).

3- BUILT IN SNACKS!!

     Enough said, right??  I mean, you start out with a good breakfast, but after a couple hours crisscrossing the Disney parks, you need some nourishment to keep you going til lunch!  Or in the hot afternoons, everybody wants an ice cream Mickey head, right??  What I love about this is all the adults get a snack too!! (and that never happens otherwise, I feel like I always end up sacrificing mine so my kids can have one - don't you?).  And to those moms who are counting sugars for their kiddos.. there are lots of healthy snacks available throughout the parks, like fruit stands and baked chips, etc.

4- DESSERT AND A DRINK WITH EVERY MEAL!!

     I had you at "dessert," didn't I?!  Seriously though, how much more magical can each day get for a kid when EVERY meal includes a dessert?!! (except breakfast, obviously).  This is just GREAT and for people like us (who normally NEVER order a dessert out and ALWAYS order water only because ordering drinks really adds to the bill) these are 2 huge luxuries that we look forward to when vacationing at Disney World!



Sunday, July 14, 2013

This Mom's Disney World Tips with Young Children:


The very first time we went to Disney World, right after we had gotten married, and it was just me and my love. It was truly magical.  Years passed and we had 2 children and we wanted to take them to Disney World for their first time.   We were so excited. They were just 3 and 7 at the time.  And this was a whole new experience.  We learned a LOT by mistakes we made and here are the major tips I gleaned from the first experience.

Tip #1- BREAK UP YOUR TRIP!

 If you are going to be at Disney World for long enough to break up visiting the parks - DO SO! Believe me, you will want to thank me the next morning.  Going to a Disney Park ALL DAY is fun and exciting and magically, BUT it is also totally exhausting and draining, and the next morning it is increasingly difficult to force yourself out of the bed to do it all again.  Not to mention the tole it takes on small children and how easily they transform into sleepy, cranky, little people the next morning.  If at all possible, schedule your time like this:
Day 1-Parks
Day 2- Pool (or Putt Putt)
Day 3- Parks
Day 4- Pool
Day 5-Parks
Etc. Now, after you have launged around and let the kiddies play in the pool on your "off" days, sometimes it is VERY nice to go into the parks in the early evenings if possible for just a few hours.

Tip #2- KNOW YOUR CHILD's PERSONALITY
 This is a huge factor of the Disney Magic.  If your child is easily frightened, please do your research on the different rides and shows before you go.  Disney World is supposed to be Magical and Totally fun for kids - not sprinkled with terrifying experiences that your child will take hours to recover from.  Many books review ALL of the rides (I personally LOVE the Unofficial Guide to Disney World - a new one is published each year) and they rank them in likelihood to scare children.


Tip #3- HAVE A PLAN FOR THE DISNEY PARKS
 If you are going to take the time to take your family to Disney World and spend the money for that kind of trip, then spend your time wisely!  Have a plan before you go to each park.  Don't just roll up into the parking lot, willy-nilly, and stroll into a Disney World park going from attraction to attraction as you pass by.  If you do, you will end up spending MANY MANY more hours in lines and not getting to experience near as much as you could if you had a plan.  As I mentioned above, I am a big fan of the Unofficial Guide to  Disney World or TouringPlans.com (same people).  They provide wonderful plans for your family to follow to make the most of your time in the park.

Tip #4- DO CHARACTER DINING (if possible)
 We have taken our kids to Disney World twice in the past 3 years and are going back in the spring of 2014. Each time we have gone, we have stayed on Disney Property and get the dining plan.  I know that there are great debates on if it is financially better to get the dining plan or just pay as you go.  But in my personal opinion, it is so much more a vacation to walk into each restaurant and order whatever we wanted, not even looking at the prices (which, let's face it - are HIGH is Disney).  Plus it was a total gift to us that we could use our dining plan to pay for Character Dining!!  We would have Character dining almost every night!!  This way, we would eat our meal, while a selection of Disney characters came around and each hugged our children and had their picture made with them.  Not only was this a highlight each day for our kids, but it totally alleviated their need to go and wait in line to hug each random character we passed in the parks!


Saturday, July 13, 2013

This Mom's Opinion of Disney's Coronado Springs Resort


After we suffered through sleeping on double beds at the Pop Century resort the last time we were at Disney World, we decided we had no choice but to upgrade to a moderate resort just to have the option of sleeping on Queen beds.  After going through all the options, we finally decided on Coronado Springs.  This is a sprawling moderate resort built around a beautiful lake in a southwestern theme.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/coronado-springs-resort/






I was a little disappointed this time that we were staying in a resort that was themed more for the adults than the kids - it was a sharp contrast to the value resorts.  But don't get me wrong, this resort was extremely nice and clean!  When we first arrived there was the towel in the shape of a Mickey Head on the bed, and lots of pool options - so my kids were happy (it doesn't take much, really!)

The food court had lots of yummy things for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They had lots to offer in the Tex-Mex flavor to go along with the theme of the resort.

The Pool area was the best part of this resort!!  There was a huge ancient pyramid that water
flowed down and an awesome water slide into the big pool! The staff played games everyday with the kids in the pool (I am pretty sure they do this at all the Disney Resorts) 




The only main complaint we had about the Coronado Springs resort was that the resort was SO SPREAD OUT!  You practically had to get in your car and drive to other places in the resort like the pool or the food court or the bus pick up.  That was a major bummer, because after walking all day long at the Disney Parks, the last thing you want to do is half to walk a country mile to go somewhere around the resort.