baw
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2008
hello all,
We are just back from a week at Coronado Springs (first time there) and we had a great time. Although we've vacationed at the World many times (as a couple and now with our almost 3 y/o daughter and mother in law) there are always new experiences and tips to discover. A few of ours:
Coronado is a beautiful resort- but very big, and it was very HOT. We were in Ranchos (farthest grouping of buildings from El Centro). We were able to catch a little golf cart shuttle up for breakfast a couple of times, and the walk is fine if you aren't too tired from the parks. MY TIP: if you are going to El Centro, take the bus from stop THREE (near Ranchos) to Stop ONE (catch any park-bound bus) and that will save your feet a little for the parks!
Free dining was FANTASTIC for our group. My daughter just ate a little of whatever we had on our plates (she's not quite 3, so didn't need to have the meal plan), and we would just order her a milk or juice to go with it. Best TS meals were Mama Melrose (this surprised me BIG TIME since I've had a lot of world class Italian food. I wasn't expecting much, but the mushroom/ricotta ravioli dish was excellent). We also LOVED Yak & Yeti. The three of us (myself, husband and MIL) all had wonderful dishes (Mahi, Shrimp and Duck, respectively). The veggies were awesome. Boma was great, as always (the soups are fantastic). We also had a lot of fun at Merrakesh- the food was delicious and the atmosphere was fun. The mint iced tea was refreshing on such a hot day. And for the ever controversial San Angel Inn: it is a favorite of my MIL for the atmosphere, but the food is always just OK for me. This year it was surprisingly good. I had a spicy shrimp dish- lots of flavor! I was glad we gave it another shot.
The Cinderella Princess Breakfast-- fun and magical and worth it, etc, my daughter loved it.....but the food wasn't very good. The french toast was fried (!) and the egg thing was completely dry. I would do it again for the experience, though.
I would like for the dining plan to have the option of selecting something else instead of the "mandatory" dessert. With three adults at every meal we found that we could very easily make due with one or two desserts per meal to share, but we could have used an extra salad or drink or side dish. It would be nice to have substituted dessert for something else. Just a thought.
I liked doing a bigger lunch to break up the day and give everyone a rest, especially since naps for the little one were touch and go. That way, we could have a nice meal, and still head back to the room fairly early to swim and let my little one crash.
The fastpass secret of the trip: I don't know if this is controversial at all, but I read here on the DIS that FPasses don't really have a true expiration "time." We confirmed this with a CM, who said that they'd prefer that you come back to experience the ride within your window, but it isn't required. This tip saved us a LOT of hassle. We were able to catch some shows and have some meals while holding onto our "expired" FP tickets knowing we could use them later. This was GREAT. It saved us a lot of rushing around. I was also able to give away a lot of FPasses at the end of our day that we hadn't used knowing they were still valid.
It also helped A LOT that the parks weren't too crowded. We were able to get new FP tickets about every 60 - 90 mins., so we always had plenty on hand. I think we probably only waited on two or three "standby" lines the whole week!
In all we had a GREAT time, and we booked the bounceback offer for next year. Already looking forward to Fall ,10.
We are just back from a week at Coronado Springs (first time there) and we had a great time. Although we've vacationed at the World many times (as a couple and now with our almost 3 y/o daughter and mother in law) there are always new experiences and tips to discover. A few of ours:
Coronado is a beautiful resort- but very big, and it was very HOT. We were in Ranchos (farthest grouping of buildings from El Centro). We were able to catch a little golf cart shuttle up for breakfast a couple of times, and the walk is fine if you aren't too tired from the parks. MY TIP: if you are going to El Centro, take the bus from stop THREE (near Ranchos) to Stop ONE (catch any park-bound bus) and that will save your feet a little for the parks!
Free dining was FANTASTIC for our group. My daughter just ate a little of whatever we had on our plates (she's not quite 3, so didn't need to have the meal plan), and we would just order her a milk or juice to go with it. Best TS meals were Mama Melrose (this surprised me BIG TIME since I've had a lot of world class Italian food. I wasn't expecting much, but the mushroom/ricotta ravioli dish was excellent). We also LOVED Yak & Yeti. The three of us (myself, husband and MIL) all had wonderful dishes (Mahi, Shrimp and Duck, respectively). The veggies were awesome. Boma was great, as always (the soups are fantastic). We also had a lot of fun at Merrakesh- the food was delicious and the atmosphere was fun. The mint iced tea was refreshing on such a hot day. And for the ever controversial San Angel Inn: it is a favorite of my MIL for the atmosphere, but the food is always just OK for me. This year it was surprisingly good. I had a spicy shrimp dish- lots of flavor! I was glad we gave it another shot.
The Cinderella Princess Breakfast-- fun and magical and worth it, etc, my daughter loved it.....but the food wasn't very good. The french toast was fried (!) and the egg thing was completely dry. I would do it again for the experience, though.
I would like for the dining plan to have the option of selecting something else instead of the "mandatory" dessert. With three adults at every meal we found that we could very easily make due with one or two desserts per meal to share, but we could have used an extra salad or drink or side dish. It would be nice to have substituted dessert for something else. Just a thought.
I liked doing a bigger lunch to break up the day and give everyone a rest, especially since naps for the little one were touch and go. That way, we could have a nice meal, and still head back to the room fairly early to swim and let my little one crash.
The fastpass secret of the trip: I don't know if this is controversial at all, but I read here on the DIS that FPasses don't really have a true expiration "time." We confirmed this with a CM, who said that they'd prefer that you come back to experience the ride within your window, but it isn't required. This tip saved us a LOT of hassle. We were able to catch some shows and have some meals while holding onto our "expired" FP tickets knowing we could use them later. This was GREAT. It saved us a lot of rushing around. I was also able to give away a lot of FPasses at the end of our day that we hadn't used knowing they were still valid.
It also helped A LOT that the parks weren't too crowded. We were able to get new FP tickets about every 60 - 90 mins., so we always had plenty on hand. I think we probably only waited on two or three "standby" lines the whole week!
In all we had a GREAT time, and we booked the bounceback offer for next year. Already looking forward to Fall ,10.
