It was like a day at the movies...we met lots of "stars" including Prince Caspian!

We had a great second day at Walt Disney World. The first park we decided to visit was Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is the park we have spent the least time in as a family. Last year Drew had a titanic meltdown, we got there late…and we left really without riding anything of note.

So this year we got there when the park opened. Immediately headed over the Toy Story Mania ride and got a FastPass. This is very important because the line is usually 80-120 minutes long and the FastPasses are usually gone within an hour!

After we got the FastPass we headed over the Back Lot Studio Tour. It’s been a while since I have ridden on that – and a lot of it has changed to make room for the “Lights, Motors, Action” stunt show. Anyway, it was still pretty cool and the kids loved it.

Not to bore you with every detail – but we rode it all!! We opend the park up and closed it down!! I was afraid the heat would be a deal buster…but Disney has done a great job keeping it shady and lots and lots of fans to create a nice breeze

A few notable moments were:

American Idol Experience – wow, really cool stage show. I’ve never been to an American Idol show – but this had to be really, really close to the real deal. The host even looked a lot like Ryan Seacreast.

Rockin’ Roller Coaster – this was Natalie’s First “loop” coaster ride. She was really anxious about it…Leslie rode with her and it was her first “loop” coaster in at LEAST 10 years…LOL Our camera battery died which is unfortunate…you should have seen the smiles on their faces!!

Day 3 – EPCOT

We're here!!

We got up fairly early, downed a quick breakfast and cruised a short 3 1/2 hours down to Disney World. The sleep number bed at the Hilton was ok…but I still like my bed better

Nothing significant happened on the way to WDW… rolled into Coronado Springs early afternoon and checked in the hotel. For some reason, my room request ALWAYS gets messed up here. We took the original room assignment – but it was just too far away from the pool, main lobby area, etc. Mom and dad would have had a terrible time trying to get around. One thing I love about Disney is they don’t argue with you…a quick call to the front desk with a request to swap rooms got us moved right next to the pool in a primo location…sweet!

The story of the day though is the heat…it’s hot. Not just a little hot…I mean it’s H-O-figgin-T!! This seriously may be the hottest vacation I have ever been on… it was between 98-100 today with high humidity. Heat index is 109!! It felt like a sauna. We jumped in the pool… and it wasn’t even refreshing. It was hot too!

We made the best of it and had a good time at the pool. The kids always have a blast on the waterslide

After swimming we decided to go get dinner at the food court. This is the only area the Coronado Springs Resort fails miserably… it’s hard for me to even imagine how Disney could think this was a good concept. I’ll write a full review later, but it’s a terrible setup.

After a quick trip to Target for some in-room breakfast supplies…it was time for bed. Off to Hollywood Studios on Sunday (heat index 108!)

Not that interesting...but still good!

I guess we shoved off about 3 p.m. headed toward Orlando. We got to Atlanta just in time for Friday rush hour and, despite my love for NASCAR-like driving conditions, we decided to stop at O’Charley’s for dinner and let the traffic die down a little.

Now, we have a few fun little rules for any out of town trip. Rule #1: we will not eat at any retaurant that is also located in our home city (i.e. McDonalds, Ruby Tuesday’s, Cheap Mexican, etc…). We typically try to find out of the ordinary places that you could only find in the particular city we are visiting. So, why O’Charley’s??  Well for starters the O’Charley’s we used to eat at in Birmingham closed several years ago and it’s been that long since we have eaten there.  Gadsden doesn’t have an O’Charley’s — so we thought it was appropriate.

Yep...we ate a LOT of rolls....

After making a fool of ourselves with 50 baskets of rolls – we got back on the road for a short trip to Tifton, Georgia. Mom and dad got here beofre us and selected a hotel where we could spend the night. I had a few flashbacks of a place dad selcted in the early 90′s in Daytona Beach…but I was pleasently surprised when we checked into the Hilton Garden Inn. Brand new hotel…very nice.

The kids swam for a few mintutes and then Drew decided to annouce that he was tired by throwing a fit in the pool because he couldn’t…ah, heck…he just threw a fit so he and I came back to the room and hit the sack. Today offically start’s Day 1!!!

See ya soon!!

The kids are just about as hyped as I have ever seen them. This is really the perfect age for kids. Natalie is 9 and Drew is 8.

So here is what’s on tap for this year:

The official 2008 Harp Family Photo!

Stowaways: More the merrier!

This year we are taking my mom and dad with us. As you may have already read on this blog, my parents started this whole Disney vacation thing many moons ago. So it will be fun to have everyone together on vacation again – and dad really needs the rest.

Resort: Coronado Springs

Typically we try to stay somewhere different each time, but we enjoyed Coronado Springs so must last year, we decided to do it again. I really wanted to give the cabins at Fort Wilderness a go, but I wasn’t sure they would be finished with the pool renovations in time. And for some reason, Animal Kingdom was already booked in December!

Reviews: Old habits are hard to break!

There are several things at which we plan to take a second look. First, is the resort itself. This is the first time in a while we have stayed at a Disney resort back-to-back. So will we still love it as much as the first time?

PhotoPass is another area I want to revisit. Although the service was great last year, there were definitely some areas for improvement.

Last year we purchased a 6-Day cooler which performed beautifully. It has sat in a hot garage every since, so I am curious to see how it holds up a year later.

The pool and waterslide at Coronado Springs are great; however, most reviews of Disney resorts do a terrible job at letting folks know the skinny on the pool. And this is usually an area that plays a significant role in our resort choice. I set out last year to write about the waterslide at the resort – and did a terrible job. No good review, no pics… blah. So this year look for a better review!

I also plan to do a better job in general with posting photos to the blog. As you can see, all of the posts so far are image free…pretty boring!

Here are some new areas I will review:

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique – this is a girl’s salon where they do hair, make-up, and costumes to transform little girls into little princesses. Natalie has wanted to do this for a long time and this is really the last year I see her wanting to play “dress up.” My initial concerns were the heat and heavy make-up; the costume gets itchy; and where do you go after you get all dressed up. I have seen little girls before standing in line all dressed up — and they looked MISERABLE! So I knew that was NOT the way to go! I did some planning – and I think nailed it! Check back soon!

Restaurants – last year eating became a hassle. We were really sick of burgers for lunch by day two and the seated areas were reservations only. So, this year we made reservations and will have a ton of sit down lunches and dinners. We chose not to do the dining plan because is just doesn’t fit our style.

Roller Coasters – this year both kids want to ride the big ones. I’ll let you know just how kids friendly they are

A lot of folks have asked what the best way to plan for a Disney vacation – and while I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all solution – I do think there is some method to the madness.

So, in the coming days, you will see a few changes to the site and will be able to follow along with my planning process. I will be reviewing the best Disney related vacation web sites, discussing the pros and cons of our resort selection, talking about some of the new attractions we hope to see – and so on…

The first step in our planning process is selecting the date. I hope to nail down the exact dates early next week and book a vacation by the end of December.

In any case – let me know what you think of the reviews. I may start adding more reviews of disney-related items like rides, resorts and restaurants.

So let me know where you’re from and how I could make the blog even better!

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Basic Overview: What is PhotoPass?
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Disney’s PhotoPass is basically a service where “professional” photographers take your pictures at “numerous” locations around Disney’s four main theme parks and water parks. You are given a special card with a unique ID code for viewing and ordering photos online. You may purchase the photos “al la carte” as printed and finished images or you may purchase all of your images on DVD – or both.

Already familiar with the service and just want the review and tips? Scroll down – you will see it in red.

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Cost: Is it expensive?
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There is no cost to have your photo taken by a photographer and no limit to the number of poses and photos you can ask them to take. In other words – there is no sitting fee and no obligation to purchase the photos once you view them. However, if you want to buy a photo, here are the current costs as listed on the Disney PhotoPass website. These prices do not include sales tax and shipping costs:

A La Carte Photos (printed and finished):

2- 4x6s   $12.95
1 – 5×7   $12.95
1 – 5×7 & 4 Wallets $19.95
1 – 8×10  $16.95
1 – 16×20  $29.95
1 – 16×20 on canvas $99.95

PhotoPass DVD with all photos and image release for self printing:
(The photos on DVD is by far the best value in my opinion and yes
you can take them to Walgreens and print as many as you want!)

Pre-vacation   $99.95
(buy DVD before you go)

Post-vacation  $124.95
(buy DVD after vacation)

Other products are available such as coffee mugs, mouse pads, photo panels, t-shirts, etc. There is even a really cool photo book option.

If you are on a tight budget, PhotoPass would not be where I splurged. The PhotoPass photographers will use YOUR camera to take the same poses and photos. This means you don’t get access to the web site and special effects and boarders – but you would still get some cool pics with YOU in them!

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Quality: Are they really professional portraits?
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The photographers scattered around the parks did not seem to be “professionals” in my opinion as claimed on the Disney PhotoPass web site. I talked to one cast member who told me that most are not degreed, hold no photography certification, work hourly on a slightly above minimum wage pay, and applied as “will train – no experience necessary.” While I have no way of knowing whether their statement is true, I did speak to two that were retired photographers.

In any case, the photo quality is hit and miss – and mostly miss! Many of our photos were grossly out of focus, underexposed and in need of PhotoShop, or overexposed with certain areas of the photo unrecoverable.

However, I was prepared to consider it a success if we got just a few good images of our entire family and at least one outstanding photo with a park icon. We got that and more.

So, don’t let the inconsistent quality scare you off – I still think it’s worth the money – but be prepared for a lot of scrap photos that are not good for much.

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How to use Disney’s PhotoPass: My reccomendations
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Again, I have been to Walt Disney World more times that I care to admit. Needless to say – I am at WDW junkie. However, I didn’t know a lot about PhotoPass before our last vacation in June 2008. I read the reviews – but I never had a sense that I knew exactly how to use the service. Hopefully, this will save you some grief:

Step 1:  Pre-purchase
I will give a detailed review of PhotoPass as we go, but you are going to want ALL of these pics – good ones and bad ones. So save a few bucks and pre-purchase your photos by going to this web site: http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitcdplan.aspx

Step 2: Plan
As you will read later, it’s hard to know exactly where all of the photographers are located, but there is SOME consistency that makes planning easy. So, in order to get your money’s worth, you are going to want to plan some photo sessions.

I thought it would be worth the $99 if we got only ONE trophy photo we could use as a Christmas card photo or fun family portrait for our living room bookshelf. So we planed two photo opportunities then just went with the flow the rest of the time. For our photo, we wanted a park icon in the background.

You can always (or err 99.9% of the time) count on photographers to be close to the entrances of the parks. These photos are generally good and have the park’s icon in the background. After we figured out the routine, my family planned ahead on the poses we wanted, how we would stand, and sometimes what we would wear. This is important because like everything at Disney – there is a line and a certain degree of herding folks in and out.

Another place you will consistently find a PhotoPass photographer is with the Disney Characters. However, this falls under the 99% too because at certain meet-n-greets there wasn’t a photographer to be seen.

Finally, there is a full service PhotoPass studio in Downtown Disney. The studio has multiple backgrounds, nice basic props and no appointment is necessary – this alone makes it worth the money.

Step 3: Get a card and document the number!!
You get your “PhotoPass” or “photo card” from ANY PhotoPass photographer. However, you only need ONE card.

This is important if you are getting your photos on DVD because you can only have ONE account associated with each DVD purchase. I assume this is to keep multiple parties from combining their cards and splitting the cost of the DVD.

However, if you do find that your family has multiple cards – don’t stress out – you just take all of the cards to a Disney photo center before you leave and they can consolidate the photos into one account number.

The most important this about this service though is your account number! If you loose it before you have had a chance to log into the PhotoPass web site – it’s tough luck! So as soon as you get it – write the number down, take a picture of it with your personal camera, enter it as a contact number in your cell phone – whatever – just don’t loose it!

Step 4: Get your pictures taken at every opportunity!
Hey, you paid for the service – so it’s up to YOU to use it! Don’t expect the PhotoPass photographers to look for you either. You will have to proactively find the photographer and ask to use the service.

And remember, do NOT be afraid to tell them to take your picture multiple times and in multiple poses until you are comfortable you got the shots. We found it a LOT easier to TELL the photographer to “take this shot – ok, now take it this way…” rather than asking. Folks that were shy often got only two or three shots. And with the inconsistent quality of the photographers and photos – you are going to want as many pictures of the same pose as possible. This is why it was easier and more time efficient to have an idea of what you want before you get in front of the camera.

Step 5: Review and repeat if needed
The photos are posted to your account in a very timely manner. We brought a laptop with us and by the time we got back to our room, we usually saw all of the photos we just had taken at the parks for that day. Sometimes we would be missing a few photos – but they were always there by the next morning.

If you don’t have the luxury of a laptop, you can visit any Disney photo location and they will be more than happy to pull up your photos on a viewing screen.

I read reviews where some people’s photos were lost – completely! We did not have this problem, but we did have a LOT of out of focus photos and photos with poor exposure. So it’s important to review your photos – if they missed/messed up an important one – go back and get it again!

Step 6: Add boarders and special effects to all photos
Once your photos are online, Disney provides you several special features including many boarders and special effects. You can add as many of these effects as you want to each image. In other words – you can use 8 different boarders and effects on the same photo – thus making you have 9 different photos! Best of all, all nine photos are included on your DVD!

Step 7: Order your DVD
Once you have your entire set of photos enhanced and ready – order your DVD. Our DVD arrived within two days of ordering and included about 350 photos. I’ve read reviews and talked to people who have received as many as 900 photos on multiple DVDs! I think it’s a stretch to think they had 900 individual images – but you can easily turn 300-400 photos into 900 different images once you add boarders, cropping and special effects!

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Review of Disney’s PhotoPass Service: My Experience
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As a professional photographer I was a little skeptical about PhotoPass after I read the lukewarm reviews in several online forums. But the mere idea of me being able to leave my camera or “work” behind was a chance I was willing to take!

Now, before you get too excited – DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAMERA AT HOME!!! I can NOT stress that enough. Disney’s PhotoPass service is not intended to be a substitute for your camera – but an enhancement to your own photo memories.

With that said – I was very excited to get my PhotoPass card and on the first day of our vacation we went to Epcot. To my absolute surprise we could not find ONE PhotoPass photographer at the park’s entrance. We searched around for 5 minutes or so then asked a cast member where we could find photographers. In a nutshell – they don’t know either! I was beginning to think we just wasted $99!

Fortunately, we rode Test Track first and low and behold that attraction is PhotoPass enabled. We finally got a PhotoPass card and I was beginning to get really excited when I discovered the attraction photos were included on the PhotoPass. But my bubble was quickly burst when I found out that Test Track is currently the only attraction that is included on PhotoPass. I was told by several cast members that the service will eventually – but slowly – roll out to the other attractions such as Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, etc. To my knowledge, as of June 2008, there is no “estimated time of delivery” of PhotoPass to other attractions.

So as we cruised around Epcot, I was expecting to see photographers around World Showcase. Nada! Zero! Zilch! I was so disappointed and ready to start looking for that money back guarantee. We finally saw a photographer at a character meet-n-greet, but there was a long to see “Jasmine” and our kids were not really into it – so we moved on to the next ride. After a long day at the park, we headed back to the hotel. That’s when we FINALLY spotted two photographers at the Epcot entrance directly behind the ticket stalls.

They were very friendly and professional and happily fulfilled all of our photo requests. They were also somewhat intrigued we didn’t see many (3) photographers – but not surprised. They told us we probably see more at the other parks. They were right.

Without going into a lot of boring detail – we saw many more photographers at the other parks. However, this was the formula I observed. Photographers are stationed at or near the park entrances where there is a clear view of the park’s icon and around the majority of the characters. Beside that – we hardly ever saw a random photographer at a scenic spot taking photos.

That was disappointing because there are so many scenic areas – especially at the Animal Kingdom – where a PhotoPass photo would have been great. For instance, one place I thought we would see a photographer was on the bridge going into Asia where Mt. Everest is in the background.

In any case, we finally found enough photographers around the parks to make the PhotoPass service worthwhile.

One place in particular that the PhotoPass shines is at the water parks. I didn’t want to keep up with any camera – even a waterproof disposable – while we were at Blizzard Beach. And much to our enjoyment we saw at least 5-6 photographers stationed at different spots including the wave pool, lazy river, kids area, front entrance, and at the end of Summit Plummet. The majority of the photos were good and were certainly good enough where I would feel comfortable leaving my camera at the room for the day.

But the water park is one place you can get messed up on multiple PhotoPass cards. The photographers were usually busy and would scan new cards instead of asking if you already had one. When we left the park – we had four cards all of a sudden! But again, they can consolidate the photos onto one account by visiting any Disney photo store.

As the week went on and we had more and more photos added to our PhotoPass account, we shared our photos by emailing a special link provided on the PhotoPass web site to friends and family. Everyone could open and view the photos without any problems at all – and they could even see the ones we edited and added boarders and special effects to.

Another place PhotoPass earns its keep is at Downtown Disney. Here they have a photo studio with competent and kid friendly photographers. I also found that the studio provided the highest quality images. Albeit a bit basic, the studio had several backgrounds and props to choose from. Best of all, there is no sitting fee or appointment required for the studio – which in my opinion – made PhotoPass worth the money.

Since we stumbled upon it, we didn’t use the studio to its fullest potential. If you are getting your child a “makeover” at “Bibbity Bobbity Boutique,” then getting their pictures made at the studio is a no brainer! However, our kids were not into the makeovers and if I had it to do over again – we would have picked out some cool Disney t-shirts and character hats and had a fun family portrait made. When we go back next year, this will be a top photo priority while we are at Downtown Disney. Again – to maximize the PhotoPass value – you HAVE to plan!

So after we got back home, we reviewed the photos and added boarders to the ones we liked. Using the special code provided when you pre-pay, we sent off for the pictures. Our DVD arrived two days later with ALL of our pictures.

All of the images are 300 dpi and suitable for printing up to 11×14. You might be able to squeeze a 16×20 or larger from the images made at the studio. The smallest file on the disk was about 1.9 MB and the largest was around 4 MB.

We had a lot of out of focus images at the Magic Kingdom during the night shots with the castle in the background. Apparently the photographer hit the manual focus button on the lens and thought she was auto focusing. Most of our images from that night are too fuzzy to save. We did get a few good ones from a different photographer on the side of the castle going into Tomorrow Land. But our son was so tired of photos at this point that he stopped having a “natural” smile….lol

Now, the exposure problem was a little worse at Animal Kingdom. I suspect that since the lighting condition vary greatly here that the inexperienced photographers have a hard time getting the exposure correct. I also suspect that they were all using auto mode and thus the background was blown out or the subject was way too dark.

I was able to save our underexposed images with a little PhotoShop help, but the overexposed images are a different story. At Camp Minnie Mickey – my daughter’s shirt is blown out in every single photo with every character. In some cases our faces are overexposed as well. Since the photos were greatly overexposed – there wasn’t a lot I could do with most of them. Some of them were so bad I just deleted them.

Back to the DVD – it was delivered in a nice DVD case and worked flawlessly. The limited image release was included as promised and we had no issues whatsoever printing them.

So – the bottom line is: PhotoPass is far from being perfect and is in no way a substitute for bringing a camera to the parks. However, the service did provide some great family pictures that would have otherwise been a hassle to get and the photographers at the water parks made enjoying the fun a little easier.

The $99 for all of your images is really a bargain – especially if you have priced out the same service from your local professional photographer. I look forward to seeing how the service progresses – especially the training for the “photographers.”

In the end we got the one photo we wanted and a lot more for the scrapbook and some others suitable for framing.

But if you are looking for crystal clear professional quality photos – this is NOT your bag. If you are on a tight budget – I would save my money. However, if you have the extra dough – it’s a nice perk. Either way – get a PhotoPass card and enjoy – it’s FREE to try and is a low cost way for friends and family to see your images while you are on vacation!

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Check-in process
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The lobby area of the resort is beautiful! A great first impression as you walk inside the resort. The staff was very friendly and helpful and what you would expect from Disney’s renowned customer service. There was a minor glitch with our reservation (not that big of a deal for either of us) but they still upgraded our room! The entire process, even with the glitch, took about 10 minutes. They offered to have our luggage taken to our room, but we opted to just do it ourselves so we could unpack slowly.

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Room
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On several online reviews I read how plain and disappointing the rooms were. I can’t speak to all of the rooms or sections, but I couldn’t disagree more with our specific room. I found our room at the Ranchos section very nice and tastefully decorated with a colonial Spain look and feel. Our room amenities included two full-sized beds, a big television, small refrigerator, table and chairs, multi-speed ceiling fan, and high-speed internet connection. The bathroom area was a tad small, but the dressing area was very roomy and included a large vanity and privacy curtain for dressing.

We were located on the bottom floor in room 7550 and were about 25 yards to the quiet pool, a few feet to the ice machine, and only seconds from the bus stop. The larger pool at the dig site was about a 2 minute walk – but very convenient! However, being this close to the action means a lot of noise! The pool closes at midnight, so most of the time we could hear folks playing late at night. Also the elevator was close and we could hear kids yelling and screaming still “excited” about their vacation. This was only an issue late at night. But by turning the fan on high and turning on the exhaust fan in the bathroom, we created enough “white noise” to make the outside noise not annoying.

Housekeeping (or err Mousekeeping) did a fantastic job everyday and would either arrange the kids toys in a fun way or leave a towel folded like an animal. The room was always clean, bed linens and bath towels were changed, the carpet was vacuumed, and the room always smelled good.

A lot of Disney resort rooms include hidden Mickeys in the carpet, wallpaper, etc. To my knowledge there are not any hidden Mickeys in the room décor at Coronado Springs, however, one of the cast members showed us two hidden Mickeys in the room’s custom literature. One was on the back of the room service menu. Can you find the other?

The beds were a little firm for my taste, but Leslie and the kids found them to be perfect. The pillows were very fluffy and comfortable, however, we still brought our own and used them instead.

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Pools / Dig Site
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The pools at Coronado Springs were outstanding!

(A.) Quiet Pool

The quiet pool located right outside our room was big, clean and themed with a lot of cacti, flowers and boulders to decorate the area. The quiet pool included a bench inside the pool where you could relax and watch the kids without having to “swim.” This pool would be top notch at any other regular hotel like a Marriott.

(B.) Themed Pool / Kiddie Pool / Hot Tub

The themed pool was located in an area called the “Dig Site.” This area was made up of several other areas: the main pool, kiddie pool, hot tub, playground, bar/restaurant, arcade, and sand volleyball court.

The entire area was set up like an archeological dig with artifacts from ancient Mexico. There is a huge Mayan temple that serves as the central focal point and the base of the waterslide and playground. All of the buildings and such in this area follow this theme. During the day, the temple has a cascading waterfall that flows down the front stairs. At night, the top of the temple glows with an eerie red glow – like something you would see in an Indiana Jones movie.

The pool itself is huge. We never felt crowded and had plenty of room to enjoy ourselves. There is a statue in the middle that sprayed a heavy amount of water into the pool and sometimes there was a water basketball game set up on the far end of the pool away from the waterslide.

(C.) Waterslide

Of all the reviews and even the Disney web site – I could never find a good review of the Coronado Springs waterslide. But here is my two cents worth. This is a great resort slide. Not as fast as the one at the Boardwalk – but very fun.

The line to get to the slide goes up and around the back of the temple. The line was never long even when the pool was crowded and parents could easily watch their kids in line from several points close to the slide exit.

The slide has about four turns and is fast for kids, but slow for adults (which is a plus in my book b/c my back often decides to give out on me). We found at night the water pressure was usually turned up a bit and the slide was a little faster – or so it seemed. In any case, sitting on your bottom the slide was fairly slow – laying down made it a great deal faster and a lot more fun. So if you are trying to decide on a resort based on the waterslide – this one is a winner. Fun and imaginative for both kids and adults.

(D.) Kiddie Pool

Our kids are not at this age anymore, but Drew still had a little fun playing in the kiddie pool from time to time. This pool is also large when compared to others you may have seen at different resorts. It has about 4-6 inches of water with five fountains in the middle. This area is also heavily shaded and very relaxing. Another plus is that this area is located close to the waterslide entrance/exit so parents with children at different ages can keep up with everyone. Since this area was shaded and close to the waterslide, we choose to sit here most of the time.

(E.) Hot Tub

The hot tub is roomy, shaded, and very hot. Most of the time there was only one or two adults in the hot tub with an occasional teenager coming in for a minute or two. There were a few jets that were very strong and felt great on our aching feet after a long day at the park.

(F.) Arcade

The arcade was mediocre. The good thing (and bad) about the arcade is that it’s cashless. Meaning you can charge credits to your hotel room or credit card, give your kids a special arcade pass, and they swipe until they run out of credits. The arcade pass is reusable and more credits can be added at anytime. I liked the concept of this, but then it was difficult to remember how much you have spent at the arcade. However, the arcade itself was a little boring. They had your normal fare of games, but four of them were broken or shut down. It was surprising to see so many game machines goofed up knowing Disney’s attention to detail and operations. Still, the kids had fun and there was enough to do for them to pass some time and get their money’s worth.

(G.) Playground / Volleyball Court

The playground was pretty cool. It included a themed play area with slide a slide and monkey bars, The slide was enclosed and you had to go inside the temple to get go down. This area was sort of like a fort or playhouse and the kids had fun pretending they were part of an Indiana Jones movie. There was also a nice swing set and sand box. The sand box had several “artifacts” you could dig up and discover. Drew spent a lot of time looking for everything while Leslie and I relaxed and sipped a cold drink.

We did not go to the volleyball court, but the teenagers looked like they were having the time of their life. I noticed several teen boys make friends and muster up an ad hoc game or two. Several young teenage girls also ventured into the area to see what was going on… so watch out for this area dads!!…LOL

(H.) Bar / Restaurant

There is a nice bar area at the pool that serves “themed” alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. You can also get cokes products, water and other drinks here as well. If you have a refillable mug, you can fill it up for free here…this made the refillable mug a bargain finally.

The counter service restaurant serves burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and nachos and is open during lunch and early dinner. We ate lunch here one day and the food was ok – similar to food found at the parks except the fries were a lot better!

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Resort Grounds
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The Coronado Springs Resort is immaculate! The grounds and landscaping were every bit of what you expect to see at Disney! Everything is beautiful!

The walkways and paths are very wide and easy to navigate. The walkways were well lit at night and we always felt comfortable with our surroundings. One issue though with the paths is they are “aged” with small holes. The holes are for decoration and are not a problem with walking or riding anything, however, if you are walking barefoot to the “Dig Site” you might find it slightly uncomfortable. I recommend wearing shoes wherever you go at the resort.

Like the rest of the resort, the areas are themed. Each building has a slightly different design but not drastic enough to detract from the overall theme.

We did not make it to the spa, but we heard it was very nice and a bargain as compared to other Disney spas and services at Saratoga and Grand Floridian.

There is a fairly large lake in the middle of the resort and you can rent boats at the marina to cruise the lake. However, the lake is not THAT big and I was surprised you could even rent the larger boats they have there. This would be a total waste of time and money in my book – boating area is too small and there is nothing to see you couldn’t see from land. You can also rent bikes at the marina and the grounds would be a perfect place to ride – especially for kids. We wanted to do this, but just ran out of time.

On one side of the lake there is a beach with 5-6 hammocks. Natalie and Leslie took advantage of this area one evening for some girl talk and both found it very relaxing.

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Gift Shop
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Not a lot to say about the gift shop other than it’s large and stocks most of the Disney related items you would expect to buy. They also have a postal service here for buying stamps and mailing small letters and postcards. One person told me you can ship larger items in the conference center’s business office.

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Pepper Market / Maya Grill
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The food at the Pepper Market is good, but I did not like the Pepper Market setup. It works like this: you wait to be seated and the waitress takes your drink order, explains the menu and gives you an “order card.”

There are 5-6 separate stations that serve a variety of food including steaks, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, grilled Mexican foods (fajitas, quesadillas, etc), and bake shop.

This area though is cramped, confusing and not flexible with choices. For instance, if you want a sandwich from one station and rice and beans from another – you are outta luck. This may be permissible, but it blows the worker’s minds so bad that it isn’t worth the trouble!

Another issue is that everything is cooked to order. This means your food is fresh, but we saw several times where people almost got in an argument over which order was theirs! They don’t call out numbers, rather just the food order. (i.e. “Steak fajaita order is ready”)

You can buy refillable drink mugs here that cost $11.99 each. It was sticker shock at first, but after we used them a million times at the pool and Pepper Market, it was worth the investment.

Food at the Maya Grill is very tasty, but expensive. They also have a breakfast buffet that is expensive and not very good. I’ve seen better food at the Holiday Inn continental breakfast bar. We usually eat breakfast in our room anyway. Eating breakfast in the room is one definite way you can save some money at WDW!

Finally, there is also a small bake shop near the gift shop where you can buy sandwiches, baked goods, bottled drinks, etc. You can also refill your drink mugs here.

Overall the Pepper Market area is good – but a lot of hassle. If you want an alternative, there is a McDonalds less than a few blocks away and the Boardwalk Resort and all its restaurant choices is close too.

One thing that was different at this resort is that they have a dance club! We didn’t go, but I did take a look on the inside. It was very swanky and might be a great place to dance the night away for single young adults and newlyweds

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Bus Stops
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There are five stops on the Coronado Springs bus rounds. There are four hotel stops then a stop at the registration/lobby area. All of the bus stops are very convenient and we never waited over 10 minutes for a bus. Most of the busses went directly to the destination and if there was a stop in between, it was a very quick stop at one of the water parks. The average trip to any given park was around 10-15 minutes total trip. In addition, the busses were NEVER crowded. The most crowded bus was coming from the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks and there were about 5-6 people standing. The cast member at the resort said the Coronado Springs probably had one of – if not the – best bus schedule on the property!

I give the transportation at the Coronado Springs two thumbs up!

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Other Areas
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Again, our room was so conveniently located that we didn’t explore but one half of the resort grounds. I quickly looked in the conference center and it, too, looked very nice. There was a conference going on while we were there and the signage was very tastefully placed and easy to read. The spa was another area that is unique to this property. Coronado Springs is the only moderate hotel with a conference center, full service spa, and hot tub! After staying here, I am surprised that it’s a “moderate” resort and also surprised more folks don’t stay here.

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Overall
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This resort gets a 4.5/5!

If you are looking for a great family resort with adult perks and luxurious amenities at a fair price – this is your place. The pace is slow, the rooms are nice, the pools are fun and refreshing – and most importantly – the price is right!

The overall theme is beautiful and the “ancient ruins” make it easy for kids to use their imagination and pretend they are part of the Disney magic.

The bus transportation system/schedule here is a huge plus.

The only hassle is the food court. This definitely affected my rating – but it wouldn’t be a deal buster by any means. I look forward to staying here again!

The trip home was uneventful – we had pizza for lunch and stopped a few thousand times to go to the bathroom.

When we got to Anniston we decided to stop for dinner at a place called Mexico Lindo at a new shopping complex in Oxford. It was really good and we will defiantly go back. There are a lot of nice shops there too – Khols, Target, Best Buy, etc. We were just too tired to do any more. We got home, unpacked and everyone went to bed. The vacation was officially over!

We headed over to the new Toy Story ride and the wait sign said 120 minutes but a cast member told us it would be closer to THREE HOURS!! We wanted to FastPass the ride, but they were all gone for the day. So we chalked this one up as a loss. We ducked into the Walt Disney museum and movie to get out of the heat and that was pretty cool. Basically it was a lot of Walt’s personal memorabilia and a movie explaining his life. It was all very well done and I was surprised I had never been to it before.

Afterwards we headed over the Star Tours area to look for Star Wars folks and surprisingly we saw NOTHING! Natalie wanted to spend some of her money and get her face painted up like a “mermaid princess.” So we stopped for that. Drew at this point was hot, tired and ready to go! After Nat was finished (she looked so beautiful!) we walked toward the back lot and saw where the lines were very long for everything! We did, however, stumble upon a lot of Storm Troopers and Palace Guards and got our pictures made with them. At this point Drew was sooooooooooo ready to go – he came, he saw – lets go! Natalie and I decided we would go our own way and ride some attractions, but after we looked at the wait times for the rides we wanted to do – we headed back to the room! Hey, you have to save some magic for next time – kna wha I’m say’n?!

We rested for a little while, took a dip in the pool and decided to go back over to Downtown Disney for some fun.

We all went to the World of Disney store and loaded up on Disney souven“ears”  for friends (and a few for ourselves). We also demonstrated our best dance moves at a outdoor concert they were having. Drew also got his face painted and we went back to the Disney’s PhotoPass studio for more portraits! We window shopped a little more and ended the vacation with a family tradition of “ice cream overload!”

We found a Ghirardelli ice cream shop (yum, yum, yum!) and each ordered some huge ice cream dessert we would normally never order. I ordered a hot fudge, banana and hazelnut sundae, Natalie ordered a hot brownie and ice cream a la mode, and Drew ordered a “large” vanilla ice cream with “extreme” sprinkles! Leslie couldn’t decide so she ordered a spoon…lol…and shared with everyone!

After we made ourselves sick on ice cream – we shared our favorite memory of the trip, touched knuckles and thanked God for his blessings!

The vacation was coming to an end.