Hence the title of this trip report. One afternoon leading up to our trip, CP and I were driving about town, stressed out and remarking how much we were both looking forward to this getaway. I was lamenting the fact that it wouldn’t be a long trip, but CP looked on the bright side – it’s just a taste, she said. Like licking the mirror to get the last bits of cocaine after the rest of it is gone.

Indeed!

Of course, neither one of us have ever done drugs, so I don’t know if the title is truly apt or not. But it seemed to fit. This trip was just a quick taste, a little dose of Disney to tide us over until our next larger dose. And despite my worrying, it was a lot of fun.

The details:

We flew from Hartford to Orlando on a Friday night, on the same JetBlue flight we always seem to take. It gets us in to Orlando around 9pm, which allows us to work a full day and still not get to WDW too too late.

To save money, we decided *gasp* to stay offsite. Originally, I had booked us at a Homewood Suites near Downtown Disney; I’ve stayed there before on business and it’s quite a nice hotel. As the trip drew nearer, however, I became a bit captivated with some deals on Hotwire, and we decided to spring for a four-star hotel deal that would cost approximately half as much as the Homewood. Of course, it would also be a hotel nearer to Universal than to Disney, but we figured the few extra miles of driving would be worth it. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.) The hotel turned out to be a Crowne Plaza, which – while nice – was far from a true four-star resort, in my opinion. It was conveniently located near Whole Foods and Starbucks, so that was nice, but I have to say, I don’t think we’ll be staying offsite again anytime soon. Sometimes paying for location is really worth it.

We had annual passes and used our Tables in Wonderland card for meals. Speaking of which, in spite of my obsessive compulsive planning, we typically end up doing a fair amount of winging it on our trips. So, a few dining reservations changed. We ended up having dinner at Artist Point and lunch at the Plaza, as well as an impromptu lunch at Be Our Guest. But we opted to skip our breakfasts at the Wave and at Kona Cafe, as well as a planned dinner at Via Napoli. We decided that on such a short trip, we’d rather use that time to be in the parks.

Our trip happened to coincide with Disney’s most successful (in my opinion) Limited Time Magic offering, a celebration of Star Wars and “May the Fourth” at the Studios. Neither one of us are great fans of Star Wars, but the sense of community and excitement created by this event were really encouraging. More on that to come.

A full trip report and lots of pictures are forthcoming, but in the meantime, here’s a taste – just a taste – of some of the fun we had:

Anyway! Back to March. Luckily for you (and me!), this day can be pretty easily summed up in one word: Flowers.

Monday, March 11

Originally, this had been the afternoon my grandparents had picked to visit WDW and see the Flower and Garden Festival with us. Of course, that afternoon turned into a three-day trip for them (you can see that I come by my WDW addiction naturally), but this day was our most Flower-and-Garden heavy day.  The day began with breakfast at The Wave, and ended with dinner at Earl of Sandwich and dessert at Ghirardelli. In between, flowers. That’s what’s important here. Flowers. So, without further adieu, here’s seven million photos of the Flower and Garden Festival, presented without commentary, to conclude our March report:

In an exhibit on post-1989 art, a long gallery wall displayed a collage of sorts, a collection of photographs arrayed with care.  On my first pass through the gallery I didn’t quite stop to take it in, but on second glance, I excitedly realized there was some Disney on display. And then…I felt less excited. And then my stomach clenched, and I spent the rest of the time viewing this piece – to say nothing of the hours later that day – feeling quite uncomfortable. What was it I saw, you might ask? Here’s the description, straight from the gallery wall (click to enlarge):

Paul McCarthy, “Documents 1995-1999.”

Now, I’ve long heard the toss-off comments alluding to Walt Disney’s fascism, the tongue-in-cheek referrals to Disney as a “Nazi” company hellbent on brainwashing your children. These are comments you don’t (or shouldn’t) take seriously. But one is compelled to consider these comments – or at least the spirit of these comments – when confronted with such a stark visual comparison of American popular culture and Third Reich utopian landscapes. At their cores, aren’t both about the pursuit of an ideal of perfection, of creating spaces of security and unity and shared values? One the one hand, you end up with castles at the end of Main Streets, and on the other, you end up with unspeakable atrocities and the very questioning of humanity itself.  To think that these two seemingly unrelated phenomena are, in fact, at least loosely connected – it’s quite unsettling.  (Or maybe you don’t think they are at all connected – that’s fine, too. I have no agenda here.)

We’re not in Fantasyland anymore.

Through the website ArtsConnectEd, the Walker has made McCarthy’s work available online, and you can view it in its entirety here. Be warned that it’s a bit NSFW, and perhaps a little unsettling for some.

Something I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

I admit that I have no recollections of the finer points of this morning. We got up…sometime. We ate…something? for breakfast. What I do know is that we eventually ended up at the Magic Kingdom on yet another gorgeous March morning.

Much to the chagrin of touring plan aficionados everywhere, we have become something of lackadaisical Magic Kingdom visitors. We go here, there, and everywhere, in no particular order. Granted we know how to avoid the crowds when we want to, but generally we are agenda-free these days. On this morning, our first stop was the Haunted Mansion, something we hadn’t done in a couple of trips:

That’s how I look without coffee, too.

I’m quite fond of this picture.

Queued up.

The HM doesn’t look particularly threatening during the daylight hours.

Next, we had to check out – wait for it – no really, you’ll want to see this – seriously – the BEST BATHROOMS IN ALL THE LAND:

A work of excretory genius.

Tinkle Tower.

Seriously though, I don’t really have strong feelings about the E-Ticket Toilets like some people do. Would I have preferred a ride? Absolutely. Do I think it’s a bit tacky that you can see the tower from all parts of the Magic Kingdom? Of course, but it’s not like there aren’t already park intrusions, like the clear view of the Contemporary Resort from Liberty Square. These things just are. I deal with it. All these things said, do I think it’s a bit ridiculous that so much time, energy, and $$$$ was spent on toilets? Heck yes.

Moving on!

It was time to do something else new to us, or at least new to CP and not done by me since I was roughly 12 years old – a visit to Tom Sawyer Island.

A perfect view of BTMRR from our raft.

Look kids – a windmill!

Look kids – a Harper’s Mill!

Big Thunder kills me with its photogenic perfection. Good job, Imagineers.

Quiet day at the fort.

A view that almost lets you forget all the crap added to the MK in the past twenty years.

It’s not authentic unless you have audio-animatronic chickens.

I must say, I quite enjoyed our TSI jaunt. It’s a fun respite from the parks, and I could totally see taking some food to the island and relaxing. Admittedly, though, we didn’t linger, as we had a Plaza lunch reservation calling our name. As usual, it was well-priced deliciousness. I went crazy and changed my order, sampling the strawberry chicken salad. It was pretty good, but I’m really looking forward to Starbucks opening so that the Plaza can get its dishwashers back – these flimsy plastic bowls and plates make cutting salad leaves nearly impossible, so I spent my lunch flinging greens across the table. Fun!

What was fun, of course, was splitting the brownie sundae. This picture looks sort of disgusting, but trust me that it was good:

Wish I had one of these now.

In a normal world, this kind of meal would probably satiate me for the rest of the day. In Disney World, a meal at the Plaza naturally gets washed down with…a La Cava del Tequila margarita!

Speaking of wanting one now…

Why yes, we were off to Epcot! Since we had atypically taken the bus that morning (it’s coming back to me – cereal and fruit and iced coffee from the Rix Cafe, bus from the main bus stop – I’VE STILL GOT IT!), we hopped on the Express monorail and were pleased to find an Epcot monorail waiting for us. I love the monorail trip to Epcot, especially the end where you circumnavigate the park from above. My love/hate relationship with Epcot is mostly love, and Flower and Garden is probably my favorite time during which to visit Epcot. Here, let me drown you in some photos:

Margarita in hand (also…there was NO LINE  at La Cava. I couldn’t believe it, not after this experience!), we set off on a leisurely tour of the World Showcase, stopping to take pictures as we went.

Margarita viewing location.

Nor-vay!

Maybe my favorite F&G offering.

Tiny F&G festival, complete with perfect Mater replica.

I like the placement of Snow White this year.

Like at the Ringling Museum, a Dwarf Garden.

Lotso has a new home by the American Adventure, but he still smells like strawberries.

It should be France in the background, but Morocco works.

Favorite.

Daytime snausages.

As you can see, we made a full loop around the World Showcase lagoon. We weren’t lingering in Epcot because my grandparents called to say they had made it to Disney, so CP and I had to take the bus back to Coronado, clean up for dinner, and then drive over to meet them at the Polynesian for our reservation at Kona Cafe. My grandfather’s birthday had been the day before, and Kona was his choice for a new place to try for dinner.

After pulling into the parking lot at the Polynesian, something weird happened. This woman and her teenage daughter flagged us down, and asked us if we had driven to the Polynesian. Tentatively, I replied that we had, and she asked – nay, begged – us to take her and her daughter to Shades of Green. They were apparently there for a cheer competition and were running late to meet the team bus. Skeptical, spends-time-in-big-cities me was a little hesitant about this, but there was something in the daughter’s look of absolute mortification that made me realize they were telling the truth. Back to the Jetta we went, and in short order we had them at the front gate of Shades of Green. Grateful, they offered to pay us, but we asked instead that they keep the good going.

So, once again, we drove into the Polynesian parking lot, the security guard not batting an eye that we had pulled through just five minutes before. We parked and went inside, having a few minutes to kill before my grandparents arrived.

When I get rich and famous I’m totally building a replica Great Ceremonial House…in my house.

Checking out the marina.

Flying fish (sort of).

In short order we were reunited with my grandparents, and we went upstairs to give our name at Kona. My grandparents – Midwesterners through and through – quickly and easily struck up a conversation with some other people waiting in line, and we had to pull them away to be seated for dinner. Kona was packed that night, and I was really pleased that we were given a seat on the edge of the restaurant closest to the monorail – it was actually pretty cozy and quiet back there.

It was at Kona that night that I made a new friend:

My grandmother in the background, but your focus should be on the INCREDIBLY TASTY DRINK IN AN ACTUAL PINEAPPLE.

Lapu-lapus are one of those Disney items that is on everyone’s “must try” lists, so naturally I’ve been dubious. The mood struck me though, and wow – it was a good drink. Strong, tasty, and full of novelty. As you can see from the picture, my grandmother too had a fruity tropical drink, and CP and my grandfather went crazy – tap water.

Dinner was good, but there were two things that made it fall short of lunch at Kona – 1) the service was incredibly, awfully, painfully, inexcusably slow. Whether this was because the kitchen was backed up or service was off, I don’t know, but in either case, it took far too long to get a glass of water, give our drink orders, get fresh bread, and then – twelve hours later – our entrees. 2) The same noodle bowl we enjoyed so much at lunch was maybe half the size of the lunch portion, and because of said terrible service, was lukewarm and kind of gummy by the time it hit the table. I think my grandparents enjoyed their meals, but CP and I left vowing only to dine at Kona for breakfast and lunch.

After dinner, my grandparents tried to buy DVC annual passes at the Polynesian’s concierge desk, so I amused myself taking some pictures:

Love.

It’s arty because my grandparents are in the background of the shot.

Self explanatory.

Eventually, the four of us piled into the Jetta and made the short drive back to the TTC parking lot. It was a crowded evening at the Magic Kingdom, but my grandparents hadn’t seen New Fantasyland, and we thought we’d all walk off our dinners at the MK. My grandparents had to first stop at Guest Relations to buy their annual passes (no luck at the Poly), so we waited for them and took in the lovely evening light.

Once inside, I did what I normally do when around my grandparents, which is to pester them for photographs since they’re so ridiculous photogenic.

Seriously, don’t fight me – I’ve got the cutest grandparents in all the land.

For some reason Cast Members were using the castle walkthrough for exiting guests only, so we had to walk around the castle the long way to get into new Fantasyland. It was crowded but not unbearably so, and we took our time so that I could show them the new sights.

(Not new) Fantasyland.

New Fantasyland.

The line for the Little Mermaid ride was something like a ridiculous 80 minutes, but there wasn’t a soul in the queue. I dragged all of us on, figuring that even my ride-averse grandfather would like this one. Indeed, it was a crowd pleaser, or at least not a crowd repeller.

Ariel’s eyes always look so creepy on this ride.

After showing them Storybook Circus and walking through Big Top Treats, my grandparents decided they were kind of tired and wanted to head back to their bus. We decided to walk with them, and offered to drive them back to Saratoga Springs, where they were staying that night. On the way, though, my grandmother, CP, and I stopped for a spin on the teacups.

I might yarf just looking at this.

The four of us then took a spin on the TTA, headed out via a crowded Main Street, and hopped on the resort monorail and back to the TTC.  Once safely deposited at SSR, CP and I headed back to Coronado for showers and sleep.

Up next: More flowers, some flowers, and did I mention…flowers?

We’re almost back to Disney, I promise! But first, CP had a couple of things to knock off her bucket list: seeing her beloved Red Sox in spring training, and dipping her toes in the crystal blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. On this Friday, we handily accomplished both.

The morning can be pretty handily summarized thusly: sleep in. Drink lots of coffee. Get CP some flip flops, after she inexplicably packed for a Florida trip without them. Pile into the grandparents’ minivan, and head south toward Ft. Myers.

Originally, we thought CP’s Gulf of Mexico exposure might best be found through a visit to Sanibel Island. On a visit to Florida for work a month earlier, however, I had dropped in on my grandparents for a day, and we did a Sanibel trip. Now, I live in New England, and grew up near Detroit – traffic isn’t something that really bothers me. Sanibel Island traffic, however, is a whole other beast. After waiting (literally) an hour and a half to cross the bridge from Sanibel back to the mainland, my grandparents and I decided CP could get a Gulf fix without having to endure that kind of traffic. Our plan was to visit my grandparents’ friends on Fort Myers Beach, so after a quick lunch we followed the van’s GPS…..

…right into a major traffic jam.

So, an hour and a half later (sigh), we finally pulled up to my grandparents’ friends’ rented condo. I can’t speak for any of my travelling companions, but after entering the condo my cares eased up considerably. Although the furnishings were a bit dated, the condo offered remarkable beachfront views and gentle breezes, and the afternoon drinking didn’t hurt, either. Soon, it was time to give CP a taste of the beach.

Some nice real estate.

A first dip in the Gulf.

CP takes it all in.

It wasn’t a particularly warm day, but coming from New England the sunshine and gentle waves were just what we needed.  We could have stayed out there for hours, but the Red Sox beckoned, as did our appetites. Before leaving Fort Myers Beach, the eight of us stopped for dinner at a little local restaurant in a strip mall, where the food wasn’t amazing but you don’t quite care.

The drive back to Fort Myers proper was much faster than the drive to Fort Myers Beach, but even still, we were running a bit behind. We arrived to the game by the second inning, and took our seats for what would turn out to be a moderately exciting, and definitely chilly evening at the ballpark.

Almost as cold as Boston in March.

Seated next to the Pesky Pole, complete with authentic graffiti.

For the serious baseball fans among us – the lineup.

I think we had a good time, CP especially so. If you’re ever in Fort Myers during the spring, you’d behoove yourself to catch a game at jetBlue park – it’s brand new, and feels almost like catching a game at Fenway. It was a lot of fun.

Back to the grandparents’ rented house, showers, sleep, and packing. Because….

Saturday, March 9

Back to Disney! (See, I promised.)

After a lazy morning, CP and I headed back onto I-75 for the 2.5 hour drive to Orlando around 1pm.  All was well until we hit I-4, and then stopped in a gigantic traffic jam. Our genius GPS rerouted us off the highway, and stupidly right into an equally heinous back roads traffic jam. The cause? The local strawberry festival.  I was hungry, angry (hangry?), and ready to get back to Disney, so I wasn’t pleased.

Eventually, we made our way back to the highway and out of the traffic. We were on Disney property and pulling up to Coronado Springs by 4pm, so the day certainly wasn’t lost. Check-in was painless, and although my request for Ranchos wasn’t honored, we ended up in Casitas 5, in a top floor room that turned out to be pretty great.

Tried out a standard room this time, which ironically we enjoyed more than the preferred King room.

Another view of the room.

The view from outside our room on the 4th floor. (Room 5405, to be specific.)

After settling in and doing some unpacking, we realized we were pretty hungry, and so we set out to the main building to scope out our options. Coronado’s grounds are really beautiful, and we enjoyed our relatively short walk:

The view from our room, as seen from the ground floor (does that make sense?)

Gorgeous afternoon sunlight.

Hola, amigos.

Not feeling in the mood for anything particularly fancy, we decided to grab a burrito at the Pepper Market. I have to say, it was pretty good for quick service, and nice that you can get it made to order. All was well until we decided to cap off our meal with churros. The churros, while also good, gilded the lily perhaps a bit too much, and by the time we returned to our room, there was some belching, not gonna lie.

Anyway!

This was feeling a bit too similar to the now infamous corn dog nugget incident of the previous month, and neither of us was feeling all that great. What can I say – we’re delicate flowers. After sleeping poorly at my grandparents’ rental (I think the mattresses there were purchased at Sam’s Club and were AWFUL) and now feeling a little churropated, we elected to have a more restful evening of pin trading and resort hopping. On the docket? Disney’s new(ish) Art of Animation Resort.

Pretty.

Cars, I think? (Still haven’t seen that movie or its twelve sequels.)

AofA is awfully photogenic.

Some old friends.

Interesting chandelier. I like it.

More than I like that chandelier, I love this picture.

Inside the Ink & Paint shop.

A Pumbaa photobomb.

Dusk over Big Blue.

This movie I’ve actually seen.

And this one! I quite like this one.

Bird.

Prince What’s-his-face.

I’m not sure I’d want to come home to this every night.

Why do people do what they do?!

You can go ahead and call us snobs, but this tour of Art of Animation did nothing to make either one of us want to stay at a Value resort. It was nice, though.

The walking was definitely helping with our churropation, so we decided to keep on walking past Art of Animation and over to Pop Century, another resort neither of us had ever seen. I liked Pop far less than AofA, but there were some nice sunset pictures to be had.

Proving even bowling pins can look nice in the right light.

Still pretty.

Even prettier.

Again, wouldn’t want to see this every night, but it was fun to photograph.

A bit too literal for my taste.

For some reason, I took a picture of the lobby bathroom. Here you go.

Even nicer looking pins.

Pop lobby.

I did like the memorabilia-festooned walls.

By the time we walked back across the lake to Art of Animation and to the car, both of us were feeling better and a bit more awake.  The pull of a park was just too great, so we decided to cap off our evening with a quick stroll through Epcot.  Nothing exciting or strenuous, but it’s always nice to pass through the Epcot turnstiles and soak up a little of the “ambiance.” (I have serious problems with the Epcot of today, but the nostalgia keeps pulling me back.)

Snausages.

Great Moments in Duffy, Volume 1.

Showing CP this important piece of cultural history.

Such a beautiful graveyard.

This, on the other hand, is actually pretty.

I thought the Monster’s U area was very nicely done.

I found the “FLOWER AND GARDEN FESTIVALZ, NAO AT NIGHT” thing a bit overhyped.

Great Moments in Duffy, Volume 2.

Like Pooh, I , too, was underwhelmed by the heralded evening topiaries.

Well, that was enough Epcot. It was home to Coronado to sleep off the churros.

Up next: Margaritas, flowers, more flowers, and the best drink ever served in a bromeliad.

We left off on March 7th, a beautiful, sunny day in Central Florida. After a delicious lunch at Kona Cafe and a Polynesian poolside Dole Whip, we walked back to the TTC parking lot and to our rental car. Next stop? Sarasota.  We were meeting up with my grandparents and taking a tour of the Ringling Museum of Art. My grandparents had been urging us both to visit this museum for a long time, and it seemed like a no-brainer to stop since we’d be driving right by Sarasota on the way to my grandparents’ place near Ft. Myers. My grandparents even decided to meet us there and tour with us.

Now, CP and I love museums – I’m really serious about the “nerd” thing.  But I wasn’t prepared for the awesomeness that was in store at the Ringling. After meeting my grandparents at Starbucks, we proceeded to the museum and inside to buy our tickets. The ticket salesperson asked if we knew where we were going or where we’d want to start, and we said no. Her recommendation? Start at the circus museum.

The what now?

Obviously I know that the Ringling family has a long and storied role in the history of the circus. But I didn’t realize that the Ringling Museum a) had this history on display, and b) would display it in one of the most unique ways I’ve ever seen museum content curated.  Of greatest interest to CP and me was the incredibly detailed (and gigantic!) circus model, described by the Ringling website thusly:

The cornerstone of the Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center is the world’s largest miniature circus, The Howard Bros. Circus Model. The model is a replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1919 – 1938.  It was created over a period of more than 50-years by master model builder and philanthropist Howard Tibbals.

Words can’t really do this model justice, and pictures barely do. In any case, feast your eyes:

The Ringling’s Tibbals Learning Center, where you’ll find the circus model.

Our first glimpse of the model. CP on your right, to give you a sense of scale.

The circus comes to town via the rails.

The model incorporates historic footage seamlessly into the model – a really unique curation tool.

More historic footage, here of cooks making meals for the circus staff.

Meal time.

Elephants on parade.

The largest area of the model. Those are second-story windows in the back of the photo – the model is huge.

Incredible detail.

Reminds me of the animal cracker boxes of yore….

Photographing the photographer.

My grandparents, just as engrossed with the model as we were.

Hard to tell from the photo, but the model had moving parts – acrobats, animals, etc.

The model is the anchor of the circus collection, but there are also wonderful displays of memorabilia, posters, and lots of hands-on activities for the kids. A few other highlights:

Jumping on the bandwagon. Get it?

An extensive hands-on exhibit delighted the kids *and* adults present.

Zoetrope.

With limited hours before the museum closed, we skipped the rest of the circus exhibits in favor of heading over to the main art museum. (After all, how can you top that incredible model?!)  The Ringling buildings are separated at a bit of a distance; if you don’t want to walk, there is a shuttle (read: guy in a golf cart) that will take you to and from the main building and the outbuildings.  The weather was beautiful, however, so we decided to walk. The Ringling grounds themselves are an attraction:

Old Florida.

The Dwarf Garden – I swear, that’s really what it’s called!

My grandparents, looking cute. (Awwww.)

By the time we reached the art museum the sun was setting, and I couldn’t abandon CP and the grandparents fast enough. Good photos were calling!

A replica of David at sunset.

Pretty in pink.

The art museum boasts an ornate and beautiful patio.

Old and new.

Although the Ringling’s collections aren’t really focused on my favorite periods of art, the collections are nevertheless impressive.  The traveling exhibitions were impressive, too, and could meet many tastes – while we were there, we saw an exhibit of Veronese, and an incredible travelling Getty collection of Herb Ritts photographs.  Even if you’re not a huge art fan, the museum itself is quite beautiful and worth a stroll.

By 7:30 we were all tired and pretty hungry, so we finished up our visit and headed out to grab a bite to eat. A couple final shots from the Ringling:

Au revoir.

A picture-perfect sunset over the Gulf.

It’s funny to think we started the day at the Magic Kingdom and ended it with a walk through a preeminent collection of European masterworks. Somehow, though, it was perfect.

MINE.

What’s that? Oh, just a gratuitous Disney picture. Which is to say – I promise we’ll get back to Disney soon.

Up next: CP does something she has never done before.

CP: We can walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian, yes?

Me: What? No. It’s a monorail or a boat.

CP: Really?!

Me: Yes.

CP: Well, then I’d rather stay at the Contemporary. If we want to eat at the Polynesian, we can just walk there from the Contemporary, right?

Me: NO!

CP: Why not?

Me: Well, the lagoon, for one thing.

CP: Well then how would we ever get there?!

Me: There’s this little thing called the monorail?

CP: Oh.

Me: If we stay at the Poly, we can walk to the TTC to catch the monorail to Epcot. That’s a plus.

CP: We can walk to the TTC from the Contemporary too, though.

Me: ….

Me: You’ve *been* to Disney World  before, right? (Note: we’ve been to WDW nine times together since 2010)

CP: It’s so confusing!

And that’s why we’ll be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge.

• Instead of taking a four-day trip over a weekend, we extended this trip to six days, and *gasp* did a few non Disney things.
• I left Disney and stayed on in Florida for several days for work.
• We spent much of this trip with my grandparents, who are wintering in Florida. Originally, they were going to meet us in Disney for an afternoon to see Flower and Garden. A afternoon turned into a night, and then two, and then three, and then they bought annual passes. Ha!

So, our trip looked something like this:

Day One: Fly into Orlando, stay one night at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Resort (thanks, Hotwire!).

Day Two: Morning/early afternoon at WDW, drive to Sarasota to meet grandparents and see Ringling Museum.

Day Three: With my grandparents in SW Florida. Ft. Myers Beach, Red Sox vs. Twins spring training game.

Days Four-Six: WDW for Flower and Garden Festival.

Days Seven-Ten: CP returns to New England; business travel in Miami/Vero Beach.

Day Eleven: Return to Orlando before flight home, might as well spend the night at WDW. (When in Rome…)

So, let’s get started, shall we?

Wednesday, March 6

No photos on this day, and it barely warrants a mention anyway. It went something like this: work all day. Frantically pack and pick up CP at work; drive to airport. Forget to eat dinner, relegating us to one of a few mediocre choices at the Hartford airport. (Ultimate winner? McDonald’s. Sigh.) Breeze through security thanks to purchase of jetBlue Even More Space seats. Eat said dinner. Quick bathroom stop, and then we’re boarding. Literally not a minute wasted.

The flight was lovely, and honestly I’m not sure how I’m going to back to regular economy seats after sitting in a row with so much leg room.  MCO was quiet when we arrived, and so we had our luggage and our rental car in no time.  Drive to Disney property as if on autopilot, but then, we can’t find the Bonnet Creek Resort. Granted, we had a GPS with us, but I was confident I’d find it eventually. (We did.)

I’m a big fan of staying on Disney property, but the Hilton Bonnet Creek makes me seriously question my Disney allegiance. This was one nice hotel.  Granted, it was a little chaotic when we checked in owing to some wedding reception or convention that was taking up nearly the entire lobby (hey, drunk and aged frat boys!), but after that it was 100% lovely. The hotel is modern, well appointed, and has all the amenities you’d want, whether you’re a business traveler or a family headed to the parks. I loved it.

Check e-mail, brush teeth, fall into bed, sleep.

Thursday, March 7

It gets more interesting, I promise!

In spite of going to bed fairly late, we were up early so as to shower and dress in time to meet the representative from Kingdom Camera Rentals.  My completely unsolicited review of KCR is that they are awesome, and if you’re at all interested in photography and want to try out a new camera and/or lens, it’s worth the money to rent one on your next WDW vacation.   Lens in hand, we packed up our room, checked out, and headed to Starbucks while we figured out how we wanted to spend this bonus day at WDW. Where did we end up?

Magic Kingdom is typically the first park we visit on longer trips, and it seemed the most fitting place to spend the few hours we had for our bonus day. We didn’t intend to ride much so crowds weren’t a factor, and as it turned out it was a totally manageable day anyway. Taking in the familiar sights and smells, we started our visit in the Emporium:

I’m actually starting to feel sorry for Duffy.

Very dapper.

It was truly a picture-perfect day at the Magic Kingdom:

A rare crane-free photograph!

With no particular goals in mind, we wandered about, enjoying the sunshine and me trying out my new lens:

On our previous two trips to the Magic Kingdom we had somehow missed Pirates, so we knew our next destination:

After a quick ride on Big Thunder Mountain, we continued our aimless wandering, eventually ending up in new Fantasyland.

The height of circus fashion.

Glowing!

Seriously, the lines weren’t *that* long.

After taking our favorite path from Storybook Circus to Tomorrowland, we couldn’t resist a ride around on the TTA.

Someone needs to convince me this isn’t Gwyneth Paltrow.

Self portrait.

By this time it was nearly lunch and we were starving. Our first choice, The Plaza, of course didn’t have any availability for walkups, so we started to think where we could go outside of the parks. On a whim, I suggested we head to the Polynesian to eat lunch at Kona Cafe, a place we’ve frequented for breakfast. CP readily agreed. A few shots on our walk out:

Seriously never noticed this signage before.

Perfect.

Sometimes it’s the most unassuming photos that become my favorites.

This guy is kind of my hero.

So long, friend!

CP is not really a fan of WDW boats, so it was the resort monorail for us. I couldn’t get over my childish glee at having an entire monorail car to ourselves:

A moment of Zen.

As I’ve outlined before, I am deeply attached to the Polynesian for sentimental reasons, in spite of the fact that I think it’s wildly overpriced and terrifically outdated. (Yes, I know there’s a refurb going on, but the pictures of the new Poly rooms haven’t totally won me over.) I love the smell of the lobby and the serenity of water and the tropical foliage:

Indeed.

Aaaaaaah.

My orchids at home don’t look quite this nice.

Although I had made a reservation on the fly using Disney’s Much-Touted-My-Super-Special-Disney-Experience-Mobile-Application(tm), Kona was nearly dead and we could have walked right in.  In any case, we were seated quickly at a table out of the nonexistent fray, and set about deciding on our order. Plentiful Diet Cokes were a given, and then we decided to split the pot stickers and each have the noodle bowl with chicken:

Super busy.

Two thumbs up – super delicious.

Easily sharable, and very tasty.

Lunch at Kona turned out to be an excellent decision. Service was fast, the food was really good, and the prices were pretty reasonable for the quantity and quality of food we received. I’d definitely eat lunch there again. (Dinner, however…but that’s another story.)

CP and I strategically avoided Kona dessert in favor of….

COME TO MAMA.

Dole Whip! Cheaper than what you can get at the Magic Kingdom, and just as tasty. Plus, we could eat it and enjoy this view:

Poolside Dole Whip eating – so much better than being at work.

Contented, we walked around the Polynesian construction and back to the TTC, peering in on the room renovations as we walked:

To walk off our lunch we skipped the tram and walked back to the car. Our next stop was Sarasota, where we were going to meet up with my grandparents to tour the Ringling Museum and grounds.  This may be a Disney blog, but I’m going to save the Ringling Museum for a future post – if you like Disney, I’d be surprised if you don’t enjoy a look at this remarkable museum. More soon!

I admit, I was a bit sad. I am certain most people would be thrilled for a few extra days in Florida, but it had been a long week. I was ready to get home, ready to enjoy a quiet weekend in sweatpants before heading back to the office. Herself eager to get back north, our college president was able to book a flight out of Florida to a hub in the mid-Atlantic from where she hoped to catch a train or bus back to New England. Once she was safely at the airport for her flight, my boss turned to me and said “Listen. There is *no* way we can stay in Ft. Lauderdale at this hotel for three days. It’s time for a new plan.”

With only a couple hours left on our rental car reservation, we weren’t sure what to do locally – Palm Beach? Go back to Miami? Could we make it to the Keys? Could we even keep the rental car?  And then, as I searched for flights in some last-ditch attempt to get out of Florida earlier than Monday, I found one last flight out of the state. It was expensive, but I’d be home by 5pm on Sunday. It would also get my boss home earlier than the flight she currently held. The flight was departing from Tampa, though, nearly a five-hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale.  So, mostly joking, I said to my boss “You know, Disney’s on the way to Tampa. We could just spend the weekend there.”  The crazy thing…she went for it!

Fate was definitely on our side.  Although hold times to contact the airlines were averaging between one and four (seriously!) hours, we decided that since we were at the airport anyway, we’d just park, run in, and do our flight and car rental rejiggering in person. This was a brilliant plan; the Ft. Lauderdale airport wasn’t busy at all, and we walked right up to ticket agents to make our changes. We managed to get the last two tickets on the Tampa departing flight, and I easily cancelled my original ticket and got a refund while we were at the airport. It turned out to be no problem to not only extend our car rental but to return the car to a different airport, and we could do both for very minimal money. We also managed to score the last two available hotel rooms left on Disney property during a weekend that saw Mardi Gras crowds, cheer and dance competitions, and the largest number of Brazilian tour groups I have ever seen. Not only did we both get rooms at Coronado Springs – a resort I had fallen in love with earlier that week – but we managed to get rooms in the same building.  I admit it, we were nearly giddy – suddenly, this blizzard didn’t seem so bad.

My boss and I had a lovely drive to Disney, chatting and gossiping nearly the entire time.  Our check-in process at Coronado was quick and painless, and after freshening up in our rooms, we walked across the lake (we ended up in Ranchos) to the lakeside bar.  It was a bit on the chilly side, but that wasn’t going to stop us from drinking frozen margaritas and reveling in fact that our spouses and families were enduring a blizzard while we were drinking margaritas and wearing shorts.  We entertained ourselves scheming about how we might crash one of the many conventions going on at Coronado, and spent a little tipsy time walking through the convention center seeing what our options were. (Since we didn’t think we could pass as medical imagers or IT nerds, we quickly abandoned our half-joking plan.)  I fell into bed around midnight, exhausted but ridiculously happy to be at Disney in such an unexpected context.

This is the kind of thing you encounter when driving from Ft. Lauderdale to Orlando.

Checking in at CSR.

Celebratory mango frozen margarita.

The next morning, we were up early, both with huge smiles plastered on our faces. After a quick off-property jaunt to Starbucks for breakfast, we headed to the Magic Kingdom, something I’d rarely do on a crowded Saturday, but why not? We had no plans, were content to just walk and take everything in, and figured that the people watching would be pretty epic.  My boss had yet to see the new Fantasyland expansion, and so we concentrated our time there, getting a ride in on Dumbo and on the Little Mermaid ride. So yes, for those of you keeping score at home, I have now ridden Dumbo with my boss – it’s going to be an interesting performance review this year!

Ranchos 7B, our home for the night.

Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day (or place) to wait out a blizzard.

Stupid crane, still ruining otherwise beautiful shots.

Saying hello to Ariel.

Not pictured: wall-to-wall people.

I found out on this morning that my boss is, like me, something of a closeted Disney fan. She absolutely adores Tinkerbell and the Disney fairies, and so I humored her with a 40 minute wait to meet Tinkerbell. I also introduced her to her first Dole Whip, and confessed to her my love of pin trading.  The Magic Kingdom was ridiculously crowded, but I honestly couldn’t have cared any less – it was 82 and sunny with a perfect breeze, a far cry from the 20 degrees with blizzard conditions going on back home.

We were finally driven out of the Magic Kingdom by our hunger, and headed over to Epcot where we decided to get lunch and a margarita. First, though, on a whim I forced us to locate the NSync Leave a Legacy tiles, something that took far longer than it should, but hey – when I’m committed to something, I finish it. Afterwards, we walked to the Land pavilion for lunch at Sunshine Seasons.  My boss couldn’t believe the good and healthy options there, and vowed to take her family there for lunch on their next vacation. Not in any particular hurry, we lounged over our lunches and marveled at the multiple South American tour group streaming in; obviously they had all gotten Soarin’ FastPasses at the same time earlier that day, and all were coming back to use them at the same time. I pitied the poor fools in the standby line.

Found them!

Next it was margarita o’clock – it was finally time to get my long-awaited La Cava del Tequila margarita.  On the way, I told my boss the story of Duffy, and she couldn’t figure it out – she was legitimately creeped out by him. (Sorry, Duffy!) Once in Mexico, we stopped dead in our tracks when we saw the La Cava line; it had to be nearly 40 people deep.  A good margarita is worth waiting for, however, and so I reminded my boss that I had just waited 40 minutes with her to meet Tinkerbell, so she was going to wait with me for an out-of-this-world margarita. She happily complied, and after maybe 15 minutes we made our way to the bar. She ordered the pineapple margarita and I the passionfruit, and we both quickly agreed that these were the best margaritas either one of us had ever tasted.

Pineapple on the left and passionfruit on the right. Oh heavens, so delicious.

Furtive margarita drinking in one of the only places free of people.

Best tasting and also one of the strongest, folks. By the time we walked the World Showcase to Japan, we were both a little tipsy, which might be the perfect condition in which to browse the Mitsukoshi store. She bought some souvenirs for her family and I bought some for CP, and then we were off to France for a snack to soak up the tequila. What goes well with a margarita, you might ask? A frangipane pastry, of course!

A tipsy Totoro picture from Japan.

So there we were, a bit tipsy and eating French pastries in the United Kingdom pavilion. (Only in Epcot can you say this.) We had a bit too much fun watching geeky kids playing the Phineas and Ferb game, and then we finished our walk around the lagoon before stopping in Club Cool and Mouse Gears. I did some pin trading (my freak flag flying proudly in the open now) before we left, and then we headed back to the rental car and to the Hilton Garden Inn, since there was literally no room on Disney property that night.

Up next? Well, earlier that morning I decided to see if our spontaneous good fortune would continue, and called the dining reservation line to see if by some chance there might be a Victoria & Albert’s reservation available for that evening. My boss and I are both food fans (I can’t bring myself to use the word “foodies”), and so I thought this would just be the perfect way to cap off our impromptu vacation. Amazingly, there was, and we got the last available one. I’ve written up a review of our dinner here, but let’s just rehash this for a moment to say that it was the Best Meal of My Life(tm). Perfect service, amazing food, impeccably timed courses that allowed you to digest and not get too full. I always thought V&A would be a bucket list item I wouldn’t cross off for years and years, but I’m so glad it worked out to get this meal in now.  It was also great to share a wonderful evening of good conversation and fun with my boss, since it’s something we don’t often get to do in our busy work lives.

Still dreaming about this fish.

After seven courses and six wine pairings, we poured ourselves into bed around 1am, and met up again on Sunday morning around 9am. Bleary-eyed, we made our way to Starbucks once more for breakfast, and then made the hour-plus drive to Tampa for our flight home. The airport was a madhouse and our flight home ridiculously turbulent, but I didn’t care – I was home, happy, and in possession of some terrific memories of a potentially bad situation that turned out to be one of the best ever. Carpe diem, indeed.

Monday began with…regret. I mean, let’s be honest – it wasn’t *that* bad. But I did wake up and instantly wish that I hadn’t let Mr. Talented Bartender whip me up quite so many tasty Manhattans the night before.  I was certainly functional, but my no means rope drop functional. In my defense, CP wasn’t exactly feeling rope drop, either, and she’d been smart and only had one super delicious drink the evening before.

But what she too had consumed the night before were those blasted corn dog nuggets. So let’s just say that both of us spent some time in our room on Monday morning feeling…not good. I’ll spare the delicate among us the details, but Manhattans or no Manhattans, corn dog nuggets were a one-time thing for us.  Neither of us eats much in the way of fried food in our real lives, and now I think I know why.

Anyway! We finally pulled ourselves together to finish packing, load up the car, and make the blissfully short walk to the Magic Kingdom one last time.  On the docket was our customary lunch at the Plaza, some pin trading, and walking off the grogginess after our night off too much fun (and corn dog nuggets, ugh).

Pluto obviously didn’t have corn dog nuggets last night.

I’ve never seen these guys in Emporium costumes before – cute!

Dapper Dans, on the move.

OK, you’ve got to trust me here, but I’m 99% sure that’s Joe Flacco in the top left corner of the picture.

It was another picture-perfect February day, and the nice breezes and abundant sunshine were just what the doctor ordered.  I know I was feeling much better, and really enjoyed just wandering the MK, taking it all in:

Really can’t think of a creative caption here. Must be the corn dog nuggets.

Picture-perfect.

Obligatory bird shot.

We wandered through Adventureland and Frontierland, pin trading and people watching, and finally made our way to the Fantasyland expansion. We even made it onto a ride!

Beautiful.

And then abruptly not-so-beautiful. Those are some short shorts!

Not a 50 minute wait, Disney. Nice try.

I really love this queue.

Hey nerds!

Next it was off to Storybook Circus to pin trade, and then we hopped on the train to kill the final minutes before our Plaza lunch:

My love for this store is baffling, but I own it.

Starting to get crowded.

Zooming in on the Polynesian from the Main Street train station. It’s a powerful lens I rented.

We exited on Main Street and found Cast Members scurrying about, putting up the final preparations for the Super Bowl MVP parade.  I really couldn’t have cared less about the MVP or the parade, but as I detailed here, my heart skipped a beat when I saw they had put up scores of the old-style Mickey balloons:

Decked out in patriotic colors for the Super Bowl MVP.

A failed attempt at an artistic shot.

Just blowing some glass.

Pretty.

It seriously couldn’t have been a nicer day. And, no crane to ruin the picture!

We had made our way up to the Plaza, and were checked in and seated for lunch in about five minutes’ time. Not bad. The Plaza was surprisingly quiet for the lunch rush, and so we enjoyed a peaceful lunch at a corner table where we could keep an eye on the passers-by outside.  Creatures of habit, we both ordered our usuals: me the grilled chicken sandwich, CP the club sandwich, and plentiful Diet Coke for both of us. We finished off the meal by splitting a hot fudge sundae, and left feeling awfully contented.

Our favorite afternoon respite at the Magic Kingdom.

Ending the meal on a sweet note.

We finished up our Magic Kingdom time doing some pin trading and taking in the sights and sounds of a busy Main Street. Even though I knew we’d be back in a month or two, it’s always a bit sad to leave the Magic Kingdom. But, we had places to go and new resorts to check out, so we walked back to the Contemporary, got into the car, and drove over to Coronado Springs, our home for the night.

Entrance to the main building at Coronado Springs.

For a convention resort, it was quiet at our arrival, and very pleasant – bright and cheerful.

We had done online check-in before our trip and walked right up to a Cast Member at the online check-in desk. This Cast Member turned out to be none other than the lovely @PrincessJess508, something of a celebrity on Twitter and on the DIS boards (she’s an awesome trip report writer in her own right!),who was “earning her ears” and learning how to work the front desk. She did a terrific job checking us in, and soon we were off to our room in Casitas 3. We had booked a King Preferred room, which automatically put us in Casitas, the “preferred” area of the resort. This area caters largely to convention crowds owing to its close proximity to the main building, restaurants, bars, and convention center.

With Spanish themeing and lots of greenery, Casitas is quite lovely.

Interior of our King Preferred room. Excuse the rumpled bed; sometimes you just need to collapse on the bed when you enter the room, you know?

Vanity area. On the downside, there’s only one sink, but it’s otherwise very spacious and nice.

Quiet pool near our building, Casitas 3.

After doing some minimal unpacking and freshening up a bit, we decided to take an afternoon walk around the resort to get a feel for the grounds.  Although I’m a self-avowed Deluxe resort snob, on that walk Coronado really grew on me.  (For deeper thoughts on this subject, you might want to check out my review of Coronado here.) The sun was low in the sky, and the light was just perfect:

Looking back at Casitas.

A gorgeous view across the lake.

Although a large resort, paths are well-marked.

I’m not sure what these are, but they were in full bloom all over the grounds.

Fall in New England, or winter in Florida?

So beautiful.

We ended our walk with a quick tour of the main building and Panchito’s gift shop.  For a moderate resort, Coronado is really tricked out – with a salon, gym, tons of restaurants and drink options, and a good-sized gift shop, you really wouldn’t have to leave the grounds if you didn’t want to. Plus, the rooms are really nice for a moderate, much more modern and well-appointed than the other Disney moderate resorts.  As much as I love the Deluxes, I was quickly seeing that Coronado might be our new home away from home – it’s a great resort, and the price is right.

We stopped back in our room to regroup before heading to the car and over to Epcot for our last night in the parks. We were supposed to end the evening with dinner at Via Napoli and a viewing of IllumiNations, but frankly we weren’t that hungry and didn’t feel like staking out a seat for the fireworks super early. So, we just decided to wing it. Epcot in the early evening is my absolute favorite Disney park experience, so you won’t mind if I spam you with a few hundred pictures of it, right?

Sunset at Epcot is basically my favorite Disney thing, ever.

Spaceship Earth looks particularly handsome at sunset.

Flower shot.

Stunning.

Yes, I was the idiot literally bending over backwards to get this shot.

On fire.

Sunset over Imagination.

Not the best shot, but you can get a sense of how vibrant the sunset was that evening.

We took our time, ambling about, and ended up walking through the World Showcase.

So. Many. Duffys.

Sunset over the Swolphin.

Dinner of champions.

The thing that drives me crazy about Epcot is that in the absence of an adults-only area on property, Epcot is the default party location for boozing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a teetotaler by any means. But without a place like Pleasure Island to draw the ‘serious’ partiers, the World Showcase at night invariably becomes one big outdoor bar. By the time we got to Germany, it was wall-to-wall people, most with drinks in their hands. Not my favorite way to tour the World Showcase, so we took some pictures and quickly moved on.

Not bad for a zoomed picture from across the lagoon.

Pimp Duffy?

Glass in Italy.

Pretty Japanese lanterns at night.

We made our customary stop at the Japan store, and then finding that School Bread wasn’t exactly a filling dinner, we decided to pop into the new bakery in France to check out the wares.  The food certainly looked better than what you could get at the old French bakery:

Come to mama…

Hello, beautiful.

What we ended up with – pumpkin soup and fresh baguette. Both were excellent.

You know how the camera adds ten pounds? Here I think it subtracts 50% of the chaos; it was much worse than it looks here.

So the food is definitely a step up, if not world-class – but if you want a light meal or a dessert, it’s a good bet. Here’s the thing, though: it was an absolutely awful dining experience because the dining room is just too too small.  At first we ended up hovering over a standing table trying to eat our soup, and then we were able to snag a table as another party departed. Of course the table only had one chair, so CP had to squat awkwardly until someone else left and offered her a seat. It was also cramped, loud, and full of kids running around, nearly knocking food and beverages off the table. So, my advice is to get your food to go and try to grab a seat out in the France courtyard, or grab something you can eat while walking.

With packing to finish and an early flight for CP the next morning, we continued through the World Showcase and back to Future World for some final pin trading and shopping. We soon said goodnight to Epcot, and headed back to Coronado.

Au revoir, Epcot.

It’s pretty anticlimactic from here on out – packing, sleeping, taking CP to the airport, me returning to Coronado to pack up and take some final pictures:

Seriously gorgeous, right?

One last look across the lake.

CP went back to Massachusetts, and I continued on to Ft. Myers to see my grandparents and travel for work.  I was supposed to fly home on Friday, February 8th, but Mother Nature was going to intervene….and get me back to Disney much sooner than I anticipated. Story to come!