StarWarsMomofGirls!
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
Welcome!
I hope you will follow along on my newest trip report. I was going to say what number trip report it was, but I don't know... I have done a bunch at this point. So, if you have followed along before, Welcome Back!!! If you are new, I am sooo glad you are here. I love sharing our trips, it helps withthe post trip blues and a way for me to relive the trips!
Things to look forward to in this trip report:
Who Are We?
IMG_5519
This is our little family just hanging out with Walt.... no big deal!
Untitled
Hi! This is me, Ariella. I am your trip reporter and I am the planner of these trips! Over the years it has become my hobby to plan these trips. These trip reports help me wait out till our next trip. So, thank you for following along, if no one read these, there would be no point!
Favorite Ride: Guardians Cosmic Rewind / Haunted mansion
Favorite Food: Bread Service
Favorite Restaurant: Sannaa
Favorite Move / Show: Beauty and the Beast / Tangled
Andy and his Moonshine
Andy is the "dad" our our family. He works hard and alot, and our family vacations are def a way for him to disconnect and actually relax. Andy didn't grow up going to Disney but has grown to love our trips. And has enjoyed how the trips have changed over the years as the girls has gotten older.
Favorite Ride: Big Thunder Mountain / Rise of Resistance
Favorite Food: Moonshine or the Butter Poutine from Eet
Favorite Restaurant: Homecomin' but he said Eet is his new favorite counter service
Favorite Movie / Show: Anything Star Wars
Untitled
Morgan is our oldest. She is currently 15 going on 16 in 2 weeks! She has been busy this year with Outdoor Marching Band and Indoor Drumline. And she wanted to have fun this trip but also really need downtime to relax this trip.
Favorite Ride: Space Mountain / Guardian's Cosmic Rewind
Favorite Food: Pineapple Upside down Cake / Gideon's cookies
Favorite Restaurant: Sci-Fi Drive Inn
Favorite Movie / Show: Gravity Falls
IMG_4328
Gwen is our youngest. She is currently 13 going on 14 this summer. She has really grown up during Covid and there are still times when I don't know how it happened.
Favorite Ride: Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
Favorite Food: Churros
Favorite Restaurant: Beaches and Cream
Favorite Movie / Show: Tangled the Series
Where
This trip ended up being a 3 resort trip! It wasn't planned to be that way but we did it!
Yacht Club
stormalong-bay-pool-beach-club-resort-disney-world-935
Usually we start at a moderate for the first half of the trip and then more over to a Deluxe to finish off the trip. But when I was booking this trip, I couldn't get Yacht Club for the back half of the trip for some reason. So, I ended up booking Yacht Club for the beginning! We have stayed here a number of times and it has become our favorite resort.
Wilderness Lodge
disney-s-wilderness-lodge
And then when talking with Andy about where to stay for the second half, we didn't want to go to a Moderate after being at Yacht Club. I suggested a hotel we hadn't stayed at in a long time, Wilderness Lodge, and he was ALL for it. Wilderness Lodge was our first taste of a deluxe resort and we fell in love with the boat ride over to Magic Kingdom. So when the girls were smaller and we spent ALOT of time at Magic Kingdom it made sense to stay there.
Coronado Springs
Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 7.35.32 AM
So, I will go into it more in a bit, but right before we left, I needed to extend our trip, and looked up the cheapest Moderates. And I was choosing between Coronado and French Quarter and Coronado won out mostly because of Three Bridges Restaurant. Andy loves this resort, and was happy to stay here again.
When
Ah! Spring Break...
Do I WANT to travel during Spring Break, one of the busiest times of the year for Disney? No.
Do I have 2 teenage daughters who can't really miss school anymore? Yes.
So, Spring Break it is. Our school district always tags spring break onto Easter. And Easter was SUPER early this year! We also had to work around Morgan's Indoor Drumline schedule. And she was originally to have a competition the Saturday leading back into school.
So the original plan was Thursday, March 28th - Friday, March 5th (EARLY flight back)
But then, Morgan's competition got cancelled because too many kids were going to be missing. So, I tried to change it. No luck, Flights were too $$$.
And then we ended up extending the trip till Monday, March 8th at the very last minute. (more on that to come)
Backstory
So, I wanted to give a little back story of our life before this trip happened. Some I talked about on my pre-trip report and some maybe not... I share mostly just to show exactly how much we were all ready for this trip. Sorry that this is so text heavy, and feel free to skip if you just don't care, I won't be offended.
March 2023, my father passed away from colon cancer. He was diagnosed in December and it was fairly agressive. We had a trip to California planned for that year, we cancelled it as we didn't know if we would go or not. And then re-scheduled it last minute after he passed to try and heal a bit. The first Friday of this trip would be the 1 year anniversary of his passing and I wanted to be doing something fun on that day.
At the same time, November 2022, my mother had a blood infection in her spine, and has been ill ever since. While my father was dealing with cancer, my mother was put on a ventilator and truly fighting for her life. She has since become stable but is still on a ventilator and is now in a nursing home with 24 hour care. She gets sick easily (this will come into play during this trip) and needs us to visit her daily. My middle sister and I share the visit time between the 2 of us, but we both have kids (hers are younger) and it is alot to see my mom everyday. So, I was ready for a break for that. (which I know sounds bad, but not all visits are fun and happy)
The Sunday before we were to leave, my grandmother text us (YES, my 87 year old grandmother texts!!! and uses emojis!) to tell us that my grandfather was sent to the hospital and it wasn't good. My grandfather was 90 and had really lived longer than we ever thought he would. Monday, he passed away and my sisters and I started to try and figure out what we would do, depending on when the funeral way. My mother wouldn't be able to go, so we felt we needed to go to be there for her, but we also needed to have someone with her.
I also may or may not of had a mini breakdown, as all of our trips of late have been surrounded by stuff like this, and I was REALLY looking forward to a "real" vacation. And this was potentially going to change that.
I looked and saw that if we flew back Monday, we would actually save money on the flights, so I went ahead and changed our flights. I did this Monday before we left! I have never made changes to a trip so late before this! I looked up cheap moderates to stay at for the extra days. And boom, we were now staying in Florida almost 4 extra days. Not the reasons I would want to be staying longer but non the less.
While this was all happening right before we left, I was working to finish up a major project at work. I was pushing to get it done, so I didn't have to leave it with someone else. And Andy was majorly stressed at work as well.
The previous week, Andy's back started acting up. And the one evening, he sat on the couch to put his sneakers on, and literally couldn't get off the couch! He had to sit for awhile and then roll off the couch. He has a history of back problems, and has already had 2 back surgeries. So we aren't unfamiliar with this. But it could NOT have come at a worse time!!!! I was worried that he wouldn't be able to come with us at one point. Or not be able to really do anything. This really was a huge stress for about 2 weeks leading up to the trip.
Sunday, we celebreated Easter early. We basically just pretended that the day was Easter, we did the whole Easter Basket thing, egg hunt and Easter dinner. It was really nice but a lot with also trying to get packed up for the trip.
Untitled
My teenage girls egg hunting!!!
Untitled
Tuesday, I finished working and was headed to go see my mom for the day. And I see this a block away from our house!!!
Untitled
It was a car on fire!!! Like full on fire!!! It was absolutely crazy!!! We found out it was a truck for a company here that does heating and air conditioning repairs and installation. And it just caught on fire!!
I texted my sisters, and my one sister just laughed and said you have a literal dumpster fire in front of your house. And it was so true. And totally represented how I felt at the time!
Then Wednesday morning, Andy is doing the dishes and informs me that the sink isn't draining. WHAT? ugh... So, he runs out and buys drano, dumps it in.... nothing... So, he called the company that had the truck on fire to come out and take a look. Thankfully they were able to come that day and fix the problem! But you know what you want right before you leave on vacation.... $$$$ spent that you didn't plan on spending!!!
ALL of that to say, this trip was VERY much needed!!!! I will leave on a spoiler, as I don't want to finish on a downer, we did in fact have a great trip and it DID feel like a vacation that I needed. That we all needed.
So, please follow along!!! I have a lot of things to share! And it was a great great trip.
Up next Travel Day!!!!
I hope you will follow along on my newest trip report. I was going to say what number trip report it was, but I don't know... I have done a bunch at this point. So, if you have followed along before, Welcome Back!!! If you are new, I am sooo glad you are here. I love sharing our trips, it helps withthe post trip blues and a way for me to relive the trips!
Things to look forward to in this trip report:
- Can we actually get rest on this trip?
- How we handle the spring break crowds
- Renting a Car to leave property
- Review of 3 Resorts and 3 water Slides!
- 2 Extended Evening Hours
- What rides are ok to ride with a bad back (aka Andy's back)
- Getting a new Favorite restaurant!
- Touring with teenagers
- Possibly FINALLY getting into Trader Sams?!?!
Who Are We?
IMG_5519 This is our little family just hanging out with Walt.... no big deal!
Untitled Hi! This is me, Ariella. I am your trip reporter and I am the planner of these trips! Over the years it has become my hobby to plan these trips. These trip reports help me wait out till our next trip. So, thank you for following along, if no one read these, there would be no point!
Favorite Ride: Guardians Cosmic Rewind / Haunted mansion
Favorite Food: Bread Service
Favorite Restaurant: Sannaa
Favorite Move / Show: Beauty and the Beast / Tangled
Andy and his Moonshine Andy is the "dad" our our family. He works hard and alot, and our family vacations are def a way for him to disconnect and actually relax. Andy didn't grow up going to Disney but has grown to love our trips. And has enjoyed how the trips have changed over the years as the girls has gotten older.
Favorite Ride: Big Thunder Mountain / Rise of Resistance
Favorite Food: Moonshine or the Butter Poutine from Eet
Favorite Restaurant: Homecomin' but he said Eet is his new favorite counter service
Favorite Movie / Show: Anything Star Wars
Untitled Morgan is our oldest. She is currently 15 going on 16 in 2 weeks! She has been busy this year with Outdoor Marching Band and Indoor Drumline. And she wanted to have fun this trip but also really need downtime to relax this trip.
Favorite Ride: Space Mountain / Guardian's Cosmic Rewind
Favorite Food: Pineapple Upside down Cake / Gideon's cookies
Favorite Restaurant: Sci-Fi Drive Inn
Favorite Movie / Show: Gravity Falls
IMG_4328 Gwen is our youngest. She is currently 13 going on 14 this summer. She has really grown up during Covid and there are still times when I don't know how it happened.
Favorite Ride: Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
Favorite Food: Churros
Favorite Restaurant: Beaches and Cream
Favorite Movie / Show: Tangled the Series
Where
This trip ended up being a 3 resort trip! It wasn't planned to be that way but we did it!
Yacht Club
stormalong-bay-pool-beach-club-resort-disney-world-935 Usually we start at a moderate for the first half of the trip and then more over to a Deluxe to finish off the trip. But when I was booking this trip, I couldn't get Yacht Club for the back half of the trip for some reason. So, I ended up booking Yacht Club for the beginning! We have stayed here a number of times and it has become our favorite resort.
Wilderness Lodge
disney-s-wilderness-lodge And then when talking with Andy about where to stay for the second half, we didn't want to go to a Moderate after being at Yacht Club. I suggested a hotel we hadn't stayed at in a long time, Wilderness Lodge, and he was ALL for it. Wilderness Lodge was our first taste of a deluxe resort and we fell in love with the boat ride over to Magic Kingdom. So when the girls were smaller and we spent ALOT of time at Magic Kingdom it made sense to stay there.
Coronado Springs
Screenshot 2024-04-17 at 7.35.32 AMSo, I will go into it more in a bit, but right before we left, I needed to extend our trip, and looked up the cheapest Moderates. And I was choosing between Coronado and French Quarter and Coronado won out mostly because of Three Bridges Restaurant. Andy loves this resort, and was happy to stay here again.
When
Ah! Spring Break...
Do I WANT to travel during Spring Break, one of the busiest times of the year for Disney? No.
Do I have 2 teenage daughters who can't really miss school anymore? Yes.
So, Spring Break it is. Our school district always tags spring break onto Easter. And Easter was SUPER early this year! We also had to work around Morgan's Indoor Drumline schedule. And she was originally to have a competition the Saturday leading back into school.
So the original plan was Thursday, March 28th - Friday, March 5th (EARLY flight back)
But then, Morgan's competition got cancelled because too many kids were going to be missing. So, I tried to change it. No luck, Flights were too $$$.
And then we ended up extending the trip till Monday, March 8th at the very last minute. (more on that to come)
Backstory
So, I wanted to give a little back story of our life before this trip happened. Some I talked about on my pre-trip report and some maybe not... I share mostly just to show exactly how much we were all ready for this trip. Sorry that this is so text heavy, and feel free to skip if you just don't care, I won't be offended.
March 2023, my father passed away from colon cancer. He was diagnosed in December and it was fairly agressive. We had a trip to California planned for that year, we cancelled it as we didn't know if we would go or not. And then re-scheduled it last minute after he passed to try and heal a bit. The first Friday of this trip would be the 1 year anniversary of his passing and I wanted to be doing something fun on that day.
At the same time, November 2022, my mother had a blood infection in her spine, and has been ill ever since. While my father was dealing with cancer, my mother was put on a ventilator and truly fighting for her life. She has since become stable but is still on a ventilator and is now in a nursing home with 24 hour care. She gets sick easily (this will come into play during this trip) and needs us to visit her daily. My middle sister and I share the visit time between the 2 of us, but we both have kids (hers are younger) and it is alot to see my mom everyday. So, I was ready for a break for that. (which I know sounds bad, but not all visits are fun and happy)
The Sunday before we were to leave, my grandmother text us (YES, my 87 year old grandmother texts!!! and uses emojis!) to tell us that my grandfather was sent to the hospital and it wasn't good. My grandfather was 90 and had really lived longer than we ever thought he would. Monday, he passed away and my sisters and I started to try and figure out what we would do, depending on when the funeral way. My mother wouldn't be able to go, so we felt we needed to go to be there for her, but we also needed to have someone with her.
I also may or may not of had a mini breakdown, as all of our trips of late have been surrounded by stuff like this, and I was REALLY looking forward to a "real" vacation. And this was potentially going to change that.
I looked and saw that if we flew back Monday, we would actually save money on the flights, so I went ahead and changed our flights. I did this Monday before we left! I have never made changes to a trip so late before this! I looked up cheap moderates to stay at for the extra days. And boom, we were now staying in Florida almost 4 extra days. Not the reasons I would want to be staying longer but non the less.
While this was all happening right before we left, I was working to finish up a major project at work. I was pushing to get it done, so I didn't have to leave it with someone else. And Andy was majorly stressed at work as well.
The previous week, Andy's back started acting up. And the one evening, he sat on the couch to put his sneakers on, and literally couldn't get off the couch! He had to sit for awhile and then roll off the couch. He has a history of back problems, and has already had 2 back surgeries. So we aren't unfamiliar with this. But it could NOT have come at a worse time!!!! I was worried that he wouldn't be able to come with us at one point. Or not be able to really do anything. This really was a huge stress for about 2 weeks leading up to the trip.
Sunday, we celebreated Easter early. We basically just pretended that the day was Easter, we did the whole Easter Basket thing, egg hunt and Easter dinner. It was really nice but a lot with also trying to get packed up for the trip.
Untitled My teenage girls egg hunting!!!
Untitled Tuesday, I finished working and was headed to go see my mom for the day. And I see this a block away from our house!!!
Untitled It was a car on fire!!! Like full on fire!!! It was absolutely crazy!!! We found out it was a truck for a company here that does heating and air conditioning repairs and installation. And it just caught on fire!!
I texted my sisters, and my one sister just laughed and said you have a literal dumpster fire in front of your house. And it was so true. And totally represented how I felt at the time!
Then Wednesday morning, Andy is doing the dishes and informs me that the sink isn't draining. WHAT? ugh... So, he runs out and buys drano, dumps it in.... nothing... So, he called the company that had the truck on fire to come out and take a look. Thankfully they were able to come that day and fix the problem! But you know what you want right before you leave on vacation.... $$$$ spent that you didn't plan on spending!!!
ALL of that to say, this trip was VERY much needed!!!! I will leave on a spoiler, as I don't want to finish on a downer, we did in fact have a great trip and it DID feel like a vacation that I needed. That we all needed.
So, please follow along!!! I have a lot of things to share! And it was a great great trip.
Up next Travel Day!!!!
looking forward to hearing about the fun times 
