Trip Reports

Attached is a trip report I wrote about my family's April Disney vacation. We were there the week Animal Kingdom opened, but did not visit that park. The report is written summary style, and I've included a lot of comments about travelling with a pre-schooler.

Here is our summary information:

Trip date: 4/19-24, 1998
Travel method: airplane, rental car
Resorts: Disney's Beach Club Resort & Coronado Springs Resort
The Guests (from Pennsylvania):

Mom & Dad: both 50 something’s; last trip to Disney was in ‘73
Leslie (myself): 32; last trip to Disney was in ‘87
Grace: 3 1/2; first trip to Disney
Introduction

This trip was over 1 year in the planning, with me doing all of the planning. I exhausted guide books, news groups, disney.com, and trip reports in an effort to plan the "perfect" vacation. This was the first vacation for both myself and my parents in over 4 years, so we were all looking forward to getting away to sunny Florida and showing my young daughter Disney World.

We booked 2 nights at the Coronado Springs Resort and 3 nights at the Beach Club Resort. We flew down and rented a car from National for our entire stay. And we had 5 day Park-hopper passes.

As it turns out, Animal Kingdom opened the week of our stay. I didn’t plan it this way, in fact I was trying to avoid it, fearing large crowds. We decided not to visit AK, not wanting to face huge lines on the small number of attractions that were open. We also did not do any early entries, but rather made it to non-early entry parks at their opening, not wanting to force the rest of my family up at the crack of dawn (it's vacation!).

I learned a lot during this trip, particularly about the trials and tribulations (and delights!) of traveling with a pre-schooler. Rather than giving a blow-by-blow of our visit I’ve broken things down into several categories to share my experiences and observations.

Coronado Springs

I was very impressed with this resort. You really get a lot for the money. It is, however, very spread out. We stayed in the Ranchos (7B); and while we were very close to the Dig Site and the bus stop, it was a hike to the main building which houses the food court and shops. They have a *huge* pool, along with biking and boating. If you don’t want to spend the money for the deluxe resorts, I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with the moderate resorts.

Beach Club Resort

I can’t say enough about this place. It was just lovely. We managed to get a room with a full balcony (without even asking!) overlooking a courtyard. Being able to walk to EPCOT and the Boardwalk was a big convenience. Service was great. And the pool was out of this world!

Restaurants

Food Among the Flowers-brunch buffet at EPCOT (special for Flower and Garden Festival) $89 The food was very good; the only problem was we couldn’t find it! Its at the Odyssey Center, but there are no signs pointing the way in.
Pepper Market-dinner $56 Food was good (considering it was a food court); For the 10% service charge you are assigned a busperson to your table who will get your drinks, condiments, refills, as well as clear your table. We received very good service and even left a little extra for the person taking care of us.
Artist Point-Winnie the Pooh character breakfast $55 Although this is a pre-plated meal, the food was prepared fresh, and very good
California Grill-dinner $121 (for 3) Excellent food and the MK fireworks provided the atmosphere. Don’t wait for a table next to the window. When the fireworks start, everyone gets out of their seats anyway to watch. This was my favorite meal.
Plaza Restaurant-lunch $44 The food was only so-so.
Hollywood Brown Derby-dinner $? (for 2), very good food; lovely atmosphere
Chefs de France $105, While the food was good, I expected better. Our server Marie-Agnes was terrific, wrapping my freezing daughter in a tablecloth to get her warm.
Cape May Cafe-buffet dinner $68 The quality of the food was very good, but my gripe with this place was the lines I had to wait in to belly up to the buffet. I probably would not go there again for this reason.
Cape May Cafe-buffet character breakfast $55 good food & selection; the characters here were a lot of fun (Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale)
Beaches ‘n Cream- breakfast $25-30 good selection of pastries, bagels, cereal, juices, coffee, etc. to eat in or take back to room
Crowds

All that worrying for nothing. I thought for sure that with the AK opening crowds would be at peak levels, but I was wrong. Crowds were moderate, and with some planning and patience, *very* manageable. From check-in to dining to attractions, we had only a 5 minute wait or less. If we saw an attraction had a large line, we would come back in 1/2 hour and it would be gone. And of course, we made sure to hit certain things first thing (Dumbo, TOT) to avoid waits later in the day.

Transportation

Disney transportation was very efficient. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus. We only used the buses to get to the parks, however. To get to other resorts, we drove.

Attractions

My hands-down favorite attraction was Tower of Terror. What a ride! It was worth the whole trip. Other favorites of mine were Muppet 4D, Timekeeper, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Illuminations, and the Remember the Magic parade. I skipped most of the thrill rides since my daughter is not tall enough and my parents don’t enjoy them. I’ve been on them before, anyway.

On traveling with a 3 year old

My daughter has long since given up naps and is pretty adventurous, so I felt confident about her ability to handle and enjoy a day a the parks. I spent a lot of time preparing her for this trip...watching Disney films, the vacation planning tape, reading Disney stories, looking at maps of the parks. But all of this still did not prepare her for the magnitude of this trip and the parks. She was completely overwhelmed. The first two days she displayed some of the worst behavior I have ever seen in her. But with some rest and quiet time she started to come around. However, the rest of the trip she was very clingy, wanting me to carry her and not letting me out of her sight.

One night my parents and I went to dinner on our own, and I hired a "Fairy Godmother" to babysit. Our sitter arrived on time and when we returned Grace was fast asleep. I was apprehensive about trying this, but after speaking with the woman who runs the service and meeting our sitter, I felt much better. And I needed an adult night out.

Grace’s favorite things on this trip: swimming, Cinderella’s Carousel, Dumbo, Small World, character breakfasts, Remember the Magic parade (she was mesmerized), having her face painted on the Boardwalk, Tiki Birds, taking her own pictures with a disposable camera, riding the surrey bicycles, playing with legos at the Disney Village Marketplace, and the "magic" potties (auto-flush toilets). A lot of the attractions frightened her, and she would just put her head in my lap and wait for it to be over.

While I wouldn’t say don’t go to Disney with young children, I think its wise not to make going to the parks the main focus of your trip. Dealing with a miserable, out-of-sorts child can ruin your time. And what’s the point if nobody’s having fun? Since Disney offers so many other things to do, you can still have a great trip that everyone enjoys. In retrospect, I would have only planned 3 or 4 of our days at the parks and spent more time on other activities.

Overall, we had a really good time. Can’t wait to go back!

Leslie Clevenstine

lac253@concentric.net

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