Kelsanna
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2015
Hello! Welcome to my trip report! This is my first attempt, so be patient and apologies if its a bit rough I didn't do a Pre-Trip Report so this first post might be a bit background heavy.
Trip Details:
Where: Coronado Springs Resort, booked via Undercover Tourist
When: February 18-25
Tickets: 7-day park hopper (me), 6-day park hopper (my parents) - both Canadian Resident promotion rate
Transportation: flying (Air Canada Rouge)
Dining plan: Nope, don't eat at enough sit down restaurants, or buy enough snacks to make it worth it
Memory Maker: No, sadly trying to save money so didn't do memory maker this trip
Who am I? Thanks for asking
I'm Kelsey (or Kelsanna to my friends). I'm a 31 year old public servant from White Rock, BC (near Vancouver). Other than Disney, I love my pug Seymour, Halloween, reading and movies. What do I say that doesn't sound like a cheesy personal ad? If you want to know more, ask?
I have always been a Dis fan, and growing up on the west coast of Canada that meant taking family trips as a kid to Disneyland (grade 1, grade 7, grade 10) and later trips to California and Disneyland with friends.
A few years after finishing my degree at university and working in a real adult job, I decided I wanted to finally make a trip to WDW happen. In December 2013, my family and I stayed at POR French Quarter and my Disney addiction has EXPLODED since then! 2014, my best friend (S) and I went to Disneyland and in 2015 the two of us went to WDW for two weeks, stayed at POR Riverside and surprised our friend (M) who was working at Epcot. In 2016 I went with my family again to POR French Quarter before a Disney Dream cruise. In Spring 2017 I went with my family on a Europe trip which I insisted include a trip to Disneyland Paris (we stayed at the Newport Beach Resort). In the fall of 2017 a group of friends and I (in future this group of friends will be called the Mickeys Mounties) went to Disneyland so we could finally experience Mickey's Halloween Party and Tiki Day. I often try (and usually fail) to not be that annoying person who compares whats different at all the parks, but I'm just so interested! Definitely a bucket list item for me is to see all the parks across the world, and if one of my friends or family is considering a trip, watch out! I'm there helping plan and hoping that I can tag along. Since that first WDW trip, its impossible to go a whole year without a parks trip and I'm sure many of you can relate!
I have two older sisters, two nieces, two nephews and some brothers in law who area all great; well except my sisters, they're pretty awful! Just kidding I love my sisters but as the youngest of three, the one my sisters call "Princess", its my duty to be a brat to them. They mostly deserve it though, if we ever meet in person remind me to tell you the tale of how on my first Disneyland trip my sisters convinced me Disneyland was an elaborate lie and its really a place where parents go to trade their children! No one one in my family is quite as obsessed as me with Disney but my parents have humoured me many times.
This trip actually came about because my parents (G and A) were taking an anniversary trip cruise from LA through the Panama Canal which finished in Ft. Lauderdale. My father (G)- Mr. "I don't ever need to do Disney again" was the one who brought up the idea of the trip when they realized they'd be in Florida. "I hear they have that Avatar land now" is what started the idea of me joining them after their cruise. So about 4-6 months ago we started looking online for trip deals. I've never stayed on property at Disneyland because of the insane price difference between the surrounding hotels, but at WDW and DLRP I've only stayed on property and wouldn't want to do it any other way. We're pretty firmly in the moderate category. I've walked around the All Star resorts and didn't really feel like the value resorts were my style and anything over moderate is pretty much out of my price range. I loved both Port Orleans resorts but this time I really wanted to try some where new so we avoided looking there. In the past, I've usually booked a vacation package with west jet or air canada but since we'd be meeting up and not flying there together, it made more sense to book hotel and flights separate. I found a decent room only deal on Undercover Tourist to both Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs. After reading about the construction at both resorts, I felt like Coronado might be the better choice so we booked that one. Since my last WDW trip in 2016, west jet stopped their direct flight to Orlando from YVR, so unfortunately my only choice was the air canada rouge flight which only goes a few times a week. That flight schedule pretty much dictated that I'd get there a day before my parents and be there sunday-sunday. As much as possible I prefer to not have lay overs. I knew from my research about the Presidents' Day holiday and the runDisney event, that this trip would probably be during the busiest time I'd ever experience and spoiler alert: I was right. I went into it with the attitude that if I could do a few of the main things I'd identified wanting to see/do/eat it would be awesome, anything else would be gravy.
Okay so this feels like a good place to end the background and intros, next up will be Day 1. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions, thanks for reading.
Stay tuned if you want to find out the answers to the following questions:
Trip Details:
Where: Coronado Springs Resort, booked via Undercover Tourist
When: February 18-25
Tickets: 7-day park hopper (me), 6-day park hopper (my parents) - both Canadian Resident promotion rate
Transportation: flying (Air Canada Rouge)
Dining plan: Nope, don't eat at enough sit down restaurants, or buy enough snacks to make it worth it
Memory Maker: No, sadly trying to save money so didn't do memory maker this trip
Introductions & Background:Who am I? Thanks for asking
I have always been a Dis fan, and growing up on the west coast of Canada that meant taking family trips as a kid to Disneyland (grade 1, grade 7, grade 10) and later trips to California and Disneyland with friends.
A few years after finishing my degree at university and working in a real adult job, I decided I wanted to finally make a trip to WDW happen. In December 2013, my family and I stayed at POR French Quarter and my Disney addiction has EXPLODED since then! 2014, my best friend (S) and I went to Disneyland and in 2015 the two of us went to WDW for two weeks, stayed at POR Riverside and surprised our friend (M) who was working at Epcot. In 2016 I went with my family again to POR French Quarter before a Disney Dream cruise. In Spring 2017 I went with my family on a Europe trip which I insisted include a trip to Disneyland Paris (we stayed at the Newport Beach Resort). In the fall of 2017 a group of friends and I (in future this group of friends will be called the Mickeys Mounties) went to Disneyland so we could finally experience Mickey's Halloween Party and Tiki Day. I often try (and usually fail) to not be that annoying person who compares whats different at all the parks, but I'm just so interested! Definitely a bucket list item for me is to see all the parks across the world, and if one of my friends or family is considering a trip, watch out! I'm there helping plan and hoping that I can tag along. Since that first WDW trip, its impossible to go a whole year without a parks trip and I'm sure many of you can relate!
I have two older sisters, two nieces, two nephews and some brothers in law who area all great; well except my sisters, they're pretty awful! Just kidding I love my sisters but as the youngest of three, the one my sisters call "Princess", its my duty to be a brat to them. They mostly deserve it though, if we ever meet in person remind me to tell you the tale of how on my first Disneyland trip my sisters convinced me Disneyland was an elaborate lie and its really a place where parents go to trade their children! No one one in my family is quite as obsessed as me with Disney but my parents have humoured me many times.
This trip actually came about because my parents (G and A) were taking an anniversary trip cruise from LA through the Panama Canal which finished in Ft. Lauderdale. My father (G)- Mr. "I don't ever need to do Disney again" was the one who brought up the idea of the trip when they realized they'd be in Florida. "I hear they have that Avatar land now" is what started the idea of me joining them after their cruise. So about 4-6 months ago we started looking online for trip deals. I've never stayed on property at Disneyland because of the insane price difference between the surrounding hotels, but at WDW and DLRP I've only stayed on property and wouldn't want to do it any other way. We're pretty firmly in the moderate category. I've walked around the All Star resorts and didn't really feel like the value resorts were my style and anything over moderate is pretty much out of my price range. I loved both Port Orleans resorts but this time I really wanted to try some where new so we avoided looking there. In the past, I've usually booked a vacation package with west jet or air canada but since we'd be meeting up and not flying there together, it made more sense to book hotel and flights separate. I found a decent room only deal on Undercover Tourist to both Caribbean Beach and Coronado Springs. After reading about the construction at both resorts, I felt like Coronado might be the better choice so we booked that one. Since my last WDW trip in 2016, west jet stopped their direct flight to Orlando from YVR, so unfortunately my only choice was the air canada rouge flight which only goes a few times a week. That flight schedule pretty much dictated that I'd get there a day before my parents and be there sunday-sunday. As much as possible I prefer to not have lay overs. I knew from my research about the Presidents' Day holiday and the runDisney event, that this trip would probably be during the busiest time I'd ever experience and spoiler alert: I was right. I went into it with the attitude that if I could do a few of the main things I'd identified wanting to see/do/eat it would be awesome, anything else would be gravy.
Okay so this feels like a good place to end the background and intros, next up will be Day 1. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions, thanks for reading.
Stay tuned if you want to find out the answers to the following questions:
- What did I think of Pandora?
- What was the construction at Coronado Springs like?
- Did we get a refurbished room?
- What did I think of the famous Ohana Bread Pudding when I tried it for the first time?
- Am I one of those pin people?
- What Disney legend did I meet?
- How many disney hats or headbands did I buy?
- What Disney related thing am I saving my money for ? (The reason I didn't buy memory maker)
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