Couponing to Disney

I am obsessed with hearing about other people’s trips to Walt Disney World. Friends, neighbors, acquaitances, strangers I just happen to overhear discussing their vacation…I want to know what they saw, what they ate, what they wore, where they stayed, what they loved, what they really really loved. I file it all away so that when my husband says, “Well, why don’t we do X this year?” I can quickly reply, “Ohhhh, remember how that woman buying roast beef said she loved doing Y on her September trip?” You think I am exaggerating. I’m not. This is a real conversation I had, though I did change the deli meat of the woman in question, to protect her privacy.

In the spirit of giving what you get, here I am, to tell you all about my August/September 2017 Trip to the Walt Disney Resort. As I’m sure you’ve imagined, I have a lot to say, and it won’t all fit in this post. I’ll be covering some topics (like restaurants and character experiences) more in depth during some follow up posts.

Who: Me, Mr. B, our Little Mermaid, aged 4, and our Sweet Apple, aged 2.

Where: We stayed on-site at, you may have already guessed, Disney’s Coronado Springs. Our trip was five days and five nights. We arrived in Orlando at 9:30am on a Monday, and hightailed it out of there Saturday around 3pm.

What: We had 2 day base tickets, and we did both days at Magic Kingdom. This was actually a bit of a debate for myself and the normally easy going Mr.B. I wanted to do either park hoppers or 3 day base. The different between them is that a base ticket allows you to visit one park per day. So if you pick Epcot in the morning, you are free to leave Epcot during the day for lunch or a nap, but if you’re wanting evening park time, back to Epcot you go. With Park Hopper, you can start your day in Epcot, and end it in Animal Kingdom. Mr. B wanted to take it a little easier, since our Sweet Apple can get pretty…poisonous, when pushed. He won, and in retrospect it was the right move. Two park days were more than enough for our little princesses, at the ages they are now.

Why: This was a surprise trip that we didn’t book until a few months prior. We sold our house much quicker, and for much more, than we expected. We hadn’t had a family vacation just the four of us in EVER, so we went for it. The savings fairies smiled upon us and we got great deals on plane tickets and hotel room.

Day 1- Monday

We left the great Midwest at 7:30am and touched down in sunny Florida 2 hours later. This was the first flight for both of our girls, so their heads were still in the skies when we landed. Quick bite at the food court (who doesn’t love a Chipotle burrito at 10am?) and we were off to the Magical Express.

Normally, we pick up our luggage baggage claim and bring it with us to the Magical Express. I know, I know, that’s part of the service. But I am a control freak. However, with our littles, their double stroller, and various diaper bag/carry-ons, it seemed like letting the ME get our bags was the way to go. And it was. If you haven’t let Magical Express, you don’t know true convenience.

A short ride later we were at Disney’s Coronado Springs. We were three hours early, and they still had our room ready! Talk about the magic. We stayed in the Cabanas section, which was close to both the food court and bus transportation. While we were a little further from the Dig Site, Coronado’s awesome pool and play area, our room over looked a quiet pool, which our girls loved. When reserving your hotel and doing check-in, you are given choices of room preferences, sometimes even specific buildings/areas. Since Coronado is under construction, our options were a little less varied than usual. The only important thing for us was being close to transportation, and we just lucked out with all the other perfect elements of our room.

We were all exhausted, so a nap seemed in order. During family naptime, our luggage was dropped off! I have only hazy memories of this, but the delightful cast member who brought us our suitcases was a wealth of information…which I promptly forgot when as I fell back asleep.

Pool views get a bad rap for being noisy, but all four Bs slept like rocks in the middle of the day. It helps that our pool view was a quiet pool, and not the hotel’s main pool area and we were on the 3rd floor. But if you’re at a Moderate, don’t fear the quiet pool view!

Refreshed, we were off to Disney Springs for some eating and wandering. Disney Springs is a short bus ride away from your resort, no matter where you are, and it seemed like we were there in seconds.

After reading about it on this very blog, I was super excited to try out D-Luxe burger. And it did not disappoint! More to come on that in another post, but spoiler alert: the Smores Gelato Shake changed the way I look at the world.

After dinner, we thought we’d wander a bit, walk off those burgers. But the skies had another plan. In a change so abrupt it felt cartoonish, the skies opened up and the rain came tumbling down. We were stranded on the relatively comfortable porch of the Guest Services building for about 45 minutes. My Florida peeps are like, ‘Duh, it was hurricane season.” And while we knew that intellectually (we brought ponchos!) we weren’t necessarily ready for the actuality of it. We’ve done Disney half a dozen times the first week of September and never seen so much as a raindrop. My favorite part was when the Little Mermaid announced she needed to use the restroom. Any guesses where the closest rest room was? If you said “I have no idea” then you were just like me!

When the rain cleared (slightly), we hightailed it back to the buses. When you’re catching the bus from Disney Springs, know that where you are dropped off is not where you depart. The buses to Disney resorts are located behind the Coca-Cola store, near the valet parking. Valuable information when you are carrying two small children soaked to the bone. We originally wanted to do a little shopping, but we decided it was best to get back to Coronado. Next day was Magic Kingdom, and we need to be well rested!

If I could do Day 1 differently, I maybe, maybe, would have tried to get a later departing flight. I enjoy arriving in Orlando with enough time to take it easy, grab a good dinner, but I don’t know that our day would have been that much different if we had gotten in closer to noon. Maybe our nap would have been shorter. :)

Keep an eye out for Day 2: The B Family Takes Magic Kingdom and my review of D-Luxe Burger.

Tell me about the tips and tricks you’ve learned for your arrival days in the comments!

Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey three years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!