A Star Wars Wild Weekend -- A PolyGirl40 Trip Report

5/17/04 – Day Five

Home & Final Thoughts

May 17, 2004 – Hot & Humid (88/68)

Starting Line-up:
Me: Carol
#1 Son: Jeremy

Dates: May 13-17, 2004

We woke up early and did our final packing. Our flight schedule would not allow for any Disney time today. Happy Limo would be picking us up at 8:30AM.

We said good-bye to our room and headed down to El Centro by 8. Checkout was quick and painless, with no line. Happy Limo was right on-time and took us away from our Disney magic and tossed us back into reality.

The lines were fairly short for airport check-in. We did have a few problems with one bag at security. It kept sending off the signals. They finally dismantled all of our souvenirs and ran the individual bags we had packed inside the suitcase separately. I don’t know which one was causing the problems – but they finally let us continue.

Our flight was on-time and uneventful. Tony met us at the bottom of the escalator with a “The Roberts” sign. [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img] We made it home just in time to get Shayne off the bus.


........ So ends our “Star Wars Wild Weekend”.

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Final Thoughts and Mumblings:

Accommodations:
We really liked Coronado Springs Resort.
Although I can see how some guests would find the size to be a hindrance. At the end of the day even our room location seemed far away. The landscaping was beautiful. The Pepper Market adequately met our needs. And the room was sufficient. I will say that we have outgrown the Moderate resort rooms when we travel as a family of 4. My children will not share a bed and we certainly seem to fill up that added floor space found in the deluxe rooms. However, for the 2 of us, this resort was perfect. I would definitely stay there again if the situation warranted.

Transportation:
We relied strictly on Disney transportation while on property and had no problems what-so-ever. In fact on many occasions we were the only guests on board the buses. Our timing was uncanny during many of our journeys.

We really enjoyed another great flight experience with Song. The TV monitors were terrific and helped pass the time. Both flights were on-time and uneventful. (Which is a good thing when flying. )

Happy Limo was once again amazing. They too were on-time for both travel dates. The car was spotless and the staff cordial. We’ll be using them again for our next trip.

Food & Dining:
Again – we had all fantastic dining experiences. Jeremy selected his favorite places – so this was not unexpected. We did try Mama Melrose for the first time and were very pleased. It has made it onto our ever increasing “repeat restaurant” list. Both of us enjoyed our meal at the Kona Café the best.

Star Wars Weekend:
What can I say? I cannot put into words what a wonderful time we had!! Jeremy is still talking about it. I thought Disney did a great job. The atmosphere was perfect – as were the shows and other festivities! We will definitely be returning for a future trip.

General Rambling:
Wow! The Flower & Garden Festival was unbelievable. I’m so glad we afforded the time to soak it all in.

The weather was too hot for my liking. I'm with Emily on this one. If it weren't for Star Wars Weekend & the Flower and Garden Festival, May would be taken off from my "perfect month to visit" list. I like to be comfortable. I'd much rather pop on a sweatshirt because it was a bit chilly than melt in the sun from the heat. It was certainly tolerable - just not my idea of "perfect".

The crowds were light to moderate and certainly manageable. The only attraction that had a long wait time was Test Track. Everything else was pretty much a walk on - to 10- minutes.

I can honestly say I had mixed feelings about going for such a short time period. I can now say it was just right for the 2 of us. Jeremy was able to see and do all of his favorites, while I soaked up the general ambiance of the Disney Magic. Not to mention how wonderful it was to spend some alone time with my 17 year old son!

The only downside was that I missed Shayne immensely. It was very hard for me to leave him at home. (I’ve never done that in 10 years.) I thought about him constantly. Needless to say we were very happy to see each other come Monday.

What’s Next:
Another Mom & Son Adventure! I’ll be back among the Magic in October. My husband has a Colorado hunt scheduled SO - Shayne and I are taking a Halloween adventure. We’re both very excited. We’ll be staying at Saratoga Springs for the first time. Our plans are to relax and spend a lot of time at the resort.

Thanks to all that read my reports. It’s always fun to relive the magic.

[img]graemlins/mickey.gif[/img]

[ May 29, 2004, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: PolyGirl40 ]