PTR - Three Sears and a Baby: Gran Destino Club Level - Aug 2022

[Stewboy]

Hello everyone, and welcome (finally!) to another pre-trip report!

I can't believe that it's been 3 years since our last Disney Trip - 2019's Disneyland & Disney Cruise Line trip. That was such an amazing trip; visiting Disneyland for the first time, spending some time in San Diego, cruising on the Disney Wonder for the first time, and visiting Mexico. However, by the time I'd finished writing that trip report the world had already changed - although I had no idea we were going to have to wait until now to finally be able to go on another Disney trip!



But, I'm very excited to be able to write that in just over a week's time we'll finally be on our way back to Walt Disney World. Unbelievably, we've not been there since 2018. We've been so fortunate to be able to visit so many times over the last 10 years, and so much has changed since our last visit - not only in parks but in our lives too!



This trip we will be going as a party of four for the first time, as we introduce our baby son Caleb to Walt Disney World! For those that don't already know, Caleb was born in December last year and we're hoping he'll grow up to a be as big a Disney/Pixar/Star Wars/Marvel fan as all of us!



The arrival of Caleb isn't the only thing that's happened in our lives over the last few years - although he's certainly the best! At the end of last year, about a month before he was born, we moved house. It wasn't a massive move it was only six miles up the road, but it took the best part of a year and was a very stressful experience that we hope not to be repeating for a long time!

Since our Disneyland trip I have also started a new job, I got a job at a well know pharma company just before the first lockdown and have spent most of my time working at home - bar the odd trip to the office. This has worked out really well since Caleb was born as I've been able to see him almost all day, every day - something I wasn't able to do when Isabella was born.



One thing that unfortunately hasn't got better for us is our fitness! Before and during lockdown Jo and I were able to really focus on getting and staying fit and healthy. However, Jo suffered with extreme pregnancy sickness again and our motivation for fitness suffered a bit. Once he was born, we did start to get healthy again but then we all got COVID, Jo injured her leg, and we both got too fond of evening wines and the local takeaways! However, in light of everything else going on, it's a fairly minor point and we've set ourselves some health and fitness goals for when we get back from Florida.

Before I start detailing our plans, here's a quick who's who:


I'm Stewart I write the trip reports


This is Jo she's the trip planner


This is our 10 year old daughter Isabella who this time around has contributed lots to the trip planning


And finally our 8 month old baby boy Caleb - he's just along for the ride!

Since our 2019 Disneyland & Disney Cruise Line trip we have tried to go back to WDW every year - we had a villa booked for August 2020 with Jo's mum and stepdad but for obvious reasons this was cancelled and rescheduled. This rescheduled trip was due to be in August 2021 - same villa, but just the 3 of us, flying via BA using vouchers from the cancelled 2020 trip. Unfortunately that was also cancelled and by then we had a baby on the way AND we were moving house!

With the Disney World trip definitely a no go we decided to book an Iceland/Scotland/Norway Disney Cruise on the Magic for 2022. However, we then had to cancel that because Isabella wouldn't be double vaccinated in time (which is a requirement on DCL for all over 5s) due to us all getting COVID in March.

We were desperate for a holiday, and really missed World Disney World - we hadn't been there since May 2018 - despite the increased cost and reduced experience. After months of keeping an eye on flights, Jo eventually found an Aer Lingus (codeshare with BA) flight from Heathrow to Orlando via Dublin, which involves clearing US customs at Dublin. Despite the fact that it was the most expensive flight we'd ever booked, we were actually happy with the price in comparison to others we'd seen.

Now that we had our flight booked it was time to sort out the rest of the details of the trip. Ideally we wanted to stay in a villa again, but car hire was turning out to be so expensive (up to 5x more expensive than previous trips) so we decided that a better option was to stay on site without a car. However we have decided to hire a car for the first 24 hours to get us from Orlando International Airport to Disney property (via Discount Florida Car Hire). We'd also be able to get supplies for the room by having access to a supermarket. The other options just didn't seem viable: Uber (too much luggage, maybe no car seats), Mears (unreliable), Sunshine Flyer (potentially long coach journey).

Our original onsite booking was 14 nights at Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid (standard) room for £167 a night - we thought that was a lot for what is tiny room in value resort.

A few days later however the Disney summer offer was released which included 20% off certain rooms at select resorts. Originally we decided to upgrade to a royal room at Port Orleans Riverside but then we noticed that Coronado Springs Gran Destino Tower club level was included in the deal but you had to call to check availability.

After a day of number crunching and and umming and ahhing Jo rang and found out it was available. Even though it’s a lot of money, we decided that having an 8 month baby meant that we would be back at the resort a lot so we would be able to enjoy the club lounge and would also be able to get breakfast there every day, and evening hors d'oeuvres, not to mention the free beer & wine! Having previously stayed club level at Animal Kingdom Lodge (which we loved) we're sure we'll make the most of the Chronos Lounge - the Coronado Springs club level lounge in the Gran Destino Tower.

Since booking, we've watched lots of vlogs of the Gran Destino Tower and the Walt Disney and Salvador Dali short 'Destino' that inspired it. It looks beautiful and we’re very excited to stay there.

Once that was all booked we then had to arrange transport to Heathrow Airport. We realised our car would not be big enough for all stuff as we now have a(nother) baby, a pram and a travel cot in addition to all our usual luggage. So instead we’ve booked a local cab company to take us and pick us up - a very unusual experience for us.

Note - we've decided to take our own travel cot after the experience we had with Isabella when she was a baby at WDW - she wouldn't sleep in the Disney-provided one at all! She ended up on the sofa bed at Saratoga Springs. Caleb has been sleeping in his travel cot at home for practice, so fingers crossed he'll be ok.

In terms of the parks, we're all really excited - especially Isabella who hasn't been to Walt Disney World since she was 6! - and we've got genie plus included in the price of our tickets for the whole holiday - we realise that we probably won’t get the most out of it but it should hopefully allow us to skip some of the queues. We're also planning on making use of rider swap with the baby which means hopefully Isabella will get to ride some of the rides twice.

Jo and Isabella made a comprehensive list of all the attractions (not including character meets) at all four parks split into those we can all ride and those we need to rider switch:

Rider switch

Magic Kingdom:
- The Barnstormer
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- Space Mountain
- Splash Mountain
- Tomorrowland Speedway

EPCOT:
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- Mission: SPACE
- Soarin' Around the World
- Test Track

Hollywood Studios:
- Alien Swirling Saucers
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith
- Slinky Dog Dash
- Star Tours - The Adventure Continues
- Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
- The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Animal Kingdom:
- Avatar Flight of Passage
- Dinosaur
- Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
- Kali River Rapids

Attractions we can all do

Magic Kingdom:
- Astro Orbiter
- Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
- Casey Jr. Splash 'n' Soak Station
- Country Bear Jamboree
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant
- The Hall of Presidents
- Haunted Mansion
- Jungle Cruise
- Liberty Square Riverboat
- Mad Tea Party
- The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mickey's PhilharMagic
- Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor
- Peter Pan's Flight
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel
- Swiss Family Treehouse
- Tom Sawyer Island
- Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover
- Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
- Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
- Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

EPCOT:
- The American Adventure
- Awesome Planet
- Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along
- Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival
- Frozen Ever After
- Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros
- Impressions de France
- Journey Into Imagination With Figment
- Living with the Land
- Reflections of China
- Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
- The Seas with Nemo & Friends
- Spaceship Earth
- Turtle Talk With Crush

Hollywood Studios:
- Beauty & The Beast Live on Stage
- Disney Junior Play and Dance!
- For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration
- Indiana Jone Epic Stunt Spectacular!
- Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy
- Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
- Muppet*Vision 3D
- Toy Story Mania!
- Vacation Fun - An Original Animated Short with Mickey & Minnie
- Walt Disney Presents

Animal Kingdom:
- Affection Section
- The Animation Experience at Conservation Station
- The Boneyard
- Conservation Station
- Discovery Island Trails
- Disney KiteTails
- Feathered Friends in Flight!
- Festival of the Lion King
- Finding Nemo: The Big Blue... and Beyond!
- Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail
- It's Tough to be a Bug!
- Kilimanjaro Safaris
- Maharajah Jungle Trek
- Na'vi River Journey
- TriceraTop Spin
- Wildlife Express Train

When it comes to food, we'll making as much use of the club lounge as we can - especially breakfast time, and maybe dinner. We do have loads of ADRs booked - mostly lunchtimes - but we expect to cancel a few of those.

This is what we have booked so far:
- Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' Brunch
- Grand Floridian Cafe Lunch
- 50's Prime Time Cafe Lunch
- Donald's Dining Safari Breakfast at Tusker House Restaurant
- 'Ohana's Breakfast
- Beaches & Cream Soda Shop Lunch
- Space 2022 Lounge Lunch
- The BOATHOUSE Lunch
- Topolino's Terrace - Character Breakfast

So that's the pre-trip report. I hope you'll read along - and if you're on Instagram you might see some photos and stories from Jo (joannesear) and I (stewboy).

Thanks for reading.

[Jessie2012]

Really looking forward to reading,love your trip reports.Isabella looks so grown up and Caleb is so cute!

[Beaker's Fluff]

Congratulations on the birth of Caleb, so cute.

Trip sounds amazing, can’t wait to read along.

[mrsdjh]

Glad you’re managing another trip report. Looking forward to following along on Instagram and here. Have a great trip.

Diane

Ps love the title 🤣

[smithlane]

Ooh excited for this! Congratulations to you and Jo on baby Caleb, he’s a real cutie

[Jane23]

How exciting! I’ve read and enjoyed your previous trip reports, particularly your West Coast one as we’re heading out that way at Christmas. We’ll be at Coronado Springs next week for the second time, such a lovely resort and I’m sure you’ll love it. Hope you have a great trip and look forward to reading all about it!

[Princesses 3]

Looking forward to reading along and particularly how you manage with an infant. We will have similar age DGD with us (parents too) but we’ve never been with such a young child so I’m sure it will be interesting. Have fun

[Unexpectedpenny]

Very excited to read another trip report from you guys! Have a wonderful time 😊

[margyloveswdw]

Looking forward to a Sears trip report. They are always excellent!

Congratulations on the addition to the family and wow, Isabella is looking very grown up!

[loves2plan]

So happy to see you back with another trip report. Isabelle has grown so much, and Caleb is a real cutie. Can't wait to read along!