A Soggy Anniversary Weekend with Disney

Months of planning and the weekend finally arrived.

I decided way back in the spring that for our 5th Anniversary, it needed to be made special. After collaborating with Brian's mom, Renee, we came up with an idea:

She would fly down to our house and take care of the girls for the weekend, and Brian and I would go off and spend a weekend away at the Coronado Disney Resort.

And we would do all of this without telling him.

Needless to say, putting enough money aside for this without explanation would be interesting, but lucky for me, I'm in charge of finances and he rarely questions where things go.

Shortly after Brian returned home from work on Friday, we drove out to the resort and checked into our room.  Here's a few pictures of it:
 



 

The whole weekend itself was nothing but bittersweet. With our luck, go figure.  After getting situated in our room at the resort, we discovered that my phone didn't get service in the room and Brian's phone was firewalled from accessing the internet.  This being due to the fact that Disney blocks out our network in order to charge $10 in order for customers to subscribe to their internet access.

Disney must be hard up for revenue, 'cause every other hotel I've ever stayed at (HoJo included) has offered free wifi.

We decided to go out for dinner after settling into our room, and had a nice, nerve-racking dinner at Red Lobster, as the whole time we were at the restaurant I couldn't remember whether or not I left my envelope full of cash for our weekend in the room or if it had dropped from my purse somewhere on the way to the car.

Fortunately for us, we worried for nothing, and the envelope sat atop the dresser, where I had placed it.  So much for a relaxing meal.  Well, we opted to take a stroll around the resort and check the place out:

And then the storm clouds came:

Let's talk about the fact, first of all, that it has been a sunny 80 degrees in Florida for a week prior to this weekend (and every day since, might I add). But that night the rains began and did not stop until Sunday when we arrived back at home.

Usually the rains come and go within an hour or so in these parts, but not this weekend!   The one and only day we have had alone from start to finish since having kids - ever! - it rained the entire time.  But we were stubborn, and pushed along refusing to let this deter us from a good kid-free weekend.


So, we purchased some ponchos and hit Epcot's Food and Wine Festival.

I tried some different foods and Brian as usual sampled the beverages. Not bad despite the fact that the rain never let up once, and it was windy and cold as heck.  We made a lame attempt at Hollywood Studios after Epcot that entailed trying out the new Star Wars ride, hitting up the Great Movie Ride, catching a quick bite to eat, and heading back to the resort.




It was so nice to be dry again, but still early in the evening.  We figured we'd order a movie and call it good.

NOPE!  As it turns out, Disney doesn't offer that either.

The front desk was quite rude about informing us of this when we inquired.  She couldn't believe Brian had the audacity to question whether there was something to view besides 20 Disney commercial channels.  So, further annoyed with Disney and the weather, but still refusing to let this weekend go to waste, we trudged out into the weather again to hit up an AMC Theater and watch Contagion.

Not a bad flick.

And that was our romantic weekend getaway.  The next morning, on our way out of the resort, Brian went to the Front Desk and complained to the manager (he later filled out a survey and tore into them as well).  We filled the rest of Sunday morning with purchasing some gifts for the girls and Renee and having a nice little visit with everyone before she hopped on a plane back to Michigan.

I'm sure we'll attempt this once again in another 5 years, but definitely not at Disney.  Thanks but no thanks.

- Kris