Day 3 (last day of the conference) - February 15th, 2023
This was the last day of the conference and I think by this point everyone in our group was ready for it to be done. We were learning a lot and the speakers were all wonderful, I think we just wanted to be done learning & wanted to be able to fully enjoy the beautiful weather and amenities being offered to us at Coronado Springs.
At 8:15 that morning I met F down in the QS cafeteria before walking to our first 8:30 workshop. This was F & her family’s last day and she had expressed to me some concern about what her family was going to do between the 11am checkout and their 6:45pm flight. She was scrambling a bit trying to get ahold of someone at the front desk to request a late check out and I could tell she was panicking so I offered that they could put their suitcases in my room if they needed to. We made our way to the morning's presentations, and at 10:30 I felt my phone buzz. Glancing at the message on my Apple Watch, it was a text from F saying “they won’t let us check out later, you sure you’re okay with the girls using your room?”.
… I was confused, since I had offered them to stick a suitcase in there, not have her 2 tween daughters and her husband hang out in my room without me there for 5 hours. To avoid being rude to the presenter (and to give me time to think about how I wanted to handle this), I left my phone in my purse and didn’t respond. As I exited the room and opened my phone to respond, she was walking toward me asking for my Magic Band to let her family into my room. At this point I was panicking. I am a clean, organized person so I knew my room wasn’t in shambles (I at least wasn’t worried about like dirty clothes on the floor or anything, but I DID have my pajamas & underwear for the night folded and placed at the top of my bed… so all I could picture was her tween daughters (or worse, her husband) flinging back the sheets and having my underwear fly across the room) but it was just WAY outside my comfort zone having a bunch of strangers in my hotel room without me in there. I didn’t really think they would climb into my bed but still, it was just weird. I felt a big lack of control and like I had been cornered- she just took my Magic Band and left.
literally me
All said & done and as I look back on it a week later, was it that big of a big deal? I don't know, but it really felt like it at the time. Fast forward to 11:30 that morning (an hour later), F texted asking to meet after my next breakout session to return my Magic Band – which surprised and confused me even more. They were done with the room already? What was the point of using my room at all, why not just give your luggage to Bell Services? When we met near the gift shop & she handed me my Magic Band, we chatted briefly about the plan for the day. She said she was nervous about the timing of the conference ending and getting to the airport on time for their flight, so she was contemplating skipping the last session. I told her I thought that was probably a good idea (which may have been for slightly selfish reasons- if the boss skips out, I felt like we can skip out too!) and she ultimately decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with her family at the pool. Before she left to join her family at the pool, she said she would text me when they needed to be let back into my room to collect their luggage.
I met up with the others where I filled them in on F’s plan to skip the afternoon’s session (giving us the freedom to skip as well) and we decided our vacation officially begun. Yahoo! We were all hungry & decided to head to Rix’s Sports Bar & Grill for lunch. We spent the next hour or two there, chatting as a group and playing a card game (What Do You Meme) at the table. I ordered the California Chicken Sandwich which was IMO spendy for a sandwich but still delicious.
California Chicken Sandwich
Grilled Chicken Breast, Applewood- smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole with a roasted garlic horseradish. Served with French Fries or choice of side.
$19.50
Halfway through my meal, around 1pm I glanced at my phone and realized I had missed a text about 15 minutes prior from F asking to be let back into my room. I quickly responded, apologizing that I missed her text and telling her that I was in the middle of lunch. I asked if they could wait 15 more minutes but she said they had already started walking and were almost to the room. Oops! So I had no choice but to abandon my half-eaten lunch and power-walk a half a mile across the property to let them in. This day was NOT going in my favor
I let them into my room, where she didn't say it out loud but I surmised they planned to use my shower (ignore my razor & toiletries scattered in the shower, I guess…), get dressed, and depart earlier than planned. By the time I rejoined the group at Rix’s, F had sent a message to the group chat bidding us all farewell, that her and her family were headed to Port Orleans to get some beignets before catching their flight.
After lunch, we all went to our rooms (me having some curiosity as to what my room would look like…) to change into our suits and meet at the pool so we could spend the afternoon in the sun. My room was just as tidy as I left it, except for a pile of used towels in the corner of the bathroom. She also left me their reusable popcorn bucket to use in the parks the next day and return to her when we came back to work the following week. I imagine this was a small token of appreciation from F for me letting her family use my room, which I was thankful for! Changing into my suit and feeling considerably less bitter than I was a few hours ago, we spent the next 3 hours lounging around the pool and just chatting and soaking up the sun.
We had an ADR for 6:45 that night at Maya Grill, so around 5pm I left the others at the pool and headed back to my room so I could shower/get ready and try to pack up my things a little bit in anticipation for my new roommate that night. Since we opted to stay an extra night after the conference was over, we were on our own to fund Thursday night’s hotel stay- so S and I had planned to cozy up together & split the cost of a room. Knowing we would be in the parks all day Thursday, I gave S a plastic key card to my room (which I picked up at the front desk when I checked in) & asked her to bring her suitcase to my room at some point later that night so we wouldn’t have to deal with it at 6:30am as we’re racing out the door to rope drop. I also packed & prepared my park bag for tomorrow- filling my giant backpack (it’s actually my old Sarah Wells pump bag and it is ahhhhmazing. So many zippers and compartments, I swear I’ll use this thing til it falls apart) with my walking sandals, poncho, empty coffee mug, reusable water bottle, mini misting fan, portable phone charger, sunscreen, Kleenex, wipes, my sweatshirt, and an umbrella. I also prepped my fanny pack with some chapstick, Dramamine, my sunglasses, gum, and hand sanitizer.
Dressed and ready to go to dinner, I made my way to Maya Grill and was the first to arrive. I checked us in but they told me they wouldn’t seat us until the entire group was there. A few minutes later, J & S2 arrived, but no sign of S. I texted her around 7:00 asking for her ETA and she said she was on her way, that she had just dropped her luggage off in my room. As she arrived, we noticed she was sans-scooter… no wonder it took so long! I could tell she was in pain and regretting her decision, as it really is a long walk. About 30 minutes late for our reservation, we were seated. I felt bad (if you remember from my September 2022 TR, I am a Type A, organized, rule following people-pleaser who does NOT like rocking the boat), but the restaurant staff truly didn’t seem to mind. Maya Grill is nice, like a high-end Mexican restaurant with beautiful Aztec-like architecture. The table ordered fresh guacamole & chips (
Guacamole:
Fresh Diced Strawberries with House-made Crispy Tortilla Chips
$13.00) to share, and S got a tequila flight (seen in the top left corner of my picture below)- I think a bit of medicating for her painful knee situation! I ordered the margarita flight and a chicken fajita for dinner - it was all delicious!
Traditional Margarita Flight
La Clasica, Blood Orange and Horchata
$21.00
We had a great time chatting amongst the four of us and stayed at the restaurant til 9:30. On our walk back to Casitas, we went over the rough plan for the next day – our first (and only) full park day! S & I were going to rope drop DHS (reiterating to S our plan to meet at 6:45am to walk to the bus stop together), and J & S2 would meet us around 9:30/10am, then park-hop to Magic Kingdom at 2pm. We had two ADRs that day- Oga's Cantina at 1pm & Be Our Guest at 6pm.
By 10:00pm I had said goodnight to Matt, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I had started to feel a little sick: sharp stomach pains & slightly nauseous. Tossing and turning & not able to fall asleep, I turned on the TV, flicking through the channels until I settled on “Behind the Attraction”. I watched that for a while, hoping it would distract me from my upset stomach enough to fall asleep. Eventually the stomach pain had subsided but no luck falling asleep - I glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 12:02am, ugh! At that time I figured “meh, may as well buy
Genie+ since I’m awake” so I did that and then was able to fall asleep around 12:30am. Not at all part of the plan, knowing my alarm was set for 6:15 and I had a full day of Disney ahead of me- rope drop to close!
Total steps: 10,265
Up next: Day 4 (Hollywood Studios + Magic Kingdom) – February 16th, 2023
I hoped that by the time we got unloaded from the Minnie Van/made our way through security/into the park that it would be back up....
ahh, to be young & so excited about a trip to Applebees.
S's was closer to the $200 range which is much easier to swallow, not that I was the one paying for it 
. At first I thought you were going to say someone was in your room so I suppose it could have been worse!
