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Disney News (4/4) – Connections Cafe at EPCOT and Coronado Springs Resort Review

April 5, 2022
Episode 18

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Connections Cafe at EPCOT
(c) Disney Parks Blog

In this week’s episode, Kelli gives an overview with menu details on the new Connections Cafe opening soon at EPCOT, and Chris gives a glowing review of his stay at Coronado Springs Resort!

Listen to us on your favorite podcast platform or at these links:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supercalifragilistic-awesome-disney-podcast/id1519529786
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For show notes, transcript, and more details from this episode, please visit:
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All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For more things DISNEY (and Disney food reviews), check out our website: https://scfadp.com Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at @SCFADP!

Show Notes:

Kelli and Chris discuss Disney’s support for the LGBTQ community and the potential consequences, as well as updates and news from Disney World, including the return of minivan service and the resumption of the Disney Cultural Representative program. They also share their personal experiences and opinions on their recent Disney vacation, including their thoughts on dessert options, resort design, and dining experiences. Additionally, they discuss the menus at Connections Eatery and Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival, with Kelli expressing reservations about the lofty ideal of connecting people through global cuisines and Chris commending the restaurant for offering diverse options.

Outline

Disney news, including LGBTQ issues and employee walkouts.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss Disney-related topics, including fan favorites and recent events.
  • Disney employees protested lack of support for LGBTQ community, while Florida legislature passed controversial “don’t say gay” bill.

LGBTQ rights, Disney, and Florida politics.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss the challenges of LGBTQ issues in sex education, including the potential for teachers to face reprimand for answering questions from students.
  • Disney faces backlash from GOP committee for supporting LGBTQ rights.

Epcot news, including a new scavenger hunt, Food and Wine Festival, and a cultural representative program.

  • Chris and Kelli discuss Epcot news, including minivan service return and Starbucks location change.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss the Extravaganza scavenger hunt, Food and Wine Festival, and other events at Disney World.
  • Kelli shares her excitement about the new Connections cafe and eatery, opening soon in May.

Food and menu items at Connections Cafe Eatery at Epcot.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss Connections Eatery at Epcot, a fast casual quick service restaurant with an open kitchen area and Starbucks location.
  • Kelli questions the lofty ideal of connecting people through global cuisines at a counter service restaurant.
  • Kelli praises restaurant for offering unique burger options with gourmet ingredients.

Epcot’s new menu items, including burgers, pizzas, salads, and desserts.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss various pizza options at a restaurant, with Kelli preferring the meatball pizza and Chris expressing skepticism about the plant-based curry spice pizza.
  • Kelli and Chris also discuss the salads available, with Kelli preferring the plant-based option and Chris expressing dislike for the idea of yogurt in quotes.
  • Kelli and Chris discuss the menu at a restaurant in Epcot, including burgers, pizzas, and a specialty cocktail.

Coronado Springs Resort at Disney World, including location, amenities, and design.

  • Kelli and Chris discuss the location of a new restaurant at Disney World and Chris shares his experience staying at Coronado Springs Resort for the first time.
  • Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando features a large conference center and Mexican-inspired architecture.

Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World.

  • Chris: Bridges stretch from housing areas to main areas, including a restaurant and bar.
  • Chris: Rooms in three-story buildings need updating, but grounds are immaculate with beautiful pool and beach.
  • Chris and Kelli discuss Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World, highlighting its amenities and restaurants.
  • Chris visits Rick’s Cafe and Sports Bar at the resort, enjoying the food and atmosphere.
  • Chris raves about his breakfast at Coronado Springs, including citrus and musk upon French toast.
  • Kelli joins in on the discussion, sharing her thoughts on the dining experience and potential future podcast topics.

Connections Cafe: https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2022/03/first-look-connections-cafe-and-eatery-opening-soon/

Resorts:
Hoop-Dee-Doo Returning June 23
https://blogmickey.com/2022/03/disney-posts-auditions-for-hoop-dee-doo-musical-revue/

Episode Transcript:

Chris 0:28
Welcome aboard Disney fam. Welcome aboard indeed Disney fam. We’re back after a little week off. My name is Chris. And I’m Kelly. And yeah, we totally intended to record last week. But then I got back from a trip I immediately started my new job and things got crazy. And now you’re wearing blue ears. And I know you

Kelli 0:51
brought me the pool ears back and I have to say they’re really cute and they’re lightweight. And pues ears are significantly you know, smaller than Mickey’s it has like a little yours themselves. Yours has like a little bee on the left ear.

Chris 1:05
And they’re they’re one of your favorite traits in anything. Yeah, they’re

Kelli 1:09
fluffy, fuzzy. Fuzzy. So yeah, honey, who’s been listening to our podcasting through

Chris 1:16
this just completely natural segue. So Sacramento, California has we’ve seen downloads from Sacramento, capital of California. I put this together before they had their horrible incident with the shooting this week. So our hearts absolutely go out to the fine, fine people of Sacramento, California. Norman, Oklahoma. I want to Sooners okay, I know you got some feelings about northern Oklahoma. We can move on Nampa Idaho Nampa Nampa. Idaho. It’s fine. The largest is the largest city in Canyon County, Idaho. Right between Oregon, the Oregon border and Boise. Any international guests Toyota, Japan. suburb of Osaka Japan. Sweet Tooth in Japan. We have so many Japanese downloads. So popular in Japan, ready for the mainstream mainstream. Congratulations to all the amazing folks that were down in Florida doing the runDisney springtime surprise races the Everest 5k They had 10k they had the 10 mile the tower terror 10 miler, I think and it looked like on following that on the socials. It looked like people were having just a grand time.

Kelli 2:44
I mean, I think I can really get behind a nighttime race. Oh, yeah. 3am situation. That looks like a blast. Yeah. Yeah. I feel I feel better about that. Lots of characters that you never see. I know. It was the first ever nighttime parade. But I was like, maybe it wasn’t a pro. Sorry. But I was like, maybe have a second one. Maybe,

Chris 3:05
maybe have a second one just for the spirit. Okay, next winter. Anyway, congrats to everybody that got to get out there and do that. We did our virtual version on Saturday. Just super proud of ourselves. And we survived.

Kelli 3:18
We did SIP to tell the tale.

Chris 3:22
So on to training for the next one. Yeah. So all right. So here’s some just Disney has been in the in the news lately. The last time we recorded Disney employees were just getting ready to walk out because they felt like they weren’t supporting the LGBTQ community. Enough. Well, since then mana has swung entirely the other direction Disney has put all of their mind it seems like behind these causes and the governor and the GOP leadership in the Florida Legislature is full bore like, all right, you don’t come after our policies or we’re going to we’re going to bring some retribution on you. So this is all about the the what is referred to oftentimes in the media and by critics as they don’t say gay bill, it does three things. It bans instruction, or classroom discussion about LGBT LGBTQ issues for kindergarten through third grade should be noted that sex education of any kind is already banned in most states across the country prior to the fifth grade. But, you know, critics are saying it’s not

Kelli 4:41
sex education. That’s just well, the challenging LGBTQ issues.

Chris 4:45
What if I’ve got a LGBTQ teacher and some kid says something about the husband or the wife and the teacher says, Well, I have you know, I have a wife and save six. What if one of the children have two moms or two dads? It comes up just in conversation. Yeah. Does that? Does that teacher get reprimanded for answering the question? At all? Yeah, talk about acknowledging it. It also empowers parents to sue the school district over teachings they don’t like, which is ridiculous. I think it’s I think that’s out of bounds. And it requires this is the one I think is actually most egregious. To me, it requires schools to tell parents when their child receives mental health services. What if the child is receiving mental health services for issues going on with the parent? Right?

Kelli 5:34
What if the child is receiving mental health services for something? So going on at home? In any

Chris 5:40
case, I think I think our position on where we stand is pretty clear. We stand as allies. It costs

Kelli 5:50
you nothing to let somebody live their best lives. It costs you absolutely nothing. And it’s, it’s not costing Ron DeSantis anything. No,

Chris 5:58
it’s not these people live their best lives. That’s right. And I don’t I don’t get the fear mongering. Right. Well, and and, you know, I managed to, you know, in my formative years watch, you know, Will and Grace and I didn’t become gay as a result.

Kelli 6:19
Right? Well, what about gay children that have read 100 novels of heterosexual couples, they don’t suddenly become heterosexual at home.

Chris 6:26
They don’t go straight as a result.

Kelli 6:29
Gay, gay children, that watch movies where there’s a mom and a dad don’t suddenly decide

Chris 6:35
that they want to live for me.

Kelli 6:38
That’s not how this works. So most

Chris 6:41
recently, this is this is a part of this that I found pretty interesting because I learned something about Disney here. In that the legislature has now had the Florida Legislature is now having meetings, specifically the GOP committees are having meetings about possibly repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act of 1967. Now, I found this pretty interesting, because it was obviously amazing foresight by you know, Disney and other companies. This area is known were Disney World sits on mostly is known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This act from 1967 effectively allows Disney as a corporation to handle any and all functions for the management of that property that normally a municipality would handle like a city or a county, and the taxpayers in that area would pay their taxes and the municipality would handle road construction, waterway maintenance, sewer trash, all that stuff, the municipality type processes. Well, Disney handles all of that. And so there that is not burdened on the taxpayers. I can’t help but point out that, that, you know, the pro business party here is coming after the employer that employs 100,000 people in Florida, and is then going to take that they’re also the low taxes party and all that funding for municipality services they’re willing to put back on the taxpayers seems to be an about face on two major tenants of the party’s core values. All for some political retribution, because Disney wants to support the LGBTQ community. So

Kelli 8:30
Disney wants to support humanity as Disney says Ubu. Right. You can work for us. We’re going to we’re going to support you, you work for us. We’re proud to have you on the team and come to work every day. Right? Right. That’s what Disney is saying. Disney is not asking Florida to change any type of laws that already existed, right? They’re simply saying don’t don’t bro make dark laws on the books that make it harder for people to live their best lives.

Chris 9:05
Some people would say breed animosity and hate fear if you’re 100% Sure. That’s 100% Fear. Who’s going to go on? They’re gonna take my slice of the pie. Yeah, but as your science. It’s not pie, man.

Kelli 9:18
It’s not pie equal rights for for me doesn’t mean less rights for yours. Not pie. Yeah, I think it’s so it’s just it’s sad that that’s what we’re still doing. And 20

Chris 9:29
This is 2022. Man.

Kelli 9:31
It’s disappointing. And it’s sad. But I think was it you that pointed out to me that Ron DeSantis won by 32,000 votes in the last election. And there are 77,000 employees in Florida for business it could swing the other way there Ron what it

Chris 9:45
was, it was online. That’s right. Somebody tweeted that out. It’s true. Yeah, but onto some happier news. Minivan service is set to return this summer Walt Disney World has become begun hiring drivers. Traditional meeting reach a second return April 18. Hugs are back hugs are bad that out best hug I’ve ever seen this one you gave Mickey that day. All Star Sports Resort is open now after a lengthy refurb I did not realize it was still close first time it was only close to there were still refurbishing. Okay, first time though every resort has been open since March 2020. Which is crazy. I know. It’s so good. A lot of Epcot news travelers Cafe, which no one ever calls it is the Starbucks at Epcot, right there in the World Showcase.

Kelli 10:34
This isn’t a traveler’s cafe, nowhere in

Chris 10:36
that that’s what it’s called. Technically. They will be opening up a Starbucks in the connections cafe.

Kelli 10:44
Actually, it’s come i Tomorrowland. Oh, no kidding.

Chris 10:47
Oh, how about that? Okay, well, I’ll leave it alone. The Disney cultural representative program was going to start back up in August this is hiring the people that that represent the nations of the world showcase and various other excellent resorts and whatnot. That about Epcot is like the best part of that car when you buy a pretzel from a kid that’s from Germany, and ask him how they how they eat it there. That’s That’s awesome. So great. The extravaganza scavenger hunt is kicked back off $10 for a map and then go find all the eggs that are decorated. Disney Style around Epcot. And the fur

Kelli 11:25
in the hotels too, right. Put some eggs in the hotel, not like maybe not to hunt.

Chris 11:31
Put decorative eggs in the hotels. This is a specific scavenger hunt around Epcot. Okay, you get a prize if you find them all. Okay, Food and Wine Festival officially kicks off on July the 14th through November 19. Eat to the beat. We’ll be back at meals for maj montage, scavenger hunt burns, Rumi’s ratatouille hide squeak returns and so much more ice blog rumor from a source that almost always gets it right blog Mickey says Fantasmic will be returning soon. Okay. Um, Animal Kingdom will celebrate Earth Day from April 18 to the 24th. Okay, which is awesome. All kinds of fun stuff there. I’m very, very excited about this last little bit here. Okay. Do you do?

Kelli 12:17
Yes. Hope you do musical review

Chris 12:19
is returning. Yes, they are on June 23rd. I love hoopty today are hiring. And like Do yourself a favor go online and look at like the the hiring guidelines for what they’re hiring for the auditions. They’re having. I love reading that stuff. I might even do a bonus or a my segment next

Kelli 12:38
week about that. Yeah, that’d be great. So love hoopty do.

Chris 12:43
Yes. It’s amazing. The food’s amazing. The show is amazing. It’s just amazing.

Kelli 12:48
Amazing. Matt Tomorrowland. Yes. So I’m going to take us to Connections cafe and eatery. This is a you know, I really have given Zach a hard time about his connection store. Well, they’ve built a cafe right there with it the connections cafe and eatery. And the idea is it’s supposed to be bringing all these cultures from around the world into the cafe. And so this is a big deal. This is opening, I think in May. But it’s very soon. It’s opening very soon. They just launched the menu about a week and a half ago. So this is how they’re describing it on the website. They’re saying it’s a unique experience embracing the cultures from around the world and bringing them to you and true at cut fashion. It says it is a fast casual quick service restaurant, which I think is interesting. I think that means counter service. That’s

Chris 13:40
what it is yes,

Kelli 13:41
but they’re not saying counter service, which I find interesting. But in any case, it says it gets inspiration from delicious cuisines across the globe. And so the purpose of connections eatery is to show us how food has the power to bring us together if we open our minds and our stomachs. Once inside you can get a glimpse of the chef’s in actions you can watch desserts get their finishing touches witness pizza makers and their magic crafting the dough and that kind of fun stuff. So sort of an open open kitchen area. The pictures make it look like it’s it’s almost open air. Yes, it very much looks like that like like Tomorrowland terrace kind of a situation.

Chris 14:18
It’s um, he he I think he has flatly said that it’s a wall of windows. But it does look and feel really looks very open air.

Kelli 14:28
And it is also going to be the home of Starbucks at Epcot. So Starbucks in that travelers cafe that you just mentioned, whatever that is, is closing and it’ll be moving over to Connections cafe. Yeah, I think the reality is, is that Starbucks is not big enough. The other Starbucks they had at Epcot was also not big enough, almost fell out their wine

Chris 14:45
did almost fall out, and then walked across the park, nice to get help for your office.

Kelli 14:49
And then I got up off the medical table and they said, Would you like to lay down? I said, No, I’ve got a fast pass. I got up off the

Chris 14:57
back in the fast past days. If

Kelli 15:01
they weren’t shocked, I’m sure they’d heard that before. In any case, hoping that this gives more space to the Starbucks area at Epcot, I think, you know, one thing that we can learn from Epcot is that Starbucks and Jeffrey’s can coexist Well, in a very happy way.

Chris 15:19
I wrote about when I had more notes under the traveler’s Cafe thing, and one of the notes I wrote to myself on it was, why can’t we just leave both up? And yes, but I would be willing to bet that job Freeze has, you know, in their agreement, they like you, man, you already got Starbucks in here. We’re not gonna overdo it. Well, no, I

Kelli 15:35
think that’s just a really horrible place for Starbucks right there in front of them after that thing. Yeah, but it’s travelers cafe, they could put something else there. You’re you’re taking over my segment. Now I’ve got to go through the menu. In any case, I’m hoping this is going to be a better location with more space for travelers cafe. Let so I’m gonna go I mean, more space for Starbucks. So I’m going to go through the menu here. But first, I just want to say this lofty ideal of connecting us through global cuisines. I think it’s a bit much for a counter service restaurant. And I’m not sure they nailed it, but I will say that it does have some different offerings other than your basic burger, pizza and fries. Okay, okay, so I will give them credit for that. So first, let’s hit the burgers and chicken. Now everything in this section, these are going to be handheld items. 1199 to 1299. Most of them are 1199 the only one that is 1299 Is this first one, the French bistro burger. All of their burgers are made with a gourmet beef blend. I’ll just I’ll just leave that where that is a gourmet

Chris 16:45
beef blend that sounds delicious.

Kelli 16:49
The French bistro burger also on top of the gourmet beef blend has carmelized onions bacon, Brie mushrooms, Dijon mayonnaise, and it’s on a toasted brioche bun. So that’s the only one that’s 12 Nine on these. The rest of these are 1199 You got the Southwest burger, which is roasted corn, Chipotle salsa, wok, Sokka cheese Kramer, Choi guacamole spread and a toasted bun. The Vietnamese inspired by me burger, which is a miso marinated gourmet beef blend with pickled vegetables Siracha mayonnaise, and it’s on a soft sub roll so they’re not all on like hamburger buns. Right? They come on some different breads, different shapes, sizes, that’s a fun. Then you’ve got the Greek inspired Mediterranean burger, which is lettuce pickled vegetable and feta relish. Zwang mayonnaise and housemade Donner bread. You’ve got your classic American burger. But that one does come with a roasted garlic spread, which I don’t think makes it classic. As the name implies, I believe classic there would be mayonnaise and ketchup

Chris 18:01
or even that whole little 1000 islands special sauce thing people do

Kelli 18:05
that’s just sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on sesame seed bun. And then you’ve got your hand breaded chicken sandwich which is House made pickles signature sauce, whatever that is and a toasted brioche bun. So that’s going to be your handheld which again, I will say they’re not your average. Good No, I don’t type sandwiches as

Chris 18:24
but as somebody that loves burgers. I love that they spread that out a little bit right but it still is this burgers. Okay, I disagree. Totally. Okay,

Kelli 18:33
next up is pizza. Now the pizza is 1049 to 1099. Now I will say the pictures of this pizza heavily imply that you get two slices with this. You get two slices and aside. And all the pizzas are mentioned as being served with the Mediterranean side salad. Okay, I don’t think the burgers come with fries. I think that’s the side that you would purchase. But the pizzas are all mentioned is coming with a Mediterranean side salad. But in any case, the first one is the meatball pizza. This is beef and pork meatballs, San Marzano tomato and basil sauce cheese blend served with Mediterranean salad salad. This is an entire a whole meatball sitting on top of that pizza. Oh, I like that. I thought you would. So two slices are gonna make all kinds of appearances two slices on this plate. And each slice had two big meatballs just sitting right on top of it like that. They’ve also got the five cheese pizza which again is the San Marzano tomato and basil sauce and cheese blend. Pepperoni, your basic pepperoni. And then they have a plant based curry spice pizza. Oh, which is Tikki Masala carrot, potato peas, tomato plant base, mozzarella lime yogurt in quotes, served with a Mediterranean salad salad. I’ll

Chris 19:51
tell you right now, that’s gonna be terrible.

Kelli 19:53
I don’t think I want yogurt in quotes. And I know I don’t want to plant based cheese. No, no, I don’t want that. So, in any case, I think the meatball pizza is going to be the winner there. They have two salads these are 1029 to 1149 a general so chicken salad with a petite kale blend broccoli slaw red bell pepper mandarin oranges edamame a crispy wantons warm fried chicken in general says dressing very out of the box. This one I like this is plant this the plant based option. This is the new schwa style salad. I looked this up okay. Nisha sua means in the style of nice France okay. And essentially what that means is a very specific olive. The olives have like a rich nutty flavor. Okay, so this is mixed greens which potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, that special olive white beans and Dijon vinaigrette. Okay. They have one dessert that I think is a don’t want to miss which is a leash waffle. I could be pronouncing that wrong. I think you got it. This is brioche dough with pearl sugar strawberries, whipped cream and a chocolate sauce for 529 looks delightful. They have two shakes 729 Each and apple pie gelato shake and a mango coconut milkshake, which is topped with pomegranate molasses drizzle drizzle. They have a non alcoholic specialty but bread beverage, which is a watermelon mint agua fresca for 499 non alcoholic non alcoholic but here because it’s Epcot they also have beer wine and and a specialty cocktail. Okay, one specialty cocktail. And this is the cucumber and Thai Basil Cooler. $14 this has Hendricks gin, cucumber, cane sugar, lemon, Thai basil and ginger bitters.

Chris 21:49
They’re definitely working hard on that. But it looks like it

Kelli 21:53
looks like a eliminate the picture looks like a limited. Yeah, no, I don’t. I don’t think I’m down with the specialty cocktail. But I can appreciate that. You know, this is stipple counter service or quick service, whatever they will call it that has beer and wine. You can get something a little bit outside the box with the burger. Pizza. I

Chris 22:14
think they’ve done a great job of let’s give people the what they you know, a traditional thing like burgers and pizzas, but make it International.

Kelli 22:24
Yeah. And the kids too. You’ve got your basic burger for the kids. You got nuggets for the kids, things like that. But the kids also can have the option of a burger Bell bun. Oh, which looks cute. Yeah, that’s so yeah, I mean, they’ve got some some different things and then some classics. I think that dessert is going to be the way to go. Probably the apple pie gelato shake, too, is going to be just out of balance. Sounds amazing. But I think it’d be in a good location right there.

Chris 22:53
Yes. It’s a very good location. I mean, it’s basically right inside the park just past Spaceship Earth.

Kelli 22:58
Yes. Yeah, that’s a good location, maybe take a little bit of the heat off of the land.

Chris 23:06
Because God knows the land, man. They’re just, I

Kelli 23:08
mean, at lunchtime, that place is chock a block. Punchy for a little table

Chris 23:15
is not in fact, not a joke, overheard a week ago, by me was like, I’m not fighting for you. These were two strangers talking to each other, like I’m not fighting for you.

Kelli 23:29
Is not a joke in there at lunchtime.

Chris 23:31
It’s not. Okay. So I’ve, you know, I’m gonna get accused here of phoning this in, because I’m not gonna accuse you of that. I’m just saying that.

Kelli 23:43
I think our listeners will either during public.

Chris 23:46
I’m basically going to do a review of some of the things I did for I did now for the first time. On my most recent trip. This was I was blessed by my beloved family to go on a bachelor trip to Disney all by myself. And I did some things that I haven’t done before and I’m going to talk about it. That’s it. So for the first time ever, in all of my times going to Disney I stayed at the Coronado Springs Resort. Yeah, ended up there because honestly, it was the only place that actually had rooms. Disney was chock a block full. Their rooms were anyway the parks didn’t seem any more full while I was there interesting, which was wild. But Coronado Springs in particular is is the Coronado Springs Resort Spa and Conference Center. They have quite a large, legitimate conference center that they host there and I actually saw lots of business people there. Earlier in the week while I was there, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, doing business in the common areas. And then on the weekend, there was a whole slew of high school aged boys baseball teams, which is which was a little bit interesting. I mean, there was clearly a tournament going on at the Wide World of Sports. But I thought it was interesting that they, you know, a lot of them were hanging out there at Coronado Springs. So Coronado Springs is designed to be it’s a it’s a Mexican southwestern New Mexico, Arizona styled resort. Originally, it was very much in the style of Caribbean beach resort or Port Orleans. Alma said Dixie landings, gosh, that’s old. Riverside, where you have your your main check in house. And then you have a series of, of housing groups, you know, two or three storey buildings, doors to the outside, and these things surround a lake. Right, right. Right. So, Lago durata is the name of the lake that Coronado Springs surrounds.

Kelli 26:09
I thought this was I thought it was Caribbean beach, and then you sent a picture and I was like, Oh, that’s pretty. Yeah.

Chris 26:15
And this is pretty and so then not that many years ago, just a few years ago. In fact, they decided to build a tower. And you know, they’ve really gotten into building Hotel Resort towers lately. I mean, Riviera is the tower. They’re going to build more like a tower at Polynesian for the DVC. And so they built destino tower, there at Coronado Springs, which is absolutely beautiful inside outside. It is gorgeous. Yeah. The pictures you sent were really beautiful. Yes. And so and then the lake area and distance from the lake are really beautiful. They’ve got a they’ve got bridges that stretch out to the center of the lake from three different points around the lake. So you got one that sort of in the main area where destino tower is where the food court is and the restaurants and all that jazz the conference centers. They’ve got a bridge that spans out across the water from there. I was in the housing area called Casitas. And so there was a bridge that stretches out from there and then one directly across the lake from there that comes to the middle. All three bridges meet in the middle of the lake, where there is a really nice open air Restaurant and Bar. How cool is really really, really cool that bar in particular is called What is it here? It’s the three red three bridges Bar and Grill. There you go. Oddly enough,

Kelli 27:48
so would you want to say walk across one of those bridges to get to the main?

Chris 27:52
Oh, yes. In fact, that’s the way I went. Okay. Right. And just like the other doable yo Yeah, yeah, just like the other resorts that are sort of laid out around a lake like this. They have this one has four bus stops if you want to take the bus transportation, but if you if you’re just like walking from where I was staying to the food court or the restaurants or to the lobby or whatever, I want to cross the bridges okay. And by the by the lake restaurant there. But this thing had I will say that the rooms like where I was staying in the in the three storey buildings around the lake, they need some updating. They’ve clearly updated like the bedding and the and you know the furniture and you can tell they’ve done some work in the showers in terms of the the the appointments in the showers in the bathrooms, but it still needs some work right. destino tower beautiful, right? And it’s pretty new, but the grounds are immaculate. They’ve got this huge beach on one side. They’ve got an amazing pool. The pool playground beach volleyball court is called the dig site. So you’ll see the sides to go the dig side the pool looks like an Aztec temple with a slide and everything. Like I said the grounds are beautiful fountains and tons of activities. They’ve got a soccer pool game sitting out on the lawn right outside the lobby on the on the lake side of the lobby. Okay, cornhole, like I said, beach volleyball, there’s pathways all the way around the lake. It’s about a it’s about eight tenths of a mile to go all the way around. Nighttime movies on the lawn, like they do it a lot of places. The Sunday night that I was there, they actually did two movies on the lawn that night. It was just so very chill place to hang out out there. And get this all these different restaurants, the Barcelona Lounge, which is this amazing lounge you all look into this to the lobby. And you can see through these windows on the other other side of the lobby, and you check in, there’s the concierge, all that stuff. And then there’s this grand staircase over to the right that stretches down. And you walk down there. And you realize, when you were standing in the lobby, you’re actually standing up right above this beautiful bar that stretches the full length underneath the lobby. Oh, wow. And it’s just this great. Stained glass behind the bar, wide open seating and everything and just just a wonderful atmosphere there. They’ve got a poolside bar called siesta cantina, where you can order food there, they’ve got another waterside bar, there’s just beside the water off of the walking path. There’s this great bar there is open air and they’ve got TVs there that we’re showing basketball games, for example. They’ve got a rooftop lounge and restaurant, the dahlia lounge up there, where you got these amazing views of Disney World. They’ve got up there along with that lounge. They got the Toledo tapas Steak and Seafood Restaurant, again with amazing views.

Kelli 31:11
Is this Magic Kingdom property.

Chris 31:12
This is this is really closer to Epcot. Okay.

Kelli 31:16
Can you see the Epcot fireworks? That’s the question I should know.

Chris 31:19
Probably not the Epcot, but you probably not from there. Okay. Yeah. They’ve got another really nice higher end restaurant called the Maya grill, which is authentic Mexican. I’m just gonna do Coronado Springs here.

Kelli 31:34
You spend a lot of time on Coronado.

Chris 31:36
They’ve got

Kelli 31:39
Did you eat any of these restaurants?

Chris 31:40
So I was I was about to get to Rick’s cafe. Oh, yeah. So Rick’s Cafe is actually only open for about the first two thirds the day and they sell smoothies, coffee, pastries and sandwiches. Some of the most amazing pastries you’ll see all anywhere in one of these Wow. But then they also have Rick Sports Bar and Grill. Now this place was was way better food than I thought it would be for a sports bar. If you’d like a sports bar like I do. This is a rockin Sports Bar. They’ve got 35 Huge TVs I watched two basketball games for the final you know the Elite Eight in there with some other people had a great time. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast. I went in there and I had the citrus and musk upon french toast. Which I’m not really a French toast guy. But

Kelli 32:31
what you miss you left out a word. The word is stuffed.

Chris 32:35
Yes, sorry, citrus and it is stuck. They don’t actually call it that but it is stuffed. It is stuffed Cuban bread with orange citrus flavor. They say it’s marmalade bits Not really. With mascarpone cheese.

Kelli 32:50
That picture you sent me was out of balance. It was so

Chris 32:52
so good. I also had their their appetizers of like their crispy pot stickers. The best potstickers in all of Disney World. Real is what about was it Mr. Kemal? You better than Mr. Kemal? Oh, bigger blasphemy. It’s basically like Mr. Kemal is fried version not his Steam version, but bigger and fatter and fuller have stuff in there blasphemy. It’s not blasphemy. I’ve had a boat. But the I saw the people next to me had what they call their watch shows, which are basically loaded nachos and everything you can imagine on nachos, but on waffle fries.

Kelli 33:33
Ah, interesting. Yeah.

Chris 33:36
And I was I sat there putting my little potstickers. Watches. So I spent all my time on Coronado Springs, because you really did enjoy it. I enjoyed it. I loved it. I sat there and just slept in and had these leisurely walks around this beautiful property before heading out to the parks and now you know with Janie plus, even though people hate it, you can stack that stuff late in the day. I’m

Kelli 34:03
just saying I would really love for us to try the next time you and I go together the sleeping and thing we’re going to I really want I want to I want to give that a go. I think I would just be darlin addicts.

Chris 34:14
And we’ll try this thing. Oh when one of us has to get up at seven but that’s you know, folks, that is today’s show. We hope you liked it. We hope you got something out of it enough to go out online and give us a five star review and tell the world how great it is and bring them to us.

Kelli 34:30
Absolutely. And if you’re looking for more things Disney please visit SCF adp.com. That’s s for Super C for Cali F for Fred’s allistic a for awesome D for Disney P for podcast. And I don’t know maybe we can convince Chris to do a little bonus on the hoopty do this way

Chris 34:46
to do or one of these other things that I tried that I didn’t get to. So maybe we could do that. I think that’d be fun. Yes, go out there online folks and join us at SCF ADP on Twitter and Instagram. We have a great time chatting with all you guys out there the more the merrier and with that we hope to see you real soon

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Episode 18
Disney News (4/4) – Connections Cafe at EPCOT and Coronado Springs Resort Review