So I did this type of trip report before and people seemed to like it. Instead of giving a day by day reports I’ll just give you some thoughts and different parts of our trip. Hope it’s useful.
Who: 9 in all. Me(44) My wife(43), son(18) and daughter(19). My parents, in-laws and one of my daughters best friends. (18)
When: 1/1 – 1/9
Where: BWV - 3 bedroom grand villa with a Boardwalk view.
Passes: 8-day Park Hopper and 2-day Universal pass.
At little background. In Sept of 2009 my son was invited to play in a baseball tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports which was to be held in Dec. of 2009. I used that to float the idea of a family trip to WDW. Me and the kids are more of the Disney fanatics so my wife always needs some convincing. To make along sotry short 3 months just wasn’t long enough to plan a trip for all of us. My son sent with his team on Dec. of ’09 but be then everyone was on board for another trip.
It would be the 5th trip with a group of that size. We are DVC members and had started taking family trips in 1998 of up to 17 people on some of them.
My daughter’s friend had never been to Disney and ended up adding so much to our trip. Seeing Disney through a first timers eyes was really fun. Sometimes you forget what Disney is all about until you see someone else’s response to everything. She is also such a like a third child to us so it was great to have her along. Everything about Disney amazed her – the resort, the parks and just the feeling of being there.
So I started planning - all of which was left to me. There was no problem with that as I like to plan things and no one else in my family likes to plan. I am blessed with a GREAT family who all tend to go with the flow. In fact, I don't think half of them would ever had gone to Disney if I hadn't planned each trip for them. I always explain to everyone that the plan I put in place is for me, my wife and kids.
That they should never feel like I was forcing them to do anything they didn't want to do.
On Thanksgiving day we all sat down together and I present each family with a 2" binder that represented the year of planning. Everything you could imagine - day by day itineraries, articles on special events we were doing and restaurants we were eating at. I had done a binder for our 2007 Christmas trip but told them all there probably wouldn’t be one this time as it took a great deal of time to create. In the end I couldn’t resist putting one together.
I have a great family and now they were really excited about this trip.
The Resort: It's our fourth time at BWV (our home resort) and I have to say that I like it the best of all the DVC resorts. The view is just fantastic and the location as far as I’m convinced can't be beat. I know there are reasons to like many of the Disney resorts. BWV is just my families favorite.
Being able to walk to Epcot and MGM can't be underestimated. My dad has MS and uses a scooter and wheelchair to get around. Avoiding the buses when at all possible just makes things easier. Being so close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios allows him to come and go on his own.
I little side note. I want to say how wonderful Disney has been to my dad and others with a physical handicap. In all of our trips I can’t think of one time where there was something we were going to do that my dad couldn’t participate in. And it’s not just the accommodations that they are obviously required to do. It’s all the little things that cast members do to help families cope with things. On this trip we spent two days at Universal. We have fun going there on occasion but they don’t even come close to Disney when it comes to accommodating the handicap. When at Disney there always seems to be someone to help point you in the right direction or provide help in some way. Not so at Universal – we felt they only do what is required by law. Thank you Disney.
Anyway, the lobby at BWV is just gorgeous at Christmas time (decorations didn’t start coming down until 1/6) and the staff were more than friendly. We had the 1 story 3 bedroom grand villa on the 3rd floor underneath the Boardwalk sign. Our room had a good view of Illuminations from our balcony and I just love walking into our villa at the end of a long day, stepping out on the balcony and taking in the view! The balcony stretched from one end of the unit to the other. 110 feet as measured by my dad using his cane. It was like having another room. The only problem is we’ve set the bar really high for our next trip. This time around the grand villa just made sense to do based on who and how many people were coming. It won’t always work out that way but I sure was glad it did for this trip.
The Parks/Crowds: We have taken 8 trips to WDW and consider ourselves knowledgeable of all things Disney. This was the second time that we used TGM. I can't say enough about his advice. We only went to parks that were green, stayed away from EMH parks and used Fastpass more this trip than all other trips together.
We got to the parks by opening each day and took a midday break most days back at BWV before heading back to the parks for the evening.
The longest line we waited in our whole time there was about 15-20 minutes with the exception of one day at Islands of Adventure.
I can’t stress enough that getting to the parks 30 minutes before they open is the key to fun vacation. There were many days where we had done our top attractions long before any crowds were evident.
We did everything we wanted to do when we were in the parks. The only crowded day at a Disney park was the last full day we were there – 1/8 – the day of the half marathon.
As I said earlier we took two days in the middle of our stay to visit Universal. We don’t go there on every trip so it had been 5 years since our last visit. We went to Islands of Adventure the first day as our daughters friend is a Harry Potter fanatic. This was the most crowded day of our trip by far. I have to say that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is fun to visit and the Forbidden Journey is the best ride I’ve ever been on but the size of that section of the park is way too small. I know it was intentionally done but I think it was a mistake. When we left it was a 120 minute wait to ride FJ and a 120 minutes wait just to get into the part of the park. Crazy! While FB was an amazing ride I don’t think it is worth 4 hours of my life.
The Food: We had ADR's for each day of our trip and we made everyone one of them. Since we have food delivered to our villa at the start of our trip we tend to have breakfast there. Also we either pack a lunch to take with us each day or return to BWV to have lunch.
Here's a list of our ADRs:
Coral Reef - We always go there. We ate there on our honeymoon so it holds a special place in our hearts. They got rid of the personalized menus and the diver since out last visit. The food was very good. Grade:A-
Tony’s Town Square – first time we’ve ever eaten there. Good food – Gread:B
Hollywood and Vine w/ Fantasmic Dinner Package- average food. Grade:C+
California Grille - fantastic food and service. Top notch. We watched Wishes from the patio Grade:A
Le Celiere - great food, excellent service, nice atmosphere. Grade:A
A word about service. We had a couple waiters who weren't the best. I try not to let that bother me too much since everyone is human and while you expect your waiters to be chipper and happy that isn't always going to happen. You don't know if they have a sick child at home or something that would tend to make any one of us less the happy. For those that weren't at their best we just didn't leave anything extra for the tip. For waiters like the ones at Cali Grille and Le Celiere we gave them a much bigger tip because the services was so good.
Photopass: This trip I participated in a Photopass group on TGM. There were 7 families that split the cost of the CD. One lovely lady is ordering the CD, separating the pictures by family and sending us a CD with only our families pictures on them.
The first day there we got Photopass cards for each family and took advantage of every opportunity we had to get our pictures taken. There were only a couple times where the line for the photographer was too long to wait - maybe twice. We ended up with about 300 pictures on the CD.
Some random thoughts: (just my opinions)
• This was the second time we got passes for the length of stay. That enabled us to have the flexibility to go wherever we wanted each day - like on the days we went to Universal when we went to Epcot later that night just to see Illuminations. We wouldn't have wasted a day on a 4 or 5 day pass just for that.
• I thought that 1/1 – 1/9 would be mostly dead. I was wrong. It was busier than I thought it would be.
• We did not like MSEP. Please bring back Spectro.
• Trying to get from BWV to MK by bus on Marathon weekend for a 8:45 reservation at CRT took 1.5 hours. My only miscalculation of our trip.
• We always have fun at Universal but the cleanliness and atmosphere doesn’t compare to Disney.
• People need to listen to their kids. When they are tired there's no amount of yelling at them that will reverse the effect of being in a park all day running around.
• Another trip to WDW without spending enough time at World Showcase. Some day we’ll do that.
• The Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream is easily conquered by 6 people.
• Illuminations and Wishes are simply the best fireworks shows I have ever seen. The cerography with the music is incredible.
• TGM says to stay away from EMH - I concur. We did, however, go to the MK one night from 10pm-1am and had a ball.
• I thought I would come back and be depressed. I am not. We did so much that I feel that there wasn't anything left to accomplish on this trip.
• I thank God after each of these trips for how lucky we are that 3 generations of my family can spend the time together at such a wonderful place.
Conclusion: One of our best trips ever. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much. We returned tired but who hasn't returned from a Disney trip wiped out. Of the 9 people who went, young and old, they all told me that it will be a trip they will remember for a lifetime. There's no place like Disney for family fun and memories.
Who: 9 in all. Me(44) My wife(43), son(18) and daughter(19). My parents, in-laws and one of my daughters best friends. (18)
When: 1/1 – 1/9
Where: BWV - 3 bedroom grand villa with a Boardwalk view.
Passes: 8-day Park Hopper and 2-day Universal pass.
At little background. In Sept of 2009 my son was invited to play in a baseball tournament at Disney’s Wide World of Sports which was to be held in Dec. of 2009. I used that to float the idea of a family trip to WDW. Me and the kids are more of the Disney fanatics so my wife always needs some convincing. To make along sotry short 3 months just wasn’t long enough to plan a trip for all of us. My son sent with his team on Dec. of ’09 but be then everyone was on board for another trip.
It would be the 5th trip with a group of that size. We are DVC members and had started taking family trips in 1998 of up to 17 people on some of them.
My daughter’s friend had never been to Disney and ended up adding so much to our trip. Seeing Disney through a first timers eyes was really fun. Sometimes you forget what Disney is all about until you see someone else’s response to everything. She is also such a like a third child to us so it was great to have her along. Everything about Disney amazed her – the resort, the parks and just the feeling of being there.
So I started planning - all of which was left to me. There was no problem with that as I like to plan things and no one else in my family likes to plan. I am blessed with a GREAT family who all tend to go with the flow. In fact, I don't think half of them would ever had gone to Disney if I hadn't planned each trip for them. I always explain to everyone that the plan I put in place is for me, my wife and kids.
That they should never feel like I was forcing them to do anything they didn't want to do.
On Thanksgiving day we all sat down together and I present each family with a 2" binder that represented the year of planning. Everything you could imagine - day by day itineraries, articles on special events we were doing and restaurants we were eating at. I had done a binder for our 2007 Christmas trip but told them all there probably wouldn’t be one this time as it took a great deal of time to create. In the end I couldn’t resist putting one together.
I have a great family and now they were really excited about this trip.
The Resort: It's our fourth time at BWV (our home resort) and I have to say that I like it the best of all the DVC resorts. The view is just fantastic and the location as far as I’m convinced can't be beat. I know there are reasons to like many of the Disney resorts. BWV is just my families favorite.
Being able to walk to Epcot and MGM can't be underestimated. My dad has MS and uses a scooter and wheelchair to get around. Avoiding the buses when at all possible just makes things easier. Being so close to Epcot and Hollywood Studios allows him to come and go on his own.
I little side note. I want to say how wonderful Disney has been to my dad and others with a physical handicap. In all of our trips I can’t think of one time where there was something we were going to do that my dad couldn’t participate in. And it’s not just the accommodations that they are obviously required to do. It’s all the little things that cast members do to help families cope with things. On this trip we spent two days at Universal. We have fun going there on occasion but they don’t even come close to Disney when it comes to accommodating the handicap. When at Disney there always seems to be someone to help point you in the right direction or provide help in some way. Not so at Universal – we felt they only do what is required by law. Thank you Disney.
Anyway, the lobby at BWV is just gorgeous at Christmas time (decorations didn’t start coming down until 1/6) and the staff were more than friendly. We had the 1 story 3 bedroom grand villa on the 3rd floor underneath the Boardwalk sign. Our room had a good view of Illuminations from our balcony and I just love walking into our villa at the end of a long day, stepping out on the balcony and taking in the view! The balcony stretched from one end of the unit to the other. 110 feet as measured by my dad using his cane. It was like having another room. The only problem is we’ve set the bar really high for our next trip. This time around the grand villa just made sense to do based on who and how many people were coming. It won’t always work out that way but I sure was glad it did for this trip.
The Parks/Crowds: We have taken 8 trips to WDW and consider ourselves knowledgeable of all things Disney. This was the second time that we used TGM. I can't say enough about his advice. We only went to parks that were green, stayed away from EMH parks and used Fastpass more this trip than all other trips together.
We got to the parks by opening each day and took a midday break most days back at BWV before heading back to the parks for the evening.
The longest line we waited in our whole time there was about 15-20 minutes with the exception of one day at Islands of Adventure.
I can’t stress enough that getting to the parks 30 minutes before they open is the key to fun vacation. There were many days where we had done our top attractions long before any crowds were evident.
We did everything we wanted to do when we were in the parks. The only crowded day at a Disney park was the last full day we were there – 1/8 – the day of the half marathon.
As I said earlier we took two days in the middle of our stay to visit Universal. We don’t go there on every trip so it had been 5 years since our last visit. We went to Islands of Adventure the first day as our daughters friend is a Harry Potter fanatic. This was the most crowded day of our trip by far. I have to say that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is fun to visit and the Forbidden Journey is the best ride I’ve ever been on but the size of that section of the park is way too small. I know it was intentionally done but I think it was a mistake. When we left it was a 120 minute wait to ride FJ and a 120 minutes wait just to get into the part of the park. Crazy! While FB was an amazing ride I don’t think it is worth 4 hours of my life.
The Food: We had ADR's for each day of our trip and we made everyone one of them. Since we have food delivered to our villa at the start of our trip we tend to have breakfast there. Also we either pack a lunch to take with us each day or return to BWV to have lunch.
Here's a list of our ADRs:
Coral Reef - We always go there. We ate there on our honeymoon so it holds a special place in our hearts. They got rid of the personalized menus and the diver since out last visit. The food was very good. Grade:A-
Tony’s Town Square – first time we’ve ever eaten there. Good food – Gread:B
Hollywood and Vine w/ Fantasmic Dinner Package- average food. Grade:C+
California Grille - fantastic food and service. Top notch. We watched Wishes from the patio Grade:A
Le Celiere - great food, excellent service, nice atmosphere. Grade:A
A word about service. We had a couple waiters who weren't the best. I try not to let that bother me too much since everyone is human and while you expect your waiters to be chipper and happy that isn't always going to happen. You don't know if they have a sick child at home or something that would tend to make any one of us less the happy. For those that weren't at their best we just didn't leave anything extra for the tip. For waiters like the ones at Cali Grille and Le Celiere we gave them a much bigger tip because the services was so good.
Photopass: This trip I participated in a Photopass group on TGM. There were 7 families that split the cost of the CD. One lovely lady is ordering the CD, separating the pictures by family and sending us a CD with only our families pictures on them.
The first day there we got Photopass cards for each family and took advantage of every opportunity we had to get our pictures taken. There were only a couple times where the line for the photographer was too long to wait - maybe twice. We ended up with about 300 pictures on the CD.
Some random thoughts: (just my opinions)
• This was the second time we got passes for the length of stay. That enabled us to have the flexibility to go wherever we wanted each day - like on the days we went to Universal when we went to Epcot later that night just to see Illuminations. We wouldn't have wasted a day on a 4 or 5 day pass just for that.
• I thought that 1/1 – 1/9 would be mostly dead. I was wrong. It was busier than I thought it would be.
• We did not like MSEP. Please bring back Spectro.
• Trying to get from BWV to MK by bus on Marathon weekend for a 8:45 reservation at CRT took 1.5 hours. My only miscalculation of our trip.
• We always have fun at Universal but the cleanliness and atmosphere doesn’t compare to Disney.
• People need to listen to their kids. When they are tired there's no amount of yelling at them that will reverse the effect of being in a park all day running around.
• Another trip to WDW without spending enough time at World Showcase. Some day we’ll do that.
• The Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream is easily conquered by 6 people.
• Illuminations and Wishes are simply the best fireworks shows I have ever seen. The cerography with the music is incredible.
• TGM says to stay away from EMH - I concur. We did, however, go to the MK one night from 10pm-1am and had a ball.
• I thought I would come back and be depressed. I am not. We did so much that I feel that there wasn't anything left to accomplish on this trip.
• I thank God after each of these trips for how lucky we are that 3 generations of my family can spend the time together at such a wonderful place.
Conclusion: One of our best trips ever. Everyone enjoyed themselves so much. We returned tired but who hasn't returned from a Disney trip wiped out. Of the 9 people who went, young and old, they all told me that it will be a trip they will remember for a lifetime. There's no place like Disney for family fun and memories.
How nice to read a positive review!! Sounds like you had a wonderful time. (and deservedly so after all your planning )LOL
