March Break at CR – with stops at Poly, GF, WL, BW, BC, YC, MK, Epcot, HS, DD, and TL

[JanetMom]

There are more balcony pictures coming! It is impossible to only post one or two because they are all so nice to look at.

 

[JanetMom]

Day 4 - Continued

Commentary is not needed for today's portion of the report. I'm simply sharing the beautiful sunset. It was so gorgeous I couldn't stop taking pictures. If I didn't restrain myself (honest I did restrain myself!) and posted all the sunset pictures from this night, you could almost watch the sun set as you flip through them. Here is just a sampling...

Next up - Day 4, after the sunset.

 

[micandminforever]

I enjoyed the sunset pictures. They were wonderful.

 

[tinkgurl]

Wow. LOVED the sunset pics. It's my favorite time of the day at WDW.

 

[goldielocksraj]

Janet, those sunset pictures brought tears to my eyes! And I'm a native Floridian who underappreciates the views!!!! You did a wonderful job capturing both the natural beauty and the Disney beauty. I especially loved the MK view right before/after sunset!!!

I'm really enjoying your TR since hubby and I are going to CR with MK view in December as an early birthday celebration!

Thank you so much for the reports, and keep them up, they're much appreciated!!!!

 

[thechesters420]

Lovely pictures! Great trip report!!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Great bus driver story. Fantastic resort and balcony shots!

 

[JanetMom]

A bit more from day 4…

Before I close out the day, I should comment on the PhotoPass photographers (or lack of them.) I don’t know if it was because the crowds were so thick, or because there were fewer photographers, but we did not have one opportunity to get our picture taken. We didn’t even see a photographer until Day 3, and over the entire week, I only saw 3-4 of them total, and always from a great distance or they had a really long line up waiting for them. Before the trip I had my family agree that we would all pose nicely as often as possible, and I was hoping to get the e-mail code to pre-order the PhotoPass CD, but thankfully I didn’t do that. We came home with an empty PhotoPass account. That was a disappointment.

After the great sunset we spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the hotel, which included desserts from the lounge, checking out the water parade and fireworks from the balcony.

Here is the one bit of food porn for everyone. I must admit I loved everything they served in the little dishes. In this photo we have an oatmeal cookie, trifle and red velvet cake. All yummy!

I never get tired of seeing the water parade

Some closing castle and fireworks pictures.

Next up the Boardwalk

 

[mamasha]

You could see the water parade from your balcony or from CL balcony?

 

[JanetMom]

The water parade goes by the back of the hotel, so if you have a lake view you can see it (and I assume hear it) from your balcony.

The parade also goes by the Magic Kingdom, so we could see that from our balcony, but we couldn't hear the music.

 

[lucky978]

Loving your trip report! Can't wait for more.

 

[JanetMom]

Day 5 – Off to the Boardwalk (also known as flight day)

Originally this day was supposed to be at Typhoon Lagoon but since we did that already we had a day to fill, where the only plan was a supper ADR at The Wave… of American Flavours. ( I just like saying the full name with the tagline because it sounds kind of silly to me and makes me smile )

We decided this would be the day to check out the Boardwalk. The simplest way to BW was to walk to the MK and take a bus from there. Since it was early in the morning all the buses were one way to the MK and not labelled as going back to the resorts. We went to stand at the BW bus stop but weren’t sure if a bus was actually going to come. There were only a couple of other people hanging around the bus stops so we waited and wondered if we were doing it all wrong. After a few minutes I went over to the bus stop CM and asked if we should be standing where we were and he replied “Don’t worry, I’ve called your bus and he is on his way.” You gotta love that Disney service. Since there aren’t many people going away from the parks at that hour they are smart enough to make all the buses one way and then they just call a resort bus if needed. We wound up being the only ones on the BW bus and felt like we had our own private transportation.

As soon as we stepped off the bus we fell in love with the BW area. It is gorgeous. In contrast to the CR, this is a hotel where you can relax in the lobby. This was also the point where I realized we had made the transition from being people who travel occasionally to WDW, to being Disney people. As we would get to the end of our previous trips we always felt we had enough of Disney and all things Mickey and would say “that’s it, we are done, this is our last trip to Disney.” Inevitably after a few years passed we would book another trip to WDW. Well, when we arrived at BW all three of us started talking about staying at one of the boardwalk resorts on our next trip. Since we were now in future trip planning mode we decided to walk all the way around the lake and stopped in each hotel lobby and at each pool along the way. Stormalong Bay looks like so much fun.

We all love a good brew pub so we were planning to go to the Big River Grill for lunch. We all enjoyed the food and my husband enjoyed their beer flight. The flight was a good deal at only $7.50 for 6 good size samples. After lunch we took the boat to Epcot, just because we love the boats!

Some cute ducks that compelled me to totally crowd this family as I took a picture of the ducks (not one of my most polite moments)

Boardwalk Inn

Stormalong Bay

Yacht Club

Beach Club

Boat to Epcot approaching the dock

For our first thing at Epcot we decided to get Soarin’ Fast Passes but they were already distributed for the day. While my son was going for the Fast Passes I admired the flowers.

Next up we went to Club Cool. In honour of the tips and tricks I had learned from the DisBoards I suggested my husband and son try Beverly (I of course did not try it).

Before Beverly

After Beverly (hee, hee)

Next we headed to Maelstrom. The name Maelstrom is so great that we just had to go on the ride. We laughed the entire time because we were exactly in the right mood for it. And then it was off to Mexico to see La Cava del Tequila (another name that I like to say over and over!) Once again, it was time for a flight. I had the La Cava Margarita, my husband had the tequila flight and our son had a non-alcoholic margarita. We also ordered some guacamole. Everything was wonderfully yummy! After that we walked around the world and headed back to our balcony.

Mexico

La Cava del Tequila

It’s small but wonderful

The flight menu

Next up – The Wave… of American Flavours and Spectromagic

 

[thechesters420]

Loved the Boardwalk pics!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

The boardwalk seems so serene. Love the beverly shot!

 

[JanetMom]

It was very quiet and peaceful on the boardwalk. I would love to see what it is like at night.

 

[micandminforever]

Great pictures of your DH and the Beverly. The pictures of Boardwalk and Mexico made me wish I was there now.

 

[goldielocksraj]

It was very quiet and peaceful on the boardwalk. I would love to see what it is like at night.

Oh, my goodness, it is GORGEOUS at night!!!!!! Not too peaceful (very busy!), but you can definately find your peaceful moments, especially if you're good at tuning out others.

On your next trip-YOU. MUST. GO. TO. THE. BOARDWALK. AT. NIGHT.

I HIGHLY recommend Jellyrolls, so much fun! Very adult-centered place w/o a "club-y" feel. BFF and I went for the first time in January, and it's all we can talk about, when can we go back??!!

 

[JanetMom]

That's how I envisioned it. Sleepy in the morning but all fun at night. It sounds great.

 

[Momof626x3]

Reading along and really enjoying your TR! Love all of the pics. It's getting me very excited for my trip to CR later this year!

 

[tigerdragon]

Subbing Love your TR and you take such beautiful pictures!

Looking forward to more!