Hello everyone! I'm here to continue my TR with our arrival day at WDW, and then we spent 10 nights there. So you know, post #33 has the link to my dining report, so you can find my reviews and food porn pics there! And away we go...
So, we woke up fairly early and made it to breakfast at 8am in the Embassy Suites in Tampa. I decided that since I was going to indulge A LOT at Disney, I would have a light breakfast this morning. I had some oatmeal with a little maple syrup in it, a light yogurt to get a little protein in me, and some fruit. It was perfect to hold me over. We hit the road around 9am.
It was just over an hour to arrive at Disney! It was really great not to have to travel hours to get there from our previous destination. Before we knew it, we saw these signs on the road:
I didn't get any other pics from when we entered Walt Disney World, because I always videotape the kids when we are first arriving...it's a tradition for us and we like to see their reactions and the difference in their ages with each home video!
However, I did get a pretty good shot when we were first entering the resort. Please excuse the wire from the GPS!
We checked in with the guard at the gate, he gave us our parking pass and we drove up to the main entrance. Eric got out to make sure the luggage was checked in, and the boys and I were going inside to check in. As soon as I got out of the car, a CM greeted me and whisked us right to the entrance of the resort for check-in. This was so nice, and I felt the true Disney magic from the moment we arrived! I told her I just had to get a pic of the entrance first:
The CM then escorted us to the check-in desk, an I discovered she was from NY. So we chatted about that for a sec, and she said she was actually sending me to a CM at the front desk who was also from NY. I got to chat with him a bit as well, as he was checking us in. He gave us our KTTW cards and said our room was not ready yet. I was expecting the room to be ready at 4pm, the guaranteed time. I never expect it earlier, since I know it takes time to clean a 1-bedroom villa, and just because that is the guaranteed time so I make sure our expectations are that we will not have access to the room until 4pm.
I asked him if he knew the location of the room. I had requested top floor, across from the bus stop (we had a 1-bedroom standard view at Boardwalk Villas). This was the same request I had made for our last trip, and we ended up on the third floor across from the bus stop...we were able to see a lot of the fireworks from Epcot so we loved this location, and wanted it again. He said that all he could tell me was it is on the third floor across from the bus stop. Great for convenience, both for getting to the bus, the parking lot, and the walkway to DHS. He just couldn't tell me the room number for security reasons, which I already knew.
Eric came to join us as we were finishing up, and I told him the location of our room and that the CM behind the desk was from NY. Luggage was all checked in, and all we had to do was call when we got into our room. We headed over to concierge to have our park tickets placed onto our KTTW cards for convenience. We had 7-day base tickets that I had purchased several months ago from
Undercover Tourist. The concierge gladly put them onto our KTTW cards, wrote "void" on each actual ticket and said we can keep them as souvenirs.
Originally, we were supposed to head right to the WDW Speedway so that Eric could do his ride-along at the Richard Petty Driving Experience (I gave him a gift card for Father's Day). However, he discovered on the ride down to Tampa, that he had left the gift card at home. I called RPDE and asked if they could look up the gift card when we got there and they said no, that they need the actual card. They also said that the card never expires and he could use it on a future trip. But, we are not going back until July 2014. Eric was so mad at himself for forgetting to bring it.
Then, I said that maybe my father could look for it in our house, since they were going to be joining us on July 29th, and we could fit in the ride-along later in the trip. I called my father and he found the gift card and put it in his wallet to bring down to us.
We originally had a 1:05 lunch ADR at Kona, so we could go after the ride-along. Since we weren't going to the Speedway that day, while we were on the road to Tampa, I called Disney Dining to cancel the Kona ADR, and change it to Bongos Cuban Cafe because Eric and I decided we would go to Downtown Disney on the first day instead. One night, we had an ADR for dinner at The Wave but I changed that to dinner at Kona since we love Kona so much.
Anyway, we headed to the bus stop to go to DTD and we didn't wait long at all. We shared a bus with Yacht & Beach Club, Swan & Dolphin. The bus stopped at Typhoon Lagoon first, then we headed to DTD Marketplace where we got off. We walked around a bit, and I knew I had to stop here first for a snack because we still had time before lunch:
I ended up getting the creat your own pretzels, which came with 3 pretzel rods. The boys each had one, and Eric & I shared the third. The boys each got dark chocolate dipped, covered in M&Ms, drizzled with white chocolate. Eric and I shared one dipped in dark chocolate, covered in graham crumbs and drizzled with milk chocolate. They were delicious, but cost $10. Hey, it was something I had to do once!
The boys also enjoyed watching the CM make them.
After that, we did some shopping. We went to the World of
Disney Store to buy some Mickey ears...I got the Disney Princess ones, and the boys instead opted for Perry the Platypus hats. Eric decided that he would wear his Goofy hat from last time, and didn't buy anything for himself. Here's a shot from outside:
We also headed to Guest Relations while we were in the Marketplace area, so I could purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. There are 3 ways to qualify for this: 1, if you are a Florida resident; 2, if you hold an annual pass (regardless of residency) and 3, if you are a DVC member (regardless of residency). The third was just recently added as a perk for DVC members. It costs $100 unless you are an AP holder, in which case it costs $75. We had lots of qualifying restaurants planned, and none of the dining plans fit our plans, so we opted to buy the TiW card for $100. We did this on our last trip (I upgraded to an AP first though), and it saved us a lot of money. You get 20% off your entire bill, including alcohol, at participating restaurants, and almost every TS on property participates, including ones in DTD and some at the Swan/Dolphin. Then they add an automatic 18% gratuity. We find this all so easy, it works for us very well.
After walking around, we walked into Pleasure Island, and then made our way to the West Side where Bongos is. Post #33 here has the link to my dining report, and my review of Bongos is on there!
After lunch, we went into a few other shops. Here's a pic of Eric & the boys at the Harley Davidson shop:
It started to rain. Ahh, that all-too-familiar Florida afternoon rain we always run into on our summer trips!
We broke out the ponchos (this time we had Eric's with us too!
), and made our way to Pleasure Island. It started coming down hard, and I suggested we stop in Cooke's of Dublin and try a fried candy bar. It wasn't crowded in there, and Eric ordered a fried Snickers. It took a while for them to bring it to us, but that was OK because it was raining hard, plus we had a table so we were fine and so were the kids. Eric ate most of the bar, I had a bite or 2, and it wasn't as crispy as I thought it would be but tasted good. The rain got lighter, and we headed out and back to the Marketplace because I had told Eric that I NEEDED to get ice cream at Ghirardelli!
We went to Ghirardelli, and they give $1 off a sundae for DVC members. We all shared a brownie sundae and I added a side of warm peanut butter. It was GREAT!!!
At around 2:30pm, I got a text that our room was ready. We were pleasantly surprised that it was ready ahead of the guaranteed time of 4pm, and decided to head to the bus and go back to BWV. We were also amazed that we got the same exact villa as last time, 3119!
So we knew we would have a good view of the Epcot fireworks at night.
The bus ride took an hour! First we stopped at Typhoon Lagoon to pick people up, then the other resorts. The Yacht Club, the Beach Club, The Swan, the Dolphin, and Boardwalk was last. We went into the villa...we told the boys it was the exact same one as last time and they thought this was funny!
I took some pics after we got settled:
Afterwards, I headed downstairs to the Screen Door General Store to get some milk. We had gone to Wal-Mart the day before in Tampa to pick up some cereal for breakfast most mornings at WDW. The milk was the exact same price as it was on our last trip in July 2010...$2.95 for a half gallon. I know this is more expensive than the supermarket, but we really did not feel like leaving property just to get some milk.
We relaxed in the villa for a while, and I put up a load of laundry from the first few days we traveled. I love having the washer/dryer in the villa...a LOT less packing for the trip, and we come home with minimal laundry to do!
The only issue is that the dryer seems to take forever, but it works so that works for me!
We had a 6:25pm ADR for Kouzzina. I made that ADR because it was right there, and so convenient. Eric was very happy not to have to travel to a restaurant and just be able to walk downstairs and onto the Boardwalk for dinner our first night. We headed down at 6pm. I will post a review for Kouzzina really soon on my dining report, probably later today.
After a fantastic dinner, we went out onto the Boardwalk for a little while. We took in all the beautiful sights, and it was just so nice to be back and have a full 10 days ahead of us to enjoy. We went back into the room in the evening...after I picked up a cupcake from BW Bakery (which will also be on my dining report), got the kids ready for bed, and watched the fireworks from our balcony in our PJs! Here are a couple of shots of the fireworks from our room:
After the fireworks, the boys headed to bed. We were pretty tired too, and had a big day ahead of us. So we also went to bed early.
Next up: A day at Sea World! Stay tuned...
You mentioned you got a discount at Ghiradelli's for being DVC members. How do you show you're a DVC member? I ask because when we first signed our contract, they gave me and DH both DVC Membership cards that had our name on them, but no barcode. The next day, at a restaurant over at Disney's California Adventure, I asked if they took DVC discounts and they said yes. So I showed the membership card I was originally given and she said, "Oh no, not that card, it's another one." Okay, didn't think anything more of it, since I assumed something more official would come in the mail. 10 weeks later, they mailed me a membership card that was EXACTLY the same one as they had given me in the very beginning. 
What am I missing? What does a 'real' DVC membership card look like? Would like to get some discounts while at the World in December...
