Day 6:
A sad sad day indeed, for on this day, we had to check-out of the BWV and move to POR for the remaining 6 nights.
I was going to be in a conference for most of the rest of the week and they were paying for my accommodations, so I can't really complain.
We decided to sleep in a little late since we were up pretty much until 2am. We got up around 9:30 and finished packing and getting ready for the move. Around 10:30 we were done and had the bags at the door ready to go. I called bell services to send someone to get the bags and move them to POR for me. Then I went out on the balcony and sat for just a little while taking it all in before leaving. It was at this point I realized that it could be a little while before bell services arrived... there were a TON of people at the entrance driving up to check-in. I was wrong though, it only took about 15 minutes, the guy tagged everything, loaded it up, and said to expect them around 4pm at POR.
I then called POR to see if my room would be available, and the CM told me she couldn't guarantee my room was or would be ready, but recommended I come ASAP to check-in so I wouldn't have to wait in the long lines that tend to come later in the afternoon. So, we went down to the bus stop and headed to DD. From their we had to wait until 11AM for boat service to start to PO. We got on the boat and made our way to POR.
When we arrived at POR I was slightly impressed with the resort. The mansions looked nice so I was looking forward to staying in one of them. It definately wasn't the BW though! When we got to the lobby to check-in, there was a rather long line and it didn't seem like we were moving there for awhile. Then I guess another shift of employees arrived because 3 or 4 CMs came out. We had probably waited about 30 minutes at that point, then moved right up. I gave the CM my info and she pulled up the ressie and was going over the resort info. I then asked her if any of my requests were available (a water view in the mansions, upper floor, non-smoking). She said, you have a river view and non-smoking, and your room is ready now. I asked about the mansions and she said nothing was available.
So, it was off to Alligator Bayou, Bldg 27 on the first floor. It is pretty close to the food court and had a decent river view; however, I hated the decor of the room and hated being on the first floor. I guess this is more of a resort/room review, but the rough stone-type floor at the pedestal sinks was awful. It hurt my feet to stand on it. The siderails on the bed were a pain and I would hit my feet on them when I got out of bed. Oh, and the ever annoying fan in the bathroom. It was motion sensored and went off after like 4 seconds of no movement. So, when you were in the shower, it wasn't running at all because it didn't pickup the motion on the other side of the curtain. Bah, hated it. Being on the 1st floor right at the pathway along the riverside made it feel like we were on display. People were constantly walking by the window, so we pretty much had to keep the blinds closed. One thing it did have better than the BWV was the TV - it was probably twice the size!
Ok, so back to the rest of the day. Did I mention it was our anniversary? Yeah, so we had ressies for lunch at the Concourse Steakhouse. We headed over to find one of the bus stops (I think we eventually found the North depot). We grabbed a bus to MK and then walked to the Contemporary. It was a nice day, so not a bad walk. When we got to the CR I was noticing all of the construction going on and imagined it would probably be a pain to stay there with all that noise going on. When we walked in there, it was DEAD. It was almost like the CR had been abandoned. As we made our way over to the Concourse Steakhouse, I was a bit suprised at how empty they were. We arrived little early, but I think there were only 5 tables occupied, so getting seated was not a problem. Service wasn't "bad" but it wasn't the best. Our server was rather slow and didn't check-up on us as often as she should have. The food was great though, DP had the turkey club and I had the prime rib cheese steak. Oh, and for dessert I had the triple chocolate cake and he had the carrot cake.
I really hope they do some major overhaul to the CR. I find it just ugly and outdated, although I wouldn't mind a DVC there if they were to build the rooms with a view!
After lunch we got on the monorail and headed to the MK. We went in and watched the parade. After that we decided to head back to the resort because we had dinner ressies over at the GF and we wanted make sure we got our luggage and change, etc. So, back to POR!
We got back, went thru Fultons General Store and looked around, then went back to the room where I called about the luggage. It was around 2:30PM and they said the luggage was available for me to come and get. Of course I wasn't about to try and haul all those bags all the way back to the bayou side to my room, so I asked them to bring them to me. It took about 20-30 minutes, but a very quite guy finally brought the bags (I don't know if he spoke english at all as he never said a word). He just dropped the bags in the room, I handed him the gratuity and said thanks, and he just walked out the door.
While I unpacked the bags, DP decided to take a nap! Then I took a quick nap, very quick. I had made ADRs at 1900PF for 7:20pm and we wanted to dress up a little better than shorts and t-shirt to head over there. We got ready and took the bus to MK, then took the boat to the GF. Once we got to the GF boat dock, we realized that we had no idea where the restaurant was located. So, we just headed for the main building. When we arrived to get in line to check-in it was around 7:10-7:15. There was a guy checking in his family and I heard him say his ADR was for 8:10pm. He then proceeded to talk about his daughters birthday with the CM and she started talking about whether they wanted to order a cake, went over the price and order form, etc. I figured it must not be busy because no one was in the lobby waiting, no one was with the Fairy Godmother, and the CM told that guy that he could send the kids over to take pics and then they would take them directly to their table. Well, then we checked in and it was 7:30pm. She handed us a pager and said it would be just a few minutes. Well, there were quite a few families behind us at this point and they all checked in and made their way over for pictures. There were about 5-6 parties that arrived (from 3-6 in each group). Well, as we continued to sit there and wait, we noticed that all of these groups were being seated! So I got up and walked over to the door to the buffet and was suprised at how "cheap" it looked inside. I then got DP and told him to look and we lost all desire to eat there. I only booked the ADR there because we decided CRT wasn't worth the money, but I knew he liked the princesses so I figured we'd give it a shot. Anyway, I asked if he wanted to try for GFCafe or Citricos and he said sure. So I went to the lobby (still with the pager in-hand) and called Citricos. She said that it could be 30-40 minutes before we were seated, so I said okay, we'd be right up. Meanwhile, the pager STILL hasn't gone off, so I take it to the podeum and hand it to the manager (who is now at the desk helping get people checked in) and told her we had been waiting for our ADRs at 7:20 for about 40 minutes, parties with 8:10 ADRs were seated immediately, and we were heading up to Citricos instead. She said they had a table now and could seat us immediately, but we declined.
So, now we go up to Citricos, where no one was waiting! We checked in and the lady gave us a pager. We walked over to the gift shop and looked around, bought a pin, and then the pager went off. It was probably only 20 minutes.... the hostess walked us all the way to the back and sat us at a table next to the windows. It was really nice, and we were both rather impressed. I just realized this is getting pretty long so to shorten it up a bit, I'll just say the food was great, the view was really nice (and we were even able to see part of wishes). I think a great decision to switch (although much more expensive).
After dinner, we headed back to MK and then took the bus back to POR to get some sleep.