Pre-trip Report: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1489634
Ive pasted the link to my pre-trip report, but here are the basics:
Cast of Characters: Me, DH, DN(16), DN(14.5), DS (12), DN(11.5) and DD(9)
Dates: 8/17 8/26
Resort: Pop on 8/17, BCV 8/18 8/26 (stayed on points for 5 nights, paid cash for 3 nights because point rates on weekends are very high)
Dining Plan: paid OOP for meals on 8/18, 8/25 and 8/26, used dining plan 8/19 8/25 because we were staying on points w/ DVC.
Other info: This was the 3rd trip for DH, DD, DS and I, but 1st trip for nephews. Since the older two are into thrill rides and Universal, and not into wearing Mickey ears, I was a little concerned that they wouldnt get as much out of the parks as the younger kids do .fortunately, I was wrong!
Arrival Day:
We were originally supposed to take an early flight out of Hartford on Saturday morning, but Southwest had a special that I could take advantage of if we flew on Friday (8/17). I ended up switching our flight to the last one out of Hartford on Friday night (departure 8:15pm, arrival 11:00pm) and reduced our fare from $109 to $69. Although the savings seemed significant (i.e. $280), it really balanced out in the end because I had to book a hotel for the Friday night and feed the army on Saturday morning.
We each packed a carry-on with everything that wed need until 4:00pm on Saturday. Since we were getting in so late, we knew the bags wouldnt be delivered that night. In addition, we were staying at Pop for arrival night only and since we planned on checking out first thing in the morning, we planned on having bags transferred. Managing a carry-on with everything that you need for an overnight isnt so easy, but I was able to find travel sizes for everything including 3oz bottle of sunscreen and travel size contact lense solution.
Prior to boarding the plane, I made everyone take an airborne. My kids hate drinking it, but since DS was just getting over a cold and we were going to be in the plane, I wanted everyone to have a little boost. They got it all down and we headed to the gate. We were all smiles as we boarded the plane!!! The flight was a little delayed because of storms in Hartford area, but we finally we managed to make up the delay and arrived on time at 11:00pm. Proceeded directly to the Magical Express area and we were on the bus by 11:15. At 11:40, the bus was still loading up passengers and DN16 stated that the bus needed to be renamed to the Magical Wait. Finally, at 11:50, we were off. Luckily, we were the first stop, and we arrived at Pop around 12:20am. Check-in went fine, we had connecting rooms, and off we were to bed. The kids were a little hyped up, but we were able to get everyone to settle down and turn off the lights by 1:30am.
Day 1 Too excited to sleep in!
Although we had all gone to bed late the night before, no one could sleep past 8:30. I usually never have a tough time sleeping in, but I was too excited to sleep and woke up at 7:45 and couldnt get back to sleep. I decided to check in with luggage services to make sure all of our bags had made it, and I wanted to pick up a paper.
I made my way down to luggage services and saw a huge line of people waiting to check in for their departure on Magical Express. These people looked pretty unhappy. It was somewhat early, the line was very long, it was out in the sun, and most of the kids were struggling. I felt bad for the whole group and wondered what our departure day would feel like. At that moment, I was happy that I had arranged to spend the extra money to have a car service return us to the airport on our future departure day. I knew that day would be tough enough, but what I didn't want was a hassle!
Luggage services at Pop was very friendly and they confirmed that all 7 bags had arrived. They put on the transfer tags so that the bags would be transferred to Beach Club, and they told me that they should be there around 1.
As I picked up the paper, the smell of yummy food from the food court hit me and I realized just how hungry I was! I headed back to the room in the blazing sun and thought oh man, its only 8:15 and Im already sweating! When I returned to the room, everyone was awake but no one was moving too quickly. They were having much more fun jumping on each other and goofing around. We had reservations for breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley at 10:40, so I called for a taxi-van and had them pick us up at 10:00. Since we were a little early for our ADR, I had the van drop us off at the Beach Club and I went to check in. I told the kids that they could explore the pool area for 15 mins and then they had to meet me back in the lobby.
Check-in took a little longer than usual because the reservations had gotten screwed up a little. We were staying for that first night on cash, for the following 5 nights on points, and for the final 2 nights on cash again. It was very important that all of the reservations were linked so that we didnt have to change rooms. At one point, those reservations had been linked, but I think everything came undone when Disney ran a special and I rebooked the cash nights at a lower rate. Anyway, a supervisor straightened everything out and we didnt run into any problems during the week. Our room wasnt ready, but I hadnt expected that it would be.
The kids met me back in the lobby and their eyes were as big as saucers and their voices were high-pitched with excitement. They had discovered Stormalong Bay (I hadnt told them anything about it) and couldnt wait to go swimming. We wandered over to the Yacht Club for our 10:40 ADR, and were seated around 10:45.
Breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley was average. The fresh fruit was delicious and DH was very pleased w/ the lox (I was surprised they had it on the buffet), but the kitchen seemed to struggle with keeping the food trays full. For instance, there were 2 pancakes in the tray, a few scraps of bacon, no waffles, and no cups for the syrup. They eventually came out, but I was surprised that they werent more on top of it. It was an uneventful and uninspiring meal, but honestly we were hungry and the kids wanted to go swimming so it served its purpose!
Bathing suits were on, we loaded everyone up with sunscreen and the kids were in the pool by 11:45. We didnt have an issue finding chairs (this was never a problem for us during the entire week) and the pool wasnt too crowded at that time. We loved the slide, the whirlpool, and the lazy river. The layout of the pool was beautiful and we were so happy to be there!
I had come up with 2 plans for today and gave the kids the choice of what to do. Plan #1 was to hangout by the pool until our room became available (4ish), have the groceries delivered to our room, change and then head over to Epcot for the evening. Plan #2 was to stay at the pool until 2:00, head over to Epcot (in the baking sun), come back to the resort around 4:30, get into the room, get groceries, etc and then head over to Typhoon Lagoon for evening EMH. The vote was unanimous checkout 1 country in Epcot and then come back to the resort and get ready for Typhoon Lagoon.
I dont know if Saturday was the hottest day during our trip, but it certainly seemed that way. Everyone says that Animal Kingdom is the hottest park, but I dont agree I think its Epcot. Epcot seriously lacks shade! The temp and humidity were high, but it was the direct sun that really had us sweating! We cut through some shops for relief, got an ice cream and then headed over to China in time to see the acrobats. The Chinese Acrobats were great! We all equally enjoyed their performance. Afterwards, we ventured into the theater to watch the film on China. Prior to the movie the kids were giving me a tough time about seeing something educational during summer vacation, but they ended up enjoying the movie very much.
Since it was now getting close to 4:00 and we were hot, we decided to return to the resort. Our room was ready and we couldnt wait to see it. I had hoped that wed have a balcony so that we could see the fireworks at Epcot each night, but I hadnt specifically requested that and our room ended up being on the first floor. I actually ended up liking that better because we were right around the corner from the quiet pool at the villas and we never had to wait for an elevator. Our room was very large and best of all, both sofa beds were brand new! I liked the layout of the 2BR villa as we had lots of space and with 3 TVs, there was never an argument about what everyone wanted to watch. It was also easy to shut one of the bedroom doors and take a nap, or quietly read a book during an afternoon break.
Anyway
Our bags were promptly delivered to our room. We ordered groceries from Garden Grocer and they arrived about 20 mins after we got into our room. The order was accurate and I was very pleased with the quality of the fruit that they delivered. We unpacked, made sandwiches for dinner and then headed out to Typhoon Lagoon for evening EMH.
Let me say this .evening EMH at the Typhoon Lagoon is awesome! The kids were amazed at the size of the waves generated by the wave pool and we spent our first 30 mins in the pool while the park cleared out. It was still a little crowded when we arrived at 6:30, but the normal operating hours ended at 7:00 and volumes of people left the park. We headed over to the storm slides around 7:00 and then Crush & Gusher and wait times for all rides were under 5 mins. Around 8:00, we went over to Shark Reef and got right in. By 9:30, we had done every ride multiple times and we were beat! Our bus had just pulled up as we walked out of the park so we were back at the Beach Club by 9:50. I didnt have to do any pleading to get the kids into bed. All were voluntarily in bed by 10:15 and were sound asleep by 10:30.
It was a great day full of activity, fun, and appreciation.
Next up....MGM in the morning and evening. Will it be hot, will it rain, and will I be able to handle RNR?
Ive pasted the link to my pre-trip report, but here are the basics:
Cast of Characters: Me, DH, DN(16), DN(14.5), DS (12), DN(11.5) and DD(9)
Dates: 8/17 8/26
Resort: Pop on 8/17, BCV 8/18 8/26 (stayed on points for 5 nights, paid cash for 3 nights because point rates on weekends are very high)
Dining Plan: paid OOP for meals on 8/18, 8/25 and 8/26, used dining plan 8/19 8/25 because we were staying on points w/ DVC.
Other info: This was the 3rd trip for DH, DD, DS and I, but 1st trip for nephews. Since the older two are into thrill rides and Universal, and not into wearing Mickey ears, I was a little concerned that they wouldnt get as much out of the parks as the younger kids do .fortunately, I was wrong!
Arrival Day:
We were originally supposed to take an early flight out of Hartford on Saturday morning, but Southwest had a special that I could take advantage of if we flew on Friday (8/17). I ended up switching our flight to the last one out of Hartford on Friday night (departure 8:15pm, arrival 11:00pm) and reduced our fare from $109 to $69. Although the savings seemed significant (i.e. $280), it really balanced out in the end because I had to book a hotel for the Friday night and feed the army on Saturday morning.
We each packed a carry-on with everything that wed need until 4:00pm on Saturday. Since we were getting in so late, we knew the bags wouldnt be delivered that night. In addition, we were staying at Pop for arrival night only and since we planned on checking out first thing in the morning, we planned on having bags transferred. Managing a carry-on with everything that you need for an overnight isnt so easy, but I was able to find travel sizes for everything including 3oz bottle of sunscreen and travel size contact lense solution.
Prior to boarding the plane, I made everyone take an airborne. My kids hate drinking it, but since DS was just getting over a cold and we were going to be in the plane, I wanted everyone to have a little boost. They got it all down and we headed to the gate. We were all smiles as we boarded the plane!!! The flight was a little delayed because of storms in Hartford area, but we finally we managed to make up the delay and arrived on time at 11:00pm. Proceeded directly to the Magical Express area and we were on the bus by 11:15. At 11:40, the bus was still loading up passengers and DN16 stated that the bus needed to be renamed to the Magical Wait. Finally, at 11:50, we were off. Luckily, we were the first stop, and we arrived at Pop around 12:20am. Check-in went fine, we had connecting rooms, and off we were to bed. The kids were a little hyped up, but we were able to get everyone to settle down and turn off the lights by 1:30am.
Day 1 Too excited to sleep in!
Although we had all gone to bed late the night before, no one could sleep past 8:30. I usually never have a tough time sleeping in, but I was too excited to sleep and woke up at 7:45 and couldnt get back to sleep. I decided to check in with luggage services to make sure all of our bags had made it, and I wanted to pick up a paper.
I made my way down to luggage services and saw a huge line of people waiting to check in for their departure on Magical Express. These people looked pretty unhappy. It was somewhat early, the line was very long, it was out in the sun, and most of the kids were struggling. I felt bad for the whole group and wondered what our departure day would feel like. At that moment, I was happy that I had arranged to spend the extra money to have a car service return us to the airport on our future departure day. I knew that day would be tough enough, but what I didn't want was a hassle!
Luggage services at Pop was very friendly and they confirmed that all 7 bags had arrived. They put on the transfer tags so that the bags would be transferred to Beach Club, and they told me that they should be there around 1.
As I picked up the paper, the smell of yummy food from the food court hit me and I realized just how hungry I was! I headed back to the room in the blazing sun and thought oh man, its only 8:15 and Im already sweating! When I returned to the room, everyone was awake but no one was moving too quickly. They were having much more fun jumping on each other and goofing around. We had reservations for breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley at 10:40, so I called for a taxi-van and had them pick us up at 10:00. Since we were a little early for our ADR, I had the van drop us off at the Beach Club and I went to check in. I told the kids that they could explore the pool area for 15 mins and then they had to meet me back in the lobby.
Check-in took a little longer than usual because the reservations had gotten screwed up a little. We were staying for that first night on cash, for the following 5 nights on points, and for the final 2 nights on cash again. It was very important that all of the reservations were linked so that we didnt have to change rooms. At one point, those reservations had been linked, but I think everything came undone when Disney ran a special and I rebooked the cash nights at a lower rate. Anyway, a supervisor straightened everything out and we didnt run into any problems during the week. Our room wasnt ready, but I hadnt expected that it would be.
The kids met me back in the lobby and their eyes were as big as saucers and their voices were high-pitched with excitement. They had discovered Stormalong Bay (I hadnt told them anything about it) and couldnt wait to go swimming. We wandered over to the Yacht Club for our 10:40 ADR, and were seated around 10:45.
Breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley was average. The fresh fruit was delicious and DH was very pleased w/ the lox (I was surprised they had it on the buffet), but the kitchen seemed to struggle with keeping the food trays full. For instance, there were 2 pancakes in the tray, a few scraps of bacon, no waffles, and no cups for the syrup. They eventually came out, but I was surprised that they werent more on top of it. It was an uneventful and uninspiring meal, but honestly we were hungry and the kids wanted to go swimming so it served its purpose!
Bathing suits were on, we loaded everyone up with sunscreen and the kids were in the pool by 11:45. We didnt have an issue finding chairs (this was never a problem for us during the entire week) and the pool wasnt too crowded at that time. We loved the slide, the whirlpool, and the lazy river. The layout of the pool was beautiful and we were so happy to be there!
I had come up with 2 plans for today and gave the kids the choice of what to do. Plan #1 was to hangout by the pool until our room became available (4ish), have the groceries delivered to our room, change and then head over to Epcot for the evening. Plan #2 was to stay at the pool until 2:00, head over to Epcot (in the baking sun), come back to the resort around 4:30, get into the room, get groceries, etc and then head over to Typhoon Lagoon for evening EMH. The vote was unanimous checkout 1 country in Epcot and then come back to the resort and get ready for Typhoon Lagoon.
I dont know if Saturday was the hottest day during our trip, but it certainly seemed that way. Everyone says that Animal Kingdom is the hottest park, but I dont agree I think its Epcot. Epcot seriously lacks shade! The temp and humidity were high, but it was the direct sun that really had us sweating! We cut through some shops for relief, got an ice cream and then headed over to China in time to see the acrobats. The Chinese Acrobats were great! We all equally enjoyed their performance. Afterwards, we ventured into the theater to watch the film on China. Prior to the movie the kids were giving me a tough time about seeing something educational during summer vacation, but they ended up enjoying the movie very much.
Since it was now getting close to 4:00 and we were hot, we decided to return to the resort. Our room was ready and we couldnt wait to see it. I had hoped that wed have a balcony so that we could see the fireworks at Epcot each night, but I hadnt specifically requested that and our room ended up being on the first floor. I actually ended up liking that better because we were right around the corner from the quiet pool at the villas and we never had to wait for an elevator. Our room was very large and best of all, both sofa beds were brand new! I liked the layout of the 2BR villa as we had lots of space and with 3 TVs, there was never an argument about what everyone wanted to watch. It was also easy to shut one of the bedroom doors and take a nap, or quietly read a book during an afternoon break.
Anyway
Our bags were promptly delivered to our room. We ordered groceries from Garden Grocer and they arrived about 20 mins after we got into our room. The order was accurate and I was very pleased with the quality of the fruit that they delivered. We unpacked, made sandwiches for dinner and then headed out to Typhoon Lagoon for evening EMH.
Let me say this .evening EMH at the Typhoon Lagoon is awesome! The kids were amazed at the size of the waves generated by the wave pool and we spent our first 30 mins in the pool while the park cleared out. It was still a little crowded when we arrived at 6:30, but the normal operating hours ended at 7:00 and volumes of people left the park. We headed over to the storm slides around 7:00 and then Crush & Gusher and wait times for all rides were under 5 mins. Around 8:00, we went over to Shark Reef and got right in. By 9:30, we had done every ride multiple times and we were beat! Our bus had just pulled up as we walked out of the park so we were back at the Beach Club by 9:50. I didnt have to do any pleading to get the kids into bed. All were voluntarily in bed by 10:15 and were sound asleep by 10:30.
It was a great day full of activity, fun, and appreciation.
Next up....MGM in the morning and evening. Will it be hot, will it rain, and will I be able to handle RNR?
