Hi all! Back last night from a
wonderful 
trip to BC! Of course, now we feel a little
Rooms - I booked two GV rooms: one for us (DH, DD, DS, and myself) and one for my mom (first trip to Disney). I requested 1) connecting and 2) patio or full balcony and both of my requests were met by the room assigner. YES! We had connecting first floor rooms on the walkway closest to Epcot (yes, a few doors from the 1501 exit). Warning - you can hear the fireworks from the room, even with the sliding door closed. You could also see the highest fireworks between the trees.
CMs - Cast members at BC were nice and very helpful. The lifeguards at SAB were great too. They had scheduled 'play time' with the kids. They helped bury my DS in the sand, build a sandcastle for my DD's Ariel, etc. I also found CMs to be very nice throughout the parks. My kids were fighting over who would hold the popcorn at MK, and the CM gave us a small extra cup, so the kiddos would stop arguing. Funny how little things make such a difference.
Food at resort - Breakfast at Cape May was wonderful, as usual. We also had a lovely breakfast *and* lunch at Captain's Grill and my mom and the kids had a lovely dinner there as well. Food at Captain's Grill was better executed than at Hollywood Brown Derby, even though HBD is much more expensive and is 2 credits on the dining plans. We also had dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse on Monday and it was also wonderful. My heirloom tomato salad had such good quality tomatoes and they allowed me to sub the potatoes that came with my steak for any of the veg sides (I chose green beans and they were delish)! The portions were huge. The kids' meal were very good quality too. Note that this was a longer meal - about 2 hours - but completely worth the time. My DS loved the setting and took lots of pics during the entire meal.
The Marketplace - It was nice to see that they had a breakfast platter with eggs, and the fridge was well-stocked with hard-boiled eggs, yogurt parfaits, and fruit (note: the 'dry' stuff like cereals and the fridge stuff still had plenty left in the afternoons). However, this is a very small counter/area for such a big hotel. It was mobbed
in the mornings. It also opens late. You can get coffee in your mug from 6 - 7 am, but you cannot purchase anything until 7 am. Given that MK opened at 8 am every day during our trip, it basically gave us 15 minutes to purchase something in the am. I bought hard boiled eggs, fruit, and yogurt parfaits to keep in the room, but my mom is old school and needed something hot every morning, so we had to wait until they opened. Captain's Grill and Cape May opened even later - 7:30. I wish there would be an option that would open at 6:30 am. It's not possible to eat a good breakfast at the hotel when the parks open at 8 am unless you get room service.
SAB - I was very glad to see they were absolutely enforcing the wristbands at the three entrances (with all other entrances closed off). We had no problem finding chairs and plenty of breathing room.
Buses/transportation - This is one area that really improved over our previous two trips. I don't know if it's that they expected larger crowds this time than in 2009 and 2011, but unlike previous trips we did not share buses to MK with Swan, Dolphin and BWI. BC only shared with YC to and from MK. This was a huge improvement! We also did not share with Swan, Dolphin and BWI to AK, although the bus back from AK did stop at Blizzard Beach, Swan, Dolphin, YC, BC, and then BWI. We did not wait long for any buses.
Housekeeping - As usual, everything was clean. My mom had issues with coffee and creamer being left, but a call to HK, quickly brought her what she needed.
Parks
MK - By sheer luck, we found ourselves near the new Fantasyland on Friday, the first day of the 'dress rehearsals.' I had completely given up on seeing the new Fantasyland this trip and it was such a delightful surprise. And SoMK was a lot of fun. Does anyone ever lose? It seemed very easy to win.
Epcot - As expected, there was a big difference in the lines for the F&W kiosks during the middle of the week vs. weekends. In the middle of the week, lines were very short.
Dining
As usual, we were on the DxDp and ate our little hearts (stomachs) out. For the most part, we all thought the food was quite good.
Bounceback - BB was FD for 8/18 - 9/26 next year. We prefer room discounts and those dates do not work for us at all, so we did not book.
I'll be happy to answer any questions!
. We r going costume shopping tonight. He is not that excited but I am jumping up and down. He keeps saying " really, this is what you want for your 35th birthday
" I keep answering 
and will check that out and report back. I'm happy to take on any other "assignments" as well if there's anything else I can check out for anyone. So excited to be heading back home to the Beach Club!! 
