So, we got back yesterday from a 6 night/7 day stay at the BC, GV room.
Some observations...
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The crowds were bigger this year than last year, in roughly the same time frame. This was especially evident to us at the MNSSHP (on a 'quiet' Tuesday, no less), and in each of the parks.
Instead of having waits of 20 minutes and less, most days we had waits of 30minutes or more for non-fast-pass rides, other than the usual few that rarely have long waits anyway.
Garden view can quite literally mean something green.
Despite making numerous requests (I know...they're just that...requests) for something, anything close to the lobby/transportation for the member of my party using an assistive device, we were placed at the very far end of the resort. Coming back from EPCOT the first time, we were easily able to identify the room as the very last corner room with the tree all but invading the balcony and creeping into the room. It felt like we had our own Swiss Family Robinson tree house, lol. You couldn't see anything but that tree.
The waits for the MK buses were generally awful for us, because we never lucked up and had our timing work out just right. And when they finally did come, we were almost always standing for the duration of the trip.
FP+ for us, without the additional option of the old, regular fastpasses, seems a bit too planned out and restrictive. Well, maybe restrictive is not the right word. We just felt like there was no go with the flow on this vacation. Every day we had an itinerary we needed to stick to in order to maximize our time in the parks, and we failed spectacularly at that. I think we rode more of the rides the night of MNSSHP without any FP+ available than we did any of our other park days combined. Now that was probably due to a combination of things, but still...I don't think that's a coincidence.
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Parks...we found them all to be more crowded than previous Septembers, but still better than our summer visits.
Animal Kingdom, we really got to do more than in the rest of the parks. We got to ride EE multiple times, FP+ or not.
Magic Kingdom, this is where it felt more like a summer visit. The mornings were fine, and the evenings still weren't wall to wall, but those September wait times I bragged to my family about were nowhere to be found.
EPCOT got covered up by the F&W folks quickly, but that was to be expected.
Hollywood, OMIGOSH, all the Frozen fanatics (lol...of which the kidlet is officially a converted member). We did really enjoy the Singalong and the fireworks, but it was a haul from the last singalong to a decent viewpoint of said fireworks.
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Resort...love, love, love the Beach Club.
That said, we did not love our first room. As I mentioned previously, it was at the literal far end of the resort, and that just wasn't a good thing for my DISMom who relies on a cane and gets easily worn out by long distances. This was the first instance where I felt a strong enough need to make a complaint, so I immediately called the front desk (don't ask why we didn't notice BEFORE we'd walked practically to EPCOT's entrance) and nicely explained the situation and our needs (again). We were moved to a new room within 10 minutes, and, miracle of miracles, all of our Magic Bands worked.
Now the new room did come with its own issues (the tub had this annoying tendency to back up during our showers), but the location was so much better for us, we dealt with it instead of complaining again. We were just two doors down from the elevator, and while it wasn't the quietest location, it was super helpful. We had a partial view of the roof below us and off to the left side from our little balcony, but we could see Ariel in front of the Villas (I think) as well, so it wasn't terrible.
It wasn't as good as last year's view, but I think we got lucky that time.
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Dining...the
DDP really is a lot of food, too much food, but when Free Dining's the Bounceback, we generally take advantage of it.
O'hana is an old family fave, and we still enjoyed it, despite missing the chicken. We were bothered by our waiter prefacing every interaction with "I'm not trying to rush you, but...," but we were able to overlook that partially because of the yummy bread pudding (and we don't usually like this elsewhere, go figure).
Via Napoli was good. I can't say I loved my entree (I think it was the Candele), but it was still good, and we enjoyed our deserts here. Being able to walk up over 30 minutes before our reservation and be seated with a very minimal wait was an added bonus.
La Hacienda was a very pretty restaurant, and we had a nice table in front of the windows that would have had a nice view of Illuminations had we stayed long enough to watch. Overall, I think, this was our least favorite meal. The menu just seemed very limited, and while our entree (one of the shared ones) looked good, it was just so-so. At least the caramel apple pastry desert was good.
Trail's End was very good. There was nothing, food wise, that we didn't like here. What we didn't care for was the travel time it took to get here, and that was all on us. Word of advice that I'm sure you've already read numerous times around the DISboards: plan this meal for when you're already in the general vicinity. We did this on our AK day because we thought, hey...we don't have anything else planned for this evening, the park closes fairly early. Still should have known better. Traveling to MK proved to be a bit of a pain from the BC (and we had such good luck last year), and that's only the first leg of the journey to get to this tucked away gem. If you still want to go, allow extra time.
Beaches and Cream is so good. The first time we visited just for the ice cream. Ghiradelli may have more variety, but I'm of the opinion B&C offers more bang for your buck. Between the 3 of us, we struggled to finish 2 sundaes. One would have easily sufficed. Both were delicious. And don't even get me started on when we ate here a couple days later to use up our last TS credit (we decided to cancel Cape May at the last minute because we just couldn't do another buffet and we wanted simple fare after almost a week of trying to branch out). I feared we would have to be rolled out of the place. Definitely save some stomach room before going here.
Kona Cafe has always been another of our favorites, but we were disappointed this time. Usually we don't mind how loud it can get here, but with all the construction walls, it added a sense of claustrophobia to this claustrophobic. Don't even get me started on the food. It just wasn't the same. I know things change, but we weren't happy with the quality of our entrees. Even our desserts were kinda meh. Maybe we caught it on an off night?
There's not much to say about the counter services.
Columbia Harbour House was good.
Yak and Yeti wasn't bad.
Wolfgang Puck Express Marketplace was the clear winner in this department, and I understand why it has so many fans. We ate both dinner and breakfast here, and there wasn't a thing we tried that we didn't enjoy. The rest weren't anything memorable.
Follow that tip you see about using those leftover snack credits at Goofy's Candy Factory in DTD. It's a good one.
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Stormalong Bay...was so much fun, and thankfully, open later this year than it was last year. Although it got a little cool in the evening, we really enjoyed the thought of being able to swim until 11 pm if we wished. It was an added bonus that it opened at 9 am instead of 10 this year, too.
It was never overly crowded. However, there were definitely lots of towels saving empty chairs that nobody ever returned to while we watched.
I finally braved the slide this year at the kidlet's urging.
Not having ridden it before, I wasn't aware of just how long it really was. By the time the end finally came, I'd given up and let's just say I didn't close my mouth fast enough. This happened late at night, so hopefully no one else was witness to my embarrassment, lol.
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Extras...MNSSHP was fun, though not as fun as last year. This was partially due to the monsoon that nearly swept us away through the first two hours of the event. I'm telling you...it deserved its own name. The other reason our enjoyment level was down was the crowd level despite a so-called quiet night (Tuesday) in addition to the buckets of rain we endured. Still, we were able to hit the high points, ride more rides this night than any other day combined (and that, with FP+), and enjoyed HalloWishes. Plus, we burned off all the calories from the bottomless bag of candy we collected shivering on the bus the way home.
Behind the Seeds tour...interesting, but not as much to me as to the kidlet. Let me just say, your guide can make or break this tour. Ours was a little dry. Your tourmates can also influence your enjoyment and/or the length of your tour. This was advertised as approximately an hour; we went over that hour by 30+ minutes. It was a little more than I bargained for, but I'm glad we did it. I did learn some interesting tidbits I'd never known about some common and not so common plants, so it wasn't a complete wash. A little advice? Don't go into this on an empty stomach. Just in case you have a very talkative, inquisitive tourmate. Just saying.
DisneyQuest...now, I don't think I would ever pay extra for these tickets, but as free vouchers, they're nice. Especially on a rainy day (which we had, every day, but in spots). It was especially enjoyable for the kidlet, but I had fun too with some of the old throwbacks.
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All in all, we had a good trip.
I'm not as big a fan of FP+ as I originally was, but it does have its positives (without it, I fear I never would have managed to ride TSMM, lol).
The Magic Bands make it a little too easy to charge stuff to your room, but they're super convenient, especially when working as they should be.
We still enjoy FD, even though it's truly way too much food, and we've booked another BB (although this time we're being more budget-friendly with a short stay at POR).
The Beach Club was fabulous yet again.
If I could, I'd make a return trip each and every time, despite the fact that I eventually want to be able to make the claim of staying at each and every resort.
AskSiri
Everyone over on the CL FAQ sure would be appreciative. 
