2400 pictures! Beach Club, Universal, and Bay Lake Tower Grand Villa-COMPLETE!

[dr&momto2boys]

Universal has changed so much since I have been there. The only thing that I remember is the animal actor show which I loved. I need to go back.

Great pictures. Looks like they have so many kids things now which is always a good thing. I don't remember all the characters either but then again it has been years.

There's definately a lot for the kids...and for the grown-ups, so it's nice for all of us!

lot's of wonderful pics until I spit out breakfast on my monitor. Barney? You have got to be kidding me.

Just wondering, for your kids point of view, where did they enjoy more time at? WDW or Universal? So far from the looks on their faces, it seems to be a wonderful trip so far. Can't wait to see BLT

I know! My kids had never seen Barney before and I hope they don't get attached! The show is pretty cute though (although a bit annoying for grown-ups) and they play area is awesome!

Great updates!! Your pics of Universal make me want to go!

Go, go, go! It's so fun!

Just read through your whole report so far. I'm loving it, your boys and little princess are adorable!!! That's really nice that they got to take this trip with their cousins. My SILs and I have mentioned that it would be fun before but we never seem to be ready to go at the same time. Maybe one day!

Can't wait for the rest!!

Thanks! Traveling with extended is family is harder but more enjoyable too. I'm always surprised at how well we actually get along! This is our second big Disney World trip with them. I'm not sure there will be more, but I hope so!

 

[adamsup]

Ahhh, it was nice and cool inside. Somehow, I didn't get a picture of the decor inside and it's beyond what I can describe. DH ordered a pint of beer

ahh that brings back memories of living in England! I miss those proper pint glasses!

For Jacob, I ordered cheese pizza which came with vegetables and fruit salad. Max wanted "sausage", so I ordered the Bangers and Mash for him. It came with potato leek soup and fruit salad. It was too sophisticated for his palate.

This made me chuckle! First time I have ever heard anyone refer to English cuisine as "too sophisticated"

 

[dr&momto2boys]

This made me chuckle! First time I have ever heard anyone refer to English cuisine as "too sophisticated"

Well, it is for a three year old!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I'd like to mark this as the official halfway point of my trip and therefore my TR! I'm preparing to post pictures of our Bay Lake Tower grand villa in a few minutes...or so. (3 kids, you know?)

 

[dr&momto2boys]

MIL had arranged for a big van to pick us up at Royal Pacific Resort and take us to the Contemporary. We were a little early so decided to let the boys give MIL and SIL the cards and gift they had made for Mothers Day.

MIL really loved the t-shirt! Avery's character had Hannah Montana mouseears on. MIL wondered if there really was such a thing and was searching for them for the rest of the trip!

The van was early and we all piled in along with tons of luggage and had a nice drive to WDW! By the way, the Disney resorts were kind enough to transfer our suitcases from the Beach Club Villas (where we stayed earlier in the trip) to Bay Lake Tower for us. I packed one suitcase for the BCV part of the trip, one for the Universal part, and 2 for the BLT part, so we could stay semi-organized and not have to haul everything around all the time!

The check-in process took a little longer than normal, because we wanted to pay for our dining plan on three separate credit cards. I'm not sure why that's so difficult, but it was. All the CMs were very nice though, they just apparently don't have a great system for that. We knew from our previous trips that all the dining credits would be lumped together for all 10 people in our room. That's fine when it's one immediate family, but when three families share "1" really huge room, it doesn't work so well. Imagine keeping track of 30 Adult TS credits, 20 kids TS credits, 30 adult CS credits, 20 kids CS credits, and 50 snack credits for 5 days.

I made "punchcards" for each family's alottment so we could keep track individually. It worked just fine.

Here's everyone waiting patiently to check-in.

The Grand Villa is a 2-story, 3 bedroom, 4, bathroom unit. It has a full kitchen, a diing room, a living room, a laundry room, and this one has a loft. It could sleep at least 12 people easily.

There is a bridge that connects the Contemporary Resort with Bay Lake Tower. We entered the villa on the main level and saw this. Sorry the pictures are dark, the sunlight was pouring in. Pictures can't do it justice anyway. The windows are two stories high. They do have automatic shades that you can lower if desired (they are halfway lowered in the picture.)

There are 4 balconies for this unit. One off of the kitchen/dining area, and one off of each bedroom. We had a Lake View room, but when you stand on the balconies and look left you can see Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain.

The Master Bedroom is on the main floor. It has a King-size bed.

This is another view of the Master. You can see into the bathroom, where there is a garden tub and a sliding door to open or close off the view into the bedroom.

Here's the main floor "extra" bathroom and the laundry room. The bathroom is a full bath too, not a half bath. We used it for baths for the kids some nights, because it was more fun for the girls to get a bath together, and the boys to take a bath together.

Next: Pictures of the upstairs!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

At the top of the stairs there is a loft. It has a loveseat that folds out into a bed, an ottoman, and a table with a flat screened T.V. There were 5 flat screened T.V.s altogether in this unit! Here's a really bad picture of the loft area, then a picture looking down into the living room.

There was a door that opened into the main hallway from the loft. This was the 16th floor and the hallway led directly to the Top of the World Lounge. Top of the World Lounge is an exclusive lounge with a full bar and some food service. There is also an outside area whre the fireworks can be viewed and the music is of course piped in. Only DVC members staying at BLT can access the lounge. Usually you have to go down to the desk and they walk you to a roped off elevator and swipe their card to access the 16th floor.

On either side of the loft were bedrooms. They were nearly identical and each had a private bath.

Here's the other room...

The rooms were pretty good size. We even put up a pack & play for the baby to sleep in and the room didn't feel cramped. The bathrooms had the toilets separated from the sink/mirror/bathtub and they were roomy too. There was a nice sized closet in each room also and plenty of storage everywhere!

I guess that's it for the Grand Villa pictures. I want to try to find a link to the article I read about this room (well, MK view room like this) renting out for up to $10K per night! Obviously I would never (could never) pay that, but it makes me feel like we got a great deal with our DVC!

After admiring our accomodations, we headed over to the quick service restaurant at the Contemporary.

I love how the cousins get along so well together! It's actually easier taking care of five kids than three. (At least when they're not all siblings.)

Grandma had packed tiaras for both princesses. Even though Avery swore she was "over" princesses, she popped that tiara on right away and wore it to dinner.

This was the first time I had used the electronic ordering. Using it was intuitive, but knowing to go to the check out to pay and get a buzzer was not. I liked the system overall, but we were all just confused for a few moments!

Apparently we had pizza and salad. Nothing memorable--just okay.

The brownie wasn't great, but I did like the black forest cupcake!

On our walk back to the room, I took a couple pictures. (Who, me?) This is the area where they show movies each night. We did watch one later in the trip.

And here is the pool at BLT. There is a nice waterslide. That's the part with the illuminated Mickeys.

Next up: Our first morning at Magic Kingdom!

 

[MadiMouse]

Then I stop and think, who else will willingly look at my 2400 vacation pics?

ME!!!!!!!

 

[MadiMouse]

Okay, I have my life all figured out now. I want to be like you when I grow up!!!



Now that really is a "Grand" Villa!

 

[onelilspark]

Really small detail, but the rooms with 2 beds in them...I really like that they're similar, but each have their own color scheme. It would be a little boring if it was all the same.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Day 6

SIL had requested plenty of pooltime on this trip. While it's against my nature to not be at the parks 24/7, we planned for this day to mostly be a pool day. My family HAD to go to the Magic Kingdom for a couple of hours though! We got up and ready to arrive for rope drop. That still leaves plenty of time for the pool later! Grandma and Grandpa were with us.

Saying goodbye to their cousins before we left:

I loved the view from the elevators! It looked right over the Magic Kingdom, so you could never forget where you were! Here are the boys, all ready for their first taste of the Magic Kingdom (this trip.)

We walked to the Magic Kingdom. Yes, the Contemporary is on the monorail, but before it goes to the MK, it goes other places first. It's actually faster to walk. On the way back from MK, Contemporary is the first stop. Here are some sights we saw along the way. You can see the bridge connecting Bay Lake Tower to the Contemporary.

The typical photo ops and the opening ceremony:

...followed by the mad rush to Dumbo! As usual we weren't going anywhere fast though.

I knew when we saw the line for Dumbo that we should have bailed and done a few other rides instead of waiting, but it wasn't going to get shorter and we weren't going to be faster on another morning so we just waited, and waited, and waited.

It was about 40 minutes from rope drop to the time we got off of Dumbo. But the kids got quality time in line with their grandparents and who doesn't love Dumbo?! DH ran to get FP for both Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. (3 of each or 4 and 2, I can't remember, because we didn't end up using them anyway. We just want to be prepared in case we do!) He arrived back just in time for me to pass my camera to him to snap some shots of us.

Note Grandpa video taping? I loved watching the videotape from the last trip and can't wait to see this one. You never know what he's got on there!

My next mistake this day was not sticking to my plan to arrive at Toontown at 9:45 for rope drop. I thought we could squeeze in the teacups really quickly since it was on the way and the line was really short.

Oops. The rope had definately dropped before we got there.

 

[kimmylaj]

ok , just a big WOW at the grand villa at BLT
and i understand about the gotta go to the park mentality, even if its just for a couple of hours i have to go.
i love the mouse ear from behind pic of your son where your husband is pushing the stroller, really cute and the one where he is turning around on main street is picture perfect. love the expression

 

[mermaid764]

Wow that Villa is amazing! All the extra room must have been incredible and the view was amazing! I love the theming of the pool area too, the mickey's on the water slide are adorable. Looking forward to hearing more

 

[dd50]

Love the villa's. I would love to stay there. Maybe one day. I understand about wanting to go to the park but also understand about having pool time. We usually don't have much pool time but we have one at home.

I know the drill about getting to Dumbo as fast as you can. Sorry your wait was so long because last year we were pretty much done with that area by the time ToonTown opened but the lines for the princesses were really long that day.

 

[Melissa<3Disney]

Just read through the whole thing!! This is by far my favorite trip report!! I, love, love, love the grand villa!! We are a party of 14 and would love to do this one day!! But unfortunately like you said.. the 10,000 a night price tag is just a tad high!! I just wanted to say that you have an adorable family and I'm totally on board for the rest of the trip report!!

 

[Nermel9]

Wow that grand villa is amazing! I really have no desire to stay at BLT (although I like it way more than the Contemporary!) but that villa is pretty nice! Maybe someday when I'm a DVC member rotfl I'll get to stay there!

 

[precious pixie]

Great TR so far!!

 

[smidgy]

we much preferred Back to the Future to Simpsons. Simpsons was so disjointed, you couldn't tell where you were going,it was less realistic, hence, less scary. just a bunch of jostling around, with various scenes flashed in front of you.
bay lake towers looks really nice.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

Just read through the whole thing!! This is by far my favorite trip report!! I, love, love, love the grand villa!! We are a party of 14 and would love to do this one day!! But unfortunately like you said.. the 10,000 a night price tag is just a tad high!! I just wanted to say that you have an adorable family and I'm totally on board for the rest of the trip report!!

Wow! What a complement! Thanks!

Great TR so far!!

Thank you!

we much preferred Back to the Future to Simpsons. Simpsons was so disjointed, you couldn't tell where you were going,it was less realistic, hence, less scary. just a bunch of jostling around, with various scenes flashed in front of you.
bay lake towers looks really nice.

I agree. I like the way they themed the line, but the ride was disjointed. They could have done better!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

I know the drill about getting to Dumbo as fast as you can. Sorry your wait was so long because last year we were pretty much done with that area by the time ToonTown opened but the lines for the princesses were really long that day.

Yes, we usually get there very quickly and have most of FL done before TT opens, but we were slower with Grandma and Grandpa along (and slower yet when the whole group was together) so I just tried to relax and go with the flow.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

My next mistake today was not knowing exactly where Pixie Hollow was located. We walked the length of Toon Town looking and thought maybe it was in the Judge's Tent. No. We couldn't find anyone to ask. We walked aimlessly for a while and finally found out that they are in near the Princesses. (Inside the store--whatever that's called.)

I had wanted to get Ella's picture with Tinkerbell and had her dressed like a fairy too. Also Max loves Tinkerbell! But the line was posted as 45 minutes long and I heard a CM talking on their walkie talkie asking, "How long of a wait is it if the line is almost to the entrance?" We bailed! We'll get here earlier another day.

We wandered around TT looking at Mickey's House and Minnie's house. Ella felt right at home at Minnie's house! She was just instantly taken with it! She threw a fit when we made her leave!

We also saw Donald's Boat, but the kids weren't impressed with this area.

Next, Max went on Goofy's Barnstormer with Grandpa. Last September, I took both boys on it while DH waited with a tiny Ella. Since I could only ride with kid, I rode with Max and Jacob sat in the first car of the coaster all by himself. That scared him, so his first inclination was not to ride it this time.

Ella and Jacob played in the area in front of the railroad. (Which reminds me, we didn't ride the railroad at all this trip.) Ella is a little dare-devil and climbed and slid down the slide all by herself repeatedly.

When Max returned with a great review of the rollercoaster, Jacob decided he would try it and Max wanted to ride again too. Grandma and Grandpa took them on.

We were finished with rides for the day, and decided to head back through Main Street instead of taking the train so we could pick up a snack on the way. I was on the lookout for a cappuccino float and I think there is one somewhere in Fantasy Land, but didn't come across it. We decided that the Main Street Bakery would be a great place for a snack. FIL/Grandpa (sorry I keep switching back and forth) had the frozen latte here and the kids and I split an ice cream sandwich. MIL had an icecream sandwich too. *THE best use of a snack credit, IMO!* It's two big soft chocolate chip cookies packed with two big scoops of vanilla icecream, then smooshed together. Yum!

And one final stop at the hat/ear shop to get Ella her first pair of mouse ears. That was Ella's souvenir from Grandma. We ordered and paid for the ears and decided to pick them up when we came back to MK tonight for Spectromagic. The boys waited outside the shop for us and had fun too.

We left the Magic Kingdom around 11am and headed back to BLT for our pool time.