3 little girls + 2BR BCV + princess overload= a magical January trip!

[melodyka]

We were planning on taking a DCL trip this year since our last trip to WDW in July 2010 was ridiculously hot, crowded and exhausting. My MIL & FIL decided to join us at the last minute because she had just hit her 3 year cancer free mark, and wanted to celebrate. So, we changed it to a stay at BCV, and invited our 6.5 year old niece along as well.

me (Melody), DH, MIL, DD 2, DN 6.5, DD 4.5, FIL

Since we have been back for more than a month, I can't remember play-by-play, but will instead list the highlights I can remember.

DAY 1 Highlights-
JetBlue from Newark airport- I was so pleasantly surprised as this was my first time flying JetBlue, and the tickets were so reasonable ($200 each roundtrip). Free checked bags, snacks onboard, spacious seats, tvs at each seat. Made the flight so easy and pleasant- we will definitely fly JetBlue again!

Goodie bags for plane-In the months leading up to the trip, I collected fun stuff to put in a reusable Disney bag for each girl to take as her carry-on. I presented them to the girls the morning of the flight as "a present sent from Tinkerbell". These were a huge hit, and totally kept the girls busy on the plane:
-autograph books
-giant pen
-Disney coloring/activity book
-Princess crayons
-Disney flash cards for older girls
-juice box
-goldfish
-granola bar
-rice krispy treat
-headphones from Five Below
-Disney felt/marker boards
-bracelet making kit

Checking into BCV- I loved how we were greeted and brought right to the front desk and introduced by name. Check-in went smoothly, and they were able to get us a room right away- I would say it was 1pm. We were happy with our room, view of the wooded area, 2nd floor balcony. It was perfect that the bronze statue of Ariel stood outside the Villas entrance as we did come to Disney World strictly to see her, according to my oldest daughter- she figured we were staying at Ariel's house!

Babywheels stroller- I had rented a double city-mini stroller from www.babywheelsorlando.com, and my husband picked it up from the concierge while I handled checking in. The stroller was PERFECT- clean, light, sturdy, came with accessories such as rain cover, cooler bag, and parent console, and it was purple to boot (DD 4.5 favorite color). We loved it and highly recommend Babywheels!

MK- this was our chilliest day, but still not too bad. We were able to enjoy quite a bit from 3ish-7:30pm. As I recall, we saw the show in front of castle, Aladdin, Enchanted Tiki House, Jungle Cruise, Dinner at Harbour House, Small World, Tea Cups, Carousel, & Electrical Parade

What I would change-
-later flight & no parkhopper on Day 1 The poor girls had to get up way too early to go to the airport. Our flight was at 8am, so we would get to Orlando and have a good amount of time to go to MK. In hindsight, I just think it was exhausting for the poor girls. They didn't misbehave or act cranky, but they never really caught up on sleep and the crankiness did come out later in the trip. Next time, I would go a minimum of 7 days with kids and use the first day to settle-in to the resort and relax more.

 

[melodyka]

Tinkerbell Gifts- each night Tinkerbell came and sprinkled pixie dust with a small gift she left for a little girl that had behaved well during that day. This morning, she left glow wands and tiaras as well as a note inviting them to dinner at Norway with the princesses!

Rope Drop-Everyone woke up pretty early that morning, so we decided to walk over to HS for rope drop. We knew that Toy Story Mania passes would be hard to get, so we figured it would be best to take advantage of the early start. My husband ran ahead to get the passes, while we had time to meet the characters. Minnie is MIL's favorite, so this was a great first character of the trip.

HS- We enjoyed Beauty & the Beast, Toy Story Mania, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We had lunch at Pizza Planet, which was ok. After that, the girls were spent, so we headed back to the room to relax a bit.

Dinner at Akershus- We loved being able to walk right over to Epcot for dinner. We arrived right on time for our reservation, but felt like we were late. It turns out that there are "seatings", but they scatter the reservations, so everyone isn't coming at once. We were the last time slot, and so when we sat down everything started happening all at once and rather quickly. I had a hard time settling down, but the girls didn't seem to mind. We enjoyed the food offering on the buffet- salads, lox, etc. I ordered the mushroom stuffed pasta, which was delicious, the other adults had beef tips, which they also enjoyed. The girls LOVED meeting all the princesses, and parading around the restaurant.

Jogging around Boardwalk- We put the girls to bed early, and DH and I enjoyed some alone time jogging the Boardwalk area. Ah, finally a relaxing moment...

 

[melodyka]

Day 3- My favorite day of the trip!

Breakfasts in villa-We definitely took advantage of our kitchen and ate breakfast each day there. We brought lighter stuff that we could pack like microwave popcorn, oatmeal, cereal, etc. Then we just picked up bagels, cream cheese, and milk at the BC store. We did have the DDP, so it was great to get coffee at the Market each morning too.

AK- This is the park where I have spent the least time, and didn't really feel too excited about going back. This trip changed that completely- I LOVED AK! I look forward to staying in a Savana view AKV on our next trip. We started off with the Safari, which was a big hit for everyone in our party. We had an enjoyable lunch at Yak & Yeti Cafe. I took DN on her first rollercoaster ride Primevil Whirl, which was so fun to see her enjoy. All of the girls loved playing in the playground area in Dinoland. Finding Nemo was absolutely amazing- I think the best attraction in all of WDW!

MK- We decided to head back to MK to catch some things we missed the other day, and try to catch the parade. We missed the parade, but enjoyed all of the CM hanging out near the entrance with activities like the parachute & jump rope, another ride on the Carousel, & super fast spinning on the Tea Cups. We tried to catch Rapunzel, but the wait was too long, so we decided to come back the following day first thing.

 

[melodyka]

Chef Mickey's- Goofy is my favorite, so I was very excited to see him again, plus the girls loved seeing all of the classic Disney characters. We also started the multi-day celebration of DD2's 2nd Birthday, so that was quite fun at Chef Mickey's. We all enjoyed the food options, and the girls were blown-away with the desserts bar. This was our first time eating at CM, and we are so glad we did- what a fun experience! DN was so sweet to bring a picture she had drawn to give Mickey- we think he liked it.

We ended the night by taking the monorail and stopping at GF to watch the fireworks, but didn't make it that late, and ended up heading home before they started. Decided to end the great day before the crankiness set-in...

 

[melodyka]

We booked the trip before her birthday thinking that it would our last chance to avoid paying for airfare for our little girl. Lucky for her, she got to spend her birthday in Disney!

MK- still had a good amount of stuff to do & see here, so we headed straight to MK early in the morning. We headed straight to wait to meet Rapunzel. This was the worst line we had the whole trip. DD 4.5 lost interest and took off with DH to go on some rides. The other 2 waited patiently, and Rapunzel was quite fun! We hit up Tomorrowland and then headed over to HS for Birthday lunch.

Hollywood & Vine Play & Dine -What a perfect place to celebrate a 2nd birthday. The girls had a blast! The food was another buffet, which suited us just fine as there was a nice variety. It was not crowded at all, so the girls had so much fun hanging out with the dancers & characters. PERFECT!

HS- We went to the Little Mermaid show, so DD 4.5 was thrilled & watched the parade before heading back to BCV.

BCV Storm-along-bay- The weather warmed up so much that we finally got to enjoy the pool & resort! We all had a blast going on the slides, hanging out on the sandy pool area, & hot tub.

Beaches & Cream-what an adorable place! We all enjoyed a casual, relaxing dinner & ice cream sundaes. We look forward to starting a family Kitchen Sink tradition on future visits.

Campfire & Movies under Stars- this is the kind of family-oriented fun that I just adore!

our future DVC home!

 

[melodyka]

Even though Epcot was in our backyard, we hadn't spent much time there until the last day. Still there was so much we didn't get to see, which is also why, I now know that I will never go with young kids for less than a week.

Epcot- I headed straight to get fast passes for Soarin' while the others headed over to the countries to see some characters. We took the older 2 girls on Soarin', and they loved it as much as we imagined they might. They also enjoyed Talk with Turtle, Nemo ride, & Imagination.

MK- We had plans to spend our last dinner at CRT, so we headed back to MK. When we arrived, so did the rain. Luckily, we had packed ponchos, and the stroller from www.babywheelsorlando.com came with a rain cover, so we just kept going while everyone else ran for cover or left the park. We got to literally hop on and off every ride in MK- it was amazing! What a perfect ending to a wonderful trip!

CRT- I am so glad we did this, but don't feel like we will need to repeat this expensive experience. Unless, of course, some little girls beg and plea! We did enjoy the food, and the castle was very pretty.

By the end, the girls had really mastered the princess pose!

We ended the trip, by watching Wishes, right near where Tinkerbell floats down from the castle, it couldn't have been more magical