8 Days! 2 Resorts! Friends joined us..lots of fun! updated 8/6! *COMPLETE*!!!

[supersuperwendy]

Welcome to my Trip Report! This was a trip full of firsts! Our first split stay, we had friends join us and it was their first visit, our kids finally faced their fears and rode big rides for the first time! It was a great time with great weather! May 14 - 21 2010

We are a DVC family of 6!

Wendy and Phil
Lauren 12
Ashley 9
Darren 8
Leah 6 months

The baby did not join us on this trip, she had a wonderful time at home with her Grammy!






We made this trip all about the big kids!




Coming up....Day 1 The kids had no idea we were going to WDW on May 14!

 

[supersuperwendy]

Sub in if you're interested in our adventures!!

Planning..

We were excited to plan this trip with my best friend and her kids. We decided on the dates May 16-21 2010 at Kidani Village. We were using our DVC points for all of the accommodations so she only needed to buy her park passes and dining plan! This was their first visit!

Michelle, Nick (15), Jon (10) and Tina (6)




A few months after we started planning we decided to add a few days at the start of our trip for the 5 of us. Our kids really wanted to stay at Bay Lake Tower after seeing the model at SSR last year. At my 7 month window we were able to book a two bedroom standard view! THAT WAS A SURPRISE FOR THE KIDS....

 

[supersuperwendy]

Day 1 May 14, 2010

May 14 started off like any other day in our house. I got up early to go drive my school bus and my husband got the kids off to school. The only thing different than usual was that my mother in law (Grammy) was at our house. She arrived from Michigan the night before! Our kids were so excited because they thought there was only 2 days left until WDW. I was home by 9 am and got all of the luggage ready. I went over the baby's routine and stuff with Grammy and we were all set to go!

May 14th was a half day for our school district so we booked an afternoon flight. At 11 am my husband picked Ashley and Darren up from school early. At 11:20 Lauren stepped off her bus and our ride to airport was out front waiting for us! That's when we yelled surprise and told them were were leaving that very minute! Ashley was going to be going to BBB with Tina later in the week so I had her put on her Minnie Mouse dress for the flight! (It was too puffy to fit in her suitcase)!


Our flight was on time and we were in the air before 3 pm!

We still hadn't revealed where we were going so they assumed Kidani! That was until we got to DME. We got in the line for BLT and Lauren started freaking out saying we were in the wrong line. That we weren't going to get to Kidani, that we were getting on the wrong bus. We kept telling her not to worry we were in the right line. As we approached the bus the driver asked "Which Resort?"! I tried to mouth the words Bay Lake Tower, but the kids saw me! Oh well...the secret was out!

Here we all are on Disney's Magical Express...well technically this was a DCL bus, but they were using it for DME...Everyone was SUPER EXCITED!



We arrived at The Contemporary Resort to check in. There was no wait and the CM was very friendly! It was after 4 pm so our room was ready!




Next up...The Beautiful and Wonderful Bay Lake Tower!

 

[Goofy442]

Great start Can't wait to hear how you liked BLT.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great way to start your trip! Lauren looks so cute in her Minnie dress.

 

[pinkxray]

Joining in. Can't wait to to hear all about BLT. I would love to stay there some day.

 

[supersuperwendy]

Our anticipation was building, I couldn't wait to see our room! We exited CR through their back doors by their pool and took the path to BLT. We entered by the south elevators and went up to the 2nd floor. We had a standard view booked and for once I didn't make any requests! I wanted to be surprised by the view and I'm glad because our view was terrific! Sadly I have no pics of view! We overlooked the courtyard and fountain with the pool off to the right!

The pics we took of the exterior in no way did BLT justice so this pic is complements of someone else!


We booked a 2 bedroom lock off. I wanted dedicated, but there were none available. It worked out fine though, the kids enjoyed having a kitchenette. I do agree with others who have said having the vanity in the kitchen is silly. Here's some pics Phil took with of the room!









We took a look around and quickly ditched our bags! When I was in high school we stayed at CR and I loved walking to The Magic Kingdom so that's what we did! Of course the kids wanted to take the monorail, but I overruled them! haha

Our first stop was City Hall. I was going to upgrade Ashley and Darren to DVC APs, but since we canceled our November trip that wasn't necessary so instead we upgraded them from 7 day hoppers to 8 days hoppers for a total of $6!! We didn't have a ton of time after that since we were going to The Wilderness Lodge for dinner at 8.

On our last trip TTA was still closed so we made a bee line for it!







I HATE the new soundtrack. We said the old one out loud as we rode it!

"Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow...your party from Saturn has arrived, please give them a ring!"

Next up....Whispering Canyon and EMH at Epcot!

 

[supersuperwendy]

Great start Can't wait to hear how you liked BLT.

Thanks! I LOVED BLT and I'll go more in detail about why a little later!

Great way to start your trip! Lauren looks so cute in her Minnie dress.

Thanks! That's actually Ashley! Lauren is a total tom-boy!

Joining in. Can't wait to to hear all about BLT. I would love to stay there some day.

Stay There!!! You won't regret it!

 

[supersuperwendy]

After TTA we started making our way to the park exit. We did make a quick stop at Buzz Lightyear since standby was 5 min! It was time for dinner and we were all STARVING! We had an 8 pm ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe so we left MK around 7:15. We took the resort boat launch and it became one of my favorite moments of the whole trip! The weather was PERFECT and the sun was starting to get low in the sky. The boat arrived right away and we were on our way to The Wilderness Lodge! The captain was very nice and knew all kinds of interesting facts about Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Here's some pics of our journey....













Stepping foot onto the WL property felt like deja vous or something! I've seen soooo many pictures of it over the years and it was wonderful to finally see it in person! This was a first for all of us! Everything about the resort is breathtaking in my opinion. We looked around for a little bit and were surprised to find a photopass photographer in the lobby! He snapped a few pictures on our way to the restaurant. We pre ordered the CD so we were trying to get as many photopass pics as possible!



We arrived at the podium 15 min early and were handed a pager and were told it would be a 15-20 wait. The hostess said the pager worked in the Mercantile so that's were we went! Lauren is a big pin collector so of course she wanted to see what they had in stock. We were in the store for no more than 3 minutes when the pager lit up! It was time to eat!!!!

It didn't take long to realize all 5 of us wanted the skillet! Our server was friendly, but not "fun" like some of the others we saw. Ashley was excited to learn "all you can drink" milkshakes were included in her dining plan! The food was pretty good and the kids really enjoyed it. Lauren tends to be a very picky eater, but she put a good dent in it!

I must admit, I'm very lazy about taking my camera out of my bag. Thank goodness Phil always has his cell phone with him! A lot of the above pictures were taken on his phone. The menu and skillet below are dark because his phone has no flash.





After dinner we took the WL bus to Epcot for EMH. We wanted to park hop as much as possible since Michelle's family had base passes and we wouldn't be hopping once they arrived. The bus took a LONG time to pick us up. It was already almost 10 by the time we reached Epcot. We rode Spaceship Earth, Nemo and Living with the Land before leaving for the night. We decided to skip taking the bus to BLT. We weren't sure if we could reach it by monorail since MK was closed, but we tried anyway! We took the "tronorail" to the TTC and caught the resort monorail to CR. It was nice to visit the 4th floor of CR. We took the skybridge across to BLT! It was a WONDERFUL first day!

Next up...Day 2...Behind the Seeds!

 

[xDisneyAngelx]

I don't blame you...I don't like the new soundtrack either for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Thats why when I go I play the old one on my mp3 player. I love the new Space Mountain though....definiately much darker and a bit scarier. I cant wait to read more about your trip report

 

[supersuperwendy]

I don't blame you...I don't like the new soundtrack either for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Thats why when I go I play the old one on my mp3 player. I love the new Space Mountain though....definiately much darker and a bit scarier. I cant wait to read more about your trip report

That's a great idea and I just might do that myself in the future! I'm hoping at some point they'll bring it back. The new one is boring and too quiet I think.

Space Mountain was great!!! It seemed faster for some reason! Maybe cause it was darker than before?

 

[15isto2]

Subscribing

 

[heaven2dc]

Great day! WL is so beautiful - a co-worker was there with his family for their first visit and stayed in the Villas side. They loved it (they felt tho that the villas side was remote from the rest of the Lodge but still enjoyed their stay.) I love seeing the pics taken from the boat ride over. I need to make reservations at Whispering Canyon so we can enjoy the food and atmosphere.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Found your trip report this evening and can't wait to read more! My sister and her family stayed at BLT in November and they too said it was spectacular!!!

 

[supersuperwendy]

Thanks for joining in everyone!!!

Great day! WL is so beautiful - a co-worker was there with his family for their first visit and stayed in the Villas side. They loved it (they felt tho that the villas side was remote from the rest of the Lodge but still enjoyed their stay.) I love seeing the pics taken from the boat ride over. I need to make reservations at Whispering Canyon so we can enjoy the food and atmosphere.

I would love to stay at VWL!!! That boat ride has me wanting more! I'd love to wake up and take that boat to MK rope drop!!

Found your trip report this evening and can't wait to read more! My sister and her family stayed at BLT in November and they too said it was spectacular!!!

BLT has my heart!

 

[supersuperwendy]

We got our wake up call from Stitch at 7 am! This was going to be a very busy day with park hopping and another surprise for the kids! We headed for rope drop at MK. I love The Magic Kingdom in the morning! I just get a sense of warmth and excitement every time I see Main Street USA and the Castle! It was a busy morning on Main Street with the Dapper Dans performing and even the Mayor was out to say hello!



We stopped at the Main Street Bakery for a quick bite because the kids were hungry. As I waited to pay this is where the plans for the day kicked in. (We are big time Fastpass people. We will run from one side of a park to the other when it's time to get new ones!) Phil took our park passes and was supposed to get Space Mountain fastpasses, and we were going to meet him at Astro Orbitor. The kids finished eating and we walked over to Tomorrowland. There was no line for Astro Orbitor so the kids got right into the elevator! I looked at Space Mountain and I didn't see Phil anywhere. After a few minutes he came from around the Lunching Pad which was weird. He hands me fastpasses for BUZZ LIGHTYEAR...???? Buzz Lighyear? OMG I was so mad haha! We had just ridden it the night before! We hadn't been on Space Mountain since 2008 and Ashley was dying to ride it again! Well by this time the standby sign said 40 minutes so we skipped it. I suggested we walk over to the Indy Speedway to see if Ashley was finally tall enough to drive her own car and YES she was!! The line was pretty short which was great! Darren drove Daddy, Ash drove herself and I rode with Lauren. It was such a beautiful morning and we were having a blast!





Ash was still dying for Space Mountain so me and her went to ride it standby. Darren still wasn't ready for his first Space Mountain ride and Lauren hates it so Phil waited with them in the arcade. Luckily...the standby sign was WAY WRONG! We only waited about 10 min!!!! In the meantime...Phil talked to the CM at the SM fastpass machines and explained how me messed up and got Buzz by accident and the CM was so sweet and gave him 5 fastpasses!!!

We had to put those fastpasses away because it was time to Park Hop! We had booked the Behind the Seeds tour as a surprise for the kids. They love Living with the Land so much so we thought they'd enjoy the tour. We took the "tronorail" over to Epcot and had to walk VERY quickly to The Land. The kids wanted to stop at Club Cool, but there was no time! We got checked in for the tour (11:45 am) and put our name tags on! This tour is a 1 hour walking tour and we all enjoyed it. Our tour group was pretty small and everyone was having such a good time our guide offered to keep the tour going for an extra half hour! We learned so much about the plants and various growing systems. Ashley and Lauren were part of the lady bug release and Darren got to feed the Tilapia! Did you know the baby crocs are for show purposes only?! They keep them for about a year then ship them away and get a new crop of baby crocs! We got to eat fresh cucumber and hold a "Mickey Pumpkin"! If you are taking your kids out of school for WDW like we did then this tour is perfect for adding some education into the trip!








After the tour it was time to park hop again! We had lunch reservations (2 pm) at the Yak and Yeti. We had never been there before so I was very excited. When I walked into the restaurant to check in I thought we would have a very long wait because there were tons of people waiting. Lucky for us they were all walk ins! We were seated within about 5 minutes! For months I had dreamed about the crispy honey chicken and thought that's what I would order until I saw the Kobe burger on the menu! I ordered it with the asian slaw...OMG IT WAS SO GOOD! I wish I had pics of it! Lauren ordered the ribs, but didn't care for the sauce or the seeds that come on them. Ashley and Darren love asian food so they pigged out! They ate their own kids meals then munched on Lauren's leftovers! Luckily they had sorbet on the dessert menu and it's something Lauren loves so she enjoyed that a lot! The mango iced tea was great and I had about 4 glasses of it!

Here we are upon arrival at AK! Our bellies were growling and so were we!



After lunch the kids were ready to swim so back to beautiful BLT we went!

Next up..Day 2 Part 2 ...Jellyrolls!!!

 

[Goofy442]

Glad to hear you loved the walking tour. I would love to take my kids out of school, but they give us a hard time about it. Lines are not as long during the off time as they are during school vacation.

 

[jenniferkeala808]

hey! joining in here! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[VanessainWonderland]

Joining in!

You family is precious! You look amazing for having 3 little ones. Hopefully I can be that way.....The one so far has taken a toll on me!

I LOVE BLT!!! Stayed there during Christmas last year. Watching Holiday Wishes snuggled up from the balcony was the best feeling....But we were not able to go to the pool becaue oit was freezing.

Looking forward to more!

 

[heaven2dc]

I love park hoppers!! It is so much fun to just hop on a bus or monorail over to another park (my record is only 3 in one day). Loved your hungry pic at Animal Kingdom