A 2 Week Grand Villa Extravaganza! 2.5 Years Late... FINAL DAY!!

[epsmith921]

Haha is downriver one word or two out here? Never thought about it! I'm up in the mile roads off Woodward. We were out on belle isle for the Grand Prix yesterday and it was great. Looking forward to dream cruise this summer already! Fun to experience the "small world" online!

Moab looks beautiful!! I always want to go to these places and then I have trouble with the fact that they're not close to cities in most cases. I am a terrible suburbanite! It really looks gorgeous though.

Glad everyone arrived safely to WDW even ahead of schedule! The kitchen sink looks delicious. I do need to go back to beaches and cream one of these trips. Especially considering we typically stay over in that area.

Hope the rest of the trip is magical!

 

[dvc at last !]

I'm in ...

love your TR so far --

14 days - wow !

 

[Duffy Lover]

Thanks for following along everyone! I'm too tired to respond to you all specifically, I promise to do so when we're home. We're pretty soggy after today, but a wet day in WDW is better than pretty much any day, any where else... Here are a few pics to whet your whistle. First up the BBB:





We had some pretty little princesses and fierce pirates on our hands today:









We ate at the Beast's Castle (love, love, love the FP+ for lunch):



We wrapped up our park time at a popular character meal:



So there you have it... Day 2! Remember, I will give all the details when the trip is over... Cross your fingers we have good weather the next few days....

 

[UncleOrville]

Looks like such a fun day! And I LOVE FP+ for Be Our Guest lunch. Great food and you can't beat the convenience!

 

[dvc at last !]

Fingers crossed for great weather !

 

[Duffy Lover]

Whew... Yep, sometimes it's hard to find time when you're at Disney! We've had some really busy days... Some great food, good weather and mostly happy kids! Too tired to post too much, so here are some pictures...

Day 3 (Monday, June 2): Epcot all Day, Professional Photo Shoot - Beach Club

Sneak Peek:


Day 4 (Tuesday, June 3): No Park Day, Pools and Mini-Golf



Day 5 (Wednesday, June 4): MK all Day - Rope drop!







Day 6 (Thursday, June 5): AK and MK - Ryan's 5th Birthday!





Tomorrow: Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios! Also, Caz arrives tomorrow!

PS: I promise better quality photos during the full trip report... My phone can only go so far with my skills. Even tilting will do nothing for photos sometimes!

 

[Jfsag123]

Great pics. I am loving getting to live vicariously through you and am impressed with your ability to update while on vacation. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the trip!

 

[eerst5]

Love those sailor dresses!!! Too stinkin' cute.

 

[disfanforlife]

Glad I found your report. I am in a serious need of a Disney fix. Trip reports help. Love the photo of the princess and pirate holding hands. Can't wait to read more! We are going to Beach Club in December - love that resort!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Wow. We are officially on day 11. So far the trip has been wonderful. The weather has been amazing, today was the first day since day 2 with significant rain that has impacted the trip. We are still loving having the perks of a villa along with the bonus of staying on "campus."

Here are a few pictures from my cell phone from the last few days. I'm going to focus mostly on OKW. I'm loving this resort.


















Here are some random ones from the past few days...

Star Wars Dinner:




Eme waiting to ride RnRC with her Daddy (I got to ride with my Daddy):



Clara on Safari:



Darling Children on the bus:



Drea and Ryan waiting for EE:



And finally a TSMM selfie with Eme:



See ya real soon!

 

[LisaKeys]

I jumped on board! Loving the live updates, and looking forward to the full report!

 

[waltsdream]

I love those sailor dresses the girls are wearing on the Boardwalk. Too cute!!

 

[Angeejoe]

Are you back? If I'm not mistaken, I think you had a wedding after your trip?

 

[Duffy Lover]

Well, I'm finally over my post trip depression. It helped that when we got back I was super busy watching the four kids at my parents house, then travelling to see my in-laws, camping, then my SIL's wedding, then more camping. I'm finally back to hanging around at my sister's house with the four kids again, and we're downloading all the Photopass pictures and what not.

I am so ready to re-live this trip!!! Hopefully the full report will be started soon!

 

[Jfsag123]

Looking forward to it - glad you had a great trip!

 

[disney meema]

Welcome back and looking forward to your trip report : )

 

[Angeejoe]

Well, I'm finally over my post trip depression. It helped that when we got back I was super busy watching the four kids at my parents house, then travelling to see my in-laws, camping, then my SIL's wedding, then more camping. I'm finally back to hanging around at my sister's house with the four kids again, and we're downloading all the Photopass pictures and what not.

I am so ready to re-live this trip!!! Hopefully the full report will be started soon!

Yea!! I can't wait!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Day 1: Saturday May 31, 2014 – Resort: BCV – Park: None

The day I had been planning for, waiting for, pining for was finally here!!! Although the trip really begins on Saturday, Friday was the kickoff, and when we left for Denver. I had just gotten back the night before from a crazy trip escorting eighth graders to Moab, UT. I had one more day in my contract as the Dean of Students, but since I was technically on the clock for the last 56 hours, I was really only at work to tie up loose ends and check-in for our flights. After I left work I went and got a pedicure, ran some errands and then finished packing. The girls had a day-long playdate with friends, so I picked them up around 4 pm. I was stressed while packing and running errands Friday, even though I had all our clothes (in particular for the girls) laid out for weeks. I just get a little wacky when packing for a big trip – and I had to pack not just for the next two weeks at Disney, but for the six total weeks we’d be away from home. I am so, so lucky that I am an educator, and I can spend so much time with family that lives far away during the summer!

We were out the door by 6:15, arrived at our friend’s house by 9:30 and got the girls to sleep (finally!) around 10:15. Caz and I were sleeping by midnight. No worries, right? Our flight wasn’t until 11 am, we could totally sleep until 7:30. That was a fail! The sun was bright that Saturday morning and the girls were up by 6 am. We putzed around, so grateful that we didn’t have to drive from home that morning (it is a three hour drive to the airport from our house).

While we were getting ready, the texts and Facebook posts started rolling in:



“Hurry up, Eme and Clara!”

The rest of the family had a 10:30 am (EST) flight, so they were well on their way by the time we were leaving for the airport (Except for Papa, who left via car Thursday and arrived at BCV around 11 am). We got to the airport nice and early, but of course I was on edge (I just get wiggy until we’re up in the air). There was quite a line at the baggage check area, and people were just rabid. I already had two groups of people walk right around us in line and I was getting pretty angry. Caz and the girls were already in the queue (the first of many of our trip, and coincidentally one of the longest) and this man tried to get between us! The agent manning the line totally called him on it, and I also snapped at him but then I felt really bad. The man apologized, he hadn’t realized we were all together. I felt like such a jerk for snapping at him and I also apologized. I was so embarrassed! I really needed to not stress so much – it was all good, after all… We were going to Disney World! I didn’t want bad Karma…

In line we saw two groups in line with Magical Express tags. I chatted with both groups, and chuckled to myself when the one group wasn’t even quite sure what resort they were staying at. Bay Towers? Contemporary Lake? Seriously!?! I was like “Bay Lake Towers?” Can you imagine?

Southwest as usual was awesome and wrote Caz a gate pass to come back with us. We got through security quickly and were boarding before we knew it! I was sad to leave Caz, but he would be with us in less than a week. I paid for Wi-Fi on the flight and hoped to stream a movie for the kids (it sort of worked, the kids watched most of the Pirate Fairy before they got tired of the glitchy streaming). I was able to continue with the Facebook posts:



“We’re on our way, Josh and Ryan!”

(Oh, by the way this is where the insane amount of pictures begin. Yeah, combined we took like 6,000 pictures!)

We finally landed and the texts rolled in. Let me tell you, we texted A LOT on this trip. It was just the easiest way to find everyone and keep in touch. Everyone had already arrived at BCV and we were checked into room 367 – A 2 BR dedicated with two queen beds in the second bedroom (more pics of the room to follow in a later post).





The girls and I got on the first monorail ride of the trip:







I was a little bit disappointed to see the storm clouds, but what can you expect? It was summer in Florida!

We sashayed down to the DME area and were thrilled to use our Magic Bands for the first time (seriously – I love, love, love the Magic Bands, and this is coming from someone who hates wearing things on their wrist). There were two lines, and sure enough everyone was getting in the line that actually had a wait. A group of people were totally confused about the process and were holding up the first line. From the Dis, I knew all we had to do was scan our bands and voila go to the proper line. It was the first “Mickey’s Up” of the trip. FYI: This was the term we coined to remind the kids to scan their bands, and something I considered changing the title of this trip report to. Instead I'll use these alternate titles for the chapter titles... The kids loved to “Mickey Up.” The girls were super excited, and we didn’t have to wait to get on the bus:





After a twenty minute wait on the bus we were on our way! We stopped at Caribbean Beach then the Boardwalk Resorts and then finally we were there!









Let the Disney Adventure begin! Up next the room, resort and…. Beaches and Cream!

 

[Angeejoe]

Great start to your TR!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Love to rel-live the trip.