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

[Pirate Granny]

Love this...see ya real soon

 

[threedisprincesses]

Great update. Have a wonderful trip. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't incredibly jealous. I could use some real dis time. I am a fellow educator and September is so tough...

 

[Angeejoe]

I just got caught up, great updates! You're girls are so cute! I can't imagine getting my hair getting pulled up so tight at BBB, it gives me a headache just thinking about it !

Since when is Mary Poppins a princess? Especially at Akershus, seems like Snow White called in sick....

Congrats on your trip this wkend, I'm so jealous! We did MNSSHP last year & had a blast! Will you be dressing up?

 

[Duffy Lover]

Great to relive these memories

Love this...see ya real soon

I know Mom! I love writing these reports... I just wish I had the time to do them every night. I can't wait to see you Saturday!

I am really enjoying your tr! Loving the pics.
We did a family stay at a 2 bed beach club about 4 years ago. It was a magical trip. Can't beat storm along bay! Can't wait to read more!!!

Magical is a perfect way to describe a vacation that is based at the Beach Club! SAB is by far the most spectacular resort pool "on campus"...

Great update. Have a wonderful trip. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't incredibly jealous. I could use some real dis time. I am a fellow educator and September is so tough...

Thank you, I will have a wonderful trip! Taking a mini-vacation this early in the school year is for sure the height of decadence. But to be honest, there never really is a good time to be gone, right? I'm only taking one personal day so... You can really see my rationalization here, right??!!

I just got caught up, great updates! You're girls are so cute! I can't imagine getting my hair getting pulled up so tight at BBB, it gives me a headache just thinking about it !

Since when is Mary Poppins a princess? Especially at Akershus, seems like Snow White called in sick....

Congrats on your trip this wkend, I'm so jealous! We did MNSSHP last year & had a blast! Will you be dressing up?

That hairstyle is nuts, isn't it? I felt so bad for her, but as you can see from the photos in the last update she still had a good day, even if she was super tired. I'm also still a little confuzzled why Mary Poppins was there. She certainly didn't fit the surroundings. Oh well.

I haven't done MNSSHP since we took Eme on her first vacation as a baby...



What a great trip that was, and the party was a blast! I was going to try to do more of a cosplay Belle outfit and get a blue dress and white apron, but I ran out of time to put it together. I'm not much of a creative costume person, I guess it's the mathematician in me.

I'm thinking about doing a super quick trip report for this weekend's trip. Either way, no new update until the weekend after next.

Oh and wish me happy birthday! My age tomorrow will be {x / 35 < x < 37} Ug.

 

[Angeejoe]

I love the baby tink pic!

Are you all ready for your trip tomorrow?

Ps- I have a last minute trip of my own that I just booked last night! Check out my new ticker!!

 

[Angeejoe]

How was your trip???

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Wow, that's nice that your parents got DVC and share it with you.

 

[Lisa29]

Great report so far! It is lovely to relive the trip by writing about it.

The four kids are all so cute!

Hope you have/have had a great mini-trip.

 

[ThePin Princess]

Hi there! Just joined in and I'm all caught up, can't wait to read more!

 

[petals]

joining in. Love your user name. I love Duffy as well

Baby Tink is to cute.

The girls look fab as princesses and the boys look like very fierce pirates! It's a shame your DD was so unhappy with the hairdo it does look super tight though.

Since when is Mary Poppins a princess?

 

[Duffy Lover]

Day 3: Monday June 2 – Resort: BCV – Park: EPCOT


Thanks for all your kind words about the report... I'll do a response post later this week... And I'm sorry it’s been so long between posts… Life gets in the way, right? Oh and a long weekend WDW that was amazing two weeks ago! Believe it or not it the weather was spectacular... We had a few drops of rain the night of the MNSSHP but besides that it was sun, sun, sun. It was wonderful spending time with my Mom. I may do a one and done trip report for that when I have time… But onto this overdue trip report. I wish I could do more today, but I really need to keep working on lessons for my AP Calculus class. Duty calls, right?


So we slept in again, which was lovely… Our first FP+ window was from 9:15-10:15 for Living with the Land. It was our plan all along to get there right at the end of the window, but we were really pushing it. It was a gorgeous morning as we strolled through a mostly empty World Showcase and came upon this view:





My Mom and sister Brie got tied up at the entrance gate trying to ensure that the proper tickets were used. Despite their efforts yesterday at the MK and with the gate CM, the proper tickets were not used for my Mom, but were for Brie. So in the end, even though my Mom was insistent that the CM check which ticket was being applied, two days from her non-expiring tickets were used. The upper level CM with an Ipad put two single, park hopping tickets on my Mom’s MDE account to rectify the error.


While they were taking care of that we made our way to the Land Pavillion. LwtL had no wait, but we decided to use our FP+ anyways. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get a fourth FP+ if we didn’t use all of the original three. Once we did our “Mickey Up” with the bands, we waited in the queue for Brie and Mom who arrived around 10:25. The grace window worked without a problem!


The kids loved LwtL:








Ryan is such a cutie:




As soon as we exited the ride, we used our second FP+ for Soarin’. I know it wouldn’t have been the end of the world had she not been 40 inches, but boy was I glad Clara had a growth spurt:





Everyone was super excited for Clara’s first ride, especially Brie who has pictures with all the kids waiting for their first trip over California:





How sweet!




A Papa pic:




When we got to the CM at the point where they direct groups to rows and such, and we requested the middle, top section and the lovely CM obliged us… Clara loved it, as did all the kids. I have to say I am eager for the powers that be to put that ride under a refurb so that it can get new HD video. It is kind of lame to see all the blurriness and dirt…


After our time gliding through the air, we headed for our last FP+ for the Seas with Nemo and Friends. I was shocked to see a 30 minute wait. I couldn’t believe it! Oh well, not much you can do about progress. We stopped to take a picture by the fish statues, but it pretty much was an epic fail:





After enjoying Dory, Nemo and all their friends we decided to suck it up and wait for Crush’s show. As we arrived they were letting in a group,so we waited in the standby line (that was a first, an actual queue, before FP+ you could just wait in the open area, but I get it - people with FP+ get priority). If I recall correctly, they let pretty much the whole queue in and then the area was full, so essentially we had to wait about 30 minutes total, including the time spent looking around and taking Mr. Ray’s quiz. No big deal. It was worth it! Crush was hilarious. Lots of good jokes for both the kids and the adults. At one point Buzz Lightyear floated into the tank and Crush asked the kids who he was, at which Crush announced: “Cool, I have a Buzz!”


After Crush we thought we’d stroll over to Figment but when we checked the MDE app we saw it had a 25 minute wait. No way… So Brie and I went to Starbucks to get icy cold coffee and the rest of the family enjoyed the Seas pavillion:





I personally am a fan of Starbucks at WDW. The place is already filled with outside companies as it is, why not Starbucks? I wanted to get one those epic pictures of my Starbucks drinks with Spaceship Earth in the background, but this was the best I did:





Brie went and took a moment on her own while I went to the closest FP+ kiosk and scheduled our fourth FP+ of the day. We originally had the family riding LwtL around dinner, but WDW had announced just before our trip the possibility of more FP+, so we changed that ride to earlier in the day to try and get a FP+ for Illuminations. Sadly it was not available, no surprise there, but TT was - I snagged it for 7:30. Sweet!


I tried to regroup with the others but the CM wouldn’t let me in with Starbucks. Luckily everyone was done with the Seas and I had only been waiting a few minutes when my family emerged from the Pavilion. It was time for lunch at the villa, swimming at SAB and then the kids’ photo shoot… We paused on the way out for a photo:





Hopefully I can wrap up Day 3 with just two more posts, and perhaps I can get them done before next weekend (I will try Mom!). See you real soon!

 

[Duffy Lover]

I love the baby tink pic!

Are you all ready for your trip tomorrow?

Ps- I have a last minute trip of my own that I just booked last night! Check out my new ticker!!

Holy cow! And what a last minute trip it is- a cruise! That sounds wonderful. I've always wanted to go on a cruise - specifically a Disney one! How lucky!

How was your trip???

The trip was great - amazing weather and quality time with my Mom. I think I'm going to download three or so pics from the Photopass website today, then I'm ready to write a quicky trip report.

Wow, that's nice that your parents got DVC and share it with you.

My parents are pretty terrific - DVC is the gift that will keep on giving. Until 2057 that is...

Great report so far! It is lovely to relive the trip by writing about it.

The four kids are all so cute!

Hope you have/have had a great mini-trip.

Thank you! The kids are pretty adorable and the trip with my Mom was so worth all the travel - although the red-eye flight went a great deal better than I anticipated - I actually got to sleep!

Hi there! Just joined in and I'm all caught up, can't wait to read more!

More is on the agenda for today, along with cleaning, laundry, hockey, swimming and hopefully some calculus.

joining in. Love your user name. I love Duffy as well

Baby Tink is to cute.

The girls look fab as princesses and the boys look like very fierce pirates! It's a shame your DD was so unhappy with the hairdo it does look super tight though.

Since when is Mary Poppins a princess?

I'm still a little sore about Eme not meeting Snow White at Akershus. Can you believe how they grow? Her first trip she was a wee Tinker Bell, and now a 48" tall princess!

I don't think Duffy gets enough credit for being adorable. It's not his fault he was created by a corporation whose goal is to make money (Disney sure does that well, n'est pas?). My girls love him and so do I!

Speaking of Duffy, I think I can wrap up day three in one more post. The photo shoot, the kids meeting Duffy and then dinner at Via Napoli is on the horizon!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Day 3: Monday June 2 – Resort: BCV – Park: EPCOT

Wow, I was just reviewing my notes from this day… Boy was it a full, but good one!

We went back to our villa and had lunch then we meandered over to Storm-a-long Bay for some swim time. The kids had a blast - they lapped the big pirate slide - even Clara! After swimming we cleaned the babies again and got them ready for the photo shoot. I had purchased the sailor dresses from Gymboree earlier this year on a killer sale, with the intent of the girls wearing them to meet Duffy. Then Drea and I decided they would be perfect for kids only photo shoot. If you look closely at the boys’ pictures you’ll see they have little anchors all over their shirts:







Disney’s Fine Photography called us the previous night to confirm and told us that Daniel would be our photographer. We met him in the lobby and Papa snapped a nice photo of Mom and I:



Before the photoshoot we told the kids that if they cooperated and smiled they would each have $10 to spend at Mousegears later that evening. We also told the kids that these pictures were a gift to Papa and Buszia and how happy it would make them if they smiled. Hey - I’m not opposed to some bribery from time to time… Regardless, Daniel was a champ and the pictures turned out great, despite Clara being slightly mischevious…























These pics are just a sampling of the best photos, pretty much in the order they were taken. As you can see the boys had individual and brother shots early on. Knowing Clara’s mood we probably should’ve asked that they get a few of the sisters earlier on as well. When it was their turn Clara had her “squishy” face on and I wasn’t sure we’d get any good ones…



This one looks like a sweet one, but Clara was lightly squeezing Eme’s face. It was one of the last ones of the sisters:



We did get some good ones of Eme by herself:



And only one of Clara:



I really can’t complain as by now we were going on 35 minutes for the photo shoot. These mini-shoots are supposed to last about 20. The kids then went with Papa and Brie, and Drea, my Mom and I went with Daniel to see the pictures. They were awesome!

In the mean time the kids were off to meet Duffy:



This one is one of my favorites from the trip:



So there you have it for part two of day three… I’ll be back in a minute with the final installment!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Day 3: Monday June 2 – Resort: BCV – Park: EPCOT

Pirate Granny, you’ll be proud of me… I’m going to finish Day 3! Then we’ll be 20% through with the trip report. Is that a good thing or bad? I’m not sure.

We left off with with the darlings meeting Duffy, after which they headed towards Italy. They got there before Drea, Buszia and I and had a blast running around a fairly uncrowded pavilion waiting for us to arrive:








After we regrouped, we checked in for our ADR at Via Napoli. I was bummed that Caz missed this meal, as I know how much he likes pizza. Everyone was hungry and happy (and slightly blurry):









It smelled so good in there and the atmosphere was bright and cheerful:





While we waited silly selfies were being taken:









Dinner arrived quickly, and the kids dove into the four cheese pizza. It was a huge hit!





I tried a few bites, and I can attest to its deliciousness. I myself had the Candele pasta (which was a lot like lasagna but with round noodles instead of flat ones). It went perfectly with the pitcher of white sangria Drea and I split (very economical - it was almost the same price as two glasses, but for so much more volume). I noted in my journal that it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had on property. It was amazing food, good spirits and fun with the family!

After dinner we strolled over to TT to use our fourth FP+ for the day. It was a big hit. Here is the car I designed with Clara:



This was Clara’s first thrill ride:



It was so much fun and faster than I recalled (all that food and drink really sloshed around in my tummy - darn that motion sickness). The kids all loved it - Eme screamed her head off (it was her first time on TT, but she had ridden roller coasters before). Ryan hid his head for the fast part:





After our ride, Brie and Papa went to secure us a place to view Illuminations later this evening. It was only 8 pm, but the best they could do was across from the Off-Kilter stage in Canada. In the mean time, we took the kids to Mousegears for their treats. Clara bought candy and Eme got jewelry. We stopped for a photo on our way to meet the others (Clara was tired and in a silly mood again):



Illuminations was awe-inspiring as usual, and Ryan and Clara used their ear muffs during the show (a huge success - no scared little ones). It wasn’t the best view for the high fireworks, but for the rest of the show we had a great line of sight (sorry no more photos)!

We got the kids home and straight off to bed with no troubles. With a full day like we had it was no wonder. I ended up doing some work for school which was frustrating, but necessary. I was really missing Caz…

Despite that, day three was an amazing day filled with rides, swimming, photo shoots, character meetings, spectacular food/drinks and then fireworks. I have to say that FP+ made such a busy day relatively easy despite the wait at Crush and not seeing Figgy. Day four on the other hand was to be relaxing as we were not going into the parks. I was really hoping for sunshine as our plan included a lot of swimming and up until this point it had been mostly cloudy. Will the weather oblige? Time will tell, time will tell…

 

[Angeejoe]

Great updates! I love the sailor dresses, super cute! With your photo package do u get a digital memory stick/CD or prints?

 

[Duffy Lover]

Great updates! I love the sailor dresses, super cute! With your photo package do u get a digital memory stick/CD or prints?

We got a jump drive with the photos on them. Daniel deleted any that were blurry or just plain bad, but in the end we still go a ton of photos. It was so worth it!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Good job....love revisiting with all the pictures...ah day 4...can't wait

 

[Duffy Lover]

Day 4: Tuesday June 3 – Resort: BCV – Park: None!

I’m going to try and get all of day four in one post. Don’t let the title deceive you though, despite the fact that we did not go into any parks, we still had a full day.

Daybreak found Papa and Josh on the links (I’m not sure where - Pirate Granny, help me out). I do recall that the walking course was closed so the boys did the back nine for free at one of the other courses. Josh loved it:



Papa even brought his clubs from home…



What a handsome boy!



They had a blast and in the mean time the rest of us slept in. The girls, Brie and I were ready to get to the pool asap because it was - wait for it- SUNNY! We snuck out (literally - Buszia was putzing, and when a “Polack” putzes, you never know when they’ll be done) and went to enjoy the sun:







There was a part of me that was very concerned with the weather report for the next 10 days- there was not much sun in it. I was certain this was going to be the only sun we got all trip and I was determined to enjoy it…

Show us some leg, Brie!



Drea, Ryan and Buszia joined us and by 11 am the sun was gone. No worries - we’re on vacation! The kids loved the lazy river (or as Clara called it- the lousy river) and then we headed over to the Pirate slide. The kids lapped it until noon and then we headed back to the villa for lunch. After lunch we hopped on a boat:





And headed over to Fantasia Mini-Golf:



The kids had a blast. Papa and Josh took on the more realistic course and the rest of us laughed our way through the whimsical course…



Clara kept picking up the ball and dropping it in the hole, Eme thought it was hockey and was playing like Happy Gilmore and they all kept shouting “it’s in the hole!” It was so much fun!













We had the kids in their swimsuits (mine were wearing theirs under their coverups) and after golf we headed to the Boardwalk. It has been a running joke about how the kids would get Auntie Brie Brie on the clown slide. Brie hates clowns, and the slide at Boardwalk has a particularly creepy one (you know what I’m talking about). My favorite plan the kids came up with to get Brie on the slide was they would wait until she was asleep, then Papa would carry her up the stairs the kids were drop her down the slide. In the end Brie put up a “fight” as the kids pulled her up the stairs. It was very amusing.







The kids cruised the slide and Josh and Eme took part in the pool party games. I chilled by the side of the pool and had the most disgusting $10 drink ever. It was so disappointing. We stayed for about an hour and then headed back to get ready for dinner. Brie and I decided to walk, and the others took the boat across the lake. I think we were all a bit tired by that point and there was some crankiness in the air. Brie and I wanted to get back to the villa to shower and were power walking and poor Brie twisted her knee! Luckily it wasn’t serious, just a bit annoying for her. We all got back, and cleaned up and it was time to head to dinner.

We had made arrangements to have the kids spend the evening at the Sandcastle Club while the adults went to the Yachtsman Steakhouse. Dinner there was amazing. How could it not be, check out those prices!



It was the best steak I may have ever ingested. We all got appetizers or soup and wrapped it up with some shared desserts. I had a delicious $10 drink that made up for the horrible one from earlier- it was a Heather and Honey Sidecar. I also had a great glass of wine with dinner. Yep, I was riding high people...







It was wonderful to have dinner as a family unit. I can’t remember the last time it was just the five of us. We laughed and had an amazing time. My dad went to get the kids and had one of the funniest (from an adult point of view) moments of the trip. When he got there there was a little girl dressed as snow white having a tantrum (we saw her on the way to dinner - she didn’t look happy then) and the kids were watching her wearily. Apparently she was not easy to play with. She saw all of the kids watching her and yelled, very loudly, “Don’t judge me!” My Dad didn’t comment on it at the time, but when he told us adults about it, it became one of our running jokes of the trip. I totally understand being tired and having a crying fit (especially when you’re in a strange place without your parents) and we weren’t being mean - it was just one of those things that cracked us up.

The kids went right to sleep, and the rest of us tried to go about our packing. We were transferring to OKW the next day. I was so full from our dinner I was in pain. I could not move. It was so worth it! I ended up packing our stuff in the morning…

Holy smokes... I did it! A whole day in one post. It probably was because of the lack of photopass pictures… Up next - rope drop at MK! See you real soon!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Perfect post for a perfect day...and a nice ending to our beach club stay!

 

[Leleluvsdis]

Oh how I am loving your trip report!!!! I have dreamed of doing a trip like this, but my brother refuses to go to disney world I know, he has no idea what he is saying haha