AKL + BCCL + 4 Parks+a baby=1 looooong week Part 1,2 & 3

[hannahsmomma]

This is my first ever trip report and our second family vacation to WDW. I wish I had the time to recount every little detail, but I have a very active 16 month old and only one nap time to get it all done!

So this trip started off like no other. The original plan was to start driving Friday afternoon from SouthEast Virginia and make it to the Beach Club sometime on Sunday. Most DISers would try and do this 15 hour trip in one day, but I just don't have those kind of nerves any more. The 6 year old would have whined the whole way and the 15 month old would have cried, not a good soundtrack for the drive down. So Tuesday night my dd says she wants to fly, and being that she has dh completly wrapped around her little princess finger, he immediatly opens the laptop and starts booking flights! This might sound great to some, but for me it means I have to start planning and packing all over again! Not only are we going to fly now, but we are still going to leave on Friday. Now, I should probably let you all know that I am the typical DISer who puts thousands of man hours into palnning The Trip, where as DH is just along for the ride, until we get there of course( more on that later).

So I jump on the phone knowing that it is going to be nearly impposible to find a room anyhwere in Disney 3 days out. Well, it is Disney and our change of plans can be accomadated, for a $price$! So we end up at AKL with a pool view room for 2 nights. Never thought I would be the split stay type and after this trip I know I am not the split stay type.

We use DME, which was great, and arrived at AKL late Friday night. It is now 3 hours past the baby's bed time and he has entered the dreaded I am not going to sleep ever stage especially in that tiny little cage thing you want to try and call a crib. And, dd isn't going to sleep if ds isn't going to sleep, of course no one was going to sleep with all the crying that was going on, the baby of course (I jsut want to apologize now to the poor people on the other side of are wall who got to hear our precious baby scream until 1:00 am.) So, that was the start to our magical Disney vacation! Stay tuned for part 2 : Will the baby ever sleep again?

 

[roberrl187]

I'm hooked.

 

[TAKitty]

I love AKL, however, the rooms are small for 3 and a "crib". Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[TLinden16]

Wow. I can't believe that you had to change your travel plans a few days out! But at least you didn't have to take that 15 hour drive, and you got extra time at Disney! That's always a good thing

Thanks for posting.

 

[kaysmommie]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your TR.

 

[hannahsmomma]

So, the baby did in fact sleep again. Friday night he passed out on our bed at 1:00 am. Praise God, and at 6:30, when I should have been dead to the world resting up for a first day at WDW, I was wide a wake. I was to excited to sleep! Finally, at 7:00, I couldn't stand it anymore and got up, which of course woke up the whole family. Neddless to say, 6 hours of sleep is not enough to get you through a disney day. Which was OK because we didn't have park tickets yet and planned a day of just checking out AKL, and DD had an appointment at the BBB. Disney is so good at coming up with wonderful ways for parents to spend there hard earned disney dollars. But, this royal make over was evreyting it promised to be and we got some really good pics to prove it. Which by the way I hope to be able to add as soon as dh host them all on his website. I have to add here that dh is a photographer and took over 400 pictures a day so it will probably take awhile to sift through and host the "chosen" ones. But, I promise to post some as soon as they are available.

OK back to AKL. This resort is so nice and they have so many great things for the kids to do, but until my kids are much older or we can afford a suite here, we probably won't be back. The room was just to cramped for us. The baby kept trying to climb up the bunkbed and then kept falling off. We all felt that we were on top of each other and it was not making for a good start to our vacation. But, on we go and that night we had dinner at Boma. I would not consider myself a picky eater, I like to try new things, but there was not much at Boma that I really liked or was interested in trying. Of couse if you asked dh he would say that I am picky and that just because I will eat a few of the cooked rolls at the sushi place does not qualify me as a food consuier. But that is because he grew up eating kimchi (very spicy fermented cabbage) and will eat anything that will not eat him first. ( I should add a disclaimer here that although I love to use a broad vocabulary in my writing I am the world's worst speller, literally!)

So, I guess I wll give you every detail and then some, please let me know if this is painfully boring. I did not realize how hard it is to pick and choose what to write and what to leave out. It all seems so relevant to the story!

So Sunday was the day we would finally transfer to our 1 bedroom suite at the BC and officially start our vacation. I had rented a real crib from ABBF and could not wait to get the baby down for a real nap that we all needed. So the plan was to head to the BC after an early swim and a late breakfast, get our tickets and head to a park until the room was ready. Disney was going to transfer our stuff and I thought I had everyting we would need for a few hours in my bag. I mean what did we really need for a few (several) hours without a room and some play time right in the middle of baby's nap time?! So stay tuned for part 3: The curse of the pre planned disaster. or Why we will never do a split stay again.

 

[dismom9761]

I love the report-looking forward to more.

 

[mkjmom]

Love your report so far - can't wait to read more.

What does BBB stand for?

 

[hannahsmomma]

Love your report so far - can't wait to read more.

What does BBB stand for?

The Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique in DTD at The World of Disney Store. They do makeovers for little girls. hair make-up nails and a princess dress of their choice. Very exspensive, very worth it.

 

[hannahsmomma]

So, Sunday morning goes very smoothly and we end up checking out around 10:30. We decided to catch a bus to DTD to look at dd's pictures from her photo shoot with BBB, and to do a little shopping. As soon as we get there, ds starts to cry. He needs a nap, BAD! So after some shopping and letting the kids soak themselves in the water at the entrance we decide to head to the BC to check in and pray that we might get some of that pixie dust everyone talks about and that our room might be ready early !

We get to the BC and I loved it instantly, I just loved the feel of the place. It seemed so elegant, it took me back to a time when maybe things were not so hectic, and everything was a little slower paced. Like a nice relaxing vacation by the shore, you know, everything a DW vacation isn't. Plus, we were wisked up to the 5th floor where, while dh checked us in, me and the kids could relax with cold drinks, snacks, and some cartoons. Everything was starting to seem right with the World again. (Picture balloon popping here, as DH enters and says room is not ready, not sure when it will be.) I knew we were early so I tried not to be disappointed as I listened to an over tired baby cry and a 6 yo dd whine about wanting to swim. Which would have been the perfect plan. We didn't want to go far because we were only an hour or so from official check in time, but why on earth would mom have packed bathing suits or a change of clothes or a swim diaper in her bag? See folks this is what happens when you stray from the master plan, kids get cranky and mom goes a little crazy. Hear me telling dh that we should have just drove like we (I) had planned, blah, blah blah, nag, nag, nag! So we end up aimlessly walking around the BC and calling the room ready number ervery 10 minutes, until at last at 2:45 our room was ready. I have never loved a hotel room so much in my entire life and thank goodness the crib I had rented was there as well. We stayed in a 1 bedroom suite and it was great. The kids had there own room for naps and TV viewing and we had a king sized bed! I will have to say that I don't think anyone over 10 would be comfortable on the "daybed" that my dd slept on, but for her it was perfect. I guess when ds turns 3 we will have to look into DVC. Dh is going to insert some pics of the room here, today, he promises me.

I should back track here and say that I had made ADR's for the Yachtsman when we got there, only to find out that for some reason dh had made ADR's for HDDR for that night. I could have sworn we had made them for Monday night, but there it was on the itenarary, HDDR Sunday night. Yet, another example of what happens when you stray from the master plan, all your days get mixed up! So our luggage arrives at 3:30 and we frantically change and head out for HDDR. I had read some mixed reviews for this with kids. That it was not what people hyped it up to be. Well those people apparently have never been sat at the center table, and been made apart of the entire show. They could have changed the name of the show that night to the Belisle family review. My dh, who is a pretty shy guy when it comes to being in the spotlight, was put directly into the spotlight and got a nice little lap dance from the blonde (disney version of course). They scooted our table over to make room for the second number, and dragged me onto the stage for the big finale. I was put in a costume and had to do a can can dance or in my case a can't can't dance (pardon the pun, but it had to be done) in front of everyone. Anyways, we loved it, the food was good, and the show was hilarious! I can't wait to do it agian. So things are looking up, right?! Now comes the journey back to the BC...Part 4: The absolute longest route ever made by 1 family back to their hotel room in all of WDW history or why you should absolutley read the transportation board before your trip to WDW.

 

[hannahsmomma]

woops. dp.

 

[hannahsmomma]

So to make a long story short, we decided since the baby had fallen a sleep in his stroller on the boat from Ft. Wilderness, that we did not want to wake him up to get on a bus. So when we got off the boat at the MK we decided to take the monorail to epcot and walk to the BC. Easy, right?! Well when we finally got to Epcot we realized we had left dd's room key/ticket in the room. So I had to go through the hassel of getting her another one. Then we start the journey to the other end of the world! Oh and did I mention that against my better judgement I decided to wear flip flops to HDDR. Didn't think I was going to be doing much walking (or dancing on stage ). So by the time we reached the gates to the BC I was done walking and we thought we would take the boat back. Remember this was are first day here. SO we sat and waited for 20 minutes for the boat. Then we watched in utter disbelief as we past are room 2 minutes later. You mean I could have been in bed by now?! It really is the shortest walk ever from the BC to Epcot. So, we learned some lessons on the start of this trip. 1. Always take the shortest route possible, even if it means waking a sleeping baby ,this of course is the only time that is OK to wake a sleeping baby. 2. Never take the boat from Epcot to the BC. 3. Never wear new flip flops at WDW. 4. Always check for everyones ticket before you leave the room. 5. Always trust your gut feeling!

Haven't really had much time to write. We are looking at buying a new house and it is totally consuming me! I will try to add more later today or tomorrow.

 

[TAKitty]

I laughed at your waiting for the boat. When we transfered from AKL to YC we decided to tour Epcot before check in. We too waited for the boat to take us to YC. I couldn't believe how short the walk would have been. From then on we walked. Now Dh is hooked on Epcot resorts.

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[OhMari]

I'll be staying at the BWV next April, is this resort close to MGM and Epcot too?