Here are my first-day at Disney plans, courtesy of my PTR:
Wednesday, May 18 Check in by 7:30 am, have breakfast in Club Level Lounge, be in Epcot by 8:45 for 9 am rope drop. Stay in Epcot 'til lunch or until room is ready (lunch at Sunshine Seasons (yum!) or in WS) When room is ready, check out hotel, drive to DHS around 2. Snack around 3:30. Head out of park around 6 and to Fort Wilderness for Hoop-de-doo ADRs at 7:15. If we get there too early. we'll explore FW. We should be back at Hotel around 9, time to check out hotel/Boardwalk or head to bed early.
We got up about 6:15 am (please keep in mind that this corrersponds to 5:15 am CT!!). Thanks to my work the night before, we were ready quickly. I made sure I sunscreened the children liberally. That probably took longer than anything. Nothing can ruin a trip more quickly than an early sunburn! We checked out quickly and were on our way.
When we got to the Beach Club at about 7:30, we pulled to the valet and told them we were checking in Club Level. Before we even had our luggage onto the rack, someone came out and told us our room was ready. The bellhop escorted us to the concierge level. While I stopped at the desk to check-in with the concierge, DH and the kids went to the room. It took about 10 minutes to check in...a little long, I thought, but I guess I'm used to the spiel. When DH got to the room, the bellhop noticed the closet was off track so they sent someone up to fix it. While I was still at the desk, DH and the kids came back to the lounge (it is in a room behind the concierge desks). Since we purposely didn't eat breakfast before, they were a bit hungry and grabbed some fruit and pastries. Wee had his all-important chocolate milk, of course.
I joined them in the lounge and grabbed something to eat then I went back to the room to check it out. About our room:
I requested a daybed for our room since we had 5. Our room was quite a way from the CL, but there WERE rooms that were farther away. DH and I did find that a little inconvenient but I pointed out to him that it probably cut down on the noise considerably. It was noisy in that lobby!!
The room was huge compared to our last two hotels, POFQ and especially POP. I loved having the space, especially since we were parking the stroller. The rooms were so bright and fresh-looking. We had a corner room so we had two windows.
We had a parking lot view...right off the drop-off point where you enter the lobby. That is not so much a problem for us. We do not stand on the balcony staring at the view so much that we're willing to pay more for a prettier view. However, had we even wanted a view, it would have been hard-going for us to see very much since we had one of the dreaded Juliet balconies.
I had heard about these balconies but I am an eternal optimist and believe often people tend to exaggerate a bit on the negative side. But this thing was teensy. Seriously, it was MAYBE a foot to a foot and a half deep and about 4 feet wide. It was funny. A big balcony would have been nice, but having this did not hinder our vacation at all.
There was plenty of open floor space and the beds were probably the most comfy hotel beds I've ever slept in. It got plenty cold in there, which is great because that never seems to happen in hotel rooms for me. I need to have it freezing at night. There was also a ceiling fan which was lovely.
The bathroom was nice, but the toilet/shower room was funny. If someone was sitting on the toilet, you would basically have to knock them off to get the door open. There are literally milimeters between the door and toilet.
There was also plenty of storage space. We were able to fit all of our clothes/souvenirs in the drawers and closets without a problem.
Ok, that's it for this installment. Stay tuned for Day 1, part 2. Did we make it Epcot for opening? How did we like HDD??
Tip: It is worth spending the extra money on spray sunscreen. You save so much time and don't have to deal with children (and husbands) complaining about the stickiness. Believe me, I know. I ran out of the spray stuff on Day 3 and had to resort to my back-up lotion. I ended up buying more spray sunscreen at the gift shop. Bring extra from home!!
This trip made me fall in love with her all over again. She is a detail gal like her mom and loves to try new things. She loves to dance. She also has a sassy attitude which does not always do her favors.
And like I said earlier, I HATE waiting in line.
