BLT and first Disney Cruise Trip Report

[amyngary]

I did a bit of a Pre-Trip Report, so our Cast of Characters can be found there:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2286209

We joined DVC in March of this year and got a free 7-night cruise. This trip was our first stay at our home resort, BLT, our first time as Annual Pass Holders, and our first Disney cruise.

We also chose to do the Deluxe Dining Plan on this trip, so our report will include food photos

We have learned SO much from the DIS Boards, so we are hoping this will help others plan some fantastic vacations.

Our first installment follows....

 

[amyngary]

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009:
On the plane, Julia was hoping to see the “giant golf ball”, but no such luck. The flight went by really fast, and before we knew it, we were at the Orlando airport. Olivia went running up to Mickey, so we stopped for our first photo:

That reminds me ... on Olivia's first trip to Orlando, we had been talking about going to see Mickey Mouse. When we got off the plane and she saw all the Mickey and WDW "stuff" all through the airport, she loved it and apparently thought that was Disney World. When we got into our rental car, she asked if we had to go back home now.

It was a long walk through the airport for Olivia, and that’s when I realized that we once again forgot to bring the umbrella stroller. We have a long history of forgetting and/or losing the umbrella stroller on trips. We have several of them because we have bought extras on prior trips in Orlando and Hawaii! Well, we decided we were NOT going to buy yet another stroller. Therefore, Olivia had to have a few rests to make it through the airport:

While our kids don’t use strollers at home, we always like to have them on trips for the long airport walk. Julia was very willing to help with the luggage so we would get there faster:

We only had a 5 minute wait for ME, but the bus ride was longer than we expected. The guide was difficult to understand. Gary joked that it was easy for him to learn English. During the bus ride, I kept wishing I had luggage to rest my feet on. Then when the ride was almost over, Julia discovered these fold-down footrests:

Here is Gary making his scary face:

You can tell he really scares the kids-NOT:

I had read a post where a family got off at the Poly and took the Monorail to BLT, and we discussed that option but decided we wanted to see the outside of Wilderness Lodge. Finally, we pulled up to the Contemporary:

We arrived at almost noon and I waited to check in (the absence of organization was disappointing, but I didn't wait long) while DH and the DDs hung out in the stylish lobby of the Contemporary. While they were minding the luggage, a young couple who were leaving asked if they could give the girls their balloons – the silver mylar Mickey and Minnie balloons. The girls were thrilled with the surprise:

We had requested an even-numbered monorail view room. I asked if we got our request, and the nice CM said we did. We got room 7226. Here is a look back at the Contemporary during our walk from the Contemporary to BLT:

Here is our first look at our room:

AND we were in our room by noon. Here is our 1 BR Standard view room:

I love the subtlety of the Disney theming at BLT. For example, on the master bed, there are hidden Mickeys, but you can’t even tell in photos:

After admiring our room, we went to our 1pm Wave reservation. For some reason, Gary keeps calling it WAVES, and Julia noticed that part of the logo looked like a “C”, so she calls it “Sea Waves”. So of course now I can never remember the actual name. While the food was quite good, we were unhappy with the service there. It took us over 1.5 hours for lunch. While waiting, we did everything we could to keep the girls happy. We even let them touch the salt and pepper shakers, which we never do. These were pretty cool:

Here is Gary playing with Olivia:

We even got Olivia interested in the chairs (we were getting desperate):

I ordered the crab cake for my appetizer, and it was fabulous – one of the best I’ve had:

Carrots and celery for the girls’ appetizer:

And Gary got the lettuce wraps:

Apparently, we forgot to take photos of the entrees: spice-crusted chicken salad and grilled chicken wrap for the adults and Grilled Chicken and Fish for the girls. We do have a picture of the desserts (I have my priorities after all). Here was the dessert Gary and I shared called Crisp and Crunchy (Vanilla-braised Pineapple Spears, Almond-Pineapple-Raisin "Baklava", and Zucchini-Carrot Cake with Vanilla Panna Cotta):

The girls got Make Your Own Sundaes for dessert:

Also, Gary and I had Mega Berry Smoothies for our drinks. They were great!

Next up: Getting our first Annual Passes and "hmmm, is that a fire alarm???"

I wish I knew how to make the photos smaller - anyone want to give me instructions?

 

[3dog2kidmom]

Yay, I found your trip report! I had been watching your pre-trip... can't wait to hear all about your cruise. Sounds like BLT was nice.

 

[disneylovin24]

Can't wait for more

I'm gonig to be in a 1 bedroom MK view cool1 at BLT in 18 days!!! Any insider tips for me?

 

[amyngary]

When we left you, we had finished lunch at The Wave, aka Sea Waves.... Next, we walked over to MK just to pick up our Annual Passes. Yeah, right. I’m sure you all agree that it would be crazy to walk ALL that way (a whole 10 min) and not go in .

But first I need to tell you about my trip to the women’s restroom, and no worries, it's not that kind of story. Right outside the Annual Pass counter is a restroom, so Julia and I took advantage. Well, while we were in there, we heard an alarm. I thought to myself “uh oh, what has Olivia done now?” If you read our pre-trip report that had our introductions, you may know that Olivia is a handful and always into things. Then the alarm stopped, so I didn’t think about it anymore. However, when Julia came out to wash her hands, she asked if I heard the alarm and mentioned that she thought of Olivia right away. Then Olivia walked in and told us that she “opened the door and it made a EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE noise” (she has always been great at imitating sounds). Well I got this image in my head of Olivia trying to enter a CM entrance to the park and men in black tackling her, but Gary explained as we came out that Olivia opened the cabinet to the emergency defibrillator. A security guy (dressed in black) came by to make sure there wasn’t a real emergency. Here is the cabinet I’m talking about:

Gary’s side of the story: Olivia asked me if she could sit on the counter, so I lifted her up there. The next thing I knew, the alarm was going off … I think she had her eye on that door when she asked me to sit her on the counter.

Here is our first group photo at MK:

So onward… Olivia got to ride her first roller coaster, the Barnstormer, on our last trip in February, and she has been talking about riding the Barnstormer again ever since we told the kids about this trip. After the alarm excitement, we went in just as the parade was starting, so we went upstairs and rode the train straight to ToonTown so Olivia could ride the Barnstormer – but first we got a picture of Main Street:

I rode with Olivia, who started the ride looking like this:

But ended it like this:

Afterwards, there was no line, so we asked if she wanted to ride it some more, but she said no, because “it was a little bit scary”. In hindsight, I realized we should not have done that first. Oops. Since we were all dressed for St. Louis weather, we got pretty warm and decided to head back to the hotel and see if our luggage had arrived. Of course, we always say that and then spend another hour or two there, and that day was no exception. First we ran into Push:

Olivia was delighted, but for the first time, Julia was determined to figure out how it was done. This trip was a little sad that way – Julia no longer believes in the magic; but now she is very interested in learning how they make the magic. While we want to encourage her curiosity, it can be challenging since we certainly don’t want her to ruin things for Olivia. So, the next photo is a spoiler about how Push is done – close your eyes if you still want to believe:

Gary thinks the gentleman controlling Push noticed Julia watching him—he moved over next to her so she could watch him working the controls in his little black bag.

Then we stopped to admire a nice view of the castle:

And lastly, we stopped so Julia could do some jump roping. Gross motor has always been her weakest area, so we were all excited this past year when she learned to jump rope:

The girls were itching to ride the Monorail, so we went back to BLT that way.

I did most of our unpacking (yes, our luggage had arrived) while everyone else rested for about 45 minutes. Then, we changed clothes and went for one of our favorite dinners: Narcoosee’s. I LOVE being on the monorail, but it was really crowded for this ride. I was a little worried about the kids making it through the dinner after such a long travel day, but they behaved wonderfully. Gary and I were really tired, but the kids must have gotten their second wind (or Gary’s theory was that they never lost their first wind). He made a note in our travel journal that I said about Olivia “she’s like a machine”. Here are our drinks (mine is a mango mojito):

And our appetizers: fruit for the girls,

Shrimp and crab chowder for me,

And the cheese plate for Gary:

For entrees, Julia got chicken nuggets:

Olivia got the Mickey Mac ‘n cheese:

I got the whole lobster and Gary had the Surf –n- Turf:

For dessert, Olivia got the Nemo cupcake and Julia… well, she asked for a bowl of whipped cream (she took me seriously when I said they could get whatever they want since we were on the Deluxe Dining Plan):

I got the Almond-crusted cheesecake, and while Gary rarely orders dessert, he shared mine and Julia’s:

Here are Julia and Gary clowning:

And after such a fabulous dinner, we stopped in the Grand Floridian’s lobby to enjoy the decorations and music. We got a few good photos of the kids in front of the gingerbread house and tree there:

The Grand Floridian is where we stayed on our very first trip to WDW (at the time, I thought it would be our only trip there). I always enjoy visiting it.

On the way back to our room, we noticed they show outdoor movies at BLT at night:

Continued in next post (reached my image limit)....

 

[amyngary]

Next, we headed to the Top of the World Lounge for the 9:30 viewing of the Christmas Party fireworks. While waiting for the fireworks to start, Gary bought me a lemon drop martini. It was tasty. Here are some pics of the fireworks:

After the fireworks, we went back to the room. Next, the search for the “secret compartment” began. This is where me reading the DIS boards actually hurt us for the first time. I had read all about how the pillows were stored in a “secret compartment” in the sofabed, so we were determined to find them, even though in hindsight our kids could have gone without pillows and been perfectly happy. So after 20 minutes and finally giving up and calling housekeeping, they explained that they now put the sofabed pillows on the Master Bed – D’OH! Too many calls about the “secret compartment,” no doubt.

Whew! What a jam-packed fun day. I didn't realize we had packed so much into each day until I got back and looked at our photos. No wonder Olivia started having meltdowns later in the trip :-(

Next up on Day 2: The ups and downs of Jumping Rope and Shoe Issues

 

[amyngary]

Can't wait for more

I'm gonig to be in a 1 bedroom MK view cool1 at BLT in 18 days!!! Any insider tips for me?

I do have a few tips, which you'll see if I get my TR done in time, but just in case....
1. If you plan to do laundry at BLT, figure out how the dryer works or test it earlier in the week. We had an issue with one of the settings (of course I don't remember which setting it was now). It took us 4 cycles to dry 1 load of laundry.
2. Don't search for the 'secret compartment' in the sofabed to find the pillows. They are now on the master bed instead.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time! Make sure you go to the TOTWL. It's very nice there.

 

[amyngary]

3dog2kidmom: you're going on a cruise during Spring Break. I will try to post more of my TR within the next couple of weeks so you can read about the cruise before you go.

Sorry my last installment took so long. We had PC issues (had to install a new hard drive in fact), and then I was determined to figure out how to make the photos smaller so people wouldn't have to scroll sideways to read my TR.

I hope to keep it moving much faster now.

 

[amyngary]

Day 2: Magic Kingdom: Disappointment, Jump Rope, and Shoe Issues
One of our goals of this trip was to explore the monorail resorts and restaurants, so we had breakfast at Kona Café in the Poly. Julia has been into doing the peace sign behind people’s heads in photos lately, and Olivia was trying to join in. Here’s a shot where she doesn’t quite get the concept, but she sure enjoyed it:

Kona was pretty good, and we had a lot of giggles during breakfast. I would definitely return.

We ordered the Big Kahuna and the “eggs your way”:

Olivia got the Mickey Pancake, which was a HUGE disappointment (can you say tears?) since we get a true Mickey-shaped pancake at home. I seriously could not believe they had such a lame Mickey pancake:

Probably trying to differentiate themselves from all the non-Disney restaurants that serve Mickey-shaped pancakes. That’ll show them.

Julia got French toast and bacon:

To drink, Gary and I each had Lilikoi juice and the girls had chocolate milk. Gary also had coffee (Apparently the deluxe dining plan includes two drinks at breakfast-who knew).

We had some shoe issues on this trip, and by breakfast, Olivia was saying her feet hurt. As much as the girls fight, they sure can be sweet sometimes, like when Julia offered to carry Olivia:

Then we headed to MK. To plan our park days, we each decide on one “must do” for the day, for a total of 4 things. Then we use personal experience and Tour Guide Mike’s advice to decide what order to do them in while sprinkling in other activities that we stumble upon. We are so not into the Commando style of touring. So, our first order of business was my must do, which was to visit the Fairies. We really wanted to do that on our last trip, but the lines were always 75+ minutes, so I really wanted to fit it in this time. Therefore, we headed to Toon Town hoping to get there right at opening to have a shorter line.

But as I mentioned, we were having shoe issues. I packed sandals for the girls that they hadn’t worn in 6 months, and little did I know they now hurt their feet. Therefore, we were later than planned since both girls kept taking their shoes off all morning and having to put them back on when it was time to walk to breakfast, to the monorail, etc. I tried using the “us girls have to suffer for fashion” line (they were really cute silver sandals), but they weren’t biting. SO, we got to the line for the Fairies at about 10:10, and it was already an hour wait. Oh well, a must do is a must do, so we decided to wait. AND since the line is inside a gift shop, I took Olivia to find a new pair of shoes. The good news is that she was not being picky since her feet hurt. The bad news is that her easy-going attitude was wasted since the entire store did not have ANY girls shoes her size (unless you count dress-up shoes, which would have hurt her feet just as much as the silver sandals). So, she went barefoot through the line for the Fairies.

Once we got back from our shoe hunt, Gary volunteered to head to Space Mtn. to get fast passes since that was his must do for the day. By the way, when we state our must do’s, Julia has learned that she can get in two or more must do’s if she speaks last, so she started to say that Space Mtn. was her must do, but then asked Dad for his first. SmartiePants! And just for the record, I only chose the Fairies because I thought the girls would love it!

So, we played lots of games while in line for the Fairies, but the most popular was the contest to see who could stand on one foot the longest. I even won a few times…. When it was time for us to see the Fairies, we were told the kids must have shoes on, which caused a bit of an issue, but I completely understand. If someone lost a pin and my daughters stepped on it, that would be a real bummer. Once they got on their shoes (again!), we went to see Tinkerbell. However, this is where the disappointment in our posting title comes in. Apparently, you are supposed to hand your Photopass card to the photographer, who either walks with you from fairy to fairy or hands it to the next photographer at each fairy stop. However, when we arrived to see Tink, there were 2 kids in front of us who had moved on to the next fairy, but our photographer and their original photographer were taking photos of them. So, while our kids were talking to and posing with Tink, nobody was there to take photos of them. Luckily, Gary had his camera:

Finally one of the offending photographers snaps a couple of lame photos with our kids not even looking at him because they were looking where the photographer should have been standing instead of at the other family. I wanted to wait until we got some decent shots (we did pre-pay for the Photopass CD after all), but we were quickly ushered to the next fairy. It did improve once the other family was finished, but come on! We waited an hour for this. I was not pleased. I have been considering writing someone, but I didn’t get any names, so it seems like a waste of time. I guess I need to let it go….

After the fairies, we tried to get Olivia to go on the Barnstormer again, but she was too afraid (I think we traumatized her for life, poor thing). So she and I went to get our faces painted while Julia and Gary rode it. I know, I sacrificed myself didn’t I? I’m such a good sport that way ;-):

Next, we needed to wander toward Tom Sawyer Island, which was Julia’s must do. But since we had all day, we stopped to ride a few other things first. One was Philharmagic. We had a bit of a problem there though. We were very excited to walk up when the sign said the next show was only 5 minutes away, so we quickly parked the rented strollers and rushed in line. I asked Gary where my little camera was, and he realized he left it in the stroller. Since our stroller was stolen at Epcot on our last trip, he ran out to get it. Uh Oh…. He didn’t make it back in time and missed the show. We felt terrible, but we figured we could see it again since it’s a favorite for all of us. We also rode Dumbo since I knew Olivia would not stop asking until we rode it and the line was only 20 minutes. Julia had a bit of an attitude about it at first (I think she is struggling with wanting to be too grown up for some things), and pouted through the line. Once we got up there, we decided that I would take photos, and Gary would ride with Olivia. However, suddenly Julia wanted to ride with Olivia, so Gary ended up riding by himself (or at least that’s the story he gave ME):

Here is miss Julia recovered from her pre-teen moodiness:

Next, we realized it was getting close to our Liberty Tree Tavern lunch ADR, so we decided to stop at the Haunted Mansion on the way there. While it wasn’t on the day’s must do list, it would have been on the next day’s list for sure! Olivia was a little nervous, but I explained that the only scary part is at the very beginning and after that it’s just a little ride in a car to laugh at some pretend ghosts. She rode with me so I could reassure her along the way, and it went well.

On to Liberty Tree Tavern, a favorite of Gary’s. It reminds him of his mom’s cooking. The only complaint I had in the past was the slow service and the ridiculously small bathroom. We told the waiter we were in a bit of a hurry (our Space Mtn. fast passes overlapped with lunch quite a bit, so I was concerned about our timing). He did a great job getting our food to us quickly, but things came to a screeching halt just before dessert. And then of course the girls had to use the (did I mention TINY) bathroom. The food was great though, and it’s a nice rest in the middle of the day. For appetizers, I ordered the crab and spinach dip and Gary got the strawberry salad:

Our entrees were the Pilgrim’s feast and Chicken and Dumplings (perfectly done):

The girls each got cheese pizza:

For dessert, we ordered two of the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake (WONDERFUL) and all shared them:

Here is Olivia playing at lunch:

After lunch, I knew we just HAD to get Olivia new shoes. Julia’s feet were hurting, but Olivia had blisters. So Gary and Julia went to Space Mtn. to take their turn riding while Olivia and I headed to the Emporium for shoes. She chose some totally cute Minnie Mouse shoes (which didn’t make it home – I’ll explain later). I also got Gary the Goofy shirt I had been admiring:

I love that shirt – doesn’t he look great?!

We didn’t realize the Space Mtn. refurbishment did not change the ride, just the queue, and since we had fast passes, we didn’t get to appreciate any of the changes (rough life huh?). Just as Gary and Julia finished riding it, I paged them on the Walkie-talkie to say we were almost there. Gary and I traded kids, so Julia and I could ride Space Mtn. We had an interesting start because just as the CM was about to push the button to launch our “rocket”, the ride automatically shut down. We were stuck sitting there until a bunch of CMs ran upstairs and reset something. Apparently, if the prior riders take too long exiting the ride, it automatically shuts down to avoid crashes. During our wait, Gary thought we would be finished and started talking to me on the walkie talkies, so I explained it would be a bit longer. Space Mtn. was fun as always.

While we were exploring the galaxy, Gary and Olivia got to ride Olivia’s must do THREE times with no lines. WOW! Of course, her must do was the “blue chair ride” (she has always called it that), aka the Tomorrowland Transit Authority:

Gary is used to me riding most dark and/or scary rides with Olivia, so he thought it was so cute when the blue chair ride went into dark Space Mtn and she moved next to him and held his hand. Once Julia and I came out of Space Mtn, we all rode TTA together. Here is Gary … being Gary:

Then, after exiting, we saw that Buzz was only a 10 min. wait, so we fit that one in too:

I still love Buzz, even though TSM blows it out of the water!

Next up was Tom Sawyer Island (Julia was getting cranky that we had done everyone else’s must do but hers). I kept reminding her that we would fit it in, but that we needed to do things in a certain order, but geez, she must be having some hormonal issues already….

Continued in next post (reached my photo limit again....)

 

[amyngary]

We have to admit that Tom Sawyer Island is a nice break from the bustle of MK – Gary especially has a soft spot for it. Julia loves exploring the island. Gary ran ahead on the way there to get fast passes for Big Thunder Mtn. RR, and then we were on our way to the peaceful island:

While we were all looking forward to our first Disney cruise, we were a bit concerned about Olivia’s safety because she is a big climber. When we walked past the windmill on the island, she looked up high at it and said “I wish I could climb on that!”

When she was a toddler, Gary made up a whole song with a chorus of “We don’t have to buy a monkey as long as we have you.”

We all enjoy the bridge (Gary tells me it’s a pontoon bridge) with the sign that says “Huck’s and my way” with an arrow pointing to this:

Here’s Olivia being dramatic:

I have to admit that the first time Gary and Julia insisted on visiting the Island, I was not excited about the idea. But I am now a convert. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend that you do on your next visit! On the way back from Tom Sawyer’s Island, Olivia was messing with her new shoes and complaining that they too hurt her feet. I was concerned she was going to drop them overboard (stick with me and you’ll see that I have ESP):

Next, we returned to Big Thunder Mtn. and discovered that Olivia was big enough to ride it!!! Woo hoo! She called it “Julia’s roller coaster” up until recently, but now she knows its name and proudly tells everyone she rode it.

Here she is:

She was so scared! She kept asking [insert whiny voice here] “Mommy, are we gonna’ go on any more big steep hills?” Afterwards, she said she didn’t want to go on it again, but the next day she started talking about going again. Gary and Julia sat in front of us and Julia was shouting encouraging words back to Olivia like “isn’t this fun?” What a great big sister!

Next, we were starting to get tired, and Olivia without a nap was getting a bit grumpy, so we started heading toward the exit. We stopped at Swiss Family Treehouse and I sat and rested while Gary and the girls explored it. Gary remarked about how different the girls are after seeing Julia pointing out all the great details like the water wheelie that carries water buckets up, but Olivia didn’t want to stop to see them – she just wanted to climb to the top. Afterwards, Olivia asked me when we were going to the hotel (you know it’s bad when she WANTS to sleep). So again we headed for the exit, but then we found some hula hoops that needed to be conquered on Main Street:

And then some CMs brought out a jump rope, so Julia decided to try again:

Then Olivia tried it and didn’t make it over the rope once and ended up in tears (did I mention she hadn’t had a nap in a week?). She came and got some hugs from me, and I explained to her that Julia didn’t learn how to jump rope until she was 8 or 9, so she just needed more practice. I was stunned about a minute later when Olivia went over there and jumped over the rope TWO times! (Someday her stubbornness will pay off…. probably when she is in Junior High and wants a tattoo.)

I have never seen her face so full of pride. Such a big, beautiful smile. Several times on the way back to BLT she mentioned that she was proud of herself.

However, right after that, I looked to my right just in time to see a woman carrying a baby miss the curb and fall forward, basically on top of the baby. Everyone rushed over there to help her, and I could see that she just felt terrible. The baby seemed to be OK, but the mom (I think grandma fell) was making a call and they all started to head for the exit, so we suspect they took the baby to be checked out. It was really scary to see, and I felt terrible for the grandma. However, if you die at a Disney park, they will freeze your body until a cure for whatever caused your demise is found, then thaw you out and revive you. It’s a well known fact.

We stopped at the Contempo Café to use snack credits for our quick dinner. We got 2 kids meals too: a cheese pizza and a ham sandwich. We all shared a light dinner that was not so hot, but what can you expect with kids’ meals and snacks. We learned after it was too late that on the Deluxe Dining Plan, the kids’ meal credits aren’t separate from the adults’. So we could have ordered adult food that evening – oh well, now we know for next time! And now so do you.

Once at the room, Olivia fell asleep on the floor right away. The rest of us read. I read Sarah’s Key, which I highly recommend. Then the 8p fireworks started and Olivia woke up and watched them on the couch with me. Julia had some Nintendo time and both girls went to bed. Since it was still too early for us to sleep but we were trapped in the room, Gary went to the TOWL and got us drinks. It was a nice relaxing evening.

 

[Joyciemc]

Yay, this is fun!

I was trying to remember the things I wanted to comment on as I was reading, and this is what I cam up with:
1.Very smart of Julia to figure out that listing her favorite last is the way to go- I like the way that girl thinks!

2.The picture of Olivia giving the bunny ears to her own forehead made me laugh out loud (I didn't abbreviate it because I really did it, and I'm not just saying it)

3.Your food pictures are making me very hungry.

 

[mla1977]

You've got such cute kids! I'm a BLT owner and I will be staying there next month.

 

[amyngary]

You've got such cute kids! I'm a BLT owner and I will be staying there next month.

I see, so you are the ones who stole our BLT room! We are staying at the Boardwalk villas next month because there was no availability at BLT...

You are going to have a fabulous time. We love BLT.

 

[disneylovin24]

I do have a few tips, which you'll see if I get my TR done in time, but just in case....
1. If you plan to do laundry at BLT, figure out how the dryer works or test it earlier in the week. We had an issue with one of the settings (of course I don't remember which setting it was now). It took us 4 cycles to dry 1 load of laundry.
2. Don't search for the 'secret compartment' in the sofabed to find the pillows. They are now on the master bed instead.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time! Make sure you go to the TOTWL. It's very nice there.

Thanks for the heads up about the pillows

 

[mla1977]

LOL! I booked the room back in October as soon as my contract went through. I just recently changed the ressie. I was trying to get a studio, but all I could get was a one bedroom for 3/7. I'll be at SSR from 3/3-3/7 at BLT from 3/7-3/8 and at BCV from 3/8-3/9. Flights were cheaper on 3/9 for me, and I'm excited about trying out Stormalong Bay!

 

[amyngary]

Day 3: “Ketchup” and MVMCP
Before I start Day 3, I have to tell you that I made a rookie mistake on day 2. I had planned to do SpectroMagic last night. However, when everyone was so tired, I thought to myself, “no big deal, we can see the fireworks and stuff at MVMCP tomorrow night, let’s go get some rest”. Well, I woke up on day 3 and realized that we missed our only chance to see Spectro on this trip. That is one of the few downsides to coming in off-season – they don’t have things like Spectro every night. I can’t believe I missed it. It was on my itinerary – if I had only looked at it instead of thinking I knew what we had planned the rest of the night. Well, I guess we’ll have to come back soon now….

The next morning, we visited the Wilderness Lodge for the first time to have breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café. We took a boat there:

Here’s BLT from the water:

I don’t usually wear T-shirts, but I found the coolest idea for matching shirts where else but here on the DIS boards. And then an amazing thing happened – we actually went and bought the supplies, and wonder of wonders, finished the shirts. Here are three of them:

The cast members made a special point of mentioning that they liked our shirt. Perhaps they are coached to say that by management?

We enjoyed the swampy area on the way over:

For breakfast, Gary got a Café Mocha and the girls and I got a delicious smoothie:

Since we all ordered the skillets, we sat there for a while with empty plates, which confused the girls a bit:

Then Julia did the unthinkable – she asked for ketchup:

We did not keep the ketchup for long, but it was fun. The kids especially loved it and wanted to ask for ketchup again, but we wanted others to get a turn, so we didn’t let them. I got to use my new iPhone to open www.allears.net and get ideas for what to order there. I am really going to love my iPhone when we travel. No need to print out all the great things to do now that I can just remember the website to open to get the information as needed.

We really enjoyed Whispering Canyon and would love to return. However, our waitress was very generous and gave us all refills on the smoothies, which made me feel sick later.

Since we had never been to Wilderness Lodge, we explored the lobby a bit:

I had heard the WL was a great place to stay, and it seemed very nice. However, I still prefer BLT (which is good since that’s where I bought into DVC). Once back at BLT, we decided to go for a swim:

Olivia loved the little slide and went down it about 65 times! Have I mentioned that 65 is Olivia’s favorite number? Lucky for her, Gary enjoyed catching her:

Here is Gary pretending to be tired of the slide fun:

Julia spent much of her pool time experimenting with air, water and her swimsuit:

And making waves:

When I used the ladies’ room by the pool, I admired the décor, and I just love this little bitty sink:

OK, so you may have noticed there are no pictures of me at the pool. Besides the fact that I do not allow swimsuit photos, it was a bit cold and I only stayed in for a short time. And besides, someone has to be the photographer, right? Since we were going to MVMCP that night, we all took a nap. Olivia decided to stop napping about a week before this trip, so she was perpetually grumpy for much of the vacation. We were rarely successful at getting her to nap with the thought of all the fun she would be missing, so we were thankful that it worked on this day.

Next, we headed to Epcot for the DVC member holiday party. I was not expecting to love this event, but every year we buy a new Tree ornament that will remind us of the year. This year, we bought a DVC membership, so I thought getting the free holiday ornament this year would be perfect for our annual ornament. In hindsight, I should have just paid for a DVC ornament – what a pain it was to get there and back. The kids had a great time dancing though:

Gary also joined in the fun:

Olivia even got to visit with Goofy:

After staying a lot longer than planned, we headed over to MK for MVMCP. Since we skipped lunch, we stopped by the Bakery (I can always find an excuse to go to the Bakery) and got veggies and dip, 2 Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a Fruit bowl to share, all bought with our snack credits. In the past, I had gotten the giant cinnamon roll there, but I was trying to save room for a Dole Whip – our favorite snack on property.

Continued in next post - exceeded our photo limit again....

 

[amyngary]

We started with the Castle lighting:

That is a very cool show. We had never seen it before, and the castle is beautiful dressed for the holidays. I am glad we finally saw it. Then we went to Cosmic Ray’s for a snack (fries, hot chocolate and cookies):

I am not a big fan of counter service (as if the hundreds of TS food photos didn’t give that away already huh?). However, Cosmic Ray’s is actually pretty good. After our 2nd set of snacks, we rode Astro Orbiter, which is sentimental to us. It is the first ride we ever rode at the Magic Kingdom, and we love it. It was really cool to ride it in the dark too. Olivia was nervous, which always surprises me since she often wants to climb things like huge windmills, but once we got going, she loved it.

And on to Fantasyland, where we rode the Carousel:

Winnie the Pooh…

and Peter Pan:

I really love Peter Pan. It is so well done, and perfect for the little ones.

Then over to the Tea Cups:

Julia usually rides the tea cups with daddy, but this time she wanted to ride solo. I am really having a hard time with her ‘growing up’ so much this trip. Is it mean that I was a little glad that she seemed to realize it was more fun with dad?

Next, we used some more snack credits for these:

I was disappointed with the pretzel. You had to pay extra to get cheese, and it wasn’t hot, and it didn’t seem very fresh. I still want to try the stuffed pretzels that you can get somewhere in Epcot I think.

And then we headed to main street for the fireworks and a visit with the ‘other big cheese’:

On our way to the Haunted Mansion, we stopped for more hot chocolate and cookies (that’s the problem with skipping lunch – you end up eating way too much junk food). I love doing HM at night! Our timing was great for finding a good spot to view the parade:

These guys were awesome – the sound of their marching was phenomenal:

There was a strange thing during the parade. This couple had gotten there early and gotten a seat on one of those low walls (which was such a good idea – I wish I had thought of it). Many others did the same. We asked them if we could sit on the ground (the cold, hard ground) in front of them since there was about 3 feet between them and the rope. They were very nice and let us use the spot. Well, once the parade started, one of the men who had a seat on the low wall stood up and moved in front of the others who were sitting on the wall. I don’t understand why he did that, but the nice people who let us join them were not happy. I ended up speaking up for them and asked him to sit back down so everyone could see. His wife even repeated my request to her husband, who just kept taking his photos not caring about anyone else. I think someone needed to remind him that he was ON VACATION. I can understand being grumpy with strangers at home, but for goodness sake, how bad can your day really have gone? You are at DisneyWorld!

We loved the Christmas parade – so well done. Another example of Disney including all the right little details. We headed back after the parade since it was after 11pm. On the way out, we stopped for one more hot chocolate :- ) Sadly, I never did get a Dole Whip on this trip. There were many "must do's" that we did not get to do this trip since we were only there for a few days.

Before bed, we started a load of laundry, but everyone conked out pretty quickly.

 

[amyngary]

Day 4, Friday: Getting WET and Date Night
Our last full day at the parks, we had a breakfast ADR at HS. Our goal was to get there early and get one of the first fast passes for TSM, and maybe even walk on it when the park opened. However, it was pouring when we went to the bus stop! After waiting a few minutes, we decided we would rather change our plans and eat at the Contemporary hoping to wait out the rain. So, I called and cancelled our ADR (I’m very diligent about canceling any we don’t use), and tried to get a replacement ADR for somewhere on the monorail to no avail. So we decided to head into the Contemporary and see if Chef Mickey’s had some no-shows due to the weather. Our very first meal EVER at DisneyWorld was at Chef Mickey’s and I really wanted to go back this trip since it was our first time staying at BLT, but could not get an ADR to save my life.

Well, we got lucky and after initially saying they didn’t have any openings, the nice CM asked where we were staying and then somehow found a table for us. The food was pretty good, but we also enjoyed seeing these guys:

Our kids LOVE Donald:

Donald has always been Olivia’s favorite. This means she will grow up to be a Democrat. (Gary inserted that – his theory, not mine).

And Minnie enjoyed Olivia’s spinning Minnie toy:

Again, Julia took advantage of my proclamation that they could eat whatever they wanted:

And I have photographic proof, so when she is a teenager and tells us that we never let her do anything fun, I can remind her that she had gummy bears for breakfast and a huge bowl of whipped cream all to herself!

After a nice breakfast, the rain had let up quite a bit, so we headed back to the bus stop:

Once at HS, Gary ran ahead and got TSM fast passes. We used our walkie talkies to meet him and then started on our Must Do’s since the weather was not on our side. First we did the Magic of Disney Animation, a first for us. WE LOVED THIS attraction! After the movie and tour, we got to draw Mickey Mouse. Both girls have been drawing him for all their friends since we got home:

Here is Olivia’s version of Mickey Mouse (she has actually gotten a lot better at it since coming home):

And Julia’s:

Gary’s:

And mine:

After that successful activity, we headed to American Idol, another first for us:

American Idol was fun, but I wish it hadn’t taken so long. I’m glad we did it once, but I am in no hurry to go back. And then it was time for our TSM fast pass. That ride is so well done and such a good time for all ages.

Next, Gary and Julia went to ride the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster while Olivia and I stayed indoors out of the rain. Darn, we just had to go to the candy shop and share a fresh gingerbread man dipped partially in chocolate – YUM! We also bought a second poncho since we could only find one poncho when we packed for this trip. I can’t believe we spent $7.04 for a poncho, but we were a captive audience!

Our day at HS always goes by so fast because each attraction is so long, but I felt like we fit in a lot between breakfast and lunch. On to Brown Derby for lunch. We had not been there since our very first WDW trip 6 years ago, so I was really looking forward to a great meal. However, the lack of sleep was catching up to all of us, and the girls acted up during the meal. I barely took two bites of my entrée, but here are the details….

For appetizers, Gary got the salmon caponata:

I got the crab cake:

And the kids got carrots and ranch dip:

And Chicken soup, which was full of onions and didn’t get eaten.
They got Tempura Fish Sticks and grilled cheese for entrées:

Gary and I both got the Filet for our entrees (Gary thought it was very good):

For those of you who get the Deluxe Dining Plan, make sure you ask what your drink options are if you aren’t soda drinkers (at home I drink water almost exclusively). At Brown Derby, they let me get a Virgin Pina Colada. Maybe it was the bad mood, but I really don’t think Brown Derby is worth 2 TS credits on the dining plan. It is really good, but it does not compare to Cali Grill or Narcoosee’s.

Because of the behavior issues, we decided Olivia MUST have a nap. So after Gary and Olivia left to have a nap, Julia and I were just going to do RnRC and then head back ourselves so I could start packing for our cruise. However, ToTs line was only 10 minutes, so we did it and then rode RnRC. Then I realized that I forgot to open my iPhone version of the TSM game while at TSM to download the special wallpaper (which I read about on the DIS), so we went back there (I was also secretly hoping to sneak in another ride on TSM, but the wait was 60 min.) However, we did call to check in with Gary and asked if we could stay a bit longer. The bad news was that I couldn’t get the TSM wallpaper downloaded – it kept saying I wasn’t at the ride. I even asked a CM, who knew nothing about it but suspected the rain was messing up the GPS. I guess we’ll just have to come back soon! Then we decided to do the Animation again. This time, we drew Bolt. I really love the Animation, and it got Julia interested in learning to draw.

Here is Julia’s version of Bolt:

And mine:

We have very few photos of our HS day because the rain was really bad. The Photopass photographers weren’t even around after noon, which was a total bummer. Since Gary ran ahead to get our TSM fast pass upon arrival (I thought we would get some later in the day), we didn’t get any photopass photos that whole day. While Julia and I had a great time staying longer, I was yawning all through our date night (details coming).

This day is one of the reasons I always want to go for a week – we tried to cram a week’s worth of attractions into four days, so by the time we left for our cruise, we were all exhausted!

So, once we finally left HS, Julia and I had a mercifully quick bus ride and I got some of our packing done. I mentioned in our pre-trip report that we were using packing cubes, and we really liked them. I wish I had gotten some photos of how we used them.

Speaking of packing, Gary tried to do some more laundry, but our dryer was not cooperating, so we ended up drying the first load of laundry FOUR times to get it remotely dry. (You have been warned.) Of course, we did not know that would be a problem until we already had a rather full load in the washer, so we were starting to get concerned about getting packed in time for our 9am Town Car pick up. Just to give us a little breathing room, I called and changed the Town Car time to 9:45am Saturday.

Continued in next post (exceeded our photo limit again)....

 

[amyngary]

Next, it was time for the girls to visit the NeverLand Club. We had never taken them to a kids’ club at WDW before this trip, but we really LOVE California Grill and were concerned about how they would behave with us there. Well, we had a bit of an adventure getting to the club on the monorail. Since it was a MVMCP night, the monorail lines were really long. Of course, since we had not had monorail lines at all until then, we did not plan for the delay. Then when we got to the Poly, the CM we asked led us out and around in the pouring rain. We realized that we went in a big circle by the time we arrived at the club, so Gary asked the CM there if there was an indoor route to get back to the monorail. Thankfully, she directed us via an indoor route which was also shorter. Here are the girls climbing through Wendy’s window:

By the time we waited in the monorail line again, we were about 25 minutes late for our ADR at Cali Grill – ooops! And then when we checked in they reminded me that we had a reservation for four. How embarrassing. When I made the reservation, we couldn’t get in at the Neverland club, so I made it for four and then must have forgotten to change it once we got the Club reservation. The CM was wonderful and got us in anyway. We got a lovely window table and ordered some wine. For appetizers, Gary got the Spicy Kazan Roll and I know I had some kind of soup (I was still freezing from the rain all day), but we forgot to get photos, so I can’t tell you which soup. For entrees, Gary got a chicken dish and I got the scallops:

For dessert, we ordered the Bananas and Caramel (OMG! Heaven) and the Valrhona Chocolate Cake:

Cali Grill was wonderful again. We saved it for our last night in case the kids did not like the Kids’ Clubs on the ship. However, we would have enjoyed it more if we had not been so tired. We did get to watch the fireworks from our table, and if you have never seen the MVMCP fireworks, I highly recommend it.

I hope to take the kids with us the next time as the Kids’ club was about three times what we pay at home for babysitting, and I know they would love the view from there. Hopefully they will be mature enough to take there soon.

Gary went to pick up the girls from the Club while I did some more packing and ran the dryer some more. I was really starting to get stressed about the dryer situation, and in hindsight I should have called housekeeping instead of dealing with it all ourselves. I was up pretty late packing and still had a lot to do the next morning.

Because of the rain, I did not look at my notes for what to do at HS all day. I was sad to see that we completely missed Lights! Motors! Action! yet again. I have been trying to see that show since it came out. Next trip, that will have to be my Must Do.

 

[Keli]

Loving your trip report, can't wait until you get to the cruise portion