Boardwalk, BLT and Atlantis Bahamas trip report with photos

[fflmaster]

i have found many trip reports very informative and i thought since i was just there for july 4th holiday that maybe my report can help a future visitor.

Background: twin boys 13, wife and myself

July 3rd: Day 1.

the plane ride is interesting because we used frequent flier points for the tickets. the interesting part was my wife got to go first class with us airways and the boys and i would be flying coach with southwest.

this was the first time my wife went first class and she just seemed to love everything about it. the hot towel, the breakfast and the drinks. its all her and super relaxing.

my wife's flight is one hour before ours, so we have to sit at the airport for a little while waiting to board. this wasn't a big deal.

then there is my flight as i have two 13 year old boys fighting over who gets the window seat and what movie they are going to watch on the shared dvd.

that was fun for me

as soon as we land my wife was waiting for us, and just had to rub in how great her flight was and soooooo relaxing.. thanks just had to hear that.

this was the first time my family would be using magical express and we proceeded to head right to level 1 for the bus location. surprise surprise i didn't read the booklet and we first went to the wrong terminal. well back up the elevator, across to terminal b and down the elevator.

we head right on the bus and everything looks great.

check in at boardwalk and the magic pixie dust was coming down as our room was ready (only took 45 mins from landing to our room. no complaints there)

so we thought about going to the pool, but said since the room was ready why not just walk around, get something to eat and wait for our bags.

this was my first problem with magical express. i was told that it could be up to 3 hours for our bags.. try over 5 hours before they finally arrived. sorry that isn't acceptible but hey its disney and lets get going to the park.

we go thru EPCOT! and hit La Hacienda de San Angel for diner.. very very good. i would highly recommend you try this place. we did a couple apps and one dinner that was for two and all shared. the food was amazing

it was almost 6:30 and we wanted to go to MK for the july 4th fireworks and the extra magic hours.

the fireworks for July 4th are absolutely amazing. easily the best i have ever seen. here are a few pictures:

the crowds started lining up before we got there (7:00PM) for a 9:00pm show. we find a place on the ground to sit and just decide better to stay there then try to ride something and take a chance we can't find a place to be.

this turned out to be a good and a bad thing.. one we did have a decent place to see the fireworks, but damn people have become more and more rude. i am tired of fighting people who just show up 5 mins before the fireworks or parades and just think they can push there way into the crowd and stand right in front of you. i mean please, i have been waiting for two hours and you think you can just push your way in front of me with 5 mins before the show. please.

the fireworks were 360 degrees around you. so they were exploding all over and being in the middle was just amazing.

after the fireworks we head straight to big thunder mountain. there is just something i find appealing about riding that ride at night. to me that is the best time.

after this we do the rest of adventure land. is it me or does pirates seem to get more and more boring? not sure why they had to add the few jack sparrow sections, but i guess they needed to spruce it up somehow.

well everyone was tired and i knew july 4th at hollywood studios would be really busy so we headed to bed.

 

[supersuperwendy]

Great start...I can't wait to read the rest!!

 

[moericus]

This sounds like my perfect vacation. I Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Mahusky]

great report look forward tp see more.

 

[Sandisw]

Sounds like it started off wonderfully and am glad day 1 went well. Can't wait to read more!

 

[fflmaster]

July 4th: Day2

our plan like probably many was to get up early and get to the park by rope drop. yea that isn't going to happen in my family.

we wanted no parts of being around MK on july 4th, so our choice was to go to hollywood studios.

to be honest this is my favorite park after MK as it has my wife's favorite ride (rockin roller coaster), my son's favorite ride (star tours 2: we did this one four times) and my entire family's favorite show (Fantasmic).

i was able to get everyone up and out by 9:15am. that is really early for my family.

here is MISTAKE #1: since we were staying at the boardwalk i thought it would be nice to simply walk to hollywood studios. ok, i am sure many will call me crazy, but this walk is not as close as it seems. it is just over a mile and took longer then i thought.

we thought walking would save us time and we would get to the park quicker. then of course half way down the trail we see the boat go right by us and i said to my wife well that didn't work.

we get to the park and head right for TSM.

i think this is a fun ride but no way am i waiting for over an hour. i get to fast pass and damn they actually have a line that is like waiting for a ride. it takes about 15 mins just to get up to the fast pass machines.

well since it took so long and our time is later in the afternoon i thought about doing something we haven't done for years (the backlot tour).

the backlot is not a bad little ride and definately worth killing some time while waiting for fast passes, but i expect they will be looking to expand toy story area very soon and there is some prime real estate that can be used to bring in some new rides and shops for disney.

after going thru we walked around and went to the shops just waiting a little bit more for the fast passes to open up again.

very good tip for traveling on busy park days that should be a no brainer. KEEP GETTING FAST PASSES WHEN EVER YOU CAN.

next fast pass window opens and i immediately get rockin roller coaster.

for some reason star tours has a short line so we decide to take advantage and we sure were glad we did as the rest of the day the line doesn't slow down.

quickly we all learn that star tours 2 is going to be a family favorite and since we supposedly will be able to ride multiple times without the same scenes this ride is going to be fun. the new line area is interesting, but nothing special.

however, the 3d is amazing. a really neat thing is the ride now picks one of the riders and pictures them as spy and they happen to pick my wife. of course she doesn't notice it at all and is texting when they show her picture. that gets a nice laugh out of people.

cool tip: you want to be in the middle second row for the best seats. the first row is cool, but only if your in the middle as well. the end to the right is not a great spot and i wouldn't recommend trying to get that seat. let two people go in front of you if you can and sit at seats 3, 4 and 5 if possible.

well it is about lunch time and our plan was to skip out of the parks during the hottest part of the day and take advantage of the pool.

for anyone that hasn't been to the boardwalk i highly recommend this villa. the pool is great. the slide is more fun then storm along bay's and the bar makes some great drinks right there with little walking.

we actually requested first floor by the big pool and both days we stayed at the boardwalk we just walked out of the living room and right into the pool area.

we headed back to hollywood studios for diner at mama melrose.. please go there the food is great and so is the price.

ok, we have fast pass avail again so we now get them for star tours 2. why not tower of terror? well when my son was 6 i made him go on and ever since then he refuses to go on this ride. all he remembers is being so scared he cried for at least 30 mins afterwards. of course he is 13 now and should be over it, but maybe next time as he will still not let me forget how much he now hates the ride. oh well..

for whatever reason mama melrose is so busy they are running about 1 hour late for reservations. good thing i gave us some time for getting a spot for the 4th of july fireworks. we quickly hit muppets and and i always find this ride enjoyable, but everyone else thinks its old and really only go since i like it.

dinner is fantastic and we head to find a spot for the fireworks. damn it is more crowded then i expected (8:30pm). we get a spot and sit down.

this was a very nice fireworks and for those thinking of going next year absolutely worth going.

after a second night of amazing fireworks we head over to see fantasmic. wow second show must have been as crowded as the first show. we have to sit well to the left and i can't get really any good pictures as the lights really only show the floats in the middle. damn that sucks.

it being extra magic hours we decide to stay and ride. hell the lines shouldn't be bad at all right? so wrong.. i think everyone decided to stay and ride rockin roller coaster. great thing we still had those fast passes. we practicaly walk on as i think most must have used their fast pass earlier in the day.

we used our TSM and star tours 2 fast passes before dinner.

my wife and other son decide to ride tower of terror, so i head over to star tours again with my son and tell him if its not too busy we will go on. no more fast passes.

great it is only a 10 min wait.. actually it is more of a walk on and we do it twice.

well its about 1am and we are out of time and head back to boardwalk.

day 3 is going to be interesting since we are doing MK and changing resorts to BLT.

off to bed and i think my boys and wife are sleeping before i can even get in bed.

day 2 down but we have 6 more. damn it feels like we did so much already.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I think you HAVE done a lot already! Great report!

Bobbi

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

You have been very busy

 

[mecllap]

Enjoyable report. Looking forward to the Atlantis segment -- hope you can include lots of pics, including the room. If you watch MK fireworks from BLT/TOTWL, would you please tell us how you think it compares seeing them in the park (I prefer in the park, cause I LOOOVE fireworks and like to be as close as possible [I usually watch from behind the castle, in order to be closer to the aerials]). I did enjoy seeing the MVMCP fireworks from the outside CG balcony a couple of years ago because of the wide-angle view. Keep on having fun, and thanks for sharing.

 

[fflmaster]

Day 3: July 5th part 1

this will be the first time we did a split stay between two villas.

being that we were at hollywood studios until 1am i knew that my family wasn't getting up early for MK.

my wife is amazing when it comes to getting everyone ready and packing. she was up and had us packed before 10am.

we left our room around 10:45am. called bell services and had them pick up our bags for the transfer to BLT.

i will say disney is better then i thought with the groceries. they kept our refrig stuff cold and frozen things frozen. no complaints at all.

as i said earlier my plan has been to get fast passes as often as i can so i have my family stop at MK and enter the park just to have them go back and check in the BLT. kids decide to walk with dad to get the space mountain fast pass, so we head over while wife goes to BLT and see if were lucky enough to have a room ready.

we really started out late and it just so happens that on our way out the parade is going on. i said what the heck lets watch the parade.

the pixie dust continues as my wife calls me to say the room was ready and the view is beautiful. room 7722, two bedroom with MK view.

i did request to be the highest floor possible and after speaking with the front desk they tell me i can get a room on the 9th floor but the view is not straight on to MK so we decide to stay.

this was also our first time in BLT and all i can say is WOW! the room is absolutely beautiful. the location is easily the best and my kids just love the MK view. they just loved watching the castle change colors all night while laying in bed.

my wife and i head down to the pool and kids decide to take a break and watch tv in the room. the BLT pool is nice looking but really weak in my opinion. the top height for the water is only 3 foot 6. i am a small guys, but common that is just not deep enough for a pool. boardwalk would go up to almost 5 foot (4 foot 9 i think). the pool is EXTREMELY small.

we try to see what the big pool is like and again i think the pool is not a great attraction. the water slide at the big pool is badly in need of repair. rust and worn down completely. so my wife and i just decide to head back to MK.

we pick up the kids and head over. the timing was perfect as the parade is going on just as we get there.

after the parade we eat at the plaza restaurant and again another place i totally recommend. the price is fantastic and the sandwiches are very nice as well. thanks for the follow disboard members as food has been great. i just followed the recommendations of other posters.

we hit space mountain and buzz lightyear. you have to love fast passes. oh yeah i got a fast pass for buzz lightyear while my family waited to be seated at the plaza. the lines at each were incredibly long, but if you have that fast pass you wait for just a few mins each ride. shame every ride isn't a fast pass.

to answer some questions of posters. i did travel to TOTWL and will post some pictures, but no we didn't get there for wishes. i also have a ton of pictures of atlantis and will post those as well.

 

[fflmaster]

Day 3: July 5th part 2

we hit a few more rides and then decide to see wishes.

i just love fireworks and magic kingdom is the best place to see them

then comes the electric parade. i don't know why i love this parade, but i think this is my favorite of all the parades disney has in any park.

can someone post who the dragon is. my son asked and no one around us knew.

we hit the rest of MK and the last two rides i love to hit at night (haunted mansion and splash mountain)

after another long night we head home to bed for our last day at disney

along the way we went up to TOTWL to see what it looked like and i took a few pictures.

the view at the TOTWL is amazing and next time we will be going up to see wishes. i can't imagine how amazing the show is up there.

tomorrow is going to be a fun and busy day as it is my wife's 40th birthday and we will be heading to animal kingdom, a photo session at grand floridian and then naccrossee for dinner.

 

[cemeb4dk]

The dragon is from the Movie Pete's dragon, a 1977 movie, his name was Elliot

 

[ajf1007]

Loving your TR! Your pictures are great and your commentary is so informative! Yay for your wife and her 1st class trip to WDW! Can't wait for the next update! Keep 'em coming!

 

[fflmaster]

Day 4: July 6th Wife's 40th Birthday part 1


we had a photo session along with my wife's birthday dinner at nacroossee. the only park i thought we could do in a very short time was animal kingdom.

since we were at epcot for the food and wine festival just last season i thought skipping would be ok.

we did get up a little early for animal kingdom thinking that we needed to be out by 1-2pm at latest.

we can't waste time today so i head to EE to get the fast passes while everyone else gets in line for the safari.

i don't know if people do this, but i usually always tell my family to get in line for safari while i get fast passes for something and then catch them around the stroller drop off. funny thing this time is when i get there and call my wife she explains that they are past the tv section. i jump in and head straight up the line.

don't you think someone would say something, but nope right to the front and even the CM getting the fast pass tickets just waves my in.

but wait a minute my wife isn't anywhere to be found.. did i miss them? nope she was way behind and didn't realize how far back she was.

i actually end up waiting about 10 mins for her to catch up to me lol. wasn't i the one who went and got the fast passes.

my wife is actually on the side that gets the best pictures so i hand her the camera

huge tip for the safari ride.. DON'T EVER RIDE THE LAST ROW!

holy molly the last row is so bumpy that taking pictures was almost impossible and afterwards we all thought our necks had whip lash.

here are a few:

i love how the animals just roam around

surprise surprise the lions are asleep. i know they sleep like 18 hours a day, but wow i have yet to see them ever awake. has anyone seen them do anything but sleep?

it was one hot day and you can bet the rhino spent most of the day in this mud. looks so comfy


well afterward we head to EE and this is my favorite roller coaster in all of disney. my wife likes rockin roller at HS, but i love EE. i haven't been to AK while the temperature was above 75 in the last few years and i really wanted to do the kali rapids. this is where my plan completely failed me as i expected EE to be the ride most needed for fast pass. WRONG! kali rapids was the ride everyone wanted.

damn the wait was well over an hour and fast pass wasn't available until 3pm. well looks like i am missing this one again.

we do the normal rides dinosaur, its tough to be a bug and since we are on the time clock we head out to get ready for the photo shoot.

the photo shoot was my wife's birthday gift. hell sorry but i don't see paying 150 for a 30 min photo session. i was pleasantly surprised with how many photos they get in the 30 min session.

here were a few:

the last one is my favorite. we made my wife wear the funny happy birthday hat all day.

photo session tip

first, have a plan of attack. you need to know what you really want and make sure your family understands they need to move quickly for the poses.

we didn't move fast enought and missed out on the pictures with the chandelier and the old white car.

second, do the photo session at the beach club if its your first time. the grand floridian is very nice and the pictures turned out beautiful, but even the photographer said the beach club was the best location. he explained that there are so many areas around that location that it doesn't matter what the weather.

next post i will talk about nacroossee and a couple of pictures from TOTWL

 

[mainstreet1997]

TOTWL is great but if you get an MK view like that again watch from your room. Its so great to watch the fireworks from your room (the music is piped in on a TV station), in your PJs then turn around fall into bed! But if Im ever there for Summer Nightastic again when they do 360 fireworks I'll be up at the TOTWL

 

[ajf1007]

What a beautiful family and great update! Love the idea of a photo shoot! You just gave me a great idea for the big family vacation next year! Woo Hoo!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm not a DVC owner but have rented points from some great people here on the Disboards and thought I'd chime in on your TR - great report!

BWV is my favorite resort (well, hard to compare it to any other resort since we haven't stayed anywhere else ) but we love HS and Epcot so it has become the best place to stay. You have thoroughly convinced me to try out BLT after seeing your view I hope to plan a big trip late in 2012 to include all my kids and their families so knowing you have to book 11 mos in advance, I better start planning! (hoping to go in middle of November).

You have a beautiful family - loved the birthday hat!

 

[fflmaster]

first let me say thank you for your complements. i just hope this report is informative and fun. maybe some find a couple of new things to do or SKIP (the skip is coming now).

Day 4: July 6 Part 2

ok so when last i left off we had just completed the photo shoot at grand floridian.

i was very happy how things turned out, but could have done better if we were alittle faster in our poses.

next we went over to nacroossee for diner. i wanted to do something in the grand floridian (victor and albert's was out.. sorry too expensive when taking the kids) and after reading some reviews i thought nacroossee was the best place to go. BOY WAS I WRONG.

i don't know if this was just a bad night or our meals were the norm. the food was just plain bad. to their credit my wife did like her fish meal, but that was the only good think i can say about the place.

the service was not bad but very slow (we were there at 5:30pm and only two other tables were seating at the time). the time wasn't an issue (at least i din't think it would be at the time), but i just am not used to taking two hours for dinner. especially when my dinner was this bad.

i had surf and turf, both of my boys had a fillet and of course my wife had some kind of fish. all of the fillets were well over cooked and my lobster was gummy. i know most are thinking that we should have sent the dinners back, but when all of them were not acceptable i just wanted to get out of there.

the best is this picture of my son. i guess the time the dinner was taking took its toll on him.

this night did perk up as my boys and i setup a cake for my wife.

we actually spent some time on the cake chatter thread about different cakes and copied a cake that we loved on there.

now this is something i HIGHLY recommend.

the cake was absolutely delicious. very fresh and moist. the middle layer was so good i just kept eating it.

but now comes another don't do for you. when scheduling dinner at the resorts on the monorail forget about trying to get to hollywood studios afterward without a car.

like i said earlier this would be the first time we wouldn't be renting a car and it will be the last time. the disney buses took over an hour to get anywhere. i mean wow we killed a whole night trying to get back to hollywood studios.

what my son and i wanted to do was go back to TOTWL and watch wishes, but since it was my wife's birthday and again her favorite ride is rockin roller coaster we wanted to ride one last time. we did get back to hollywood studios but it took 2 hours and just made it for one ride and didn't get to see fantasmic!

after the night was over i took my wife up to TOTWL just before 12am to see what the place looked like. my son and i went up there earlier and was probably the reason why we wanted to go back for the fireworks. i can't say enough about how the view is breath taking and the lounge is very comfortable and pleasant.

here is what the pool looks like from up there. it is so beautiful. please if you stay at BLT go up there and spend an evening with some food and watch the fireworks.

the slide is really nice, but very slow and not much fun

our disney part of the vacation was over and tomorrow we were on the way to the bahamas.

time to sleep, but dream about the next time we would be coming home to our disney house in 2013. (for some studpid reason i volunteered our points for a whole family vacation in the BLT grand villas, and it will take three years of points for that vacation)

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I am enjoying your report!



Oh...PS...Do try to find Pete's Dragon and watch it some time. It is one of my family's favorite movies!

 

[ACDSNY]

You have some awesome park and resort pics and great family shots too! They'll be wonderful memories for you and your family.

I'm looking forward to your Atlantis pics as we're going for our first time in Nov.