Sunday, May 13, 2007 Mothers Day
Im going to start today with asking for a little indulgence. I have a back story about BWV and what they have always meant to me. (If youd like to skip this part, scroll down to the break where it says Back story over):
Once upon a time back in October 2002 Goofy and I came down to WDW with our one year old baby DS. We were staying in a three bedroom condo/villa at the Sheraton Vistana, which was just beautiful if we absolutely couldnt stay on property sometime I would stay there again in a heartbeat. At home, we lived in a very nice two bedroom apartment, but now that we had DS, we were ready for a real home. I had just been promoted at work to Supervisor and the pay increase was nice and DH had been at his current job for just over a year but we werent yet ready to afford a down payment on the kind of house we wanted. I desperately wanted to live in a house again. DHs parents owned two timeshares and were very generous letting us use one to trade into the Orlando resorts for our vacations. We did this several times with great results. But that wasnt enough for him. He needed to see Disney Vacation Club. He needed to know what staying on property at Disney was really about.
So one day at Epcot he wandered over to one of the DVC stands where he arranged for a tour. I was less than pleased. I didnt like the idea of the high pressure timeshare sales pitch at the non Disney timeshares that offer money and tickets and such to attend. I didnt like the idea of a Disney timeshare that offered you nothing, even more. It was cutting into my vacation time!
Goofy was excited though, so I went. It was at the Boardwalk. We had never seen the BW, BC/YC, or anything other than the monorail resorts. It was an entirely different world for us. I will never forget how we drove up and parked at this beautiful resort. I remember walking through the lobby and down to the Boardwalk. It felt exclusive and elegant. I just knew that everyone staying there had to be incredibly wealthy. And I remember standing on the Boardwalk, watching the resort guests wondering if DH and I would ever be able to provide Max with this kind of vacation. We loved the idea of DVC, but wanted to buy our first home before we bought into our second. And we learned that nope, you did NOT have to be incredibly wealthy to stay at the Boardwalk. But the mystique remained
Fast forward two and a half years. We had our own Interval timeshare by this point and traded into OKW. We met again with DVC and since many things had grown and changed in our lives, it was the right time to buy. So that answered the question: yes! We WOULD be able to provide Max with this kind of Disney Vacation!
And now? Three years later, we were checking in to the Boardwalk Villas. As members. It was a very significant moment for me. The other DVCs had appealed to us more over the years so we had never really tried to stay at the BWV. So this was the trip!
Back story over
On our last morning at VLW we got up about 8:00 and put in the movie Invincible while we finished packing and got ready to leave. This time, the Envelope of Doom was waiting for us on the doorknob with no surprises (always a good sign!). We grabbed up all of our stuff and realized we had forgotten the pool noodle (very important for the BWV Scary Clown pool!) so Goofy and Max went down to get car and I went back to get it. I had several bags with me and when I grabbed the noodle, I picked up one of the heavier bags with only one handle. The way I was holding it made my hand hurt with all the weight. Goofy had the life jacket to drop off and I had the DVDs. I ended up having to stand in the Mercantile waiting to drop off the movies, balancing my bags and suitcase for quite a while. Note to self: next time, use Bell Services or TAKE TWO TRIPS!! Before too long, I had dropped off the movies and was packing our stuff into the car. It was a very hot and humid day and we didnt know when wed get into our room, so we had shuffled a few things around to keep all our swimsuits and sun screens and such separate so we could swim after the Mothers Day Brunch at Epcot.
We got to the Boardwalk and got our parking slip at security with no problem. Goofy dropped me off to start checking in, while he and Max checked our bags. I walked in and was floored to see the longest check in line I had ever been in. Thinking about it, we tend to check in at off hours on off days and this was around 10:30 on a Sunday morning. I lined up and waited, trying to count the families in front of me. Determining who went with whom was mildly entertaining and I was right only about 70% of the time.
The man in front of me seemed very pleasant. He was chatting with the mom and two kids in front of him (they werent together I missed that one!) and then one of his party walked past and he and she complained about a room location or some such. Goofy and Max came in and sat down to wait for me. Max was intrigued by the ferris wheel:
After about 15 minutes, it was my turn. Considering how long the line was, I was really impressed it didnt take longer. The man who was in front of me was working with a CM next to us. Goofy came up when I was checking us in and was more fascinated with how demanding and rude this guest was, than our check in. He wanted a handicap accessible room on the Boardwalk close to an elevator with low to no noise. And he wasnt being very pleasant about it. There was a one day (ending at 5:00) Ratatouille movie event happening and it was too much noise for his party so he needed to move. He was really giving the CM a hard time and he had to call a manager over. I dont know what they decided to do, but the last we heard he was demanding a wheel chair and they didnt have any left for him.
The CM checking us in was very sweet. She gave us our room keys and when the first didnt have the
DDP on them, she redid everything to make sure they would. She even called to check if our room was ready, and when it wasnt she told me it would be ready no later than noon (it was about 10:45 or so now) and gave me a card to call to see when it was ready. In addition to this, she took down my cell phone number and said she would call me when it was ready. I had no idea they did this
!?!?!? I always though the guest had to call? Regardless, she was very, very nice.
We walked outside to the Boardwalk and I ran into the shop to get some Tylenol for Goofy he had the beginnings of a headache and I had packed all our meds. We stood in line for the boat to Epcot.
I love this sign!!!
There in line, we met the nicest couple. They were really interested in DVC and asked us all kinds of questions. We chatted with them in line and then again on the boat. Once at Epcot, I was given a white carnation for Mothers Day and we walked to the pavilion for our brunch.
The Mothers Day Brunch is held in a large building set back a ways between England and Canada. We checked in and used our DDP to pay for it, which was very nice
!
We used our last two VWL TS credits for me, two of our BWV credits for Goofy and tried to use one VWL and one BWV credit for Max. They werent able to do the split for Max, but we realized we could still use the VWL credit that night for dinner, so it was all good. We did end up with tons of receipts:
Not sure why there were so many???
The waiting area was decorated in the Flower and Garden Theme of Pirates and Princesses. To that end, they had a meet and greet with Jack Sparrow and Pirate Mickey and Princess Minnie. They also had a small buffet set up with coffee, water and Krispy Kremes. I got in line for Jack Sparrow and Goofy got in line for Minnie and Mickey. While I was waiting, Jack had to take a quick break and flounced past us in line, calling out that he would be right back. I mouthed across to Goofy not quite the same at the same time the woman behind me said out loud to her mom, not exactly Johnny Depp. We caught each other saying basically the same thing and laughed.
However, as you can see from this photo from a distance he was pretty good:
Max got quite a kick meeting Jack Sparrow again as he was now part of his pirate crew, you may recall. He was especially thrilled when Jack gave him three pieces of pirate gold. I took Goofy and Maxs photo with photo with Minnie and Mickey and then joined them. The photo with me didnt work though
not sure why???
We were able to get some water and then were called to our table. On the way in, I was given a pink carnation and wished a happy Mothers Day. Goofy and I were offered a glass of champagne and I accepted while he declined and ordered a coke. Max ordered orange juice and I commandeered half of it to make myself a mimosa. The brunch was wonderful and I will review the food on my DR thread. It was a lot of fun. The whole area was set up as a Medieval village:
The main buffet:
Cinderellas carriage:
They had an omelet station, a Mickey waffle station, carving station, pasta station, and a crepe station. Max and I got waffles and there was a large vase of faux peaches as a decoration. Max asked for one, I told him they werent real and he could get fruit at the breakfast section. The CM making the waffles told him he could also have as much of the bowl of berries as he wanted. It was cute Max asked if he could have two waffles. I said sure and put them on the plate. Max then said, because I can only get two, right? The CM then told him, you can have as many as you want. You can have as much fruit as you want too. In fact, you can have the whole bowl and Ill go get more! Maxs eyes were huge! The bowl was a big serving bowl full of chopped strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries all his favorites! They also had whipped butter, syrup and whipped cream:
See the huge bowl he offered to send back with us to our table???
There was also a table set up for kids to decorate their own cookies:
Max had a blast doing this!!!
Another fun part of the brunch was the traveling lute player. He was playing the same sounds over and over and over and it was a little monotonous one of the CMs making the omelets even muttered something about it while I was up there. But occasionally you would hear him go into a quick Mickey Mouse March or something and it was funny. He was very nice and in character and when he stopped at our table, he showed Max how to play the lute and explained its history when Max asked about it.
Here he is, handing over his pick so Max could try playing:
On our way out, Max stopped again to look at the station making fresh Mickey waffles. He began asking questions, so the CM let him come behind to watch him make the waffles up close and personal. He made Max feel like he helped him make the waffles
very cool!
In the middle of brunch, I checked my phone and I had two missed calls and a voice mail. It was the CM from BWVs who checked us in, telling me our room was number and that it was ready for us.
WOW!!!
Up next our BWV room, swimming, and a night on the Boardwalk.