It seems like such a long trip from the airport, but we finally made it. We arrived at DME at 1:30 and probably got to the hotel around 2:30. Many people on our bus were coming to WL. We waited probably 20 minutes on the bus before departing. Then stopped at Poly and GF before WL (they continued to CR and BLT).
Arrival was fine. Lovely touch to have CMs meet you with iPads saying, "Welcome Home" and escorting you into checkin. Our CM wasn't terribly interested in conversation, but it was nice nonetheless. The checkin CM that he passed us to was lovely. We got our request (upper floor, lobby view). LOVE this location. More on that later, but the kids were thrilled with all the nooks, crannies, fireplaces, sitting areas and staircases in the lobby atrium. We take a different route to our room every time.
On to the room - nice towel animals. I love the new bed linens and bathroom. We dropped our carry-ons and went to RF.
Lunch was 2 kids pizza meals (they are flatbread, not the other Disney pizza) and that fantastic roast beef sandwich (roast beef, focaccia, caramelized onion, lettuce, blue cheese). Love the cucumber salad (sweet/dill pickle flavors).
Back up to the mercantile by way of the courtyard. I really would love to have an upper CYV one day. So lovely.
Mercantile - 3 kinds of WL coffee cups, a few cute woodland animal plush (including a wolf? and an adorable moccasin wearing Pluto, among others). Standard WL magnets and t-shirts. There is a baby Bambi that DD fell in love with. Decent selection in the grocery area. Greek yogurt is missing but they have it at RF. They do have fruit in the Mercantile. And 1 quart of milk is the same price as a soda from a CS restaurant.
For the person asking about wine, there is a 1/2 bottle at $11. Bottles are different labels starting from $13. I saw one that was $23. Red is on the shelves. White is in the cooler. They had probably 5 kinds of red. I didn't look at white.
After we dropped our groceries (still not DME!), we're off to the boats. Did I mention the pool was closed for storms.
First in line to the blue flag boat. Sharing with FW and CR in one route. They had one boat going WL to CR to FW and another WL to FW to CR at the same time. We took a round trip on the monorail and enjoyed the CR concourse before a good wait for a boat back to WL. The breeze and the sunset were fantastic after the storms blew away.
Back at WL, Trout Pass had a great margarita for $10. The kids didn't want marshmallows on the beach. They delayed the 6:45 start for the campfire because of the weather and were staying later to accommodate. We moved onto the playground and bare feet in the sand. Drawing hidden Mickeys, making friends and watching the boats and the water birds. One couple was camped out making an evening of it. SO peaceful down there.
Back to the room by way of Hidden Springs. That is one SMALL pool for a big resort during an upgrade. It was almost empty, but the kids wanted the slide, so . . .
Back at the room and it's 8pm. We landed 7 hours ago. Still no bags! So come prepared. Just as we were changing and on our way to guest services, there was a knock. They're here!!! So glad. The poor guy looked swamped. We had bathing suits and pjs, but I really wanted my stuff.
Night swimming! Woohooo! Girls loved the warm water and the slide. Great monitoring by the very active lifeguards. They rescued one kid who acted like he didn't need it. They are on the ball. Unfortunately kids being kids means the slide gets turned off on occasion, but they got it back going again.
We bailed out before EWP.
The Fire Rock Geyser is in great form. It's loud and shooting way up in the air. Quite an improvement from our 2010 visit.
Back at RF, tomato basil flatbread and chicken nuggets. The kids meal is 4 nuggets. We did double fries and I shared the flatbread with 1 DD. To-go. It's pajama time.
Back at the room getting fed and pajamas. We got our south side lobby room, and boy that WCC hootin and hollerin is loud! They did settle down around 10, so it's ok, but be warned. Afterward the wonderful lobby music was audible in our room until just now (after midnight).
SO if you've read this far you get the great tidbit for today - at 9:45 we heard big booms. At first I thought Wishes. But then, remembering the time, I looked out the window. It's the FROZEN FIREWORKS from HS!!!! You can see them from the south side of the WL, probably only from the lobby rooms. Maybe from the woods or CY view, depending, but I think the Villas would obstruct. They are far in the distance through trees, but they are HUGE! It was a nice bit of pixie dust.
Notes on the lobby balconies - 5th and 6th floors are smaller than I remember having in a standard room on the north side. Also, all of the 4th floor on the south side of the lobby are enclosed balconies. Some with stone. They look pretty private, but the roof is right there and probably obstructs a view. We do have a view of the buses and driveway, but they aren't noisy. The bell from the breezeway is gone. Sad for us when we head to the buses, but nice when we want the quiet in our upstairs room.
ETA: I was mistaken We can still hear the lobby music. And there is a tiny loading area between bell services and the buses that seems to serve DME. Trucks pulling in now.
Thanks for reading. Pictures soon. I probably won't get to ask about construction until Tues.
I'm curious too, I have never booked a bounce back, I am hoping to this year at WLV.
