DINING UPDATE, 6/18 From FL to the real "Frozen" in NE, Pretrip DVC Welcome at the Copper Creek 7/28-8/9

[jphcoffeeboy]

A Welcome Home at Copper Creek...

Who: jphcoffeeboy (42); DW, Lutheranchick82 (36); and DD, Little Miss, (6).



What: 12 Night Welcome Home DVC stay. Gold AP. No Dining Plan. Owner's Locker.


When: July 28, 2019-August 9, 2019


Where: The Happiest Place on Earth, of Course. Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando, FL. Copper Creek Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, 1BR.


Why: Because we really like going to Disney World, and need to take vacations. Nebraska is also cold, but wonderful. It is the good life.


How: Faith, Cash, and Pixie Dust. Flights from Omaha on Southwest through Midway and Ronnie Regan. ME transport to the World.


Background: Once upon a time, we used to live in Florida. We were there for 5 years and had AP's 3 years we were there. It was a blast. We spent many short trips at Disney World. We stayed both on-property and off-property. We stayed in a lot of time shares like Blue Heron Beach Resort, Liki Tiki, Cypress, etc. with deals we found on Orbitz. We liked condos. We liked having a refrigerator and a coffee maker, and space to relax. We liked throwing everything in the fridge into an ice chest and heading over for a 3-4 day stretch. We enjoyed picking our restaurants carefully and enjoying what we wanted from the menu. We have been to Disney with the dining plan too. It is just too much for us. We still enjoy Disney Restaurants, but we will do them once a day or so.

We like Yachtsman Steakhouse:


A sample of our Condo Cookin': A Mickey Omelet in the works. Also does waffles. This was made during our cabin stay at Fort Wilderness.




Then we all picked up and moved to Nebraska for a wonderful job serving amazing people. Now we have snow. And cold. And ice. And vacation time I can actually use. And a little more disposable income. Last weekend, I was at a conference for work in Winter Garden. We stayed at the Blue Heron Beach Resort. it was very nice, as always. But then we went to Saltgrass for dinner. It is about a half-mile from Blue Heron Beach Resort. We pulled out of the parking lot in our expensive (and not the greatest) rental car and moved like a car length, in two traffic light cycles. It was in that moment that I realized that I wanted the least amount of stress and trouble on vacation. I turned to DW and said, "Let's go on the Disney Vacation Club tour tomorrow." So, we did. We bought it. Lots of points at Copper Creek. Say what you will about the cost or value, but we wanted our Blue Heron Condo on Disney Property. To us, that is worth the cost of DVC. It isn't about saving money for us. It is about getting what we would like to have for our vacation. We look at DVC as a savings account for Disney and just another bill. So please, I am not here for a debate about DVC or the merits of buying direct or not, or resale, or financing. I believe there are other threads for that discussion, and I just don't care. I'd rather talk about our fabulous upcoming trip.

Here are DW & DD celebrating at Top of the World Lounge our recent DVC membership:



We love Copper Creek because we love the Wilderness Lodge. We love the Wilderness Lodge because it reminds DW and I of our honeymoon. We stayed in a log cabin for our honeymoon and want to retire in one. Now, we can without all of the hassle. WL is the most extreme form of glamping.


So, I hope you come with us on this magical Pre-Trip Report. See ya' real soon.

Upcoming Threads:

Owner's Locker
Flying from Omaha isn't easy.
Dining Reservations
Fastpasses
Food Plans for the Villa

 

[dvc at last !]

Interesting story ....... waiting for more.

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Interesting story ....... waiting for more.

Thank you. Haven't been on the boards in years. Still trying to remember the way to do things like pictures, etc. Hang in. It'll be a fun one.

 

[starry_solo]

Thank you. Haven't been on the boards in years. Still trying to remember the way to do things like pictures, etc. Hang in. It'll be a fun one.

Easiest way is to use a free photo hosting website like Flickr or Imgur. Photobucket won't allow hosting to third party sites without a fee.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We're glad to be following along as well. Welcome Home to Copper Creek! We absolutely love WL too, since we honeymooned there in 2007. We bought our Copper Creek DVC in 2017 and love it. We'll look forward to seeing what you have planned.

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

We're glad to be following along as well. Welcome Home to Copper Creek! We absolutely love WL too, since we honeymooned there in 2007. We bought our Copper Creek DVC in 2017 and love it. We'll look forward to seeing what you have planned.

Thank you. There are plenty of naysayers about Copper Creek, but it really does suit our likes. We stayed at the cabins at Fort Wilderness and that kind of spoiled us forever on having a bedroom and kitchenette at Disney. Plus, there is nothing like walking into Wilderness Lodge and looking straight up. It never gets old.

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Easiest way is to use a free photo hosting website like Flickr or Imgur. Photobucket won't allow hosting to third party sites without a fee.

I tried the "upload a file" option, and that seems to work well for me. I will try Flickr. I used to use photobucket, but like you mentioned, they charge.

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Purple Time Capsule-Owner's Locker Acquired.


We purchased DVC on a Sunday. We were leaving on a Tuesday, and we had paid for luggage. Looking forward to 49 years of vacations, there is a certain savings to be had when flying without luggage. There are certain freedoms which come with flying with only a carry-on. Not having to give away or toss our leftover non-perishables might be the best thing ever. As we will be flying to the world and not renting a car for the foreseeable future, we decided to take the plunge and do the Owner’s Locker, immediately. We can’t wait to get back and open our purple time capsule.

Let me just say that Owner’s Locker is one of the most responsive companies I’ve encountered in a long time. They got me a locker on Monday morning. We hit up Target and the ABC, sifted through our suitcases, and came back to the Blue Heron Beach Resort to pack it up. We dropped it on a luggage cart at the front desk, and it was in the warehouse 2 hours later. To make it easy to rememberYou can do an online list of everything in the box. He are some screen shots of our list:



We typed things in as we packed them. It was easy because I had my laptop with me for work. I received emails updating me as to the location of the locker at all times during the transit process. I received numbered seals for the box which look like zip-ties. It was easy, and a no-brainer. We have enough points for two trips a year, so it should work out for us as a financial win.




We packed that thing to the gills, using towels to wrap glass bottles and pad the bottom. There are also nice dividers inside. The membership fee was waived. We chose the mid-grade package with one pick-up a year. Most likely, we will add a second locker on our first trip to pack our clothes in. We hope to go for a trip in January 2020 with one backpack for the three of us and a personal item. So, this update hasn't been too earthshaking, but I'm already glad we did this.

 

[Avery&Todd]

GREAT REPORT SO FAR - and I can't wait to read more!

We also bought at CCV last month but we won't be taking our "Welcome Home" trip until June 2020...

bring it on!

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

GREAT REPORT SO FAR - and I can't wait to read more!

We also bought at CCV last month but we won't be taking our "Welcome Home" trip until June 2020...

bring it on!

Thank you so much!

 

[DisneyMotherOf2]

Love it!!!!

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Love it!!!!

Thank you. Enjoy your trip!

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

The Parents are Coming...The Parents are Coming...


Alert..Alert...My Father and Stepmother will be joining us from England for 5 days of our trip. My stepmother has never been to Disney, didn't grow up with Disney anything and doesn't do rides, or heat. My dad hasn't been for 40 years. They are 66 and 67 years old. They will be coming on Magical Express from the airport, and staying at POR, Pool view. They will have the dining plan. We have commandeered their My Disney Experience accounts and set them up for some dinners with us, and some on their own. We will be controlling their FastPass plus. The have 5-day, single park-a-day tickets. They are doing this so they can see their granddaughter and not have to come to Nebraska. This will be an interesting element on our trip.

So, we will have some tame activities for them: MK: Hall of Presidents, Philharmagic, Princesses, Peter Pan, Pirates, Tiki Birds, Jungle Cruise, Small World, Carousel, etc...

Epcot: Everything except Mission Space, Test Track

Animal Kingdom: Safari, Lion King Show, Tough to Be a Bug, Navi River Journey, Dinosaur, Nemo Show

H.Studios.: Beauty and the Beast, Frozen Sing Along, Muppets (Is it still open), whatever else is still running...

Stay tuned for more updates!

 

[MaryAnne220]

As a Nebraska girl(Omaha) I understand how cold it has been...especially this winter! Can't wait to follow along!

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

As a Nebraska girl(Omaha) I understand how cold it has been...especially this winter! Can't wait to follow along!

It has been a mess this winter, and we are so looking forward to our summer trip to Disney.

 

[FFMickey]

Home! WL is a special place. We are fellow CCV owners and we fell in love with WL last year, we just had to add-on to our DVC contract. We are also from Nebraska and head down at least once a year. This winter was a beast. You wouldn't believe how many DVC members we have met from NE. We are going to sign up for an OL when we are there this fall, did you sign up under the DVC discount?

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Home! WL is a special place. We are fellow CCV owners and we fell in love with WL last year, we just had to add-on to our DVC contract. We are also from Nebraska and head down at least once a year. This winter was a beast. You wouldn't believe how many DVC members we have met from NE. We are going to sign up for an OL when we are there this fall, did you sign up under the DVC discount?

Nice to meet some other Nebraskan Disney people. While we still lived in Florida we stayed at Fort Wilderness Cabins, and we loved it. We also got used to staying at different timeshare condos through Orbitz. We stayed at our favorite off site condo while in Florida for a conference (a Disney free Orlando Trip) and then got reminded of how terrible traffic is and how much it costs to rent a car. We almost bought a unit there.

After the traffic and cash associated with an off site trip, we called DVC and said we were coming over for a tour. We are so glad we did. It costs a fortune, to be sure, but sanity and relaxation on vacation is worth it. Especially after this winter.

We purchased Owner’s locked with a different discount while we were there at had a car. We hit up Target and stocked up. It will be waiting when we get back.

Go Big Red.

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

TIMES TO EAT!!!!

The food plans are made. We might stick to them, we might not. On this trip we will probably eat at more Disney-Owned establishments than we normally would, because my parents are on the dining plan. There are now just too many good options at DowtownDisneyVillageMarketLimeGarageCirqueduSprings and Swolphin to justify eating at some of the higher-end restaurants at the World. Being DVC, we also look forward to having a few meals in our room, hosting dinner guests, and doing a little grilling. We will purchase TABLES IN WONDERLAND, because we are going for about 22 days on our APs with DVC (gotta love 3 years of DVC points at Copper Creek to draw from, and a loving, generous congregation which provides me with ample vacation time. DW is a private contractor and can somewhat control her schedule).

Here are the Plans:

Arrival Day: 7/28. Coffee for breakfast at home. I am a pastor, so I work Sundays. We will be out of church by noon after I get done shaking hands and kissing babies. We live in the parsonage attached to the church. DW will have the van warmed up and loaded with some more coffee, beef jerky, pop-tarts, and string cheese (healthy, I know). We will then head to the airport. Hopefully, we can grab a bite on our layover, and then we will land at MCO about 9:30pm. We may be eating out of vending machines for dinner. It is unlikely we will get to our villa before 11:00pm. We will probably pack a can of chili and some tortillas in the suitcase so we can have something when we arrive.

7/29: Rise early, splurge on a pastry from Roaring Fork while we wait for our Publix Instacart order to be delivered. Pack the groceries away, eat some lunch (WE MISS PUBLIX DELI), and head to MK to activate AP's. Afternoon FP+, then Dinner at BE OUR GUEST! pre-fixe. We are SERIOUSLY RECONSIDERING this reservation. We have been before for dinner when it first opened (PORK PRIME RIB=YUMMY), and the food now looks Meh, small, and expensive. We would go for our DD, though.

7/30: Mickey Waffles and Mickey Omelets in the Villa. Hollywood Studios Park Day, Taco Tuesday at the Villa for Dinner.

7/31: Mickey Waffles and Mickey Omelets in the Villa. Hollywood Studios Park Day, HOLLYWOOD BROWN DERBY Martini and Cobb Salad lunch so we can survive the FROZEN Sing-A-Long after lunch. My parents arrive this night, so we will probably eat at Riverside with them at Sassagoula or Riverside Mill for light dinner. Because if I actually only order a Cobb Salad at Brown Derby and not cave to the burger or a steak, I'll be shocked.

8/1: Yogurt, Cereal, Fruit, etc. in Villa. Extra Magic Hours at Epcot. Stepmom desires cinnamon rolls. She shall have them. Coffee (JOFFREY'S DVC/TIW Discount), World Showcase Lunch counter service (Dad wants to try TANGIERINE CAFE ) we will oblige. Desserts ANYWHERE WE LIKE. BEVERAGES ANYWHERE WE LIKE. It's the World Showcase, the choices are endless. Even during the DIET EPCOT period we will be there, one is never far from food and beverage. Dinner-Dad and SM=Counter Service on their Own, DD will eat at CAMP DOLPHIN, DW and I will have a DATE NIGHT at BLUEZOO followed by JELLYROLLS.

8/2: Yogurt, Cereal, Fruit, etc. in Villa. EMH at MK. Stepmom desires cinnamon rolls. She shall have them. Snacking in the Park throughout the day. I would like to try a Chicken Stick and a Candied Bacon from WESTWARD HO WAGON. Dad wants waffles from SLEEPY HOLLOW. Uber-early dinner at ART SMITH'S HOMECOMING. Generalized walking around DowtownDisneyVillageMarketLimeGarageCirqueduSprings. Probably not too much dessert or snacking, because of the fried glory that is Art Smith's Homecoming.

8/3: Yogurt, Cereal, Fruit, etc. in Villa. EMH at Animal Kingdom. Stepmom desires cinnamon rolls. She shall have them. Counter Service lunch at SATU'LI CANTEEN. Dinner at CITRICOS.

8/4: Stepmom and Dad will go to THE WAVE for late breakfast. We will have DUNKIN' DONUTS at my pastor friend's church in Winter Garden. LINNER will be a villa barbecue. Right now, we are planning on grilling steaks, and also having potato salad and green salad. Epcot FP+ if we feel like it in the evening.

8/5: DAD's BIRTHDAY! Mickey Waffles/Eggs in Room. Animal Kingdom Park Day. FLAME TREE BBW Lunch/NOMAD LOUNGE Beverages, Dinner at NARCOS. (Narcoosee's really but, the cheesecake is like a drug, right?) Fireworks and Birthday toast at TOP OF THE WORLD LOUNGE.

8/6: Stepmom and Dad depart early. Sleep in, leftover eating morning before late FP+ at HS. Hopefully will see a very good friend of Indiana Jones, whom we know. Dinner at SANAA. Never been. Should be fun.

8/7: Pool Day. Picking on leftovers, GEYSER POINT snacking. We have reservations at TEPPAN EDO for a very late linch, and have been before. We might cancel. It is good and a lot of fun, but also a lot of money. We will also likely be tired and also have FP+ at Magic Kingdom that evening.

8/8: LAST FULL DAY BEFORE DEPARTURE. Picking on Leftovers at Breakfast, MK FP+, DowtownDisneyVillageMarketLimeGarageCirqueduSprings MORIMOTO ASIA DINNER, shopping and Dessert.

8/9: Departure. Airport food. Yum.

This is a new venture for us. Our First DVC Trip promises to be a food adventure. Cooking and snacking in the room we are used to, but never in such close proximity to the parks, as we usually stayed in condos off property. We got spoiled staying at a Fort Wilderness Cabin. We will see how these plans hold up and report back to the DIS.

 

[LutheranChick82]

We are also doing Moonlight Magic on the 8th so we may give up Morimoto and just eat in the room instead - we shall see!!!

 

[jphcoffeeboy]

Thank you for reminding me, my Disney Wifey. Yes, we do have tickets to Moonlight Magic, and will likely eat whatever they are doling out there. Hopefully something other than hot dogs. Iron Chef Moritmoto may have to wait to have the privilege of serving us.