Drive Like the Wind Bullseye!! March 11 - March 18, 2017 - COMPLETE

jecskc

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
INTRO

Hello everyone!!

We are home from another fabulous Spring Break Disney Trip. As usual, we had a great time and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Here is the Who, What, Why and Where …..

Who:

Crane family

Me – my name is Susan. 49 years old. I am the main Disney fanatic of this group with DD as a close second. I am basically the most unphotogenic person alive, so I don’t have a lot of photos of myself. Here is proof.



DH – his name is Jerry. He turned 64 on this trip. He is in management at a Chemical company. He acts like going on these trips is the worst thing ever, but once we get there he always has a great time. I just have to get him in the right mindset to go.



DS and the girlfriend. DS is 17 and will be 18 soon and the GF is 18. I will mostly refer to them as the big kids and they pretty much did their own thing while on this trip. They would meet up with us for dinners and things, but otherwise, they had their own fast passes and even a table service or two all to themselves. They seemed to enjoy themselves.



DD – Her name is Hannah and she is 14. On this trip she took a lot of her own photos and I will share them with you as they are much better than mine. She took some great ones. She was allowed more freedom during this trip. She stayed in the same park as us, but was allowed to venture off on her own for a short while to explore what she wanted and we will see that in her photos. This goofy girl. Most of the time it is tough to get good photos of her. Here is a decent one



But most of the time, I get this.



Or this



She makes me smile

What and Why: Spring Break Disney Trip. This is something we have been doing every year since 2009. It is always busy during Spring Break, but it really is the best time for our family to go. With the kids’ school schedules and work schedules, it is just almost always the perfect time. We just pack our patience expecting large crowds and go with the flow. We have lived in South Carolina for decades and due to a recent change in my husband’s career, we now live in Corpus Christi, Texas. DH is starting up a chemical plant here and he has been working a lot and has been under a lot of stress. He tried to get me to cancel the trip, but I refused. I needed it and so did he. He was worried that the start up schedule for the new plant would interfere with our trip, but at just 19 days before we left – WHEW!! – he was cleared to go. Thank goodness there was a construction delay in the project. DH really needed to get away, so we were all so happy that he could come.

Where: We are DVC members, so this time we were able to snag a 1 bedroom villa at Bay Lake Tower. We LOVED this resort and the convenience to Magic Kingdom allowed the kids to head over there almost every night on their own and close down the park and then have an easy walk back to the resort.

Since we just bought a (very lovely) brand new house, DH refused to allow me to spend even more money on plane tickets and insisted upon driving. From South Carolina, it was an easy 7-8 hours. From Corpus Christi, Texas, google maps said it was 16-17 hours, but with traffic and stops it was more like 19 - UGH.

DH drove straight through on the way there and on the way back. He used to work shift work, so staying up all night driving is something that isn’t too difficult for him. I’m still super impressed by it. When we moved here, I had to stop and spend the night on the way. I just couldn’t do the drive straight through. Thus, the trip report name – Drive Like The Wind Bullseye. It was a long drive and it was agonizing at times, but I would do it again to visit our happy place. Haha – I will push harder for plane tickets next time though.

I booked this trip at 7 months out when we had just moved here to Texas and I found out the dates for Spring Break when I registered the kids for their new schools. We sold our house last April and we were given 3 weeks to move out as the new owners needed to be in the house by April 28, 2016. DH had already been living in Texas for several months already, so I was dealing with everything. Renovating the house, getting it on the market, dealing with my own job and two sullen teenagers who were NOT happy about moving halfway across the country.

After we sold our house we had 6 weeks remaining in the school year, so the kids and I moved in with my wonderful sister until school was over. We shipped all of our stuff to Texas where DH had an apartment for us that we would live in while our new house was being built. We left for Texas when the kids got out of school and finally moved in to our new house in August, 2016. So, we lived in FOUR different places last year and we ALL needed a fun vacation. The kind of vacation that being in the Disney bubble provides.

We purchased the dining plan and I will be doing a dining report as well. I will post links to it here so you see what and where we ate.

I hope you all will follow along on our adventures and please do stop in and say hello if you can!!
 
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Houston here and I sympathize with that looooooong drive. Finally this year hubby has shelled out for plane tickets so the kids and I are ecstatic. Looking forward to hearing how good/bad Spring break really is :)
 


Houston here and I sympathize with that looooooong drive. Finally this year hubby has shelled out for plane tickets so the kids and I are ecstatic. Looking forward to hearing how good/bad Spring break really is :)

The drive is brutal. It was REALLY crowded. We had a great time though!! Thanks for stopping by to say hello. How long have you lived in Houston??
 
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Day 1 – Part One

DH prefers to drive at night, so we left the house about 9 PM March 10, 2017. It was pretty smooth sailing until we got to Florida and then the traffic jams and wrecks started and a 16 to 17 hour drive turned into a 19 hour one. Those last few hours were rough when we were so close after driving so far and having to sit in stop and go traffic on the turnpike. But we made it around 4 PM the following day on March 11, 2017.



Ideally, DS’s girlfriend’s plane (she still lives in South Carolina) arrived at 2:30 and Magical Express was just pulling in as we got there. Perfect!! I did online check in and in true Disney style, I got a text that our room was ready around 3 PM and that we could just head up there and settle in. It was all perfect timing.

We were in room 7435. A 1 BR villa at Bay Lake Tower, Disney’s DVC extension to the Contemporary Resort. We LOVED it. It was practically perfect. Here are some photos before my messy family hit the door.

Floor plan

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i408/jecskc/Disney%202017/Day%201/Floor-Plan-One-Bedroom-Villa-Bay-Lake-Tower-from-**************.net_.jpg

Ours was the mirror image of this.

Foyer as you enter the door with the first of TWO full bathrooms to the left. The extra bathroom was EXTREMELY helpful with three older children in the room.


http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04593.jpg.html

http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04594.jpg.html

http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04596.jpg.html
Washer and dryer. (this room held an ironing board, high chair and pack and play as well. We made use of the shelves, they came in handy for storing things out of the way.)
http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04596.jpg.html

http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04597.jpg.html
The only complaint I had about this room was the washer and dryer was badly unlevel which caused it to make a huge racket when we used it. I kept meaning to call down to the front desk about it, but I never got around to it. It was loud, but it got our clothes clean just fine. We tried to level it ourselves a bit and it helped some.
http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04597.jpg.html
Dining and living area.
http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04597.jpg.html

http://s1092.photobucket.com/user/jecskc/media/Disney 2017/Day 1/DSC04598.jpg.html


Continued next post
 
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pictures not posting for some reason. Stay tuned until I try and figure out why.
 
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Continued from previous post

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Kitchen



Artwork

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Master Bath

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The shower had one of those giant round rain heads and I LOVED it!!
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Master Bedroom

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This bed!!! SOOOOO comfortable. We slept really well.

View from balcony.

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Soon after taking these photos, DH, the kids and the luggage and stuff arrived. We loved our room and it was very comfortable. I would stay here again in a hot minute.
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Well - I don't know why my pictures are all of sudden not posting. If someone can help, let me know. Perhaps I just need to patient??
 
Hi Susan :) Can't wait to read the TR. The Villa looks amazing. I can't believe how big the kids are! Time flies. Hope you get the pictures fixed. But I just clicked on the links and looked at them on Photobucket. -Amanda
 
Hi Susan :) Can't wait to read the TR. The Villa looks amazing. I can't believe how big the kids are! Time flies. Hope you get the pictures fixed. But I just clicked on the links and looked at them on Photobucket. -Amanda

Hey Amanda!! Yes, the kids are changing so fast!! Yeah - I don't know what is up with the photos. I've been looking around for a solution, but I haven't found one yet. Maybe someone will weigh in. Thanks so much for following. I'm so glad you are here!!
 
Well - I don't know why my pictures are all of sudden not posting. If someone can help, let me know. Perhaps I just need to patient??

OK - I think I got it figured out!! Had to resize all of the photos. They were too large apparently. Onward!!! Ride like the wind Bullseye!!
 
Glad you figured out what was going on with the pictures.

I am in LOVE with that Space Mountain art! I wonder how much it costs? Better yet, we have a ton of paint and it is angular. I could probably make that myself. Project!
 
Glad you figured out what was going on with the pictures.

I am in LOVE with that Space Mountain art! I wonder how much it costs? Better yet, we have a ton of paint and it is angular. I could probably make that myself. Project!

You probably could!! I'm sure that art is SUPER expensive!! I love it though!! Having to resize the photos will take forever, but it is fine. Disney Depression had already set in. I need my toilet to flush automagically and could someone tell me to have a magical day?? Coming back to reality is rough!!
 
Day 1 – Part Two

Before I get started on the second part of this update, I just want to share a couple of fun little things. First of all, we received the new magic bands prior to our trip.



I have a love – hate relationship with the magic bands. When Disney first started using them, they were nothing but trouble for us. Invariably, someone in our party would not scan through at the turnstile or it would stop working on the room door halfway through the trip. Or the PIN number we assigned to it would randomly stop working and we would have to go get it reset. Also, these things make my wrist itch and although I appreciate the convenience, I hated having the sweaty itchy band on all day.

Fast forward back to this trip and everything was different. Enter these little beauties.



These are called Magic Keepers and Disney had just put them on the Disney Shop App for sale a few weeks prior to our trip. I ordered four of them and they came with a little screw driver. We were able to remove the disc from the wristbands and insert them into these things. And we just LOVED them. They were so much easier to use when they were on a lanyard or attached by the lobster claw clasp to my park bag. This is the park bag I made for our trip and I clipped it on the d-ring that connected the strap to the bag.



Or I clipped it to my ID holder when I didn’t take my bag with me.



DD wore hers on a lanyard and the big kids clipped theirs to their belt loops. DH wore his band – it doesn’t bother him like it did us.

The Mickey/Minnie head ones were $12 and the plain one with the carabiner was $9.

This trip we only had one time where mine didn’t work on the door, but otherwise the magic bands worked the best for us this trip. We were happy they were working out the kinks.

Anyway, we also saw them for sale in the parks and resort gift shops with all of the other magic band stuff they sell.

Back to the action.

After we got all of our stuff settled, we headed across the skyway to the Contemporary where we had an ADR for dinner at Chef Mickeys.

Artwork in the elevator area.



View from the skyway



Gift shop



Chef Mickeys



We were all starving and no one was in the mood for a photo, so we just got a buzzer from the hostess stand and sat down for a few minutes for them to call us to be seated.

DD wanted this ADR because she loves buffets. We loaded up on all kinds of good things to eat. This restaurant gets much maligned on the Dining Board, but we really liked it. It is plain American buffet food. The kind that fills you up when you are hungry. Salads, veggies, salmon, chicken, roast beef, the VERY important mac and cheese and a fun array of desserts. And the characters are fun as well. We didn’t get a ton of character photos as everyone was always up getting food when one came by. And the restaurant is pretty chaotic. We enjoyed it though.

I had fast passes for MK that evening, so the big kids scarfed their food and took off for the park. DH was understandably exhausted and stayed back at the room to rest and decompress while DD and I head over to the VERY crowded Magic Kingdom.
 
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The drive is brutal. It was REALLY crowded. We had a great time though!! Thanks for stopping by to say hello. How long have you lived in Houston??
Been here 20 years now..we are from Scotland and only now acclimatizing!! lol we have two boys 14 and 8.
 
Been here 20 years now..we are from Scotland and only now acclimatizing!! lol we have two boys 14 and 8.

And I thought we were having a tough time adjusting. Wow. Scotland to Houston?? - that is really something. It was chilly on our trip last week in Florida. I have to say, I really enjoyed wearing a sweatshirt and a jacket and not sweating to death every day.
 

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