Exciting Half-Month DVC Trip - Boring Title! Complete... We leave today! (6/2/17)

[Duffy Lover]

Hey there, hi there, ho there! Are you ready to join me and my family on an amazing, 15 night, 3 DVC resort, 10 person, fabulous journey? I’m still working on a snappy title, until then we’ll go with our working title… Regardless, I’d love it if you’d come along as we plan the many, many details of such a long and involved trip. Here is the general outline of the trip:


When: Saturday, June 3rd - Sunday, June 18th, 2017

Where:

• One night in a grand villa @ AKL Jambo House
• Five nights in a 2 BR & Deluxe Villa @ BCV
• Nine nights in a Hospitality House area grand villa @ OKW

Who: My family of four, my parents, my two sisters and my two nephews


This is the second time we’ve enjoyed such a trip- we went to WDW for 14 nights in June of 2014. In fact, I have just completed (finally) our trip report from that wonderful trip TODAY. So if you’re interested in reading a completed trip report and pre-trip report, here are the links:


A 2-Week Grand Villa Extravaganza! We leave tomorrow! PTR Complete…


A 2 Week Grand Villa Extravaganza! 2.5 Years Late... FINAL POST!!


There’s a lot of information about our family in the openings of each of those threads, but if you haven’t read it, or don’t intend to, I shall introduce ourselves again here. Regardless, a good deal has changed in the almost three years since I started that pre-trip report. Ok. Here we go…


Me:

Hi! I’m Maggie. I’m about to turn 38 (!) and I am a busy mom of two lovely daughters. As of last summer I have moved on from my job as a secondary math teacher and school administrator and am now an “Innovation Coach” for an educational cooperative (known as a BOCES) that serves 7 school districts across the entire northwestern region of Colorado. My title is a little obscure, so let me sum up what I do- I help teachers become better teachers. Anyways, I love my job, and although I love teaching too, this is an opportunity that doesn’t often happen in a rural area like where we live.


Oh, where do we live? In a beautiful mountain town in Colorado:

We moved into “town” just over a year ago to have more time with family - now we no longer have a 30 minute commute (in good weather) and enjoy one hour more a day with family NOT in the car! The picture of me is taken on our deck in front of our house with the ski hill behind me, and the one above is from the ski hill itself. Do I ski, not really, although this year I do have a ski pass. When I’m not hanging with the family, I love playing ice hockey, camping, reading and I’m also leading my oldest daughter’s Junior Girl Scout troop this year. Oh and I love all things Disney, duh!


My family:

Last Halloween we we rocked the Star Wars look, with my husband, Caz (short for Casimir- a Polish, family name), and my youngest daughter, Clara, as Jedis (Clara is a Youngling), and my oldest daughter, Emelia, as Padme (circa Episode II).


My husband - Caz:

Caz will be 37 in October and is an engineer and sales manager for a small manufacturing company here in town. He loves to snowboard, camp, read and hang out with “his ladies.” We met back in college and started dating in 1999, and we just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in Lake Tahoe with our girls (see above picture). He is amazing, but Disney is NOT one of his passions, so he is very kind in more than tolerating my Disney obsession.


My daughters:

The first photo is from this past Christmas and the latter is from the first day of school, only two weeks ago. Clara is a second grader and Eme (short for Emelia) is a fourth grader. They both love playing soccer, reading, camping, playing imagination games together, skiing, Girl Scouts, and hanging out as a family. Although they love many of the same things, they are very different girls. Eme is outgoing and fearless, yet shy around adults and Clara is cautious, loves deep conversations and will someday probably take over the world. Both girls are happy, kind and pretty amazing. I’m biased, but most people would agree with that statement!


My mother - Becky, aka Buszia (which is Grandma in Polish):

My mom is the hub of our Disney obsession. She is hopefully going to retire in the near future, but until then she is an accountant for the Ford Motor Company. She loves to travel (the above picture was taken this spring at Disneyland Paris’ mini Toy Story Land), read, spend time with her 4 grandkids, and most of all plan and take WDW world vacations. It is because of her we go on these truly epic vacations. After a 2011 trip where we rented DVC points for a week, she started buying up points like they were going out of style. We currently own at OKW, WVL and BCV.


My father - Terry, aka “Papa”:

Papa became “Papa” long before the grandkids. My sisters and I have called him that for as long as I can remember. My dad retired from the Department of Defense a few years ago, and since then he spends his time watching my nephews, rocking out to loud music, and golfing. Most of all golfing. I think part of why Papa loves WDW so much is that he can golf every other day!


My younger sister- Brie, aka Auntie Brie-Brie:

Brie is a funny, sarcastic bank manager who adores her nieces and nephews. She loves to hang out at home, binge watching good tv, read, and play with her large, black dog, Lily. She also loves to travel, including WDW, but I think she’d prefer it if we’d slow down every once and awhile so she could sleep in.


My older sister- Andrea, aka Auntie Dre-Dre:

Andrea is a super hard working single mom who is a lawyer for an insurance company. She loves the MSU Spartans, reading, escorting her busy young sons to many, many activities, and hanging out with her family and her college buddies. She is also sarcastic and super funny, and is incredibly intelligent.


Last but not least, my nephews - Josh and Ryan (with their Auntie):

With all of us at Eme and Josh’s First Communion in 2015:

Josh is just four months older than Eme and Ryan is just two months older than Clara! They are super close even though they, and the rest of my family, live in Michigan. They actually get to see each other fairly frequently, and when we do visit we pretty much all hang out together all the time. This summer we sent the girls to Michigan for three weeks all by themselves. Anyways, the boys both love Boy Scouts, baseball, soccer, football and are super smart, kind little men. The kids are more like brother and sister and although they can play together for hours on end, they can also fight like brothers and sisters! But they also love each other very much:

So there you go... The cast and crew of this trip!


With my last trip report, I began with mini-trip reports of all our previous trips- follow the link above to read those. For this one, I will follow that pattern. Over the next few posts, I’ll fill you in on the various trips to Disney Parks we’ve taken since June of 2014. Then we’ll dive into the planning, the resorts, the parks, the ADRs, FP+, the special little extras, all of it! I’ll be honest, my favorite part of any Disney vacation is the planning. As long as I have a trip to plan, I’m happy!


So there you go… I hope you’ll follow along as we plan this trip, and then as we take on WDW.


See you real soon!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Let the planning BEGIN...

 

[fallonkendra]

I just started reading your last trip report from 2014, so I'm definitely in for the planning of this one! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[npaige611]

Your trip reports are great! I enjoyed reading the last big one, even thought it took me a few days to get through. We are going on our first family vacation to disney in may of 2017! We are so excited and planning is one of my favorite things to do. Can't wait to read more from you, thanks for sharing!

 

[Duffy Lover]

I'm super psyched to keep this train rolling! Thanks for hopping on!!

Let the planning BEGIN...

You betcha, Mama!

FYI folks, I also should've included the fact that my Mom is active here on the boards... She's the one, the only, Pirate Granny!!

I just started reading your last trip report from 2014, so I'm definitely in for the planning of this one! Looking forward to reading more!

I hope you enjoy the 2014 report! I poured so much time, energy and love into it... I have the first of the mini-trip reports almost ready to go....

Your trip reports are great! I enjoyed reading the last big one, even thought it took me a few days to get through. We are going on our first family vacation to disney in may of 2017! We are so excited and planning is one of my favorite things to do. Can't wait to read more from you, thanks for sharing!

May 2017 is just around the corner! How exciting for you and your family... Is it just your immediate family, or is it more involved? Planning is the best!!

 

[npaige611]

Just immediate family, my husband and 2 kids (will be 7 and 19 months). It will be our first trip with just us, we are very excited and it is the big christmas gift this year. Thank you, I am sure you can't wait for you trip coming up.

 

[Duffy Lover]

Just immediate family, my husband and 2 kids (will be 7 and 19 months). It will be our first trip with just us, we are very excited and it is the big christmas gift this year. Thank you, I am sure you can't wait for you trip coming up.

There is something so special about a trip with just your immediate family! We had our FIRST just our family trip this past summer and it was magical! I hope yours is too.... We took both Eme and Clara when they were about 19 months old. Such wonder in their precious little eyes!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Welcome back, ya’ll! Hi friends! Thanks for reading! I’m happy to have met some new Dis-ers here. I’m going to have to edit my first post as now I am not “almost” 38 - today is my birthday, so I am 38! Yay! Or not yay! I’m not sure yet...


Anyways, as I mentioned in my introduction post, I’ll start with short recaps of our trips since the “big one” of 2014, before diving into the planning details of this upcoming trip. I’m going to focus on the trips I’ve been involved in, so a handful of trips that my parents and Brie took will not be highlighted - I wasn’t there (or neither were one of my children), so there’s not much I can say about them. With that in mind, that leaves us with the following trips:

1. 60 Hours at WDW (September 13 - 15, 2014)
   
2. Eme and Josh Take on WDW (May 28 - June 7, 2015)
   
3. Long Weekend with the Ladies (Sept. 25 - Sep 30, 2015)
   
4. First trip to DLR (July 18 - July 21, 2016)
   

I’m thinking one post per trip should do it. With that…


60 Hours at WDW


In late August of 2014, my mom sent my sisters and I a text about how she wished she had someone to go to WDW with for a quickie trip in September. Both my sisters didn’t have time off, but back then, I earned four personal days a year and I was like “I’ll go!” My mom was quite surprised as it would be a lot of travelling for me and not much time in WDW, but I have dedication,so.... Living where we do, it is a three hour drive to the airport then at least a 3.5 hour flight. We do have an airport nearby, but it is not cheap to fly out of it. So Denver it was.


Here are the actual details of the trip:


Cast: My mom and I

When: September 13 - 15, 2014

Where: Deluxe Studio SSR

Why: Spur of the moment MNSSHP visit!


As it turned out, the best bet for me was taking a red-eye leaving Denver at 1 am, and arriving after a layover at MCO around 9 am or so. I loved the red-eye! With no kids, I got a few hours of sleep, which was more than enough on a WDW buzz! I arrived to find spectacular weather for my first monorail ride of the trip:

When I arrived at Saratoga Springs, I was delighted by the resort as I had yet to visit it in the past:

I asked if I could get a room that was available at that time, but I failed to ensure that it also had a good view which was a bummer…

The room itself was quite lovely:

I contemplated drawing the shades and taking a nap as I had planned, but good sense took over and I donned my swimsuit and headed out to the pool. I could always sleep there, right?

I grabbed a beer, a chaise lounge and enjoyed the sunshine. I think I lounged for a good hour, hour and a half, dozing on and off and then I decided to tour the resort a bit before my Mom arrived:

My mom arrived (YAY!) and we had a quick lunch at the quick service (Artist’s Palette?):

After which we went to one of the other pools in the complex:

We lounged for a good hour and I got a nap in. By then it was time to head out to dinner (at Kona Cafe - no pictures for some reason) and then to meet up with some friends up at the Top of the World Lounge at BLT:

After which we fell into (well I did anyways) bed exhausted, and slept in. This is very rare for me at WDW, so it was quite decadent. We walked over to DTD (I don’t think it had been renamed at that point) and shopped. I just love that Starbucks is in WDW now. I know not everyone loves their coffee or their presence, but I really think what they have to offer is far better than the previous coffee offerings. So there you go, two of my most favorite things. Coffee and shopping:

Unfortunately we didn’t have a ton of time as we had an ADR scheduled at the Wave in the late afternoon. We decided we didn’t want to waste anytime at the party eating, so we made this last minute ADR. Honestly I did not love the Wave. I have no pictures, but I do recall a staff that wasn’t happy we were there at the end of the lunch seating and food that was not fresh (as in fries that were sitting under a heat lamp for quite some time). Well, now we know… Onto the party!

The Magic Kingdom was looking great:

And for some reason this is the only photo I have of Mainstreet USA:

We had a blast at MNSSHP, met up with the same friends from the night before and enjoyed all we could of the experience until well after midnight:

A good time was had by all! We once again we slept in (so decadent!), then checked out and headed over to the Grand Floridian to do something we’d been hoping to do for almost three months - enjoy their pools on the day we check out! If you read my trip report from 2014, you’ll see that on our last day we were supposed to lounge at the pools at the GF before leaving. Mother nature thwarted us, and alas, that was not to be. But today was another story! The weather was spectacular, and as DVC members we are allowed to pool hop to certain pools, and the GF is one of them. It was gorgeous out:

Look! It’s our villas from the 2014 trip!

And then it was time to go. We headed back to SSR and waited for the DME:

And with that, our 60 hours at WDW was done. It was so worth the travel, the lack of sleep - all of it! It is and will always be some of my favorite nights in our favorite place. I loved spending time with my mom. So, so precious!


There you go… One mini-trip report down, three more to go!


Oh, I'm playing around with the sizes of my photos... In the first post they seemed too small, so I tried the next size up. Thoughts?

 

[Pirate Granny]

Photos look good to me...I was trying to remember who we met until I saw the Halloween Party pix....I do prefer September MNSSHP, but alas work is a bxxxx in September, so hopefully October won't be as hot and humid and/or rainy.

 

[Duffy Lover]

Photos look good to me...I was trying to remember who we met until I saw the Halloween Party pix....I do prefer September MNSSHP, but alas work is a bxxxx in September, so hopefully October won't be as hot and humid and/or rainy.

Well the weather from our trip two years ago was spectacular... But I love the humidity! That MNSSHP from above was exactly two years ago today.... I wish I was at WDW. Oh well - only 8.5 months left until the "big" one!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Well I’ll be… It’s the Blue Fairy! Wait, no… Hi! You’re not the Blue Fairy! Oh well, a girl can dream. Anyways… I think I’ll cram in the rest of the mini-trip reports into this one post, as I am just too excited to get to our planning. After all, we’re just about 50 days away from ADR day! And I know why people read pre-trip reports… For the planning! So the sooner we get to those details the better. Though I like to do these mini reports so you can get to know me and the family. Here we go!

1. 60 Hours at WDW (September 13 - 15, 2014)
   
   
2. Eme and Josh Take on WDW (May 28 - June 7, 2015)
   
   
3. Long Weekend with the Ladies (Sept. 25 - Sep 30, 2015)
   
   
4. First trip to DLR (July 18 - July 21, 2016)

Eme and Josh Take on WDW


My parents first started taking the grand kids one at a time back in 2013, when they brought little Rye-Guy for a vacation. This trip was supposed to be just Eme, but Josh said he didn’t want to go on a solo trip and in the end it became a trip for both the kids. As you recall from the intros, Josh and Eme are very close in age and the same grade. So here are the details:


Cast: Eme, Josh, Buszia, Papa and Auntie Brie-Brie

When: May 28 - June 7, 2015

Where: 1 night Deluxe Studio @AKL, the rest Deluxe Studio @VWL

Why: Special Trip for grandkids


Eme and Josh, along with the adults had a fabulous time, the kids got along wonderfully, they loved playing in the pool. My mom was able to do some lounging as they are both strong swimmers and Josh was constantly calling out Eme’s name and they were not quiet pool swimmers…

The kids LOVED AKL and their Savannah view:

They rocked the Pirate look:

Took on Hogwarts (yes, I know, not Disney… but):

Grooved on the drums:

Papa (who loves to golf) got out on the links, and Josh got to join him for a round:

They enjoyed many good meals:

And overall had an amazing time:

They also went on the special Animal Kingdom Safari, but for the life of me, I can’t find the Photopass pictures. Oh well. Onward!


Long Weekend with the Ladies

Cast: Buszia, Drea, Brie and me

When: Sept. 25 - Sep 30, 2015

Where: Poly (!) Lakeview Deluxe Studio

Why: Because my mom rocks!


As we are clearly are addicted to Disney, my mom proposed and funded a trip to ease our Disney pangs of desire. This trip took place at almost the halfway point between our big, whole family trips, and since it just so happened that our seven month window coincided with the first day of seven month booking at the newly opened Polynesian DVC rooms, we went for it, and got it- Lake View! Which really is a MK view. Anyways. With this short trip we only went into the parks twice: Once for MNSSHP and once at Epcot. We also (gasp) went to US, and checked out the new Harry Potter area. Photo time…


I got to WDW a day before the others and as a birthday present, my amazing hubby got me a room at ASMovies:

I was over at the Poly as soon as I woke up the next day, crossing my fingers for a third floor room. This was Buszia’s one request - and it was granted!! Here’s the view from our room, which was ready when I got to the Poly at 9 am:

Later in the trip we watched the fireworks from our room (did you know the Wishes music is NOT available on the TV’s at the Poly? For shame.)

The room was just lovely - I loved the artwork!

The newly unveiled Poly was amazing. Even though I was a huge fan of the original lobby (cherished childhood memories and all) I really was digging its new look:

The pool was amazing:

And I love the grounds:

We went to the special dessert party at MNSSHP and got front row seats for the parade:

I was too busy eating and drinking to get many photos at Epcot, but Brie and I owned the video at the end of Spaceship Earth:

The day we went to US it was raining and actually a little chilly, which led to very, very low crowds. Diagon Alley was amazing!!

We got to do all the rides, I hit up every interactive wand spot in Diagon/Knockturn Alley and we dined at both of the Potter themed restaurants. So much fun!

We had some great bonding time despite some moments when tempers flared. My sisters and I even found our way over to Jelly Rolls!

Ah… Good times.


I think I maxed out my picture count, so the final mini-report will continue in the next post...

 

[Duffy Lover]

Continued from above...


First trip to DLR

I cherish the trips I’ve taken with my extended family, and in fact many of them wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the generosity of my parents. But this trip was something special. Because family is so important to us, we have spent the last 10 years of our lives going to see family in Michigan, or meeting family somewhere, but never taking our own vacations- just the four of us. Well this past summer we finally took the plunge and we went on a two-week California road trip, just our family unit. As we made our way up the amazing CA coast, we worked in three days at Disneyland!! Here are the details:


Cast: Me, Caz, Eme and Clara

When: July 18 - July 21, 2016

Where: Howard Johnson (HJ) on Harvard Blvd.

Why: Our first ever, just us vacation


In addition to this being our first ever family vacation, it was also our first time to DLR. We selected the HJ for both their ratings, proximity to DLR and for sentimental reasons. Papa and Buszia went on their honeymoon to DLR way back in 1971, and stayed at the HJ. So that sealed the deal. We got there the night before our first foray into DL, checked out the room and headed to DTD:

After that, the girls crashed hard, and Caz and I chilled on the balcony, sipping adult beverages and watched the Disneyland Forever fireworks. It was amazing. We got up bright and early the next morning (ROPE DROP!!) and made it into the park around 8:15… It was so cozy and homey. We were in Walt’s Park!!!

Clara was a little nervous about BTMRR - don’t worry - she loved it!!

Clara’s face is priceless. She was not a fan of the big drop.

It was a great day. Hot and crowded, though. But that was to be expected. We had delicious snacks:

And went home for an afternoon rest and swim, and then we had our special event… We splurged on a Blue Bayou Paint the Night package. It was so worth it!!

We didn’t have to wait all evening for seats and the parade was amazing:

Sorry for the blurriness...

I am so hoping this parade will be at MK by this summer… Crossing my fingers! We then moved our way up Main Street USA and made it about halfway to watch the Disneyland Forever fireworks:

I still prefer wishes, though these were still amazing and made me cry. The next day we went to DCA. This may be my most favorite Disney park EVER. It was the most magical day. We had found our groove, no one was cranky, the weather was spectacular. It was the best Disney Day EVER.

The girls didn’t want to stick around for World of Color (no worries- next time!). It really was the most perfect day. With rope drop and old school FP we got to do everything. Just amazing! Our final day dawned once again bright and sunny. We originally planned to stay past dinner, but we were hot and tired so we left around 2 pm. No worries - we had our fill.

Here are two of the full size Photopass pics we bought:

We wrapped it up by heading to the Disneyland Hotel. Part of why we left early was because the monorail was down due to heat. We were going to ride it to the DH, and then back, but since it was down we went with just finishing there. We checked out the original Trader Sam’s:

The girls loved it (even though they look less enthusiastic here). I like the Grog Grotto in the Poly better… Anyways, Caz my gem of a husband, took one for the team and walked back to the HJ to get our car and pick us up at the Disneyland Hotel. The girls and I took in the grounds and then chilled in the lobby.

Goofy was excited to play with the girls, but they were rather indifferent, they’ve tangled with Goofy many times before!

And then we were done. Sigh. What a good three days!!


Thanks for reading folks… Sorry it took me a while to get back to the report. Now onto planning!!! Squee!


See ya real soon!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Howdy friends! I just got done creating the framework for our planning spreadsheet. This year we're using Google Sheets, which if you aren't familiar with Google products, allows for collaboration and is saved and stored in Google's cloud know as Drive. It is awesome. Anyways, I made a copy to share with interested parties. It still has our dates in it and such, but it can easily be edited. If you click on the link it will force you to make a copy so that everyone who is interested gets a blank slate.

Sample Planning Spreadsheet

Enjoy!

PS: The hours are from 2016, as are the crowd recommendations and ratings (provided by easywdw.com).

 

[Duffy Lover]

Hi friends!! I hope you’re well this lovely fall day. I’m curious if anyone downloaded the planning spreadsheet…. Hmmm… Anyways, if you checked it out, you would’ve seen we have a lot of planning to do. A LOT. Let’s kick off that planning with a look at the resorts of our trip.


Night 1: Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House - Grand Villa


The first night will be in a grand villa at AKL Jambo House. I voted for BLT, but Papa had his heart set on AKL. And how can you say no to Papa?!? Besides, many of us haven’t stayed at AKL, so it will be an amazing experience! I can’t wait to walk into the lobby and revel in its grandeur! It takes my breath away...

The layout of the “room” is amazing, and includes a pool table. I’m trying to recall how we’re going to roll with the sleeping arrangements, but I believe my family will get one room, Drea’s the master bedroom, and my parents and Brie in the last room. I love that there are four bathrooms - that’s one for each child!

There will be plenty of space for all of us, and for our one night in this villa Papa will be making his famous spaghetti. It looks just lovely for enjoying time together.

I for one, cannot wait to sit on the balcony and enjoy the sights:

Can you believe we get three giant balconies! The grand villa takes up the whole top floor:

In fact, if you look at the layout of the resort, the grand villas are located at the end of each hallway, and take up the top floor of those end caps. Does anyone have a recommendation for which savanna view to request?

I’m hoping for good weather so that we can all enjoy the pool, both the day we arrive and the morning we leave.

And I’m thinking when the kids go to bed, Caz and I can meander down to the lounge in the lobby, Victoria Falls, to have a nightcap. I love how this bar is tucked in between floors. It looks very romantic!

Nights 2 - 6: Beach Club Villas - 2 Bedroom and Deluxe Villa


The next five nights we’re staying in a 2BR and 1 Deluxe Villa at BCV to accommodate the ten of us. I love the location of this hotel, and the pool, well, there are no words to describe Stormalong-Bay! We stayed here in 2014, and although we took quite a few photos, many of them are out of date since BCV has gone through a soft-goods refurbishment, so this section’s pictures are a mix of our family’s photos, and pictures from the web. We had a great visit back in 2014:

The kids are so little!

I find the Beach Club Resort to be very laid back and relaxing, even though it is pretty massive:

You can see the villas tucked in towards the top right of the map- they’re very well situated with regards to a location to Epcot, which is to the right of the map. We added a deluxe studio this time, as Caz will be there pushing us over the 9 person occupancy limit for a 2 BR. Here’s the layout of the two bedroom, except now the second bedroom has two beds in it:

We’re tossing around the idea of putting the four kids in one room, and then perhaps my parents and Brie in the studio. Caz and I might get lucky and get the master bedroom, and then Drea can sleep on the pullout bed. Though this is still under consideration. The renovated rooms look just lovely. Some folks say it’s not beachy enough, but I think they look classy, and to be honest the previous look didn’t scream “beach” for me, I thought it was tacky. Anyways, here’s a look at the second bedroom:

The living room and kitchen also look pretty great to me:

The deluxe studio looks very relaxing, I think we’ll appreciate the extra space. We did 10 (legally) in a 2 BR lock-off at the Grand Floridian back in 2014 and it was a bit tight. I really do love the look:

Even the hallways look classy!

This resort just takes my breath away.

I’m psyched that Caz will be with us for this portion of the trip, because I’m thinking we’ll wander over to Epcot, have drinks, and enjoy the nightlife around the lake, including Jelly Rolls! Another amazing part of the Beach Club is the most amazing on site pool, Stormalong Bay!

With the current plans, Caz and I will take the kids to Universal Studios on the day we check out of the Beach Club, and the remaining adults will take the whole day to just rest, relax and enjoy the pool.

I’m crossing my fingers we’ll get some great weather as we’re definitely planning on more than one day where we chill at the pool.


Nights 7 - 15: Old Key West, Hospitality House Area - Grand Villa


The final resort of our trip is OKW, where we’ll be in a Hospitality House area grand villa. BCV may seem laid back and relaxed, but when you consider its location it still has a certain amount of bustle about it. OKW, on the other hand is truly laid back. Everyone loves the break it provides from the parks. OKW is huge, and many people think it doesn’t feel very “Disney-ish”, but I disagree. It is amazing and it is the perfect Florida themed resort for relaxing!

The key to feeling connected in this resort, and losing the condo community vibe is location. And when you’re staying in a grand villa, location can be a problem. Consider the resort map below:

If you look at the map, the buildings outlined in yellow have grand villas and each building has two. The only one in the Hospitality House area is building 25. So that means booking this location is difficult. Good thing my mother is such a devoted planner and she called a few days before we officially could book the room and “walked” the reservation. This means after she booked it, she called everyday adding a night and then cancelling the first until we had the dates we wanted. It took a lot of effort but it is so worth it.


When you stay in this location it is easy to head over to the Hospitality House:

The pool is right there…

We walk over to the Hospitality House area to get on the bus and avoid driving through the huge resort. And then when you get back to the resort we get off at the bus stop pretty much in front of our villa, again avoiding a drive through the resort. We have a 50/50 chance of getting the exact same villa as 2014… It was lovely:

So much space for all of us:

I believe the sleeping arrangements here are that my family will get one of the upstairs rooms, Drea’s the other, Papa and Buszia in the master and then Brie on the pull out. Brie will then join me and my girls in our bedroom when Caz leaves. Caz will only stay with us here Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday nights. I’m bummed he can’t be there the whole trip, but I am happy he’ll be there to help us with all the resort moves. Anyways, the villa is just huge, it is bigger than our house! Here are more pics from our stay in 2014. First up the master bedroom:

The larger of the two upstairs bedrooms:

The smaller upstairs bedroom:

And the living space:

Whew. There you go! Three resorts, 15 nights. We’re all really relieved that we’re not moving in the final days of our trip. It is exhausting enough to switch resorts, but doing so at the end of a trip is especially taxing. When you think about it, staying in a resort for one night at the beginning is not a big deal - no real unpacking is needed, then five nights gives you time to settle in, but as we’re only a week into the trip we’re not too tired (hopefully!).


I hope you enjoyed the tour of our resorts… Up next, hmmm… dining? We have about a month before we make our ADRs, so perhaps we’ll head that way for the next update.


See you real soon!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Let the planning begin for our ADRs

 

[Duffy Lover]

Thanks for reading Mom! We have guests in town this week, so I'm not getting to a new update probably until around Thanksgiving. But we only have 22 days until ADR day, so we have a lot of planning to do!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Happy New Year!! I can’t believe it is already 2017, and that we’re almost 1/12 through… Where has the time gone? At this point we are only 125 days away from Disney Day. Woo Hoo! So close to double digits! With that I think it is time to talk ADRs. And boy do we have some ADRs…


Our dining “plan” in general has everyone on the trip picking one restaurant. With 10 of us and 16 days that seems like a reasonable amount of eating out right? On top of that, we have added two bonus ADRs one for Ryan’s BD and one for our departure day. Now here’s where we get creative… Remember our room arrangements for the BCV? Where we have a 2-BR and a deluxe studio? Well, we found out that the Deluxe Dining Plan does not differentiate between child and adult credits, and that the credits are shareable with people outside those registered to the room. So we put Brie (adult), Clara (child) and Ryan (child) on the studio reservation, yielding 45 dining credits and 30 snack credits for just under $900. As long as they don’t change the rules (we can cancel the plan if they do) we will come out ahead... Way ahead! I did an analysis based only on probable entrees at restaurants we’re dining at, and only considering entrees we come out on top. So the drinks, appetizers, desserts, snacks, and refillable mugs are all “free.” For the adult beverages and for the rest of the trip we will have Tables in Wonderland. My mom purchased it for the October trip with Clara and Ryan, and we’ll be able to use it in June. When you consider that an 18% tip will be automatic for our meals, it really does help.


Day 1 - Saturday, June 3 - Natta, nothing, zilch. My family unit arrives early the morning. Like 6:50am. We decided to take the red-eye from Denver. It was that or a flight that leaves at 6:10am in the morning. So we weighed the pros and cons and decided to take the leap and go for the flight leaving Denver at 12:30am. This instead of getting the kids up at 3 am for the early flight. Plus it was by far the cheapest option. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes… Back to food. We will probably grab some breakfast at the airport or when we get to AKL, and then get food at Mara at some point during the day. When everyone else arrives at AKL (around noon) we plan on just enjoying the hotel, the amazing room (Grand Villa!!!) and view and have Papa’s famous spaghetti for dinner. It will be awesome!


Day 2 - Sunday, June 4 - ADR: Les Chef de France @ 5:30 pm for 10.


This will be the first credits we’ll use on that amazing DxDDP. I love escargots...

… And duck. Mmmm…. Duck. Not this kind of duck, though:

We dined at this establishment back in our 2012 trip, during lunch, and the girls were delighted to meet Remy:

This was Andrea’s selection, and we put it on this date because we’d be at the BCV and we can walk into Epcot. The other alternative would’ve been Via Napoli as that was Eme’s selection and she wants her dad to be there this time (he missed it in 2014, and she knew he’d love it… Caz loves pizza!). But it didn’t make didn’t sense to eat at an Italian restaurant as we will have just had Papa’s spaghetti the night before. So French food it is!


Day 3 - Monday, June 5 - ADR: Beaches’n’Cream @ 2 pm


This is one of our bonus ADRs. The fifth is Ryan’s 8th birthday, and it seemed like it would be awesome to have the Kitchen Sink for a BD treat. Ryan loved that idea and so it was done. The kids enjoyed this amazing ice cream concoction on the first night of our 2014 trip:

Love the fun style of this restaurant:

I’m wondering if they’ll have better luck finishing it off this time… Maybe with Caz’s help (he missed this treat last trip). Odds are 3-1 that they’ll finish. Any takers? Anyways, this ADR much like others, we had to split into two groups. I totally get this in this restaurant with its small space, but there are quite a few restaurants we had to split the ADR into two. Go figure. Onward!


Day 4 - Tuesday, June 6 - ADR: Yachtsman Steakhouse @ 6:55 pm


This restaurant has got to be one of the best on Disney property. We had an adults only dinner here back in 2014 (again without Caz- he’s sure getting to try new places- the rest of us not so much), and we are back again for more. Feast your eyes on some food pics. No pics of the restaurant itself, though, honestly the ambiance is nothing remarkable:

The kids will be once again going to the Sandcastle Club, and we’re dropping them off at 5:30 so that they’ll be fed at the club (for that price they better feed them). With the club’s recent changes it’s a fixed price for the evening and they kids will do some super fun stuff and get to see some characters. For the adults I think the plan is to enjoy a stroll of the grounds, maybe a pre-dinner cocktail (I’m intrigued by the magic themed lounge on the Boardwalk), enjoy a long dinner, and then my parents will get the kids while my sisters, Caz and I go out. Jelly Rolls anyone?!


I think this is a great start for our palettes, don’t you? More soon… I promise! Hmmm…


See you real soon!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Hello friends! Once again time is slipping away from me. I started this edition of this trip report two weeks ago, so now it has been five weeks since my last post, and we are only 90 days away from the most epic of all vacations! Double digits!! Woo Hoo!!! Enough rejoicing… Now back to our regularly scheduled discussion of our dining plans…


We left off on day day four with our adults only meal at the Yachtsman Steakhouse. Yum! Day five finds us still at BCV, and according to our spreadsheet we’re heading into Epcot in the am, taking a nice long afternoon swim break, and then returning to what might be my favorite park for dinner at Via Napoli. This was one of our favorite restaurants back in 2014 and as Eme’s pick, she really wanted her dad to be able to enjoy this meal with her. Caz loves a good pizza. My only conundrum is how to navigate the deluxe dining plan here… Hmmm.. If you have advice, please don’t hesitate to speak up. Please. I think where we’ve decided that we won’t use credits here, but time will tell. Here are some pics from our 2014 visit…

The last time we visited, there were some of us who ordered pizza, some who ordered pasta, and Drea and I ordered a pitcher of Sangria. It was so good, and I think I’m going that direction again. Why pay $18 for two glasses, when you get so much more for only $7?!?! Okay, on to our next dining experience - Skipper Canteen!

This restaurant is my pick (I love new Disney experiences) and this truly will be new. I am also excited to drink a beer in another MK location. I personally have no problem with this policy, what I do have a problem with is the tragic, sad selection of beers presented at such a dynamic restaurant. Stella and Blue Moon. Really Disney? How disappointing. Come to think of it, I may not have a beer afterall. The wine list seems ok, but I am not a wine snob the way I’m a beer snob, so… As for the food, I hope everyone finds something they like… The menu is rather fascinating:

I for one will probably order…. Hmmmm. I’m not sure. I’m guessing the kids will be eating steak here. Who doesn’t love steak? Next up is Cape May Buffet for my mom and sisters. Caz and I are taking the kids to the dark side and will be spending the day at Universal. We’re going to spend the whole day exploring the Harry Potter areas, more on that later. So while Papa is golfing and before we move over to OKW, the ladies will enjoy a leisurely breakfast before getting our next and final spectacular room ready for the troops.

Don’t feel too bad for them though, after they’re done moving they’ll hopefully spend the rest of the day lounging at Storm-a-Long Bay. I think I’ll do a separate post on our day at Universal, so no more on that here. At this point we’re a week into our trip, and we’ll slow down a bit on our ADRs which makes sense as our credits from the Deluxe Dining Plan will end at the close of this Friday evening. Don’t worry though, we still have more meals out planned. For example on Saturday the 10th we’ll be heading over to Tiffins:

Yikes... DAK on a Saturday. It is not a recommended park, and I imagine with the opening of Pandora it will be crazy. No worries, FP+ to the rescue (hopefully). Anyways, we have exchanged our regular ADR here for a Rivers of Light Dining Package. There was no way we were going to use a FP+ on this show, and were planning on going to Tiffins anyways, so… I think it will pan out - you can actually get great value out of this as an adult. Granted Eme and Josh may not eat their money’s worth, but…


I think if we could make these plans again I perhaps wouldn’t have placed Tiffins so close to the Skipper Canteen ADR. It just worked out that way. Despite that I think this will be an epic meal. What to order, what to order…

At least their beer selection is fairly decent…

I really love the atmosphere here:

And I think it would be lovely to kick back and enjoy an adult beverage or two at Nomad’s Lounge:

Even though we’re just talking about ADRs here I think I’ll throw in a pic of ROL here to wet your whistle…

And with that I’m spent. I really need to get cranking with this pre-trip report… I will finish the ADRs soon (I hope) and then I’ll need a few posts to talk about our plans. Afterall, our trip is now just weeks away (13!!) and we will be making FP+ reservations in just 30 days. So much to do! I love planning!!


See you real soon!

 

[Duffy Lover]

Hi Disboard peeps! I hope you’re all having a super weekend. I want to wrap up the restaurant post today so we can get into the more nitty gritty of planning. Pandora really made the whole FP+ scheduling interesting. I’ll be honest, I’m not super jazzed about it, not in the way I was about New Fantasyland. I’m sure it will be great, and amazingly themed, I just don’t really care about Avatar. Onward…


We’re at Sunday the 11th of June, and sadly this is the day that Caz has to go home. He does not have as much time off as I do (I get 8 weeks off a year, not including sick time). Anyways we do not have any ADRs planned for this day, but there is a possibility that we will head to Disney Springs (DS?) after Typhoon Lagoon. If so, I vote for D-Luxe Burgers. Who doesn’t love a good burger?

We could also do Blaze Pizza… everyone loves pizza, too…

The next ADR we have is at at DHS on Monday the 12th at Sci Fi. We had a great time at this restaurant way back in 2014 - maybe? I can’t seem to find pictures, so here are some stock photos:

This restaurant is Josh’s pick, and I’m sure the kids will love it! I wish we were going during a time where they were playing Star Wars clips instead of sci-fi. Oh well.


Tuesday the 13th of June finds us at DAK once again, but this time we don’t have any ADRs. We’ll enjoy lunch somewhere in the park, but where remains to be seen. Dinner will once again be Papa’s spaghetti - you’ll recall we had that on our arrival night, but when it comes to my Dad’s spaghetti, there is no such thing as too much!


For that evening I have a night out on the town for my sisters and I penciled in. I may not eat too much of Papa’s signature meal as I have my heart set on trying some appetizers at some of the newer restaurants on property. Particularly Homecomin’:

Jock Lindsey’s Hangar:

and Paddlefish:

I’m also interested in some of their signature beverages and of course I’m super excited to see an almost completed Disney Springs. I only with that the Edison would be open. Oh well, I’ll be back in Florida in December, I can check that out then.


On Wednesday the 14th we will be enjoying another signature dining experience, this time at Narcoossee’s. Once again, this was a challenging ADR to make as getting a reservation for 9 was very apparently not possible with the system. So in the end we called the restaurant and left a message, and they finally called us back and even then, they couldn’t make it for 9. Oh well, once again I’m hoping they’ll accommodate us and find a way to put us together.


Narcoossee’s is a special restaurant for us. Back in 2004, when we were in WDW for Christmas, we had Christmas dinner here, and with us (this was before husbands and kids) was our beloved Gramps (my mom’s father). It was a magical meal. We’ve since been back a handful of times, but this will be the kiddo’s first time.

The next day, Thursday the 15th, dinner is Brie’s choice: Trattoria al Forno. I guess we haven’t had enough Italian food.

Friday the 16th we’re rope dropping MK (not a good park choice, but more on that in another post), and we’re having lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table (Clara’s choice). I may have mentioned this before, but I really, really dislike Character meals. Granted at least this one isn’t a buffet, but does anyone know if they have a Photopass person who will take pics? Anyways the last time we were there was in 2012. The cuteness of the following pictures are overwhelming. Prepare yourself.

The next evening is the last our whole family will spend in the parks together, and our ADR is Be Our Guest. We’ve been there before, both for lunch and dinner. I’m actually not that impressed with the quality of food, though I really don’t mind being able to have a glass of beer or wine with my meal.

We have one final meal planned for this trip, once again at Trattoria al Forno. This time we’re saying “Bon Voyage” with Rapunzel, Eugene, Ariel and Eric. This is a bonus ADR, and is not one person’s choice. We originally had 1900’s Park Fare selected (it was our typical final day meal) but when this popped up we decided to make a change. Yes, another character meal, but at least it isn’t a buffet!

There you have it. Our ADRs. We only have seven weeks (squee!!) until our trip. I would like to go day by day through our plans, all 16 of them, but I’m thinking that there will be a lot less detail than I originally planned as time is running out. No worries, for me the real fun (aside from the trip itself) is recapping it once it is over. Luckily I have two other trips to WDW in the next calendar year, so my post Disney depression should be minor, though time will tell. See you real soon!

 

[Pirate Granny]

Less than seven weeks to go