Family trip 2022, first split stay between BC and BLT

[gisele2]

So this was our first trip since becoming DVC member. Group of eleven, our 4 kids (14,17,19 and 21) our goddaughter , my sister and her husband, my parents ,my husband and me.

We did 8 nights, and our first split stay. 5 nights at the Beach Club in a 2 bedroom villas, plus a studio, and 3 nights at BLT in a 3 bedroom villa and a studio.

I was planning this trip since September 2020. I read everything I found to be sure that I understood all the changes at WDW, Genie plus, virtual queue, restaurant reservation etc.

So first thanks to all of you who contributed to my knowledge.
I bought UK tickets and it worked just fine. Save about 1000$ for our group of 9.

Arrival on the 27th of June at 10 am at BC villas. The rooms were not ready, but the CM were really helpful. Went right away to EPCOT. The morning at 7 am I was able to snap a group in the virtual queue for Guardian of the Galaxy. Thanks to my Airalo Esim. 10 Go for 19$ was a steal.

Had lunch at Regal Eagle , did mobil ordering, everything was really good.
Had time to do Guardian of the Galaxy, Test Track, then went to retrieve our magic band at Disney Spring ( offer from Attraction.com with the purchase of our tickets.) The magic bands are really a must, we hated to have to use the cards.

We went swimming at stormalong bay . Then it was Dinner at the Crêperie de Paris. We loved the galettes. We tried the salmon, the raclette, the chicken and the ham ones. Everything was really good. After we saw the end of the Epcot show.

It was time to go to sleep. A 2 bedroom for 9 is not enough space. But everyone found their bed confortable.
Having a 5 minutes walk to go to EPCOT was wonderful.

 

[gisele2]

The second day 28th of June, we decided to rope drop HS. We walked to HS, took 20 minutes to get there. They let us in at 7h45 AM. We were able to ride Rise of the resistance, then Slinky dog. We purchased Genie Plus that day and I had a LL for Smuggler's run at 9h30. We tried to have the Chewy mode. It is really cool. https://blogmickey.com/unlock-chewie-mode-on-millennium-falcon-smugglers-run/

We were able to ride with LL Rock N Roller coaster, Tower of terror, Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucer, Star Tour. So it was worth it for us. With the fastpass we were able to ride multiple times the same ride , not with Genie plus unless you use this trick. I noticed that when a ride is down , it is possible to reserve a LL. So this is what I did. Then the system cancel it and give you a pass for multiple ride (with some exceptions) . Also when it happens, the system let you reserve another LL. This is what I did to be able to get multiple LL at the same ride.

At lunch we ate at Ronto Roaster and loved it. For dinner we went to Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo and found the food meh. ( tasted the fried chicken, the spicy chicken , Mac n Cheese and tuna )

We returned to BC and visited SAB before going to bed.

 

[CarolMN]

Enjoying your report. Thanks for doing it. 11 is a biggroup to manage. They are all lucky to have you!

 

[gisele2]

June 29th was Animal Kingdom. We were there at 9am. Took our time, did Everest twice, saw the bird show, went to it's tough to be a bug, saw Nemo, rode Kali River Rapids all that without Genie Plus.

For FOP we waited 2 hours.... for Dinosaur we waited one hour , were inside then nothing. No LL for us. So I went to the blue umbrella , and had some pixie dust our way. 11 LL for Dinosaur.

We had lunch at Flame tree BBQ. Everyone liked it. Had a night blossom at Pongu Pongu and loved it. The pongu lumpia was just ok.

We dined at Tiffin and it was good , but not fantastic for the price. You are better at the nomad lounge. The fish was excellent and can feed 2 adults.

​

 

[gisele2]

June 30th was our second EPCOT day. Had the chance to be able to have another boarding group for Guardian of the Galaxy. It is my favorite ride of all WDW.

Did not use Genie Plus. We were able to do all the rides we love, did Remy at 8h30 , then Frozen just after with 20 minutes wait. Had lunch again at Regal Eagle. If you choose the half chicken and add a side , you have enough for 2 adults. The Mac and Cheese is really good there.

Had a swim at SAB again before Dinner at Via Napoli. We loved the metro pizza and the house salad. It took 3 pizza to feed all the group.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Wow! That’s a lot of people wrangle. Sounds like you had a great trip and looking forward to reading more!

 

[gisele2]

July first was our second day at HS , bought the Genie Plus at 6h30am. Booked first LL Smugglers run at 9h30. Entered the park around 8 and tried the skyliner this time. It was fun and took around 20 minutes to get from Epcot station to HS station. We were able to do Rock n Rollin coaster 2 times, then went for our LL. Went and did Toy story mania 2 times , one LL and one standby line. Booked Minnie and Mickey runaway Railway (was not working, so they issued a multiple LL ) , went and did Smuggler run again trying to have chewy mode. We had chewy with us this time , but not always. If you have a good run , you will see a special video at the end.

Ate lunch at Ronto Roaster again. Did some more rides.

My toughts on Genie plus: sucks to pay for it, sucks that you only can do one LL per ride. But I was less on my phone this time than with the fastpass system. Had more time to do the shops, eat and just take in the beauty of the parks. And we had a good time waiting in line , we joked and laughed a lot.

Dinner was at Sci-fi , was just OK, they were running late like always, the CM at the entrance was rude. We will not go again.

Went for a dip before sleep at SAB.

 

[gisele2]

July second was the day we were leaving BC and going to BLT. After reading everything on this board on split stays, we decided to do a park day .

Everyone was ready around 9am. We dropped our luggage at bell service at BC and headed to take the bus for MK. It was there in 15 minutes. I bought Genie plus for MK at 6h45 and did my first LL selection at 7 for Space Mountain.

At MK you can select LL as you go and do them. We did not rope drop and did not wait for Peter pan or Seven Dwarfs mine train. It was raining , so we had a lot of multiple LL selections that day.

Our room was ready at 2 PM. My parents went to rest while we stayed in the park. We had lunch at Pecos Bill, the food was just ok. We missed the toppings bar.

We rode the monorail to the Polynesian , having a reservation at Ohana for dinner. It was our first time, we were really excited. We had 2 reservations, with 2 different hours. The CM at the front desk was so nice, she did not promise anything, but while we were sipping our drink at Tambu Lounge (the drinks were really good the cocktails and the mocktails), we learned that we had a table with everyone at the same time. More pixie dust for us.

The food was good, the ambiance was nice. Our server was kind. Ir was a wonderful evening. We brought back some food that was eaten the next day. Some for breakfast (the dessert) some for diner.

The luggages were waiting for us at bell service in BLT. The room was fantastic.Plenty of space, beds for everyone, some privacy. We had a lake view, so we were able to watch Epcot fireworks.

A great day.

 

[gisele2]

July third, MK day again, loved the walk to MK from BLT. I think this is real luxury, to be able to walk to a park at the time you want. Having your own security gate.
I purchase the BLT contract at 5 am one morning of summer 2020. I have never stayed there before, it was just too good of a deal to let it pass.
I am so glad i purchased at that resort. The location can not be beat. Of course the theming is not like the polynesian, but the views from a lot of places in the resort are stunning. The walk is easy and fast. Even on a busy day, the elevators work well and are fast. You have bell service in the building. The walk to the Contemporary is short. It is quiet , not loud like the contemporary is. Really happy with my home resort.
The monorail give easy access to the Polynesian and the GF.

So that morning , we took it easy and walked to MK, Genie plus in hand, first LL reservation done at 7am. Did the rides we loved, use the tricks to ride multiple times some of them, went to eat the HUGE cinnamon rolls at Gaston's Tavern. That was soooo good. Ate lunch at Pecos Bill again. Is it just me , or 2$ for 3 table spoons of guacamole is a little too much ? Bought it anyway....

Some more showers in the afternoon. Came back to the hotel for Dinner , ate the Ohana food. We did not have enough for the group , so we purchase some salads and sandwich at contempo café .Everything was fine.

Then walked back to MK for the fireworks. It was wonderful. Had another magical day at Disney.

 

[gisele2]

July fourth was our last day at WDW. We went to Animal Kingdom, rode our favorites rides except FOP. Had lunch at Yak and Yeti. It was good , but not as good as I remembered. I loved the little boxes they gave in 2019. They had more choices on the menu back then....

Then we went shopping at Disney Spring before our Dinner at Chef Art Smith Homecoming. This was the best meal we had on property and I do not like fried chicken... The portion are huge. The drinks are delicious. Almost everybody had the famous fried chicken with the out of this world mashed potatoes. I think it is 50% potatoes and 50% butter. I had the fried chicken salad and eat all of it. The chicken is that good! We ate outside, the weather was beautiful, our server was funny and excellent at her job. We had a really great time.

Came back to BLT and watched from the bridge the fireworks once again. It was time to pack our luggage for our 3 days at Universal.

What is great with DVC, is that I know that I will be back.

 

[gisele2]

My thoughts on this first DVC stay, and first split stay after 3 years without Disney vacation:

1- A lot has change, and not for the best for a lot of things
a) Everything costs more
b) Genie + , you have to pay, you have to get up early to buy it, then to reserve the first LL
c) But with Genie + , I was less on my phone. I am the exception probably, but with fastpass and a group of 9 to 10 , after the 3 first fastpass , you could reserve some more. So I was always on my phone , getting fastpass for one member of the group , then the other , then the other. After that I was changing the hour to make sure that we had a time when everyone could ride together. And I was able to get fasspass for 14 to 15 rides per park per day.
d) some restaurants are not open yet, and you have to reserve 60 days in advance.
e)We do not need park hopper anymore
f) A 2 bedroom villa for 9 is not enough space when the children are adults.
g) A 3 bedroom villa is real luxury

2- Split stay
a) Like so many said here you should end with the bigger room
b) It was easy
c) Nobody was sick , so not having a room for the day was not an issue
d) I will probably do it again

We had fun, we have great memories with our family. Disney is still one of my happy places.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing

I’m glad you finally got to experience your welcome home trip

 

[RoseGold]

Did you see the Poly2 site? When I went in June, it looked like they were installing utilities, like a neighborhood worth of utilities.

 

[gisele2]

Did you see the Poly2 site? When I went in June, it looked like they were installing utilities, like a neighborhood worth of utilities.

No did not see it.

 

[TCRAIG]

BC/BLT is my favorite split - walk to 3 parks can’t be beat!