Fellas 40th Bday Treehouse Villa Trip!

[TeresaNJ]

Slight diversion....

Seems like a trip to Best Buy or the local Apple Store may be in order for the Friday that we're there for a certain iPad2 purchase...

Anyone know where those are related to SSR? We don't have a car so we'll need to cab it if we do this...just a quick run there and back to THV's before hitting Epcot I think will be the plan. And what's more of a guy thing than new electronic doodads?!?!?

Any advice on which store would be more convenient to get to?

Walmart on Vineland Rd, and Best Buy on Osceola Parkway in Kissimme are MUCH closer to WDW than the Florida Mall. Call first to see if it will be available. Walmart is showing it will be out of stock, but who knows.
WALMART SUPERCENTER
3250 Vineland Rd
Kissimmee, FL 34746
(407) 397-1125

Best Buy
1620 W Osceola Pkwy
Kissimmee, FL 34741
407-847-8617

 

[djmeen]

Thanks guys for the steer on locations and especially the tip on car rental!

(didn't even think to goolge - d'oh!).

 

[rentayenta]

Sounds like you have a great trip planned! Love Chilean wine. No nitrates= less headache the next day.

 

[Cee]

I want that Ipad2 too! Make sure you bring the wireless router with you since the WDW resorts don't have it. You get free internet, just not wireless.

 

[djmeen]

I want that Ipad2 too! Make sure you bring the wireless router with you since the WDW resorts don't have it. You get free internet, just not wireless.

Yep - the Airport Express is coming along!

 

[Fatalbie]

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm jealous!!!

Jim

 

[djmeen]

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm jealous!!!

Jim

Jim - will share plenty of pics although I know it's not quite the same!

I realize this is quite the special treat and the wife has cemented herself in the Hall of Awesome with this one!

 

[simmons_m]

Hertz has a location at shades of green, which is great if you also plan on playing the course over here.

Hertz will provide transportation from a Disney resort, but an alternative is the monorail to the Polynesian, followed by a walk across the street.

Enjoy the trip.

 

[BUDDYBEAR]

HAVE A GREAT TIME

 

[ludari]

I'm a new DVC member and although I have visited several resorts before I made my decision I did not visit this place. I can't wait to read the trip report and see pics. Have a great trip.

 

[djmeen]

Well gang - the final countdown is on and have started packing my bags!

My plan is to take pics and upload while we're there so I'll just use this thread to share some of the good times!

I'll also give ya'll a heads up on when we're hitting Ragland Road/other drinkeries in case any of ya'll are nearby and want to drop on by

Thanks again for being the "support group" I needed in getting psyched up for this!

 

[Cee]

 

[djmeen]

Hello All!

So it is the first night here on the trip and all is well! So we went from 5 folks to 3 due to various reasons, but the 3 of us here are enjoying TreeHouse Villas immensely!

Today was basically getting here, checking in (got room 7056 which is nice), a run to Downtown Disney, rented a boat for a quick ride around, dinner at Artist Pallete (due to rain and lightening canceling boat service to DTD), and an early turn in tonight as we have an early tee time tomorrow - whew!

So here are some quick pics from the trip so far:

From left to right - Lijo, Me (Chris), and Sebastian checking in at Saratoga Springs

We're on a boat! Great way to show these guys around!

House of Blues Happy Hour

Getting the birthday banner just right:

The Bday sign is up:

Forecast is for rain tomorrow so here's hoping we can play some golf at some point!

 

[rascalmom]

"The Hall of Awesome" - love it!!

Have a great trip & a great birthday celebration!!

 

[Cee]

Fantastic! Love the banner. You three will be rattling around with all that space at the THV! Can't wait to be a "fly on the wall" for all the shenanigans!

 

[djmeen]

Ok - I'm back and somewhat recovered so wanted to follow-up with some pics by day as well as a wrap up. Soooooo....without further delay - Day 2.

Day 2 was our first day golfing. We had rain that morning so we had to push back our 8:39am tee time at Lake Buena Vista to 12. Now what to do while it's raining? Well, we hopped a bus to Magic Kingdom and did the monorail run!

My buddies waiting for our bus to SSR:

Quick pic outside MK - man, how I wish I was heading in there....

On to the monorail!

Quick stop in Contemporary for a nice coffee.

The rain finally stopped in time for us to play!

Ready to tee off (note the commemorative golf shirts - the guys loved 'em)

Was amazed at how relatively not soaking wet the course was!

A nice tee shot lands me on the green on this long par 3

Big greens = loooooong putts!

Was a great round!

Dinner that night - steaks!

Cooking outside was AWESOME

Heading to Downtown Disney - off like a "shot"

Enjoying a nice tequila @ Paradiso 37

Great day! From rain to golf to fun at night! Day 2 was a good one!

 

[djmeen]

SO if you saw the last couple of pics from Day 2...well, you might guess Day 3 started a bit late and with a couple of us in need of a bit more re-hydration.

Sign #1 that this was my 40th and not 21st bday!

Day 3 was our planned EPCOT day and we had so much fun...

It was a beautiful day (the view from our balcony - we loved being next to the pool and used it pretty much every day and had it all to ourselves each time!)

Smiling on the outside - hurting on the inside...

Lunch = burgers!

Such a nice day - we ate outside:

EPCOT - awesome Flower and Garden displays!

Had to stop for a Mickey ice cream!

My buddy Lijo was dying to see Captain EO. I had never seen it so was keen to check it out. After seeing it, I turned to Lijo and asked - what did I just see?!?!?!?

Rose and Crown! 'Nuff said:

Cheers and beers!

Only thing missing were the little cars!

Great displays all around the park.

Cava De Tequila was a good stop!

We're drinking whaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!

Hanging out here and watching the parties come and go!

On the way out - we rode Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and Mission Space. Take us to your leaders!

Awesome night at EPCOT (where did those 8 hours go?!?!?)

 

[djmeen]

Day 4 started off....exciting....

Lijo cooks breakfast to start the day:

Unfortunately, he burned the bacon and generated a ton of smoke form making potatoes....which set off the fire alarm for a few minutes. We didn't think it was too bad....

The fire department agreed.....can't believe they showed up really quick and the alarm only went off for like, 3 minutes. Wow. So embarrassed!

After breakfast - had to run to DTD for Lijo to get some gifts for the family. The boats to DTD worked great from THV's!

Got a quick Fish and Chip snack on the way back (excellent fish and chips)

Heading our to play Round 2 - Magnolia Course! Sebastian and I outside the THV

Awesome Mickey Cart at the course (and the weather was AWESOME!)

Teeing off on the first hole

Yep - alligators on the course....seriously!

How my buddy Lijo managed to miss the sand is beyond me

Ran out of tees....

Amazed at the wildlife out on the course!

Was a great round of golf on a challenging course!

Hot tub after golf is a great way to relax (more)

After freshening up, we headed out to Rix Lounge @ Coronado Springs - which was DEAD. No one there. Waitress said unless there's a convention going on, there's really nothing happening there.

So we left and headed to DTD for dinner at Bongo's where they had live music!

After spending some time at Bongo's (after dinner we hung out at the back bar and just listened to the music and enjoyed a few last beverages) we took a taxi back to the THV!

Day 4 was in the books and all of sudden...it was time to head home the next day.

How did time fly by so quickly?!?!?!

 

[djmeen]

So the last day was pretty much pack up and leave so not many pics....

Taking down the banner:

Making sure the place is cleaned up - we really loved the THV's.

Our kitchen served us well (and didn't burn down!)

Sebastian and I headed to check out

Magic Express and the official end of my 40th bday trip

So final thoughts? We had a blast! THV's were perfect for us - especially with the pool being empty and having the bbq pits right there. We really felt like it was our own space.

Transportation was okay - the boats to DTD were awesome and fairly quick. Any other transport with the buses was hit and miss - but I'd say more hits than time spent waiting so that was good.

I wish we had played 3 rounds of golf, but at the same time, we would have had to skip Epcot. On the other hand, guess we could have squeezed in a round the first day while we waited on the room.

I think the South side of the THV's are the place to be if you rely on Disney transport as you're closer to walking to Grandstands, closer to the boat, and have a bus stop nearby.

If anyone wants to see more pics - feel free to check out the galleries I setup online click here if you're curious. Oh - and the camera I took was my waterproof Fujifilm camera which is great when I don't want to worry about it near water, but really struggles with focus sometimes (as you can tell from a few of the out of focus pics). Kinda wish I had brought my Sony Cybershot....

Thanks everyone for feeding into my excitement and helping to virtually make my 40th all the more memorable!

Ah well - great times and now I'm sitting here thinking.... 50 can't come soon enough!!!!

 

[Cee]

Fantastic trip report! Wonderful pictures! Love the one where one of your pals was the TEE. I hope all the advice you received here enhanced your experience. I know you inspired other guys and dads to give the "guys trip" a shot(pun intended). Why should the girls have all the fun??? Well done, gentlemen.