First DVC trip - BLT Week of March 17

[thptrek]

Long time Dis member here. We finally bought into DVC at BLT and are now getting ready for our first trip. Have a 2br MK view reserved. We are going to spend two nights at Universal first to experience Harry Potter and then a week at BLT.

We first started going to WDW when the kids were very young and now we have one in college and one ready to start college. As a side note, my first trip to WDW was with my grandparents back 1972. However, we are still excited to meet the princes and princesses and do all the stuff that we have loved. Age matters not.

Thanks in advance to all the people on DIS who provide such great advice. I have BOG lunch FP reserved, FP+ reservations made, Magic Bands ready for scanning. I also used the "trick" to get multiple Tier 1 FP+ at Epcot. We are normally RD folks who used runners to maximize our FP- in the past. It will be interesting to see how the new FP+ system works for us. I made our FP+ reservations in the afternoon. Maybe we will sleep in a few mornings?

We are ready to LET IT GO.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Excited to hear about your first DVC trip. I went to Disney every year with my husband for 10 years before we finally bought 2 years ago. LOVE IT! I've been away from the DIS for about a month or so, I need to go look up this multiple tier 1 FP+ trick you speak of......off to snoop around

 

[Jennasis]

You're going to have a SMASHING trip! We are on the verge of becoming new DVC members (as we await ROFR on our first contract) and our home is going to be BLT too! The Contemporary has been our favorite resort since our honeymoon in 2005 (though I've been visiting Disney yearly since 1977). We could only afford one night in the tower but we were HOOKED. Then we daydreamed for years until DH finally sprang it on me last week that we could actually do DVC!

I'm looking forward to your trip report. We stayed in a studio at BLT back in 2012 (on a relatives points). The location is just unbeatable!

 

[thptrek]

This afternoon we checked into the Royal Pacific resort at Universal. The resort is nice with a cool lagoon pool. Our room is a two queen standard and it's adequate. The resort is totally understaffed. Even the bell cap said so. Nobody to help with our bags for example and only two people working the front desk at check in time of 4 pm. Long line of people waiting.

Went over to Universal Studios and enjoyed the rides. Transformer and The Mummy were awesome. Minions was fun to but a little jarring as your car bounces around. The Mardi Gras parade was at 745pm and it was good. Floats were cool and we got some beads. Once the parade was over around 830 the park is shut down. A little disappointing as we didn't feel like just hanging around Citywalk area. The Expresspass was very good. We walked on rides with about a 10 minute wait max.

Tomorrow we are heading early to hit Harry Potter. Weather is warm and sunny which makes everything better.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

This afternoon we checked into the Royal Pacific resort at Universal. The resort is nice with a cool lagoon pool. Our room is a two queen standard and it's adequate. The resort is totally understaffed. Even the bell cap said so. Nobody to help with our bags for example and only two people working the front desk at check in time of 4 pm. Long line of people waiting.

Went over to Universal Studios and enjoyed the rides. Transformer and The Mummy were awesome. Minions was fun to but a little jarring as your car bounces around. The Mardi Gras parade was at 745pm and it was good. Floats were cool and we got some beads. Once the parade was over around 830 the park is shut down. A little disappointing as we didn't feel like just hanging around Citywalk area. The Expresspass was very good. We walked on rides with about a 10 minute wait max.

Tomorrow we are heading early to hit Harry Potter. Weather is warm and sunny which makes everything better.

I love live trip reports. Looking forward to reading more.
What is the trick for fastpass+ ? I hope you have a great time.

 

[thptrek]

To get multiple tier 1 Epcot attractions I first made my FP+ reservations. Then went into change experience and selected one of my tier 2 FP+. Then changed attraction to another tier 1. I don't know if the glitch still works though.

 

[thptrek]

Checked into BLT room 8222. That is 12th floor in the middle facing magic kingdom. From left to right we can see the Contemporary, the Poly, the GF, and then Magic Kingdom. Perfect room location. The two bedroom is awesome. A ton of room with a great living room area to hang out in during downtime.

Monday we had storms but still did some rides in Magic Kingdom. Went over to The Wave for dinner. It was pretty good. Nice menu selection and good wine selection. Warm earth tones give the place a good feel. Flat iron steaks were good and so were crab cakes. After dinner the rain stopped and we went back to MK. Saw the Castle show and then Wishes. Because of the bad weather the park was empty. We walked to the front of the hub to see Wishes just 10 minutes before the show! We've never did that before.

Today we did animal Kingdom. Crowds were light and we did everything by early afternoon. We went back to the room to get ready for dinner at California Grill tonight.

I also wanted to add that all our FP+ and magic bands are working great. Our Memory Magic pictures are showing up perfectly. We can make our purchases by scanning the magic bands too. We have had zero issues and I would say they are great. I think the key is getting everything set up at home first.

Sorry I can't post pics cause I can't get them off my camera to post.

 

[thptrek]

California Grill was excellent. The decor is clean and bright. Tables are spaced apart and it is not too noisy. We had dragon roll, tuna 4 ways and sashimi appetizers. All were excellent.

For main dishes we had Pork 2 Ways, steak and the fresh fish of the day. All were very well done. The flavors were complimentary and seasoning on each dish was great. Service was very good.

Great selection of wines and wines by the glass. We used our TIW card and the bill averaged $80 per adult. That is with one glass of wine per adult.

While kid friendly, there are probably better choices if your kids are young. We saw lots of tables of just adults.

After dinner we watched Wishes from Top of the World deck on BLT.

 

[Ana~n~Joseph]

Woohoo! So glad you guys are having a great time!!!!

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

Love following trip reports especially those of BLT (our home resort )

One of our favorite parts of a MK view is watching wishes from the room!!! Have favorite drinks and snacks ready for all, pipe in the music on the TV (call front dest for channel number) and enjoy!!! You can sit on the balcony or watch from the living room. This is especially fun and relaxing after a full day in the parks!!

 

[thptrek]

A great day at Epcot yesterday. Crowds don't feel real heavy. Walking around seems relaxes. We have noticed that many attractions do have longer wait times. Example is Spaceship Earth. Had 30 min waits all day. Maybe people are using their fast passes for it when in the past they may have skipped it.

The new test track is good. It's fun to design your own car and see the test results. I think it is an upgrade to the old version.

Norway area is packed. The meetup with Anna and Else is just drawing people in. They are using two que areas. One snakes down along the World Showcase towards China.

The topiaries around the park are excellent.

We had dinner at Tutto Italia. I don't think is great nor worth the money. There is a casual pizza place at the rear that looked better. Service was fine but it was just lacking a bit in flavors.

During the day we sampled foods from the carts and by France there is the duck confit. Excellent. Small portion but enough for a nice snack.

 

[thptrek]

Hollywood studios was a lot of fun. Our FP strategy worked great. In between FP windows we did shows like the American Idol show and Indiana Jones. Our first time to see Idol and it was fun. We normally skip it as we think it wasn't much but we were wrong. If the new FP system is to get people to move around and try new things then it worked on us.

We had dinner at Brown Derby and it was very good. Nice wine list and a good menu. Service was a little slow but we didn't mind as we were waiting for the 10pm Fantasmic show anyway. The pork chop was good and a pretty big serving. The seafood cioppino was very good and fresh. The steak was also good and prepared to the temperature we requested.

The 10pm Fantasmic had a small crowd. Three full sections were not even being used. The show was great.

One note of caution about ride pictures. I did the Aerosmith Steven Tyler hand salute on RrRc and our ride pic got censored. The photo worker said no hand gestures allowed. I guess they are worried about gang signals but c'mon now. It's Aerosmith's ride. Now the whole family is making fun of Dad flashing the hand gestures and getting censored at WDW.

We are making heavy use of the PhotoPass too. If you take the second to grab the pic it's worth pre buying the MM packages in advance.

 

[thptrek]

Love following trip reports especially those of BLT (our home resort ) One of our favorite parts of a MK view is watching wishes from the room!!! Have favorite drinks and snacks ready for all, pipe in the music on the TV (call front dest for channel number) and enjoy!!! You can sit on the balcony or watch from the living room. This is especially fun and relaxing after a full day in the parks!!

Wishes and the castle projection show are better from our room then from the lounge!

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Wishes and the castle projection show are better from our room then from the lounge!

Wow, I am surprised you can see it that well from your room.
Glad you are enjoying your trip.

 

[jstarcze]

We love wishes from the room! Of course when we get a room on the north side.

 

[thptrek]

For our last day we went back to Magic Kingdom. The morning was pretty empty but by lunchtime the crowds had grown. Splash Mountain was operating after a long refurbishment. We waited only 20 minutes to get on. It was great to see everything working on the ride and also to have the soundtrack being clear. However, just after we got off the ride was closed due to some mechanical issue. It was open and close off and on the rest of the day.

We headed back to our room after lunch and then went back to the park to have dinner with the Beast. Be our Guest for dinner is a totally differnet experience then lunch. It has an excellent menu and a good wine/beer list. The lighting is more subdued. You are free to wander around the different rooms after you have finished dinner. The study was really cool. When the lighting flashes, the rose drops a petal and the prince's portrait changes! I would highly recommend BOG for dinner!

After dinner it was Wishes and then headed back to BLT. It was so great to go to sleep our last night in WDW with the castle in view.

I'll do a wrap up and some observations and tips later this week.

 

[thptrek]

This was our first trip to BLT as DVC Owners. It was fantastic experience. We bought our Points via resale and saved a lot. Being a DVC Owner does change your WDW experience for the better. We loved getting up in the morning and having breakfast in our own place. The two bedroom is huge and the big living room area really gives you a place to hang out and relax. I wish we would have bought DVC sooner.

In the past we have always stayed at the CR or the Poly. We found the experience at BLT to be deluxe. The easy access to the CR was a major plus for us. Being able to walk over to the Magic Kingdom was awesome.

We used MDE app a lot on our iphones and had limited problems. We stayed on ATT LTE instead of the Wifi and that seemed to work well. Magic bands are great. FP+ worked well for us. In between our FP+ we did things that we had skipped in the past.

The TIW card saved us a lot. I estimate about $300 in net savings after the purchase of the card. We dined at Citrico's, California Grill, The Wave, Brown Derby and Tutto Italia, and Be Our Guest. The only dissappointment was Tutto Italia. The menu is very limited and the flavors bland.

We are going to bank our points up the next year and are planning a trip over New Years Eve in the future. We are more the type of DVC owners who will bank and borrow to go on a trip every couple of years. The 2 bedroom Magic Kingdom view is worth the points.