First Time Trip Reporting...(BWV) 07/14-07/21/2017

[TinkHappy]

This is my first time attempting to write a trip-report. I have hesitated in the past as I am not clever or witty as other Dis Board trip-reporters. So, please be kind

We live in Texas and decided to drive. We moved to Texas from Connecticut about 3 years ago. We have made the drive from Connecticut to WDW. This would be a new adventure from Texas.

Friday, 07/14/2017 – DD’s 21st birthday & Our Departure day


We left our house at 3am and drove to NOLA. DD wanted to go to Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane on her 21st birthday…and so we did. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton in the French Quarter. Dinner was at NOLA’s Restaurant. It was delicious!

Saturday, 07/15/2017 – Disney Check-In

We left NOLA at 8am as we wanted to arrive in WDW by 5pm(ish). The drive from NOLA to WDW is approx. 9 hours. Our drive was fine. We didn’t hit much traffic and arrived at the BWV by 6pm. We did online check-in. We received a text letting us know our room was ready and the room number (we reserved a 2bdrm Villa). Easy-peasy!! Parked in self-parking. Grabbed our bags and headed directly to our room (3044&3046). We had a view of the Clown pool. It wasn’t loud at all and we were able to view the fireworks from DHS (MGM as my kids continue to refer to it).


We had 7:45pm ADR’s at Raglan Road Irish Pub & Restaurant. We drove our vehicle and it was packed!! Both DDs (22&21) decided they wanted to explore DS. DH and I grabbed a couple of seats at the bar and had a beer (or two). Dinner was very good. We sat in the main dining area so we were very close to the entertainment. We all had a blast! After dinner we headed out to explore DS. Ended up at Ghiradelli’s Ice Cream shop for a couple of sundaes. A delicious way to end the day.


Headed back to BWV…Early surprise morning tomorrow

 

[TinkHappy]

Samantha - 22yo DD & Abigail - 21yo DD have not outgrown WDW and it doesn't appear they will anytime soon. Sam graduated with her Masters and Abbie with her Bachelors - we decided to combine their graduation trip. We asked them where they wanted to go...anywhere...they both decided they wanted to go to WDW! We have been going to WDW for years. Here is the Fam...DH is very kind to appease my Disney addiction.

 

[TinkHappy]

Okay...back to my attempt at a Trip-Report...

Sunday, 07/16/2017 - Surprise Family Day!!

We had an early start to our day, so we did a quick breakfast in our room (bagels, oj, coffee, etc...)

We headed out the door by 6:30am - on a side-note, everyone was well aware of the early morning days ahead of time. We needed to be at the MK by 8:15am for check-in for our ULTIMATE DAY OF THRILLS VIP Tour!! We checked in and were given badges with different colors (these would be "our peeps" for the day).
We began our tour at 8:45 and headed to Buzz Lightyear (it was shut down for maintenance), so we quickly headed to Space Mountain. After riding Space Mountain we were able to ride Buzz as it was up and running...YAYAYAYAY!!!!

Then, in order, we rode:
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Haunted Mansion (went through the back entrance - very cool)
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain (they call this "rinse and dry")
(we did not do Pirates)

We then went through a Cast Member exit and hopped on a van (color coded) and headed to EPCOT.

Once at EPCOT we had lunch at Sunshine Seasons - I had the Ahi tuna salad and tomato soup with an iced tea - everyone really enjoyed their lunch and the portions were a nice size. (sorry, I didn't take a lot of pictures). After lunch we headed to Soarin'. We have not been on this ride since they have changed it. WOW...it was really fantastic!! Loved it!

After Soarin' we went through another Cast Member exit and hopped on our "blue" van and headed to DHS. It was really HOT and people were starting to lag behind...we had a few people that had difficulty keeping up. Once at DHS we rode in order: Tower of Terror; Rockin' Rollercoaster; ToyStory Mania and Star Tours. We all decided we could have done without Star Tours...it was hot, the room did not have good a/c or air flow and the simulated 3D motion made us all a little queasy. Star Tours was the last ride on the tour. The tour ended at 3:30pm. We all said our goodbyes and were given the option to stay at DHS, be dropped off at the MK, or dropped off at Transportation Station. We decided to head back to Transportation Station to get back to our room to take a late-afternoon (much needed) break before our 6:05pm ADR at Via Napoli Ristorante Pizzeria.

The tour was AWESOME!! Everyone loved it. It was something we have not done in the past, so well worth it to us.

We walked to EPCOT from BWV (easy walk)

We had an ADR at Via Napoli Ristorante Pizzeria - food and service were excellent. We split a salad served family-style, two large pizza's and a pitcher of red Sangria. Delicious!!!

7:00pm FP for Frozen - It was a cute ride and glad we did it. Not sure I would wait over 2hours to ride it.
We walked around World Showcase for a while
8:00pm FP for Seas with Nemo

We did single rider for Test Track (we were a little disappointed with the update to Test Track)

Headed back to our room around 9:00. AK tomorrow

 

[TinkHappy]

Monday, July 17th, Animal Kingdom

We drove our own car and arrived early. AK RD was at 8:00am. We were there by 7:15am and it was already wall-to-wall people.

*If you are looking to ride the Pandora rides - I would suggest going "bagless" as those without bags were let in first at RD.

Once we got through security, everyone was lined up at the entrance. At approximately, 7:45, they opened the gates and allowed everyone to enter (it was EMH and non-disney resort hotel guests were attempting to get in - security was tight and they weren't having it). Cast members escorted the crowd to Pandora. We had a 10:00 FP for Na'vi River Journey and didn't care much about the Pandora Flight ride as it was a simulator ride. I am sure we will ride it when we return, but for us, we just didn't want to fight the crowds. While everyone headed to Pandora, we headed to Kilimanjaro Safari. It was great! All of the animals were out and about - it was cool enough in the morning. We even had a Rhino walk directly in front of our open-air vehicle. After the Safari, we headed straight for Dinosaur. Next, we rode Primeval Whirl. After Primeval Whirl, we headed to Pandora for our 10am FP for Na'vi River. Pandora was jammed with people. We enjoyed the River Ride. It was very well done. FOP was a 3hour wait. We left Pandora and did It's Tough To Be a Bug (one of my favorites!). We headed to Expedition Everest for our 11:00am FP. Love it, but riding it once is enough for me.

We had lunch at Harambe Market - my vegetarian DD had the Grilled Veggie Stack with pesto and said it was delicious. I had the chicken skewer - also delicious. DH got the lamb and beef combo and non-vegetarian DD got a chicken dish (different from mine). Food was very good, but there is no a/c, so we were hot and looking for a place to cool-off after lunch... our 12:30 Kali River Rapids FP was just the ticket!! Next we walked the Maharaja Trail to dry off a bit. By then, everyone was pretty tired and hot. We decided to head back to our room to take a nap or head to the pool.

Dinner was off-property this evening. Thanks to the Dis-boards, we headed to Miller's Ale House (8963 International Drive, Orlando). Food was very good and reasonable prices. We will definitely return.

We all decided to go to JellyRolls for some entertainment and a couple of cocktails. It was a BLAST!! I highly recommend going. The piano players were extremely talented. They could play anything you requested. They even preformed a Taylor Swift song DD requested. If they didn't know a requested song off the top-of-their-head, they would learn it during their break. Very impressive!!

Tomorrow Magic Kingdom Day!

 

[AliceNDinah]

I love it so far! You have a beautiful family

 

[annemce118]

I'm enjoying your report so far! Can't wait to hear more! I'll be in Disney tomorrow!

 

[mercydisney]

Enjoying your trip report Thanks for sharing.

 

[TinkHappy]

Thank you for your encouragement!!

 

[TinkHappy]

Tuesday, July 18th - Magic Kingdom Day!

We had an early, 8:00am ADR at BOG. It was not an easy task getting everyone up and out the door on time...It was a LATE night, the night before at JellyRolls. We preordered our meal. This made the process go much quicker. Everything is automated, which I found very interesting. Once you sign in, you are given a "rose" for your table - this lets the servers know where you are sitting. It is open seating, so you grab a table wherever you wish. The Grand Ballroom fills up first - and quickly. There was plenty of room in the other rooms, so everyone seemed to have a place to sit. People were walking around wanting/waiting to sit in the Ballroom. We finished up around 8:45am and headed out.

We walked to Peter Pan and were directed to wait until the 9:00am RD. Cast members lined everyone up - there were lines for Peter Pan and a line for 7Dwarfs (7Dwarfs was lined up in a different area) Once it was 9:00am, a cast member walked those lined up for the Peter Pan ride to the ride. It was very orderly. Throughout our trip, I was impressed with how orderly and systematic the cast members kept things. After riding Peter Pan, we headed to Winnie the Pooh ride. Next we had 9:20 FPs for 7Dwarfs Mine Train. Loved the 7Dwarfs Mine Train ride!! You can "rock" your car during the ride...very nice touch. Next we rode It's a Small World, because it's my FAVORITE ride in all of Disney - yep, I'm a dork
After It's a Small World, we did Journey of the Little Mermaid, then Tea Cups (only Sam and I rode the Tea Cups - Rett and Abbie passed). We had a 10:25 FP for Space Mountain, so we headed that way. After Space Mountain, we did the Laugh Factory - Hilarious!!

Next, we had an 11:30 FP for Buz Light Year. We are a pretty competitive family (excluding me), both DDs played competitive sports, Sam and Rett both played college basketball...so Buz was an all-out competition. Abbie won - and we heard about it for the next few hours

After Buz, we headed for the People Mover (another favorite of mine) just to chill out and figure out lunch.

Lunch was at the Plaza Restaurant - It was good, not great, but glad we tried it. I have wanted to have lunch there for years.

After lunch we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to rest up and head to the pool.

By the time we got back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it POURED!!! Lightening, thunder, torrential downpour!! Sooooo...the pool option was out, naps were in!

Rain was starting to clear up, so we made our way to EPCOT as we had a 6:50pm ADR at Tokyo Dining. This was by-far our favorite meal of the trip!! The food was amazing and the service was fantastic!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Walked around EPCOT WS. I really enjoy walking around WS in the evening. So pretty!

Tomorrow...EPCOT

 

[TinkHappy]

I love it so far! You have a beautiful family

Thank you so much, AliceNDinah!

 

[AliceNDinah]

You are welcome! (I'm Dana, by the way, ha) Love your pictures!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

Enjoying your report! We were there at the same time as y'all (7/16-7/22).

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

By the time we got back to the hotel, the skies opened up and it POURED!!! Lightening, thunder, torrential downpour!! Sooooo...the pool option was out, naps were in!

We were at AK coming out of Festival of the Lion King and couldn't believe the amount of rain coming down!

 

[TinkHappy]

Wednesday, July 19th - EPCOT

8:15am ADR at the Garden Grove with Chip-n-Dale, and Mickey. We had a few issues happen at EPCOT, nothing that would spoil our time at EPCOT, but it did start to get funny - we just had to laugh. Okay...Breakfast...we arrived at 8:15, I wanted to get there earlier, but I wasn't going to push my luck with the fam We were seated immediately, so no wait. We noticed the restaurant wasn't spinning (our favorite part of this restaurant). We inquired and were told Chip-n-Dale were playing with the controls and broke the restaurant...okay...not an issue. Food was good. Character interaction was good. Service was very good. We finished breakfast at 9:00am - headed to Soarin' - I LOVE the new Soarin'!!! After Soarin' we went to ride Living With The Land. Living With The Land was having technical issues. No problem...headed to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Well, it too was having "technical issues." We headed to Seas with Nemo - that was up and running - our luck was changing! We tried Living With the Land after Nemo...still not up and running - same with Figment. We headed to Spaceship Earth - we all really enjoy this ride. However, Spaceship Earth came to a screeching halt while we were on the ride - sat for a little over 10 minutes, total - it kept breaking down. We had an 11:30am FP for Spaceship Earth - I changed this to Living with the Land (so I thought)...After Spaceship Earth, we headed Test Track as we had a 10:25 FP. No issues on TT - loved it! Next we headed to Figment, it was up and running and only had a 5min wait...perfect! After Figment, we went back to Living with the Land - It was up and running...woohoo!! I had thought I changed our FPs to Living with the Land, when actually, I changed them to Figment...My mistake! It was a 30min wait in standby - so we waited...why not, right? By-the-way, this was the longest we waited for anything while at WDW. It was worth the wait! After Living with the Land we had a 12:30pm FP for Epcot Character Spot. We got there right at 12:30, but there was a wait, a 30 min wait! We decided to skip it as we had a 1:10pm ADR at Beaches and Cream - it was just too close to take a chance. Plus, we were all starving. Walked to Beaches and Cream - Lunch was fantastic!! Service was GREAT!! I do miss the PrimeRib Sandwich they used to have there.

Back to the hotel for a little R&R (and a glass of wine)

DATE NIGHT!

The girls had a 6pm ADR at the Hibachi restaurant in Japan. DH and I got dressed up (I actually did my hair and makeup) and headed to the Dolphin to the BlueZoo. We were there by 6:30pm and still had 30min left for Happy Hour...NICE!! We sat at the bar, we at, we drank, we laughed...had a wonderful time! We stayed until about 9:30pm. Walked the Boardwalk for a little while - it was lovely! The girls came back to the room. I told them MK was open until 12midnight, but they were tired and just wanted to hang. So, that's what we did.

Tomorrow - MK - Our Last Day

 

[TinkHappy]

Enjoying your report! We were there at the same time as y'all (7/16-7/22).

Wasn't the rain crazy? At one point, it was raining sideways!

 

[TinkHappy]

Thursday, July 20 - Magic Kingdom and our Last Day

It was going to be a much more casual day

We had a 10am ADR at Crystal Palace - so everyone was able to sleep until 8am. So, here's the funny thing...I have stressed year-after-year how important it is to get up and out the door early allowing us to avoid huge afternoon crowds. This works for our family - from the very first time we brought the girls to WDW, we were all early risers, so they are used to the early mornings - afternoon rest/pool. Back to the funny thing...we all slept in and left around 8:30am - when we arrived at the Transportation Center, we had to park pretty far back - not horribly - but far enough away where the family noticed. When we finally caught the tram to the TC (we usually walk, but it was quite far and the tram would be faster), there were huge lines to get through security. We thought we might miss our 10am ADR. So, we gave our fanny-packs to DH to put in his backpack and the girls and I walked through the bagless line - quick. We hoofed it to the Monorail. The direct Monorail had a very long line, we decided to take the Resort Monorail. This ended up being the quickest route. We arrived with about 5min to spare. DH made good time as it was just him and he ended up taking the bus from the Transportation Center to the MK. He said it was really fast and no lines. Needless to say, we made our 10am ADR and...here's the interesting part...the family said they appreciated getting up early every morning to avoid the lines of people... It was a win-win if you ask me.

Breakfast was very good and service was just okay as the place was crowded and breakfast would switch over to lunch at 11ish. The omelet station is the best part of this breakfast. Still my favorite all-time breakfast is BOMA. We didn't do breakfast at BOMA this year as we have done it several times already. Crystal Palace was Abbie's pick.

After breakfast, we had an 11:25-12:25 FP for Jungle Cruise. We arrived at about 12noon. After Jungle Cruise, we used our FP for Pirates. Hall of Presidents was closed - we were a little disappointed. We decided we wanted to do DS, so we canceled our Splash Mtn FP (we had already gone on SM earlier in the week) and headed back to our car. We drove to DS and had a late lunch at Wolfgang Puck Cafe... it was delicious! DH and I split a sandwich and the girls shared a flatbread. We had a 7:00pm ADR at BOMA for dinner this evening and didn't want to fill up. We walked around DS and did some shopping. Headed back to our room to get ready for dinner and AGAIN, the skies opened up - it wasn't just a light rain, it was a sideways downpour of sheet rain, lightning and thunder...crazy. Everything was flooding. The hotel had towels on the windows. The ceiling was leaking. The doors and windows were leaking...crazy.

At about 6:45pm, we decided to brave the storm and fill our tummies. We were ready for BOMA! DH graciously ran to the car and picked us up under shelter.

We headed to BOMA. By the time we arrived, the weather was starting to clear and the rain was no longer coming down in sheets, rather it was a light rain. We waited for about 10min before we were seated. Now, I absolutely LOVE the BOMA breakfast, so my expectations were very high! We were all a little disappointed in the food and the selection. Now, I don't mean to imply that the food was bad, it wasn't; in fact, it was very good. However, we all agreed, it didn't meet expectations - for the price we paid. Oh well...glad we did it!

We had planned to go to AK after dinner, but we had an early morning check out tomorrow and everyone was pretty exhausted. It is amazing how the heat can suck the energy out of you.

Tomorrow...early morning check-out

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Enjoying your report!