First trip home, BWV Nov10-17(food porn included)

[petbren]

Hi All;
Tried to post a TR last year, but never got around to it.
Between Aug/06 and now, we purchased DVC at BWV, so here's our first report.

The Cast;

ME(40 something who is a big planner.......thank God for DIS)
DH...likes Disney, refers to our DVC as "the wife's timeshare"
DS 11..loves animals and taking photos of them, loves Star Wars, and some rides
DD 9... likes Princesses when nobody is watching..got hair done at BBB, becoming more daring with rides....poor me.
DF1...never been to the World, was super excited, also got hair done at BBB

We had a 2 Bdrm Standard view unit at BWV.

Also along for the trip,
DF2, her DH, DS11, and DD9.
My friend's family left 1 week before us, and stayed in a time-share in Orlando where they did US, some shopping and relaxing, then met us.
They were in a Studio at BWV which I reserved for them with my points.

Nov.9.
Picked up DF1, then kids at school, Tim Hortons stop, then left Hamilton at 3:30 headed for The Sleep Inn, Buffalo.
Made great time, to Peace Bridge by 5, only 10 min. wait at boarder crossing, and checked into Sleep Inn by 5:15.
Unpacked bags, and hit Walden Galleria Mall for dinner(Jack Asters), and some shopping.
The hotel was fine, nothing fancy, but they did have a very nice breakfast that was out by 5 am. Over night accommodation for the 5 of us, and up to two weeks of parking for $140.
Our wake-up call was for 4:45, but none of us really slept, and we were up by 4:30am.
Shuttled to the airport, checked-in and through security by 6:30am for the 7:20 am flight on SW to Orlando.
Flight arrived at the gate 20 min. early...........we're here.

Tomorrow.......Day 1

 

[wannago2disney]

welcome back to the wet and cold...sounds like you had a great start!

 

[pl'smama]

I am looking forward to your TR. It sounds like you had a houseful!!

What does DF stand for please?

Suz

 

[petbren]

Well, at least one person is reading

Day 1

As I stated in last post, flight from Buffalo to Orlando with SW arrived at gate 20 minutes early
Now, to find the ME check-in......wow, what a HUGE line
We all know nobody does crowd control like the Mouse.
We were checked-in, through the line, and on the ME bus in 1/2 hour.
Second stop BWV (first was Carribean Beach, then BC/YC after us). total about 40 minutes.
Wow, BWV is as beautiful as in the pictures.

Got off the bus, and our friends were waiting for us
They had checked in, and stored their luggage and our groceries they had picked-up already.
As expected their room and ours were not yet ready, so after getting some info. we headed off to EPCOT.
Plan was to pick-up fastpasses to Soarin and eat at Sunshine Seasons.
The resturant and the entire park was quite busy(last weekend of F&W), but got the Fastpasses(return time between 7&8) and headed to the lunch counter.
Lesson 1.......when in a party of 9, get your table first so you all know where to find each other after getting your food

Sunshine Seasons looked good from what I read, in reality, there wasn't much my picky eaters wanted.
We ended up with...

ME: Grilled Vegetarian sandwich(the server wanted to make sure I
knew there was NO meat in the sandwhich--I quess some people are
surprised at that)
This was Good
Diet Coke
Brownie(for DS who ordered a kids meal and it doesn't come with
dessert)

This is DD with her Brownie


DH: Roasted Beet and Feta Salad
DH reported this was Very Good(why didn't I
order this??)
Diet Coke
Strawberry Shortcake Very Good

DS: Kids Make your own Mini-Sub wasn't really impressed with this
because it had "too many types of meat and weird cheese"--did I
mention he likes his food plain
Diet Coke
My Brownie for Dessert--I did steal a bite or two.


DD: Rotisserie Pork Chop with side of rice She rated this
OK, but it tasted good to me.
She could have picked one more side, but nothing appealed to her.

Chocolate Milk
Brownie

After lunch, we headed to Test Track and although the stand by line was 40 min. we waited.......well worth it.
It was 3pm by then, and I called the Villa to see if our rooms were ready....not yet.
We decided to stroll back anyway, and arrived about 4:05 to find our rooms were ready

I had only one request.........the rooms be close together.

Our room was a 2 Bdrm SV suite #3073 and 3075.
The location was good in that it was only 2 sets of rooms from the elevator, over looking the front of the resort. This was also bad because you heard all the traffic coming and going, and on more than one occasion car alarms going off--once at 2am
I would be happy with that room again though.

My friend's room, that was to be close to ours was a studio SV #3131. Well, it was on the same floor, but that's as close as it got. It was literly a mile from us, and overlooked part of the canal and tennis courts. Very nice and quite view if you managed to get there without dying of exhaustion.

Both rooms were in very good shape.
Only minor problems--no wine glasses or wine bottle opener in the studio room

The dryer in our room would not dry clothes no matter what we did, but who goes on vacation to do laundry anyway--me I guess

It took me quite awhile to get the photobucket program up and running to post my pictures, so I will post the rest of Day 1, with Le Cellier as promised... my favorite resturant by the way, tomorrow.

 

[petbren]

I am looking forward to your TR. It sounds like you had a houseful!!

What does DF stand for please?

Suz

Hi Suz, thanks for reading.

DF is Dear Friend--at least the way I'm using it anyway.
Travelling with us was my one single friend(also in our room)DF#1, and my other friendDF#2 with her hubby and two kids. We have all been friends since we were kids, and DF#2 kids are almost exactly the same age as ours(boys are one day apart, girls are 10 weeks apart).

 

[MinnieMommy]

Great report, I'm hooked already!

You mention the large lines at ME check-in. You had an early flight out, just wondering what time you arrived at MCO?

 

[petbren]

Great report, I'm hooked already!

You mention the large lines at ME check-in. You had an early flight out, just wondering what time you arrived at MCO?

Good morning

Our flight was to arrive at 10:10am, but was running about 20 min. early, so I'd say we were at the ME desk by 10:15.
The line was huge,but the CM's went around and told everyone that only one person from each party was to stand in line, everyone else was to sit in the large waiting area they have. Some people resisted that plan, but most complied.
That reduced the line by more than half, and as I said, we were checked-in and on the bus within 1/2 hour.......much faster than I thought it would be.
This is our first trip using ME, rented a car the last trip(06), limo(04--but had my Mom in a wheel chair that trip),rental car (1991).
It sure was easier just to get on the bus at the airport,and day dream all the way there. The rental car does have some advantages once there, and I'm still not sure what we will do for the upcoming March Break trip.

Will try to write more tonight.
Just to hold everyone over..........

Chocolate Moose at L'Cellier-- too cute to eat.......almost

 

[F4disneyfan]

Well, at least one person is reading

Day 1

As I stated in last post, flight from Buffalo to Orlando with SW arrived at gate 20 minutes early
Now, to find the ME check-in......wow, what a HUGE line
We all know nobody does crowd control like the Mouse.
We were checked-in, through the line, and on the ME bus in 1/2 hour.
Second stop BWV (first was Carribean Beach, then BC/YC after us). total about 40 minutes.
Wow, BWV is as beautiful as in the pictures.

Got off the bus, and our friends were waiting for us
They had checked in, and stored their luggage and our groceries they had picked-up already.
As expected their room and ours were not yet ready, so after getting some info. we headed off to EPCOT.
Plan was to pick-up fastpasses to Soarin and eat at Sunshine Seasons.
The resturant and the entire park was quite busy(last weekend of F&W), but got the Fastpasses(return time between 7&8) and headed to the lunch counter.
Lesson 1.......when in a party of 9, get your table first so you all know where to find each other after getting your food

Sunshine Seasons looked good from what I read, in reality, there wasn't much my picky eaters wanted.
We ended up with...

ME: Grilled Vegetarian sandwich(the server wanted to make sure I
knew there was NO meat in the sandwhich--I quess some people are
surprised at that)
This was Good
Diet Coke
Brownie(for DS who ordered a kids meal and it doesn't come with
dessert)

This is DD with her Brownie


DH: Roasted Beet and Feta Salad
DH reported this was Very Good(why didn't I
order this??)
Diet Coke
Strawberry Shortcake Very Good

DS: Kids Make your own Mini-Sub wasn't really impressed with this
because it had "too many types of meat and weird cheese"--did I
mention he likes his food plain
Diet Coke
My Brownie for Dessert--I did steal a bite or two.


DD: Rotisserie Pork Chop with side of rice She rated this
OK, but it tasted good to me.
She could have picked one more side, but nothing appealed to her.

Chocolate Milk
Brownie

After lunch, we headed to Test Track and although the stand by line was 40 min. we waited.......well worth it.
It was 3pm by then, and I called the Villa to see if our rooms were ready....not yet.
We decided to stroll back anyway, and arrived about 4:05 to find our rooms were ready

I had only one request.........the rooms be close together.

Our room was a 2 Bdrm SV suite #3073 and 3075.
The location was good in that it was only 2 sets of rooms from the elevator, over looking the front of the resort. This was also bad because you heard all the traffic coming and going, and on more than one occasion car alarms going off--once at 2am
I would be happy with that room again though.

My friend's room, that was to be close to ours was a studio SV #3131. Well, it was on the same floor, but that's as close as it got. It was literly a mile from us, and overlooked part of the canal and tennis courts. Very nice and quite view if you managed to get there without dying of exhaustion.

Both rooms were in very good shape.
Only minor problems--no wine glasses or wine bottle opener in the studio room

The dryer in our room would not dry clothes no matter what we did, but who goes on vacation to do laundry anyway--me I guess

It took me quite awhile to get the photobucket program up and running to post my pictures, so I will post the rest of Day 1, with Le Cellier as promised... my favorite resturant by the way, tomorrow.

Funny how you mention doing laundry on holidays. This is one thing we do almost every night. Once you upgrade to a 1 bedroom and up you get to pack so much less in the clothes department just due to the washer and dryer in the room. We now pack 1/3 the clothes we used to as we can toss in a load of wash after we get back from the parks at night or when we come back for dinner in the room and turn on the dryer when we head back out or while watching a show on tv. We do wash about 3 times during our 2 weeks at Disney.

 

[NikP]

Wainting for your next update.... Great report so far.

 

[mickeywho?]

Really enjoying your report. We're staying at BWV pv studio for the first time in February so I would love to hear your opinion on the resort.

 

[pl'smama]

Hi Suz, thanks for reading.

DF is Dear Friend--at least the way I'm using it anyway.
Travelling with us was my one single friend(also in our room)DF#1, and my other friendDF#2 with her hubby and two kids. We have all been friends since we were kids, and DF#2 kids are almost exactly the same age as ours(boys are one day apart, girls are 10 weeks apart).

Thanks petbren, that is what I thought it stood for, but I just wanted to make sure!

The chocolate mouse at Le Cellier looks so adorable!! We have ressies there in January. How did the kids like it?

Suz

 

[wannago2disney]

Wow....that's some great food porn so far...makes me HUNGRY!

Glad to hear you had a good experience with ME, we are using it in Jan...there is 7 of us.

Looking forward to more!

 

[ont/ohana]

Great report so far, looking forward to reading more. Planning our first trip to BWV next year.

I should say hi neighbour if "steeltown" means Hamilton. We're in Stoney Creek

 

[petbren]

Really enjoying your report. We're staying at BWV pv studio for the first time in February so I would love to hear your opinion on the resort.

We loved the resort--am glad we bought here, but are hoping to try all the resorts-- first up AKV in March.
The location is great, although you do more walking than if you stayed at another resort and got dropped off at the front gate.
It's much better that way as it helps wear off some of the calories
It's about a 20 min. walk to MGM, and only 10 to EPCOT IG.
We also walked to Fantasia Mini golf (just past Swan), and Beach Club, about a 15 min. walk.
The lobby is beautiful....they were just setting up the Christmas decorations on the Thursday.

The front lobby and concierge CMs were very good.
The only downfall is there is no restaurant on site. It's a close walk to some, but it's nice to just pop down to the food court and grab something rather than having to go outside. Yes, we had a kitchen, but a couple of mornings a variety of things to eat would be nice.

My kids really liked the Community Hall which also has crafts etc. if your around during the day. Also, every evening at 6pm they have a fire and marshmallow roast and outdoor movie at BC. It sounded good, but we were never around at that time.

Enjoy your stay.

 

[petbren]

Great report so far, looking forward to reading more. Planning our first trip to BWV next year.

I should say hi neighbour if "steeltown" means Hamilton. We're in Stoney Creek

Yes is there any other??
We're on the West Mountain......lovely weather today.
To think last week at this time, it was 81F, and we were at MGM.

 

[petbren]

So, we get to our rooms and our luggage is waiting for us.
Our friend's luggage is not.
It seems as they checked their stuff at Bell Services, they have to call and they'll bring it up.
So they get theirs soon, and give us the groceries..........I am dying of thirst and can't bring myself to drink the tap swamp water.

We have a few minutes to unpack and look at the beautiful room.
Did I say beautiful room now I see how people say they have a hard time staying in a studio after a 1 bedroom.

Here's a photo of the famed towel animals that awaited us on arrival.

Nice Mirror Self Portrait

Isn't he cute, I think he's suppose to be an octopus

We leave BWV and hoof it to Le Cellier to arrive about 5 minutes late for our 5:40 ADR.

I was worried about this ADR as I called exactly at 180 days, and could only get 3 tables, one for 4, 3 , and 2 so hoped we could get together at check--in.
It worked out fine, we had two tables, 1 for 6(the 5 adults took this),and one for 4(children delegated here ) that was off to the side, and a bit secluded.

While we waited for our table, the girls made some masks at the KidCot station(the front two older girls are ours)

We were seated within 10 minutes.
In my opinion, this was the best meal of my trip. I guess I was pleasantly surprised as I was afraid all the hipe I read about it could never meet up to my expectations.

We also had the best server of the trip here---Zach.
Turns our Zach is from Woodstock, just about 40 minutes from us.
He was great with the kids, explaining the menu to them, telling them they could get the smoothies if they liked, and helping us with the wine and other selections. DF1 thought we were a bit rushed, but keep in mind, she is single, no kids, and is use to lingering over a good meal. Our kids had reached their limit on sitting by the time we were ready to leave.


Here is what we ordered:

We split a bottle of Jackson Triggs Merlot between 4 of us.

ME: Shrimp Cocktail - Served with Wasabi slaw and horseradish chili sauce.
(Sorry I forgot to take food porn of the appetizers)
This was very good if you like a bit of a Wasabi kick--which I do.
Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - Baby portobella wild mushroom risotto
with white truffle and herb butter sauce topped with fried parsnips
Wow, this was goooood. Cooked exactly as ordered, medium rare. Sorry, a bit out of focus.

Creme Brulee - Maple creme brulee with carmelized sugar.
I don't know what posessed me to order this as any creme brulee I have had before was kind of custardy, eggy, yucky but I have discovered a new taste sensation...this was fantastic

DH: Duck Two Ways - Duck confit and seared smoked duck breast with
Chambord syrup.
He said this was very good, it would have been my second choice for
appetizer...... I didn't even get a taste
14 oz New York Strip Steak - Served with balsamic red onions,
watercress, and roasted Yukon potatoes finished with veal demi-glace
He said this was excellent

Sorry, I can't for the life of me remember what he had for dessert, I must have been having a private moment with my creme brulee

DS: Picky eater remember
Chocolate Shake(included in DDP)
He loved this--what kid doesn't like a milkshake?
Carrots and Celery sticks from kids menu--what more can I say.
14 oz New York Strip Steak --done medium well, no sauce, no potato
thingys, no vegetable, just steak...substituted fries for the potato
.

He liked this, arrived just as ordered--boring
Kids make your own sundae for dessert
Always a hit.

DD: Chocolate Raspberry Shake - Rich chocolate with a blend of raspberry
puree
She liked this very much, as did the other two kids
who also had this

Chocolate shake in the foreground, raspberry in the background.
Kids steak I think this was 5oz, with fries
She liked this, sorry no photo...also, on the menu it says
$2 extra for this , but never saw the charge on the bill
Kids Sundae for dessert.

We got a basket of the bread sticks and butter at each table, the pretzel sticks were especially good.
I know one of my friends had the cheese soup, and said it was good.
Another person had the Ceaser Salad which I had read comes served as whole romaine lettuce leaves, and they thought that was weird, but OK.
Still not sure how this is a "Canadian" specialty, nor was our server.
Someone else had the chocolate moose pictured earlier.

Anyway, we loved almost everything about this meal, and would return.......actually have ADRs for March

Coming up tomorrow........

Blizzard Beach and Biergarten--my Children's favorite

 

[Disney_Mama]

Great trip report so far. Our first trip home was also to BWV. We had a blast!

 

[petbren]

We slept in a bit today, as BB didn't open 'till 10.
DF1 has an Uncle who lives in Tampa, and he picked her up at 9 and took her to his place. She returned the next day about 2pm and meet us at MGM.
The rest of us left about the same time and headed to BB.
The weather was a bit cool when we left, but clear blue sky, and warmed up to mid 70s by about 11.
I have no photos yet as I never take the digital camera to the water parks, just can't keep an eye on it, and don't want to get it wet. We always buy a throw away water camera for this, and when I get those back, I'll scan some photos and post them. I know I also have some good shots on the photo pass.

We ate at
Lottawatta Lodge

We ate a variety of stuff, chicken wrap, hot dog and fries, pizza, fruit salad..
all was good.
We got 4 ice cream treats with our meal, kept the receipt and showed it to pick up the ice cream later in the day.

The park was not busy at all--too cold for the locals and people visiting from other southern climates, but quite fine for us. We went on everything and anything with no waits at all except a small wait for the largest slide.

On a sad note,we witnessed a near drowning there. I may be over exaggerating, but if not for the VERY swift action of the lifeguards, it could have been quite serious.
I just don't understand how parents can just let a kid, who obviously doesn't know how to swim, have free rein at a waterpark.

Anyway, we left the park about 4pm, and headed back to BWV.
We showered, changed and headed for our ADR at Biergarten .

We arrived 15 minutes late.......I resolved to try to change this tardiness, and was successful.
They gave us a pager, and we looked around in the store that sells all things German.......coo coo clocks,chocolate and wine and were buzzed within 10 minutes.

We all had the buffet
This was very good....lots of selection, sausage,Sauerbraten, salads, soups and desserts.
There is live entertainment which comes out about every 25 minutes and plays about 15 minutes. We caught the end of one show as we were seated, and one full show just before we left.
The kids said this was their favorite dinner. I was a bit surprised, and asked if if was because of the show, but no, they liked the food.
Maybe I'd better re-think not having an ADR here for the next trip.

This is the only food photo I took, it's Leek & Potato soup. It was very good, my friends DS had 4 bowls.

My DD getting into the mood during one of the shows.

My friend's DH sampling his small beer

My DF & I had the white wine sampler.

DH has the beer sampler-no photo.

Are you starting to see a pattern here

We had seen Illuminations the night before, so after dinner, we strolled back towards IG looking and spending along the way, and headed back to BVW.

I have to go to TO tomorrow to Sick Kids for an all day lecture...will try to post Day 3(MGM, Mamma Melrose Fantasmic package) tomorrow night.

 

[phabric]

Enjoyed reading your review. Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[wannago2disney]

Enjoyed reading your review. Looking forward to the next installment.

excellent update...I am enjoying all the "food"! I will be dining vicariously through your TR as we decided against TS meals on this go round. We have only one ADR for Chef Mickeys. DS 4 and DD 2 do not have a lot of patience when it comes to waiting for food if they are hungry!