Today was an unusual last full day, we'd asked the kids if they wanted to do anything in particular and they basically wanted a day in the pool - the weather over the two weeks had really added to the challenge of a busy Orlando holiday and they were very tired. Speaking of the weather, today was the first day that you could describe it as overcast, there were plenty of clouds around but the kids were adamant that it was to be the pool. We did however, have one task planned, prior to the trip I had discussed DVC with Caroline, who was sceptical to say the least, having never been to Orlando she wasn't sure that such a big commitment was one that she could agree to. The previous evening we had bumped into my friend Mark, who was also staying at Old Key West, and he basically sold DVC to Caroline without me having to say a word, he'd been on the DVC tour and was suitably impressed, and despite having not bought into it himself, intended to go away and 'do the maths'.
We'd been cross-sold DVC whilst visiting Epcot previously by a cast member, so took up the option by ringing and booking an appointment for today, and were picked up and driven over to Saratoga Springs. We had a good look around SSR and to be perfectly honest, weren't that impressed - this pleased us as it had been a straight choice between OKW and SSR when it came to booking the holiday, I guess part of the issue was that I couldn't particularly place the theme - the only Saratoga I had been aware of previously was the battle in which the American's forced the retreat of the British in the war for Independence back in the 1700's, and I doubted that even the Disney magic touch could 'dumb down' the images associated with a battlefield! I appreciate that this is only my view, but OKW, being surrounded by lush greenery has the unique feel of a 'getaway' within WDW, something which has immense value when you just want to relax, a fact that was borne out by the huge amount of time we spent relaxing at the resort, I didn't get that vibe from SSR at all.
After we'd dropped Isabelle and Billy at the play centre, we met up with Tony, the DVC rep who was going to take us through the details, I think he cottoned on fairly quickly that it was Caroline that was going to be the hard sell, and he directed a lot of the questions at her. The chance to look at some of the units was quite handy, the layout for the new Hawaii resort looks pretty spectacular, and it was handy to get to see the difference between the studio's and one bedroom apartments, the room at Animal Kingdom looked quite good, very detailed. The difference between that and BLT couldn't have been more clear, especially when being able to walk directly between the two, I would have said before this tour that BLT would not have been interesting to me one bit, but being able to walk around the room and see the level of detail, it was very impressive, as were the Treehouse villa's which lended themselves to a big family holiday, something that appeals to us. When we realised the full extent of the options at both the Disney parks and then elsewhere around the US, our minds were pretty much made up, it was then a case of deciding how many points and where we would base ourselves, we ended up deciding on Bay Lake Towers, neither Saratoga Springs or Animal Kingdom appealed to us that much, and the difference in annual fees made BLT the ultimate winner. So we're now DVC members, and very, very pleased!
I have to say that at no point were we hassled or given the hard sell, and we got some extra benefits that I'll maybe reveal when I do our next trip report - it feels great to be able to say that we can now look forward to plenty more family holidays, staying in a better quality of resort than we would normally have considered. On our way out, Tony shook our hands and congratulated us, and as Isabelle walked out he said "Isabelle, you and Billy will remember this day for the rest of your lives!", cheesy maybe, but it added a little spring to our step as we headed back to OKW - even the rain that had suddenly started bouncing down couldn't spoil our mood!
We headed back to the pool once the rain had stopped and chilled out, Billy, in the space of two weeks of this holiday has gone from being scared of the pool to jumping in to the shallow end, he's a lot more confident and has really enjoyed the benefit of being able to spend so much time in the water. A couple of hours soon passed and we were on our way over to Fort Wilderness, for our evening meal at the Hoop-De-Doo Review, despite having visited WDW several times, I didn't really know too much about FW, I was amazed at how vast the area is here, and was totally unprepared for the journey down to Pioneer Hall.
At the back of the hall, but it didn't deter from the experience
We were slightly late and they were just about dishing out the starters, which was cornbread and salad, we had a couple of beers which were refilled just in time for the chicken, ribs, corn, mashed potato and barbecued beans, dessert was a fantastic strawberry shortcake - the atmosphere was loud, fun and extremely entertaining. I'm not a massive fan of shows but this was excellent, I loved the interraction with the crowd and we had the pleasure of Six Bits Slocum visiting us at our table, the kids were in their element.
The food wasn't the best, but the chicken definitely got the gaffers approval
If I was being totally honest, the show and entertainment was superb, the food wasn't particularly the best, though the fact that the meal included beer was a bit of a bonus, and I was disappointed when the show ended, it was a lot of fun.
Can't take her anywhere!
We had decided to get the boat over to MK and snatch a last couple of rides before heading back to our room, this of course gave us a fantastic view of BLT in the dusk, all lit up and looking particularly impressive - we must have sickened our fellow passengers with our immovable grins!
Billy wanted to do the Peter Pan ride one last time, and we queued about 40 mins for this, Isabelle had wanted to do Winnie the Pooh but the ride was closed for some reason, so we made do with the spinning teacups instead, this was our last ride of the holiday and a good one, as we were all together in the ride, laughing as we span round a little too fast for our bellies, still full up from all the strawberry cheesecake! We made our way back through the packed crowds assembled for the evenings fireworks, and stopped off on Main Street to get some sweets with our remaining snack credits, and then wandered over to get the bus back to OKW. The kids realised that this was their last time at a park on the holiday, and were waving to various people and rides as we left, but were already talking about what we were going to do on our next visit. Back at the room the kids were soon asleep, so Caroline and myself packed up the suitcases as best we could, before tidying the room and getting it as ready as possible for the morning. We polished off the remaining holiday drinks that we had in the room, and laid back on the bed and chatted about our holiday - it had far surpassed our expectations and had been a real boost for us all, especially as the kids had not expected it at all.
It was perhaps the first time I had actually enjoyed my last night of a Florida holiday.