Go with the flow DUDE.....*a few final thoughts 10/19

[WDWKOOK]

Great update and don't you dare apologize! Don't you love it when there's no wait for a ride? You feel like you got away with something. We usually end up with German for SE since DD speaks German, but having ridden it umpteen times, it doesn't really matter. I think DS5 should place all your orders at San Angel Inn

What was with the no pickles. I thought they had a fixins' bar there with everything like Pecos Bill? Poor thing should have been able to get a few lousy pickles - sorry about that.

I think it's great that you were so flexible with the villa not being at all what you had requested. Did the kids even know what you had requested? I'm proud of you for not changing after check-in.

Good call with MS - pickles or no pickles. I hope the DAS worked well for you and love those TT photos! But, I miss the old TT

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Did you mention snake?!?! I will never forget my middle of the night visitor ... also no more staying on the first floor!!!

What?!?! Linda, when did you have a middle of the night visitor ..and where?! Holy cow!!!

Jeanette, lovin' the TR...nothing like having every request met... NOT... happy it all worked out anyway...after waiting for the room to be ready, I'd not likely to request a change.

More reading to do....

 

[saintstickets]

Just found your TR and subbing in. We stayed in an OKW 2br several years ago before the refurb and loved it. Looking forward to more of your TR!

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

What?!?! Linda, when did you have a middle of the night visitor ..and where?! Holy cow!!!

Jeanette, lovin' the TR...nothing like having every request met... NOT... happy it all worked out anyway...after waiting for the room to be ready, I'd not likely to request a change.

More reading to do....

So here's my story ......

I heard male voices outside my door. They finally knocked on my door and as I was opening the door they started telling me to get back. Then be careful but open the door. I opened the door and they told me SNAKE had just crawled in my room. You have never seen anyone jump up on a bed as fast as I did. They were from engineering and had to call rec to come get it with their snake picker!

Did I mention I had on my Tinkerbell nightgown???

 

[letthewookiewin]

Great update and don't you dare apologize!

I totally agree with KOOK.

 

[pas130]

I totally agree with KOOK.

So here's my story ......

I heard male voices outside my door. They finally knocked on my door and as I was opening the door they started telling me to get back. Then be careful but open the door. I opened the door and they told me SNAKE had just crawled in my room. You have never seen anyone jump up on a bed as fast as I did. They were from engineering and had to call rec to come get it with their snake picker!

Did I mention I had on my Tinkerbell nightgown???

And THAT is why the first floor is not always a good thing, I do believe I would've woken the entire building

Just found your TR and subbing in. We stayed in an OKW 2br several years ago before the refurb and loved it. Looking forward to more of your TR!

Thanks for joining the fiesta. I am ashamed for being so nervous about my choice, it is such a gorgeous resort!

What?!?! Linda, when did you have a middle of the night visitor ..and where?! Holy cow!!!

Jeanette, lovin' the TR...nothing like having every request met... NOT... happy it all worked out anyway...after waiting for the room to be ready, I'd not likely to request a change.

More reading to do....

I get superstitious with requests, like "if it's meant to be I'll get the perfect room"..but then I feel the need to request anyway...I really didn't want ground floor, and I felt that those with mobility issues or strollers are more entitled to request them. Having gotten ground floor in a building with no elevator, I am glad that was where we ended up. I don't know if I would've been as happy in a further location like Turtle Pond or South Pointe...that Main pool was AMAZING! We met several DVC members poolhopping from Kidani and BLT. I was surprised, I really really liked the Kidani and Jambo House pools.

Just FYI for some people who may not be aware DVC members can pool hop (except to SAB). Am I accurate Mama?? (AKA grumpygrandma)

Great update and don't you dare apologize! Don't you love it when there's no wait for a ride? You feel like you got away with something. We usually end up with German for SE since DD speaks German, but having ridden it umpteen times, it doesn't really matter. I think DS5 should place all your orders at San Angel Inn

What was with the no pickles. I thought they had a fixins' bar there with everything like Pecos Bill? Poor thing should have been able to get a few lousy pickles - sorry about that.

I think it's great that you were so flexible with the villa not being at all what you had requested. Did the kids even know what you had requested? I'm proud of you for not changing after check-in.

Good call with MS - pickles or no pickles. I hope the DAS worked well for you and love those TT photos! But, I miss the old TT

I thought there would've been a fixins bar too. I think it was only condiments. Honestly I never checked for it They all knew my requests, but no one cared where we were

We rode it again in French on a different day...at least I could practice my Spanish which is cool. He's such a bright kiddo

I miss the old TT too, and the old queue.. as cool as it is to design a car, it makes the wait longer then walking through IMO. There's more TT pics to come! It was DS5's favorite ride. And Epcot is his favorite park I remember getting SO sick on MS when it first opened, I had no idea how tame the Green side is. BIG props to my RC gals for talking me into giving it another try

I learned that lesson about Test Track on our last trip. My hair goes down to my rear and just as we got into the ride car, I put my hair in a knotted bun. It kept feeling like I had several hairs that were being pulled really hard and was annoying, so I took it down just as we got to the outside part of the ride. I was sitting next to my youngest, and my hair was so every where that he asked me if I took my hair down on purpose to try and suffocate him on the ride.
I'm sorry you didn't make it to DHS that night. I hope you were able to get on ToT.

I didn't remember TT being that fast And attack of the HairMomster LOVE IT

Don't worry, I got my DD7 to ToT, it just took a little longer than expected. No promises were broken this trip! Only made two to her CRT and ToT

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like a good 1st day!

If you don't mind, can you tell me the basics of how the DAS works and how you get it? I am helping a good friend of mine plan her DD's 1st trip in December. Her DD is 4 & has some sensory issues so she's wondering if she can use a DAS.

Remember I am outnumbered LOL. So happy we got Park Hoppers, it was so much less stressful not having to stick to a plan. And I thought of you passing SSR each time. It's so pretty from the boat at night as is Okw

Awww! I'm excited to see what SSR is like. I know when we stayed @ OKW in 2012 I was very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it.

 

[KatMark]

My apologies to my readers/friends that it is taking me so long to update, I thought back-to-school would mean more downtime....alas I was wrong

Real life stinks sometimes.

OKW was a short ride to EPCOT, it took longer getting through the resort than to the park I think. Peninsular Road is the first bus-stop at OKW. We reached the park, and we were ready to eat. First we stopped at Guest Services to pick up our DAS (Disability Access Service Card). I had never done this before, but I welcomed any extra help with the kids at Disney. The CM was very thorough explaining how to use the cards, and it's all done on an iPad so we were done in a few minutes and off to eat!

Glad that didn't take long at all with the DAS.

We walk up, I attempt to get a photo NOPE...keep walking Mom, no one is interested We reach Spaceship Earth, I LOVE Spaceship Earth. 5 minute wait?? Can we Daddy, please, please (yes that was me) ? We go on. DH and DD9, DS13, DD8, and DD7, DS5 and I. My DS5 likes the Spanish language, we've watched Frozen in Spanish, listen to Spanish talk radio...and so I got my first experience of Spaceship Earth in Español

Mom, they were excited...pictures could wait. I love that DS5 likes Spanish and you listened to it in Spanish.

Next up, I asked my DS13 for the map to figure out the best CS...he didn't get a map. This kid ALWAYS gets a map...okay we reached the Electric Umbrella...DS5 places his order.."I would like a cheeseburger only pickles". The CM replies "I am so sorry we have no pickles".... zero to meltdown in 8 seconds flat. DH grabbed him and carried him upstairs, and DS13 and I ordered the food. We all ate, and everyone settled down. DS5 had a chocolate milk a yogurt, and grapes. DS13 and I had the Sausage sandwich, DH had a bacon burger (plain no cheese-see where Jr. gets it from?), and the girls had various kids' meals. It was decent, no complaints at all.

Not the best counter service at Epcot, but it will do in a pinch and when hungry.

We then went to Innoventions for quite some time, then headed to get a return time for Test Track. DS5 agreed to do Mission Space

Brave boy!

WHAT? I did Mission Space once.....ONCE
WHY are we doing Mission Space so close to me finishing lunch, really??? REALLY?? 5 minute wait, you wanted Disney BLAH BLAH BLAH...

I would have told them to go without me.

Fine....let's go (said in my ohsobratty voice)..
More intense or less intense?
No contest..DS5 and I less intense, the rest all did Orange

Mission Space-Green side. Easy Peasy. Thank you Disney!!!

I'm glad you could do the easy peasy side.

Test Track time!!!!!


DD9, me, DS5 were in the back. Everyone else was in the other car.
Lesson learned to do a ponytail on future rides...Test Track was a HIT!

Glad you all enjoyed the new Test Track.

Now I get the text that our room is ready, and the flip-flops are killing our feet. But we have FP for DHS..what about ToT????

Nope, time to go back to the resort and rest...swim...no DHS

Best laid plans...let's go to the bus back to EPCOT

Was I bummed? Yes, BUT everyone was very excited to get back to the room and see it.

Sometimes a change of plans ends up being for the best.

Room 2812.

Keep in mind my requests...highest floor, canal view....

First floor, golf course view I really didn't care once we walked in. The villa was HUGE, bright, beachy....LOVELY I went onto the patio and walked right back in TOO HOT The girls made Daddy hop the railing to get Mickey Golf balls. I didn't have to carry luggage, or children, or anything upstairs. It was the perfect villa! We unpacked, and headed out to Wal-Mart. The shopping trip took two hours, but the good news is that we didn't touch our car for the rest of the week.

I'm glad you ended up being happy with your room even if you didn't get your requests.

I think we ate and went to bed...or did we swim...

I do remember that Saturday morning I had plans with a DISfriend so I had to be up bright and early..no way my kids wouldn't wake me up early.....

Or so I thought

It sounds like a good first day all in all.

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

And THAT is why the first floor is not always a good thing, I do believe I would've woken the entire building

Thanks for joining the fiesta. I am ashamed for being so nervous about my choice, it is such a gorgeous resort!

I get superstitious with requests, like "if it's meant to be I'll get the perfect room"..but then I feel the need to request anyway...I really didn't want ground floor, and I felt that those with mobility issues or strollers are more entitled to request them. Having gotten ground floor in a building with no elevator, I am glad that was where we ended up. I don't know if I would've been as happy in a further location like Turtle Pond or South Pointe...that Main pool was AMAZING! We met several DVC members poolhopping from Kidani and BLT. I was surprised, I really really liked the Kidani and Jambo House pools.

Just FYI for some people who may not be aware DVC members can pool hop (except to SAB). Am I accurate Mama?? (AKA grumpygrandma)

I thought there would've been a fixins bar too. I think it was only condiments. Honestly I never checked for it They all knew my requests, but no one cared where we were

We rode it again in French on a different day...at least I could practice my Spanish which is cool. He's such a bright kiddo

I miss the old TT too, and the old queue.. as cool as it is to design a car, it makes the wait longer then walking through IMO. There's more TT pics to come! It was DS5's favorite ride. And Epcot is his favorite park I remember getting SO sick on MS when it first opened, I had no idea how tame the Green side is. BIG props to my RC gals for talking me into giving it another try

I didn't remember TT being that fast And attack of the HairMomster LOVE IT

Don't worry, I got my DD7 to ToT, it just took a little longer than expected. No promises were broken this trip! Only made two to her CRT and ToT

When staying on points DVC members can pool hop to any pool except SAB, AKL&Villa, BLT/CR and AOA.

 

[pas130]

Sounds like a good 1st day!

If you don't mind, can you tell me the basics of how the DAS works and how you get it? I am helping a good friend of mine plan her DD's 1st trip in December. Her DD is 4 & has some sensory issues so she's wondering if she can use a DAS.



Awww! I'm excited to see what SSR is like. I know when we stayed @ OKW in 2012 I was very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it.

It a good day

The DAS is somewhat like a Fastpass, one member goes to the attraction and gets a return time based on the current wait time of that attraction. Basically, it doesn't eliminate the wait time, but you can wait elsewhere or do another attraction. For example our Test Track...the wait time was 40 minutes, we were able to get a return time...walk over to Mission Space ride the ride and use the bathroom and head back and get onto Test Track. If her little one has issues with crowds or waiting on line in the queue it really helps. She can go to any Guest Services in any park to get one. The CM will ask what accommodations her child needs. There is a thread in the DISabilities section, or there is a really great blog I can PM you

It sounds like a good first day all in all.

It really was! It was my first lesson in "Go with the flow..." Perhaps I am a bit too much like Marlin..however, I did transition like he did in the end. My husband would be Crush..dude I really wanted to do WS..but that could wait for another day. It was a lesson learned to let the kids make the Disney decisions..resort, parks, rides, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the afternoon went overall. I just had to feed them

When staying on points DVC members can pool hop to any pool except SAB, AKL&Villa, BLT/CR and AOA.

Thank you Mama!

 

[amandaw]

It a good day

The DAS is somewhat like a Fastpass, one member goes to the attraction and gets a return time based on the current wait time of that attraction. Basically, it doesn't eliminate the wait time, but you can wait elsewhere or do another attraction. For example our Test Track...the wait time was 40 minutes, we were able to get a return time...walk over to Mission Space ride the ride and use the bathroom and head back and get onto Test Track. If her little one has issues with crowds or waiting on line in the queue it really helps. She can go to any Guest Services in any park to get one. The CM will ask what accommodations her child needs. There is a thread in the DISabilities section, or there is a really great blog I can PM you

Thank you so much for that info! I'm going to be getting with my friend on Tuesday to do some more planning with her & I will let her know this info.

 

[natebenma]

Getting caught up, but I thought I would stop here and comment.

I love getting to know you and your family!

Sounds like your travel to Disney was pretty decent- not perfect, but good enough! It is too bad that Jekyll Island was a little disappointing, but it looks like you had some great pool time. And recognizing that, you get more Disney. Nothing wrong with that!

Does everyone in your family love the ocean? My DH and I absolutely adore the beach, but the boys are getting to the point where they only like the beach if they are there with friends. Very frustrating!

Fortunately we still will keep Brandon, even though he left us to get eaten Survival of the fittest, right???

That is a fantastic story about the sharkatee! Most definitely a keeper in the family lore. At least your son has learned the first rule of surviving dangerous wild animals:

You don't have to swim faster than the shark, you just have to out-swim your family.



What a fantastic view from your room. I love the pictures you shared.

Our room was not ready, but our Magic Bands were activated....so my plan was swimming

Once we parked, everyone was hungry so we figured let's hit Downtown Disney~ we had FP for DHS that evening, the first being 4:40pm for Tower of Terror.

The first bus to come was for EPCOT, and my DS5 wanted to go there.....food, there's food at Epcot...let's do it!!!!

OK, I get it now. You are not only a resort changer, you are an activity changer. In the span of about 30 minutes your family went from going for a swim to DTD to EPCOT. Have to say that was a great choice.

This is going to be fun!!!!

 

[natebenma]

My apologies to my readers/friends that it is taking me so long to update, I thought back-to-school would mean more downtime....alas I was wrong

As others have said- absolutely NO WORRIES!!!

I am all caught up now!!!

Totally the right choice to ride Spaceship Earth. It is physically impossible for my family to pass up this chance (even if we are already late for a dining reservation)

I have never picked a foreign language, but I hear it is a hoot! I was tempted on my solo trip, but I chickened out.

I have never eaten at the Electric Umbrella- we are Sunshine Seasons people- but it sounds like you needed food and needed it FAST!

My DH and youngest son did M:S Orange once. Ben came out with a huge smile on his face.

"I puked! 3 times!"

No more orange for us!

Test Track time!!!!!


DD9, me, DS5 were in the back. Everyone else was in the other car.
Lesson learned to do a ponytail on future rides...Test Track was a HIT!

Love these pictures!!! At first, I'm thinking, "Why did she black out her face?"

Oh, that's hair!



Looks like you passed up ToT for TT- not a bad swap.

The girls made Daddy hop the railing to get Mickey Golf balls.

That is great!!! Did you ever bring one of the golf balls on Soarin' to "catch" it during the golf scene?

I'm glad that even though your room met few of your requests, other than being at OKW, that it turned out to be just right.

So here's my story ......

I heard male voices outside my door. They finally knocked on my door and as I was opening the door they started telling me to get back. Then be careful but open the door. I opened the door and they told me SNAKE had just crawled in my room. You have never seen anyone jump up on a bed as fast as I did. They were from engineering and had to call rec to come get it with their snake picker!

Did I mention I had on my Tinkerbell nightgown???

Great, scary story!

 

[sjs314]

Fell behind but caught up now. We have never hopped on the first bus that arrives need to do test one day.

Poor Handsome, surprised they don't have pickles

Funny thing about room requests, when we stayed at OKW we requested 1st floor or a bldg with an elevator, got neither but they changed our room to a bldg with an elevator room on 2nd floor. We a canel view.

I bet being on the 1st floor was nice getting back from the parks at night

 

[pas130]

Thank you so much for that info! I'm going to be getting with my friend on Tuesday to do some more planning with her & I will let her know this info.

No problem Amanda, and if she needs more info let me know I will point her in the right direction

Getting caught up, but I thought I would stop here and comment.

I love getting to know you and your family!

Thanks Dee

Sounds like your travel to Disney was pretty decent- not perfect, but good enough! It is too bad that Jekyll Island was a little disappointing, but it looks like you had some great pool time. And recognizing that, you get more Disney. Nothing wrong with that!

I was totally pleased with the travel, it could've been a nightmares. Sometimes just going to the store is , well, interesting....and it was nice to chill in Jekyll Island. Not my favorite beach, however considering some of the stops off I95 it was a winner. Now that I know how close Amelia Island is to there..we can drive a little further next trip. Or just go straight to Orlando


Does everyone in your family love the ocean? My DH and I absolutely adore the beach, but the boys are getting to the point where they only like the beach if they are there with friends. Very frustrating!

DH and I kept saying..if only it were the two of us They all love the beach overall. DS5 isn't a fan of sunscreen and absolutely refused to go out two of the afternoons...we watched cartoons and I drank wine and DD9 got a little sunburned the second day (which coincided with DS5 not wanting to go out. I had DH take the other kids out while I hung in the condo. I figured Disney was my reward for that!



That is a fantastic story about the sharkatee! Most definitely a keeper in the family lore. At least your son has learned the first rule of surviving dangerous wild animals:

You don't have to swim faster than the shark, you just have to out-swim your family.



So true, you can't say he's not a wise kid! Fortunately he has three little sisters to use as sharkbait (who-ha-ha), and a pretty slow swimming Mom.


What a fantastic view from your room. I love the pictures you shared.


We loved it! From the master bedroom we also had the same view (shared balcony).


OK, I get it now. You are not only a resort changer, you are an activity changer. In the span of about 30 minutes your family went from going for a swim to DTD to EPCOT. Have to say that was a great choice.

This is going to be fun!!!!

I am an everything changer My DH counts on nothing, no plan is ever safe from me!

As others have said- absolutely NO WORRIES!!!

I am all caught up now!!!

I have to add you and Kathy are amazing multi-repliers (is that a word even??? I can't catch up with myself most days..


Totally the right choice to ride Spaceship Earth. It is physically impossible for my family to pass up this chance (even if we are already late for a dining reservation)

I have never picked a foreign language, but I hear it is a hoot! I was tempted on my solo trip, but I chickened out.

It's cool, different..but when you basically know the ride by heart, you can then learn a new language


I have never eaten at the Electric Umbrella- we are Sunshine Seasons people- but it sounds like you needed food and needed it FAST!

Had I known how delicious Sunshine Seasons was we would've headed that way...don't worry though we found out!


My DH and youngest son did M:S Orange once. Ben came out with a huge smile on his face.

"I puked! 3 times!"

No more orange for us!


I remember MS before they split the sided...Oh-my-.......I kept saying in my head "just look straight". Did they have the airplane puke bags when it first opened? I noticed they do now! Good plan!





Love these pictures!!! At first, I'm thinking, "Why did she black out her face?"

Oh, that's hair!



Looks like you passed up ToT for TT- not a bad swap.



I had to look at the pic again...TT and MS made Epcot a family favorite for sure!


That is great!!! Did you ever bring one of the golf balls on Soarin' to "catch" it during the golf scene?

I'm glad that even though your room met few of your requests, other than being at OKW, that it turned out to be just right.




My girls kept saying the that on Soarin' "Mom the golf ball almost hit me". The table on the patio at OKW had a hole in the middle (for an umbrella maybe?) and that became a game for them

Fell behind but caught up now. We have never hopped on the first bus that arrives need to do test one day.

Poor Handsome, surprised they don't have pickles

Funny thing about room requests, when we stayed at OKW we requested 1st floor or a bldg with an elevator, got neither but they changed our room to a bldg with an elevator room on 2nd floor. We a canel view.

I bet being on the 1st floor was nice getting back from the parks at night

It was great being on the 1st floor, sounds like you and Bob had my requested room

Hopping the first bus was my first lesson to "just go with it"

The Great Pickle Meltdown...my DH really stepped up and squashed it quickly. But we won't be returning to Electric Umbrella again...

 

[letthewookiewin]

I didn't remember TT being that fast And attack of the HairMomster LOVE IT

I wish I had remembered how fast it went. If I had, I wouldn't have taken my hair down.

Don't worry, I got my DD7 to ToT, it just took a little longer than expected. No promises were broken this trip! Only made two to her CRT and ToT

ToT was one of the promises I made to my DH before our last trip. That and RnRc. I ended up getting out of riding ToT since I was in First Aid from getting sick on RnRc.

 

[pas130]

I wish I had remembered how fast it went. If I had, I wouldn't have taken my hair down.



ToT was one of the promises I made to my DH before our last trip. That and RnRc. I ended up getting out of riding ToT since I was in First Aid from getting sick on RnRc.

We didn't make it on RnRc...but I am okay with that

 

[pas130]

This was a very exciting day for me....

I shall call it the Great Summer Resort Changer Meet

All of my "RC" buddies (except me) were staying at YC

The plan for the morning was Animal Kingdom and meeting up with babyberger and her beautiful family

I missed our first FP why? we all overslept....we got up, ate and we were off to the bus stop. Our bus came quickly except it was also stopping at Blizzard Beach first so we were going nowhere fast

All good, via text she was leaving her resort around the same time

Now we get to AK....everyone stopped to smell the roses, look at Animals, use the bathroom twice.... Remember my best laid plans theory.....

Finally...we met in DinoLand and I got my real life from one of my closest DIS buddies. Did we get a pic...NO! I am SO bad with that, Janetb is the bestest with remembering IMHO

She took her DD and my DS13 to Kali, my DH and hers took their DS and DD9 to Primeval Whirl..and I took the rest of my kids to Dinosaur



Then we met back up and I took all the kids except DS13 to Dinosaur since we had return times on the DAS. Although I didn't get to spend much time with Melissa, I loved hanging with her kids. Her DS is soooooo sweet and bright, and her DD and DD8 were thick as thieves I tell ya! Thankfully I didn't lose any kids as we exited the ride since they ALL went in separate directions



After this they all headed out to lunch IT WAS HOT! and we continued onto EE

DH didn't want to go on, but he braved it. My neck hurt after, I am becoming quite the wussy Okay my favorite pic is DS13 on the ride...

DD8 looks funny too! (can't see DD9)

We had 15 minutes to make it to our FP for the Safari once we exited EE...did we make it????

 

[Tweedles]

Loving your trip report! ! Sounds like you had the most amazing trip. I am enjoying your adventure on so many levels.
We are also a family from NJ, and also planning a Disney trip, for August of 2015. It will be our first trip in 5 years, and my boys will be 10 & 12. I am so happy to see your 13 yr old having so much fun, because my soon to be 12 yr old DS is entering the era of eye rolls and "whatever"s. I was becoming a bit worried that the Disney experience might be "below" him at this stage. Your son gives me hope!
Now, if only the school calendar will come out so I can make my plans into reality.
Write on!!! We want more of you TR!

 

[WDWKOOK]

ITA with Tweedles - "We want more!"

What a fun DISmeet doing a DISkid swap. Loving the attraction photos and how you and Brian are both trying to hold on to your kids! We don't want them flying out of their seats.

Janet needs to accompany you everywhere as your personal Disney iPhone photographer.