Great weather, great food, great trip: 6/22-6/29 (LOVED IT!)

[carone0318]

Another perfect trip to add to our list! This is my first ever trip report...dun, dun, dun!!!! I love to take pictures, so you will get to see lots of them.

Cast of characters:

Casey (that's me - 39, age is relative, right???)
Joe (dh - he's 39 too, but he's older than me and is a product the 60s , me I'm a product of the 70s)
Kerry (child #1, she will be 13 in September - don't let her size fool ya, she'll eat ya out of house and home - of course that would have to be shrimp, scallops, filets, lobster - you get the jist, she will not be a cheap date when she is older!)
Dan (child #2, he's 8. He's my free spirit who will eat any bit of junk food you put near him, so watch yer fingahs!!! )

We stayed at BWV and were assigned room 4001 (echo, echo, echo...) We had a guaranteed boardwalk view, but how did we get to be so special that we would have the longest walk in the building (in our direction) - well, 4002 did too but never saw those people, so who says they really existed!

Did the basic dining plan - LOVED IT! We came home with exactly zero TS - zero CS and zero Snack credits left. We sure know how to work it, huh!

Ate at and plan to talk about:

Table Service locations:

CP for lunch
T-Rex for dinner (lots of pictures...)
Boma - dinner
Kona - dinner
Mama Melrose - dinner, no Fantasmic package though
ESPN Zone - dinner
1900 Park Fare
Chefs de France

Supposed to eat at Le Cellier - didn't happen, will go into detail in report later, did have ADR though.

Counter Service Locations:

Sunshine Seasons
Cosmic Rays
ABC Commissary
WPE
Restaurantosaurus
Yorkshire Cty Fish Shop
Earl of Sandwich


Saw lots of characters and quite a few new ones - stick with me to hear who we were able to meet!

I be back later to post some pictures and to start our trip....

 

[carone0318]

Here's some pictures to go with my intro:

Me with the famed Dole Whip:

Joe ready to tackle a park here at MK:

Kerry:

Dan up close and personal:

Day 1 is coming up next...

 

[carone0318]

Day 1 (Monday, June 22nd):

I set the alarm for 4:40am! I showered the night before and only had to deal with my hair this morning. As I finish getting ready, Joe goes and wakes the kids. As he climbs the stairs, Dan announces that he is already up - can't tell he's excited. Everyone is ready and we are actually in the car on the road to the airport shuttle at 5:15am - this is what I was shooting for, so pretty good!

Get to the shuttle, no problem and actually catch a shuttle that is about to leave. Our flight is at 7am and for our flight down we were flying Airtran (out of PHL.) When the shuttle drops us off at Airtran, we realize that they do not have any skycaps, so we had to go inside and wait in a fairly long line. The line is moving, but Joe is starting to get nervous because he said that the paperwork says that checked bags need to be done at least 45 minutes before flight time. I think our bags were checked right before 6:15am - cutting it really close. We get through security and since no one has eaten, I thought I better get some breakfast. So I hop in line at Burger King, Joe and the kids go to the gate - where he finds out I have 7 minutes to get to the gate before they close the door. I literally ran to the gate and made it, I think I was the last person, but I made it.

Our flight down was perfect. We were supposed to arrive at 9:17am and we actually got in a little early - out plane landed at 9am. Off to a good start! Joe and the kids went and got the bags while I went and got the rental car. I had a great deal for a full size car through Alamo for a total of $232, this included all of the taxes and what not. So here I am trying to figure out what car to pick. I always would get a Impala in the past, love the Impala and probably would own one if I didn't work for Subaru (and can get awesome deals through work) BUT there were no Impalas. They did have Dodge Chargers and tried one of them, but the trunk space didn't cut it and we ended up with this:

I really don't like this car and would laugh everytime it pulled up. I kept singing the Low Rider song. The good thing was that the windows were tinted, which helped minimally and the trunk space was adequate - so there ya have it, our automobile for the week! Did like the color though!

Were on the road, did our stop at Target and made it to BWV by 10:30am. This day was off to a great start.....

 

[onejellyshelly]

I'm in! Sounds like you had a great start! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Signing on for more! I look forward to reading all about your Disney adventures!

 

[lillylynnb]

Im here lets hear so more!!!!!

 

[carone0318]

Thanks for joining in everyone - just about to post Day 1 part 2...

I'm in! Sounds like you had a great start! Can't wait to hear more.

Signing on for more! I look forward to reading all about your Disney adventures!

Im here lets hear so more!!!!!

 

[carone0318]

Day 1 Part 2:

Checked into BWV no problem, but we had to put our stuff in storage since we weren't assigned a room yet. They took my cell phone number and said that they would either call or text when our room was available and the room number. We already had the keys, so we could just head to the room. Also, we did purchase the basic dining plan - took care of that at check in too!

Went down to the bus stop to catch the bus to MK! We were at Mk by 11:30am. Every year one of the big talks in our house before we go to Disney is who is the first character we are going to see. Everyone must have a guess. This is big time, depending on what park you go to might make you pick a different character! Knowing that MK was going to be our first park you had to think about the characters that tend to appear in the Main Street square right there. The very first character we saw was Snow White, right by Town Hall. But, we decided to skip her and got in line for Daisy, she was right in the middle of the square:

Daisy had quite the bit of a line. I think we waited about 30 minutes. While we were waiting, Joe went and got us FPs for BTMRR and then he came back to join us line. I wasn't expecting to do too much today because we didn't get there until so late and we had a 2pm ADR @ CP. When Joe got the FP for BTMRR it was around 11:30am and the return time was for 12:25. That's really not bad at all. After our picture with Daisy, we started to head back for our FP at BTMRR.

Stop to get a picture and autograph of Rafiki - unfortunately Timon was not with him as he's usually been in the past:

After Rafiki, we continued our walk back via PoTC. We were going to ride, but not with a 35 minute wait. It was smoking hot this day so I can see why people decided to wait - it's in the shade and somewhat cooler! BUT, not us I just couldn't do it knowing that I usually don't have to wait more than 10 minutes! We did stop though and saw these guys:

Finally made our way to BTMRR - we decided to FP SM before we rode BTMRR. Our return time for SM was 3:45pm. We could do this after we have lunch!

After BTMRR, we decided to go into the Tiki Room - no wait and it was cool (did I mention how stinkin' hot it was outside - high 90s, felt like 200 degrees out there! )

After Tiki Room, Dan just had to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets - he loves this ride! 20 minute wait, but it's what he wanted to do, so we jump in line. the crazy thing was with how hot it was outside, the darn camel wasn't even spitting!

At this point, I thought we had done a lot of stuff in the short period of time that we were there. I had very low expectations for getting anything done and I sort of shocked myself - in a good way!

It was now time for our 2pm CP lunch.... Stay tuned our lunch is coming up!

 

[Villainess]

I'm joining in! Great start!

 

[carone0318]

Oh yeah, the more the merrier - WELCOME!

I'm joining in! Great start!

 

[whchipmunk]

Judging by the time you left your house ant the time you arrived at the airport it looks like we probably live near each other, I live in Woodbury Hts, NJ.

We also flew airtran out of PHL for the first time in March and we arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, gotta love that. However, we usually like to fly Southwest
since they still don't charge anything for the first 2 checked bags.

 

[carone0318]

I'm a little more North. Westampton, Exit 5 off the Turnpike. I work in Pennsauken right by the Cooper River.

I hear ya about the Airtran and Southwest thing. We feel exactly the same way, but we had credits on both, so ya gotta do watcha gotta do!

Judging by the time you left your house ant the time you arrived at the airport it looks like we probably live near each other, I live in Woodbury Hts, NJ.

We also flew airtran out of PHL for the first time in March and we arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, gotta love that. However, we usually like to fly Southwest
since they still don't charge anything for the first 2 checked bags.

 

[Dancegrl624]

I'm here! I'm with you on the whole heat thing. It was so hot!!! The humidity was so thick! Wait until I post my MK morning pics. You can actually SEE the humidity!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm in too.

We hit Epcot this day and yes it was so hot! I think it was the hottest day of our trip.

You got some great characters. We missed Captain Hook and Smee. I kept wanting to go back to that area but we never made it.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[carone0318]

Wahoo - glad you found my report! I think as the week went on the heat got a little better. A couple of evenings later in the week, I thought were just gorgeous!

We missed Mr. Smee last yr, so it was good to see him again. We saw Peter Pan and Wendy, but there line was closed and we never got a chance to see them again this trip - so I guess we'll just have to go back next yr!

I'm in too.

We hit Epcot this day and yes it was so hot! I think it was the hottest day of our trip.

You got some great characters. We missed Captain Hook and Smee. I kept wanting to go back to that area but we never made it.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[carone0318]

Day 1 Part 3:

Our ADR at CP was for 2pm. We arrived at CP at 1:40 and we were seated immediately. I just love CP, it's so pretty inside.

Had to get a picture of my favorite character:

Here's a couple of other ones of us around the topiaries:

Here's the kids:

I can't really remember what we ate, because we were so hungry - but I do know that we drank a lot of Minute Maid Lemonade Light! From the heat outside, we were also thristy...

Dan had some meatballs:

One thing that I'm not a fan of about buffets is that it seems that we go up in shifts (so the other person can watch the stuff at the table) so we are not really all eating together. Anyways....

Here's some picture of the kids with characters:

Even Joe got in on this one:

Here's a picture of Eeyore checking out the kids autograph books. I make them myself and let me just say that the characters love them. My kids love them too, they are sourveniers that they get to keep forever. I will find Dan looking at them in his room all the time. I have been making this kind of book for about 3 yrs now.

Of course I need to have my picture taken with my favorite guy, no kids allowed:

Last here are a couple of picture of the kids up marching in the parade that they do like once an hour. I just love how Kerry loves to act silly. Even though she will be 13 in September, she can let loose and have fun. Dan, well, Dan is really just into it. He doesn't see it as silly, he really loves the characters - he's 8 and I'm so glad that he's into it!

I love her face in this shot - she's a goof ball:

Lunch was very good and filling! It was also a nice break from the heat. When we came out of CP we decided that we would ride the Stitch ride. Dan has never been on this. See, Dan is my rough and tough creme puff. He's this burly kind of kid, but he is a scardy cat too. I thought this was the yr that he could handle this.

When we got there it was only a 10 minute wait, basically just had to wait for the show before us to get through - we decided to do it. Let me just say that Dan liked it - he had no problems.

Remember, we still had our FPs for SM and it was time! When we approached SM, we walked right on with our FPs, but I did note that the stand-by line was 100 minutes! SM felt good in the heat and everyone in our family loves this ride. I rode with Dan, Kerry rode with Joe. Dan and I were in the front and I got soaked - my whole right side!

At this point we decided to head back to BWV. I had yet to receive a call or text with our room number, but it was after 4pm, so our room had to be ready.

As we were walking out we noticed that PotC was only 10 min (unlike earlier in the day when it was 35 min), so of course we had to go on that!

When we arrived back at BWV, I stopped at the front desk to ask for our room number and we were told 4001. I said, "4001, that's the very last room right?" The response, "Yup!"

Room 4001:

We were in a guaranteed boardwalk view and it was a 1 bedroom unit.

The kitchen:

A little dark, but this is the master bedroom, it had it's own balcony:

Here's the living room, I took the picture from the kitchen area - again this is dark, but it didn't help that the curtains were open. The pull out couch is on the right, the TV is on the left:

Here's part of the bathroom. The toilet and shower are in another room that closes off with 2 doors:

We did have a washer & dryer that I basically did wash every other day. They are the apartment size stackable ones. You can't do a big load, but it's nice to have in the room. I hate coming home and having to do laundry. When we got home, I only had 1 small load to do.

Here's the view from the balcony of our room. This shot is of the boardwalk area:

Here's the view of Epcot that we had:

Next up - Off to DTD for our 7pm Ressie at T-Rex, stay tuned.....

 

[carone0318]

Day 1 Part 4:

We decide to head to DTD early since we had a 7:15 ADR at T-Rex. The guys head to Team Mickey and Kerry and I head to Tren-D. Dan purchased a Carolina Panthers baseball cap. Kerry just browsed, but saw many things that she liked. We will definitely be coming back to DTD later in the trip when she will make some purchases.

It was time to go over to T-Rex. It was pretty busy, lots of people right outside.

I go up to the desk and check in, while the rest of the crew go into the shop at T-Rex. After checking in, I was told to go over into the line that is right in the door way. It was a matter of minutes and we were then called for our table.

Once we are seated, we check out the menus, place our order and then we are encouraged to walk around and take picture, so that is exactly what I do.

Here's some pictures from the various rooms that are in T-Rex:

I loved these little wooly mammoths - they were so cute!

Kerry with some kind of cute dinosaur:

For dinner, we just had a small meal because we really weren't that hungry since we just had a huge lunch at CP. I wanted to go here more for the experience than for the food.

The guys have never been to Rainforest Cafe, but Kerry and I were at one in Chicago and both of us agree that T-Rex is definitely better (at least in our opinions!)

As we were heading back to our car we walked by the Lego place and had to stop for this picture:

We have a Basset named Chase (have a Springer named Clyde too) and we couldn't help but think of him when we saw these cuties above!

Hard to believe that with all that we did this first day that we were back in our room around 8pm. It had been a long day and we were ready to settle down to sleep so that we could get up and go, go, go tomorrow!

 

[klacey1]

Wow, you guys certainly pack a lot in! I'm excited to see what you do with a full day!!
I'm curious, what did your family order at T-Rex. DBF and I are also going to be on the DDP, but we have a 7:00 meal there one of our nights. Like you, we're really attracted by the experience, not the food-- but I'm curious what you guys had and if you would reccomend anything in particular!

 

[Dancegrl624]

We sat in front of the wooly mammoths on our trip in January! They were pretty adorable.

 

[carone0318]

Well, since we had a huge lunch like I mentioned, I stressed to the kids that we don't have to get entrees - we can have appetizers or dessert or both. I told them to order what you want, but is in not part of the DDP, so don't feel you have to spend a ton of money!

I decided to go with the quesadillas, this was an appetizer (T-Rexidillas)

Joe went with these Sliders, which were also appetizer but they are not on any of the menus online:

The kids had some kids meals - pizza & pasta.

The food was good, nothing fabulous, but decent to eat. I can't say you have to have any of the stuff we ate, but they weren't bad choices either.

Wow, you guys certainly pack a lot in! I'm excited to see what you do with a full day!!
I'm curious, what did your family order at T-Rex. DBF and I are also going to be on the DDP, but we have a 7:00 meal there one of our nights. Like you, we're really attracted by the experience, not the food-- but I'm curious what you guys had and if you would reccomend anything in particular!