I finally saw the lights! Our super special anniversary trip! NEW 2/2 pg.18

[MRYPPNS]

Ahhh....I thought maybe something want a bit amiss in Tampa this trip. I'd vote (if I got a vote lol) to skip Tampa in April. Maybe Tim and Jeff could do a brothers golf weekend somewhere another time to make up for it.

 

[mrsksomeday]

Ahhh....I thought maybe something want a bit amiss in Tampa this trip. I'd vote (if I got a vote lol) to skip Tampa in April. Maybe Tim and Jeff could do a brothers golf weekend somewhere another time to make up for it.

I agree with Heidi, if I got a vote I would skip Tampa in April too. Seems like things will be even more hectic then.

Have Tim and Jeff ever golfed together at one of the WDW courses? I can't remember.

The kids look like they were having a great time playing basketball and swimming.

 

[DisMomAmy]

the reveal videos are absolutely adorable!

I am so sorry that didn't work out the way you'd hoped with Jeff and Karen. Very frustrating when you have limited vacation time and are trying to spend it with others that may not have the same kind of time to give. I've been on both sides of it and it's hard all around. I imagine Karen felt terrible about it. As you know, we have many of the same issues when relatives visit us, it is hard in a blended family and I know Jeff's folks never feel like they get enough time with K&T. Couple that with tweens or teens that may not want to hang out with anyone but their friends or hide in their room and text and...it's tough.

The circumstances were what they were and we certainly upset with anyone but it was a bit of a letdown compared to previous trips when we spent more time together. I don't feel like April will be much better with Karen's current school situation.

Sorry you didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as you wanted, but the boys look like they had fun playing basketball and swimming.

The boys loved every minute they had to spend with their cousins, "aunt" and uncle!

Ahhh....I thought maybe something want a bit amiss in Tampa this trip. I'd vote (if I got a vote lol) to skip Tampa in April. Maybe Tim and Jeff could do a brothers golf weekend somewhere another time to make up for it.

You're so funny... but I'll take your vote.

And yes - I'm definitely planning a golf weekend for Tim & Jeff. It sort of comes with me planning my next girls only getaway.

I agree with Heidi, if I got a vote I would skip Tampa in April too. Seems like things will be even more hectic then.

Have Tim and Jeff ever golfed together at one of the WDW courses? I can't remember.

The kids look like they were having a great time playing basketball and swimming.

I'll tally up your vote too Tracy! Tim has never golfed at WDW... something to think about. It's such a pain in the neck to drag along his giant golf club travel bag!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Basketball and the pool -- I know your boys were happy! Sorry to hear you weren't able to spend as much time with Jeff and Karen.

 

[MEK]

The boys look so happy to be playing basketball and swimming and enjoying time with that cute little dog! fun pictures!

Sorry you didn't get to spend much time with DBIL and his GF. I know how the whole NP school thing is. Been there. Done that. She'll be glad when its all over, but I hear ya on the April thing. Maybe just spend some extra time at Disney.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Basketball and the pool -- I know your boys were happy! Sorry to hear you weren't able to spend as much time with Jeff and Karen.

They even got to play catch with Tim & Jeff a couple times! I guess that made up for the time we sat around doing nothing.

The boys look so happy to be playing basketball and swimming and enjoying time with that cute little dog! fun pictures!

Sorry you didn't get to spend much time with DBIL and his GF. I know how the whole NP school thing is. Been there. Done that. She'll be glad when its all over, but I hear ya on the April thing. Maybe just spend some extra time at Disney.

Jake (the little dog) is adorable... he's full grown & only about 4 pounds. He's the only dog Alex isn't afraid of. He used to be scared to death of him. One year they came up to NH for Thanksgiving & showed up with the dog!! We had no idea he was coming along & it wasn't pretty!

The school thing is pretty crazy. I give Karen a lot of credit - it's so much work! Hopefully we'll get a nice visit when she's finished. They are talking about spending all of next summer up in New England!

 

[DisMomAmy]

On Tuesday morning, 11/8, we left Jeff’s house around 8:30, 30 minutes ahead of schedule. After a couple stops for breakfast & DayQuil (I was starting to feel some symptoms of a cold, which luckily didn’t get bad until our last day), we were on our way to Orlando.

We arrived at BWV right around 10:30am. We parked (far away) & all went into the lobby.

I was nervous to check in as we had rented DVC points for the first time. The process had been very smooth but you never know for sure until you check in! I knew our reservation existed because I was able to check it online with the confirmation number and I’d done online check-in but had the DVC owner actually called in our room requests? I was thrilled to find that our room was ready!!! We were assigned room #4115. The CM also had anniversary pins for us when we checked in. So back we went to the car. We pulled up to the front of the building & unloaded all of our stuff. It’s kind of strange, because if you unload right there, they have to send your stuff to bell services, then you go inside & have them bring it out. Kind of a waste of time. Luckily our Garden Grocer order had just arrived as well. So two luggage carts later, I took the boys up to the room while Tim drove over to the Dolphin to return the van to Alamo.

When I finally saw our room I was excited that our requests had been met. I had requested an upper floor across from the bus stop (i.e. facing Epcot) & that’s what we got! Some of the rooms next to ours had big trees in front of their balcony so I was happy with our view. I wasn’t sure how much of Illuminations we’d be able to see yet, but I was happy with the room.

Little did we know that this picture I took on our walk into the lobby would be a picture of our balcony. We are the top floor, red section, middle two connected balconies:

To the left:

To the right:

Continued...

 

[DisMomAmy]

More room pictures:

Some luggage:

For anyone interested, they had free wifi for everyone (not just DVC members) and it worked pretty well:

After we spent a little time getting settled into the room, we headed off to our first park!

 

[DisMomAmy]

More room pictures:

Some luggage:

For anyone interested, they had free wifi for everyone (not just DVC members) and it worked pretty well:

Up next: We head out to our first park!

 

[MEK]

What a great room and I love the location. I am very excited that I decided to take the standard studio and I requested the top floor. I can definitely deal with that view and even though it only saved 7 points, it was just the number I needed to complete my October reservation and not have to borrow.

I bet the boys loved that room and how wonderful to have all that space to spread out.

Do you also own DVC? For some reason I thought you did.

Can't wait to see where you go first. And congrats on the early arrival and ready room!

 

[mousescrapper]

Getting caught up, i sadly didn't watch the reveal videos as our computer is working like a snail and our sound is not funcioning either but I'll come back to it later...I'm sure it was good


sorry the family vvisit wasn't much of a visit w/ them, I like Heidi's suggestion still thinking of visiting the "other" park

So happy everything worked out great w/ the room location and being ready too the pixs look great, lots of space for all of you!!! Can't wait to hear what Tim and the boys thought of staying DVC

 

[JPFamilyMom]

Glad your room was ready And the pictures of your room are great. Can't wait to see what your families thoughts on the room were. Love your view too

Anxious to see which park you visited first

 

[MRYPPNS]

Nice room. Things seems to be going smoothly this morning!!

 

[Native NYer]

The room is beautiful.
Glad you got your requests!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Yeay for an easy check-in and your room being ready! I love it! It's gorgeous and look at all that space!!!

 

[KatMark]

Amy, what a beautiful room and a great view.

We rented points in September and it worked out perfectly for us this time.

 

[MeMom]

I've gotta say, that's a lot nicer than our little Pop rooms! One could get very used to having it so nice.

I loved having a balcony when we stayed at the nice places. It was so nice to go out there in the mornings.

 

[skier_pete]

Joining in...though I have little to say so far except small pangs of jealousy over your beautiful room. Looking forward to more...

 

[DisMomAmy]

What a great room and I love the location. I am very excited that I decided to take the standard studio and I requested the top floor. I can definitely deal with that view and even though it only saved 7 points, it was just the number I needed to complete my October reservation and not have to borrow.

I bet the boys loved that room and how wonderful to have all that space to spread out.

Do you also own DVC? For some reason I thought you did.

Can't wait to see where you go first. And congrats on the early arrival and ready room!

The standard studio is a great deal. We were really happy with the location. At this point, I still wasn't sure how good the view would be of Illuminations.

We don't own DVC... We have considered it, and it's not completely off the table, but I think our kitchen takes priority. It's very outdated & needs help.

We own a timeshare but it's not Disney. We usually stay off property by using that to exchange. That's what we'll be doing in April.

Getting caught up, i sadly didn't watch the reveal videos as our computer is working like a snail and our sound is not funcioning either but I'll come back to it later...I'm sure it was good

sorry the family vvisit wasn't much of a visit w/ them, I like Heidi's suggestion still thinking of visiting the "other" park

So happy everything worked out great w/ the room location and being ready too the pixs look great, lots of space for all of you!!! Can't wait to hear what Tim and the boys thought of staying DVC

I hope you got a chance to watch the reveal video!

For April, it looks like we're going to stay at Universal for the three nights we would have been with Jeff & Karen!! Tim just has to tell Jeff...

We loved staying DVC! The kids are funny... when they tell people about the hotel, they tell them that they loved it but that we won't stay there again. It was just special for mom & dad's anniversary.

Glad your room was ready And the pictures of your room are great. Can't wait to see what your families thoughts on the room were. Love your view too

Anxious to see which park you visited first

I was so happy that our room was ready! I was not expecting that at all!

Nice room. Things seems to be going smoothly this morning!!

The room is beautiful.
Glad you got your requests!

Thanks!!

Yeay for an easy check-in and your room being ready! I love it! It's gorgeous and look at all that space!!!

The whole resort is so nice... I hope you end up staying there!

Amy, what a beautiful room and a great view.

We rented points in September and it worked out perfectly for us this time.

I'm so glad we did it... it worked out really well. I'll definitely rent points again at some point.

I've gotta say, that's a lot nicer than our little Pop rooms! One could get very used to having it so nice.

I loved having a balcony when we stayed at the nice places. It was so nice to go out there in the mornings.

You know, renting points for a studio isn't much more than the price of a value room... just sayin...

Joining in...though I have little to say so far except small pangs of jealousy over your beautiful room. Looking forward to more...

We really enjoyed staying at BWV & our gorgeous view.

 

[DisMomAmy]

After we spent a little time getting settled into the room, we headed off to our first park! DHS!!

We decided to walk since our feet were still fresh. We weren't sure we'd be up for it later in the week.

I was so excited to see the Christmas tree was up:

After a stop at the ticket window & guest relations, we were on our way up Sunset Blvd:

I think we stopped right away for these photopass pictures.

There were lots of festive decorations:

Our first stop was Tower of Terror!! The boys both agreed they wanted to ride it this time around but Alex insisted it be first so he wouldn’t be nervous on other rides. We bought the pictures & I got a digital download so it was on our photopass CD that arrived this week:

After we all survived Tower of Terror (and all claimed to have enjoyed it), we headed to RnRC:

It was getting close to 1:00 so we stopped for some lunch at Rosie’s All American & Fairfax Fair. Alex & I had chicken while Tim & Zach both had hot dogs. They messed up Tim’s drink so he had to go back & get that taken care of, but otherwise lunch was fine. I took a picture of the cup because I thought it was funny to see all of the Christmas decorations & be drinking from Halloween cups:

Up next was Star Tours:

The ride was a lot of fun & Tim didn’t get motion sick!