We just returned late last night from our yearly 2 week summer trek to WDW. I posted while there about the crowds, lack of characters, some of our meals, Vero and BWV, so here goes our trip report. Despite the fact that we have been members for 6 years now, we are still working out what works best for our young family of 2 adults and 2 kids - ages 7 and just turned 3 on July 4th! We drive, so we had our own car as well:
Resorts
SSR - Stayed 4 nights in a studio to conserve points for Vero at end of trip. We were in Paddock, and liked it very much. As has been habit with SSR our last few trips, our villa was ready @ 9:00 am! Loved that as we spent a night at Regal Sun Resort (didn't care for it at all). We got settled, and were @ MK by 10:30 am! Villa was spotless, check in was a breeze, pool was great, and Artist's Pallette was tasty! Great stay!
BWV - Stayed 5 nights, in 2 separate rooms in 1 bedrooms. We were on a waitlist for the 1st night standard view, and since it didn't come through, we booked Preferred, which we had to switch to Pool view. This meant we had 2 rooms at BWV. Here is my thread about the issues we had at BWV: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2504302 I really love BWV, but find it's not as spotless as SSR, and check-in is not the greatest. We do love the proximity to Epcot though, love watching fireworks from our balcony, and love the Boardwalk entertainers! Kids love Magician Antoine as he pulls cards out of his mouth! Had a good stay, but because of 2 rooms, we didn't feel settled at all. Not Disney's fault though. All in all, a pretty good stay.
Vero - Stayed 2 nights. Hubby and kids loved it so much, he wants to do an add-on to go every other year, but instead of the Inn Room that we booked, we will upgrade to a 1 bedroom. Here is a short report I put on the Vero Beach thread the other day - Post 817:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2344361&page=55 Enjoyed our time here, but learned a lot about how the resort operates, unfortunately, through trial and error. Would have liked to have known the kids' area and slide close early, didn't know about not needing beach towels, no Express checkout (didn't receive final bill), and a few other things. We wish we had more time here, but we were anxious to get home, as we were exhausted, and had a long drive ahead of us!
Resort Summary - We have decided no more cash rooms for 1st night and no more studios for us. We want to be able to get settled right into our room on the first night, so we'll arrive in time to check in by 4:00 pm. In regards to studios, we are used to an almost 4,000 sq foot home, so crowding into studios, and not having laundry and kitchen is not working out for us. We also used to love doing split stays, but we are finding this to be problematic as well, as Disney doesn't seem to be getting rooms ready until 4:00 anymore, so getting settled and getting groceries put away is problematic. We have decided to stay at 1 resort next year, and are looking greatly forward to settling in on day 1! Point reallocations have cost us 33 points though, and so we are looking at going in August next year to conserve a few points in the next season. Since I'm a teacher, I can only travel in the summer.
Parks - I created a thread on our 2nd day because the crowds were very low. We were walking on rides/attractions the entire 11 days we were @ WDW! Much different than what we are used to in July. Parks were neat, people were well behaved, traffic flowed ok and most CMs were helpful. Too much construction in MK though, and this seemed to cause a wee bit of confusion for first timers. The big thing we noticed though (I also started a thread about this as well), is that there was an absence of characters in all parks. My DD who just turned 7, noticed right away. We went to secret and hidden areas, and no characters. Not only that, characters were only out for very short periods of time too, and were taking very long breaks. This is surely cost-cutting, as the weather was very much cooler than normal July weather. We weren't impressed with the lack of characters, and it caused some frustration for the kids, as each and every time we walked up to a line, they were telling us it was closing and characters were going on break. After 10x of this in a few short days, we decided to just rely on our character meals, and that worked out better. We did get character autographs in the parks, but not as many as usual.
Restaurants - Had some great meals! Went to lots of character meals, even though we had to pay surcharge as we use TIW card. Character meals are worth if for us, as we have small children, and so it's great to not have to wait in massive lines for autographs. Restaurants were not as busy as normal, and were taking walk-ups too! We had some great meals, but our best were Kona Cafe, T-Rex and Tokyo Dining. Over the 2 weeks @ WDW and Vero, we ate at 17 TS restaurants, and a few CS meals, but we also cooked in our villa for lunch/dinner as well! This was new for us, as we are used to eating breakfast only. We enjoyed the break from dining out, and have plans to eat more in our villa next year!
After so many DVC trips under our belts, we still managed to find some new experiences - DD was chosen as Baker of the Day at Mainstreet Confectionary, and she loved decorating her own Mickey Head Krispie treat! This was awesome! We also took the kids into some older attractions in Epcot that they hadn't seen in awhile (baby had never been to Universe of Energy or Figment), and they also had fun. Captain EO was a mistake, as we forgot just how scary this could be for kids, so they closed their eyes, and hugged us tightly!
Crowds were low, weather was much cooler than normal for most of trip, parks were lots of fun, and DVC resorts were great! Spoke to many CMs, many of them at our DVC resorts, or at the DVC sales desks in the parks, and they all agreed that crowds were very low for this time of year. This was great for us, as our March trip (stayed @ SSR) was the most insane busy we have ever seen WDW!!!
If anyone has questions let me know, and I'll do my best to answer. All in all, we had a good trip! Tiger
Resorts
SSR - Stayed 4 nights in a studio to conserve points for Vero at end of trip. We were in Paddock, and liked it very much. As has been habit with SSR our last few trips, our villa was ready @ 9:00 am! Loved that as we spent a night at Regal Sun Resort (didn't care for it at all). We got settled, and were @ MK by 10:30 am! Villa was spotless, check in was a breeze, pool was great, and Artist's Pallette was tasty! Great stay!
BWV - Stayed 5 nights, in 2 separate rooms in 1 bedrooms. We were on a waitlist for the 1st night standard view, and since it didn't come through, we booked Preferred, which we had to switch to Pool view. This meant we had 2 rooms at BWV. Here is my thread about the issues we had at BWV: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2504302 I really love BWV, but find it's not as spotless as SSR, and check-in is not the greatest. We do love the proximity to Epcot though, love watching fireworks from our balcony, and love the Boardwalk entertainers! Kids love Magician Antoine as he pulls cards out of his mouth! Had a good stay, but because of 2 rooms, we didn't feel settled at all. Not Disney's fault though. All in all, a pretty good stay.
Vero - Stayed 2 nights. Hubby and kids loved it so much, he wants to do an add-on to go every other year, but instead of the Inn Room that we booked, we will upgrade to a 1 bedroom. Here is a short report I put on the Vero Beach thread the other day - Post 817:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2344361&page=55 Enjoyed our time here, but learned a lot about how the resort operates, unfortunately, through trial and error. Would have liked to have known the kids' area and slide close early, didn't know about not needing beach towels, no Express checkout (didn't receive final bill), and a few other things. We wish we had more time here, but we were anxious to get home, as we were exhausted, and had a long drive ahead of us!
Resort Summary - We have decided no more cash rooms for 1st night and no more studios for us. We want to be able to get settled right into our room on the first night, so we'll arrive in time to check in by 4:00 pm. In regards to studios, we are used to an almost 4,000 sq foot home, so crowding into studios, and not having laundry and kitchen is not working out for us. We also used to love doing split stays, but we are finding this to be problematic as well, as Disney doesn't seem to be getting rooms ready until 4:00 anymore, so getting settled and getting groceries put away is problematic. We have decided to stay at 1 resort next year, and are looking greatly forward to settling in on day 1! Point reallocations have cost us 33 points though, and so we are looking at going in August next year to conserve a few points in the next season. Since I'm a teacher, I can only travel in the summer.
Parks - I created a thread on our 2nd day because the crowds were very low. We were walking on rides/attractions the entire 11 days we were @ WDW! Much different than what we are used to in July. Parks were neat, people were well behaved, traffic flowed ok and most CMs were helpful. Too much construction in MK though, and this seemed to cause a wee bit of confusion for first timers. The big thing we noticed though (I also started a thread about this as well), is that there was an absence of characters in all parks. My DD who just turned 7, noticed right away. We went to secret and hidden areas, and no characters. Not only that, characters were only out for very short periods of time too, and were taking very long breaks. This is surely cost-cutting, as the weather was very much cooler than normal July weather. We weren't impressed with the lack of characters, and it caused some frustration for the kids, as each and every time we walked up to a line, they were telling us it was closing and characters were going on break. After 10x of this in a few short days, we decided to just rely on our character meals, and that worked out better. We did get character autographs in the parks, but not as many as usual.
Restaurants - Had some great meals! Went to lots of character meals, even though we had to pay surcharge as we use TIW card. Character meals are worth if for us, as we have small children, and so it's great to not have to wait in massive lines for autographs. Restaurants were not as busy as normal, and were taking walk-ups too! We had some great meals, but our best were Kona Cafe, T-Rex and Tokyo Dining. Over the 2 weeks @ WDW and Vero, we ate at 17 TS restaurants, and a few CS meals, but we also cooked in our villa for lunch/dinner as well! This was new for us, as we are used to eating breakfast only. We enjoyed the break from dining out, and have plans to eat more in our villa next year!
After so many DVC trips under our belts, we still managed to find some new experiences - DD was chosen as Baker of the Day at Mainstreet Confectionary, and she loved decorating her own Mickey Head Krispie treat! This was awesome! We also took the kids into some older attractions in Epcot that they hadn't seen in awhile (baby had never been to Universe of Energy or Figment), and they also had fun. Captain EO was a mistake, as we forgot just how scary this could be for kids, so they closed their eyes, and hugged us tightly!
Crowds were low, weather was much cooler than normal for most of trip, parks were lots of fun, and DVC resorts were great! Spoke to many CMs, many of them at our DVC resorts, or at the DVC sales desks in the parks, and they all agreed that crowds were very low for this time of year. This was great for us, as our March trip (stayed @ SSR) was the most insane busy we have ever seen WDW!!!
If anyone has questions let me know, and I'll do my best to answer. All in all, we had a good trip! Tiger
