Saturday, 2/7. After breakfast at Boma we packed, checked out of AKV and drove to BWV, our home resort, arriving around 10:30. Al, one of the bellmen recognized us and came over and welcomed us back. That was a nice little touch. Our room was not ready (didn't expect it to be), so we headed off to Epcot. It was a nice change walking over, as we used the car to go everywhere from AKV. We picked up Fastpasses for Soarin', saw Circle of Life, and Living with the Land, then had lunch at the Season's Food Court and by then our fastpass time was here. It was about 2 p.m. so we decided to call BWV and we were happy to hear that our room was ready so we headed back. On the way in, we were dropping off our luggage claim check when Al came out of the back and we asked if he could bring up the luggage. We were in room #4077, 1 BR standard view, overlooking the main portico nicely blocked by trees with a nice view of the water by the bridge to the parking lot, and just five doors from the elevator, the closest we've ever been. How convenient! The room was in good condition, but I missed the beautiful granite of the AKV. A couple of things we didn't notice right away about the room: The drape in the bedroom was not wide enough to cover the window, so light poured in early every a.m. Also, the balcony was very small, only 1 chair and a small table, and only accessed from the living area. Also the sun was usually so bright that you really couldn't enjoy it in the a.m. We unpacked and decided to just chill before dinner at Narcoossee's, where we used up our last four Table Service credits left over from AKV. We haven't always gotten the best service there, but the food is always great. This evening the food and service were outstanding. You could even get the lobster (DH) or the Surf and Turf (me), a real splurge. (DH was not happy about paying the $10 valet fee. He said he's never paying it again.) After dinner we went to see Wishes and it was as magical as ever. I always get so choked up when I hear all the music because it invokes such precious memories of all the times we watched Disney movies with the kids when they were small. I have to make a concerted effort to hold back the tears every single time, because if I don't, I'd be blubbering like the babies I'm remembering.
Sunday the 8th, we had to call to make our ressies for BLT. It took about thirty minutes and endless redialing to get through. We were able to get a 1 BR, MK view for the first three nights of our December trip. Very exciting! We then got a late start to DHS, but picked up a fastpass for Toy Story to see what all the excitement is about. Oh my goodness, it's my new favorite in all of the parks. What absolute fun! Wait times were bad all day, but everything else seemed pretty light. DH grabbed lunch at Starring Rolls and then brought it by me. I got a small pizza at Catalina Eddie's. We don't find the lunches anywhere to be so great, but they are filling. That evening because we did pretty much everything we wanted to do at MK, we decided to change dinner from the Grand Floridian Cafe. We couldn't get our first two choices, so we settled for Spoodles. It was not my favorite but DH said the lamb was the best he's had on property, and he really likes the lamb at Marrakesh. One error on my part was I forgot we were no longer on the Deluxe DDP, just basic, and we ordered appetizers. That was a $20 lesson learned, but at least we got 20% off with the DDE card. We watched Illuminations from the bridge, and then called it a night.
This morning, 2/9, we got up bright and early and walked to DHS. We got there at about 8:45 and they held us at Hollywood and Vine. At rope drop we, along with almost every other person there, made a beeline for Toy Story. The fastpass line was huge. Our fast pass time was 10:50. The park was only open for five minutes. Unbelievable! We got on the standby line, played, then toured the park and came back to use our fastpasses. Wait time was 60 minutes and return fastpass time was hours away. Wow, so popular. We had an early lunch, splitting a pizza at Catalina Eddie's because dinner was at 4:00. It was about 11:20 and it must have taken 20 minutes to get served, extremely slow, considering the limited menu. I always schedule two Fantasmic dinners, in case of cancellation due to weather, plus I think it's a good value because you get the appetizer, and I never mind seeing it twice, so we had dinner at Brown Derby. It was very enjoyable and the service was excellent. Because we missed Spectro on Sat., we decided to skip Fantasmic. We took the bus to TTC, then the monorail, and we were in the MK by 6:10. The place was packed! On the unofficial guide, today was supposed to be a 5. I can't imagine a 10. There were no good spots available for watching, so we hopped on the People Mover then waited by the Plaza restaurant for Spectro to start. After the last float, we got out of there. We didn't even stay for Wishes because I didn't think we'd ever catch a bus. It was a zoo!
DHS once again on 2/10. We went to the first show of Indiana Jones, a slight mishap, no fire or big explosion when Indy and Marian escape from the plane. Also this same day, there was no fire for the motorcycle guy at the 1:20 showing of Lights Motors, Action. That was real odd since he was dressed in the suit and all, but they still showed a "previously filmed" clip of someone catching on fire. I think they always show us the same clip. It's never really the guy we actually see, is it? Before the show, we had lunch at Backlot Express. The grilled turkey sandwich is huge, plenty big enough to share. After the show we saw a few more things and as we were walking by the AI experience to leave at 3:55, there were castmembers inviting us in. I had read some negative comments about it, but we were pleasantly surprised. We got front row seats, the theater was only about half-filled. The three singers were very good, the judges were okay, and the whole thing moved at a brisk pace. The winner we voted for got to come back later in the evening to compete against the other winners of the day, and the grand prize was a Golden Fastpass to the front of the audition line at a real American Idol audition city. Pretty cool! We then took the boat to Epcot to make our dinner ressie at Chef's de France. We had good food and wonderful service and after dinner the platform right on the water that usually is roped off for private affairs was open for a spectacular viewing of Illuminations. We haven't seen it from there in years!
Today, 2/11, back to Epcot for a full day of touring. We started off with bagels from the BW Bakery, not a bad line at 7:15. Got right in at 9:00 and headed to Soarin', fastpass first, then into the standby line. We took in a lot of the shows today, something we never had time for when we only came every two years. We had a nice Fish and Chips lunch in the U.K., toured the countries then had dinner at Le Cellier. They turned away walk-ins. Dinner was excellent, then we headed back to the hotel because it had been a very long day with no break at all.
Thursday, our last full day. Once again we walked to DHS. We were very early, arriving at 8:30. Unexpectedly, they let us into the park at 8:45. The entire street up to the Hat was blocked off for The American Idol Experience Grand Opening Celebration. The entire left side of the street was closed to pedestrians because that was all set up for the press, with tents all over. We were told there was going to be a 22-car motorcade of American Idol stars, past and present, and the judges at 4:30. Also, they were closing the park at 6:00. My schedule that I printed awhile back said 9:00. I can't even imagine what a zoo it must have been during the parade. Anyway, they routed us to Sunset Blvd. through the gate by Oscar's, and everyone made a dash for Toy Story. Our fastpass had a return time of 9:40, so we went in the standby line twice. Because there were no fastpass cut-ins that early, we were able to ride it three times by 10 a.m. Sweet! We then left and what a mess trying to leave. As I said, only one sidewalk was open and because it was only around 10:20, most people were still coming in. It was like swimming against the tide trying to get out. I'd love to hear from someone who was there for the parade. I don't know how you'd even be able to see anything, there was such limited viewing space. As luck would have it, the boat to Epcot was just pulling up. We hopped on and were in Epcot by 10:55. World Showcase was just opening and we had a pleasant lunch at the Cantina in Mexico, though I brought mine over from Norway since I don't like Mexican food. Everything we wanted to do and see there was accomplished. An early (4:30) dinner at Teppan Edo completed our trip. The appetizers there now leave a lot to be desired, but the entrees were great. Since they no longer offer the filet/shrimp combo, we get each one and just split them. Dessert there is not really to our liking, so we skipped it and went back to the hotel early to pack and watch Survivor. Nine full days is a long time! We were pretty tired!
Overall it was a great trip! Nine days might be a little long, but if the weather was warmer we would have taken pool breaks. This time it wasn't warm enough to us, although plenty of people were in the pool, even in the hot tub at AKL in 38 degrees. If you can get to a park by opening, it is so worth it. The dining plan gives you plenty to eat and I don't think you would save any money by going to dinners offsite, plus you would lose a lot of time doing that. DH wasn't so keen on getting the DDP since we have a car, so I wrote down the cost of every meal and we came out at least a few dollars ahead every day, sometimes even more. Although it's no longer the bargain it used to be, you don't lose money if you make your ADR's in advance. (When I was getting the bagels, the couple ahead of me wanted to use 2 table service credits for breakfast. They said they were told they could. The girl behind the counter said the computer could not take them and suggested they go to Spoodles. They said they had a plane to catch, the girl said there was nothing she could do, and they walked away with nothing. I'm sure they lost money on the dining plan.) One thing I did forget to mention was I forgot to pack cereal. $6.93 for a 9 oz. box of rice crispies on site. Ow!
To sum it all up, the fact that DH survived his cancer/chemo ordeal and we were able to go after having to cancel in December made this trip even more magical than usual... and getting those extra BLT points was just icing on the cake!
Any questions? Take care and stay healthy!
Sunday the 8th, we had to call to make our ressies for BLT. It took about thirty minutes and endless redialing to get through. We were able to get a 1 BR, MK view for the first three nights of our December trip. Very exciting! We then got a late start to DHS, but picked up a fastpass for Toy Story to see what all the excitement is about. Oh my goodness, it's my new favorite in all of the parks. What absolute fun! Wait times were bad all day, but everything else seemed pretty light. DH grabbed lunch at Starring Rolls and then brought it by me. I got a small pizza at Catalina Eddie's. We don't find the lunches anywhere to be so great, but they are filling. That evening because we did pretty much everything we wanted to do at MK, we decided to change dinner from the Grand Floridian Cafe. We couldn't get our first two choices, so we settled for Spoodles. It was not my favorite but DH said the lamb was the best he's had on property, and he really likes the lamb at Marrakesh. One error on my part was I forgot we were no longer on the Deluxe DDP, just basic, and we ordered appetizers. That was a $20 lesson learned, but at least we got 20% off with the DDE card. We watched Illuminations from the bridge, and then called it a night.
This morning, 2/9, we got up bright and early and walked to DHS. We got there at about 8:45 and they held us at Hollywood and Vine. At rope drop we, along with almost every other person there, made a beeline for Toy Story. The fastpass line was huge. Our fast pass time was 10:50. The park was only open for five minutes. Unbelievable! We got on the standby line, played, then toured the park and came back to use our fastpasses. Wait time was 60 minutes and return fastpass time was hours away. Wow, so popular. We had an early lunch, splitting a pizza at Catalina Eddie's because dinner was at 4:00. It was about 11:20 and it must have taken 20 minutes to get served, extremely slow, considering the limited menu. I always schedule two Fantasmic dinners, in case of cancellation due to weather, plus I think it's a good value because you get the appetizer, and I never mind seeing it twice, so we had dinner at Brown Derby. It was very enjoyable and the service was excellent. Because we missed Spectro on Sat., we decided to skip Fantasmic. We took the bus to TTC, then the monorail, and we were in the MK by 6:10. The place was packed! On the unofficial guide, today was supposed to be a 5. I can't imagine a 10. There were no good spots available for watching, so we hopped on the People Mover then waited by the Plaza restaurant for Spectro to start. After the last float, we got out of there. We didn't even stay for Wishes because I didn't think we'd ever catch a bus. It was a zoo!
DHS once again on 2/10. We went to the first show of Indiana Jones, a slight mishap, no fire or big explosion when Indy and Marian escape from the plane. Also this same day, there was no fire for the motorcycle guy at the 1:20 showing of Lights Motors, Action. That was real odd since he was dressed in the suit and all, but they still showed a "previously filmed" clip of someone catching on fire. I think they always show us the same clip. It's never really the guy we actually see, is it? Before the show, we had lunch at Backlot Express. The grilled turkey sandwich is huge, plenty big enough to share. After the show we saw a few more things and as we were walking by the AI experience to leave at 3:55, there were castmembers inviting us in. I had read some negative comments about it, but we were pleasantly surprised. We got front row seats, the theater was only about half-filled. The three singers were very good, the judges were okay, and the whole thing moved at a brisk pace. The winner we voted for got to come back later in the evening to compete against the other winners of the day, and the grand prize was a Golden Fastpass to the front of the audition line at a real American Idol audition city. Pretty cool! We then took the boat to Epcot to make our dinner ressie at Chef's de France. We had good food and wonderful service and after dinner the platform right on the water that usually is roped off for private affairs was open for a spectacular viewing of Illuminations. We haven't seen it from there in years!
Today, 2/11, back to Epcot for a full day of touring. We started off with bagels from the BW Bakery, not a bad line at 7:15. Got right in at 9:00 and headed to Soarin', fastpass first, then into the standby line. We took in a lot of the shows today, something we never had time for when we only came every two years. We had a nice Fish and Chips lunch in the U.K., toured the countries then had dinner at Le Cellier. They turned away walk-ins. Dinner was excellent, then we headed back to the hotel because it had been a very long day with no break at all.
Thursday, our last full day. Once again we walked to DHS. We were very early, arriving at 8:30. Unexpectedly, they let us into the park at 8:45. The entire street up to the Hat was blocked off for The American Idol Experience Grand Opening Celebration. The entire left side of the street was closed to pedestrians because that was all set up for the press, with tents all over. We were told there was going to be a 22-car motorcade of American Idol stars, past and present, and the judges at 4:30. Also, they were closing the park at 6:00. My schedule that I printed awhile back said 9:00. I can't even imagine what a zoo it must have been during the parade. Anyway, they routed us to Sunset Blvd. through the gate by Oscar's, and everyone made a dash for Toy Story. Our fastpass had a return time of 9:40, so we went in the standby line twice. Because there were no fastpass cut-ins that early, we were able to ride it three times by 10 a.m. Sweet! We then left and what a mess trying to leave. As I said, only one sidewalk was open and because it was only around 10:20, most people were still coming in. It was like swimming against the tide trying to get out. I'd love to hear from someone who was there for the parade. I don't know how you'd even be able to see anything, there was such limited viewing space. As luck would have it, the boat to Epcot was just pulling up. We hopped on and were in Epcot by 10:55. World Showcase was just opening and we had a pleasant lunch at the Cantina in Mexico, though I brought mine over from Norway since I don't like Mexican food. Everything we wanted to do and see there was accomplished. An early (4:30) dinner at Teppan Edo completed our trip. The appetizers there now leave a lot to be desired, but the entrees were great. Since they no longer offer the filet/shrimp combo, we get each one and just split them. Dessert there is not really to our liking, so we skipped it and went back to the hotel early to pack and watch Survivor. Nine full days is a long time! We were pretty tired!
Overall it was a great trip! Nine days might be a little long, but if the weather was warmer we would have taken pool breaks. This time it wasn't warm enough to us, although plenty of people were in the pool, even in the hot tub at AKL in 38 degrees. If you can get to a park by opening, it is so worth it. The dining plan gives you plenty to eat and I don't think you would save any money by going to dinners offsite, plus you would lose a lot of time doing that. DH wasn't so keen on getting the DDP since we have a car, so I wrote down the cost of every meal and we came out at least a few dollars ahead every day, sometimes even more. Although it's no longer the bargain it used to be, you don't lose money if you make your ADR's in advance. (When I was getting the bagels, the couple ahead of me wanted to use 2 table service credits for breakfast. They said they were told they could. The girl behind the counter said the computer could not take them and suggested they go to Spoodles. They said they had a plane to catch, the girl said there was nothing she could do, and they walked away with nothing. I'm sure they lost money on the dining plan.) One thing I did forget to mention was I forgot to pack cereal. $6.93 for a 9 oz. box of rice crispies on site. Ow!
To sum it all up, the fact that DH survived his cancer/chemo ordeal and we were able to go after having to cancel in December made this trip even more magical than usual... and getting those extra BLT points was just icing on the cake!
Any questions? Take care and stay healthy!
(though I was a bit slow) - as will be every trip (and every day
) from now on - certainly puts your life in perspective, doesn't it?!! BTW - Wishes always makes me cry - my kids think I'm nuts - but I know that someday they'll be the ones standing there mopping their eyes
