Just back from the Boadwalk Villas...

[MikeyNS]

Hi all..

We just got back from a week at the World.. stayed in a studio villa @ the Boardwalk. I really love the atmosphere at the Boardwalk, but doubt we'll stay there again.. there are looonnnggg walks to your room if you get a bad one, no real "cafeteria" type place to eat (we really liked WL,SSR where you can walk up and refill your mug, grab a pastry and leave. Not so much at the BW!).

We were able to get direct flights from Halifax to Orlando. Quite the time saver *WE THOUGHT*. Took us 2 hours from the time we landed until we got into our rental car (National's Quick Rent is AWESOME.. just walk to your car, drive off. Slick!). Customs wasn't bad, but then they screen you again as you leave customs to enter the terminal.. plus it took 45 minutes from then to get our bags. Funny how getting back into Canada is slick.

Crowds weren't bad at all. Quite similar to the ones we had only a few months ago when we were down in Oct/04.
We only went to the parks for 4 days (had 6 day MYW tickets), but went golfing and shopping a few days. Went to the Magic Kingdom Thursday night (or was it Wednesday.. hmmm) for EMH and the lines were worse than they were during the day. Kinda cool to walk through the park in the dark, but some of the rides at about 8-8:30 still had a 60 minute wait. OUCH!

Weather was great; low to mid 70's all week. A little cool on Friday but that allowed us to get used to the Nova Scotia air. hehehe.

Next trip will be in October of 06 *sigh*.. baby coming this summer so we thought it would be better to take him/her down after at least 1 year! I must say that buying into DVC was one of the best decisions of our lives.. if you ever do think about going to WDW a lot, seriously consider it!

 

[hockey mom]

Thanks for the review on the BWV. We thought about asking to stay there but went with SSR and are on the waitlist for BCV(for the pool)

 

[MikeyNS]

It was funny how much work was going on at SAB.. the slide was closed and a lot of the pool was drained.. I think it should be up by March Break tho.. I was quite jealous walking around SAB for the first time! Sand! Ohhhhh!

 

[mbb]

..... I must say that buying into DVC was one of the best decisions of our lives.. if you ever do think about going to WDW a lot, seriously consider it!

What he said!!

Glad you had a great trip! I was hoping we'd run into some other Dis'ers, but our lime green was - and still is - in my luggage - which is somewhere in North America!!LOL!

 

[mom_rules]

You had to go through customs screening twice in Orlando? Is this something new (I just can't remember doing this in Oct)?

 

[MikeyNS]

You had to go through customs screening twice in Orlando? Is this something new (I just can't remember doing this in Oct)?

Ooops.. should have clarified. Customs and then another security screening to get into the terminal.. funny how they think you can get on a plane after being screened, off the plane and have something new in your pocket they may need to see before you enter a public terminal. I thought it was a wee bit silly since it's never happened to me in my travels to Europe or Asia before. Paranoia maybe? hehe

 

[mom_rules]

Do you mean having your bag xrayed and going through a metal detector again?

 

[MikeyNS]

Do you mean having your bag xrayed and going through a metal detector again?

Yip.. shoes off too!

 

[mom_rules]

Oh well-I guess it is a sign of the times....at least we'll be ready for it.

 

[mbb]

You had to go through customs screening twice in Orlando? Is this something new (I just can't remember doing this in Oct)?

They flew out of Halifax...no pre-clearing Customs from there, yet. Apparently, it's supposed to start sometime this year

If you fly form YYZ, or any other airport that has preclearance, you don't have to go through Customs in MCO

HTH!

 

[mom_rules]

OIC-that's why I can't remember this happening last Oct (I thought I was just getting old

 

[maryliz]

Yip.. shoes off too!

This is kind of funny, because we flew into MCO in January, and did not go through any screening after we got off the plane. Coming home, we did have to take off our shoes going through security. But a friend of mine just got back last week, and was telling me how it took her almost 2 hours before she left the airport when they first landed because they had to go through security AGAIN. I thought maybe she was just confusing her arrival with her departure ... ya know, maybe she had just a little too much pixie dust in the World that week I agree with MikeyNS ... what could you possibly have that you didn't have when you got in the plane in your originating city?

I'll bet this is really messing up the timing of the transportation shuttles trying to pick up their reserved customers.

Mary-Liz

 

[MikeyNS]

This is kind of funny, because we flew into MCO in January, and did not go through any screening after we got off the plane. Coming home, we did have to take off our shoes going through security. But a friend of mine just got back last week, and was telling me how it took her almost 2 hours before she left the airport when they first landed because they had to go through security AGAIN. I thought maybe she was just confusing her arrival with her departure ... ya know, maybe she had just a little too much pixie dust in the World that week I agree with MikeyNS ... what could you possibly have that you didn't have when you got in the plane in your originating city?

I'll bet this is really messing up the timing of the transportation shuttles trying to pick up their reserved customers.

Mary-Liz

It must have to do with the route you take.. coming through Toronto where you go through Customs there, you just walk off the plane into the terminal. We went direct from Halifax, cleared customs in Orlando, then did the secondary screening.. maybe that's it...?

 

[mariethecat]

We took a direct flight from Halifax in December and had the same problem. It took 2 hours from the time we landed until we got our luggage for the second time. We had booked Florida Tours and since we were so late we didn't get our 30 minute grocery stop. I was really disappointed as I had planned to stock up on water and snacks. I was wondering if this was normal for everyone coming from Canada but I guess not.I still preferred the direct flight though.

 

[mom_rules]

Mods, don't know if I can post the MCO webpage with the security info-please delete if it shouldn't be here.

Here is the information (looks new to me) re: International travellers arriving at MCO:
http://www.orlandoairports.net:/goaa/arrive/arrive.htm

It appears that all have to go through a security screen to get into the main terminal (before you get on the train that takes you to the baggage claim area). I guess the amount of time you spend waiting to go through security will depend on how many flights come in at the same time.

This must really creat chaos for the transportation companies-they know your plane's arrival info but can't say when you will actually make it to baggage claim. It's no wonder that they are changing their policies on the "meet and greet" thing and now have you call once you reach the baggage claim area instead of automatically meeting you at the escalator.