Just Back from WDW-BCV May 3-8

[Disney Doll]

Had a great time overall. We actually arrived in WDW on May 1st, but stayed at the Wildenress Lodge(hotel, not villas) for the first 2 nights. Had a little delay getting out of Hartford CT airport, as Delta had a computer glitch, so we arrived late Saturday night.

Sunday spent time at the MK and the pool...a glorious day!

Monday moved to the BCV. Made a mistake here, as we were renting a 1BR for 2 nights, then increasing to a 2BR for the last 3 nights so BIL and SIL could join us. Was hoping to just expand into the 2BR, but we didn't get over to BCV until late in the day, so that was not to be. Rainy Monday, so we went to AK and saw MILLIONS of animals!!!!They must like rain better than people!

Tuesday was Blizzard Beach day--got a burn but had a ball! Off to the MK that night for Spectro/Wishes....the only night Spectro was on that week, so the MK was crowded!!!

Wednesday was Epcot-the Flower and Garden festival is in full bloom

Thursday Epcot again-love IllumiNations!


Friday was MGM-great as usual

Saturday-a little MK, a little Epcot then home

Of course, this was interspersed with swimming, dining, Adventurers Clubbing, and shopping.

All in all, a great trip! Rooms were great, got a few welcome homes, a couple of welcome backs, and invitation to a free breakfast at the BC from the hotel manager...very nice...continental breakfast and conversation with CMs from the hotel. The pools were great, and the weather, other than the one rainy day, was absilutely perfect. In the 80's during the day, little or no humidity. Probably the best weather we've ever had.

 

[kathleena]

Glad you had a great time!

I had been wondering how many times the room switch would work vs wouldn't work and I guess you are one of them. Would you try it again?

And what was the occasion for the breakfast? How did you get the invite - i.e. bump into the mgr in the hall, ramdon selection at check in etc. Sounds like it was Beach Club overal vs DVC and the villas?

And happy to her the AK finally has their millionth animal. I've been there in the rain and in the cold and they do love to be out more during those times. Very different park in cooler weather.

 

[mckryan]

Sounds like a great trip! I'm hoping to see more animals on our next visit, but unless it rains we probably won't.

 

[Disney Doll]

Well, WDW makes it as easy as possible to do the room switch, but it's still a bit of a pain. The problem was, we were at the WL(not the villas) the 1st 2 nights, switched to the 1BR at BCV for 2 nights, and then had to move again to the BCV 2BR for the last 3 nights. Moving twice in one trip was kind of a pain. I have had several trips where we moved once, usually from a regular hotel to a DVC property, which isn't a huge problem. Moving villa to villa is a little more of a pain, because of the food. You have to pack that up too and move it. Again, Bell Services was great and made the moves as easy as possible, but it was still a bit of a pain...not vacation ruining, mind you, but maybe slightly . My only point is to warn others that if you need to increase the size of your villa during your trip, check in early. What we did was check out of WL and go to a park and fiddle around all day, so we didn't check in until 5PM at BCV. The girl at the desk told us if we had gotten there earlier in the day, they may have been able to arrange the room to give us a 1BR attached to a lock-off studio, so that when we needed the 2BR, we could have just sort of "expanded" into the lock-off studio part. Live and learn, right?

As far as the breakfast, when we got back to our room one afternoon there was a letter on the table inviting us to go. As I said, it was a nice continental style breakfast(coffee,juice,danish) which was held at the Martha's Vineyard Lounge(with spillover into Ariel's). Some of the hotel's management staff were there, very nice to talk to. My guess is that because DH and I are "frequent flyers" at WDW (this was our 4th trip since July 2004), it was a way to say a little "thank you"...very nice. I do think it was BC overall, because there were some folks there staying in the hotel as opposed to the villas.

OK...so I exaggerated a little with a million animals , but we did see alot. I agree that most of them seem to like the cooler weather better. The gorillas in the Pangani Forest Trail are the only ones who seemd to not love the rainier weather...they all huddled under the rock outcropppings, looking at the sky waiting for it to stop....they are more human-like that we think!!!!!!!!!!

 

[erikthewise]

Originally posted by Disney Doll
My guess is that because DH and I are "frequent flyers" at WDW (this was our 4th trip since July 2004), it was a way to say a little "thank you"...very nice. I do think it was BC overall, because there were some folks there staying in the hotel as opposed to the villas.

WOW! You really DO go often!
(Sorry couldn't resist)

 

[Disney Doll]

Actually, even that is a little more often than we normally go...it's just how it happened to work out this year. Usually we are there twice a year.

But who am I to say no if I get the chance to go more, right?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Thanx for the report... I'm happy to see you had a good trip!

MG

 

[tinkgrl]

Hi,

Thanks for the report! Glad you had a good time!!

Allison an associate

 

[lenshanem]

FAB! Glad you had such nice weather!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Originally posted by Disney Doll
[COLOR=
As far as the breakfast, when we got back to our room one afternoon there was a letter on the table inviting us to go. As I said, it was a nice continental style breakfast(coffee,juice,danish) which was held at the Martha's Vineyard Lounge(with spillover into Ariel's). Some of the hotel's management staff were there, very nice to talk to. My guess is that because DH and I are "frequent flyers" at WDW (this was our 4th trip since July 2004), it was a way to say a little "thank you"...very nice. I do think it was BC overall, because there were some folks there staying in the hotel as opposed to the villas.

[/COLOR]

Hey Disney doll... We were there the same time you were. We also got the invite but we overslept. As soon as we remembered about it, we were really bummed!

Wasn't the weather just wonderful! I wish we could clone it for every trip. Sounds like you guys had a blast.

 

[TwingleMum]

Great report. Its nice to hear positive reports about the DVC resorts.

PS. I think you meant July 2003 not July 2004. I think thats what Erik was teasing you about.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Thanks for the report! Nice to hear the weather was enjoyable as we will be there in less than 48 hours!!

 

[Disney Doll]

Really, the weather was spectacular. As I said, one day of showers...nothing terrible...and perfection the rest of the time.

Erik, you tease!!!!! I didn't realize I made a typo!!!!!

The BCV room was in good shape...a couple of spots on the couch, but nothing to lose sleep about. And, as I said, several welcome homes, welcome backs...a variety of greetings. I just LOVE to be there!

 

[MJTinNH]

Thanks for the report! Sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[skelooch]

Hi DisneyDoll,
It's your neighbor from the North End remember, Glad you had a good time I was there at the same time May1-7, and was also at AK on monday in the rain but had a great time anyway. I agree that the weather was spectacular for the rest of the week. Did MK on tuesday and it was unusually crowed probably because of the rain on monday, when we did MGM we were able to walk right on to almost everything, 15 min wait was the longest. Spent a lot of time at SAB.
We were in 1BR-420 great location for Illuminations and right next to elevators, it happened to be a lockoff like you wanted.
Now I have to wait till Thanksgiving week for my next WDW fix.
But today I did book my first of 4 trips for 2005, a solo trip in March, so that did cheer me up a little.
I'm sure we must of passed somewhere during the week.
Thanks for your report and again I'm glad you had a good time we sure did.

Skelooch

 

[Disney Doll]

I was in 1BR 108 and then 2BR 248. We were practically neighbors at WDW, just like we are here at home!!!!!

I enjoyed it to no end. Our next currently planned trip is in January 2005, but there is "talk" of DH having to go to a conference in Orlando in November...nothing definite yet, and also don't know if it will be in WDW or in Orlando itself...maybe at the Orlando Conference Center, which would put me outside of WDW I may have to tack on a couple of days at WDW to "recover".