Live from BWV 2 weeks 8/20 to 9/4

[BigEeyore]

Thanks for the updates! I am so excited about light crowds at MK - this gives me hope! Plane should be landing in just over 12 hours...yay!

 

[kato0627]

Great report! We just left WDW last night at 9pm and I feel like we have been gone forever. So glad you are having a good time. Just very jealous you are there for 2 weeks, enjoy!!!

 

[ParrotBill]

WDW is waiting for you Eeyore, and sorry you had to return to reality Kato!

So I just got to watch my 4th (and certainly last) shuttle launch.

Went to the bridge from BW to Yacht Club near the Dolphin with my PC and Sprint card running so I could chat in DIS chat and monitor NASA TV.

A great orange plume rose right near the Eiffel Tower as we looked toward EPCOT. It turned into a bright white streak, then we could clearly see the SRB separation. Then as a bright white dot we actually saw it start "downward" in the sky as it neared orbit following the curve of the Earth away from us! Amazing. We got to see it for nearly 5 minutes before it faded from sight about 20 degrees above the Beach Club roof.

Quite a good crowd gathered, and we could hear cheers from all around the EPCOT resorts as it launched. Even the Friendship boat got into the act, going on loundspeaker, the captain sang "Rocket Man!"

What a party. I grew up on the Apollo program and as an adult followed every shuttle launch. With only a few shuttle launches left, I can only hope the next program really happens and my daughter will see a new age of space exploration.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Glad you are enjoying your stay. Sounds like the renovation is coming along nicely.

I haven't made it to BWV since April, so I am getting my Boardwalk fix by adding a few of the old Villa room pieces (Lamps, Wall Art etc..) to my house from Own The Magic.com. The art from the studio's looks great on the wall, so now I can have my own piece of the Boardwalk 365 days a year!

 

[ParrotBill]

...I am getting my Boardwalk fix by adding a few of the old Villa room pieces (Lamps, Wall Art etc..) to my house from Own The Magic.com...QUOTE]


Wow, that's, ummm, super smart!

 

[ParrotBill]

Today was a good food day.

We spent a the morning at AK, got several rides in with FP and without as lines stayed at 5 minutes for a lot of things until mid morning.

Yeti update: back to dark, still, and strobe light only.

Lunch was at Flame Tree BBQ... then a Lion King show, and back to the room and pool.

Then we picked up a rental car and did a little off property shopping (don't tell Mickey) and went to AK Lodge and Boma for dinner. stuffed myself silly. Best meal of the trip so far. I love all the exotic flavors and recipes!
Sad to see so many kids, and even some adults, eating the chicken nuggets and mac&cheese there.

It was quite hot at AK (foliage=humidity) but my frozen water bottle lasted until after lunch and we loaded our wal-mart spray fan with ice water several times.

 

[thesupersmartguy]

Yep! And it's so great to have a bit of "Home" here I also got the Mickey lamp, you know, the one that was beside the couch. It has little Mickey heads around the shade. Hope you have a super rest of your trip! Keep us updated on the events.

...I am getting my Boardwalk fix by adding a few of the old Villa room pieces (Lamps, Wall Art etc..) to my house from Own The Magic.com...QUOTE]


Wow, that's, ummm, super smart!

 

[bellazachmom]

LOVING your report!!

Can't wait to hear more ......

 

[ccigliano]

Glad you are enjoying your stay. Sounds like the renovation is coming along nicely.

I haven't made it to BWV since April, so I am getting my Boardwalk fix by adding a few of the old Villa room pieces (Lamps, Wall Art etc..) to my house from Own The Magic.com. The art from the studio's looks great on the wall, so now I can have my own piece of the Boardwalk 365 days a year!

I bought two armoires from WL when then did they remodeled a couple of years ago. Wish I had gotten some more stuff though. Now I'll just wait for the VWL to get remodeled as I really love their armoires, end tables and wall sconces.

 

[dizney4us]

Then we picked up a rental car and did a little off property shopping (don't tell Mickey)

QUOTE]

How does it work...renting a car when your already at Disney? Is it pricey? How long did you keep it? Thinking about this for our November trip, but thought we had to rent one for the entire week. Thanks

 

[jekjones1558]

If you plan your rental ahead you can sometimes get a good deal, even on just one day. There are various car rental agencies on or near WDW property, but BWV and BCV are particularly convenient because Alamo and National have a rental desk at the Dolphin hotel, just a 5 minute walk over the bridge.

 

[dizney4us]

That's great, thank you!!

 

[ParrotBill]

Car rental rates are AWFUL the last few months. What we are doing is rental from Dollar where we found $35 a day (without insurances.)

Dollar is located in the Regal Sun, a short walk across the street from the Toy Store at DTD. They also have a courtesy van which will pick you up with advance arrangements or sometimes on short notice if they are in the area. We have a cheap little car but it works. I noted all the scratches and dings I could find on the rental contract and I am relying on my own car insurnance which is a real pain if something happens, but the insurances double the cost.

Alamo and National both were renting no better than $60 a day, and I checked every week since March! Airport rentals much worse.

Since we are here for 2 weeks, we really wanted to shop ourselves and go to the beach one day (tomorrow!)

 

[ParrotBill]

Yikes! only 4 days left!

Today we went to the MK for opening time. We've been leaving our room about 8:20 and not making it.. so we left 8:10 and caught a bus at the bus stop.. and it went straight to the MK instead of stopping at S&D so we were at the MK at 8:30 of course!

We rode Buzz 3 times got new tips on high scoring targets, so I got my score over 500,000... sweet. Also did Astro Orbiter with no wait and Speedway with no wait.

We went to Monsters Inc to see a friend of ours who is a performer... she took us in and told us where to sit... and when she came on she said she wanted to talk to some kids and the spotlight went on our daughter... very fun! Our friend voices 2 characters when she is there... one of the two heads on the 2-headed monster and the little one by itself. If she uses the joke that she knows the capital of all the world's countries... that's her!

Then it was 11am, when you expect the crowds to be building... but NO crowds! Went to see the fairies. Maybe that is no wait too? No such luck. 45 minutes. So we bite the bullet and get in line. I cannot figure out why this takes so long. They do take a half a minute to talk to each girl or family... but we were through there in 1.5 minutes so I cannot figure out how 10 families in front of me took 20 minutes. Since you queue through the 3 fairies there should be another kid going in every 30-60 seconds.

Had a way overpriced lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus and not enough food.

After that got through Snow White, Splash, BTMRR, Pirates and Haunted Mansion, then took the WDW RR around to the front and got a bus back to our room.. arriving by 3pm. Crazy!

Met with some relatives for dinner at Earl of Sandwich and had 3x the food and 10x the quality for the same price as lunch!

Updated our grocery shopping for the last days we are here. Then headed to HS for the 10pm Fantasmic!

Kind of an obnoxious setup to wait in line with no airflow for 40 minutes before the 10pm show. Finally they let us in and with 10 minutes to show there is not enough time to get drinks and food.

We have not seen the show for 2 years, but it was still very good. I can't tell how many cuts they've made to the show, it all still seemed to be the same as 2 years ago.

We caught the very last boat back to the EPCOT resorts, leaving the HS dock at 11pm. There were a lot of people at the resorts still wanting to use the boat but were turned away.

All in all a great day. Tomorrow is a break from Disney - going to the gulf beach at Honeymoon State Park. May or may not also go to Caladesi (by boat from Honeymoon - adds $26 to the day for the ferry ride.) May just stay at Honeymoon.

 

[Snoopygirl]

Sounds like a great day!!

So....what are the tips to high-scoring on Buzz??? Do tell!

 

[ParrotBill]

Hmmmmm, ok of course I will.

Many people already know about Zurg's medallion - in two rooms where Zurg appears, his chest medallion "Z" is big points.

In the first room with the big orange robot, I was told that his left hand is bonus points but I have not found it.

As you leave that room, turn back toward it for the angle on the robot's claw over your head - that's a great bonus.

The targets that open packages - hit targets inside them when they open

The volcano on the back wall


I easily hit over 500K points on my next run through, and hoping to to hit the top categeroy in the next few days.

 

[ParrotBill]

Got a start a little late this morning and got to Honeymoon Island State Park about 11:00am.

t's a little less than a 2 hour drive, although traffic through downtown Tampa can be an issue at times. Have printed maps with you and if the traffic signs say there are delays take an alternate route.

We did not choose to take the ferry and go to Caladesi Island (would be $26 for 3 of us) .. instead we went to 2 of the beach areas at Honeymoon.

The main beach area, next to "Cafe Honeymoon" is calm, and sandy. There is a sandbar about 100 feet out where you are only waist deep again. It was not too hot and we brought lunch and frozen water bottles to enjoy.

Then we drove to the farther beach area. This has a slight swell and small wave break (nothing close to an Atlantic beach) and the shore and water has more coral and shell so water shoes are advisable in this area. We went there so our daughter could shell. I was looking in areas not frequented so much for shells, moved some dried palm fronds on the ground and found a snake! Moved away quickly as the area does have rattlesnakes.

Each area has rest rooms, changing rooms, and outdoor showers for rinsing.

$8 admission for the car. Great beach, well worth the trip.

On the way back we stopped at a Sonny's Barbeque. They like to thing my home area (Rochester NY) is big on barbeque, but this southern chain is yummy, yummy, yummy.

Returned the renteal car, and now we are hunkered down under very violent thunderstorms.

Early night so maybe we can do EPCOT EMH tomorrow.

 

[ParrotBill]

Spent most of the day at EPCOT starting with early EMH. Crowds remain super low! The initial crowd drove Soarin' standby up to 30 minutes, but it dropped back to 10 minutes by 9am just before park opening.

Test track was walk on most of the morning as was Mission Space both Green and Orange. One of my crowd measurers is the wait time for Maelstrom. At 11:30am, it said 10 minutes.. but it was walk on!

We had lunch a second time for this trip at Biergarten, with another liter of Doppel Boch beer for me. Yum.

After lunch we had a run through China and American Adventure and back to the room for pool time.. which was short lived due to thunder.

I decided that with 2 hours left in the day at HS I would see how much ride time I could get on ToT and RnRC. The skies opened up and it rained, and rained, and rained... I got soaked but rode ToT 4 times and RnRC twice all in one hour. I even had a ToT elevator all to myself one ride, and so I have to buy the ride photo!

The streets of HS were 4" deep in water as the park closed. crazy!
I took the walkway back to BWV... lots of drainage problem areas. The doors to the community hall were sandbagged with piles of pooltowels against the rain runoff.

Back in the room found the maid had put everything in the dishwasher, including my starbucks plastic cold cups (partly melted), my insulated plastic drink mug (seems OK but NOT dishwasher safe), and the coffee pot.

Now, the coffee pot lid had a strange melted area all the time we've been here but it worked. Now, I took the coffee pot out and found the lid in the way bottom - sitting on the heating element and completely melted.

So I had to call to get the whole coffee maker replaced. They did want to know exactly what happened and be sure it was the maid who did it.

So rain has returned and kept us in again... we made it to Fantasmic but Wishes may not happen this trip due to storms nearly every night!

 

[Sandy321]

Thanks for posting your trip report!

poor Yeti! (thanks for that report tho!)

I'll have to figure out the Monster Inc Laugh Floor - altho DD probably would rather melt into the background! I do appreciate your tips!

Great Buzz Tips! Have you ever visited this site?
http://www.badshoe.com/BuzzLightyearSpin.htm It has great pictures of Buzz ride to help go along with the tips!

I'm glad I'm not the only one that is put off by Pinocchio's Village Haus - I do think it is conveniently located... extremely small pizzas!

and I wish they would help us fans of Fantasmic out a bit more!! Gruesome schedule - extreme crowds! I think we'll have to skip it - congrats on making that last boat out - and again, I appreciate you reporting 11pm last boat out!

walking back in the rain - sounds like a real flood was going on!!

For the rest of your trip!

 

[ParrotBill]

Hi everyone we are back home so let me finish out the last 2 days.

Wednesday
We started early at the MK. Did a couple of rides and then daughter wanted to go on Splash... we reluctantly went... and just as we launched the skies opened up and we got drenched, as in soaked to the bone. Rats.

Went back to the room to dry and warm up. The bus A/C is super cold when you are a wet rag!

Went out to AK about 3 since it was late EMH. Tried to ask a CM what food would be open late and they tried their best to help us... but later we found out there is a special times guide available once EMH starts... doh.

Got through a lot of rides but wait for Everest was still long... and then a lady gives us 4 fastpasses she can't use!

Ate at the counter server at Yak n Yeti. Pretty good but needs more vegetable food options.... everything is porked up.

Saw the last Lion King show of the day... love that show!

Thursday
One more try at the Magic Kingdom, with much better weather this time. Went on many rides with no wait all morning! Even when the standby sign said 10 or 15 minutes it was often walk on!

We stopped at the Pirate's League to take a few pictures of Julia holding her medallion in front of the entrance.. Everytime I tried to snap a pictures numerous pirates would rush up behind and pose with her.. Very funny.

Saw Molly who did Julia's transformation last week and she remembered her and her pirate name... very impressive!

Got some dole whip and then headed out to catch the monorail to EPCOT.

At EPCOT our main target was Test Track - but we could see it was down as we glided by on the monorail... and still down on the tip board... and walked over to get Fastpasses and now it was back up. So we Fastpassed it for return 40 minutes later and killed some time shopping, and in the cool zone getting free drinks.

Then it was lunch at fish & chips in UK and back to the room for a break.

Started packing and cleaning out the fridge....

Went to Artist Point for a big dinner on our last night. Bad experience with bus to MK... waited 30 minutes and a big crowd boarded... then another at the Dolphin and we had another sardine can trip to the MK. We had this happen several times on the MK buses.

Dinner was awesome as always... I had scallops and my wife had duck... we asked then to bring back the pork chop, that's my wife's favorite.

But the restaurant was empty... and all I could get was a 7:20pm ADR? What is going on? I asked our server how this could be. He got a knowing look and said it's the new Dining Reservation system. It picks a SINGLE time somewhat RANDOMLY within one hour before to one hour after your requested time. Then it does the same showing you a time at other similar and nearby restaurants.

I said "<expletive deleted>" I just want know what times are open here at this restaurant like I asked! He said we should definitely complain, and, we should call the restaurant directly to make reservations (during hours they are open.)

How do you like them apples? I sure don't.

Fought our way into the MK to watch wishes... amazing amounts of people leaving at 9:10pm and we thought we'd missed it but turns out there was a Spectromagic parade (I think added at short notice)... hoped this meant a low crowd for Wishes but nope... very crowded. Thought we found a section of people that would stay sitting down but no such luck, several people jumped to their feet when it started, which of course made it so those who wanted to sit or who are short could not see well.
But we still enjoyed the show and made it to the bus in time to sit down for the long trip back.

Friday
Packing, a last dip in the pool, got our checked luggage paid for and check in at the lobby.... and our magic express bus was at 9:50am. The trip home was uneventful.

Fantastic trip overall, long but worth it so we could take it slow given the heat and frequent thunderstorms.