Mike & Missy's Grand Adventure! 9/5/09 DCL Western & WDW TR w/ pics! COMPLETE!

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

I got chills reading about your last hours on the ship. Now - I am so ready for some WDW trip reporting!!!!! Can't wait to hear about it!

 

[podsnel]

Oh....the See Ya Real Soon sign- made me bawl like a baby, too!!
Actually, both boys and I were soooo blue...and DH was like "get over it! It was nice, but it's over!"

ANd then we all yelled at him for not being sad with us for half the ride to WDW! Heartless man!! Well, it's funny now, but that day it was horrible! It does help to be going somewhere afterwards you love, but it's still soooooooooooooooo hard to get off that ship!!

 

[Jennifer48]

With all the planning and anticipation that goes into a DCL cruise, it is just over way too quickly! I'm glad that you are going to WDW though! Leaving the last day ALWAYS makes me cry!

 

[praisehisname]

That last morning is so sad. You got some great pics with your serving team and stateroom hostess! Are you going to do the WDW report as part of this one, or can you link us there?

 

[Timon]

It's always sad to get off of that gorgeous ship! Even harder when you've had an excellent week!!

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us Missy! Can't wait to hear about WDW!

 

[UGAFan0829]

So sad that the cruise has come to an end but at least there was WDW to look forward to!

I'm glad that we had WDW to look forward to as well. Otherwise, I don't think I could have dealt with leaving the ship!! LOL!

I got chills reading about your last hours on the ship. Now - I am so ready for some WDW trip reporting!!!!! Can't wait to hear about it!

I knew you would be most excited about the WDW portion!! I'm glad that you enjoyed reading about the cruise though!

Oh....the See Ya Real Soon sign- made me bawl like a baby, too!!
Actually, both boys and I were soooo blue...and DH was like "get over it! It was nice, but it's over!"

ANd then we all yelled at him for not being sad with us for half the ride to WDW! Heartless man!! Well, it's funny now, but that day it was horrible! It does help to be going somewhere afterwards you love, but it's still soooooooooooooooo hard to get off that ship!!

I don't blame ya, I would have yelled at him, too! Mike was just as sad as me to be leaving the ship, but he doesn't show his emotions quite like I do, which is probably a good thing!

With all the planning and anticipation that goes into a DCL cruise, it is just over way too quickly! I'm glad that you are going to WDW though! Leaving the last day ALWAYS makes me cry!

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who cries!!

That last morning is so sad. You got some great pics with your serving team and stateroom hostess! Are you going to do the WDW report as part of this one, or can you link us there?

I thought the pics with the servers were some of the best of the trip. As sad as it was, really enjoyed that morning, and I was so glad that we decided to go instead of getting off early.

I'm getting ready to start my next part of the report, which will be posted right here!!

It's always sad to get off of that gorgeous ship! Even harder when you've had an excellent week!!

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us Missy! Can't wait to hear about WDW!

Thanks for reading along, Cass! I'm getting ready to start my next installment now, so hopefully that will be posted soon!

 

[UGAFan0829]

The Adventure Continues…Checking-in at the BoardWalk, and touring the World!​

The drive to Disney from Port Canaveral was wet, but uneventful, which was a good thing. About 30 minutes or so after we left the hotel, it had started raining on us. From the looks of the skies, it was going to be somewhat of a gloomy day. But those dark skies didn’t dampen our moods…We were headed to Disney World! And what was even more exciting is that we were about to make our first stay as DVC members! Woohoo!

We arrived in Disney around 10 a.m. and headed straight for the BoardWalk. It was still raining, but I managed to get a couple quick shots to document our arrival!

Even though I had printed directions from MapQuest, and we had our GPS, we somehow ended up getting turned around. Since we’d never been through the entrance of the BoardWalk before, we didn’t know where to turn. So, we ended up passing the entrance and going under the water bridge around to the Beach Club. We eventually figured out where we were going and made it to the BoardWalk parking lot. As Mike always says, we weren’t lost, just sightseeing!!! Because we were so early, I knew that our room wasn’t ready, but I just couldn’t wait to get inside the resort and see things for myself. So we parked the car, and headed inside. As soon as we entered the lobby, my excitement level was kicked up a bit. It was so beautiful! I was so excited to check-in that I left the camera in the car, so I didn’t get any pics then, but I did make up for it later in the week. Thankfully, there was no line for check-in, so we were called right up. A sweet gentleman from Japan helped us, and though his English was a little broken, he was as nice as could be. Since our room wasn’t ready, he gave us all our other info, and then told me that we would receive a text message as soon as the room was ready.

It was still somewhat early, and since my plans for the day were just to tour World Showcase, we decided to head back out to try and find a grocery store for later when we needed to pick up some things to eat for the rest of the week. We used the GPS and easily found a Publix. We decided that since we didn’t actually need anything right then, that we would come back later in the week. So, we headed back to the resort, this time actually knowing where we were going! We parked the car, and then got out everything that we’d need for our afternoon in the park. We didn’t have anything planned for the day until dinner in the evening, so we had plenty of time to enjoy our afternoon.

Within just a couple minutes we were on the path from the resort to the International Gateway at Epcot. It was a nice walk even though it was still raining on and off. Before we knew it, we were headed into our first park!

Since breakfast had come pretty early that morning, we were starting to get a little hungry and we already knew just what we wanted to eat. On our trip in 2007, we’d discovered the Cantina de San Angel, and loved it. The churros there were so good that we knew we eat there again when we returned. So guess where we were headed-to Mexico for another yummy lunch!!

The only downside to this restaurant is that all the seating is outside. And since it had been raining all of the seats were wet. No big deal though…we just grabbed a bunch of napkins and wiped our table and seats down. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time our food was ready. I’m not 100%sure, but I think Mike had theBurrito while I went with what we had the last time-the Cantina Nachos. And of course we both had a churro for dessert.

As we sat, I snapped a couple shots of some lizards who were playing on the rocks right at the water’s edge.

The food was just as good as we remembered, and we were happy with our choice!

Since we were already at the Mexican pavilion, we decided that we would start our trek around WS here.

So, with our bellies full, we decided a nice little boat ride on the Gran Fiesta tour would be a great way to start it off. There was no line, so we literally walked right on! Gotta love that-first ride of the trip is a walk on!!!

After Mexico, we wandered on our way over to another favorite ride of ours-Maelstrom! Check out the stand-by line time!!

Once again, there was hardly any wait! This is one of our favorite rides, and once again it didn’t disappoint! Once we were off the ride, we wandered just a bit, and I discovered the “exciting” part of Maelstrom. I don’t know why we’d never noticed this before! It doesn’t take much to amaze me!!

After visting Norway, we were making our way on around the world when we came upon Snow White! She was standing there all alone, so I thought I’d stop for a quick pic! She was a cute Snow White, but she didn’t have a lot to say.

With our visit with Snow White done, we were once again on our way. One of the things that I had planned to try and do while in the WS was to see as many characters as possible. As I checked my times guide, I realized that Belle was making an appearance in France, so we headed there next. I snapped a couple shots along the way…

When we arrived to see Belle, I was excited to see the Beast out with her as well. I’d never seen him before, so this was a first!

And right across from Belle and the Beast was Aurora! Aurora was really sweet. She asked me if Mike was my Prince, and of course I told her yes. She was really in character, and talking to her was a lot of fun!

After leaving France, we headed towards England to see my favorite pals-Pooh and his gang!! They are my all time favorite, so I HAD to see them! As we went inside we were again surprised when we met Alice and Mary Poppins! We’d never seen Mary before, so once again, another first!!

They were both very cute…telling me to stand straight and asking me about the Mickey on my shirt. They were a lot of fun as well, and I LOVED hearing Mary’s accent. She was wonderful!! I was so glad that we had gotten there when we did, as we were one of the last to see them-they were actually on their way out! So next of course, we hopped in line for Pooh! We ended up waiting for a few minutes as they had to take a quick break, but it wasn’t very long. And I didn’t mind since I was so excited about seeing them again. I so wish that Pooh and the gang were on the cruise, but they're not! Once they came back from break, we were second in line and I was so excited! Something about seeing them really brings out the kid in me!! They were so much fun even though Tigger stepped on my toe and broke a nail!!

We said our goodbyes to our favorite friends and then wandered for a bit more. And while we were in England, we decided to make use of the phones and call home! LOL!

Next up was the beautiful country on Canada! I really want to visit the real thing one day! First thing we did was head to the O’ Canada show. I love, love, love this show. Seeing it in Circle Vision is so neat. There are such beautiful scenes in this movie, and the song at the end (I believe that it’s their national anthem, but I could be wrong) is absolutely beautiful! And to boot, Martin Short is pretty funny himself!! Every time we see the movie, it only makes me want to visit Canada more and more!

With our tour of Canada coming to an end, we had pretty much made our way around WS. We’d burned several hours, and since we had a 6:45 ADR for the Wave, we decided that it was time to head back to the resort in hopes that our room would soon be ready!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hey Missy! Great start to the WDW part of the trip. I love that you realized your goal and got all those character photos.

The song in the Canada film is not our national anthem but it is very pretty. The song is sung by one of our "Canadian Idols". Here's our actual national anthem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwDvF0NtgdU

Just for fun here is the Eva Avila song from the Epcot movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHgdXLQNKPc

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

Oh my - I am in more familiar surroundings now that you are at WDW!!!! I know this part is going to be exciting too! I am so happy for ya'll getting this dream vacation for your 10th anniversary!

 

[Timon]

Wow, you hit the jackpot with the characters!!! Great pics!!!

I'm probably in the minority but I much prefer the original music from Oh Canada Circlevision movie. It's always been one of my faves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AABg...CEEEA457A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

Missy, if you saw that little video clip of Rob cuddling Kira and dancing on our Epcot Day from my trippie, it was taken during Oh Canada and just before I started to record, Kira and I were singing together. Even though it was her first time seeing the movie, we listen to the original song on my computer all the time

I just love rainy days at Disney!!

 

[Jennifer48]

So many character visits in such a short time! How great!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hey Missy! Great start to the WDW part of the trip. I love that you realized your goal and got all those character photos.

The song in the Canada film is not our national anthem but it is very pretty. The song is sung by one of our "Canadian Idols". Here's our actual national anthem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwDvF0NtgdU

Just for fun here is the Eva Avila song from the Epcot movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHgdXLQNKPc

Thanks for correcting me on that, Lessa. I figured that I would probably be wrong after I posted that. And thanks for the links as well. I just love the song from the movie-it's just so beautiful!!!

Oh my - I am in more familiar surroundings now that you are at WDW!!!! I know this part is going to be exciting too! I am so happy for ya'll getting this dream vacation for your 10th anniversary!

I figured you would be happy when I made it to this part, Kim!

Wow, you hit the jackpot with the characters!!! Great pics!!!

I'm probably in the minority but I much prefer the original music from Oh Canada Circlevision movie. It's always been one of my faves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AABg...CEEEA457A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

Missy, if you saw that little video clip of Rob cuddling Kira and dancing on our Epcot Day from my trippie, it was taken during Oh Canada and just before I started to record, Kira and I were singing together. Even though it was her first time seeing the movie, we listen to the original song on my computer all the time

I just love rainy days at Disney!!

We did luck out on the characters! I was just stoked to have seen Pooh! I don't guess I ever heard the original version of the music from the film. Our first trip was in 2006, so that would have been the first year that we saw it.

I did see the clip of Rob and Kira, and it was precious. I love how you and her listen to all the different Disney music-that is so cool!

So many character visits in such a short time! How great!

It was pretty awesome. Thing cool thing is that I wasn't even expecting to see Snow White, Aurora, Alice or Mary Poppins!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Because I had forgotten to upload my PhotoPass pics, I didn't get to post any in my last installment, so I figured I would post a couple of them here.

Aurora and I during our conversation about Mike being my Prince:

Tigger and I...

Pooh and I:

And lastly, Eeyore and I:

This last one is one of my favorite from the whole trip. There's just something so sweet about this picture:

 

[UGAFan0829]

When I last left off, we had just finished our tour around World Showcase, and were headed back to the resort. It was now 3:15, and I still hadn't received the text that our room was ready. To say that I was getting anxious was definitely an understatement!

The walk from Epcot back to the BoardWalk was so nice! I loved being able to take our time and take in the scenery. I snapped these shots as we made our way...
The Beach Club across the way:

I think this was either on the end of a bench or a trashcan, but I had to take a pic of it:

As we were walking along, my phone went off...FINALLY! Woo-hoo...We received the message that our room was ready, and that we'd be in # 3076!

Since our car was parked in the main lot with all our luggage still packed in it, we decided to pull it around the to front to make unloading the luggage a little easier. We were just going to use one of the luggage carts and haul it up ourselves, but we were told that Bell Services would have to do that for us. It's definitely not something that we are used to, especially since this was our 1st stay in a "Deluxe", so we let them take care of us. And while we had the car there, we went ahead and let valet take care of parking it for us. This was especially nice since the parking lot was a little further away.

With our car and luggage being taken care of, we finally headed up to check out our room for the next 5 nights! We took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, then took a right down the long hall. Our room was about midways down the hall, which wasn't bad at all. Here's what we found as we entered our room and checked it out...(Warning...lots of pictures ahead)...

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Very nice! What a beautiful room.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Continuting to the outside-
This was our view looking straight. I'd say we definitely got a pool view:

Looking left:

And right:

And the balcony itself:

Just a few minutes after we'd arrived and finished taking pics, Bell Services called to say they were brining our luggage up. They were there right away, and unloaded everything for us right at the front door. This was a big help, especially since we had so much stuff! The gentleman was very nice, we tipped him, and he was on his way.

By this time we had a little while before our 6:45 ADR at the Wave, so we rested up a little and got settled in. I had brought my laptop along, so I logged on and checked out a couple things. Before long, we freshened up, and decided that it was time to leave for the Contemporary.

We figured that it would be easiest for us to take a bus to the MK, and then walk to the Contemporary, which ended up working out just fine for us. We arrived at 6:30, and checked-in right away. They gave us a pager so we waited outside on the cool looking furniture near the elevators. I snapped this shot of the outside while we waited:

It was a really cool looking restaurant, and I was really excited about eating there!
We'd only been waiting for about 5 minutes when our buzzer went off. AS we walked in, we were lead down a hall that was really cool:

At the end of the hall was this wall that was also really pretty...

We were lead to our table, and I was immediately impressed with the decor of the restaurant. Though it looked a bit more upscale, it was really pretty.
Our server came within a few minutes and we let her know that we were on the dining plan. She gave us the menus, but it ended up taking us a little while to decide on our meals. To be honest, there wasn't much on the menu that really appealed to me. I guess this was partly my fault for not researching the menu before I made the reservation, but I had instead based our decision to eat here off the great reviews that I read. Our server ended up coming back to the table a couple of times to see if we were ready before we were able to make up our minds, and she seemed a little annoyed by this. Eventually, we made up our minds and ordered. Once we'd told her what we wanted, she finally brought us some pretty yummy bread:

As we waited for our food, I snapped a couple more shots...

The atmosphere here reminded me a lot of the California Grill.
After what seemed like an eternity, our food finally arrived. I think I went with the Grilled Beef Tenderloin:

While Mike had the Cinnamon-Rubbed Grill Pork Tenderloin:

For dessert, there wasn't a thing on the menu that I wanted, so I chose the Make Your Own SUndae off the kids menu:

And Mike had the Creamy Indulgence:

As soon as dessert was over, we were ready to go. I have to admit that this was definitely a disappointing meal. While the decor of the restaurant was beautiful, the food just didn't measure up. I'm glad that we went, but both Mike and I agreed that it's definitely not somewhere that we want to try again anytime soon!

With the two thumbs down meal over, we decided to take the monorail to the T&TC to catch and bus back to the resort. Little did we know, and I swear that this has changed since the last time we were there in '07, but there are no buses at the T&TC. Once we figured this out, we walked back to the MK and caught a bus from there.

As we pulled back into the resort, I managed to get a pic of the entrance all lit up:

I love that the bus stop is so close to the front of the resort! After we exited the bus, I wanted to get a couple more night shots before we headed up for the night.
I'm betting that this is one of the most photographed spots at the BoardWalk:

And of course, I had to get a pic of the beautiful light inside the lobby:

As we made our way back to the room, I noticed the Mickey's in the carpet...

Before long, we had made it back to our room. We had planned to try and make it to the pool before the slide closed, but it was already 8:30, and the slide closes at 8. I was a little disppointed since the pool was one of the main reasons we wanted to stay here, but I knew we still had 4 more nights to try it out!!

We lounged around the room and unpacked most of our things before we finally hit the hay for our first night in the World! The next day was our Animal Kingdom day, and I really wanted to make it to park opening, so it was no time before we were Disney dreaming in that huge king bed!

 

[Mickey's Goofy Gal]

I have fallen in love with The Boardwalk!!!!! Sorry dinner was not as good as you thought it would be, but hopefully that was the worse part of the trip and it is over with! Enjoying your trip report as always!!!!

 

[Jennifer48]

That room is gorgeous! I love that bathtub!!

 

[praisehisname]

Yum! We love it there!

You really got your wish and saw lots of characters around WS!

I love the Boardwalk; so pretty!

I think I went with the Grilled Beef Tenderloin:

I've never been intrigued by their menu, either. But that does look kind of good.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Very nice! What a beautiful room.

I was very happy with our decision to stay at BWV, and really glad that we chose a 1BR-however, I think we may have spoiled ourselves for future trips. We've got a Studio reserved for SSR in March, and I know I'm going to miss that big shower!!

I have fallen in love with The Boardwalk!!!!! Sorry dinner was not as good as you thought it would be, but hopefully that was the worse part of the trip and it is over with! Enjoying your trip report as always!!!!

I fell in love with it as well, Kim! The atmosphere there was just so much fun. The whole resort was everything we imagined it to be and more. The sad part is that there were some things that we didn't even get to see, or do, so I guess we'll just have to stay there again sometime!

That room is gorgeous! I love that bathtub!!

Yes, that bathtub was awesome-though we never got to use it!

Yum! We love it there!



You really got your wish and saw lots of characters around WS!




I love the Boardwalk; so pretty!




I've never been intrigued by their menu, either. But that does look kind of good.

We love the Cantina de San Angel as well. It's definitely our favorite CS in Epcot!

I think that had I looked at the menu for the Wave before I made the ADR, we probably wouldn't have went. I just wasn't impressed at all. The food did look good, but honestly, that was the worse steak I have ever had!!