A little background....we bought into DVC in January and have already added on once. I used some of our "extra" points in March for my sister's Bachelorette weekend at SSR, but this was my first DVC points trip with my family.
The Cast of Characters:
Me - totally Disney obsessed - Kristie/38
Bill - my lovely husband (who thankfully likes my Disney obsession - 39
Lindsey - our 9 year old daughter
Nicholas - our 6 year old son
We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise (Freedom of the Seas) from 7/4-7/11 out of Port Canaveral and had a fantastic time. This trip to Disney was an add on to that vacation which we booked when we bought into DVC in January.
We had made the reservation for a studio at BLT/Lake View. I just couldn't use the MK view points and used all of your advice to make my room request. Before we were a moderate resort family and since buying into DVC and reading all the forum info I can, I made a "rule" for us, that when we go for 4 or less days we will stay in a studio and any longer than that a 1 BR...we'll see how that goes
On to the trip!!
Sunday -7/11
We arrived at the Contemporary to check in around 9am and there was no line at all for check in....AND our room was ready. We were assigned room 8432 and we were off to check it out.
I should mention that my husband has been wanting to stay at a monorail resort ever since our honeymoon and I have consistently said NO.....to expensive when moderates were just fine, so he was so excited. Our 6 year old son was just beside himself too....trains, monorails all sorts of Disney transportation thrill him!
We checked out our room and loved it! After our cabin on the cruise the studio was HUGE. DD informed me right away that I would be sleeping on the sofa bed with our DS, which I was cool with, I wanted to check out the comfy level.
OK! The view! Totally blew me away! I'll post pictures soon, but looking straight ahead off the balcony I was looking at the Contemporary/Bay Lake but leaning out the right I could see Splash Mountain (HOW FUN!). I was then delighted to realize that I could see all three other parks on the horizon! I really had not realized I could see those and I was just in an immediate happy place. Wait....since I can see Splash Mountain from my room, I think I should have been in The Laughing Place!
We then headed to Animal Kingdom!
Before going in the park we headed to Will Call to pick up our very first annual passes. I had a Give a Day Get a Day voucher and I didn't have to go into the park and then upgrade my ticket to the annual pass as I had read about, they did the upgrade all in one swoop. We then headed to Guest Services to get our Disney Reward card/load it up, then purchase our TIW card. Business done and we headed into the park...
Every day at Disney is great....but MAN was it HOT!! I mean sweat while standing in place HOT! We were undeterred! We had told the kids that since this is a short trip we wouldn't get to do everything this time, so it took a lot of ride/attraction pressure off of the whole trip. The first thing we did was move up our Yak and Yeti reservation to lunchtime.
For those of you who have not made it to Yak & Yeti yet, I really highly recommend it! Delicious! Of course Bill and I always order the same thing....mmm Steak and Shrimp! It is a yummy skirt steak wrapped around a tower of rice with 3 shrimp tempora....mmm. A few years ago I told my son that if he finished his meal he could squish my rice tower at the end of the meal and it has become the tradition for both kids.
Note: we were on the regular dining plan for this trip. At lunch I started keeping a tally of what our cash spent would have been if we didn't have dining credits, along with extra cash we spent above and beyond the dining plan. I'll report on all those stats at the end.
Off to Expedition Everest! This was Nicholas' first ride and he laughed the whole time, but he claims he didn't like it at all....he did want to ride again from the single rider line....but alas we told him he was too young for that. For the first time we went over to Rafeki's Station on the train....I think its so fun how no matter how many times you go to Disney there is always something more to see!
We cut our day at Animal Kingdom short and headed to the pool at BLT...man was it hot!
As soon as we stepped into the pool at BLT my DVC love grew. I'm not sure if it was in my head or not but as I sat there I realized that everything you all have said about DVC enabling you to stop going commando was true! The whole family LOVED the pool. I have to mention that I really was happy about the beverage refilling station. At the moderate resorts we never found ourselves back at the resort at a time that it was worth the walk over to the main house to fill our mugs....this trip they got quite a work out!
Off to Magic Kingdom!
I wanted to walk...but Nicholas and Bill dictated a trip on the monorail, and off we went! First stop...something to eat. I should mention that we typically have done the deluxe dining plan, so we have always eaten table service for lunches and dinners, so I found I had not done the right amount of prep to figure out which quick services would serve us best. We ate at Cosmic Ray's and it was OK....this was the first time on the trip that Lindsey revolted against the kids menu. She turns 10 in August and even though I think that most all the time the adults menu will be too much for her, she is definitely ready for the variety. At any rate, I have committed to studying the quick service menus before our next trip to make this a little easier to navigate..suggestions would be appreciated!
We went on only a few rides at MK that night and then went back to the room, we were all beat from the cruise, and getting up so early to watch the ship dock....so we wimped out and totally missed the EMH time at MK...bummer..but wait...I'm DVC and no longer need to be going commando..right??
More later.....day 2 was at Epcot and MK!!
The Cast of Characters:
Me - totally Disney obsessed - Kristie/38
Bill - my lovely husband (who thankfully likes my Disney obsession - 39
Lindsey - our 9 year old daughter
Nicholas - our 6 year old son
We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise (Freedom of the Seas) from 7/4-7/11 out of Port Canaveral and had a fantastic time. This trip to Disney was an add on to that vacation which we booked when we bought into DVC in January.
We had made the reservation for a studio at BLT/Lake View. I just couldn't use the MK view points and used all of your advice to make my room request. Before we were a moderate resort family and since buying into DVC and reading all the forum info I can, I made a "rule" for us, that when we go for 4 or less days we will stay in a studio and any longer than that a 1 BR...we'll see how that goes
On to the trip!!
Sunday -7/11
We arrived at the Contemporary to check in around 9am and there was no line at all for check in....AND our room was ready. We were assigned room 8432 and we were off to check it out.
I should mention that my husband has been wanting to stay at a monorail resort ever since our honeymoon and I have consistently said NO.....to expensive when moderates were just fine, so he was so excited. Our 6 year old son was just beside himself too....trains, monorails all sorts of Disney transportation thrill him!
We checked out our room and loved it! After our cabin on the cruise the studio was HUGE. DD informed me right away that I would be sleeping on the sofa bed with our DS, which I was cool with, I wanted to check out the comfy level.
OK! The view! Totally blew me away! I'll post pictures soon, but looking straight ahead off the balcony I was looking at the Contemporary/Bay Lake but leaning out the right I could see Splash Mountain (HOW FUN!). I was then delighted to realize that I could see all three other parks on the horizon! I really had not realized I could see those and I was just in an immediate happy place. Wait....since I can see Splash Mountain from my room, I think I should have been in The Laughing Place!
We then headed to Animal Kingdom!
Before going in the park we headed to Will Call to pick up our very first annual passes. I had a Give a Day Get a Day voucher and I didn't have to go into the park and then upgrade my ticket to the annual pass as I had read about, they did the upgrade all in one swoop. We then headed to Guest Services to get our Disney Reward card/load it up, then purchase our TIW card. Business done and we headed into the park...
Every day at Disney is great....but MAN was it HOT!! I mean sweat while standing in place HOT! We were undeterred! We had told the kids that since this is a short trip we wouldn't get to do everything this time, so it took a lot of ride/attraction pressure off of the whole trip. The first thing we did was move up our Yak and Yeti reservation to lunchtime.
For those of you who have not made it to Yak & Yeti yet, I really highly recommend it! Delicious! Of course Bill and I always order the same thing....mmm Steak and Shrimp! It is a yummy skirt steak wrapped around a tower of rice with 3 shrimp tempora....mmm. A few years ago I told my son that if he finished his meal he could squish my rice tower at the end of the meal and it has become the tradition for both kids.
Note: we were on the regular dining plan for this trip. At lunch I started keeping a tally of what our cash spent would have been if we didn't have dining credits, along with extra cash we spent above and beyond the dining plan. I'll report on all those stats at the end.
Off to Expedition Everest! This was Nicholas' first ride and he laughed the whole time, but he claims he didn't like it at all....he did want to ride again from the single rider line....but alas we told him he was too young for that. For the first time we went over to Rafeki's Station on the train....I think its so fun how no matter how many times you go to Disney there is always something more to see!
We cut our day at Animal Kingdom short and headed to the pool at BLT...man was it hot!
As soon as we stepped into the pool at BLT my DVC love grew. I'm not sure if it was in my head or not but as I sat there I realized that everything you all have said about DVC enabling you to stop going commando was true! The whole family LOVED the pool. I have to mention that I really was happy about the beverage refilling station. At the moderate resorts we never found ourselves back at the resort at a time that it was worth the walk over to the main house to fill our mugs....this trip they got quite a work out!
Off to Magic Kingdom!
I wanted to walk...but Nicholas and Bill dictated a trip on the monorail, and off we went! First stop...something to eat. I should mention that we typically have done the deluxe dining plan, so we have always eaten table service for lunches and dinners, so I found I had not done the right amount of prep to figure out which quick services would serve us best. We ate at Cosmic Ray's and it was OK....this was the first time on the trip that Lindsey revolted against the kids menu. She turns 10 in August and even though I think that most all the time the adults menu will be too much for her, she is definitely ready for the variety. At any rate, I have committed to studying the quick service menus before our next trip to make this a little easier to navigate..suggestions would be appreciated!
We went on only a few rides at MK that night and then went back to the room, we were all beat from the cruise, and getting up so early to watch the ship dock....so we wimped out and totally missed the EMH time at MK...bummer..but wait...I'm DVC and no longer need to be going commando..right??
More later.....day 2 was at Epcot and MK!!
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)
Glad you had a great 1st 
