Oh, Just A Few GALLONS of Pixie Dust! - A July/August 2012 TR

[happy2012]

Wow that is a fantastic upgrade!!! What a beautiful EVERYTHING!!!! You got it ALL girl!!!

 

[marDgreen88]

Um, amazing! I can not believe you got upgraded to that amazing room! I imagine your family must have been quite worried that their daughter would not wake up from her Disney pixie dust-induced coma, and that she would miss the whole trip that was ahead of her! Can't wait to hear all about this trip! I loved your last TR, it was one of the first TRs that I read so it holds a special place in my heart

First of all, WELCOME! I'm so glad to have you along for the TR!!!

Secondly... I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER! It is such a dream come true. HAHA you're probably right! Thankfully I woke up very quickly.

And lastly, AWWW! That just completely made my day. So sweet, thank you so much!

I love that you are so appreciative of such a gift. Everyone can't have this room and this view, of course, and I am glad they gave it to someone who was truly grateful for it.

Now, hopefully it didn't spoil you for all the other 'common' rooms they will try to give you in the future.

Aww, thank you! I really am so thankful for it, it was perfect!

Hahaha, well to tell the truth, it did spoil me a little bit. However, I still adore the value resorts, and I'll always be happy to stay at them too!

What an absolutely gorgeous room.... AND VIEW! That view is spectacular! They definitely hooked yall up and it seems like they did it for the perfect family!

I'm in love with those pictures above the beds. Those are way too cute and I want them for Mallory's room!

BLT just seems to be getting better and better!

I know! That view... oh my gosh. So so Heavenly! Thanks girl!! That's so sweet.

Aren't they so precious? I want them too! I basically want all of the artwork...

It really does!

Wow that is a fantastic upgrade!!! What a beautiful EVERYTHING!!!! You got it ALL girl!!!

Isn't it?!?! I'm completely in love with it! Thanks, I really did!!!

 

[marDgreen88]

Anyone want to watch a video?!

THAT'S RIGHT.

The time to watch my mediocre Disney videos is upon us once again!

I can feel your excitement.

Just a little FYI, because I think it's pretty interesting: The beginning of the video was our first time seeing the view outside the elevator, but before we went to our room for the first time... just listen to our conversation!

I think you can guess what was happening in the rest. I was literally out of breath because of how excited I was. AHHHH. Okay.

Sorry for the shakiness, my videography has not improved in the slightest! I wish I had walked through the whole villa with my camera!!! But like I said, my excitement was taking over all rational thoughts.

VIDEO: Arrival at Bay Lake Tower!

So... ENJOY!

Continued in Next Video Post​

 

[MEK]

Subbing a little late, but was just away last week so I missed the start.

 

[marDgreen88]

Subbing a little late, but was just away last week so I missed the start.

Yay, welcome!! Glad you're here!

 

[GrimGrinningStitch]

Dani sent me over here, and I'm loving the TR so far! What an amazing room! It's awesome seeing some of the different DVC resorts, and I have to say, your pictures make Bay Lake Tower really tempting! Can't wait to see the rest of your TR!

 

[amandaw]

Awww, love the excitement in the video! Especially your brother - he's so happy!

 

[catchmeifyoucan]

Aww, Jacob is so excited in that video! I love it! Who wouldn't be with that view though? Can I just move there forever?

 

[danimaroo]

OMG, I love how excited Jacob got when he saw the castle!! I am so looking forward to lots of video posts!!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Jacob is my favorite part of that whole video! His excitement is contagious. That is exactly what Disney World should bring out in EVERY SINGLE PERSON!

 

[weswife]

The video is great!!!!! THANKS for sharing! It shows just how special the moment was! Jacob's reaction was priceless!!!!!! Beautiful view!!!

 

[Caretames1]

Well I guess it pays greatly to be behind on things once in a while! No cliffhangers and all AWESOME news all the time!

WOO HOOOOOOO! on the upgrade. What a an amazing room with the one view I'd kill for. Please tell me you took a million photos of and video'd Wishes form that spot!!!

How in the heck to do you go from there!?

 

[ZFamily5]

A little late, as usual, but I'm here!

Wow!! What a great upgrade! Lucky duck! My sisters were reading with me and told me to tell you they're both very jealous!

Can't wait for more!

 

[marDgreen88]

Dani sent me over here, and I'm loving the TR so far! What an amazing room! It's awesome seeing some of the different DVC resorts, and I have to say, your pictures make Bay Lake Tower really tempting! Can't wait to see the rest of your TR!

Hey Matt! I'm so happy you're here! Wow, recommended by Dani herself! I feel so special!

Let me tell you, Bay Lake Tower was unbelievable. It exceeded by expectations, and I won't lie, they were really high to begin with! I honestly think that yall would love it.

Thanks for joining in! I'm really glad you're enjoying!

Awww, love the excitement in the video! Especially your brother - he's so happy!

Hahah, well I would have shared the part with my excitement too... but I didn't want to scare anyone with my high pitched squeals. But yes, Jacob was so excited!

Aww, Jacob is so excited in that video! I love it! Who wouldn't be with that view though? Can I just move there forever?

But really- can we just move in? Tomorrow works for me.

OMG, I love how excited Jacob got when he saw the castle!! I am so looking forward to lots of video posts!!

Yeah! There will be plenty of video coming up in the future!

Jacob is my favorite part of that whole video! His excitement is contagious. That is exactly what Disney World should bring out in EVERY SINGLE PERSON!

Hahah I agree! I probably cut out the part with my excitement... It just wasn't as cute as his. Haha!

The video is great!!!!! THANKS for sharing! It shows just how special the moment was! Jacob's reaction was priceless!!!!!! Beautiful view!!!

You're very welcome! It really was such a special moment. I wish I had kept taping!!!

Well I guess it pays greatly to be behind on things once in a while! No cliffhangers and all AWESOME news all the time!

WOO HOOOOOOO! on the upgrade. What a an amazing room with the one view I'd kill for. Please tell me you took a million photos of and video'd Wishes form that spot!!!

How in the heck to do you go from there!?

I guess it does!

RIGHT? Isn't it amazing? It was PRICELESS! Oh, I did!!! There will be footage of Wishes later on!

Hahah, I was wondering that myself!

A little late, as usual, but I'm here!

Wow!! What a great upgrade! Lucky duck! My sisters were reading with me and told me to tell you they're both very jealous!

Can't wait for more!

Hey girl, glad you're here!

I know!! Aww, maybe someday yall can stay there too!

More coming right away!

 

[marDgreen88]

The One Where We Explore the CONTEMPO-rary!

July 29, 2012

After the shock wore off (okay… I’m not fooling anyone. The shock never wore off. It still hasn’t. I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT) we remembered how hungry we were!

I hadn’t eaten all day to avoid getting sick on the plane, and the rest of the family hadn’t eaten since at least 5AM. It was now after noon!

We couldn’t go anywhere until we got our new KTTW cards though. (They took them so they could fix them to make sure we would actually be able to get into our room!) Luckily, we were all so excited about our glorious villa that we didn’t mind waiting a few minutes.

I TOOK MORE VIEW PICTURES! (Trust me, these aren’t the last of them, either!)

Two of my favorite things in that picture: Splash Mountain and Crystal Palace!

After about 15 minutes of staring out the window, we heard a knock on our door because the CM had come back with our KTTW cards. After making sure they all actually opened the door, we thanked him about a million times and set off to find some food!

We were still learning, so we went down to the first floor, exited out the main entrance, and walked down the sidewalk towards the Contemporary!

Goodbye for now, beautiful Bay Lake Tower!

LOOK. Double monorail sighting!!!

That’s a sight I could never get sick of.

(Okay, I know that picture is awkward, but there were people just RIGHT UP THERE. I really didn’t want them in the picture, so I cropped them the heck out.)

Before we went inside, we wanted to take advantage of THE photo op!

(I’d like to tell you what my hands are doing in that picture, but I’m afraid I have no clue.)

The famous Sorcerer Mickey topiary!

Okay, NOW we’re going inside!

When you enter into the main lobby, you have to take the elevator or escalator up to the fourth floor. The fourth floor is where the action is at the Contemporary!

I was really excited to see all of this stuff in person! I’d gone through there on the monorail before, but I’d never actually set foot there!

We found the Contempo Café very easily, and immediately headed to the first available touch screen. For those of you who may not know this, at the Contempo you order your food from a touch screen computer! It’s really cool. If any of you have Sheetz in your area, and you’ve ever ordered food from their touch screens, it’s basically the exact same thing (except for the fact that the Contempo is at Disney so it’s automatically more awesome).

They separate the food items by category: Hot sandwiches, cold sandwiches, salads, etc. I was basically the one doing all the ‘touching’ and ordering for everyone, so I couldn’t take pictures! I really had wanted to so I could show a little step by step process, but I never did. Ehh, oh well. At least my intentions were good. HAHA.

After you complete your order, a little ‘receipt’ is printed out of the machine, and then you go pick out your drinks and desserts. There are plenty of options for both! You can either get a fountain drink or choose from a bunch of bottled drinks. We all picked up bottled waters to use at the park, and picked up our mugs to fill them up to drink with our meals! It was a pretty genius idea, if I do say so myself. And by the way, I LOVE that they include the mugs with the meal plan now!

Just like there were a lot of drink options, there were also plenty of DESSERT options. They had a little soft serve ice cream station, an ice cream cart, and an entire CASE full of bakery items.

There were so many beautiful looking desserts. The most beautiful of all? CUPCAKES. They had Strawberry Lemonade, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, and Red Velvet... all things of beauty.

However, I didn't get any of those for my dessert. HAHAH... what a tease I am. (Never fear, though. There are cupcakes coming up later. Yes, that says cupcakeS... as in plural. HITCH UP YOUR WAGONS IT’S GONNA BE A BUMPY RIDE!!!!)

Side note: I really wish there was a smiley for this occasion.

Anyways.

After we’d all picked up our drinks, mugs, and desserts, we went to find a seat! There weren’t any tables available, but we sat at a ‘counter table.’ I don’t really know what it’s called, but it’s the kind where you’re all next to each other. Forgive me.

While we were waiting for our food, I decided it was picture time!

In in love with that mural! I think Mary Blair is amazing… AND we have the same birthday! Special.

At the time, I thought one of those could be the 5-legged goat. Try as I might, I could never spot it!!!

Jacob was excited about his Disney mug! (He talked about it for weeks. He had big plans to fill it up with ‘mix and a half,’ which is half Coke, half root beer.)

Okay, I was excited about my mug too! IT’S PINK!

I really liked those windows, too. Basically I was in love with everything.

THE BEST PART WAS…

OH, no big deal or anything!!!! I mean, just picture it: you’re sitting there eating (or waiting to eat) and you have a perfect view of the monorail. For a person like me, who thinks monorails are the best form of transportation in the world, this was very ideal.)

It took a while for our food to come out, but I think I was too distracted by the monorail to really notice. Eventually it did come out though!

I got a Chicken Caesar Salad. (Listen, I know it’s lame. We had a dinner ADR at 5, though, and I didn’t want to be stuffed!)

Believe me, it wasn’t as small as it looked! I could barely make a dent in that thing. It was good, but I would have preferred actual croutons instead of the crushed up ones. It was just a little bit much! The chicken was great though, and the lettuce was crisp and fresh, which is basically all I’m looking for in lettuce.

Jacob got a cheeseburger and fries, which he loved and devoured:

My mom and dad both got the Multigrain Turkey Sandwich with fries, which they both really enjoyed as well.

And by the way, they thought it was really weird that I wanted to take pictures of THEIR food, so I had to sneak attack it. I was not always successful. If you look really closely in the background of that picture, you can see Anna’s food too. She got the Chicken Artichoke Flatbread, which she surprisingly loved.

For dessert, Anna had a chocolate chip cookie (really good), and my dad had a chocolate croissant (not enough chocolate).

Jacob got a Mickey Ice Cream Sandwich:

He LOVED this!

My mom and I both got Mickey Rice Crispies!

YUM. I love those things! They are just Disney Magic on sticks.

Overall, we had a very successful first meal!

My dad decided to run our mugs back to the room while Jacob was finishing up his ice cream sandwich, and I decided to gawk at the monorail some more.

I really loved the chair backs at the Contempo… it’s MICKEY MOUSE (complete with the feet of a few strangers)!

While we were waiting for my dad, this woman appeared, as if from nowhere. She told us that she was leaving, and wondered if we had any use for THESE:

They were good for ANY attraction at the Magic Kingdom until the 31st! Why, THANK YOU KIND STRANGER! We definitely DID have use for them. The best part was that there were SEVEN of them. Really? More pixie dust? At that point, I thought my head would explode from all of the awesome that was happening that day. Seriously? Could it get more perfect?

We thanked that woman a million times! She could have picked any of the families that were eating, but she picked us! The funny thing was, she literally appeared out of nowhere. Who was she? An angel, perhaps? Yeah, that’s what we’re going with!

When my dad came back, we decided it was time for the real fun to begin!!!

Continued in Next Update
​

 

[ZFamily5]

Yet another great update!

I love love love the picture of you, Anna and Jacob by the Mickey sculpture in front of the Contemporary!

I have the same mug as Jacob! Blue all the way! We had the pink one too, but my dad broke it...

I think I might actually die if I could see the monorail while I was eating like that!

You're having fantastic luck! Room upgrade, then fastpasses?

Totally unrelated, but I believe we followed each other on Twitter! I'm @brenZ96!

 

[shan23877]

Great pictures of the CR! We only seem to go there for meals, so we're always rushing in and out. We'll have to take the time to stop and look around one of these days. (or we'll just have to stay there!)

I always get something boring like a chicken caesar on my first day. Maybe it's because there are so many great meals to come that I just revert to the usual?

Awesome FPs!!!! More pixie dust already! You haven't even left the resort!

 

[amandaw]

So glad y'all were able to get some lunch! I'm already excited to hear about the cupcakes, though. The Strawberry Lemonade ones sounds delicious!!

And for the Disney angel! That is absolutely unreal that she had those kinds of FP's.....and that she had 7 of them!!!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

I firmly believe that the monorail whizzing by actually enhances the taste of whatever one is eating. I can never get enough of the monorail!

I crop the heck out of anonymous strangers in my photos, too! I mean, seriously, can't they see that we're not just taking pictures, we're creating photographic ART?

Hooray for Fastpass Pixie Dust! Your day just keeps getting better!

 

[amazingact21]

Is it possible that I'm more in love with that view after seeing a few more additional pictures? I mean, you can literally see a log (there's not actually one in the photo, but still) coming out of Splash Mtn. That's amazing!


I feel like I'd like the touch screen order window, but only because I'm a visual learner to the extreme and blind without my glasses, so it's always a little stressful staning in line trying to read a board way up above me. Random, I know.


To sit and watch the monorail as you eat....that's awesome. Could you hear when the doors opened and closed? I'm trying to live vicariously through your report right now.


That's so great that you were able to get free fast passes! You sound like you're having the best arrival day ever.