RobDoc
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Aug 14, 1998
- Messages
- 34,195
We arrived at OKW on December 2, staying in a 1BR until 12/12 when we checked out to go on the DIS Unplugged Podcast 2.0 Cruise. Today we returned to OKW for a couple of nights - again in a 1BR.
The first 10 nights we were in Building 14 in a renovated 1BR. While we did not like the functionality of the Roman Shades, we did like the new valences, the new flooring (real wood would have been better, but we still like the vinyl flooring in general) and the master BR now has a much better headboard, new carpeting, throw pillow on the duvet and new nightstand lamps. There are now throw pillows on the couch and love-seat but there are no new appliances or cabinetry. We do like the sleeper chair (although have not slept on it) and the end table lamp (lifeguard chair with a Mickey logo) is great. The old dining, coffee and end tables were painted - some of the paint is altready chipping and the coffe table paint is stylized (not sure if we like it yet, but it is OK) and there is a braided rug under the coffee table. New floor lamps were added to both living room and BR. Thermostat was moved from the hallway (near the laundry room) to the living room, but now is the sensor type of control. All-in-all we like the results.
We enjoyed the DVC Annual Meeting, the DVC Member Mixer, the OL meet and Diane's DIS meet at Epcot during this first part of our trip. We dined at Coral Reef, Chefs de France, 'Ohana (with DVC Mike and Daddio) and CA Grill (with JDVM). I had the opporutnity to ride shotgun in the Purple Van several days and continue to be imnpressed with the level of customer service provided by Brian and John, for both Owner's Locker and also Magic Strollers.
The weather for the Podcast cruise was a challenge. We left in 8-13 ft seas with high winds and docked in Nassau Monday morning. The air temp was about 60 all day with continued strong wind so shore excursions were not very popular (and some were even cancelled). The Podcast had scheduled a couple of programs that day - in the morning we were treated to talks by a couple of Disney Legends. Charlie Ridgeway was hired by Walt as a publicist for Disneyland back in the 50's. He has written a book - "Spinning Disney's World" (everyone on the cruise received a copy) - and shared his experiences promoting the Theme Parks as ewll as his relationship with Walt over the years. Next was Bob Durr, the design creator of the Monorail as well as the Main Street vehicles over the years. Bob is an animated man also very familiar with Walt in the early days of Disney Theme Parks.
Monday afternoon we were all treated to a WONDERFUL concert by Jodi Benson, who was the voice of Ariel in the "Little Mermaid" as well the voice of Barbie in Toy Story II and III. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her role in "Crazy for You". She shared many stories about creating these roles as well as her relationship with Disney, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. She sang many songs from a variety of Disney "Princess" movies as well as a song titled "Disneyland" - written by Marvin Hamlisch/Howard Ashman for a role she had in the short lived Broadway production of "Smile" (1986 - closed after 6 weeks).
She also answered questions from the audience, shared many personal stories, signed autographs for over an hour after the concert and took part in other events on the cruise - remembering names of those she came in contact with. A true delight and real professional. All Podcast Cruise members received a CD of her Little Mermaid performance.
Later that afternoon, we attended the DVC member's presentation. Everyone received a DVC cap, drinks and there were some DVC trivia "games" as well as door prizes for those in attendance. "Special" Holiday pricing promotions were announced for the cruise (I have posted these on DVC Operations).
Due to the high seas and winds, the Captain of the Wonder decided to stay in Nassua overnight. Since the weather for Tuesday was predicted to be similar to Monday, it was decided to have a day at sea instead of Castaway Cay so we spent the entire day traveling the 45 miles from Nassua to CC at about 6 knots per hour along with a creative "circular" route. There was a Podcast taping which included Lee Cockerell (retired Disney VP and motivation speaker)as well as a signing event by Lee, Charlie Ridgeway and Bob Durr.
The weather for Wednesday was predicted to be around 70 degrees, the Castaway Cay day was a lot more appealing. The Podcast folks sponsored a private BBQ party at Gumbo Limbo - attended by the guest speakers as well as the large group of Podcast Cruisers.
Among the other regualr cruise programs were cruise stage presentations of Golden Mickey's, Toy Story the Muscial and Disney Dreams. These are top-notch Broadway-style productions with 2 shows each night. On Tuesday we were also treated to a special 3-D showing of "Tangled". It was a wonderful story with even better 3-D, IMO. DW and I sat with Charlie Ridgeway during the show which was a real treatby itself.
Meals were great (we dined with WebmasterAlex, WebmasterKathy and their families) and the crew and staff of the Wonder made every effort to make sure that everyone enjoyed the cruise in spite of the weather. The Podcast Cruise was a grreat success and the programs were truly wonderful. If you have an opportunity to join a future cruise, it is well worth it? (Podcast 3.0 will be on the Dream in June, 2012.) The DIS Podcast Cruisers numbered almost 700 and, since the ship was not at full capacity, we made up about half of those on this cruise. Quite a few have already registered again for the next Podcast Cruise in 2012.
Today, we were among the first to disembark (got off at 7:20am, cleared customs immediately and our return DCL transportation to OKW left at 7:35) arriving at OKW about 8:45am. Our villa was not ready (nor did we expect that) so we checked-in, stored luggage wirth Bell Services and headed over to MK. Crowds were very small at arrival and we were able to ride Buzz, People-Mover, CoP, Peter Pan, HM, BTM, PotC, JC and CBJ all in about 3 hours. Nothing had more than a 20 minute wait. By noon, the crowd had increased greatly so we left the park and headed to DD for a bite at Earl of Sandwich followed by a nice walk back to OK along the canal. Our room was ready and our bags had already been delivered to our room by the Bell staff. We are now in Building 11 in a 1BR.
The villa is basically the same as the one we had in Building 14 with few noticeable differences. This villa does not have the throw pillows on the couch, love-seat or on the King Bed - which we felt were quality touches in our villa last week.
This has been a wonderful trip, celebrating our 40th Anniversary. We have dinner at CA Grill tomorrow evening and (unfortunately) return to snow and single digit temps on Saturday.
... Back to reality!
The first 10 nights we were in Building 14 in a renovated 1BR. While we did not like the functionality of the Roman Shades, we did like the new valences, the new flooring (real wood would have been better, but we still like the vinyl flooring in general) and the master BR now has a much better headboard, new carpeting, throw pillow on the duvet and new nightstand lamps. There are now throw pillows on the couch and love-seat but there are no new appliances or cabinetry. We do like the sleeper chair (although have not slept on it) and the end table lamp (lifeguard chair with a Mickey logo) is great. The old dining, coffee and end tables were painted - some of the paint is altready chipping and the coffe table paint is stylized (not sure if we like it yet, but it is OK) and there is a braided rug under the coffee table. New floor lamps were added to both living room and BR. Thermostat was moved from the hallway (near the laundry room) to the living room, but now is the sensor type of control. All-in-all we like the results.
We enjoyed the DVC Annual Meeting, the DVC Member Mixer, the OL meet and Diane's DIS meet at Epcot during this first part of our trip. We dined at Coral Reef, Chefs de France, 'Ohana (with DVC Mike and Daddio) and CA Grill (with JDVM). I had the opporutnity to ride shotgun in the Purple Van several days and continue to be imnpressed with the level of customer service provided by Brian and John, for both Owner's Locker and also Magic Strollers.
The weather for the Podcast cruise was a challenge. We left in 8-13 ft seas with high winds and docked in Nassau Monday morning. The air temp was about 60 all day with continued strong wind so shore excursions were not very popular (and some were even cancelled). The Podcast had scheduled a couple of programs that day - in the morning we were treated to talks by a couple of Disney Legends. Charlie Ridgeway was hired by Walt as a publicist for Disneyland back in the 50's. He has written a book - "Spinning Disney's World" (everyone on the cruise received a copy) - and shared his experiences promoting the Theme Parks as ewll as his relationship with Walt over the years. Next was Bob Durr, the design creator of the Monorail as well as the Main Street vehicles over the years. Bob is an animated man also very familiar with Walt in the early days of Disney Theme Parks.
Monday afternoon we were all treated to a WONDERFUL concert by Jodi Benson, who was the voice of Ariel in the "Little Mermaid" as well the voice of Barbie in Toy Story II and III. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her role in "Crazy for You". She shared many stories about creating these roles as well as her relationship with Disney, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. She sang many songs from a variety of Disney "Princess" movies as well as a song titled "Disneyland" - written by Marvin Hamlisch/Howard Ashman for a role she had in the short lived Broadway production of "Smile" (1986 - closed after 6 weeks).
She also answered questions from the audience, shared many personal stories, signed autographs for over an hour after the concert and took part in other events on the cruise - remembering names of those she came in contact with. A true delight and real professional. All Podcast Cruise members received a CD of her Little Mermaid performance.
Later that afternoon, we attended the DVC member's presentation. Everyone received a DVC cap, drinks and there were some DVC trivia "games" as well as door prizes for those in attendance. "Special" Holiday pricing promotions were announced for the cruise (I have posted these on DVC Operations).
Due to the high seas and winds, the Captain of the Wonder decided to stay in Nassua overnight. Since the weather for Tuesday was predicted to be similar to Monday, it was decided to have a day at sea instead of Castaway Cay so we spent the entire day traveling the 45 miles from Nassua to CC at about 6 knots per hour along with a creative "circular" route. There was a Podcast taping which included Lee Cockerell (retired Disney VP and motivation speaker)as well as a signing event by Lee, Charlie Ridgeway and Bob Durr.
The weather for Wednesday was predicted to be around 70 degrees, the Castaway Cay day was a lot more appealing. The Podcast folks sponsored a private BBQ party at Gumbo Limbo - attended by the guest speakers as well as the large group of Podcast Cruisers.
Among the other regualr cruise programs were cruise stage presentations of Golden Mickey's, Toy Story the Muscial and Disney Dreams. These are top-notch Broadway-style productions with 2 shows each night. On Tuesday we were also treated to a special 3-D showing of "Tangled". It was a wonderful story with even better 3-D, IMO. DW and I sat with Charlie Ridgeway during the show which was a real treatby itself.
Meals were great (we dined with WebmasterAlex, WebmasterKathy and their families) and the crew and staff of the Wonder made every effort to make sure that everyone enjoyed the cruise in spite of the weather. The Podcast Cruise was a grreat success and the programs were truly wonderful. If you have an opportunity to join a future cruise, it is well worth it? (Podcast 3.0 will be on the Dream in June, 2012.) The DIS Podcast Cruisers numbered almost 700 and, since the ship was not at full capacity, we made up about half of those on this cruise. Quite a few have already registered again for the next Podcast Cruise in 2012.
Today, we were among the first to disembark (got off at 7:20am, cleared customs immediately and our return DCL transportation to OKW left at 7:35) arriving at OKW about 8:45am. Our villa was not ready (nor did we expect that) so we checked-in, stored luggage wirth Bell Services and headed over to MK. Crowds were very small at arrival and we were able to ride Buzz, People-Mover, CoP, Peter Pan, HM, BTM, PotC, JC and CBJ all in about 3 hours. Nothing had more than a 20 minute wait. By noon, the crowd had increased greatly so we left the park and headed to DD for a bite at Earl of Sandwich followed by a nice walk back to OK along the canal. Our room was ready and our bags had already been delivered to our room by the Bell staff. We are now in Building 11 in a 1BR.
The villa is basically the same as the one we had in Building 14 with few noticeable differences. This villa does not have the throw pillows on the couch, love-seat or on the King Bed - which we felt were quality touches in our villa last week.
This has been a wonderful trip, celebrating our 40th Anniversary. We have dinner at CA Grill tomorrow evening and (unfortunately) return to snow and single digit temps on Saturday.
... Back to reality!
I am also going with my family on the Dream in June next year.But it is on the 7 th. I am really looking forward to seeing the new ship.
