Our April Trip To The World! - DAY FIVE ADDED!

[mcarthur205]

Although we've been to WDW eight times over the past 15 years, with visits lasting as little as two days, right up to a marathon 14 days in 1999, I've never written a trip report before, even though I've used these boards as a valuable source of tips and info. Usually I don't get time to write a journal of our activities at the time, and after we get home I don't remember enough of the detail to make a good report. Anyway, we had a great time and maybe it'll be helpful to anyone who reads these boards before they go and gets more out of their trip as a result.

I'll keep the report in one thread as I'm not good at keeping track of reports written on multiple threads and I hate to start reading and not get the whole story!

First of all, let me introduce you to our family. We are:

DW (me) - loves being at WDW and the planner in the family
DH - also loves being at WDW but lets me do al the planning, research, booking ADRs etc (I don't mind, I like it this way)
DS11 - loves going to WDW but is a chronic coaster chicken and has to be persuaded onto any ride which looks the least bit exciting, but raves about it afterwards, and
DD5 - our little princess - loves WDW but is extremely lazy when it comes to walking (a definite disadvantage as I'm sure you'll agree), she usually ends up riding on her dad's shoulders for most of the day!

We bought 10 day hopper passes online with the no expiration option in April 2005, we had thought we might squeeze in a couple of days in WDW when we were in Florida in June 2005, but that trip didn't work out. We decided to buy more days than we needed for one trip so we could use the passes for several trips over a few years, we usually only get to WDW every two years although we are in Florida every year visiting family. We had annual passes in May 1999 when we stayed for 14 nights at the CSR, and managed to use the same passes on our shorter 3 day/2 night trip in April 2000. This time we thought the hopper passes would make more sense as we could stretch them over a few years, rather than having them expire after one year.

We rented dvc points (on the rent/trade board here) and stayed at the BWV in a one bedroom villa for five nights from April 2-7. This is definitely the way to go! The villa accommodation was absolutely outstanding. Definitely the best lodging we've had on any of our visits. We had a top floor villa, no. 5092, which looked out over the Luna Park pool and the canal leading to the Swan and Dolphin. It was quite a long walk to the elevators, but the accommodation more than made up for this. We had a long balcony, both the bedroom and living area had double doors leading out here. I spent an hour or so there every afternoon writing my diary of our activities and watching the kids in the pool area enjoying themselves. There was a full kitchen with dishwasher, microwave and stove, and best of all, a washer and dryer, which saved me the numerous time consuming trips I've had to make in the past to the guest laundry, usually after a long hot day at the parks when all I want to do is lie on the bed watching tv and relaxing. There was also a separate bathroom (with jacuzzi) and a shower room with wc. We'll definitely rent points for our next trip, maybe we'll try the BCV next time.

Also we had a stroke of good luck with dining. When we rented our points and got our ressie, the dining plan was not offered to dvc members. Then it was announced that from April 1st the dining plan would be available to dvc members and guests. I couldn't believe our luck!! We had wanted to try the dining plan but had resigned ourselves to the fact that it wouldn't be possible this trip. Now we could do both! We immediately added the dining plan to our ressie and we were all set. I've kept our receipts and will be posting a separate dining review, but the bottom line is that we spent just under $125 per day on the dining plan, a total of just under $625 for the 6 days/5 nights of our visit, and our receipts add up to over $900!

Have to go now, but the next instalment will be day 1, check in and our first day at the parks - Animal Kingdom and Epcot.

 

[wvgoofyfan]

Great! Can't wait for your next post! Sounds like a wonderful trip and I bet this will be really good report. Your plans sound like everything all came together. Your "home away from home" sounds absolutely posh!
Here's a dancing bannana to get you started off.............................

 

[DisneycrazedX6]

Can't wait for you to continue, don't leave us hanging for too long!

We stayed at BWV last year in a one bedroom and we also loved it!!!

This trip we are staying at ASM so we can get the free dining...it was a trade off that we have mixed feelings about.

 

[mcarthur205]

DAY ONE
We had arrived in Florida on 29 March. We have family living in the Tampa Bay area and we were visiting them before and after visiting WDW. We drove to Orlando on the morning of Sunday April 2, leaving the condo about 9.30am. We arrived at the Boardwalk check in at about 11.30am to find that our villa was available! I was surprised at this as check in is 4pm and I didn't expect to get in the room before then. We had wanted to arrive early to check in, store our bags and pay for the dining plan so that we could get straight to AK and have lunch. As I said before, we were allocated villa no 5092 on the top floor (we had requested non-smoking and an upper floor villa so we were very pleased). We got our bags up to the room immediately and unpacked a few things, then got ourselves organised and down to the bus stop at about 12.15. Unfortunately, we were just in time to see a bus to AK disappearing down the road! We took a seat and hoped for a short wait for the next one, but it was 30 mins before another AK bus arrived.

We arrived at AK and entered the park about 1pm. We were all hungry since we hadn't eaten since our 8.30am breakfast, but we wanted to find out the fastpass situation with EE. We walked over the Asia but all the fastpasses had been distributed for the day and the wait time was 90 mins. We decided to get something to eat and think about what to do next. We headed to FTB as we had never eaten there before. The food was great (my dining review is posted on the Dining Plan board here). We walked over to KS and got fastpasses with a return time of 4-5pm. One of our park tickets wouldn't work in the fastpass machine so the cast member there gave me a fastpass key card to use in any fastpass machine at AK that day to replace the park ticket which wouldn't work. We then decided to walk the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and the Maharaja Jungle Trek while we waited for our fastpass time. DS and DD really enjoyed this - they saw gorillas, hippos, a baby elephant, and tigers. They really liked the bats

We finished the Trail just as the parade was passing by and we watched it while standing at the entrance to KS. We had a great view, we hadn't seen this parade before and it was very good. We rode KS as soon as the parade passed.

By then it was about 4.30pm and as AK closed at 5pm we decided to head over to Epcot by way of the TTC so that we could ride the monorail. We entered the park and rode Spaceship Earth first as there was no wait. I love this ride and DD didn't remember riding it before so she loved it too! We then headed over to TT but the wait time was 60 mins and, of course, no fastpasses left for the day. Also, unsurprisingly, no fastpasses were available for Soarin' and it had a 70 min wait, so we headed over to MS which had a wait time of 10 mins. DD isn't tall enough for this ride, and I suffer from motion sickness so DH and DS rode while DD and I visited some shops nearby. I'm wary of some rides since a visit to Busch Gardens in Tampa in 2003 when I rode Montu with DH. I was nervous about this as I don't like going upside down, but it was a great ride. The only problem was when I got off the ride I felt nauseous and about 15 mins later threw up in the restrooms!

We then headed over the WS and walked round the lagoon. We felt hungry again about 7pm and weren't too far from the Morocco pavilion so had dinner in the Tangerine Cafe. We then decided to head back to BWV at about 8pm through the IG as DD was feeling tired and we wanted to get properly settled into our villa. We got back and unpacked the rest of our bags. I then discovered that my make up and toiletries had been left in the trunk of our car - for a few awful moments I thought we might have left the bag back in the condo DH was just about to fill the jacuzzi but kindly (!!) agreed to retrieve my bag from the car.

We got settled at last and looked forward to the next day - MGM here we come!

 

[TLinden16]

I love the Flame Tree Barbecue. I'm going there in a couple of weeks for a pulled pork sandwich. Yum.

Thanks for posting!

 

[mcarthur205]

DAY TWO
When we woke next morning it was very misty outside. We had shopped at Publix before our arrival and brought breakfast food - cereal, milk, bread etc with us. We had breakfast in the villa and walked to MGM, arriving about 9.30am.

Our first stop was Tower of Terror and RNRC for fastpasses. Since DD is too short for RNRC and giong upside down on roller coasters doesn't agree with me we got two fastpasses for each ride. DD would ride TT with DH and DS and DH would ride RNRC. As I said before, DS is a chronic coaster chicken but he had ridden RNRC on a previous trip and although he was nervous the first time he really liked it afterwards. However, he was showing signs of regressing to his former self!! Anyway we decided to ride the GMR (only a 5 min wait) while we waited for the fastpass times to come round. Then DD rode TT with DH. It was the first time she was tall enough for this and she said she liked the first part with the ghosts but wasn't so sure about the drops! After A LOT of persuasion and bargaining (we said we'd ride Star Tours twice if DS rode RNRC once) DS and DH rode RNRC. As soon as he got off this ride DS was asking when he could ride it again!

By this time the sun was out, the mist was gone and it was hot. We got a bottle of water and an apple juice from a cart in the Animation Courtyard and had a brief rest. DD wanted to see her favourite show, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid so we did that next, there was a show just about to start and we walked straight in. DS then reminded us about our bargain to get him to ride RNRC so we started walking over towards Star Tours. It was about 11.45am by that time and we realised we were hungry. We were just next to Backlot Express at that point so stopped off for lunch.

The standby line for Star Tours was 20 mins so we decided to wait instead of getting fastpasses. We rode, and promised DS that we would indeed ride it again but not right now (not that day as it happened). Muppets were next, again a show was just about to start so we entered with no wait. When we got out DD begain complaining about being tired so we thought the Backlot Tour might be a good idea, she could ride the walking parts on her dad's shoulders and sit in the tram for the rest. We also wanted to catch the new LMA Extreme Stunt Show, no fastpasses had been available for any of these shows and the next performance was 2.45 so we thought we could do that after the tour. However, we had to wait about 30 mins for the Tour and by the time we finished, the Stunt Show had already started. In fact, we passed the back of the stadium on the backlot tour tram just as the show was about to start and got waves from the stunt show drivers. We were all tired by that time, so decided to return to the BWV for a rest before dinner.

We had a 6pm ADR for the FDP at H&V. We returned to the park for this, arriving at the restaurant about 5.55pm. We had an extra long wait for a table, however, and weren't seated until 6.30pm. Fantasmic was scheduled for 8.30pm that evening so after eating we headed round to the entrance at Oscar's for the show.

On our way out of the park that afternoon, we had bought a princess hat for DD - one of the tall pink sparkly ones with the veil and mouse ears and she was wearing it for the show. The cast member at the show entrance made a big thing of this - he said in a loud voice, WE HAVE A PRINCESS HERE TONIGHT, HOW ARE YOU YOUR HIGHNESS! DD was thrilled although she acted a little shy. Several other cast members also addressed her as Princess when she was wearing the hat and it certainly added to the magic for her (and us!)

The show was great, as always. DD had brought with her a spinning light-up tinkerbell we had also bought earlier, and DS bought one of those 'string thing' toys while we waited for the show to start.

All in all, a great day. Everyone was tired when the show was over so we walked back to the BWV (DD on her dad's shoulders as usual), to get an early night as we had an early start the next day. We were off to the Magic Kingdom and an 8.05am ADR for breakfast with Pooh Bear and friends at the Crystal Palace!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Can't wait for more.

 

[mcarthur205]

DAY THREE

We set the alarm for 6.45 am this morning (I don't get up this early for work!!) as we had an 8.05 ADR at the CP for breakfast with Pooh Bear and friends. We were up and at the bus stop by 7.15am only to (again) see the bus for the MK disappear down the road. This had also happened on our first day when we went for a bus to AK and the next bus didn't appear for 30 mins. However, we were luckier this time, barely 5 mins had passed before another bus to MK appeared. We boarded and were on our way, only one other family was on the bus. We were admitted to the park at 7.50 am and proceeded up Main Street towards CP. Its great to walk up Main Street when its so quiet - great photo opportunities! Anyway, we ate a hearty breakfast and were back in the park ready to start touring by 9.05am, just after opening.

It was a sunny but cooler morning (by Florida standards) but nevertheless we decided to head over to Splash Mountain first. There was no line and we rode immediately. Most times when we ride Splash Mountain we only get a little wet but this time, as luck would have it, we got absolutely soaked very early in the ride. It was the first time DD was tall enough to ride and she was a little shocked to be so wet so quickly! First stop after getting off was the restrooms to dry off a little, but as it was a cooler morning it took DD a while to get over the shock and she was shivering as we walked towards BTMR. There was no line here either so we rode immediately and DD said she liked that one better! DS was itching to get over to Space Mountain by now so we headed over there and got FP. DD is not tall enough for this ride but DS and DH would ride twice. While we waited for the FP time we rode Buzz (my favourite ride in MK). We also walked back over to Liberty Square and rode HM with no wait and, on the way back to SM, IASW. This ride was closed for rehab last time we visited WDW and we could really see how much better it looked. DS and DH then rode SM twice and DD and I rode the TTA and got FP to ride Buzz again while we waited for them. All four of us rode the TTA again when DH and DS rejoined us and then we decided to head over to Tom Sawyers Island for a visit. We stopped off to see Mickey's Philharmagic on the way over. After visiting TSI we used our FP for Buzz. DD was tired and hot by that time so we decided to return to BWV for a rest before our 6.40pm ADR for Cinderella's Gala Feast at 1900 Park Fare.

We set out for our ADR at about 5.30. DD was dressed in her Sleeping Beauty outfit and princess hat and all the cast members were calling her 'Princess' and saying how beautiful she looked this evening. She loved every minute of this. We took a bus to the MK and the resort monorail to the GF and took the chance to have a look around at the gorgeous hotel while we were there. We had dinner (delicious) and then took the monorail back to MK for Spectromagic and Wishes. We had time to visit Toontown and tour Mickey and Minnie's houses, DS and DD rode Goofys Barnstormer a couple of times, and DH bought himself a new Grumpy tshirt before we watched Spectromagic in Frontierland. We couldn't wait for Wishes though, DD was so tired she was almost asleep while sitting on DH shoulders! When the parade ended we headed for the bus stop, and immediately caught a bus back to BWV.

We had another early start the next day - an 8.30 am ADR for breakfast with the Princesses in Norway!

 

[mcarthur205]

DAY FOUR
Another early start today as we had an 8.30am ADR for the PSB at Akershus. DD was wearing her Snow White dress and was hoping to meet the real Snow White and have her picture taken, so she was super-excited today! We didn't get out as early as we'd hoped and it was after 8.15 before we left the villa. We arrived at the restaurant about 5 mins late, DD had attracted lots of attention on the walk over, both from cast members at the IG and also other guests waiting to enter the park, but when we arrived at Akershus it was amazing to see all the little girls dressed as their favourite princess! We had to wait about 20 mins to be seated, but Belle was in the lobby in her yellow dress for photos and the other princesses in attendance were Jasmine, Mulan, Mary Poppins (is she a princess?) and SNOW WHITE

We left Akershus about 9.45 and headed over towards Future World. It was already hot and DD didn't want to wear her Snow White dress all day so I took her to the nearest rest tooms where she changed her clothes (I had brought a t-shirt and shorts for her), and DH and DS headed over to the Land to get FP for Soarin'. We then stowed the dress and photos we had purchased in the restaurant in a locker. We had a 45 min wait before we could ride Soarin' so we decided to ride Ellen's Energy Adventure while we waited. There was no line and the show was just beginning, so no wait. We then collected FP for TT before heading over to the Land to ride Soarin'. What a fantastic ride!

We still had a long wait before we could ride TT so we decided to head back over to WS. DD wanted a hat as 'her head was too hot' so we went into one of the big shops in Showcase Plaza. DH and I were looking at hats and trying them on DD when we became aware of what sounded like fencing nearby! Lo and behold DS was getting a fencing lesson from Pedro, a cast member in the shop! DS was managing quite well, Pedro said he had taken lessons as a young boy in Mexico and DS was quite good considering he had never taken a lesson in his life! Pedro gave DS some good tips and advice - he was very pleased with himself! We bought a Tinkerbell hat for DD and left!

We then walked round WS lagoon and had ice cream and drinks in Morocco. The kids got their faces painted, DD got French Kitty and DS got Hong Kong Warrior. They cost $12 each. We rode Maelstrom in Norway and El Rio del Tiempo in Mexico. By this time is was about 1.30 pm and we felt a bit peckish. Not hungry enough for a meal each so we shared a plato combinacion and a churro at the Cantina. I had my traditional margarita. It was time for TT so we headed back to Future World to use the FP. Neither DD nor myself had been on this ride before and both of us really enjoyed it. We had to wait 15 mins to ride as it had stopped running when we got there and there was a long line for FP return, but it was worth the wait! DD was tired then so we collected her dress from the locker and headed back to BWV for a rest before dinner.

We had a 6.30pm ADR for the character dinner at the Garden Grill. We've eaten here every time we've visited WDW and it was a great experience, as usual. We met Mickey, Pluto and Chip & Dale at least 3 times each. We left the restaurant about 8.20 and again, DD was tired. I took her back to the villa as we'd had two early mornings in a row and she needed a rest. DH and DS stayed on and rode MS again with a 5 min wait. DH lost his hat on the ride, he thinks he left it in the basket under his seat, but didn't bother trying to find it again. He'd had it for a while and it was probably a bit gross, the cast members probably incinerated it rather than send it to Lost and Found! DH and DS watched Illuminations and walked back to the villa.

Coming next - Day Five - should be AK but a slight hitch changes our plans!

 

[dismom9761]

I have really enjoyed your reports so far-looking forward to more.

 

[mcarthur205]

DAY FIVE
We took the opportunity to stay in bed a little longer this morning as we had no breakfast reservation. We ate breakfast in the villa and then headed over to AK. Our main objective for the day was to ride EE. This plan hit a wall as soon as the bus dropped us at AK. There was a sign outside informing us that EE would be closed all day in preparation for the official opening the next day! We decided not to enter the park and instead headed over to MGM. We had missed out on the Lights, Motors, Action stunt show on our visit earlier in the week, so we though we'd try to catch that today.

By the time we got to MGM there were long waits for most rides We collected four FP for RNRC and walked slowly over to the stunt show area. We waited and saw the show. I have to say that sometimes I find it annoying when you make an effort to find a seat that isn't behind a pillar, and then you're asked to move along the row to make more room (even though there are plenty of seats in other sections). You then find yourself sitting behind the very pillar you moved to avoid in the first place! I know, I know, there are usually no 'bad' seats but some are definitely less desirable than others, and I don't think its necessary to get everyone to move along the row if there is plenty of alternative seating available! There - I'm glad I got that off my chest, I'll carry on with the report now! The show was good but not worth standing in a long line for. When we got out we went for lunch at the ABC Commissary.

After lunch we got FP for ST (to keep the promise we made to DS earlier in the week) and DS and DH rode RNRC. They decided not to use the other two FPs so we found a family of four who were about to join the standby line and gave them the other two passes. Just as we did this, someone else came over and also gave them two FPs which meant the whole family could ride right away. They were thrilled! We went back to ST and rode, then bought a couple of funny tshirts in the shop on the way out. DD was tired so we decided to head back to BWV early for a rest and do some laundry before dinner as we had an ADR for Le Cellier at 6.30pm.

We headed back to Epcot about 5pm. We wanted to catch the Chinese Acrobat show at 5.15 as we had missed it earlier in the week. This show is amazing, don't miss it! After the show we still had some time before dinner and DH and DS wanted to visit Innoventions, so they headed over there while DD and I visited the Kidcot stations in China, Norway, Mexico and UK. We visited the Kidcot station in Canada after we checked in for dinner, but weren't there long as we were called in to the restaurant 5 minutes later. Dinner was delicious, I have a dining review on the dining plan board here.

When we finished dinner, we walked over to Future World as DH and DS wanted to ride MS (again!) and DD and I visited the shop there (again!). We then walked round WS lagoon to Japan and visited the shop there (DD is a shopping fanatic!) while we waited for Illuminations. Great show, but very loud - DD and DS had to cover their ears! We walked back to BWV via the IG when the show finished. A great day, but boy were we tired!

Coming next - our last day. AK and EE at last!