DVCSunDevil
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2020
We just got back yesterday from our first split stay. I will say that I was using this trip as somewhat of a "barometer" to gauge if the Disney magic is diminishing. Over the last year I have read a plethora of negative comments on here regarding DVC and it got in my head. I was debating if it was time to sell. Let me tell you, you still feel the magic when you are there. There was a lot of good/magical experiences and only minimal bad experiences:
- We stayed at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace the first three nights. This is the first time we stayed at a non-Disney resort. Maybe we are just spoiled for staying "in the bubble" for every trip up until now, but I will NEVER stay in a non-Disney resort again. We only stayed here because we needed to bank some points to next year for a bigger trip we are planning, and I was able to pay for the rooms with Hilton points. The hotel is extremely dated and needs some major renovations. The room was extremely small, too. The main benefits of the hotel are its proximity to Disney Springs and its lazy river.
- We didn't do any parks during this first part of the trip, but we had a great time in Disney Springs. We did dinner at Boathouse, which was great as always. We also had Homecomin' (brunch) for the first time and it was amazing!! We had to "wing it" for a couple meals at Disney Springs and we did the 4 Rivers Taco Truck for one and Splittsville for the other. All four of us got the taco cone at 4 Rivers and we all loved it. Splittsville was good, but was about what you would expect. My girls always wanted to try Gideon's, so one morning we got there early and got cookies and cake for breakfast...it was delicious! The service we received at every dining location was AMAZING. The Disney magic is alive and well with every server we encountered. We also took a break during one of our pool days and popped over to Port Orleans for some beignets. It was a nice, relaxing few days to shop and eat in the Disney Springs area.
- We stayed at Polynesian for nights 4-5, and it felt GREAT to get into the Disney bubble! The transfer from Hilton to Poly wasn't as smooth as transferring resorts inside the bubble, but we made it work and were lucky enough to get a great and helpful driver. We had reservations for breakfast at Kona Cafe and it was OK...I wish I would have gotten Tonga Toast instead of my boring eggs (but that one is on me). We brought bathing suits in our backpacks and finished our breakfast right before the pool opened...perfect timing!! We spent the day at the pool while gazing at the castle in MK. It was really cool! Our room was ready at 10:30am so I went back to the room to have the luggage delivered. We had a lake view room on the first floor and we had a direct view of the castle in MK...completely magical! We spent the rest of the day by the pool until it was time for our Ohana dinner reservations. Ohana didn't disappoint. It was incredible. The one thing that was slightly annoying was how quickly they brought out each "course". It was almost like they were trying to get you out of there as quickly as possible. Anyway, it was good and our server was awesome. We finished the night by watching the MK fireworks from the beach. Ahhh, the magic of Disney
- The next day was our first park day (MK and Epcot). We got to MK for rope drop and did Genie+ to try and maximize our rides. We were able to ride every ride we wanted except for Thunder Mountain. We are novices to Genie+ and looking back we should have spent more time understanding the nuances of how it works and how to maximize it. We were able to ride 4 rides utilizing Genie+, so I guess that is good. But we were talking to other people who had really good strategies and were able to get more rides out of it. We popped over to Steakhouse 71 for dinner and it was really good. Again, the service was amazing. We went back to MK and rode more rides until around 7:15pm, at which time we settled into a spot to watch the fireworks. The fireworks show was INCREDIBLE. Really, really good. Because Epcot had it's extended hours from 9:00-11:00pm for deluxe resort guests on this night, we bolted immediately after the fireworks and went to Epcot so we could try to ride Remy. We hustled and made incredible time. I wanted to get to the Remy line before the ending of Harmonious, which we were able to accomplish with 5 minutes to spare. It only took us 20 minutes to get through the line. The ride was really good, although I don't think I would ever wait in a 90-120 minute line to ride it. By the time we got off the ride the line was already 90 minutes long...all the other deluxe resort guests who were either just getting to the park or who were watching Harmonious were now back in line. We had a couple cocktails and then hit Soarin (5 minute line) on the way out of the park before heading back to Poly. A long but very good day!
- We transferred over to Beach Club for the final two nights of our trip. The transfer of bags was extremely easy! We slept in a little bit because it was an Epcot day and we had already hit Remy the night before. We checked out of Poly and headed straight to Epcot around 10:00. We got our Epcot shopping done when we got there, which was a great strategy because the stores weren't busy at all yet. We got done shopping and headed over to Beaches and Cream for lunch reservations. When we got to Beach Club I checked with the front desk and they said our room was being cleaned, and while we were eating lunch I got the text saying our room was ready. Wow...perfect timing!! The lunch was great, and then we headed to our room to check it out. It wasn't the area I had requested, but that's ok. We had a peaceful view of the "secret pathway" (my youngest daughter's description) that many people take when going back to the villas from Epcot. We headed back to Epcot and my girls (mid teens) went off to explore and ride a ride while my wife and I did a mini version of "drinking around the world"...we ended up getting stuck in Mexico because the margarita's were so good. We had dinner at San Angel Inn and it was absolutely delicious. I always wanted to eat there because I love the vibe inside the aztec ruin. After dinner our girls rode another ride and then we headed back to Beach Club.
- The final full day was a Hollywood Studios day. We didn't do rope drop, but still got there early. We hammered out a couple rides (Aerosmith and Toy Story) before our Sci-Fi lunch reservations. We rode one more ride after lunch then headed to Epcot for a little "cocktail" break. We took the Skyliner for the first time to try it out, mostly since we just missed the boat back to BC. Skyliner was ok, but none of us were big fans. It kept stopping and took a long time, although the view is pretty cool. After a couple hours in Epcot, we headed back to HS to hit a couple more rides and finish some last minute shopping. The girls were able to ride Aerosmith two more times (15 minute line) just before closing. Then it was back to BC to pack up. Our flights left the following morning at 8:00am, so we had to get some sleep before that 4:30am alarm.
It was another great trip! Nickel and diming aside, we still really love WDW. So much so that I was searching DVC resales last night...until my wife reminded me that we don't have the time to do more stays than we currently can do with our 200 point contract. And the entertainment seems to be almost back to pre-covid levels...the entertainers at Epcot seemed to all be back and the Boardwalk was bustling again. I am just going to try to tune out the negativity going forward.
We all agreed that we don't want to do another three resort split stay...it's just too much. We wouldn't mind a two resort split stay broken up between 3 nights and 4 nights, as long as they were both DVC resorts. We noticed the cast members, particularly in the full service restaurants and shops, were really happy and outgoing. However, some of the cast members in the parks (rides especially) seemed to have major attitudes. One CM at Philharmagic was mocking guests who "don't know how to follow instructions on where to sit". That was somewhat disappointing, but whatever. We also noticed the cleanliness/appearance of parts of the resorts and parks seems to have taken a slight hit, and I am guessing it is probably because of staffing issues. Lord knows Disney has the $$ (did you see their last quarterly report, lol) to take care of these things. Hopefully the issues will improve once staffing eventually gets up to normal. The weather was really warm when we were there, which was perfect for our pool days! Unfortunately, now it back to snow and 30 degrees...booooooo!!! Until next time, Disney
- We stayed at the Hilton Lake Buena Vista Palace the first three nights. This is the first time we stayed at a non-Disney resort. Maybe we are just spoiled for staying "in the bubble" for every trip up until now, but I will NEVER stay in a non-Disney resort again. We only stayed here because we needed to bank some points to next year for a bigger trip we are planning, and I was able to pay for the rooms with Hilton points. The hotel is extremely dated and needs some major renovations. The room was extremely small, too. The main benefits of the hotel are its proximity to Disney Springs and its lazy river.
- We didn't do any parks during this first part of the trip, but we had a great time in Disney Springs. We did dinner at Boathouse, which was great as always. We also had Homecomin' (brunch) for the first time and it was amazing!! We had to "wing it" for a couple meals at Disney Springs and we did the 4 Rivers Taco Truck for one and Splittsville for the other. All four of us got the taco cone at 4 Rivers and we all loved it. Splittsville was good, but was about what you would expect. My girls always wanted to try Gideon's, so one morning we got there early and got cookies and cake for breakfast...it was delicious! The service we received at every dining location was AMAZING. The Disney magic is alive and well with every server we encountered. We also took a break during one of our pool days and popped over to Port Orleans for some beignets. It was a nice, relaxing few days to shop and eat in the Disney Springs area.
- We stayed at Polynesian for nights 4-5, and it felt GREAT to get into the Disney bubble! The transfer from Hilton to Poly wasn't as smooth as transferring resorts inside the bubble, but we made it work and were lucky enough to get a great and helpful driver. We had reservations for breakfast at Kona Cafe and it was OK...I wish I would have gotten Tonga Toast instead of my boring eggs (but that one is on me). We brought bathing suits in our backpacks and finished our breakfast right before the pool opened...perfect timing!! We spent the day at the pool while gazing at the castle in MK. It was really cool! Our room was ready at 10:30am so I went back to the room to have the luggage delivered. We had a lake view room on the first floor and we had a direct view of the castle in MK...completely magical! We spent the rest of the day by the pool until it was time for our Ohana dinner reservations. Ohana didn't disappoint. It was incredible. The one thing that was slightly annoying was how quickly they brought out each "course". It was almost like they were trying to get you out of there as quickly as possible. Anyway, it was good and our server was awesome. We finished the night by watching the MK fireworks from the beach. Ahhh, the magic of Disney
- The next day was our first park day (MK and Epcot). We got to MK for rope drop and did Genie+ to try and maximize our rides. We were able to ride every ride we wanted except for Thunder Mountain. We are novices to Genie+ and looking back we should have spent more time understanding the nuances of how it works and how to maximize it. We were able to ride 4 rides utilizing Genie+, so I guess that is good. But we were talking to other people who had really good strategies and were able to get more rides out of it. We popped over to Steakhouse 71 for dinner and it was really good. Again, the service was amazing. We went back to MK and rode more rides until around 7:15pm, at which time we settled into a spot to watch the fireworks. The fireworks show was INCREDIBLE. Really, really good. Because Epcot had it's extended hours from 9:00-11:00pm for deluxe resort guests on this night, we bolted immediately after the fireworks and went to Epcot so we could try to ride Remy. We hustled and made incredible time. I wanted to get to the Remy line before the ending of Harmonious, which we were able to accomplish with 5 minutes to spare. It only took us 20 minutes to get through the line. The ride was really good, although I don't think I would ever wait in a 90-120 minute line to ride it. By the time we got off the ride the line was already 90 minutes long...all the other deluxe resort guests who were either just getting to the park or who were watching Harmonious were now back in line. We had a couple cocktails and then hit Soarin (5 minute line) on the way out of the park before heading back to Poly. A long but very good day!
- We transferred over to Beach Club for the final two nights of our trip. The transfer of bags was extremely easy! We slept in a little bit because it was an Epcot day and we had already hit Remy the night before. We checked out of Poly and headed straight to Epcot around 10:00. We got our Epcot shopping done when we got there, which was a great strategy because the stores weren't busy at all yet. We got done shopping and headed over to Beaches and Cream for lunch reservations. When we got to Beach Club I checked with the front desk and they said our room was being cleaned, and while we were eating lunch I got the text saying our room was ready. Wow...perfect timing!! The lunch was great, and then we headed to our room to check it out. It wasn't the area I had requested, but that's ok. We had a peaceful view of the "secret pathway" (my youngest daughter's description) that many people take when going back to the villas from Epcot. We headed back to Epcot and my girls (mid teens) went off to explore and ride a ride while my wife and I did a mini version of "drinking around the world"...we ended up getting stuck in Mexico because the margarita's were so good. We had dinner at San Angel Inn and it was absolutely delicious. I always wanted to eat there because I love the vibe inside the aztec ruin. After dinner our girls rode another ride and then we headed back to Beach Club.
- The final full day was a Hollywood Studios day. We didn't do rope drop, but still got there early. We hammered out a couple rides (Aerosmith and Toy Story) before our Sci-Fi lunch reservations. We rode one more ride after lunch then headed to Epcot for a little "cocktail" break. We took the Skyliner for the first time to try it out, mostly since we just missed the boat back to BC. Skyliner was ok, but none of us were big fans. It kept stopping and took a long time, although the view is pretty cool. After a couple hours in Epcot, we headed back to HS to hit a couple more rides and finish some last minute shopping. The girls were able to ride Aerosmith two more times (15 minute line) just before closing. Then it was back to BC to pack up. Our flights left the following morning at 8:00am, so we had to get some sleep before that 4:30am alarm.
It was another great trip! Nickel and diming aside, we still really love WDW. So much so that I was searching DVC resales last night...until my wife reminded me that we don't have the time to do more stays than we currently can do with our 200 point contract. And the entertainment seems to be almost back to pre-covid levels...the entertainers at Epcot seemed to all be back and the Boardwalk was bustling again. I am just going to try to tune out the negativity going forward.
We all agreed that we don't want to do another three resort split stay...it's just too much. We wouldn't mind a two resort split stay broken up between 3 nights and 4 nights, as long as they were both DVC resorts. We noticed the cast members, particularly in the full service restaurants and shops, were really happy and outgoing. However, some of the cast members in the parks (rides especially) seemed to have major attitudes. One CM at Philharmagic was mocking guests who "don't know how to follow instructions on where to sit". That was somewhat disappointing, but whatever. We also noticed the cleanliness/appearance of parts of the resorts and parks seems to have taken a slight hit, and I am guessing it is probably because of staffing issues. Lord knows Disney has the $$ (did you see their last quarterly report, lol) to take care of these things. Hopefully the issues will improve once staffing eventually gets up to normal. The weather was really warm when we were there, which was perfect for our pool days! Unfortunately, now it back to snow and 30 degrees...booooooo!!! Until next time, Disney
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