She's Adding All The Extras, a January 2022 Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge Split Stay Trip Report (Updated 4/24)

[GrandCalifornian]

We just got back from another wonderful 9 night / 10 day trip to Disney World, and we can’t wait to share it.

We packed in so much good food and fun this trip. We stayed at two different resorts, took two fireworks cruises, rode a new ride, bought some art, and even rode in a limo!

Oh and Paul got a year older too.


We definitely had some fun extras this time, including being there on my birthday.

Before we get too far into telling about the trip, we’ll introduce ourselves.

I'm Melissa, Mom to our two great kiddos and to our three dogs.


My family owns an elevator business and this year will be my 20th year with the company... I won't tell you how old that makes me but it's not as old as Paul. I really love our trips to Disneyworld and for me they are my actual vacation of the year.

I’m Paul, a now 42 year old Dad, Engineer, aspiring Elevator Technician, and taker of too many pictures.


My favorite park is Epcot, my favorite ride is Test Track, and my favorite character is Mater. Cars is my favorite movie ever, and the Wilderness Lodge is probably my favorite place.

This is Allison, the "She" in all of our trip reports. Mainly because we started all of this back when the world revolved around her. Now she just thinks it does.


She's 12 now and my goodness getting older so fast. She's got her own phone now and really enjoyed a little freedom in some of the gift shops so she could wander around and browse by herself.

This is Marshall, our active boy who is growing up fast and loves Disney just as much as the rest of us.

He also loves cars, trains, planes, and anything that goes. He is super outgoing and truly enjoys meeting people and talking to them at Disney, or anywhere else for that matter. This trip he was really looking forward to riding the Ratatouille ride (and spoiler alert, we got to do it). He loves Cars too, and is also really fond of Legos.

Our good friends and DVC co-conspirators Jon and Brandy joined us once again for this trip.


For this trip, we did something new and started off by staying at a different resort. We spent the first four nights of our trip in a two bedroom at Beach Club Villas. We often visit this resort but had never stayed here before and we were looking forward to staying so close to our favorite park and getting to all experience Stormalong Bay.


Allie and I stayed at Yacht Club in May and were really excited to show the boys the advantages of staying on this side of the world.
Can I plug that trip report here?

Sure! Our old trip reports are all linked on the next post, and in our signature. They might fill in some details if you are new to our reports.

The last five nights of the trip were back “home” at Wilderness Lodge, with a two bedroom Villa at Copper Creek which is our home DVC resort.


I don't think we're ready as a group to do a trip and not stay at Wilderness Lodge, it really is like coming home for us.

It was where we honeymooned in 2007 and is our favorite, but getting to experience another location this time was fun too.

For the When of the trip we were there from January 20th through the 29th. We got to experience Festival of the Arts and get a second or third trip on our AP's. It was also perfect timing for Paul's birthday to fall smack in the middle of the trip which was super fun.

It worked out perfectly, but did mean that we had another cold weather trip. It still seems strange to wear jackets and long pants at Disney World.

Let's call it a freezing weather trip. For my California butt it was really cold.

It was definitely colder than home while we were there, and while we agree and acknowledge that it isn’t as cold as other parts of the country, we don’t voluntarily go hang out in those places…

Lol, no we don't. I don't do snow and dislike being cold.

We still had a great time, and want to share all the neat extras that made the trip exceptional. So we invite you to join in, follow along, and at least check out the pictures as we relive our trip

Bundle up! Let's go!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Arriving in Style
Morning Exploring and Magic Kingdom
Shopping and Splashing into the Evening
Birthday Morning
My Favorite Steak for Lunch
Epcot Area Afternoon (and shoe DISASTER Averted)
Harmonious Fireworks Cruise
Brunch and a Morning at Disney Springs
Resort and Epcot Evening (and Dessert!)
Balloons, Hollywood Studios and The Brown Derby
Coming Home to The Lodge and Fireworks Cruise Two
First WL Morning and a Damp Animal Kingdom
Back to the Lodge and then the Monorail Loop
Morning of Rides at Magic Kingdom
Our Carriage Awaits, as does a Steak Dinner
Early Epcot, The DVC Lounge, and Great Mexican Food
Animal Park Hop, Yak and Yeti, and Foggy Fireworks
Early-ish Epcot, Acquiring Art, and Dining IN Mexico
Acquiring a Pew Pew and More Art
Last minute ride morning at MK
Heading Home, first to WL and then to CA


Prior Reports:
She's free before she's three, touring the world with a toddler: September 2012 Trip Report
She turned 3, but the DDP's Free, a WL Bounceback PTR: September 2013
She's a Princess, a Superhero, and a Rockstar -a September 2013 Trip Report
She's Turning Five at Disney World - a September 2014 PTR
She's Five at Riverside - September 2014 Trip Report
She's Going to Show Him The World - September 2016 PTR
She's a Big Sister and an Expedition Leader: A September 2016 TR
She's Sleeping on the Top Bunk: An August 2017 WL TR with a Party of 10
She's Staying DVC, a September 2018 PTR
She's On Top of The World, a September 2018 TR at Copper Creek Villas and Cabins
She's Going Back to Back, a September 2019 and February 2020 PTR
She Dodged a Hurricane, Skipped School, and Adopted a Porg, A September 2019 TR
She's a Disney Adult and Feeling Artsy, a February 2020 TR
She's Masking Up and Taking on The World, a Jan 2021 PTR
She's Collecting Castles and Staying at Copper Creek, a Jan 2021 TR
She's Surprised to be back to Disney World, a May 2021 Yacht Club Girl's Trip

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Yay!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Yay!

Welcome! You're first for this one, and now we have our first actual update ready to post. Enjoy!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On our arrival day, we set the alarm and got up at 2 AM. We loaded our suitcases in the car and woke up the kids, then left home at 2:35.


It felt so early because it was.

The drive in to LAX wasn't bad though and we managed to find parking pretty close to the elevator in the parking structure at the airport.


It was early, but we all liked this schedule since it would get us to Orlando early without having to stay up all night taking a red eye.

Yeah that was an experiment that didn't go so well.

It worked, but this is better for us. We were at the airport by 3:40 AM, and had plenty of time to drop our bags and walk up to the TSA Pre line. The hardest part was having Marshall give his full name to the lady at 4 in the morning.

Oh man he was just overwhelmed with the airport experience this year. He was afraid of the escalator too and then when she asked for his name it was just too much.

Although I can't blame him I can barely remember my name at 4 in the morning.

We had no problems with the bag check and walked right to our gate. Almost everything was closed, but Starbucks had a line. I went in search of Coke, but we had to settle for Diet Pepsi.


It wasn't too bad though.

The wait wasn't bad, and we started boarding at 5:50 AM. It took a long time because people were slow and had a hard time figuring out where their seats were.


This was the first flight we've all been on that we didn't have paper boarding passes so when we got on the plane I took the lead and scanned all the passes on my phone.

It seemed to work really nicely... Once almost everybody was on the plane they made an announcement that a gate agent was on board the plane and had to verify a passenger, so please make room for them to get to the back of the plane.

I was busy getting the kids settled when the guy came up and asked ME for my name and ID... Geeze I don't know what happened but somehow I think my pass may have not scanned.
Did you know you married a suspicious person?


Yeah, you looked a little shifty... Once they verified she was actually herself, we were cleared to push back from the gate and were on our way. I was excited to see that the WiFi was onlyn$5 for the whole flight, and even more excited that it was really fast. I am really impressed with Delta in this aspect. It reallyhelped the flight go quickly for me.

It was a great smooth flight, the kids behaved themselves. Allie worked on math homework, I dug wayy back to remember how the distributive property worked.


Since she is back in regular school, we had independent study work to do this time, but she was pretty good about it, and did a bunch on the plane. We landed at 1:50 and got to the gate at 1:56. I got a text from our driver Emille who said he was there and waiting for us. That never happened from Magical Express.

For sure not! The kids still didn't know or hadn't figured out that we weren't taking the normal bus. I'm not sure how they missed the memo that there is no more Magical Express.


At the bottom of the excalators Emille was there holding an iPad with our name on it, and the kids thought that was pretty cool. He helped us go grab our bags, and took time to help answer questions from other travelers in the airport as well. He was a very nice and helpful guy.


Then we went outside to the waiting car...


The kids were super excited when he showed them our black Lincoln limo. It was the first limo ride for both of them, and was just perfect.


It was such a fun way to start the trip. Marshall loved it so much multiple times throught the trip he said that the limo ride was the best part.
We were all kinda missing the Magical Epress video thought so Allie brought it up on her phone so we would feel like we were on vacation.


It was a really quick ride to the hotel, and we made a big entrance at the port cochiere. We were greeted by a bellman who took our bags, and a nice cast member with an ipad arrived to check us in.



Man we felt like we were somebody.

Since our room was not ready yet, they went ahead and programmed our Magic Bands so they would all work when the room was ready, which required a trip to the front desk since the ipad wasn't working.


After that we realized we were all hungry, so we headed for the Beach Club Marketplace to get some lunch.


Paul and I both got Chili dogs, Allison got Bacon Mac and cheese, and Marsh got kids Mac and Cheese. There was a miscommunication about how many deserts to order so I ordered 3.
We got the Minnie cupcake, a Cheesecake, and an Oreo something.

At that point we were all so hungry that multiple desserts sounded great, and they were all good. My least favorite was the Oreo mousse cup, since it made the Oreos soggy, but we still ate most of it. The carmel cheesecake was pretty good, but my favorite was the Minnie cupcake.




I think I liked the oreo dessert best, it was so yummy.

For me the real star of the meal was the chili dog, which was big and really good. I'm surprised we didn't wind up having another one.


We were busy.

After we fought off the Hangry's we went off on an adventure around the resort.

Melissa and Allie showed us around, taking us over to the Yacht Club side to show us their room location from the May trip, and the general layout of the resort and pools.

We played tour guides, it was fun.


We hung out on the beach until just after 5:00, when we saw that our room was ready. We texted Jon and Brandy and headed up there. They were still on a Mears bus that had made like 5 stops already.

They did not have the best experience with the new Mears Connect bus.

No, their arrival was not even close to what ours was. When they arrived I went down to meet them and led them to the room. It was at the very end of the hallway, just about the longest possible walk of any BC Villas room, with a couple of turns to keep you guessing. It was room number 251.


Once we were all in the room Bell Services brought up our bags and the groceries that we had sent to the resort, and everything made it there quickly.
I ran down and grabbed a chili dog for Jon and Brandy, and after they ate we got ready to walk to Epcot for the first time.

It was the farthest of far down the hallway. It ended up being a quiet room though.


I actually counted the steps, and it was further from the Villas elevator than that elevator is from the Marketplace. Also they don't let you come back in the stairway door at the end of the hall, so I had to walk all the way back to the lobby to get in to the building when I discovered this. It added to my step count for the first day.

Burning off that Minnie cupcake.

Exactly. When we left the room we walked right through the lobby and to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot.


We had an easy entrance walking right through security and into the park. We turned right and started checking out Festival of the Arts booths. It was pretty crowded for a Thursday night, and Remy showed a 110 minute wait.

It was insanely busy. Not the quiet park we were expecting but we were so excited to be there.



We saw that Noah was there, and then chatted with Rob Kaz about the dumbo priont that helped lead to Marshall. He joked that any of the paintings might look good in a new den, or maybe a four car garage...


He's a great guy and we love his work.

Then we got to the Greg McCullogh booth and I bought our first art of the trip, his Tower of Terror print for my new office. It is elevator themed and has about as sinister of a Mickey as you will find.


It really is perfect, I was kind of disappointed that we didn't pick it up last year once I got home. I'm glad we got it and your office is a perfect place for it.

Since we were starting to get hungry, we decided to do something new and try Lotus Blossom Cafe for dinner. (Not Nine Dragons as we had initially written, we just grabbed the QS meal) There was a bit of a line, but it didn't take too long.


We were able to easily find a table for everyone though. I'm not sure where all the people that were in line went.

Yeah, good point! I really liked the orange chicken, which was really good and unique from what you get at national chain Chinese food places. Jon and Brandy were able to substitute the fried rice to go with it for an extra charge, but that'd be my recommendation since it was really good.

The food was great and we had more than enough. Allie really enjoyed the egg rolls. I think it was a hit and somewhere I'd totally eat again.

Yes, it was a perfect first real meal of the trip, and we got to sit and catch up and enjoy the fact that we were all in Epcot.
Next we moved on to Mexico and rode the ride because Marshall had been asking to ride something.


It had a short line, and afterward we did some shopping in there and Allie found a sombrero that was perfectly sized for her Nuimos.

That sombrero looks so dang cute on Donald.


We continued on around World Showcase and looked for the Festival Tervis tumbler, but like other pieces of Figment Merchandise it had already sold out.

I was pretty bummed but I ended up with plenty of new Tervis by the end of the trip so I definitely made up for it.

As we walked by Canada we heard the announcement that Harmonious would start in just 10 minutes.
That was close enough to show time that we decided to find a spot and check it out.

We hadn't seen it yet but some of the reviews that we'd seen were not super positive.

We knew our spot between Canada and the UK wasn't ideal, but we were able to sit which was a plus. Once the show started we were all reminded how neat it is to have Disney fireworks shows back. We were all very impressed, and were really excited to see a show after not having them last year. The equipment in the middle of the lagoon was impressive too, and we all wanted to see it again.



We already had a fireworks cruise planned for Magic Kingdom later in the trip but decided that we should try and see if we could snag one last minute for Harmonious as well.

We walked to our room, and we made it there before 10 PM. We did a little computer work for work back at home, then went to sleep.

Ha, I'd blocked that out.

Check out the start of our first full day in our next update...

 

[DaisyDuck001]

That's a cute sombrero on Donald!

Did you guys end up getting a last-minute reservation for Space 220 on this trip?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Joining in! I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Wow, that sounds like an exhausting first day. I don't think I could go all the way down 2:30 airport flight to fireworks, even with the time change. Good for you!!!

 

[DeeBee3]

Wait, help me out with these time zone transitions...Were you really up in the middle of the night in Cali and then stayed awake all day and late at night in FL? That is some amount of energy! My kids would have passed out somewhere in a corner and I would have joined them!

Love your report so far

 

[rdkeim]

Following! A great start to your trip! My sentimental favorite resort is also WL but I think the BC location would be great too. You got a lot accomplished on Day #1 - anxious to hear how the rest of your trip went!

 

[Isabelle12345]

Following!
I just love that short walk to Epcot from the beach club!!!
Too bad it was so cold, so you didn’t get to enjoy stormalong bay on your first day… hopefully you will get a few warmer days to swim!
Can’t wait to read more!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Following! I’m impressed with your first day as well!!

 

[suse66]

On our arrival day, we set the alarm and got up at 2 AM. We loaded our suitcases in the car and woke up the kids, then left home at 2:35.

Those early starts are crazy!

It worked, but this is better for us. We were at the airport by 3:40 AM, and had plenty of time to drop our bags and walk u to the TSA Pre line. The hardest part was having Marshall give his full name to the lady at 4 in the morning.

Poor buddy!

It seemed to work really nicely... Once almost everybody was on the plane they made an announcement that a gate agent was on board the plane and had to verify a passenger, so please make room for them to get to the back of the plane.

Oh dear!

Yeah, you looked a little shifty... Once they verified she was actually herself, we were cleared to push back from the gate and were on our way. I was excited to see that the WiFi was onlyn$5 for the whole flight, and even more excited that it was really fast. I am really impressed with Delta in this aspect. It reallyhelped the flight go quickly for me.

Wifi makes all the difference on a long flight!

Then we went outside to the waiting car...

Beautiful!

We were all kinda missing the Magical Epress video thought so Allie brought it up on her phone so we would feel like we were on vacation.

Cute!

I think I liked the oreo dessert best, it was so yummy.

Desserts look great, especially the Minnie cupcake!

No, their arrival was not even close to what ours was. When they arrived I went down to meet them and led them to the room. It was at the very end of the hallway, just about the longest possible walk of any BC Villas room, with a couple of turns to keep you guessing. It was room number 251.

Beach Ckub abd Yacht Club hallways are the longest ever!

Since we were starting to get hungry, we decided to do something new and try Nine Dragons for dinner. There was a bit of a line, but it didn't take too long.

Glad to hear it was good!

Next we moved on to Mexico and rode the ride because Marshall had been asking to ride something.

Love "It's a Small Mexico".

We knew our spot between Canada and the UK wasn't ideal, but we were able to sit which was a plus. Once the show started we were all reminded how neat it is to have Disney fireworks shows back. We were all very impressed, and were really excited to see a show after not having them last year. The equipment in the middle of the lagoon was impressive too, and we all wanted to see it again.

I am reserving judgement until I see it in person. I didn't get the best impression online. Glad you guys loved it!

 

[DLo]

Hopping over from the PTR. Can’t wait to read the rest. I love the EPCOT area resorts but pretty sure I am going with WL trip. Have it booked for Sept .

 

[Hubie]

Joining in!

 

[Disney102015]

Following along, love your TRs! I am also impressed how long you all managed to stay awake! Now you’ve got us thinking about a limo for our next trip.

 

[Wayland10]

Following!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

That's a cute sombrero on Donald!

Did you guys end up getting a last-minute reservation for Space 220 on this trip?

We tried and looked it up a few times but did not wind up getting it. It was generally so crowded it was hard to get any ADR late, or even a QS meal without a long wait.

Joining in! I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Wow, that sounds like an exhausting first day. I don't think I could go all the way down 2:30 airport flight to fireworks, even with the time change. Good for you!!!

The time change helped us out, since it was like getting up at 5 on the East coast. We also had a big long break on the plane, and were super excited to be at Disney World. It wasn’t that bad.

Wait, help me out with these time zone transitions...Were you really up in the middle of the night in Cali and then stayed awake all day and late at night in FL? That is some amount of energy! My kids would have passed out somewhere in a corner and I would have joined them!

Love your report so far

Lol, thanks. We found it to be much easier than the time we got up and worked all day at home then got a late red eye flight to Florida, arriving in the morning there. That left us pretty tired and we didn’t make fireworks in the park that night. We didn’t plan on it this time, but they were just outside our hotel, so we took advantage of it.

Following! A great start to your trip! My sentimental favorite resort is also WL but I think the BC location would be great too. You got a lot accomplished on Day #1 - anxious to hear how the rest of your trip went!

Thanks for joining in. It was a nice start and is just the beginning. WL is and always will be our favorite, but getting to stay at BC was great. Overall I’d saw we liked it more than we thought we would.

Following!
I just love that short walk to Epcot from the beach club!!!
Too bad it was so cold, so you didn’t get to enjoy stormalong bay on your first day… hopefully you will get a few warmer days to swim!
Can’t wait to read more!

Yeah, we got to walk around the pool but didn’t feel the need to swim that day. It is coming soon though because the forecast was for colder weather, and we wanted to make sure we got to try it.

Following! I’m impressed with your first day as well!!

Welcome and thanks. We’ll have more pictures, and better ones once we get out the good camera and start to carry it. The next day starts early and is a full one. We’re glad you’re here to read about it.

Those early starts are crazy!
Poor buddy!

Aww, we were all excited enough that it was worth it.

Wifi makes all the difference on a long flight!

I am a big fan, and it still fascinates me that it works so well.

Desserts look great, especially the Minnie cupcake!

They were all great, and it was a fun start to the trip.

Beach Club abd Yacht Club hallways are the longest ever!

We thought AKL had the record, but here there were multiple long hallways that connected to each other.

Glad to hear it was good!

We had heard mixed reviews but thought it was perfect for this meal.

Love "It's a Small Mexico".

Yes! Allie used to call it “The three Mousecameros” Either way it is a favorite.

I am reserving judgement until I see it in person. I didn't get the best impression online. Glad you guys loved it!

We really did love it. I don’t know how much was just because we missed fireworks last year, but overall it is an impressive show with water, light and a bunch of pyrotechnics.

Hopping over from the PTR. Can’t wait to read the rest. I love the EPCOT area resorts but pretty sure I am going with WL trip. Have it booked for Sept .

Welcome, we are glad you made it here. We absolutely love WL in September, and will definitely do it again sometime.

Joining in!

Welcome! We hope you enjoy it.

Following along, love your TRs! I am also impressed how long you all managed to stay awake! Now you’ve got us thinking about a limo for our next trip.

Thanks so much! The limo was definitely over the top, but we are glad we did it. It was about $230, which was $100 more than an SUV would have been, but the kids really loved it. We thought it was pretty neat too, and Emile was excellent. The company we used was Black Diamond Transportation, and we highly recommend them. The SUV on the way home was nice too.

Following!

Welcome! Thanks for joining in. We will get new updates up as soon as we can.

 

[jrmint427]

Joining in, looks like a great travel day and a nice way to arrive in style! We loved staying at Wilderness Lodge, looking forward to reaching more about Beach Club.

 

[AliceNDinah]

Great report so far! You definitely make me want that limo for our arrival in August at the Beach Club. Can you say one more time what company you used? Your driver looks very nice too. Also, we were in "The World" last June and specifically went over to WL to try an orange gummy creamsicle cupcake you'd written about in a previous report. Yes, you didn't lie, it was fabulous. That Minnie cupcake looks good too, this time around. Thank you for taking us along your journey, excited to read more!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm really looking forward to hearing about your trip. The limo looks very elegant and Marshall loved it, so it was a big success. We arrived at Yacht Club today and had a great experience with Mears Connect. There were five people on our bus and it only stopped at Yacht Club and Beach Club. We are going to have cool weather this week, too, but not as cold as your trip was.

I love the artwork for your office.