She's Staying DVC, a September 2018 PTR

[Wood Nymph]

I would be very excited to stay in a dedicated 2 br villa at Copper Creek. They look gorgeous and the villas are such nice places to stay. I know you will love it. And then in the future you can book a few nights at the Beach Club villas.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I would be very excited to stay in a dedicated 2 br villa at Copper Creek. They look gorgeous and the villas are such nice places to stay. I know you will love it. And then in the future you can book a few nights at the Beach Club villas.

We are super excited. WL is all of our favorite, and we always look forward to going there, but this trip will be extra special. The cabin is a “bucket list” opportunity, and will be the nicest room we’ve ever stayed in, so that should be neat.

We totally agree that Beach Club would make for a perfect split resort. We always enjoy visiting there, and being able to walk to Epcot would be great since it is our favorite park.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

We have been having fun this week looking back on what we were doing one year ago when we were at Disney World. We had an awesome trip, and hope to repeat lots of the fun we had.

Last year has to be one of my favorite trips. They are all good but that one was extra good.

A favorite memory from the trip is that one year ago today we became DVC Members!

That alone made it an epic trip.

Yeah, probably life changing!

It's pretty neat to be able to celebrate our first year of being members. Also crazy we haven't yet been to Disney in that year but we'll fix that in just a couple weeks!

It is interesting that we have been members for a year and not stayed yet, but this was our plan, and allowed us to have the extra points for a Cabin this year.

Still super excited about the cabin. It is going to be awesome.

We're really looking forward to the DVC member perks for this trip too. We are going to try to visit the Top of The WOrld Lounge at least one night, and will definitely frequent the member lounge at Epcot. (We are suckers for free Diet Coke!)

I wonder if the mickey lights up purple still for DVC members at the Magic Kingdom entrance. Allie was pretty upset hers didn't do that last year.

I'm afraid it still won't, since she's not listed as a DVC member, but we are. We might have to try to distract her from that.
The 20% discount on Merchandise is also something that I am sure we will put to good use.

For sure! Also restaurant discounts. This is our first trip not on the dining plan. I'm hoping Paul will still enjoy the dining part of our trip having to pay for everything out of pocket.

Yes, getting 10% at every Table Service meal will definitely help. So will the many gift cards we have been acquiring from Target for the trip. Our plan is to room charge the meals, then pay off the balance every few days with gift cards.

We were talking with another Mom in Allie's Dance class and heard that they just got back from a Disney trip. They purchased DVC, and had a great split stay between BLT and AKL. They had a Savannah View room, which really sounded great.

So we did some number crunching for a possible Lodge split with a Savannah view room for next year. You'll have to stay tuned for that one but yes we're already planning for 2019.

Being me, I looked up the point cost and we were pleasantly surprised to find that AKL Savannah view rooms are very similar in points cost to Copper Creek. The 1 bedrooms are identical, and the 2 bedrooms are just slightly more. Of course we wouldn't have our 11 month booking window, so we'd have to hope to get in at the 7 month mark, but if we went during a quiet time of year, and went with a Kidani dedicated 2 bedroom (so that we weren't affected by high studio demand) we might be able to pull it off. Thus begins our 2019 planning. We mentioned the possibility to Jon and Brandy and they are all for it, so it appears a plan is coming together. Perhaps we'll discuss it more while sitting in the cabin...

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Hey, planning upcoming trips are half the fun!!!!

 

[shairpdrh]

So excited to hear about your cabin stay! It is fun that you have a group to share your travels. We will have just over a year between our DVC purchase and our first stay, too. Can't wait to visit our new "home" resort for the first time as owners.

I hadn't even thought about the purple tap-stile issue for our daughter. She is too young to notice (and she doesn't even have to so the tap-stiles for a few more months), but she will be sad when she gets older and notices!

Planning is such a fun way to live the magic from a distance. I have a document where I put my dream trips and I have thoughts through 2020 and I think 2019 is pretty solid at this point. It is so fun to dream about how we will use our points on future trips. We did a split stay last year and it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. I think it will be even easier as our toddler gets older.

 

[Araminta18]

So fun to read your planning about your stay--I love the style with both of you chiming in. Hope your trip is wonderful--certainly sounds like it will be!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I think that Marshall was a pretty good Disney traveler for your last trip. Except for his crash at Geyser Point, he seemed to have fun.

I love the DVC tote bag. It is very cute. That is nice that you get a 10% discount at all the table service restaurants. That will come in handy. We used Disney gift cards for our trip with the family last month. I had bought enough gift cards to pay off two rooms and pay for most of the meals. The 5% Target savings plus our 20% Tables in Wonderland discount really helped with costs. But then on the last night of our trip I had forgotten to go down to the front desk to pay off the balance. Oh well, now I have almost $400 left in gift cards for our trip next month.

I'm going to have to watch for DVC members when we go through the tap posts at MK. I never knew that the Mickey heads turned purple for DVC members. That is a nice little perk. It seems like Disney has tried a little harder to "appreciate" the DVC members. The Epcot lounge is a nice addition to the benefits they get.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Hey, planning upcoming trips are half the fun!!!!

Absolutely! We love the planning almost as much the trips themselves. Well, not quite, but it is a good way of passing the time between trips.

So excited to hear about your cabin stay! It is fun that you have a group to share your travels. We will have just over a year between our DVC purchase and our first stay, too. Can't wait to visit our new "home" resort for the first time as owners.

I hadn't even thought about the purple tap-stile issue for our daughter. She is too young to notice (and she doesn't even have to so the tap-stiles for a few more months), but she will be sad when she gets older and notices!

Planning is such a fun way to live the magic from a distance. I have a document where I put my dream trips and I have thoughts through 2020 and I think 2019 is pretty solid at this point. It is so fun to dream about how we will use our points on future trips. We did a split stay last year and it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. I think it will be even easier as our toddler gets older.

We really do feel that planning is a big part of the fun. If we did a trip on shorter notice there’s so much that we would miss out on. We are already working on picking our 2019 ADRs too.

Your trip should be great with your daughter being under three. We loved bringing our daughter for her first trip at that age. Marshall will be just a couple of months younger this time.

We love sharing our Disney planning with our friends. They heard about our first few trips and thought it sounded like fun. Now they are sharing DVC with us. Having Grandma and Grandpa join in is fun too.

We can’t wait for our first visit “home”, and we know you know the exact feeling. Have a great first trip.

So fun to read your planning about your stay--I love the style with both of you chiming in. Hope your trip is wonderful--certainly sounds like it will be!

Thanks! We both like to talk, so it works out there share our conversations.
We can’t wait to share the details of this trip.

I think that Marshall was a pretty good Disney traveler for your last trip. Except for his crash at Geyser Point, he seemed to have fun.

I love the DVC tote bag. It is very cute. That is nice that you get a 10% discount at all the table service restaurants. That will come in handy. We used Disney gift cards for our trip with the family last month. I had bought enough gift cards to pay off two rooms and pay for most of the meals. The 5% Target savings plus our 20% Tables in Wonderland discount really helped with costs. But then on the last night of our trip I had forgotten to go down to the front desk to pay off the balance. Oh well, now I have almost $400 left in gift cards for our trip next month.

I'm going to have to watch for DVC members when we go through the tap posts at MK. I never knew that the Mickey heads turned purple for DVC members. That is a nice little perk. It seems like Disney has tried a little harder to "appreciate" the DVC members. The Epcot lounge is a nice addition to the benefits they get.

Marshall did have a ball during both of his trips to WDW. Allie hadn’t even been by the time she was this age, and he will have been three times. Lucky kid.

Your story about the gift cards is a good warning. We’ll make sure to make our payment well before the last day in each room. At least you have another trip coming up, and a good start at spending money. You gotta love the Target 5%. We did our AP upgrade with a bunch of $50 gift cards a few years ago because that’s all we could get at our Target.

I think the electronic turnstiles at all the parks are supposed to light up purple for DVC members. There have been lots of reports of it being inconsistent though.

I think they do a good job of having perks for DVC members. The discounts are pretty similar to APs, but that’s still pretty good. We will try out the lounges and see what they are like.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Today is our single digit day in our countdown!

Yay, it is getting close. This year it feels like the time before the trip is really dragging.

It does, and I'm not sure why. I think maybe it is because we have more time than usual to get ready.

Yeah, usually we have a river trip or something a couple of weekends before. This time we stayed home and got the house ready.

We did a good job though, and we have almost everything packed already.

Yes, we have never had this much packed this early. It is also the least amount we've ever tried to pack.

We are planning on only taking two checked bags, since we are all taking fewer clothes this time since we'll have a washer and dryer in the room. The bags are getting pretty full though, with each of them currently over 45 lbs.

With four seats we can take extra carry ons if we need to, but right now it looks like we'll go with two rolling carry-ons.

I like that idea, since we'll have our backpacks and the stroller too, so one having less large object to track will be nice.

Speaking of the airport trip, Melissa found me a cool shirt that I'll wear on the way there:

It was cute, and cheap, so why not.

Besides online shopping, we have still been passing the time with WDW YouTube videos. We have discovered that the dedicated 1 bedroom Copper Creek Villas have the fridge in a different spot, and orient the tub differently than the lockoffs or 2 bedrooms. We've also been checking out views from different room locations, and can't wait to see which room we get.

He's obsessed...

We also have been looking at food ideas (as always) and have discovered that there's a Beef Brisket Breakfast Burrito at Fort Wilderness.

We think Paul needs to go pick up a bunch of those in the morning and bring them back to the room.

I could see that happening, but they might not all make them back. The delivery guy is known to get hungry...

I suppose that's about all for now. We are super excited. We also learned over the weekend that WoodNymph, one of our very first trip report followers, moved up her trip and will be at WL the same time as us. We will definitely try to arrange a DIS meet, since we are pretty much planning on having a resort day on Thursday September 13th.

That'll be fun. She's always one of the first to reply to our posts.

We'll see you there!

 

[Wood Nymph]

You have a habit of posting updates shortly before I get on my commuter train to go home. I catch up with the Dis then.

We are planning to go to MK Thursday morning, Sept 13th and then come back to the WL either before lunch or after. Maybe we will see you at the pool.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

You have a habit of posting updates shortly before I get on my commuter train to go home. I catch up with the Dis then.

We are planning to go to MK Thursday morning, Sept 13th and then come back to the WL either before lunch or after. Maybe we will see you at the pool.

I read this as my train pulled up.

Train time is great for catching up on the DIS.

We are leaving the whole day open on Thursday, except our 5:00 dinner at Trail’s End. I’m sure there will be things we decide to do, but it is nice to not have anywhere we have to be. We are all looking forward to waking up in the cabin and letting that soak in for a bit. Grandma Nancy wants to come use the hot tub and might not leave...

We’ll be posting some pics on the DIS and will send you a message.

 

[dnllmz]

You are so close!

 

[joules12]

So happy to see your PTR and catch up on it -- and looking forward to reading your TR. I really enjoy the dual commentary. How exciting that you'll have your first trip as DVC members! And, WOW, the cabins!!! During our last trip, my husband and I fell in love with Geyser Point and the surrounding area...and we wandered around the cabin area a bit after our time at GP (GORGEOUS!!!).

Niko -- so, so delicious and relaxing!

Wishing you safe and uneventful travels to the east coast!!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

This picture of Allie from WL pretty much sums up our excitement at this point...

You are so close!

Yay!! One week from now we will officially be on vacation! And there’s only 4 more days of work.

So happy to see your PTR and catch up on it -- and looking forward to reading your TR. I really enjoy the dual commentary. How exciting that you'll have your first trip as DVC members! And, WOW, the cabins!!! During our last trip, my husband and I fell in love with Geyser Point and the surrounding area...and we wandered around the cabin area a bit after our time at GP (GORGEOUS!!!).

Niko -- so, so delicious and relaxing!

Wishing you safe and uneventful travels to the east coast!!!

We’re glad that you are following along, and especially glad that you enjoy our slightly different approach.

We are so thrilled with the enhancements to WL like Geyser Point and the Boulder Ridge Cove Pool. We really fell in love too, and it pushed us over the edge into buying DVC there. Now we get to use it and are super excited about that. We will take a bunch of pictures to share.

Thanks for the travel well wishes, and we’ll post a few live updates here and on the Copper Creek and WL FAQ threads during the trip.

 

[Leesha.Monster]

Following along too!

We just got back from a trip to the Poly last week and joined DVC while there! We also bought points at Copper Creek. We’ve only been to WDW twice and both stays were at the Poly, so I’m super excited to read along and see what it’s like at WL!

Plus I’m from CA too! It’s always fun to read about others from CA visiting the Florida side of Disney. I grew up going exclusively to Disneyland and fell in love with WDW last year when I went for the first time!

Anyway, can’t wait to read more

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Following along too!

We just got back from a trip to the Poly last week and joined DVC while there! We also bought points at Copper Creek. We’ve only been to WDW twice and both stays were at the Poly, so I’m super excited to read along and see what it’s like at WL!

Plus I’m from CA too! It’s always fun to read about others from CA visiting the Florida side of Disney. I grew up going exclusively to Disneyland and fell in love with WDW last year when I went for the first time!

Anyway, can’t wait to read more

Wecome, and congratulations on the DVC purchase! That’s a great way to jump in to Walt Disney World. We fell in love with it during our honeymoon in 2007, and have had some great trips in recent years. We are just so impressed with the size of Disney World, and what can be done without the space constraints of Disneyland. While you’re waiting for this year’s report, you could check out the last two, which were also at WL. Last year was when we got to see the Copper Creek conversion completed, and when we made the leap to DVC.

Compared to the Poly WL has a different feel, but we like that it is all under one roof (except for the cabins) when it is raining. It has boat transportation to MK, as well as direct to the Contemporary (which is handy for monorail accesss) and Fort Wilderness, which we enjoy visiting as well. We also enjoy spending time visiting other resorts during our trips, no matter where we stay.

We’re glad you joined in, and feel free to ask any questions you may have. We love talking about WL and DVC.

 

[rdkeim]

Your trip is close! I'll be watching for your TR!

 

[Leesha.Monster]

While you’re waiting for this year’s report, you could check out the last two, which were also at WL.

Awesome, thank you! I’m going to check them out right now!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Today marks 1 week before we arrive at WDW, and also is the first day of the Food and Wine festival at Epcot!

This is something we are really looking forward to this year, because we missed it more than we thought we would last year.

I love food and wine and tasting our way around the world. If you've followed any of our previous trip reports you'll know dining is a huge part of our trips.

As two adults who don't drink alcohol you wouldn't think we'd be into it, but the Food part definitely overcomes the wine as far as we're concerned.

I'm sure for those of you who do partake there are some awesome wines and beers to try but we really enjoy the different flavors we get to sample. Some of our favorites from previous years include the Empanadas and the Kefta pocket.

And the pulled pork slider, that was great too! We always have loved using snack credits at Food and Wine, and to make up for that this year we think we'll buy the special food and wine gift cards, because we aren't going to let not being on the plan slow down our culinary tour of World Showcase.
I think Allie might even try escargot this year. She's super into Paris and most French things, so it will be a perfect opportunity for her to give escargot a try.

That will be amusing. I've heard that it can be really good but gosh I don't know if I'd have the guts to try it...

I'm game. If it's gross there will always be something else to try next. You gotta love Food and Wine.

We have been sending food back and forth today that we're interested in trying, here is a list:

Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pulled Chicken, Toasted Blue Diamond Almonds and Parmesan Cheese served with Nut Thins® Crackers — $5.00

Banana Almond Soft-serve Sundae with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Almond Streusel (KA) (V) — $4.50

Beijing Roasted Duck Bao Bun with Hoisin Sauce — $6.75

Apple Strudel with Vanilla Sauce (V) (KA) — $4.00

Lamington: Yellow Cake Dipped in Chocolate and Shredded Coconut (V) — $3.75

Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour DOLE® Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise (KA) – $5.00

Beer-braised Beef served with Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes — $5.25

Black Pepper Shrimp with Garlic Noodles — $6.75

Seared Scallops with Roasted Corn, Butterbean Succotash and Chili-chipotle Butter Sauce – $6.00

Marinated Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Stir-fried Vegetables (KA) – $5.00

Charred Chimichurri Skirt Steak on a Smoked Corn Cake with Pickled Vegetable Slaw and Cilantro Aïoli – $6.75

Crème Brûlée à la Confiture de Framboises: Crème Brûlée with House-made Raspberry Jam (V) (GF) (KA) — $4.25

For more info, check out more about Food and Wine at one of our newly discovered favorite sites, DisneyFoodBlog. We have become addicted to A.J.'s videos, and seem to very much agree with her on all things Disney.

In other news Disney has confirmed that Artist Point with in fact become a character meal with Snow White, two dwarfs and even the evil queen! I'm super excited about the changes here and it is now on our must do list for the next trip.

This has been a very polarizing topic on the WL threads, especially the DVC ones. It seems some people love Artist Point and don't want to see a character meal there, while others are open to the change. It was all speculation until today, but now Disney has spoken and I am willing to bet they will do well with the changes. We will eat there next trip, and we haven't done Artist Point since 2007...

Anyway, that's about all for today. We've got 6 days, 12 hours, and 57 minutes till we're on our way, and our mouths are watering...

 

[dnllmz]

I think Allie might even try escargot this year. She's super into Paris and most French things, so it will be a perfect opportunity for her to give escargot a try.

We're doing a Disney Cruise in November and I plan on ordering the escargot for the kids to try. I'm not sure I'm game but I thought it'd be fun for the kids.

Your food & wine list sounds incredible. It's making me hungry!

In other news Disney has confirmed that Artist Point with in fact become a character meal with Snow White, two dwarfs and even the evil queen! I'm super excited about the changes here and it is now on our must do list for the next trip.

I am really excited about this too. I know it won't be ready for our next trip but next year this is on our must-do list. I've never eaten at Artist Point so I have no idea what I'm missing out on but a character meal with dwarfs and the evil queen sounds amazing!