Shhh! Our Secret Weekend Quickie!

[DisMomme]

It's a secret but I'm dying to share the details...

The cast:

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DH (Pat) with his buddy! He is my best friend and we always have fun together. He is a Firefighter and the wonderful dad of our 2 boys. Pat had never been to Disney before we went together in 2000. I was worried he wouldn't like it but he fell in love with the magic and we have been going as often as possible since then.

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Me. I am a Teacher's Assistant and I work with 4 & 5 year olds. I truly am a child at heart. I love all things Disney and have been visiting the World since 1974.

Pat & I are going to both post our experiences. It will serve as our journal as well as a TR. I hope you all enjoy the 2 different perspectives of our days.

This trip began because after we planned our summer trip and rented out some of our left over DVC points we had a few points left over. Not enough to rent and we couldn't bank them. Pat jokingly asked if we wanted to be weekend jet-setters and go for 2 nights. I immediately said yes (he didn't even finish saying it)! We decided it would be our Christmas gift to each other but only if we could do it on a budget, and we wouldn't tell our family or coworkers we were going since we had just been there in November for our Anniversary.

We each had a $50 SWA credit that was about to expire and I had enough air points to cover a 1 way flight. We found great non-stop flights - early morning down to MCO and late night back home. We could stretch our time to the fullest! Our 2 RT flights cost us $330. Good on budget so far.

Our family knows about our Disney addiction and lucky for us they help enable us. Each year we get $100 in GC for Christmas so we used those to help pay for QS dining for 2 nights. I had Target rewards to use so we bought more GC to cover the rest. Dining = 158.56 - GC = total OOP $41.81

We decided to be adventurous and stay somewhere new this time so we are staying at Boardwalk Villas.

Coming Up Next: FP+ selections and daily plans

(I have posted this on the DVC board as well but was hoping to get more feedback on our plans on this board.)

 

[DisMomme]

We leave for the airport on Friday. We will spend the night there and fly out at 6 AM on Saturday morning. We are taking ME from the airport and figure we will arrive on-site around lunchtime. The plan is to head to AK for the rest of the day. We will probably have lunch at Flametree BBQ or Yak & Yeti takeout (unless anyone has better QS suggestions). We have the following fastpasses:

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AK closes at 8 so depending on how tired we are, we may jump over to MK until midnight.

Day 2 plans:

We have an early lunch FP reservation at Be Our Guest. We ate there in November and loved it! The braised pork was excellent! I can't wait to have it again. Pat got the Croque Monsieur last time and wasn't crazy about the bread but said it was good. The cupcakes are divine! I got the strawberry cream cheese cupcake and pat got the Master's cupcake. Had to try that grey stuff.

I think we will both get the braised pork this time and the same desserts as last time.

After lunch we will head to DHS. We have the following fastpass selections made:

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So when we were at WDW in November we ended up back at our resort by 8 PM every night. We went to the hot tub and had a drink before bed time. It was just so relaxing and made our days so much better. I have heard rumors though that the pools and hot tubs are closed now when the lifeguards leave for the night. Anyone know any more about this?

 

[ftballfan7]

Another day of miserable weather in Maine. I am definitely looking forward to the hot tubs! Everyone loves a quickie!

 

[DisMomme]

Departure Day

We have a late flight out so we have a morning planned at EPCOT. Since this park is within walking distance from Boardwalk, I don't think this will be our first visit there this weekend. I hope we get to stroll around and enjoy Flower & Garden Festival. I am thinking that any left over snack credits will be put to good use at the outdoor kitchens. It will be nice to compare the offerings to the Food & Wine since we were there in November.

Our Fastpass+ picks for Monday are:

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I am so hoping that when we come back on Monday night the snow here will FINALLY be GONE!! It has been such a long winter but it is nice to have this trip to look forward to.

Coming up: updates and photos from our actual trip

 

[DisMomme]

I was so excited today to read about the new FP+ opportunities. I doubt that the new rules will be in effect for this trip but hopefully for our trip this summer.

I was doubly excited to arrive home to our AP MagicBands. The little slider is cute. Word of warning to anyone getting those...look underneath in the box. There are cards there for discounts and your free parking.

Only 2 more days until we leave!!!!!!!!

 

[DisMomme]

We are here now & having a great time. The weather has been beautiful, 88-90 every day! My photos don't seem to want to upload here so we will complete this report when we get home

We have been to all 4 parks. The crowds have been minimal.

FP+ and our magicbands have worked great for us.

They are still working on the 7 Dwarf's Mine Train

The Flower & Garden Show has been beautiful, even at night. We go tomorrow for the first time during the day.

Boardwalk Villas are beautiful

 

[DisMomme]

Duplicate

 

[DisMomme]

We woke up at 4:30 AM in order to catch our flight. The line at the TSA check-in was so long. We arrived at the gate just as they were boarding our plane. I could barely sleep Friday night I was so excited but luckily I slept most of the way down. Once we were on the plane I guess I knew we were on our way and I relaxed a little.

This was a welcome sight when we arrived in Orlando.

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We were on our way!

Isn't this a beautiful sight?

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By 10:50 we were checked into our hotel, changed into shorts, checked our carry-on with bell services and were on a bus to AK.

 

[DisMomme]

The weather was beautiful and we were on our way to my favorite park!!

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We were greeted right by the entrance by

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It is always such a treat to see DiVine.

Our first order of business after stopping to admire DiVine was to grab some grub. We went to Flametree BBQ and used our first QS credit. Our MagicBands worked perfectly fine. I wanted to sit in the sun and Pat wanted to sit in the shade so we found a nice table down by the water that was 1/2 and 1/2. It was so nice to feel the warm sun on my back.

Our first FP+ was for the Safari. Of course I took lots of pictures...

 

[appleorchard]

You actually had leftover points? This never happens to us lol. Glad you found a fun way to use them up at my favorite home-away-from-home! I was there with my DD and DGD at BLT starting on the 6th. Sounds like the crowds really picked up after your trip--Wednesday at the MK was insane.

Looking forward to reading more--DH and I have an "adults only" trip starting the end of April at BWV and I can't wait to get there!

 

[DisMomme]

I had originally planned on doing a 'where in the world' post with pictures but since I couldn't upload anything I'll just post my obscure pictures now.

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This was taken just outside the eating area of Flametree

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Greater Kudu

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Wildebeest

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4 Giraffes. Can you see the baby laying down in the bottom right?

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2 fuzzy elephants. One boy and one teenage girl.

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Zebras

 

[DisMomme]

You actually had leftover points? This never happens to us lol. Glad you found a fun way to use them up at my favorite home-away-from-home! I was there with my DD and DGD at BLT starting on the 6th. Sounds like the crowds really picked up after your trip--Wednesday at the MK was insane.

Looking forward to reading more--DH and I have an "adults only" trip starting the end of April at BWV and I can't wait to get there!

I almost cried when DH suggested renting out our points. I was afraid we wouldn't go at all. Here I am at trip #2 of 3 planned.

The crowds were minimal when we were there but we also didn't wait in line for many rides, etc. We did what we wanted and took time to people watch. I have a couple of line pictures coming up. They look really long but we found that the lines seem to back up outside and then inside move along pretty well.
I wonder why the crowds picked up after we left? Our school district does not have vacation until next week and our son's college break was a couple weeks before. Maybe we just didn't notice the crowds. We are used to going in August when the parks are fuller.

 

[DisMomme]

The lions were not being too cooperative. I got the lioness' ear...

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My phone was low on power so the rest of my safari photos are waiting for Pat to upload them.

We had an incredible driver. She stopped or slowed way down whenever possible. We had lots of animals very close to us. She also gave us lots of information that I had never heard before.

A group of hippos is called a BLOAT
Flamingos = FLAMBOYANCE
Rhinos = CRASH

 

[DisMomme]

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This was the FP+ line for Kilimanjaro Safari. Pat was worried we would be in line all day. It went down and around the corner. While we were waiting (5 minutes tops) to get to the 1st scanner we watched them adding more turns into the queue. Once we got through the first scanner it was an easy walk to the loading area.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[DisMomme]

Following along!

Welcome along

 

[DisMomme]

Pat met a Marlins fan in line and enjoyed talking baseball while we waited to go on Safari. Pat was wearing his Red Sox hat and got a few shout-outs from cast members, including our driver. The Marlins fan wanted to know if everyone there was from Boston.

After the Safari we walked around for a while, grabbed a drink and went into Flights of Wonder.

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The woman chosen to hold the $! was right in front of us. It is amazing what they can train those birds to do!

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This bird (a hawk I think) flew right over our heads.
I love the quote at the end of the show "We did not inherit this Earth from our parents. We are only borrowing it from our children."
Next up...

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My favorite ride

We walked around the gift shop for a few minutes. I couldn't go on the ride right after a drink

We played around with FP+ while we were there. Our second ride was supposed to be Kali but we decided we did not want to get wet. We changed to an earlier time for EE and changed Kali for Dinosaur. No worries

We walked around for a little while and caught these guys jamming

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We hung around and danced a bit before heading to

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My cousin worked on some of the signs in this area of the park. She is an artist and lives in Orlando. Hi Tina if you're reading

We didn't get a text that our room was ready but we decided to go back to Boardwalk to try our luck.

 

[DisMomme]

We must have been sprinkled with some Pixie Dust because our room was ready when we checked. 4th Floor Pool View Studio.

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Towel Friend

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Our View

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We did not want to use another dining credit for dinner so we hung out on the boardwalk and got a pizza. We had heard how good the pizza there was.
Yummy

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Pat with our yummy pizza. He was not too happy about me taking his picture.

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I love the relaxed atmosphere of this area. This is the boardwalk side of the resort. All weekend there were kids on the lawn playing soccer, frisbee and lacrosse.

I had read that the rooms in BCV had been redone. I don't think this room was redone yet, it was not the decor that I saw online but this could be the Spring linens. The room was very clean and comfy. One note: we noticed we were in a lock-off room. Our coffee table and small balcony table were missing. We notified Mousekeeping and they made a note. Pat was hoping they would fix it that day but we didn't have those items the entire time we were there.

 

[DisMomme]

The lobby of Boardwalk is beautiful and fun as well. Here are some more of my where in the world are we pictures:
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After dinner we decided to stroll on over to Epcot to check out F & G

 

[DisMomme]

Pretty View

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There were tons of kids dressed up. We weren't sure if there was a wedding or maybe a dance at the Dance Hall but when we got to Epcot they had an area blocked off and the kids were going in for their prom. How cool is that!? Where at WDW would you like to have your prom?
This guy was fun to watch

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Arrr Matey!

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"All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust"

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“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”

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En garde, you... you overgrown pocket watch!

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Lady and the Tramp

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Miss Piggy and Kermie

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It is getting dark in these pictures but I think this one fits:

“The great Kings of the past look down on us from those stars.”

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And another "where are we?"

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The boardwalk is even more beautiful at night

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