Split stay AKV/BLT 4/2-4/10

[Nursejilly]

Hi y’all! This trip was our 1st time doing a split stay and this is my first time doing a trip report. Here is a synopsis:
4/2 arrived at MCO at 3:30pm, picked up by FLtours and headed to AKV. Our room was not ready when we arrived, but it was not too long of a wait. We got notification that our room was ready about 5pm. This time we were quite a long way down the hall and our 2 bedroom overlooked a quiet area of the Sunset Savannah. We did not see nearly as many animals as our last stay. Got our groceries from Instacart about 6pm and settled in at AKV.
4/3 was a MK day. I was amazed at how uncrowded the park was! Big thumbs up! Went over to Disney Springs, which was much more crowded, that evening and had fish & chips at Cooke’s. Yum! Also decided to add park hoppers which we did at the ticket center.
4/4 was our first HS day-was really stressing about getting a boarding group for ROR, but thanks to my daughter’s fast fingers, we got boarding group #4!! Was ecstatic, then realized her friends & family list was not set up correctly and had only reserved a spot for part of our family, which resulted in me successfully begging at guest relations to add the rest of our group to the boarding group. ROR was amazing and we got in a lot of rides with minimal wait. Went to Oga Cantina, which we were excited about. Got a booth which was nice. Not impressed with the food AT ALL but enjoyed the drinks. That place is a one and done for me.
4/5 we spent at AK, then went to Epcot WS for a bit. A bit more crowded, but still the least crowded I’ve ever seen the parks. Rainforest cafe for lunch. The food was meh, the atmosphere cool for the kids.
4/6 was our moving day to BLT and our first full Epcot day. I didn’t want to deal with waiting on our luggage/groceries to be delivered, so i had reserved us an Uber XL, and we left our stuff with family who were already staying at BLT. Went to Epcot at rope drop, and was bummed that Test Track was down. Ran over to Soarin instead, then walked around WS. I have to say that all the construction at Epcot was not great. No quick way to get across future world. For me on this trip, Epcot was my least favorite park. Happy to report our room at BLT was ready at 3:20pm. We had room 8044 lake view and it was great. Last room end of hall with a huge living area. Our view was of the CR pool, lake and monorail. Very happy with this quiet room.
4/7 HS day #2. Kids didn’t want to get up early, so hubbie and I did the 7am virtual que and were once again blessed with a boarding group, this time #19! Awesome. We rode ROR at about 9:30am. Smuggler’s run and MMRT, among others. Got coffee at Starbucks. Do yourself a favor and get the carrot cake cookie! Yum! We rode the Skyliner over to Epcot and got a treat in France. Finally got on Test Track then rode Spaceship Earth on the way out. It got stuck a few times but i still love it.
4/8 MK day #2. Slept in a bit, but being at BLT, we walked over to MK. So nice! Rode Big Thunder twice, hit Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Jungle Cruise. Took a break at resort, then went to AK at 6pm. We got drinks at Nomad Lounge , rode Everest 4 times in a row, then waited in a long line for Flight of Passage, which was worth the wait. Just love that ride and we left after dark, so got to see Pandora at night.
4/9 last full day! Started out at AK where we rode Everest twice more, did Safari and Rafiki planet watch. We had lunch at Yak & Yeti, which was great. The combination Lo Mein was tasty. Went back to resort, and rode resort monorail just because we wanted to. Sat by pool with family at BLT, got in last hugs with them, then spent a chill night relaxing. With all the rope drops, it was high time for that! I think i averaged 23,000 steps or more most days.
4/10 checked out of BLT at 11am, did some shopping and hung out at pool until our driver arrived. Long day, as we had a 6hr flight home.

A few observations i made. I found that when an adult in a group didn’t wear their mask over their nose, that their whole family did the same. Very frustrating to see this when we saw it. Same with distancing in lines for rides. I did tell a few people who were getting in my space to back off in as nice of a way as i could muster. I would say that 95% of people did the right thing and we used the hell out of the hand santizer to the point that my hands were super dry. Nothing new for me since i am a nurse. All in all, we had an amazing trip and i am planning our next one in fall of 2022.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Hi y’all! This trip was our 1st time doing a split stay and this is my first time doing a trip report. Here is a synopsis:
4/2 arrived at MCO at 3:30pm, picked up by FLtours and headed to AKV. Our room was not ready when we arrived, but it was not too long of a wait. We got notification that our room was ready about 5pm. This time we were quite a long way down the hall and our 2 bedroom overlooked a quiet area of the Sunset Savannah. We did not see nearly as many animals as our last stay. Got our groceries from Instacart about 6pm and settled in at AKV.
4/3 was a MK day. I was amazed at how uncrowded the park was! Big thumbs up! Went over to Disney Springs, which was much more crowded, that evening and had fish & chips at Cooke’s. Yum! Also decided to add park hoppers which we did at the ticket center.
4/4 was our first HS day-was really stressing about getting a boarding group for ROR, but thanks to my daughter’s fast fingers, we got boarding group #4!! Was ecstatic, then realized her friends & family list was not set up correctly and had only reserved a spot for part of our family, which resulted in me successfully begging at guest relations to add the rest of our group to the boarding group. ROR was amazing and we got in a lot of rides with minimal wait.
4/5 we spent at AK, then went to Epcot WS for a bit. A bit more crowded, but still the least crowded I’ve ever seen the parks. Rainforest cafe for lunch. The food was meh, the atmosphere cool for the kids.
4/6 was our moving day to BLT and our first full Epcot day. I didn’t want to deal with waiting on our luggage/groceries to be delivered, so i had reserved us an Uber XL, and we left our stuff with family who were already staying at BLT. Went to Epcot at rope drop, and was bummed that Test Track was down. Ran over to Soarin instead, then walked around WS. I have to say that all the construction at Epcot was not great. No quick way to get across future world. For me on this trip, Epcot was my least favorite park. Happy to report our room at BLT was ready at 3:20pm. We had room 8044 lake view and it was great. Last room end of hall with a huge living area. Our view was of the CR pool, lake and monorail. Very happy with this quiet room.
4/7 HS day #2. Kids didn’t want to get up early, so hubbie and I did the 7am virtual que and were once again blessed with a boarding group, this time #19! Awesome. We rode ROR at about 9:30am. Smuggler’s run and MMRT, among others. Got coffee at Starbucks. Do yourself a favor and get the carrot cake cookie! Yum! We rode the Skyliner over to Epcot and got a treat in France. Finally got on Test Track then rode Spaceship Earth on the way out. It got stuck a few times but i still love it.
4/8 MK day #2. Slept in a bit, but being at BLT, we walked over to MK. So nice! Rode Big Thunder twice, hit Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Jungle Cruise. Took a break at resort, then went to AK at 6pm. We got drinks at Nomad Lounge , rode Everest 4 times in a row, then waited in a long line for Flight of Passage, which was worth the wait. Just love that ride and we left after dark, so got to see Pandora at night.
4/9 last full day! Started out at AK where we rode Everest twice more, did Safari and Rafiki planet watch. We had lunch at Yak & Yeti, which was great. The combination Lo Mein was tasty. Went back to resort, and rode resort monorail just because we wanted to. Sat by pool with family at BLT, got in last hugs with them, then spent a chill night relaxing. With all the rope drops, it was high time for that! I think i averaged 23,000 steps or more most days.
4/10 checked out of BLT at 11am, did some shopping and hung out at pool until our driver arrived. Long day, as we had a 6hr flight home.

A few observations i made. I found that when an adult in a group didn’t wear their mask over their nose, that their whole family did the same. Very frustrating to see this when we saw it. Same with distancing in lines for rides. I did tell a few people who were getting in my space to back off in as nice of a way as i could muster. I would say that 95% of people did the right thing and we used the hell out of the hand santizer to the point that my hands were super dry. Nothing new for me since i am a nurse. All in all, we had an amazing trip and i am planning our next one in fall of 2022.

Thanks for the report! We had a lot of the same experiences as you (we checked out 4-10 as well). I just did my first ever trip report earlier today and it helped to reduce the post WDW blues. My feet are still a little sore from the the miles of walking, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am putting tons of hand cream on my hands to get rid of all that cracking from the hand sanitizer.

I can't wait until the next trip!!