The Murphys Are Live Again!!! Okw ~ Akl ~ Poly ~ 7/27-8/1

[TigrLvsPooh]

Hello, Erika! I have enjoyed reading your trip reports...nothing like living vicariously through a fellow Disneyphile!

A question for you: Like you, we LOVE the Beach Club, and having stayed there twice, can't quite imagine staying some place else. However, I am feeling the "itch" to branch out a bit, and was thinking of the Poly for our trip next year. But I am so nervous to switch resorts!! I love having so much "action" around the BC, and the choices for dining, the theme, the Boardwalk view, listening to the Friendship boats, etc....I could go on and on.

As a child, we stayed in the Contemporary shortly after it opened, and everytime we pass through on the monorail, or I take a ride through the monorail resorts, I feel so nostalgic! It makes me want to stay in one. They just seem so "Walt Disney World" and "magical" to me. Anyway, I guess I am just asking a fellow BC lover to compare the two for me....we would probably get a lagoon or MK view (are they the same?) as a view is actually kind of important to me, silly as it sounds!

We don't get to Disney too often, but when we do, I want to do it right. Why does there have to be so many choices?!! Thanks so much for your help, and I'll look forward to your report in the fall!!

I know what you mean... the Epcot area is so great... it's very hard to compare it to the MK resorts. But there is just something about being close to the castle... seeing it from your room, or from the pool, or while you're having dinner, just being there feels magical... it feels like Disney! We only took the monorail once, when we went to Epcot from Poly, every time we went to MK we always took the boat. I absolutely LOVE the boat ride from Poly to MK... in fact we love it so much we took the ride round trip on our last morning before heading to the airport.

You'd be surprised how much there is to do at the Poly. And how quickly you can get to the Epcot area via monorail. I really think you should give it a try. It's a much different feel from being at the BC. You might find you like it just as much!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Erika:

Well, DS and I started reading your trip reports last night. He was soooo excited that the lady from the fan show was on Mommy's Dis. We got through the May report at the BC. I would love to do a pirate party with DS. He is doing the Pirate Cruise from the GF on Thanksgiving Day.

I noticed on one of your posts that you mentioned driving through Cincy to visit family in KY. We live about 1/2 hour from the east side of Cincy but I grew up in eastern/central KY--small world!!!!

Well, I guess we will start another report tonight! This is a lot of fun!

Erika

My parents were both born and raised in KY. (around Richmond and Berea) My Dad went to EKU for undergrad... then they moved here to Indiana right before I was born. My Dad has been a professor at Purdue Univ. for over 40 years. When my parents divorced about 15 years ago my Mom moved back to Berea... so we go down several times a year to see her. I always take I-74 to Cincy, then hop on I-75 South in Florence (y'all) ... it just seems faster than going through Louisville.

 

[CruisingCamper]

Hey there! Thanks for your nice message!


Sure, we go other places. DH and I have done Vegas 4 times, stayed at the Bellagio, Paris, Treasure Island, and the Mirage. We've taken the kids to several different Six Flags parks, and Hershey Park in PA. We've done Universal in Orando and in CA. We go to Chicago for mini vacations quite often, it's close by. We go to Boston about once a year to visit family, so the kids have seen all the sights there as well, games at Fenway Park, etc. We've been to Texas, did the Fort Worth Zoo, been to Colorado, Boulder, Aspen, Denver... Phoenix, Arizona, North and South Carolina, Asheville, Myrtle Beach, the Smokey Mountains, went to Toronto last summer.... well, you get the picture. We've been a lot of places, we just choose to go back to WDW so often because it's our favorite. Lots of our friends don't understand... I'm sure they think we're crazy for going over and over, but it seems like everytime we go somewhere else we wish we were back in Disney.

My favorite resort... that's a tough question. I use to always say it was a three way tie between the Poly, GF, and YC. But lately it's more Poly and BC with AKL coming in as a close second. I think they are all great... and we love to split our stay between a couple of different resorts because it feels like having more than one vacation. We'll be trying the CR with MK view in October, so that might become my new favorite, you never know!

Favorite restaurants... I love the Kona Cafe, I've never had a bad meal there. Also Narcoosee's... the best surf and turf! Their steaks are the best! We also love Teppan Edo in Japan, and Nine Dragons in China. Also Crystal Palace and Ohana are the kids' favorites. And Sci-fi for lunch. There aren't many restaurants we steer clear of... over the years they've all their good and bad moments.

Feel free to ask any questions!

The show on the Travel Channel, does it still come on? Or is there someplace where we can see it now?

 

[Huskerfamilyof5]

We are going to WDW in Dec. 08 staying at BCV. Have you ever stayed at the villas? We are going with in-laws and 3 DD ages 12, 8, and 3. We have 2 rooms, studio for in-laws and a 1 bedroom for us. Never stayed there before, how did you like it and how was it getting to Epcot? Thanks, I would love to see your program on Disney. Could you tell me how to find it?

 

[johnsonet]

Hey there! Thanks for your nice message!


Sure, we go other places. DH and I have done Vegas 4 times, stayed at the Bellagio, Paris, Treasure Island, and the Mirage. We've taken the kids to several different Six Flags parks, and Hershey Park in PA. We've done Universal in Orando and in CA. We go to Chicago for mini vacations quite often, it's close by. We go to Boston about once a year to visit family, so the kids have seen all the sights there as well, games at Fenway Park, etc. We've been to Texas, did the Fort Worth Zoo, been to Colorado, Boulder, Aspen, Denver... Phoenix, Arizona, North and South Carolina, Asheville, Myrtle Beach, the Smokey Mountains, went to Toronto last summer.... well, you get the picture. We've been a lot of places, we just choose to go back to WDW so often because it's our favorite. Lots of our friends don't understand... I'm sure they think we're crazy for going over and over, but it seems like everytime we go somewhere else we wish we were back in Disney.

My favorite resort... that's a tough question. I use to always say it was a three way tie between the Poly, GF, and YC. But lately it's more Poly and BC with AKL coming in as a close second. I think they are all great... and we love to split our stay between a couple of different resorts because it feels like having more than one vacation. We'll be trying the CR with MK view in October, so that might become my new favorite, you never know!

Favorite restaurants... I love the Kona Cafe, I've never had a bad meal there. Also Narcoosee's... the best surf and turf! Their steaks are the best! We also love Teppan Edo in Japan, and Nine Dragons in China. Also Crystal Palace and Ohana are the kids' favorites. And Sci-fi for lunch. There aren't many restaurants we steer clear of... over the years they've all their good and bad moments.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Hi there!
It was so nice to get to meet you and your husband at the Polynesian!
Hope your last day was a ton of fun! I know you were happy to get home to your little boys...
My daughter and I finally got to go on Toy Story Mania the other day and it was AWESOME Your family is going to have a blast on that on your next trip So sweet that you waited for them!

I totally understand about trying new places but always returning to Disney. It's fun, magical, SAFE and comfortable - it's HOME

As a big fan of AKL I am so happy to hear it's now one of your favorites

Take care

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

The show on the Travel Channel, does it still come on? Or is there someplace where we can see it now?

It's on Discovery HD Theater every once in a while. You can check this link from time to time to see if it is scheduled:

http://dhd.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=66.14198.109105.0.0

They only show one month in advance.

Another DISer said she saw it on the Travel Channel about 2 weeks ago. If you have TiVo or Directv you might be able to do a search!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We are going to WDW in Dec. 08 staying at BCV. Have you ever stayed at the villas? We are going with in-laws and 3 DD ages 12, 8, and 3. We have 2 rooms, studio for in-laws and a 1 bedroom for us. Never stayed there before, how did you like it and how was it getting to Epcot? Thanks, I would love to see your program on Disney. Could you tell me how to find it?

We have only stayed at BCV one time. It was in a studio. Getting to Epcot was very easy... they have a path that goes around the outside of the BC and brings you right out near the International Gateway. You'll have access to SAB, which is awesome, and you'll also have the villa pool as well. The only negative to BCV is that they have very long hallways, so you might have quite a trek to your room from the BC bus stop. But if you have a car the parking lot is very close by, which is nice. You'll also have boat transportation to the Studios, again it might be a longer walk if you've got a villa at the end of a long hallway, but that's really the only negative I can think of. Are you on a cash reservation or using points? If you are staying on points remember that you won't get daily maid service unless you pay extra, but if you are on a cash reservation you'll have it every day just like you would at the BC resort. Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Hi there!
It was so nice to get to meet you and your husband at the Polynesian!
Hope your last day was a ton of fun! I know you were happy to get home to your little boys...
My daughter and I finally got to go on Toy Story Mania the other day and it was AWESOME Your family is going to have a blast on that on your next trip So sweet that you waited for them!

I totally understand about trying new places but always returning to Disney. It's fun, magical, SAFE and comfortable - it's HOME

As a big fan of AKL I am so happy to hear it's now one of your favorites

Take care

It was GREAT to meet you too!!! Did you post a trip report? I'm dying to hear how things went at the GF and BC! I think you set a new record for having the COOLEST resort hopping vacation EVER! I want to hear all about it.

 

[Huskerfamilyof5]

Thanks so much for the response. We are on a cash reservation, hoping to become DVC members while we are there, as we live in a state where we can't get membership information or purchase. Loved your trip report, will look for your show. How did your DS like his gifts? That is usually the first question from my children when I am gone on business. When is your next trip?

 

[johnsonet]

It was GREAT to meet you too!!! Did you post a trip report? I'm dying to hear how things went at the GF and BC! I think you set a new record for having the COOLEST resort hopping vacation EVER! I want to hear all about it.

Hi!
You know what, we didn't end up going to the BC. Once we got to the GF we didn't want to move again and were able to extend our stay I had been looking forward to checking out the new rooms at BC (I had water view club booked and knew from a DISer who is a CM there that these had all been redone) but we just didn't want to leave the GF or the MK resorts area. But - maybe NEXT TIME

Yes, we really had a great split stay: AKL CL, Polynesian LV CL and GF RPC Amazing!

Glad you guys had a good trip and Happy Anniversary again Looking forward to your next trip report!!

I'm planning another trip right now... for one of my best friend's 39th birthday

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Thanks so much for the response. We are on a cash reservation, hoping to become DVC members while we are there, as we live in a state where we can't get membership information or purchase. Loved your trip report, will look for your show. How did your DS like his gifts? That is usually the first question from my children when I am gone on business. When is your next trip?

The first thing the boys said to us (after a big hug of course) was "What did you bring us??" Our oldest DS was thrilled with his Pokemon stuff ... we got him some stuffed and also some figures. Then our youngest DS got a toy monorail, a Finding Nemo ball, and a big stuffed Pooh. They are already making a list of all the things they want to get when we go back in October! (we'll be at the CR 10/22-10/27)

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Hi!
You know what, we didn't end up going to the BC. Once we got to the GF we didn't want to move again and were able to extend our stay I had been looking forward to checking out the new rooms at BC (I had water view club booked and knew from a DISer who is a CM there that these had all been redone) but we just didn't want to leave the GF or the MK resorts area. But - maybe NEXT TIME

Yes, we really had a great split stay: AKL CL, Polynesian LV CL and GF RPC Amazing!

Glad you guys had a good trip and Happy Anniversary again Looking forward to your next trip report!!

I'm planning another trip right now... for one of my best friend's 39th birthday

What was your room like at the GF? I've only stayed in the RPC one time, and our room was right over Gasparilla's. Did you post a GF report or pics anywhere???

 

[leeann32]

We are back and had a great evening! After swimming again and taking another break we headed to MGM for bit just to walk around the new Pixar area and check to see if they had a stuffed WALL-E we could buy for our youngest DS. Surprisingly we didn't see much WALL-E stuff so we took the boat to Epcot. First we stopped off in France for a yummy Grey Goose slushy... yummmm then walked towards Le Cellier for our dinner. We were approached by a very nice CM who saw our anniversary buttons and asked us if we would like to come to a special Illuminations viewing spot later after dinner. We of course said YES and were excited!

We arrived at Le Cellier about 10 minutes before our ADR time and got a table pretty quickly. They were offering a new special paper menu insert that gave appetizer/entree/dessert all at one set price and it WAS available for the Dining Plan. Super cool!!!! So DH and I both got the cheese soup (which we love and were super excited it was included with the DP without extra cost). For our entrees DH had Prime Rib and I had Salmon. They food was very good and of course the PRETZEL bread was my favorite and what I always look forward to. For dessert we both had the chocolate MOOSE moussee. All in all it was a fine dinner, the atmosphere was quite loud, lots of kids and crying babies, but we have come to expect that with the single table service restaurants. Also our table was very small and crammed right next to two other couples... I felt like we should say HELLO and talk with them we were so close. But it was OK. No big deal.

After dinner we headed to our special Illuminations viewing spot which was on a lower level near Yorkshire Fish and Chips. DH and I couldn't remember when we had watched Illuminations up close before... our boys get scared with the fireworks so we usually have to watch from far away. It was cool to see it together, and very romantic.

Getting the bus back to OKW wasn't too bad. We got back around 10:00 PM. We felt very lucky considering many other resorts had HUGE lines. Long enough that they'd probably need 4 buses or more.

This is our last night at OKW. Tomorrow we check-in at the AKL on CL. Which should be fun. We're going to spend most of the day relaxing at the resort, and taking it easy. Depending on the rain we might head over to AK to ride Everest.

Here are some pics from tonight!!!

Here we are in our room getting ready to go out!

Here we are enjoying our Grey Goose slushies on the bridge near France. A nice man offered to take our pictures when he noticed us trying to take a pic by hold the camera out! LOL

If you want to see all our trip pics I've been uploading them to photobucket, I think you can just go there and type in "ekmurphy12". I think?? Not quit sure though.

Hey Erika!
I have to start out with saying I love watching you guys on "Disney's Ultimate Fan"
I just wanted to know what kind of bag you are carrying in these pics? I'm looking for one for our 1st Disney trip this Sept. I don't want one too big, big enough to hold our tickets, room keys, $$ and a few other things.
LeeAnn

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

It is the perfect bag! I looked for something like it for YEARS and finally found this one at Macy's about a year ago. It's made by The Sak... and it's woven in a crochet/knit type material. I think if you google "sak mini handbag" it should bring it up. I highly recommend it... it is durable, comfortable, lightweight, and a perfect size.

 

[Me&3]

Hi glad you had such a great time I really enjoyed your TR . We just got back yesterday we were there since 7/25. Love your pics. Happy Anniv. many more to you and DH .

 

[johnsonet]

What was your room like at the GF? I've only stayed in the RPC one time, and our room was right over Gasparilla's. Did you post a GF report or pics anywhere???

Hi!
We had 2 different rooms at GF and they were both very nice. We preferred second room - I asked to be on a room on the 3d, 4th or 5th floors, on the atrium. From those rooms you can hear the piano and orchestra in the afternoon/evenings and you're also just steps from the lounge...

The other/first room was lovely and had killer views of the Castle and Wishes but was inconvenient to the lounge and pretty isolated. Sames as yours - over Gasparillas.

I did post pics on the GF thread live at the time but here are a few favorites:

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Was that a standard club level or deluxe? Thanks for the pics!

 

[johnsonet]

They were both Deluxe. The first one had a jacuzzi. Both had King beds.

 

[Me&3]

What is the name of the show you are on?

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

It's called Fan's Guide: Walt Disney World and it originally aired on the Travel Channel in 2004. Lately it has been airing on Discovery HD Theater. Although I got a PM from another DISer who said it was on the Travel Channel about 2 weeks ago. So it's still on there occasionally.

You can keep an eye on this link for airdates: http://dhd.discovery.com/tv-schedules/special.html?paid=66.14198.109105.0.0

Also here: http://television.aol.com/show/fans-guide-walt-disney-world/379206/main

And here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406299/

Also here: http://www.bartlett-sloan.net/tv/agenda.php3?modeagenda=soon

Hope that helps!