The WL/DCL/BCV Extravaganza! Trip Report - UPDATE 1/29 NOT FINISHING THIS

[jenny105]

Hi everyone! New readers, welcome to my TR! Those who have been following along with my PTR, I finally got this thing started!

I am too lazy to post a real intro and you can read it on my PTR here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2132373.

The basics:

Me - Jen, just turned 27, first time staying Deluxe and first time ever on DCL

DBf - Joe, 27, been to Disney World many, many times growing up but still never tires of it! Also first time DCL cruiser.

The trip:
9/20-9/24 Wilderness Lodge
9/24-9/27 Aboard the Disney Wonder
9/27 - 9/29 Beach Club Villas


Away we go!

 

[jenny105]

Let me start off by saying, we were originally supposed to drive to Disney World! But due to unforseen circumstances, we flew instead. We're one of those rare breeds that actually likes the 16+ hour drive. Half the fun is getting there right? But lucky you, now you don't have to sit through a boring post of 'from the road' pictures!

This was our first time flying out of Atlantic City International. We usually fly out of Newark. Let me say...WOW! SO EASY to fly out of ACY. It's super small, only 8 gates I believe, and not at all crowded. Plus the airfare was a steal! I would really recommend to anyone in the central/south Jersey area to fly from there. Admittedly, the planes are not the nicest (Spirit Air, a little worn) and you don't get free snacks & drinks but it's just nice to not be in the hustle and bustle of a major airport.

Our flight was at 3pm and we got there a little after 1. We checked in, I had prepaid for the bags (checking 1 each) and shockingly Joe's super huge monster of a suitcase (I wish I had taken a picture of it) was under 50 pounds! We proceeded to security, found we were the only people in line for it, and breezed right through. We made our way up a floor to the gates and decided to get some lunch at the little cafe. I had a cheeseburger & some onion rings and Joe had a cheesesteak...without the cheese.

Here's a picture of Joe in the little cafe:

We then went over to Hudson News to buy some gum since you can't find it ANYWHERE at the Orlando airport and then settled in to wait to get called for boarding. I had a good view.

We were among the last group to board but we didn't have to wait too long. Here we are on the plane!

We took off right on time and were on our way to the best place on earth!

 

[karentan]

yay for starting the TR!! i know what you were up to for a huge chunk of the holiday but its still cool to read your TR!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great start! We have always flown to Disney World but I think it would be kind of fun some day to drive.

Love Joe's Wall-E t-shirt!

Can't wait to hear more, especially about the cruise.

 

[stacikristine]

YAY! You started your TR! Great start so far I really like Joe's shirt! Can't wait to hear all about the rest of your trip!

 

[jenny105]

DAY 1 CONT...

So our plane landed right on time (around 5-5:15ish) and soon we were walking through the terminal, onto the little mini-monorail, and off to claim our bags. That took maybe 10-15 minutes and then it was time to check-in with the Magical Express desk! We were the only people in line for our bus lol and they made us wait about 10-15 minutes before putting us on a bus that already had people on it. But at last, we were on the Magical Express!

You'll notice throughout the TR that we have a lot of self-pics!

We made stops at GF and the Poly first but then arrived at Wilderness Lodge! We went right to the check-in desk and usually the check-in process is painless but I think this CM was new so it took a little longer than expected. No worries though. She was very nice. At this point, my DISer friend Karen (she had arrived the previous week) had text me to tell me MK was open until midnight and this was great news to us since that's where we were planning on going!

We made our way to our room and I had requested a inner courtyard view since I know their idea of courtyard can sometimes mean 'looking at the roof of the villas.' We had a side view of the pool area. Awesome! Those pictures will come later in the trip because I haven't uploaded them yet. I didn't actually take them on the first day lol. I was too excited to get to the parks!

We did manage to snap a few in the lobby though. We made sure to rub Humphrey's nose for good luck and a magical trip!

The spring in the lobby

Joe was getting impatient with me wanting to take pictures even though he would never admit that lol. He wanted to make it there in time to see Wishes. We had plenty of time but I obliged and we made our way to the boat dock. It wasn't a very long wait and soon we were on the Red Flag ship direct to Magic Kingdom!

Here are some pictures from the boat. I apologize for the heads that got in my way lol.

OMG SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!! Too bad it was closed for refurb

Finally...we were here! I couldn't quite believe it when I saw this.

We snapped a few pictures of the decorations before we headed anywhere.

I loved these!

Closer and closer...

We made our way to the first ride of the trip...HAUNTED MANSION! Love, love, love this ride!

I can't remember exactly when we did what but I know that we ate at Pecos Bills, got some ice cream from a cart in Tomorrowland, and went on POTC. Then we made our way back in front of the castle to wait for Wishes. A couple pictures I snapped while waiting.

That was snapped with my phone, I'm actually surprised it turned out ok. My phone is not great for taking pictures!

Wishes was amazing as usual but no Tink that night! What's up with that?

After Wishes, we went on pretty much everything else that we missed prior to the start of the fireworks including Splash, Philarmagic, and BTMRR and took a spin on Haunted Mansion again. We did the Jungle Cruise too which I've never been on at night. Pretty cool! We went on TTA to see what Space Mountain looked like with the lights on but everything was walled off so you couldn't see anything good! Strange to be in there with the lights on though! We also met up with Karen (karentan on DIS!) and her husband Gary and went on Buzz Lightyear together. I did awful! LOL. That ride is strange. Sometimes I hit half a million and others I can't even crack 100,000! But it's still fun.

We all decided to call it a night after Buzz. We all walked out together, Karen & Gary off to AKL, and we got in line for our bus to WL. It took a looooong time. This family in front of us waited over a half hour and then got out of line to catch the boat...and no lie, the bus showed up a minute later. I can't imagine they were too happy.

Our first day was a blast and our next day promised even more fun. Would we make it in time for our Tusker House breakfast ADR? Stay tuned!

 

[karentan]

i'm rubbish at Buzz, but somehow i managed to beat gary that night, think you guys were my good luck charm!!

 

[Sarah84]

YAY you've started and a great start it is
Love the Tink t-shirt.

 

[DWGal210]

Great start to your TR! Sounds like you guys had a great time. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[jenny105]

yay for starting the TR!! i know what you were up to for a huge chunk of the holiday but its still cool to read your TR!!

I was happy I got my day one pictures up to get it started. Now to upload the rest. The WiFi connection at my house is AWFUL. I may be uploading pictures during lunchtimes and at B&N.

Great start! We have always flown to Disney World but I think it would be kind of fun some day to drive.

Love Joe's Wall-E t-shirt!

Can't wait to hear more, especially about the cruise.

Driving isn't bad! I thought I wouldn't like it but it goes by quick...except on the way home.

I actually had that shirt made for him for his birthday. He loves it lol.

YAY! You started your TR! Great start so far I really like Joe's shirt! Can't wait to hear all about the rest of your trip!

Thanks! I can't wait to post it all. I love re-living it.

i'm rubbish at Buzz, but somehow i managed to beat gary that night, think you guys were my good luck charm!!

Go Karen, go Karen!

YAY you've started and a great start it is
Love the Tink t-shirt.

Thank you! Kohl's has a lot of great Disney shirts. I think we talked about this though, they don't ship to the UK. BOO!

Great start to your TR! Sounds like you guys had a great time. Looking forward to reading more!

We had a blast! I'm dying to go back!

 

[hmdavid]

WOOOO! Trip report time! Signing on!

Sounds like you had a great first day!

 

[Rora]

I'm at work and don't have time to read but I just wanted to sub and tell you HOW EXCITED I AM FOR YOUR TR!!!

 

[princess_momma]

WOOOHOOO You started!! Did you have pics in your ptr? i don't remember...but i think you are so gorgeous! I love your pics! People always get "secretly" annoyed with all the pics I want to take too, but they are ALWAYS grateful after when we have so many to look back on!! I'm loving your first night!

 

[jenny105]

WOOOO! Trip report time! Signing on!

Sounds like you had a great first day!

Yay! You found me!

I'm at work and don't have time to read but I just wanted to sub and tell you HOW EXCITED I AM FOR YOUR TR!!!

Well, you've been hearing about this vacation for like a year now, you should be lol.

WOOOHOOO You started!! Did you have pics in your ptr? i don't remember...but i think you are so gorgeous! I love your pics! People always get "secretly" annoyed with all the pics I want to take too, but they are ALWAYS grateful after when we have so many to look back on!! I'm loving your first night!

Thank you!!! I think I had one picture at the beginning of my TR. I wish I had taken more pictures! Looking at other TRs I noticed people took much more pictures than I did. Oh well! Next time!

 

[Rora]

Jenny!! Your pictures are great and you and Joe are adorable. Looks like Day 1 was perfect!

And, I know what you mean about the Buzz ride. I am terrible at it- I just shoot things and I hope get some points. DFiance always gets a really high level and I'm always the lowest .

I'm ready for Day 2!!

 

[jenny105]

Jenny!! Your pictures are great and you and Joe are adorable. Looks like Day 1 was perfect!

And, I know what you mean about the Buzz ride. I am terrible at it- I just shoot things and I hope get some points. DFiance always gets a really high level and I'm always the lowest .

I'm ready for Day 2!!

Thank you! I always love the first night at Disney. I always try to get to an EMH because I LOVE being in the parks late at night.

Later on during the trip, I got a really good score and then I was back to bad scores again. I don't get how it works! lol

 

[Sarah84]

Thank you! Kohl's has a lot of great Disney shirts. I think we talked about this though, they don't ship to the UK. BOO!

Yes we did and i was meant to look out for one on my recent trip and i forgot im such a ****!

 

[lillylynnb]

cant wait to read more. I love the WL it is my all time fav resort. When loved going on our first cruise cant wait to be there on it next year!!

 

[jenny105]

Joe and I had to be up bright and early because today was Animal Kingdom day! We had an 8:10 ADR at Tusker House and gave ourselves roughly an hour to get over there! While Joe was getting ready, I took some pictures of our view!

Looking directly across.

Toward the right.

Toward the left.

You have to love waking up to that in the morning! Absolutely beautiful.

We were at the bus stop a little past 7 and waited about 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. Before we made our way to AK, we had to stop at GF and Poly. Not to pick people up but to drop them off for character breakfasts. That being sad, it took almost an hour to get to AK. We were cutting it very close but we made it! We got there maybe 5-10 minutes late but we were still seated within 10 minutes. It's a good thing I booked the earliest time slot available because when we left, the line to check-in was INSANE!

As soon as we were seated our server came by and poured us some Jungle Juice! So good! It's passion fruit juice and OJ. Yum! I think I had 2 or 3 glasses.

Now if you're looking for food porn, look elsewhere. I don't take pictures of my food because I eat it so fast lol. So sorry, you won't see any of that in my TR! I stacked my plate with eggs, bacon, chocolate Mickey waffles (was so happy when I saw them! lol), sausage, and lots of fruit. I think Joe had like 3 plates he was trying to carry back to the table with him. Those who saw him eat on the cruise will have no trouble believing that!

We had just sat down to eat when the music was turned up and the characters came out to dance! Mickey pulled us up from our table and we took a spin up and down the aisles with him! After the dancing, we finally got to eat! The food was great!! This was my first character breakfast so I don't know how it compares to others but I would HIGHLY recommend Tusker House. Good food, great decor, and just a lot of fun.

Finally, the characters came by! We kept seeing them walk back and forth without stopping at our table with the reassurance from our server that they would stop by soon. And here they were!

I told Donald he was my favorite but not to tell Mickey!

Joe wanted a kiss from Daisy!

I love that me and Goofy were dressed alike!!

And finally with the big cheese himself!

After we took our pictures, we headed over to Kilamanjaro Safari! Would we see lots of animals? Stay tuned to find out....

 

[jenny105]

cant wait to read more. I love the WL it is my all time fav resort. When loved going on our first cruise cant wait to be there on it next year!!

I can understand why you love it, it's BEAUTIFUL there. I loved feeling like we were tucked away in the woods. I would definitely stay there again!