Trip Report July 4th! (long!)

[Kirk]

Well, I had it all planned out - parks, food and extracurricular activities. But the 2 teens (my DD and her DF) I took to WDW for 10 days of fun had different ideas. BOYS!!! Need I say more? We had lunch ressies at the Garden Grill first thing so once we had checked into DVC Wilderness Villas we took a boat across the lake to MK and then the Monorail to Epcot. We weren’t there for 5 minutes when they had met a couple teenage boys staying at Fort Wilderness. I don’t even know what happened! We were just inside the park walking by Spaceship Earth and the next thing I know they’re yelling at me to “wait up or meet us later”. We didn’t spend much time with these guys in the parks but darn, they kept showing up at the Hot Tub of our resorts at mid-night! LOL! That was just the beginning I'm afraid! There were many other boys and I’m sure I have a new gray hair for each one of them! But I digress! Let me list the highlights for you.

Transportation

Houston to Orlando and Back on SWA – Not my favorite airline but I got tickets early enough to
get a 2 for 1 price.

Towncar to and from WDW – the only way to go IMHO.

Lodging

Hilton Garden Inn by the Airport – I don’t like to spend my points on a late arrival so we stayed the first
night close to the airport with free shuttle service for ~$70 with free
shuttle service.

2 Nights @ WDW WLV – only a view of the main Lodge but I really like this place. Very relaxing! The
evenings in the hot tub with the sounds of crickets and other (Fabricated, LOL)
wilderness creatures makes for the most secluded experience in all the WDW
resorts to date!


7 Nights @ WDW BCV – We opened the place up July first. The girls REALLY loved this place! I think
it’s a great resort for families with kids any age or teens which I had two this
time around. The location is the best! We had a studio on the 5th floor – 544 I
think. We had a wonderful view of the Epcot Fireworks from our balcony and a
5 minute walk to the back gate of Epcot. It really is centrally located. Five
minutes to Epcot – monorail to MK. Short boat ride to MGM Disney Studios.
Speaking of Fireworks, we hung out at MK all day in order to catch the
Fireworks. Just before the show we went to the front gate so we could quickly
take a bus to BCV in order to catch the Epcot Fireworks an hour later. MK
fireworks were spectacular! Behind the Castle and over the 7 Seas Lagoon with
a 360 degree grand finale! Jumped on the bus and had 30 minutes before the
Epcot fireworks from the balcony. An Awesome Evening of Patriotism!

Dinning

Garden Grill (Epcot) – not the best food but cool characters!

Hollywood & Vine (MGM) – made the mistake of going there for dinner – not the best food and no
characters. Lunch is better but only because of the characters.

Brown Derby (MGM) – Kirk’s 5 Stars for good food!

Alfredo’s (Epcot) - Kirk’s 4 Stars for good food!

Polynesian Luau – Pretty good food and great entertainment. Haven’t figured out the ressies though – this
was my 4th time there and worst seating. I made ressies 2 months in advance this time.
The first time I made ressies 2 days ahead? Could it be when you actually pay for the
eats?

Cape May Café (BC) – I’m not a big breakfast eater but I enjoyed this place! Good food and great
characters!

Liberty Tree tavern (MK) – I personally love the food here but make sure you get a character populated
session.

Plaza Restaurant (MK) – OK for a bite.

Chef De France (Epcot) – My DD loves the food! I could take it or leave it except for the Crème Brule.

Ohana (Poly) – One of the best dinners I’ve had in a while! If you’re a meat eater don’t miss this one.

Extracurricular

Typhoon Lagoon – My favorite water park!

2 E-Nights – Definitely worth the few bucks!

Disney Quest – Second time there, still a waste of time!

Soccer Game @ Sports Complex – The girls did this to see some of the “Hot Guys” they met! LOL!

Shockwave – There girl’s loved it! (Even met the sax player afterwards.) Not really my thing!

PI
Comedy Club – Great fun! Get there early and go here first!
Adventurer's Club – Do this next! Pretty cool! The teens hated it though.
Rock and Roll Beach Club – OK for us older folks.
8-Trax – In and Out. Not a place for 15 YOs.
Motions – Not my cup of tea but the girls HAD to stay a while here. We stayed from about 10 to
1:30. I hung out upstairs over-watching the Dance floor below, close to the bar. It started out a
little quite but about 11 got so packed below it would be hard to walk through let alone dance. Got
an education while I was there! Once it got packed the bouncers would hang out above with flash
lights. When they saw a drink passed to someone that looked under age they would radio below
and flash their light on the suspect. There was so much going on, on the dance floor that no one
would notice until a bouncer came up and did his job. Made me feel a little better with my teens
down stairs!

The last day we had the “picture on the monument” thing down at Epcot. The pictures we got in the mail later looked pretty cool. If anyone is going there and would like to track them down, give me a shout and I’ll give you the location.

My DD says she wants to do a cruise for her 16th BD but I’m considering saving my points for a two week trip. One at the BCV or BWV then another at the WLV to relax!

Here’s some of the pictures!

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/kirk_wells/_wsn/page2.html

These are "Clickable Thumbnails" so they will probably take a little time to load up if you don't have BroadBand.

Follows the links accross the bottom for more!

 

[snuggles]

Thanks for the great report. I'm starving now after reading about all the resturants.

 

[Jillpie]

Oh no, my DS turns 15 next May. We are going in April...is this what we are in for? We are staying at BCV and I'm actually looking forward to it especially for him so that maybe he'll meet some "friends" at SAB! Great report, thanks alot!

 

[Lesley]

Thanks for the report and the heads up over on the dvc board!

One possible explaination for the rotten seats at the Luau.....(and the previous great seats). The period around July 4th is one of the busiest of the summer...if your other visit was in a less busy season there may not have been as many ahead of you for good seats....or perhaps your party just fit a gap between seats that had been reserved much earlier. Considering that reservations for this can be made 2 years in advance.....2 months ahead may not have been far enough out to guarantee a great table.

We got a great table at the HoopDeDoo with a reservation 3 days in advance....but I think they took pity on us because we had to cancel a reservation we had made over a year in advance because we were all sick. I think they put us in the seating chart as if we had made the reservation for our new day at the time we made our original reservation.

And perhaps that's how you got great seats on 2 days notice...maybe the people who were supposed to be there cancelled!

 

[jcanary]

in July we are taking my daughter and three of her friends for her 16th birthday. the main thing on their mind is find the boys. We are staying at BCV and then OKW but will probably spend time at Poly to rent boats. Thanks for the report

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does sound like good eating, Kirk. Thanks for sharing. I like the Tony pictures and the one of Chrissy and Olga with Ariel and also of your Chrissy with Chip. Neat!!!

 

[SamanthaL]

We made ressies 1 year in advance and got seats right up front. I think it is first ressie =best table.