We'll Be Doing Whatever Snow Does in Summer- Trip Report

[disney ny]

Ok, after a few hours of work the first part of my Hershey Park/Pa Dutch Country trip report is up. I hope you will check out this fun little detour trip! Click below to visit. I plan to finish it this weekend as it was a short little trip.

The Sweetest Thing- A Hershey Park/Pa Dutch Country Trip Report

 

[disney ny]

Yay for less than 30 days!

I just read back and say the post about switching from DxDDP to TiE. Smart move, at least in my opinion. We do that as well. You save money but don't have to order food you don't need. The only one that is a bit much food was the Brown Derby F! Package. But I ate it anyway because it was all so good!

I do think TIW is going to be the right choice for us. I ended up changing around some more reservations and I ended up cancelling our Fantasmic Package because they added a late Fantasmic the night we are at HS so we can do both the Frozen Premium Package and the late Fantasmic. Since the reserved seating is only good for the first show it made no sense to get the package and I instead booked us lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby and we can use the TIW. I have always wanted to try the Cobb Salad and Grapefruit Cake so I am excited. Now we just need to decide if we are going to really do the Villains Unleashed Party on that Saturday night too.

 

[Trentmom]

I am all caught up. Your plans sounds great. Lot of great restaurants and its great you are getting to try a couple new resorts this time.

Can't wait to follow along

 

[betsywdw]

Just finished reading! I followed you from your Hershey TR too Loving your plans! We have DVC contract at SSR and BLT. We love BLT for the same reason you do...WALK TO THE MK! Your trip sounds great! Very excited to see how you like the Frozen event!

 

[disney ny]

Just got back from our trip to Ohio to visit my mom and now it is getting really close! I have started a box in Avery's room where I am putting all of the Disney stuff that is special and I need to pack. Since we are flying Southwest we each get 2 free suitcases so I can pack 6 suitcases~! Not sure that is really necessary but I do plan to take lots of snacks so we will see. I have some updates and pictures but I think for tonight I am off to bed. Oh and I just need to add..........

16 Days!

 

[disney ny]

I am all caught up. Your plans sounds great. Lot of great restaurants and its great you are getting to try a couple new resorts this time.

Can't wait to follow along

Glad you are still here. I am going to try and do an update to my Hershey trip tonight but sleep may stop me! Thanks for following along~

 

[disney ny]

Just finished reading! I followed you from your Hershey TR too Loving your plans! We have DVC contract at SSR and BLT. We love BLT for the same reason you do...WALK TO THE MK! Your trip sounds great! Very excited to see how you like the Frozen event!

I am so glad you came over and are reading! I am so excited to try BLT and I am hoping we get a higher floor with possibly a little view but we will be happy with anything. I am also hoping we really like the Frozen event!

 

[disney ny]

Garden Grocer Groceries ordered? Check
Online check-in for BLT and AKL completed? Check
Memory Maker added to our trip? Check
Final Master itinerary emailed to mom and sister? Check
CARES child flying harness system ordered to keep monster child in seat on plane? Check
Extra suitcases picked up from my Dad? Check
New plan to get to airport since we have too much luggage and got kicked out of my sister's minivan? Check

Holy cow there is still so much to do and we are leaving 5 days..........

 

[hundredacrewoods94]

Planning a Disney vacation takes a lot of planning and patience. But all of that pays off once you're there. Have a great vacation!

 

[franandaj]

Is your ticker correct? If so....

3 Days!!!!! ​

 

[disney ny]

Is your ticker correct? If so....

3 Days!!!!! ​

Yes!! My ticker is correct. We are leaving in less than 24 hours. Unfortunately I have had a few medical things to deal with the past few days that took the wind out of my sails a little. I am trying to bounce back and get excited but have been having a hard time. I know once we are really there I will get back in the spirit but it just stinks that this happened right now. What that really means is I am no where near ready or packed so that is what I am doing right now......

 

[disney ny]

Planning a Disney vacation takes a lot of planning and patience. But all of that pays off once you're there. Have a great vacation!

I know it will and I love the whole planning process. I can't wait to just be at BLT and know I am just feet away from the Magic Kingdom when I sleep. Thanks!!

 

[disney ny]

Well here I sit on a “trip report title worthy” day in upstate NY finally starting my trip report. The snow is falling and I feel like I am a million miles and years from August in Walt Disney World. But here we go anyway………..I am only like what……..5 months behind? Honestly between the stress of the trip and returning to immediately start back teaching and sending the kids to school I have needed some time before I can accurately reflect on this trip.
So as the trip report title suggests we did do exactly what snow does in summer on this trip. What is that you ask? Well………….it melts. We melted. We overheated. We burned. We flamed. We found out that there is most definitely a reason why people say do not go to Florida in August, and we have learned that lesson. Next time someone tells you that Orlando in August is hot- believe them. It is hot! We discovered that Orlando in August and the surface of the sun are the same temperature. Yes, it was truly that hot. This trip was hot! So if I had to sum this entire trip up in one word it would be “hot.” It is good that I have had a few months to cool off back here in the frozen tundra so I can think clearly and not just write about how hot it was because honestly I seem to think most of the trip was spent with everyone being hot and cranky. But, there were some great moments too and I hope that this report will detail those as well. Before I begin the day by day details here is an overall synopsis and short thoughts in a fun little top ten fact type format.

The Quick Trip Synopsis in Ten Quick Tidbits Form

1- Best Resort Experience- Bay Lake Tower- LOVED it. I can’t seem to think of much we didn’t love and I would stay here again in a heartbeat. Our standard view was anything but standard and I thanked my lucky starts each night as I fell asleep looking at the Magic Kingdom. Braden still brings up Bay Lake Tower at least once a week.
2- Least Favorite Resort Experience- Animal Kingdom Lodge- Overall? Just not my thing honestly. There were things I liked but I feel kind of like ok we tried it and I’m done. No need to return anytime soon and I can still smell the place. The whole resort smelled like a tanning salon to me. Tanning lotion and cooking flesh. And the place is dark. It didn’t feel like Disney to me.
3- Most predictable Resort Experience- Boardwalk Resort- This was our second time there so I knew what to expect and we really enjoyed it. The EPCOT resorts always feel more relaxing and slower paced then the MK ones. Loved the pool area and this is the point in the trip when the weather finally broke just a tiny bit so we enjoyed the last few days a lot.
4- Surprise Food Thumbs Up- The Crystal Palace. I was prepared to not really enjoy this meal that my mom had chosen. I am not a huge buffet fan and we had eaten there years ago for breakfast but I really enjoyed our dinner here a lot this trip.
5- Surprise Future Employment Aspiration- Forget about the College Program or NFL, my son now wants to be an elevator man. The WDW resort elevators were the hit of the trip. When Braden grows up he now wants to be an “elevator man.” His love of all elevators- especially the ones at BLT was out of control on this vacation and many tourists got to use the 5 year old “elevator man’s” services. Still today if you ask him what his favorite part of the whole trip is he will say- the elevators. Could have saved so much money on park admission………………
6- Biggest Trip Fails- Leaving my tablet on the plane on the way home and having Southwest not be able to locate it? The disappointing character breakfast at Tusker House? Braden not feeling well and being a giant grouch most of the trip- unless he was in an elevator? All those are in the running but the biggest fail of all had to be the heat. Seriously the unrelenting, record breaking heat was a major fail.
7- Best Extra Money Spent- The Frozen Summer Package at DHS. We had a blast and loved all the extras. It truly elevated the whole park in my mind and I did not expect that. DHS is usually my least favorite park and this time our day spent there was probably my favorite. Snow in August in Orlando is amazing! Even if it is still 9,000 degrees outside.
8- Disney Lover Bucket List Items Checked Off- Dole Whips. We tried them and loved them. I can now say that I buy into the hype. They really are amazing. Hoop-Dee Doo- Revue. Been there now and done it. That is about all I can say. The experience did not live up to the hype or expectation but then again maybe it was just us. Maelstrom- Yup I made it a priority to visit it before it was gone. I had to see the whole “Back Back over the Falls” troll thing for myself. Again I was underwhelmed because I wanted to love it. I didn’t love it but I am glad I got to do it. I left feeling kind of like “what was that mess?” The kids hated it. Had their eyes closed the whole time.
9- Moment When I Stopped to Smell the Roses- Crossing Bay Lake at night with the sun setting. A light breeze blowing across the water with the Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower behind us. It was a beautiful moment that I stopped to just enjoy everything and realize how blessed I am.
10- Will we go again? Well that answer is pretty obvious since I am financially locked in for the next few decades with DVC. But even if that wasn’t true my answer would be- Absolutely. We made a ton of memories and I can’t wait to tell you all about them in this report. I hope you enjoy. More to come soon.


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[disney ny]

After the months and months of planning it was finally here. I think I mentioned previously that right before this trip I had some health issues and for the weeks leading up to the trip they were weighing heavy on my mind. All of this left me feeling a little unprepared and not excited as usual. This also was on my mind during the trip but I will say in advance things turned out ok so things now are good! Anyway I was a little less prepared than usual so the night before we were to leave this is what my bedroom looked like. WARNING! Graphic image of mess to follow:

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And then I got it together a little......

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Now don't judge! I know it is a disaster. We were flying Southwest so that allowed each of us 2 bags free per person and we took advantage of that. 3 people x 2 bags meant I could take 6 suitcases! I didn't take all six but I think I took 4 or 5. I finished my packing and got little to no sleep before this image greeted me.

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That is way to early to be up on summer vacation- even for a Disney lover. But, I managed to get out of bed and get the car loaded before I woke the sleeping angels up. My sister and I were flying out of Rochester which is about a 3 hour drive and we normally would all pile into her van and travel together. The only problem this time was too much luggage! All of those free Southwest suitcases meant we had to take two vehicles. The suitcases barely fit into my newly purchased Subaru Forrester.

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I think we are really leaving! The date is August 17, 2014 and out trip is finally, finally becoming a reality!

 

[disney ny]

Ready to go!

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So we were leaving this:

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I had no idea quite what a change in temperature I was heading into! The weather had been cool for late August in New York and I was loving it. I knew we were heading to hot but I was not expecting HOT, HOT, HOT!

My sister lives about 20 minutes from me and we were going to travel together to the airport so she met me at the bottom of our hill and we followed each other.

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We stopped after about an hour to get something to eat in Manlius. You can't beat Bruegger's Bagels!

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On the road again...

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The drive was uneventful. The kids watched movies in the back and I was happy and excited. Before too long we were in Rochester and at the airport. Rochester is a small airport which is nice for us when we have the travelling circus of four kids. Taryn stayed at the car with the girls and the boys and I went off to find a luggage cart.
We managed to get all of the luggage out of the two vehicles, get the two girls strapped into strollers and make it into the airport well ahead of our flight.

Everyone was in fabulous spirits.

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We left plenty of time prior to our flight in case we had any issues but everything went smoothly and we were through security and at our gate in no time.

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[disney ny]

Once we made it to the gate we had a little while before our flight. Knowing our kids well we had brought LOTS to entertain them. Tablets, Nintendo DS, Crayons, Books....you name it and we brought it. We like to try and avoid the public meltdowns that can happen with bored children and also like to avoid the glares of other passengers when we have poorly behaved children. Avery was in full entertainment mode as she pretended to be a frog and "ribbited" all around the gate area. Just another normal day with a two year old...

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The others managed to stay entertained too- most without somersaults.

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Since it was Southwest we got to board after the first group since we had small children with us. We were able to all get seats together which was a blessing. I drew the short straw and got to sit with Avery. Before our trip I had purchased a travel harness type thing from Amazon. It was pricy but I was hoping it would keep her in her seat and give her the feel of a car seat. I was afraid the lap belt wouldn't be quite enough. It did work very well and I would recommend it for anyone with children who are very active!

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Before long this was our view:

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The boys love to fly.

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The flight was smooth and the kids were fabulous. My mom had flown in from Ohio about an hour earlier than us so we knew that when we got off the plane she should be there to meet us. The kids hadn't seen her in a while so they were so excited to get off and find Mamoo!

And we found her waiting for us!

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[disney ny]

We had made it Orlando and found Mamoo so everyone was happy and excited!

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After looking around we headed off to do some damage control to Avery's travelling clothes The joys of travel with toddlers....

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Wardrobe change complete we were on our way again. The cute little bag she is carrying was her travel harness. She liked being responsible for it.

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Next, we got everyone all set with their Magic Bands. We were excited to try them for the first time. We had 3 sets each since we were switching resorts two times.

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Then it was on to the fake monorail which everyone loved~ The anticipation was building.
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In the middle of the airport was a man playing steel drums and it put us in the Florida spirit. I think some of us may have even danced a little. It was a fun touch.
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We were still trying to make our way..........

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Here..........to the Magical Express!

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We had to wait like 10-15 minutes for a bus.
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Finally they undid the rope and pointed us to the Magical Express. We were a little disappointed it was a water parks bus but very happy to finally be out of the airport and on our way.

 

[disney ny]

We made our way out of the airport and onto our Magical Express coach for the ride over to the resort.

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All of the sitting had made the girls quite restless so we spent time trying to entertain them and also catch some of the movie. I will say that the movie does not do much to capture the attention of little ones like I had hoped it would.

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We had to keep passing the girls around in an attempt to keep them in a seat.
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I even resorted to trying to trick Avery into thinking she had on her travel harness.

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Finally we saw the sight we had been waiting for and even though it is a bad picture I will include it for reporting purposes.

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I believe we stopped at one resort before ours but because I was wrestling with a two year old I am a little fuzzy on that. Then after what seemed like forever, we pulled up in front of the Contemporary Resort to unload. We created quite a scene with all of the kids etc. marching over to the entrance and I am pretty sure if you saw us you would know we were "that family." But, who cares? We were finally at Walt Disney World and ready to start our 10 day vacation.

 

[disney ny]

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It was so nice to finally be done with travelling! We headed into the Contemporary to check in to Bay Lake Tower knowing our room would probably not be ready yet. The family settled in to the waiting area well I went and did the whole check in process. Our room was not ready but a glance at the room number- 7316- told me we were even numbered which was one of the things I had requested. I was very hopeful for a MK view in our standard room. I got everything all settled and we headed up to get something to eat since everyone was starving after many hours of travel.

It was all very surreal to be at WDW finally after all the planning. I had never been a huge fan of The Contemporary but it instantly charmed me this trip. We found the elevators and made our way to The Contempo Cafe. The online ordering proved to be a bit of a challenge for us but we quickly figured it out. The kids were being super crazy and running around and we were trying our best to wrangle them up. Finally someone took them to find a table while the others finished up the ordering, picked up the food and at this time I also purchased the three adults our length of stay mugs. We found a table out of the way and sat down to enjoy our first meal at Disney!

Taryn had the turkey BLT with chips.
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Mom and I both chose to have burgers.
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The kids shared 2 pizzas and also got applesauce, grapes and cookies.
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And just like that we dropped $82.62. Seems kind of steep for a quick lunch but then we were at Disney. Sometime during the meal we got a text that our room was ready and we packed up and headed across the bridge from the Contemporary to Bay Lake Tower.

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I could not wait to open the door and see the room and view!

 

[disney ny]

Braden fell in love with the BLT elevators as soon as we got to the resort and took on the duty of being "elevator man" for everyone. We made it to 7316 which was on the the Third Floor. We opened the door with great anticipation.....

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Moving in a little closer- this was the view!!
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We had a view of the Magic Kingdom! I was ecstatic as I knew we would be able to see fireworks and go to sleep looking at the castle. The room was exactly what I wanted and thank you to everyone on these boards who helped me narrow down what to request in a 2BR standard to get it!

After gasping over our view we toured the room. It blew us away. Everything was gorgeous and in great shape. It was love at first sight.

Master Bedroom
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Master Vanity
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Jacuzzi Tub
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