We're back!! - A mini report

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi All!! Well after 4 glorious weeks away we arrived back in the UK yesterday and I thought I would drop in to let you all know our highs (many!!) and lows (very few!!) of our trip. If I can finally work out this photo business I may (I say may!!) attempt a proper report later on!!

Anyway.....

Highs-

1) Bay Lake Tower - absolutely gorgeous and it was amazing to be able to see the castle from our room I also really loved the layout of the studios (contrary to most of the opinions I had read before hand - I really loved the kitchen feeling like a seperate room) and it also easily slept the 4 of us and we had plenty of room for our luggage - I wouldn't hesitate to book this size room again - this again is a totally different opinion to what I had read on the boards, where I had seen again and again that a studio was very small and only really suitable for 2 people - we thought it was great (Yes I'd love a 1 bed but we certainly didn't suffer in the studio for 7 nights)


2) Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Villas - well this was my number one highlight!!! We had a 1 bed here and oh my goodness, it was AMAZING!!! I loved the more intimate feel of Kidani compared to Jambo House and I could easily spend a whole vacation here (which considering we normally do multi centre trips is a very high recommendation indeed!!). In fact we loved it so much, we have added on a few DVC points here so that we can stay longer next time!!!

3) Pirate Party & fireworks on board Disney Cruise Line - Mickey flying through the air and starting the firework display - I cried my eyes out it was so magical!!!

4) Disney Dreams show on the DCL - Although I had seen it before, watching Beauty and the Beast on stage with snow falling down in the theatre was the most christmassy feeling of my whole trip - more tears!!!!

5) Our servers (Henry and Quacey) and room attendant (Gusti) onboard DCL - those guys were THE best we have ever had and truly made our christmas cruise special - thank you guys!!!

6) Fish Extender gift exchange on DCL - the boys so loved coming back to the room and finding little gifts - really made it special for Christmas!!

7) Wizarding World of Harry Potter - really is as fantastic as I had hoped it would be. As a new fan (having read all the books and watched all the films all in the last 6 months ready for the holiday!!) the attention to detail was fantastic and whilst I would have enjoyed it anyway as it has been so well thought out, it was even better spotting all the little things that only those who know the stories would see - absolutely worth seeing, do go!!!

8) Front of line access and early entry to HP through Hard Rock Hotel stay - I LOVE this hotel anyway, but we both said we now can't imagine going to Universal and not staying onsite - the FOTL is SO worth it, even when the queues aren't too bad, being able to walk past everyone else queueing and walking straight on was fantastic. And the extra hour at WWOHP and being able to take photos without hordes of people in them was terrific.

9) Weather - although we had 3 or 4 very chilly days early on, the rest of our stay was beautiful, we were able to sunbath/swim at each of our hotels and had beautiful weather in the Carribean for Christmas - lovely!!

So those are my high - although one thing did SURPASS all of those and really did make Kai's holiday extra extra special!!!......

He is a MASSIVE Harry Potter fan and on New Years Day (our first day at Universal) we decided to pop back to the shops in WWOHP after dinner and I happened to notice that the queue for Ollivanders didn't look too bad, so we ended up queueing that evening for about 10mins. We went into the show and having told Kai over and over again that he might not get picked to prepare him for the worst (he desperately wanted to be chosen!!) - We got in and Ollivander chose him!!! He was so overwhelmed and I (again!!!) was in tears - I think it was even more special because it was our first visit to Ollivanders so hadn't even seen the show before - we were so so lucky!!!


Lows- Not really lows, but everything else really exceeded our expectations, and some things just met them, rather than exceeded them!!!

1) Christmas - Whilst the decorations were beautiful and I am so glad we saw them - it really didn't feel like christmas at all!! I know now that christmas for me is being at home with the children and my mum, and even the small things like M&S bread sauce and watching Eastenders on the telly I missed!!! I had to keep reminding myself that it was Christmas over there and several times I looked at Christmas trees and thought - whats that doing here on my summer holiday?? - before I remembered what time of year it was!!!

2) Cost of DCL - I could never again justify paying the huge inflated christmas prices for the christmas cruise. Whilst we had an amazing time, I think I expected something even more because of the price we paid. As I said before, it wasn't that we didn't enjoy it, and it met all my high expectations, I just think that deep down I thought that as we had paid so much extra, that we would get so much extra (although I don't know what more I was expecting if that makes any sense at all!!!)

Anyway this has turned into a novel so I will stop now, but it is good to be home (never thought I'd say that) - and I would add that for me that is the true value of buying into DVC - this is the first trip I have come home happy, as I know that next year I will definitely be back again so I can now just start planning for October 2012 rather than being miserable about being home!!

Happy New Year to you all!!!

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Thanks for posting. This is a good TR.

 

[strawberry blonde]

Wow. Lucky you 4 weeks away. I am so jealous.

Sounds like you had a great holiday with lots of highs

 

[UKDEB]

Thanks for sharing, Amy. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every bit of it.

 

[disneyholic family]

welcome back and thanks for the mini-report!!
which cruise were you on?

 

[Chilly]

Thanks for sharing, hope you do a full TR.

 

[Marl]

Sounds like a fantastic holiday
I would love to read a full trip report.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Thanks everyone I would like to do a full report, I will have to get DH to help me with the photos bit though!! - I am useless when it comes to my PC!!

Beth, We were on the Disney Wonder for 7 nights to the western Caribbean (Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel in Mexico). We had originally booked the 11 night Magic cruise to the Southern Caribbean but decided we wanted longer in WDW instead - it was the right choice really for the boys as they liked Castaway Cay far better than anything else, so next time we think we will save some pennies and just book a 4 nighter to enjoy the ship and CC rather than needing to sightsee - at least until they are older and can appreciate it.

Having said that we are booked on the Magic in the Med this summer as I really wanted to see Rome and Monte Carlo, so they will have to tolerate a bit of culture then!!

 

[Elise79]

Welcome home Amy!

Glad you had a great trip.

Actually we like the kitchenette layout in the studios too - I never understood the complaints & we have stayed twice.

Have fun planning for next year now!

 

[T16GEM]

Glad that you had such a fab time, I can't believe that you are back already it seems to have gone really quick!

 

[buzz for boys]

Wow !!
I too would love to read a full trip report !! Posting pictures is easy once you get the hang of it!!

 

[Pegasus928]

Great to hear about your highs - and to get your opinion on your lows.
I too would love to read a full trip report and, if it helps, I did a thread a little while ago that went step by step on how to add pictures to a report or thread.
You can find it HERE
I did run through it myself and found that there are a couple of changes to the instructions - so it is now on my 'to-do' list to update the thread (a list that seems to be getitng bigger by the day )

 

[disneyholic family]

Thanks everyone I would like to do a full report, I will have to get DH to help me with the photos bit though!! - I am useless when it comes to my PC!!

Beth, We were on the Disney Wonder for 7 nights to the western Caribbean (Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel in Mexico). We had originally booked the 11 night Magic cruise to the Southern Caribbean but decided we wanted longer in WDW instead - it was the right choice really for the boys as they liked Castaway Cay far better than anything else, so next time we think we will save some pennies and just book a 4 nighter to enjoy the ship and CC rather than needing to sightsee - at least until they are older and can appreciate it.

Having said that we are booked on the Magic in the Med this summer as I really wanted to see Rome and Monte Carlo, so they will have to tolerate a bit of culture then!!

if the boys love CC, then you might want to try the Disney Dream 5 night cruise - it goes into castaway cay twice.....
the itinerary is CC, then nassau and a day at sea, then CC again...
doesn't that sound super!!! two days at CC sounds perfect to me - though i could easily do without the nassau day

 

[happyj]

Thank you for the TR. I love DVC for the same reason when we get back we can plan again. So lucky.

 

[Altymark]

Great report - sounds like you had a fab time. We stayed at BLT and the Hard Rock back in August. Love the Hard Rock, and the front of line privileges that come with it, but we didn't get FOL for Harry Potter. I Loved Hogsmeade but felt a bit disappointed about the HP ride - maybe I expected too much?!

 

[gemmybear83]

Glad you had a fab time! I think you were on the Magic just after us! I know we got all the decorations on the cruise, gingerbread house etc and our cruise was earlier in December (and the ship was nto full to capacity) and there was a huge price difference between the cruise at the beginning of December and the end!

We LOVED Castaway Cay, it was heaven I threatened to hid on the island and be shipwrecked!

 

[princessjodiebo]

wow sounds like you had an amazing time !!!
hope you manage to put some photos up - especially the cruise

 

[disney_princess_85]

Welcome home! Glad you had fun.

 

[jns]

Thanks for sharing
welcome home and happy planning for 2012

 

[almcg]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time