What a blast

[dvcdudes]

<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=royalblue size=3>Well, we're back.  </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=royalblue size=3>We just got back from one of our <FONT color=tomato>best vacations ever</FONT>.  This was only our second trip to our HOME (BWV).  We only stayed for a week, but what a week it was.  </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>Rather then making this a trip report, I'll just touch on some of the highlights and a few DVC related tidbits.</FONT></P>
<OL>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>The crowds seemed light.  Although we did NOT go into any of the major parks.  It just seemed that there were no crowds and we talked to people who were in the parks and were told that there were no lines for the rides.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>We poolhopped to SAB, GF, & The Poly.  We were carded at SAB only.  After she saw we were DVC members, she said "Welcome to Storm-along bay and let us right in.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>On the BW, we ate at ESPN, Big River Brewery, Spoodles, & sandwiches at The BW Bakery.  My kids loved ESPN (visual and audible sensory overload).  BRB was nice.  We sat outside and watched the BW performers while we dined. (more on them later).  My DW loved Spoodles.  The food was fantastic.  I wouldn't recommend the sandwiches at the bakery.  I thought they were a little pricy for what you get and I would have preffered a sandwich from BRB.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>Around the BW we ate at Cape May Cafe.  We did the clam bake and I think it was my favorite meal of the trip (I love seafood).  We also ate at the Dolphin Fountain (20% discount to DVC members).  This place surprised me.  It was quite good.  My two DS's loved the working juke box and the food was more than you could eat at very good prices.  The icecream is great too.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>To round off our dining, we did: Chef Mickeys (great as always),  Boma at AKL (the food was not too good, different, not my taste)  The animals were great though,  Olivias at OKW (we did lunch there and took a look around.  It was very nice),  & Boatwrights at PO Riverside (always one of our favorites.  I love that guy at the bar on the piano).</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>The entertainment on the BW was nice.  It DOES seem more constant then the Buskers.  The acts are your typical card tricks, rope jumping, sward swallowing, balancing and juggling.  We still MISSED the Buskers though.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>I attended the Members update.  Nothing earth shattering was mentioned.  They said that prices were likely to go up and VWL will most likely be sold out by Thanksgiving or The New Year.  They seemed to be pushing the <FONT face=Arial color=#0033cc><STRONG>World Passport Collection.  </STRONG><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1>They said the exchange points for most of these are very attractive.  They gave a few examples like a week in Colorado for 80 pts.</FONT></FONT></FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>We did go to Typhoon lagoon and it was great (especially the wave pool) and we went to Disney Quest (the kids loved it.  I thought it was OK).</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>We had great weather but my DS's found Community Hall and didn't want to come out.  They were in there for about an hour the first day they found it and about 3 hours the next.  When we went over to OKW they went into the CH there but said they liked BWV's better.  I think it's because of the video games at BWV.</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>We also took a look at VWL.  They are very nice.   I thought they would be dark but I didn't find them that way at all.</FONT></LI></OL>
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#4169e1 size=3>I would like to thank everyone on this board for all your recommendations for our trip.  We thought we would have a little park withdrawal (me and my kids did anyway).  Quite the contrary.  We had a GREAT time and we didn't go into one of the major parks.  There really is so much to do ( oh yea... we rented a canope boat while my DW got a facial and pedicure at the GF Spa.)  The kids loved all this and we didn't even scrape the surface on all there is to do there.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=tomato size=3>7 LONG MONTHS 'TILL OUR NEXT TRIP </FONT></P>

 

[dianeschlicht]

Sounds like a great trip, but how on earth did you manage to stay out of the parks?!? I could never do that. It is why we buy APs and travel several times in a calendar year, then take 12 months off before starting over again. One good thing is that you got to see some details around the rest of the "world" that many miss.

 

[TheWho]

If I recall, were't you going to drive straight through from LI?
Did you drive straight through on the way home?

 

[dvcdudes]

Good memory TheWho. we drove straight through going. We left LI at 3AM and arrived at 7:30PM. We stopped in Virginia for breakfast for about an hour but other than that we only stopped for gas. We stayed at the Ramada on 192 the first night (Sat). I got it on priceline for $35. It was ok, I guess, as far as off site resorts go. Right after check in was when we went to ESPN. We had a quick dinner and walked around the BW. It was very sad to have to get back into our van and drive back to the Ramada.
On the way home we checked out of the BW and headed over to OKW for a tour and lunch at Olivias. We didn't get out of there until about 1PM and I drove to Florence SC where we stopped for the night. We then continued on the next morning and arrived home on Sat evening. On the way down, I find it easy to drive straight through (I guess it's the anticipation) but on the way home we leave later and I'm so depressed to be leaving so I can't make it in one shot.

dianeschlicht, I didn't think I'd be able to do it either. Actually we have been down to WDW quite a bit over the past few years and always did the parks commando style. We also were staying at the all stars so we really had no desire to stick around the resort. Now that we bought DVC we are going to WDW twice a year so were stopping to smell the roses so to speak. We're going to do all the little things we never did before.
We too are thinking about AP's. Our next trip will be in March '02. We are then going in Aug '02 and then Dec '02 and might even squeeze in Feb '03 especially if we get the AP's. If we do do all this, we'll be back in our commando gear attacking the parks like we used to . My wife will probably tone us down a bit but me and the boys will try and get as much as we can.

 

[Paul in CT]

DVCDudes,

I'm glad you had a great vacation. We just got back as well. We stayed 2 nights at VB, 3 nights at BWV and 3 nights at VWL (8/8 to 8/16. We spent much of our time at the major WDW parks and found them to be quite busy and HOT! It was the busiest we have ever seen at this time of year, especially MK, and we have been in late August several times over the years.

We thought the crowds might decrease once school began on Monday (8/13), but they did not seem to. Thank goodness for Fast Pass or we might not have done some of our favorites. Nearly every time we checked SM, the wait was 50+ minutes!!

I agree that the resorts themselves seemed relatively quiet so I am not sure what was going on.

Despite the heat and humidity we had a great time, too, and are planning to go back in December when it's a bit cooler.

 

[dvcdudes]

Hi Paul,
It looks like you checked out of BWV the day before we checked in.
I'm actually relieved to hear you say that the parks were pretty crowded. I thought we were blowing a good opportunity to hit all the rides. However, I wouldn't want to stand in line for an hour in that heat.
The lady we spoke with had 3 small kids and said that she left the parks at about noon and we saw her going back at about 5 so maybe this is why she wasn't hitting the crowds.
The day we went to Typhoon Lagoon, it started to get very crowded at about 11:00 and then it seemed like everyone was leaving with us at about 4:00. I just figured this was an everyday occurrence there especially with the heat.
The restaurants seemed very quiet too. We didn't need PS for anywhere we ate. We did make PS for Cape May but after getting there we could have just walked in. Same for Boma.
How did you like VWL? We took a look at the Villas and thought they looked very nice. What about VB? We went there last August. It was beautiful but we stayed a week and that was a bit long.
If you don't mind me asking, why did you split up your vacation 3 ways? Did you just want to try each out or did you book late? We are thinking about trying either OKW or VWL next August and would have to book at 7 months and was wondering if we would have a problem getting a one bed room.

 

[Paul in CT]

We split it 3 ways intentionally. We like VB for a couple of days (my DW would like to stay longer). I booked the eight nights at OKW at the 11 month window then changed them over to the others at seven months. I think that I could have gotten 6 days at BWV, but we wanted to try the new VWL. We liked them both, but after three days at BW, it would have been nice not to have to pack up and move. However, the advantage is a brand new clean room after three days!! We had 1BR's at both, but a studio at VB.

We liked VWL because of the restaurants and snack bar convenience and the beautiful WL lobby. It also seemed cooler and certainly quieter there because of the surrounding trees.

One unexpected surprise was that the boat to the MK is NOT air conditioned like the BW/MGM/EPCOT boats. As you probably know, busses take you everywhere else, but the ones we took were not direct to the parks. They stopped at Poly, GF and BB.

I agree that some of the finer restaurants were not too busy. Artist Point and Jiko were both a bit empty, but we were there early, around 6:30 PM so it's hard to know for sure.