First DVC stay - Boulder Ridge Villas

[AnnaS]

I can understand in the middle of cleaning one or two rooms going in and out into the hallway. Chat with another housekeeper/we see it often. They go back and forth if their "housekeeping" room is a few rooms away. They must forget - it's only thing that comes to mind.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 4 - January 23rd - Tuesday

Slept later since we were up so late the night before. I'm always so torn about this on Disney trips. I know morning is the best time in the parks. But dang...I need sleep! So we didn't end up having breakfast in the room until almost 9:30am.

Got to the bus stop at 10:45ish. Bus didn't arrive until just after 11. This was one of our longer bus waits of the trip. We finally made it to Animal Kingdom at 11:45am.



We headed toward Dinoland to start at the spinner ride (what the heck is that called? Too lazy to Google.) Short wait. Then we went over toward Everest so I could do single rider. The wait wasn't too bad. This ride was more fun that I remembered. I still miss when the Yeti moved.

This was the single rider line. I'm not sure if this is average for Everest or not.



Then we went toward Safari for our DAS return. I hate that I didn't take many pictures at all in Animal Kingdom. It was just more crowded than I would have liked. And way more crowded than our previous trips. I guess that's just the way things are now. But I noticed it most in AK compared to the other parks. It was also more loud than I recall. But maybe that's just my age. Ha!

The Safari was good and our son loved when it would bounce around. I remember it bouncing more but my memory could just be wrong. The only downside of the Safari was some kid 2 rows up kept standing up and the driver had to keep telling him to sit down over and over. He ever said "that's your last warning." I would have liked to see what happened after that....ha!

Then we went on Dinosaur. Our son enjoys Indiana Jones at Disneyland. But I honestly have no clue if he had fun on Dinosaur because it's just too dang dark in there for me to see him! I wouldn't be upset if they decide to retheme this to Indiana Jones at some point.

It was about 2pm so we went to Flame Tree for a late lunch. Our son ate almost nothing though.

Last up for AK was our DAS return for the Avatar boat ride thingy. This was our first time in this section of the park. I've never seen the movie so I was pretty underwhelmed with the whole area. And even more so with this ride. At first I was like "okay, this is pretty." But then....that's it. It was a big nothing burger for me! Really thankful we had a DAS return. If I had waited any actual time for this ride, I wouldn't be happy. The other day I pulled up the app and it had a TWO HOUR wait. Those poor people souls.

We got our son some popcorn so he'd at least have some food in his stomach and he ate the whole thing. And it was nice to be able to just sit and relax a bit. We did a lot more walking than I would have liked just because of how our DAS returns needed to be space out.

We left Animal Kingdom at about 4:00. This was the only day we went there on this trip. On previous trips (2008/2010/2012) Animal Kingdom was my 2nd favorite park. But it just didn't have the same feeling for me. Probably doesn't help that we were just too tired to walk all the trails. And our son isn't into looking at animals at all. (We have an amazing local zoo in Omaha but he mainly just likes to walk around without stopping to look at much.)

Back to the hotel now for break. Around 6:00 we took the bus to Magic Kingdom.





Tea Cups were our first stop. We waited about 15 minutes. Then we road Small World with a DAS return.



Decided to go to Columbia Harbor House for dinner. Thankfully our son ate a big meal here again. We found a table upstairs and then did our mobile order. My husband went downstairs to get it and when he came back, they had roped off the stairs. Since my son and I were already up there...he just came up anyway. I felt kind of bad about this but it is what it is.

At 8:00 we got on the Jungle Cruise using a DAS return but it wasn't needed at all. Then we got on the Magic Carpets since there was no wait. Got to see the fireworks finale up there so that was fun.

Our son was ready to call it a night but the fireworks crowds were insane. So we stopped and got some funnel cakes while waiting for crowds to clear out. Then we made our way to the exit.







We were back on the boat at about 9:20. All in all, a good day. But I still feel sad that Animal Kingdom didn't feel the same for me as it used to.

 

[rferrar1]

Thanks for the trip report! Love reading these

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 5 - January 24th - Wednesday

We planned to go to Hollywood Studios so at midnight I went onto the app to buy Genie+ for myself so I could use it to get onto Slinky Dog. Set my alarm for 7am. Alarm goes off. I shut it off and sadly...fell back asleep for about 5 minutes. Wake up and get on there to book a Slinky Dog return. In my half-awake state, I saw something like an 8:30 return time and thought to myself "well, that's way too early. I'll wait a minute and reload." I hadn't realized it was an 8:30pm return time, not AM! I mean, obviously. The park doesn't even open until 9. Ugh. I reload and no return times. I realize my mistake. Hit reload a few more times and an 8:30 or 8:45 shows up so I grab it knowing full well we won't be at HS that late. And sadly...this isn't like DLR/DCA. I can't just hop over to ride it real quick.

So I decided to purchase Genie+ for my husband and son so we can just try to stack some G+ returns with our DAS. In the end, it wasn't worth it at all. I think we only used G+ for a couple rides.

Anyway...went back to bed for a while because we weren't in a massive hurry. Then we did our 'usual'....went to Roaring Fork and while waiting for our mobile order, we filled our mugs with mediocre coffee. Then we went back to the room to eat. I just love this resort!



We ended up getting to Hollywood Studios kind of late - 11am or so. We walked through some shops. Then we went on Star Tours with a 20 minute wait. At noon we used a G+ return for Alien Swirling Saucers. Then my husband did single rider for Smuggler's Run. I've still never done this ride. We waited for him right outside the exit and this was an amazing spot because the AC from the building could be felt. It was way too warm for me this day so I was grateful for this!

At 12:25, we used our DAS return for Rise. Our son had never been on this before and I was a bit nervous that he would hate it because it's loud and there's a drop. But we decided to give it a try. He liked the transport vehicle part (even though it felt like it barely moved. I swear the one at DL moved more.) We got all the way to right before they separate you into groups to get into your vehicles. We hadn't moved in a while so we didn't get a good feeling. Suddenly, cast members weren't acting 'mean' anymore. They had us get into lines. Told us to keep phones put away. Then we were escorted out through some back hallways. Such a bummer. Thankfully, our son didn't get too upset.

We put in a mobile order for pizza for our son and then carried it over to ABC Commissary so I could get a salad or something. It was super crowded and people ended up sitting at the table connected to ours. I'm a germ-a-phobe so we finished up and got out of there!

We rode Mickey and Minnie next. Can't remember if this was a G+ or DAS return. Then we noticed rise was back up so we went over there and thankfully made it on! Our son got a little nervous when the vehicle went up. I made sure to warn him right before the drop so he was prepared. And he seemed okay! The other parts of the ride he really seemed to enjoy. We'll definitely be going on this more in the future.

We walked through more shops and then went back to the hotel at about 3:30.

Decided to hop over to Epcot around 5:30. Spaceship Earth had no wait so we did that first.

Not sure what happened with my picture this time. One other time when my husband and son were together, it used my son's picture for both people instead of my husband. Not the greatest technology. Ha!



After that we used a G+ return for Figment but it wasn't necessary at all. At 6:30 we tried Remy but it was closed. So we went to the America pavilion for dinner. This was a decent meal for our son. He had a burger dipped in BBQ sauce (no bun), a lot of watermelon, and some cheezits. I decided to order a bunch of sides for myself. I got a side of garlic bread, side of mac and cheese, and side of pickles. Mac and cheese seemed like it had been sitting out for hours so I only took a few bites. Garlic bread and pickles were good though. But not a very filling dinner, to say the least.

I decided I wanted to stop and get some snacks in Germany to eat back at the hotel later. We just wandered a bit. Remy was still closed so we decided to just head to the boat ride in Mexico. Frozen was down for refurbishment and thankfully our son didn't seem to notice or care when we walked by. Phew!



We walked through more shops and then watched the little light show on Spaceship Earth before heading to the bus stop around 8:30.









This was the day we went on the least amount of rides but that's okay. It was a fairly relaxing day so I'm thankful for that. We got some hot chocolate in our refillable mugs and relaxed with our Germany sweets back in the room. It was quite nice!

 

[RapunzelRN]

Day 5 - January 24th - Wednesday

We planned to go to Hollywood Studios so at midnight I went onto the app to buy Genie+ for myself so I could use it to get onto Slinky Dog. Set my alarm for 7am. Alarm goes off. I shut it off and sadly...fell back asleep for about 5 minutes. Wake up and get on there to book a Slinky Dog return. In my half-awake state, I saw something like an 8:30 return time and thought to myself "well, that's way too early. I'll wait a minute and reload." I hadn't realized it was an 8:30pm return time, not AM! I mean, obviously. The park doesn't even open until 9. Ugh. I reload and no return times. I realize my mistake. Hit reload a few more times and an 8:30 or 8:45 shows up so I grab it knowing full well we won't be at HS that late. And sadly...this isn't like DLR/DCA. I can't just hop over to ride it real quick.

So I decided to purchase Genie+ for my husband and son so we can just try to stack some G+ returns with our DAS. In the end, it wasn't worth it at all. I think we only used G+ for a couple rides.

Anyway...went back to bed for a while because we weren't in a massive hurry. Then we did our 'usual'....went to Roaring Fork and while waiting for our mobile order, we filled our mugs with mediocre coffee. Then we went back to the room to eat. I just love this resort!

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We ended up getting to Hollywood Studios kind of late - 11am or so. We walked through some shops. Then we went on Star Tours with a 20 minute wait. At noon we used a G+ return for Alien Swirling Saucers. Then my husband did single rider for Smuggler's Run. I've still never done this ride. We waited for him right outside the exit and this was an amazing spot because the AC from the building could be felt. It was way too warm for me this day so I was grateful for this!

At 12:25, we used our DAS return for Rise. Our son had never been on this before and I was a bit nervous that he would hate it because it's loud and there's a drop. But we decided to give it a try. He liked the transport vehicle part (even though it felt like it barely moved. I swear the one at DL moved more.) We got all the way to right before they separate you into groups to get into your vehicles. We hadn't moved in a while so we didn't get a good feeling. Suddenly, cast members weren't acting 'mean' anymore. They had us get into lines. Told us to keep phones put away. Then we were escorted out through some back hallways. Such a bummer. Thankfully, our son didn't get too upset.

We put in a mobile order for pizza for our son and then carried it over to ABC Commissary so I could get a salad or something. It was super crowded and people ended up sitting at the table connected to ours. I'm a germ-a-phobe so we finished up and got out of there!

We rode Mickey and Minnie next. Can't remember if this was a G+ or DAS return. Then we noticed rise was back up so we went over there and thankfully made it on! Our son got a little nervous when the vehicle went up. I made sure to warn him right before the drop so he was prepared. And he seemed okay! The other parts of the ride he really seemed to enjoy. We'll definitely be going on this more in the future.

We walked through more shops and then went back to the hotel at about 3:30.

Decided to hop over to Epcot around 5:30. Spaceship Earth had no wait so we did that first.

Not sure what happened with my picture this time. One other time when my husband and son were together, it used my son's picture for both people instead of my husband. Not the greatest technology. Ha!

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After that we used a G+ return for Figment but it wasn't necessary at all. At 6:30 we tried Remy but it was closed. So we went to the America pavilion for dinner. This was a decent meal for our son. He had a burger dipped in BBQ sauce (no bun), a lot of watermelon, and some cheezits. I decided to order a bunch of sides for myself. I got a side of garlic bread, side of mac and cheese, and side of pickles. Mac and cheese seemed like it had been sitting out for hours so I only took a few bites. Garlic bread and pickles were good though. But not a very filling dinner, to say the least.

I decided I wanted to stop and get some snacks in Germany to eat back at the hotel later. We just wandered a bit. Remy was still closed so we decided to just head to the boat ride in Mexico. Frozen was down for refurbishment and thankfully our son didn't seem to notice or care when we walked by. Phew!

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We walked through more shops and then watched the little light show on Spaceship Earth before heading to the bus stop around 8:30.

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This was the day we went on the least amount of rides but that's okay. It was a fairly relaxing day so I'm thankful for that. We got some hot chocolate in our refillable mugs and relaxed with our Germany sweets back in the room. It was quite nice!

Beautiful photos!!

 

[Chili327]

Epcot… I drank so many cold brews and had so many snacks I felt like a bubble about to burst most of the time. But loved every minute.

And yes the ball is so photogenic!!!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 6 - January 25th - Thursday

We decided to give Genie+ another try on this day we we could stack some DAS with G+ returns. We also hoped to get some on-ride photos. Spoiler alert - once again, wasn't worth the money we paid. I'd like to say we learned our lesson but I'm sure we'll end up buying G+ on at least a day or two of our Disneyland trip this summer.

Did our usual morning routine of to-go Roaring Fork breakfast in our room. Then at about 10:00 we took the boat to MK. We decided to see what our son thinks of Barnstormer first. It had a 20 minute wait. Some background - in 2022, we thought our son might like Big Thunder at Disneyland since it doesn't really have any big drops or anything. Well....we were so very wrong! He was terrified the entire time and kept slinking down in his seat and almost under the safety bar (he's a skinny kid.) We had to hold onto him for dear life! It was awful. But we thought we'd give Barnstormer a try since it's not too crazy and it's super short. And well...it was iffy. He sat with my husband and I sat in front so I could periodically look back at him. He definitely looked terrified and unsure for the ride. But when it was done he smiled and I asked if he liked it, he said yes. (Though his comprehension and ability to properly answer questions isn't super reliable.) I feel like if we were to ride it a second time, he might have liked it since he would know what to expect. So I think we'll try to get on Gadget's this summer and see what he thinks of that.

At 11:15 our DAS return for Haunted Mansion was up! Hooray! It had been closed on our other visits this trip so we were happy to finally make it on. I love this ride. Our son does pretty well on it...except with the people screaming in the stretching room.

Next was one last spin on the Magic Carpets with a DAS return. Then we went to Pirates with G+. Remember how I was hoping to get some on-ride photos this day? Well...we got one...of some other people's boat. I'm sure there's a way to find ours but I didn't care enough to figure it out. After this we did Pooh with DAS. Then it was time for lunch.

We made the mistake of letting our son choose. I took screenshots of the salmon from CHH and pizza from Village Haus and asked him...assuming he'd pick the salmon again. Nope. He picked pizza. Ugh. First I found a stand selling grapes so I grabbed some for our son while my husband grabbed some popcorn too. (Back-up since we didn't think he'd like the pizza.) VH was so freaking crowded. We grabbed the only table we could find and it had almost no shade so we were just sitting in the blazing sun. Our mobile order took forever. And, as predicted, our son wasn't a fan of the pizza. He had one bite and decided it was awful. Very disappointing lunch.

Right after that we went on Peter Pan with a DAS return. Then went over and rode Buzz with G+ return. Next was Tomorrowland Speedway with DAS. I got some really good pictures of him laughing on this one! Then it was time for one last ride on the People Mover...my favorite!

It was about 3:30 so we took the boat back to the hotel. We relaxed and did some packing. At 5:15 we got on the bus to Epcot.

I convinced my husband to walk through the Moana water area. He didn't want to get wet but I told him he didn't have to so he said okay. And I'm glad he did because he ended up liking it. Our son loves water so he really seemed to enjoy this area a lot!





We went over and rode Remy next. I'm 99% sure we used a G+ return for this. I didn't write it down but since we'd only been in the park for about 35-40 minutes, that seems likely.



It was about 7:00 so we decided we better eat some dinner. My husband really wanted fish and chips but my son and I aren't fans. So he decided he'd walk over to get that and then power walk over to the America pavilion with it. I thought this sounded like a pain in the butt but it's what he wanted to do. My son and I both had the kids hamburger meal. I thought the burger tasted like a cartoon hamburger. I can't explain it.

We went over to ride Frozen next. Once again, hoping to get a good on-ride photo since it's the only day we've ridden Frozen with G+. But, of course, our son is completely blocked by the people in front of him.

It was around 8:00 or so and we had planned to make our last ride Spaceship Earth. Well...we regretted this choice since now SE was broken down and they weren't sure when it would be back up. Our son just kept repeating "spaceship earth is closed." And even now, weeks later, when he looks at pictures he repeats that. Such a bummer to end the visit on a slightly sour note.

We went to the bus stop and didn't have too long of a wait. Once on the bus, there was the announcement saying it was someone's birthday. Everyone was looking around to figure out who. Turns out...it was the bus driver. So we all sang happy birthday to her! Very fun moment.

We got to the hotel at about 9:00. There were some issues with buses at Fort Wilderness so it was kind of a long journey "home." We stopped by our room for our refillable mugs and then went to get hot chocolate to enjoy back in the room.

All in all, a pretty good last day in the parks!

Day 7 - January 26th - Friday

I doubt anyone is interested in our travel home day but I took notes so I'm just going to post about it anyway. We woke up at 6:45. Had breakfast in the room. Finished packing and getting ready. I really enjoyed this room! I obviously never stayed here before the refurbishment but I think they did a good job.



We checked out and headed outside to wait for our Mears bus at about 9:25. The bus arrived at 9:40. We had been concerned that it would be a van and not a bus so we were happy to see it was an actual bus and we didn't need to fuss with the inflatable car seat booster for our son. The bus had to stop at Poly and Contemporary first and it was off to the airport.

We were able to get our bags checked outside, which was nice. I was happy to not have to haul them all over the place. We went to the TSA precheck line and it only took us 5 minutes to get through. The estimated wait time for the regular lines was around 30 minutes or so.

We decided to eat an early lunch so we got Mcdonalds around 11:00. I also found yogurt and grapes for our son, which was good because he didn't want his burger. There was a family with gunky coughs right next to us while we were eating. Eww. Gunky coughs was definitely a theme of this trip. (And seriously...what's with adults not covering their GD mouths?!)

We got to our gate and relaxed for a bit before boarding at 12:35. Some lady in the pre-board line in front of us was trying to bring 2 large carry-ons and was arguing with the gate agent. She finally gave in and gated checked one of them. At first I thought maybe she was a first time flyer but later in the flight I heard her talking and sounds like she flies a lot. So she was just trying to skirt the rules because I guess sometimes they let her. I know it seems hypocritical of me to comment on this since we also skirt the rules a bit by having all 3 of us board early instead of just 2 (with pre-boarding, only 1 parent is supposed to board but we like to stay together for our son's sake.) However, all of us boarding together effects no one else. We don't use ANY overhead bin space and we're just taking up our own row of 3 seats. This time we made sure to ask the gate agent ahead of time and she said it was perfectly fine.

We ended up taking off a bit late. Our son was starting to get antsy with the long wait. But once we started going he was actually super excited during take-off. The flight home just seemed to drag for me. Probably because I was super bothered with the un-masked people gunky coughing right behind me the entire flight. They were clearly an entire family of sick people. I just wanted to get home and out of this flying germ box! (Did I mention I'm immunocompromised so when I get sick I get REALLY sick? Thankfully...our masks did their jobs and we didn't catch anything on this entire vacation. Woohoo!)

We landed around 3:30 local time. Bags took a while but we finally got them and got out of there! We went straight to our car and headed home.

All in all, it was a really great trip! And obviously I came home and immediately found a BRV contract to put an offer on! The plan is to head back in January 2026!

And here are some pics from my husband's phone from various days of our trip.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Oh, and if I want to be nit-picky...here are a couple more "issues" we came across.

The side panels in the small murphy were apparently missing. Not sure what that's about but I know it's not supposed to look like this. It was the same on the other side but you can't see it from this angle. Thankfully our son didn't mess with it or anything.

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Also, there was a bag of extra bedding in the living area table as well as one in the closet. But neither one was zip-tied closed so I didn't feel comfortable using them without being 100% sure they were clean. We just ordered up extras from housekeeping instead. Not a big deal but still kind of annoying.

I thought the same thing when we checked into our BCV stay last week. My daughter slept on the pulldown Murphy bed. All the pillows are kept in the closet in those zip bags. During past stays, those bags were zip tied so you knew they were clean. On this stay, they were not. We used them anyway. Not too worried. However, when we checked out I made sure to leave the Murphy bed down with all the pillows and linens that were used on the bed and not in the bag. I was hoping that would ensure they got cleaned for the next guest. That doesn’t mean they weren’t clean for us, but I can see how that could be missed if a previous guest put them all in the bag and back in the closet.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well....in my last post in this thread, I said the plan was to get a BRV contract and head back in 2026.

As most of you know, we ended up with two BRV contracts, totally 200 points.

And we're going back in January 2025! So I thought I'd just add onto this thread so I can ramble about our planning and whatnot. It's probably boring to read but it's fun for me. (And it's a nice break from the real world while writing about Disney trips!)

We are booked in a 1-bedroom at BRV for January 25th - 31st. I had to borrow a few points from the next UY but that's fine since we'll likely be skipping a WDW trip during that UY anyway.

I booked our flights on SWA. Unfortunately, they switched the flight time from what I originally booked. I'm not super thrilled with the change but it's the only direct flight that day and I don't think there are any BRV available on other days around our trip to change things. So we'll just deal with it.

January 25th - Saturday
OMA to MCO
9:25am - 1:30pm
Originally it was 10:55 - 2:50. We are not morning people so having to get to the airport in the morning isn't great but we'll survive. I'm a little nervous about getting to the hotel before check-in will be available. Our son is very routine-based. We've never had to wait for a room when arriving at a hotel. So I'm not sure how he's going to tolerate this. And I hate leaving my bags with people so I'm not thrilled with having to do this. I'll probably keep lugging my carry-on around until we can get into our room. I'm thinking we'll get some lunch at Roaring Fork, which will at least kill some time. Not sure what we'll do after that if our room isn't ready though.

January 31st - Friday
MCO to OMA
1:15pm - 3:45pm
This one changed a little but not much. Was originally 12:55 - 3:15. Hopefully it doesn't change anymore because it's really the perfect time for us.

We purchased our park tickets through getaway today. Just 5-day hoppers. Though now I'm wondering if I should switch them to 6 since we're arriving so much earlier. I don't know though. We're always so tired on arrival day and just like to unpack, shower, and unwind.

Anyway....less than 200 days until our trip!! Woohoo!

 

[Chili327]

Well....in my last post in this thread, I said the plan was to get a BRV contract and head back in 2026.

As most of you know, we ended up with two BRV contracts, totally 200 points.

And we're going back in January 2025! So I thought I'd just add onto this thread so I can ramble about our planning and whatnot. It's probably boring to read but it's fun for me. (And it's a nice break from the real world while writing about Disney trips!)

We are booked in a 1-bedroom at BRV for January 25th - 31st. I had to borrow a few points from the next UY but that's fine since we'll likely be skipping a WDW trip during that UY anyway.

I booked our flights on SWA. Unfortunately, they switched the flight time from what I originally booked. I'm not super thrilled with the change but it's the only direct flight that day and I don't think there are any BRV available on other days around our trip to change things. So we'll just deal with it.

January 25th - Saturday
OMA to MCO
9:25am - 1:30pm
Originally it was 10:55 - 2:50. We are not morning people so having to get to the airport in the morning isn't great but we'll survive. I'm a little nervous about getting to the hotel before check-in will be available. Our son is very routine-based. We've never had to wait for a room when arriving at a hotel. So I'm not sure how he's going to tolerate this. And I hate leaving my bags with people so I'm not thrilled with having to do this. I'll probably keep lugging my carry-on around until we can get into our room. I'm thinking we'll get some lunch at Roaring Fork, which will at least kill some time. Not sure what we'll do after that if our room isn't ready though.

January 31st - Friday
MCO to OMA
1:15pm - 3:45pm
This one changed a little but not much. Was originally 12:55 - 3:15. Hopefully it doesn't change anymore because it's really the perfect time for us.

We purchased our park tickets through getaway today. Just 5-day hoppers. Though now I'm wondering if I should switch them to 6 since we're arriving so much earlier. I don't know though. We're always so tired on arrival day and just like to unpack, shower, and unwind.

Anyway....less than 200 days until our trip!! Woohoo!

Can you stop somewhere on the way to hotel? Disney Springs or something so room is actually ready when you get there? Maybe make it the new routine.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Can you stop somewhere on the way to hotel? Disney Springs or something so room is actually ready when you get there? Maybe make it the new routine.

I'm not sure what we'd do with all of our bags. We are planning to take an Uber from airport to hotel.

 

[Chili327]

I'm not sure what we'd do with all of our bags. We are planning to take an Uber from airport to hotel.

Oh gosh no, don't want to drag all your bags around DS. lol (I did that when I was leaving, and it was only 1 bag and it stunk)
Maybe grab lunch at the airport to waste a little time before you contact the driver?

 

[ClaraOswald]

Originally we couldn't decide if we wanted to do 5 parks days (like last time) or add a 6th. In the end, we chose 5 because the flight options to an extra day just weren't great. We'd basically only want our son to miss a Mon-Friday of school to that kind of limits the days we would fly.

Since our flights changed, I was curious if the flights on other days did too. And I'm seeing we could fly home on Saturday instead of Friday with an okay time now. But....not sure if it's worth the extra $350 or so. Plus the extra money to add another day to our tickets. And another day for our dog sitter.

Decisions, decisions!

 

[danikoski]

Well....in my last post in this thread, I said the plan was to get a BRV contract and head back in 2026.

As most of you know, we ended up with two BRV contracts, totally 200 points.

And we're going back in January 2025! So I thought I'd just add onto this thread so I can ramble about our planning and whatnot. It's probably boring to read but it's fun for me. (And it's a nice break from the real world while writing about Disney trips!)

We are booked in a 1-bedroom at BRV for January 25th - 31st. I had to borrow a few points from the next UY but that's fine since we'll likely be skipping a WDW trip during that UY anyway.

I booked our flights on SWA. Unfortunately, they switched the flight time from what I originally booked. I'm not super thrilled with the change but it's the only direct flight that day and I don't think there are any BRV available on other days around our trip to change things. So we'll just deal with it.

January 25th - Saturday
OMA to MCO
9:25am - 1:30pm
Originally it was 10:55 - 2:50. We are not morning people so having to get to the airport in the morning isn't great but we'll survive. I'm a little nervous about getting to the hotel before check-in will be available. Our son is very routine-based. We've never had to wait for a room when arriving at a hotel. So I'm not sure how he's going to tolerate this. And I hate leaving my bags with people so I'm not thrilled with having to do this. I'll probably keep lugging my carry-on around until we can get into our room. I'm thinking we'll get some lunch at Roaring Fork, which will at least kill some time. Not sure what we'll do after that if our room isn't ready though.

January 31st - Friday
MCO to OMA
1:15pm - 3:45pm
This one changed a little but not much. Was originally 12:55 - 3:15. Hopefully it doesn't change anymore because it's really the perfect time for us.

We purchased our park tickets through getaway today. Just 5-day hoppers. Though now I'm wondering if I should switch them to 6 since we're arriving so much earlier. I don't know though. We're always so tired on arrival day and just like to unpack, shower, and unwind.

Anyway....less than 200 days until our trip!! Woohoo!

Bell service at WL is super great about holding bags. We've used them almost every trip. I always have a back pack and my husband has a back pack with essentials in them. So like last trip to WL in October 2022, we dropped our bags off, then ate lunch at Roaring Fork, then the boys and my husband went wandering, and the came back wanting to swim. We had kept swimsuits in the back packs, so my husband and boys went to swim. There's a nice restroom/changing room in the Sturdy Branches spa/fitness center off the BRV lobby. About the time they were done swimming, our room was ready. We've also dropped our bags off and taken the boat to MK, then hopped over to the Contemporary and played in their arcade. You could also go for a ride on the monorail. When the boats ran all day between CR and Fort Wilderness, we'd sometimes just ride the boat around.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Bell service at WL is super great about holding bags. We've used them almost every trip. I always have a back pack and my husband has a back pack with essentials in them. So like last trip to WL in October 2022, we dropped our bags off, then ate lunch at Roaring Fork, then the boys and my husband went wandering, and the came back wanting to swim. We had kept swimsuits in the back packs, so my husband and boys went to swim. There's a nice restroom/changing room in the Sturdy Branches spa/fitness center off the BRV lobby. About the time they were done swimming, our room was ready. We've also dropped our bags off and taken the boat to MK, then hopped over to the Contemporary and played in their arcade. You could also go for a ride on the monorail. When the boats ran all day between CR and Fort Wilderness, we'd sometimes just ride the boat around.

Question, when our room is ready...can we immediately get our bags? Or will we need to wait?

Also, thanks for the good ideas!

 

[danikoski]

Question, when our room is ready...can we immediately get our bags? Or will we need to wait?

Also, thanks for the good ideas!

You can walk back by Bell Service on your way to BRV and pick up your bags (it is right on the end of the check in desk by the Mercantile store), or you can have them delivered to your room (make sure to have a tip). Getting them delivered to your room sometimes takes a little bit of time.

 

[Mle8308]

You can walk back by Bell Service on your way to BRV and pick up your bags (it is right on the end of the check in desk by the Mercantile store), or you can have them delivered to your room (make sure to have a tip). Getting them delivered to your room sometimes takes a little bit of time.

And still tip if they retrieve your bags, even if you take them. Maybe not as much as if delivered, but something!

 

[ClaraOswald]

And still tip if they retrieve your bags, even if you take them. Maybe not as much as if delivered, but something!

When we picked up our groceries from the bell service counter in January, the guy told us we weren't allowed to tip him. I thought it odd.

 

[Mle8308]

When we picked up our groceries from the bell service counter in January, the guy told us we weren't allowed to tip him. I thought it odd.

I think it can depend on who is there and who retrieves it. If it's the dispatcher, it's not a tipped position. Sometimes if it's for groceries, they (dispatcher) will get the items because it's not luggage. If it's luggage, then it is normally a "ticket" assigned to a bellman, as per their union, they are supposed to be the ones "delivering" luggage to guests. In this situation (picking up luggage) it's best to offer a tip and let that person be the one to refuse it.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Okay - we decided to just add another day to our January trip! So we'll be arriving on a Saturday and leaving the following Saturday (instead of Friday.) I was able to change our return flight with no additional charge. I added a day to our park tickets which was only $105 total. I added a day to our premium airport parking reservation so that was $30 more. Then our dog boarding will be an extra $20-$40 depending upon who ends up watching him for us (we book this once the date gets closer.) That puts the total upcharge for another day to $175, at most.

There is, of course, another day of eating in the parks. So that does cost more than a day of eating at home. But not sure what the difference is and I'm not really too concerned with that anyway.

So yeah....all set now for 7 nights in a 1-bedroom at Boulder Ridge! It was an extra 34 points. I borrowed them from our 2025 BRV points instead of using any from our remaining 2024 VGC points (which I'm going to bank into 2025.) We still have a little over 150 BRV points for 2025 with no actual 2025 UY trip planned. So they will likely just get banked for our 2026 UY trip (January 2027.)

This trip will be 1 day longer than our last one. I just hope our son isn't too bothered since our last Disney trips have all only been 5 park days. I'm excited to have the extra day though. That way we can take our time even more than we already do. And I'll probably do some laundry during one of our afternoon breaks. Plus, if there's a warm day...I really want to swim!