Trip Report COMPLETED The not as bad as the Griswalds report as we go....Now with Wild Africa Trek pics!

All the PTR funtivities can be had here: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/16th-anniversary-ptr-first-time-cruise-here-we-come.885906/

So my wonderful DW and I wake before the crack of dawn,04:00 to be exact, for our trek from the beautiful north Georgia mountains to the MouseHouse. If you can believe it, it was the quickest 7.5 hour trip, including two pit stops, that we've made. Pulled into the Bay Lake lot about 11:45. As soon as you walk though the doors, WHAM, probably one of the most pleasant smells you'll experience smacks you in the face. We proceed to check-in. Rooms not ready, no biggie they'll text us when it is. We leave the luggage with bell services.

On to the Kingdom!

I won't lie this, is how we felt walking to MK from BLT:
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A bit warm and muggy today, no biggie as we're basking in the Magic. Park seems a little busy, I gave it and 8 out of 10, DW says 6. It's a little after noon now and we're pretty much killing time til our 1:20 BOG test ADR. We make our way to the Fantasyland via Adventureland taking in a few shops along the way. After some sight seeing and a ride on Little Mermaid we head over to eat

Be Our Guest, but only if you can provide proof you should be eating here via a live internet page:

So naturally there is a mob of confused guests at the entrance to the bridge dumbfounded that they are not allowed to wait to eat. No bother for us, we have test ADRs! Or do we..... We go to check in and give our name and are asked if it would be under another name. Nope just us. I tell the CM that I have the confirmation number to which she replies "a confirmation number does me no good, you need to log into the website and show me your reservation on the website." Not particularly thrilled, I say "ok" and just stand there going through the motions on my phone to provide proof. Page loads and I show her to which she says " ok go to the FP line, you'll probably have to reorder your food." Whatever, we just want to eat. Not the most pleasant of CMs, of course she is having to deal with this test ADR all day. So we go through the queue, reorder, and go to sit down when whoa! Whoever was complaining about this new test not making use of all the tables can stop worrying, this place was a MADHOUSE! Loud and overflowing with people it took us about 5 minutes to find a table that was being cleaned by a CM and claimed it as ours. 15 minutes later our leek soup, onion soup, and turkey Sammy arrives. Food is very good but still CS food. My DW says it smells and feels like a cafeteria now in there now and I agree. As we leave, and to our surprise, people are queued up on the bridge waiting to get in for lunch. I guess they opened up standby again.

Fast pass Space Mountain and a leisure TTA trip before our SDMT FP.

Barnstormer 2.0, I mean the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train!
I was so amped up for this only to exit with a feeling of "that was it!?!?". The ride itself is very smooth and has a few quick bursts that are immediately followed up with a " ha ha just kidding" slowdown. As many have said, the mine scene is excellent but the ride itself is lacking but perfect for the wee kids. It's 3:30 and no text about our room yet, surely just a clerical error...

4:00 check-in ain't what it used to be.

So we make it back to BLT a little concerned we haven't received a text for our room, it is aft 4 now. The CM says she she can't tell me when it will be ready. I asked why it wasn't ready by 4 to which she replies "oh, we have until 5 to get it ready for you." Again, still a little miffed and confused why it's taking this long but we decide to grab some drinks at the pool bar and wait. 4:38 we get the text. So while we wait on our 8:00 Citricos ADR I figured I'd throw some words and a few pics up at ya.
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We're still deciding if we hit the EMH after Citricos or come back and watch illuminations and Fantasmic from the balcony.

Beach Club Villas and HS tomorrow!
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Citricos FTW!

First timers at Citrictos tonight and we started the meal off right with this:
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Whenever I eat out at a new place I try to tapas, tonight was no different. Here are the apps the DW and I shared for our meal:
Sautéed Florida pink shrimp
Arancini
Charcuterie
Cheese course trio
Fresh fig salad

Of course they start us out with the bread and butter and my DW whips out the quote of the night: "forget the bread all I need is this butter". Yeah, it was pretty good. This was an amazing meal, no room for desert though, that we would absolutely duplicate in the future. Great food, service, and atmosphere. FYI, beef tongue tastes exactly like pot roast, Andrew Zimmern was right! Just an observation though, does anyone else think the waitstaff for Victoria and Albert's could moonlight a doom buggy loaders at Haunted Mansion?

We decided to walk off our meal with a few rides at MK before walking back to BLT, like a boss, while the wait for monorail and the boat had to be at least 30 minutes each.

Dang, it's late. Time fo' bed.
 

stevehousse

Well-Known Member
Wow 2 rude CM encounters in one day! Big thumbs down! Hope the rest of the trip is better. And wth was with BOG. How is having a confirmation number not good enough?
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow 2 rude CM encounters in one day! Big thumbs down!
I hate to call them rude but most certainly not very magical. I can understand that the BOG CM is being harassed all day with that cluster situation in the heat but the BLT CM was no where near the level of awesome her counterpart who initially checked us in was.

. And wth was with BOG. How is having a confirmation number not good enough?
Yeah, this was a bit of a mind blow and very frustrating to say the least.

We'll be checking out of BLT soon and heading over to Beach club for the next 4 nights. We've been slowly knocking out all the DVC resorts before we buy and, while it's so awesome walking to MK, I don't think BLT makes our final two. For those keeping score at home, our DVC rankings:
1. Animal Kingdom
2. Saratoga Springs
T-3. Bay Lake Tower
T-3. Boardwalk
5. Old Key West

First half of the day planned for HS, the rest is TBD with an ADR at Yachtsman tonight!

Here's a little sunrise Epcot and Hollywood action:
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Edit: Mio mixed with Florida water is pretty good.
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Disney's Frozen Studios.

Holy cow, I think Disney has subscribed to the cowbell philosophy:
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My DW's take in it:
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Time to catch the boat to EC for some lite lunch. Fingers crossed that our room is ready sooner than yesterday so we can get our swim on before Yachtsman.
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
30% discount for AP holders at Spiced Road? Yes please:
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EC has been a mind blow for us. For the past 4 years we've always come during Christmas week, F&W, F&G. The place is a ghost town and we're loving it.

Just picked up our Laila from Norway. Now to get the DW a churro from Mexico before she does me in.
 
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after churro, a trip with the three caballeros, a trip through time, and a disney visa photo we headed back to BCV around 3:15 worried we would have a repeat of yesterday. Made it to the front desk by 3:30 to inquire and as magic would happen our room "just" became available. I'm liking our view, we'll be able to see the HS fireworks and Illuminations fireworks from our balcony after our Yachtsman ADR tonight:
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lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Um, Stormalong Bay is pretty awesome! DW and I floated around for close to an hour before dinner. We hit the room for a quick rest and shower before Yachtsman.

First let me say that so far BCV has been awesome. If I had one gripe about the resort if would be the cheap seafood funk emitted from Cape May Cafe. We, unfortunately, had to walk by it a few times to get to the pool and dinner. Ok, enough of that and on to the awesome.

First timers at Yachtsman and we decided a long time ago we were going to take on the 32oz porter with sides. First the bread and some Sammy Adams IPA:
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When they brought out the steak and sides we were overwhelmed with all we got and I took this hasty pic a few minutes into our dinner:
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Holy cow this meal was great! The sides were all outstanding and I'm not a mushroom guy but couldn't keep away from the sautéed mushrooms they served. The onions were perfect as we're the potatoes. Finally, the creamed spinach, I think I could have downed a pint of this stuff by itself it was that good! Yachtsman smashed Le Cel and might have earned itself a spot in our regular rotation.

Speaking of Le Cel, we decided to drop an ADR for San Angel and pick up a different one for Tuesday and was shocked to see that we could get an ADR for Le Cel in just two days at 8pm! I remember a time when they were great and getting an ADR at 179 days was tough.

Anyway, time to catch some fireworks from the balcony. Got EC, Paradiso 37, and Restaurant Marrakesh scheduled for tomorrow.
 

mrdrift

Well-Known Member
Great start to the report with some nice pictures that are making me really hungry for a steak. Following along while looking for food from the fridge.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Got our swim on and now headed to Mission Space and Maelstrom before our Marrakesh ADR. Had to sample a Cronut along the way:
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DW says its good but not great. A bit greasy. It's not a donut or a croissant. She says it's overrated.
 
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