Finally getting around to starting the trip report - only a month after returning from the World...Thankfully, we took plenty of pictures, which are helping me remember our experiences, but will likely make this one long report!
This was our family's 5th visit to WDW since our first in 2007 (with one less kid), and definitely the best one yet! My wife and I were celebrating our 15th anniversary, so we had to do it up right - we'd always wanted to stay near our favorite park, so we decided to spend our week at the Beach Club. It was like living at Epcot!
There were a few firsts for us on this trip, aside from the choice of resort. The most readily apparent was the new touch-to-pay and touch-to-enter system. We tend to use our room charge account for the vast majority of purchases and meals, and the new system worked flawlessly throughout our trip. The RFID park entry also worked well for us throughout the trip, though I can't say the same for other guests...It honestly didn't seem to be any faster than the old system, but that's a topic for another post. Other first time experiences included Star Wars Weekends and lots of new dining - but we'll get to those later.
This was also our first time visiting the parks anywhere close to "peak" season. All of our previous trips have been in Oct/Nov, with the lone exception of last year's trip in late August, so we were a bit nervous about what to expect from the crowds. I'm happy to report that the crowds were very manageable for most of the week, with a fairly noticeable increase during the last weekend. We didn't see a single tour group until the last day! We also had quite a bit of weather to deal with, including a tropical storm, but nothing we couldn't handle. We got wet, but it certainly didn't dampen the fun!
We spent 7 nights in a studio in Beach Club Villas, with 6-day park hoppers (started out with 5-day, and decided to add one mid-trip, which created a lovely little fiasco that I describe in another thread, thanks to the recent ticket price increase). First, the cast and crew: Myself, DW, and the 2 girls (14 and 3). Here we stand after shamelessly gorging on pot stickers and wings at Ohana the first night of our trip:
Now, to the details: We awoke bright and early Sunday, June 2nd, and tore down I-75 for around 6 hours before arriving at the Beach Club at about 2pm. We were met at the curb by a lovely CM with an Ipad who guided us to the front desk, where we were told our room wasn't quite ready yet. Having no plans to hit the parks on our travel day, we decided on a quick tour of the resort - absolutely beautiful! Yeah, that's me in the jeans and 3-year-old. Not a good choice of attire for the admittedly short, but rather warm, walk over to the International Gateway.
We'd never been to any of the Epcot resorts, or the International Gateway, before, so we decided to see just how close we would be to the World Showcase. We walked out of the lobby, hung a left, and in about 5 minutes were standing at the IG!
A short while later, we received the text saying our room was ready, so we headed over to the villas. We were placed in a handicap accessible studio room on the 3rd floor (this is the second time we've been put in a handicap room at WDW, in spite of having no handicaps...), which was pretty much a typical Disney hotel room - small and basic. We were stretching it with the four of us in such a small room, but we knew what to expect, and after some very creative clothing storage, we'd pretty much settled in. We had a queen bed and pullout sofa, and a pretty nice view of the woods between us and World Showcase. We were able to see the higher Illuminations fireworks from the balcony each night, and if we'd had a decent camera I would've taken some photos...This is what the place looked like most of the week:
Here's one of the many poignant scenes (arranged by our Mousekeeper during our absence) that greeted us upon our return to the room. You'll notice Pascal savaging my lei from Ohana while the other animals look on, unconcerned. Only Sulley appears to show some regret for standing idly by in the face of such irresponsible behavior.
After settling into the room, it was time for...bubbles on the balcony:
We decided against Downtown Disney, and just hung out at the resort until around 5pm when we headed over to Ohana for dinner. Each person in our party got to choose at least one meal during the trip, and this one was our DD14's choice. We'd eaten here during our very first visit to WDW, and she had been dreaming of those wings ever since. Dinner did not disappoint!
And what dinner at Ohana would be complete without the Coconut race? Note the lack of a coconut anywhere within our reach, and my daughter's laser-like focus on...who knows?, which pretty much characterized our joint performance in said race.
After dinner we had a relaxing monorail ride around the resort loop. As you will see, we've been at WDW a grand total of 4 hours and our 3yo has already wisely selected two very unique and valuable souvenirs that I'm certain will give her many years of enjoyment. Note also the lei, prior to its encounter with Pascal.
All in all, it was a great first day at the World, and we hadn't even entered the parks! Much more to follow!
This was our family's 5th visit to WDW since our first in 2007 (with one less kid), and definitely the best one yet! My wife and I were celebrating our 15th anniversary, so we had to do it up right - we'd always wanted to stay near our favorite park, so we decided to spend our week at the Beach Club. It was like living at Epcot!
There were a few firsts for us on this trip, aside from the choice of resort. The most readily apparent was the new touch-to-pay and touch-to-enter system. We tend to use our room charge account for the vast majority of purchases and meals, and the new system worked flawlessly throughout our trip. The RFID park entry also worked well for us throughout the trip, though I can't say the same for other guests...It honestly didn't seem to be any faster than the old system, but that's a topic for another post. Other first time experiences included Star Wars Weekends and lots of new dining - but we'll get to those later.
This was also our first time visiting the parks anywhere close to "peak" season. All of our previous trips have been in Oct/Nov, with the lone exception of last year's trip in late August, so we were a bit nervous about what to expect from the crowds. I'm happy to report that the crowds were very manageable for most of the week, with a fairly noticeable increase during the last weekend. We didn't see a single tour group until the last day! We also had quite a bit of weather to deal with, including a tropical storm, but nothing we couldn't handle. We got wet, but it certainly didn't dampen the fun!
We spent 7 nights in a studio in Beach Club Villas, with 6-day park hoppers (started out with 5-day, and decided to add one mid-trip, which created a lovely little fiasco that I describe in another thread, thanks to the recent ticket price increase). First, the cast and crew: Myself, DW, and the 2 girls (14 and 3). Here we stand after shamelessly gorging on pot stickers and wings at Ohana the first night of our trip:
Now, to the details: We awoke bright and early Sunday, June 2nd, and tore down I-75 for around 6 hours before arriving at the Beach Club at about 2pm. We were met at the curb by a lovely CM with an Ipad who guided us to the front desk, where we were told our room wasn't quite ready yet. Having no plans to hit the parks on our travel day, we decided on a quick tour of the resort - absolutely beautiful! Yeah, that's me in the jeans and 3-year-old. Not a good choice of attire for the admittedly short, but rather warm, walk over to the International Gateway.
We'd never been to any of the Epcot resorts, or the International Gateway, before, so we decided to see just how close we would be to the World Showcase. We walked out of the lobby, hung a left, and in about 5 minutes were standing at the IG!
A short while later, we received the text saying our room was ready, so we headed over to the villas. We were placed in a handicap accessible studio room on the 3rd floor (this is the second time we've been put in a handicap room at WDW, in spite of having no handicaps...), which was pretty much a typical Disney hotel room - small and basic. We were stretching it with the four of us in such a small room, but we knew what to expect, and after some very creative clothing storage, we'd pretty much settled in. We had a queen bed and pullout sofa, and a pretty nice view of the woods between us and World Showcase. We were able to see the higher Illuminations fireworks from the balcony each night, and if we'd had a decent camera I would've taken some photos...This is what the place looked like most of the week:
Here's one of the many poignant scenes (arranged by our Mousekeeper during our absence) that greeted us upon our return to the room. You'll notice Pascal savaging my lei from Ohana while the other animals look on, unconcerned. Only Sulley appears to show some regret for standing idly by in the face of such irresponsible behavior.
After settling into the room, it was time for...bubbles on the balcony:
We decided against Downtown Disney, and just hung out at the resort until around 5pm when we headed over to Ohana for dinner. Each person in our party got to choose at least one meal during the trip, and this one was our DD14's choice. We'd eaten here during our very first visit to WDW, and she had been dreaming of those wings ever since. Dinner did not disappoint!
And what dinner at Ohana would be complete without the Coconut race? Note the lack of a coconut anywhere within our reach, and my daughter's laser-like focus on...who knows?, which pretty much characterized our joint performance in said race.
After dinner we had a relaxing monorail ride around the resort loop. As you will see, we've been at WDW a grand total of 4 hours and our 3yo has already wisely selected two very unique and valuable souvenirs that I'm certain will give her many years of enjoyment. Note also the lei, prior to its encounter with Pascal.
All in all, it was a great first day at the World, and we hadn't even entered the parks! Much more to follow!
)
