Pre-Trip Our Hoop Dee Woohoo PTR!!

I'm going to try to keep this short so that I actually complete it and then go on to a full trip report. Our trip is only 20 days away and of course I have the fever! I figured this is one way to shake these sillies out.

When: August 14-23
Where: August 14-17 at Beach Club Villas, August 17-23 BLT our 2nd home

Who: My beautiful family of 5, DH Lucas, DD Alexa 8, DS Liam 6, and DD Brielle 3, along with my dad, AKA "the old man" and also in their own room my brother, his gf and her little girl Gianna. AND....if we get our way we will talk my sister and best friend in the world to come, she's stressing about paying for her wedding at the end of the year but I keep stressing that this could be her last opportunity to visit WDW without kiddos of her own!!


Here's a great shot of us with Ralph and Vanellope on our most recent trip this past April, YES...2 trips this year!!! Woohooo!! My husband was trying to look bigger than Ralph, close but no cigar sweetie.




And here's one of my sister and I tail-gating last month before a Dave Matthews concert, I'm on the right.




Here's one of my dad, brother and I before we ran a road race together, it was freeeeezing!! But a great race anyway.



Let me toss one more of my little family crew, minus me of course, just because I know my DH would be upset that I chose the Ralph pic...hehe. This was our kiddos with him at the finish line of a Half IronMan that he just did last month, a very proud moment!! 1.5 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, followed by a 13.1 mile run!!! Magical.



Now that you know and love our faces I will move on to a quick itinerary breakdown.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yay!!! Can't wait to read all of the trip details!!! Gorgeous pics and family, btw!

 

[bmarkelon]

Let me also quickly mention that this is our first time at Beach Club after me begging for our past 3 trips to finally check it out. DH is forever hooked on our BLT and I get it, you can't beat the location. It's also our first time taking the kids to Hoop Dee Doo, so pumped! We put it off until they were all a little bigger to enjoy the show. My oldest is obsessed with music and performing so she might be the most excited for this one. Let me settle down with all that for now and break it down....

Wednesday August 14
Land at MCO @ 11 and scoop up our rental car, get our booties to BCV, check out the digs, drop our stuff and hit the pool all afternoon. Awwww, vacation!! Poolside lunch and cocktails, yes please.

Dinner @ Captain's Grille, a first for us and chosen for that reason and it's convenient location. We like to ease in on our travel day. Especially since we'll be up before the sun.

DH insists and is flipping for Beaches and Cream for dessert, bring it on!

Thursday August 15
Off to MK

Lunch at CRT...first time for lunch...this is "the old man's" request. He loves being in the castle as much as we do. Yay magic!

Back to the resort for a quick dip in the pool, soak it up while we're there and then hopping into Epcot for dinner at Via Napoli. I've been dreaming and drooling about this meal since our first time last August.

Friday August 16
Decided to skip parks this day, partially due to crowds, also due to being at BCV. We may try a water park, but will more likely hit the pool and then maybe a little DTD.
Then off to the Boardwalk, I love an evening there. Dinner at Flying Fish Cafe means my favorite crab cake in the world!!!

Saturday August 17

Breakfast at Cape May Cafe, we've only done this one other time years ago. Looking forward to it.

Check out of BCV and into BLT

We're pretty open on what we do here but will most likely hop, skip and jump into MK.

Hoop dee Doo is here at 4, I waited to long to book this one and couldn't get the 6:15. It's all good, looking forward to an afternoon boat ride to FW.

Depending on how everyone's holding up after all that fried chicken we will most likely go back to MK for the evening parade and Wishes. We shall see, I am never one to push our kids into meltdowns.

Pausing here....

 

[bmarkelon]

Yay!!! Can't wait to read all of the trip details!!! Gorgeous pics and family, btw!

Thanks love! I haven't been on for a little bit and am catching up on your report!! But I'm on board that party too. We LOVED Artist Point, ended up there this past April trip. I haven't gotten too far, so I don't know if you stuck with that ressie or not.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Thanks love! I haven't been on for a little bit and am catching up on your report!! But I'm on board that party too. We LOVED Artist Point, ended up there this past April trip. I haven't gotten too far, so I don't know if you stuck with that ressie or not.

What's funny- you guys are going before us! I'm really looking forward to the BCV pics and thoughts since BC and BW are tops on my list if I can twist DH's arm for F&W next year. I had wanted to keep Artist Point, but I dropped it when I switched hotels It may be a good thing though, as this was something I would prefer to just do with DH.

 

[bmarkelon]

What's funny- you guys are going before us! I'm really looking forward to the BCV pics and thoughts since BC and BW are tops on my list if I can twist DH's arm for F&W next year. I had wanted to keep Artist Point, but I dropped it when I switched hotels It may be a good thing though, as this was something I would prefer to just do with DH.

I absolutely love the BW/BC area, it's so pretty and relaxing to me. It's weird but I just feel like time slows down slightly there compared to the monorail resorts...if that makes sense. I think it's also the feeling of stepping back in time too due to the theming. We've stayed at BW and I would absolutely stay there again. I love eating at the Flying Fish and love the Surrey bike rentals, so fun! I know you like Kouzzina, we still haven't tried it...I loved Spoodles and that take out window, grab a sangria and then stroll the boardwalk or ride the surrey all together. I love that. And the kids love the performers out there at night too.

Happy 40th to you! Best place to celebrate. We'll be celebrating our anniversary this trip, we better get "The Grey Stuff"!!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Can't wait to read all about your adventures!!!

 

[bmarkelon]

Sunday August 18
It's our one and only Animal Kingdom day and as we always do, we'll be starting it off with a Tusker House breakfast. It's one of my favorite character breakfasts, we love Daisy! And I love that ham on the carving station, delicious!

We'll see how long we last in this park, typically we're done here fast. As long as we've hit the safari, rapids and Everest we're satisfied.

Hoping to check out the Flametree BBQ finally though

I've got nothing down for our evening, we'll see where we decide to go.

Monday August 19
Finally going to HS today! We'll get in for rope drop and do our standard split and run for Jedi Training and TSM fastpasses. Last summer we were running late so my DH told me to get out of the car and run pretty much right after we pulled into the parking lot. So, of course I did and got him in!

We plan on definitely seeing Beauty and the Beast, it's been years and also the Stunt show that we've never seen. I also want a pic with Monster's U Sully and Mike.

Early lunch at Sci Fi, DH wants that Rueben again and my old man is going after that Picnic burger.

We'll see how late we can hang here after lunch, but will most likely go back for our typical pool time.

Dinner at San Angel Inn for the first time. I LOVE mexican food but have always held back on ressies here based on mixed reviews. We're going for it this trip, fingers crossed...I'm sure I'll be fine as long as the Margaritas are flowing.

Hoping to stay for Illuminations this night.

Tuesday August 20
Starting our day off with an Ohana breakfast at the Poly. Oh yeah! I always love a break from the buffet lines. Then we are open for which park we will go into but most likely it will be MK again. We may hit the pool earlier though and head in for our Be Our Guest dinner!
Of course it was tricky to snag but I got the ADR and somehow got it for our ideal dinner time at 5:35. I initially call on the 180 days out from our BCV reservation and got a late night time that I wasn't excited about. I called again on the 180 day mark from our BLT reservation and scored, yay!

Maybe Wishes here? Always depends on the kids.

TO BE CONTINUED....

 

[bmarkelon]

Wednesday August 21
My dad loves to wave his napkin around like a fool at Chef Mickey's, that's we start the day. Then off to HS again. Get our TOT, Aerosmith and Star Tours fix again. Then back to the hotel for more pool lounging time. I should also mention that during all of these resort down times my kids are also getting their arcade fixes in with my DH.
The kids are going to hang back in the room with my dad, brother and his gf while DH and I go out for our Anniversary dinner date. We always go to Cali Grill but since it's closed we chose Narcoossee's. We've been before, I'm looking forward to that Surf and Turf again. We are celebrating 8 years of magical wedded bliss!

Thursday August 22
It's our last full park day already, what the flip?! Better go out with a bang....here's how we roll out.

Head into Magic Kingdom, breakfast at Crystal Palace. We haven't done this one the past couple trips. The last time I took an exhausted, kicking and screaming Brielle (about 18 months at the time) back to the resort for a nap while everyone else hung out with Pooh. So I'm really looking forward to this one!

12/1 All 3 have ressies at Pirate's League. 2 mermaids and a pirate coming right up!

Our last dinner is.....OHANA of course!! Can't wait for those potstickers and the bread pudding, oh and a Lapu Lapu of course!!

Friday August 23
Soak in the sun by the pool in the morning. And then off to DTD for our traditional last minute shopping as if we haven't done enough of that already! Probably Earl of Sandwich will also go down.

5:45PM flight back to CT and back to school....boo!

 

[tare]

Love the report and pics.

 

[farrellbarrel]

Great plan so far, cannot wait to hear how your trip turns out! Have fun!

 

[bmarkelon]

So super excited, it always freaks me out how fast summer vacation goes as we're counting down to our August Disney trip. Just 16 more days until I'm sitting pool side at BCV enjoying one of these....my favorite Mango Margarita!!


Cheers!!

 

[bmarkelon]

Here's a little more about my crew....



Alexa, my oldest has been to Disney 7 times, this will be her 8th trip at 8 years old!!!! She had always been my scaredy cat as far as the rides go. This all changed last August when she decided, on our last afternoon of the visit that she wanted to go on all of MK's mountains. Due to the time of day this occurred and an exhausted family we were only able to get her on Splash and Space....she had actually gone on Big Thunder a couple years earlier. This past August she went on almost all of the thrill rides besides Everest since we skipped AK. Her favorite will always be "It's a Small World". I just love that!!

 

[bmarkelon]

Here's my little prince (I guess he's my little pirate in this one), he is such a little charmer and one cool dude. Liam is 6 and has been to WDW 6 times, this will be his 7th trip!! He has never been a scaredy cat and even surprised us all going on TOT when he was 4 years old and just barely the 40 inches!! That did freak him out a little and he skipped it the next trip, lol. His favorite is Splash Mountain, like his momma!

 

[bmarkelon]

And last, but certainly not least (she'll let you know that quick) is Brielle, our 3 year old spunky little princess. She's been on 3 trips to Disney, this will be her 4th! Brie is our little chatterbox and one of the main reasons we booked our last minute April trip...she was being to dang cute talking to my DH and I one morning about how much she loves Disney. Her favorites are Dumbo and the Barnstormer...she wishes she was a little bit taller to ride the mountains!! There's no holding this one back.

 

[AJ's B]

Love reading your PTR. We also will be down 8/21 to 8/29 at BLT. Can't wait! Maybe we will bump into you.

 

[bmarkelon]

Love reading your PTR. We also will be down 8/21 to 8/29 at BLT. Can't wait! Maybe we will bump into you.

You won't miss me, I'll be the blonde in a lounge chair at the pool sipping on Mango Margaritas while my DH handles the 3 kiddos in the pool!

Another exciting update: My brother gets to trial the Magic Bands since he's staying at the Contemporary!! I'm jealous since we don't get them at BLT but at least we get to check it out second hand.