Trip Report Villas @ The Grand Floridian(DVC)

**COMPLETED** 3/20-3/26/2016

This will be our 4th DVC stay since we purchased VGF during Spring Break of last year (March 2015).

Where: Villas @ The Grand Floridian 2- 2 bedroom villas for this trip 10 total people

(Traveling myself, my wife, our 3 children (8, 6, 1 1/2), my parents who have DVC as well, me nieces (17, 14), and nephew (12)

Disney Dining Plan set.

We booked this trip as soon as our 11 month window opened up for our DVC home resort opened up May 20, 2015.

2/29/16 Magic bands Arrived

Since we are local we will be leaving the house around 10am to arrive at the GF around 1030am local time.

(Other activities will be added as we get closer)

Day 1-
(Check into the Villas @ Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa around 10:30am)
-Fast passes for Animal Kingdom for the afternoon
-Swim @ the resort


Day 2-
-Character Dining @ 1900 Park Fare 8:05am
-Fast passes for Epcot (Mid Morning/Afternoon)
-Easter Egg hunt @ Epcot
-Swim @ the resort

Day 3-
-Fast passes for Magic Kingdom (AM)
-Swim at the resort


Day 4-
-Character Breakfast @ Hollywood and Vine @ DHS 9:00am,
-Fast passes for DHS mid morning/afternoon
-Swim at the resort

Day 5-
-AM fast passes for Magic Kingdom
-Swim at the resort


Day 6-
-Fast Passes for MK late afternoon and early evening.
-Swim at the resort


Day 7-
Departure day
-swim until noon-1pm then head home and get ready for Easter the next day.

Time to get excited for our July 4th trip, and October trip.

 

[Seanual757]

This is way better than getting up at 4am for work

 

[Seanual757]

 

[Seanual757]

Could not pass up the great morning for photos.

 

[Seanual757]

Pano shot this morning.

 

[Seanual757]

A little MK today.

 

[MinnieM123]

View attachment 134847 Good morning from Walt Disney World.

I just looked ahead at the other early morning photos, and I came back to this one. Pre-dawn and dawn are my most favorite times of day, especially at WDW. There's just something about this picture--it's so peaceful and serene, with the mist coming off the water, and just one person on a chair in the distance. I really love this photo.

 

[Seanual757]

Big Thunder Mountain, train ride, parade, monorail.

 

[Seanual757]

More parade and our little one

 

[Seanual757]

The monorail was down for a few hours this evening the wait times on the resort boat extended 60+ minutes so we watched Wishes from our balcony.

 

[Seanual757]

One of the best part of staying at the resorts is readying marshmallows at night

 

[Seanual757]

Thanks my wife said she is going to wake up at 6:30 and take photos around the resort we shall see but yeah I love the early am shots.

 

[DisneyJeff]

Poor girl... She is so used to holding a smartphone, her arm must be stuck in this position.

 

[Seanual757]

Well Spring break 2016 is in the books and what a great week it was. For the most part the weather was excellent except for the 1 day cool spell on Monday and the afternoon soaking on Friday other than that a perfect week.

We did early check-in the weekend before and requested 10am check in our plan was to leave the house for the long 20 minute drive over to the happiest place on earth. We will roll the dice and see if our room will be ready come Sunday.

Resort: The Villas @ The Grand Floridian this is our DVC home resort we purchased March 2015. 2 Rooms (2 BR ) one standard view, 1 lake view.
7 Days, 6 Nights, Quick Service Dining Plan, Reservations for 1900 Park Fare (Character Breakfast 3/21) and Hollywood & Vine (Character 3/32)

This is our 1st stay the Villas and I must say it’s a beautiful resort inside just as much as the outside. We have been many times to hang out at the pool and to eat at the restaurants. We look forward to our next stay at the resort.

The day has arrived

Sunday March 20

After a quick breakfast and finishing loading the Suburban up we head on out to WDW after a quick stop @ Publix to cash in a winning lottery ticket

As I am leaving Publix at 9:30 my phone goes off what do I see a text message from Disney our room is ready. We pull into the Villas a little after 10am and proceed to unload the car for the week @ Disney.

After unloading the Sub we headed out to Gasparilla Island Grill to pick up our drink mugs, and then have some lunch. After that we headed over to Poly to pick up a hat and shirt, then back to the hotel to swim before dinner later that evening.

We hit the monorail and headed over to the Contempo café over at the contemporary resort for dinner and then over to Bay Lake Tower to watch Wishes at Top of the World Lounge (we enjoy this DVC perk).

 

[Seanual757]

Day 1 Continued

 

[Seanual757]

Day 1 Continued

 

[Seanual757]

Day 1 Continued

 

[Seanual757]

Day 1 Continues (3/20)

Wishes Fireworks Show

 

[Seanual757]

Day 2 (3/21/16)


Monday-

An earlier start then we wanted but we had reservations at 1900 Park Fare for our daughter to celebrate her 8th Birthday.

After breakfast we meet up with our DVC sales Person Eric who gave us a tour of the Bungalows and hooked us up with some extra fast passes for all of us.

Finally we headed off to Epcot for our 3 fast passes we had scheduled.

 

[Seanual757]

Day 2 Continued (3/21/16)

 

[Seanual757]

Day 2 Continued (3/21/16)

Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows Tour. They have a sale right now we are thinking of picking up 200 points and a 2nd home resort. The prices are actually cheaper than when we purchased last March and purchased the Villas at the Grand Floridian.

Day 2 Continued (3/21/16)