Sheilaras
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2009
US: Me - 45 (bday on trip!) DH - 47, DDs - 13, 10, 5 and DSs 10, 8 + Danish au pair - 19
Dates Travelled: 10/9-14/2015
We won our most recent trip at a charity auction benefiting the American Cancer Society. Included in the package were:
6 days/5 nights for 4 people at Buena Vista Palace (I'd never stayed or even heard of it, we're usually on-property snobs)
5 park hoppers per person (20 individual 1-day park hoppers)
1 Water Park Pass pp (I had these converted to MNSSHP)
VIP tour for 8 hours
We are a party of 8, so I didn't think it would be a big deal to double the package. The hotel upgraded our room to a suite and we had to pay $99/night for the adjoining extra room. We had to buy 4 extra MNSSHP tix. We only planned on going into the parks 3 days, so we bought an extra 1 day park hopper and a 3-day park hopper for my 5 year old to maximize the savings. They let all 8 of us on the VIP tour w/out an additional charge.
I set up my MDE account and began to make ADRs and FP+ only like 2 weeks before trip. There was a lot of coordinating involved with the company we won the package through and I was waiting on them. Had huge amounts of trouble adding all my tix and assigning them to the right person. The cards would show up in one screen but the tickets didn't register in the other. After about 3+ hours with Disney help desk (no exaggeration) we got it straightened out. They said that if we were staying on property they could've sent us a gift basket or something. Boo. Decided to buy Magic Bands to coordinate our 30 hard tickets since I (and Disney help desk) thought it would be too much to manage and too easy to mix up. Plus I wanted them, so fun! I was a little nervous about how they'd stay on and losing them, especially with the littles. They came quick and I added them to MDE w/out any problem.
I was nervous about the hotel after reading reviews online. It was such a mixed bag, but there was nothing we could do about it but be positive and hope for the best. Bummed about no Magic Bands or Magical Express.
I booked the Mears van for $85 online, individual tix on their bus would've been over $230! Flight was great. Mears guy was awesome, the kids were thrilled to see someone waiting with our name on a board!
Check-in at BVP was ok, they didn't tell us where to go or anything, so some other guest showed us how to get to our room! It was in the island building, too bad the entire island was a construction zone. All the amazing pools were ripped up. Thankfully, I had read a recent review saying this was starting or I would've really been bummed out. Our room was pretty clean compared to reviews. Stains on the couch, only 1 blanket for both rooms, balcony views of whatcouldvebeenawesome pool area construction zone. People above us liked to move patio furniture around a lot at midnight and you could hear people peeing above you but other than that, no real complaints, never saw or heard anyone else.
Night 1 we went to DTD. Path was right off our building. DTD bus terminal was right across the street from path, but no crosswalk. Crosswalk was about a block walk away, building an elevated crosswalk now that is not finished yet. That will add another layer of effort to get across, you'll have to go up, cross and come back down by using stairs or elevator. Dinner ADR was at Splitsville. Sat right away but dinner took over 75 minutes to get to us, no effort from server to get us apps or bread or even crackers. Manager took care of entire bill! We left tip. DTD was crowded! I was nervous about how the parks would be the next day.
More to come!
Dates Travelled: 10/9-14/2015
We won our most recent trip at a charity auction benefiting the American Cancer Society. Included in the package were:
6 days/5 nights for 4 people at Buena Vista Palace (I'd never stayed or even heard of it, we're usually on-property snobs)
5 park hoppers per person (20 individual 1-day park hoppers)
1 Water Park Pass pp (I had these converted to MNSSHP)
VIP tour for 8 hours
We are a party of 8, so I didn't think it would be a big deal to double the package. The hotel upgraded our room to a suite and we had to pay $99/night for the adjoining extra room. We had to buy 4 extra MNSSHP tix. We only planned on going into the parks 3 days, so we bought an extra 1 day park hopper and a 3-day park hopper for my 5 year old to maximize the savings. They let all 8 of us on the VIP tour w/out an additional charge.
I set up my MDE account and began to make ADRs and FP+ only like 2 weeks before trip. There was a lot of coordinating involved with the company we won the package through and I was waiting on them. Had huge amounts of trouble adding all my tix and assigning them to the right person. The cards would show up in one screen but the tickets didn't register in the other. After about 3+ hours with Disney help desk (no exaggeration) we got it straightened out. They said that if we were staying on property they could've sent us a gift basket or something. Boo. Decided to buy Magic Bands to coordinate our 30 hard tickets since I (and Disney help desk) thought it would be too much to manage and too easy to mix up. Plus I wanted them, so fun! I was a little nervous about how they'd stay on and losing them, especially with the littles. They came quick and I added them to MDE w/out any problem.
I was nervous about the hotel after reading reviews online. It was such a mixed bag, but there was nothing we could do about it but be positive and hope for the best. Bummed about no Magic Bands or Magical Express.
I booked the Mears van for $85 online, individual tix on their bus would've been over $230! Flight was great. Mears guy was awesome, the kids were thrilled to see someone waiting with our name on a board!
Check-in at BVP was ok, they didn't tell us where to go or anything, so some other guest showed us how to get to our room! It was in the island building, too bad the entire island was a construction zone. All the amazing pools were ripped up. Thankfully, I had read a recent review saying this was starting or I would've really been bummed out. Our room was pretty clean compared to reviews. Stains on the couch, only 1 blanket for both rooms, balcony views of whatcouldvebeenawesome pool area construction zone. People above us liked to move patio furniture around a lot at midnight and you could hear people peeing above you but other than that, no real complaints, never saw or heard anyone else.
Night 1 we went to DTD. Path was right off our building. DTD bus terminal was right across the street from path, but no crosswalk. Crosswalk was about a block walk away, building an elevated crosswalk now that is not finished yet. That will add another layer of effort to get across, you'll have to go up, cross and come back down by using stairs or elevator. Dinner ADR was at Splitsville. Sat right away but dinner took over 75 minutes to get to us, no effort from server to get us apps or bread or even crackers. Manager took care of entire bill! We left tip. DTD was crowded! I was nervous about how the parks would be the next day.
More to come!