So far so good!

[DeeCee735]

landed yesterday at 1:41pm. We were early. Grabbed our bags quickly off carousel. The line to check in for ME was longgggg but went fast. 15 minutes. Got our first welcome home from the gentleman checking us in. He told us it could be up to a 30 minute wait for the bus. But when we got to the front of the line for the bus we were the only ones there at that point in time and they whisked us to a small Mears Mini Van. Another gentleman boarded and off we went. I would love to see that become a DVC perk!!! (Yeah sure!) it was like having a private car service, except for the check in wait.

Got to the BWV in half hour. It’s as beautiful as it always was. It is immaculately clean. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we went to Big River for a late lunch. It was pretty empty and we ate outside. On the way out of the lobby we got our second welcome home from the girl at the lobby DVC stand. Lunch was nachos and beer hello vacation! Very friendly and efficient service. Room became ready (I used MDE to check). We had checked our luggage with bell services so we stopped in general store to pick up some morning supplies and came to the room and called bell services to bring in our luggage. We got our 3rd very friendly welcome home. I feel renewed - at least for now. I am reminded why I love BW so much for so long and I feel like I’m home. We are going to Epcot tomorrow with no plans except for an early dinner res at R&C and I am NOT waking up early to LL anything. We will just wing it like the old days and see how that turns out. We hope to see the new nighttime show and head back to BW for a margarita at Boardwalk Joe’s. Our travel party was supposed to be 4 adults but our friends got food poisoning and are home recovering! Therefore, it’s just DH and I and so far we’re relaxing and moving at our own pace as planned.

day 2 to come.
Dee

 

[cyndiella]

sounds absolutely lovely! Enjoy!!

 

[mattburmeister]

This post makes me happy to see.

 

[AnnaS]

Great start!! Enjoy!!!

 

[DduzDis]

Boardwalk Joe's has become a must for me any time I am in the area whether staying at BWV or not. Looking forward to more of this TR.

 

[DeeCee735]

More pixie dust
Said I was not waking up early to LL Remy’s. And I didn’t, not specifically. Unfortunately we’re still on our work internal clocks although I did manage to sleep until 6:45 (usually up by 5:30). And it felt good to do so. Anyway, since I was awake I figured why not try and it was available for an 11:35 return time. This was a few minutes after 7:00 because watching the clock wasn’t happening. So I thought that was ok-it cost $11 plus tax each. Eh, to pay it once was ok with both of us. We did not buy genie+ or LL anything else.
We enjoyed a leisurely morning, breakfast in the room and just hanging out. Thankfully I brought my Starbucks blond blend - instant for travel - because I can’t stomach that stuff joffrey’s calls coffee (no offense to anyone, I know many like it, it’s just not for me). We got up and showered without even checking any times but as we were ready, I looked to see what time Epcot opens (this was at 9:30) and was happy to see it opened just then for on property resort guests. We said why not take a walk over? So we did. I suggested to my husband that we should use that time (got there at 9:45) to walk over to Soarin and if the line was long we would skip it. Well, we walked right on! Then we mosied into the movie Awesome Planet in the land (never did that) and then walked over to The Seas and got on Nemo (don’t ever remember doing that either) and then we hung out in the aquarium and saw the sea life. Then we headed back to WorldShowcase and I bought a couple of the Holiday Cookie Stroll cookies just because. We got to Remy’s at 11:35 and walked right on through the LL entrance. The standby looked very long. It was absolutely delightful! We are glad we did it. By then we were really hungry so we waited on the quick service line (probably a good 20 minutes or so) at the Patisserie. Omg, how yummy was that lunch! I also ordered a chocolate hazelnut filled beignet!!! We are still full.
We then decided to jump on the skyway over to the Riveria to see the model rooms. Smooth quick and enjoyable ride over. Greeted with a big welcome home by the CM’s at the DVC kiosk. His name was Juan and he took us to the two bedroom lock-off, the 3 bedroom grand villa and the tower studio. The Tower Studios are not for us. Too small but, holy cow, those villas are stunning!!!!! Maybe when our kids and baby grands are with us we will try to stay there. We were each given a laminated Mickey/Minnie sketch in front of the Riveria, ok gift, wasn’t expecting much, and then headed back to Epcot to cancel our 3:50 res at R & C because we’re still stuffed.
No problem cancelling, but…..we saw that there was a fireworks package dinner still available for tonight!!!! While we aren’t ones to spend this kind of money on that kind of thing, we have over $200 in Disney gift cards (from my birthday ) and rewards dollars. When they showed us what table we would have and said unlimited select alcoholic beverages, we were like “oh yeah!” And booked it. We came back to the villa to relax and will hang out here until we head back for our fireworks dinner and show.
We are very happy with today so far and I am so relieved to say I’m falling back in love with Disney. It was breakin my heart to feel differently!

stay tuned!!!!

 

[DeeCee735]

Correction… The sketch of Minnie and Mickey and the Riviera resort are not laminated! its wrapped in a plastic envelope!

 

[DeeCee735]

Good morning. We went to Rose and Crown for the fireworks dining package. Table was perfect for viewing. Brandon was our server and he was very attentive and very nice. My husband loved the show. I have to say I liked it. Not loved it. I loved illuminations, felt it was more emotional. Harmonious is definitely more in line with the 50th anniversary as its Disney movie/character/music oriented. The food: I had the cheese platter for an appetizer and it was delicious and more than ample for one person. DH ordered off the price fix, just a R&C burger with the coronation salad appetizer. He said it was good, standard. I had the Shepard pie for my main. Also ample, I couldn’t finish it. It was ok. I‘ve had better. The dessert trio was yummy but I only took a taste of each. I was very full-I did have two beers! One dessert was chocolate mousse,, one was a strawberry shortcake like dessert and the third was a custard.
My husband felt it was worth the price as priced separately it wasn’t much less than price paid, add the seating and viewing and he felt it was worth it. $90 pp tax and gratuity included.

Yesterday was a no park day. We relaxed until 9:30-a novelty for us and took an Uber over to Grand Floridian to see that magnificent gingerbread house. Then we took the monorail to the Poly for a dole whip! Yum!
We then took the monorail to MK and jumped on the boat to Wilderness Lodge for lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We were really hungry by that time 2 ish, so we both ordered the All-you care to eat skillet. OMG the waiter was amazing and brought us so much food! It was the only meal we ate all day!

We came back to BW and relaxed for a bit then went to Abracadabar for a cocktail. We took a walk and then watched some Boardwalk entertainment. A group called Pop Fusion and if you have the chance to see them perform, take it. They were AMAZING. Could give Pentatonix (sp?) a run for their money. It was very nice to hear some Christmas songs at Christmas time with the beautiful Christmas tree looming behind us.

It was a beautiful day! More to come. Have a great day
Dee

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Sounds really nice!

 

[AllisonLB1994]

Headed to the BWVs next Saturday so loving the report! Hope you continue to have a great trip!

 

[DeeCee735]

Headed to the BWVs next Saturday so loving the report! Hope you continue to have a great trip!

And I hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[DeeCee735]

Sunday!
DH and I toasted the leftover corn bread for breakfast this morning (from Whispering Canyon that we took home with us yesterday) uh….yum!

So as a side note, there’s no butter for purchase anywhere we’ve been so far (general stores at BW, Wilderness, Poly). However if you ask at the BW bakery they will give you the little country crock butter packets. This is what we did for our morning English muffins and cornbread. There’s also grape and strawberry jam on the stand outside the bakery ….

Anyway, we again relaxed for a while and went over to Disney Springs around 11:00 ish on the bus. Place was packed, so it wasn’t easy to navigate the stores or the streets. We went into Zara and I found a cute outfit for my infant grandson, hubby bought a shirt. I really just wanted to find a couple of stocking stuffers for my grand babes, but that didn’t work out so well. World of Disney was insanely crowded. I did manage to find 50th anniversary ornaments, one as a gift and one for our tree at home. There’s a limit of 2 per person on everything due to shipping delays/availability. I also found an adorable Minnie jacket for my grand daughter. Didn’t find anything my 5 year old grandson would like though. We ate at Earl of Sandwich. My husband waited online for about 40 minutes! Crazy. We should have mobile ordered. Then we browsed a couple more places and came back at around 3 pm. We napped, hung out by the pool and had a yummy dinner at Big River Grille outdoor table. We’re headed over to the rooftop lounge at Riviera for a cocktail before closing out our day, which was another great one!

tomororw is AKP!
Dee

 

[DeeCee735]

Sunday night: We went over to Riviera and asked if we could go up to the rooftop just for a drink as it is reservations only. They said yes and up we went. The rooftop was pretty empty so we just relaxed and enjoyed the quiet. It’s a beautiful place for the end of the day! We stayed long enough to see the fireworks over Epcot. Beautiful …again!

Monday: We enjoyed another leisurely breakfast and got over to AKP around 11:30. We didn’t wait long for the bus at all. Our priorities were to see the gorillas and giraffes so we chose the standby line for the Kilimanjaro Safari. I’ve never seen the standby longer than 20 minutes. This was 50! As far as the LL lane, people only dribbled in a little bit. That tells me most people decided NOT to pay extra and just wait on standby, like us. That line is always moving anyway so it wasn’t so bad.

We walked into the Gorilla expedition as soon as we got off of KS and there she was! The highlight of my day, 5 month old Ada and her momma and family. This is my favorite part of AKP and I could watch them all day! So, I hung about for a long while and spoke with the CM there about the family. We headed over to Yak & Yeti for a yummy late lunch/early dinner and were seated right away. The place was full but not crowded in the waiting area. We saw the bird show, as usual, debated about going on EE but decided not to because we were too full! Standby was only 25 minutes. We also did It’s tough to be a bug, still a favorite and topped it off with the new Kite Show. That, in my opinion, needs a ton of work. Since it’s a new 50th thing, I would have thought Disney could come up with something…..um, more?!!! My husband thought it was nice, but personally and honestly, for Disney, I thought it was lame. There has to be something more they can come up with, but this is just my opinion.

We headed back to bus and waited a very long time. Like 30 minutes or so for the bus to show up. Then about another 15 for the two ECV’s and a wheelchair (understandably so) and then first a stop at yacht club, the beach club (where the ECV’s and wheelchair got off) and then to BW. Took alittle more than an hour in total, but AKP isn’t close. So we skipped nap time had a quick cup of coffee (it’s well after 6 pm by now) and took the bus to MK to catch the 8pm Enchantment show. Absolutely stunning! We loved it. We went into the park, stopped at the tree near the entrance/exit and didn’t move until the show was over, which is when we exited the park. We had no interest in spending the entire evening navigating the sea of people or waiting in lines for rides we done soooo many times. And it was as enjoyable that way as we had hoped.

We headed back to BW, bus arrived quickly and came straight to BW, did some last minute shopping and grabbed a bag of popcorn and went back to villa to relax and start packing.

This morning, Tuesday, up early….breakfast at Trattoria (very good) and back to villa to finish packing. Leaving soon . Only thing I’m looking forward to being home….seeing my kids and grandkids. The rest of real life, well let’s just say it isn’t easy.
Next trip is March, all girls, no parks, 2 bedroom! Cannot WAIT!
Thanks for reading,
Dee

 

[Dizzydizney]

So nice to read this. We had a similar trip. Love the Boardwalk the most of my home resorts. Sounds like you really made the most of your time.

I thought BWV stopped sharing the bus with yacht and beach. That’s a long time to get back. Where does Swan and Dolphin pick up at AK? I know they aren’t allowed at the depot at MK anymore they have to drop at TTC. But in the future if they stop at the regular place for AK, you can hop on that bus and walk from Swan. Or in desperate times, take a bus from AK to Hollywood and walk back. I really hate the bus.

Your trip in March will be such fun!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[jo-jo]

Thank you, that was wonderful to read.

 

[DeeCee735]

Thank you, that was wonderful to read.

I’m happy to share! This is why we all bought, right? To vacation in a wonderful place the way we want to….and it felt so good to know we still can with all these changes.

I’m already thinking about how to do March with 5 women and no parks tricky, but it’ll be wonderful too.
Enjoy your trips

Dee

 

[jo-jo]

I’m happy to share! This is why we all bought, right? To vacation in a wonderful place the way we want to….and it felt so good to know we still can with all these changes.

I’m already thinking about how to do March with 5 women and no parks tricky, but it’ll be wonderful too.
Enjoy your trips

Dee

But my trip reports are so different.......

On Monday we ate Garden Grill, the dessert was yummy. We then headed over to Soaring. The wait was only 20 mins, so we went and sat in the prime seats. Perfect viewing. Then off to listen to the land, love that ride,so relaxing. We then headed up to Japan. Got there just in time for the 2:40 show. Little crowded but still good.

By Tues, it becomes, we spent them morning at MK. Went on 7 rides. Long wait was 45 mins and we got the best dole whip. Love those .

By Thur, it becomes, we ate and we rode some stuff.

By Saturday,are you still reading? We got home yesterday.



I'm amazed how people can keep track of all the details. Brings a bit of the magic.

 

[DeeCee735]

But my trip reports are so different.......

On Monday we ate Garden Grill, the dessert was yummy. We then headed over to Soaring. The wait was only 20 mins, so we went and sat in the prime seats. Perfect viewing. Then off to listen to the land, love that ride,so relaxing. We then headed up to Japan. Got there just in time for the 2:40 show. Little crowded but still good.

By Tues, it becomes, we spent them morning at MK. Went on 7 rides. Long wait was 45 mins and we got the best dole whip. Love those .

By Thur, it becomes, we ate and we rode some stuff.

By Saturday,are you still reading? We got home yesterday.



I'm amazed how people can keep track of all the details. Brings a bit of the magic.

LOL! That was funny! As you can see, I’m a long winded person! And I wrote at end of each day.
I have to also say that my trip reports help me remember who I was with, what time of year I went, where I stayed and what I did!!!! LOL! It’s all just starting to blend….

 

[mdinme]

Great read. We are there in a one bedroom Jan 1-6.

 

[DeeCee735]

Great read. We are there in a one bedroom Jan 1-6.

Have a wonderful trip!