The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - VWL & SSR Dec 19 - 29, no wait make that the 30th

[loribell]

Dec 22 – I am up early again this morning so I head down to Roaring Forks and have a leisurely breakfast. After relaxing for a while it’s back to the villa to get the lazy bones out of bed. I just can’t take it any longer. Shortly we are on our way down to catch a boat for a little time at the MK. Great timing again as we can see the boat on the lake on its way. A short boat ride and bag check and we are back in the park.

We take another spin on Buzz then head for Toon Town for DD to get in a few rides on Goofy’s Barnstormer. Next is Mickey’s Philharmagic, we just love this show, what an amazing job Disney did on it. It is actually the only 3D show that DD will go to. I think we must have taken her to Bugs Life to early in her life and she just will not do any of the other 3D’s. After that it is lunch time at what is the families favorite CS restaurant on property, Cosmic Rays. DH is a little disappointed because the melted cheese no longer exists on the toppings bar. We then jump over for another trip around BTMRR and then the Jungle Cruise, DD was excited to do it because she got to captain the boat in September, no such luck this time.

The park is starting to get crowded so we head back to the lodge for some pool time. I have to mention that the pools & hot tubs were wonderful, the water felt great. We were heading back to the room & they we just starting crafts out back of the pool bar. DD got to paint a really great little fabric kite, she really took her time. I finally headed up to freshen up so we could go to dinner while she and DH stayed downstairs to fly it for a while on the beach with the other kids. This is one of my favorite things about DVC, they do so much to entertain the kids and it is all free! DD loves the interaction with other kids her age.

After DH & DD come up and get cleaned up we head over to our first Disney resort love, Coronado Springs. It was our first ever onsite resort and holds a very special place in our hearts. Add to that the fact that we were using the dining plan and Pepper Market is our second favorite CS and you see why we are here. After we walk through the door to an awesome choir singing behind the fountain a torrential downpoor starts. Perfect timing again! We had a great meal, the rain let up and we headed out.

Tonight our oldest DS was arriving and I still had Christmas shopping to do. I took DH & the kids back to the resort where they picked up a movie, another one of those DVC freebies! I then headed back out in the rain to do the Christmas shopping and wait to pick up DS from the airport. Shopping was fairly easy, with the exception of the electronics department where they had lost their keys, I told them what I wanted and went off to do the rest of the shopping while they located their keys, picked up a little 4’ pre-lit tree, hoped back over to electronics and then headed out to the check out stands. Luckily the rain had let up, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone and was afraid DS might try to call me so I headed back to the resort & picked it up. I have always been great at driving around Disney but for some reason drove right past my exit to the MK area so I had to turn around and make my way back to the exit.

Alright, I have found my way back to VWL, got my cell phone and I’m headed out to the airport. Things now start to go South a bit. DS’s flight was already not supposed to be in till midnight but didn’t arrive until 12:30, not a bad delay but a delay. Then for some reason it took them forever to get his bag off the plane, it was the last bag they put out. Everyone else from the flight was long gone by the time he got his bag. We head back to the resort, and you guessed it I missed that same exit again and I was telling him what I had done previously when I drove right past it! I get turned around at head back in the right direction and we are soon there.

DS had never stayed at VWL before and as we rounded that bend he said, “Wow, is this where we’re staying?” He loved it! It was after 2:00 when we finally got back to the room and in bed for a short sleep. Tomorrow is DD’s birthday and she has a big day planned.

Lori

 

[byoung]

Waiting for the bad and ugly.

 

[loribell]

Well from the number of views this thread has had it looks as if there are lots of people looking for bad & ugly. Believe me there is so much more good, or maybe I should say great, than bad & ugly and that I am very grateful for.

Lori

 

[DisneyMomOK]

Still loving your tr; can't wait for the next installment!

Sharon

 

[loribell]

Dec 23 – Today is the day Ally (DD) has been waiting for for years. It is her 8th birthday!! Yes my baby is now 8 years old. Being the expert Disney traveler that she, this was her 9th trip, is she got to plan the entire day. And boy did she plan it!

After very little sleep it was up and at ‘em early for everyone. We had a breakfast reservation at Donald’s Breakfastosaurus at 8:00. Because there have been so many times that they won’t let us in the parking lot when we get there for an early ADR I decide we should take the bus. Huge mistake. Everything had gone so smoothly with transportation up to this point it didn’t concern me. We waited forever for a bus. Just as we were considering taking the car a bus pulls in. He loads a wheelchair and then we head out, but we turn the wrong way, he was making a special trip to the Grand Floridian to drop off the wheelchair guest. Okay we are still going to make it before 8.

The next mistake I made was not checking the park hours again after arriving at WDW. The park had actually opened at 7 this morning so we would have had absolutely no problem parking. Oh well, we are just a couple of minutes late for breakfast, no big deal. We seated quickly and then enjoyed a terrific breakfast. Our server was a little poor, we rarely saw her and although they announced other guests birthdays in their rooms she never mentioned DD’s. DD was fine with it though and got all of her autographs & pictures.

Next it is on to EE. Man does she love this ride! We grab some FP’s and hop in the standby line, it’s only a 10 minute wait so we do it again. We then use the FP’s and actually ride it three times in a row. I word of advice, don’t ride EE three times in a row right after a huge breakfast. We were a little queasy to say the least. Next we head to the Safari were we see more animals than we have ever seen. The bad thing was they squeezed us all 5 of us in to the front row and we were very cramped, Ally ended up sitting on my lap so she wouldn’t be squished up against the wall during the bumpy parts of the ride.

After we help save Big & Little Red we head over to Kali. DH won’t ride this one, big chicken, so we ride without him. They put us in a raft with the most adorable little girl who is riding for her first time. She is telling us she is in the soaking seat, that she is going to get soaked, and boy did she ever. Her & her daddy didn’t have a stitch of dry close on them. I was in the seat next to her and the right side of me got pretty wet but everyone else was almost completely dry. She looked at first like she was tearing up but we all helped her laugh it off. What a great ride with a first timer.

Next up is PW which I can not stand. I just don’t understand why it needed to be sooooooooooooo jerky, it could be a decent little ride if it wasn’t so rough. So, I trick the big brothers in to taking her instead, yes I am evil! We get that over with and head over to use the FP’s DH, the chicken man, picked up for us while we were riding Kali. I don’t know why but Ally kept her eyes closed to entire time. She has ridden this multiple times and LOVES dinosaurs but this time her eyes were closed for the whole ride.

Ally and I head out to the bus stop for a trip to the BBB for her 1:50 appointment. I didn’t realize that you can’t take a bus to DTD from AK, fortunately there was a WL/GF bus waiting when we walked up. We hop on & ride back to the lodge then jump in the car to make it to DTD on time. We check in & they say they are running a little behind. After about a 30 minute wait they finally page us and she is off on a truly magical adventure.

She goes in and sits for just few minutes and then her Fairy Godmother comes back has says she has something special for her. She takes us to the dressing room and opens the door and it is fabulous. Her dress is hanging on the wall and her shoes, crown & wall are stacked nicely on the bench. This is an amazing place.

After she changes into her gown & shoes we go out for her makeover. Ally has a lot of hair so it takes quite a while for her to do her hair. Once the hair is finally finished it is time for nails & makeup. I have never seen the child happier in all her life. She was on cloud nine! It took a little more than an hour but it was well worth it. I have never seen a child as truly thankful as she was. She just kept saying thank you mommy. What a special thing for little girls to do! After a quick photo shoot, where they tell us we can come back to view our photos anytime before we leave instead of waiting in the line, we head out to get ready for dinner at Chef Mickey’s.

After cleaning up we head out to Chef Mickey’s. Check in was a breeze and we were buzzed before we could even get our picture taken. Our server was wonderful and made a big fuss over Ally in her Cinderella dress and her birthday. The characters all made a big fuss as well. The highlight of the even though had to be when the Mickey cake was brought out and Donald came to help celebrate. He was not thrilled with the cake and stuck a clever, the cake server, in Mickey’s head. It was hilarious! Even Ally got a big kick out of it. Pluto had to pick at the boys a bit, acted like one of them, ummm, tooted and they were just dying laughing. What a great time it was. Oh, by the way, that cake was out of this world!

After dinner we spent a little time in the pool and then it was off to bed. What an amazing day Ally planned. I think she is going to be really good at this!

Lori

 

[loribell]

Here's another installment. I will also work on getting some pictures uploaded this weekend while we are stuck in the house in an ice storm. Hey, can you Northerners take your winter weather back. We really don't like it down here!

Dec 24 – I can’t believe it is already Christmas Eve! Today we are moving into a 2 bedroom unit, you know we have to have a living room so Santa can visit us tonight. After getting everyone up I go ahead and go down to check in to our new room. I make the unfortunate mistake of asking about adding DS to the DDP since the rest of us were on it. I told them it was no big deal but it was to late! See the resort CM’s can’t make changes to the plan, they have to call MS and have them do it. It took a good 45 minutes to check in and get everything straightened out. Another CM came by and let me know what was going on and said it is quite a pain for them now when the DP is connected to a reservation. The room was not quite ready, the studio part was but not the 1 bedroom.

I head back so we can get all of the bags out of the room and store them in the car. It took a while so I went ahead and called just to see if by chance it was ready. They said it was so we head up with our bags. I wonder, why is it when you are in a lock off they give the room number as the studio number? Anyway, we open the door to the studio and it is not clean. The beds are unmade and there are dirty towels in the bathroom. The one bed was clean. We put everything in the one bed part of the room and make a quick call to housekeeping to let them know. I told them we weren’t in any big hurry since we were on our way to the parks. We went to get the last of our bags and when we got back to the new room they were already there cleaning the studio. Wow that was quick! By the way, this room is on the 5th floor, rooms 5526 & 28, and the walk is much shorter, just 2 rooms from the elevator! LOL!

Well we are finally ready to leave and head over to MGM, so much for an early start. Even with all we have done we are still at the park before 10. We head back and get FP’s for RNRC and ride it in the stand by line, then head over to ride TOT. Ally was going to ride but changes her mind before we get there so she and daddy just take a seat on the bench and wait for us. After a quick trip through the line we are back to pick up the two chickens and we head back over to use our FP’s at RNRC. The boys woulod like to ride TOT after dark so we get FP’s to use later this evening.

We grab an early lunch and then the guys want to go to the stunt show so we send them on their way while the girls go do some last minute shopping. We pick up a few things for the guys and then go and get ornaments for our little tree. After they get back we trick daddy & Ally to going to look at some things so the boys can pick up High School Musical & Hannah Montana presents for their little sisters.

It is now close to time for our dinner at H&V for the FDP. We have a great meal and then decide not to do Fantasmic after all. For some reason Ally doesn’t like doing it, it looks like it could rain (which it always seems to do when we get the FDP) and we still need to decorate the tree & wrap presents. It is dusk so we go use those FP’s for TOT and head out of the park before the masses.

The boys still want to do some shopping so we drop them off at DTD just as it starts to poor. Now we are on our way back to the resort for Ally to decorate the tree. After the tree is decorated and the presents are wrapped we settle in to bed for the night.

Another amazing day has come to an end!

 

[loribell]

Dec 25 – Christmas Day, the most amazing day of every year! You know those kids I have had trouble getting out of bed every morning, well guess who gets us up out of bed this morning! Ally plays Santa and passes out everyone’s presents. We all have a great time being together and opening presents. Of course once we are done DH goes back to bed, just like he does every year. After a nice relaxing morning we head down to the Whispering Canyon Café for a great Christmas lunch. It has been pooring pretty much all day and a couple of the CM’s come over to our table to to ask who is responsible for the rain. After informing them that DS came in on the 22nd when the rain did they went and got the jail cell and make him sit behind it. Everyone gets a big kick out of it, that is except DS!

The rain just won’t go away so the boys head to the arcade and the rest of us stay in the lobby so Ally can participate in the activities the lifeguards have planned for the day. It just amazes me all the thing they have for the kids to do for free. She gets to make several ornaments & a Santa plate. They have lots of games for the kids and cookies & punch for all.

The rain finally lets up enough that we decide to brave the elements and head to Citywalk at Universal. The guys want to eat at the Hard Rock Café and go by Margarittaville to pick up a couple of souvenirs. The throngs of people heading out of the park are unbelievable, it’s to bad that DS doesn’t have a ticket or we could head in for a ride or two. Oh well, we will be there this summer.

After a little shopping we head back to the resort for some swimming since the rain has stopped. The pool is lovely and we all have a great time. It is time to head back to the room to get ready to move once again.

 

[loribell]

Dec 26 – I get everyone up early this morning and place a call to bell services so they can transfer our bags to SSR. After the bags are picked up we take DS’s bags and a few other things to the car, I head to SSR to check in and everyone else heads back to the MK for the day.

Check in at SSR is going smooth, there are rooms ready in the Carousel and I tell her it is fine, then she tells me what is due for the dining plan and it is way to much. I had originally planned to stay through the 29th on a cash basis and when I cancelled that night the DP didn’t cancel off of it. Now we have to go through the whole ordeal of contacting MS to get it fixed. The poor CM is so pregnant she looks like she is going to pop! The baby was do on the 8th I believe, here’s hoping we have a new healthy baby at SSR. I get to the room and it is very warm. I figure it is just one of those air conditioners that are motion activated and just blow it off.

After unloading the car I head to the MK to join the rest of the family. When I get ahold of them I find that everyone has ridden Buzz and then done nothing else. They don’t seem to be able to function in a park without me! LOL! Once I get there we manage to ride PC, BTMRR, HM, see the CB’s, eat lunch at CR’s, and get FP’s for Space (Ally has decided she is ready to try it out too!).

It’s is getting pretty late so we need head back to the resort to drop everyone off and take DS back to the airport. When we get in the room it is still very warm in there so I tell DH to call maintenance and report it & also bell services to deliver our bags. I leave to take DS to the airport & drop off the car. Everything is painless & I go down to hop the ME, bell services said to just check in when I get there, a short wait and I am on my way back to the resort. Upon arrival the bags still have not been delivered & 2 maintenance men have been to the room and have called engineering to come as well. So we still have no bags & the room is getting hot. I make a quick call to the front desk and let them know what is going on. They move us just 2 doors down to a room with a working air conditioner and even bring the room keys to us.

Unfortunately DS leaves his brand new camera in the old room and doesn’t realize it until the next day. I call to see if it has been turned in but it has not. While checking in I had heard another gentleman talking to concierge about the same thing happening to them a few days earlier, they had realized within a few hours after checking out that they had left the camera in the room but it was never found. Well DS’s was never found either. I went down to the old room before we left for home and knocked on the door to see if by chance anyone had check in to the room. A very nice woman opened the door and said they had not found a camera but the room was VERY HOT. The air conditioner was still not working and they had checked someone else in to it! Not bad for us but I found that to be a little unacceptable.

I also had to call for the bags two more times before they were delivered. I’m not sure what the hold up was but they did finally arrive. We are starting to get hungry so we hop over to AP for a quick dinner. It was pretty good, but there isn’t a lot to choose from. It isn’t some place I would choose to eat at very often. And the big dummies we are did not bring our bathing suits with us, we had to walk all the way back to the room to change and then all the way back to the pool! Now that walk at VWL didn’t seem so long after all! It was very cool outside but the pool was amazingly warm. We had a great swim and some time in the hot tub then headed back to the room and it really wasn’t to bad.



Dec 27 – Well we have to deviate from our plans again. Ally wants to ride EE & Dinosaur some more so we head to AK. After a couple of rides on EE DH heads out to hop a bus to EPCOT to get FP’s for Soarin’ while we head to Dinosaur. I tell him to get a bus to the BC and go in the IG but he decides it is better to get a bus directly to EPCOT and go in the front gate. He says he has to wait 45 minutes for a bus and he barely beats us to EPOCT. We ride Dinosaur and then go catch a bus to BC and meet him and IG so we can get our tickets from him to enter the park. The FP’s were not good until 2:30 so we head to and all of the other lines were terribly long.

We have an extra TS to use on the DDP so we go the Garden Grill just to see if anything is available. Since we were there for opening we were able to get right in. This isn’t one of my favorites but it is fairly good and it did use that extra TS.

It was unbelievable to see them herding people into the Land Pavilion, up the right side and down the left, that was the only way to get in the building and then it was blocked off by ropes at the top to make everyone go down the escalator on the right side and then back up the other side and back out the building. I felt like a cow! The CM let us go across to the GG instead of going down the escalator, while we waited we let DD go over to Kidcot to work on a mask. There was no problem either time with just going across the rope.

We went in and ate our lunch and while we were finishing up let DD go back to Kidcot. The new CM manning the rope wouldn’t let her go across and was sending her out of the building and back around to get over there. Our waitress was there and saw the whole thing and, although DH was already getting up to go with DD, she was off in a flash before DH or I could move. Of course DD new better and turned around to come back in the restaurant. Now we would have never let her go alone but we could see the entire area and DH likes to let her think she is doing things alone so he stays back just a little to let her be independent! Anyway, DH walked back out with her and the same CM let them cross through the ropes. I don’t know what she was thinking. Our server just happened to be the best server we had for the entire trip so I waited to give her an extra generous tip. She said it wasn’t needed as it was part of the plan so I explained to her why I was doing it. It is CM’s like her that make Disney what it is!

We got FP’s for Living with the Land and then just waited around for time for it and Soarin’. After riding both of them we got he heck out of Dodge so to speak. There were just entirely to many people there to even be able to walk!

We went back to the resort for a while to clean up for our dinner reservation at the Concourse Steakhouse, another first for us. Our reservation was for 6:50 but I thought we would go early just to see if we could get in. After just a few minutes our buzzer went off and we were seated. This time we got the worst server of our trip. It’s times like these I wish you could take tips away from them. Our drinks were empty the whole time and he only came back to our table to get our desert orders. The table next to us on the other hand had a great server. It was actually two tables. One was all adults and the other, the one next to us, was all kids under the age of 14. There were 6 of them and they were the best behaved kids I have ever had the pleasure to be around. The server enjoyed what he was doing and was great with those kids.

After we arrived back at the resort we went for another swim. It was even cooler out tonight; you could see steam coming off the water because of the difference in temps. We got to enjoy another great swim and soak in the hot tub. Met a very friendly DVC member and had a good talk with him.

Wow this trip is almost over.

 

[3DisneyKids]

I am loving reading your reports! Thanks!

 

[loribell]

Okay I finally got some pictures uploaded so I will start posting them. I hope you guys enjoy them.

Here are some of the BCV's decorations:

Lori

 

[byoung]

Lori, great pictures thanks.