JeanJoe
<font color=red>VMK Community Leader!</font color>
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2005
Hi. Most people here won't know or remember me, but I was on the DVC ex-Community Board here a lot a few months ago, and got a huge amount of advice, insight, and fun from everybody here, which helped enormously when we joined DVC at the BWV.
Well, our first visit home was a few weeks ago. I never did get around to posting a trip report here, but did post on the DIS VMK forum where I've been spending a lot of time recently. So below, I'm re-posting what I posted to the DIS VMK forum.
Although the report isn't geared to DVC'ers, I thought I'd share with you all anyway. (So, there won't be too much to be said about the endless hallways, the freakish clown, the ability to reach your fridge from the patio without getting up, the food trays in the hallways, etc. etc.
)
Bottom line, though, is that we had a WONDERFUL time, and can't wait for our next trip home, currently scheduled in may at OKW. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer!
=====
Beware -- don't read. Boredom ahead
After getting back last night from an Oct 2-7 WDW trip, I'm slipping into withdrawal, so I thought I'd cheer myself up by writing some random notes about the recent trip DW, the Beasts (DD3yo aka Grumpy and DD14mo aka Beast), and I just had. It'll be boring -- you probably don't want to read this. This is just my personal withdrawal therapy.
This was a trip of firsts: our first trip back since joining DVC, and our first trip without the Beast's grandparents (aka, Beast-tamers) to help out. So, it was with anticipation, excitement, fear, trepidation, and knowledge of certain Horrors to Come that we set out. The plan was for a low-key visit, not trying to hit all the parks, not even trying to do full days.
The Boardwalk Villas -- OMG
We stayed in a 1BR at the Boardwalk Villas. Wow. Never stayed in a villa room before, and it was incredible -- now we can never, ever go back to staying in a regular room. Had a master bedroom with an adjacent room with whirlpool tub, a separate adjacent bathroom, full kitchen, living room with pull-out sofabed, 2 TV's, video/dvd player, sitting areas, walk-in closet, etc. We put a pack-n-play into the walk-in closet, where the toddler could sleep (the Beast Pen), the very sight of which at bed or naptime, would convert a quietly demonic Beast into a screaming Beast of Fury.
Location was AWESOME. From the Boardwalk, we could walk easily to MGM or to Epcot. After hearing so much about the Endless Hallways of the Boardwalk Villas, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were only ~175 step from the central area of the boardwalk (room 1119). Not a death march at all -- only a short toddler marathon. The great thing was that we were on the 1st floor (great with strollers) and directly across an exit leading to a quiet pool and the Community Hall. These became daily habits -- a quick swim and trip to Community Hall, where DD3yo colored, painted, strung necklaces, made a colored-sand genie bottle / a tissue paper Stitch mosaic. We would also rent a dvd or two every day (kids get up at 5am, so between then and park opening, it was a life-saver). DW and I invented a new game called Beast-handicapped air hockey, where we would attempt to play air hockey, each with a kid in one arm. It's difficult to play air hockey properly when a toddler is trying to take a bite out of you, or the pre-schooler is trying to jump onto the table.
On the first floor, of course, anyone walking by could peek in and watch us being overrun by the kids, but really, I think I saw more ducks and herons than people. Off the patio, we had a great view of the front of the Boardwalk Inn, and could see the higher Illuminations fireworks every night.
Who cares if it's hot, humid, and raining, if you are at WDW
One thing I didn't realize was how hot and humid it still was at the beginning of October; and there was more rain than usual (daily). No big deal for us, since we were happy not hitting the parks all the time, but I feel bad for people who did get rained out more.
Random thought and ruminations
This is boring enough without giving a blow-by-blow, so I'll just jot down some things that were more memorable (well, to me at least):
- riding It's a Small World multiple times in a day is made only more "special" by riding it back-to-back without a period of "recovery". Thanks to DD3yo for introducing me to the joys of non-stop IASW.
- thanks to inside information provided by an anonymous source, I was able to locate and identify "Cinderella's horse" on the carousel. Of course, every subsequent ride then necessitated a mad dash around the carousel to obtain the same horse each and every time -- NO other horse would be acceptable.
- another random carousel thought: it takes about 5-6 rides on the carousel to take the same time as 1 viewing of Philharmagic. Poor planning here: I got to see Philharmagic with DD3yo, while DW went around, and around, and around, and around. And, she gets motion sick. Not a happy DW. On the other hand, DD14mo loved it.
- it is possible to have 2 strawberry swirls (my favorite), a citrus swirl, and a mickey bar in one day without getting (too) ill. Didn't get a chance to get a Dole whip though! Doh!
- the new Pooh playground (where the submarine ride used to be) is nice for kids. It is also a good place for 3yo's to learn not to lean over and stare into an interactive fountain. I have a nice action shot of her unexpectedly getting hit in the face with a jet of water, and the ensuing response. Magic! OK, maybe not.
- Cinderella's Royal Table is a lot of fun! (First time I've gotten to see it, got lucky and must have snagged somebody's cancellation ~2 weeks before the trip.) We went for lunch. Got a table at the window overlooking the carousel and Dumbo. Beast enjoyed being held on the balcony, and blew kisses to the teeming hordes below, all the while doing her "princess wave."
- Epcot Food+Wine booths were great. Qlthough someday I'd like to do the "real" events, even bringing the Beasts along to the booths worked out OK. Managed to snack our way most of the way around the International showcase. DD3yo now wants to be a Chinese acrobat. I foresee many broken things in the house soon.
- speaking of food, I can eat a LOT of bread pudding from the 1900 Park Fare character breakfast. A lot. Too much. I think I still feel ill. Oh, and giant characters should know better than to sneak up on 14mo kids.
- got a Fairy Godmother to watch the Beasts our last night at WDW (the poor, poor woman... I hope she recovers. I left a big tip.) We wandered Epcot a little before having a late dinner at Bistro de Paris. We both decided to do the prix fixe taster menu, ordering different choices. I also learned that if you are at the end of the meal and already stuffed, that it serves me right for making fun of the waiter for not asking for our dessert choice if he then brings a platter wiht ALL five of the desserts. I missed the word "sampler"... Wow, getting 5 times as much dessert as expected was decadent. Rolling back "home" to the Boardwalk was painful.
- there were many times when I was sorely tempted to chuck the kids into the waterway outside our room and see whether they would just float to Epcot. I decided it wouldn't be nice -- the people in the Friendship boats would probably get upset when they ran over the Beasts. Might even have damaged the boats.
- speaking of Friendship boats, a high point was walking along the waterway between the Swan/Dolphin and Boardwalk, hearing a boat captain talking to people on the shore through the megaphone. Imagine a mean voice; maybe an army seargeant's voice, or maybe the mean guy in prison you don't want to cross. Imagine that voice over a megaphone, coming from the Friendship boat, bellowing out to some random 8yo boy walking along: "Yo Boy! You! YOU in the blue shirt! Run... You hear me, boy?!? RUN BOY!" The boy looks around confused, and then starts running. "Run faster! FASTER. LIKE YOU MEAN IT! RUN!" Boy runs faster, leaving family behind. Perhaps at this point the CM on the boat realized that maybe this was not such a good idea for continued employment where the Magic Lives. "You BOY! Stop! STOP!" Boy keeps running -- apparently the fear of the Friendship boat captain is strong. "OK, boy... Keep running then. RUN!" For all I know, the boy in the blue shirt is still running.
- DD3yo decided she will no longer accept her given name. She is now to be referred to only as Cinderella. She told that to the person at the Homeland Security TSA checkpoint who was trying to verify our identification for the return trip.
- really enjoyed meeting Disfaniam, TheWolf, PixieBell, LisainNC & DD, DisKrista & DH. Left a note with dznymagic at the Poly but didn't get to meet her
Now I think I'm more tempted to try one of the "Dis Meet" things someday. TheWolf, how did the picture of Beast sitting in a tree turn out?
Epilogue
You read all this? You must be really bored. Sorry.
It was a good trip. Can't wait to go back. Preferably with grandparents, though.
Well, our first visit home was a few weeks ago. I never did get around to posting a trip report here, but did post on the DIS VMK forum where I've been spending a lot of time recently. So below, I'm re-posting what I posted to the DIS VMK forum.
Although the report isn't geared to DVC'ers, I thought I'd share with you all anyway. (So, there won't be too much to be said about the endless hallways, the freakish clown, the ability to reach your fridge from the patio without getting up, the food trays in the hallways, etc. etc.
)Bottom line, though, is that we had a WONDERFUL time, and can't wait for our next trip home, currently scheduled in may at OKW. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer!
=====
Beware -- don't read. Boredom ahead
After getting back last night from an Oct 2-7 WDW trip, I'm slipping into withdrawal, so I thought I'd cheer myself up by writing some random notes about the recent trip DW, the Beasts (DD3yo aka Grumpy and DD14mo aka Beast), and I just had. It'll be boring -- you probably don't want to read this. This is just my personal withdrawal therapy.
This was a trip of firsts: our first trip back since joining DVC, and our first trip without the Beast's grandparents (aka, Beast-tamers) to help out. So, it was with anticipation, excitement, fear, trepidation, and knowledge of certain Horrors to Come that we set out. The plan was for a low-key visit, not trying to hit all the parks, not even trying to do full days.
The Boardwalk Villas -- OMG
We stayed in a 1BR at the Boardwalk Villas. Wow. Never stayed in a villa room before, and it was incredible -- now we can never, ever go back to staying in a regular room. Had a master bedroom with an adjacent room with whirlpool tub, a separate adjacent bathroom, full kitchen, living room with pull-out sofabed, 2 TV's, video/dvd player, sitting areas, walk-in closet, etc. We put a pack-n-play into the walk-in closet, where the toddler could sleep (the Beast Pen), the very sight of which at bed or naptime, would convert a quietly demonic Beast into a screaming Beast of Fury.
Location was AWESOME. From the Boardwalk, we could walk easily to MGM or to Epcot. After hearing so much about the Endless Hallways of the Boardwalk Villas, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were only ~175 step from the central area of the boardwalk (room 1119). Not a death march at all -- only a short toddler marathon. The great thing was that we were on the 1st floor (great with strollers) and directly across an exit leading to a quiet pool and the Community Hall. These became daily habits -- a quick swim and trip to Community Hall, where DD3yo colored, painted, strung necklaces, made a colored-sand genie bottle / a tissue paper Stitch mosaic. We would also rent a dvd or two every day (kids get up at 5am, so between then and park opening, it was a life-saver). DW and I invented a new game called Beast-handicapped air hockey, where we would attempt to play air hockey, each with a kid in one arm. It's difficult to play air hockey properly when a toddler is trying to take a bite out of you, or the pre-schooler is trying to jump onto the table.
On the first floor, of course, anyone walking by could peek in and watch us being overrun by the kids, but really, I think I saw more ducks and herons than people. Off the patio, we had a great view of the front of the Boardwalk Inn, and could see the higher Illuminations fireworks every night.
Who cares if it's hot, humid, and raining, if you are at WDW
One thing I didn't realize was how hot and humid it still was at the beginning of October; and there was more rain than usual (daily). No big deal for us, since we were happy not hitting the parks all the time, but I feel bad for people who did get rained out more.
Random thought and ruminations
This is boring enough without giving a blow-by-blow, so I'll just jot down some things that were more memorable (well, to me at least):
- riding It's a Small World multiple times in a day is made only more "special" by riding it back-to-back without a period of "recovery". Thanks to DD3yo for introducing me to the joys of non-stop IASW.
- thanks to inside information provided by an anonymous source, I was able to locate and identify "Cinderella's horse" on the carousel. Of course, every subsequent ride then necessitated a mad dash around the carousel to obtain the same horse each and every time -- NO other horse would be acceptable.
- another random carousel thought: it takes about 5-6 rides on the carousel to take the same time as 1 viewing of Philharmagic. Poor planning here: I got to see Philharmagic with DD3yo, while DW went around, and around, and around, and around. And, she gets motion sick. Not a happy DW. On the other hand, DD14mo loved it.
- it is possible to have 2 strawberry swirls (my favorite), a citrus swirl, and a mickey bar in one day without getting (too) ill. Didn't get a chance to get a Dole whip though! Doh!
- the new Pooh playground (where the submarine ride used to be) is nice for kids. It is also a good place for 3yo's to learn not to lean over and stare into an interactive fountain. I have a nice action shot of her unexpectedly getting hit in the face with a jet of water, and the ensuing response. Magic! OK, maybe not.
- Cinderella's Royal Table is a lot of fun! (First time I've gotten to see it, got lucky and must have snagged somebody's cancellation ~2 weeks before the trip.) We went for lunch. Got a table at the window overlooking the carousel and Dumbo. Beast enjoyed being held on the balcony, and blew kisses to the teeming hordes below, all the while doing her "princess wave."
- Epcot Food+Wine booths were great. Qlthough someday I'd like to do the "real" events, even bringing the Beasts along to the booths worked out OK. Managed to snack our way most of the way around the International showcase. DD3yo now wants to be a Chinese acrobat. I foresee many broken things in the house soon.
- speaking of food, I can eat a LOT of bread pudding from the 1900 Park Fare character breakfast. A lot. Too much. I think I still feel ill. Oh, and giant characters should know better than to sneak up on 14mo kids.
- got a Fairy Godmother to watch the Beasts our last night at WDW (the poor, poor woman... I hope she recovers. I left a big tip.) We wandered Epcot a little before having a late dinner at Bistro de Paris. We both decided to do the prix fixe taster menu, ordering different choices. I also learned that if you are at the end of the meal and already stuffed, that it serves me right for making fun of the waiter for not asking for our dessert choice if he then brings a platter wiht ALL five of the desserts. I missed the word "sampler"... Wow, getting 5 times as much dessert as expected was decadent. Rolling back "home" to the Boardwalk was painful.
- there were many times when I was sorely tempted to chuck the kids into the waterway outside our room and see whether they would just float to Epcot. I decided it wouldn't be nice -- the people in the Friendship boats would probably get upset when they ran over the Beasts. Might even have damaged the boats.
- speaking of Friendship boats, a high point was walking along the waterway between the Swan/Dolphin and Boardwalk, hearing a boat captain talking to people on the shore through the megaphone. Imagine a mean voice; maybe an army seargeant's voice, or maybe the mean guy in prison you don't want to cross. Imagine that voice over a megaphone, coming from the Friendship boat, bellowing out to some random 8yo boy walking along: "Yo Boy! You! YOU in the blue shirt! Run... You hear me, boy?!? RUN BOY!" The boy looks around confused, and then starts running. "Run faster! FASTER. LIKE YOU MEAN IT! RUN!" Boy runs faster, leaving family behind. Perhaps at this point the CM on the boat realized that maybe this was not such a good idea for continued employment where the Magic Lives. "You BOY! Stop! STOP!" Boy keeps running -- apparently the fear of the Friendship boat captain is strong. "OK, boy... Keep running then. RUN!" For all I know, the boy in the blue shirt is still running.
- DD3yo decided she will no longer accept her given name. She is now to be referred to only as Cinderella. She told that to the person at the Homeland Security TSA checkpoint who was trying to verify our identification for the return trip.
- really enjoyed meeting Disfaniam, TheWolf, PixieBell, LisainNC & DD, DisKrista & DH. Left a note with dznymagic at the Poly but didn't get to meet her
Now I think I'm more tempted to try one of the "Dis Meet" things someday. TheWolf, how did the picture of Beast sitting in a tree turn out?Epilogue
You read all this? You must be really bored. Sorry.
It was a good trip. Can't wait to go back. Preferably with grandparents, though.
I'm looking forward to a return visit with her in a few months! But it does give you a new perspective when you see WDW through a child's eyes.
