ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
Well we're back from our frighteningly freezing January WDW trip ❄❄ Seriously on Wednesday Steve looked at the sky in Tomorrowland and said it looked like snow because it DID. If you don't believe we were cold take a look at this pic from after hours Monday night with @Jenny Sanders and her DH Joe:
Despite that we had a wonderful time with wonderful friends; the kind of friends you absolutely do not think you'll find via the internet and despite living all across the country, end up feeling like friends you've known for YEARS that you can share anything and everything with ❤❤
I won't be doing a TR for this trip since I still got this one going but I will be doing a dining report and hope to get that started soon! I'll let you all know when I do and if you want some other deets on what we did head over to @Jenny Sanders new TR "Besties, Booze and Brr!" because with the exception of her first couple days we were like all joined at the hip! Yeah I'd post a link to her TR but you all know about my tech skills. Let's just move on to an update!
DAY 4 OCTOBER 26TH
DAY 4 PART 2: WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
When I left off before vaca we were touring Gran Destino, Toledo, and the really pretty and modern Dahlia Lounge across from Toledo on the top floor:
You are welcome for the glaring picture of the framed Walt pics on the wall near the entrance:
The "bells" in the partial wall design have some relation/significance to the "Destino" film but I cannot remember what it is so you're welcome for that also:
There's a deck outside which you can kind of see to the left in the picture above. The doors were locked at that hour of the morning but the views, OMG! You can see Blizzard Beach? Typhoon Lagoon? I haven't been to either but I'm thinking BB so correct me if I'm wrong and take note of the sticker our guide told us they had just put there the day before. Wait, he told us the NEEDED to put there the day before
Beautiful AND unbelievable right??? They NEEDED to put IN WRITING not to climb that partition that is THAT high up???? People are $#@@@ crazy.
We went back down to exit and walked through a side door into a lounge-ish area that is for conferences:
On the left of the picture were the conference rooms, one was open so we got to look in:
Nothing exciting but something we don't all see usually unless of course we're there for a conference. What was super neat is all the way in the back of the previous picture; that's a little test kitchen!
Underneath the island there was every type and size pot and pan and dish you could imagine for any conference that has to do with food, or for the occasional Disney chef to practice
It was really neat to tour this resort! Since then Steve and I have stayed in the tower and we liked it enough but it's not at the top of our "return to" list. The lobby was always always always busy with conventioners and other large groups. I know that's the basis of this resort and we'd stayed at CSR 3 or 4x previously when conventions were going on but they never seemed nearly as overrun. I also don't like that while the tower is technically the "best" location the bus stop there is the last stop so buses often show up full or standing room only.
On the flip side food options are plentiful and I've heard pretty good things about their club level! Let me know your thoughts if you've stayed at GD yet!
While we were done with our first resort we were FAR from done touring for today with five more resorts to go. Any guess where? I'll give you one clue, it's not any of the monorail or MK resorts OH and I took this great example of non-professional photography at one of the resorts we toured:
I PROMISE I won't bombard you with pics of all those resorts too but wanted to share Gran Destino since it's new. Next update soon!
Despite that we had a wonderful time with wonderful friends; the kind of friends you absolutely do not think you'll find via the internet and despite living all across the country, end up feeling like friends you've known for YEARS that you can share anything and everything with ❤❤
I won't be doing a TR for this trip since I still got this one going but I will be doing a dining report and hope to get that started soon! I'll let you all know when I do and if you want some other deets on what we did head over to @Jenny Sanders new TR "Besties, Booze and Brr!" because with the exception of her first couple days we were like all joined at the hip! Yeah I'd post a link to her TR but you all know about my tech skills. Let's just move on to an update!
DAY 4 OCTOBER 26TH
DAY 4 PART 2: WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN
When I left off before vaca we were touring Gran Destino, Toledo, and the really pretty and modern Dahlia Lounge across from Toledo on the top floor:
You are welcome for the glaring picture of the framed Walt pics on the wall near the entrance:
The "bells" in the partial wall design have some relation/significance to the "Destino" film but I cannot remember what it is so you're welcome for that also:
There's a deck outside which you can kind of see to the left in the picture above. The doors were locked at that hour of the morning but the views, OMG! You can see Blizzard Beach? Typhoon Lagoon? I haven't been to either but I'm thinking BB so correct me if I'm wrong and take note of the sticker our guide told us they had just put there the day before. Wait, he told us the NEEDED to put there the day before
Beautiful AND unbelievable right??? They NEEDED to put IN WRITING not to climb that partition that is THAT high up???? People are $#@@@ crazy.
We went back down to exit and walked through a side door into a lounge-ish area that is for conferences:
On the left of the picture were the conference rooms, one was open so we got to look in:
Nothing exciting but something we don't all see usually unless of course we're there for a conference. What was super neat is all the way in the back of the previous picture; that's a little test kitchen!
Underneath the island there was every type and size pot and pan and dish you could imagine for any conference that has to do with food, or for the occasional Disney chef to practice
It was really neat to tour this resort! Since then Steve and I have stayed in the tower and we liked it enough but it's not at the top of our "return to" list. The lobby was always always always busy with conventioners and other large groups. I know that's the basis of this resort and we'd stayed at CSR 3 or 4x previously when conventions were going on but they never seemed nearly as overrun. I also don't like that while the tower is technically the "best" location the bus stop there is the last stop so buses often show up full or standing room only.
On the flip side food options are plentiful and I've heard pretty good things about their club level! Let me know your thoughts if you've stayed at GD yet!
While we were done with our first resort we were FAR from done touring for today with five more resorts to go. Any guess where? I'll give you one clue, it's not any of the monorail or MK resorts OH and I took this great example of non-professional photography at one of the resorts we toured:
I PROMISE I won't bombard you with pics of all those resorts too but wanted to share Gran Destino since it's new. Next update soon!