Bah, Humbug! Tales of A Disney Scrooge's Conversion Update 7/21

[Ceryssa]

I've been enjoying reading your trip report this morning. I just had to stop and comment that the Belle that the girls met in Epcot was some serious A+ casting. She looks just like her!

Thanks for reading!! Yes, she does! And she was so sweet (from what I could tell in between admiring Epcot lol).

 

[Terra Nova guy]

I just found your trip report and I've enjoyed reading it. I have not been able to get to MVMCP yet, but I hope to someday. I have gone to two MNSSHP and if you enjoy the Christmas party, I'm sure you'll enjoy the Halloween one as well.

 

[Ceryssa]

I just found your trip report and I've enjoyed reading it. I have not been able to get to MVMCP yet, but I hope to someday. I have gone to two MNSSHP and if you enjoy the Christmas party, I'm sure you'll enjoy the Halloween one as well.

Aww thank you, thanks for reading along! I hope to get to a MNSSHP one day soon. I'll try to have an update in the next day or two! I know it's been a while.

 

[ursalita]

I really enjoyed reading about the Christmas Party. MK really is beautiful decked out for Christmas.

I love the girls' dresses! Great meets with Anna & Elsa, Merida, and the Ducks!

Thanks for sharing all the photos of Wishes and the parade. I hope we get to see it someday. It sounds like you guys had a great time.

 

[Ceryssa]

I really enjoyed reading about the Christmas Party. MK really is beautiful decked out for Christmas.

I love the girls' dresses! Great meets with Anna & Elsa, Merida, and the Ducks!

Thanks for sharing all the photos of Wishes and the parade. I hope we get to see it someday. It sounds like you guys had a great time.

It was amazing! The only thing is I wish I'd done a better job of getting pictures. Hopefully this time!

 

[Ceryssa]

We slept in the next morning after our late night at the Christmas party. Originally I'd planned for that to be the last night of our trip, but we ended up with a couple of bonus nights somehow. I don't even remember how it came about, but I do remember I was VERY excited to be moving over to the Yacht Club for the next two nights! After we started slowly moving around I packed up the rest of our stuff and called bell services, and they showed up at our door very shortly after. We sent the poor guy off with all our bags (and a hefty tip, not to worry, cause anybody who's schlepping all the crap I pack around deserves it) and finished getting ready to go. We stopped by the lobby but the line was loooooong at the desk. I wasn't quite sure if we needed to check out or not, but after waiting a few minutes without the line moving I figured we'd just risk it. So we hopped in a cab and headed over to the Yacht Club!

I didn't actually take this...I was too excited/tired to think about getting my camera out.

I fell head over heels in love with this place from the second we pulled up to the entrance. I could've stayed here for a month, I think. It's so quietly elegant, but I didn't feel out of place. Everything, from the greeters out front and all the CMs we encountered at the resort, to the resort itself, was amazing.

The girls were fascinated with the globe. I went over to the check-in desk while Aaron kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't, you know, knock over the globe or something else that might get us kicked out of this wonderful place. As it turned out, I probably should've stood in that line at CSR, because not being checked out of our previous resort made it difficult for the CM to check us in, since she had to check us out first. It was also slightly complicated due to our MagicBand issue--due to availability coming open at different times, I had to book our two nights here under two separate reservations--which means we got 3 sets of MagicBands. For obvious reasons I wanted to just use the original set, and while I knew they were "supposed" to be interchangeable, I also knew it didn't always work out that way and the last thing I wanted was to get to our room--or worse, the parks--and not have one or more work. So I asked her to make sure we could continue using our first set while she was doing everything else. I felt a little bad about complicating the CM's job and apologized but she assured me it was no problem. I wish I could remember her name because she was wonderful, but sadly I've forgotten. She apologized for it taking a while, although it really didn't feel that long. She ducked into the back for a minute and came back with a couple of stuffed Mickeys for the girls! I'm not sure if it was because it was our first trip, or for the wait, or what, but it was so sweet! And I totally failed to get a picture of the girls with them--at all, apparently

Our room was ready, yay! We went to check it out and drop off the stuff we'd brought with us.

Stitch was already right at home.

I'm sad that these aren't being done anymore The kids liked it so much they slept with it!

Apparently I need to learn to move out of the mirror when I'm taking pictures I couldn't get over this place. I loved the whole theme, the colors, everything. I have no idea what room we were in, having apparently not paid any attention. We were booked in a garden view room, so this was our view from the balcony:

To the left.

And to the right. Another one of those little details I love so much, with the ship's wheel on the sign

We were all pretty hungry since we'd just snacked on stuff in the room before checking out, so we headed out in search of food. I thought a visit to the Boardwalk Bakery was in order.

Our view on our stroll:

Ahhhh, perfection. I could seriously just live here. Can I please, Disney?

I stole this one too. But this is about what it looked like when we walked up--not very busy, for which I was grateful. We were all pretty much over walking much of anywhere at this point (at 8 days in our feet hurt!), so I was glad we'd have a table to sit at. Aaron and I ordered sandwiches--I don't actually know which ones, sorry!--Alhanna got the kids' ham and cheese and Alyssa ordered macaroni and cheese. We were overwhelmed with the bakery selection and when they asked us what desserts we wanted, Aaron and I both kind of panicked and I gave him a "just pick something" shrug. I don't do well with decisions on the spot with too many options and he was pretty tired so we ended up with chocolate chip cookies. Which, by the way, were very good and GIANT, but now I wish we'd gotten something a little less standard. The food was really good, and the soup that came with Aaron's meal was great--I think it was tomato. I'm pretty sure he didn't get much of it We finished up and headed back. We stopped into Seashore Sweets on the way, but since Alyssa wasn't allowed to eat any candy due to having a cavity we didn't get anything. We had an afternoon of fun coming up though!

 

[Sailormoon2]

You have made me even more excited for our upcoming stay at BC...that Boardwalk looks sooo amazing! Cannot wait!

 

[Ceryssa]

You have made me even more excited for our upcoming stay at BC...that Boardwalk looks sooo amazing! Cannot wait!

You will love it. The whole area is fantastic.

 

[ariane37]

We've never stayed at the YC but have visited twice; once to see the gingerbread display at Christmas time (can't remember now if it's a castle or carousel) and then when we ate at Yachtsman. Friends of ours love it there, but we just keep going back to the BWV! One of these days we'll switch it up and try YC or BC lol, but really that whole area in general is awesome. And we love the BW bakery! In addition to grabbing breakfast there and sometimes lunch, we seem to end up getting a treat either from there or Seashore Sweets every night when we return from the parks

 

[Ceryssa]

We've never stayed at the YC but have visited twice; once to see the gingerbread display at Christmas time (can't remember now if it's a castle or carousel) and then when we ate at Yachtsman. Friends of ours love it there, but we just keep going back to the BWV! One of these days we'll switch it up and try YC or BC lol, but really that whole area in general is awesome. And we love the BW bakery! In addition to grabbing breakfast there and sometimes lunch, we seem to end up getting a treat either from there or Seashore Sweets every night when we return from the parks

Yeah I really don't think you can go wrong with any of the hotels in this area. Storm Along Bay definitely gives YC/BC the edge for us, but the Boardwalk Inn is gorgeous. I plan on making use of Boardwalk Bakery quite a bit on our upcoming trip! Too many goodies for one visit And I want some fudge from Seashore Sweets. Cause yum.

 

[ariane37]

Yeah I really don't think you can go wrong with any of the hotels in this area. Storm Along Bay definitely gives YC/BC the edge for us, but the Boardwalk Inn is gorgeous. I plan on making use of Boardwalk Bakery quite a bit on our upcoming trip! Too many goodies for one visit And I want some fudge from Seashore Sweets. Cause yum.

I wish we were going to be there at the same time in Nov. since we're both in Epcot resorts DH and I just booked a short trip for Jan. without the kids and we're actually NOT staying in the Epcot resort area, we're trying AKL and the Poly He's a little hesitant to try something new but I'm excited!

 

[Ceryssa]

Oh AKL looks fabulous. I know it's a little far away from everything but the resort itself surely makes up for that. I actually had us booked for a night there on our coming trip but ended up changing plans around and I'm a little bummed about not staying there. The Poly just doesn't appeal to me, like at all. I don't know what it is. I need to go over and see it now that construction is wrapping up though; seeing it in person when it's not the center of a war zone would probably make it much more appealing! Even if you end up not liking either one, at least you'll have stayed there and will know for sure! It's always fun to try new places.

 

[Ceryssa]

So this day's plans got all messed up on me, thanks to the crazy weather that week. I'd planned on doing HS this day and a resort/pool day the next. But it was supposed to be chilly and cloudy the next day, so I ended up swapping our days. I'd been looking forward to checking out Storm Along Bay, so after lunch the girls and I were ready to hit the pool! Aaron was worn out though, so he decided to go back to the room and take a nap. I felt bad he was missing out, but he isn't a big pool person anyway, so the rest was probably better for him. We changed and headed down to the pool. Alyssa was content to play in the sand bottomed area, but Alhanna was looking for something a little more exciting so we set off for the slide--but first we had to FIND it. Storm Along Bay is huge, y'all--like crazy big.

I was eyeing the lazy river, cause that's my kind of swimming. We finally found the slide (outside of the pool), and I became suddenly very aware that there were not enough of me. Alhanna wanted to go down the slide but of course Alyssa didn't want any part of it, which meant I needed to be in two places at once. You can guess how that went. We dropped Alhanna off at the stairs to the slide and then went over to the area where it let out and waited for her to come down. I was kinda hoping once would be enough, but wouldn't you know, she loved it. So we trekked back over to the stairs. We repeated this process a couple of times until I was sure she knew where to go, and then I gave her strict instructions not to go anywhere but the slide, and we stayed in the area over near the bottom while she went up and down.

The life jackets that were available were a real blessing, because Alyssa wasn't a really strong swimmer at that point, and the water was pretty deep in areas. Knowing she'd stay afloat for a few minutes while I watched to make sure Alhanna was getting to and from where she needed to be was a relief. Still, it was a little stressful and I was wishing my parental backup wasn't blissfully snoozing back in the room. I don't think I'd be so accomodating to his nap needs if I had to do it again haha!

Finally, though, I was ready to have some fun of my own, so like a mean mom I made Alhanna get off the slide and come do the lazy river with me! We grabbed floats and relaxed our way around the pool a few times. I tried putting Alyssa on one but she panicked so I just let her float around in her life jacket holding on to my float. Alhanna got bored after a while and went off to swim, but Alyssa and I were fine right where we were. She came back a while later saying she was cold, so we went to hop in a hot tub (yep I'm one of those parents that climbs in the hot tub where you're trying to relax with my kids. Sorry about that!) It took us a while to find that, too (I get lost easily, okay?). Partly because the one I was looking for was out of service, and partly because the other ones are cleverly disguised by landscaping.

See? Pretty. And also confusing to those who don't pay attention to giant signs that say things like "spa rules". After we got warmed up Alhanna was ready to get back in the main pool. I noticed there were some pool games going on over on the other side of the pool, so the girls went to join in.

I think this was some variation of "fetch the water toys".

Hot potato, maybe?

It was starting to get chilly. After the games were over the girls wanted to go back in the hot tub. We popped back in for a minute, then dried off and headed up to the room to change. I snapped a few more pictures on the way.

When we got back to our room I realized we didn't have our luggage--because although I knew bell services would transfer your luggage for you, I assumed it worked like Magical Express and they automatically brought it to your room. My fault, since we all know what happens when you assume things! I called down to bell services and asked about our luggage, and he said they were pretty busy that day (it was the day of Wine & Dine, so I imagine they definitely were) but they'd have it up as soon as they could. Still not understanding what was going on here, I asked if he had any idea what time it would be delivered. He told me (in that strained polite voice you use when dealing with particularly dumb people) that he wasn't sure but they'd do their best to get it to us as soon as possible. Would you believe I didn't understand how this worked until we were already back home? Once I realized how it worked (after doing a little research I should've done BEFORE using it) I felt bad because I'm sure he thought I was just being impatient. So, for the record, if you use the luggage transfer service, you DO have to call and let them know you'd like them to bring up your stuff--cause, ya know, they aren't mind readers. They brought it up really quickly, and we all got changed and ready to go. It was time to see what Hollywood Studios was all about!

 

[Chilly]

I'd gotten behind but just spent an enjoyable hour catching up. You are making me very excited for this November.

 

[ariane37]

Oh AKL looks fabulous. I know it's a little far away from everything but the resort itself surely makes up for that. I actually had us booked for a night there on our coming trip but ended up changing plans around and I'm a little bummed about not staying there. The Poly just doesn't appeal to me, like at all. I don't know what it is. I need to go over and see it now that construction is wrapping up though; seeing it in person when it's not the center of a war zone would probably make it much more appealing! Even if you end up not liking either one, at least you'll have stayed there and will know for sure! It's always fun to try new places.

I thought you had a night booked at AKL for Nov! How come you decided to change? Feel free to tell me I'm being too nosy lol but I remember you being excited about it, I believe you mentioned all that in the FB group . It took some convincing to get DH to agree to stay there; his concern as you said is that it's kind of far out there, and he's used to being within walking distance to 2 parks when at BWV. But my goal is to try pretty much every resort (a couple I have no interest in) and I think since it is farther out and he's not enthused about it, we should do it w/o the kids. Especially since park time isn't quite as much of a priority when we're alone but when we are heading to one, it's easier to get out for the day and quicker to get around once there! As for the Poly, it used to not be on my radar but for some reason lately I've taken an interest I'll have to try looking beyond whatever construction is happening in Jan. so we'll see how it goes!

SAB looks so cool! We ate at B&C last August and had a good view of the pool from our table. But man, it IS spread out! I've heard others say it's difficult if you have more than one child and they want to be in different areas. But still, it has to be the best pool on-site for kids Hoping for some swim weather this Nov. Our last Nov. trip was more on the cold side........

 

[Chilly]

Have you a PTR I can't remember?

 

[Ceryssa]

I'd gotten behind but just spent an enjoyable hour catching up. You are making me very excited for this November.

Welcome back! I'm excited too, 107 days and counting!!!

I thought you had a night booked at AKL for Nov! How come you decided to change? Feel free to tell me I'm being too nosy lol but I remember you being excited about it, I believe you mentioned all that in the FB group . It took some convincing to get DH to agree to stay there; his concern as you said is that it's kind of far out there, and he's used to being within walking distance to 2 parks when at BWV. But my goal is to try pretty much every resort (a couple I have no interest in) and I think since it is farther out and he's not enthused about it, we should do it w/o the kids. Especially since park time isn't quite as much of a priority when we're alone but when we are heading to one, it's easier to get out for the day and quicker to get around once there! As for the Poly, it used to not be on my radar but for some reason lately I've taken an interest I'll have to try looking beyond whatever construction is happening in Jan. so we'll see how it goes!

SAB looks so cool! We ate at B&C last August and had a good view of the pool from our table. But man, it IS spread out! I've heard others say it's difficult if you have more than one child and they want to be in different areas. But still, it has to be the best pool on-site for kids Hoping for some swim weather this Nov. Our last Nov. trip was more on the cold side........

Yes, I did since originally there was no availability at YC the night before our package started (it's the night of the Wine & Dine so availability gets scarce!). I was pretty excited about it, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made to just stay in one place--we love the Boardwalk, and as much as I liked the idea of staying at AKL (and club level!), being pretty much tied down to the resort all day didn't appeal much to my husband, and neither did the split stay. So when that night opened up, we switched. Maybe one day we'll stay there I do think it would be a good place if the parks aren't a priority, or if you'll be spending a lot of time at the resort--there seems to be tons to do, it's like a vacation all its own! It seems like construction at the Poly should be minimal in January. Hopefully you'll be able to get a good overview of what it looks like now!

Yeah the pool is crazy spread out. We really loved it, but there were definitely stressful aspects. Definitely best to have a 1:1 ratio if possible!

Have you a PTR I can't remember?

No not yet; I was thinking I should finish this first. I might start one if I get done in time! I'm getting close

 

[Chilly]

Just done a massive update on my PTR.