My birthday -work trip!

[DVC Tori]

Hi everyone!

I'm Tori and I work for David's Vacation Club Rentals!

I've been given the honor to go to Disney world, with my coworker and boss Melissa. What's even more awesome is we arrive on my birthday! !!

We flew to Disney from Detroit and arrived home ( Saratoga Springs) just around dinner time. The flight was only a couple hours long, but lots of turbulence.

The three of us decided to have a bite at the Turf Club bar and grill. I had the caesar salad and spinach dip bruchetta. They have a funny way of presenting the salad, that's for sure. They served it as the full stock of romaine lettuce and I had to cut it up.

Wearing my birthday pin, everyone wishes you a happy birthday. I dont think there was even 1 cast member who didn't haha.

After dinner, I was suprised with a birthday cupcake...which of course was amazing and sweet. I'll be able to post pictures tomorrow of this delicious treat!

Though I knew Saratoga Springs was big, it's also very quiet and peaceful. The building and outside decor are so beautiful, and really remind me of a child's playhouse. Such a home-like feeling!


Tomorrow we're starting our day off eating at the Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge and I can't be more excited to try more amazing food Disney has to offer.

After breakfast and exploring a few resorts well make our way over to Magic Kingdom and let (some) fun begin!

 

[DVC Tori]

Day 1

We had an early(ish) morning to start our adventure in Disney World!

Last night at check in they were unable to place my room in the same building as my travelling party but a studio in the same building would be available to move me into the next day.

When I woke up, there was a voicemail to confirm my room change. It was very simple and such a smooth process. They offered to send bell services to cone pick up my luggage---I didnt even have to drop it off! Bell services came within minutes as we had a busy day ahead of us. Definitely make my experience a pleasant one, and less of an inconvenience of having to change rooms! I personally have always wondered how difficult the process was to change rooms and I am now convinced Disney does goes above and beyond to make your stay a great one.


We started off by Breakfast at the Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge. All I could say was WOW!!! The food, service and building were immaculate. I recommend this restaurant to any guests wishing to have an enjoyable time and not just a plain breakfast where you order, eat then pay the bill. This restaurant is all about fun. They place a plastic disc on your table where you can opt to have the waitress be crazy and hilarious, or you can also have a normal morning breakfast. If you're not awake when you get there, you absolutely will be by the time you receive your food. Such humor. Our waitress' name was M.T. Wallet. ha. The funniest part of it all was if a guest dining requested Ketchup, it was up to another guest to run the tray of Ketchup to them! Everyone started yelling "KETCHUUPP!" until it was delivered ! LOL!



After a filling breakfast of Chocolate Chip Pancakes, we toured the lodge. I've read a lot about the construction that has started and for the time that we were there, it wasn't disturbing at all. They even put up a cover over the fence so you dont have to see any of the work going on.

Visiting this resort made me very aware of the small details Disney includes in, well, everything.




The pool is all enclosed by a fence, and looked like a great time for adults and children.


Our next stop was the Grand Floridian! We took the ferry from VWL to MK, then switched to another ferry that dropped us off at the GF!

I was blown away at how elegant the Grand Floridian was. We didn't spend too much time there, but got the opportunity to walk around the resort. It was all set up for the holiday season, and had a over sized Ginger Bread House!








We discovered there is a pathway where you can walk from the Grand Floridian to the Polynesian in less then 5 minutes. This is not something I was aware of and was very excited to find out. We had planned on jumping a ferry to go over to the Polynesian.

The Polynesian was everything I hoped it would be! It was very modern and has a Hawaiian theme to it. Being there made me feel as if I was in Hawaii without the actual journey. We found the resort to be layed out quite well, and the Lava Pool seemed to be pretty awesome. Definitely a pool I could lay by all day. They also has a quiet pool which is closed right now to renovations. (It seems Disney is always updating something!)







Once we were finished at the Poly, we ventured to the part I'd been looking forward to the most...of course... MAGIC KINGDOM!

Though I had been to Disney before, seeing the castle gave me chills as if it was the first time. Beautiful, huge and well...just Disney.
We explored and tackled a few rides including Big Thunder Mountain (never again), Aladdins Carpet Ride, and Pirates of the Caribbean. After the Pirates ride, we had just enough to get a decent spot to see the parade! Amazing! Disney has over done themselves once again.



After the parade, I had a nice little rest on the bench while my Boss and coworker rode Space Mountain. After the Big Thunder Mountain, I wasn't getting on that coaster!


Melissa (my boss) had us planned to go to the Top of The World Lounge to watch Wishes fireworks at 9:30, but we had some time to kill. We found this cozy little place in the Polynesian to hang out and just relax and have some time off of our feet. Very Crazy place, and I absolutely loved it! Let just say, it's a hidden jem.

Once it was time, we took the monorail to Bay Lake Towers and the excitement began. I've always been very intrigued by the Top of the World Lounge, a private place for members to enjoy their time without the crowds. We got some appetizers, yum, then enjoyed the Wishes fireworks from the viewing deck. The most beautiful fireworks I've ever seen!

 

[DVC Tori]

Day 2.

We started our day off with a tour of Saratoga Springs http://www.***********.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif This is where we're staying, and I was able to take a tour round the paddock and Congress Park the night before, but this gave me the full insight of the resort! We got to view the main feature pool, which had an adorable Donald Duck splash pad for children. This resort I find is great for all ages! So peaceful .



Next stop...Old Key West! What a wonderful vibe ! It had a full Florida feeling to it. All 3 story walk ups. I found it a bit confusing though. It had many different sections that were dead ends. When comparing to SSR, SSR had one continuous road and seemed to get you eventually to where you were staying. Old Key West had a lot of dead ends.

One thing it did have is gorgeous scenery. When we walked back to the main pool, you overlooked the ferry dock and it was breath taking.

All resorts have a little area set aside for children to watch TV and Cartoons, which I find awesome as kids can be hard to keep entertained all hours of the day.
Here is a picture of the little kiddy corner:



Once we finished our drive around the Old Key West Resort, we found our way to Animal Kingdom Resort. Amazing. It was everything I expected it to be. A little out of the way if you're travelling to Magic Kingdom, but still a nice place to stay. I found Jambo house a little chaotic and loud compared to Kidani, but that's most likely because it was the main building. The picture turned out really dark (sorry!) I took a few minuted to enjoy the view of the Savannah from one of the posts, and luckily the Giraffes and Zebras we all about play time.





We decided to eat at the quick service there for a quick bite. I had the Pepperoni Pizza and a Chocolate M&M brownie for dessert. A bit on the greasy side, but delicious! Oh and the brownie, yum! It was messy but words cannot describe how good it was.



After our research at Animal Kingdom, it was off to Epcot to catch the end of Food and Wine!



I'm always hearing how much of an amazing experience it is, and visiting it made me a full believer. I'm so grateful I had the chance to see this.

At the Coca-Cola store, they had the popular drinks from other countries. I'm pretty sure I would drink pop in Peru for a while. Bubble Gum flavoured!




We stopped at Germany where I had the Ham and Cheese potato casserole, and of course the Apple Strudel with vanilla ice cream!





We escaped the crowds before the fireworks, and took advantage of the Bus System. It was only about a 14 minute ride to our stop, which was the last one for the resort.


Once back to the resort, it was the end of the night for me. Disney can be extremely exhausting!!

 

[DVC Tori]

Day 3!

Started the day with Art Of Animation! Even though we don't work with this resort within the Vacation Club, it was a great idea to see a value resort. It had some pretty great theming including Cars, Finding Nemo, the Little Mermaid and the Lion King. This is a resort I would recommend to stay at if you're looking to spend less money and don't wish to spend much time at your resort. It was very busy and very loud. There were crowds of guests with small children everywhere and the pool seemed fun, but there was no chance of staying dry! Little ones splashing everywhere!

To me, this is the original picture I had in my mind of what a Disney resort would look like. When I was little, I watched the Loin King on repeat and found that if I was a child, it would be my dream come true.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a very relaxing resort. It was condo style as well, which means all rooms are accessed by the outside, not the inside of a building.










Next stop, a moderate resort. Coronado Springs!

This resort seemed a little more relaxed, quiet and spread out. It had a Spanish Colonial theme, which was great! Nothing like getting the feeling of another culture ! It had a nice lake in the middle of the whole resort with the buildings all around the outside. We too a drive around and the resort had different sections with different looking buildings. Condo style as well, with 2 and 3 story walk ups.






We didn't get to spend a lot of time at this resort as we were on a time crunch to get to the Beach Club for our reservation at Beaches and Cream!

Beaches and Cream is a retro feeling soda shop. I ordered the Grilled Cheese with Tomato Bisque soup. Delicious! The grilled cheese had 6 different cheeses on it and the Tomato soup was very creamy. Definitely hit the spot on the hot day!



After lunch, we toured the Beach Club resort. This resort had the feeling of staying at the home right on the beach. It is connected to the Yacht Club. It has the largest pool of all the Vacation Club resorts, and the only one with a sand bottom! What is great about this pool, is it's suitable for all ages. There's a shallow area no deeper then a couple feet for your tiny ones, but also has a deeper area for the older kids and teenagers. It also had a light flowing lazy river!

The picture below is actually of where the hotel rooms are (Blue side). All the DVC rooms are on the other side and the outside of the building is a light Green!




After the Beach Club, it was off to the Boardwalk Resort ! We decided to walk down the Boardwalk to see how long it would take us, but found some bike rentals on the way! We hopped on the bikes and rode down the Boardwalk. It was some great scenery for sure! Since we were on bike, we took a ride down the path to Hollywood studios. Though it was only about a 5 minute bike ride, it's be quite the walk on foot. About 15-20 minutes.





The Boardwalk Resort had the theming of, your guessed it, the Atlantic City. It felt as if I was about to stay on the East coast Boardwalk. We got to view the renovated rooms which were much more modern, but simplistic and didnt take away from that feeling of where you were. After being at the Beach Club, the Boardwalk was much more lively, and the pool was great. Personally, the Luna pool clown doesnt sit well with me, and is a bit creepy, the children didn't seem to mind. The clown was the only fall back to the resort in my eyes.

The chandeliers caught my eye in the lobby. Again, Disney over did themselves with the detail!




Then it was time for a little more fun! We walked to Epcot from the Boardwalk. Much closer then Hollywood studios! It only took about 5-8 minutes to walk over. One thing I should point out though is even though Epcot is on the monorail, that is at the front of the park. You would need to walk all the way through the park to catch the monorail! It may be more convenient and quicker to just catch the bus to where you'd plan on taking the monorail to !