cruise-o-matic
12-17-2005, 09:39 PM
Rants, Raves, Kudos and Ehs? Our 1st DVC WDW Trip Report.
It’s been just over a week since we checked into Beach Club Villas and we already want to go back. When weather.com said it was 75 in Orlando on Thursday, we had rain/freezing rain here :brrrrrr: (and possibly more tonight) makes it a no brainer. Guess what I’ll be doing Monday at 9am when our 7 month window opens…..
Rather than write some long winded trip report, I though I’d highlight some High’s, Low’s and a few points in between.
:thumbsup: Kudos to Delta Airlines for avoiding a strike. We love to fly Delta since they go non-stop from GSO to MCO. I prefer the little planes because you can “pink tag” your luggage planeside and avoid the baggage carousel altogether. Unfortunately, Delta has cut back several of their flights out of GSO to MCO.
:coolcar: Raves to Thrifty Blue Chip. I was able to re-book our car the night before and shave $2 per day off our rate. They are constantly running shuttles from the Arrivals curb and the rep will call ahead to let the counter know that you are on the way. There is virtually no wait in the Blue Chip line, it’s like having a FastPass. Why everyone doesn’t sign up for the free frequent rental programs is beyond me? The return was quick and easy too. A couple of heads up though. If you go back to the airport via 417, make sure you have $.50 for the 1st toll booth b/c there is no one manning it to give you change. Also, fill up before you get to Butler National Drive. A big rant to the station across the street which charges $.80 more per gallon than the on property Hess stations.
Raves to DVC free valet parking. It was nice to be able to drive up to the BW and hand over the keys. Especially, since the self parking is across the road.
Raves to the DDE card. It almost paid for itself this trip. I just wish it was good at counter service places.
:thumbsway Rants to Pop Century. We will never stay there again! The quality of the front desk employees is much less than those at other resorts we have stayed. I’m sorry but when I hand you my Disney Visa, I don’t want to hear that you were denied one yourself b/c you were too much of a credit risk. Also, it is not a good omen when they look at the screen and have to go “behind the door”. When we get to our assigned room, the keys won’t work, so I make a trip back to Check In to get a new set of keys. The 2nd Check In rep blamed it on having my keys in the same pocket as my cell phone, so I got a new set of keys. The 2nd set didn’t work either, so now I’m going back to the Check In for a 3rd time…this time, I didn’t wait patiently in line.
They sent up a runner (on a Sedgeway, which was cool) b/c I was getting a “yellow” light on the lock. By this time, it has been over an hour since our 1st check in and DD had fallen asleep on the walkway outside the room. The runner unlocked the door, but it was latched….There were people already in the room! The father of the kids sleeping in our room groggily greeted us. Turns out the grandparents were originally in the room but had checked out on Thursday but the kids and parents still occupied both rooms. If the room was supposed to be vacant, surely Mousekeeping would have noticed it was still occupied? Not to mention the “going behind the door” at check in. To compound things, when the runner called the front desk about getting us a new room, :headbange the front desk was more concerned about why the room was occupied. We eventually got a room at PoP and were also given 50% off. But we plan to send a nice scathing email and we will never stay there again.
Raves to Beach Club Villas. First, the staff is friendly and professional. We were assigned Villa 131, a dedicated studio. It was not to far from the rotunda and we had a great view of the Illuminations fireworks on Saturday night. Our room was clean and we had no issues. The pullout couch was easy to open as opposed to the one we had at HHI. One drawback to being on the east side is that sunlight streams in around the top of the curtains early in the morning. The parking lot is also very convenient to the villas and if you take the back sidewalk, it is about 5 minutes to the gates of Epcot.
:yuck: Rants to smokers. Our room didn’t smell smoked in (it was N/S), but there were several cigarette butts on the patio. Smoking is not a license to litter!
Raves to the Holiday decorations. One of our missions was to visit see the Christmas trees and gingerbread houses (and hunt for the hidden Mickeys). We missed seeing WL, CR and Poly. The BC one had to be our favorite.
Raves to the Holiday parades. That was our other mission. We saw the parades at MGM, AK and MVMCP. And with the lighter crowds, we had great seats for each.
Rants to the Biometrics. It takes so much longer to get through the gates now that everyone needs to use it. It would be nice to see Disney have more gates going in, especially more than just 2 at the International Gateway.
:veryconfu Eh to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We liked the Christmas tree but thought the gingerbread house was on the lame side. Plus, it was really dark. I know there are some big AKL fans out there, but it didn’t do any trigger tripping for us.
Raves to Osborne Lights. That was really cool. Plus they had bubble machines going to simulate snow. Great for photo ops.
Kudos to Cape May Character Breakfast. The food is really good and nice variety. Plus DW is a big Minnie fan.
Kudos to it’s a small world rehab. I like the clock in the waiting queue that goes off every 15 minutes. The ride seems brighter too. (Is it just me or did they remove one of the “goodbye” signs? I think it was an Asian goodbye that was close to being a dirty word…)
Eh to 1900 Park Fare. We just did not like this. Food was not that great, server brought DD wrong shake, took a long time for Cindee to finally show up at our table. We were fortunate to have a table near the back, but the people in line in front of us got the center table that is about 10 feet inside the door. If it weren’t for DD’s reaction to Prince Charming kissing her hand, this may have been a rant.
Raves to MVMCP. We focused on the special events more than the walk on rides. We saw the show in Tomorrow Land, the parade and just loved the Holiday Wishes. Hot cocoa and cookies were also great.
Rants to Stitch and Eh to Buzz. DD was so excited to ride Stitch that we were the 1st in line when MVMCP started. We didn’t know what to expect from the Stitch ride after were secured to our seats (thankfully, it’ not a motion or spinning ride). It has to be the lamest “ride” at WDW. As far as Buzz, it broke down on us and wiped out all our points. Thankfully, it’s going into rehab soon.
:whistlebl Rants to scooters. Is it just me or is the scooter population increasing? After MVMCP, we were waiting for the bus driver to load an older lady who was in a wheelchair. Then along comes a lady with 2 kids in a scooter whizzing past everyone else in line. I’m sorry, but having a scooter is not a Fast Pass. So the driver loads scooter lady next, which takes away 3 seats, then she proceeds to sit in a bus seat with her two kids! At Epcot, one man was going so fast that his wife almost had to run to keep up. Then there were the two 20-something guys “cruising” like they were in a car – you know, slouching, one hand to steer. Yep, you can enjoy WDW and still be a couch potato….
Raves to Soarin’. Definitely the most popular ride at the present. We FastPassed it and went standby on Test Track. Wish we rode it more than once. Hint, if you are in the front row, you are the highest off the ground.
Raves to Candlelight Processional. We bought the dinner package and had really great seats. Plus Eartha Kitt was super…rrrRRrrr. Loved our meal at Le Cellier too.
Raves to Lights, Motors Action. It’s like a ballet with cars.
Kudos to Sci-Fi Drive-In. Mmmm, try their Oreo Shake. We all enjoyed our food and the “cars” make for an excellent photo op.
Raves to the Airline Check In Service. Even though we didn’t use DME, we were able to check our bags and get our boarding passes at the Beach Club. So when we got to MCO, we didn’t have to lug our baggage around and could go straight to security.
:sunny: Raves to the weather. Definitely a great time of year to go. It rained on us only once at MK on Sunday, but we were able to see Cinderellabration, ride Splash and Thunder Mountain (twice) before the rain started. :umbrella: During the rain, we had ponchos and hit Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world and Peter Pan. But we didn’t miss any of the fireworks or parades b/c of rain. It’s not ideal swimming weather, but the pools are heated and DD was able to take a quick dip in the quiet pool.
Magical Moments:
DD’s 1st trip on RnRC. She was scared while waiting in line, but after riding it the 1st time, she could wait to ride on it again. We rode it a total of 5 times during our trip…partly to get a great picture to take home…so on our last couple of rides, we were practicing our “takeoff” smile.
Arriving at Magic Kingdom on Sunday morning. As were are approaching the gates, the ferry starts to offload…and I turn around and say “Hurry, we have to beat the boat people.” Our timing was perfect, because once we entered Main Street, the One Way horse drawn trolley was loading. DD loves horses and to ride down the center of Mainstreet was extra cool.
Tuesday at MGM. We had an AAA parking pass, so we parked up front. Nice, relaxing time. Got a great seat at Lights, Motors, Action. Walked on RnRC and ToT….in fact we still have our FP’s from ToT as souvenirs…2nd row on the Great Movie Ride. Saw the Narnia exhibit. Lunch at Sci Fi. Great seats for the parade, then a 5 minute walk to the car and an easy trip back to MCO…
It’s been just over a week since we checked into Beach Club Villas and we already want to go back. When weather.com said it was 75 in Orlando on Thursday, we had rain/freezing rain here :brrrrrr: (and possibly more tonight) makes it a no brainer. Guess what I’ll be doing Monday at 9am when our 7 month window opens…..
Rather than write some long winded trip report, I though I’d highlight some High’s, Low’s and a few points in between.
:thumbsup: Kudos to Delta Airlines for avoiding a strike. We love to fly Delta since they go non-stop from GSO to MCO. I prefer the little planes because you can “pink tag” your luggage planeside and avoid the baggage carousel altogether. Unfortunately, Delta has cut back several of their flights out of GSO to MCO.
:coolcar: Raves to Thrifty Blue Chip. I was able to re-book our car the night before and shave $2 per day off our rate. They are constantly running shuttles from the Arrivals curb and the rep will call ahead to let the counter know that you are on the way. There is virtually no wait in the Blue Chip line, it’s like having a FastPass. Why everyone doesn’t sign up for the free frequent rental programs is beyond me? The return was quick and easy too. A couple of heads up though. If you go back to the airport via 417, make sure you have $.50 for the 1st toll booth b/c there is no one manning it to give you change. Also, fill up before you get to Butler National Drive. A big rant to the station across the street which charges $.80 more per gallon than the on property Hess stations.
Raves to DVC free valet parking. It was nice to be able to drive up to the BW and hand over the keys. Especially, since the self parking is across the road.
Raves to the DDE card. It almost paid for itself this trip. I just wish it was good at counter service places.
:thumbsway Rants to Pop Century. We will never stay there again! The quality of the front desk employees is much less than those at other resorts we have stayed. I’m sorry but when I hand you my Disney Visa, I don’t want to hear that you were denied one yourself b/c you were too much of a credit risk. Also, it is not a good omen when they look at the screen and have to go “behind the door”. When we get to our assigned room, the keys won’t work, so I make a trip back to Check In to get a new set of keys. The 2nd Check In rep blamed it on having my keys in the same pocket as my cell phone, so I got a new set of keys. The 2nd set didn’t work either, so now I’m going back to the Check In for a 3rd time…this time, I didn’t wait patiently in line.
They sent up a runner (on a Sedgeway, which was cool) b/c I was getting a “yellow” light on the lock. By this time, it has been over an hour since our 1st check in and DD had fallen asleep on the walkway outside the room. The runner unlocked the door, but it was latched….There were people already in the room! The father of the kids sleeping in our room groggily greeted us. Turns out the grandparents were originally in the room but had checked out on Thursday but the kids and parents still occupied both rooms. If the room was supposed to be vacant, surely Mousekeeping would have noticed it was still occupied? Not to mention the “going behind the door” at check in. To compound things, when the runner called the front desk about getting us a new room, :headbange the front desk was more concerned about why the room was occupied. We eventually got a room at PoP and were also given 50% off. But we plan to send a nice scathing email and we will never stay there again.
Raves to Beach Club Villas. First, the staff is friendly and professional. We were assigned Villa 131, a dedicated studio. It was not to far from the rotunda and we had a great view of the Illuminations fireworks on Saturday night. Our room was clean and we had no issues. The pullout couch was easy to open as opposed to the one we had at HHI. One drawback to being on the east side is that sunlight streams in around the top of the curtains early in the morning. The parking lot is also very convenient to the villas and if you take the back sidewalk, it is about 5 minutes to the gates of Epcot.
:yuck: Rants to smokers. Our room didn’t smell smoked in (it was N/S), but there were several cigarette butts on the patio. Smoking is not a license to litter!
Raves to the Holiday decorations. One of our missions was to visit see the Christmas trees and gingerbread houses (and hunt for the hidden Mickeys). We missed seeing WL, CR and Poly. The BC one had to be our favorite.
Raves to the Holiday parades. That was our other mission. We saw the parades at MGM, AK and MVMCP. And with the lighter crowds, we had great seats for each.
Rants to the Biometrics. It takes so much longer to get through the gates now that everyone needs to use it. It would be nice to see Disney have more gates going in, especially more than just 2 at the International Gateway.
:veryconfu Eh to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We liked the Christmas tree but thought the gingerbread house was on the lame side. Plus, it was really dark. I know there are some big AKL fans out there, but it didn’t do any trigger tripping for us.
Raves to Osborne Lights. That was really cool. Plus they had bubble machines going to simulate snow. Great for photo ops.
Kudos to Cape May Character Breakfast. The food is really good and nice variety. Plus DW is a big Minnie fan.
Kudos to it’s a small world rehab. I like the clock in the waiting queue that goes off every 15 minutes. The ride seems brighter too. (Is it just me or did they remove one of the “goodbye” signs? I think it was an Asian goodbye that was close to being a dirty word…)
Eh to 1900 Park Fare. We just did not like this. Food was not that great, server brought DD wrong shake, took a long time for Cindee to finally show up at our table. We were fortunate to have a table near the back, but the people in line in front of us got the center table that is about 10 feet inside the door. If it weren’t for DD’s reaction to Prince Charming kissing her hand, this may have been a rant.
Raves to MVMCP. We focused on the special events more than the walk on rides. We saw the show in Tomorrow Land, the parade and just loved the Holiday Wishes. Hot cocoa and cookies were also great.
Rants to Stitch and Eh to Buzz. DD was so excited to ride Stitch that we were the 1st in line when MVMCP started. We didn’t know what to expect from the Stitch ride after were secured to our seats (thankfully, it’ not a motion or spinning ride). It has to be the lamest “ride” at WDW. As far as Buzz, it broke down on us and wiped out all our points. Thankfully, it’s going into rehab soon.
:whistlebl Rants to scooters. Is it just me or is the scooter population increasing? After MVMCP, we were waiting for the bus driver to load an older lady who was in a wheelchair. Then along comes a lady with 2 kids in a scooter whizzing past everyone else in line. I’m sorry, but having a scooter is not a Fast Pass. So the driver loads scooter lady next, which takes away 3 seats, then she proceeds to sit in a bus seat with her two kids! At Epcot, one man was going so fast that his wife almost had to run to keep up. Then there were the two 20-something guys “cruising” like they were in a car – you know, slouching, one hand to steer. Yep, you can enjoy WDW and still be a couch potato….
Raves to Soarin’. Definitely the most popular ride at the present. We FastPassed it and went standby on Test Track. Wish we rode it more than once. Hint, if you are in the front row, you are the highest off the ground.
Raves to Candlelight Processional. We bought the dinner package and had really great seats. Plus Eartha Kitt was super…rrrRRrrr. Loved our meal at Le Cellier too.
Raves to Lights, Motors Action. It’s like a ballet with cars.
Kudos to Sci-Fi Drive-In. Mmmm, try their Oreo Shake. We all enjoyed our food and the “cars” make for an excellent photo op.
Raves to the Airline Check In Service. Even though we didn’t use DME, we were able to check our bags and get our boarding passes at the Beach Club. So when we got to MCO, we didn’t have to lug our baggage around and could go straight to security.
:sunny: Raves to the weather. Definitely a great time of year to go. It rained on us only once at MK on Sunday, but we were able to see Cinderellabration, ride Splash and Thunder Mountain (twice) before the rain started. :umbrella: During the rain, we had ponchos and hit Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world and Peter Pan. But we didn’t miss any of the fireworks or parades b/c of rain. It’s not ideal swimming weather, but the pools are heated and DD was able to take a quick dip in the quiet pool.
Magical Moments:
DD’s 1st trip on RnRC. She was scared while waiting in line, but after riding it the 1st time, she could wait to ride on it again. We rode it a total of 5 times during our trip…partly to get a great picture to take home…so on our last couple of rides, we were practicing our “takeoff” smile.
Arriving at Magic Kingdom on Sunday morning. As were are approaching the gates, the ferry starts to offload…and I turn around and say “Hurry, we have to beat the boat people.” Our timing was perfect, because once we entered Main Street, the One Way horse drawn trolley was loading. DD loves horses and to ride down the center of Mainstreet was extra cool.
Tuesday at MGM. We had an AAA parking pass, so we parked up front. Nice, relaxing time. Got a great seat at Lights, Motors, Action. Walked on RnRC and ToT….in fact we still have our FP’s from ToT as souvenirs…2nd row on the Great Movie Ride. Saw the Narnia exhibit. Lunch at Sci Fi. Great seats for the parade, then a 5 minute walk to the car and an easy trip back to MCO…