Imagineer5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2007
October Disney trip mini – TR
I am going to do a mini- TR for the October trip. With the lack of photos for the first 5 days I just can’t get into as much detail as I’d like but I still wanted to give a nod to this trip. It was SO great, though I say that at the end of every trip I think. Just to refresh my memory here are the trip details:
October 3-7 Grand Floridian 2-bedroom villa with Andrew’s parents
October 7-12 Beach Club Villas 1-bedroom villa – just Andrew, Aria and me but Andrew had to leave on the 10th to go home for a wedding. We also spent 1 day at Universal Studios in the middle of our trip.
For those following along on my quest to visit every WDW TS restaurant, we visited Victoria & Alberts and the Poly Luau as new spots to add to my list.
On to the TR!
October 3rd – The day started super early with a 4AM drive to the airport. The night before I picked up some muffins and Aria was excited to eat the chocolate one.
We had some crazy morning hair going on
Andrew’s parents flew in on the same flight we did, and we landed around 10AM but they didn’t want to rent a car so we set them up with ME as there wasn’t enough space in our rental to fit them plus extra luggage.
Driving into DISNEY! (I was the driver on the reservation since I was keeping it a couple extra days. It looks like I took this while driving, oops)
Shortly after getting out of the airport we arrived at the Grand Floridian villas excited to check out this new to us resort!
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our luggage in the car and headed to the pool for some swimming. These first couple of days it was in the 70’s which actually felt a bit cool with the cooler water they had and a breeze coming from the lake.
We had fun but I am tired of the kid play areas with the huge splash zones. Aria didn’t want to play on that at all though I did coerce her into playing for a little while. The gallons of water falling every 2 minutes just scares her, and I don’t really blame her. At a water park we visited recently (jay peak in VT) the only kid area was also like this, and the play structure was empty because none of the 2-5 year olds it was intended for wanted to play on it. If it just had squirt things and slides the kids would be SO much happier IMO.
Anyway…after an unsuccessful attempt at playing in the splash area we headed to the pool. They do have a very fun water slide so we took turns going down that (Aria was too little for that – again, no small slide like BLT/Kidani had). IMO this pool would be better in a couple years when Aria gets older.
I had packed rings and a noodle because I was working on getting Aria to put her face underwater.
John going down the water slide
Views from the beach
Around noon we took a lunch break and ordered from the pool bar. They had some delicious sandwiches and I also ordered a mango margarita, all was delicious and we really enjoyed our meals. I ran back to the DVC check in area to inquire about our room, which was still not ready. I thought it was a 3PM check in but actually it was 4PM and they said that it will be right around then that the room would be ready – bummer because we had plans to get to EPCOT this evening and we all wanted to shower and get ready first of course.
Everyone got in on the food photos!
Back out to the pool for a bit more swimming, Andrew and his dad went to a couple stores to stock up for the next few days – wine, beer, milk and water…the essentials. Plus some snacks ; )
Aria telling Grammy to get a ring
Around 1:30 I put aria down for a nap in the stroller and decided to go into the lobby to wait for our room.
Beautiful surroundings!
A number of CM’s stopped by asking if we were okay (I guess we looked a bit disheveled in swim cover ups ha) and we just mentioned we were waiting for our room to be ready. Finally a manager came over and asked the same thing, we told him, and he said be right back. I guess he realized they were being pretty silly as there was a 2-bedroom READY, it was just originally slated for another family that hadn’t even checked in yet. Grr so we got our room assignment and headed upstairs just as the guys got back.
As an aside, it was my birthday trip (10/5) and no one at check in asked nor offered a birthday button.
That is where the negative stops though, because we were FLOORED when we got into our room. It is absolutely gorgeous. A HUGE terrace spanning the width of 3 normal rooms. I was disappointed when Andrew offered his parents the king bed / master bedroom which had an air tub that unfortunately no one used, but our bedroom with 2 queens was very nice and it was so nice having separate full bathrooms. The kitchen and living areas were spacious and beautiful. There was a pull down bed in the living room but we didn’t use it, so that we could hang out in the living room after Aria went to bed. She slept in the 2nd queen in our bedroom.
After some quick showers and changes we headed off to the monorail, ttc, then eventually EPCOT.
We decided to Monorail it tonight as our destination was the 3-D Dessert Party which also conveniently includes unlimited alcohol.
On our way in we stopped for a photopass pic
We first hopped on Spaceship Earth though and enjoyed that ride (we had missed our FP window, but there was no line). Then headed off for an obligatory Nemo ride, we had a FP for this but it just cut out all that extra walking, again there was no line. And our last FP was for Soarin’ which Jenn decided not to ride and instead sat with Aria. I was annoyed she didn’t take my suggestion to take Aria on Living With the Land, but Jenn doesn’t think she can handle Aria outside of the stroller. This became an issue over the next couple of days as Jenn would frequently watch Aria because she didn’t care to ride anything, but watching her entailed feeding her while she sat in the stroller. Aria needed some exercise, and is also a great listener and wouldn’t run away, so I was baffled as to why she constantly did this. Jenn also likes to act like a 90 year old woman – pretty different from my mom (who has her own annoying issues…) who just went ice climbing LOL. Anyway…
I noticed the character spot had a 5 minute wait, so we decided to hop in there, and thanks to photopass I have pics!
Shortly after that we made our way to the 3D entrance to check in, stopping at a photopass spot for some photos!
We wanted to get there early to get up front so we could make the dash to get a table. This is the only part we don’t love about the event – why can’t they just assign tables and there would be no mad running around for one. After a good 45 minutes with Aria dancing around and having a fun time waiting, we were allowed in and got a big enough table for the 5 of us. We took turns getting many desserts, drinks, etc. Aria really loved going around to the booths. No photos, but one of the cutest options was a “hot dog stand” that was really sweet bread with a hot dog-looking roll of gelato and then “ketchup and mustard” which was raspberry and mango sauce – it looked like a mini hot dog! Aria loved that.
They also had flaming doughnuts and cheeses and fruits which were a hit, along with many types of alcohols and about 6 different wines to try. I enjoyed quite a bit of wine as they pour ¾ full glasses, not little tastings! Around 8:30 Aria was getting sleepy so I put on her ear muffs and laid her in the stroller and she just sort of chilled out. I don’t think she fell asleep (she was awake for Illuminations) but she enjoyed relaxing I guess. Shortly after that we were directed outside, handed our 3-D mickey glasses and went to the reserved area for Illuminations. We enjoyed the show and headed out with the hoards to the monorail though I think we got on the first one back.
Secret peek - if you look at the lights what do you see??
I am going to do a mini- TR for the October trip. With the lack of photos for the first 5 days I just can’t get into as much detail as I’d like but I still wanted to give a nod to this trip. It was SO great, though I say that at the end of every trip I think. Just to refresh my memory here are the trip details:
October 3-7 Grand Floridian 2-bedroom villa with Andrew’s parents
October 7-12 Beach Club Villas 1-bedroom villa – just Andrew, Aria and me but Andrew had to leave on the 10th to go home for a wedding. We also spent 1 day at Universal Studios in the middle of our trip.
For those following along on my quest to visit every WDW TS restaurant, we visited Victoria & Alberts and the Poly Luau as new spots to add to my list.
On to the TR!
October 3rd – The day started super early with a 4AM drive to the airport. The night before I picked up some muffins and Aria was excited to eat the chocolate one.
We had some crazy morning hair going on
Andrew’s parents flew in on the same flight we did, and we landed around 10AM but they didn’t want to rent a car so we set them up with ME as there wasn’t enough space in our rental to fit them plus extra luggage.
Driving into DISNEY! (I was the driver on the reservation since I was keeping it a couple extra days. It looks like I took this while driving, oops)
Shortly after getting out of the airport we arrived at the Grand Floridian villas excited to check out this new to us resort!
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our luggage in the car and headed to the pool for some swimming. These first couple of days it was in the 70’s which actually felt a bit cool with the cooler water they had and a breeze coming from the lake.
We had fun but I am tired of the kid play areas with the huge splash zones. Aria didn’t want to play on that at all though I did coerce her into playing for a little while. The gallons of water falling every 2 minutes just scares her, and I don’t really blame her. At a water park we visited recently (jay peak in VT) the only kid area was also like this, and the play structure was empty because none of the 2-5 year olds it was intended for wanted to play on it. If it just had squirt things and slides the kids would be SO much happier IMO.
Anyway…after an unsuccessful attempt at playing in the splash area we headed to the pool. They do have a very fun water slide so we took turns going down that (Aria was too little for that – again, no small slide like BLT/Kidani had). IMO this pool would be better in a couple years when Aria gets older.
I had packed rings and a noodle because I was working on getting Aria to put her face underwater.
John going down the water slide
Views from the beach
Around noon we took a lunch break and ordered from the pool bar. They had some delicious sandwiches and I also ordered a mango margarita, all was delicious and we really enjoyed our meals. I ran back to the DVC check in area to inquire about our room, which was still not ready. I thought it was a 3PM check in but actually it was 4PM and they said that it will be right around then that the room would be ready – bummer because we had plans to get to EPCOT this evening and we all wanted to shower and get ready first of course.
Everyone got in on the food photos!
Back out to the pool for a bit more swimming, Andrew and his dad went to a couple stores to stock up for the next few days – wine, beer, milk and water…the essentials. Plus some snacks ; )
Aria telling Grammy to get a ring
Around 1:30 I put aria down for a nap in the stroller and decided to go into the lobby to wait for our room.
Beautiful surroundings!
A number of CM’s stopped by asking if we were okay (I guess we looked a bit disheveled in swim cover ups ha) and we just mentioned we were waiting for our room to be ready. Finally a manager came over and asked the same thing, we told him, and he said be right back. I guess he realized they were being pretty silly as there was a 2-bedroom READY, it was just originally slated for another family that hadn’t even checked in yet. Grr so we got our room assignment and headed upstairs just as the guys got back.
As an aside, it was my birthday trip (10/5) and no one at check in asked nor offered a birthday button.
That is where the negative stops though, because we were FLOORED when we got into our room. It is absolutely gorgeous. A HUGE terrace spanning the width of 3 normal rooms. I was disappointed when Andrew offered his parents the king bed / master bedroom which had an air tub that unfortunately no one used, but our bedroom with 2 queens was very nice and it was so nice having separate full bathrooms. The kitchen and living areas were spacious and beautiful. There was a pull down bed in the living room but we didn’t use it, so that we could hang out in the living room after Aria went to bed. She slept in the 2nd queen in our bedroom.
After some quick showers and changes we headed off to the monorail, ttc, then eventually EPCOT.
We decided to Monorail it tonight as our destination was the 3-D Dessert Party which also conveniently includes unlimited alcohol.
On our way in we stopped for a photopass pic
We first hopped on Spaceship Earth though and enjoyed that ride (we had missed our FP window, but there was no line). Then headed off for an obligatory Nemo ride, we had a FP for this but it just cut out all that extra walking, again there was no line. And our last FP was for Soarin’ which Jenn decided not to ride and instead sat with Aria. I was annoyed she didn’t take my suggestion to take Aria on Living With the Land, but Jenn doesn’t think she can handle Aria outside of the stroller. This became an issue over the next couple of days as Jenn would frequently watch Aria because she didn’t care to ride anything, but watching her entailed feeding her while she sat in the stroller. Aria needed some exercise, and is also a great listener and wouldn’t run away, so I was baffled as to why she constantly did this. Jenn also likes to act like a 90 year old woman – pretty different from my mom (who has her own annoying issues…) who just went ice climbing LOL. Anyway…
I noticed the character spot had a 5 minute wait, so we decided to hop in there, and thanks to photopass I have pics!
Shortly after that we made our way to the 3D entrance to check in, stopping at a photopass spot for some photos!
We wanted to get there early to get up front so we could make the dash to get a table. This is the only part we don’t love about the event – why can’t they just assign tables and there would be no mad running around for one. After a good 45 minutes with Aria dancing around and having a fun time waiting, we were allowed in and got a big enough table for the 5 of us. We took turns getting many desserts, drinks, etc. Aria really loved going around to the booths. No photos, but one of the cutest options was a “hot dog stand” that was really sweet bread with a hot dog-looking roll of gelato and then “ketchup and mustard” which was raspberry and mango sauce – it looked like a mini hot dog! Aria loved that.
They also had flaming doughnuts and cheeses and fruits which were a hit, along with many types of alcohols and about 6 different wines to try. I enjoyed quite a bit of wine as they pour ¾ full glasses, not little tastings! Around 8:30 Aria was getting sleepy so I put on her ear muffs and laid her in the stroller and she just sort of chilled out. I don’t think she fell asleep (she was awake for Illuminations) but she enjoyed relaxing I guess. Shortly after that we were directed outside, handed our 3-D mickey glasses and went to the reserved area for Illuminations. We enjoyed the show and headed out with the hoards to the monorail though I think we got on the first one back.
Secret peek - if you look at the lights what do you see??
I am glad to see you have a halfway decent amount of photo pass and other pics, though. Are those all cell pics from you or did Andrew and/or his parents take any pics?
That will make my early departure next month seem late. 
I'd stay there. 
We were just saying the other day that maybe my dad and stepmom would want to go with us sometime - my dad took us to WDW a couple times as kids and my step-mom was just at Epcot and Downtown Disney with a friend, so they at least kind-of like it, I'd say. However, they're more like your mom - off on adventures all the time. I don't know about the ice climbing, but they have done their share of kayaking, rafting, hiking in the mountains, etc. Might not have time for a simple Disney trip. 
)
(I had to tell him that Chip has the chocolate chip nose).
Oh, no. DH's aren't always as logical as you'd think they'd be. 
and most importantly 
