Into the Unknown - Large Family Trip Report, Now with Wrap-up Thoughts!

[thekents]

Wednesday afternoon:
We had another good afternoon break with naps in the room for most. DD5 asked very nicely, so she and I went down to the pool for a while. I was keeping one eye on Genie+ for a bit until Splash LL return time hit 1630, then I grabbed it and put the phone away. The pool was… tolerable. For a while. She really wanted to swim, so we did, until she started turning blue, and I forced her out. We headed back upstairs and everyone snacked while we repacked for the parks. Splash Mountain was, of course, down again. The LL converted over to an anytime pass when the window opened.

We trooped out, and Meet Mickey only had a 5 minute posted wait, which meant literally one family in front of us.

DH ran into the Confectionary for cotton candy on our way past:

DD1 was not a big fan, but at least no one cried. I think the distanced meets are easier for the littles. Note the “baby” Minnie in DD5’s arms; she found that in the Winnie the Pooh gift shop on Tuesday (which didn’t have a single stuffed Pooh character - I was outraged), and immediately spent some of her gift card money she saved for the trip. Unfortunately, DD1 also fell in love and declared it “mine!”, resulting in many tears. So, all Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, DD5 kept asking when we would be near that shop again to buy DD1 her own baby. So that was our next stop. DD5 was very excited to surprise her sister with it. It was very sweet.

By now, our window was opening for the 7DMT ILL, so we measured my nephew, confirmed he could ride, and got RS for me and DD5. I took DD1 on the tea cups while they all rode.

(Minnie came too, complete with tags.)

As everyone was prepping to get on Mine Train, Splash briefly came back on line and I grabbed another LL. Then, of course, it went back down and the LL converted again. So, while DD5 and I waited in the LL for Mine Train while everyone else rode the tea cups again, I broke the news to her that Splash was once again not happening (she was prepped in her swimsuit again). She was disappointed, but it actually prompted a really great conversation for us, where we talked about all the amazing rides we had already done, how she had been so much braver than she thought she would be, and how, essentially, we had already crushed Disney. And we still had plenty of time left!

We all met back up, and I chose to be pushy this time and told everyone to place a mobile order at Columbia Harbor House while I led the way over. This was our first time there, and it was just as great as I expected. I could have made my entire meal out of those hushpuppies. And both girls devoured green beans, which was great. We got in right before close, so it was pretty quiet in there, a good place to relax. And they gave my DH a free Diet Coke and lemonade slushy that people had ordered and never picked up. Win!

We had our 2 anytime LLs available, but we could tell the kids weren’t going to be up for anything too intense, so we decided to go meet Cinderella, as it was no wait (posted 5 min, I think). My DD5 was actually way more excited to meet Elena, as she recently started watching Elena of Avalor. My niece brought her Cinderella dress and put it on for the meet. My kid was in a swimsuit. Pretty much sums up the differences between our families. You can note in all these photos, DD5 dresses herself, and I rarely make her change.

(I have no idea why the glowsticks are on such prominent display.)

We had another family meeting in the Sir Mickey’s gift shop on the way out, which resulted in DD5 spending the rest of her gift card on an Ariel dress. DD1 also talked DH into a another baby-style doll - Belle this time. She might be going straight from the suitcase to be hidden for the upcoming birthday. We have to do these things while we can get away with it.

(Putting baby to sleep.)

We emerged from the gift shop to find that it was close to 8PM and fireworks were about to start. DD5 immediately started sobbing and begging to go anywhere to get away, so DH ran back into Sir Mickey’s with her. I changed DD1’s diaper in the stroller, but as soon as the first firework went off, she also started covering her ears and crying, so we ran inside, too. The CMs were very kind and lovely to us while we entertained the kids in their shop for 15 minutes. We did end up buying a Grumpy pin for my dad.

We met back up with the others at the stroller parking and hopped on the carousel as soon as it reopened.

It then became pretty apparent it was time to take the kids back to the room. I, my mom, and my dad gave DH, my brother, and my SIL our MBs so they could use those anytime LLs if possible, and we headed back to the room with the kids. We had to fight the post-fireworks crowds, which was an experience, but at least we were only trying to get to the walkway.

Back in the room, the kids got a second wind, and the girls played princess meetings again, this time with chairs set up to replicate the rope barriers. What times we live in.

The others stayed till near 10PM. They tried to do HM, but the LL was out the gate, so they didn’t try. They did BTMRR before official park close. Then they crossed to Tomorrowland and did Space Mountain and Astro Orbiter. They got Plaza ice cream and took photos in front of the castle before heading back. They said once the deluxe hours began, the park was noticeably empty in the walkways, but everyone was in lines. They didn’t even try Peter Pan or Mine Train. Space wasn’t bad. Their biggest complaint was that a lot of food places were open, but the app would say they were closed, so you had to actually walk up to find out. I had been looking forward to seeing what the deluxe hours were like, but honestly, I was nearly as tired as the kids. Maybe another visit.

[Dreamer]

That bag of cotton candy is as big as your DD!

[Disneymomwlittles]

Thank you for letting us follow along this is a delight! Your daughter is so sweet to want to buy her sister the baby Minnie I agree no Pooh in the Guft shop is ridiculous! I love the pretend meet and greet and the putting baby to bed on the store floor they are too precious!

[thekents]

Thursday was our relaxing day - less planned stuff, more of a “what we feel like” day. The first scheduled event was that our girls and my dad all had Droid Depot reservations at 0930. I was still up at 7 anyway, because kids, so I watched the SDD return times to see if a good one was obtainable. The 0700 ones cycled too fast for me to grab a good one around our ADR, so I waited, fed kids, and waited for the 0711 cycle that TP staff has been noticing. Sure enough, they started back over, and I had no problem getting a 1305 window. (We had a 1110 ADR, was afraid to get it too close.)

So the droid crew loaded up and drove over with me illegally wedged between the car seats in our car for the drive. We left the room about 0830. The charging station was down at HS that morning, so we just got regular parking, but were still pretty close to the entrance. I want to say I remember we tapped in about 0910? By 0923, we were in GE taking photos with Rey and Chewie. Rey loved the girls’ dresses.

Then, it was time for droids! My dad is a big Star Wars fan; it was really awesome getting to experience all of these things with him, and for him watching the girls enjoy it all. The droid-building experience was really fun and even DD1 really enjoyed it. She was very clear what color parts she wanted for her droid. As soon as all the parts were assembled, she hugged the droid and yelled “Mine!”

My dad made a sneaky R2D2, which was his goal. DD5 made a brave BB unit (purple and orange), and DD1 made a sassy R2 unit (red). The one thing I would have done differently, I think, was that I wasn’t aware you could take them on rides or exactly how much they interacted around the land. It would have been nice to have them earlier to explore more of that. But, oh well. This was what worked out for our timing. Guess we just have to come back soon and bring them. DH volunteered to run them back to the car for lunch; he said they all lost their crap when he walked close to RotR, beeping like crazy. Has anyone taken one on a ride? Or do you just interact outside?

We still had about to an hour till our ADR, so we grabbed a Ronto breakfast wrap and fed it to the kids to hold them over. DD1 especially is a kid we just have to keep the food coming constantly to keep her happy. Then my dad and I took our time wandering through GE, walking through the bazaar, admiring all the detail. The kids let me down at the Creature Stall - not a single request for a Wookie or Ewok or Porg… they had no clue they could have talked me into buying anything they wanted in that whole land.

Slowly, we wended our way back to SciFi Dine In, to play on the beloved car. DH and then the rest of the group eventually joined us.

I definitely see why it’s such a hard ADR to get. It was like walking into a different world. The quiet in there! It was such a relief. Our food was all excellent, too. Simple, but done to perfection. My niece and nephew got antsy and ended up watching videos on their parents’ phones, but my girls were pretty happy watching the movie screen and occasionally running a lap around the cars to change seats.

It didn’t take quite as long as I had guessed, so we had some time to kill before our SDD LL. Luckily it was cool and cloudy, so hanging out in TSL wasn’t misery.

Unfortunately, SDD went down literally 10 minutes before our LL window opened, and they converted to anytime LLs. They evacuated the queue and told us there was no estimate for reopening. The forecast called for rain to start soon, and I knew that wouldn’t help SDD get back online. So, we let the kids pick, and DD5 and I used our LL for Aliens while everyone else did TSMM again.

The expected drizzle started while she and I waited for the others at the TSMM exit with the strollers, so we all loaded up and headed to the exits. Once again, the group driving and the group riding the bus still ended up meeting at the BLT entrance at the same time. We headed in for naps and relaxation. (DH reported that he had to actually turn the droids off while he and DD1 napped in the bedroom, because they kept randomly beeping at each other.)

[missoverexcited]

Your girls look adorable in their dresses!

[thekents]

Thursday afternoon: naps and relaxation and more princess meet-and-greet games with the big girls. Timestamp on this photo says we arrived back at BLT at 1415:

When you fall asleep mid-chip, and it falls out of your mouth.

It was a dreary, drizzly afternoon that I enjoyed watching from our windows. I don’t think the rain every got much heavier than that, but it stayed steady. I had originally thought this afternoon could be a chance to go back to Epcot for things we missed on Monday, but no one really felt up to that or that we really needed it. Once again, I was watching Genie+, and Splash Mountain was running all afternoon. We grabbed a LL for, I think it was a 1700-1800 return window. My parents were fine with staying in for the evening and volunteered to keep the little ones, so we told the big girls to get their swimsuits, tossed them in the double stroller, and headed to MK. We caught a Rainy Day Cavalcade at 1720, which was a first for me to actually see.

Finally, FINALLY, we got to ride Splash Mountain! I had been really anxious, too, as it’s one of my top 5 all-time rides. In 2019, it was down the whole day we had FPP for it, then when we tried to ride, my DH and I got evacuate off right before heading into the darkness. I was going to be pretty sad if I didn’t get one last ride in before the retheme. DD5 had watched ride-throughs on YouTube and was really excited for it. Happy to report that she loved it! We were front row of the log, and DH and I took the brunt of the splash directly in the face. I had changed into my quick-dry pants, but sadly, they were not! Oh well, the girls loved it.

We took a Frontierland bathroom break and debated whether to try to find food in the park or go rescue the grandparents. We called to check in and were reassured that they were having a blast and were already feeding the kids dinner in the room. They encouraged us to go enjoy ourselves, so decision made: we rode the monorail to the Polynesian and put our names on the 'Ohana waitlist! I got the confirmation text at 1836, then we got our table ready text at 1902. I changed Evie into dry, warmer clothes in the bathroom, then we wandered Moana Mercantile, where DH tried to convince her she needed a shoulder Porg. I wish I had a photo of her intensely skeptical look at that. We went out side to check out the pool, and I nearly got myself a spiked Dole Whip at Pineapple Lanai, but I knew how good dinner would be. We got seated and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. I could eat just the dumplings and noodles and be happy. Poor DD5 was exhausted, though. She ate a few bites of things, declared she didn’t like any of it (including the fries and chicken nuggets the waiter brought her), and asked if she could go to sleep.

She slept the whole ride back, and kept sleeping after I deposited her in the bed. So much Disney! (And we brought my parents back a to go container of most of a skillet of steak and shrimp.)

[thekents]

We’re almost to the end! Friday was our last full park day, at Animal Kingdom. The night before, I made the call to not even try to make it for Early Entry, but to just try to get out of the room 0730-0745, which had been a doable target for us all week. So, no dragging everyone out super early for a last rope drop.

At 0700, I booked FoP ILL for 1210-1310 and then grabbed a Safari LL for 0900-1000. We headed out, with DH, I, and DD1 taking our car, as we were down to about 22% battery, and the ChargePoint app was reporting the stations at AK were working. DD5 asked to ride the bus with the rest of the family, so we took our strollers so that they didn’t have to deal with them. Luckily, the chargers were indeed working, so we got preferred parking! We liked the setup at AK better than HS - the chargers were just far enough away to discourage dishonest use of them, as opposed to how they’re one of the best spots in the lot at HS. We just barely beat them all through security. Minor disaster there, as DD5 had been twirling her hair on the bus and gave herself a hair tourniquet, but I guess was too embarrassed to ask for help until she saw me and ran up sobbing. I ripped it right off, and luckily her finger then pinked up right away, but it scared me! We had a few minutes of holding each other there on the sidewalk before we all moved on to tap in.

Spotted Divine as soon as we got in. DD5 had a lot of questions.

It was already 0846 then, so we started slowly walking to Africa, stopping to look at ducks and enjoy some views. As we walked, I was watching Genie+ and noted that KS only had a 10min posted wait, while the Na’vi River wait was climbing, so when we got near the entrance, I made an executive decision and cancelled our LL and put us in the standby queue. While we walked through, I booked Na’vi LL for 1125-1225. My memory’s already fuzzy on that, but I’m pretty sure return times were already up to that, and I didn’t have to do much refreshing or waiting. It was totally the right call because we didn’t stop walking until we hit the LL merge point, so it literally would not have saved us any time in line at all. We figured that way, we’d still be able to get a later LL if we decided to repeat the safari (we did not, but it was nice to know we could).

We had an awesome guide; he won me over right away with “Those are some ducks. I don’t know anything about ducks.” He did an excellent job and really seemed to care about getting us good views and helping us spot animals. We got to see the juvenile giraffe, juvenile zebra, and Crash!

The lions kept their backs to us, but did get to see them, just not their faces.

The kids were super excited to see gorillas, so we retrieved our strollers and headed down Gorilla Falls trail. They all loved it, and we got a great view of the baby gorilla crawling around its mama, though I didn’t take any pics. The big girls also got their Wilderness Explorer books and started their badges.

Everyone was getting hangry at the end of the trail, so we went to Tamu Tamu about 1040 or so, got sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits and cinnamon rolls for all. I also got a Tiger Tail and enjoyed it. I do regret not ever making it back for some spiked Dole Whip. Next time!

I was pretty proud of myself for getting our Pandora LLs relatively close together; if Genie+ is still the same system on our next trip, I will definitely be modifying some of my strategies to account for travel around the parks! We made it to Pandora and enjoyed taking photos.

Na’vi River was posted a 70min wait when we got in the LL. It was down all day on our AK day last visit, so this was everyone’s first time. It’s beautiful, but we all agreed we’d never wait more than 15min max for it.

We had some time to kill before our FoP LL window opened, and DD5 had been asking about getting a Mickey bar, so we parked the family in the shade, and she and I and my brother trekked across the bridge to buy Cokes, Mickey bars and Olaf bars at the cart in front of Tiffins.

That brought us up to time for that 1210 window, so we walked over and got rider swap for me and my brother. The others got in line, and after a stop for some WE badges, he and I took the kids over to Dinoland and ran into The Boneyard. The weather was really nice that day, very cloudy in the morning, very comfortable in the shade with a nice breeze, but you got hot fast chasing kids through that playground. Especially since my kids vetoed the excavation pit and just wanted to do slides.

Eventually, the others found us, we swapped places, and my brother and I did FoP together. Was glad we did RS, as I glanced at my watch and we tapped in at exactly 1310, the end of our original window. I timed our LL wait; it ended up being right at 15min before we walked in the room with the bikes. I had forgotten how many different preshow elements they threw in. I had done it last trip, but this was his first time; he was very impressed. It’s an amazing ride for sure, but I think I still like Soarin’ better overall. Maybe because I’ve still never seen Avatar.

The others took the kids on Triceratops Spin while they waited for us, and we met them with the strollers coming off, and we all mobile ordered from Flame Tree. It was already 1400 or so by then. We found a quiet, cool pavilion to sit in and let the kids run a little wild after they ate. Food was good, but I honestly just wanted hydration. I managed a few fries and a few bites of DH’s chicken.

Oh, while they were in The Boneyard, DH had booked us all LL for Dinosaur, but then it went down while they were on Triceratops, so it converted to an anytime LL (not redeemable for Na’vi River, interestingly). Since it was still down, we booked another just in case, and it converted whenever it opened. I don’t remember the times exactly now. Personally, I am 36 years old, and I have made the personal decision that I do not have to go on that ride anymore if I don’t want to. And I didn’t want to. It terrifies me on some deep level I can’t explain. I love thrill rides, but that fucking ride makes me cower and hide. I’m done with it. So, I was perfectly happy finding other things to do. DH described some of the options to the kids, and they decided they’d like to do It’s Tough to be a Bug later.

In the meantime, we enjoyed a stroll to Asia. The Expedition Everest wait was fluctuating between 20-30min, so we figured we’d give it a try. My niece wanted to do it, and, surprisingly, made the cut! This did result in tears from DD5, as niece is actually 7 months younger than her. We got RS, and my mom and I took all the kids in for the 1515 KiteTails… which was cancelled for high winds. Boo. I had actually really wanted to see that. So we found some shade and played on some rocks. They were gone maybe 20min total for the ride, so definitely no regrets on skipping paying for that ILL. My mom and I did RS (which was actually on my dad’s band, and he had to give it to her, because no matter how many times I explained, no one else in the party seemed to grasp how RS works. At least they did what I told them). DD5 burst into tears when I left, so I knew our time left in the park was limited. I love Everest, though, did they move Disco Yeti closer? I felt like he was brushing my head!

DH and kids met me in the gift shop, where the CMs had cheered DD5 up with some buttons and stickers. DD1 found a Dug hat, put it on, and exclaimed “Mine!”, so DH promptly bought it.

We got some more badges…

… and used one of our anytime LLs on It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Totally unneeded, but what else were we going to do by then? It was already 1620; DD1 fell asleep in my arms as I entered the queue. She actually slept through the show, with my hands over her ears the whole time. She jumped a couple of times, but didn’t wake up! We got her back in the stroller and headed out, seeing some menagerie puppets on the way, but the kids weren’t interested at all. DD5 rode the bus back with the others, we deposited DD1 in the now 99% charged car, and once again, meet the other group exactly at the entrance to the BLT elevator.

My family was now done for the night; we did laundry, ate dinner in the room, the kids ran around and had a blast. DH and my dad walked over the Contempo Cafe and picked up the 50th German chocolate cupcake, a monorail cupcake, a peanut butter banana pie, and the above pictured Hefeweizen. My brother had originally only bought 6 day tickets for his family, with plans for them to leave Saturday morning and make the drive in one day. They decided that night to add on another day and go with us to MK in the morning, but luckily, I thought to check park reservations before they paid - sure enough, there were no park reservations available anywhere for 11/20. So, instead, they put their kids in their PJs, loaded them up, and walked over to MK to watch the full Enchantment in the park, since we had seen it from behind the castle on Wednesday. Their kids loved the fireworks, so this was a great end for them. They got Plaza sundaes and had a truly magical time together.

[Julianne_fki]

@thekents

Personally, I am 36 years old, and I have made the personal decision that I do not have to go on that ride anymore if I don’t want to. And I didn’t want to. It terrifies me on some deep level I can’t explain.

I am just a year or two beyond 36 ( ) and I feel exactly the same way! I will ride with people who want to ride, but I pretty much have my eyes closed the entire time.

Love how DD1 is getting all the things just by being super cute! You and @Jeff_AZ have it so tough. I don’t know how you could possibly say no to your littlest girls! I hope for your sake they grow out of that soon or you’re in deep trouble!

I have very much been enjoying your trip report!

[thekents]

I’m going to power through the rest! Saturday morning, we had Chef Mickey’s reservations at 0835, so we slept as late as the kids let us, then got ready while simultaneously packing more, and walked over for breakfast. I’m pretty sure I came here once as a little kid, but never since. We were in the very back room with the kitchen doors, and I didn’t find it as obnoxiously loud as I had been warned it might be. Perhaps the noise level is a bit better with the social distancing and lack of buffet? We all thoroughly enjoyed the food. After our last trip, we all agreed that family style is the way to go for our family; it’s just less stressful. I’ll be very curious to see if CM’s goes back to buffet anytime soon.

I was sitting next to the girls, so didn’t have a great camera angle for characters; DH got better shots. I’ll probably add some posts later with just all the better photos he got.

My DMIL made the girls’ dresses; she’s an amazing seamstress.

We headed back and somehow managed to finish packing everything back up and get it all into the cars. We got out of the room about 1105 and said goodbye to my brother’s family.

Now, my plan had been for us to go back to MK for a couple of rides (kids’ choice) and shopping we had missed out on. However, it was drizzling and cold all morning, and the rest of the group didn’t want to go. DD5, however, really wanted to do Under the Sea again. So, she and I poncho’d up, held hands, and took off on our mission together. I grabbed us an 1140 LL return time. We had a blast together, and the rain swiftly turned to a fine mist, then nothing.

We grabbed a treat that had been on my must-try list: The Snow White cone at Storybook Treats:

We both loved it; perfect lemon flavor, very refreshing, not overly sweet. She and I love lemon and lime Outshine popsicles at home, so I knew we’d love this one.

We took photos in front of Beast’s castle and the Tangled toilets:

Then, we went into Memento Mori, which I was dying to check out, but sadly did not find anything that called to me, other than the HM wallpaper blanket, but I did not $60 love it. We hit the Liberty Square popcorn cart (though we had forgotten our buckets, of course!), saw a holiday cheerleader parade?, and then our last stop was in the Christmas Shoppe for a gift for my mom. I really was hoping for a just a nice ornament with 2021 on it, but there were none that appealed. Instead, we found her a nice Lady and the Tramp pin with them in front of the Christmas tree. She loved it.

DD5 did great with all the walking with me, and it was some good alone time we had needed. I’m sure those are going to be very special memories for me for a long time to come.

Oh, and don’t go thinking DD1 was deprived! They rode the monorail over to the Poly and hit up Pineapple Lanai!

We met them back at Contemporary, we all scarfed down some kids’ pizza flatbreads from Contempo, and then it was time to say goodbye and start that long drive home. We made it to a bit south of Atlanta Saturday evening, then arrived back home about 1500 Central time on Sunday.

Overall, an incredible trip. I feel like we did so much, even though I know we left so much out! But it also does feel like we conquered WDW! I guess that’s the sign of a good trip. And, hey, DH didn’t swear off ever going back, and, in fact, he has now multiple times brought up maybe coming back in October with his best friend’s family who is planning a fall break trip. We’ll see!

Tomorrow, I’ll work on some wrap-up posts to give my thoughts about our room, our touring strategies, Genie+, all the things!

[Julianne_fki]

Those faces at Chef Mickey’s! What a great trip! Your brother should listen to you next time about how many days to purchase on his tickets! LOL

[thekents]

It’s definitely not easy saying no… as long as they’re being sweet about it! We’ll see, with this new “mine!” phase…

Thanks for following along! It’s fun to share with people who enjoy hearing details. Otherwise, I know I’ll be boring my coworkers to death!

[TheSafetyLady]

@thekents

It’s fun to share with people who enjoy hearing details

There were so many. Thank you for sharing. Great report!

[missoverexcited]

Such cute photos!

[missoverexcited]

Those dresses are gorgeous! DD’s cheeky little face with the dole whip!!

[gingerSnaps543222]

Thank you, I enjoyed all the details!! And the pics of the littles (as a mom of teens). Glad y’all had fun and got your Splash on.

[Dreamer]

Love the dresses!!

[thekents]

Ok, trying to get back to this before I start forgetting all the details. I worked Thanksgiving, so I was on Wed-Sun, but luckily we had a pretty low census and some great residents who made sure us NPs made it out on time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Bay Lake Tower - Theme Park View Grand Villa

Well, the room, of course, was wonderful. We had hoped that my other brother and his wife would make it for the trip as well, but timing just didn’t work out for them, but if they had, we would have been the full 12 occupancy. That was a big factor in us deciding to do it this way, rather than different rooms for the families; DH and I just arranged the whole thing and put everyone’s names on the DVC reservation, so that way, even if they had decided at the last minute, the only barrier would have been park reservations. We tried to make it as low-stress as possible for the rest of the family. It worked out great, though, with all the kids, so that we could have the bedrooms to put the nappers in, while the non-nappers had a central space to play, and adults could hang out after kids went to bed.

I’m also going to have a hard time staying at Disney without a full kitchen in the future. We brought groceries and had a full fridge and pantry. Plenty of snacks for the parks, and the kids ate fruit, cereal, and cinnamon toast for breakfast every morning. We kept sandwich supplies, so we always knew there was an option other than Disney dining if we didn’t feel up to it. My mom made two casseroles and brought them frozen. We baked them on Monday night and then kept them in the fridge, so everyone could just reheat a portion throughout the week for a quick meal. Was a great option for feeding the kids.

I used to make jokes about my MIL always doing laundry on vacation, but now that’s me! I used to so dread that first day back home with a mountain of laundry after vacation. Now, with our DVC stays (or Vrbo stays at the beach), we always do laundry before we repack. It feels so much better to open a suitcase full of clean clothes and just put them away!

The view, of course, was awesome. We actually ended up in the theme park view villa that is FARTHEST from MK (room 8430). However, it was the closest room to the south elevator, so that was nice. I tried a room request to be closer, but there’s only, what 6 to choose from? I figured it would pretty much just be luck.

And now I’m realizing I never took an early morning picture! That’s a shame, because it was amazing. I’ll have to raid my DH’s phone and see if he did.

I know a lot of people hate the (lack of) theming at BLT, but it honestly doesn’t bother us. The rooms are comfortable. I think one thing that appeals to us is the extra bathroom you get in BLT compared to the same room type in other resorts. During those afternoon naps, it was really nice to have a bathroom you could get to without going in a bedroom.

And those fireworks? Yes they were awesome. However, odd quirk of the grand villa layout: the first floor balconies are not directly off the living room. So, we turned on the soundtrack on the TV in there, but you couldn’t hear it all out on the balcony! And because of the angle, you had to kind of crane out to the side to actually see the whole of the fireworks. So, while cool, theme park view =/= guaranteed primo view of fireworks. To be honest, we actually wanted lake view, but they were already booked up when we put in our request.

Word to the wise traveling during holiday parties: those gorgeous VMAH fireworks? At 2315? Yeah, they woke most of us up every time. Sounded like cannons going off right outside the windows. Thankfully, only woke the baby up once, and the big kids claimed not to remember being woken up, but us adults sure did. So, just something to keep in mind if you’ll be traveling that time of year and know that you’ll be in bed by then. I’m sure it’s not as bad on lower floors; not sure how much of a difference lake view would make.

Of course, the biggest pro to us of BLT is that ability to just run into MK if we want to, as we did a few evenings and that last morning. That was really wonderful and magical with kids who are that perfect age for MK. I definitely see us staying here again in the future. However, I could also see us doing a split stay with a Crescent Lake resort, to get that walk-in perk over there, too. And it’s looking like if that October trip does happen, we might go Poly studio! The only other on-property resort I’ve ever stayed was POFQ (which we also loved!), so I’m eager to try more resorts, too!

[Julianne_fki]

I have a three night trip planned in a two bedroom at GCV in February with my niece and her family. She plans to bring her Instant Pot and some frozen dinners! 12 minutes from freezer to table. I think she’s worried her picky eaters will not eat well in the parks. I’m happy to hear this is not over the top planning but just smart planning! LOL

[thekents]

Oh, that’s what I forgot! My parents brought their air fryer! We had chicken nuggets every other night, though I think the adults snacked on them more than the kids ate them.

[OBNurseNH]

@thekents

OMG the sweetness!!!