Peter's Very Merry 10th Birthday Vacay About This Page:

[shnewell]

If you haven't read it, my PTR is here: Peter's Very Merry 10th Birthday PTR


A brief re-cap of our trip details:

When: December 19-26
Why: Peter's 10th birthday on December 21
Where: Beach Club Villas
Who: Me, DH David, DS Peter, DS Jacob (age 8), DM Dawn, DF Loyd, DMIL Linda, DFIL Tom and DBIL Robert


Day 1 -- Monday, December 19th
We were up at 4:15 a.m. (ouch!) and left for the airport at 5:20. Our flight was at 7:30, and we had planned to eat breakfast once we got to the airport. But it took a while to get through security--the family in line in front of us had bottled water and juice boxes in their carry-on luggage . So, by the time we got to the gate, the flight was boarding and we didn't get to eat. Our departure was slightly delayed by a problem in the baggage sorting area (which had me worried that our luggage would not follow us to Orlando), but we eventually took off and had a smooth flight, arriving just slightly after our scheduled 10:45 arrival time.


Tom and Linda had flown out on Saturday the 17th to visit some family in Jacksonville. They met us at the DME welcome area, and we breezed right on to the bus after just a couple of minutes waiting. DME stopped first at POR, then BWI, then BC. Just as we arrived, Garden Grocer called to tell me the groceries had been delivered to Bell Services, and I also received a text that our new Owner’s Locker had been delivered to Bell Services.


We went to online check-in area and got checked in, but our rooms weren’t quite ready. We left our bags with Bell Services then went to Beaches & Cream for lunch and had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. The weather was sunny and warm, so it was no problem to wait outside. Our party of 8 got split into 2 booths. David, Tom, Linda & Jacob sat at one table, and Peter, Dawn, Loyd and I sat at the other. We had originally planned to try the Kitchen Sink, but no one was really hungry enough, so we decided to come back another time just for the ice cream. But I did get a No Way Jose -- yummy!!!


Peter was wearing his birthday button, and our server, Delores, turned out the lights and turned on the sirens like they do for the Kitchen Sink, announced his birthday to everyone and presented him with a balloon. He acted embarrassed, but I also think he thought it was kind of cool.


Tom and Linda’s 1BR villa was ready, so they went to claim it. David took the boys to the arcade, while I went to check out the gingerbread carousel in the BC lobby with my parents. After about 10 minutes, we got the text message that our 2BR villa - #552 – was ready. We went to find it (at the end of the hall!) and get settled in. Though BCV is our home resort, this was our first time to stay there since buying DVC in 2009. We were immediately in love!



Towel Mickey on our bed


Vanity area in the master bedroom (our room shared a bathroom with the main living area, but we had our own vanity area which was nice)


View of the living room (with our junk all over the table!)


And best of all....the view from our balcony!!!


About 10 minutes after we arrived, Bell Services arrived with our DME bags. I asked about our other bags, our Owner’s Locker and groceries, and the bell services CM went to retrieve them. Once we had unpacked everything, I started calling around to find the box I had shipped ahead of time. It was quickly located and brought to our room. I unpacked everything and relaxed a bit in front of the TV. David took a short nap. The kids wanted to swim, so my parents took them to the quiet pool for about an hour.


Our dinner ADR was at T-Rex at 7:00. At 6:00, we headed to the bus stop and had to wait about 10 minutes for a bus. It was SRO, and we were the last ones to cram on to the bus, much to the chagrin of the children. I explained for the first of about 7 million times on our trip that the crowds were going to be high this week and we should expect to stand on all transportation, but if we got a seat it was a bonus!


We were soon at DTD Marketplace and found T-Rex. DTD was very crowded. We were about 15 minutes early, but they were able to seat us right away. Dinner was better than I expected. Everything was quite tasty, and we enjoyed watching the fish swimming in the aquarium right next to our table.


After dinner, Jacob wanted to go to the Build-A-Dino shop, so I took him while David settled the bill. Jacob chose a camouflage velociraptor and added a roaring sound. He seemed offended by the thought of putting clothes on the dinosaur, so I was spared the expense of an outfit. He named the little guy Deno (pronounced like "dean-o"). There was quiet a debate between Peter and Jacob about how the name should be spelled, and this was what they finally settled on (they thought that “Dino” should be pronounced “dine-o,” so that didn’t work).


We realized that the bus stop at West Side was closer, so we walked over there and waited a short time for a bus back to the BC. The bus was, once again, packed and we had to stand (again, causing some grumbling from the kids). When the bus stopped at the Swan and Dolphin, we decided to get off and walk back to the BC. We got the kids ready for bed and settled in for the night on the pull-out sofa, and then turned in ourselves since we had an early morning planned.


Up next: Will we make it to Universal on time?

[bsblady01]

More please

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Shayne!

[chezp]

Great start!

[disney_duke]

Great start! Looking forward to hearing about wwohp!

[valegirl5292]

Great start and what a fantastic view from your balcony, can't wait to read more.

[lazanya]

Great start!

[Cam22]

Great start, Shayne!

[JKnott17]

Great room and great view! Looking forward to more!

[kingfamily1129]

sounds like a pretty good arrival day! I'm glad you liked T-Rex. It's one of my families favorites as well! Can't wait to read more!

[shnewell]

Originally Posted by bsblady01

More please

Probably tonight or tomorrow...on our way to the Houston Texans game shortly!

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Great start Shayne!

Originally Posted by chezp

Great start!

Thanks for reading!

Originally Posted by disney_duke

Great start! Looking forward to hearing about wwohp!

We had a snafu that morning...more to come in my next update!

Originally Posted by valegirl5292

Great start and what a fantastic view from your balcony, can't wait to read more.

Yes, being able to see Spaceship Earth was a nice surprise. What's cropped out of the photo is that most of our view was of the back of a building in a backstage area. But that didn't bother me. In addition to SE, we could see part of IllumiNations from our balcony and hear British Revolution and Off Kilter when they played.

Originally Posted by lazanya

Great start!

Originally Posted by Cam22

Great start, Shayne!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by JKnott17

Great room and great view! Looking forward to more!

I loved our villa! The pictures didn't really do it justice. It was very spacious.

Originally Posted by kingfamily1129

sounds like a pretty good arrival day! I'm glad you liked T-Rex. It's one of my families favorites as well! Can't wait to read more!

I had seen some mediocre reviews of T-Rex, so perhaps my expectations weren't very high going in, but I thought the food was quite tasty. We ordered a variety of dishes (fish, chicken, ribs) and everyone enjoyed their food. And the service was pretty good, too.

[MayraLR]

Great start! I love the view from your room!

[shnewell]

As I planned which parks we would visit on which days, it became clear that we had 2 choices for our day to visit WWOHP -- Tuesday 12/20 (our first full day) or Christmas Day. I really wanted to spend Christmas Day at Disney, so that made the decision for us. David wanted to be at US/IOA an hour before the gates opened so that we could try to rush to WWOHP first thing. I checked park times, and the IOA opened at 8:00, which meant we'd need to be there by 7:00. I didn't know what to expect from Orlando highway traffic, so we figured we should be underway no later than 6:30 a.m.

After having to wake up painfully early on Monday to get to the airport, the hearing my alarm clock at 5:00 a.m. was difficult -- that's earlier than I wake up for a regular work day! I woke the boys around 5:45 and we had breakfast in the villa. We met Tom & Linda in the BC lobby just before 6:30 to catch our Quicksilver van to Universal. I researched several transportation options to move 6 people between Disney and Universal, and this van was the most economical -- $90 roundtrip for the whole group.

While we waited, I snapped a few photos of the carousel in the BC lobby. For those of you who have never been there at Christmas, the smell of gingerbread fills the whole lobby. It is really wonderful!


The gingerbread man's buttons were QR codes that you could scan and see a video of how they made the carousel. Pretty cool!

Peter is still a little sleepy. LOL.

Our driver was right on time and greeted us with a big smile. We piled into the van and he whisked us away into the pre-dawn. It was actually kind of cool to be up and about the resort that early, as everything was quiet and still and empty. We were all getting excited now about our trip to WWOHP. About ½ mile down the road, Linda turned to me and said, "You have the tickets, right?" PANIC! I am so used to only having to leave my hotel room with my KTTW card that I had completely forgotten our paper tickets for Universal! We asked our friendly driver to turn around, and I ran back to the villa to get them.

Despite our having to backtrack, we arrived at USIOA right at 7:00. Our driver told us he would pick us up at the same spot at 2:30 (our pre-arranged time). We walked through City Walk and found the entrance to IOA. Their version of Photopass photographers were trying to get folks to stop and take photos. David didn't want to stop as he was deadset on getting there ASAP. But as the family photographer, I so rarely get to be in the photos, so I snagged the kids and we stopped to take a picture. She took one regular photo and one "magic" photo and told us we could claim the photos at any of their photo claim centers after noon.

The park opened at 7:00 to Universal resort guests, and after you go through the turnstiles, but before you actually get into the park, they have team members checking for hotel keys. If you have a key, they sent you to the right and, if not, they send you to the left. But the right side and left side are separated only by a rope. After you walk down your appointed side, they ask to see your park ticket again to let you in the park.

Of course, almost everyone was going down the right side. When we got to the end of the roped area, there were only a couple of other folks there waiting. We could see the rooftops of Hogsmeade from where we were, and it was toward the right. We were told, though, that when the park opened to non-resort guests, we would have to go in toward the superheroes area on the left and walk all the way around. The team member there told us we were one of the few honest ones who would admit that we weren't resort guests. I can see how you could easily game the system and just walk to the right side of the rope because they don't check for hotel keys again after they tell which side to walk toward. But that's not how we roll, so we waited patiently.

Around 7:50 a.m., they opened the park to the general public. We made the mad rush to WWoHP. Many folks were running, but we just speedwalked. The nice thing about entering from the Jurassic Park side was that it dumped us right into the line for Forbidden Journey. Tom and Linda (well, I think mostly Linda) didn't want to ride, so they stepped aside and entered the line for the castle tour. The posted wait time for the ride was 45 minutes, but the line moved quickly and we were able to save some time by bypassing the locker area. Having read other TRs, I knew we should travel light at Universal and not carry a backpack (as we normally do at Disney) to avoid having to stop and stow everything in a locker.

We made it through the line in about 30 minutes. All the detail inside the castle was amazing! The ride was really fun and had me screaming and wonderous at the same time.


Yay, we finally made it!

Hogwarts Welcomes You!

continues....

[shnewell]

Some more Hogwarts photos...


Another castle view


Some baby Mandrakes in the greenhouse that look like they are ready for re-potting...


Harry, Ron and Hermione!


Notices posted on a board in the hallway

Up next: The remainder of our day at WWOHP/IOA

[MayraLR]

Great photos of the castle!