No one was arrested............. About This Page:

[DVC_Don]

Or, the Romantic weekend that turned family fun time....

Where? Boardwalk Villas

Who? The Lefebvre family, AKA Don, Nancy, Jason & Ashley

When? August 24 to 27, 2001

Day 2: August 25th

As my other post went POOF!, I decided to start afresh.

Jason got us up at 7:00 AM. Breakfast was in the room of cereal, skim milk and those
little muffins in packages. Nancy and I skipped coffee to avoid the caffeine in the Florida
heat.

We left the room at about 8:10 and caught the boat to MGM. We were inside MGM and
at the rope to Indiana Jones by 8:40. After the rope dropped at 9 we got Fast Pass’s for IJ
with a return time of 10:35 for the first show. The it was off to Star Tours which was a
walk on. Ashley was disapionted that there was no line as she wanted to watch that
little robot that cracks jokes. “Stick em up!” Towards the end of the ST ride I started to
sweat, feel warm and stomach felt queasy. I was glad when the ride ended. That has
never happened to me before. We were able to keep moving through the gift shop with
out stopping.

We went over to do the Back Lot Tour, but the CM there said they did not open till 10, it
was only about 9:30 so we went to I Want to be a Millionare. A CM there waved us
away saying “Not open yet.” Another CM was steering folks away from the Fast Pass
machines too. After a restroom and shopping stop over by Voyage of the Little Mermaid,
we walked to Sunset Blvd to the fruit stand and snacked on banana’s and fruit cups. One
more shopping stop and the girls got sun hats. Good idea in this sun and heat.

We got back to Indiana Jones right at 10:35. There was no need for the Fast Pass. The
place was almost full, but everyone got in. The last time we saw this show was January
1997. Jason, who was only 6 then, got pretty upset about the fire part. Nothing since
then could convince him it was part of the show. Now that he is on an adult AP, it was
time to be a man about it. We got a front row seat just off to the right of the control area.
It was terrific! Jason now admitted that the fire part appeared to be part of the show.

After the show we decided to beat the lunch crowd and went to a new, to us, place. The
ABC Commissary. Nancy had a chicken and rice dish, Jason and Ashley had
cheeseburgers and I had a beef, beans and rice dish. I did not care for mine. The others
were fine. We left here at 12:15, but there were not many people there even then.

Now we went back to the Back Lot Tour. The first part of the show has been changed to a Pearl
Harbor theme. About time, this part was looking mighty worn the last time we saw it.
Ashley wanted, and got, the “wet” side as it was getting mighty hot by now. All she got
was a little mist. Not nearly enough to cool down with. By now it was about 1:00 and
we decided to go back to BWV for a swim and shirt change.

By the time we walked and boated back to the room I was mighty tired and elected to take
a nap while the others went to Luna Park for a swim. I awoke about an hour later and the
others got back a few minutes later. We had been using up a lot of shirts, so we took the
dirty laundry down to the first floor laundry area. Studios do not have a washer/dryer
setup but, there is a no charge laundry on the first floor. We started the laundry and
wandered around the resort until we “discovered” the Community Hall by the guiet pool.
Inside are no charge Nintendo games, arcade games, ping pong, crafts and movies playing
for DVC members. While the rest of family played here, I went to change the clothes to
the dryer. Back at the Community Center Jason was hot into a Nintendo game and Nancy
and Ashley were making a picture frame. When the time came I retrieved the clothes and
took them back to the room. Dark clouds were gathering so I went back to get the family.
Just as we got back to the room it started to rain for about an hour.

The rain let up at about 5:00 and we took the boat over to Epcot. I had heard good things
about Akershus at Norway. We were able to get in without a PS. This place was neet.
We had a very nice server who was from.......Norway! The buffet was terrific. We had
salad, crab meat stuffed eggs, potato salad, lamb, venison stew, mixed veggies and
potato’s, salmon and pasta with ham chunks. There is more, that’s just what we sampled.
The best desert was Ashley’s. It was a troll cookie with food coloring “paint” and a small
paint brush. She painted and ate the troll.

After we walked over to Test Track but the Fast Pass’s were gone and the standby line
was 60 minutes. As it was so hot still (7:45) the kids played in a fountain nearby. Nancy
went into Mouse Gear to get a couple of T shirts and a towel to dry the kids after. While
she was gone there was a rumble of thunder and I saw lightnening so I got the kids under
the roof between Mouse Gear and Innoventions East. We were able to get them out of
their wet cloths and into just a T shirt. They had taken their shoes off, so they were still
dry. We walked to the International Gateway and by the time we got there it was just a
light rain. The thunderstorm never materialized. Jason and Nancy took the boat back to
the room while Ashley and I walked in the rain over to the Beach Club to nose around the
gift shop there. I picked up a BC license plate for my collection and a BC polo shirt.
Ashley did not find anything she wanted. When we came out the rain had stopped and we
walked back to our room.

We were going to watch the fireworks from our balcony but, no luck. The bellman was wrong. The third floor is not high enough to see them. Maybe the fourth or fifth. drats, foiled.

Lights out again was 10 PM. Although I had trouble sleeping due to that nap I think. Another thing, the crowds are really light. The only real line we saw was at Test Track.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: Disnydad ]

[LilMarcieMouse]

It sounds like fun, Now I want a Troll cookie!Make want to be there. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Glad you had a good trip.

[DVC_Don]

Or, the romantic weekend that turned family fun time


Where? Boardwalk Villas, studio

Who? The Lefebvre Family, AKA Don, Nancy, Jason and Ashley

Day 3: August 26th

Wake up today was at 6:50 with the help of what should have been Mickey and the
telephone. Nancy, being the closest, answered and then hung up. “Just some music” she
said and rolled over to go back to sleep. “That was our wake up call dear”, I said. “Oh”.
Breakfast today was.....cereal, skim milk and donuts. A mix of good and bad.

Out front we caught a bus for the MK. It was easy, we got there just as the MK bus
pulled up. The driver was a good one. He yacked all the way to the MK. His wife and
son also work for Disney. A really nice guy. All our other bus drivers only spoke when
spoken too and usually with one word answers. We got inside the MK at 8:20 and got a
bench in front of the castle in the shade. All of a sudden, there were characters
everywhere. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale, Goofy....We got pictures with most of
them and then headed over to the rope towards Buzz Lightyear, our destination. While
waiting we stood next to The Keys to the Kingdom Tour which consisted of three people.
It must have been the 8:30 tour. Man, I wanted to go on that tour. I asked Nancy if I
could follow them around, but the “look said No”. I knew most of the answers to the
guides questions and wanted to answer them.

After the rope dropped, we rode Buzz twice with no line. The first time I trounced them
all with 74,000. The second time, Jason whomped us with a 999,999! I got 180,000, but
man, I did not have a chance. See what happens when I let Nancy steer?

We then went over to Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road. Again, no line at all. Just
walked right on a train! There was a Mom dragging a small girl onto the ride. She was
screaming and crying. Why does that happen?

Next, Jason and I rode Splash Mountain. The girls wussed out. We had a front row
(which I hate) and got soaked. There was a British accent couple behind us that was a
hoot.

After a rest stop by the Shooting Gallery, we came upon the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride.
Again no line. There really are hardly any crowds here too. Nice little ride and it takes 4
per carpet so, carries more than Dumbo.

Ashley and Jason wanted to try to do Test Track so we left the MK. Only the resort
Monorail was running and it was quite a wait. A CM said they had to stop the trains to
add another Monorail to the loop. We asked for, but could not ride in the front this time.
At the TTC we asked again for the front and got it. We had a really nice CM for a driver.
She was very talkative and gave us all Monorail Pilots License’s.

We got over to test track but, the stand by line was 75 minutes. I tried to get Fast Pass’s,
but the machine kept rejecting Ashley’s pass as invalid. It was a two hour wait for the
three I did have and it was 11:30 so we decided to have lunch at the Electric Umbrella
and go back to the resort. Lunch was a pizza for Jason and cheeseburgers for the rest of
us.

When we got back to the BWV’s I called over to the BC to see if we could pool hop to
Stormalong Bay. They said yes, just bring a room ID that said “DVC Member”. They
were not checking ID’s when we got there. What a great pool. I forgot how nice it is.
We had not used it since our 1995 stay. We got there at 2:00 and left at 3:15. When we
left the pool seemed very crowded and they were checking ID’s at that time. A lifeguard
told me that pool hopping at Stormalong Bay will end next September when the BCV’s
open. It will be full with the folks staying at the YC, BC & BCV.

We went back to our room and changed for our dinner at the California Grill at the
Contemporary. We caught a MK bus from BWV at 5:00. At the MK we took the
Monorail over to the Contemporary. This is one of our favorite resorts. We stayed in the
tower on the MK in 1998 & 1999. Ashley loves this place and promptly started asking
“When can we stay here again” over and over and over. We shopped the stores on the
fourth floor concourse till 6:10 and took the elevator up to the 15th floor. What a terrific
view from up there.

This was the best meal I have ever had at WDW. Our server, Crystal, was top notch. We
started with a BBQ chicken flat bread. Next I had ordered garlic steamed mussels. Wow,
they were delicious. Everyone tried them. Jason wound up eating most of them, so we
ordered another. The second order showed up at the same time as our main course, but
who cared? Those mussels HAD to be eaten first. Jason & Ashley got the kids steak and
finished it all. Nancy had a fillet minion and I had the grilled salmon. Excellent! The
cost you ask? If you have to ask, you can not afford it. Just kidding, with 20% tip, wine and desert, $245, and worth it. We had a very nice time there.

After dinner we went down and caught the Monorail over to the TTC. That is one big
reason why this resort is so nice. We got over to Epcot and did Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Ashley still refuses to wear the glass's in this one. We got out just before the 9:00 show was starting and got a nice view just before Canada. Some of it was through the trees, but we could see it just fine. One bad item though. A man showed up with a camcorder to tape the show. He was standing behind about two rows of people at the the rail taping with the light on. How irritating. For something like that, the light does not help. Anyway, we all
like this show. I could watch it every night.

We got a bench by Canada and watched the crowd leave. When it thinned out, we
walked out the International Gateway. I could get used to this. Jason and I went up to the
room to shower and get ready for bed. Nancy took Ashley down the Boardwalk to get a
hair wrap. It took them a while and they got in just as Jason and I were turning off the
light. Ashley got $20 worth of wrap. Nancy said there was a girl there with long hair that
got two wraps. Her Mom handed over a $100 bill. Ouch!

Lights out at about 10:30.

[ 09-01-2001: Message edited by: Disnydad ]

[bfth]

I'm so glad you're up and running again. Was going crazy missing your reporst! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[DVC_Don]

Or the romantic weekend turned family fun time

Where? Boardwalk Villas

Who? The Lefebvre family, AKA Don, Nancy, Ashley & Jason

When? August 24 to 27, 2001

Day 4, August 27th

Our last day. Too short. We tried the Mickey and phone thing to get up at 6:50 again.
This time Nancy was on to it. She listened long enough to hear his voice. We did the
cereal, skim milk and donut b’fast again. We had some cereal box’s left that we left
there.

We packed up and called bell services. They were at the room for our bags in less than
five minutes.

We were out the door by 8:30 and into Epcot via the Gateway 10 minutes later. It’s really
cool walking through the United Kingdom & Canada when the World Showcase is
empty. There are CM’s stationed about to keep you honest and on the right path. We
walked right onto Test Track at 9 AM and had a car just to ourselves. Outside seats for
all. One of our favorites. We grabbed Fast Pass’s, this time Ashley’s worked.

Then we were off to Body Wars at the Wonders of Life. Another walk on. Again I felt
sort of sick just before the ride ended. Could I be getting too old for these rides? Oh
man, why me? Although they did just built a rather nice “adult home” in our home town.
No mowing the lawn......opps, off track here.

Next was Ellen’s ride at the Universe of Energy. I’m getting a little tired of the dream
stuff in this. Time to change.

Back to Test Track we went and in via the Fast Pass Return lane. Did not even stop, just
right into the pre show room. This time we had some folks from the singles lane. The
lady who rode in the back with Nancy and Ashley had never been on before. I love it
when there is a newbe on board.

It was about 11 by now so we decided to catch a bus to see the Animal Kingdom Lodge
and have lunch there. Total time to walk from TT and ride the bus over was about 30
minutes. The AK Lodge is right up there with the WL. What a lobby! But, it was empty.
No one other than some CM’s.

We caught a bus from AKL to Downtown Disney at 1:20. The plan was to transfer to a
BWV bus there. 1 hour and 15 minutes later we got to the BWV. Another reason I like
to have a vehicle. That should be about 10 to 15 minutes by private vehicle.

At the BWV we got one of our carry on bags out of storage. We had fresh shirts and
deodorant in this one. We went down to the rest rooms by the main pool and freshened
up. You gotta do this in the heat a couple of times a day. We wanted to be fresh on the
plane. After changing, we went over to the Community Center. Nancy & Ashley played
ping pong, Jason did video games and I vegged out in a chair. This was a nice wind
down. At 3:40 we went back up to the lobby to get the rest of our luggage out of storage.

I was out front at 3:50 when our luggage came out and lo and behold....Darcy from
Tiffany Towncar pulled up at the same time! One half hour later, Darcy dropped us off at
Southwest and we used the Sky Caps to check the luggage. If we ever get to do our trip
with just Nancy and myself, I’d use TTc again. It was nice, but I missed having that
rental available. With the family I’ll stick to rentals.

We got out to the gate a little over an hour before the flight time. The line for pass’s was
already about 50 feet long! After about 30 minutes I got our pass’s. We lined up and
then there was an announcement that our flight would be delayed for 2 hours! Ahh!!!!
Seems our plane never got out of Tenn. They had to fly another over from West Palm
Beach. One of the other Dad’s got out one of those inflatable balls that you see for sale in
Epcot, and inflated it. His two children and ours started a passing game. Southwest
brought out free soft drinks and snack and we passed the time. It did not really bother us.
Others were up at the desk demanding free overnight rooms, free WDW pass’s, $
compensation and on. Finally a Southwest supervisor made an announcement to stop
asking for compensation. They would get us out less than 2 hours late and that was it.
The plane from West Palm Beach came in early and we took off exactly 1 1/2 late.

On the plane I had a long conversation with another fellow about internet discounts. He
and his wife were going back to WDW in late September. I steered him to this board and
Mousesavers.com. He did all his booking online, but only used Expedia. Anyway, we
got home just fine. The kids were in bed by 11 PM.

As I said, no one was arrested, nothing was broken.

Next trip: November 10 to 15, 2001. Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, 1 bedroom.

[wdwlovers]

Don, Sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time! Wow, not a lot of lines from the sound of it either. Glad to hear you enjoyed yourselves and are heading back soon! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Beast_fanatic]

Wow! Another trip so soon! I'm sooooooooo jealous! We don't have enough vacation time to go that frequently.

Great reports. Glad everything worked out even though it wasn't the trip you'd originally planned! Maybe I'll even get to read your next trip report before we leave on our next trip 12/1!

[DVC_Don]

Bumping up for the DVC'rs here. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]