Andipandi
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2015
Hello, my name is Andi! I'm going to try and write a review of our recent visit to the World! This is my first time writing a review of anything so please bare with me. The characters in my family are my hubby (let's call him Zeb since he relates to the Country Bear Jamboree), my oldest son who is 20 years old (let's call him Zeke since he loves to skateboard) and my youngest son 18 years old (let's call him Han since he literally dresses up for comicon as Han Solo).
I want to start by saying we love Disney but we don't get to come as often as most people. Our last trip was five years ago. A lot has changed since we last came. We live in Ohio and winter can be long and very cold. Not to mention this past year was such a bummer with the pandemic and having to cancel trips. So my Zeb came home one day and said book a trip to Disney. He wanted to go in February since our business is usually slow during that time. He tells me this in September of 2020 and I'm wondering if I could even get a room or get flights in such short notice. Well, first I rented points from a DVC member and we were able to get a studio pool/garden view at BWV. We decided to go from Tuesday to Tuesday. Zeke, Han and I had non expiring tickets for two days from a trip we took a long time ago. So I only had to buy a 4 day ticket for each of us and I bought a 6 day ticket for Zeb. Next I had to figure out what days we would go to which parks and make the reservation for the day pass and link our tickets to those passes. It was very easy through the My Disney Experience.
Now I had to find flights. If I couldn't find flights we would drive but we really just wanted to get there and not hassle with that long drive. Five years ago we drove and I vowed never to do that again. Talk about torture!! Some may like long car drives to their vacay destination but believe me being in the car with three males for hours on end is not my idea of fun! I found flights on Spirit which were really cheap and that should have been my first clue that it wasn't going to be good. Nothing that good ever seems to work out for me. We had a flight early on Tuesday morning which left at 6:30am. Which was great because we could start our vacay early!! I also booked a rental car through Hertz so we could go to the grocery store and get some stuff for the week(drinks, snacks, breakfast stuff). Well, three days before our trip Hertz sends me a notice that they do not have any where close to our resort for me to drop off the rental car. They allow me to cancel that reservation. I had read on DIS boards that Alamo was great to rent from and you could drop the car off at the Car Care Center. And they would shuttle you to your resort. Ok, so I rented a car from Alamo and we were all set! Well, I decide to check on our flights just to make sure everything was good. I'm so glad I did! Our flight had been changed to 7:15pm. Um, no no no was what I was thinking as I saw that change. We would lose our whole first day in Florida and not get to the resort till really late. I called Spirit right away and asked for the original time that I had booked. Of course they didn't have that flight or any even close to that time. It was go the night before, which wouldn't work due to my sons work schedule or go that Tuesday night. I told Spirit that didn't work and they decided to give my money back to me and cancel our flights. So now I have to find a flight for my family three days before our trip. I was in panic mode!!! I'm a skymiles member with Delta but since the flights were so cheap with Spirit I didn't even consider using my skymiles. Well, I went on the Delta site and found 4 seats on a flight leaving at 6:30am. I used my skymiles for Zeb and I and bought the other two seats for Zeke and Han. Ok, long car ride diverted!! Thank goodness!!!
The day before leaving for our trip I worked on business stuff and finishing packing everyones stuff. I find it hilarious that three grown men can't pack a suitcase for a vacation. I love hearing "how many pairs of socks do I need?" or "can I just wear the same shorts everyday?" Good lord, can you imagine what these goofballs would look like if they packed for themselves? Needless to say after getting everything together and getting the house situated I had 1 1/2 hours to sleep before waking up to leave for our flight. It takes a little over a hour to get to Pittsburgh International Airport from where we live. So we get everything in the car and we are off!!! We are all so excited!!!
O
Our flights were a breeze. We had a short half hour layover in Atlanta and then we landed in Orlando. We picked up our car from Alamo and we were off! We decided to go to a Publix near Disney Springs. We bought a styrofoam cooler from Publix to hold the milk and refrigerated stuff with some ice. Got all our snacks and breakfast stuff and then we headed to Disney Springs. We wanted to have lunch there. I haven't been to Disney Springs. I remember when that area was called Pleasure Island. Anyone remember that? And then it was Downtown Disney. Well, Disney Springs is wonderful! So much to see and do! We got a reservation at the Boathouse restaurant. Great seafood!! After lunch we looked at a few shops but then I received a text that our room was ready. It was only 1pm. We were totally siked to be able to check in early!!
Check in deserves its own paragraph! We pull up to Boardwalk entrance and after checking with the security guy he says "Welcome Home!" YES!!! We are finally here!! We unpack the car and get a trolley thing to bring everything in. Our room was 3024. We have magic bands and I knew we could just go to our room and not have to go to the front desk. When we walked in it was so weird because there was no other guest in the lobby. We stayed at BWV on our last trip five years ago and it was packed with guests and cast members. Really as I will tell you later the whole Boardwalk was empty. We get to our room and I use my magic band to unlock our room and as I walk in I get this feeling we are in the wrong room. Wait a minute this room has a whole kitchen and a livingroom and a separate bedroom, a huge balcony overlooking the pool. What? Were we pixie dusted? Heck, yea we were!!! We got a one bedroom instead of the studio I had booked!! I was literally jumping up and down with excitement!!! Zeb had parked the car and came up and walked in and was so surprised as I was to get such a great room with such a great view! We like the pool view and the lights at night. Sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine at night and just relaxing. So much fun!! This was a great start to our family trip!
I want to start by saying we love Disney but we don't get to come as often as most people. Our last trip was five years ago. A lot has changed since we last came. We live in Ohio and winter can be long and very cold. Not to mention this past year was such a bummer with the pandemic and having to cancel trips. So my Zeb came home one day and said book a trip to Disney. He wanted to go in February since our business is usually slow during that time. He tells me this in September of 2020 and I'm wondering if I could even get a room or get flights in such short notice. Well, first I rented points from a DVC member and we were able to get a studio pool/garden view at BWV. We decided to go from Tuesday to Tuesday. Zeke, Han and I had non expiring tickets for two days from a trip we took a long time ago. So I only had to buy a 4 day ticket for each of us and I bought a 6 day ticket for Zeb. Next I had to figure out what days we would go to which parks and make the reservation for the day pass and link our tickets to those passes. It was very easy through the My Disney Experience.
Now I had to find flights. If I couldn't find flights we would drive but we really just wanted to get there and not hassle with that long drive. Five years ago we drove and I vowed never to do that again. Talk about torture!! Some may like long car drives to their vacay destination but believe me being in the car with three males for hours on end is not my idea of fun! I found flights on Spirit which were really cheap and that should have been my first clue that it wasn't going to be good. Nothing that good ever seems to work out for me. We had a flight early on Tuesday morning which left at 6:30am. Which was great because we could start our vacay early!! I also booked a rental car through Hertz so we could go to the grocery store and get some stuff for the week(drinks, snacks, breakfast stuff). Well, three days before our trip Hertz sends me a notice that they do not have any where close to our resort for me to drop off the rental car. They allow me to cancel that reservation. I had read on DIS boards that Alamo was great to rent from and you could drop the car off at the Car Care Center. And they would shuttle you to your resort. Ok, so I rented a car from Alamo and we were all set! Well, I decide to check on our flights just to make sure everything was good. I'm so glad I did! Our flight had been changed to 7:15pm. Um, no no no was what I was thinking as I saw that change. We would lose our whole first day in Florida and not get to the resort till really late. I called Spirit right away and asked for the original time that I had booked. Of course they didn't have that flight or any even close to that time. It was go the night before, which wouldn't work due to my sons work schedule or go that Tuesday night. I told Spirit that didn't work and they decided to give my money back to me and cancel our flights. So now I have to find a flight for my family three days before our trip. I was in panic mode!!! I'm a skymiles member with Delta but since the flights were so cheap with Spirit I didn't even consider using my skymiles. Well, I went on the Delta site and found 4 seats on a flight leaving at 6:30am. I used my skymiles for Zeb and I and bought the other two seats for Zeke and Han. Ok, long car ride diverted!! Thank goodness!!!
The day before leaving for our trip I worked on business stuff and finishing packing everyones stuff. I find it hilarious that three grown men can't pack a suitcase for a vacation. I love hearing "how many pairs of socks do I need?" or "can I just wear the same shorts everyday?" Good lord, can you imagine what these goofballs would look like if they packed for themselves? Needless to say after getting everything together and getting the house situated I had 1 1/2 hours to sleep before waking up to leave for our flight. It takes a little over a hour to get to Pittsburgh International Airport from where we live. So we get everything in the car and we are off!!! We are all so excited!!!
O
Our flights were a breeze. We had a short half hour layover in Atlanta and then we landed in Orlando. We picked up our car from Alamo and we were off! We decided to go to a Publix near Disney Springs. We bought a styrofoam cooler from Publix to hold the milk and refrigerated stuff with some ice. Got all our snacks and breakfast stuff and then we headed to Disney Springs. We wanted to have lunch there. I haven't been to Disney Springs. I remember when that area was called Pleasure Island. Anyone remember that? And then it was Downtown Disney. Well, Disney Springs is wonderful! So much to see and do! We got a reservation at the Boathouse restaurant. Great seafood!! After lunch we looked at a few shops but then I received a text that our room was ready. It was only 1pm. We were totally siked to be able to check in early!!
Check in deserves its own paragraph! We pull up to Boardwalk entrance and after checking with the security guy he says "Welcome Home!" YES!!! We are finally here!! We unpack the car and get a trolley thing to bring everything in. Our room was 3024. We have magic bands and I knew we could just go to our room and not have to go to the front desk. When we walked in it was so weird because there was no other guest in the lobby. We stayed at BWV on our last trip five years ago and it was packed with guests and cast members. Really as I will tell you later the whole Boardwalk was empty. We get to our room and I use my magic band to unlock our room and as I walk in I get this feeling we are in the wrong room. Wait a minute this room has a whole kitchen and a livingroom and a separate bedroom, a huge balcony overlooking the pool. What? Were we pixie dusted? Heck, yea we were!!! We got a one bedroom instead of the studio I had booked!! I was literally jumping up and down with excitement!!! Zeb had parked the car and came up and walked in and was so surprised as I was to get such a great room with such a great view! We like the pool view and the lights at night. Sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine at night and just relaxing. So much fun!! This was a great start to our family trip!
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