Will We Make A Rope Drop?! Our First AP Trip - Day 9

[lady emz]

Will We Make A Rope Drop?! Mr & Mrs V's First Annual Pass Trip - April/May 2013

Day 9 - DVC, HS and Epcot - 2nd May 2013

Breakfast was in our room again today, Lucky charms for Scott and Reeses cereal for me, yummy. Our DVC bus was collecting us in the main lobby at 9.10am, and as we arrived it was already waiting for us. Our driver was such a lovely man, telling us about how he holidays in Hawaii and he was looking forward to going to Aulani for the first time later this year …. One day I would love to go there!

We soon arrived at SSR where the DVC buildings are, and were shown to a table, given name stickers to wear, and offered refreshments. We weren’t hungry for the pastries on offer but had an orange juice each. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a CM came over to collect us led us to an office, which had the best décor! I would love the castle wallpaper in my conservatory






He explained DVC to us, and took us through a presentation, then asked us a few questions about how we vacation normally to see how many points we would need. We told him we are always going to visit in the low season for the next few years, and for 2 weeks each year so we worked on a basis of 160 points (The minimum you can now buy direct from Disney). I have done a lot of research around DVC since we first stayed at BLT in 2011 renting a lovely Dibbers points, so nothing was new to me really, hopefully it brought Scott up to speed though! At the time we were there, only AKV was being sold, and as much as we love this resort, for us it is a bit further out, and I know the Annual Dues are not the cheapest obviously due to the animals and savannah they need to maintain. We are more keen on having SSR as a home resort as we loved being able to walk to DTD (And it has the lowest Annual Dues ) but no SSR contracts were available at the time. Incase anyone is interested, here are the prices he was quoting us:


In comparison, AKV 160 points resale contracts are currently around $14k!

Our CM got a bit annoyed when we told him we wouldn’t be buying DVC today, but I am guessing if you haven’t done your research he makes it sound like a good deal and a lot of people must sign up? Anyway, I am glad we done this to get a comparison, but I think resale works out better for us at the moment, just wait and see how we enjoy BWV in November as to if we decide to look for a contract there instead of SSR.

We were then shown into the ice cream parlour, where I enjoyed a fruity sherbetty one, and Scott had chocolate, whilst we had to fill in a survey on a laptop about our experience.



We were given our fastpasses which were for instant fastpasses at any attraction, and our driver was then ready to drive us wherever we wanted to go, we chose HS.


Our first stop was TSM and getting an instant FP for this felt so good

Scott beat me yet again … and got the highest score in our vehicle which he was very proud of!



We then rode Rock’n’Roller coaster again using the FP. We always enjoy this ride, although I always walk out with streaming eyes!



And finally, as we were in HS, it would be rude to not attend a drawing class Today we drew Tigger.


Looking forward to watching this!

[lady emz]

The weather was not great again today, so we decided to leave HS and got the bus back to WL where we hopped into the Hulk and set off to find lunch. We decided to try out Bahama Breeze today after reading so many good reviews on here. The theming inside was great




We shared the pulled pork sliders as an appetiser – these were tasty!

And then for entrée, I had fish tacos – tortillas filled with sautéed Mahi-Mahi, tomato-avacado salsa, wth ancho-chilli sour cream and fries … this was a massive portion so luckily Scott had one They were so fresh though, I really enjoyed this.


Scott had jerk chicken pasta – sliced jerk chicken breast, fresh asparagus and mushrooms tossed in a Parmesan cream sauce with bow-tie pasta. Again another huge portion, which even he didn’t manage to finish but he enjoyed it too.

This was our first visit to Bahama Breeze but we will definitely be returning! The food was all cooked fresh as they have an open kitchen and you could see, and it was very tasty, the service was great too – we never had to ask for a refill of our drinks. I can imagine coming here in the evening with a cocktail or two would be fab … when Scott is brave enough to drive over there!

With definitely no room for dessert, we settled the bill and drove to DTD for a look around.


We started in one of my favourite shops, the Art of Disney, where we fell in love with this masterpiece!


But too expensive for now. We love looking around this shop though, and watching the artists sketch.We did ask if we could order a sketch with Mickey, Minnie and Stitch on as they are the characters we had at our wedding but we were told you cannot mix characters together so Stitch can only go with Lilo. We decided to leave it for now incase we didn’t get back to DTD but we will order one on our next trip to remember our wedding day, and join Lady and Brer Rabbit we had drawn on our first trip, there is space on the wall going up the stairs ready!

We then went into the Toy Shop and made a Mr Potato Head each hehe.


The rain had started now, so we popped into Ghiradellis to get a chocolate and peanut butter milkshake (Delicious! )


But as we left the rain was pouring, so we had to run back to the car.

As the rain was so heavy, we decided now would be a good time to go back to WL and finish off the dreaded packing as sadly our trip was ending soon. It didn’t take long as we had been keeping the dirties in one case so just had to put our shopping into the other and clothes we hadn’t worn … always take too much

So there was time for a cheeky cider out on the balcony where we spotted this little guy


And I practised my drawing, with a mighty big pencil we got in the WL shop lol.

If you remember back to our night at the Hilton when the CM called to cancel the Segway tour, he gave us preferred viewing tonight for Illuminations. The weather was awful …. But we decided to get a poncho each and power on through as we hadn’t yet watched Illuminations on this trip. So we set off and got the bus to Epcot at 7.30pm.

Posing for a few photos on the way round to Italy where we had been told to check-in.


And there was even time to share a pretzel and a funnel cake from America while we waited – yummy! We weren’t really hungry enough for dinner so these hit the spot.



When we checked in, we were the only ones here probably due to the weather as the CM told us others were expected. But it meant we had a great view, and loads of space.


Up until today, we were not really big fans of Illuminations, but tonight something changed. We really appreciated it, how the fireworks are all in time to the music, it was fab! I am so glad we ventured out in the rain to see it.

[lady emz]

We stopped for a few more photos on the way out, continuing our walk around the WS.

I am proud of this one!



In front of us was a little girl aged about 4 we think, she had her shoes off and was so happy singing and dancing around in the rain, stopping to pirouette and jump bless her. She was adorable, we hope our children are as happy when we bring them to WDW in the future

We walked over to the bus stop and luckily the WL bus arrived just as we did, perfect timing.

Monsters Inc was showing in the lobby due to the rain (Normally outside) so we watched the end of that, then sat on the rocking chairs by the fireplace to dry off a bit. The lobby in the WL DVC building Loved it!


When we went back to our room, we showered as we were both still a bit wet, and I decided against blow drying and straightening my hair as tomorrow, sadly the forecast was even more rain So I plaited it instead hoping for nice curls tomorrow hehe.

[mick]

Shame about the rain but a brilliant spot to watch Illuminations

Joan

[Guest]

Another great day Emma, despite the rain. Looks like a perfect view of Illuminations. I could happily eat that funnel cake right now!

[Beaker's Fluff]

Another fab day, love the look of the pretzel. YUM.
We went to Bahama Breeze on our last visit in 2008, looking forward to going again next month, the food was so nice. I also loved the look of your milkshake in Steak and Shake the other day, another thing for my list Why are so many holiday memories food related

[Lisa29]

Yay, another day. You are spoiling us at the minute.

Great day, such a shame about the rain. I haven't seen Illuminations since my first or second trip in 2000 and 2001 so I really need to try and see that this time.

Lovely photos again.

[lady emz]

Originally Posted by mick

Shame about the rain but a brilliant spot to watch Illuminations

Joan

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Thanks Joan, good old ponchos

Originally Posted by TheBeast

Another great day Emma, despite the rain. Looks like a perfect view of Illuminations. I could happily eat that funnel cake right now!

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Thanks Terry, me too, yummy! hehe

Originally Posted by Beaker's Fluff

Another fab day, love the look of the pretzel. YUM.
We went to Bahama Breeze on our last visit in 2008, looking forward to going again next month, the food was so nice. I also loved the look of your milkshake in Steak and Shake the other day, another thing for my list Why are so many holiday memories food related

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Thanks for reading, I love those pretzels Haha we love food too! Hope you enjoy them both when you go back

Originally Posted by Lisa29

Yay, another day. You are spoiling us at the minute.

Great day, such a shame about the rain. I haven't seen Illuminations since my first or second trip in 2000 and 2001 so I really need to try and see that this time.

Lovely photos again.

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Thanks Lisa, I am trying my best to finish this one this week before I get back to planning our next trip lol. Almost there, will upload the missing photos tonight hopefully and I can finish it off

Hope you can fit in Illuminations on your next trip to the mouse/

[ethanjosh]

What a shame about the rain

Its interesting to price up the dvc we looked at it on our first trip In 2005 not got round to it yet though

Bahama Breeze is gorgeous isn't it we always go there Glad you enjoyed illuminations despite the terrible weather

[happy bunny]

Oh no, more rain, but you certainly didn't let it spoil your day

Love your drawing and on that showing you will soon be able to frame your own work and put it on your wall