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Old 16 Oct 19, 04:52 PM  
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If you book it you will go. Sept 2019. Day 8 - Epcot & DVC Tour

The dining report for today is here.

Today we were checking out of the Dolphin and had planned an Epcot early morning initially with Garden Grill pre park opening breakfast. We decided to cancel Garden Grill and I managed to move the FP to later so we could just wake up naturally. In the end we woke about 7.30am but took our time getting ready. Our first FP was now Soarin’ at 9.35am so we had plenty of time.

We had breakfast in the room of Marie’s left over Banana Nut Bread and took some more pictures from the $40 balcony we didn’t sit on.




We left the room about 9.30am and waited an age on a lift again. We took our bag to Bell Services to store having decided not to get them to transfer it. It was washing day and we needed to wash what was in the bag so couldn’t really wait until 4pm for it.

We walked to Epcot and went straight to Soarin’ as it was within the FP window. We still waited about 20 minutes with a FP.

Some pictures on the walk.





After Soarin’ we went to Sunshine Seasons for a proper breakfast. I got French Toast with bacon and Marie got a kids breakfast which was French toast, scrambled egg and bacon.




After breakfast we rode the Nemo ride with our second FP. Our third was for Mission: Space but we decided not to bother and cancelled it. We wanted some Food & Wine offerings however it was starting to get very busy. We had wanted the Corned Beef again but the queue at Fire & Grill was too big. We went to the Refreshment Port instead for a Traditional Poutine.



After we’d eaten this we decided Epcot was too busy for us and left. I wouldn’t normally do Epcot on a Saturday during F&W but it fit with our Dolphin stay and we weren’t too bothered if it turned out to be too busy for us.

We walked back to the Dolphin via Boardwalk and had some ice cream at Ample Hills.




As we passed the DVC villa that they have as a kind of show room we popped in on an impulse. I think we were a bit naïve and thought it would just be something you could walk around but of course there were DVC staff there. We said hello and had a wee look around the villa. I'd have taken pictures but felt a bit self conscious with the staff there. I didn’t realise the Boardwalk studios slept 5 so that was interesting!

Before we knew it we were booked on a DVC tour later that day!

Now I have to say, we are in no way in a financial position to buy into DVC right now however it’s something that we would consider in the future if the exchange rate improves. We wanted to know if it’s a pipe dream or something we could realistically aim for so although we had no intention of buying that day we weren’t time wasters either.

We were offered the choice of 3 any use FP or $150 gift card. I didn’t want to come across as greedy but really, who wants the FP? I said we were pretty much set with our FP so would take the gift card. We arranged to be picked up at CSR at 4.10pm and they would get us at the luggage circle at Casitas 2.

Now we had planned to spend the afternoon at the pool doing a washing and we absolutely had to do it or we’d have no clothes for the next day! We went back to the Dolphin and Marie collected the bag from Bell Services while I organised a Minnie Van. It took about 15 minutes to come as the time kept changing. Our driver was very nice and chatted with us during the short journey to CSR. He was able to drop us at Casitas since it was a Minnie Van. This cost us $15 with a 25% discount for my first 10 rides with the Lyft app. We also tipped 20%. That I felt a bit awkward about as you have to wait until the journey is complete to tip so I felt maybe he didn’t think we were going to.

Once in the room we quickly got changed for the pool and got the laundry together. Before we had left on the Thursday I had called housekeeping for some stuff, towels, toilet paper and refills for the coffee machine. This is what we came back to.






We headed to the pool and managed to get 2 loads done and mostly dry before it was time to go and get ready for our DVC tour. Unfortunately the laundry was a bit busy and we had to wait for a second washing machine to finish and for the person to take the washing out. I do hate this as I would never touch someone else’s washing but it is frustrating when they take ages to come and get it. I was really tempted…

Anyway, we headed down to the luggage circle just before 4.10pm and the DVC van arrived as we approached. We were driven back to Boardwalk by Jackie who was very chatty and we talked about our accents which she loved. She said we sounded like Merida.

When we got to the Boardwalk we were introduced to Cesar who showed us a short video and chatted through the options. We said how many times we’d stayed onsite and he added up a rough cost of how much that would have been which was a bit eye watering! We didn’t go on a tour at all which was disappointing but I suppose we could have asked. If we had booked a tour at Saratoga Springs we could have seen the new Riviera villas and I’d have liked to have seen them.

Cesar was not pushy at all. We said OKW was our favourite resort and ideally if we were buying into DVC that’s our resort of choice. It’s $155 a point for OKW and he explained how many we’d need for a 2 week stay, about 150. He showed us Disney financing which is 12.5% interest so that’s a definite no! We made it clear that we weren’t buying today, just checking it out and he gave us some information away with us.

I was disappointed not to get a tour however we’ve stayed at a couple of DVC resorts (OKW & BLT) so have an idea of the general layout. Plus we’d seen the BWV earlier that day. It’s not like we’d be buying into Riviera anyway, even if we were millionaires. It was worth it for us to know how much it would cost direct with Disney but realistically I think we’d look into resale for a difference potentially of $50 a point.

Once we were done (it took about an hour) we were taken by a different driver back to CSR and dropped off at Casitas again. We popped up to reception to pay off some of the room charges.




We then went for dinner at El Mercado de Coronado then back to the room to chill and watch some TV.
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Old 16 Oct 19, 07:54 PM  
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Really interesting to read about your dvc tour that wasn't a tour in the end. I've been watching a few you tube videos about it, but like you we're not really in a position to buy in. I'm also massively in favour of the free dining as we saved a fortune on that for four people, it would be eye wateringly expensive to pay for those meals oop so I think I need to fall out of love with the onsite dining before really considering DVC.

Oh and a shame you didn't do your garden grill breakfast as we loved it this summer, but I'm glad you've been satisfied with the QS enough to cancel the TS oop meals.
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Old 16 Oct 19, 09:14 PM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Really interesting to read about your dvc tour that wasn't a tour in the end. I've been watching a few you tube videos about it, but like you we're not really in a position to buy in. I'm also massively in favour of the free dining as we saved a fortune on that for four people, it would be eye wateringly expensive to pay for those meals oop so I think I need to fall out of love with the onsite dining before really considering DVC.

Oh and a shame you didn't do your garden grill breakfast as we loved it this summer, but I'm glad you've been satisfied with the QS enough to cancel the TS oop meals.
We allowed ourselves to be a bit rushed booking that day for the DVC tour and actually we should have chosen a day that suited us better and at Saratoga so we could actually see the villas. At least we have an idea of the cost now though.
Like you we love free dining though and even with 2 of us it’s such a good deal.

We actually didn’t miss the TS meals as much as we thought we would. Although that’s a spoiler for my end of report final thoughts .
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Old 18 Oct 19, 08:19 AM  
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Nice day. Waiting for other people to empty their laundry would drive me nuts too!
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Old 18 Oct 19, 08:33 AM  
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Another good day. Shame the DVC tour wasn't actually a tour but good to know not too pushy. Would definitely have taken the gift card over the FPP. The laundry lottery is a bit of a nightmare I just don't get why people don't return when their load is finished after all it does tell you when and you can always check via the laundryview website.
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Old 18 Oct 19, 07:27 PM  
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Originally Posted by Ariel's Mum View Post
Nice day. Waiting for other people to empty their laundry would drive me nuts too!
They should be standing waiting for it to finish like me .

Originally Posted by disneypars View Post
Another good day. Shame the DVC tour wasn't actually a tour but good to know not too pushy. Would definitely have taken the gift card over the FPP. The laundry lottery is a bit of a nightmare I just don't get why people don't return when their load is finished after all it does tell you when and you can always check via the laundryview website.
I think if we’d pushed for SSR we’d have got an actual tour. If we’re ever ready to buy I think we’ll do it again.
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Old 12 Nov 19, 08:54 PM  
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A fab day. Shame that EPCOT was so busy though.

I'm glad you wrote about the DVC tour, we also plan to do this when we go but if it's buying into Riviera we definitely won't be considering it. We've booked one night in a DVC BWV studio and I was so surprised to see it slept 5 too as we were looking at at least 1 bedroom resorts. It's good to see it wasn't a harsh sell but a bit disappointing you didn't get a tour which is surely one of the major selling points?

The washing machines being full annoy me too. When I left the machine I put a timer on my phone and ensured I was back in time to take them out xx
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Old 13 Nov 19, 10:01 PM  
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Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy View Post
A fab day. Shame that EPCOT was so busy though.

I'm glad you wrote about the DVC tour, we also plan to do this when we go but if it's buying into Riviera we definitely won't be considering it. We've booked one night in a DVC BWV studio and I was so surprised to see it slept 5 too as we were looking at at least 1 bedroom resorts. It's good to see it wasn't a harsh sell but a bit disappointing you didn't get a tour which is surely one of the major selling points?

The washing machines being full annoy me too. When I left the machine I put a timer on my phone and ensured I was back in time to take them out xx
Never do Epcot on a Saturday!

Yes it was a shame about the lack of tour. If you do it ask for SSR as they have more sample rooms I think.
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Old 13 Nov 19, 10:18 PM  
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Originally Posted by sha9 View Post
Never do Epcot on a Saturday!

Yes it was a shame about the lack of tour. If you do it ask for SSR as they have more sample rooms I think.
I think we've got Epcot planned for a Saturday I'll have to recheck the plans.

That's great thank you I'll try and remember that x
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Old 14 Nov 19, 08:33 PM  
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Originally Posted by caitlinsmummy View Post
I think we've got Epcot planned for a Saturday I'll have to recheck the plans.

That's great thank you I'll try and remember that x
To be fair it was Food & Wine so that makes it busier. I’m not sure what it’s like when there’s no festival on.
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