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AliciaG
06-04-2003, 04:06 PM
May 2003 Walt Disney World Trip Report

The Cast: AliciaG, John, Eric, Kristen, and Anna Kate

Lodging: 6 nights Beach Club Villas, 3 nights Polynesian concierge

Dates: May 23 – June 1, 2003

Friday, May 23
We were up and out of the house by 6:15 am. We chose to park our car at one of the Park & Fly places near the airport this trip, rather than having family take us. It’s hard to cram 6 people plus luggage for 5 and a stroller into almost any vehicle, so this was our solution this time. Dropping off our car here was so easy. They loaded our luggage in one of their vans, and we were at the airport in minutes.

The flight to Orlando was quick and uneventful. We made our way down to the baggage area, and were greeted by Bryan from Yourride. He helped us gather up our 4 checked bags, and went to get his van. We made a grocery stop for essentials like bottled water, soda, milk, breakfast food, and diapers. I thought it was really nice that Bryan offered to let us make a stop for a drive thru lunch, but we wanted to go ahead and get to the BCV.

When we pulled up to the Beach Club, the bellman immediately took our bags, and said he’d store our cold items in the refrigerator. We checked in, and were happy to find that our room was ready! I had ordered a birthday cake to be in our room upon check in before we left home, and asked the CM if she knew if it had been delivered. She didn’t show anything, but said she’d check on it. She asked me how old Kristen was, and I told her 7.

We headed on over to the Beach Club Villas and found our way easily to room 312. It was an excellent location (pool view, and near the elevators). The room was gorgeous! We were quite surprised to find that the studio was larger than we expected. The refrigerator held a lot more than I expected, and there was plenty of cabinet space. One of the first things Kristen noticed was the nice, big birthday cake and decorations on the table. They had streamers, horns, balloons, and the beautiful cake. Our bags were delivered in just a minute, and after that we decided to dive into that cake since we hadn’t had any lunch. OMG! I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. This was truly the best cake I’ve ever had. It was chocolate with butter cream icing, and filled with layers of custard and fresh strawberries. It was huge too. We had about 2/3 of the cake left, so room service brought us some small boxes to store it in the frig.
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Our room view

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Kristen and her yummy cake

We finished unpacking, and then decided to take the boat over to MGM for a little Star Wars weekend action. We took a picture at the sign out front, and proceeded in to mingle in with some of the Star Wars characters. From there we decided to do the backlot tour, because we hadn’t done it in years. On the way we encountered Pinocchio, a green Army man, Snow White, Mulan & Mushu, and a Penguin. Pictures were made and autographs gathered. After the tour, we decided to see One Man’s Dream. We really enjoyed this. I was surprised at how interested the kids were in Walt Disney and his life.
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What a cool sign welcoming you to Star Wars Weekends!

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Characters were everywhere

Finally it was time for dinner. We decided to try the ABC commissary and ordered fish & chips, a Cuban sandwich, a burger, and 4 drinks. The total came to $29. Up next was the Muppet 3-D vision show. I love the back of the park in the evenings. It was so quite and the baby loved running around near the fountain after the show. As we made our way up front we stopped by the party they have to conclude the evening of Star Wars festivities. It was cute, but we didn’t stay long.
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Don't you just love Miss Piggy?!

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One last dose of Star Wars

The kids had to pin shop of course. They always have to stop by ‘the hat’ and see what is new. We’d originally planned on seeing Fantasmic tonight, but decided that getting to bed at a decent hour would be a better plan since it’d been an eventful day. The kids did want to try the walk back though, so we enjoyed the scenic route. When we returned to our room, there was another bunch of balloons and a really cool card that had 17 characters on it, and was signed by them all! It said Happy 7th Birthday, Kristen, from: The Gang. I’m sure this was arranged by the check-in CM. It was a perfect ending to a great first day. :D

Up next...Keys to the Kingdom and dinner in Germany

sandar
06-04-2003, 04:33 PM
hi Alicia,

Thanks for part 1! I'm glad you liked the BC villas, sweetie. It's nice that the staff was so responsive to Kristen's celebration. Your view was pretty, too, and it's good to know the studio worked for you. Do you think you'd go with the studio or splurge on a 1-bedroom another time?

Dig your photos, too, especially the one of Chewie with your kiddos (who are gorgeous, just like their Mama).

Thank you! Looking forward to part 2. :D

Sandi

Sheryl
06-04-2003, 04:33 PM
Alicia,

I can't wait to read the rest of your report. The Villas look beautiful.

Sheryl :minnie:

Tagrel
06-04-2003, 05:02 PM
What a great trip report! Thanks so much for sharing! It looks like you had a great location at BCV. Very close to BC too. We loved the pool view last year.

All the Star Wars pictures are great! My kids would LOVE to visit during Star Wars weekends. They would really enjoy seeing the characters.

Can't wait to read the rest! I'm so glad that you all had such a good trip!

pixie
06-04-2003, 07:19 PM
Great report Alicia, I love the way you include pictures. What a great looking family!! :D :D

On to part 2!!

Barbara

Moley
06-04-2003, 08:17 PM
What a nice birthday set up! Really enjoying the report and the pics so far! :D

AliciaG
06-04-2003, 11:42 PM
Thanks, guys! It's fun to relive the trip, and I took notes everyday this time. It offered me a quite time for reflection. :D

Sandi, the studio was great for us. It was just like any other WDW hotel room. Not quite as big as the Poly or CR, but big enough just the same. But, and this is a big but...we about died when we saw the model one bedrooms. We'd definitely splurge next time! It'd be great to have a seperate room to lay the baby down in, and the washer/dryer in the unit would make a big difference for us.