Trip Report: DISNEY DREAM - VILLAS AT GRAND FLORIDIAN - BEACH CLUB VILLAS AND DISNEYLAND

Thanks

I'm just gonna post some pictures. Don't mind me.

After V&A we changed up and went to the watercraft dock at GF and watched the water pageant and Halowishes from a distance. There were quite a few people doing the exact same thing.

From the room balcony

Checking out of the Grand Floridian and transferring to the Beach Club Villas.

I called the BCV and was told that I had to come over from the GF there in person to check in.

My wife was skeptical that we couldn't just go to the park and check in later, so she called. She was told, no need to come in person now. We could go to the park and then check in later on. They would mark our account that we were on property.

I said, just to be sure, call again and talk to someone else. Called back: no need to go there in person, we could go to the park and pick up our keys when the room is ready. They took my cell phone number and promised to text me when the room was ready.

So we went off to AK and waited for the text, and waited. The text never came, so we called BCV for the fourth time. "oh no, you have to come here in person- we can't do that." So I asked for ground floor and got 4th floor. It wasn't a bad room, but can't they get their act together. Everyone had a different story.

The bags made the trip with no problem though. It's the people they have trouble with.

anyway...

Had a very nice lunch at Yak & Yeti. Mrs ordered the burger, i ordered three appetizers and finished it off with the fried cheesecake wanton ice cream thing.

Thanks Ken, I appreciate it. I think those HM shots are with the Nikon D5100. But the last few days of the trip I put that away and used the Sony, simply because it was so much easier to carry. Especially in that sweltering heat.

I think I'm going to DL tomorrow with just the Sony.

I'm just gonna cut to the chase: I love Disneyland!

Thanks..I clean up real good.

We went Bass fishing one morning in Crescent lake and WS Lagoon. It was great fun. But it was too early for DD and DSIL, they slept in. I lost track of how many fish we caught. We did a two hour tour and we caught at least 20 fish. Our guide was Rick and I would highly recommend him. Here are some pictures I took. Mrs. Col had the catch of the day which I am holding in my right hand.

We spotted this snake twice at the Beach Club. DD almost had a heart attack. Mrs. Col showed somewhat more poise. Both refused to walk in that area for the rest of the trip. So much for that shortcut.

It was great meeting you guys too.

That snake provided some great laughs. He should be a CM.

So my drawing at the Animation Studio was pretty bad. It really looks like Pluto's distant cousin or something. My DD said it looked more like Stitch than Pluto

So to boost my artistic esteem, they made me artist of the day at the Beach Club. I had to take down countless five year-olds to get that honor. And I only had four colors to work with. Imagine what I could have done with a full box of crayons. That's right. Eat your hearts out.

I signed it Ray, 94 years old, but they covered that part up.

If I didn't win it would have been a travesty of justice.

randoms

Thanks Doc, I appreciate that. You are probably referring to my masterpiece Buzz Lightyear

Epcot After Hours Street Party

Boy does that sound good. Everything about it appeals to me. Epcot, I love Epcot. After Hours-I'm an after-hours kind of guy. Street Party- who doesn't love a street party?

I went the first night that this was offered. Disney brass was all over the place. I made sure to give them a piece of my mind about Off Kilter. I think they were sick of hearing about it.

OK for some price (I honestly can't remember what I paid, $80 per person maybe) you get after hours admission 10:30- 1:00am. You get six coupons, one is good for an adult beverage, the other five for kiosk offerings. There is a DJ, and some entertainment.

The drink was a blue berry vodka concoction in a light up glass that was actually delicious and potent. I managed to sweet talk two of them out of the CM somehow and I was happily buzzed after drinking them.

WS was open from England over to the refreshment port. So you had a couple of pretty good booths to choose from; Ireland, Greece, Canada, the refreshment port and whatever.

The entertainment was varied:

A DJ in the Canada pavillion- way too loud and way too much house music for my taste.

An acoustic guitar player/singer in the DVC kiosk. He was the highlight for me and I spent most of my time in front of him.

A jazz band in the big tent thing next to England. I found them hokey and a little to jazzy for me.

A parade that reminded me vaguely of Tapestry. It was a little new wave and trippy. I liked it after my two drinks. They did their performance a couple of times.

And that was pretty much it. It was kind of dead. I was disappointed and I think the Disney execs were too. One of them told me that this may be the first and last event of this kind.

I rode the new Mine Train kiddie coaster. I liked it. I don't know why it took ten years to build, but I like it. I tried to get a few pics of it.

adorable...

A side note on Mine Train. I had two FPs for that day, Mine Train and the Electrical Parade. I went to add a third, and it removed the two I had. I blew a fit. I tried to get my lost Mine Train FP restored at the FP kiosk, but they were no help. So I went to City Hall and they were able to get it back for me. Disney usually tries to make you happy.

I also had a wild card FP for a bus delay, so I used that for Mine Train. So I wound up riding Mine Train three times in all. It is much nicer at night.

We met up with Alicemouse and her husband, and Amy1989 and her mom at Epcot. I was a little late, so we only spent a few minutes with Amy and her Mom as they had an ADR at Yachtsman. We hung out with Alice and her guy for a while. All lovely people. We met Robyn and Si last year and they were lovely as well. So based on my small sample, I would conclude that 100% of WDW4GU members are lovely people.

Except me, I'm a little shady.