LIVE trip report: BLT 8/19-8/28

Hello all! My trip consists of me, my dh, and our 3 kids whom are ages 13,10, and 3. My husband is the only one who will so roller coasters and thrill rides. So you will find this review quite devoid of such things!

8/19
We arrived at BLT with enough time to setup our room, which is a lake view 1 bedroom Villa with a surprise MK view. We were so lucky to get a room with a beautiful lake view and a castle and space mountain view. So after having a quick dinner at Contemporary Cafe, we came back to our room to watch the fireworks from our balcony. Then headed to bed because we knew we would be up early!!

8/20 First half of the day!

We ate breakfast in our room with the groceries we had delivered from Garden Grocer. We walked over to the Magic Kingdom and arrived at about 8:45am.

We watched the pre-show at the castle and then headed over to the jungle cruise for our first ride. Our skippers name was Michael and was one of the best we've ever had. So funny!

Next up was Pirates of the Carribean. No wait. Our family even ended up with a whole boat to ourselves. We had rows 3 and 4 and didn't get wet at all for any of you who have heard that.

We walked thru frontier and and happened upon some of the country bears just walking around. So we stopped to get some pictures with the kids.

Next we parked the stroller and headed for It's a small world. Again, no wait. After that we used our first fast pass off the day at Peter Pan. The wait was about 4 min.

After Peter pan, we headed over to the Little Mermaid ride and that was also walk-on. Next, we hoped over to Dumbo for my youngest to ride. My older two kids didn't want to go on so I waited with them while my little one and dad went on twice in a row since there was no wait!

Then we headed over to meet Donaldo and the great goofini. The wait was about 5 minutes. At this point we were getting hot. As it felt like the surface of the sun today! So we walked back over to our room around 11:30 for lunch and then napped my youngest afterwards.

When he naps, my husband and I switch off with who takes the bigger kids back to the parks. So no idea what they are up to right now.

The crowds seem low as we were able to do 6 rides and meet 4 characters before 11:30!! Not bad I'd say.

We will be heading back out for the second half of our day around 3 or so. I will update tonight!

Not bad at all!

Sounds like you got a nice room. In that heat, you may want to 'volunteer' to stay with the little one during nap time everyday.

8/20 Second half of day!

Around 3pm we were back at Magic Kingdom and went to use our Pooh fastpass. No such luck. It was down. So we we're given a fastpass to come back at another time.

We went over to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor....and my daughter and husband both got into the show. Best part was that I managed to tape the whole thing!! My husband has been wearing his birthday button all day because he is 40!!! So I was glad for this bit of magic.

As soon as we got out of Monsters it was 4:15 and only then did I remember our Be Our Guest reservation at 4:10pm. I had thought it was later so what choice did we have....we ran for it! We were seated promptly in the main dining area and had a lovely meal! This is one of our favorites. Since it was my dh's 40th bday I had pre-ordered a special birthday dessert online. With 3 mini cupcakes, a white chocolate written with happy birthday on it and a giant white chocolate clam filled with grey stuff!! He was so surprised and I was happy. Not bad for $15. We also had a cast member come up to us at our table while eating and give us 5 free anytime fast passes to us as a gift from the Beast!! Super special!!

We met the beast after dinner and got pictures. They were so dark. It was surely the worst photographer we've ever encountered here before.

It was raining when we got out, though not too hard. So we went over to use our Pooh fastpass from before.

Then we headed to the peoplemover since it was still raining and it's a nice dry spot and one of our favorites!!!

Finally we headed to use our last scheduled fastpass to see talking Mickey. He did not disappoint. He was the best we've seen him. Did a magic trick, spinning around dance, and very friendly of course!

After that we were wet and tired. So we headed back to BLT to have our kids shower and put to bed by 9 for another big day tomorrow!!

Great report. How do you like Bay Lake? I would love to stay there sometime

Suejacken said:

Great report. How do you like Bay Lake? I would love to stay there sometime

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Love our view! Like the hotel and room overall. The monorail however, doesn't thrill me. I find it very slow to get to and from Epcot. I find myself actually missing a bus!!

8/21 Epcot Day

Arrive at Epcot just in time for park opening. Took the monorail over. Only thing I found strange, was that we went through security at Contemporary before getting on to the monorail, then when arriving at Epcot we had to go through security AGAIN! Which was quite annoying. Seemed pointless to go through it twice with bags checked etc.

Our first stop after getting our stroller was a quick photo with Daisy of course. My youngest wouldn't cooperate so he looked extremely unhappy in the photos.

Our first ride was spaceship earth. No wait at all. My youngest loved it. He truly believed he had been to space and back!!

Then we headed over and did Nemo, which of course again had no wait. We spent a small amount of time looking around the aquarium at the different sea life and then headed over to the land for my personal favorite.....

Living with the land...bet you though I was going to say Soarin huh? Nope. I get motion sickness pretty bad, can't even watch IMAX movies so Soarin is not a ride I can do. I love living with the land. In the past we have done the behind the seeds tour which I have enjoyed and highly recommend it.

We used our first fastpass of the day to get pictures at the Epcot character spot which worked out well. The line was very long so we were so glad to have had passes.

After this we headed back to the room as the 3 year old was getting cranky and hungry. We hated taking the monorail back to contemporary. It seemed to take forever. We arrive back at our room and ate lunch and put the little one for his daily nap.

This time I headed out with the older two while my dh stayed behind for nap. We went back to Epcot...on the dreaded monorail. Someone leaned on the door on our trip over so the monorail was stopped for about 5 minutes. Then when it started back up it had to go very slow as a safety precaution....it was a bit annoying but since it was just me and my older two I didn't stress over it much.

First ride we hit was Figment. Believe it or not my 13 year old loves this ride. Afterwards we watched the 3D Pixar short films next door. I have never been in there in all my trips to Disney and was so surprised when the room started bouncing around. Really neat!! Loved it and I loved the shorts that they picked. Lovely!

We stopped just outside to put on our eclipse glasses we had bought and looked at the eclipse quick. I was amazed how many people throughout the park we're just starting up at it with no eye protection at all. There were signs warning you in Epcot all over, yet plenty of people just looking and taking pictures like it was no big deal. Sigh..

Next we headed over to Mexico to ride the Three caballeros, as my kids call it. After that we hoped around to some gift shop until meeting my dh and little one back at the entrance.

We then headed to our 3:50pm lunch reservation at Le Cellier. I ordered the purple sweet potato gnocchi. It was nothing like I expected but it was delicious and boy was it plated beautifully. I also had some of the bacon cheese beer soup that I love so much! With all of that and the pretzel bread...we didn't order dessert. All of us were stuffed! Service and ambience were great as usual.

After our meal we went back over to Figment but it was closed so we took my youngest to see the Pixar shorts..though my oldest wasn't thrilled about watching them again, I was glad we did because my little and dh loved them too!

We went to Mexico again so my little could ride the caballeros, though this time my oldest didn't mind.

Then we used our 2nd fastpass for the day at Frozen of course! We waited mere minutes and got into the boat. I was in the front row and got a little bit wet. It is a very short ride, but I find it very fun and my kids enjoyed it.

At this point it was getting late but we were getting a bit hungry again so we stopped for some churros!!!! YUM!

On our way out we rode on spaceship earth one more time and then got some photopass pics in front of the epcot ball! My advice?? Always take those photos in the morning, because if your hair is anything like mine it is a total frizzy mess by the end of the day in the humidity. Oh well.

We hoped in line for the monorail. Got over to the ttc and then transferred and waited again. We didn't make the first one it filled to quickly. The second one came...didn't make that one either. We finally made the third train and the ride seemed to take forever to get back to the contemporary!! That pesky monorail!

Finally back in our room by 9pm for showers and bedtime!! Another big day tomorrow!!

Sorry if this is more boring without pictures! I don't really have any website I use to upload photos and don't have the time now....wish it was easier. Tips on uploading??

Wow! Love the live report! Have fun and thanks for posting!

8/22 First half of day

We got to Hollywood Studios just prior to rope drop. First up we headed directly to get a picture with Woody at Pixar Place. We haven't met him before, which is surprising, since we've met most characters. We were second in line. So that went quick.

Next...remember that paper fastpass a woman handed us in the lobby of our hotel a few days ago? It was good at HS for 5 people so we decided to use it to ride Toy Story Mania!! My 13 year old beat me by 200 points. Boy am I losing my touch!! It's rough when we stop letting our kids win and they actually beat us!!

Next up, we met Cruz Ramirez and were again only second in line. Quick again!! Then we decided to go meet BB8. It was only a 5 minute wait and it was worth it. The kids loved him.

Then we went to ride Toy Story Mania for the second time because we had fast passes on our magic bands too!! What luck! I lost to my 13 year old yet again...except by even more this time. Poor me!

For our 4th character of the day we met Starlord and Groot. Groot was adorable!! Starlord's personality and even his voice was very true to the movie, I loved his energy! My DD and I stayed back and let my husband and two boys do an all guy photo for this one! We waited about 15 minutes for this one. But no big deal. On our way out...we saw a mouse Droid driving around the floor and it chased the kids around for while. It was cute. I know nothing about what it's purpose is?? My oldest said they were mouse Droid created because no living things were on the ships...I don't get it. But then I'm not a very "cool" mom, am I?

Then we spent a little time wandering around to check out the construction of the new parts and look around some shops. Still no purchases yet. We allow our kids one souvenir for each trip. So usually they check out lots of things and then decide towards the end of our trip on what to buy. They usually end up making their purchases at Disney Springs!

So we headed back for lunch and nap. Left Hollywood studios around 10:45am. So in a little under 2 hours we rode toy story twice and met 5 characters. Not too shabby!!

So now naptime. My dh is taking the older two to the Bay Lake pool while the little one sleeps and I relax on the balcony while looking at our lovely view!

I am loving the live report and following along every day!

Were you able to choose the special birthday dessert at BOG when pre-ordering your meal, or did you order it through something else? We are eating at BOG on my oldest DS's 5th birthday and I want to do this for him!

We are staying in a villa at Saratoga Springs and also plan to get a Garden Grocer order and eat a lot in the room as you are doing. We have two nappers (my twins who will be almost 3) and we will also be taking turns on who stays with them in the room to nap each day. Glad to see that's working out well for you!

Great report, thanks How is the weather treating you? We arrive SUNDAY and I just can't wait. I'm banning myself from any weather-related sites though, I really don't want to know ahead of time if it will pour, ha ha.
I'm ok with afternoon showers, but am heartsick at the thought of all-day rain. I know, I know, we'll still be in WDW, but I would still like some sun for it ;---)

Enjoying your live report! Your trip sounds like it's going awesome so far!

DisneyElite4 said:

I am loving the live report and following along every day!

Were you able to choose the special birthday dessert at BOG when pre-ordering your meal, or did you order it through something else? We are eating at BOG on my oldest DS's 5th birthday and I want to do this for him!

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Yes! I pre-ordered. The info is on this page. Just email the address under contact with your order and reservation number and they will contact you!!
http://disneytravelbabble.com/how-to/order-cake/magic-kingdom-specialty-desserts/

This is the email in case the link doesn't work for you!! WDW.Magic.Kingdom.Specialty.Desserts@Disney.com

AliceNDinah said:

Great report, thanks How is the weather treating you? We arrive SUNDAY and I just can't wait. I'm banning myself from any weather-related sites though, I really don't want to know ahead of time if it will pour, ha ha.
I'm ok with afternoon showers, but am heartsick at the thought of all-day rain. I know, I know, we'll still be in WDW, but I would still like some sun for it ;---)

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We only had rain one day so far and it only rained for about 15 minutes! But it is super hot, especially today!!! Wooooeeee!

I love your Avatar, by the way. Thanks for the quick response!! Woooooeeeee for the heat, ha ha. I will take that over a washout ANY day. I am coming with my husband and little boy, both of whom have never seen WDW. Can't even wait, 5 days now, WOW!

8/22 Second half of day

The second half of our day was more slow and leisurely. After nap we took the boat over to Fort Wilderness and looked around at the horses and went into the draft barn too. Very fun. Then we stopped at the playground for a short bit to let the youngest let off some steam.

Quite literally we were all steaming, this has been the hottest of the days so far. Ugghh! But I'm in Disney, so there is no place I'd rather sweat to death!

We had a 4:45pm reservation at Trails End restaurant which is a buffet. It was out first time here and the food was great, it wasn't too crowded and it was cheaper then most other buffets, which is a win. I loved their dessert choices too. They had an apple crisp that was amazing and my kids loved the soft serve ice cream! Our waiter was great too!! I accidentally tipped way too much (like 40 percent) too much because I wasn't paying attention....which irritated my dh, but I just try to look at it as a positive thing. Glad to help our waiter out!

We then took the boat back to our hotel to get dressed and all get some pool time as a family. I love that the pool at BLT is fenced with magic bands only because it wasn't too crowded. As I type I am still sitting by the pool...

Soon enough we will go up and shower everyone before bed. Big day tomorrow! Anticipating lots of crowds at our next park!! Can u guess?

BraveLittleToaster2 said:

Love our view! Like the hotel and room overall. The monorail however, doesn't thrill me. I find it very slow to get to and from Epcot. I find myself actually missing a bus!!

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Thanks for the info. I am enjoying your report. We went in 2015 and our next visit isn't until 2019 so you are taking me on a journey. Enjoy the rest of your trip.