Destination-D, WDW May 12-17 OKW/BLT – Final Trip Wrap Up

[Hawleys]

I'm in!

 

[ajf1007]

Boy does time fly! So sorry you were here for that weather. That was probably around the time when all the houses were in danger of sliding off the hillsides.

It does fly doesn't it! I don't have another trip to WDW planned until a big bash next September, with the whole family, so I'm living vicariously through your TR! We are going to St. Augustine for a week in September this year and planning on a day (or two ) trip to WDW so I can atleast get a quick fix! Gosh, I bet your soooo excited! I really can't wait to hear even more! Ready for your trip to begin!

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

Don't you just love "Disney Eve".

Have a great and safe trip!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Here's some popcorn to share.

 

[franandaj]

I'm in!

Cool! Glad you're here!

Don't you just love "Disney Eve".

Have a great and safe trip!!!

Thanks! It depends on how the packing goes!

Tonight we're ready to go, so gotta love Disney Eve!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Safe travels.

I'll be living vicariously through your trip reports. Please let us know if they let slip any news about Expo 23.

 

[franandaj]

Here's some popcorn to share.

Glad you brought enough to share! We'll need it!

Safe travels.

I'll be living vicariously through your trip reports. Please let us know if they let slip any news about Expo 23.

I hope that is part of the surprises that they are alluding to!

 

[franandaj]

Day One, Travel Day

So our plan today is to get on the road about 6:30AM, everything is basically loaded in the car. Catch the plane and relax (as much as we can) all the way to MCO. Hopefully our Magical Express Bus will be waiting to whisk us away to OKW! I’ll check back in when I’m on the ground!

 

[Pixieflip]

Disney Eve...what a great phrase! I never thought of that, but am totally using it! Have fun and travel safe today!

We are heading down to OKW on Saturday morning, so tomorrow is Disney Eve for us. I don't have any plans for visiting the Contemporary, so much of the crowds will miss us. But will they impact any of the parks? I could see how 1000+ people exiting a convention would make nearby restaurants difficult to get in.

Off to finish laundry so we can pack!

 

[franandaj]

Disney Eve...what a great phrase! I never thought of that, but am totally using it! Have fun and travel safe today!

We are heading down to OKW on Saturday morning, so tomorrow is Disney Eve for us. I don't have any plans for visiting the Contemporary, so much of the crowds will miss us. But will they impact any of the parks? I could see how 1000+ people exiting a convention would make nearby restaurants difficult to get in.

Off to finish laundry so we can pack!

Have a great trip! I don't think the Destination D folks will have any impact on the parks. The program is so packed that there is no time for the the parks. Plus 1000 or so people is a drop in the bucket for Disney parks.

Enjoy your Disney eve!

 

[Pixieflip]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure it'll be perfectly fine. They have conventions all the time and you're right, just a drop in the bucket.

Are you on the ground yet? I lost track of the timing. No, you're probably still en route, never mind!

 

[franandaj]

OMG! We just boarded the plane and Tony Baxter is seated right behind us! I have to turn the phone off now! :

 

[nunzia]

OMG! We just boarded the plane and Tony Baxter is seated right behind us! I have to turn the phone off now! :

Whoo Hoo!! We sat pretty close to Mr Baxter at the John Lasseter presentation at the Expo and you would have thought he was a celebrity, all the people coming up to him.

 

[ACDSNY]

OMG! We just boarded the plane and Tony Baxter is seated right behind us! I have to turn the phone off now! :

Very cool. Enjoy your trip!

 

[heaven2dc]

I'm SO jealous lol Hope you both have a great trip - this will be a fun "live" report

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Following along....

 

[franandaj]

It's 11:30 FL time and we are finally settled in the resort!

We arrived late because our plane was 30 min late and we couldn't make up the time in the air. We got to the resort about 8:15PM and I had requested a HA room as DP can't do stairs and the scooters don't go up steps well! They had us in a 2nd floor room at OKW! So about 15-20 minutes handling THAT, and our room is in Turtle Pond. We started to scoot there and realized how far it was, we decided to bail on dinner at DTD and just go to Olivia's before heading to the room. So we turned around, I'll upload food porn and other pics tomorrow.

Once we got to the room, it wasn't HA (at least the restroom) and our bags had not arrived yet! The bags were simple, they had just arrived at the resort and would be here in 30-40 minutes. We asked for something to help with the restroom and they brought a commode well remove the basin and it will work, but we know to make sure that our owner's locker is delivered to us at the first resort we stay at, REGARDLESS!

Then I go to clean the jacuzzi tub (based on a thread I read here one should fill the tub and run about 8 oz of bleach through the jets to make sure you remove the other people who used the tub before you) and the cold water wouldn't shut off! Being from CA and in a drought for over a decade, I can't live with this so I call maintenance, (mind you it's almost 11PM by now), they arrived almost immediately and fixed the problem ASAP.

Other than that, this is a most fabulous room! I now understand why OKW people love their resort so much! I thought the other resorts were nice apartments, but this is just amazing! We will be back, especially on a trip when we plan to spend a lot of time in the room hanging out cooking and spending time on the balcony. This place is at least twice the size of my first apartment! And there is a full washer and dryer, not the stacked kind, and the jacuzzi tub, WOW! I can't wait to be in it in about 5-10 minutes.

I'll work on uploading the few pics I took today and tomorrow will be a feast of photos! Unfortunately I forgot the charger for my P&S camera, but that is the wonderful thing about smart phones and cat sitters, I was able to create a label online at MCO for my cat sitter to print it out and toss the charger in an Express Mail Envelope and I will have it by Saturday. If nothing else, I'll have to use the DSLR camera for pics!

Anyways the tub is calling me....I will update with pics tomorrow!

 

[Pixieflip]

Love the big rooms at OKW. Enjoy!

Can't wait to see photos... and hear about tomorrow.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Glad to see that you arrived safely and I can't wait to see the pictures of OKW. Pity that the room wasn't 100% when you got there...but it sounds like you're loving it anyway.

I must remember to bring bleach to wash out the other people away in the jacuzzi next time

 

[rentayenta]

Love Olivia's.