After years of circling DVC, including two DVC points rentals (one at Poly and one at Beach Club), we finally committed this year, purchasing Direct at VGF. We had wanted to do a Christmas-adjacent stay (having never to the WDW in December), and the timing worked out pretty well to get VGF and book it for the 6 days we were planning to spend there. Booked a BPK Theme Park View Resort Studio (wanted to splurge on our first stay) for 17-23 DEC. Ended up coming down a day early on the 16th and stayed at the Hilton Disney Springs (the one with the Benihana) on Friday night, then spending a day at Disney Springs on Saturday before checking in. I tried like hell to get that Friday night at Animal Kingdom Lodge or Wilderness Lodge for the two weeks leading up to my reservation, but to no avail. The early bird gets the worm.
We are a party of 3, wife and son (19). Wife and son are huge Disney fans, I’m a big fan, not quite on their level. But I love how happy they are there, so we go pretty often. When my son was young, we were fortunate enough to have my parents pay for most of our extended family Disney visits. That included a few park trips and two Disney cruises. In 2018, we started going as the three of us on our nickel (Cruise + Coronado Springs for two days [Universal and AK/Pandora]). We enjoyed it so much, we went in Jan 2020 (Poly, DVC rental, half week), Sept 2021 (Beach Club, DVC rental, half week), and Jan 2022 (Coronado GDT, half week). I’d wanted a slightly longer trip at this time of year for them, so we had been planning for a pre-Christmas trip for about two years. Once we committed to DVC, it became an easier reality. We’d never stayed at Grand Floridian, but we’d visited it once or twice. While I prefer the theming at AKL or WL, proximity matters, and the refurbed BPK scratched most of our itches. So I booked for Saturday through Friday right before Christmas, and we settled in to making plans.
Part of the trip was a delayed celebration of my son’s 18th birthday. So we had planned this for Dec 2021 to go alongside the release of Avatar: The Way of Water (the first film is his favorite movie). Well, it got delayed to 2022, so we pushed the trip a year, and went in Sept 2021 for a shorter trip instead. Then I got talked into the Jan 2002 trip (his last “high school” trip). But this was our trip, our welcome home trip, as I had wanted to get DVC for my family since that 2018 experience. I wanted it to be something extra special for both of them; hence the time of year, staying at VGF BPK, and getting that Theme Park view.
Friday - We arrived on the afternoon of 16 December, renting a car and heading to the hotel. We had a little time before our dinner reservation at Boma, so we visited Disney Springs for about two hours. Sadly, we were starving and ruined our appetite eating at Jaleo, but I love their saltwater air Margarita. We took some snaps of the Avatar posters and light display, then headed over to AKL. I love AKL, having eaten there a few times before (at Jiko). We wanted to see some of the Christmas decorations at the resorts, so we scheduled this meal as much to visit the resort as anything else. It was beautifully decorated and the lobby was dark, so the tree really shone. Boma itself was nice, if relatively expensive, especially since we only went to the buffet twice (our fault). Afterwards, we walked out behind the lobby to look at some animals. Very peaceful way to start the week. I can’t wait to stay at AKL someday in the future.
Saturday – We woke up, checked out, and headed over to Wilderness Lodge for breakfast (again, just to see the lobby made up for Christmas) at Whispering Canyon Café. While quite lovely, family felt that AKL looked better the night before. We’ve stayed a few times at WL, and we love the theming and detail. Walked around the resort for a little bit before heading over to DS for the afternoon. Check-in wasn’t until 4 PM at VGF. Leisurely day at the Springs, walking through shops, getting my MDE account squared away, and settling in to the Disney experience. Once the room was ready, we made our way over to our new Disney home, and got directed a bit around, finally getting to the room (9244). Second floor, lake view, nice views of WDW itself. More importantly, it was well off the lobby, so the room was pretty quiet most nights. That was worth as much as the view. Dinner at Citricos, quite good, probably our best meal of the week. We unpacked everything, took a look around the beautiful (but PACKED) lobby, and got ready for the real day one. BTW, the lobby was always packed. Morning, night, you name it. Didn’t get to enjoy it much.
Sunday – Starting in DHS (their second favorite park, my least favorite park), then wherever the day takes us until dinner. I had warned them we were going hard today. I expected to visit every park a few times…except DHS. This was our one day there. My wife loves ToT, Runaway Railway, and Slinky Dog. Plan was to start at ToT, then hit MMRR, then use Genie+ for Slinky Dog. Genie+ was uncooperative at 7:00 AM, so by the time I got it refreshed, Slinky Dog was already an afternoon time. I took it angrily, and bought ILLs for Cosmic Rewind that evening (another big reason for our trip), and what the heck, Flight of Passage. We could hop through AK in the afternoon. We were there for Pandora, why not? I took advantage of the Modify Plans, and got Slinky Dog down to early afternoon, so our itinerary was set. We got ready, drove to DHS for RD, and headed immediately to ToT. Which was down (a common ToT theme). So we hit RnR immediately, then went over to MMRR. It was a 40 minute wait, but that’s ok. What a fun ride, really sets the mood. Then Star Tours followed by Muppets 3D (and another Genie+ res, TSMania). My wife had scored an Oga’s reservation at 1100. We had not yet been, and I was happy to do something new. I grew up with SW, but Galaxy’s Edge (overall) doesn’t do much for me. In the end, we ended up not riding Smuggler’s Run (wait never dropped low enough, and I had other Genie+ priorities). She just wanted to tease me about the SW fans, but ended up loving our 45 minutes or so in there. It was her favorite thing! Will definitely prioritize it on future visits. The bartenders made it for her. After that, we had lunch (and caught World Cup updates on our phones, like many other diners) and moseyed over to Toy Story Land. Rode our TSMania (we remember when it was the hottest ride in WDW, and we would run to the FP Distribution machines in the morning) and then headed over to Slinky Dog to finish our DHS time. After that, we had a window to get to AK, ride the Safari (G+), then get our first ride of FoP. Then it was off to dinner at the new Crepe place at EPCOT. I had managed to Modify Plans to get a Remy’s (the other new ride for us, besides Cosmic Rewind) right before our dinner reservation. We walked off with a minute to spare, but fortunately, the Crepe place is located at the exit of Remy’s. We enjoyed Remy’s quite a bit, but continued to be amused at the huge wait times it had the following week. Nonetheless, a cool ride. After dinner, we walked over and finally rode Cosmic Rewind. Wife loved, loved, loved it, so that became a staple (I ended up ILLing it Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday so she could get her fix). I dug it a lot (as a ride, though the story is relatively incomprehensible during the ride) as well. Having had a big and successful day, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. Monday we were starting at AK, so that meant an early morning.
Sunday ended up being, thanks to G+, some ILLs, and "Modify Plans"
RnR
MMSR
Star Tours
Muppets 3D
Ogas
Toy Story Mania
Slinky Dog
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Flight of Passage
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
Guardians Cosmic Rewind
Little did I know that crowds the next day would become quite larger.
We are a party of 3, wife and son (19). Wife and son are huge Disney fans, I’m a big fan, not quite on their level. But I love how happy they are there, so we go pretty often. When my son was young, we were fortunate enough to have my parents pay for most of our extended family Disney visits. That included a few park trips and two Disney cruises. In 2018, we started going as the three of us on our nickel (Cruise + Coronado Springs for two days [Universal and AK/Pandora]). We enjoyed it so much, we went in Jan 2020 (Poly, DVC rental, half week), Sept 2021 (Beach Club, DVC rental, half week), and Jan 2022 (Coronado GDT, half week). I’d wanted a slightly longer trip at this time of year for them, so we had been planning for a pre-Christmas trip for about two years. Once we committed to DVC, it became an easier reality. We’d never stayed at Grand Floridian, but we’d visited it once or twice. While I prefer the theming at AKL or WL, proximity matters, and the refurbed BPK scratched most of our itches. So I booked for Saturday through Friday right before Christmas, and we settled in to making plans.
Part of the trip was a delayed celebration of my son’s 18th birthday. So we had planned this for Dec 2021 to go alongside the release of Avatar: The Way of Water (the first film is his favorite movie). Well, it got delayed to 2022, so we pushed the trip a year, and went in Sept 2021 for a shorter trip instead. Then I got talked into the Jan 2002 trip (his last “high school” trip). But this was our trip, our welcome home trip, as I had wanted to get DVC for my family since that 2018 experience. I wanted it to be something extra special for both of them; hence the time of year, staying at VGF BPK, and getting that Theme Park view.
Friday - We arrived on the afternoon of 16 December, renting a car and heading to the hotel. We had a little time before our dinner reservation at Boma, so we visited Disney Springs for about two hours. Sadly, we were starving and ruined our appetite eating at Jaleo, but I love their saltwater air Margarita. We took some snaps of the Avatar posters and light display, then headed over to AKL. I love AKL, having eaten there a few times before (at Jiko). We wanted to see some of the Christmas decorations at the resorts, so we scheduled this meal as much to visit the resort as anything else. It was beautifully decorated and the lobby was dark, so the tree really shone. Boma itself was nice, if relatively expensive, especially since we only went to the buffet twice (our fault). Afterwards, we walked out behind the lobby to look at some animals. Very peaceful way to start the week. I can’t wait to stay at AKL someday in the future.
Saturday – We woke up, checked out, and headed over to Wilderness Lodge for breakfast (again, just to see the lobby made up for Christmas) at Whispering Canyon Café. While quite lovely, family felt that AKL looked better the night before. We’ve stayed a few times at WL, and we love the theming and detail. Walked around the resort for a little bit before heading over to DS for the afternoon. Check-in wasn’t until 4 PM at VGF. Leisurely day at the Springs, walking through shops, getting my MDE account squared away, and settling in to the Disney experience. Once the room was ready, we made our way over to our new Disney home, and got directed a bit around, finally getting to the room (9244). Second floor, lake view, nice views of WDW itself. More importantly, it was well off the lobby, so the room was pretty quiet most nights. That was worth as much as the view. Dinner at Citricos, quite good, probably our best meal of the week. We unpacked everything, took a look around the beautiful (but PACKED) lobby, and got ready for the real day one. BTW, the lobby was always packed. Morning, night, you name it. Didn’t get to enjoy it much.
Sunday – Starting in DHS (their second favorite park, my least favorite park), then wherever the day takes us until dinner. I had warned them we were going hard today. I expected to visit every park a few times…except DHS. This was our one day there. My wife loves ToT, Runaway Railway, and Slinky Dog. Plan was to start at ToT, then hit MMRR, then use Genie+ for Slinky Dog. Genie+ was uncooperative at 7:00 AM, so by the time I got it refreshed, Slinky Dog was already an afternoon time. I took it angrily, and bought ILLs for Cosmic Rewind that evening (another big reason for our trip), and what the heck, Flight of Passage. We could hop through AK in the afternoon. We were there for Pandora, why not? I took advantage of the Modify Plans, and got Slinky Dog down to early afternoon, so our itinerary was set. We got ready, drove to DHS for RD, and headed immediately to ToT. Which was down (a common ToT theme). So we hit RnR immediately, then went over to MMRR. It was a 40 minute wait, but that’s ok. What a fun ride, really sets the mood. Then Star Tours followed by Muppets 3D (and another Genie+ res, TSMania). My wife had scored an Oga’s reservation at 1100. We had not yet been, and I was happy to do something new. I grew up with SW, but Galaxy’s Edge (overall) doesn’t do much for me. In the end, we ended up not riding Smuggler’s Run (wait never dropped low enough, and I had other Genie+ priorities). She just wanted to tease me about the SW fans, but ended up loving our 45 minutes or so in there. It was her favorite thing! Will definitely prioritize it on future visits. The bartenders made it for her. After that, we had lunch (and caught World Cup updates on our phones, like many other diners) and moseyed over to Toy Story Land. Rode our TSMania (we remember when it was the hottest ride in WDW, and we would run to the FP Distribution machines in the morning) and then headed over to Slinky Dog to finish our DHS time. After that, we had a window to get to AK, ride the Safari (G+), then get our first ride of FoP. Then it was off to dinner at the new Crepe place at EPCOT. I had managed to Modify Plans to get a Remy’s (the other new ride for us, besides Cosmic Rewind) right before our dinner reservation. We walked off with a minute to spare, but fortunately, the Crepe place is located at the exit of Remy’s. We enjoyed Remy’s quite a bit, but continued to be amused at the huge wait times it had the following week. Nonetheless, a cool ride. After dinner, we walked over and finally rode Cosmic Rewind. Wife loved, loved, loved it, so that became a staple (I ended up ILLing it Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday so she could get her fix). I dug it a lot (as a ride, though the story is relatively incomprehensible during the ride) as well. Having had a big and successful day, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. Monday we were starting at AK, so that meant an early morning.
Sunday ended up being, thanks to G+, some ILLs, and "Modify Plans"
RnR
MMSR
Star Tours
Muppets 3D
Ogas
Toy Story Mania
Slinky Dog
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Flight of Passage
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure
Guardians Cosmic Rewind
Little did I know that crowds the next day would become quite larger.
