Get yer lugs on we're going to Disney - July 16 TR (update 8/11) Football and Chili's

We are on-site Disney converts.

::yes::

We said we never wanted to stay offsite again.

:laughing: Look at my siggie and see if you see anything familiar (just above the ticker.)

As we weren’t going to Disney this year we didn’t book the free dining offer when it was available.

Too bad. While I didn't use it for my upcoming solo trip (I strongly suspect that the room only discount will be a better savings than the DDP for one person) I have used it in the past and saved a bundle.

Accommodation wise we need an arrangement to give the children separate sleeping areas.

Ditto.

We were offered breakfasts instead of housekeeping

Really? That just seems.... odd.

We were also offered a chance to attend a timeshare meeting with a $100 gift and lightsabers but I politely refused.

Yeah. A "$100" gift ($100 according to whom?) is not enough compensation for me to waste the time.

We were shown on the map the location of our villa.

Big place!

“Sir, there’s an elevator!”

:laughing: This sounds like me when I went with DD last year!

Note that the stool was too low to see in the mirror.

Odd. When Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain designed it, he thought it was fine.

This is one of the best showers I’ve had in accommodation with good pressure and at a good height.

I swear to God. One of these days I'm going to bring a wrench and some plumbers tape with me on vacation. I hate low pressure showers.
It's like your not getting wet.

The second bedroom had two full sized beds. This was a big plus as last year at Old Key West Hannah slept on a sofa bed and Peter the sleeper chair.

::yes:: DD15 always complains when she gets the pull out couch. Those things are never comfortable.

The vanity area gave Hannah space or more importantly gave us space.

More importantly... yup.

We quickly got changed and headed out to Cici’s Pizza which is just across the road from the resort. We arrived at 5pm. We had been to this Cici’s previously but not for a few years. The pizza was nice and fresh. They have introduced stuffed crust pizzas.

Pizza looks good!

The total cost for 4 buffets was $42.52.

Not bad at all!
 
Unfortunately or fortunately that isn't the case with Alan - he'll be putting on laundry, cutting the grass, cooking the dinner. He's a hard worker and doesn't quite understand the lure of the Dis.

Well, I suppose that's better... but still... it's the DIS!

He even has the cheek to call it Dismal Boards.

:laughing: I like that!

Saying that I would rather have a hardworking husband than a feckless one!

Interesting. I'm always doing something.... I'd rather be feckless.
 
First off, I love the title!! I'm glad you clarified because I had all sorts of ideas of what "lugs" might be, and each one made me laugh. :rotfl:And none of them were ears!

I know how exhausting our travel days are, and our flight is only an hour and a half! While I would love to visit Europe again with the kids or even Hawaii with them, the 8+ hour flights are prohibitive right now. Definitely not until they are older!

We totally love Bonnet Creek, but I have to say the accommodations at Sheraton Vistana look even nicer than what Bonnet Creek offers!
 
Wow, the Sheraton Vistana rooms look gorgeous! Last year we stayed off-site at a Marriot as we were just doing Universal (but snuck in a MK day) and before that we hadn't stayed off-site since 2007. If we ever do, I may look into the SV :)

We also tried CiCi's pizza for the first time last August on that same trip. We don't have any by us in NY but for some reason always see commercials here for it and it looked interesting. It was pretty good! I was partial to that apple pizza dessert myself ;)
 


The villa looks wonderful! So much space!

And while it's been some time since I've been to CiCi's, we have a Stevie Bs, which is the same concept. I just remember how cheap people used to say it was but I don't think it's really all that cheap! I can get two pizzas delivered for $20 and be done with it! But my 4 yr old likes it so we go.

I'm sure it was a convenient option for you, though!
 
Wow your accommodation is huge and too funny about restricting Hannah's make up time, my 2 are now 18 and 20 and thank goodness are like me and don't really wear any!
 
Really? That just seems.... odd.

Hannah has corrected me that the offer was only for 2 breakfasts. Even odder!

Yeah. A "$100" gift ($100 according to whom?) is not enough compensation for me to waste the time.

Absolutely - we once made the mistake of attending a session in the Algarve. Never again!

Big place!

It was a big place but certainly where we located it didn't feel big in that there are separate entrances to different sections.

Odd. When Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain designed it, he thought it was fine.

It's not the first time I've encountered vanity areas that aren't actually functional. I'm not short by any means. I had the choice of standing or kneeling on the stool. I didn't actually get round to bringing in one of the stools from the kitchen - that might have worked!

Pizza looks good!
It was very tasty.

Interesting. I'm always doing something.... I'd rather be feckless.

But what would you do without your feck?
 


First off, I love the title!! I'm glad you clarified because I had all sorts of ideas of what "lugs" might be, and each one made me laugh. :rotfl:And none of them were ears!
Thanks and :welcome:. I'm curious now - feel free to share.

I know how exhausting our travel days are, and our flight is only an hour and a half! While I would love to visit Europe again with the kids or even Hawaii with them, the 8+ hour flights are prohibitive right now. Definitely not until they are older!

I think that is very wise. We waited until Peter was 3 and a half years before doing the transatlantic flight. You have so many great options closer to home and you can have fun planning the other trips in the meantime.

We totally love Bonnet Creek, but I have to say the accommodations at Sheraton Vistana look even nicer than what Bonnet Creek offers!

That's interesting - I was impressed by the standard of the accommodations at the Sheraton Vistana. We certainly enjoyed the space!
 
Wow, the Sheraton Vistana rooms look gorgeous! Last year we stayed off-site at a Marriot as we were just doing Universal (but snuck in a MK day) and before that we hadn't stayed off-site since 2007. If we ever do, I may look into the SV :)

I was really impressed with the accommodation. I was apprehensive about staying offsite. I will share some info on the pool area later in the trip.

We also tried CiCi's pizza for the first time last August on that same trip.
It was pretty good! I was partial to that apple pizza dessert myself ;)

I remember eating there a couple of times on our first trip. I think one year we even had the dining plan and Peter persuaded us to do one visit to Cici's. It was good although the warm brownies were good too.
 
The villa looks wonderful! So much space!

It was great to have the space and was a great offsite option.

And while it's been some time since I've been to CiCi's, we have a Stevie Bs, which is the same concept. I just remember how cheap people used to say it was but I don't think it's really all that cheap! I can get two pizzas delivered for $20 and be done with it! But my 4 yr old likes it so we go.

I'm sure it was a convenient option for you, though!

It did seem more expensive than I remember but it was still good value! It was super convenient for that first night.

Wow your accommodation is huge and too funny about restricting Hannah's make up time, my 2 are now 18 and 20 and thank goodness are like me and don't really wear any!

The accommodation was a great size. We ended up waking Hannah earlier to make sure she was finished in time. I was never like that with makeup. You are lucky to have 2 girls who aren't into makeup.
 
Your villa looks wonderful! I love the Disney resorts, but I have come to the realization that when my kids get older, I'll want to stay at something bigger like that. I can only imagine having that extra bedroom and living room made life a little more comfortable for you all. You guys didn't have to be on top of one another the entire stay.

I'm glad there was a nice guy who told you about the elevators. It would have been quite the discovery if you'd not seen it until AFTER everything was unloaded.
 
I am in! We will be arriving at the Vistana on Friday August 5 for 2 weeks. Our 8th time there. I rent from owners through the Timeshare Users Group, or TUG. I was able to get each week for 850 USD . We can't wait! Loving your trip report.
 
Look at all that room to stretch out! Can't blame you for choosing off-site accommodations when space is a priority. The Sheraton Vistana is where my husband and I stayed for our 2-week honeymoon way back in 2004. Loved it! We found it so convenient to get to all Disney parks and Universal. Lots of dining options nearby too. We had a rental car so zipping up, down, and all around was not a problem :teeth: Now we're finally going back to Disney and looking forward to staying in the Disney bubble.

I see the Cici's Pizza commercials all the time too, but I don't think there's a location anywhere near me :confused3 Weird that Ariane has the same experience with commercials but no nearby locations.
 
Great report so far! The room was very large and its so nice to have a full kitchen. Looking forward to hearing more.
:wave: and welcome to my latest TR! Glad you are enjoying it so far. We appreciated the space. It was good to have a full kitchen although we didn't do any cooking.

Your villa looks wonderful! I love the Disney resorts, but I have come to the realization that when my kids get older, I'll want to stay at something bigger like that. I can only imagine having that extra bedroom and living room made life a little more comfortable for you all. You guys didn't have to be on top of one another the entire stay.

There are many more onsite options with younger children. I really loved being able to stay at the Swan, Yacht Club and Wilderness Lodge. I loved those locations. Last year was a bit of a compromise with Old Key West but I did prefer other onsite locations. There are pros and cons to offsite but the space was definitely a pro.

I'm glad there was a nice guy who told you about the elevators. It would have been quite the discovery if you'd not seen it until AFTER everything was unloaded.

I'm really pleased the girl shouted out and put us out our misery. I didn't even think to check. Yes, it would have been quite the discovery!

I am in! We will be arriving at the Vistana on Friday August 5 for 2 weeks. Our 8th time there. I rent from owners through the Timeshare Users Group, or TUG. I was able to get each week for 850 USD . We can't wait! Loving your trip report.

You obviously really love the Vistana. It sounds like you have got yourself a really good deal. Hope you have a fabulous trip. You must be getting really excited!

Look at all that room to stretch out! Can't blame you for choosing off-site accommodations when space is a priority. The Sheraton Vistana is where my husband and I stayed for our 2-week honeymoon way back in 2004. Loved it! We found it so convenient to get to all Disney parks and Universal. Lots of dining options nearby too. We had a rental car so zipping up, down, and all around was not a problem :teeth: Now we're finally going back to Disney and looking forward to staying in the Disney bubble.

Well I'm sure you will have fond memories of the Vistana given you spent your honeymoon there. It is in a great location with lots of dining options. It is special staying onsite and when the children are younger it is easy to fit into a hotel room. I am sure you will have a fabulous time and enjoy lots of Disney dining.

I see the Cici's Pizza commercials all the time too, but I don't think there's a location anywhere near me :confused3 Weird that Ariane has the same experience with commercials but no nearby locations.

Welcome to Cici's! I don't really know how widespread CiCi's is as I've only been to the LBV location and one in the Clearwater area.

Got me hooked. Following along. Cant wait to see how the rest of the trip went.

:welcome: Good to know you are following along!
 
Hannah has corrected me that the offer was only for 2 breakfasts. Even odder!

Worse still.

Absolutely - we once made the mistake of attending a session in the Algarve. Never again!

Sometimes they pay off.
We did one in Hawaii 20 years ago.
It saved us about $650 on parasailing, snorkel cruise and helicopter tour.
None of which we would've done without it.

I had the choice of standing or kneeling on the stool.

Not optimal.

I didn't actually get round to bringing in one of the stools from the kitchen - that might have worked!

Note for future reference.

But what would you do without your feck?

Feck if I know!
 
Worse still.

Do you know they didn't even say for each day it might just have been 2 breakfasts. That's the kind of deal red haired mermaids do!

Sometimes they pay off.
We did one in Hawaii 20 years ago.
It saved us about $650 on parasailing, snorkel cruise and helicopter tour.
None of which we would've done without it.

Now that was a good deal - they don't make deals like that anymore!

Note for future reference.

Maybe I need to start one of those threads "I know it's a strange request but can anybody who is actually staying at the Vistana just now take one of the stools from the kitchen and check whether you can sit on it while straightening your hair and actually see your hair in the mirror."

Feck if I know!
Know what?

 
Day One Part Three: Fourth of July at Epcot

We headed for Epcot. I had Fast Passes for Spaceship Earth and Illuminations. We arrived at Epcot and parked in Discover row 22. Security was busy – Alan was selected to go through the metal detector. They even had some sniffer dogs out. We headed into Epcot just before 6.30pm. We stopped for some family photos.






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I checked the Times Guide to see whether Voices of Liberty had any evening performances but their final concert was 5pm. We had a look online to see what had short wait times. Journey into Imagination had a short wait. I suspect we had been on it on our first trip but I didn’t really remember it. We probably did this ride alongside ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Audience’ which is no longer with us. We headed over to the glass pyramids. We discovered it’s not about listening with your ears it’s about listening with your imagination. We also discovered Hannah’s nails glowed in the dark. Hannah’s nails featured on a lot of rides this trip. At the part where there is a puff of air, I think it was the skunk part, Hannah got a surprise and moved back suddenly causing her sunglasses to slip down off the top of her head to cover her eyes. “This ride is much more intense than I remembered!” she exclaimed. She hadn’t realised what had happened to suddenly plunge her into darkness! At the end of the ride we designed a Figment and conducted the orchestra.
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It was a really muggy evening. It began to rain as we left the Imagination pavilion so we ran to the Seas. As you approach you can’t help join in the “Mine, mine, mine” chorus with the seagulls. We were able to quickly board the ride. This is a really simple ride but I always love it! Hannah and I might just have sang along to “In the Big Blue World.”
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We took some time to stop and watch the dolphins, rays and fish at the aquarium. It was fairly busy but I think everywhere was busy. We then headed to another favourite Turtle Talk with Crush. I think this is so well done. This time Peter sat with us – he has previously always sat down the front and had the opportunity to interact with Crush. In the past we have had to raise a fin and admit to Crush that we were the parental unit. This time it included the new characters from Finding Dory. Destiny came along to help teach the humans dudes how to speak whale.
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We didn’t have far to walk for our FastPass to Spaceship Earth. When we got there the fast pass line was ridiculously long so we decided to go and do something else and come back later.We stopped off at Club Cool to sample some sodas. Sadly the Kinley Lemon from Israel and the Lift apple drink from Mexico are no more. The new favourite was Bibo from South Africa. This was a lime juice flavour which is favoured in our family. The Fanta Melon Frosty from Thailand was also quite nice in small measures.

We headed to World Showcase to Mexico to ride the Grand Fiesta tour with the three Caballeros. We even had to wait in a short queue. I do like that they have added the animatronic Donald, Jose and Panchito at the finale of the ride. I love the historical significance of these figures and that they have found a new home. Peter was completely zoned out by this stage and was letting all the singing wash over him.

We headed back to Spaceship Earth. I have noted it was 9:10pm by this stage. Illuminations was not until 10pm that night and we were getting increasingly tired. We listened to the dulcet tones of Dame Judi Dench as she took us on a ride through the history of communication. Hannah wasn’t too pleased with the Ancient Greeks for inventing the subject of Mathematics. She feels the world would be a better place without the invention of Maths, although the invention of schools has kept Alan and I in a job.


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Thank goodness for these guys keeping copies of some of the early manuscripts!

Soon we rotated backwards to return to Earth “The choices we’ve made over the last 40,000 years have been inventing the future one day at a time. And now it’s your turn. Let’s have some fun creating the future, shall we? ” Hannah and I designed our future.



Our future seemed to consist of me playing checkers/draughts with a green lady while Hannah points helpfully.



There we go with or without our green lady friend!



The Fastpass for Illuminations stated that we should arrive between 9:40 PM and 9:55 PM so we headed there arriving just after 9:40 PM. We were able to sit on the ground until it started. This was preferable to staking out a spot far in advance. At this stage I went on Disboards and replied to ArielSRL who had told us to Have a great time! I posted:

Thanks - have arrived safely. At Epcot for Illuminations. Very tired as have been on the go from 4:30am so nearly 24 hours ago.

At this point I was questioning the wisdom of staying out so late.


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It was a good spot to watch Illuminations from and was directly opposite the American Adventure.



There was quite a bit of smoke at some points but we did get a very good view of the globe. Sorry my photos aren’t up to much but you get the idea. I was finding it difficult to adjust my settings in the dark. I had a hard enough job changing over my lenses.


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The fireworks culminated in a final section for July 4th. This consisted of a series of very loud explosions. There was music but the main effect was just very, very loud fireworks.

As we were leaving the area I spotted someone I recognised from back home. I stopped to speak to her – Peter had gone to nursery and later on swimming lessons with her son when they were little. Peter asked “Who was that?” He hadn’t recognised the boy who had changed quite a bit and was now tall and slim. Anyway the stop to chat even only for 5 minutes had prevented our usual charge to the car. The crowds were really large as we exited the park. A few security guards rushed past us. The car park was extremely busy. It puzzles me that Disney has all the parking attendants out pointing when you arrive but they are nowhere to be seen when exiting the parking lot at night. With no one to direct traffic things soon became messy. Cars were trying to exit ends of lanes into moving traffic but as drivers wouldn’t let cars out other drivers started cutting across lanes in an attempt to exit at other points. This led to chaos and was an accident waiting to happen. All in all it took us nearly an hour and half to get out the car park and to our hotel. The road works also didn’t help. Peter and Hannah both quickly fell asleep meaning they didn’t have to endure the journey. I hadn’t anticipated it being quite so bad at the end of the night but then again the last time I was at Epcot on July 4th we were staying at the Swan and watched Illuminations from the UK so had a short walk back to our hotel.
 
I feel honored to be both mentioned in the trip report and been replied to during the trip! Sounds like it was quite busy but I wouldn't expect any less. I agree that sometimes a bunch of fireworks just sounds like a jumbled mess but honestly it's so #Merica! :)

Ugh on the ride back. To be a kid again and just get to fall asleep and skip all the ugly end of night traffic parts! I remember in June how I so wanted to rush out to get back to the hotel at a reasonable hour but knowing it would be better to just hang out and wait.

Looking forward to more!
 

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