We got back home on Saturday after 12 nights at the World. Our first 2 nights were non park nights. We stayed at POR for the first time. Really nice resort. We enjoyed it a lot. There were things I would have liked to do that we didn't have time for. We were only there a day and a half - not nearly enough time to fully explore and experience all it has to offer.
Then we transferred to BWV (first stay there as well). We had a really nice 1bedroom overlooking the boardwalk. We were on the 3rd floor right above the Screen Door store. It was a bit noisy a few nights when the performers were there, but they were always finished by 10pm. So it was all good.
We did early morning magic on our first park day and were able to get quite a bit done. The line for 7DMT was longer than I was expecting but we still got to ride it twice. Breakfast was better than I was expecting after reading so many reviews about it. Not it wasn't wonderful, but for what it was - it was pretty good. I thought the eggs were better than what we had in the buffet on a
Disney cruise - or maybe I was just really hungry.
We also did DAH at the MK. It was the first Villians night. This we really enjoyed. Everything and I mean everything (we didn't do 7DMT again) we did was a walk on. The longest line of the night was waiting for snacks. We aren't really into all of the character stuff so I can't report on that. However seeing the dragon moving around was pretty cool. The "overlay" on Pirates and Space Mountain were more hype than overlay in my opinion. For Pirates it was just some live pirates that interacted in the line and one on the ride. I didn't go on Space Mountain but Ian and Kylie (our oldest) said it was just pitch black with some spooky laughter. All in all we really enjoyed it and would do it again.
We had some interesting FP issued this trip. We missed Rivers of Light because after about 3-5 minutes the audio just stopped. That was a bummer but we got an anytime FP to use because of it. It took us 4 times with 3 anytime FP to get a ride on Test Track. 3 times because of weather and once because the ride went down. We got an anytime FP because of weather from 7DMT and then the Laugh Floor took it instead of the FP we had booked for it. We didn't realize that until we were back in line for 7DMT and it said we didn't have a FP. The CM looked it up and saw what happened and we were allowed on.
We did try the new Storybook character meal at Artist Point. We were there for right around 90 minutes and not one - NOT ONE single character came by. We were not even told a time to go see the Queen. Our meal was finished and our server asked if we saw all the characters. When we told him we hadn't seen any he told us they would be around shortly. Well we were done and really didn't feel like sitting there waiting so we left. I can't remember what Kylie had but Ian and I both had the steak and it was good. The food was good, Service good. Character interaction - LOL well..... I miss the old Artist Point and even vocalized that to our server. He didn't come right out and say it of course, but we could tell he agreed with the words he used as we were discussing it. So to end this topic on a high note - at least the food was good!
Crowds were lighter than expected with the exception of Pandora and Toy Story land. I think if we had young kids we would have liked Toy Story land more. As is though - we didn't linger. We used our FP's and left.
All in all it was a good trip. We enjoyed both POR and BWV. Of course neither come close to touching our heart like our beloved lodge but it was a nice change. We would stay at both again.
It is nice to be home. We were gone 15 days total with travel days included. I missed my dogs and was worried about my newest hobby - my freshwater fish tanks. Both are fine. Now as I sit here I am missing WDW and I am really missing the mattress on that bed at BWV! I think in my next life I need to be filthy rich so I can afford a house in Golden Oaks. I could have my pets and Disney at the same time.