Zack and I woke up first and quietly got dressed, but soon enough our friends were all up and Robyn made us chocolate chip pancakes--I love these accommodations, we'll have to return :-D.
Got on the road later than I planned, but still with plenty of time to get to Orlando, stop at Whole Foods and get to the hotel to meet Pete. He was flying in and would take Disney tranport to the hotel.
Whole Foods was great. We picked up some lunch for the day and then snacks and breakfast items for the rest of the trip. We would be eating breakfast in the room before heading out for the day and I got supplies for trail mix to snack on at the parks and other snacks. That way, we can still get special treats at the parks but can plan them instead of grabbing something over priced and sugary just because we're starving before dinner.
Excitement started to build when we passed through the arch that signals the entry to Disney property. We soon saw signs for our hotel-the Beach Club. We drove up the drive, handed our bags over to the bell staff and went to park the car--bonus-a parking space in the first row of self park. Just the first of our "pixie dust" moments.
I left the kids on a bench out front to finish their lunches and went to check in. At 11am, I didn't expect they would have a room ready for us, but Antonio upgraded us to a water view, while still getting us the day bed we needed and we were ready to go. I stopped at the bell desk to give them our room number, texted Pete with the same and collected the kids to go check out our room.
Here's the view that greeted us:
Despite the free upgrade there was one price to pay for this view--we were a good 10 minute walk from the lobby! No biggie, we were at the very end of the building, which means just down the stairs at the end of our hall was the path to EPCOT, a 5 minute walk. Nice!
A knock at the door was Pete! He beat the luggage, but it soon came and the food with it.
I had picked up some Sushi for Pete to eat for lunch and while he ate, I started to put things away, especially the perishables. I love my Trader Joe's insulated bag, but didn't have an ice pack for it. The fridge was good sized and I was able to fit milk, yogurts, fruit, etc in with no problems.
At 1:10pm we were scheduled for a DVC pickup to look at the properties. We went over to Saratoga Springs to meet with the sales guy, Jason. Although a bit old for it, the kids voted to hang in the kid club rather than take the tour and they definitely made the right decision. The pitch went on far longer than I expected (esp since I had already done a phone pitch with him months before--but not Pete). The DVC rooms are to die for, but our feeling is that if you don't plan to be at Disney every 2 years, it isn't worth buying in. By the end of the week, it was clear to me, that Pete would not enjoy a week at Disney, possibly ever again let alone every 2-3 years! Still the icecream sundaes at the end were very nice and we skipped the hottest time of day in the FL weather.
Off to Animal Kingdom to dine at Boma. We loved Boma the last time and were not disappointed on this visit. I submitted our food allergies through Disney dining and the chef came right out to walk us through the buffet. We did have some time before our reservation and took the opportunity to explore the hotel a bit, which we hadn't had much time to do last visit.
We could get really close to the animals at the hotel's Savannah lookout.
But the air conditioning was welcome, we were not quite used to the heat/humidity yet.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to finish unpacking and head over to Stormalong Bay, the sand-bottomed pool. Kate and Zack hit the slide and loved it. I think this was the day that Pete and I went up to the room first and let the kids stay on their own at the pool. We quizzed them on the room number but somehow they ended up in the adjacent Yacht Club lobby and after looking around for our room number there, they finally asked for help at the front desk. They placed a call to our room and also sent someone over to deliver them to the Beach Club lobby for me to pick up. They were a bit shaken up, but all was well and we laughed about it back in the room.
Off to bed before 10pm in preparation for the next day.
Next--oh that's why I bought that hat...
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