chunkymonkey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
Day 1 Part 1: Magical Express, indeed.
We woke pretty early, planning to take a ME bus at around 8:30-9am. But, first things first. It was actually our ADR day for our Oct/November trip. So at 7am I logged into the MDE app and made some reservations (which I have since changed up, LOL). I didn’t really give it much thought but I booked places we hadn’t eaten yet this year, as well as some old favorites. I also made DH call Victoria and Albert’s to get an ADR for that week since it’s our anniversary. They did not open until 9am so I decided to call later.
We got ready, checked out, and headed down to the food court. I just wanted a bite to eat, and we ended up sharing a breakfast bowl from Mo’s Southwest grill. It was huge! More than enough food for DH and I. It had scrambled eggs, cheese, taco beef, salsa and some jalepenos and sour cream. Tasty!
Bellies more than satisfied, we headed down to ME. The last time we took ME was during Princess Half Marathon weekend, and it was PACKED. No, that’s an understatement, it was a MADHOUSE. Here’s a picture from February. It was about 40 minutes before we got on a bus. Not even at a park yet and they make us wait! Are there FP for this? Haha.
Pic from February. You can't even see the ME kiosks, that's how far the line went back.
Needless to say that image of a crowded ME was stamped into our minds so imagine our amazed faces when we saw this:
And this:
I wasn't expecting huge crowds or anything but to see ME so empty is rather...nice!!
There was barely a handful of people on line for the buses. It was lovely. We shared a bus with people from Caribbean Beach and Yacht/Beach club. When we got on the bus there was plenty of space so we sat in the front row again, because…why not? That allowed me to take this picture entering the WDW resort area:
As we were on our way I called V and A back at 9am and someone took a message and said they would call right back.
The first stop was CBR, and then the Boardwalk. I think we were the only people getting off at Boardwalk. This was our first time staying here. Normally I’d enter the Boardwalk from the actual Boardwalk area so to enter from the lobby level was different. It’s a beautiful lobby. Definitely seemed recently re-done, and had a lovely Victorian charm.
Of course when it was our turn to check in, I get a call from V and A. So I had DH check in while I nodded or shook my head at him because since he didn’t do the planning he had no idea which side we were staying on (Inn or Villa. We were Villa). They fortunately had a room ready right then, so yay!
When Victoria and Albert's calls, you take the call.
The V and A person was really helpful but she was having some difficulty booking a table for us. The Chef’s Table was fully booked for that week. That’s ok I expected that since it is food and wine season, and all the foodies are out in full force then.
But I requested the Queen Victoria room which is where we ate in last time. She found availability but couldn’t book it, so she said she’d call me back when they figured out their system issues.
After we were checked in, I went next to the concierge desk. I wanted to try something out on this trip, the Express Bus option. For 29 dollars per person, you get unlimited rides between parks WITHOUT having to go through bag check. That is the price for up to 7 days. Per day it is 19 dollars, so definitely if you're staying for longer than a few days and intend to park hop, it is worth it to get the week-long pass. I thought this was a novel idea so I wanted to test it out this week. She added it to our accounts so now it was on our Magic Bands and we could start using it immediately. Awesome!
We headed to our room on the Villa side, which is the side closest to DHS. We passed by the gym which is right where the elevators are. The gym is called Muscles and Bustles, which is really cute. Our room was on the 5th floor, room 5034. It was a studio room with pool/garden view. I think many people complain about how the Boardwalk has really long corridors. Let me tell you. Nothing is worse than staying in the farthest Garden Wing Room at the Contemporary. Even though our room wasn’t near the elevators, it wasn’t all that bad of a walk compared to February.
Our room was adorable! I thought it was very cute and I liked the coastal color scheme with the pop of red for color. I wish the bathroom had 2 sinks though and I thought the bathtub area could be a little bigger. But overall loved the room and the view. However, I do think the beds are a little to soft for me. (I like a firm with a pillow top, and I think these were all plush)
The little cabinet was the only set of drawers. There were extra pillows and blankets in it and we just took it out and put our clothes in the drawers. Wish there were more drawers in the room, but there is also a large closet in the bathroom area.
When we opened the doors to the balcony we were greeted with this view. Pretty cool to see Tower of Terror from your room!
And the scary clown water slide...but I tried to ignore that part. Hahaha. #PoltergeistFears
After we unpacked a bit we headed out to our very first park...EPCOT! Coming up...
We woke pretty early, planning to take a ME bus at around 8:30-9am. But, first things first. It was actually our ADR day for our Oct/November trip. So at 7am I logged into the MDE app and made some reservations (which I have since changed up, LOL). I didn’t really give it much thought but I booked places we hadn’t eaten yet this year, as well as some old favorites. I also made DH call Victoria and Albert’s to get an ADR for that week since it’s our anniversary. They did not open until 9am so I decided to call later.
We got ready, checked out, and headed down to the food court. I just wanted a bite to eat, and we ended up sharing a breakfast bowl from Mo’s Southwest grill. It was huge! More than enough food for DH and I. It had scrambled eggs, cheese, taco beef, salsa and some jalepenos and sour cream. Tasty!
Bellies more than satisfied, we headed down to ME. The last time we took ME was during Princess Half Marathon weekend, and it was PACKED. No, that’s an understatement, it was a MADHOUSE. Here’s a picture from February. It was about 40 minutes before we got on a bus. Not even at a park yet and they make us wait! Are there FP for this? Haha.
Pic from February. You can't even see the ME kiosks, that's how far the line went back.
Needless to say that image of a crowded ME was stamped into our minds so imagine our amazed faces when we saw this:
And this:
I wasn't expecting huge crowds or anything but to see ME so empty is rather...nice!!
There was barely a handful of people on line for the buses. It was lovely. We shared a bus with people from Caribbean Beach and Yacht/Beach club. When we got on the bus there was plenty of space so we sat in the front row again, because…why not? That allowed me to take this picture entering the WDW resort area:
As we were on our way I called V and A back at 9am and someone took a message and said they would call right back.
The first stop was CBR, and then the Boardwalk. I think we were the only people getting off at Boardwalk. This was our first time staying here. Normally I’d enter the Boardwalk from the actual Boardwalk area so to enter from the lobby level was different. It’s a beautiful lobby. Definitely seemed recently re-done, and had a lovely Victorian charm.
Of course when it was our turn to check in, I get a call from V and A. So I had DH check in while I nodded or shook my head at him because since he didn’t do the planning he had no idea which side we were staying on (Inn or Villa. We were Villa). They fortunately had a room ready right then, so yay!
When Victoria and Albert's calls, you take the call.
The V and A person was really helpful but she was having some difficulty booking a table for us. The Chef’s Table was fully booked for that week. That’s ok I expected that since it is food and wine season, and all the foodies are out in full force then.
But I requested the Queen Victoria room which is where we ate in last time. She found availability but couldn’t book it, so she said she’d call me back when they figured out their system issues.After we were checked in, I went next to the concierge desk. I wanted to try something out on this trip, the Express Bus option. For 29 dollars per person, you get unlimited rides between parks WITHOUT having to go through bag check. That is the price for up to 7 days. Per day it is 19 dollars, so definitely if you're staying for longer than a few days and intend to park hop, it is worth it to get the week-long pass. I thought this was a novel idea so I wanted to test it out this week. She added it to our accounts so now it was on our Magic Bands and we could start using it immediately. Awesome!
We headed to our room on the Villa side, which is the side closest to DHS. We passed by the gym which is right where the elevators are. The gym is called Muscles and Bustles, which is really cute. Our room was on the 5th floor, room 5034. It was a studio room with pool/garden view. I think many people complain about how the Boardwalk has really long corridors. Let me tell you. Nothing is worse than staying in the farthest Garden Wing Room at the Contemporary. Even though our room wasn’t near the elevators, it wasn’t all that bad of a walk compared to February.
Our room was adorable! I thought it was very cute and I liked the coastal color scheme with the pop of red for color. I wish the bathroom had 2 sinks though and I thought the bathtub area could be a little bigger. But overall loved the room and the view. However, I do think the beds are a little to soft for me. (I like a firm with a pillow top, and I think these were all plush)
The little cabinet was the only set of drawers. There were extra pillows and blankets in it and we just took it out and put our clothes in the drawers. Wish there were more drawers in the room, but there is also a large closet in the bathroom area.
When we opened the doors to the balcony we were greeted with this view. Pretty cool to see Tower of Terror from your room!
And the scary clown water slide...but I tried to ignore that part. Hahaha. #PoltergeistFears
After we unpacked a bit we headed out to our very first park...EPCOT! Coming up...
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So excited to read this!
Man, now I'm forever going to want to know WHAT do the first class bathrooms look like inside?
But we've sat for 40 which sucked so I think he's always afraid that's going to happen again. I hope to see the area like that next week!
