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"LIVE" from OKW - with photos added on page 4

Everyone arrived safely about 3:30pm. Our GV was not ready until 4pm since the carpets had been cleaned today. The room is spotless, but the carpets were still pretty damp.

The kids all enjoyed the OKW pool and slide and we just ordered pizza thru the resort delivery service. The pizza was pretty good.

After dinner, DW and DDs headed out to publix to get groceries for the week while the SILs and I handled the little ones. I took the 4 older ones (two 5yo, 4 yo and 3 yo) for a bus ride around OKW. We boarded at Peninsular and got off at HH and walked back across the bridge to building 25.

We will head to MK about 8:30am to begin our day and then finish up at MGM after a midday break - swim for the kids and a nap for me! ;)

Since we were "homeless" from 11:00am until the kids arrived, we took a bus to AK and then on to AKL where I was able to get a few photos from various spots around the resort. I took some from the stairwells where Caskbill took some and also got as few from the end of the HCA lot. I got a little "lost" at that point and then found myself at the far end of the construction parking lot and was able to get a few photos from that area. All that is visible at this point is some earthmoving equipment and lots of sewer piping ready to be placed. There is a lot of activity in the area where the new pool complex will be located. I will try to get those photos posted in the next few days.

Weather was pretty good today - temps in the low 80s and little rain. The rest of the week will have scattered thunderstorms and temps around 90.

The DD buses all stop at TL on the way to DD in the morning and on the return trip in the afternoon. The AK bus stops at BB on the way to AK in the AM and on the way back in the PM. Buses have been running about every 20 minutes since we've been here. The new GPS system is pretty nice and the system announces each stop based on the GPS program.
 
Sounds wonderful Doc. When we went on our big family trip in 05 we were in building 25. It is a great location.

Have fun making those great memories!
 
Good to hear you are enjoying your visit! Sorry about the rain -- but we really need it and much more to get out from under this drought.

How far along is Disney with the bus GPS conversion? Is it new bus deliveries only or are they converting existing fleet? That is a great way for them to improve utilization and reduce costs.

Enjoy the time with the family :)
 
Sounds like a great trip...

I cant wait to get a GV one day....
Great idea for the bus ride around the property to keep
the little one's busy....

My DD was 4 on her 1st trip.......she said her favorite part was
the bus ride:scared1: 5 grand later....and she remembers the bus:lmao:

I realized it was the 1st time she ever traveled in a moving
vehicle.....without being hogtied in a car seat:goodvibes
Enjoy this special time
Kerri
 


Sounds like a great trip...

I cant wait to get a GV one day....
Great idea for the bus ride around the property to keep
the little one's busy....

My DD was 4 on her 1st trip.......she said her favorite part was
the bus ride:scared1: 5 grand later....and she remembers the bus:lmao:

I realized it was the 1st time she ever traveled in a moving
vehicle.....without being hogtied in a car seat:goodvibes
Enjoy this special time
Kerri

The bus with the "purple" seats was my DS4's favorite part of our trip too! I bought him a Disney Bus (metal diecast type) and he has played with it for over a year now. Makes you realize that kids really don't need much to be entertained and are grateful for the smaller things we may all take for granted.

Doc-sounds like a great trip. Must be so much fun to have all your family with you. Makes Disney ever more Magical! :love:

Bakely
 
Hi Doc!

Thanks for taking the time from your family vacation to keep the rest of us up to date on your trip. I agree with some of the other posters that it helps the rest of us while we wait patiently (or impatiently) until our next WDW trip.

My next trip to WDW will be 10/5-10/13 and this will be my first stay at OKW. First 2 nights will be in a studio, and then the rest of trip we will be adding a 1BR lock off to the studio. I can't wait.

I look foward to more updates from you sprinkled here and there and then your full trip report and pics when you get back.

Enjoy your family and the Grand Villa. I hope to one day stay at a Grand Villa myself.
 
Hi Doc,
I enjoy the updates...we arrive at OKW on 6/24 in a 2-bedroom. Building #23 is my favorite. I always request close to the HH. What building did you get the GV in? Are you in the same area? Look forward to more reports
 


Thanks for sharing, you are a brave man taking 4 little ones on a bus ride and walk by yourself. :thumbsup2
 
What's up Doc?! Sorry, I couldn't resist! Great to hear y'all are having fun. We have never stayed at OKW but may next year because there will be 8 of us and we will be booking multiple rooms (we would never survive a vacation together if we were all in the same room :scared: ) and the points just seem to go further there. Keep us posted on how your week is going!
 
Doc, thanks for the updates. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
 
Great trip updates ..thanks ...looking forward to hearing more! We've reserved our first GV in Oct with 2 studios for a family reunion (15 people) ...any words of advise????

Thanks again!
Peggy
 
Great trip updates ..thanks ...looking forward to hearing more! We've reserved our first GV in Oct with 2 studios for a family reunion (15 people) ...any words of advise????

Thanks again!
Peggy

My only advice is not to overplan. When we had 13, we tried to keep "together" plans to one a day. We also planned together meals (one a day) and had each family group do a meal. It was easier that way. The days meal family let everyone know when and what the meal would be, and it was up to everyone to be there at the right time and place. Things went very well, and the only glitch we had was that one single mom and her DD had difficulty getting used to having that many people around all the time. THey didn't sleep well because of it.
 
I'd agree about the planning. We have planned to do things in the parks together but it is difficult at times to get schedules in sync for 11 different people.

We all went to MK on Sunday morning, took a break for a swim and then went back into MGM that evening. Monday we all went to Blizzard Beach for the day, but came back in shifts as some tired out more quickly.

Tuesday, we got an early start at AK but again did shifts based on the kids needs. We went back into the MK about 7:30 and stayed until closing - spending our time in Toon Town and Fantasyland.

Wednesday we originally planned to go to TL, but now will have a more quiet day - taking the kids on the monorail, Ferry Boat and resort launches before our Chef Mickey's dinner tomorrow evening.

Thursday we'll spend the morning at Epcot and after a break head back to MK for the evening. The kids all head home on Friday and DW and I then move back into a 1BR for a couple of nites to relax before heading back home.

We have dined out each day, but planned breakfast and light dinners in the room each day also.

It's been a great trip so far. I will get the AKV construction photos posted soon as well as some photos of the construction at CR.
 
Sounds like a great trip....

I know you'll really enjoy that 1br for a few days;) ...
Enjoy these last precious days:goodvibes
Kerri
 
Glad you are going to catch a few days sans little ones to relax before you go home! We always do that too.

I can't wait to see how much has changed at the AKV construction site since our trip last month. Be sure you get some photos from that last stairwell on the far left side of the lodge building.
 
Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Were you able to see the new AKV construction by the HCA parking lot? I could see it at the far end but closest to the existing building...the front row of cars not the back loop.

A few nights of relaxation sounds perfect.
 
We had a wonderful trip. Our kids all got away safely on Friday and all made it home safely. DW and I moved to a 1BR on Friday and there ws one available at 11:00am when we vacated the GV. We were in bldg 64 with a view of the island green. The LBV course has been closed as they are refurbishing the greens and tees - so it was a quiet area. We were able to see the shuttle launch Fri evening from our balcony. We have now seen 7 launches from WDW and it is always a spectacular site.

With all of the activity in the parks with the 5 grandkids, we opted for a couple of very quiet days. It was great!

We did have dinner at CA Grille last nite and I was able to get some photos of the construction site from 14 stories up and will post those and the AKV photos later tonite when we get home. I'm sitting at MCO right now - typing this on my Blackberry - waiting for our flight in about an hour.

DME was great again, we got an upgrade (flying Airtran) and have already gotten an email from OwnersLocker letting us know our locker is safely back in storage until our next trip. If you haven't checked out this service yet, it's well worth consideration. You can get the details at www.OwnersLocker.com .

Our villas at OKW were all in great shape, clean and well supplied. The bell staff were very helpful and we even got a welcome call from the housekeeping supervisor for our building asking if everything was in order when we got to our room. Since we were in 3 different rooms - we had 3 contacts.

Our plane is here and we're boarding now. :(
 
Sounds like the end of a wonderful trip, Doc! I'm hoping to have a similar trip report after we return from our November trip with our new step grandchildren. Glad to hear you took some "R&R" time after they went home! Also glad to hear OKW is still in great shape!
 
Sounds like another wonderful trip for you and your wife, Doc! But how could it not? The combination of DVC and grandkids go well together IMHO. I can't wait for my turn in December.

So, when's your next trip? We all know it can't be too far off! LOL. :rotfl:
 
Here are a few photos taken this past week. I have already posted the CR and AKV construction photos in separate threads.

We had a nice view of the launch of shuttle Atlantis Friday evening. We were in a 1BR in building 64 (#6421) and got these images of the launch. We were watching Atlantis just above the roof of building 63 next to our building. For a view of a larger image, click on the link below each photo.

9488ShuttleLaunch_001-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488ShuttleLaunch_001.jpg

9488ShuttleLaunch_003-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488ShuttleLaunch_003.jpg

We had dinner at CA Grille last nite. We were seated in the Wine Room, which looks over Bay Lake and has a great view towards Epcot, MGM and AK in addition to the Poly and GF from the observation deck on that side of the CR.

9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_003-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_003.jpg

9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_004-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_004.jpg

9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_007-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_007.jpg

9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_008-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_008.jpg

9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_018-med.jpg

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/500/9488CA_Grille-6-09-07_018.jpg
 

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