WLV/VGF right before Christmas!

[ercrbc]

Greetings!
We returned a week ago from our first trip to the world at Christmas time. I have several pics from the VGF and a few from the WLV and would love to share them and some of our adventures if anyone is interested in reading about it

Background of the trip:
DH surprised me when the VGF went on sale last Spring with a small add-on. I was so excited to plan our first stay in a standard view 1BR for the weekend before Christmas! Our trip originally was just the 5 of us. DH, my 8yo DD, 5yo DS, and 2yo DD. Plan was to arrive Thurs, and check-out on Monday.

Two months prior to the trip, I had some thoughts about taking the kids down a few days early. DH had to work through Wed, but the kids were off the entire week from school. We have APs and extra HHI pts available and I made the mistake of checking availability only to find....a 1BR at the WLV for the three nights right before our VGF trip! Too perfect to be true? I obviously booked it right then

But yikes, 3 nights alone with my kids at Disney? If y'all have any idea what my 2yo is like you would think I was insane for considering it. Oh and did I mention my 8yo is a red-head? I was definitely going to need some back up assistance. I called on one of my favorite babysitters. She helped me regularly during college but graduated last year and has a 'real' job now. She loves Disney and my monsters so I thought I would see if there was any chance she could come with us the first 3 nights. SHE SAID YES! Which meant our split stay adventure was a go!

Plan for the trip:
First three nights in a 1BR at the WLV. Myself (Mrs Incredible), beloved babysitter (Mary Poppins), DD 8 (Merida), DS 5 (Buzz), and DD 2 (Tinkerbell). I brought a twin size air mattress and planned to put Merida on the floor in the master, sleep in the king with Tink and Buzz. Mary would be on the pull out in the living room.

I would drive with the kids and arrive the first afternoon around 2pm. Mary had to work that day and planned to fly in late the first night and take the ME to the resort. I scheduled the meal plan, which we rarely do but figured for three nights it would be worth it not to deal with groceries when we would only be in the room for 3 nights.

I scheduled the following table service for the first three days: Day 2 breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Dinner at Teppan Edo in Epcot. Day 3 Dinner at 1900 Park Fare in the GF.

We planned to do Epcot the second day and MK the third (there was a MVMCP scheduled the first full day and I wanted to get the most out of Mary's non hopper 3 day tix). The fourth day we were checking out of the Lodge and into the VGF. Mary had to catch the ME bus at the WL at 1:30 and then DH (Mr Incredible) would arrive at the VGF by ME around 2.

Next four nights in a standard view 1BR at the VGF with Mr. Incredible, myself and the kids. Did I mention we are kind of spoiled and usually stay in a 2BR? Love all the space of the 2BRs at HHI and OKW, but to save pts I wanted to try the 1BR at VGF. Regardless of the room size, I couldn't wait to try the VGF! No meals scheduled the last part of the trip, DH really doesn't like Disney Dining so we typically eat in the room. Figured one of us would head to the store on Thursday afternoon.

We had Magic bands, and Fast Pass + and dining credits so a little more scheduled than our typical trips. But I was excited to be adventurous

Next up, arrival at the Lodge!

 

[ercrbc]

Day 1: Arrival at the Lodge

We are 6.5-7.5 hrs from WDW by car, depending on traffic, stops and of course melt downs. Since I was driving alone I planned to leave EARLY to make the most of the zombie time my kids go through the first couple hrs they are awake each day. All were loaded into the van and we were off by 6:30am. Zombie time lasted a full 3hrs and the excitement of heading to Disney gave me a blast of good luck and we had ZERO meltdowns the entire trip! Stopped only 2xs for gas/food and we pulled into the Lodge around 2pm. Excellent time and a much better trip than I had anticipated

First thing we saw as we walked in:

Everyone who talks about how gorgeous the WLV are at Christmas time is 100% spot on. The feel of the Lodge was incredible, very cozy and decked out for the holidays.

Check in with the magic bands wasn't as smooth as I was hoping. I had 3 boxes of MBs, (yes, THREE). First box was for the first 3 nights at the WLV for me and the kids, next box was Mary's band, next box was for DH, myself and the kids at the VGF. Well, two of the bands weren't working so I pulled out extras from the VGF box for them to use instead. They got Merida's working but not mine. It took more than 45 min in the lobby to get them figured out and still mine wasn't working. The kids were totally restless and were starting to get pretty loud so they sent us on to our room and told me they would call when my band was set up.

The room was great, close to the elevators and facing the bus stop. View was nothing to write home about but we never went out on the balcony so no big deal. BS came, we unpacked and then I got a call my band was waiting at the front desk. I had no plans to take the kids anywhere that night on my own, only to explore the lodge and get them to bed early so we would be ready for our 8:20 breakfast the next morning.

We explored the lodge a bit, and stopped in the Cubs Den. Last year we stayed at the WLV and Merida, Buzz and I spent a couple hrs playing there one day while Tink was napping. Well, they no longer let you walk in and play, it is ONLY for those dropping off. Merida was disappointed, but I promised when Tink is old enough next year we will be thrilled to drop them off for a night.

That first night was a bit of a blur, we stopped by the pin cart and bought new pins, I chased Tink all over the lobby. We explored the beach and made smore's by the campfire. Had a quick dinner at Roaring Forks, then back to the lobby where I chased Tink out of several more photo bomb attempts and called it a night.

Chasing Tink:

decorations from Lodge to Villas:

I wish I had taken more pics, but didn't get tons of chances while both hands were occupied most of the time I was at the WLV! But the decorations were really great, and the tree in the villas was beautiful even if it was much smaller than the one in the main lodge. We loved experiencing the WLV at Christmas time and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting that extra magical holiday feeling!

 

[ercrbc]

Epcot day!
Our first full day started with breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 8:20. This was unfortunate for Mary whose flight was severely delayed the night before. She didn't crawl into her sofa bed at the lodge until after 2am. She said ME was super easy and check in was quick since all they did was give her a working magic band and send her off to our room.

BUT, I'm sure that 7am wake up call from my super excited monsters wasn't so easy just 5hrs later. I couldn't tell though, she bounced up and was ready to go. Of course I can't make it anywhere on time so we were still not quite out the door at 8am. Called for the car and by 8:10 we were pulling away from the WL and heading toward the Contemporary. Originally we had planned to take the boat but once 7:30 came and went so did that plan

The car trip was definitely the better choice and we pulled into a parking space at the Contemporary at 8:14 and checked into CM at 8:20 on the dot. The kids had a great time and Mary and I were very happy for the coffee Tink wanted nothing to do with any of the characters, but Merida and Buzz were happy to meet and get pics with all. Hope my pictures aren't terribly big, I always have issues with sizing!

Merida, Buzz and Minnie

Merida, Buzz and Pluto

Tink was on my lap anytime a character came near the table

 

[ercrbc]

From there we headed to Epcot. Had Fast Pass + scheduled for all of us to do Soarin between 1:30 and 2:30.

Btw, this was our first time with the whole MB/FP+ thing, and overall it seems to work well. I was told when we checked in that we could use our APs to pull regular FPs and still have the 3 prescheduled FP + on our MB to use. Oh and our MBs could charge to the room, open the door to the room and the gate to parking. So seemed pretty cool.

I downloaded the app for My Disney Experience when we got to WDW, but had used it on my laptop at home to link reservations, APs and fast pass + to the MB. I used my phone app to change fast pass + times to later in the day or for different parks on some occasion when our plans changed.

We arrived to Epcot around 10am and I used my AP for 3 real FP to TT, which had a return time of 11:30-12:30. **I did have issues using Buzz's AP for a FP. The CM there said they were having issues with some of the FP+ changes and pushed something so it gave me valid FP. No big deal. Standby was 30 min so Mary took Buzz and Merida on the ride while I took Tink over to the Imagination ride with Figment. When the FP time came up we switched off and Mary took Tink on Nemo and I did TT with the big kids.
We kind of just snacked for lunch and rode the Maelstrom and the Mexico boat ride a few times I think. Had no issues splitting up for our FP + time for Soarin.
Dinner was planned for Teppan Edo in Japan. While we were waiting Merida chose a pearl and was so delighted to see the oyster shucked and the pearl cleaned off. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it! We all really enjoyed dinner and would definitely go back again. Overall we had a great day and no problems with the Magic Bands or FP+ at Epcot.

Here is a pic of the tree at Epcot. I loved seeing the big trees at all the parks this week

 

[ercrbc]

Magic Kingdom day was next! Merida was dying to ride Splash and Thunder and although I set up FP+ for both of those later in the afternoon, she insisted Mary take her first thing. Buzz, btw, does not dig the mountains. He rode Thunder on our last trip but wasn't thrilled and hasn't been up to try another "mountain" anytime soon. But no big deal since Tink can't go anyway. I took both the little kids over to ride Peter Pan and to try to get a regular FP for the Little Mermaid ride.

Uh-oh. This was the first time we had an issue with the FP+ and regular FP. Buzz's AP wouldn't work in the FP machine like it hadn't at TT the day before. When I asked the CM for help she was pretty sharp with me and pointed out it wasn't working because I was trying to cheat the system. WHAT? I was a little put off by her less than magical explanation. So I took the 2 working FPs for Ariel and hightailed it out of there. And avoided talking to any CMs near FP machines the rest of the trip

We used our first FP + to do Enchanted Tales with Belle. Well worth it as it was cute, but not something I would have wanted to wait the 60+ min wait times I saw throughout our trip. Buzz was picked to be 'chip' and was fun to watch him interact with Belle. Merida tried to get Tink in the parade with Belle and in a picture after but it was pretty bad, lol. Tink didn't really warm up to Belle.

We had a wonderful day and rode everything the kids wanted to ride. I definitely noticed the crowds picked up around noon and never really slowed down. We had FP+ options in the afternoon so that worked well. I had the little kids on the Pooh ride at one point and we picked something for Tinkerbell at the store afterward. My magic band wouldn't work, it was saying I had checked out of the resort. 35 min in the store and finally the CM was able to figure out what to do to connect with my account. I was also told that my magic band wouldn't work again until I went back to the desk at the WL. Annoying but luckily Mary had charging options and we were on the MP for dinner.

Tink finally warmed up to some of the characters at the Magic Kingdom. She saw the 'real' Buzz from a distance and ran toward him wanting to meet him. Then she got close to and danced with the 'real' Mrs. Incredible!

Here is the MK tree as we were heading out to dinner at 1900 Park Fare:

 

[ercrbc]

Dinner that night was fantastic! We just hopped on the monorail and got off at the GF. I can't hardly believe it but I didn't take a single picture while we were there! It was really breathtaking though, the tree was massive and there was an incredible Gingerbread house they had set up a holiday treats store in. The GF smelled like Christmas everywhere

The characters at dinner were really fun, even Tink got into it and hugged Cinderella and her step sisters. She laughed at the step mother and had a blast with all of them. Very different than our experience with her at Chef Mickey's the day before. The buffet had tons of great options. I don't eat meat and was thrilled to discover vegan pot stickers and numerous other veggie options available. And the strawberry soup?? That was easily everyone's favorite

We were all tired after dinner and Tink managed to have one quick meltdown right as we were finishing (something about her wanting to dance on the table and me not letting her) so we decided to ride the monorail back and get on the bus for the WL instead of staying for the fireworks. We were so happy to see the WL boat loading up right as we got off the monorail. Watching the castle decked out in beautiful Christmas lights as we rode the boat back was the perfect end to the day.

Meanwhile, I promise I did a much better job getting pics when we arrived at the VGF the next day

 

[NoleFan]

We went 2nd week of December and did 1 night @ VWL & 1 night VGF. Loved those resorts this time of year. Very memorable pre-Christmas trip! Glad you enjoyed your trip, too!

 

[ercrbc]

We went 2nd week of December and did 1 night @ VWL & 1 night VGF. Loved those resorts this time of year. Very memorable pre-Christmas trip! Glad you enjoyed your trip, too!

Thanks NoleFan! I am enjoying going back and remembering all the fun we had I really loved the combo of VWL and VGF. Both felt very themed and absolutely full of Christmas atmosphere, but in different ways.

I am really glad we had the chance to see and stay at the WLV during the holidays! Feel like that is something all DVC members should try at least once

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, it was day four and we were checking out of the WLV and would check back into the VGF later that afternoon.

We made no firm plans that morning knowing we would be packing up and transferring resorts. This was our first 'split stay' so I was a bit nervous about the whole process. I packed everything up and called BS. Mary had to catch the ME at the WLV at 1:30, so we planned to spend the morning at the MK and know we would have plenty of time to get her to the ME on time. Then Mr. Incredible was due to come in by ME at the VGF around 2:30. I went to the desk on our way to the car to officially check out, as they recommended so I wouldn't have issues checking in at the VGF. Oh, and they did fix the issues on my Magic Band from the day before.

We drove over to the VGF and parked in the lot there. I didn't attempt to check in or anything, we had the parking pass from the CM at the gate and instead just hopped on the monorail to the MK.

MK morning was great, Merida got her mountain fix with Mary, and I took the little ones on Dumbo, Pooh, PP and the Ariel ride again. We switched off and I took Merida on Space right before lunch (had a FP+), and Mary took the little ones to the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor. Buzz LOVES Monsters Inc and Monsters University and he thought this was so much fun. Mary said Tink had a great time and got into it as well.

We all got to ride Pooh together with a scheduled FP+ and grabbed some food at the Cosmic Rays quick service right across from the Speedway. I usually don't have much opinion on QS as most is pretty much the same overpriced stuff....but, I do have to throw some praise out for the Veggie burger here. REALLY good. Far superior to the nasty thing I tried later in the week at the Rainforest. Lesson learned on that

As our last ride together we did the teacups with no wait and went 2xs. Buzz and Tink laughed the entire time. They had such a good time on this ride

Originally Mary was going to take the boat back to the WLV and we were going to hang out until it was close for Mr. Incredible to come. About the time Mary had to leave, Tink got upset and then Mary remembered she left something in the car. So we decided to all leave together and we would drive Mary back to the WLV. We took the monorail to the VGF and then drove her back to the Lodge. With about 3 minutes to spare, we saw the ME pull in as we were leaving the gate.

I was sad to say goodbye to Mary, we had a lot of fun for the 2 1/2 days she was with us. I told her if she could survive Tink's meltdown at 1900 Park Fare she could survive any of the future adventures of the Incredible family. Hope she enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed having her

So as sad as we were to say good-bye, we were SO happy to head to the VGF and officially check in! And Mr. Incredible would be arriving within the hour! So exciting

 

[ercrbc]

If you have been checking in to see when I got to the VGF, today is the day. We arrived about 1:45. The parking, btw, was very good. I forgot something and had to run back and was less than 2 min to walk from the lobby to the parking lot. Much closer than the lot at the WLV are to the villas.

There are several CMs in the lobby available to greet and check you in. Instead of a big front desk they use individual desks with nice chairs. It kind of felt like a bank, but worked with the resort. Our room wasn't ready but I we had received our request of a high floor. Cool!

The big kids were very happy to sit and watch cartoons while I checked in, and Tink was in the stroller shoeless the whole time. She had a little fit about putting her boots back on when we got out of the car, so she couldn't get out until she put them back on. Check in was quick as we did on-line before the trip, and we had no issues with MBs, I just handed him Mr. Incredibles to make sure his was working as well (after having so many issues getting mine up and loaded at the WLV, I didn't want to have DH back at the desk dealing with his!).

I don't have a picture of the outside entrance of the villas. Tink was willing to put her boots back on once we checked in and she noticed the fountain.

 

[ercrbc]

Since the room was not ready, we decided to go explore a little. Other than our trip to 1900 Park Fare the night before, none of us had spent much time at this resort. It is gorgeous, and very friendly.

We wandered over to the area by the beach pool. This is a picture of the main building with the beach pool behind me. Other pics are from the pool area, splash pad and near the beach.

 

[ercrbc]

And a couple more:

While we were exploring we noticed the ME bus out in front of the main building! Then we saw Mr. Incredible walking our way The kids were all thrilled to see him and ran up for hugs. Tink took his bag for him and we made our way back over to the villas.

 

[ercrbc]

Our room assignment was on the 6th floor! I snapped a pic down to the lobby as we got off the elevator:

Our room was fairly close to the elevators. It was spotless although there was a funky smell that lasted the duration of our trip. It was so strange, we looked all over for the source and couldn't find it. The rest of the building had a wonderful 'new' smell. We quickly got used to it though and only noticed right as we entered the room.

I took several pictures of the room but will start with the VIEW! High floor is definitely the way to request at VGF. I can't believe this was a standard view:
to the left-

straight on-

to the right-

Looking down at the covered walkway leading to the main building and monorail:

Here is the balcony:

 

[ercrbc]

I know there are tons of pics of the inside of the rooms, but I thought I would share these as well. We love to get a 2BR on most of our trips, the ability to spread out is so nice. Well, I knew we would be in tighter quarters in the 1BR but it really was much bigger than I was expecting! And felt much bigger than the 1BR at the WLV. The layout was really nice and we had plenty of space for all of us.

From kitchen table:

Master closet (we put all of our suitcases there and had plenty of space)

Master bath vanity (with TV):

Master bath tub:

Bathroom with shower:

From the shower looking down the hall. W/D and utility closet in that hall, door at the end is lock off studio portion of room:

LOVED THIS SHOWER!!!!

 

[ercrbc]

Once we got settled in, the kids were begging to go swimming. Given that it was 73 degrees outside and the beach pool was almost all shaded at that point, I was hoping to stay dry. Mr. Incredible was thankfully up for a swim so we went down to the pool.

The pools and slides are a big deal to my kids, btw. They prioritize swim time over some rides, so they were pretty excited it was warm *enough* to go. Both went down the slide several times and Merida said it was good, but not great. She is kind of a slide snob and loves the BWV rollercoaster one the best. HHI and SSR Paddock are tied for #2 and all others she has tried get a 'meh' LOL Buzz LOVED the slide and thought it was perfect. He is a bit less of a thrill seeker though.

The splash pad was a big hit with Tink. Buzz had a good time playing on it too but Merida was quickly called over to be measured and was in fact just over the 48" maximum height. She was pretty peeved about that but recovered completely when she discovered the massive courtyard pool and hot tub close by. Here are a couple more from the beach pool/splash pad I took that afternoon:

Buzz coming down the slide taken from bridge:

 

[ercrbc]

That fourth day was pretty adventuresome for us. After our swim Mr Incredible checked line times and wanted to head to Epcot and wander around and get a drink. That got my vote so we cleaned the kids up and left to catch the monorail.

We had one QS meal left on our MP so we went to Sunshine Seasons in the Land. I had spotted a vegetarian noodle dish there while getting a snack a few days before and I wanted to try it.

The vegan Mongolian noodles were GREAT. Mr. Incredible was also impressed and wants to eat here again. After dinner we rode Nemo, wandered around the WS and of course rode the Maelstrom several times. My kids LOVE the "troll ride" and we spend a good bit of time in Norway every trip

We left for the VGF around 8:30. We wanted to get back to the room and settle the kids into their sleeping arrangements for the next few nights.

I don't think I mentioned that the plan for sleeping at the WLV changed drastically from my original intention to put Merida on the floor and sleep in the king with the little ones. Instead, Tink wanted the floor bed, and Merida started off in the big bed with me and Buzz. Mistake. She is a bed hog and mean when sleepy. She kept kicking Buzz and then would yell at him to get out of the way. Poor Buzz never even moved other than to snuggle against me to protect him from her. So by the second night I kicked Merida onto the floor to a bed made of couch cushions and a sleeping bag.

I was pretty concerned about sleeping arrangements at the VGF. Putting Merida and Tink in the pullout wasn't going to work since Tink was already pointing to the little bed. We foolishly attempted to put Buzz and Merida in the pull out but that created immediate drama. Then we came up with a solution We made a couch cushion bed for Tink right next to Buzz on the little bed. Merida could spread out all she wanted on the pull out. They all slept wonderfully. Here is how it looked:

 

[ercrbc]

That first night we had finally settled the kids into their sleeping arrangements when we heard some loud thunder and Merida came in worried. We went out to the balcony and realized we had a great view of Holiday Wishes from the MK

This was such a treat for us! We rarely stay for the fireworks at the parks, our kids don't do well out late and we don't like fighting through crowds to get back out of the park afterward.

Here is some of the show we had from our balcony:

 

[ttepsich]

Great trip report !!!! I was just getting on Disboards for a hot second to look at the rent board for a point transfer before I started preparing our New Years Day meal. Jumped over to the trip report board.....started reading your trip report and couldn't stop! Enjoyed it thoroughly! Thanks ! DH and I spent 3 nights at VGF in November. We LOVED it !!! Going back in July for a split stay with my DD. We will only be doing 2 nights at VGF then off to BCV (our home) for 5 nights. Your pictures were amazing. Did you use a camera or a cell phone?

 

[ercrbc]

Great trip report !!!! I was just getting on Disboards for a hot second to look at the rent board for a point transfer before I started preparing our New Years Day meal. Jumped over to the trip report board.....started reading your trip report and couldn't stop! Enjoyed it thoroughly! Thanks ! DH and I spent 3 nights at VGF in November. We LOVED it !!! Going back in July for a split stay with my DD. We will only be doing 2 nights at VGF then off to BCV (our home) for 5 nights. Your pictures were amazing. Did you use a camera or a cell phone?

Thanks for reading Ttepsich! I used my phone for pictures this trip, it's a Samsung Galaxy III. I usually like to have my SLR for pics around the resort, but didn't pack it this time. I had a feeling Tink would keep me chasing her too much to really use it, and I was definitely right. I can't believe all the pics I started to take and then never got! Like seeing Merida's pearl come out of the oyster in Japan (Tink was a bit hard to keep up in that store, TOYS everywhere!) Also I thought for sure I had one of the Christmas tree at the AK. But nope, I then remembered I was about to get a shot of Buzz in front of it when Tink took off running toward the Men's restroom. Oh well, she won't be two forever

The next morning we went to the Animal Kingdom. I had FP+ set up for Hollywood Studios that night. In our 4 years of trips to Disney I have yet to see Fantasmic. I chose to use a FP+ option for it and figured we would head over there sometime after 4pm.

Animal Kingdom was a good choice that morning, we got there at 9am and there were minimal crowds (it opened at 8 but so did MK that day). I took Merida on EE for the first time. She loved it and wanted to go again and again

While we had been on EE, Mr. Incredible had taken the little ones on the Safari. No one looked too happy when we met up with them. Buzz was NOT enjoying himself and told me he HATED this park. Tink was just being Tink, and driving Mr. Incredible a little crazy . Merida and Mr. Incredible took off toward EE again, and I took the little ones toward the Dinoland playground and to ride the triceratops ride. Merida and Mr. Incredible met back up with us and wanted to ride the primeval whirl or whatever that coaster ride is. Buzz decided he wanted a "blue Icee" so we went hunting for one. As we were looking, we stopped by one of the WE booths. Which we learned was a "Wilderness Explorer" station.

For those of you not familiar with this, AK has WE stations set up all over the park (themed after Russell, the Wilderness Explorer in UP). You can get a guide book and at each station a CM goes through specific information related to that area of the park. The kids earn a sticker "badge" for each station completed. Sounds fun, right? Yeah, Buzz was super psyched about this. He suddenly decided the AK was his FAVORITE park and desperately wanted to earn every badge. Especially the yeti and bat badges all the way at the back of the park. We did the ones at Dinoland, then met back up with Merida and Mr. Incredible and stopped to complete all the stations on the way to the front of the park. We all did The Bugs Life show and wanted to go to the Rainforest for lunch and call it a day. I took the girls and Mr. Incredible took Buzz to hit the 2-3 stations on the way out of the park. We promised him we would come back again to complete more badges .

Here is Buzz with his book much later that night. He carried this book everywhere for the rest of the trip, btw:

 

[kristenabelle]

How sweet! This looks like a fantastic trip! Your report pretty much convinced me that I need to book VGF at some point in the very near future for at least one night- the views looked awesome and the rooms seemed spacious. So glad you all had a wonderful time!

 

[ercrbc]

How sweet! This looks like a fantastic trip! Your report pretty much convinced me that I need to book VGF at some point in the very near future for at least one night- the views looked awesome and the rooms seemed spacious. So glad you all had a wonderful time!

Hi Kristenabelle! I definitely think you should work a night or a few at the VGF in your plans sometime soon! We had such a fabulous time, DVC really outdid themselves with this resort. Be sure to request a HIGH floor and maybe close to elevators? That was what I put down and we absolutely hit the standard view jackpot!

I think I left off as we were leaving the AK on Friday. We had a quick lunch at the Rainforest. As far as that experience I will give it a positive review for us being able to walk in at 12:30 and immediately be seated (with NO reservation). But as far as the food...I think I mentioned my veggie burger previously Definitely not worth trying that again. The kids had fun though and we were able to get in and out fairly quickly.

Mr. Incredible decided to drive out to the Publix and grab a few essentials so we could eat most our remaining meals in the room. I was going to take Merida and Tink back on the bus. Buzz decided he was DONE as we walked out. He layed on the pavement in front of the bus stop signs and insisted his legs wouldn't move another step. He is definitely the most dramatic of the Incredible crew. Merida and I could see that the GF/WL stop was the very first stop, and the bus was RIGHT THERE! We told Buzz have fun at the store and we RAN for that bus .

This was the only time we took the bus at the VGF. It took maybe 20min to get to the WL and then another 5 to get back to the VGF. Tink fell asleep on my lap and I was even able to put her back in the stroller when we got back and she continued sleeping. She slept all the way into the room and until Mr. Incredible returned 20 min later. Neither Tink or Buzz wanted to swim, but Merida was begging to go to the Courtyard pool. Mr. Incredible was happy to have TV time in the room with the little kids, so I agreed to take her down.

I didn't take my phone so no pics of the courtyard pool! Sorry, MBs are easy that way We LOVED the courtyard pool, very large and it was zero entry and slow to get deep. Oh and very sunny so I could tolerate getting in (think the high was 78 that day). Merida loved snorkeling around the shallow end in her goggles. There were also a few water sprays that I know Buzz and Tink would have had fun with. The hot tub was very nice also.

After our swim we went back to shower and get ready to spend the evening at Hollywood studios. I was very excited to see Fantasmic, although Mr. Incredible wasn't looking forward to it. He tends to be a bit pessimistic regarding my plans with the kids. He thought we would be chasing them or dealing with meltdowns and crowds. I was confident that the new FP+ option would make it a doable show for us