Grand Gathering at OKW Grand Villa, The End!

[Mammabruski]

Sadly, the time has come… yes; it’s my final trip report! Check out the last part, and if you’d like to see how it all began and who was along for the ride check out part 1.

Our final day at WDW was Sunday, April 4th. It was a spectacular day, with brilliant sunshine and highs in the eighties. We slept in as we got home late from MK after Wishes the night before. We got packed, called luggage services and we were out the door for the last time at about 10:30am. When we checked our luggage in we were the only ones in line! By the time we were done, there was quite a line that had formed… GOOD NEWS: you can now use RAC for Southwest at OKW. Last I had read they weren’t ready to implement it yet, but we were all checked in and ready to go!

We took the boat to DTD, shopped for a bit, had lunch at The Earl of Sandwich and headed back to OKW by boat. DD2 was out cold and they let us keep the stroller open on the boat. When we got back my DH, DP, DD1 and I went for a swim at the main pool. It was quite crowded and nothing special – I preferred the quiet pool by our villa. After swimming we tried to use up the last of our credits from the DDP (we bought some strangers lunch with our left over CS credits at DTD). Our time for the ME came way too soon, and we were off to MCO.

Flights were on time, we got to Denver around 8pm, and we were home by 1am (which was like 3am to our bodies since we’d been on EST for over a week). Yes, we had to work the next day- 6 am came way too soon!

So that was our amazing trip… I mentioned this in the pre-trip report, but I want to say it again: THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! This trip was “sponsored” by my DM (Pirate Granny) and my DP. It was so wonderful and I can’t wait to do it all again in 2014!

Here are some of my general thoughts about everything:

OKW
LOVED IT! And so did everyone else… So my DM bought points there!!!! My sisters and I are also on the contract so that we can take over as time goes on…. And so we can communicate with the DVC people as well as get annual pass discounts, etc. We’re currently waiting on Disney to decide if we can buy our points for the agreed upon price (known as ROFR).

The remodel of the rooms was nice, I do like the new colors and how they did finish the furniture, but I have to say that they really should’ve replaced the appliances. They were OLD. I also think they could’ve re-surfaced the cabinets, or even re-hung them. The cabinets in our kitchen were very crooked and not level. Some of the tile is really out dated, for example in all the showers/bath areas it’s one big ugly piece of orange tub surround. And the bathrooms had lots of ground dirt in the edges of the tiles. Over all it is what I’d call a lipstick fix. I’m ok with it, but they are going to need to do more work on them imho, sometime in the near future.

DDP/ Dining Experiences
I have to say I really wish you had a choice between dessert and an appetizer. I also think it would be great if you could get a plan without dessert. I felt I had to eat it because we paid for it, and in particular at the CS locations, the options are not great. I have a feeling that the next time we go (June of next year), I won’t want the DDP. I’d much prefer to have just a few select TS meals, and then try to find more variety in our choices for the CS meals. I also don’t think I want to do much more than one character meal. It was way too much to mind two small children, eat food, and get good pictures and autographs from the characters. I figure if we hit up the Character Spot in Epcot right at open we can catch the Fab 5, go to the Pooh and Tigger meet and greet as soon as DAK opens, see Duffy and then do one of the Castles, and that would be more than enough characters for my girls.

Photopass
We pre-purchased the CD, and DM just ordered it a couple nights ago… Although we got a fair amount of pictures at Epcot and MK, we didn’t get as many at DHS and DAK due to the horrible weather. In fact I don’t think we got ANY at DAK. What really made me angry were the borders. As we went through and edited the photos we noticed Disney really cut back on the available borders. I couldn’t get the “my first visit” border on the one pic I have of just my DH, myself and DD2. It was really disappointing; because the last trip (6/2009) we had great border choices!

Crowds
The crowds were NUTS! Not quite as bad as our 2004 Christmas trip, but still pretty busy. We watched the numbers on Touring Plans go up and up as the departure date of our trip approached. We were supposed to have crowd levels of 4-6 and they ended up at 8-10… Touring Plans also frequently changed their “Best Park” Worst Park” recommendations and that was annoying as well. We were able to get to almost everything we wanted to do, but we had very few repeats…

Well, I think that about wraps it up. Thanks to everyone who read my reports, I loved reading your comments…. I can’t wait until our next trip (June of 2012) as first time DVC owners! Until then, I’ll just have to live vicariously through all your reports!

[princessgirls]

Maggie,

Thanks for your awesome reports! Sounds like you truly had a magical time with your family!!
So cool of your parents to do that for their kids and grandkids!

Thanks for sharing your Disney Adventure with us!

Julie

[Disney-4-Me]

I read this one first but I'm going back now to read your previous repoerts.

I can relate to your thoughts on the Dining Plan. We qualified for a free plan a couple of years ago in October and I felt like we spent more time eating than in the attractions during our long weekend. I also over ate because it was all "free" so I felt compelled.

I enjoyed reading. Thanks!

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report.

[MinnieMommie]

What a wonderful report. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to your June 2012 trip report.

[RedSoxFan]

I loved all your trip reports. Sounds like it was a wonderful family vacation.

[VWL Mom]

Enjoyed reading your reports, thanks for sharing

[wildernesslady]

Great reports. You will love DVC. Enjoy.

[yjgirl32]

Great report- thanks for sharing.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for all the Reports!

[PrettyMinnie]

I loved reading your reports! Thanks for the opinions on everything! Sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

[KylesMom]

Maggie, it's been really fun to tag along with the whole gang. I'm so glad it was everything you wanted it to be - and more. How exciting about purchasing DVC @ OKW!

Thanks for sharing each experience with us through your detailed trip reports. I really enjoyed them!

[faline]

Have you heard back from Disney about the Right of First Refusal?

Thanks for your reports - I've enjoyed traveling with you and your family.

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with the available borders. I just got back and haven't yet had a chance to check them out.