brivers222
01-20-2012, 01:54 PM
Previously on OVMDC
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=188474
Final Thoughts:
We have decided that after our Family Reunion on my parents timeshare points that we would look into buying DVC (hopefully at the Gf if the price is decent).
TRAVEL:
All-Star Limo
This was my stepmother inlaws limo service she uses for work. They were amazing for our wedding day so I decided to have them Pick us up and drop us off round trip from our home to Detroit Metro. Made the trip a lot easier and we didn't have to bug our family members to take us and pick us up.
Delta
I was a bit skeptical of flying and fitting in the 17" seats given my pooh sized birth... but an upgrade to first class eased all my concerns. Now way back on my first report i mentioned only time would tell if flying was better than driving 19hours. Verdict was in... FLYING was way better. We both loved the 2-1/2 flight as opposed to driving in a cramped car for 19hours.
Alamo
They were hassle free all the way. We bought the LDW which added $300 onto our orginally low priced $100 premium rental. But that piece of mind was well worth it. Our Credit Cards and car insurance DID NOT cover loss of use and those other fees that Alamo would have definitely come after us for with our luck. It was nice to just pick out a car, not inspect for every ding and then drop it off with whatever dings were created while parked in the valet lots.
Resorts:
Polynesian
We had the perfect room at the Polynesian. Tahiti building and right across from the Magic Kingdom. What started out as an OOPS with two queen beds soon turned into the BEST DECISION EVER! we both loved sleeping on different beds as we could get a decent night sleep. Tahiti building is actually closer to the TTC than it is to the Great Ceremonial House. So we would walk to the TTC and take the monorail to the Ceremonial house if we ever went there. We barely heard anyone else in the building accept for the occasional water running. The elevator felt like it was going to break at any second...thankfully if it did, it waited until we left. Still love the lobby of the Polynesian though. The Xmas decorations were very subtle but perfect at the same time. Would we stay at this resort again...Maybe if they develope a DVC there we would use our points...but not out of pocket.
Boardwalk:
A vast change from the Polynesian and decided up immediatley that this was our favorite resort out of the two. Granted we had to stay at the Poly to realize it wasn't as "us" as we would have liked to think. Our room was a king bed overlooking the front entrance to boardwalk and the valet. The lobby smelled like ginger bread as the house and fireplace displace seemed to take center stage. There was way more xmas decorations up at this resort and overall it just had a much better. We never really did figure out the boat transporation all that well but in all honestly to me that is a last resort as it take forever to get anywhere via the friendship boats. as an example we just missed the boat leaving the BW dock to Hollywood Studios... we ended up walking the long route at a leisurly pace and never saw the boat once...even as we were walking up to security! Would we stay here again... Without a doubt. We travel at non-peak DVC times so it maybe easy to use our points here.
DINING:
What can I say, everyone was right. The Deluxe Dining Plan was a MASS AMOUNT OF FOOD! But i can't say I regret it because after tallying all the numbers up from what we got we saved about $445 from if we were to buy all out of pocket. Now granted we wouldn't be doing all the desserts and stuff so its falsly inflated. Looking at our future trips with DVC its obvious that the TIW card is the ONLY way to dine. Problem is for us Michiganders its not that economical to buy an Annual Pass (up until DVC opens their TIW option, this is the ONLY way for us to get it).
We dined at some many delicious places, I could just like to sum of the "Best ofs"
Best Romantic Restaurant: California Grill (window seat during wishes)
Best Character Interaction: Crystal palace
Best Princess Meal: Akershus
Best Buffet: Chef Mickey's
Best Family Style Breakfast: Ohana
Best Family Style Dinner: Ohana
Best Buffet Dinner: Boma
Best Ice Cream: Beaches and Cream
Best Mac n cheese: Yachtsman Steakhouse
Best Steakhouse (me): Yachtsman
Best Steakhouse (YO!): Narcoosee
Best 1TS meal: Les Chefs
Best CS meal: We both liked Casey's but we really didn't eat CS at all.
Honarable mentions... Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time, Sci-fi, Garden Grill, HDDMR, Cape May Cafe.
Worst meal for two trips running (and officially the straw that broke the ADR making back): Cinderella's Royal Rip off! we will never go there again. Akershus is less points and way better interaction.
THEME PARKS:
Magic Kingdom is still our favorite and we can not wait to see the new fantasyland expansion. Animal kingdom just doesn't keep our interest. I know its cool, i got to ride on EE twice in a row but I still don't feel the love. This is one park I wouldn't mind if it went away.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
A Special touch to our 1 month anniversary was the Sleigh Ride... complete with jingle bells! i would recommend this to any who is looking for something special to do during Xmas in WDW.
The Key to the Kingdom tour was nice, but after reading all the stuff on here and other sites you almost know everything about the behind the scenes that they tell you on the tour. Glad we went, but probably won't do it again.
While we attended 3 MVMCP and one was rained out I have to say that the MNSSHP are so much better. I really missed all the costumes from the guests and just the feel of halloween in the park. Granted the snow falling was pretty cool and you can't omit the Osborne lights, they were simply amazing!
With that said, we have decided (well moreso me) to plan an October 2012 trip back to the world to take in the MNSSHPs again and hopefully get on booked on halloween as a special treat. SO next up once hours are released and ADR window is opened is the 2012 YO!, Brandon and Aunt Sues PRE-TRIP REPORT :)
http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=188474
Final Thoughts:
We have decided that after our Family Reunion on my parents timeshare points that we would look into buying DVC (hopefully at the Gf if the price is decent).
TRAVEL:
All-Star Limo
This was my stepmother inlaws limo service she uses for work. They were amazing for our wedding day so I decided to have them Pick us up and drop us off round trip from our home to Detroit Metro. Made the trip a lot easier and we didn't have to bug our family members to take us and pick us up.
Delta
I was a bit skeptical of flying and fitting in the 17" seats given my pooh sized birth... but an upgrade to first class eased all my concerns. Now way back on my first report i mentioned only time would tell if flying was better than driving 19hours. Verdict was in... FLYING was way better. We both loved the 2-1/2 flight as opposed to driving in a cramped car for 19hours.
Alamo
They were hassle free all the way. We bought the LDW which added $300 onto our orginally low priced $100 premium rental. But that piece of mind was well worth it. Our Credit Cards and car insurance DID NOT cover loss of use and those other fees that Alamo would have definitely come after us for with our luck. It was nice to just pick out a car, not inspect for every ding and then drop it off with whatever dings were created while parked in the valet lots.
Resorts:
Polynesian
We had the perfect room at the Polynesian. Tahiti building and right across from the Magic Kingdom. What started out as an OOPS with two queen beds soon turned into the BEST DECISION EVER! we both loved sleeping on different beds as we could get a decent night sleep. Tahiti building is actually closer to the TTC than it is to the Great Ceremonial House. So we would walk to the TTC and take the monorail to the Ceremonial house if we ever went there. We barely heard anyone else in the building accept for the occasional water running. The elevator felt like it was going to break at any second...thankfully if it did, it waited until we left. Still love the lobby of the Polynesian though. The Xmas decorations were very subtle but perfect at the same time. Would we stay at this resort again...Maybe if they develope a DVC there we would use our points...but not out of pocket.
Boardwalk:
A vast change from the Polynesian and decided up immediatley that this was our favorite resort out of the two. Granted we had to stay at the Poly to realize it wasn't as "us" as we would have liked to think. Our room was a king bed overlooking the front entrance to boardwalk and the valet. The lobby smelled like ginger bread as the house and fireplace displace seemed to take center stage. There was way more xmas decorations up at this resort and overall it just had a much better. We never really did figure out the boat transporation all that well but in all honestly to me that is a last resort as it take forever to get anywhere via the friendship boats. as an example we just missed the boat leaving the BW dock to Hollywood Studios... we ended up walking the long route at a leisurly pace and never saw the boat once...even as we were walking up to security! Would we stay here again... Without a doubt. We travel at non-peak DVC times so it maybe easy to use our points here.
DINING:
What can I say, everyone was right. The Deluxe Dining Plan was a MASS AMOUNT OF FOOD! But i can't say I regret it because after tallying all the numbers up from what we got we saved about $445 from if we were to buy all out of pocket. Now granted we wouldn't be doing all the desserts and stuff so its falsly inflated. Looking at our future trips with DVC its obvious that the TIW card is the ONLY way to dine. Problem is for us Michiganders its not that economical to buy an Annual Pass (up until DVC opens their TIW option, this is the ONLY way for us to get it).
We dined at some many delicious places, I could just like to sum of the "Best ofs"
Best Romantic Restaurant: California Grill (window seat during wishes)
Best Character Interaction: Crystal palace
Best Princess Meal: Akershus
Best Buffet: Chef Mickey's
Best Family Style Breakfast: Ohana
Best Family Style Dinner: Ohana
Best Buffet Dinner: Boma
Best Ice Cream: Beaches and Cream
Best Mac n cheese: Yachtsman Steakhouse
Best Steakhouse (me): Yachtsman
Best Steakhouse (YO!): Narcoosee
Best 1TS meal: Les Chefs
Best CS meal: We both liked Casey's but we really didn't eat CS at all.
Honarable mentions... Le Cellier, 50's Prime Time, Sci-fi, Garden Grill, HDDMR, Cape May Cafe.
Worst meal for two trips running (and officially the straw that broke the ADR making back): Cinderella's Royal Rip off! we will never go there again. Akershus is less points and way better interaction.
THEME PARKS:
Magic Kingdom is still our favorite and we can not wait to see the new fantasyland expansion. Animal kingdom just doesn't keep our interest. I know its cool, i got to ride on EE twice in a row but I still don't feel the love. This is one park I wouldn't mind if it went away.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
A Special touch to our 1 month anniversary was the Sleigh Ride... complete with jingle bells! i would recommend this to any who is looking for something special to do during Xmas in WDW.
The Key to the Kingdom tour was nice, but after reading all the stuff on here and other sites you almost know everything about the behind the scenes that they tell you on the tour. Glad we went, but probably won't do it again.
While we attended 3 MVMCP and one was rained out I have to say that the MNSSHP are so much better. I really missed all the costumes from the guests and just the feel of halloween in the park. Granted the snow falling was pretty cool and you can't omit the Osborne lights, they were simply amazing!
With that said, we have decided (well moreso me) to plan an October 2012 trip back to the world to take in the MNSSHPs again and hopefully get on booked on halloween as a special treat. SO next up once hours are released and ADR window is opened is the 2012 YO!, Brandon and Aunt Sues PRE-TRIP REPORT :)