floridamom
07-23-2012, 01:33 PM
BLT July 2012 Trip Report
July 20-27 BLT 1 BR
Myself, DH, DD10 and DD7.
As AP holders who live less than an hour-and-a-half away, we usually visit WDW for long weekends. But this time we decided to spend a whole week and take our time enjoying some new experiences.
Day 1- arrival
After a quick grocery run into the Publix near Championsgate, we arrived at the Contemporary around 4:30. Our BLT 1BR was ready, and we were very excited to find that our requests for a higher floor, even-numbered room were granted. Bell services had taken our luggage, so we moved the car over to parking lot closer to BLT, parked in what we thought was a great parking space (more later) and headed up to check out our room. I will say that the BLT lobby is very heavily scented—seemed to be a theme on our trip—more on that later also. We got to our room to find that sure enough, our “lake view” also had a clear view of Space Mountain and the castle from our balcony! (Hence the request for even-numbered room.) Yay- Wishes from our room—so nice!!
The unit was very spacious, clean and in good shape overall—there was a bit of wear and tear on the kitchen cabinets where the finish was coming off, but nothing glaring. Bell services quickly delivered our luggage, and the gentleman who did so was very helpful and pleasant; it was clear that our perishables had been refrigerated, even for the short time they had everything.
We quickly freshened up and headed down to catch the bus to DHS. (Even though we have a car, DH prefers not to drive at WDW as much as possible.) The bus arrived within 5 minutes, and we were on our way to our ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café.
This was our first experience at 50’s and we enjoyed it. Our server was efficient, but not overly into the theme/interaction. That was fine, as our DDs were a bit tired not in the most playful mood. I had the meatloaf and DH had the fried chicken, both were tasty. I was surprised to discover that the green beans served with my meatloaf were delicious, too. Our older DD had the seafood salad appetizer for her meal, and it must have been good because she scarfed it down. For dessert, younger DD had the make-your-own sundae that came with her kids’ meal, and the rest of us split the brownie sundae, which was yummy and more than enough to share.
The plan after dinner had been to get in line for Fantasmic, which we still have never seen. (Shocking in our 6 years of being FL resident passholders!) Well, our streak remains unbroken, because both DDs decided they were getting tired and opted to ride Star Tours once (10 minute wait) and then head to a session at the Animation Academy (a family fave). We got to draw one of the three-eyed aliens from Toy Story, (“You saved our lives, we are eternally grateful …”), which thrilled our younger DD, who loves to recite that line. Completed drawings in hand, we left the park and caught a bus back to CR/BLT- great timing as it pulled up as soon as we got in line.
Once back in our room, we settled in to take advantage of our balcony seating for Wishes. Though IMO nothing beats the view from right in front of the castle, I could definitely get used to this! It was a great ending to our arrival day.
July 20-27 BLT 1 BR
Myself, DH, DD10 and DD7.
As AP holders who live less than an hour-and-a-half away, we usually visit WDW for long weekends. But this time we decided to spend a whole week and take our time enjoying some new experiences.
Day 1- arrival
After a quick grocery run into the Publix near Championsgate, we arrived at the Contemporary around 4:30. Our BLT 1BR was ready, and we were very excited to find that our requests for a higher floor, even-numbered room were granted. Bell services had taken our luggage, so we moved the car over to parking lot closer to BLT, parked in what we thought was a great parking space (more later) and headed up to check out our room. I will say that the BLT lobby is very heavily scented—seemed to be a theme on our trip—more on that later also. We got to our room to find that sure enough, our “lake view” also had a clear view of Space Mountain and the castle from our balcony! (Hence the request for even-numbered room.) Yay- Wishes from our room—so nice!!
The unit was very spacious, clean and in good shape overall—there was a bit of wear and tear on the kitchen cabinets where the finish was coming off, but nothing glaring. Bell services quickly delivered our luggage, and the gentleman who did so was very helpful and pleasant; it was clear that our perishables had been refrigerated, even for the short time they had everything.
We quickly freshened up and headed down to catch the bus to DHS. (Even though we have a car, DH prefers not to drive at WDW as much as possible.) The bus arrived within 5 minutes, and we were on our way to our ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café.
This was our first experience at 50’s and we enjoyed it. Our server was efficient, but not overly into the theme/interaction. That was fine, as our DDs were a bit tired not in the most playful mood. I had the meatloaf and DH had the fried chicken, both were tasty. I was surprised to discover that the green beans served with my meatloaf were delicious, too. Our older DD had the seafood salad appetizer for her meal, and it must have been good because she scarfed it down. For dessert, younger DD had the make-your-own sundae that came with her kids’ meal, and the rest of us split the brownie sundae, which was yummy and more than enough to share.
The plan after dinner had been to get in line for Fantasmic, which we still have never seen. (Shocking in our 6 years of being FL resident passholders!) Well, our streak remains unbroken, because both DDs decided they were getting tired and opted to ride Star Tours once (10 minute wait) and then head to a session at the Animation Academy (a family fave). We got to draw one of the three-eyed aliens from Toy Story, (“You saved our lives, we are eternally grateful …”), which thrilled our younger DD, who loves to recite that line. Completed drawings in hand, we left the park and caught a bus back to CR/BLT- great timing as it pulled up as soon as we got in line.
Once back in our room, we settled in to take advantage of our balcony seating for Wishes. Though IMO nothing beats the view from right in front of the castle, I could definitely get used to this! It was a great ending to our arrival day.