floridamom
07-28-2012, 11:12 AM
BLT July 2012 Trip Report
July 20-27 BLT 1 BR
Myself, DH, DD10 and DD7.
Day 3- Typhoon Lagoon, ‘Ohana, MK
Originally we planned to visit AK this morning, but with a whole week to work with we decided to be flexible and go with the girls’ request to hit a water park. We packed our towels and sunscreen for Typhoon Lagoon and headed to our car (buses to water parks = nightmare), only to get in and find that it was infested with fire ants—all over the floors, seats, marching two-by-two down the seatbelts-- ewww! (And I am allergic to their bites.) DH looked around the car and discovered that in the grassy area in front of our great parking space was a huge anthill that was spilling over onto the asphalt. He talked to the manager at BLT about getting some assistance and she was extremely apologetic and quickly offered us vouchers for taxis to and from TL, along with the assurance that she would have housekeeping and an exterminator come take care of our car while we were enjoying the water park. For us, this was another reminder of how good Disney can be at handling customer service issues. Our past trips haven’t always been problem-free, (Items removed from room by housekeeping at ASM, no hot water at WL, mis-filed reservation at CRT, to name a few) but our problems have always been resolved cheerfully and to our satisfaction. The same cannot always be said for our travels to other destinations.
So after a brief delay, we arrived at TL about an hour after it opened. Finding chairs there wasn’t a problem, and we were able to do several of the slides without too long of a wait. We had packed a lunch (from prior experience we earned we didn’t care much for the food there, except for the donuts!), so we were able to refuel and enjoy the park for a while longer before catching a cab back to BLT.
We got back to our room and found our car key returned to us with a note that the ants had been taken care of and the car moved to a different parking spot- yay! We took our time showering and relaxing a bit before it was time to take the monorail over to the Polynesian for dinner at ‘Ohana.
We checked in for our ADR and took advantage of the 15-minute wait to take some photos around the Poly grounds. DD7 loves this hotel, as it is her “dream” to travel to Hawaii. We are actually in the preliminary planning stages of a trip there in the summer of 2014. Reading up on Aulani reviews in case we decide to go that route… Anyway, our meal at ‘Ohana did not disappoint. We have learned to pace ourselves and save room for the items we enjoy most. For DDs it’s the potstickers and steak. I myself passed on most of the meats (except shrimp) since I enjoy all the apps and sides so much, not to mention the bread pudding—as good as we remembered!!
DD7 participated in the hula lessons, but there were no coconut races this time (fine by me.) DD10 seemed to think she had outgrown this part of the experience, and while her sister was involved with that, she asked me if the two us could go over to MK after dinner for some special time there. DD7 was happy to return to the room with DH (they were both pretty tired), so we parted ways at the MK stop on the monorail, and DD10 and I headed off for our evening adventure. Since this was an evening EMH night, I wasn’t too optimistic about rides, but we actually were able to do quite a bit: Thunder Mountain, Dumbo, which was beautiful at night (DD also took her time exploring the play area), Indy Speedway, Teacups, plus we watched the parade and browsed through shops. By 10:30 we were both pretty wiped out, so we headed back to BLT- though we could have walked, there was no line for the resort monorail, so we gave our legs a rest, especially since we were all headed back to MK in the morning. :mickey:
July 20-27 BLT 1 BR
Myself, DH, DD10 and DD7.
Day 3- Typhoon Lagoon, ‘Ohana, MK
Originally we planned to visit AK this morning, but with a whole week to work with we decided to be flexible and go with the girls’ request to hit a water park. We packed our towels and sunscreen for Typhoon Lagoon and headed to our car (buses to water parks = nightmare), only to get in and find that it was infested with fire ants—all over the floors, seats, marching two-by-two down the seatbelts-- ewww! (And I am allergic to their bites.) DH looked around the car and discovered that in the grassy area in front of our great parking space was a huge anthill that was spilling over onto the asphalt. He talked to the manager at BLT about getting some assistance and she was extremely apologetic and quickly offered us vouchers for taxis to and from TL, along with the assurance that she would have housekeeping and an exterminator come take care of our car while we were enjoying the water park. For us, this was another reminder of how good Disney can be at handling customer service issues. Our past trips haven’t always been problem-free, (Items removed from room by housekeeping at ASM, no hot water at WL, mis-filed reservation at CRT, to name a few) but our problems have always been resolved cheerfully and to our satisfaction. The same cannot always be said for our travels to other destinations.
So after a brief delay, we arrived at TL about an hour after it opened. Finding chairs there wasn’t a problem, and we were able to do several of the slides without too long of a wait. We had packed a lunch (from prior experience we earned we didn’t care much for the food there, except for the donuts!), so we were able to refuel and enjoy the park for a while longer before catching a cab back to BLT.
We got back to our room and found our car key returned to us with a note that the ants had been taken care of and the car moved to a different parking spot- yay! We took our time showering and relaxing a bit before it was time to take the monorail over to the Polynesian for dinner at ‘Ohana.
We checked in for our ADR and took advantage of the 15-minute wait to take some photos around the Poly grounds. DD7 loves this hotel, as it is her “dream” to travel to Hawaii. We are actually in the preliminary planning stages of a trip there in the summer of 2014. Reading up on Aulani reviews in case we decide to go that route… Anyway, our meal at ‘Ohana did not disappoint. We have learned to pace ourselves and save room for the items we enjoy most. For DDs it’s the potstickers and steak. I myself passed on most of the meats (except shrimp) since I enjoy all the apps and sides so much, not to mention the bread pudding—as good as we remembered!!
DD7 participated in the hula lessons, but there were no coconut races this time (fine by me.) DD10 seemed to think she had outgrown this part of the experience, and while her sister was involved with that, she asked me if the two us could go over to MK after dinner for some special time there. DD7 was happy to return to the room with DH (they were both pretty tired), so we parted ways at the MK stop on the monorail, and DD10 and I headed off for our evening adventure. Since this was an evening EMH night, I wasn’t too optimistic about rides, but we actually were able to do quite a bit: Thunder Mountain, Dumbo, which was beautiful at night (DD also took her time exploring the play area), Indy Speedway, Teacups, plus we watched the parade and browsed through shops. By 10:30 we were both pretty wiped out, so we headed back to BLT- though we could have walked, there was no line for the resort monorail, so we gave our legs a rest, especially since we were all headed back to MK in the morning. :mickey: