Two for the price of one - Honduras update

[lklasing 16]

Two for the Price of One

 

Hey Fiends!  Happily, I have another occasion to write a trip report!  And, even more happily, I actually have two trips to report on.  Sadly, neither took place at FW, but I definitely will have a FW installment before everything is all over.

 

Ray and I actually bought into DVC last summer while on the Disney Dream and of course the points immediately started burning a hole in our pockets.   We tried to get a reservation on points for New Year’s Eve, but totally struck out.  However, I figured out a different excuse opportunity to use some points.  Ray always gets the wintertime blues.  Bad wintertime blues.  Every.single.year.  So, finally, I had a good excuse to get Ray and me somewhere warmer this winter, since we had DVC.  :partythree:  Plus, Ray and I got married in February 1993 and this would be our 20^th anniversary year.  :hugsmiley:

 

Given that our anniversary trip is the first, what is the second for the low, low price of nothing for this trip report?  There is another trip, with Jody, me and close friends, that took place over spring break, March 15-21.  But, that’s a ways off, so I’ll get to that in a little bit.

 

Once the fabulous decision to head to the World for our anniversary had been made, the next big question was where to stay.  As some of y’all know, all but one of our trips since 2008 have been to the cabins at FW.  We love them and we love FW.  We feel so at home there.  We run into friends and Fiends every time we go.  But, since we were staying on DVC points, FW wasn’t an option for us this time.  :faceplant2:

 

So, where to go?  We were limited to any of the DVC resorts.  We have stayed at BLT before and loved it, but I really wanted to stay somewhere we had never been.  We bought into SSR, but we weren’t itching to try it out just for that reason.  After much deliberation, we decided on BWV.  It was appealing as we could walk to Epcot or HS (mainly Epcot!) and I’ve always been intrigued by that area. 

 

Finally, the last decision was when to go.  The holidays were out as we didn’t get our act together in time for that and spring break was out as Ray and Danielle were going on a mission trip to Honduras that week with our church.  So, we decided to make it an official anniversary trip and leave on February 6, 2013, our actual 20^th anniversary!  :jumpforjoy  Since there were no school holidays to take advantage of, we decided that this would be a trip with just Ray and me – fitting since it was our anniversary trip.  :)

 

So we booked a studio at BWV for 4 nights!  I was so excited about going, and Ray was even more so.  Our home life was tough this fall with a variety of issues going on, and then we had lots of illness (flu, pneumonia, etc.) run through our family throughout the winter, heck even the dogs got sick that winter, so by the time February finally arrived, we were ecstatic.  Danielle and Jody had made plans to stay with friends, everyone stayed well enough for us to leave, the dogs had their plans together to go to the vet for boarding and we were ready to go! 

 

Because I can’t have a post without at least one picture, here’s Ray and me:

 

 

(Note the self-portrait, or “selfie” as my girls would call it.  You’ll get to see lots of those – one of the hazards/fun things about going on a trip by yourselves for once!)

 

And, just as a teaser for part two of this report, here is the group for the spring break trip:

 

 

Here’s hoping any of y’all still remember me, and if not, maybe some new fiends will follow along!

 

Leslie

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

I'm here!!!

 

Can't wait to read more about both trips!

[Momoffive aka Loretta 34]

Excited to read on!!!  My DH and I are celebrating 20 years later this year also.  Just booked a 5 day trip for November just the 2 of us.  Looking forward for some tips and a great TR!  Happy Anniversary and Congratulations on 20 Years!!!! :hugsmiley:

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Two trip reports!  Can't wait!

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

I'm in. Happy anniversary and spring break.

I'm looking forward to your TR. it's been so long since DW and I have been there by ourselves I forgot it was an option.

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

I'm in and I love reading your reports.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm totally in! Awesome that there will be two TR's for the price of one. Good job on the selfie. You're a regular Stefan (ask one of your daughters).

TCD

[fort4evr 0]

looking forward to your trip report

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

Where is that.....  :pc:  :pc:  There it is!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

You do look somewhat familiar to me...maybe after reading along it will come to me.  :rofl3:

 

Eagerly awaiting the next update.  Would love if it included some rhino faces, but I'm guessing you and Ray didn't take any Rhino Selfies? 

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

I love the Rhino faces! I'm hoping you and Ray did a couple selfies with them! I always enjoy your reports, so I'm in! :)

[LORNADUCK 261]

I'm in looking forward to reading your TR Leslie, I always enjoy them

[lklasing 16]

I'm here!!!

 

Can't wait to read more about both trips!

 

Yay!  Thanks, Yvonne!  You may hear more than you signed on for, but I'm glad you're in with us!

 

Excited to read on!!!  My DH and I are celebrating 20 years later this year also.  Just booked a 5 day trip for November just the 2 of us.  Looking forward for some tips and a great TR!  Happy Anniversary and Congratulations on 20 Years!!!! :hugsmiley:

 

Thanks, Loretta, and happy anniversary!   Spending our 20th anniversary in Disney was so much better than I ever thought it would be, and I knew it would be great.  You'll have a great trip.  Again, congrats!

 

 

Two trip reports!  Can't wait!

 

Thanks, Gwen!!

 

 

I'm in. Happy anniversary and spring break.

I'm looking forward to your TR. it's been so long since DW and I have been there by ourselves I forgot it was an option.

 

You should go on a couple trip!  Honestly, it was so great.  It was our first ever adults-only trip and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Thanks for reading!

[lklasing 16]

I'm in and I love reading your reports.

 

Yay!  Thanks for reading and commenting!

 

I'm totally in! Awesome that there will be two TR's for the price of one. Good job on the selfie. You're a regular Stefan (ask one of your daughters).

TCD

 

Hey TCD!  Glad you're on board.  But, I have to say that Stefen is a mystery to me.  It's Friday night, so both the girls are out for the night, so maybe you'll fill me in...

 

 

looking forward to your trip report

 

Glad you're along for the ride!

 

Where is that.....   :pc:   :pc:  There it is!!

 

Extra butter??

 

You do look somewhat familiar to me...maybe after reading along it will come to me.   :rofl3:

 

Eagerly awaiting the next update.  Would love if it included some rhino faces, but I'm guessing you and Ray didn't take any Rhino Selfies? 

 

Dave - your name is slightly familiar to me - hopefully we'll figure out whether we've ever met before too long...

 

And, there will definitely be at least one rhino pic in this TR, but I can't say whether it will be #1 or #2 TR (does that sound weird??  Yes, I think it does.).

 

I love the Rhino faces! I'm hoping you and Ray did a couple selfies with them! I always enjoy your reports, so I'm in!  :)

 

Thanks, Rita!  So glad you're in for the ride!

 

I'm in looking forward to reading your TR Leslie, I always enjoy them

 

Thanks, Lorna!  So glad you're with us!  Next installment hopefully coming up soon!

[lklasing 16]

Wednesday, February 6

 

Happy Anniversary!  After staying up too late packing (after working too late that evening), I still woke up early, so excited about the trip!  Ray went to his boot camp class at 5:30 (a.m.!), which I thought was pretty industrious of him to do on a travel day.  I didn’t fare so well – I had hoped to get up and go for a run before starting our trip, but a few minutes extra in bed and the desire to make the girls pancakes before we left overrode the run.  Despite the fact that I was excited about an adults-only trip, I was definitely going to miss my girls!  :bighug:

 

Anyway, after pancakes and final packing, we kissed the girls and patted the dogs goodbye and headed for the airport.  It was a blissfully easy trip down – non-stop flight that left on time and landed early, bags didn’t get lost, Sunray Transportation was right there for us, quick trip to the Publix for wine and snacks, and we were all the sudden at the Boardwalk!  Upon checking in, we both loved the resort.  And, our room was ready when we got there around noon.  

 

 

After a looooong walk down the hallway, we found our room.  We loved it!  The view couldn’t have been any more perfect for what we wanted.  The room itself felt just like a hotel room rather than a villa – the only difference was the area that has a mini-fridge, microwave and toaster.   Regardless, it was great – very comfortable, great view and even greater location – walking distance to both Epcot and HS.

 

 

 

Looking straight down from our balcony:

 

 

Not-so-hidden-Mickey:

 

 

Ray on our balcony:

 

 

Then, check this out.  To our right when looking out from our room, there was a gymnast-type girl who was being photographed.  She could fling herself completely over without using her hands at all.  My pics don’t do it justice, but it was very fun to watch:

 

 

 

 

 

I was showing Ray the YC/BC but I couldn’t remember which one was which.  So, Ray finally (gently) pointed out to me that it was pretty evident which was which:

 

 

(Boats in front of one, the beach in front of the other – I have no idea what he was trying to show me….)

 

Up next - hopefully not so blond moments in the future installments as the whole YC/BC discussion...

[DaveInTN 3,247]

What a view!

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Thanks for posting tonight. Love that view and sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious. Not that many yachts around there if you ask me. Now the beach, that is another thing. I have always wondered how loud the Boardwalk rooms would be.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Pretty view.  That makes sitting on the balcony more pleasant.  Hoping to see more stuff.

 

PS- You look like someone famous, but I am really bad with names.  I will remember eventually.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

PS- You look like someone famous, but I am really bad with names.  I will remember eventually.

 

Laura Dern?

 

Hey, let's hijack Leslie's report and play "who does she look like?"  :rofl3:

 

Sorry, Leslie....carry on.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

There is some Holly Hunter in there too I think.

[lklasing 16]

What a view!

 

You're not kidding.  We absolutely loved it!

 

Thanks for posting tonight. Love that view and sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious. Not that many yachts around there if you ask me. Now the beach, that is another thing. I have always wondered how loud the Boardwalk rooms would be.

 

Thanks for trying to diffuse the idiocy of me not being able to tell which was which!  You're right that the BC was a good bit more obvious than the YC.

 

 

Pretty view.  That makes sitting on the balcony more pleasant.  Hoping to see more stuff.

 

PS- You look like someone famous, but I am really bad with names.  I will remember eventually.

 

We sat on that balcony over and over while we were there.

 

About the famous thing - I think I must look like several people as I get that a lot, and a lot of times people (like you) can't figure out who I am.

 

Laura Dern?

 

Hey, let's hijack Leslie's report and play "who does she look like?"  :rofl3:

 

Sorry, Leslie....carry on.

 

Laura Dern is new but I've gotten Laura Linney a few times.

 

There is some Holly Hunter in there too I think.

 

That one is new too, but I'll take it!

 

Next installment coming up - but continue on with the hijack at any time!

[lklasing 16]

After our bags arrived, we realized we were starving!  So, we walked the amazingly short walk to the International Gateway, picked up our passes, and headed right in with a plan to find some lunch.  Ray’s favorite meal in all of WDW is fish and chips from the CS place at England, and guess where the International Gateway brings you right in – at the CS place at England!  So, we got fish and chips and beer and had a wonderful lunch, still surprised that we were actually there!  Just a few hours before, we had been in the cold, foggy, wet weather of home and now we were in a beautiful park with beautiful weather, eating fish and chips and celebrating our 20^th anniversary.

 

 

After lunch, we moseyed over to TT.  (Note the word mosey.  Ray likes to mosey places.  I like to walk extra fast.  On trips to WDW, we usually have a big group that needs to hit as many rides as possible, so Ray has to powerwalk along with the rest of us, but on this trip, we had decided to take it extra easy.  With only very few exceptions, we’ve done all the attractions many tines, so I had committed to Ray that we would take it easy, not hurry and just do whatever the mood struck us to do.)

 

 

 

 

So anyway, we did mosey to TT.  The line was about 45 minutes and of course we had no FPs, so we decided to do the single rider line.  It said it was 10 minutes but it really was a walk on.  While we loved getting on so quickly, we both agreed that we liked the story of the old ride far better than the non-story of the new one.  But, we still loved being flung around the track at 65 mph and had a great time.

 

After TT, I convinced Ray that we needed to go to the Character Spot.  We had never done that before and I thought it would be fun to do, despite (or even because of) the fact that we didn’t have any kids!

 

 

 

 

While we were at the Character Spot, we came across the first of so many large groups of Hispanic teenage girls wearing matching shirts.  Later in the week, there was clearly a competition for American high school cheerleaders, but these groups were different in a fun way.  As with the cheerleaders, they were very well behaved, especially compared to some of the groups I have read about.  But they were cute in different ways.  They all called each other Chica, which got to be pretty humorous after a while.  Chica!  Chica!  It was as if none of them had any names but they all answered to “Chica!”

 

After pictures with Mickey, Pluto and Minnie, we decided it was time for a break.  So, we walked moseyed back to the Boardwalk, stopping for the Canadian band and the British telephones along the way. 

 

 

 

Photopass op:

 

 

FYI – the photographers love to get you to kiss if you don’t have kids with you (I’ll admit, it was a fun task!)

 

 

And, silliness:

 

 

Once back at the Boardwalk, we grabbed a couple of beers from the to-go pizza place and sat right at the water’s edge and watched life and Friendship boats go by for about an hour.  It was so nice! 

 

 

 

One thing we figured out while we were sitting there was the amazing difference in the average age of adults during the winter vs. the summer, at least during the week.  We had shared a table for lunch with two couples from Canada who were retired and spend their winters in central Florida.  Sounded pretty sweet to us.  Anyway, while we were having our beers on the boardwalk, we noticed that there were hardly any kids around where we were, at least at that moment.  It was a little odd, but we really enjoyed being there at a time that was (1) low crowds and (2) low kids.  We were missing our girls, but it was nice…

 

After our break, we hopped the bus to the MK. 

 

(Obligatory bus pic: )

 

 

Gotta love the first time you get to the MK each trip!

 

 

On our way in, I told Ray that I wanted us to do some of our historic fake photopass pics this trip.  But I don’t think he got it.  Instead he had me do this:

 

 

This was supposed to be me holding Minnie in my hand, but Ray’s eyes weren’t good enough for that, so apparently it’s me holding a light fixture. 

 

 

 

Ray kicked my butt in Buzz Lightyear, as always, but I think this was worse this time than usual.

 

 

After Buzz, we headed to the new Fantasyland.   I had very few attractions I really wanted to do this trip, but I definitely wanted to do Enchanted Tales with Belle.  The posted wait time was 40 minute but it took closer to 30.  We loved it.  The magic mirror was so neat, and then Ray got picked as a guard for the show.  I loved Ray doing that, of course, but the highlight was some of the cutest kids that were also in the show.  It was really too much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

After Belle, we walked onto HM and then headed to our ADR for the night – Be Our Guest.   :)  I had been so excited about going to this restaurant.  We only had to wait about 10 minutes after checking in and then went right in.  It was an absolutely beautiful dining room and building as a whole.  These pictures definitely don’t do it justice:

 

 

 

 

Despite the amazingly beautiful setting, it wound up being our least favorite dinner.  I think 90% of the problem was exhaustion from a long day, combined with the fact that we allowed ourselves to get too hungry before suppertime.  We had champagne to toast our anniversary, which was a lot of fun, plus a couple of appetizers, which were pretty good.  As far as dinner went, mine was fine – shrimp and scallops in a puff pastry.  However, Ray’s was a different story.  He ordered the Rattatoue – a bold move for him that didn’t work out so well.  He hated it.  Like, really hated it.  So, I finished my meal, we paid and fought the post-Wishes crowds for a bus back to the BW, and went straight to the takeout pizza window where we had gotten beers earlier and grabbed a pepperoni pizza for Ray.

 

These people waved goodbye to everyone on their way out of the MK – what a fun-looking job to have!

 

 

We watched the tail end of Illuminations from our balcony and took in all the fun goings-on down on the boardwalk below, and then hit the hay.  Ray was next to dead.  I wasn’t quite as dead as he was, but we were both beat.  But one of the great things about being in Disney is that as beat as you may be, you’ll likely wake up energized and ready to go again.

 

So, what happened next?  Did Ray wake up energized or was his trip already done?  Stay tuned! 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I love that you got to mosey along for this trip.  We are power walkers too.  Well, I'm the power walker and I drag everyone with me. LOL

 

That pizza place sounds like it was in a great location for all.  Sorry that the rat dish SMB.

 

And you do look like Laura Linney.  That is who I had pictured in my head, but the name would never have come to me if you didn't tell me.

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Sounds like an awesome beginning! Mama did not care for the ratatouille either.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Yes, Laura Linney, not Laura Dern.  Whatever...that's actually a pretty close guess for me. 

 

That's a shame about your BOG experience.  Our dinner there in January was incredible.  I was actually close to cancelling the ADR, but am so glad we went there.  Of course, none of us ordered the Ratatouille.  I've honestly never met anyone who orders Ratatouille.  At least Ray thinks outside the box!  And I hope his pizza was good. 

 

I am guessing you both woke up the next day completely refreshed and loaded for bear.