Ryan and I had breakfast of School Bread we picked up at Norway in Epcot last night, and coffee on The Awesome Balcony while the kids slept in. This was about the highlight of the day.
The kids seemed fine by about 9am when they woke up so we decided to be risky and head out for a walk to Hollywood Studios and see how it went. Made it there and through the Great Movie Ride and that was it. Walked back to the resort with the sickies and have been hanging out ever since. Ryan and I had some not awesome counter service flat bread pizza and the kiddos are now napping. I sure hope this passes soon. Stomach issues in Disney World is probably my worst vacation nightmare. The saving grace here is, the kids aren't acting like they're miserable (no good when my babies feel yucky) and, this was a calm day on our plans. We only anticipated a half day at Hollywood Studios and dinner reservations at Via Napoli tonight in Italy at Epcot but I'm going to venture a guess that will be canceled. Oh well. At least we have 6 more full days and lots of fun still to be had. It has to get better from here, right?
No exciting pictures from today but still super cute.
While I have very little to share from today, I figured I'd talk about our thoughts and opinions on Disney's Beach Club Villas and a few other things we've noticed since arriving.
Ryan and I agree we prefer the Wilderness Lodge, and it took a lot for us to admit that. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Beach Club, it's unrelated to the theming or rooms but more just feeling we aren't getting. We love the location but the resort seems to be lacking something special. Not sure what that is or how to describe it. We also find the counter service options to be sub par and minimal. While we aren't the owning members of this Vacation Club Resort, we did kind of expect to still hear "Welcome Home" from Cast Members; they don't know we aren't members, only that we are Disney guests. Hasn't happened. We really haven't gotten much in the general friendliness area from Cast Members. The gal at our concierge desk and the gal that did Jace's haircut seemed downright unhappy to be where they were. The nicest people we've spoken to have been from Mousekeeping. On the up side, the rooms are much quieter than we anticipated. I'd read reviews that you can hear every single noise through the thin walls and we haven't noticed that at all. The beds and pillows are surprisingly comfortable, even the fold out sofa sleeper. Our room is an appropriate size but it doesn't fit our family of 4 as well as it would fit 4 adults. We have the sleeper sofa out for Ally and a Pack n Play style crib for Jace and those take up the majority of the room. A major observation is the lack of storage. I always unpack our suitcases since we're here for a full 8 or 9-day week and suitcases take up too much space. There are only 4 small drawers under the TV that barely fit my clothes and the kids'. Ryan's clothes ended up on a high shelf in the closet and on top of the TV stand. The foyer/entry area seems to be a terrible waste of valuable space but the rest of the studio is a nice layout. Lastly, for some reason, I expected to have double sinks in the vanity area and it's only a single. Maybe I had the 1 bedroom stuck in my head. Not a big deal since I'm almost always ready before anyone else needs it but it would be nice.
The other odd and not-like-Disney thing we noticed was the large number of twinkle lights that were burned out on the buildings in World Showcase in Epcot. We've never known Disney to let such a detail slide! We have also seen trash on the grounds which is unheard of in our experiences. Flukes? Maybe. I hope so. We know how much Disney prides itself on unwavering customer service and having every detail just so; it's one of the silent pieces that make Disney such a magical place.
Sorry for the negativity in today's report...some days are just like that. Send us some good vibes if you've got any to spare. ;-)
Tomorrow will be better! We'll be off to Epcot for the first part of the day and Magic Kingdom for the evening!
You know, we felt similarly when we went in April '09. Something "magic" was just missing -- we too saw some trash laying around, and weren't greeted as "friendly" as we had remembered from past visits! Chris and I wondered if we were maybe just blind to it all before. Who knows?? I'm sorry the kids weren't feeling well, but par for the course with kiddos, right? I am so loving reading these updates -- I feel like I get to be there when I really won't be able to go for a few more years! And btw, Jace with the short hair. OMG. Could he BE any cuter!!
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