Disney World, Oct 2010

Our first visit at our second DVC home resort, Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary. We reserved a 2BR suite for four nights and invited our friends Katie, Kris and Willie to stay with us and visit the parks. We stayed in room 7522 with a MK view. On Thursday we parted ways: our friends moved to the All-Star Music resort for a couple extra days, and Kellie and I boarded the Wonder for a 3-night cruise.

Sat Oct 16 - Arrival

Kellie and I arrived just after noon, so we had some time on our own to visit Downtown Disney and have dinner at Sanaa in the Animal Kingdom Lodge before we picked up our friends at the airport later that evening.

Sun Oct 17 - Animal Kingdom

We started with a visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom park. We started with a Safari ride, then Willie and Katie visited some characters while the rest of us rode Everest. Next was lunch at the Flametree BBQ and some play time for Willie in Dinoland.

Sun Oct 17 - Dinner and Fireworks

After the park we headed over to Bay Lake Tower and checked in to our room. Then it was off to Downtown Disney for dinner at the dinosaur-themed T-Rex restaurant. We did a little window shopping after dinner and made it back to the room before the fireworks started in the Magic Kingdom. Everyone watched from the picture window in our living room while I took photos from our balcony.

Mon Oct 18 - Breakfast with Mickey

Kellie arranged for Mickey to call Willie first thing in the morning so we could join him at Chef Mickey's for breakfast.

Mon Oct 18 - Magic Kingdom

Willie was more scared of the rides than we had expected, so we spent a bit more time walking around and meeting characters. We visited the Fire House and then took the train around to Toontown. Willie had his face painted like Donald. Then we wandered through Tomorrowland for a few rides and characters.

Mon Oct 18 - Evening

We enjoyed the hotel pool for an hour or so in the afternoon, then took a nap break. We found a boat to the Ft Wilderness campground and had dinner at Trail's End. The boat took us back in time for another round of fireworks from our livingroom window.

Tue Oct 19 - Hollywood Studios

I woke up early to take sunrise pictures around Bay Lake Tower. We headed over to Hollywood Studios for the day where we rode the Great Movie Ride, watched the Lights, Motors, Action! show, and played on Toy Story Mania. We stayed for an early dinner at 50's Prime Time cafe.

Tue Oct 19 - Halloween Party

After dinner we went back to the room for a quick break and to change into our Halloween costumes. Willie was Woody, Kris was Rex, and Katie was Mrs Potato Head from Toy Story. Kellie dressed as Agent P / Perry the Platypus and I was Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. We all watched the parade then Willie and family made an early night of trick-or-treeting while Kellie and I stayed late to ride our favorite rides.

Wed Oct 20 - Epcot

Wednesday we all slept in and made a late start to Epcot. Willie played in Innoventions then we all rode Test Track. We had lunch at Sunshine Seasons in the Land, then Kellie split off to go back to the room to rest. The rest of us visited the Turtle Talk with Crush, then walked the International Showcase where we sampled food and drinks from the Food and Wine Festival booths.

Thu Oct 21 - Sailaway

We dropped Katie, Kris and Willie at their next resort and headed back to the airport to catch our bus to Port Canaveral. This was a very short cruise for us, but it was a free* perk for buying points at Bay Lake Tower. Kellie took a few pics at the sailaway party, and I watched the sunset out our cabin window.

Fri Oct 22 - Nassau

We stayed near the ship in Nassau, preferring to spend our time in the spa and the pool. After our couples' massages, Kellie stayed for a pedicure and I left the ship to take photos from the docks.

Fri Oct 22 - Evening on Board

The cruise line is running a new show: Toy Story - the Musical, which we watched before dinner. Later we camped out some chairs on the upper deck so we could watch the Pirates in the Caribbean party and the fireworks.

Sat Oct 23 - Castaway Cay

The third day, our cruise stopped at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. They have been doing some renovations to expand the services on the island for the two new, larger ships they are adding to the fleet in 2011 and 2012. Kellie took a book and read in the shade most of the day. I walked around with my camera and hiked the bike trail back to an observation tower in the salt-marshes.