Mayhem Marauders Meet-up Part Deux!

[cy1229]

Sorry, guys.... been dealing with a lot of unwelcome mayhem at home since we got back. I promise to work on the report this week.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!

Ok let's try it again, from the top:

1. Mayhem is only to be of the WELCOME variety.
2. Welcome mayhem is typically only found on Subsonic
3. Unwelcome mayhem is to be shunned, dare I say excluded, from participation with any Subsonic Mayhem-er.

[Mousekedude]

LOL, duly noted, cy1229.
So here we go....

The Mousekecouple Invade WDW, Aug-Sept 2012.... Part 1.

Greetings, Mousekevacation-Mayhem fans! As most of you already know, we’re documenting this trip to WDW under the “Mayhem Marauders Part Deaux” thread because we still feel a strong connection to the epic January 2012 reunion we had with all our fellow M.M’s, and it still feels like we’re there with y’all in spirit. Besides, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we did meet up with Soarin’08 quite a bit on this trip as well as keeping in constant touch via text messages with the Boilers... not to mention that we texted a little bit with WWDRH and MmeLeota... so we still felt like we were all together in spirit. Anyway, on with the show... (Queue “24” music... “The events of this trip take place between August 30th and September 9th, 2012”... ).

You’ll notice that I headlined this first post with “Part 1” instead of “Day 1.” There’s a method to this madness. On this trip, we decided that it was more important for us to live each moment to the fullest rather than to worry about documenting each moment. So we didn’t spend any time making notes, and we spent very little time taking pictures. As a result, I really have almost no idea, overall, as to what events happened on which day. So subsequent posts will be more about the events involved, rather than on which day they occurred, although some posts, by default, may be all about a specific day. That having been said, I can say that for this first post, I do remember that all of the events I’m about to describe (and the pictures thereof) occurred on the first day. So let’s get started.

So we got up and headed to the airport at “zero-dark-thirty” in the morning (as is the usual M.O. for our trips to WDW... LOL), and had a perfectly wonderful flight to Orlando. We hired the same limo service (Happy Limo) that we usually use, and our limo driver was a very interesting guy from New York (originally born and raised in Argentina), and we had great conversations on the trip to our resort, with a quick stop at the grocery store to stock up on groceries and supplies. When we arrived at our resort (the Beach Club), the check-in process was fast and flawless due to Mouseoholic having done the “online check-in” thing in advance, and our room was ready. >>>Footnote: the majority of this trip was booked at the Boardwalk through her Aunt’s timeshare, but we wanted to arrive a day early, so we booked one night at the Beach Club with our DVC points just because we had never stayed there and wanted to check it out anyway... especially the awesome pool, which I’ll go into later.<<<

After checking in at the Beach Club, it was a bit of a long walk to our room, but it was in a great location with a nice view, so we were very happy. After getting settled in, we headed out to DHS for our lunch ADR at Sci-Fi. Of course, Mouseoholic wanted to stop on the way through the resort and take a picture with the cute statue of Ariel in the courtyard...


When we arrived at DHS, we were thrilled to see that it wasn’t very crowded. We were early for our ADR, but got right in anyway. Not only that, but we got an awesome spot in our own private “car” right in the front row. Mouseoholic wanted me to document the experience with a few pics:




Of course, I had to order a drink with the cool “glowing ice cube” thingy:


As we were leaving, Mouseoholic wanted me to get a shot of the whole place... why do I feel like I’m being watched here..?


Having gorged on yummy chow, and now feeling full and frisky, our first thought was of what kind of mayhem we could now be a part of. We decided to put our stomachs at risk by going on Star Tours, which was a walk-on.



After successfully conquering Star Tours, we went for a random walk around DHS just to soak it all in. It was nice to see some of the old favorites, such as the Muppets gift shop, the umbrella from “Singing in the Rain”, and the live band “Mulch, Sweat, and Shears.” Those guys still rock.





We were really amazed at how empty the park was. This was the least crowded we had ever seen this park. Naturally, I had to take advantage of this fact to get a nice shot in front of the “forced perspective” backdrop of New York with no one else in the picture:


After a few other random things, we headed back to the resort to rest up and get settled in. The plan was to go to M.K. later that evening and meet up with Soarin’08, which we did. But this post is getting a little long, and I have other stuff to do, so I’ll end it here and pick up again when we head over to M.K. Stay tuned, Mouseketravel fans!!

[mindflipper]

A great start there, Mousekedude, and with a good amount of pics (as usual)!

[Amy]

Yay for the start of the report ~ with photos! I can't believe how empty the park was for you...that's great

[Mousekedude]

The Mousekecouple Invade WDW, Aug-Sept 2012.... Part 2.

Greetings, Mouseketravel Fans! This post is a continuation of our first day, Thursday, August 30th.

To pick up where we left off: we had gone back to our resort for a break from the heat. We decided to check out the pool and waterslide. All we can say is, “the pool at the Beach Club ROCKS!!” We were very impressed with the sand bottom, the “lazy river” feature, and the water slide from Stormalong Bay to the main pool. Unfortunately, we left our new water camera in the room, so we didn’t get any pictures of it.
But if you ever get a chance, you simply must stay at the Beach Club and experience the pool. A word of caution: a lot of people try to “crash” this pool, so most of the time there will be C.M’s posted at the entrance checking for your room key. If you’re not staying at the Beach Club they will not let you in (they will often let in Yacht Club guests, though).

So after a couple of hours of relaxing time, we went back and got freshened up in our room, then headed out to catch a bus to M.K. to meet up with Soarin’. Naturally, we had to take some pics of the grounds at Beach Club:




Alright… the bus is here!


We met Soarin’ right inside the turnstiles and headed straight for Fantasyland to create some Mayhem. The first item on the agenda was to check out the new Dumbo attraction. The new queue was pretty impressive, and reflected the same philosophy Disney used at the new Pooh attraction: make the queue more interesting and interactive. Looks like they’re going that direction with everything now… a welcome change, in my humble opinion. The new ride carousels were equally impressive. Here’s some pics:








Having successfully conquered Dumbo, the ladies decided to take advantage of the low wait time at Goofy’s Barnstormer… a nice trip down memory lane for all three of us:




After that we did the Pooh experience, being careful not to touch the Honey Wall, of course (inside joke: in January Boilerdude and Mouseoholic were the only ones to touch the Honey Wall, and thereafter were the only ones to get sick as well. Coincidence? I think not… LOL. Naturally this time we had to text cell phone pics to the Boilers, showing Mouseoholic pretending the touch it. They were amused…). I didn’t take any regular pictures of this for some reason.

Now it was time to head over to BTMRR, stopping first at the new Casey Jr. play area for some pics:



When we got to BTMRR, we were excitedly looking forward to seeing the refurb. We were a little disappointed that it was nothing more than some cosmetic “freshening up”, but it did look nice, and we especially enjoyed the fact that it was practically a walk-on (everyone else was watching the Electrical Parade):


By now we were getting very close to park closing time, and we were all hungry, so we headed back toward Main Street to see if we could get something to eat. We tried Crystal Palace, but they were already closed. Casey’s corner was crowded to the gills, and Mouseoholic wanted something a little healthier anyway, so we left the park and paused out front to decide what to do. There was an awkward 5 or 10 minute discussion/debate between myself and Mouseoholic (who was by now very hungry, very tired, and very grouchy) because our options were extremely limited and she couldn’t decide what she wanted to do. Soarin’ was very sweet and patient with us, but I could see it in her eyes that panic was beginning to set in. So in the end I decided that we should walk over to B.L.T. and try to get into the new DVC Members-only lounge in the penthouse level. We were missing Wishes as we walked over, and Mouseoholic was looking like she was about to kill me and then collapse, so I was really sweating my decision. Well, it turned out to be a great move! They were open, we got in with no trouble because we had our DVC membership cards with us, and when we got up there we were excited and relieved to see that they had a great selection of food and drinks… and the place was totally awesome! Score!!
We were too tired and hungry to take any decent pictures… plus we wanted to just enjoy the moment. But we did go back again on another night, and that time we took some pictures. Here’s a sample, and I’ll post more later when I post the report about the second visit:


Having eaten and relaxed, it was now time for us to head back to the resort. So we said our goodnights to Soarin’ and grabbed a taxi back to the Beach Club. We stopped for a couple quick pics on the way back to the room:



Well, that’s it for this post! Stay tuned for more later!

[Amy]

Are the Beach Club Villas only for DVC members? And then there are regular Beach Club rooms for non-DVC members?
Loving the photos. It looks like F1gment and I will have to break with our tradition of bee-lining right for Dumbo early in the morning. We always go early to avoid the crowds, but it looks so pretty at night!
Love the photo of you at the bottom. That has to be one massive room And you look like you are just lounging in your living room

[Mousekedude]

Are the Beach Club Villas only for DVC members? And then there are regular Beach Club rooms for non-DVC members?

Yes. Yes.

Loving the photos. It looks like F1gment and I will have to break with our tradition of bee-lining right for Dumbo early in the morning. We always go early to avoid the crowds, but it looks so pretty at night!

I definitely recommend going at night. The fountains are especially pretty when they're lit up.

Love the photo of you at the bottom. That has to be one massive room And you look like you are just lounging in your living room

Thanks! It was an awesome room... kinda like a large "library"-slash-sitting room. I loved it and wished I could have spent more time there, but there was mayhem to be had elsewhere, so....

By the way, I'm glad y'all like the pictures so far. To tell the truth, I'm very disappointed by the way they look. Photobucket changed their site, and now all the pictures look darker with less vibrant color... they definitely don't look as good as the originals before I upload them... and their editing tools are now harder to use, and don't do as good a job as I would like. So I might try to edit the pics (lighten some, intensify the color...) a little bit from now on before I upload them to see if this makes a difference. Maybe that way they'll look more like the originals. We'll see....

[Mousekedude]

Just for grins, I went ahead and did that. Now here's the last picture again, this time I enhanced it before uploading to Photobucket. Now it looks more like the original did before editing. *sigh*.... shame I'm going to have to do that. I may not do it for all pics, but for some I will definitely want to so they look like the real thing. I wonder why Photobucket does that to my pics? Anyone else notice that they degrade the quality when they upload?

[cy1229]

Just for grins, I went ahead and did that. Now here's the last picture again, this time I enhanced it before uploading to Photobucket. Now it looks more like the original did before editing. *sigh*.... shame I'm going to have to do that. I may not do it for all pics, but for some I will definitely want to so they look like the real thing. I wonder why Photobucket does that to my pics? Anyone else notice that they degrade the quality when they upload?

I've noticed much of the same thing, M-dude. Wish I had answers as to why it's like that.

[Amy]

Hmmm, I've never tried Photobucket's editing, other than to re-size the photos for here on the forum. That stinks that they aren't coming through as you've taken them They still look good though
I forgot to mention the two lovely ladies in your photos. The first thing that popped into my head when I saw them on Goofy's Barnstormer was that they looked like two beautiful flowers Great to see smiling faces ~ although smiling faces participating in mayhem are my favorite!

[NaCler]

Awesome job M-Dude. I always love your trip reports. I love that you got to meet up with Soarin' several times on this trip. Isn't she awesome? Please remember to post those BLT pics when you can for those of us who will never be DVC members .

Just an editorial note... The Stormalong Bay pool is for people who stay at Yacht Club or Beach Club.

[mindflipper]

I admit for some reason I always suspected my photos looked darker when I looked at them on photobucket, but I dismissed as a "trick of the light". Now I wonder if Mousekedude is right...

[cy1229]

Awesome job M-Dude. I always love your trip reports. I love that you got to meet up with Soarin' several times on this trip. Isn't she awesome? Please remember to post those BLT pics when you can for those of us who will never be DVC members .

Just an editorial note... The Stormalong Bay pool is for people who stay at Yacht Club or Beach Club.

You don't have to be a DVC member to see BLT. I have parents who are DVC members who feel it is their responsibility to spend my inheritance on me before they die. And yes, I'll take lots of pics and post them.

Anyone can stay in BLT though. Did you mean Top of the World?

[Mousekedude]

Awesome job M-Dude. I always love your trip reports. I love that you got to meet up with Soarin' several times on this trip. Isn't she awesome?
Just an editorial note... The Stormalong Bay pool is for people who stay at Yacht Club or Beach Club.

Thanks, and yes she is. As for Stormalong Bay, in my post I said that "sometimes they let in Yacht Club guests..." because I remembered Mouseoholic telling me that a C.M. told her that is what they do when it's not too crowded. But apparently I had mis-heard her at the time. I asked her about it and she clarified for me that yes, it is always open to both B.C. and Y.C. guests, but the part about "when it's crowded" applied only to whether or not they are very strict about checking for room keys to prove you're a guest. The first day we went they did not check us, but a few days later when she went back with her parents they did check and her dad had to go back to the room and get his key before they would let him in. (Footnote: her parents joined us at the Boardwalk halfway through this trip, and when I had to leave to go home they stayed on longer with her. They all transferred back to the B.C. from Boardwalk toward the end of the trip specifically so her parents could check out the pool... but I'll get to that later on in the report).

You don't have to be a DVC member to see BLT...
Anyone can stay in BLT though. Did you mean Top of the World?

Yes. Specifically I said the "DVC Members-only lounge at the top of BLT" (at the time I made the post I couldn't remember the name and was too lazy to look it up ). I did not say the whole BLT was members only.

As for pictures of the lounge, I have a couple that I will post later as the report progresses, but meanwhile here is an awesome link with tons of them:
http://baylaketower.net/totw_inside.html

I forgot to mention the two lovely ladies in your photos. The first thing that popped into my head when I saw them on Goofy's Barnstormer was that they looked like two beautiful flowers Great to see smiling faces ~ although smiling faces participating in mayhem are my favorite!

They certainly do look cute and mayhem-y, don't they?

[Mousekedude]

The Mousekecouple Invade WDW, Aug-Sept 2012.... Part 3.

This is just a “quickie” post to keep the ball rolling.

When we got up the next morning, the first thing on the agenda was breakfast at Cape May. It was okay, but to be honest, the food and ambience weren’t anywhere near as good as Crystal Palace. It was also billed as a character breakfast “with Goofy and friends”, so we were expecting to see at least most of the Fab Five. All we saw was a passing glance at Goofy (he never came to our table), and Minnie did come by our table, but that was it.


Maybe it was just an off day, and maybe we’ve just been spoiled, but I would have to be honest and say that I wouldn’t recommend Cape May for breakfast. Sorry.

After that, we headed back to our room to get ready for our transfer to the Boardwalk. As we walked the seemingly endless hallways, we were actually a little glad to be transferring out because although we did like the room, it was a very very very long walk to get to it. Which reminds me: there was something vaguely creepy to us about the “endless hallways”, in a sort-of funny way, and at first we couldn’t put our fingers on it. But then we suddenly realized what it was! Look at this picture:


Okay now, quick: what movie does that remind you of? Hint: it’s an old horror movie from the ‘70s, and it’s playing on the screen at the small town drive-in during the scene in “Twister” where the massive tornado tears up the drive-in and the heroes have to hide in an auto repair shop’s maintenance pit…. Give up? If no one gets it before my next post, I’ll give you the answer. Anyway, we had a good laugh about it.

So anyway, we successfully transferred to the Boardwalk. At first there was some confusion at check-in because somehow the names on the reservation weren’t coming up right (remember: we booked this part of the trip through Mouseoholic’s Aunt’s timeshare… ). We were at the desk for almost an hour trying to get it figured out, and just when we started to panic the C.M. was able to get it resolved. I think she felt sorry for us, because she ended up giving us a fabulous room in a perfect location. We were rather pleased.

I don’t remember much about the rest of that day, but I’m sure it was great.
That’s it for now. More coming soon, I hope.