DAY 1 – Thursday 3/24/22
Who: Sue (63), DVC Member

Plan: Drive to BCV, Epcot

Actual: I’d planned to work until noon, which would get me to WDW around 2. However with the rain I knew if my studio wasn’t ready I’d be sitting inside the resort waiting for it, which is kind of a waste of time. I ended up checking the weather here and at Disney repeatedly, watching for a decent window . As it turned out the rain here stopped at noon but was due back at 12:30. It was also due to end at 3 down at Disney. Based on that, and knowing it would change before I got there, I left at noon and was on the road by 12:10.

The rain was light, and then for most of the drive I had no rain at all. I even switched from glasses to sunglasses when the sky seemed brighter. Unfortunately I was slowed down by an accident on the shoulder of the turnpike, although by the time I got there the delay was only about 10 minutes vs the 30 minutes posted earlier. After that I hoped for smooth sailing, but that was not in the cards today. I saw a sign the exit ramp for southbound 429 was closed – that’s my road! I took the exit, and sure enough southbound was all blocked off with traffic cones so I had no choice but to go north. I figured it would be a piece of cake – go north, get off at the next exit, and get back on southbound. HA!

Traffic was bumper to bumper and mostly sitting still, with the absolute longest red nights I’ve ever seen! I lost more time there, and after sitting for so long decided to use maps on my phone. I was glad I did, as it said the shortest route would be turning right (rather than left to get on the highway southbound) and I decided to trust maps. Once again it was bumper to bumper for a while, before finally clearing up. It brought me back onto 429 southbound, just beyond a HUGE accident scene. No doubt I wouldn’t have been able to go southbound from where I was earlier.

In all the trip was nearly 3 hours instead of 2 hours, and not much fun. At least it hadn’t been pouring rain during the drive! I arrived at Beach Club Villas around 3 and my studio was still not ready! I’d given an arrival time of 1:30, so this just sucks. The cast member called but the only “ready” studio was on the ground floor, and there’s no way in hell I’m taking that.

I’d left my stuff in the car figuring if the room wasn’t ready I’d head to Epcot, but now it was pouring again. I took out my umbrella and walked to the stairwell door by the parking lot to get my stuff out of the car and found the rain had stopped again. It’s supposed to continue off and on for a few hours still. I got my stuff and sat in the breezeway room just as you enter from the quiet pool. I updated the report and then did some work I’d brought (in case I was sitting waiting for my room in the rain).

At 4:08 I got the text with my room number, and it’s not far away (but up on the 4th floor). I put away the laptop grabbed my stuff, and headed up. The room is fine, although they still don’t have any throw pillows or any color on the beds. The rooms look so barren without a little color here and there, so I’ll harp on that on my satisfaction survey. My balcony is one that’s solid on the bottom 2/3 and slats on the top 1/3. My view is the quiet pool and the canal, so if I sit out there at some point I should be able to see while sitting down.

I unpacked, which took no time at all. I took a few photos but when I sent them to facebook they never appeared and I didn’t get an error message. I was headed to Epcot to get something to eat, but then I saw it was pouring again. I tried to upload the photos again without any apparent success, then gave up for now. Life’s too short for frustrating bullshit! The rain ended as suddenly as it began, but since this was supposed to be the norm until 6pm I decided to just wait.

Luckily I’d brought some crackers and cheeses “just in case” so I nibbled on a little bit of that and paired it with a small glass of wine (pinot grigio from a box – this is a high class trip, lol). By 5:30 the sun was trying really hard to shine, and it hadn’t rained in a while. I decided it was safe to venture out – with an umbrella in my bag!

On my way down the hall I saw a lady on a rental scooter struggling to get into her villa. Between the door being heavy and having the closure mechanism, she couldn’t fling it open and then get the scooter in there. I asked if she needed help, and she was happy to let a stranger (me) go into her villa to hold the door open for her to enter. Guess she could tell my axe murderer days are in the distant past and I’m no longer a threat, lol.

Once outside it felt great to be back on property again, and staying at Beach Club Villas. Coming to the end of the bridge to Boardwalk was a bit sad since there’s where we always met Pete & Judy when we weren’t all staying at Boardwalk Villas. That will always be Pete’s corner.

Entering the park was easy. There were pretty decent lines at the entry, except the furthest one on the right had no line. Once again, people follow each other instead of using their eyes and brain to pay attention. I zipped into the park and headed up the hill, turning right to head towards France. Here again it felt wonderful to be back in World Showcase, entering from the International Gateway! The park was very busy, but oddly enough the festival booth lines were not long. I expected much worse!

I stopped in France – that one had a line but it was much less than it will be on the weekend. They had 2 registers open and one said she could only take cash or credit cards. We have Disney gift cards, so she said to go to the other register. At that one the cast member tried twice but the reader would not accept it, so my options were leave with nothing, pay cash, or use a credit card. I was aggravated – we buy Disney gift cards to make it simple here in the park! Fortunately I had cash so I used that – grudgingly. I ordered the warm croissant with goat cheese, herbs & roasted garlic.

At the booth itself the girl ahead of me had ordered a beer and a frozen drink and evidently the cast member gave her 2 beers & said to keep them. He checked my receipt and another cast member handed me 2 of the croissants. I told her I only ordered one and the other guy said “just take them both”. That was so odd. Maybe they had a surplus or something? I thanked them both and walked over to a table.

Two croissants was way more than I wanted, but I bit into the smaller one and couldn’t believe how good it was! The croissant was warm & flaky, and the goat cheese was delicious. There was quite a bit in there, too. When the smaller one was gone I ate the other one – every last bite! It was too good to waste, but now I was stuffed – ruined for trying anything else tonight. I’ll gladly get this again, and hopefully it’ll be just a single next time.

I contined walking, and when I saw there was no line at the caramel shop in Germany went in there to get one of the caramel apple oatmeal pecan (or walnut) cookies I like. Since this is a merchandise shop passholders get 20% off. The cookie went into a bag – if I crave something sweet later I’ll break off a piece at the resort. As far as the festival booths, there was no line in Italy, just a couple people in Germany, and NO line in China – when do you ever see that?? Yet the walkway was pretty crowded. I finished my loop and continued for a second one.

This time I arrived in America within 1 minute of the 6:45 concert starting.. The previous loop the early concert had just ended. Tonight it’s a local band, and my experience has been mixed with these. Once it was awful & I left, but the other time the group was very good. Well, tonight was like the first time. The band was mostly female singers, and if any of them would have had a nice singing voice maybe I would have liked it more. They just kind of screamed their way through songs. I lasted 1.25 songs before leaving.

At this point I was ready to head home, so I continued around to finish the second loop and returned to the resort. Once there I took the laptop out to the balcony to update the report. It was real quiet out there, and nobody was in the pool. It was heavily overcast so the sky never had any sunset colors but it was still nice being out there.

I came inside around 8 and saw I’d missed a message from Carol Stein – she & hubby are having dinner at Yacht Club at 8 and wondered if I was around. I messaged her back & they were waiting to be seated. By the time I got down there they’d just been seated, so I joined the party. It was Carol, husband Lee and 3 friends. The guy next to me was from the UK although his husband is living in Tokyo now and he’s in town visiting the other 2 guys who are a couple. They were a very welcoming and interesting bunch of people – well traveled, fun life experiences, and the time flew by.

Obviously with the croissant situation I did not have room for dinner, but I got a glass of wine and the others forced me to eat some of the parker house rolls (I ate 1.5 of those, with some of the different spreads). They all ordered dinner as well – a mix of things that all seemed to be excellent. We were there over 2 hours and it felt like not even an hour. Carol mentioned her next performing venue, but since it’s not public yet I won’t share the details. She’s happy, and I also think it’s a good move.

We stopped for a group photo after leaving the restaurant, before everyone headed home. It was a nice time! I walked back to my studio and got into bed to finish up the report. I can’t believe I’m up so late – it’s like the Comedy Warehouse days <g>.

On 3/24/2022 10:42 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:
> Carol mentioned her next performing venue, but since it’s not public yet I won’t share the details. She’s happy, and I also think it’s a good move.

Does that mean she's ending her gig with Disney? I enjoy listening to
her at the UK gazebo.

Steve S.

On Friday, March 25, 2022 at 7:36:13 AM UTC-4, Steve Soares wrote:
> On 3/24/2022 10:42 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:
> > Carol mentioned her next performing venue, but since it’s not public yet I won’t share the details. She’s happy, and I also think it’s a good move.
> Does that mean she's ending her gig with Disney? I enjoy listening to
> her at the UK gazebo.
>
> Steve S.

No, not at all. She'll still be working for Disney, at Epcot. She cut down to 4 days a week this past July.

Sue/WDW1972

On 3/25/2022 7:30 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:
> On Friday, March 25, 2022 at 7:36:13 AM UTC-4, Steve Soares wrote:
>> On 3/24/2022 10:42 PM, Sue/WDW1972 wrote:
>>> Carol mentioned her next performing venue, but since it’s not public yet I won’t share the details. She’s happy, and I also think it’s a good move.
>> Does that mean she's ending her gig with Disney? I enjoy listening to
>> her at the UK gazebo.
>>
>> Steve S.
>
> No, not at all. She'll still be working for Disney, at Epcot. She cut down to 4 days a week this past July.
>
> Sue/WDW1972

Thanks Sue.

Steve S.