After taking a shower, and throwing on some clothes, I ran down to Sal’s Market and grabbed a cinnamon roll for breakfast. Since I had some extra time, I brought my Nook with me, and sat at a table by the window and read for a while. It was really pleasant to sit and relax while eating a delicious pastry and enjoying the view. I almost felt like I was really sitting in a little café in Portofino, Italy.
After breakfast, I ran up to the room to finish getting ready, and do my final packing, as we would be heading to stay at the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary that afternoon. Krista was up by the time I was ready to head out the door, so we made plans to meet at the Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure later that afternoon.
I headed out the door and walked to Islands of Adventure, using the shortcut through the Hard Rock Hotel. I was at Islands of Adventure shortly after opening, and walked right back to the Forbidden Journey. I wound up taking two rides on the Forbidden Journey, once through the single riders line.
I then headed over and rode both sides of the Dragon Challenge. Since I had the time, I wound up taking a second ride on the red side. Again, they were not timing the coasters to leave at the same time. One tip when you are planning on second ride on Dragon Challenge, look for the stairway on the right side about 75 yards or so after you exit the building to save steps when you are getting back in line. It’s roped off sometimes, but if it’s open, it will save you some steps.
I then walked over to the Hulk roller coaster. I rode it three times with no wait. I had a bit of time before I had to meet Krista, so I decided to take a spin on Spiderman. This is one of my favorite attractions at Islands of Adventure. The 3D is excellent, and the motion of the vehicles is fantastic.
AsI was waiting for Krista, I grabbed some churros, and nibbled on them until Krista arrived. We then rode on Spiderman together. We then headed over to Seuss Island and rode on Cat in the Hat. This ride is really cute and fun.
We then went on the Trolley in the Sky. I didn’t discover this ride until last year, but it is really adorable if you listen to the story. While we were on the ride, we got to see the Seuss stage show being performed in one of the buildings. It looked really cute, but there were only about 20 or 30 people watching it.
We then headed over to see Poseidon. The sign said that the next show would be in 25 minutes, so we ran over to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for 10 minutes to take a few pictures. We then headed back to Poseidon, and the sign still said 25 minutes until the next show. Well, let me tell you, this sign lies. It always says next show in 25 minutes, no matter how long until the next show. I had known that from a previous trip, but had hoped they had it right now. The team member at the gate told us it was 20 minutes to the next show, so we got in the line to wait for the next show. I was afraid that the team member might lie, just like the sign.
The Poseidon show is entertaining, and hokey like most Universal shows. I have a big complaint about this one, though. The viewing of this show is not very good. You stand throughout the show, and walk to several rooms to watch different parts of the show. Unless you are in the first half of the people through the door into each room, it’s nearly impossible to see very much of the show. They also cram as many people as they can into the show. We were in a full show, and always amongst the last people to enter the rooms, so we couldn’t see very much of the show. Little kids or short people would see even less than we would if they were stuck in the back. It’s a bit disappointing.
By the time we got out of Poseidon, it was time for our lunch at Mythos. This restaurant is excellent, and winds up costing only a little more than a counter service meal. It’s a very pretty restaurant, with a nice view of the park. It’s a great spot to get out of the heat and relax for a while.
I started off with a mixed green salad in a citrus dressing, which was very tasty. For my entrée, I ordered the buffalo chicken wrap, which is what I always order there. The wrap has mixed greens and cheddar cheese mashed potatoes in it (I still want to know who woke up and decided to put mashed potatoes in a wrap). It was served with French fries. I always request a side of ranch dressing to give the wrap a bit more flavor. It’s really a great wrap--not too spicy. Krista ordered the Pad Tai, which she seemed to enjoy.
After lunch, we walked back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to take a few more pictures. Since there wasn’t a line, I took one more quick ride on the blue side of the Dragon Challenge.
We then headed out of the park, and went to do browse around in the Universal Studios show at City Walk. I had been debating buying a Ravenclaw shirt and a water bottle during our stay, and wound up deciding to not buy either of them.
We then headed to the boat dock. We had just missed a boat. Krista decided to wait for the next boat, but I decided to keep moving, so I walked back to Portofino Bay. I arrived back at the resort just a minute or two before Krista arrived in the boat.
We wandered around the hotel, and then waited in the lobby for our driver Gene to pick us up at 3:00. The bellmen offered us bottles of cold water for the ride as we left, which was a nice touch. Our bags loaded into the car, we were soon on our way to Disney World! We made a quick stop for water and soda at 7 11 on our way. Gene also tried to get us into drive through Golden Oaks, but the security guard denied us.
We arrived at Bay Lake Tower at about 3:30 to check in. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we decided to browse around in the shops at the Contemporary. The text message that our room was ready came at about 4:00, so we made our way to the bridge that connects Bay Lake Tower to the main building. We were in room 8609, which was on the top floor of Bay Lake Tower.
Once we made our way over the bridge, part one of the Spectacle of Keys began. You must insert your key in a slot in the elevator to gain access to the 16th floor of Bay Lake Tower. We went into the south elevator right next to the bridge, and the key didn’t work. I then noticed a sign that said to use the north elevators to get to our room number. So, we got off the elevator, and headed to the other elevator bank. I tried the key again, and once again, it didn’t work. I flipped it, turned it, and tried it every which way. I tried everything short of doing the hokey pokey and turning myself around to get that key to work.
So, off the elevator, and down the hall we went again, heading towards the main building. Along the way, I decided to give it one more try in the south elevator bank, and finally got the key to work so that we could get up to the 16th floor.
The keys were a bit of a nuisance throughout our stay. In all the times I went up to the 16th floor, only once or twice could I get it to work on the first try. Most times, I’d have to try three or four times before the elevator would accept the key. On several occasions, I had to exit an elevator, send it away, and call for another elevator to get up to our room. The keys were definitely a big hassle throughout the trip, but our room made the hassle worth it.
Our lake view studio overlooked the swimming pool and Bay Lake. It also had a stunning view of Epcot, which was a nice surprise. It was very relaxing to sit out on the balcony and enjoy the view.
The room was nice, but I have to say that I didn’t think it was designed as well as most of the other Disney Vacation Club rooms I have stayed at. Most DVC resorts have lots of cabinets, drawers, nooks, and crannies to store stuff in the room. I thought some of the storage areas in Bay Lake Tower wasn’t really well designed, and wasn’t great storage space for clothes. For example, the kitchenette had a large pull out pantry against the wall. I just don’t see a storage space this large in a kitchenette was very useful in a studio accommodation. There was also a large cabinet above the dresser, but the shelves were only about four or five inches deep. As Krista mentioned, it would be great for DVD or CD storage, but not much else.
I also have to say that the bathroom design with the small sink area inside was not well designed either. I know that these bathrooms were originally designed so that the sink was outside the bathroom in the kitchenette area, and were redesigned based on complaints from owners. The small sink, and small shelves next to the sink were barely adequate to hold the toiletries of the two of us. I wound up keeping most of my stuff on the shelves under the vanity in the kitchenette.
The bathroom could also use a couple more towel racks. There was only enough space to hang two towels on rods in the bathroom, so if you have four guests in the room, you’d have to hang them over the shower rod or the laundry line. A towel ring to hold the hand towel at the sink would have been nice as well.
Once our luggage had arrived, we started settling into the room. We decided to make the couch bed up before we left. The couch bed was a bit difficult to open. It was definitely a two person job (unlike the ones at the Boardwalk, which I can open with one hand). There was only a bottom sheet when we opened the couch bed, and it had some crumbs on it. We could not find a blanket, pillow, or top sheet for the bed anywhere. It took three phone calls to get some sheets and blankets for the bed.
We were soon on our way to Epcot. Our first stop was Guest Services so I could purchase an annual pass. I had a one day ticket to apply to the pass. I planned on using my $250 Disney Visa Rewards towards my annual pass, but when I got to guest services, I remembered that I never transferred the last $200, so I wound up charging most of my pass.
When we got to the gate, I tried to use my brand new Annual Pass, but it didn’t work. We soon realized that it expired two and a half years ago. Since I was upgrading an old one day ticket, the system automatically used the date of the original pass. So back to guest services I went so I could have a new pass issued with the correct expiration date.
Once through the gate of Epcot, we made our way back to Via Napoli for dinner. We shared a pepperoni pizza. Krista really loves the pizza here. While I will say it’s the best pizza I’ve had on Disney property, I didn’t think it was great. The sauce was very bland. I didn’t think it was worth the $30 the pizza cost us. It was pricy for a pizza (even by Disney standards). Krista got some chocolate gelato for dessert, but I decided to skip dessert at Via Napoli and grabbed a caramel marshmallow roll in the caramel shop in Germany instead.
We then headed towards Norway and Mexico, where we went on the boat rides. I always have to make sure that I go on these on each trip. They are both fun little rides.
After our rides, Krista and I parted ways. Krista was planning on staying to watch Illuminations, and I was planning on going to Jellyrolls. I also had plans to meet up with a DISer named DVCDeerNut, who is going to be on the cruise I am taking in December. I met DVCDeerNut and his wife Laura in Japan, and chatted with them for a while.
I then headed out of Epcot and walked to Jellyrolls. My favorites Scotty and Ray were playing, and it would be the only night of my trip that I would be able to see them. Michael and Matt were onstage when I arrived. I took my favorite barstool on the upper level of the bar.
When Scotty and Ray took the stage, I put up requests for some of my favorite songs. Scotty played Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” right away, and by the end of the hour, my other requests for “Drift Away” and “Saw Her Standing There” were performed. It sure was great to be watching Scotty and Ray again.
While I was there, Scotty’s brother David stopped by to say hello. It was great to see David. I didn’t expect to see him on this trip, so it was a nice surprise when he came over and tapped me on the shoulder.
At one point in the evening, someone tipped Ray $100 to play a song. I can’t remember what the song request was, but Ray had me laughing when he said he would fart the National Anthem for a hundred bucks. I guess I know what to request next time I have a hundred dollars to spare.
I wound up leaving the bar around midnight to head back to Bay Lake Tower. I knew we had an early breakfast reservation in the morning so I couldn’t really stay until closing time. It was a quick ride back to Bay Lake Tower. It cost about $17, including tip.
I snuck into the room as quietly as I could so I wouldn’t wake Krista, and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
