Post by sherrih on Oct 25, 2024 19:47:34 GMT -5
This is my first attempt at a trip report so we’ll see how it goes. These are more random thoughts than a day by day breakdown.
Travel party: Me and my husband along with my youngest DS, DIL and two DGS’s (5 and 2 1/2)
This was a shorter trip for us, Saturday, 10/19 through Thursday, 10/24. We traveled back on a Thursday since we were able to snag a great price for the flight. This was our first stay at the treehouses. We stayed in a 3 bed GV at the Boardwalk in February with this crew along with my other DS/DIL. I didn’t have the points for another GV this time. With two less people, I didn’t want to borrow points and cut in to our trips next year.
We knew we wanted the space the treehouse could provide with 3 separate bedrooms. “Woodsy” decor isn’t really my thing. I didn’t hate it, just wasn’t my favorite. We knew there would a lot of walking since we opted not to rent a car. We went back and forth on this one, but all of us are well-conditioned for walking. The four adults all either run or cycle (or both), so it wasn’t an issue. I may have had a different opinion on that if we had bad rainy weather. My DIL loved the treehouses because the boys had their own room and slept all night by themselves. Having the kitchen, washer/dryer and 3 bedrooms for 6 people was perfect.
A few thoughts on the treehouses:
You have stairs to get in. This is obvious but I didn’t really think about having to carry the strollers up each time (or sleeping kids). This wasn’t a big deal for us, but something to keep in mind. I do think there may be a few ADA accessible, but wouldn’t swear to that.
The master bathroom is a little odd. There is a separate door for just the toilet. The bathtub and shower are more like a wet room with a “bench” in there.. The jetted tub is within the glass enclosure.
We were in #7040, which we thought was a perfect location. A little way in to the treehouse section, but not too far of a walk. At first we thought it may be nice to be by the water. We took a boat ride and decided, nope….those boat horns were sounding constantly. So if you don’t like boat horns, maybe put in a request to be away from the water.
I read a lot of people saying to take bug spray. I added it to my grocery pickup but didn’t see a single mosquito. Now…I got bit on the ankles by those ‘no see ums’. I was the only one out of all of us. No idea where - I wasn’t wandering off on my own. Those are nasty little buggers. I am extremely sensitive to any bug bites so in typical fashion my left ankle really swelled up.
The two additional bedrooms are pretty small. You will definitely want to put the suitcases in the closets or out of the way so they don’t take up floor space.
The washer/dryer is the mini size. No complaints, we only needed small loads, just something to know.
Overall, no complaints staying here. It worked out perfectly for this trip. Plenty of room for the kids to move around. While the Boardwalk is our favorite, I would stay here again with the right circumstances.
Some other random thoughts:
We went to MK on the Monday, which was a party day. I’ve heard crowds are lower and in our case, I would agree with that. We didn’t rope drop, but arrived sometime within the first 30 min of early access. We were able to get on several rides with just a few minute wait…Space Mountain, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, and a couple of others. My son checked MDE and found that there was a Crystal Palace reservation at 10:30 so we grabbed that since the kids love the characters. We didn’t realize that it switches to lunch around 10:45 or 11, so we had the best of both worlds at breakfast prices. That worked out nicely and we didn’t even try.
I was able to get a cabana for Typhoon Lagoon on Monday night for a visit on Tuesday. I only want to do the water parks with a cabana so we have a guaranteed shady area with towels provided, water, refillable mugs and a locker in the cabana for phones, etc. We take advantage of the attendant to order food throughout the day. All rides were basically walk on.
We had a very long ride to Animal Kingdom. We planned to arrive during the 30 min early entry - not trying to get there for rope drop, thankfully. Our bus driver must have forgotten which park he was going to. My husband tells me, this is not the way to AK. The bus was noted as AK, but he drove us to MK. As we got to the drop off area, he had to head off and take us to AK. There weren’t many of us on the bus and no one said anything to him. We’ll just call it an adventure.
After taking the boys back for a rest during the day we hit EPCOT in the late afternoon/evenings, stopping at several of the food and wine booths.
I’m not always a huge Disney Springs fan. I hate fighting the crowds at night. Yes, I know, the parks are crowded, but maybe it’s the idea of shopping in crowds that is not appealing to me in any way. Staying at Saratoga allowed me to enjoy it a little more this trip. We went over early two different days so it was enjoyable to walk through and purchase a few things for the kids.
The boys loved mini golfing. They gave the 2 1/2 year old a cute little plastic club. He had to do a little more bowling with his ball than golfing, but he still had fun. On our way through the Swan/Dolphin we saw the set-up for the Gartner conference. It looks like a huge event, with some set-up over at the Boardwalk, as well.
We took a boat ride over to Port Orleans for beignets. My DIL never had them before so it was a perfect excuse for a boat ride from Disney Springs. We had an order of the regular ones, but also tried the Halloween ones - they were really good. Not something I would eat on a regular basis but a yummy “vacation treat”.
Travel party: Me and my husband along with my youngest DS, DIL and two DGS’s (5 and 2 1/2)
This was a shorter trip for us, Saturday, 10/19 through Thursday, 10/24. We traveled back on a Thursday since we were able to snag a great price for the flight. This was our first stay at the treehouses. We stayed in a 3 bed GV at the Boardwalk in February with this crew along with my other DS/DIL. I didn’t have the points for another GV this time. With two less people, I didn’t want to borrow points and cut in to our trips next year.
We knew we wanted the space the treehouse could provide with 3 separate bedrooms. “Woodsy” decor isn’t really my thing. I didn’t hate it, just wasn’t my favorite. We knew there would a lot of walking since we opted not to rent a car. We went back and forth on this one, but all of us are well-conditioned for walking. The four adults all either run or cycle (or both), so it wasn’t an issue. I may have had a different opinion on that if we had bad rainy weather. My DIL loved the treehouses because the boys had their own room and slept all night by themselves. Having the kitchen, washer/dryer and 3 bedrooms for 6 people was perfect.
A few thoughts on the treehouses:
You have stairs to get in. This is obvious but I didn’t really think about having to carry the strollers up each time (or sleeping kids). This wasn’t a big deal for us, but something to keep in mind. I do think there may be a few ADA accessible, but wouldn’t swear to that.
The master bathroom is a little odd. There is a separate door for just the toilet. The bathtub and shower are more like a wet room with a “bench” in there.. The jetted tub is within the glass enclosure.
We were in #7040, which we thought was a perfect location. A little way in to the treehouse section, but not too far of a walk. At first we thought it may be nice to be by the water. We took a boat ride and decided, nope….those boat horns were sounding constantly. So if you don’t like boat horns, maybe put in a request to be away from the water.
I read a lot of people saying to take bug spray. I added it to my grocery pickup but didn’t see a single mosquito. Now…I got bit on the ankles by those ‘no see ums’. I was the only one out of all of us. No idea where - I wasn’t wandering off on my own. Those are nasty little buggers. I am extremely sensitive to any bug bites so in typical fashion my left ankle really swelled up.
The two additional bedrooms are pretty small. You will definitely want to put the suitcases in the closets or out of the way so they don’t take up floor space.
The washer/dryer is the mini size. No complaints, we only needed small loads, just something to know.
Overall, no complaints staying here. It worked out perfectly for this trip. Plenty of room for the kids to move around. While the Boardwalk is our favorite, I would stay here again with the right circumstances.
Some other random thoughts:
We went to MK on the Monday, which was a party day. I’ve heard crowds are lower and in our case, I would agree with that. We didn’t rope drop, but arrived sometime within the first 30 min of early access. We were able to get on several rides with just a few minute wait…Space Mountain, Buzz, Winnie the Pooh, and a couple of others. My son checked MDE and found that there was a Crystal Palace reservation at 10:30 so we grabbed that since the kids love the characters. We didn’t realize that it switches to lunch around 10:45 or 11, so we had the best of both worlds at breakfast prices. That worked out nicely and we didn’t even try.
I was able to get a cabana for Typhoon Lagoon on Monday night for a visit on Tuesday. I only want to do the water parks with a cabana so we have a guaranteed shady area with towels provided, water, refillable mugs and a locker in the cabana for phones, etc. We take advantage of the attendant to order food throughout the day. All rides were basically walk on.
We had a very long ride to Animal Kingdom. We planned to arrive during the 30 min early entry - not trying to get there for rope drop, thankfully. Our bus driver must have forgotten which park he was going to. My husband tells me, this is not the way to AK. The bus was noted as AK, but he drove us to MK. As we got to the drop off area, he had to head off and take us to AK. There weren’t many of us on the bus and no one said anything to him. We’ll just call it an adventure.
After taking the boys back for a rest during the day we hit EPCOT in the late afternoon/evenings, stopping at several of the food and wine booths.
I’m not always a huge Disney Springs fan. I hate fighting the crowds at night. Yes, I know, the parks are crowded, but maybe it’s the idea of shopping in crowds that is not appealing to me in any way. Staying at Saratoga allowed me to enjoy it a little more this trip. We went over early two different days so it was enjoyable to walk through and purchase a few things for the kids.
The boys loved mini golfing. They gave the 2 1/2 year old a cute little plastic club. He had to do a little more bowling with his ball than golfing, but he still had fun. On our way through the Swan/Dolphin we saw the set-up for the Gartner conference. It looks like a huge event, with some set-up over at the Boardwalk, as well.
We took a boat ride over to Port Orleans for beignets. My DIL never had them before so it was a perfect excuse for a boat ride from Disney Springs. We had an order of the regular ones, but also tried the Halloween ones - they were really good. Not something I would eat on a regular basis but a yummy “vacation treat”.
