First 2015 trip: Jan 23 - 27th at Boardwalk

Got my January trip - the family one - scheduled for this January 23 - 27th - staying at a 2-bedroom villa at Boardwalk. So far, 4 of us booked - plus a few local relatives we'll be hanging out with.

If any board members are up there during those times, let me know - I'm sure I'll have at least some free time to break away and do a little photography!

 

Have fun! We arrive January 30th

 

One week to go. Hoping to secure one of my favorite quiet and secret locations at Boardwalk...I have a garden-view 2-bedroom villa - there's a location down at the end of the Boardwalk, right behind Jellyroll's, that has a small garden out back on the pathway that runs the canal to DHS, and faces Swan & Dolphin...the rooms that sit on that garden are wonderfully quiet - and yet you just need to walk around the corner to get to the Boardwalk itself, can cut through the pool area to get to the central Boardwalk or lobby area, and for bus stops you can just walk across the bridge to Swan which is much closer than the actual Boardwalk stop. Plus, coming back from the parks you can hop off at Swan which is the first stop and be home in no time. Love that little spot...had a ground floor room which was wonderful for popping in and out. I'm requesting that again, but won't know for sure what we get until we get there. Hoping a cool front will come down for that week - it's been hot again down here and could use the nice weather break.

 

Ooh yeah - that sounds good indeed - especially if we get a cool morning.

I'm hoping also to sample the new Italian restaurant that replaced Kouzzina.

 

Well weather was great - Friday 23rd when I got up there, it was cloudy with high chance of rain - temp at 80 degrees but forecast to drop as a cold front came in. Ended up not raining at least while I was in the parks...hit Epcot and Downtown Disney and back to the room by 11pm, when the rains started shortly after. Temps the next morning dropped to mid-60s for a high, with blue skies...went to Epcot for the day, then over to MK for the evening (they had late hours that night) - nighttime dropped to the low 40s, crisp and clear. Crowds were a bit heavy - even moreso than December, surprisingly! HM and POTC waits for standby were in the 40-50 minute region. Mostly just enjoyed the weather and the walkaround. Sunday, went to Animal Kingdom - highs about the same as the day before, and clear. Not as crowded - very tolerable...though the line looked a bit long for Kilimanjaro standby at 50 minutes - I had fast pass so no worries. Animals were more active in the cool weather again, as it was in December. Ate at Boma after the park closed, then played some minigolf to extend the evening (Winter/Summerland was closed - played Fantasia this time). Monday, I reversed Saturday's schedule - starting at MK, then for the evening, back to Epcot. Again pleasant temps in the mid-60s and plunging to 40s at night. Monday the parks were noticeably emptier - POTC and HM had less than 10 minute standby lines, and at Epcot even Test Track was down to 30 min, with most of the slow rides like SSE, Living with the Land, Energy, etc being walk-ons with no wait.

I had a nice ground floor room at Boardwalk - garden /pool view - I was near the end of the main pool, on the Boardwalk side - location was awesome as we could head right out a side door and be on the pathway along the canal right across from Swan hotel - which meant easy to walk through the pool to the Boardwalk cross-under and walk to Epcot, easy to hit the trail to walk to DHS, and much closer to walk to Swan's bus stop to catch a bus to the other parks rather than use Boardwalk's bus stop. We had a smoker in the party and it made it easy for her too to get out to the smoking benches close to the room, without having to walk through the length of the hotel halls to get to one.

Didn't get a chance to try the Boardwalk's Italian restaurant this time...first night ate at Mexico's lakefront restaurant in Epcot, Saturday at a casual meal at ESPN, Sunday at Boma, and Monday at Morocco in Epcot. On Friday night, the family was happy to see 'cronuts' (even though they don't call them that) still on the menu in Epcot after the success at Food & Wine, so we had that as a warm snack on a cool night with some coffee. Monday, it was hot chocolate and funnel cakes.

 

I was very happy with it - quite sharp, nice and fast. I am hoping to get through all the photos by this weekend - maybe as soon as Saturday night...I downloaded all from the cards and sorted out the duplicates and flubs - and started working on some of the dark ride RAWs (only had about 40 of those)...then I get to the JPGs which mostly just need cropping and occasional light touchups. Used the 70-200 around the property a bit, but mostly got to take it around Animal Kingdom and let it stretch out.