I am just back from an eight-night stay at Wilderness Lodge! This time it was just myself and DS4. We have a wonderful trip! We really, really enjoyed it!
A little about myself. I really enjoy reading other people's trip reports and viewing their pictures. This is my fifth trip in five consecutive years, and I visited Disney once before that in 1999. I have always been a little "shy" about doing a trip report, but here it goes! I do have pictures, but I'm still not ready for posting those. Maybe next time! This is my attempt to ease myself into a full trip report!
As I said, this trip it was just myself and DS4. We usually go to Disney with DH and sometimes with our older children, DS25 and DD22. Last year we traveled with DH, DS25, DS4 and our niece, too, who was 12 at the time. In 2011 we went during Christmas week. Lesson learned! We most likely won't do that again! I have learned to never say never though! In 2012, 2013 and 2014 we went in November/December usually a week or two after Thanksgiving. In 1999 we went in March. So this was our first late August/early September trip. Turns out I love this time of year! We are used to the heat being from South Texas, and we really enjoyed using the pool. This was the first time we tried the pool.
We have stayed offsite twice, then WL, then POFQ, CBR and this time WL again! We liked each resort, except for CBR, although we may have just had "one of those trips" last year when we went to CBR. It seemed everything went wrong last year at CBR! This year, however, everything seemed to go right almost all of the trip! So it was one of those very magical trips!
Our plane left from South Texas at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, August 29, so we arrived at the airport at 4:30 a.m. DS was so excited for the plane trip. He stared out the window the whole time in amazement! The plane took off without a hitch and about an hour later we landed in Houston and then on to Orlando after about an hour layover.
We only had time to grab a quick snack from Dunkin Donuts; a grilled cheese sandwich for me, and a chocolate donut for DS4. We took these on the plane with us. DS didn't like his chocolate donut very much and he ended up eating almost all of my grilled cheese! The things we give up for our kids!!
We took a little nap on the plane, and within a couple of hours, before we knew it, we were in Orlando!
As we were exiting the plane, the pilot invited DS into the cockpit and I got to take pictures. This set the tone for the whole trip! Everywhere we went, people seemed to be friendly and inviting! We made a quick restroom stop and then on to ME where the bus to Wilderness Lodge was waiting. We were headed out within 15 minutes. I believe we were the third stop after Grand Floridian and Polynesian.
We arrived at WL where there was no line for online check-in. The CM informed us that our room was ready and she gave us information for the parks and the WL activity schedules for August and September.
Our room was on the fifth floor, a corner room overlooking the beautiful lobby. Last time we were at WL in 2012 we were in one of the wings, which we loved, but I thought this was even better! We found out later that we could see the tops of the fireworks from out balcony every night.
We were hungry and had planned on just hanging out at the pool the first day, but the Magic Kingdom was calling our names, so even though this was not a recommended park day -- I had used Easywdw to make our plans -- we heeded the call and headed out!
We got on the boat about 1:15 as excited as we could be! The first thing we noticed was how uncrowded the park was! I couldn't believe it! Everyone had been on the lookout for Hurricane Erika, so maybe that had something to do with it. People here in Texas were telling me I was crazy to head to Florida on Saturday when there was a chance a hurricane would hit Monday or Tuesday, but we figured it was classified as a Category 1, and we would just chance it and stay barricaded in our room if we had to! We had a whole eight nights, so it would be okay. Turns out, the crowds were super low AND the weather was gorgeous partly due to the threat of the hurricane, I'm sure.
Anyway, we headed down Main Street, and I almost cried, as I always do when we first walk down Main Street at MK. The look on my son's face is just priceless. That's why we keep going back! We stopped at Casey's Corner for lunch. We shared an order of corn dog nuggets and fries, and I had a lemonade and DS had a water. The nuggets were really good and just hit the spot. We were able to ride Haunted Mansion, Prince Charming's Regal Carousel, It's a Small World and Mickey's Philar Magic and really just stop and smell the roses all along the way. We had a 7:00 reservation for Chef Mickey's, so we headed out about 4:30 because I wanted to go back to the room. I had forgotten my backup battery charger for my phone and our autograph book.
As I said, everything seemed to go off without a hitch and we were back in our room by 5:00. Our suitcase had arrived, and I unpacked while DS relaxed and colored with a little mini coloring book and crayons I had gotten him for the plane but ended up not using until now. Then we headed to dinner. We took the boat again and arrived at the Contemporary about 15 minutes early. We were handed a pager and it went off within two minutes.
Now, I had read really bad reviews about Chef Mickey's and we had never tried it before, so I wasn't expecting much of anything. I was really going for the characters for my son. Well, let me tell you, it was not nearly as bad as I had heard. It was very clean, the food was decent -- not stellar or anything, but not bad at all.
My son had mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, corn dog nuggets and green beans and corn. He had a couple of plates. He's a tiny 32-pound boy with a huge appetite! I tried the corn chowder -- pretty good -- the turkey -- good -- the parmesan mashed potatoes -- yum -- and the creamy polenta with short ribs -- very good, in my opinion -- I had two helpings of this! I also tried the vegetables and a few other things that I can't remember. It was all decent food. The desserts were pretty good. There was a wide variety. Some things, of course, were much better than others. My son didn't want dessert. He was full from his two plates of food.
The character interaction was great. We saw all the characters at least once. In fact, the only one we didn't see twice was Mickey. This was a wonderful start to our trip.
We decided just to head back to our room after a long day so that we could hit Hollywood Studios early in the morning for the much-anticipated Jedi Training Academy. It was raining when we left, but by the time we got outside there was just a small drizzle. CMs were outside with towels. We took one for DS and got on the boat, which arrived after about five minutes of waiting. We went straight to bed with dreams of Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers in our heads!
A little about myself. I really enjoy reading other people's trip reports and viewing their pictures. This is my fifth trip in five consecutive years, and I visited Disney once before that in 1999. I have always been a little "shy" about doing a trip report, but here it goes! I do have pictures, but I'm still not ready for posting those. Maybe next time! This is my attempt to ease myself into a full trip report!
As I said, this trip it was just myself and DS4. We usually go to Disney with DH and sometimes with our older children, DS25 and DD22. Last year we traveled with DH, DS25, DS4 and our niece, too, who was 12 at the time. In 2011 we went during Christmas week. Lesson learned! We most likely won't do that again! I have learned to never say never though! In 2012, 2013 and 2014 we went in November/December usually a week or two after Thanksgiving. In 1999 we went in March. So this was our first late August/early September trip. Turns out I love this time of year! We are used to the heat being from South Texas, and we really enjoyed using the pool. This was the first time we tried the pool.
We have stayed offsite twice, then WL, then POFQ, CBR and this time WL again! We liked each resort, except for CBR, although we may have just had "one of those trips" last year when we went to CBR. It seemed everything went wrong last year at CBR! This year, however, everything seemed to go right almost all of the trip! So it was one of those very magical trips!
Our plane left from South Texas at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, August 29, so we arrived at the airport at 4:30 a.m. DS was so excited for the plane trip. He stared out the window the whole time in amazement! The plane took off without a hitch and about an hour later we landed in Houston and then on to Orlando after about an hour layover.
We only had time to grab a quick snack from Dunkin Donuts; a grilled cheese sandwich for me, and a chocolate donut for DS4. We took these on the plane with us. DS didn't like his chocolate donut very much and he ended up eating almost all of my grilled cheese! The things we give up for our kids!!
We took a little nap on the plane, and within a couple of hours, before we knew it, we were in Orlando!
As we were exiting the plane, the pilot invited DS into the cockpit and I got to take pictures. This set the tone for the whole trip! Everywhere we went, people seemed to be friendly and inviting! We made a quick restroom stop and then on to ME where the bus to Wilderness Lodge was waiting. We were headed out within 15 minutes. I believe we were the third stop after Grand Floridian and Polynesian.
We arrived at WL where there was no line for online check-in. The CM informed us that our room was ready and she gave us information for the parks and the WL activity schedules for August and September.
Our room was on the fifth floor, a corner room overlooking the beautiful lobby. Last time we were at WL in 2012 we were in one of the wings, which we loved, but I thought this was even better! We found out later that we could see the tops of the fireworks from out balcony every night.
We were hungry and had planned on just hanging out at the pool the first day, but the Magic Kingdom was calling our names, so even though this was not a recommended park day -- I had used Easywdw to make our plans -- we heeded the call and headed out!
We got on the boat about 1:15 as excited as we could be! The first thing we noticed was how uncrowded the park was! I couldn't believe it! Everyone had been on the lookout for Hurricane Erika, so maybe that had something to do with it. People here in Texas were telling me I was crazy to head to Florida on Saturday when there was a chance a hurricane would hit Monday or Tuesday, but we figured it was classified as a Category 1, and we would just chance it and stay barricaded in our room if we had to! We had a whole eight nights, so it would be okay. Turns out, the crowds were super low AND the weather was gorgeous partly due to the threat of the hurricane, I'm sure.
Anyway, we headed down Main Street, and I almost cried, as I always do when we first walk down Main Street at MK. The look on my son's face is just priceless. That's why we keep going back! We stopped at Casey's Corner for lunch. We shared an order of corn dog nuggets and fries, and I had a lemonade and DS had a water. The nuggets were really good and just hit the spot. We were able to ride Haunted Mansion, Prince Charming's Regal Carousel, It's a Small World and Mickey's Philar Magic and really just stop and smell the roses all along the way. We had a 7:00 reservation for Chef Mickey's, so we headed out about 4:30 because I wanted to go back to the room. I had forgotten my backup battery charger for my phone and our autograph book.
As I said, everything seemed to go off without a hitch and we were back in our room by 5:00. Our suitcase had arrived, and I unpacked while DS relaxed and colored with a little mini coloring book and crayons I had gotten him for the plane but ended up not using until now. Then we headed to dinner. We took the boat again and arrived at the Contemporary about 15 minutes early. We were handed a pager and it went off within two minutes.
Now, I had read really bad reviews about Chef Mickey's and we had never tried it before, so I wasn't expecting much of anything. I was really going for the characters for my son. Well, let me tell you, it was not nearly as bad as I had heard. It was very clean, the food was decent -- not stellar or anything, but not bad at all.
My son had mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, corn dog nuggets and green beans and corn. He had a couple of plates. He's a tiny 32-pound boy with a huge appetite! I tried the corn chowder -- pretty good -- the turkey -- good -- the parmesan mashed potatoes -- yum -- and the creamy polenta with short ribs -- very good, in my opinion -- I had two helpings of this! I also tried the vegetables and a few other things that I can't remember. It was all decent food. The desserts were pretty good. There was a wide variety. Some things, of course, were much better than others. My son didn't want dessert. He was full from his two plates of food.
The character interaction was great. We saw all the characters at least once. In fact, the only one we didn't see twice was Mickey. This was a wonderful start to our trip.
We decided just to head back to our room after a long day so that we could hit Hollywood Studios early in the morning for the much-anticipated Jedi Training Academy. It was raining when we left, but by the time we got outside there was just a small drizzle. CMs were outside with towels. We took one for DS and got on the boat, which arrived after about five minutes of waiting. We went straight to bed with dreams of Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers in our heads!
I've only been to WDW 2x so far and haven't tried a trip report yet but I really enjoy reading them!
