April vacation at the Wilderness Lodge - Update 5/13 COMPLETED! About This Page:

[musicteachermom]

Pre-trip report:

Cast of characters:
Me/Laurie/48/ 4th trip to WDW – Disney World fanatic, would love to go every year.

DH/Michael/48/4th trip to WDW – Doesn’t mind being dragged along, but doesn’t want to go more than once every 4 years.

DD/Sarah/10/3rd trip to WDW – Loves WDW, (she makes mom proud), and just prior to going on this trip became an Eeyore fan.

When: Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Friday, April 20, 2007

Where: The Wilderness Lodge, courtyard view, bunk beds

We also have a son Eric, who is a freshman in college. He has been to Disney 3 times. This was our first trip without him, because college break did not coincide with school vacation week. (Sarah is in the 5th grade and I am a teacher.) Eric was OK with not coming along but it was very hard for me. To make it even harder it was Eric’s 19th birthday on our second day there! Once again, he didn’t care, but this double whammy really killed me! We celebrated his birthday the weekend before when he was home for Easter. But this entire vacation we missed him. Sarah would have loved to share special rides with him and would have loved to have gone to BlizzardBeach with him. But… did this stop me from planning a trip to my favorite place. NO! Life must go on even when the kids grow up, so… plan I did! Plus, Sarah was psyched to be able to finally sleep on the top of the bunk bed!

We decided on the Wilderness Lodge for a few reasons. #1 we love staying at the deluxe resorts. #2 – We have already stayed at the Poly and the Beach Club and we wanted someplace different. Also, the Wilderness is I think the cheapest of all the deluxe resorts and we do have a college tuition to think of, yikes! #3 – I thought this resort would really be a hit with Michael, because he loves this type of themeing, Pacific Northwest, casual.



Saving for this trip:
The exciting part of this trip, is that I saved for about 3 years by using a Disney Visa credit card. We put everything on this card, and had enough points to cover all 3 park hopper passes, and then $525 to be used for dining and souvenirs. I highly recommend this way of saving for the trip! I have already begun to save for the next trip whenever that may be!

Disney planner fanatic:
So many people think that I must go to Disney every year. Not so, it’s about every 4 years (Boo-Hoo). I just love to plan, watch the planning video, come here to Passporter Boards, and help other people plan who have no idea where to begin.

[KandJluvdisney]

sounds great so far
can't wait to read more
where in Mass are you?

[musicteachermom]

Hey, it looks like we are almost neighbors. We now live in Newburyport, but when we first got married we lived in Methuen, your town! It's a small world after all...

[wdwmom23boys]

Wow...I bet that first vacation without your eldest was tough . I have 3 boys and want to cry when I think of taking a trip without any of them...ESPECIALLY to WDW. It sounds like you made the best of it, though . WL is great!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start, Laurie! Can't wait to hear more!

[bsblady01]

more please.

[mattnkatsmum]

I can't wait to hear what you think of the WL having previously stayed at the Poly and the BC.

Can't wait for more.

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Laurie More please

[musicteachermom]

Day 1: Saturday, April 14, 2007

Okay! Almost time to get up and it’s 2:30 AM and I can’t sleep. It’s Disney Day!

So, we left the house around 4:00 and drove up to Manchester, NH. (For those around New England we live in Newburyport, MA). I have never flown out of this airport. It was so easy. It was easy parking in the garage and then we walked right into the airport. Okay, I don’t mind flying but I get really nervous with all the preflight stuff. When we were checking in my heart was pounding right out of my chest! We’ve never flown Southwest and this was freaking me out too. We had preprinted the boarding passes the morning before for Michael and me but we had to do Sarah’s at the Southwest check-in counter. Well, no problem. It all went well; we were in group B and managed to have the 3 of us seated together. Our flight left at 6:40 AM and arrived in Orlando a little ahead of schedule at 9:20.

We were promptly met by Sam from Tiffany Town Car down at the baggage claim. We then did a quick grocery stop and were off to the Wilderness Lodge.

Wow! This lobby is beyond words. I’ve seen the special on the travel channel but you really need to be here in person to experience the wow factor. So, are we lucky or what- our room is ready and it’s only 10:30AM! So, we go up and check out our room. Nice location looking out onto the courtyard, a bunk bed room #4053. It is fairly close to the top part of the courtyard near the lobby vs. down by the pool area. The room was nicely decorated. The bathroom area is great with double sinks in the hallway outside of the toilet/shower area. I also love how there is an extra (small) bureau/refrigerator in that hallway area. Sarah LOVED her bunk bed. She finally got her choice, the top bunk. Also, the headboard is beautifully designed over the queen bed and the flat screen TV. above the bureau is great.

Now, we opened the door to the balcony. Wow, what a great view. We could see the beautiful courtyard. But wait, there’s some kind of noise going on, this high pitched screeching sound. Oh no, it’s an air conditioning unit across the way, way up high coming from the top of the building. Well, needless to say this was very disappointing because I love taking some time on each vacation to sit out on the balcony. With such a beautiful view of the courtyard, I thought that you should only hear the sounds of the babbling brook and the birds, not a screeching air conditioner. (I did mention it to the concierge desk, she wrote a note), but nothing ever changed. I really didn’t think it would. Well, because of this noise we didn’t really go out on our balcony much the entire trip, too bad.

After unpacking we walked around and checked out the lobby. Then we went down to Roarin’ Forks to grab some lunch. We ate outside on the patio under an umbrella, and then decided to try out the pool.

When we left home, (Massachusetts), it was about 40 degrees. Saturday in Orlando was about 85-88 and sunny! Oh that sun felt so good on us down at the pool! The water felt refreshing but not too cold. Sarah loved the slide, so I decided to try it too. At first Sarah was embarrassed that her mother was going down the slide, but what did I care, I was at Disney! Eventually Sarah got over it, and we had fun in the pool together. After awhile we decided to go back to the room and change and visit the MK. After all I bought park passes that would include this first day.

So, we took the boat ride over to the MK. Well, the castle really does it for me. As soon as I see the castle, and hear the sights and sounds of Main St. I know that I’m finally back at WDW! Michael thought that we could walk over and perhaps ride Splash Mountain, but I knew it would be a long wait, sure enough 70 minutes! So we skipped that and opted for Pirates of the Caribbean. It was fun to see Jack Sparrow, and have Sarah look for the hairy leg!

We then did the HauntedMansion. Last time, Eric and I did this together while Michael waited with Sarah because she was too young and afraid. But this time she liked it. Next, over to Fantasyland to check out Mickey’s Philharmagic. OOH, this 3D movie is so cute, what a great addition to the MK. We were starting to get hungry, so we bought ice creams at Mrs. Pott’s Cupboard. Sarah and I also had fun looking around at the Pooh gift shop. Here begins the week long search for all things Eeyore.

In Tomorrowland we tried out Stitch’s Great Escape. We thought this was OK, nothing fabulous though. Then we went over to the new comedy club. While we were standing in line for the doors to open, the 3 of us all at once just hit the wall. We were up so early this morning and the exhaustion hit us all at once. We wanted to just go back to our resort and lie down, but then the doors opened so we watched the comedy show. It’s hard to give an opinion of this because we were so tired but we thought it was just OK.

When we got back to the WL, Michael stopped in at the WhisperingCanyon Café to see if we could change our reservations from 6 to 7. We needed a nap! They said no problem, so all of us lied down for awhile. Suddenly my eyes flew open, OMG it’s 8:00! The 3 of us had really passed out. We got up and flew downstairs to dinner. We told them we were sorry and what had happened. They just laughed and told us not to worry, and in 10 minutes our table was ready.

We had this great server who sensed that we didn’t mind the fun antics, but we weren’t up to participating too heavily in a “rootin’ tootin’ time.” The meal was good. Michael actually had a very delicious meatloaf. I would never order meatloaf anywhere, but I had a bit and it was great. Sarah and I had the chicken and it was good as well.

I had heard about the ketchup, but hadn’t told Michael or Sarah anything about it. Sarah had French fries so I told her to ask for some ketchup. It was funny how all the younger kids at this restaurant got into this one little antic. All dinner long all the ketchups moved around the entire restaurant. Lots of fun and we were glad we had dinner here!

After dinner we hung out in the lobby for awhile and then we checked out the gift shop. Then, off to bed. We all needed a good nights sleep.

[Pamajama]

Hi

Great trip report!!! We are from Peabody and in WDW the same days. I am also a slave to the school schedule.

It sounds like you are enjoyed your first day. Can't wait to read more.

[NanaTink]

sounds like a busy, but fun first day! Can't wait to hear more!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great first day Laurie More please

[musicteachermom]

April at the Wilderness Lodge – April 15th, Sunday, Day 2

Well, today we woke up to lots of clouds and cool weather. Today was also Eric’s 19th birthday. Plus, here we were on our vacation without him. I know this must happen to every mother when the time comes for your child to be grown up, but it’s still hard!

We decided to go over to Epcot. It was not an Early Entry morning for any park. (I so miss not having this EMH every morning.) In the past I would plan our days and meals around which park had Early Entry, this trip was very difficult for me to plan.

We got to Epcot around 9:00 and proceeded to Soarin”. OMG what an incredible ride! By the way, no one needs to worry about motion sickness on this ride. The ride doesn’t move, just the movie screen. We all were fascinated with this attraction and now it’s my favorite. We stayed inside the Land because the sky opened up and it was pouring outside. So we watched the movie the Circle of Life (Sarah LOVES anything with animals), so this movie she liked. Then we did the little boat ride Living with the Land. This we would have skipped, but since it was raining we decided to try it, so-so.

We decided to buy ponchos (only for Sarah and I, I don’t think Michael wanted to walk around in a Mickey poncho, ha-ha), and Sarah got a Soarin’ pin and then we went over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Lots of fun! When we came out, it was very windy and cool, but the rain had stopped. For some reason I didn’t bring my sweatshirt, I didn’t want Michael to have to lug it around all day in the backpack. So, I kept the poncho on because it blocked out the wind.

Also, we checked out the Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was cute but nothing to rave about. We ended up skipping Turtle Talk with Crush because of the long line. Then we rode Spaceship Earth. The ending looked kind of renovated to me, but I’m not sure. Anyway, we like this attraction.

We stopped in Future World at one point to eat some hot dogs and chips. Then we found an empty bench and decided to give Eric a birthday call. I purposely waited until around 2:00 because it would give him some time to be up and about. WRONG! We woke him up! He also said that his other 3 roommates were still sleeping! Teenagers sure are on a different clock! We only talked for a bit, because he was sleepy and promised to call him back much later on in the day. LOL While we were on a bench a CM came up to us and asked if we wouldn’t mind filling out an on-line evaluation of Epcot when we got back home. No problem!

Then we did Ellen’s Energy Adventure. We do like the dinosaur part the best, and Ellen is really pretty funny.

The topiaries were really something all over Epcot. Everything is so beautiful. We especially liked the Peter Pan in the boat as soon as you enter Epcot. You could see Tinkerbell flying high up on the mast.

After Future World we headed over to World Showcase. When we got to England we ended up seeing the Winnie the Pooh characters. Now, we never have waited in line for any characters before, but this trip Sarah has become obsessed with Eeyore. So.. Sarah had pictures taken with Eeyore, Tigger and Pooh. Then, we rushed back to Canada to see the last 15 minutes of Off-Kilter. I LOVED this group. They were so manly looking (ahem), in their kilts with work boots and played way cool music. Lots of fun. Well, time to go back to the WL to get ready for dinner at Chef Mickey’s.

After changing, we took the boat from WL to the CR. Sarah and I loved this buffet and Michael liked it. We ended up being late because of course the boat had to go over to FortWilderness first. This was one thing that frustrated us all week. We always seemed to have to go to FW before going anywhere else both on the boat and on the bus.

We only had to wait a little bit, and they were going to put us at a very bad table, in a corner right next to the kithen doors. I said to the guy seating us,that we would not like that table and we’d like to wait for something in the front room. He seemed ticked off and said that we may have to wait for about 25 minutes. I said very nicely, “That’s OK, we don’t mind waiting.” Well, we waited for about 10 minutes and then got a great table. I’m really glad that I spoke up. Anyhow, the food was great. Sarah and I love prime rib and it was excellent. We also couldn’t pass up the wonderful dessert buffet! Of course, I wish that I had more room for more desserts, but I was too full. After dinner we checked out the gift shop at the CR and then took the boat back to the WL. This time we waited for awhile on the dock, but the boat went straight back to our resort. (Sometime during the evening we ended up talking to Eric again and he was awake this time! It was very hard not to be with him.) Time to turn in; it had been a long day.

[Colexis Mom]

I'm glad the rain didn't stop your touring : Sounds like a great time in Epcot, and a great dinner! Glad you got to talk to Eric on his birthday

More please

[mattnkatsmum]

You seemed to have fit so much into your day!

Sounds like you had a great time.