lucky978
10-01-2006, 07:52 PM
Cast of Characters –
Me. Mom. 34 years old. Similar to most of you. Disney nut. This is my 7th trip to Disney World. First was with my dad for my 13th birthday. My dad passed away 3 years ago so returning to Disney always reminds me of that trip and how wonderful it was.
DH. 35 years old. Not crazy about going back to Disney “so soon”. Although it’s been 2 years for him. He had no choice, though. This was our 10th Anniversary trip.
DD1 – Twin “A”. 8 years old. She is a Princess for sure. A true “girly girl”. 8 going on 18.
DD2 – Twin “B”. Also 8 years old (obviously). She's is a little “rougher” than her sister. She can be a tomboy at times. Typically…she's is a wise guy always trying to make us laugh.
This is the girls’ 5th trip to Disney. DD2 is much more excited about going and has helped me plan out our days and activities. DD1 just “goes with the flow”. Their relationship is a love-hate relationship. One minute they can’t stand each other, the next minute they’re best friends.
Originally we had booked a Southern Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary which is September 28th :love: .
Then along came Free Dining. Lots of “pleeeeeaaaase” and batting our eyelashes at DH and he finally agreed to go back to Disney. I promised him this trip would be different and we would not be commando all week long. Let’s hope I can keep that promise. We were booked for Sunday – Sunday on Southwest Airlines staying at POFQ. We had stayed there before in 2004 and really liked the quaintness of the resort.
However, thanks to these boards I had been reading about the Wilderness Lodge. We’ve visited the lodge before to eat at WCC and always dreamed about staying there. So I looked into it and finally decided to switch my reservation and booked a Courtyard View with Free Dining for 7 nights. Hey –it’s our 10 year anniversary. With everything we’ve been through together in the last 10 years – we deserve it. DH has no idea about what this vacation is costing so what’s the harm? He never gave me a budget… :confused3
We live about 20 minutes from Manchester (NH) airport and about 35-40 minutes from Boston’s Logan airport. DH only had one request – we fly out of Manchester. A day after I booked the trip on Southwest Airlines, they released a special. I ended up moving our trip from Sun – Sun to Sat – Sat. Doing this saved me approx. $500 :woohoo: . Unfortunately they won’t refund my money. They just put it in as a credit to be used within the next year. I can do that. I’m sure of it.
So we’re all booked. 7 nights at WL Courtyard Bunk Bed Non-Smoking room requested.
Day 1 – 9/23 Saturday . Our flight wasn’t scheduled until 1:55pm. We left the house at around 11:15am for Manchester Airport. My mom drove us into the airport which was nice. Door to door service. Our flight wasn’t until 1:55pm. Boarded the plane around 1:40 and left about 10 minutes late. No big deal – we still arrived in Orlando on time and were on our way to the Magical Express counter when a poor woman in front of us took a fall :sad2: . We felt so bad for her and her family. Airport personnel were there to help her and were calling on the proper authorities to help her out. We checked in at ME and were on our bus approx. ½ hour later. Our bus was stopping at WL, GF and Poly I think…but WL was the first stop. :Pinkbounc
There were about 3 people in front of me at check-in. I sent DH and the kids to WCC to check for availability for dinner. I had tried and tried to book it for our first night but every time I called there was nothing open. He came back and said there would be about an hour wait – which was fine with me. I checked us in – CM was very nice and helpful. All of my requests were granted!!! Courtyard view – Non-smoking – Bunk Beds! We went up to the room to check it out and the girls changed into their bathing suits.
We returned to WCC and waited about 10 min while the girls played with the Lincoln Logs and our table was ready.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1501.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1502.jpg
The girls were getting cranky and tired. They were not behaving very well and it seemed as all they were doing was complaining and arguing with each other about everything. They wouldn’t do the pony race or participate in any of the activities that were going on.
My patience was wearing thin at this point as well.
I ordered the nacho’s as an appetizer which were pretty good. I had the chicken and pasta dish (which was very good) and DH and DD2 had the skillet. DD1 had the Roasted Chicken Drumsticks with french fries. Neither of the girls’ ate anything and the meal was a bust (although it was FREE so I can’t complain). We took our desserts to go (2 “worms in dirt”, one apple pie and a chocolate cake).
We left WCC and headed for the pool. The girls swam for about an hour which seemed to make happier. We headed to the beach and watched the Electric Light Parade which was great. We really enjoyed it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1506.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1507.jpg
Then we headed up to our room. When we returned there was an anniversary card signed by Mickey and Minnie and some balloons for us that read “Happy Anniversary”. Very nice touch by Disney! :love:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1522.jpg
Our luggage had arrived, I quickly unpacked got in our jammies, ate some of our desserts and headed to bed. The lodge was absolutely beautiful and our view is perfect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1508.jpg
Beds were very comfy. The girls decided on their own who would sleep on the top bunk and who would sleep on the bottom. There was no arguing about it, which I was worried about. Went to sleep dreaming of a happy day tomorrow at Epcot!
Me. Mom. 34 years old. Similar to most of you. Disney nut. This is my 7th trip to Disney World. First was with my dad for my 13th birthday. My dad passed away 3 years ago so returning to Disney always reminds me of that trip and how wonderful it was.
DH. 35 years old. Not crazy about going back to Disney “so soon”. Although it’s been 2 years for him. He had no choice, though. This was our 10th Anniversary trip.
DD1 – Twin “A”. 8 years old. She is a Princess for sure. A true “girly girl”. 8 going on 18.
DD2 – Twin “B”. Also 8 years old (obviously). She's is a little “rougher” than her sister. She can be a tomboy at times. Typically…she's is a wise guy always trying to make us laugh.
This is the girls’ 5th trip to Disney. DD2 is much more excited about going and has helped me plan out our days and activities. DD1 just “goes with the flow”. Their relationship is a love-hate relationship. One minute they can’t stand each other, the next minute they’re best friends.
Originally we had booked a Southern Caribbean cruise to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary which is September 28th :love: .
Then along came Free Dining. Lots of “pleeeeeaaaase” and batting our eyelashes at DH and he finally agreed to go back to Disney. I promised him this trip would be different and we would not be commando all week long. Let’s hope I can keep that promise. We were booked for Sunday – Sunday on Southwest Airlines staying at POFQ. We had stayed there before in 2004 and really liked the quaintness of the resort.
However, thanks to these boards I had been reading about the Wilderness Lodge. We’ve visited the lodge before to eat at WCC and always dreamed about staying there. So I looked into it and finally decided to switch my reservation and booked a Courtyard View with Free Dining for 7 nights. Hey –it’s our 10 year anniversary. With everything we’ve been through together in the last 10 years – we deserve it. DH has no idea about what this vacation is costing so what’s the harm? He never gave me a budget… :confused3
We live about 20 minutes from Manchester (NH) airport and about 35-40 minutes from Boston’s Logan airport. DH only had one request – we fly out of Manchester. A day after I booked the trip on Southwest Airlines, they released a special. I ended up moving our trip from Sun – Sun to Sat – Sat. Doing this saved me approx. $500 :woohoo: . Unfortunately they won’t refund my money. They just put it in as a credit to be used within the next year. I can do that. I’m sure of it.
So we’re all booked. 7 nights at WL Courtyard Bunk Bed Non-Smoking room requested.
Day 1 – 9/23 Saturday . Our flight wasn’t scheduled until 1:55pm. We left the house at around 11:15am for Manchester Airport. My mom drove us into the airport which was nice. Door to door service. Our flight wasn’t until 1:55pm. Boarded the plane around 1:40 and left about 10 minutes late. No big deal – we still arrived in Orlando on time and were on our way to the Magical Express counter when a poor woman in front of us took a fall :sad2: . We felt so bad for her and her family. Airport personnel were there to help her and were calling on the proper authorities to help her out. We checked in at ME and were on our bus approx. ½ hour later. Our bus was stopping at WL, GF and Poly I think…but WL was the first stop. :Pinkbounc
There were about 3 people in front of me at check-in. I sent DH and the kids to WCC to check for availability for dinner. I had tried and tried to book it for our first night but every time I called there was nothing open. He came back and said there would be about an hour wait – which was fine with me. I checked us in – CM was very nice and helpful. All of my requests were granted!!! Courtyard view – Non-smoking – Bunk Beds! We went up to the room to check it out and the girls changed into their bathing suits.
We returned to WCC and waited about 10 min while the girls played with the Lincoln Logs and our table was ready.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1501.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1502.jpg
The girls were getting cranky and tired. They were not behaving very well and it seemed as all they were doing was complaining and arguing with each other about everything. They wouldn’t do the pony race or participate in any of the activities that were going on.
My patience was wearing thin at this point as well.
I ordered the nacho’s as an appetizer which were pretty good. I had the chicken and pasta dish (which was very good) and DH and DD2 had the skillet. DD1 had the Roasted Chicken Drumsticks with french fries. Neither of the girls’ ate anything and the meal was a bust (although it was FREE so I can’t complain). We took our desserts to go (2 “worms in dirt”, one apple pie and a chocolate cake).
We left WCC and headed for the pool. The girls swam for about an hour which seemed to make happier. We headed to the beach and watched the Electric Light Parade which was great. We really enjoyed it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1506.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1507.jpg
Then we headed up to our room. When we returned there was an anniversary card signed by Mickey and Minnie and some balloons for us that read “Happy Anniversary”. Very nice touch by Disney! :love:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1522.jpg
Our luggage had arrived, I quickly unpacked got in our jammies, ate some of our desserts and headed to bed. The lodge was absolutely beautiful and our view is perfect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/lucky978/IMG_1508.jpg
Beds were very comfy. The girls decided on their own who would sleep on the top bunk and who would sleep on the bottom. There was no arguing about it, which I was worried about. Went to sleep dreaming of a happy day tomorrow at Epcot!