The Mr. & Mrs. Meeting Mickey in May- TAKE 3, with Bonus Features *Updated 7/11*

[Cinderella16]

Hello wonderful DIS world! I have to say I feel ashamed, dirty even because this is my SECOND attempt to revive my never completed Trip Report from MAY 2010, no that is not a typo—2010. You know a time when Fastpass wasn’t really “enforced,” Fantasyland expansion had not really broken ground yet, and Toon Town still existed.

For one reason or another, I just couldn’t finish that TR. I’ll have you know though, the main reason was because DH never fixed the links to all the pictures (we have them hosted on our own website) and I found that they were turning out gigantic when posted, so see, it is all his fault and no fault of my own, except maybe I was a little lazy to upload them all into Photobucket…okay a lot lazy! However, I am happy to report that I am being an uploading queen right now as I type this and I am determined to finish this thing! Afterall, nobody likes beginning something and not finishing it, right?

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Julianne. DH, Justin, and I have been to the World many times, the most memorable being when we were engaged and on our honeymoon. For more details on those amazing trips, and more about who we are and what we are all about, see my signature for links. Anyways, a lot has happened since that wonderful trip in May 2010, so let me bring you up to speed…
1. In May 2010, I used to be an instructional assistant and teach 4th grade science, I have now been teaching 5th grade language arts for the last 2 years!
2. In May 2010, I did not have the obligations of graduate school, I am now working towards my Master’s degree in education! One more year to go, yippie!
3. In May 2010, we did not have any pets, last summer we got a puppy and kitten about 1 week apart from one another! Are we crazy or what?

Meet Wrigley

and Wriley

Best friends and enemies, just like true brother and sister!

AND NOW, PROBABLY THE MOST EXCITING EVENT OF THEM ALL…WAIT FOR IT……………..





4. In May 2010, we were not DVC Members, but in May 2011, we became DVC Members and will be using our membership for the FIRST time in July 2012!!!
Therefore, I have lots to share in terms of planning for that upcoming trip (37 days) so I am hoping this thread can serve as a Trip Report of my May 2010 trip as well as PRE trip report for the upcoming trip, these are the BONUS features I referred to in the title. Plus, I think reliving that May trip will make be even more excited for the July trip, if that is even at all humanly possible.

Here is a brief briefing on the upcoming July trip:

Our confirmed dates are: July 14 - July 21
Our confirmed resort is: Bay Lake Tower, 2 Bedroom Lake View Villa
Our confirmed vacationers: Me (Julianne), DH (Justin), DMIL, Our Aunt, Uncle, and 12 year old cousin

In true Disney obsessed fashion: All of our touring plans and ADRs are booked, tickets for family are ordered, annual passes for us are ordered, dining plan was purchased, and Photopass CD is preordered.
Be on the lookout for more details about our trip..I think I may reveal the plan one day at a time…just to keep you all in suspense.

I also think I will have to use different colored fonts to distinguish between the Pretrip Report and the May 2010 report…I am all about color coding so this shouldn’t be too much of a problem!

I tend to blab on…which I obviously have done, so for your reading pleasure I have reposted the entries from May 2010 trip below as well as some new ones too! Thanks for reading along, and I HOPE to finish it this time!

 

[Cinderella16]

Hi everyone and welcome to my brand spankin’ new trip report. Some of you may remember me from my other two trip reports which you can find links to in my signature. Whether you are returning & loyal reader, a newbie, or just a lurker, I want to welcome and thank you for reading along!

The Mr. and the Mrs. Meetin’ Mickey in May. Doesn’t it have a nice ring to it? However, as with most trip reports, it took quite a while to conjure up a decent title. On our drive back home I toyed with some different titles and asked DH which ones he thought were the best. One of my grand ideas was: The Mr. and the Mrs. Making Magic in May, but we both decided that sounded too risqué, or maybe it is just our minds that our filthy. I also threw out The Mr. and the Mrs. Getting Wild at the Wilderness Lodge, but we soon found that that title gave the same impression as the other one. So that is how we came up with The Mr. and the Mrs. Meetin’ Mickey in May—just a good clean title for two newlyweds who had some good clean fun in the most magical place in the world. And for any of you who are wondering, yes, we did indeed meet Mickey.


Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

The Who?

Me – Julianne – The Mrs.

DH – Justin – The Mr.

The When?
April 30 – May 9, although we were in WDW from May 1 – 8, 2010

The Where?
The Wilderness Lodge, Woods View

The Why?
I am a teacher, and usually the only times we can go to WDW is June or July. However, thanks to the economy, my position was eliminated last year by my school, instead of leaving me high and dry, they allowed me to stay on the staff in a more limited Instructional Assistant/Science teacher role. Not having the responsibilities of a full time teacher, I was able to get time off to try Disney in May. Plus, we got a great 40% off pin code emailed to us. Finally, our original plan involved DMIL to join us on this trip since her birthday is on May 2, however the people she was going to go with could no longer go due to health reasons or work obligations. We begged her to still come, since we know how much she loves Disney, but she insisted that we go alone. DH and I went back and forth about just canceling the entire trip all together and go another time, but DMIL would not let us. Well, you didn’t have twist our arms...Disney here we come!


Ahh the month of May... It was a month that I always dreamed of for visiting WDW. I would read trip reports galore about how wonderful May was. The crowds were low, the temperatures were cooler, and there were less kiddos running around, a young couple's dream. My hopes were high. However, during this week in May we encountered much larger than expected sized crowds, extremely HOT weather, and while school aged children were seen less, their younger toddler aged friends were out in full force, and boy were they angry! It must’ve been the heat.

With that being said....... we had a FANTASTIC time and would definitely go back in May if the opportunity presented itself. We made a lot of memories, took tons of pictures (although this post doesn’t justify this fact), and ate way too much food!

I have so much fun writing these reports, and I hope you have fun reading them! Again, glad you are here and thanks for reading.

(Continued in Next Post)

 

[Cinderella16]

We Are Going to Disney World!

I must say time had flown by since we had booked the trip back in November. I don’t know if it was because we are still adjusting to married life or what, but it seemed May came in a blink of an eye! (And from what I hear, time doesn’t get any slower.)

Thursday, April 29th, I had to wake up and get my behind to work. We were dissecting owl pellets that day, and I knew that I couldn’t miss it, after all, I am the one who molded those young scientific minds. DH on the other hand, had the day off, lucky man. So while I was getting my hands dirty dissecting those pesky pellets, DH was home, eating bon bons and watching daytime television.

Just kidding. He was really at home preparing the car for its 2,400 mile round trip journey to the Happiest Place on Earth. I got home from work at around 3:00 pm and immediately finished off the last minute packing and cleaning because we all know you just cannot come home to a messy house after vacation; it just isn’t allowed.

The car was packed was ready to go and by 9:00 PM we were strapped in our seatbelts and out the driveway. Our first stop came at 9:02 when stopped for our first fill up of gas. We made it real far, lemme tell you.

With a full tank and two antsy adults we made our way to our next stop. DMIL’s house which is about 30 minutes from our house. Of course, she wanted to still come with us, and we joked about taking her with. We spent some time with DMIL and then said our goodbyes. The highways should be pretty clear by now and we knew we could make good time if we left. We were out of DMIL’s driveway by 10:50 and soon on the road to our first state the always lovely, Indiana.

Of course, not before encountering lovely Illinois construction traffic. In about an hour we were in Indiana and approaching I-65.

There wasn’t too much to see since it was extremely dark, but we did notice they had started building some wind farms along I-65 which were not there last year.

Obviously these were taken on the way home from our trip, but here is what they look like.

At 2:20 AM we stopped for another fill up, I got out of the car to stretch my legs, and when I opened the door the wind was so strong it took my google maps directions. For some reason we have not invested in a GPS yet and still print out our directions. Not that we need them to get to Disney, but it is one of those comforting things to have, plus we like to track how many miles we have to go on certain interstates. I tracked down our directions and couldn’t believe how windy it was in Indy, and you could definitely feel the wind pulling the car. In fact, the wind was so strong, there had been wind advisories issued for the state.

As we started off on our journey again, there was a whole lot more of nothing. DH ate one of the turkey sandwiches I made for the trip, although I had intended to eat them for lunch, he obviously had some early morning munchies going on. I, on the other hand, decided to save mine. Time was going by pretty quickly and by 4:10 AM we were in Louisville, Kentucky, a lovely looking city.

By this time we were both getting pretty tired, and I had nearly been up for 24 hours. We decided at 5:00 AM we would stop and break to rest our eyes, and that is just what we did. We stopped at a gas station combo McDonalds which looked safe enough and took a good hour and half snooze. Once we woke up, we realized the sun was coming up and it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day.

continued in next post....

 

[Cinderella16]

...Continued...

After our much needed snooze, DH filled up the tank, and we continued on our trek through Kentucky. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day!

Not a cloud in the sky!

Soon, we were on to our new state, Tennessee.

It was about 8:15 by this time, and we decided we were getting hungry for breakfast. We knew exactly where we wanted to eat...Cracker Barrel!

After reading fellow DISser RachelNinja's TR I just knew I had to try a Cracker Barrel. I was so very excited to try it. DH and I actually live 10 minutes from a Cracker Barrel, but we had never stepped foot in one. We stopped at first one we saw, which happened to be right outside Nashville.

Oh my goodness, the parking lot looked busy! I love the country décor of the Cracker Barrel. There is so much to look at, I especially loved the rocking chairs that they had outside the restaurant.
Although it looked really busy in the parking lot, we were seated right away near a window.

DH and I browsed the menu.

Our server came quickly to take our orders, he asked if we were ready to order our breakfast, bt we both needed way more time, there was just too much to choose from!

DH and I both got orange juice.

Our server returned a couple minutes later to take our orders. I loved that he had a southern accent. Now I really felt like we were on vacation. I just love accents.

DH ordered Denver Omlette and I ordered the buttermilk pancakes. While we waited, we were entertained by the little peg game they had out at each table. We both were not very good at it, but at least it helped pass the time while we waited for our food.

We were both about ready to throw the little peg game against the wall, when thankfully, our food came.

Did you know if you order pancakes from Cracker Barrel, that they give you a little bottle of syrup?! It is the cutest thing and you can see in the picture of my pancakes. I was so excited by my little bottle of syrup, DH just thought I was weird, and you probably do too.

Both of meals were very good and we were now ready for a full day on the road. Before we left we browsed the shop, they had a lot of cute gift ideas in there and very nice smelling candles. Before we left, we tried out some of the nice looking rocking chairs and noticed that they were all handmade.

The weather was still perfect outside, which would not be the case about 24 hours later in this location. As you know, Nashville had those horrible floods and tornados, but thankfully we missed it by a day, but a lot of families were concerned if we had encountered the bad weather. More on that later.

Back on the road, we soon changed from Interstate 65 to Interstate 24, which is so beautiful because you drive through the mountains. We brought along an old Disney trivia book, so I quizzed DH on some of the classic movies. I think he did best on the questions about the Lion King.

We were so happy with the time we were making! At 10:45 we entered Georgia, and I missed the sign!

It’s behind that construction sign, I promise.

I did manage to get a picture of the on ramp for Interstate 75. Our final highway before the turnpike! Too bad we are on that one for about 400+ miles!

At 11:20 we stopped at Hardees because DH was in the mood for a milkshake. He got a strawberry shake and then took about a 20 minute nap in the car. We filled up the tank again and made our way toward Atlanta.

On this leg of trip, we started playing 20 questions, which was actually really fun! We had so stop though when got into Atlanta since people drive like maniacs there, it reminded us of Chicago.
There was also quite a bit of traffic in Atlanta, so DH needed to be alert! I took this time to eat my sandwich that I had made the night before, and it was very delicious!

Finally, we made it out of the traffic and DH needed to make a stop, well he chose the absolute worse exit! The traffic was so backed up because had stalled on the road in the right lane. To make a quick stop took nearly a half hour because of the traffic! As we were getting back on the Interstate we saw the poor guy was still stalled and a cop drove by him and didn’t even stop to help him, thankfully, it looked like he got some help from some nice people.

After what seemed like an eternity we were back on the road. We drove and drove and drove until our goal destination...Valdosta, GA. We were there by 4:30 central time and stopped at the same Country Inn & Suites as last year.

The skies had started to become dark and it started to rain. We ran into the lobby to find that they indeed did have vacancies. The manager told us that they were actually very busy, even though the parking lot was empty, he told us that there was a funeral in town and a lot of the family was staying here. We were just happy they had a room for us because we were tired and a bed was sounding real nice!

We asked the manager for a dinner suggestion, and he said to try our Texas Roadhouse. We decided that sounded good to us and as soon we got settled into our room, we drove to dinner which happened to be in a building right behind the hotel. Had it not been pouring, we would have walked.

We waited about half hour for a table. At this point, the night is kind of a blur. I was so over tired from being up for over 24 hours without real sleep. I know DH ordered ribs, and I had some kind of chicken which was too dry. They also gave us a free sample of chili because we had never eaten with them before, and that was good.

After dinner, it was still crummy outside, good thing our hotel had an indoor pool, so we decided to go swimming before showering and heading up to bed.

Continued in next post…

 

[Cinderella16]

So Close, Yet So Far...



We woke up at around 7:45, went down for our free breakfast of waffles and danishes, and then packed up our loot and headed back out on I-75. First, though, I had to take a picture of the first palm trees outside the hotel.

With the gas tank filled, we were ready for the final stretch of our road trip.

In a short 20 minutes, we were welcomed by one of my favorite road-trip sights.

Ah, the Florida Welcome Center, home of hundreds of brochures, and, of course, free orange juice. It is a tradition that we stop here every year, even though we had just gotten in the car.

After some browsing and collecting of the newest Disney brochures (to be honest, I think they were the same as 2009), we got our free orange juice and took a seat in some comfy chairs.

Obviously, free orange juice makes me happy or is the fact that in a few hours, we’d be in Disney World? I’ll let you be the judge.

After finishing our free beverage, we hopped back into the car and counted the miles until the Turnpike.

Once on the Turnpike, the soundtrack was switched to All Disney Music. My guess is Spectromagic was probably being pumped through the speakers as well as my other favorite, the Splash Mountain Theme. There is nothing listening to Disney music when you know you will be immersed in all the magic for entire week to come!

Luckily this year, we knew to look for I-4 instead of Google Map’s directions which took us to the cast members entrance in the middle of nowhere in 2009!

By this time, it was about 12:15 – check-in wasn’t until 3:00 so we decided to stop for gas and some lunch. If you have driven on the Turnpike, then you know there are barely any exits to stop for gas or food. Before you get on it, be sure you have enough gas! We stopped at a McDonalds which was near the Universal Studios exit because it was easy and convenient. The McDonalds was nothing to write home about, however, I remember it being very clean. It did have some electrical/talking trashcans which I was amused by. Although these trashcans have nothing on, PUSH, the talking can in Tomorrowland.

I pretty much inhaled my chicken sandwich because we were just so close! Once again, we filled up the tank, made our way back onto I-4 and it wasn’t long until we started seeing these signs pointing us the right direction.

Please keep your eyes on the road and get us there safely.

Squealing in the car pretty much began when these beauties were seen.

I know I’m not the only one that takes pictures of the Disney buses!

Magic Kingdom area, please.

More squeals...

And soon, we were welcomed by yet another set of arches.

We were finally here! I couldn’t wait to see the WL in all its glory since I had only seen it in pictures.

Get out of our way people! I know this shot is blurry, but I was just getting camera happy.

We pulled up to the front and I literally jumped out of the car before it even stopped. A CM came over right away with a luggage cart and immediately started helping us unload the car. They took our information and told us our luggage would be delivered to our room. We hurried into the lobby to check-in and hoped that our room would be ready since we were still early.

Continued in next post...

 

[Cinderella16]

Happy Holidays...

For anyone that has only ever seen the Wilderness Lodge lobby in photos, let me just say that pictures do not do this beautiful resort justice. We walked into the lobby and were just in awe by the massiveness of it. I was so excited to be spending the next 7 nights here!

We walked up to the check-in counter and the CM was very bubbly, as they should be. She got our check-in folder right away and explained where our room was located and where things were around the resort. After she was done explaining, she handed me a birthday pin, however, it wasn’t my birthday. The trip was supposed to be for DMIL, but like I mentioned before, she could no longer come with us. We had logged in online to take birthday celebration off our reservation, but I guess it never got deleted. The CM said we should take the pin home to DMIL, so that is exactly what we did. We were thrilled that we were nearly 2 hours early, but our room was ready!

We followed the directions we were given at check-in and headed to the elevators which was down a ramp, then passed Roaring Forks (the counter service restaurant), and then down a very long hallway. We soon realized we were on the wrong side of the hotel and had to back track all the way back. Apparently, there was a set of elevators right next to the check-in desk and we really weren’t quite sure why the CM didn’t tell us to take those. Oh well, we got to know the hotel a little better by taking the longer, “scenic” route.

Our room was one of the rooms that is along the lobby side, meaning when we opened our door, we could look down into the lobby. I was very excited about this! I had read that it may get a little noisy at times, but we never noticed it, nor were really in our room all that much to be bothered by it. I can see it being a problem if you have kids who need their and are light sleepers because many times you could hear the happenings down below in the lobby.

Our room number!

We were thrilled to have a king sized bed since that is what we requested and we knew there weren’t all that many available.

The CM had told us that while we were given a king-sized bed, our room was a handicapped accessible room, so there was no tub, just a large shower.

So much detail...

Yes, I am sure you all want to see the toilet.

Not a very good shot of the huge shower.

This reminds me of a funny story about our T.V. remote. At one point, DH tried turning on the TV to make sure it was all in working order. Well, when he tried turning it on with the remote, it wouldn’t work. He called down to the lobby to let them know that we needed new batteries. When he called, all I heard was DH laughing. Apparently, the CM who answered the phone answered it by saying very cheerfully, “Happy Holidays!” and DH couldn’t stop laughing because obviously, it is May with no holidays in sight. She quickly corrected herself, explaining that it had been a long day and she had never made that mistake before. He explained the situation with the remote and within minutes, someone came up to our room with a new working remote.

Cute!

Our view

We had booked a Woods View room, and that is exactly what we got, however, we could also see some maintenance areas down below. Takes away some of the magic, but oh well.

To the left:

To the right:

Back inside, everyone must take a picture of the towel Mickey!

Hidden Mickey in the bedspread!

Please wake up, it’s time to go look around the Lodge!

Eventually, DH did get up and we were off to explore the lovely Wilderness Lodge grounds.

Some neat fixtures outside our room.

I love how everything is so perfectly themed at Disney’s hotels.

Here is our view outside of our door, we were right in the middle of all the action.

Continued in next post...

 

[Cinderella16]

We started walking around and then stopped for our annual resort lobby picture.

Pure giddiness!

Eventually, we made our way down to the lobby...

Not that we would be needing the fireplace since it was scorching outside! I could only imagine what it would be like to spend Christmas at WL! So cozy!

The lobby smells so good too, I think it is the fireplace!

On to the outside we found some lovely rockers.

Beautiful day!

At one point, there was a Photopass photographer taking people’s pictures here, but we never saw him again.

Loved the pool area!

First geyser I’ve ever seen, and I don’t care that it is manmade and goes off like clockwork on the hour!

The walkway to the boat launches, which reminds me of the TV show Lost for some reason.

We walked over to the Villas and found this cute little guy.

Having acclimating ourselves pretty well to the resort and beginning to feel the heat (I was wearing denim capris), we decided to take ourselves back into the refreshing and air conditioned haven.

Many of you have seen the famous character totem pole outside the WL gift shop. I just love when families take their yearly picture next to this! So cute!

I'm sure we went into the gift shop to take some mental notes about things to purchase. I may have bought my niece and nephew postcards.

Taking the correct elevator this time, we made our way up to our room to get ready for our ADR at Whispering Canyon.

Continued in Next Post…

 

[Cinderella16]

We had an early dinner ADR for Whispering Canyon at 5:00 that evening. I had heard so many fun things about this restaurant from the DIS, that I just had to try it! It was a very short walk from our room down to the restaurant in the lobby. When we arrived, we noticed the restaurant was still pretty empty, so we were seated right away.

Our server came out promptly and took our drink orders. I think we both had this yummy raspberry lemonade

I love that it comes in a jar-glass.
We were both feeling really hungry since our last meal was McDonalds earlier in the day so we both opted for the skillet which included salad, cornbread, ribs, pulled pork, chicken, sausage, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, beans, and corn on the cob. Looking back, does anyone ever really need THAT much food? The funny thing too, is that I believe the skillet is “All you can eat,” needless to say, I don’t think either of us asked for seconds.
Let the food pictures commence!

Look at all that finger lickin’ food! Apparently one of us got a Coke instead of raspberry lemonade…
Once again we did the regular dining plan, so that meant dessert was included in our meal. Trying not to sugar ourselves out on the first day and learning from our honeymoon, we both opted for lighter desserts: I got some fresh fruit and DH a simple vanilla ice cream. Afterall, we had seven whole days to go and I was sure we would get our dessert fill throughout the trip.
Throughout our meal, we saw some very entertaining CMs as the restaurant started to fill in. I remember our CM was good, but he just didn’t get into it like the other CMs. We absolutely loved when tables near us asked for ketchup, we never asked though, probably because we were way too stuffed to bring ketchup to another table! Whispering Canyon was a good time and we really enjoyed ourselves. The food wasn’t five-star quality, but it was good. Plus, I don’t know that you really come here for the food as much as you do the experience—which is all good fun!
I remember discussing with DH how next we come with his family, how we will have to try this place out…well, I am happy to report that in July, we were able to get ADRs here again and will be joined with a larger, lively group!
For now, here is our obligatory dinner picture:

The plan after dinner was see if that sneaky Photopass photographer had returned to the WL courtyard and then hop on over to DHS for some rides and Fantasmic. Normally, we would be in MK on our first night, especially with the direct boat at our disposal, but unfortunately, MK was closed early because it was Grad Night, so we decided on DHS because Fantasmic was only playing on certain evenings during our trip, one of which happened to be this night.
We couldn’t find that Photopass photographer, so we took the leisurely stroll to our car. We were thrilled that this parking lot was a lot closer than the Grand Floridian’s parking lot!

There is nothing like Disney theming…I loved all the animal tracks around the resort!
As we were getting into the car, DH spotted this on the ground:

That is what I call a giant pine cone! Of course, we kept it, and I just found it the other day, I’m going to make it into an ornament for our Christmas tree!


Up Next: Our DHS evening!

 

[Cinderella16]

DHS Evening
In no time we were through the turnstiles of DHS and excited to ride one of our new favorites Toy Story Mania!
First, our first Photopass pictures of the trip—

As we made our way to Pixar Place there, of course, were no Fastpasses available at this time in the evening (about 6:30) and the standby line was 90 minutes! We decided to checkout Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster instead…again no Fastpasses available and both had 60 minute waits!
What the heck? This was May…it wasn’t supposed to be BUSY! Remember, MK had Grad Night, so I bet lots of people were getting their Disney fix in DHS that evening since MK kicked everyone out for the teenagers.
Really wanting to ride TSM, we both looked at each other and decided to just bite the bullet and wait in that line, besides, we had time to kill until Fantasmic and we had never seen the interactive queue before.

How can anyone not love the theming of this ride!?

Still smiling, even though we are going to be in line a LONG time!

As a teacher, I appreciate the phonetic spelling

Interactive Potato Head is great, too bad he stopped working while we were waiting near him! Bummer!

Still smiling! Getting closer!

WE MADE IT!

In all actuality, the line was more like 60 minutes, still longer than we ever like to wait, but we noticed they weren’t too accurate on their ride times this evening.

Of course, DH won

No making fun of my pathetic score.

After having fun on TSM, we decided to ride Tower of Terror…one of DH’s favorites, mainly because he loves spooky things and Halloween is his favorite time of year, I, myself, prefer Christmas, but I knew what I was getting into before I said “I do.”

The ToT standby line said 35 minutes, but it ended up being more like 15 minutes, which isn’t too bad at all. When we piled into our elevator of doom, I was seated next to a girl, probably about 12 years old who had never rode before…I love seeing people’s reaction to rides they have never tried! Needless to say, she said she loved it, even though it scared her.

We wanted to try RnR, however, the line for that was 60 minutes and we didn’t think it’d be shorter like ToT—so we opted to skip it just in case we would miss Fantasmic. I suggested The Great Movie Ride, so back we went toward the Hat, and low and behold the line was only 10 minutes.
They squeezed us into our ride vehicle like sardines, this was probably why the wait was so short. Always a fun ride—although it was a little uncomfortable.

Alas, it was time to get in line for Fantasmic. If we thought the Great Movie Ride was bad, it had nothing on the Fantasmic holding area. I swear we felt like cattle being herded into a barn. The worse part was we stood there for a half hour before even moving. Some people were getting antsy and angry, but we didn’t let it damper our spirits, afterall, we were finally in Disney!

Eventually, we were herded into the theater, and we ended up getting great seats. As a reward for waiting, we treated ourselves to popcorn and a strawberry popsicle with our snack credits. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I can down popcorn like there is no tomorrow. Sometimes, I’ll make some and won’t even realize that I am not sharing with DH and before I know it, the popcorn is gone. I am like a popcorn vacuum.

See?

I’ll take a picture with you, but I’m not sharing!

Soon, the show began! I love the music to Fantasmic and all the water effects. Disney sure does know how to put on a show. I remember the first time I watched Fantasmic in 2004, I was in awe!

Who doesn’t love the character boat?

DHS was supposed to close at 9:00 originally, however, they extended the hours to 10:30 probably because of Grad Night. That always happens to us on every trip, some park always stays open later than we anticipated. We left the theater the same way we came in, like cattle. We discussed staying until closing, but then decided it best to get back to WL because we had a full MK day the next day.

Soon we were back at WL and sleep was calling to us, but not before we were treated to a surprise…from our balcony, we could see the fireworks they set off for Grad Night. Although we paid for a Woods View room, we sort of had a Magic Kingdom view, okay so the Magic Kingdom was covered by trees, but the fireworks were clearly visible. We sat on the balcony and just took it all in before hitting the sack.


Up Next: Do we make Magic Kingdom rope drop?

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

I’m joining in!!!
-We have a lot in common. I’m a teacher; I will be getting my Master’s in Ed in the fall; annnddd we’re in the process of buying DVC! I also got engaged in WDW. FUN FACTS!
-Your puppy and kitty are adorable! I love the picture of them snuggling.
-So for a second, I was SO jealous that you got to go in May… and then I wasn’t. LOL!
-Your DH cleans? Okay, now I am really jealous. Owl pellets sound interesting though.
-Never knew Indiana was that windy. Fun fact!
-No, I think the little bottle of syrup is adorable. I haven’t had a real breakfast like that in ages. Mmmmm.
-I am amazed by how long you two were up and you were not murdering one another. Now that is true love.
-Ahhh, I am just loving your road trip. When I was little, we only ever drove to Disney. You’re making me miss it!!
-Was the toilet in the same room as the large shower, or were they separate?
-HA!!! I cracked up at the Happy Holidays. Poor tired CM!!
-You two look tired, but oh-so-happy!! I love it.
-I thought that was an alligator in the creek picture. Nope, just a branch.
-OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!! My husband and I refer to the Wilderness Lodge as “The Barracks”!!!!!! It totally reminds us of LOST too!
-I remember the raspberry lemonade. It’s pomegranate lemonade now and it’s SO good.
-Yummy! The food looks tasty.
-I really like your dress in the dinner picture. Very cute!
-The ornament idea is fabulous.
-I would notttt be smiling if I were waiting 90 minutes. But, I am a princess.
-I usually get in the 40s…. so good job!
-I looove the character boat. It’s the only time you ever get to see Megara.
-Love that you could see the fireworks. What a magical surprise.
-Whew!! I am caught up, and I might be the first to comment. I win! Can’t wait for more!

 

[Cinderella16]

I’m joining in!!!
-We have a lot in common. I’m a teacher; I will be getting my Master’s in Ed in the fall; annnddd we’re in the process of buying DVC! I also got engaged in WDW. FUN FACTS!
-Your puppy and kitty are adorable! I love the picture of them snuggling.
-So for a second, I was SO jealous that you got to go in May… and then I wasn’t. LOL!
-Your DH cleans? Okay, now I am really jealous. Owl pellets sound interesting though.
-Never knew Indiana was that windy. Fun fact!
-No, I think the little bottle of syrup is adorable. I haven’t had a real breakfast like that in ages. Mmmmm.
-I am amazed by how long you two were up and you were not murdering one another. Now that is true love.
-Ahhh, I am just loving your road trip. When I was little, we only ever drove to Disney. You’re making me miss it!!
-Was the toilet in the same room as the large shower, or were they separate?
-HA!!! I cracked up at the Happy Holidays. Poor tired CM!!
-You two look tired, but oh-so-happy!! I love it.
-I thought that was an alligator in the creek picture. Nope, just a branch.
-OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!! My husband and I refer to the Wilderness Lodge as “The Barracks”!!!!!! It totally reminds us of LOST too!
-I remember the raspberry lemonade. It’s pomegranate lemonade now and it’s SO good.
-Yummy! The food looks tasty.
-I really like your dress in the dinner picture. Very cute!
-The ornament idea is fabulous.
-I would notttt be smiling if I were waiting 90 minutes. But, I am a princess.
-I usually get in the 40s…. so good job!
-I looove the character boat. It’s the only time you ever get to see Megara.
-Love that you could see the fireworks. What a magical surprise.
-Whew!! I am caught up, and I might be the first to comment. I win! Can’t wait for more!

Yeah! I have a reader! We do seem to have a lot in common don't we? So funny about the Barracks! Thanks for reading along!

 

[Cinderella16]

So I have decided to share some plans for the upcoming July trip.

First, I wanted to share our experience of buying DVC in case anyone is looking into it!

We joined DVC in May 2011. We considered owning at Bay Lake Tower because the location is amazing, but we decided to save some $$$ and buy at Saratoga Springs instead. We were very excited to call SSR our home! You can purchase DVC directly through Disney or through a resale using various websites. We considered both of these options but ultimately decided to buy directly through Disney for the fact that you have access to the entire list of properties both Disney and non-Disney properties (with resale you are limited to Disney DVC only properties). Also, they had a pretty good financing offers which we needed to take advantage of. It all seems kind of confusing, but the folks over on the DVC boards here on the DIS were super helpful! Anyways, as a thank you for joining, they gave us double the points that we originally bought for one time only. Therefore, we had a lot of points to use up.

I sort of compare the buying of DVC as buying a house or car because there are lots of papers to sign and lots of rules and regulations to go over, and you sorta feel like you are signing your life away, but buying DVC is much more magical!! We are lucky to have a Doorway to Dreams location where you can buy DVC at a local mall about an hour away from where we live. They show you a little movie about ownership to sucker you in and will answer all your questions, we seriously spent 4-5 hours in there! The nice thing about Doorway to Dreams is that they have a model Two Bedroom of Bay Lake Tower that you can walk through...that sold us! They also do events with characters from time to time. Basically, it is a dealership for DVC right in the mall which is nice because we can get that touch of Disney magic anytime!

Now we had lots of points to use up and we some decisions to make. We discussed going in 2011, just the two of us again, but then we thought it would be nice to take a family trip with DH’s family, also Disney lovers, especially since DMIL missed her birthday trip in 2010.

Before we got married, we always went to Disney with a big group and had a grand time! We usually rented a house near Disney and drove back and forth, this time we would be staying all together, but on Disney property all together for the first time! The plan was set, we would use all our points and book a two bedroom somewhere. We decided Bay Lake Tower would be perfect because we kept talking up to our family about how nice it was to have monorail access when we stayed at the GF on our honeymoon, plus we love the location and the fact that you can walk to Magic Kingdom!

Beautiful! This is my wallpaper on my laptop!

We were able to book a two bedroom lake view villa seven months out from our trip!

Master bedroom--our room!

DH’s aunt, uncle, and cousin will be staying the second bedroom:

DMIL graciously offered to take the pull out sleeper in the living room!

Originally, DH’s sister and boyfriend were going to accompany us on this trip, so we were going to get a two bedroom for DMIL, DH’s sister and boyfriend, and us. For DH’s aunt, uncle, and cousin we were going to book them a studio. This would have cost us many more points, so when they backed out, we had enough points to book two nights at Vero Beach after our week in Disney!

(sorry for the massive photo)

Again, we’ll be staying in a two bedroom with the same sleeping arrangements as BLT.

On to the arrival day plan...(The good stuff)

We will be driving in two cars, stopping overnight in Valdosta, Georgia and arriving to BLT on July 14!

We have booked the dining plan, ordered tickets through Undercover Tourist for DH’s family, and got annual passes ourselves (all before the price increased, score!)

The plan for our arrival day is not really set in stone except our ADR at Chef Mickey’s at 5:00 PM! Since BLT is connected to the Contemporary, we thought it was wise to plan our first meal here!
Afterwards, the plan is to go to MK and hopefully catch fireworks, parades, and some rides. I simply cannot wait!

That’s all for now, I have to go order my Picaboo albums for our Engagement trip and Honeymoon. You see, I used to scrapbook, but just couldn’t find the time, then I found Picaboo which is a program where you can make your own photobooks, scrapbook style and I LOVE it. Well, they just sent me an email where you can buy a $50 gift certificate for $15!!!!!!!!! Plus, there was no limit on how many you can buy..so I stocked up and can now order those albums. Plus, I want to make one for the May 2010 trip and our upcoming trip, so now I have $$$ to use towards those. I love a good deal, who doesn’t? Off to order!

 

[Rapunzel]

Just started reading, and I have a hunch you're from IL? You kind of have to be if your dogs name is Wrigley?! Cute animals!

Ok off to read more!

 

[Cinderella16]

Just started reading, and I have a hunch you're from IL? You kind of have to be if your dogs name is Wrigley?! Cute animals!

Ok off to read more!

Haha. You guessed right, Illinois. We aren't die hard Cubs fans, we just prefer them to the Sox. I am however, a die hard Bulls fan, but we rescued at 12 weeks Wrigley and they had named him Rigley, without the W...so we thought we'd make it fit the city and added a W.

Are you from IL too?

Thanks for reading along!

 

[Cinderella16]

Day 2 - Sunday, May 2: Magic Kingdom

We woke up at around 7:30 and had every intention of making it to Magic Kingdom for rope drop.

We showered, grabbed a bite to eat, and were off to the WL boat launch.

Annndddd here’s the line...

so we waited...

Here she comes!

While we were waiting, we saw this family on a fishing excursion. Notice a winged friend decided to join them.

We were glad we were able to get a seat on this boat since the line was pretty long.

Unlike these poor people who just missed the boat...

See ya later WL!

Having been our first time using WL’s resort launch, we didn’t know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. Of course, it isn’t as fast as taking the monorail from the GF, but it was quicker than I thought. The ride is also nice and breezy and today was another May scorcher!

We had a nice seat and the cutest little boy (remember toddlers were in full force on this trip) kept turning around to say "Hi." He was cute until he sneezed and snot blew out of his nose and dripped down his face! We quickly alerted his dad that his son needed some assistance! Thank goodness no snot got on us, either way, I still pulled out the hand sanitizer.

Some sights along the way:

I love that this picture shows the castle, train station, and monorail!

My love for palm trees made me take this!

Memories...

Unfortunately, we missed rope drop by a couple minutes. Rats!

Finally here!!

We decided to walk through the left tunnel and we saw this lovely lady already mingling with guests...

You know you have arrived when you walk down Main Street and see.....

We stopped for some Photopass pictures along the way:

I can’t even tell you how many “Tinkerbell” pictures I have!

Although that pictures of Main Street doesn’t show it, we noticed that MK was pretty empty this morning. Nothing compared to DHS the night before.

After our photoshoot on Main Street USA, our first order of business was to Fastpass Splash Mountain, my favorite mountain!

When we saw this, we hopped right in line and rode it!

Anyone else have to sing along to that ride? I know I do and probably drive DH and everyone around me nuts, especially since I cannot hold a note! There’s just something about that ride that makes me giddy, oh, and I LOVE how it smells.

After splishing and splashing, we moseyed on over to Thunder Mountain and were thrilled by the 5 minute wait time. We had some wait time pixie dust going on this morning!

I have heard that they have recently refurbished TM one and really made it look great...can’t wait to ride it again to see for myself.

...continued in next post...

 

[Cinderella16]

Before moving on, DH had to use the facilities. The man has the bladder the size of a pea.

As I waited, I got artsy.

Paparazzi shot of DH coming out of the restroom. He looked pissed. Maybe something bad happened in there. I think this year I might take a picture of each and every bathroom stop we make.

Having two rides under our belt and a FP in hand, we headed to Adventureland and went on another great smelling ride, Pirates of the Caribbean!

Along the way, you can see how nice and empty it was!

One of the best rides to escape to if you are hot and sweaty because it is dark, cool, and long!!!

We were now able to get another FP since it was time for our Splash Mountain FP time...Remember, this was before the FP enforcement rules.

Admittedly, we used to be known as FP hoarders ...you know those people that go around, collecting FPs in the morning, riding the short standby lines, breaking in the afternoon at the resort, and then returning in the evening with our collected FPs and ride everything again. Hey, at least we always used them and never let one go to waste... Anyways so when we heard they were enforcing FP return times...I freaked out a little. I’ve heard good and bad from people who had gone since the enforcement, (Ha! It sounds so official and scary) so I’m not really sure what to expect, but it will be interesting. I really think if you get to the parks early, it shouldn’t be a problem, but I just don’t like if you have refuse a FP because it interferes with your dinner ADR...okay I digress. Like I said this TR was taking place way back in 2010, before project enforcement, soooo we hoarded away. See if you can guess where we were headed next...

On our way to “breaking” the rules, I saw these lovelies!

We stopped for more Photopass pictures:

Notice my hair is now up because of the scorchiness.

So....Which FPs did we hoard?

Space Mountain, but of course!

DH needed another potty break, seriously! At least he appears to be smiling this time. Must have been a better experience.

It was then time to ride a favorite, and since it was closed in 2009, we were all the more excited.

Really disappointed with the new narration...it just isn’t the same without “NOW APPROACHING CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS” and “Paging Mr. Tom Morrow...” Thank goodness you can download these things from the internet.

Simply the most relaxing ride on property!

Next, we decided that since Buzz had a short wait, we’d hop right on...

Pretty sure I lost, I don’t think I’ve ever beat DH...I swear my gun is broken every time, or I just don’t know how to do it, which is sad since 3 year olds can figure it out just fine.

After Buzz it was time for DH’s all time favorite...Haunted Mansion!

We pretty much were able to walk all the way to the end of the covered queue when we had to wait for the doors to open to let us into the spooky mansion.

Don’t ask me, I’m not even sure, but somehow I bumped my head on the iron fencing which surround the outdoor queue.. I’m so clumsy!

Ouch! I’m glad DH is smiling.

I quickly forgot about my head bump because the doors open and we led into the stretch room. I still get creeped out on this ride, but in a good way. Then again, I'm a wuss.

Once we were back out into the blistering sun, we realized our tummies were rumbling. It was off to lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus for the first time.

Up Next: “It looks like sneeze glass” and our afternoon break.

 

[Rapunzel]

Haha. You guessed right, Illinois. We aren't die hard Cubs fans, we just prefer them to the Sox. I am however, a die hard Bulls fan, but we rescued at 12 weeks Wrigley and they had named him Rigley, without the W...so we thought we'd make it fit the city and added a W.

Are you from IL too?

Thanks for reading along!

Yep! We're in the Joliet/Plainfield/Crest Hill area! I don't really have a fav baseball team, my husband roots for the SOX (but he works for US Cellular, so I think he has too, to still receive a paycheck!) His family are all Cubs fans, and my 10year old loves the Cubs too!

 

[Cinderella16]

Yep! We're in the Joliet/Plainfield/Crest Hill area! I don't really have a fav baseball team, my husband roots for the SOX (but he works for US Cellular, so I think he has too, to still receive a paycheck!) His family are all Cubs fans, and my 10year old loves the Cubs too!

We got married in Joliet at the Patrick Haley Mansion in 2009! However, we live way up north near the Wisconsin border.

I guess if it was a matter of receiving a paycheck, I'd root for any baseball team...I just don't care that much.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-Your plans for your next trip sound awesome! I stayed at BLT for my honeymoon… but ran into some less than stellar service. Hope that doesn’t happen to you!
-I’m loving your MK pics! They’re making me miss Disney pretty hardcore though.
-Ha! Your DH bathroom comments are cracking me up.

 

[Cinderella16]

It Looks Like Sneeze Glass

Since we had just ridden Haunted Mansion, Pinocchio’s Village Haus wasn’t too far, and we were hungry! Before we went in though, we hoarded a Fastpass for Peter Pan’s Flight.

I had always wanted to eat at Pinocchio’s (which is counter service) simply for the fact that you can watch the Small Word boats load and go by. Not the biggest deal in the world, but I always thought it would be fun. I honestly didn’t think we’d get a seat by the window to the ride, considering that it was around peak lunch time at this point, but pixie dust was in the air because we spotted an empty table right near the window when we walked in. I held down the fort, while DH fetched the food, which I have no pictures of.

DH returned with a meatball sub and cheesecake for himself, and I got a pizza/salad meal with yogurt. At least one of us was trying to make smart dessert choices. The food here is what you would expect from a counter service, it really wasn’t anything special, but it was filling and tasty enough. I am pretty sure the pizza was the same kind they serve at Pizza Planet at DHS.

As we were eating, it was fun waving to all the folks on IaSW...Being up in the “tower” made us feel like we were special, even though we really aren't since anyone can eat there.

I decided to try and take some pictures of our view...

Once reviewing the picture, I told DH, “It looks like sneeze glass?” I mean don’t tell me you don’t see it..it clearly looks as though someone sneezed all over it, maybe it was the kid from the WL boat.

Luckily, I got some better shots!

Everybody wave!

We decided we had had a pretty successful morning--we were able to ride most of our favorites and hoard FPs in the process. That meant it was time for an afternoon break back at the WL for swimming. I am pretty sure we walked through the shops on Main Street as we made our way to the WL boat launch.

“I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD! WOOOOO!” I still love that movie, kinda bummed I missed it in 3-D, but I saw it 7 times in the theater when it originally came out, that is 21 hours of my life I will never get back. I was in jr. high then and all my friends and I had crushes on Leonardo DiCaprio, that is how we justified seeing it 7 times. Back to the TR!

Another picture of my favorite resort.

After another relaxing, breezy ride, we safely arrived to our destination, WL.

We made a beeline for our room, changed into our swimsuits, and made a beeline down to the awesome WL pool.

Seriously, the afternoon breaks are THE reason to stay on property. We used to stay off site and we would never get those mid-day breaks, we’d be in parks from 10 AM - 12 AM sometimes, we were wiped. Needless to say, we LOVE our afternoon breaks!

See?

I love the WL pool, there are waterfalls all around and it is just so nice! I swear you sometimes forget you are in a pool, you think you are in a natural spring or something. It was pretty busy, so we did a lot of hopping in and out of the pool as it got too crowded.

We probably stayed there about an hour and a half when we decided to go back up to our room for a real nap. Between the MK and the sun by the pool, we were wiped! We were back at our room by around 2:15 and our goal was to sleep until 3:00---yeah that didn’t happen. We overslept until 4:00 and had an ADR at O’Hana at 5:00. Waking up in a panic, we honestly didn't know if we would make it in time for our ADR.

To be continued...


Up Next: The Mad Dash to Our Favorite Restaurant!