BELLE & THE 3 BEASTS-June 9-17,2012-**UPDATED 11/27** THE END

[POLY1985]

CHAPTER 3 – DAY ONE – ARRIVAL
A ROOM WITH A VIEW!

Saturday, June 9
My iPhone went off at 3:15AM and I got up to take a shower. We were in the lobby by 3:50 waiting for the shuttle. Got to the airport, checked in and went to our gate. None of the food or coffee shops open until 5:00 and I was dying for coffee.
Flight took off on time and we arrived in Orlando at 8:20AM.


We got right on Magical Express. It was very nice and everything went very smoothly. We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge and we checked in around 9:30. They had a room ready for us. I had booked a Standard room and we ended up being upgraded to Woods View room 5016.

This is our 3rd stay at WL and I have been upgraded all three times, the first two times to Courtyard view.
We walked into the room and this was my view.

I was jumping up and down like a child. I could not believe I was looking at the CASTLE!!!!! We also had a view of the pond below which was so relaxing to sit by with my morning coffee.

Our room was a newly refurbished room. We had new carpet in the hallway and new bedding.

Another thing I love about WL is that you get to shower with Meeko, Bambi and Chip & Dale every day.

After we finished checking out our room, we were all starving so we went down to Roaring Forks for breakfast. We would unpack later.


I had the child’s breakfast. I just had to have Mickey waffles!!!!

After we ate, we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom to “Let the Memories Begin!”


We are rope drop people so we’re not used to getting to the parks this late. On our last trip in 2007, the Haunted Mansion was being refurbished so we all wanted to see it first. We hurried there right away and…it was down! Sigh! So we went around the corner to:

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!!It had a 30 min wait but we didn’t care – we were ready to ride. After that we rode the Walt Disney World Railroad around the entire park. We headed back over to Haunted Mansion and it was open!!! Only a 15 min wait.

We walked over to Pirates which had a posted 15 min wait. It was more like 5 minutes. Near Pirates we saw:

I thought it was a pretty good likeness. We went to Jungle Cruise next which had a 30 min wait.

Doug was really tired by this time so he went back to WL. The boys & I decided to stay because Zach really wanted to go on Space Mountain. It had a standby time of 70 minutes but he was still determined. Since it’s an air-conditioned wait and it would be our last ride of the day, we decided to stay. It was worth the wait.

We got back on boat to WL.

Doug had texted me that he was at Trout Pass (the pool bar) so I headed there. The boys headed back to the room and saw an armadillo on the way. For weeks prior to the trip I kept insisting that this would be the year I would finally see an armadillo. I have only seen pictures of them. I have never even seen one in a zoo. They came running back over to Trout Pass to tell me that they saw one and rubbed it in. I consoled myself with this little beauty - Banana Cabana.

We hung around the Lodge for the rest of the afternoon and then headed to the dock to catch the boat to Ft. Wilderness for our dinner at Trail’s end.
On the boat dock at the Wilderness Lodge:



Trail’s End is an all you can eat barbeque. It has peel and eat shrimp, beef brisket, ribs and the same fried chicken as the Hoop Dee Doo Revue. They serve their drinks in mason jars. I had the unsweetened ice tea and it was very good. This place is a favorite of the guys. After dinner we went back and called it an early night because we planned on rope drop for the Studios in the morning for the last day of Star Wars Weekends.
Good night Castle!

[vassar36]

great arrival day

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by mirage0306

Hi--joining in! Were there around the same time (5th-16th). I LOVE the Wilderness Lodge--we stayed there last year and it was breathtaking!!

Awe! Would have loved talking to another DISer. Too bad we didn't know!

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by gogo

Hi, glad I found your report. My son is 17 so it will be fun to read along. When he was younger my husband went on a few trips with us but since my son was in 6th grade he and I have gone every January. It sort has become a tradition. Our touring has changed as he has gotten older. He spends a lot of time at the hotel pool and gym but I really enjoy spending the time we do spend together.

Looking forward to reading more...

Welcome! Yes, it's amazing how our touring style has changed over the years. DS17 enjoyed the game room and also met some kids in the lobby and ended up hanging with them a few evenings. Of course, he definitely made sure he got all his favorite rides in - 12 times on RnRC!

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by vassar36

great arrival day

Thanks! It really was special!

[LifeIsDis]

I hope my mom and I get a view like that in August. That’s awesome!

How did you like the Haunted Mansion after the refurb?

I have heard great things about Trail’s End. It sounds and looks very good!

[solana131]

Wow what a great surprise view! Nothing like spotting the castle through the trees when you were thinking you might get a parking lot view

I can't believe they still have that stupid scrim up on the Bakery! It was there in Feb when we went. What can they possibly be doing that takes that long to the Bakery?? Hoping it is gone in 3 weeks.

Looks like you got a bunch of good rides in that first afternoon

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by LifeIsDis

I hope my mom and I get a view like that in August. That’s awesome!

How did you like the Haunted Mansion after the refurb?

I have heard great things about Trail’s End. It sounds and looks very good!

I hope you do too!

I LOVED the HM refurb! All the interactive stuff in the beginning is so cute. I am glad they got rid of those huge spiders with the flourescent background - the endless steps they replaced them with are so cool! The hitchhiking ghosts are awesome!

I prefer sit downs to buffets but the guys were so happy getting chicken and ribs - we really did have a nice meal. They have good unsweetened ice tea too!

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by solana131

Wow what a great surprise view! Nothing like spotting the castle through the trees when you were thinking you might get a parking lot view

I can't believe they still have that stupid scrim up on the Bakery! It was there in Feb when we went. What can they possibly be doing that takes that long to the Bakery?? Hoping it is gone in 3 weeks.

Looks like you got a bunch of good rides in that first afternoon

I know -right!

I thought the scrim would be down too! I've seen it on so many posts that I was sure they would be done.

We did - we got all the majors done. Actually, we never did Splash the whole trip. It never worked out - we like to ride that as the last ride before we go back to the room in case we get wet. Oh well, there's always next time!

[LifeIsDis]

Originally Posted by POLY1985

I prefer sit downs to buffets but the guys were so happy getting chicken and ribs - we really did have a nice meal. They have good unsweetened ice tea too!

I LOVE unsweetened ice tea so I'm glad it's good!

[JLCJMC]

Sounds like a lovely first day! Hope the rest was as wonderful :-)

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by JLCJMC

Sounds like a lovely first day! Hope the rest was as wonderful :-)

Thank you - it was! Stay tuned.

[gogo]

That's a really nice view! I've stayed at WL twice. The first time, standard view. We got a view of the delivery area and the beeping of the trucks around 6:00 a.m. was just bad.

The next visit, I didn't want to take a chance on the same view so I booked a courtyard view, much better

[POLY1985]

Originally Posted by gogo

That's a really nice view! I've stayed at WL twice. The first time, standard view. We got a view of the delivery area and the beeping of the trucks around 6:00 a.m. was just bad.

The next visit, I didn't want to take a chance on the same view so I booked a courtyard view, much better

I know the horrible delivery area view you are talking about. Our first trip there was in 2003 and we had booked standard. We had asked for 2 adjoining rooms because my parents were coming and they would watch our DS's (then 8 and 13) if we went out at night. We checked in and we got the 4th floor delivery area view andmy parents got a 1st floor Courtyard view on the opposite side. What part of adjoining rooms did they not get. We complained of course and were moved to the 1st floor Courtyard view (still about 8 rooms away) from my parents.

[POLY1985]

CHAPTER 4 – DAY TWO
HYPERSPACE HOOPLA VS. TORRENTIAL RAIN AND LIGHTNING

Sunday, June 10
I was up before 6:00AM. I guess I was just so excited for our first full day. I got up and wandered around outside, snapping pictures. The one thing I love about staying at WL are the beautiful sunrises over Bay Lake that you get.



I picked up coffee at Roaring Forks and went back to the room and sat on the balcony. I saw this guy at the pond.

I showered and then got everyone else up. We went down for breakfast in Roaring Forks and then got the bus to Hollywood Studios. Our first full day was the last day of Star Wars Weekends.
Now when I planned the trip I was more concerned about not traveling on Zach’s birthday which was Saturday, June 16 so we couldn’t fly in on that day. So now I had to have his birthday at the end of the trip so I planned our flight the week before which was Star Wars Weekends. We are huge Star Wars fans. I saw the first film when I was in high school and the last film came out when Jesse was in high school. We have all the films and have watched them dozens of times so I was excited to be there for SWW. When we arrived, we saw these guys. They were really cute with the way they interacted with the people below.

There were still Fast Passes left for Star Wars characters meet & greets but even though we are fans, we really just wanted to get on the rides. So, the guys went on RnRC while I got fast passes for TSM. I took this picture on the way.

They rode RnRC twice and then we all went to my favorite ride.

We ended up with a front row spot and our picture came out really good. I didn’t want to waste time getting the picture right away but I took the slip which says to pick it up within 48 hours. Well, with everything that ended up happening, I did not get back until about 5 days later. I decided to ask anyway, it couldn’t hurt. The CM pulled up the number and was surprised as I was that the picture was still there!

After ToT, we went on The Great Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Lights, Motors, Action! and then we used our fast passes for TSM. I took a picture of my favorite Crayola crayon on the way.

This was our first time on this ride and it was every bit as fun as I heard. I rode with Doug and it made him sick. He cannot do spinnie rides and doesn’t like 3D so he ended up taking his glasses off and not playing.
We were starving by this time so we took a walk over to the ABC Commissary but the line was out the door so we headed back to WL to have lunch at Roaring Forks. Found this little guy waiting in our room.

Zach & I decided to go swimming. I did the water slide in the pool – not too exciting. I like hanging in the pool near wear the little creek empties into it. There is quite a current there. After the swim, I met Doug at Trout Pass.

Went up to the room to shower and got a bus to Hollywood Studios. This was a bad bus ride. First of all, it took almost a half hour for the bus to come. Then the bus went to Ft. Wilderness. The gate going into the campground was not working right and it took several tries to get it to go up. After getting dropped at HS, we took the boat to the Beach Club for our dinner at Cape May Buffet. We were 20 minutes late. Luckily, they still seated us right away.
Doug, Jesse and I LOVE crab legs so we were thrilled. I had the white Sangria with my meal.

We had excellent service. Our server was SO nice; I wish I had gotten her name. She brought out a special dessert for Zach but took pity on him and so there was no singing.

We headed to the dock to get a boat back to HS for Hyperspace Hoopla.
My guys !

When we arrived, Doug saved the spot while the boys and I went for Star Tours fast passes. The skies started darkening so Doug decided to head back to WL. We watched Hyperspace Hoopla until it was just about over but the skies were REALLY black. We decided to go and use our Fast Passes before the rain came. HA, HA! This was our first time on the new and improved Star Tours and it was Awesome! We got Hoth and Gungin which were the two places I wanted to get so I was thrilled. When we came out, EVERYONE was in the Star Tours dump store. It was pouring and lightning really, really bad. Every time a ride finished, more and more people ended up in the store because no one could leave. It was crazy! I ended up buying 3 ponchos ($25!!!) but I was still afraid to leave because of the lightning. I pulled up the radar on my phone and it did not look like it was going to stop anytime soon so we decided to brave it. We ran from cover to cover and waited at each one. It was still lightning and I was afraid we were going to get hit at any minute. Even with the ponchos we were soaked. We made it to the bus stop and luckily a bus came soon. It was standing room only. Everyone was soaked and the air conditioning on the bus was so cold.
Got back to WL and Jesse’s shoes were so soaked. He has canvas sneakers and they were the only ones he brought. I had flip flops on and Zach had extra sneakers so we were good. Jesse ended up throwing his sneakers in the dryer for 2 cycles and they were still damp the next day.