Disney dangled the visual weinee & Mickeystoontown gobbled it up! 10/26

[Pluto0809]

I think Disney is the one place I don't feel bad taking pictures of everything. Now outside of Disney, you will rarely catch me doing food pictures.

Oh man, drooling right now over all those beautiful snacks.

I haven't seen the chaos at the DTD bus stops yet. Probably because the only time I took one was mid afternoon when DTD wasn't very crowded.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I think Disney is the one place I don't feel bad taking pictures of everything. Now outside of Disney, you will rarely catch me doing food pictures.

Oh man, drooling right now over all those beautiful snacks.

I haven't seen the chaos at the DTD bus stops yet. Probably because the only time I took one was mid afternoon when DTD wasn't very crowded.

I take food pictures of most of our trips, even non-Disney trips. I guess it's just a habit now.

You are LUCKY! At night, they can be really bad.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thumbing it in Walt Disney World? Only my family!

Our family has never been big breakfast eaters but I do schedule at least one breakfast ADR per vacation. Today, we would be eating at our second breakfast ADR, the Whispering Canyon Cafe. We were at the bus stop early and had what we thought was plenty of time to spare. We decided to get on the first Disney park bus that pulled up and then catch a Wilderness Lodge bus from there. The first bus that pulled up came about five minutes after we got to the Jamaica bus stop. It was a Hollywood Studios bus. Yay! It takes just a matter of minutes to make it to Hollywood Studios! So, we get to Hollywood Studios in less than ten minutes. We get off, walk over to the Wilderness Lodge bus stop and wait. And wait. We see these guys walking about across the parking lot.





You can see a Caribbean Beach Resort bus in the background. Yeah, one pulled in as we were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Hunter was getting tired of the waiting and was ready to thumb it.



Ya'll, it took forever for a darn Wilderness Lodge bus to come and when it did, we were getting antsy because we thought that we would be late and I don't like running late. We finally made it to the Wilderness Lodge and we booked it into the resort. I didn't even take time to take any pictures so that should tell ya how dire the situation was. We were fast walking it to the restaurant and checked in ten minutes after our ADR time. Thankfully, they were able to seat us right away.

Mountain Mama was our server and she was a hoot! She was all over us for being late but in a funny sort of way. She did scold us but didn't go super overboard. Again, because of my pre-trip perusing of the menu, we knew what we wanted and were able to place our order immediately.

Hunter ordered chocolate chip pancakes:



John and I ordered the breakfast platter. John asked Mountain Mama if he could have fried eggs and scrambled eggs and she said that she would take care of us. Just an FYI, you can order them both but you can only have the first order of fried eggs. They are not all you can eat like the scrambled eggs.





Everything was really good and Mountain Mama and her fellow waitstaff members were hilarious! They would kid around with the guests at the tables but, again, they didn't go overboard. At some point in time, Mountain Mama asked where we were from and, because her section wasn't terribly busy, actually sat down and chatted with us for a while. She had been with Walt Disney World for over 20 years and said that she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Because I had Hunter's birthday noted on the reservation, Mountain Mama insisted that he get his birthday cupcake. He asked if we could get it to go and she said NO! Then laughed and said "Well, I guess so!"



Everything that we had was delicious and Mountain Mama was a blast! If you ever have a chance to have breakfast there, do it!

We left the restaurant and walked over to the store to look around. John has bought a few Wilderness Lodge shirts from there before and wanted to see what they had this trip. Given that the Disney resort specific merchandise has been sorely lacking in the last few years, we didn't have high hopes.



We couldn't go into the store witout first rubbing Humphrey's nose. Unfortunately, rubbing the nose didn't bring any luck in the way of Wilderness Lodge t-shirts. Oh well! I tried taking a couple of pictures of the lobby. They never turn out very well but it doesn't stop me from trying.





**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love the light fixtures at the Wilderness Lodge:







At the time, the stream was closed and they had these plants in the area:



It's been so long since this picture was taken so I don't remember why the stream was closed. I took this one from the window.




We walked around and looked at the displays in the lobby:





The Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful and my pictures do not do the resort justice in any tiny sort of a way. It's gorgeous!

We walked out to the bus stop and I took pictures while standing because I don't like standing around doing nothin'.





**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

More pictures instead of standing around doing nothin':



Even though I love the look and feel of the Wilderness Lodge, I think that the bus stop is dumb. Just like John thinks the Jungle Cruise is stupid. See the sign above? Those are the three bus stop numbers for the various theme parks, water parks and Downtown Disney. See that Hollywood Studios is at stop #3? This is the picture that I took just before I got to stop #3 looking back at the covered bus stop:



Now why in the heck do you build bus stops at the Wilderness Lodge at #1 and #2 but not #3? To get to any destination listed at #3, you have to stand in the sun, wind, rain, whatever it is at the time. That's pretty dumb in my opinion.

**Up next: Love in an elevator! I'm livin' it up!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I thought that I was being all sneaky and stuff when Hunter pointed to one of the smiling castmembers to me and said "Mom, they totally know that you're taking pictures!"

Hunter was getting tired of the waiting and was ready to thumb it.

Ugh. I hate Disney Bus Roulette. They never show up when you're in a rush.

I didn't even take time to take any pictures so that should tell ya how dire the situation was.

Dire indeed!

Everything was really good and Mountain Mama and her fellow waitstaff members were hilarious!

Excellent. I really love that place. Having servers that mess with you just makes the meal.

Given that the Disney resort specific merchandise has been sorely lacking in the last few years, we didn't have high hopes.

Drives me crazy. Some of the resort-specific stuff is so cool, I wish they'd do more.

Unfortunately, rubbing the nose didn't bringany luck in the way of Wilderness Lodge t-shirts.

At the time, the stream was closed and they had these plants in the area:

Oh no! The stream is one of the coolest features!

The Wilderness Lodge is so beautiful and my pictures do not do the resort justice in any tiny sort of a way. It's gorgeous!

Well, you know I'll agree with this one!

Now why in the heck do you build bus stops at the Wilderness Lodge at #1 and #2 but not #3? To get to any destination listed at #3, you have to stand in the sun, wind, rain, whatever it is at the time. That's pretty dumb in my opinion.

Uh...they ran out of money?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Caught up, I'll just comment on the latest posting though! I agree that Wilderness Lodge is gorgeous, but it is very dumb to only have 2 of the bus stops covered I really want to have breakfast there some day, it looks so yummy!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ugh. I hate Disney Bus Roulette. They never show up when you're in a rush.

Never ever ever

Dire indeed!



Excellent. I really love that place. Having servers that mess with you just makes the meal.

We like the servers at Whispering Canyon but find the ones at 50s Prime Time a little over the top. Don't make me eat greens that I don't want buddy!

Drives me crazy. Some of the resort-specific stuff is so cool, I wish they'd do more.







Oh no! The stream is one of the coolest features!



Well, you know I'll agree with this one!



Uh...they ran out of money?

That's exactly what we said...they ran out of money!

Caught up, I'll just comment on the latest posting though! I agree that Wilderness Lodge is gorgeous, but it is very dumb to only have 2 of the bus stops covered I really want to have breakfast there some day, it looks so yummy!

It is dumb! Why build two but not three? Like Captain Oblivious said, maybe they ran out of money?

 

[totebagg]

Breakfast at wilderness canyon cafe looks yummy! My daughter can eat her weight in chocolate chip pancakes so I see a future breakfast for us there! Glad you got John to go through his summer clothes as I am sure you guys are getting ready for your next trip!!!

 

[BarbieGal457]

We had WCC on our ADRs for this upcoming trip, but things got moved around and it's pending to be cancelled. Hopefully I can make it work! We do have Hoop De Doo there our first night (5/30) which I am excited about. I haven't seen it since I was very little, and my boyfriend has never seen WL! I think he will be in awe.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Love in an elevator! I'm livin' it up!

As ya'll already know, I'm not good at keeping "off" or "down" days completely off or down. I always purchase an extra day of tickets just in case we decide to visit a park on one of those days. Sometimes, we use that extra day's ticket, sometimes we don't. This time, we did. We were going to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the day. After waiting at an uncovered bus stop, we hopped aboard a Hollywood Studios bus that came about ten minutes after we got to the stop.

We were through the turnstiles at the park in no time at all. Most of the guests had already arrived as it was about 11:00 or so. While waiting on the bus, I was able to move around our Fastpass times. As soon as we entered the parks, we were greeted by Streetmosphere performers....lots of them.



The actress in this picture is the same actress that called Hunter over many years ago and had him perform with her. I wish that I had the picture here with me. He was just a wee child...probably 8 or so.





The streetmosphere actors were everywhere on this day:



This guy was so funny. He had a stop/go sign and a whistle. He would turn the sign around and have guests stopping and starting. It was funny!




We turned towards Tower and Terror and Rock n Rollercoaster and saw even more Streetmosphere actors:



A little further down, we came upon a magician. He encouraged audience participation:



Hunter was asked a question (I can't remember if it was pick a card or tell me which cup the ball is under) but he was chosen to participate which is always fun. When the magician was done, he packed up his things and put them in his little car/truck.

One of the Fastpasses that I was able to change was our Rock N Rollercoast Fastpasses. Hunter did not want to go and I wasn't about to force him to because we all know as the great parents that we are we would never ever ever make a child go on any attraction that they don't want to. Nooooo, we'd never do that. Okay, so I've made my kids do that but he's now bigger and taller than me and can probably put me in a headlock so I let him make the choice on whether or not to ride. He chose not to. Instead, he would wait in the store which is just as great as the attraction to him since he's a guitar player and a fan of Aerosmith.

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh wait, I forgot to post two pictures:






I gave Hunter my bag and the cameras and he had a heyday in the store while we were twisting, turning, listening to Love in an Elevator and "livin' it up" on Rock N Rollercoaster.

















**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

I told ya'll that he had a heyday with the pictures:





Okay, so I won't post more but there are more. He took pictures of everything in the store, I think. Including himself:



He bought himself a pair of drumsticks and several guitar picks. Speaking of guitar picks, look at the cute Mickey that the castmember made with the picks:


We met back up with Hunter in the store, looked at our picture which was automatically added to our Photopass and then we were off to see what other kind of trouble, err, fun we could get into.





**Up next: Is that a rat? In a boat? Actually, that's two rats in a boat!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Is that a rat? In a boat? Actually, that's two rats in a boat!

We had already seen most of Hollywood Studios on our first day in the park but there are some things that are worth seeing again and we were on our way to see it. We reached our destination! Exactly what was our destination? I'm sure that you can guess by this picture. Is that a rat? In a boat? Actually, that's two rats in a boat!



I'm sure that you've figured out where we were but just in case, here are two more pictures:





Makes me want an ice cream sundae instead of Cheese Nips that I'm snacking on.

Yep, we were going to Muppet Vision 3D! It's one of John's very favorite shows in Walt Disney World. Isn't it funny how something that's nothing super elaborate can become your favorite? The show was as entertaining as always and John laughed like crazy when Miss Piggy went flying through the water on her rumpus.

We walked around the gift shops for a while afterwards and took in all of the fun details there:









Now who in the world would have drawn that mustache on sweet little ol' Miss Piggy? After buying absolutely nothing, we went out into the Streets of America where we looked into the windows of the store fronts and saw this guy which I thought was a cute touch.



I think that these painted backdrops are so well done and look so real!






**Up next: That man is on fire! Stop, drop & roll! Stop, drop & roll!

 

[MEK]

Great updates Lisa. Your pictures really rocked. I feel bad that Hunter doesn't love RnR, but on the other hand he got fantastic pictures of the store.

And your Muppet pictures are great I never see all that stuff. Now I need a treasure hunt.

Breakfast looks delish. I finally had breakfast there in October. It was really a lot of fun.

Your trip is just around the corner now. I am sad that we had to bump our trip back to August, mostly because I will not get a chance to meet you in person. Boo! But August is working out so much better with the summer employment situation.

 

[ddstratton]

Love the updates! We did supper at Whispering Canyon, and it was great! I don't remember our server's name, but she was a hoot!

Disney Bus Roulette. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Loving your "off" day at the Studios. Sounds like a blast!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I so look forward to your updates! this did not disappoint!!! oh and Now John is my new BFF, Muppets are the BEST on the PLANET! did you hear that? THE PLANET! i cannot wait for the new show!!!! yeah i am a wee bit of a muppet fan..

great pictures of WL. So glad you had a great server!!! Love her name too.. What a riot!!!

the performers are just fantastic!!!!! last time there was only one out.. the magician, he was still cool and Picked Matt for a coin trick. always on the lookout for them!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Breakfast at wilderness canyon cafe looks yummy! My daughter can eat her weight in chocolate chip pancakes so I see a future breakfast for us there! Glad you got John to go through his summer clothes as I am sure you guys are getting ready for your next trip!!!

If she likes chocolate chip cookies, then Whispering Canyon is the place to go. Hunter doesn't usually eat pancakes but he loves these!

I am beyond ready to go on vacation! John is usually the last one to go through his things in the "getting ready to go" process but not this time.

We had WCC on our ADRs for this upcoming trip, but things got moved around and it's pending to be cancelled. Hopefully I can make it work! We do have Hoop De Doo there our first night (5/30) which I am excited about. I haven't seen it since I was very little, and my boyfriend has never seen WL! I think he will be in awe.

Oh no! Whispering Canyon is so good! I love love love Hoop Dee Doo Revue! It's so funny! (and it's coming up in one of my updates)

Great updates Lisa. Your pictures really rocked. I feel bad that Hunter doesn't love RnR, but on the other hand he got fantastic pictures of the store.

And your Muppet pictures are great I never see all that stuff. Now I need a treasure hunt.

Breakfast looks delish. I finally had breakfast there in October. It was really a lot of fun.

Your trip is just around the corner now. I am sad that we had to bump our trip back to August, mostly because I will not get a chance to meet you in person. Boo! But August is working out so much better with the summer employment situation.

Hunter said that RnR makes his heart feel funny so I don't like to force him to go on it. Abnormal heartbeats are the "normal" thing on my side of the family and both of my kids have it. No need to put him through the stress if I don't have to.

I wish that you had been able to go in May too. But, we've been in August before too.

I so look forward to your updates! this did not disappoint!!! oh and Now John is my new BFF, Muppets are the BEST on the PLANET! did you hear that? THE PLANET! i cannot wait for the new show!!!! yeah i am a wee bit of a muppet fan..

great pictures of WL. So glad you had a great server!!! Love her name too.. What a riot!!!

the performers are just fantastic!!!!! last time there was only one out.. the magician, he was still cool and Picked Matt for a coin trick. always on the lookout for them!

On the PLANET? The whole planet? Tht's pretty awesome.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good morning sunshines! I have good news to share with ya'll this morning! John and I were talking about the upcoming Disney trip and the fact that we really really wish that Lacey and Jesse could stay another day. After some smooth talking with a Disney Travel castmember, I was able to add a day to the end of their trip AND I was able to book it with the Spring offer that expired back in March. They were already booked under the offer and they allowed me to extend it at the same price! If I can ever get this darn trip report done, I'll start a pre-trip report. John, Hunter and I will be by ourselves for the first week and Lacey and Jesse will be there the entire second week. Jesse's Mom, Dad, 2 brothers, sister-in-law and niece will be there for six days. I'm super excited to see how the newbies like our happy place!

 

[sunnysideup3]

That's great you were able to add on extra time for them! I am so excited for our May trip, it can't come soon enough! I'll be sure to jump on your PTR so I'll see if any of our plans cross over!