Longer Trip Than Usual 4-18 to 4-25

[LYNSUE]

Love all the pictures, especially the WL ones. I can't wait to stay there on our trip in August.

That's neat you had a waitress from WI at the Wave. We saw a bunch of CMs from Wisconsin on our trip in December!

And I know this is off topic, but bummer the Brewers couldn't sweep the Cubs yesterday...

I hear you about the Brewer game. They had so many opportunities to win that game on Sunday. Oh well, they can't win them all. The game on Saturday night almost had me feeling sorry for the Cubs. But it was a big almost!! It was great that the Brewer fans did not allow the Cub fans to take over the stadium, like we have seen in some past years. The cheering for the cubs was not even noticable on TV.

 

[LYNSUE]

Ok, it was our last day. Where did the week go??? Lots of mixed emotions. I was ready to get home, yet sad to leave. You all know the routine.

We were up at 7:30am. Breakfast consisted of what ever was left in the box of food that was shipped down there. Actually, the amount of food sent, worked out perfect for our week. Nothing got left over or tossed out. Breakfast in the room is a great money and time saver. It cost me $8.00 to ship that box. The contents of the box was maybe about $10.00. Plus we purchase some milk and bread (minimal $) when we got there. The total cost is about the same as one breakfast out. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a way to save $$ on vacation.

Once everything was packed, we dragged our retched bodies to the dead center of the WL lobby…… Hold it….that’s not right. (have we been in WDW a bit too long???)

We really did go to the WL lobby and put our luggage with bell services. Since we were flying AirTran, we were able to have our boarding passes printed. We hit the boat dock about 9:00. It was very crowded this morning. We waited 20 minutes for the boat and arrived at the MK about 10:00. As all of us Diser’s know, this is not a good arrival time. The park is usually quite busy by 10:00 and it truly was today. It is the weekend afterall.

First stop was the magic carpet ride. DH and I were in the front controlling the up and down. There were two young teen girls behind us and it sounded like it was there first time on this ride. Since the camel was spitting today, we attempted to get the girls in the back wet. We were able to get the height just right that the water hit one of the girls near the face but mostly her shoulder. They were very surprised by this. The next time we went by, the water just hit near the girls but not on them. They still got a good laugh about it.

DH attempted to get a picture of the spitting camel. The camel got cut off a bit.

Next was Pirates. There seemed to be a lot of groups of young teens in the park today. (it is Saturday). I was really appalled at what some of these young girls are wearing. I distinctly remember one girl in line with extremely short shorts. She may as well have been wearing a thong. Her entire bottom was hanging out of the shorts and she was not a slim girl!! Did she really leave home dressed like that??? Sorry, I will get off my soap box now. I know, I know, I am really showing my age here.

Next we stopped at BTM and got a FP with a return time of 11-12. So while we were waiting for the return time, we took in a show of Country Bears. We left the theater right after the “Blood on the Saddle” song. That song always gives us a good laugh. Then we used our FP for BTM.

Just for fun, we stopped at Crystal Palace to see if they had any openings for lunch. Of course they didn’t. I guess we will just stick to the Grand Floridian Café walk-in plan.

After that we headed for Adventureland. DH was finally able to get his dole whip float. Nothing like waiting until the very last day! I had a few bites. It was wonderful as usual. Then we tried HM but the line was way too long, so we continued onto Philharmagic. After Phil, we tried HM again and the wait time was down to 10 minutes so we got in line. Next was Comedy Laugh Floor.

By this point, we were getting tired of criss/crossing this very crowed park. We left the MK about 1:20 and headed for the Grand Floridian. We went to the resort boat launch, and as we walked up, the GF boat was approaching.

While walking from the boat dock to the Café, we passed by a couple reading the posted menu for Narcoosees. We said hello as we passed. They asked if this was a good restaurant. We were happy to tell them about our wonderful meal there the night before. They thought they might try it. Then they were kind enough to take a picture of us with Narcoosees in the background. It was too dark to do that the night before.

Talk about my hair looking stupid....apparently it was a little breezy that day. Why does DH always look so darn good in the pictures?? (me, not so much)

We were able to be seated at the GF Café as a walk in with very little wait. Our table was right near the front of the restaurant. We have eaten here several times and the food has always been great. I am sure it was great again today, but being the end of our vacation, I did not have the proper appreciation for it.

DH started with onion soup and then had a Rueben sandwich with homemade chips.

I had the tomato/basil soup (very good) followed by a Grand Floridian Burger. If you check the Allears menu you will find this burger is topped with Lobster (like I didn’t have enough of that last night), and asparagus with a horseradish chive hollandaise sauce. Now I am not much of a burger eater, but this thing looked so interesting. I wish I had had it earlier on in the vacation because I would have appreciated it more. My opinion that day was…it was just ok. But now I know. Also it turned out to be very messy to eat. I ended up using a knife and fork. (that hollandaise sauce was slippery). There is a small tomato salad on the side.

We actually had some (unscheduled) entertainment while we were eating. I never thought I would see this at WDW, but I am very sure I saw a (lady of the evening) right there in GF Café in broad daylight. At the table next to us in the corner there was this very young woman with a middle aged man. You could tell by their interaction with each other, they were not related (if you know what I mean). But the big give away here was the way this woman was dressed. Picture if you will….. black, tight, skimpy little short shorts. (just slightly longer than the girl at BTM). Fish net stocking (I kid you not) and knee high black shiny boots. Her top was a tight fitting leather looking vest with silver studs, and metal rings randomly scattered on it. The hair and makeup were indescribable. Several times during lunch, this woman turned sideways in her chair and smoothed her boots and stockings by running her hands all the way up her leg. I so wished I had the courage to have taken a photo of this. But, I am a coward. DH and I briefly talked about the picture, but there was no way….

I felt kind of bad for the server at that table. It was a middle aged lady. It was very noticeable to me that she was uncomfortable. Her interaction with the couple was rather stiff and forced. (but very friendly of course).

There was another couple sitting at the table next to us with two young kids. The adults were seeing the same thing we were. You could see them looking at each other and whispering about it. Well after the “questionable couple” left the restaurant, neither us nor the couple next to us could contain ourselves. There were comments. I know DH would love to give you his view on this and tell you about the conversation with the guy at the next table. It was really a hoot. Later on I noticed the server for the couple talking in the corner with some other employees. Oh, the stories that lady must have been telling.

Please don’t think bad of me for telling this story. I had no intention of offending anyone. It was really my first “shocking experience” at WDW.

After lunch we collected ourselves and got a boat (I think) back to WL. We arrived there about 2:15.

Our last picture is of the famous totem pole. I had heard you should rub the bear's nose for luck (or was it for fertility?? I can't remember)

 

[LYNSUE]

Saturday 4-25-09 (the title above is wrong)

Once we arrived at the WL we collected our luggage from bell services and then went back to the common area of the Villas. I wanted to switch some things around in my luggage and also change to long pants and get out my jacket for the ride home. This area of the villas is so peaceful and as I mentioned before, not used very much. (from what we saw) Our ME pickup was scheduled for 4:10pm.

We got out to the front of WL a little after 3:30. A ME bus pulled up for the 3:40 pickup. We asked the driver if we could take this earlier bus instead. He said it was not full and he could not see why we should have to wait. So we got on the bus. We had several stops before getting to the airport.

Everything went smoothly at the airport so I won’t bore you with the details. We did stop for a snack at Outback Steakhouse. As airport food goes, it was ok and besides, we really were not that hungry so it didn’t matter. Once again, AirTran came through for us with on time flights. We sure do like that airline. AirTran has XM radio available on the flights. DH had brought a set of ear plugs for us so we were able to listen to the Brewer game on the way home. It was the other teams (Houston) announcers, but it still was great to be able to listen. It made the flight time go by really fast. In fact DH and I waited until almost last to get off the plane because the game was not over when we landed. It ended up going into extra innings and we heard the end of the game in the car on the drive home.

When we were walking through the airport to exit, we saw a large group of military people lined up at one of the gates. There were many veterans and honor guards lined up. There were TV cameras as well. When we got past the gates into the airport there were hundreds of people waiting. Many had welcome home signs. From what we gathered, it must have been some of our fine soldiers returning home. I get really choked up just thinking about it again. There were so many families, and you could just see the anticipation in their faces. (It sure puts our frivolous little WDW vacation into perspective). We moved through the area as fast as we could. We did not want to get in the way of any reunions.

Some random thoughts:

It was really nice to have a whole week in WDW and not feel rushed. But even though we had more time, it seemed we did fewer things in the parks? Maybe our touring style is changing.

Although the whole week was nice, I did get homesick. It is a long time to be away from my kids, parents, sister. I just miss them and miss keeping up on their day to day lives. Texting sure helps with this though. A quick, cute message can bring you back together. And somehow I always feel a little bit guilty that I am enjoying WDW (again), and they are at home. Crazy, I know.

I thought traveling on a Saturday would be more hectic than during the week. I found that was not so.

I liked our arrival day being a “no park day”. It lessened the anxiety of getting there by a certain time.

It was really nice to share our favorite vacation place with our friends. We enjoyed our time together very much. But making plans and meeting up with others can add some stress to the vacation. At the risk of sounding selfish, DH and I were less stressed when it was just the two of us and we had no obligations to be any where at any certain time.

The Wilderness Lodge is not too bad. It took a few days, but I ended up liking it. It would not be my first resort choice (because we love the Epcot area so much) but if it was the only villas available, I would not mind staying there again. The boat transportation to the MK is very nice.

A fourth floor balcony is much better than a ground floor patio.

A massage is not so awful after all.

I don’t know if we were just lucky with the weather, but the third week of April proved to be great. One brief rain shower in a week. The temperatures were wonderful and very low humidity. We will definitely go back in April but will avoid Easter.

We really love the Epcot resort area. The fact that we can walk to most everything is what attracts us most.

I really do miss the Adventurers Club and Comedy Club at DTD. We do not spend nearly as much time at DTD as we use to. Jellyrolls is fun, but not quite the same.

DH and I did not get sick of each other after a whole week. Maybe it helped that the week was broken up a little with our friends there.

The long days and late nights at the beginning of the trip started to catch up with us after a while.

I am so grateful that there were no minor or major health issues while we were there…not even a sniffle.

The time we took to enjoy the resort pools was well worth it. You know that was new for us.

I can’t say that I encountered any rude people this trip.(except the teens at HM) Everyone was quite nice. Not sure if there were less rude people or I just didn’t pay attention to them. Every CM (and I mean every) were wonderful and helpful and made our vacation more special.

Watching wishes from the Contemporary is nice, but it is not the same as being in front of the castle to see it.

Kim Possible missions are geared toward kids, but big kids should enjoy them to… if they want to.

TSM is geared toward everyone. I just love this ride. It brings out the competitiveness in DH and I (not that he needs any encouragement). And the playing field is level enough that anybody can be the winner.

I am worried that DH and I are becoming WDW restaurant snobs. But we do feel that all of the signature restaurants we have tried are worth the price. But the off site prices (like Joe's Crab Shack) are very attractive too.

I can’t imagine that we will ever get tired of vacationing here. When I look back at my previous trip reports, it is very obvious that each trip is different and it has a personality all its own.

It is ok to take flash photos of your food. It’s a little intimidating at first, but just think about all the disboard people you will make happy. Isn’t that worth it? And it is also ok if you forget sometimes to take the pictures. Disboard people are rather forgiving as well.

Darn….that restaurant in Mexico is dark.

I hope and pray that DH and I can continue to enjoy WDW for at least the next 40 years!!


ENOUGH OF THIS ALREADY……


There is a large possibility that we will not return to WDW for 11 months. This could be a big shock to my system since we have been going two to three times a year. We will be visiting Disneyland in California in October, but that don’t count. It’s just not the same. Maybe that Tampa Bay/Green Bay football trip in early November will materialize. I will just have to wait and see.

Thanks so much for following along. It has been a hoot. I welcome any comments from any readers. Come on you slackers….I mean lurkers!!!

 

[gbpackfan9]

It's been a very hectic week and I just haven't had time to post my views on the final day of our wonderful vacation. Tomorrow we will be celebrating our anniversary by attending the Brewers/Marlins game in Miller Park.

I promise that I will get my final post done this weekend. Thanks for reading along with us. Drop us a line and tell us what you thought of our report. Any hints or tips to make our next trip's report even better....

Until this weekend, GO BREWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[heaven2dc]

It's always great to return home even after spending a week at WDW. You both seemed to have a great time - it would be fun traveling with you.

I had to chuckle to myself how you controlled the magic carpet ride and got the two teen girls squirted. I wonder if they knew you were controlling the ride

 

[wdwgirl03]

Until this weekend, GO BREWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you had fun at the game! Brewers sweep! Pretty good homestand.

No WDW for 11 months... That is not fun. We used to go every other year when my sisters and I were younger...don't know how I ever survived now that we go so often. That would be so awesome if you got to go to the football game! I'd love to go in Nov. too because Marquette is playing in the tournament at the Wide World of Sports.

I'm glad I found your TR, it's fun to read about other Wisconsinites who love Disney as much as I do.

 

[gbpackfan9]

You both seemed to have a great time - it would be fun traveling with you.

Thanks!! We do have a great time when we're on vacation. It's hard not to at WDW

I had to chuckle to myself how you controlled the magic carpet ride and got the two teen girls squirted. I wonder if they knew you were controlling the ride

It's always fun showing others new experiences of the at the parks.

 

[gbpackfan9]

Hope you had fun at the game! Brewers sweep! Pretty good homestand.

No WDW for 11 months... That is not fun. We used to go every other year when my sisters and I were younger...don't know how I ever survived now that we go so often. That would be so awesome if you got to go to the football game! I'd love to go in Nov. too because Marquette is playing in the tournament at the Wide World of Sports.

I'm glad I found your TR, it's fun to read about other Wisconsinites who love Disney as much as I do.

Glad you liked our TR. It was fun sharing it with you. We've been do WDW in November once or twice before. The parks are not as crowded during that time and hurricane season in over so you don't have to worry about the weather too much. We're still undecided about the the football game, but it's definately an excuse to return (as if we need an excuse)

 

[gbpackfan9]

Saturday, April 25…..

We got up early and finished packing. It’s always a little sad getting ready to go home, but after a week of fun, we were both ready to head for home. We checked in for our flight and sent our luggage onto the airport and we’re off to the MK. We stopped by CP to see if they had any openings for lunch, but there wasn’t any. So we’ll head over to the GF for lunch later. We hit our favorite attractions one last time. I finally stopped to get a Dole Whip. I missed out in December and was glad to finally get one. It’s soooooo gooooood!!!

About 1 PM we said goodbye to MK and headed out to the boat dock for a ride to the GF for lunch. Last year between our October and December trips we had eaten there for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have a wide variety on the menu and everything that I’ve ever ordered has been wonderful. Our waitress reminded me of a waitress from our local diner back home. Sassy, but in a fun way….. DW told you about the “entertainment” at lunch time. The “couple”, definitely not husband and wife, or father and daughter by the way they talked and the way she was dressed. DW had the best view of this couple. I had to turn to get a look but I hated to stare. After they left the guy at the table next to us said, “You can put your eyes back in your head now!’ He and his wife just laughed and shook their heads at what we all had just witnessed. The waitress handled it quite well. It was definitely another first for us at Disney.

After lunch, we headed back to pick up our carry ons and wait for the ME. We caught an earlier bus and head to the airport. While at the airport, our youngest son, kept us up to date on the Packers picks in the NFL draft. Aren’t cell phones wonderful? We had a safe flight home. They time really seemed to fly by since we were able to listen to the Brewers/Astros game on the satellite radio on the plane.

We got our luggage, and headed out to catch the hotel shuttle to retrieve our car from the hotel parking lot. As we got off the shuttle and unload our suitcase the sky opened up and the rain came down hard. We waited in the lobby a few minutes until it let up a little, and I ran to get the car. We loaded the suitcases under the hotel canopy and began our 2 hour trip home. We listened to the end of the Brewers game (another win) on the way home…….

Another wonderful trip to WDW. Here are some of the highlights IMO:

Our first massage… I was so relaxing. I can’t wait to get another one…….
It was nice seeing friends and sharing he parks with them for a few days……
Stopping each day for a midday rest helped keep us fresh and going well into the evenings……
The restaurants in WDW are wonderful……
TSM is a great attraction, can’t get enough of it…..
Skipped a lot of attractions at DHS this trip. Will try to catch them next trip……
Walk from DSH to EPCOT seems to get shorter everytime we do it…..
Watching WISHES from the Contemporary Resort is nice, but the best view is from in front of the castle……
The WL was nice and the boat transportation to MK was very convenient….
Pool time was nice. It’s a shame we don’t use them more often……
A week’s vacation at a slower pace, is much more relaxing than a 5 day “run every minute” trip…..
Don’t know how we’ll last a whole year until our next trip…….

I hope you had as much fun reading along with us, as we did sharing it with you. Until next time, Keep the Magic alive in your heart, and oh yes, GO BREWERS!!!!!!

 

[gbpackfan9]

We decided against going to the Tampa/Green Bay game in November. Instead, we just booked a birthday trip for DW Sept 12-16. We'll be staying at the BWV for the entire trip. Check back in September for our next TR.....

 

[wdwgirl03]

We decided against going to the Tampa/Green Bay game in November. Instead, we just booked a birthday trip for DW Sept 12-16. We'll be staying at the BWV for the entire trip. Check back in September for our next TR.....

That is very exciting news!!

 

[OhMari]

I found your TR on page 5 and just finished reading. I agree staying longer is definately fun, you feel so less stressed trying to get it all in.
We were watching the Food Channel last nite and they had
Food Impossible on.
My dh asked what building they were in at Epcot, doing the cooking.
I looked at him, and said, "oh, now we have to go back, so I can show you the building". I would love to go back for Food and Wine Fest and do one of the more expensive meals. We just did the Food kiosks.

Me and my dh are going to be at the Appleton Mall Thurs. July 9th. We should meet in the afternoon if you are not working. It would be fun to say hello and meet.