Record Highs, Jaywalking Guineas, and Baby Ducks: Return from 6 Nights at WL

[TNMice]

Who:
DH
Myself

Where:
Wilderness Lodge,Club Level

When:
Arrive: Saturday, May 1
Depart: Friday, May 7

Day 1: Finally! We had the doggies dropped off at sister's, aka perpetual dog sitter, house, all bags were packed, alarm was going off at 3am, ready to head to the airport! I think I am going to have to rethink the whole 6am flight in the future. This was our first May trip ever, and first stay at WL. Our DVC home resort is AKV, but after dumping all our points into a December Extended Family trip, we were point poor and we needed our Disney fix! So after checking out the AP 45% discount, we decided to check out WL for the first time, and spring for the CL

We arrived at the airport, departing from Nashville for Orlando. We knew there were lots of storms coming, and apparently we got out of Nashville with the storms just 5 miles out (they weren't going to let us take off if within 3 miles). We had a great flight down and arrived early. As usual, we had no problems with Disney's Magical Express, and arrived at WL right around 10am. Driving into the lodge, there were all sorts of fantastic topiaries!

I especially liked these bison:

All I can say is WOW! The WL lobby is amazing! I loved all the animals carved into the tops of the wooden columns:

I loved this friendly turkey looking down.

We went to check in, and the CM showed us up to our room which was already ready! It was a HA room, but had a king bed (our room request), and an amazing view of the Magic Kingdom! (Our room # was 7064, I would definitely suggest it if you don't mind a HA room and want an amazing view of the fireworks!).

On our way down to grab a snack for lunch from Roaring Fork (counter service at WL), we had to do the obligatory rubbing of Humphrey's nose for good luck

After I grabbed a sandwich (Turkey with Dill Harvarti- not that great), and DH grabbed a burger (typical Disneyworld burger, always good), we headed out for a quick roam around AK.

We were both pretty tired from the early trip, so we just roamed around a bit. Found a great place to get a terrific pic of the Tree of Life

The heat was pretty unbearable. The high that day was 94, and the humidity felt like 90%! We didn't care to stay too long, so we headed back to the lodge to get ready for our ADR at Artist Point.

This was our first visit to Artist Point, so we weren't sure what to try. DH went with the Smoky Portobello Soup for an app (wish I had pics of the food, just didn't think of it at the time ).
He said it was good but a bit salty. For the entree, he went with the Cedar plank roasted King Salmon. Unfortunately, it was surprisingly bland. I tried the Buffalo striploin, and too was unimpressed. However, the goat cheese polenta was delicious

After a long day, it was time to turn in. I do enjoy the CL turn down service (primarily for the fabulous chocolate mints

I will try and finish completing our trip report over the next day or two. Coming up: AK Backstage Safari, Typhoon Lagoon, and dining at Chefs de France, Narcoossees, Whispering Canyon Cafe!

Hope you enjoy!

 

[LBelle0890]

can't wait to hear more!

 

[TNMice]

Day 2: Today we head out to Epcot to check out the Flower & Garden Festival! Prior to heading out, we decided to call home and check on the homestead. Crazy weather had ensued in Nashville, we actually live just south of Nashville, so we were keeping a close eye on the weather.
We had been checking the local news online (thank you 9.99/day internet ). We watched as the interstate we had just driven down the morning before now had a house floating down it. Some friends of mine sent over some of the images of the Opryland Hotel flooding:

All of these images are from inside the Gaylord Opryland Hotel! Our neighborhood was very fortunately spared significant damage, which we were very relieved to hear (lost some solar lights, but extremely lucky!). Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who were not so fortunate.

After checking on friends and family (who also mostly were spared, other then minor flooding and loss of AC units), we decided to continue on our plan to head out to Epcot. I was excited to check out all the topiaries! We decided to stop by Norway and check out Schoolbread (I think I would take a Krispy Kreme over the SB) and sweet almond pretzel (this was yummy!). Now off to the topiaries!

I Love Tik Tok!

We headed over to our lunch ADR at Chefs de France. Our previous trip here was in January, and we caught Remy! Our ADR was at 2:45 today, and unfortunately there was no sign of Remy=/ I hope they are still bringing him around. At most restaurants, I always try to get the cheese plates (I could probably live on cheese, bread, and wine...yuummm), so I thought since I was in France it might be extra good. We decided to get two flatbreads (a la Flamme Alsacienne, and the tomato and goat cheese). The bacon and creme fraiche was incredible good, but both were tasty. I was disappointed in the cheese plate, although the brie was quite good. Chefs de France is also a terrific place to watch characters come out (we saw Belle and the Beast, and Marie from Aristocats).

After lunch, we made our way over to The Seas, and we ran into some adorable baby ducks!

The Seas is one of our favorite parts of Epcot. If you don't usually check it out, try to make time for it if you enjoy aquariums We love watching the manatees, and they have a terrific aquarium with a great variety of sea life!

Like Nemo!

These fun Eels checking out the situation:

And even a hidden mickey!

We headed back to our room, and relaxed for a while (no dinner ADR). Around 7pm we headed down to Territory Lounge. I ordered a raspberry mojito (they aren't on the menu anymore, but most bartenders can make them, they are amazing!!), and we split the shredded pork flatbread and nachos. The nachos were not bad, but the flatbread was awesome!!! I promised myself I would have to have at least one more before leaving!

We headed up to the room and watched the fireworks from our balcony (it would be fun if they played the music on one of the company tv stations while the fireworks were happening). It was another great day at Disney!

For Day 3/4 : Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon!

I hope you enjoy, please let me know if you have any questions or want more info about anything in the report, thanks for reading!