12/6-12/14/08 at Wilderness Lodge - Our 1st DVC Experience

[joelp]

Hi!
I saw your link on LCAEMoms TR and thought I would join you!!

Well - I saw your link on princess... new ptr and ...

I was there the same time (12/7-14)

... us, too (we were at AKL ...)

and we're neighbors!!

... but we're not neighbors, cuz I live in Jersey ...

I actually live in Plymouth!!

But I've been to Plymouth - a looooong time ago ... (but not before the Pilgrims!! )


Looking forward to reading some more....and can't wait to hear more about DVC, it's our dream!! Me, too!!

Congrats on your baby!!!

I'll second that!!

Motherhood is a wonderful thing.... so is fatherhood!!

best wishes for you!! And glad to hear you're getting your energy back, when are you due?

Looking forward to hearing more!!
Kristen

... great minds think alike ...

Now to read your TR ...

 

[joelp]

Well - on Dec 6 we were in The Contemporary around 6 pm for dinner, too!!!

But at Chef Mickey's (where you - and your kid!! - will probably be next trip ... ...)

... don't remember seeing you, though ...

... and we were in the MK on Dec 7!! ... and I'm thinking in Tomorrowland - and on Buzz - at about the same time ... cuz we left the park around 6:00 for our dinner ressies at Boma!!

... but I don't remember seeing you, though ... (am I gonna have to check my videos to see if you guys magically appear?? ... )

 

[Melissa79]

How fun you got to go to Disney again! The Animal Kingdom Lodge is awesome. Love all the pics too!

We were excited to be able to get back there for a quick trip! We liked the Animal Kindgom Lodge - isn't my favorite but it was nice to try a new place!

Its great that you were able to enjoy a vacation with hubby before baby comes! You lucky duck!

We thought that we should just go for it when we came across the deal and things fell into place! Now I can't wait to go back with the baby!

How great that you got to go on a minitrip last week. I have always wanted to go to Disney in May, but its mostly impossible because of my kid's school/sports schedule. That's a great rate you got for AK. I loved reading your mini trip update.

Now....back to your December trip......looks like it was COLD. As I recall, it was pretty cold when DH and I got there December 13. Your view of the electric light parade is nice. Your pics definately make me want to stay at WLV. It looks like such a beautiful, relaxing place to visit.

Yeah, the rate we got for the AKL was great for May...couldn't pass it up! There were some really chilly days in December, made for some cold boat rides but that's ok! WLV really is beautifull and relaxing, you are right!

Well - on Dec 6 we were in The Contemporary around 6 pm for dinner, too!!!

But at Chef Mickey's (where you - and your kid!! - will probably be next trip ... ...)

... don't remember seeing you, though ...

... and we were in the MK on Dec 7!! ... and I'm thinking in Tomorrowland - and on Buzz - at about the same time ... cuz we left the park around 6:00 for our dinner ressies at Boma!!

... but I don't remember seeing you, though ... (am I gonna have to check my videos to see if you guys magically appear?? ... )

Hello! Thanks for joining me! Funny that we were on the same schedule on the first days...great minds think alike!

 

[Melissa79]

Hi! Just checking in...been away for longer than I expected, sorry about that but I was sooo sick! Doctors think it was a bug, but that was not fun! Lost 7 pounds in just two days and had to keep checking in with the doctor because they thought I might need to go to the hospital for an IV because of dehydration but I managed to avoid that! I'm feeling much better now and I'm feeling the baby move more than ever! The baby is strong enough now that I can see my belly move when he/she kicks It cracks me up for now, I'm sure I won't think it's so funny later when I get kicked really hard! Thought I'd post a picture of me and my expanding belly at 23 weeks.

Well, back to my trip report!

 

[Melissa79]

I woke up before 7:00 and got ready for the day and yes, I was the last one ready! We all wanted an earlier start than yesterday if we were going to the Kona again. We took the boat to the Contemporary and then the monorail to the Polynesian. I believe we got to the Poly around 9:30 and I put our name in at the Kona for breakfast. It was not as busy today since it was a little earlier, but we still had to wait for a while.

Here we are waiting to be called for breakfast.

Love the lobby

Our breakfast was great as always. I believe this was the day that Nick and I got the Tonga Toast. I had never had it before and it was soooo good!

After breakfast we walked out to the walkway between the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian. Someone that Nick works with has a brick with their name on it and we wanted to find it.

Looking for the brick.

Found it! Video of our findings.


Once we found the brick we decided to continue the walk to the GF. There was a wedding going on at the wedding paviloin as we walked by.

Some pics from our walk to the GF

The building Nick and I stayed in during our Dec 2007 vacation! Third floor, second room from the left...we had a great view!

We took the monorail from the GF to EPCOT. I was so excited to be going to EPCOT, I love the countries and our dinner tonight was going to be in Italy!
Pic looking down off the monorail platform at GF

We're here!

Our first stop was Spaceship Earth. It said the wait was 20 minutes so Nick and I rode it while my parents waited out in the beautiful weather. Last year we saw some of the changes but the movie at the end didn't work. It was up and running this year and I thought it was cute. We met mom and dad as we walked out the door and headed over to the Living Seas. Last year there was no wait for the Nemo Ride so we walked right through the line area. This time there was a line and I realized the wait area is designed to look like you are under the water, I loved it.

Next up was the Land. Mom and dad had been looking forward to this forever. This is their type of ride and it was closed in 2006 on their first trip to Disney. I have NEVER seen a line for this ride but there was a 15 minute wait this time! After the land we decided to head into the World Showcase.

Canada was up first.

We still have not eaten dinner in Canada, we tried to get reservations for this trip and no luck, once again. Maybe next time!

We slowly made our way around and sat on a bench between France and Morocco. We didn't stop in all of the countries on the way because we still had a lot more EPCOT time coming up. Dad went to get mom a wheelchair but he decided to do this when Nick was in the bathroom and before I could think to stop him. He went all the way to the front of the park and he could have gone to the entrance on the other side of France. The three of us were talking about how we would have to send out a search party because he easily gets lost. He did make it back ok and actually made great time.

Hanging out in our spot between France and Morocco.


Continued in next post

 

[Melissa79]

We wandered over to America and saw the show over there. Some people think it's boring but we love it! After America we went to Germany and walked through the shops.

We moved on to Italy and looked around there, I think Italy is my favorite pavilion. Nick bought a small mask for decoration.

Here is the mask hanging in our house

Shortly before dinner

We sat around outside the Italy area until we checked in to Tutto Italia for dinner close to 6:00. Not long after we sat down for dinner I saw my dad jump a little and then reach his hand to the back of his neck. When he pulled his hand back he had something red on his hand, my mom jumped up and I thought something was really wrong. Well, turns out my dad got attacked by some flying spaghetti. One of the managers came over to see if dad was ok, not sure if he just saw it happen or if he saw my mom making a scene Other than the spaghetti attack, our dinner was great. Haha. Nick got the Lasagna al Forno, mom and dad got the Sacchetti (I think, it was like ravioli) and I got Bucatini Gratinati which was a bowtie pasta with peas and ham and a cream sauce. It was about 8:00 by the time we got out of dinner.

After dinner we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom because it was an EMH night from 8-11 and mom and dad wanted to see the MK decorations at night.

A few pics of Christmas decorations from our stroll out to the monorail.

We took the monorail to the MK and as the monorail pulled up we noticed that they had put the big Christmas tree up at the top of Main Street.



Lots of people were leaving, I love seeing that when I'm heading into a park! We walked down Main Street and sat in front of the castle. The decorations are just so pretty!

Video of the castle

I'm not sure how long we sat there but it was for a long time! We decided to head back to the WL so we walked back down Main Street to the boat area. We waited for the boat for a long time but it was a nice night so we didn't mind. My sister called while we were waiting and said that it was just 11 degrees back in Mass. Glad we were in Florida!

Once we got back to the villa we hung out in our living room area until we went to bed. Another great day in Disney!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great update! Love the castle with the dream lights. It's so pretty! That's funny how your sister called and said how cold it was at home...that's pretty much how it was for us on our trip too. Our first night there my dad, sister and I were sitting out by the pool eating our ice cream while it was snowing here in WI. We felt kind of bad about that but oh well!

 

[joelp]

We were in Epcot on Dec 8, too!! ... and since we had lunch at The Coral Reef, we spent the morning in the same general areas you did ...!!

... but I don't remember seeing you ...

(if this keeps up, we're bound to show up on each other's photos/videos at some point ... )

 

[khertz]

I love the pictures of the Christmas decorations at night! Absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to see it all in person! And can't wait for your next post.