I didn't set an alarm the night before and woke up around 8:00 a.m. We took our time getting ready, checked out of the Holiday Inn, and made our way to the Wilderness Lodge. We got there around 10:30 a.m. and our room was ready! We were in Room 5118. It was a Woods View Room and there were several pine trees that obscured the Villas across from the room. The room was brighter than I remembered from our last trip; already tired of dreary Chicago winter that was a positive.
Our Keys to the World Card included our park hopper tickets and our Gold Plan "coupons". I finally figured out exactly how the Gold Plan works. We got unlimited recreation that's included in the plan and 3 coupons per person per night of our stay. So we had 27 coupons we could use for meals during our stay. Every time you use the coupons, the number remaining appears on your receipt.
After getting settled in the room, we were hungry. We had 1:00 reservations for Parasailing, so we took the boat to the Contemporary resort. We asked for a table at the Concourse Steakhouse and were seated immediately, without a PS. There were plenty of empty tables.
DH had Shrimp Cocktail and the Oven Roasted Mushroom and Penne Pasta with Shrimp. Elsie ordered the Five Onion soup and the Penne Pasta with Chicken. I had crab cakes and a Grilled Salmon BLT. We didn't really feel like having dessert, so the waiter said we could get non-alcoholic speciality drinks instead. We each got a virgin pina colada "to go" and headed towards the Marina.
SaxPlayer went parasailing in Pensacola this summer, but no one else in the family ever has. We had the whole boat for a half an hour. DH has some dizziness problems, so he was afraid to go up, but Elsie and I parasailed in tandem for more than twenty minutes. It was so smooth and peaceful. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was neat seeing the Magic Kingdom from that high up!
After Parasailing, we took the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge and got into the car to go to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived, the parade was going on. We'd hoped to do the safari, but the line was too long. Instead we saw Festival of the Lion King. Lion King is Elsie's favorite Disney Movie. She's seen the play twice. She enjoyed this show, and so did Rick and I. When the show was over, we left the park and changed for dinner.
Dinner our first night was at Fulton's Crab House. Before dinner, we needed to pick up our tickets for La Nouba, which was also included in our Gold Plan. We felt a little rushed finding parking, getting the tickets and getting to Fulton's in time, but we made it. We told the waiter we were on the Gold Plan and he then made suggestions for getting the most out of the plan. We ordered the Combination Platter and a Seared Tuna appetizer. Then each of us had a a surf and turf dinner that consisted of a filet and either two lobster tails or king crab claws. For dessert, Elsie and I each had Creme Brule and DH had Key Lime Pie. Everything was delicious! Since we weren't worried about the cost, we really didn't pay attention to the prices. We were shocked when the bill came and it totaled almost $400! All of it was charged to the plan!
We were able to take a leisurely walk to Downtown Disney West Side for La Nouba. None of us had ever seen Cirque du Soleil. It was a fascinating show. Elsie found it somewhat disturbing, but she was glad to have seen it. After the show, it was off to bed...
Our Keys to the World Card included our park hopper tickets and our Gold Plan "coupons". I finally figured out exactly how the Gold Plan works. We got unlimited recreation that's included in the plan and 3 coupons per person per night of our stay. So we had 27 coupons we could use for meals during our stay. Every time you use the coupons, the number remaining appears on your receipt.
After getting settled in the room, we were hungry. We had 1:00 reservations for Parasailing, so we took the boat to the Contemporary resort. We asked for a table at the Concourse Steakhouse and were seated immediately, without a PS. There were plenty of empty tables.
DH had Shrimp Cocktail and the Oven Roasted Mushroom and Penne Pasta with Shrimp. Elsie ordered the Five Onion soup and the Penne Pasta with Chicken. I had crab cakes and a Grilled Salmon BLT. We didn't really feel like having dessert, so the waiter said we could get non-alcoholic speciality drinks instead. We each got a virgin pina colada "to go" and headed towards the Marina.
SaxPlayer went parasailing in Pensacola this summer, but no one else in the family ever has. We had the whole boat for a half an hour. DH has some dizziness problems, so he was afraid to go up, but Elsie and I parasailed in tandem for more than twenty minutes. It was so smooth and peaceful. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was neat seeing the Magic Kingdom from that high up!
After Parasailing, we took the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge and got into the car to go to Animal Kingdom. When we arrived, the parade was going on. We'd hoped to do the safari, but the line was too long. Instead we saw Festival of the Lion King. Lion King is Elsie's favorite Disney Movie. She's seen the play twice. She enjoyed this show, and so did Rick and I. When the show was over, we left the park and changed for dinner.
Dinner our first night was at Fulton's Crab House. Before dinner, we needed to pick up our tickets for La Nouba, which was also included in our Gold Plan. We felt a little rushed finding parking, getting the tickets and getting to Fulton's in time, but we made it. We told the waiter we were on the Gold Plan and he then made suggestions for getting the most out of the plan. We ordered the Combination Platter and a Seared Tuna appetizer. Then each of us had a a surf and turf dinner that consisted of a filet and either two lobster tails or king crab claws. For dessert, Elsie and I each had Creme Brule and DH had Key Lime Pie. Everything was delicious! Since we weren't worried about the cost, we really didn't pay attention to the prices. We were shocked when the bill came and it totaled almost $400! All of it was charged to the plan!
We were able to take a leisurely walk to Downtown Disney West Side for La Nouba. None of us had ever seen Cirque du Soleil. It was a fascinating show. Elsie found it somewhat disturbing, but she was glad to have seen it. After the show, it was off to bed...
