Miffy2003
<font color=orange>I've got Saratoga Springs - mak
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2003
- Messages
- 12,175
Sunday 19th December
Today we are heading to the Wilderness Lodge as we all want to have a look round and I need to visit the shop as I want to pick up something nice for a friend and this is her favourite resort. After this we are meeting some Dis friends for lunch at the Rose and Crown.
We catch the bus to the MK and soon arrive and transfer to the boat, which takes us to the Wilderness Lodge. Its funny to think this is the same view we had the other night when we took our Wishes Cruise the scenery looks completely different in the daylight. The Shoe Tree we spotted on the way fascinates the girls they had been shown this on their Pirate Cruise and were pleased to point it out to us. I must say that the boat is a very pleasant way to travel and the breezy day wakes us all up!
We enter the WL and it is a very impressive place! The lobby has a huge wow factor and this resort joins the Poly on my list of places to stay at. Id rate my chances better here than at the Poly as there is a DVC building at the WL, and it is significantly more affordable than the Poly in any case. We spend quite a bit of time checking out the lobby and the various eating and drinking spots.
Artist Point looks lovely; I can just imagine a nice drink in the bar here, followed by a meal at AP and then a nice relaxing time in front of the fire admiring the lobby. This is a fantastic place. We visit the shop which were pleased to see has quite a lot of resort specific merchandise and we have fun choosing a a few things for our friend.
Having not had breakfast we decide to try out Roaring Forks (its too close to lunch to go for a full breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café which would have been my first choice). After the food court at ASMo the Roaring Forks is very small but nicely snug and it all adds to the themeing of the resort I feel. We saw a model of one of the Disney Cruise ships and I took this photo for Mandymouse (Mandy) and Florida Sun (Sue)
We head out of the resort via the covered walkway (this is a nice touch!) and wait for a bus to Epcot. The bus seems to take a while to get to Epcot as it goes via Fort Wilderness, which is very close as far as the boat goes but seemed quite a long way by bus.
Epcot is noticeably busier today, which doesnt surprise us; its a weekend and its getting close to Christmas now. We expect all the parks to be reasonably busy now. There is no wait to get in though which is good news. We buy the girls a couple of World Showcase passports and stop quickly in Ice Station Cool for some Lychee Mello which is yummy.
The passports are a great idea. They come equipped with a badge and stickers which are themed to each country, with room to stick them in the passport and room for a stamp from each country (which also goes on the Epcot Kidcot masks) and space for a CM to write something in. Theres also a question to answer in each country which encourages the children to look around carefully for the answer. The children get a lot out of doing the passports in conjunction with the Kidcot masks and I thoroughly recommend them. It keeps the World Showcase interesting and interactive for them.
We collect our Kidcot mask in Epcot and have a nice chat with the CM there who tells the girls what they have to collect around the lagoon. We stop for a while so they can decorate their masks but then realise the time and have to rush to the United Kingdom to meet Allie, Neil, Jessamy & Daniel (Allie5 & family) and Anz & Andy (MsPennieLane & husband). Allie and Neil are already there with Jess (Daniel is at home with Nanny Sylvie as hes not feeling great) and we have a nice chat about what weve all been up to. We all agree weve finally thawed out after the other night! Moments later Anz & Andy arrive and we all introduce each other and I go to tell the Rose and Crown weve arrived. The tables not quite ready so we have a natter for a bit and soon we are called through.
Our table is out the back of the Rose and Crown and it is just like an Olde Worlde UK pub (without the cigarette smoke, dart throwers and spilt beer). The atmosphere is pretty nice, and I am equally impressed by the menu offerings; I can state unequivocally that the cocktails were rather good (I had two just to be sure). The CMs kindly clambered up and down on chairs to take a photo that got us all in. Allie as you can see drew the short straw and ended up at the childrens end of the table. Well, I can say that I really enjoyed this. It was lovely to spend a nice relaxing couple of hours in great company, with nice food (and cocktails
) and pleasant surroundings. We laughed an awful lot and exchanged tales of holidays present and past and the time flew by. Jess, Amber and Erin amused each other and chattered away non-stop at the end of the table (sorry, Allie!) as if theyd known each other for ages. Since returning, Ive been asked several times by the girls if Jess can come to tea at our house and you can make the castle puddings Mummy. Well if youre ever in Devon guys
.but I make no promises about the dessert offerings It was great to meet all you guys; it didnt feel like wed never met before!
We said our goodbyes and then spend the next few hours wandering around the World Showcase, collecting bits for the mask and chatting with the CMs and generally enjoying the wonderful atmosphere that is always present at the World Showcase. Among the many varied things we did included:
Seeing Impressions de France (I simply love the music! Though having spent a lot of time in France over the years, I remain personally unconvinced that the film is entirely representative of it).
Meeting Mary Poppins (again!) in the UK; Genie in Morocco and Belle and Princess Aurora in France. I called her Briar Rose and she got very excited and said nobody ever called her that!
We had our favourite daiquiris in Morocco again (well, there was noone waiting at the stall. I didnt want the CM to get bored!)
Visited the tin toy exhibition in Japan which was small but really cool. There were quite a lot of Disney characters incorporated into the exhibits and information about each one. We were also obliged to have an extensive look in Mitsukoshi Traders (I cant just walk by this shop!). There are doing the choose a pearl and set it in your choice of jewellery here and I am really taken by the necklace which has my birthstone incorporated, set with a pearl from your very own oyster! The only thing putting me off is that its yellow gold and I dont own any jewellery this colour at all, preferring white gold or platinum. Or Dorothy Perkins own brand, anyway. I ponder this for some time and Jon offers to buy me the necklace for Christmas (my present originally was to be the Segway Tour around the World Showcase but wed had to cancel that as Julie & Derek had intimated they werent happy to look after the girls while we did this). Well, only a foolish woman would reject such a kind offer so of course I accept! They make a real show of this. You choose your oyster and then the pearl is extracted, measured, polished and shown off with great aplomb and drama. Funnily enough, when they did this for me several people who had been thinking about it then made their minds up to do it. It was lovely to choose and examine my pearl, knowing it was a unique gift. Because the necklace also had my birthstone (Amethyst, which I love) this made it even better.
We made it as far as America and viewed the lovely gingerbread house and then realised that it was getting quite late and we had better return to ASMo so Julie & Derek didnt think wed been kidnapped. We had a quick go on Spaceship Earth (which stopped for five minutes halfway round. Thank Goodness it wasnt at the part where Rome burns as I wouldnt like to sit there and inhale that for any length of time!)
Back at ASMo noone wants to go out for tea (wed been thinking of Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney) so we have pizza (again!) and the girls play in the arcade and then bed. We also send a package (which includes the stuff we got today) off to Susan in Oklahoma. This takes over an hour for the front desk to do (!) as the CM has to go off and keep checking how she needs to do this. She insists on information that we simply don't have - such as the phone number of the person we are sending the package to - but we get there in the end.
Its been a lovely day (possibly my favourite so far).
Today we are heading to the Wilderness Lodge as we all want to have a look round and I need to visit the shop as I want to pick up something nice for a friend and this is her favourite resort. After this we are meeting some Dis friends for lunch at the Rose and Crown.
We catch the bus to the MK and soon arrive and transfer to the boat, which takes us to the Wilderness Lodge. Its funny to think this is the same view we had the other night when we took our Wishes Cruise the scenery looks completely different in the daylight. The Shoe Tree we spotted on the way fascinates the girls they had been shown this on their Pirate Cruise and were pleased to point it out to us. I must say that the boat is a very pleasant way to travel and the breezy day wakes us all up!
We enter the WL and it is a very impressive place! The lobby has a huge wow factor and this resort joins the Poly on my list of places to stay at. Id rate my chances better here than at the Poly as there is a DVC building at the WL, and it is significantly more affordable than the Poly in any case. We spend quite a bit of time checking out the lobby and the various eating and drinking spots.
Artist Point looks lovely; I can just imagine a nice drink in the bar here, followed by a meal at AP and then a nice relaxing time in front of the fire admiring the lobby. This is a fantastic place. We visit the shop which were pleased to see has quite a lot of resort specific merchandise and we have fun choosing a a few things for our friend.
Having not had breakfast we decide to try out Roaring Forks (its too close to lunch to go for a full breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café which would have been my first choice). After the food court at ASMo the Roaring Forks is very small but nicely snug and it all adds to the themeing of the resort I feel. We saw a model of one of the Disney Cruise ships and I took this photo for Mandymouse (Mandy) and Florida Sun (Sue)
We head out of the resort via the covered walkway (this is a nice touch!) and wait for a bus to Epcot. The bus seems to take a while to get to Epcot as it goes via Fort Wilderness, which is very close as far as the boat goes but seemed quite a long way by bus.
Epcot is noticeably busier today, which doesnt surprise us; its a weekend and its getting close to Christmas now. We expect all the parks to be reasonably busy now. There is no wait to get in though which is good news. We buy the girls a couple of World Showcase passports and stop quickly in Ice Station Cool for some Lychee Mello which is yummy.
The passports are a great idea. They come equipped with a badge and stickers which are themed to each country, with room to stick them in the passport and room for a stamp from each country (which also goes on the Epcot Kidcot masks) and space for a CM to write something in. Theres also a question to answer in each country which encourages the children to look around carefully for the answer. The children get a lot out of doing the passports in conjunction with the Kidcot masks and I thoroughly recommend them. It keeps the World Showcase interesting and interactive for them.
We collect our Kidcot mask in Epcot and have a nice chat with the CM there who tells the girls what they have to collect around the lagoon. We stop for a while so they can decorate their masks but then realise the time and have to rush to the United Kingdom to meet Allie, Neil, Jessamy & Daniel (Allie5 & family) and Anz & Andy (MsPennieLane & husband). Allie and Neil are already there with Jess (Daniel is at home with Nanny Sylvie as hes not feeling great) and we have a nice chat about what weve all been up to. We all agree weve finally thawed out after the other night! Moments later Anz & Andy arrive and we all introduce each other and I go to tell the Rose and Crown weve arrived. The tables not quite ready so we have a natter for a bit and soon we are called through.
Our table is out the back of the Rose and Crown and it is just like an Olde Worlde UK pub (without the cigarette smoke, dart throwers and spilt beer). The atmosphere is pretty nice, and I am equally impressed by the menu offerings; I can state unequivocally that the cocktails were rather good (I had two just to be sure). The CMs kindly clambered up and down on chairs to take a photo that got us all in. Allie as you can see drew the short straw and ended up at the childrens end of the table. Well, I can say that I really enjoyed this. It was lovely to spend a nice relaxing couple of hours in great company, with nice food (and cocktails
) and pleasant surroundings. We laughed an awful lot and exchanged tales of holidays present and past and the time flew by. Jess, Amber and Erin amused each other and chattered away non-stop at the end of the table (sorry, Allie!) as if theyd known each other for ages. Since returning, Ive been asked several times by the girls if Jess can come to tea at our house and you can make the castle puddings Mummy. Well if youre ever in Devon guys
.but I make no promises about the dessert offerings It was great to meet all you guys; it didnt feel like wed never met before!We said our goodbyes and then spend the next few hours wandering around the World Showcase, collecting bits for the mask and chatting with the CMs and generally enjoying the wonderful atmosphere that is always present at the World Showcase. Among the many varied things we did included:
Seeing Impressions de France (I simply love the music! Though having spent a lot of time in France over the years, I remain personally unconvinced that the film is entirely representative of it).
Meeting Mary Poppins (again!) in the UK; Genie in Morocco and Belle and Princess Aurora in France. I called her Briar Rose and she got very excited and said nobody ever called her that!
We had our favourite daiquiris in Morocco again (well, there was noone waiting at the stall. I didnt want the CM to get bored!)
Visited the tin toy exhibition in Japan which was small but really cool. There were quite a lot of Disney characters incorporated into the exhibits and information about each one. We were also obliged to have an extensive look in Mitsukoshi Traders (I cant just walk by this shop!). There are doing the choose a pearl and set it in your choice of jewellery here and I am really taken by the necklace which has my birthstone incorporated, set with a pearl from your very own oyster! The only thing putting me off is that its yellow gold and I dont own any jewellery this colour at all, preferring white gold or platinum. Or Dorothy Perkins own brand, anyway. I ponder this for some time and Jon offers to buy me the necklace for Christmas (my present originally was to be the Segway Tour around the World Showcase but wed had to cancel that as Julie & Derek had intimated they werent happy to look after the girls while we did this). Well, only a foolish woman would reject such a kind offer so of course I accept! They make a real show of this. You choose your oyster and then the pearl is extracted, measured, polished and shown off with great aplomb and drama. Funnily enough, when they did this for me several people who had been thinking about it then made their minds up to do it. It was lovely to choose and examine my pearl, knowing it was a unique gift. Because the necklace also had my birthstone (Amethyst, which I love) this made it even better.
We made it as far as America and viewed the lovely gingerbread house and then realised that it was getting quite late and we had better return to ASMo so Julie & Derek didnt think wed been kidnapped. We had a quick go on Spaceship Earth (which stopped for five minutes halfway round. Thank Goodness it wasnt at the part where Rome burns as I wouldnt like to sit there and inhale that for any length of time!)
Back at ASMo noone wants to go out for tea (wed been thinking of Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney) so we have pizza (again!) and the girls play in the arcade and then bed. We also send a package (which includes the stuff we got today) off to Susan in Oklahoma. This takes over an hour for the front desk to do (!) as the CM has to go off and keep checking how she needs to do this. She insists on information that we simply don't have - such as the phone number of the person we are sending the package to - but we get there in the end.
Its been a lovely day (possibly my favourite so far).
).
