Escape from Real Life to Paradise: A New Trip with New Memories - Completed 4/3

[cstorm65]

Friday, June 27 – Part 1 – 7 Dwarves and 2 Princesses Can Draw Quite a Crowd

We were up at 7:15 for our first full day and were ready for our morning at the Magic Kingdom. I ran to Roaring Forks to grab a small breakfast of a couple of muffins for us. I got two of the chocolate chip muffins for us to share. They were quite good!

I got a picture of the view from our balcony while DW was getting ready to go.

DS and DW were ready to go for the day…and if DS goes, his football blanket has to go with him!

We decided to try to take the boat to the Contemporary and then walk over to the Magic Kingdom. We got on the boat around 8:00 AM and had a nice morning ride on Bay Lake.

It didn’t take us very long to get to the Magic Kingdom and we were waiting at the train station by 8:25 or so.

This is not the most crowded rope drop we have seen, but man do two princesses and seven dwarves really draw a crowd. DS enjoyed the welcome show, and surprised April and I when about 30 seconds before the train came he started pointing to that side and saying “Choo Choo Coming”. They had not referenced it yet nor had DW or I said the train was coming from that direction, and we thought pretty crazy if he remembered it from a year before. He loved the choo choo coming in though!

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The show ended at about 8:50 and we were into the park as soon as the crowd got moving, and before we knew it we were on Main Street. The great feeling so many of us dream about for months leading up to a trip. Our plan was to head back to Storybook Circus and get some rides in while all of the crowds were doing other things. Before we knew it we were there and the crowds were gone. I think everyone at rope drop was either in line for Seven Dwarves Mine Train or Anna & Elsa. Both DW and I took a turn riding Dumbo with DS and he loved it. I got some pictures while they were riding.

He loved hitting the level and making it go up and down. He kept saying he was driving the elephant!

We had finished Dumbo twice and were on over to the Barnstormer by 9:15. This would be DS’s first ride on a roller coaster and we were not sure exactly how he would like it. He said he wanted to ride it so we went for it as he met the height requirement. He sat next to me the first time and the verdict was…He loved it and said “I go again daddy” when we got done.

A picture from DS’s first ride:

When we finished their was no one else in line for the ride so they asked us if we wanted to go again and we did so they let DS switch and ride with DW this time and he loved it again. I was watching him and he was just smiling the entire time…it was a great first memory on that ride!

Up Next: The Best Smelling Place at Disney World​

 

[cstorm65]

Friday, June 27 – Part 2 – The Best Smelling Place at Disney World

After DS’s great first ride on Barnstormer we had planned on heading over and hitting Under the Sea. The wait was posted as 10 minutes and we walked all the way through the queue with no line only to be led out the exit as the ride shut down as soon as we got through the line. Unfortunately they made us leave the line and said the ride could be down for a little while. Our next thing on the to do list was to meat Goofy and Donald at Pete’s Silly Sideshow. Well, with Under the Sea down we were about 10 minutes early as that meet and greet doesn’t open until 9:45. So, what were we to do? We decided to visit the best smelling place at Disney World…Big Top Treats. It is one of my favorite places in all of Disney World. It is a great store to begin with and the cool snack options put it over the top. We all decided to split a cinnamon roll, which are a great deal here for less than $4 and I got a strawberry slushy. It was already quite hot for 9:30 in the morning and those slushy’s always seem to hit the spot.

After we got our snack we got in line outside Pete’s with about 5 minutes to wait and pretty soon the doors opened. We were about the fourth family in line for Goofy and Donald, but DS kept saying…”it’s my turn”, while we waited in line. We are still working on patience with him!

We got to meet Goofy quick enough and unfortunately the photopass scanner wasn’t working on the camera so he just had to take a picture with our camera. We had a few photos by the photopass guy on our camera, but only one really came out any good.

Photopass was working though when we got over to Donald and we got some good shots.

On our way out DS wanted to pose by this poster in the exit area and act like a lion.

With that we finished the circus area for today. We just love that area of the park. It never seems very hectic, and it is also great that you can do 3-4 different attractions and not have to mess with getting in and out of the stroller every time. The rides and attractions are very close together and that makes it really convenient.

As we finished we were kind of gauging how DS would react to what we had as our first FP+ of the day, Enchanted Tales With Belle. DW and I agreed he is probably still a little young to sit through that kind of mini-show so I got on my phone and was able to trade in that FP for one at Peter Pan in about 10 minutes. So we headed over at around 10:00 for a ride on Peter Pan. DW and DS waiting in line:

DS loved this ride more this time than our last trip. When we got to the final scene he even smiled and said “Captain Hook…Chomp Chomp!” It is so fun to see things through your children’s eyes. After finishing at Peter Pan we headed across the street and rode it’s a small world. DW and DS were anticipating the fun that was to come!

We got through the ride and then, as usual, waited for 10-15 minutes for our boat to get through the backup line to unload. I wish they could fix that on some of these boat rides, but I don’t want to get going on that. It was about 10:45 and we finished Fantasyland with a visit to the new Tangled restrooms before heading off to see if we could find ourselves some lunch. Yes, we like to eat around 11:00 so we can beat the rush of people. So what would we find to eat?

Up Next: First Visit to a Classic Attraction​

 

[cstorm65]

Friday, June 27 - Part 3 - First Visit to a Classic Attraction

We were getting hungry, so we headed over to my favorite lunch spot in Magic Kingdom, Pecos Bills. DW doesn't love it quite as much as I do, but she enjoys it enough. I got the burger and it was good, especially with the great toppings from the bar.

DW got the turkey sandwich off the kid's menu and she loved it. She loves the type of bread it came on, which is actually what she buys at home to take to lunch at work. So, she was excited about finding that on the menu.

After a good lunch DS was ready to roll!

As you can see on the stroller we have what is called the Diono shade, I heard about it on the Dis from someone else's trip report. It was like a $15 shade I bought on Amazon that can be added to any stroller, and since the built in cover on our umbrella stroller isn't very long we thought this would be good for the summer in Florida.

Splash Mountain was next on our list, but it was down and we decided to try an attraction we had never been on in our other trips, the Enchanted Tiki Room. It was an interesting experience. I wouldn't say we loved it, and there wasn't quite enough going on to hold DS's attention, but it was nice to see an original attraction. While we were in there I got an e-mail and message on My Disney Experience that we had a FP that could now be used at any attraction on the list because Splash was down. Every time this happened to us we got the e-mail and it was a pretty smooth process, so it was good to see they had a plan for those situations. I went over and rode Big Thunder with the a FP and when I got back I found that the sunshade was worked so well DS looked like this:

So needless to say we loved the sunshade! I also got to carry one of these through the line on Big Thunder. They don't give you the child swap pass at this ride until you are at the end of the line, which is different, but it worked fine.

I snapped a picture while I was on Big Thunder Mountain:

After I rode DW took her turn with the child swap pass and I went to get us some of these:

It tasted incredible as usual. By this time it was around 12:45, which was about time to leave since DS had already fallen asleep. We wanted to try and get him back to the hotel while still asleep so he could get a good nap. We caught a boat quickly and were back at the Wilderness Lodge by 1:15. We walked around the corner by our room and found our room being cleaned. What great timing...right when we needed to get DS into the bed! We debated asking if they could just leave towels, but they appeared to be close to finished and there is a nice sitting area on the 5th floor by the fireplaces that is quiet, so we just went there since DS was sleeping well in the stroller. I think we all three fell asleep while sitting in the chairs there, and we also enjoyed looking at this great view.

DS woke up around 2:00 and we got our suits on and spent about an hour at the pool. DS loved it, especially the area where the little stream empties in to the pool. He just wanted to sit up there and play in the water. We were back in the room by 3:15 and spent about an hour and a half just resting and enjoying a little down time. We headed back to the boats around 4:45 because we had an ADR to get to. Some pictures from the boat on the way over, as you can see storms were getting ready to roll in.

Up Next: A Great Meal When We Least Expected It​

 

[cstorm65]

Friday, June 27 – Part 4 – A Great Meal When We Least Expected It

We checked in at our dinner location, The Plaza, for our first ever meal there and were told it would be about a 10-15 minutes wait. The ladies said some people were hanging out at their tables because it looked like rain was coming. About the time our buzzer went off it started raining, but I had the stroller all covered so hopefully it would stay dry. I had made this reservation only about a month in advance just wanting a good option in the Magic Kingdom that was sit down quality food, but was still fairly quick and cheap. The Plaza meets all of those requirements as far as we could tell.

We got sat down about 5:15 and DS enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle.

Wait…I guess DW enjoyed doing DS’s crossword puzzle!

We really liked the menu at The Plaza, it was very reasonably priced for sandwiches and things like that, and we found the food to be very good. I ordered the Beef Brisket burger.

It was good, although I think some type of special sauce would have made it a fantastic burger. The homemade chips were really good though as they are most places on property.

DW ordered the turkey sandwich, which she loved.

DS was a little restless during this meal so I had to entertain him by having a funny face contest.

The food was good, but the best part about eating at the Plaza is that you can order off the menu at the ice cream parlor for dessert. DW decided to go with the brownie sundae and it was enormous.

She and I could have easily split her dessert and had plenty, but we didn’t know it would be that big. So we ended up with the sundae and the cookies and cream shake that I ordered. It was fantastic though!

After a surprisingly great dinner we headed out and the rainstorm had just passed us by, but lightning was still in the area so not much outdoors that was open so we decided to take DS in the Country Bear Jamboree.

DW and DS waiting for the show to start:

DS loved the show and stood up and danced almost the whole time. When we got out we decided to head over to Tomorrowland to see what we could do, but on our way we found an empty photopass photographer and stopped to get some shots in front of the castle.

Of course, DS had to show off his bandaids.

Up Next: The Disney World Frozen Treat Contest Results​

 

[cstorm65]

Friday, June 27 – Part 5 – The Disney World Frozen Treat Contest Results

After getting our pictures taken we headed towards Tomorrowland to use a FP+ on Space Mountain. It was a great ride as usual and the first time we got ride photos here:

After we both rode we headed to catch the railroad in Fantasyland. DS was trying to climb the fence while waiting on the train to come.

It ended up being a great ride as the sun was setting. I just love it when the train pulls into the Main Street station and you get to sit and look out over the entry area. It is just a great Disney moment.

We got off in Frontierland and I used the remaining FP DW had to ride Splash Mountain as she doesn’t like that ride because there is a chance she will get wet. I know…crazy. Not because of the drop, but because she doesn’t want to be wet. Oh well…I’ll take the extra ride. The rain made this a beautiful night on Splash Mountain.

After we were done we hung out in Frontierland a little while and then I got my first ever Citrus Swirl…and took a selfie with it:

Now let me just say in the great debate of Dole Whip vs. Citrus Swirl I am now a Citrus Swirl fan. I love orange juice, and the face that the orange part is basically orange juice concentrate makes me really love it. The Dole Whip, especially when it is in float form, is still awesome, I am just a little partial to the taste of the Citrus Swirl.

Now unfortunately, while I was getting my Citrus Swirl I guess DS had a moment of meltdown and DW was not happy with him. Then I was not happy because now it was messing with the experience I was having with my Citrus Swirl! We decided it was best to just call it a night and get some good sleep and we were back to the Wilderness Lodge by 8:45 and DS was so tired he fell asleep in about 10 minutes.

Up Next: “How Many Times have you Ridden that Ride?”​

 

[MEK]

I really am still here and reading. I have been the worst DISer recently. I just power read your updates so I need to come back when my battery is not getting ready to die.

Braxton looks like he is absolutely loving every minute. How great that he loved the Barnstormer and wanted to go again. You never know how that is going to turn out, do you?

Yum - dole whip.

I'll be back!

 

[cstorm65]

I really am still here and reading. I have been the worst DISer recently. I just power read your updates so I need to come back when my battery is not getting ready to die.

I understand completely. During football season I don't get to read hardly any updates by anyone else because I'm so busy. We got beat out of the playoffs last Friday so now I get to do a lot of catching up! I managed to keep writing a few updates here and there though, but now I can really start cranking them out!

Braxton looks like he is absolutely loving every minute. How great that he loved the Barnstormer and wanted to go again. You never know how that is going to turn out, do you?

He had such a great time, and yes we were so glad he enjoyed Barnstormer. Such a great first roller coaster!

Yum - dole whip.

I'll be back!

Can't go wrong with a dole whip!

 

[cstorm65]

I haven't posted much about our trip that was planned for this December, and that is probably a good thing. I am working today on canceling our Southwest flights and our room reservation. We just don't feel comfortable financially with a trip at this time as we like to pay everything in full and not put anything on credit cards when we vacation. We had to pay for some unexpected things this summer and fall from tires on both cars to an $2,000 project on our homes foundation in preparation for a storm shelter that we didn't know about. These things caused us to lose a lot of our vacation funds. We have made out peace with it though and are looking forward to our trip next June. I mean, we will have gone once a year for the last three years, that is pretty lucky to begin with and we are grateful we get to vacation as much as we do.

I'm working on an update now so post this afternoon!​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I haven't posted much about our trip that was planned for this December, and that is probably a good thing. I am working today on canceling our Southwest flights and our room reservation. We just don't feel comfortable financially with a trip at this time as we like to pay everything in full and not put anything on credit cards when we vacation. We had to pay for some unexpected things this summer and fall from tires on both cars to an $2,000 project on our homes foundation in preparation for a storm shelter that we didn't know about. These things caused us to lose a lot of our vacation funds. We have made out peace with it though and are looking forward to our trip next June. I mean, we will have gone once a year for the last three years, that is pretty lucky to begin with and we are grateful we get to vacation as much as we do.

I'm working on an update now so post this afternoon!​

Jon, I totally hear you with the house and other things eating into the vacation fund and I think the last thing you would want to do is go on the trip but be worried about the money you are spending and that causing you to not enjoy the trip as much ... plus, June will be here before you know it!

 

[cstorm65]

Saturday, June 28 - Part 1 - "How Many Times have you Ridden that Ride?"

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning and were at the bus stop by 7:10 or so. We were heading to our first ever morning extra magic hours here:

We arrived at the gates to Hollywood Studios by 7:40 and they opened up right at 8:00. We took our time getting down the street as it wasn't too overly crowded being an extra magic hour.

The plan was for DW to go ahead and ride Rock 'n Roller Coaster while DS and I hung out in the shops and waited on her. So we went in and had took some pictures with the funny hats on.

I got a call not five minutes later and it turned out that DW was lost. No matter how many times she had ridden what is maybe her favorite ride she still couldn't figure out how to get there! I told her where to go and she rode quickly and I met her at the exit so I could then get in a ride on Tower of Terror.

DW doesn't ride Tower of Terror so just have my ride photo there. After riding we headed over to ride one of my favorites, Star Tours. I let DW go first and DS and I went to find some water because even at about 8:45 it was already pretty hot. When we got back I switched places with DW and got in my ride on Star Tours. After getting off we headed over towards one of DW's favorite attractions, Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We barely got in to the theater as the park was open to all guests at this point.

After the show we headed over to waste some time at the playground before our lunch dining reservations. On the way we got a shot on the very empty Streets of America.

DS loved the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground:

He especially loved making his mother chase him up through the place:

She caught him and posed for a picture:

The play area was a nice change of pace and allowed DS to run around a little bit before having to sit down for a meal. We also liked that this area is very well shaded and not in direct sunlight, which is very nice! We headed back out on to the Streets of America and were on our way to our breakfast reservation.

Up Next: Showing Off our Band-Aid's​

 

[MEK]

​

What a super cute picture! Love it!

What's the deal? The park looks so empty. Is that just my imagination? Look at all those empty seats on your ride photo!

Sorry to hear you had to cancel your winter trip, but, honestly, if you are not comfortable with it and it feels wrong, then it probably is. Go with your gut and plan for June!

 

[disneyfreak25]

Excited to read this!

 

[BarbP]

Fabulous report so far! Loved your review of the Dream. And your son is stinkin adorable! Keep up the good work on this report!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

sounds like you got quite a bit done during EMH despite your wife getting lost. Guess the fact that 90% of the people probably headed to Toy Story Mania helped.

That is great that the play area is in the shade - DHS can get pretty darn hot!

And great idea to have your son burn off some energy before the sit down meal

 

[cstorm65]

What a super cute picture! Love it!

What's the deal? The park looks so empty. Is that just my imagination? Look at all those empty seats on your ride photo!

Extra Magic Hours were great at Hollywood Studios this day. We could have done Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror for a while, but that would have been no fun for DS!

Sorry to hear you had to cancel your winter trip, but, honestly, if you are not comfortable with it and it feels wrong, then it probably is. Go with your gut and plan for June!

Yes, we are okay with it. We are blessed enough to get to go once a year and want to make sure we can keep that going!

Excited to read this!

Thanks for reading along!

Fabulous report so far! Loved your review of the Dream. And your son is stinkin adorable! Keep up the good work on this report!

Thanks...he is awesome! Thanks for being a part of this report!

sounds like you got quite a bit done during EMH despite your wife getting lost. Guess the fact that 90% of the people probably headed to Toy Story Mania helped.

That is what she said happened. She knew she was not in the right spot when she saw Disney Junior, but she wasn't sure where she had messed up. I guess I will have to lead her next time! She wasn't happy at the moment, but we laugh about it now.

That is great that the play area is in the shade - DHS can get pretty darn hot!

And great idea to have your son burn off some energy before the sit down meal

Yes, he loved the play area, especially when he decided to climb up to the very top and make his Mom follow him! She was tired when she got down, but DS loved it.

 

[cstorm65]

Saturday, June 28 – Part 2 – Showing Off our Band-Aid’s

We arrived for our breakfast reservation at Hollywood and Vine. I knew when they announced about 6 months before our trip that this character meal would add Doc McStuffins, Sofia, and Jake that DS would love it. Let me say…I was right. He had a really good time. Doc came by first and DS took a picture.

Right after the first picture it was like a light bulb went off in his head and he thought “I’m talking to Doc…I think I need to show her my hurt finger”, and that is what he did. This were definitely some of the funniest character meets we have ever done.

Handy Manny came over next and the band aid was still on DS’s mind so he had to show him.

We had a little break and I got a shot of part of the buffet.

Sofia came around after a little break and of course…he must show her his hurt finger!

We did get DS to pose for a picture with her at least…

…and even give her a hug…

…and then spit out his food.

It had been going well for two pictures, but I guess the kid didn’t want to take a picture with food in his mouth. Who can blame him! Jake came by right after Sofia and DS was wanting down to play at this point, so we didn’t get him to pose for a great picture here.

The characters had come so quickly we had hardly eaten, so I was trying to finish off my plate.

About this time they started one of the dance party’s that they do with all of the characters and DS, who had seen the one earlier, decided he wanted to get in on this one.

Unfortunately he didn’t want it to end because he had to come back to the table, which he was not happy about. As far as the food I noted that the puffed French toast was good as was a cheesy potato casserole that they had.

We headed out around 11:00 and found some interesting things to look at by Echo Lake.

I went to do something at this point, and for the life of me I can’t remember what, but DW and DS saw Shrek while I was gone and went for a meet. DS was a little frightened by him since he didn’t really know who it was.

I got back just after this and we jumped in line to meet Chip and Dale and DS was fine with this meet because he knew who they were from their appearances on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

These two meets really didn’t have much of a line, which was a nice surprise as we were waiting on our FP+ at Toy Story. We got a selfie once we were on the ride.

DS loved pulling the rope, so DW kind of let him ride with her and “help” her shoot. We were going to the Disney Junior show next, but stopped in a great little store in the Animation Courtyard with all of the little pieces of artwork.

We then headed into Disney Junior at 12:10 and DS loved this a lot. Of course he loves these TV shows, but it was hard to keep him seated as he just wanted to run up and be a part of the show! We got a picture while we were waiting for the show to begin.

DS was enamored with the bubbles that came down during the show and was just going crazy trying to catch some!

After we were done DW went to get on Star Tours at around 12:45 while DS and I ran over to the nearby Writer’s Stop to grab the delicious Carrot Cake Cookie. DS and I shared it and left some for mommy and headed to meet her at Star Tours. I rode quickly and by the time I was done around 1:15 DS had fallen asleep in the stroller. That meant it was time to head back to the resort, but not before using one last set of rider swaps that we had picked up that morning.

Up Next: Time to eat Meat!​

 

[MEK]

Hey - I can't blame Braxton one bit for not wanting his picture taken with a mouth full of food!!!!! But usually I just swallow it! Kids!

The food on the buffet looks really nice and I can see why kids love those characters. Way too cute about showing the bandaid to Doc! Oh - and did I tell you how much I love puffed french toast?????

Yay for TSM and Star Tours Fps. What a great way to start the day at HS!

 

[cstorm65]

Hey - I can't blame Braxton one bit for not wanting his picture taken with a mouth full of food!!!!! But usually I just swallow it! Kids!

It was hilarious! It just hit him all of a sudden that he had food in his mouth and he had to get it out! We laugh so hard at the picture now because Sophia has no idea what is happening. She is still looking at me with the camera and posing for the picture.

The food on the buffet looks really nice and I can see why kids love those characters. Way too cute about showing the bandaid to Doc! Oh - and did I tell you how much I love puffed french toast?????

The food was really good. We had dinner here before and it was just so so, but the food was good. I do have to say the puffed french toast was good, but it just wasn't the same as Crystal Palace.

Yay for TSM and Star Tours Fps. What a great way to start the day at HS!

We loved not having to run for TSM at rope drop. We had FP's for about 10:30 and didn't have to get involved in all that at the start of our day.

By the way, thanks for always commenting!

 

[cstorm65]

Saturday, June 28 - Part 3 - Time to eat Meat!

So where did we have to head before we left for a short break. Well, I had some Rock 'n Roller Coaster child swap passes burning a hole in my pocket so DW and I had to make sure we didn't let those go to waste!

I think that was the first time I ever got to ride in the front row of that ride, and let me say, it was cold during the takeoff! I mean I think the tunnel was about 20 degrees cooler than the loading room. It was awesome, as you can see from my reaction!

We were out of Hollywood Studios by 1:45 and headed back for a break at the resort. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a bus, but managed to keep DS asleep and he slept all the way back.

We were back by 2:30 and had a nice break in the room. We managed to get DS back to the room while he was still asleep and both DW and I fell asleep for a little while as well. We just had a nice relaxing afternoon and got ready for dinner around 5:00. We headed to the boat dock at 5:20 as we had an ADR to get to. DS had to get his hat first because I was wearing a hat.

The boat was already pulling away as we got there so we were going to have a little bit of a wait. I hate that the Wilderness Lodge dock is right in the sun with no cover at all, but it does look like they are doing some renovations that I took some pictures of. So hopefully this puts a little shade there for people who are waiting.

While we stood there DS and I exchanged hats about a thousand times, but it was a fun time!

A boat finally came and we left at 5:43. The boat had to go to Fort Wilderness first and finally ended up at the Contemporary at around 6:00. Little did I know a major disaster was brewing, but I'll let you wait to see what that is until the point in the evening we actually realized it was happening.

DS and DW had fun making faces while we were on the boat and I even got some shots as we pulled into the Contemporary.

We headed up and had a few minutes to wait on the monorail.

DS really enjoyed the monorail this trip!

We finally arrive at our destination, the Polynesian, at 6:15, almost an hour after we got to the boat dock. Of course we had a great time together, except the impending disaster that we still didn't know was coming.

We checked in for dinner at Ohana at 6:15 and had to wait about 15 minutes. Now DS was getting a little tired and cranky so we were glad that we weren't planning on going to a park tonight, but while we waited he was fading fast! We were wondering if we were even going to make it through a meal. Then it happened...the fun ended...the vacation took a terrible turn...the party died in a hurry. Now, I'll let you wait until the next update to find out why!

Up Next: This Party Died in a Hurry​

 

[cstorm65]

Saturday, June 28 – Part 4 – This Party Died in a Hurry

So we finished off when we were waiting for our table at ‘Ohana. I took DS to walk around as we waited because he was getting pretty restless.

Finally, at about 6:40 our buzzer finally went off.

Now you remember we had an impending crisis that was about to occur. So, when our buzzer went off and we bent down to pick up our bag to head to our seats and I asked April where it was and she said “you had it” and then it hit me…there is a bag sitting on the boat dock at the Wilderness Lodge…that we left. I guess I was holding and playing with DS and thought DW had the bag. DW was carrying her purse and didn’t think to grab the bag, and a perfect storm ensued. Now, you are all thinking, “What could have been so important in that bag?” Well, in a moment of my infinite wisdom prior to leaving I had the thought that DS was acting pretty tired, which was true, and it would be nice to have the iPad for him to watch throughout the meal if needed. I thought it was a pretty good plan, and it would have been, if we had not left the bag with the iPad in it sitting on the boat dock.

Ok, while we were seated DW called the Wilderness Lodge, but unfortunately their lost & found was closed and this was a Saturday night, so it wouldn’t open again until Monday. Now I was pretty bummed. Not only this, but DW and I both work for a school district that gives us an iPad, and this happened to be mine, so I was really not looking forward to saying I lost my school iPad when I got back.

So, needless to say this is one ‘Ohana dinner that we did not enjoy, and mostly because of my personality. If there is a problem I want to drop everything and fix it right then so we can move on. Well, with lost and found closed I could not possibly fix this until Monday and that just didn’t sit well with me. I did manage a few pictures and notes on the meal though.

The bread was very good as usual, but the salad is something we aren’t huge fans of. Then came one of my favorites…potstickers!

When they brought the potstickers they also brought the new course that I think is supposed to be lettuce wraps. I knew better than to try it as I don’t like mushrooms and there seemed to be a lot of them in it. DW tried it and said it was not very good to her. Here it was:

The wings were good and the noodles…wow…as good as ever! Turns out the iPad would have been a big help as DS ended up watching Mickey Mouse on DW’s phone about halfway through because he didn’t want to sit still.

Here was our view:

The meat courses came and the pork was excellent as was the shrimp. Those are my two favorite parts of the meat courses. The steak was good as well and we never actually got any chicken. Chicken is my least favorite so I never even asked for it and DW likes the steak and after all of the other stuff before the meat she was pretty full anyway. Of course the bread pudding didn’t disappoint and we were now binge eating because we had no idea where our bag and iPad was.

We finished our meal and headed out around 8:00 and back to the resort. We weren’t planning anything else this night and it was a good thing because DW and I were both just very frustrated with ourselves for leaving the bag with iPad in it. We took the monorail back to the Contemporary and then a boat to the Wilderness Lodge.

Now, as frustrated as we both were some true Disney Magic happened on the way back to the resort. Now, for whatever reason I didn’t get a picture of this, but we were treated to a guy named Marty, who is a boat captain. And let me tell you, Marty is a great cast member. He sings his heart out during the ride and he actually sings quite well. I think the song for our voyage to the lodge was A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes and to sit back and relax a little on a frustrating evening was just what we needed. I do hope you all get to meet and ride on a boat captained by Marty one day.

Once we got back we checked at the front desk and they didn’t have our bag, but they said it would have been immediately taken to lost and found. We couldn’t figure out how they could get the bag into lost and found, but no one could get in to see if it had been taken in there. I understand they have a procedure and things get logged, but I wish a cast member could have gone in and just told us the bag was sitting there, even if we would have had to wait until Monday to get it, it would have at least put our minds at ease.

Well, we were frustrated, worried, and decided a good nights rest would be the best thing to do, so we turned in and got ready for tomorrow.

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