Heine-Voigt Family- Day #1- 12/06/01

[GrandFloridianLover]

We arrived home late last night from a wonderful trip to WDW. We stayed from 12/6-12/10 at the Wilderness Lodge.
Day#1-
Left Nashville, TN early Thursday morning. Our "non-stop" flight got cancelled, so we had to connect through Atlanta, costing us a hour and a half of Disney Magic.

Picked up by Happy Limo service which took us to WL after a quick stop at a grocery store. Highly recommend renting a limo. It beats the heck out of a Mears shuttle and doesn't add much to your expenses.

Checked in with few glitches. Bought 5 day park hopper pass before we left. Mistake! Just adds to problems if you want to get your admission placed on your Room Key Card.

WL was beautiful and helped get us in that Christmas Spirit even though it was 82 and humid outside. After a nice Philly Cheese Sandwich from Roaring Forks along with my newly purchased bottomless mug, we spent the afternoon just enjoying our resort, riding the boat to MK and riding the monorail. I love Disney Transportation!

Had 5:20 ressie at O'Hana's in Poly. We had a GREAT meal. The best of the trip. It was a wonderful experience and can no longer imagine a trip to WDW without a meal at O'Hana'a. The quality was top notch and the quantity was limitless. Five stars!!!!

Took the monorail back to the MK for MVMCP. This was my first and I enjoyed it very much. I wasn't prepared, however, for the sensory overload I experienced. So much was going on that I found it impossible to stay on my schedule. This led to lots of backtracking unnecessarily. Will be better prepared next time. Looking bak, it was the most crowded portion of our trip, but I didn't realize it at the time. Had always come in the middle of Summer before and thought crowd was light.

Overall, a tiring, wonderful day that I will never forget.

Any Questions? Please ask!

More report tomorrow!

 

[Marla Hellwig]

You are off to a good start. Isn't MVMCP fun? We didn't ride many rides but caught a couple of the shows and just wandererd around. Thanks for posting!

 

[pnelson]

Who was in your family group? How was your stay at the WL? Where was your room?

 

[GrandFloridianLover]

Our group included myself, my wife, her parents, and my cousin. I enjoyed WL and found it to be very conducive to getting into the Christmas spirit. I have decided, however, that this is a resort which I would only recommend during Christmas time. I would want a more tropical setting during the rest of the year. I still prefer the Grand Floridian. Our room was 3112 and I was disappointed with our room's view. I had asked for a higher floor, but that could noy be accomplished. Basically, all we could see was the side of WLV.

 

[pnelson]

Was that a standard room? I agree with the WL and Christmastime. We were going to stay at CBR next November but I just couldn't get into the caribbean setting at the holiday time.

 

[nicki dahling]

My family loves Ohana's . It is our first stop for dinner when hitting WDW . It has become a family tradition to eat there our first night . Will be there again ( third time ) next Tuesday . Glad you had a great trip .

 

[GrandFloridianLover]

We had a woodlands view room. The only woodlands we saw were a few pine trees between the two resorts. What kept me from griping was the fact that we asked for adjoining rooms. If that were not the case I would have complained.

As for O'hana's, I cannot say enough as to how much we enjoyed our dining experience there.

 

[nativetxn]

I ate at O'Hana's for the first time on 12/5/01 and I was surprised at how great the food was.

I also experienced MVMCP for the first time on 12/2 and it was very crowded on the streets, but not in the queues for the rides. No idea why.

Sounds like you had a wonderful first day. Thanks for sharing it with us.


Katholyn

 

[swankybeth]

Sounds like a great way to start off your trip! Thanks for posting.