Like Mother, Like Daughter - I've Turned Her Into a Disney Freak!

[Camster0307]

Hi all! Welcome to my trip report! My DD and I just returned from a wonderful stay at the Wilderness Lodge Villas - June 22-27th. (not long enough, IMO) I've enjoyed reading so many TRs over these past few months, I finally decided to try one myself!

First, I'll give you all a little background:

I'm a single mom to two positively perfect daughters - 13 & 12 yrs. of age. We are DVC members and are fortunate enough to travel to WDW every year since 2000. Our home resort is the BW & it's where we always stay. But for this trip, I thought it would be fun to try someplace new - so the Wilderness Lodge it was!

I was just taking my younger DD on this trip though. My older DD is special needs and has some pretty complicated medical issues. During our annual trips together, I'm usually pretty consumed tending to older DD's needs and younger DD plays the role of Mom's helper. She's a wonderful little sister and I'm constantly amazed at how much she can do for her sister. I've realized, though, that I never really get to do anything at Disney with just her. So since I had some vacation pts. left over, I decided to use them for a special trip for just the two of us!

Here's a photo of the two of us from a previous trip:

My original intention was to surprise DD with this trip at the last minute, but of course, I couldn't keep my big mouth shut - I wound up telling her three months ago! She was happy I told her though - she just loves to plan and anticipate our Disney trips (wonder where she gets that from? )

Now, our game plan for this trip was to concern ourselves with doing the things we usually can't do when I have my older DD with us - which pretty much means any of the thrill or water rides. While we also enjoy many of the shows in the parks, we weren't making those a priority either; we figured we'd all be back in November, so what we don't see now, we'll see then!

Up next......arrival day; a special hair-do; and MK until 2 a.m.!

 

[karajeboo]

Yea!!!! Me first, me first!!!!

You know how impatient us CFWWs are, so get crackin on more pics!!!!!!

BTW, you do know there's a half naked man behind you?

 

[hmdavid]

Can't wait to hear more!

Love the photo!!!

 

[Camster0307]

Yea!!!! Me first, me first!!!!

You know how impatient us CFWWs are, so get crackin on more pics!!!!!!

BTW, you do know there's a half naked man behind you?

Again - why do you think I have that big smile on my face?

Can't wait to hear more!

Love the photo!!!

Thanks for stopping in! Many more photos to come!

 

[Camster0307]

We were scheduled to leave on Sunday, June 22nd. I really wasn't looking forward to being in Florida during this time of year, but having DD miss any more school really wasn't an option. We had already taken a week this past Nov. to go to Disney and her teachers were fine with that. Don't know how understanding they would have with her missing more time for a SECOND trip! Thankfully, we didn't have many snow days here in Mass. so her last day was the 20th

Of course, we had both already been packed for about a week. Even though it was just the two of us, I was still checking two suitcases; figured with it being so hot down there, we would probably be going through two changes of clothes a day. Also made some matching shirts for us to wear......

Now, of course, up here in the real world, DD would never dare wear Disney shirts - she claims she would be mocked (Middle School - ); but down there - she's draped in Disney from head to toe: hats, jewelry, shirts!

Anyway, our flight was leaving at 10:05 am so I had a car pick us up at 7:15...

Yes, the only way to get that child to smile at that time of the morning is if we're going to Disney!

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It seemed like forever before they announced boarding. This was the first time we were flying SWA - and I was a little nervous about not having assigned seats. But I had checked in at the 24 hr. mark and scored "A" grouping - positions 45 &47! I didn't care where we sat on the plane, as long as we were together. Well, don't you know, we get on the plane and what do I see? Two seats, aisle & middle, in the second row! Another SCORE! We sat next to a very nice man who we didn't hear a peep out of the whole trip!

It was a very smooth flight and we landed 5 minutes ahead of time at 12:50pm! Since we were taking DME, we didn't have to worry about getting our luggage, so we were off that plane and seated on an DME bus by 1:20. The only disappointment was that it wasn't an "official" DME bus - it was one of those ugly gold Mears buses! So I took a pic. of the DME bus next to us

The bus was full and WL was the last stop - we had to go to the Poly and GF first. Oh well, it wasn't long before we saw.....

Yes, it was raining! But I knew to expect showers to come and go so I wasn't too worried.

We got to the WL by 2:15pm; our studio wasn't ready yet so we decided to grab some lunch and check out the resort. This was the first time I've ever visited WL and I thought it was beautiful. I'm still loyal to my BWV, but this was a very nice change!

Saw a ton of these during our stay here!

By 3:00, I was told our room was ready! Yeah! I took some more shots on our way to the DVC part of the WL.....

Ducks AND bunnies play together in perfect harmony

We were given rm.#1510 and when we walked in, we surprised to see......

DD was bouncing off the walls! We've been coming to WDW for over 8 yrs. now and have NOT ONCE gotten any towel animals! She was so excited to see them, and, of course, I was not allowed to touch them for the rest of the trip! She's actually using the picture of the mickey ears as her cell phone wallpaper!

Here are more shots of our room......

And our view......(taken on a different day)

I was really happy with the room location. We were two doors away from an exit door and the walkway to the bus stops and main lobby was right outside our room. And this location wound up being surprisingly quiet!

After a brief wait for the box I had shipped down containing our water and snacks to be delivered, we were off for the night - had to stop at the GF; exchange my AP vouchers and head into MK for PM EMH!

Next up.....our determination to stay out as late as possible!

 

[GiGiJoeysMom]

Subscribing

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Subbing! That is great that your were able to take this trip with your youngest. What a great girl!

ETA: Did you see on the other thread that I worked for Equitable too?

 

[podsnel]

YAY!!! You started!!! It is GREAT so far!!! So funny about wearing the Disney clothes in Disney and not at home- my kids are the same way!! Just don't let anyone see that towel animal on her cell!!!

LOVE all the pics- you and DD are gorgeous! We got that stupid Mears bus coming home in November last year- what a let down, huh?

And of COURSE I am subbing immediately!

 

[TigerKat]

The Jersey girls beat me here, but us southern gals are known for being late to the party but well worth the wait....I'M IN!!!!!!!

 

[Debbie6221]

Great TR so far!!!!

 

[ty&brenmom]

Saw your food pics on the food porn thread.
Can't wait to read more

 

[karajeboo]

Wow! Cammie, you've posted so many pics - yippee!!! You know I'm a sucker for pics!!! Great report!

 

[UsNew2Disney2008]

Hi Cammie. Subscribed to this... not sure what subscribing really does... Can't wait to read everything. Right now I'm being summoned to correct the tv. Seems the "evil TV turned away from Big Boy Shows!" ... oh my!

 

[Camster0307]

Subscribing

Hi! Thanks for checking in!

Subbing! That is great that your were able to take this trip with your youngest. What a great girl!

ETA: Did you see on the other thread that I worked for Equitable too?

I'd love to make the mother/daughter trip an annual treat for us; we'll have to wait and see what happens with airline prices next year though. And, as for The Equitable, it looks like we were working there around the same time also!

YAY!!! You started!!! It is GREAT so far!!! So funny about wearing the Disney clothes in Disney and not at home- my kids are the same way!! Just don't let anyone see that towel animal on her cell!!!

LOVE all the pics- you and DD are gorgeous! We got that stupid Mears bus coming home in November last year- what a let down, huh?

And of COURSE I am subbing immediately!

We were so disappointed to get the gold Mears bus - because it meant we had no movie. Of course, we got the official DME bus for the ride BACK to the airport - and had to watch that depressing "Good-bye" movie from all the characters!

The Jersey girls beat me here, but us southern gals are known for being late to the party but well worth the wait....I'M IN!!!!!!!

Hi y'all! Pull up a chair and pour yourself some redneck Sangria and stay awhile!

Great TR so far!!!!

Hey girlfriend - thanks for stopping by! Where have you been?

Saw your food pics on the food porn thread.
Can't wait to read more

Thanks for coming over! Yes, we were "freaky" this trip and took pix of all the food. DD was really getting into it!

Wow! Cammie, you've posted so many pics - yippee!!! You know I'm a sucker for pics!!! Great report!

I aim to please, Miss Kara!

Hi Cammie. Subscribed to this... not sure what subscribing really does... Can't wait to read everything. Right now I'm being summoned to correct the tv. Seems the "evil TV turned away from Big Boy Shows!" ... oh my!

Subscribing means you have to pay me a subscription fee of $19.95 if you want to continue reading my trip report! But, since you're a fellow control freak, I'll let that charge slide!( )

Now go correct that tv problem and come back and read!

 

[HonnyDipp]

These are the cutiest pics! Subscribbing!

 

[tttessa]

Hi Cammie,

I'm here too... loving the story so far...

Tessa

 

[Camster0307]

So we were ready to head out for our first night at our happy place. MK was having PM EMH this night - which meant they were open until 2 a.m.! I've heard stories about how empty MK becomes the later it gets, and thought it would be so cool to stay until closing. I also thought that staying later would give us our best opportunity to get on all the rides we wanted to.

We headed down to the WL boat dock and took an open-air boat over to MK. It was a very pretty ride. Quick too. Before we knew it, this came into view.....

We were both doing our own little private happy dance at our seat - !

There was still one stop we had to make first though - I had made an appt. for DD at the GF hair salon to get a half-braid hairdo. A friend from home had gotten it done and it looked adorable. I also thought with it being so hot and humid, it would be a perfect no fuss hairstyle for our trip. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm a freak about my daughters' hair. Both my girls having really thick hair and I can't stand it looking messy. Getting this done was going to give me one less thing to fuss over. So we hopped on to the monorail to catch our 4:30 appt.

The place was empty and we were taken right away. Jacqueline was the CM and she did a wonderful job!

Jacqueline even sprayed some pixiedust in DD's hair. For me, this was like the BBB for pre-teens; well worth the $55 because not only did it last all week; she still has it in as of today! The CM said it could stay in for weeks if cared for properly. We'll see how long we get it to last.

Finally,we were on our way to MK. I made a quick stop at guest services and exchanged my AP vouchers and bought the DDE card. Finally, we were walking up Main Street -- Ahhhhhh!

Could her smile be any bigger?

We had dinner ADRs at Tony's at 7:15; it was now 5:30. My game plan was to head to Tomorrowland and ride as much as we could before dinner; if we missed anything, we would try to get back to it later in the night. As we crossed the bridge into Tomorrowland, it started to rain. We had our ponchos - so no big whoop!

First attraction.....

Now, for me, this attraction can be hit or miss; if you don't get a good crowd that plays along, it's not very entertaining. Fortunately for us, we had a very lively bunch - it was a very funny show.

After Monsters Inc., we headed towards Buzz; the posted wait time was 20 minutes, but it was raining pretty hard by now and we didn't want to stand outside. So we got FPs and then hopped onto the TTA and then the CoP. These are rides that I haven't been on in years and DD has never been on. She enjoyed them both. We scooted into ToonTown to ride Goofy's Barnstormer twice.....

By this time, we needed to start heading over to Tony's. There was no line for Snow White though, so we hopped on that first....we rode in the appropriate Dwarf's cart -

Love Dopey!

We made our way to Tony's and it was packed! Luckily we only had to wait about 15 minutes for our table. Now, on a side note, when making my ADRs, the CM at DisneyDining encouraged me to note on my reservations that we were celebrating my birthday - even though it wasn't until July 18th, she thought it was close enough. I figured, WHT? This is about as close as I'll ever get to being there on my birthday. So I've seen pix of people's table being decorated, getting a birthday button, or even a special treat. Our first few nights, all I got was wished a Happy Birthday; none of the restaurants went beyond that -- until the Yachtsman on our 4th night - but more on that later.

Anyway, this was our first time at Tony's and it was fine - just basic Italien food......

DD had spaghetti with sauce & meatballs on the side (Freak!)

I had the Chicken Parm w/pasta - it was a huge piece of chicken!

Our server was Josh, and after being a little slow in getting us our drinks when we first sat down (waited 10 minutes), he recovered nicely and was very attentive the rest of the meal. Used my DDE card and save $8.55.

As we left Tony's, we cut out through the photo shop and who do we see standing there with no line around her?

Looking back on this trip, I realized we only stopped twice to get pictures with characters. It seems like we were also rushing back & forth to get to attractions, we didn't want to take the time to wait in line for characters. Oh well. Meeting the character's is a VERY big deal for my older DD so I know we'll see alot in Nov.

It was time to use our FP for Buzz and then move on and focus on the left side of MK for the rest of the night. Had to get a pix of both of us in front of the castle first though....

By this time, it was almost 8:30 and people were lining up for the 9pm Spectro parade; which meant minimal waits for rides. On the way to Frontierland, we rode IASW and HM (loved the new editions!) We grabbed a FP for SplashMt. and then headed on to BTMRR - posted wait time was 20 minutes, but it was more like 10. (I found that the posted wait times were really inaccurate all week!) Then it was on to POTC and Jungle Cruise - which I've never been on at night - very cool!

It was now time to use our FP for Splash Mtn.; but since this post seems to be getting a little long, I'll continue in the next one.

Up next......Br'er Rabbit and Friends traumatize my daughter!

 

[karajeboo]

OK, don't wait too long - I wanna hear how they "traumatized" your DD??? Did you dump her in the Briar Patch??? Tony's looks yummy - never eaten at a TS restaurant in MK for some reason. Always head to Epcot for the food!!!

 

[soontobewed07]

Cammie- Woo Hoo Great trip report It makes me miss Disney so much. I can't wait to try EMH for the first time.

 

[CRdisMom]

cammie it can't be over already. It seems as if I was just there. Love DD hair