Put On Your Sunday Clothes, There's Disney World Out There! - Wilderness Lodge

[pkondz]

Holy smokes...

first off... farrrrr too much to comment on all of it!
Looks like you guys had a great time as usual! LOL'd at Jamie's antics... I'd say keep him.

I've decided to name this set of updates "Katie Comes Back with a Vengeance"

Whelp... thanks for all those... see you next year for the wrap up!

 

[goodeats]

I love the way you guys tour! Such a great balance between relaxing and seeing a lot!

I'll have to go back to the beginning to see how many nights you were there. A longer trip probably helps the relaxing aspect.

 

[Raeven]

Welcome back!

We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 4pm, and Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear were meeting and greeting at the entrance!!!
I don’t think I’ve EVER met them before so I was SO EXCITED.

Omg that is exciting! I got to meet Br'er Rabbit at MNSSHP recently, but I still haven't met Br'er Fox.

My favourite dips were the two mildest ones and Jamie’s favourite were the two spiciest ones, what a team

That's how we split them too

Jamie let me drive, and let me tell you, it was absolute chaos.
And quite frankly traumatising for all involved.

The first time we were on the speedway could also be described as absolute chaos

With what they can do these days you’d think they’d update it…
It gave me a minor headache!

Yeah, I find it too blurry it always gives me a bit of one too.

He said he was going back but he couldn’t take us, and instead we would have to get a bus to Disney Springs (which we’d seen two buses come and go for already), and get a bus to the Wilderness Lodge from there...
He said it was because they were trying to clear out the Magic Kingdom because it had closed.
I don't want to say that I didn't believe him incase he'd been told this silly rule by his superior...
...but I just couldn't fathom how that could be correct?!

That doesn't sound right at all. Last year I was on a bus back from DS to the Dolphin, and they never stopped there so when we'd obviously gone past it I asked why and the guy told me after midnight the Swan stop is for the Dolphin too which I'd never heard before and he didn't say so I'm pretty sure he made it up.

 

[TwoLittlePrincesses]

Yay trip report updates!!! Happy New Year and can’t wait to read the next installment!!

 

[Dentam]

Holy Updates, Batman! Great (and entertaining!) to read about the rest of your trip! I'm going back in September and reading your updates has me even more excited! You got some beautiful photos - that sunset over the Grand Floridian was amazing! Also, you must either take some very detailed trip notes or have an amazing memory to be able to write all of this about a trip you took two years ago!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Yay for updates!! I love reading about you and Jamie and your Disney adventures! As a vertically-challenged human, standing right behind the Hub flower beds for Happily Ever After is an absolute must for me! Sounds like you had a lot of fun on your last few days (and ate a lot of delicious looking food)!

 

[Djjsperry]

Loved reading your trip report. Thank you for writing it!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

But we joined it anyway, because I mean, it’s the People Mover, it’s worth it.​

There seems to always to be a line now. ;(

We decided to take the remote from her, and let her keep our wine safe

This is hilarious!

At Sanaa you can swap two dining plan desserts for a bread service!
We didn’t need a dessert with lunch so this was great for us.
We looove the bread service

I have never heard that before! That is a great tip! And I just love the bread service!

We took him to join the others!

I love that they took your que with the wine bottle.

When we loaded into the boat Jamie waved at the Cast Member on the bridge and she waved back
So he felt a bit happier after no one waved on the People Mover

Ha!

They should cut back / rearrange the trees here and make this a firework viewing spot

OMG! A Dessert Party up there would be amazing!!!!

And he mentioned that “Disney likes to mess with us, so they’ve moved the fireworks from 8pm to 7:55pm… for absolutely no reason at all."

(This was true according to the schedule on MDE today!)
Anyway we loved him, he was really funny.

Ha. I love the CMs that clearly love there job.

We got a boat to Magic Kingdom then a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge.
We stopped at Kidani first and people were grabbing their strollers to get off the bus, but there was a whole fiasco of “IS THIS JAMBO HOUSE???” going on.
I kept saying “no” but apparently no one could hear me over themselves repeatedly exclaiming “I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS IS. IS THIS JAMBO HOUSE?”
Then the bus doors closed and split up a family and it was just general chaos.

Ugh. The bus drivers really need to be more specific about the 2. They look so much alike. We got off on the wrong one. But thankfully there is an internal shuttle that we hopped on to go from the one to the other.

were trying to clear out the Magic Kingdom because it had closed.
I don't want to say that I didn't believe him incase he'd been told this silly rule by his superior...
...but I just couldn't fathom how that could be correct?!
We reiterated that we literally just wanted to go straight to the Wilderness Lodge boats.
The boats run right outside our room so we know that they continue to run until at least 11:30pm.
But he said no.
UGH.
Surely it’s up to the cast members at the entrance of Magic Kingdom to not let us in to the park, not the bus driver?
This made no sense.
The driver was quite snappy and it was all a bit frustrating…

That def seems odd. What if you were parked at the TTC and just trying to get to your car or something.

Hilarious!

Jamie was just like “Katie… look at the date.”

That is hilariuos! Those kids are probably adults now.

My pretzel was fine, just a bit too salty!

The perfect American meal.

We got 8 giant cookies, 8 small chunky cookies and 6 rice krispie treats
The staff at Goofy’s must hate us

I am sure they have people come in all the time and do that. Just like the Confectionary.

The driver was holding one shoe… we looked down and this drunk guy wasn’t wearing shoes on either of his feet!
He took the one shoe from the bus driver. He must’ve lost the other one somewhere along the way

Yikes! You have to be pretty drunk to not realize that you don't have shoes on.

There is something about getting a whole bunch of sweets to take home!

 

[Mr. lncredible]

Emphasis on the “RATTLE” in the picture above…
We wanted to hold our arms up during the ride, but it rattled my head from side to side so bad, and the shoulder restraints crushed Jamie’s shoulders, so we both ended up holding on to alleviate the pain!

I love this ride, but Jamie doesn’t understand how anyone taller than him (6’1”) can ride it, it hurts his shoulders so much!
​

Being 6'4" myself, I can confirm this ride is brutal on the shoulders. Someone needs to pull this ride to the side and let it know it is hurting people.

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

Welcome back!!! I missed you!!

And wow, tons of updates! I can't wait to read them all later on!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

What an awesome trip this has been. I've enjoyed binge reading all these updates.

 

[mamamelody2]

I read all your updates! What a great trip! I see that I actually commented back in May 2018, but I re-read your earlier posts because they didn't even look familiar. LOL. I am old.
Anyway, I especially liked reading this now, as I am leaving in 2 weeks for WDW and it's interesting to see how waits and weather may be. We are usually September people, so I know it's going to be quite different!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Hello everyone!! Hope you're all doing well. Sorry for all the messages I fell behind on

I really love being on the DIS, writing my trip reports and reading everyone else's! It's my new years resolution to make more time for it, because I enjoy it so much when I'm on here.

I've been writing this report on Microsoft Word here and there for aaages, I'm so glad I'm finally getting it posted. Then I can start my new one, which will be a bit more up-to-date! plus the new one is a super exciting report that I've written a lot of already, so I definitely won't fall behind again

Happy new year to you all!

We had the drawer thing happen too! At Beach Club for us. Slightly creepy, and kind of a pain, haha.

Right! It's creepy when you don't even go near the dresser, but the drawers just decide to slowly slide open...!

Just found your new trip report, and I'm following along. I love reading about your adventures!!

Hello!! Thanks so much for following my report I'm finally finishing it off now, then I can start posting another one!

Sadly, I"m so far behind (everywhere) that all I could muster was reading through to enjoy it all. And I did!! Great updates, Katie.

I've never been to Uni, so it was all really nice to read and learn about in case someday I get to go.

When you thought you were so far behind... hello! Sorry I disappeared and didn't get back to you, and thank you for the kind words So glad you enjoyed the report! I'm going on a spamming session and finally getting a million updates posted! I don't know why it's taken me so long as I've had most of them all written out for ages better late than never I guess! Hope you're doing well

Just a few hours until the new season of Fuller House!

Katie, I was thinking about you also, knowing you're a Fuller House fan. I recently read that the upcoming Season 5 is intended to be its last season. What will we do without it?

Ahh first of all, HELLO! Second of all, not only have I fallen behind on my trip report, but I've fallen behind on Fuller House too! has it been good?! I hope I get to watch it soon!

I just started your TR because the title called to me! I LOVE Hello, Dolly!!! Going back now to read Hello, from Chicago!!!

Hello from England! Thanks so much for reading my trip report!

Lurker here, but miss you Katie, hope all is well.

Ahh I'm back, and all is great with me thank you! Hope you're doing well too!

Hi Katie!!!

I have come back on the DIS and I came to visit your TR again! Your WCC skillet looks delicious, that place is so much fun!

Looking forward to reading more of this TR!

--Alison

Alison!! Hello!! I'm back too!! Hope you're still around, and if not, that you come back soon! Life gets hectic huh?!

Enjoying your TR. Can't wait to read more!

Ahh thanks so much I really appreciate it! There's plenty more to read as I'm being a bad DIS spammer while I try to get this report finished, OOPS!

Love reading your trip reports!

Thank you I'm so glad you've enjoyed them!

Where did you go?

I'm here!!

 

[pkondz]

Hello everyone!! Hope you're all doing well. Sorry for all the messages I fell behind on

I really love being on the DIS, writing my trip reports and reading everyone else's! It's my new years resolution to make more time for it, because I enjoy it so much when I'm on here.

I've been writing this report on Microsoft Word here and there for aaages, I'm so glad I'm finally getting it posted. Then I can start my new one, which will be a bit more up-to-date! plus the new one is a super exciting report that I've written a lot of already, so I definitely won't fall behind again

Happy new year to you all!

Welcome back!
Can't wait to read the new report.

And Happy New Year to you too!!

 

[crazybus]

Katie's Back ! ! I have enjoyed your fun and well written trip reports for the past few years and am thrilled to see you finish this one up! Thanks for all of your info regarding the resorts you stay at-very helpful! Wishing you and Jamie a Happy New Year !

 

[TheLittleKatie]

I’m so excited to read the rest of your report! Welcome back you guys are my favorite to read up on !

Aww thank you so much! that's so kind there's plenty more to read now since I've completely spammed my own report..!!

So glad to see you're back! Such great updates!

Thanks so much! I'm really glad to be back!

Holy smokes...

first off... farrrrr too much to comment on all of it!
Looks like you guys had a great time as usual! LOL'd at Jamie's antics... I'd say keep him.

I've decided to name this set of updates "Katie Comes Back with a Vengeance"

Whelp... thanks for all those... see you next year for the wrap up!

PEDRO!!! Thank God you're still here!! it's so great to be back.

Hahaha I'm ready to wrap up, it's all written out as well as a load of posts for a new report! I really am back with a vengeance!

I love the way you guys tour! Such a great balance between relaxing and seeing a lot!

I'll have to go back to the beginning to see how many nights you were there. A longer trip probably helps the relaxing aspect.

Hey, thanks for reading!! Yeah we were there for 2 weeks (this is the norm for people who travel from the UK) so that definitely makes it easier to relax! Although if it wasn't such a long way to fly I would probably choose doing a few hardcore trips per year than one long one

Welcome back!

RAEVEN! Thanks so much!! Ahh so glad to see so many of my favourites are still here!

Omg that is exciting! I got to meet Br'er Rabbit at MNSSHP recently, but I still haven't met Br'er Fox.

The illusive Br'er family! I wish they were out by Splash all the time, but it makes it more exciting when you do finally spot them

That's how we split them too

It's meant to be

The first time we were on the speedway could also be described as absolute chaos

It's actually so much harder than it looks isn't it?!

Yeah, I find it too blurry it always gives me a bit of one too.

There's such good 3D technology now, I'm so surprised they won't update it... it makes me nervous that they might scrap it

That doesn't sound right at all. Last year I was on a bus back from DS to the Dolphin, and they never stopped there so when we'd obviously gone past it I asked why and the guy told me after midnight the Swan stop is for the Dolphin too which I'd never heard before and he didn't say so I'm pretty sure he made it up.

That's crazy, that really sounds like he just skipped a stop for no real reason.. You'd think if that was a real rule he would've said as you were all boarding the bus it's not ideal when it's late at night and you've had a loooong day!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Yay trip report updates!!! Happy New Year and can’t wait to read the next installment!!

YAY thanks for reading!! Happy new year to you too! I'll be wrapping this up with the final sad "travelling home" updates , but then I'll be starting a brand new report, YAY

Holy Updates, Batman! Great (and entertaining!) to read about the rest of your trip! I'm going back in September and reading your updates has me even more excited! You got some beautiful photos - that sunset over the Grand Floridian was amazing! Also, you must either take some very detailed trip notes or have an amazing memory to be able to write all of this about a trip you took two years ago!

Holy updates Batman indeed!! it probably looks obnoxious to post so much but I'm just glad to get it finished, I hate leaving them incomplete!! Also I have another one that I'm SUPER excited to share, so I wanted to post these updates first!

Thanks so much for all of your kind words. That's so exciting that you're heading there in September, are you prepared for ADR day in a couple of months?!

YES you're exactly right, I write everything down in my phone notes when we're there! It's really fun to read them back once I'm home too

Yay for updates!! I love reading about you and Jamie and your Disney adventures! As a vertically-challenged human, standing right behind the Hub flower beds for Happily Ever After is an absolute must for me! Sounds like you had a lot of fun on your last few days (and ate a lot of delicious looking food)!

Thanks so much for reading, I'm glad you've been enjoying it!

Oh my goodness, discovering the spot behind the hub flower beds was life changing tall men will never understand the pain of someone standing directly in front of us for a show! We better keep this hot tip quiet though (oops now I've written it on a public forum TWICE)

Loved reading your trip report. Thank you for writing it!

Aww that's so nice thank you! And thank you for reading!

There seems to always to be a line now. ;(

This is terrible news gone are the days it was always a walk-on!

This is hilarious!

We were so lucky with towel animals I'd read they'd stopped doing them so I was happy

I have never heard that before! That is a great tip! And I just love the bread service!

Isn't it great! I like a dessert with dinner but I definitely don't need one wit lunch, so the bread service swap is perfect! Bread service is the best.

OMG! A Dessert Party up there would be amazing!!!!

That is a FANTASTIC idea

Ugh. The bus drivers really need to be more specific about the 2. They look so much alike. We got off on the wrong one. But thankfully there is an internal shuttle that we hopped on to go from the one to the other.

They do look really similar I bet it happens all the time! The thing with this particular situation was that there were a few people raising their voices trying to find out if we were at Jambo House, but they were definitely not listening to people giving them the answer 'no' (i.e. me ) Then when some family members got off and others stayed on and the doors closed they started really shouting to the bus driver it was chaos!

That def seems odd. What if you were parked at the TTC and just trying to get to your car or something.

Right?! The whole thing just seemed off. But like I said, maybe he thought it was dumb too but he'd been told to say it regardless, he wasn't very nice about it

I am sure they have people come in all the time and do that. Just like the Confectionary.

Yes you're right, that makes me feel a bit better

There is something about getting a whole bunch of sweets to take home!

Unpacking them once we're home is great, it's like we've got our own little Main Street Confectionary in our kitchen

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Being 6'4" myself, I can confirm this ride is brutal on the shoulders. Someone needs to pull this ride to the side and let it know it is hurting people.

View attachment 463239

HAHA! This made me laugh Not at your pain though. At 6'4 I bet you really have to brace for impact! Is it just Rock n Rollercoaster that you have trouble with? It's the main one Jamie complains about but I'm sure there are some more

Welcome back!!! I missed you!!

And wow, tons of updates! I can't wait to read them all later on!

YAY! HELLO! It makes me happy that you're still here how are you and lovely Jacob?

Ugh I know I'm such a spammer, it's the most inconvenient way ever to write a trip report

What an awesome trip this has been. I've enjoyed binge reading all these updates.

Aww I'm so glad you've enjoyed it, thanks for following along! Also I'll be starting a new report really soon! And I've already written a bunch of it out so I should be better at keeping on track this time

I read all your updates! What a great trip! I see that I actually commented back in May 2018, but I re-read your earlier posts because they didn't even look familiar. LOL. I am old.
Anyway, I especially liked reading this now, as I am leaving in 2 weeks for WDW and it's interesting to see how waits and weather may be. We are usually September people, so I know it's going to be quite different!

Hello! Thanks so much for reading!!

YAY for Disney in 2 weeks! we're the same person, I was always a September person too until I tried January / February! I think both have their pros and cons, let me know how you like January! Will you be glad of the cooler weather? That was a big bonus for me, we don't get much heat here in the UK so I'm always so boiling in Florida in September! January is much more bearable!

Welcome back!
Can't wait to read the new report.

And Happy New Year to you too!!

How many of your trip reports have I missed?!?! I need to binge!

Katie's Back ! ! I have enjoyed your fun and well written trip reports for the past few years and am thrilled to see you finish this one up! Thanks for all of your info regarding the resorts you stay at-very helpful! Wishing you and Jamie a Happy New Year !

YAY! Thanks so much for reading the reports! I'll be posting the final updates here shortly then I'm starting a brand new one, I'm excited to share it! Aww no problem! I don't think I'm an expert or anything, but all of the different resorts are probably my favourite thing about Disney, I love visiting them and writing about them

Happy new year to you too!!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 15
Saturday 3rd February 2018
Part 1 – Checking Out and Splash Mountain


Good morning!
Our alarm went off at 7am, but I did not want to get up at all!
We snoozed for a bit, then Jamie got up at 7:30am to stream the football – that’s dedication!
I got up at 7:45am, got ready and finished up my packing.

I took this perfectly timed photo that I only noticed once I got home
With the subtitles in the background, it looks like a promo for a new TV show about a gang of towel animals that come to life

We left a note for Mousekeeping.

Now’s the time to say goodbye to lovely room 4001!

BYE ROOM.

But we weren't saying goodbye to Disney just yet, we had a couple of hours to kill before we had to head to the airport.

We checked out and left our bags with bell services.
Now, I need some clarification on how the heck you’re supposed to tip these people..?!
We don’t have this whole tipping culture in the UK so I really don’t know.
Do you tip them when they take your bags or when they bring them back?
We read online that you should tip anyone who handles your luggage for you.
But what if it’s a different person each time, does that mean you’re supposed to tip both?
I don’t have dollar bills coming out of my ears people, especially on our last day!
Help a Brit out!

We headed out to the boats, and spotted Br’er Rabbit on the way

We got the boat to Magic Kingdom, and walked up Main Street while the street party was on.
We’d barely seen it this whole trip, but we walked past right when they were playing “When can we do this again?”
ON OUR LAST MORNING.
Keep it together Katie

We power-walked over to Splash Mountain, and arrived there at 11:26 for our fastpass that ran out at 11:25.

We were seated in the back row, which was good as we didn’t want to get wet before flying home today.
However our row had been empty prior to us getting in, so we basically sat in a big puddle

BRER SOAP.

Here’s what happens when your favourite ride is a water ride, but you’re flying home in a few hours…

In the shop after the ride I bought a kid’s t-shirt in large for $20!
Bargain!

YAY.
Also, I really regret not buying this excellent photo frame

Click for next post!
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[TheLittleKatie]

Day 15
Saturday 3rd February 2018
Part 2 – Be Our Guest and Leaving Disney​

At 12pm we went to our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest!
Thank goodness we had pre-ordered as usual, because the line to order was huuuge.

I think a good tip for Be Our Guest is to pre-order anything, even if you don’t know what you’ll want to eat, then when you arrive you’ll go straight to the registers where the CM will ask if you want to make any changes, so you can just choose then!​

We had tried to be healthy by both pre-ordering turkey sandwiches with green beans, however we both switched to fries at the register, AND we added a master’s cupcake
We allowed ourselves to do that because we were sad to be going home ​

​

Today we sat in the gallery!

Jamie was a bit preoccupied with checking the football stats and scores on his phone, but when he’s always such a good egg on vacation, who am I to care?

After lunch we headed up Main Street towards the exit, and the street party was on again!
I swear we always get played out when we leave Magic Kingdom on our last day.

We went into the Confectionary and used our last 2 snack credits on some Goofy jellies for me to take into work.

As we left, the Dapper Dans were singing at the train station!
They were definitely playing us out.

​

See ya real soon, Magic Kingdom!

We boarded the boat that was already waiting at the dock, and we sat in the front.
AND I SPOTTED A DISNEY CAT.

I’d never seen a Disney cat before.
Jamie tried to tell me it was looking for adorable little Wilderness Lodge bunnies to eat ​

We arrived back at the lodge at 1:30pm.

I went into the shop one last time and bought a Wilderness Lodge pin!
I always buy a pin when I stay at a new Disney hotel

Then Jamie and I squeezed ourselves into one of those red chairs in the lobby and waited a while for our Magical Express.

YAY.

We got our bags from bell services (earlier we’d read online that you should tip anyone who handles your luggage – so we tipped them!) but the guy said, “those people over there will be able to assist you with your bags once your Magical Express arrives”…
But we didn’t have any more small bills (we’d set $2 aside for DME), so we just took them off the trolley and decided we’d just wheel them down to the bus ourselves.
We’re too awkward for this!!

We sat outside for a few minutes, until another CM came along and said, “oh, do you want those on a trolley so that you can wheel them all together?”
We said no thank you and that we’d be fine, but he came back a couple of minutes later and said, “while I’ve got a spare minute I’ll put these on here for you”
Bless him, he was lovely, but does this count as someone “handling our luggage” ?!
We had no money left to tip!
We felt bad now

BUT THEN, when our DME arrived, that guy had disappeared, and no other CMs that were outside offered to help us with this giant golden luggage trolley
So we wheeled this giant golden structure down to the bus ourselves, it was all a bit of a palaver ​

We got on our (real, not Mears) Magical Express at 2:40pm, and stopped at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian before leaving Disney property and heading to the airport

Click for next post!
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