Random Thoughts from Spring Break at Wilderness Lodge (WDW & Legoland)

[BamaBrad]

I'm finally recovered enough from our 8-day vacation to WDW with my wife's family to offer some kind of post-trip report.

There were 14 of us including a 9-month old, 6-year old, three 8-year olds, and an 11-year old. We wanted to do almost everything together, so planning the trip was a monumental but enjoyable task. I couldn't have done it without TouringPlans.com (TP from here on out). I would gladly pay triple what they charge for a 1-year subscription (but don't tell them that). This post is going to sound like a paid endorsement for TP. It is not.

Day 0 & 1: Arrival and Wilderness Lodge

It made the most sense for us to go on Spring Break, but we wanted to avoid as much of the crowd as we could, so we checked the kids out of school on the Tuesday before spring break to start the drive down. We stayed in Lake City the first night. Lesson 1: If you're going to split the drive, pack a DAY ONE bag so you don't have to unload all of your suitcases the first night. Most of you probably know this, but I didn't.

We got to Wilderness Lodge around 11:00 AM on Wednesday, March 22. We couldn't have been happier with the accommodations. Here is video of my kids awestruck upon entering the lobby. I was able to check views from various rooms by using TP's Room Finder, and I requested Courtyard Views on the highest available floor for my in-laws. At the last minute (about a week before we left) I changed my request to room 6039 based on photos other users posted on TP because I wanted a clear view of the lake. TP automatically faxed my room request 5 days before our arrival, my request was honored, and the view was spectacular. Here's the view from our balcony of Fire Rock Geyser erupting one morning as it does every hour on the hour.

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One thing TP didn't tell me about the room was that about 30 feet down the hall were windows that offered a beautiful view of the Magic Kingdom. The blinds opened to this:

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And at night we could enjoy the fireworks in our PJs.
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We had lunch at Geyser Point, which is not on the meal plan. The open-air design made it a very relaxing place to be. My Bison Burger was a little overdone but not enough to complain about to the waiter, who was very friendly.

After lunch we shopped at the Mercantile, made Mickey Tie-Dye shirts, and explored the resort, which is as beautifully landscaped as you'd expect from Disney. We ate dinner at Whispering Canyon and while the food was as delicious as it was plentiful, all the shenanigans got old pretty quickly. My MIL and FIL ate at Artist Point, which of course was wonderful.

My son can demolish some ribs.
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The Electrical Water Pageant stopped in the lake at 9:30 PM, so we invited our whole family to watch from our balcony. I had never seen it in my 8 previous trips to WDW and I'd have been really disappointed if I had made any real effort whatsoever to do so this time. It was a disappointment. Still, the view was awesome.

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My kids weren't thrilled at the idea of just being at the resort and not going to the parks on our first day--especially since it was too cold to swim--but they never slowed down and had a great time.

We did have an issue with our bathtub not draining. I was not looking forward to giving up our view because of a plumbing issue, but maintenance showed up within 5 minutes of my call and the tub was fixed within 5 minutes of their arrival. I was very impressed.

 

[BamaBrad]

Day 2: Magic Kingdom - Fantasyland Favorites

The biggest selling point that Wilderness Lodge had for us was the boat transportation, and it was worth every penny. We never had to wait long, the trip was quick, the security lines were short, and we were in the park within 20 minutes of boarding the boat.

Once inside the park, I took my kids, nieces, and nephew by the hand...

and headed to a feature I had never seen before: Cinderella's Wishing Well.

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It was my 8-year old niece's first-ever trip, and her favorite princess is Belle, so we started with Enchanted Tales. She got to be Mrs. Potts, my son played Maurice, and one of my other nieces was the desserts or something. Anyway, it was a hit and she got to meet her favorite princess as her first real activity at Disney World. Good times.

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After that we did Under the Sea and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was the kids' favorite ride for a few days. We used all of our FastPasses by lunch and were able to use extra FPs for other rides.

Lesson 2A: Schedule your first FastPass for an attraction with a long wait but that won't break your heart if you miss it. If you're late to the park--and we were, every day--you won't feel so pressured to make it to the first thing on your list. Lesson 2B: Schedule your other two FPs to be done as early as possible. Except for the days when the park was packed, this worked out pretty well for us. As an aside, I was amazed at how easy it was to get FastPasses for 13 people (not counting the infant) for the times I wanted, even for the most popular rides like 7DMT, Frozen Ever After, Flight of Passage, and Toy Story Midway Mania.

We had lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table, which of course was perfect. I had the steak and shrimp. Lesson 3: Kids can order off the adult menu, even on the Deluxe Dining Plan. My 8-year old didn't get enough steak with his kids meal. At every meal after this one, he ordered off the adult menu and ate like a king all week.

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After lunch, my wife and son went back to the room to rest while my daughter and I hung out. We rode the Walt Disney Railroad, watched Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire (rather by accident), used an extra FP to ride Dumbo and shopped in Storybook Circus. When my wife and son returned, we went to dinner at Be Our Guest.

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While at dinner, my daughter lost the Marie MagicBand charm she bought at Big Top Souvenirs. The manager saw us searching and wrote her a voucher for a new set. We found the charm and didn't use the voucher, but I thought that it was an awfully nice gesture that he didn't have to do. After dinner we all rode Dumbo again and Mad Tea Party, using extra FPs for both.

 

[BamaBrad]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom Part II - Tomorrowland & Adventureland

With a 9-month old and a 63-year old in our party, I tried to minimize walking as much as I could. We spent our first day in Fantasyland, and we split our second between Tomorrowland and Adventureland.

Our morning started with Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin followed by Space Mountain then Tomorrowland Speedway. Perhaps no attraction at Disney is in more desperate need of replacement than the Speedway. The kids loved driving the cars, but how can Tomorrowland Speedway have 1970s Corvette bodies on fossil-fuel-powered cars? It makes no sense at all. Tesla needs to sponsor a revamp ASAP.

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After the races we took the time machine to Adventureland at ate lunch at the Jungle Navigation Company Skipper Canteen. I really enjoyed this restaurant both for its menu and decor. You really need to tour the whole place and see everything. The Hot and Sour soup was spicier than expected but really good. I had the Sustainable Fish. It was excellent.

It was at this time that my daughter's knee began to bother her. It's nothing major--it just tends to flare up and give her a little pain when she walks a lot, so I rented a wheelchair for her. We knew if she continued to walk on it our trip would be very difficult by the end.

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After lunch we toured the Swiss Family Treehouse and made our way to the Jungle Cruise. We were informed that the wheelchair couldn't go through the line, so we were given handwritten FastPass cards to return in 45 minutes. While my daughter rested her knee, my son and I rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We returned to Jungle Cruise and went to the front of the line. I'm not encouraging anyone to rent a wheelchair to gain an advantage in waiting in line, but it did turn out to be a good decision for us.

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For a mid-afternoon snack, I stopped at Sunshine Tree Terrace for some Citrus Swirl and Orange Cream Floats, then we went to the Emporium for souvenirs. My daughter bought some Minnie Mouse Ears that are customizable with various bows. (She got an Arial bow.) My son got the Glow with the Show Ears and Wand. He had a blast changing the colors and flash patterns the whole trip and still, a week later.

Dinner was at Tony's Town Square, one of my daughter's favorites because of her affinity for Lady & The Tramp. My nieces were beside themselves when the hostess brought them Lady and Tramp's autographs. I'm not a big fan of this restaurant. We'll probably eat there every trip for my daughter, but it's Olive Garden with slower service and worse appetizers at triple the price.

My wife, daughter, and MIL left dinner a little early to ride Dumbo but left the wheelchair at the restaurant. I picked out a spot for us to watch the fireworks then went to take the wheelchair to Storybook Circus. When I came back to our spot, it was PACKED. I couldn't find my son and FIL anywhere! So I called my FIL and had him tell me what color my son's Mickey Ears were. BINGO! Only set of green ears in the crowd.

As the crowd increased, ushers shooed people away when they weren't inside the taped-off viewing areas, but once the lights dimmed, they split and it was a free-for-all. My son couldn't see the castle at all.

Aside from the crowd, the Happily Ever After fireworks show was fantastic! The projection was beautiful and the lighted trees made the whole thing seem like magic. At the end Tinkerbell flew right over our heads. (I thought they stopped doing that years ago?)

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We were told the ears would sync with the show, but they did not. My son was very upset. I found a glowcart and asked the attendee if she could help. She tested the ears to ensure that Bluetooth functionality worked, and it did. Then she gave us a new set of ears, a new wand, and a light sword thing for our trouble.

When we got back to our room, we found that my daughter's stuffed animal shad inexplicably made a swimming pool on the bed.

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[BamaBrad]

Day 4: Epcot

I had made reservations for the ladies in our party to have breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, but by the previous afternoon, it was apparent that arriving by 8 AM wasn't going to happen. I called and tried to reschedule, but of course they were booked. They cancelled the reservation and waived the cancellation fee.

We slept in a little and made it to Epcot too late for our first FP reservation at Spaceship Earth. No big deal; no one wanted to do it anyway. But thanks to Lesson 2A above, we were still in good shape. The biggest goal was using all of our FPs early enough to try to get one for Soarin'.

We arrived in time for FP #2 at Mission: SPACE, and I was able to talk my wife and daughter into doing the Orange version with us. IT. WAS. AMAZING. Probably the best ride I've ever been on. I may be biased: I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, home of US Space Camp, and operated rides like Space Shot at the US Space & Rocket Center for two summers in high school, so I'm a space nerd anyway. But the ride was really well done. If I could change anything about it, it would be to somehow get a PhotoPass photo of each person during the ride.

After that, my son and I went to Test Track while my wife and daughter and everyone else went to Frozen Ever After. Test Track was a blast. My son designed a really cool concept vehicle in the queue, but I couldn't find any way to add a photo of it to our PhotoPass.

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My wife was unimpressed with FEA. She said it relied too heavily on screens and animation and not enough on the Disney magic you'd expect at a new Disney attraction.

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Lunch was at San Angel Inn, which is probably 12th on the list of my favorite restaurants at Epcot, but my MIL really wanted to eat there. The burrito at the food truck across the street from me right now is better, but in SAI's defense, the burrito across the street is REALLY good. (Shoutout to Taco Morro Loco!)

We leisurely strolled past most of the World Showcase Pavilions, only stopping briefly at France to take some photos and buy souvenirs. The kids were pretty well worn out by this point, so we went to an attraction where we could sit and chill: The Seas with Nemo & Friends. It seemed to ride much slower than I remembered; perhaps there was an issue with a guest or vehicle ahead of us. But at any rate, the place to sit, cool air and entertainment were welcome. We took in Turtle Talk with Crush, which got really funny when one little girl asked how turtle eggs were made, before splitting up for lunch. My wife and I went to Le Cellier to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary while everyone else went to Coral Reef. The filet at Le Cellier may have been the best food I've ever put in my mouth.

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I was able to get eight of us FastPasses for Soarin'. It was fun, but not as much as it was hyped up to be.

 

[BamaBrad]

Day 5: Legoland & Medieval Times

My in-laws went to Animal Kingdom, and while I've wanted to ride DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest for years, my son really wanted to go to Legoland. My wife and daughter stayed at the resort to swim and rest my daughter's knee, so it was a boys-only trip for us. We slept in and made it to Legoland by 11 AM or so. First of all, Legoland isn't close to ANYTHING. It's a 50-minute drive through rural communities to get there. I had clipped a Free Kids Admission coupon off the back of a pack of Legos, so admission for the two of us was just under $100.

I've never seen this kid so happy to be anywhere.​

Our first stop was The Great Lego Race VR Coaster, which had just opened two days before. The wait was just over an hour, but they had Lego-building activities in the queue that kept the kids busy.

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Being a big Ford Mustang fan, my next stop was #BrickPony, the life-sized 1965 Mustang made of Legos. The tail had broken off the pony in the grille, but I was surprised to find that they had speakers inside the vehicle that simulated the engine starting and revving.

Click for video of the engine sounds​

After a quick slice of pizza we went to see the Lego Ninjago 4D Movie, which was total crap. I think maybe there was supposed to be a water effect like Muppet*Vision 3D had last time I saw it a decade ago, but there wasn't. Just poorly-timed fans and scraps of paper falling from the ceiling that were supposed to simulate ice, maybe? I don't know. Total waste. Then we rode the Lego Ninjago Ride which is supposed to be like TSMM, but you use ninja-chop style movements to "throw" balls of energy at targets. It never sensed my movements well--I think I went to fast--but my son enjoyed it.

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We left there and met most everyone else at Medieval Times. (One of my wife's BILs and his family went to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue.) I hadn't been to MT in 20+ years and thought my son would enjoy the sword fighting, my daughter would enjoy the horses, and they both would enjoy watching my wife and MIL trying to eat without silverware.

It was a disaster.

Our knight's horse took a medieval dump right in front of us, and all the ladies lost their appetites. My wife, who used to ride, grew more and more furious with the knights' lack of control and constant agitation of their horses. And she refused to eat without silverware and made the waiter bring her some. The tomato soup tasted like Spaghetti Os without the Os. My niece caught a flower, so that was nice.

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As part two of our anniversary celebration, my wife and I had reservations at California Grill for the fireworks and dessert, but we were both exhausted. I called Disney Dining and told them that I hated to cancel on such short notice, but that we were just done for the day. They were very understanding and waived the cancellation fee. We watched the show from the window down the hall instead.

My niece seemed to "enjoy" DINOSAUR and Expedition Everest. She's the one screaming like she's in mortal danger and clinging to her mother for dear life.

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[Toolulu22]

Love Wilderness Lodge! Wow for Touring Plans and that view(s)! Do they make the reservation for you? How does that work? Enjoying your TP, I am following along.

 

[BamaBrad]

Love Wilderness Lodge! Wow for Touring Plans and that view(s)! Do they make the reservation for you? How does that work? Enjoying your TP, I am following along.

Excellent question. TP does not make the reservation. I think you have to subscribe to TP to do this, but the $15 is probably the best money you'll spend on ANYTHING for your entire trip. Once you do that, you create a trip with a name, dates, reservation number, and number of guests. It doesn't do any good to request a specific room until a few days before your trip, so you'll have your resort reservation number months before you need to request a room.

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After you click Save, you'll see this screen: your trip dashboard. Click on Request Room.

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That will display a map of the resort with search criteria you can use to find the room you want.

We had a Courtyard View with Bunk Beds and I knew the trees and buildings would block our view if we were too low, so I picked Upper Floor. I didn't care about anything else. I checked the box for TP's picks then clicked Show Matching Rooms.

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You'll get some search results below the map, but ignore those and click on the building you want to stay in.

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Choose a floor. I chose 6 because I wanted a view of the bay and I knew from looking at various photos that the rooms in the blue polygon I've drawn below offered the best ones, and the rooms along that long section of my polygon don't exist on 7. Plus I think that's the club level and I wasn't paying for that.

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From here, click on any room, and TP will show you a user-submitted photo from that room or one nearby. When you find a room you like, click the link I've pointed to with the red arrow.

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Now that Reserve Room button from above is a Configure Fax button. Click it to make any changes, especially adding any reservations numbers in your party if you want adjacent, adjoining, or nearby rooms.

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TP automatically faxes your room request 5 days before your arrival date.

Because there are only four rooms like the one I requested, I didn't expect to get it, and perhaps our room would've been ready closer to our arrival time of 11 AM than the standard check-in time of 3 PM if I hadn't made the request, but the request was honored and we were thrilled.

I'm sorry for the long response. Hope it helps.

 

[BamaBrad]

Day 6: Hollywood Studios

To me, Hollywood Studios is the most difficult park. Don't get me wrong--as a whole, its rides and attractions are my favorites--but the tiered FPs, limited show times and overall layout mean it's difficult to plan and requires a lot more walking than larger parks.

By this point in our trip, my lovely wife's patience with BamaBrad's High Intensity Disney World Agenda (copyright pending) had fully eroded. I fully acknowledge that I am unbearable to most everyone else on the planet on these trips--wanting to get to the parks ASAP and riding as many rides and seeing as many attractions as possible without stopping to shop for things I can get online or get autographs from teenagers wearing wigs pretending to be cartoon characters. I'm a Disney Jerk and I know it.

I mean, I did this for every day, for each of the four families:

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It was at Hollywood Studios that Lessons 2A and 2B could not be applied.

Because TSMM and Rock N Roller Coaster are both Tier 1 FPs, I couldn't get advance FPs for both, and everyone wanted to do TSMM together. So my plan was to get to the park at 10 AM and hit RNRC before the line got too long. But I had run my wife and kids around WDW for a few days and making it to DHS by 10 was a pipe dream. By the time we arrived at the park, the standby for RNRC was almost two hours. And because this was the first Monday of Spring Break, the park was packed. We did not get to ride it.

We did make it to the park in time for lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe. This is one of my wife's favorites and it really is fun. The waiter put the napkins and silverware on the table in a basket and made the kids set the table. He caught my wife playing on her cell phone and made her sing "I'm a Little Teapot" in front of everyone. My SIL had to join her when she got busted with hers too. Then my BIL said something and got put in timeout with his nose against the wall. The kids ate that up. I ate up the "Sampling of Mom's Favorite Recipes". The pot roast was especially tender, moist, and flavorful, a feat that can be difficult for even moms sometimes.

This brought everyone great joy. Well, almost everyone.​

After lunch we all rode Star Tours, which everyone seemed to enjoy--then we split up. The ladies and my nephew went to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid while the adrenaline junkies and my FIL--a Twilight Zone fan--headed for The Tower of Terror. As we were waiting for YotLM to end, we happened to catch the Imperial Guard marching to the Star Wars show before taking my son to "meet" BB-8.

Can I just say that at 8 years old, even next to a mechanical Star Wars prop, my son is far cooler than I'll ever be?
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After exiting Star Wars Launch Bay, my son was briefly detained by a Storm Trooper. This was probably the best character interaction of the trip.

Click here for video
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It was at this point that the only rain we experienced all week began to fall. We threw on our ponchos and headed for Pixar Place to ride Toy Story Midway Mania.

After that it was almost a dead sprint across the park to make it to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular on time. And we barely made it. As we were being queued in and my in-laws approached, the cast member informed them that it was standing room only. That was a major bummer because I WAS IN THE SHOW. Somehow, despite being among the last to arrive, we got seats just about three rows up on the left side of the amphitheater. When the CM called for volunteers I leaped and shouted with my bright red shirt and cap and caught her attention. I was the first one selected. This was exciting to me for several reasons: 1) Indiana Jones is awesome; 2) My kids, nieces, and nephews thought it was SO COOL that Uncle Brad was in the show, and 3)

Spoiler

They haven't changed a word of the script since I first saw the show maybe 25 years ago. It was nice to experience it from literally a different perspective, especially the part where that one "volunteer" has to take a punch.

Anyway, that was really fun. Look at how happy my son was to take his photo with me after "starring" in the show.

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Dinner was at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, which is a favorite of both my wife and me. I want a basement in this theme. The food is average, but the ambiance here is just too fun.

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Dinner took over two hours and left us with another cross-park dead-sprint to Fantasmic, which was already packed when we arrived 30 minutes before showtime. We couldn't see any of the stuff in what I assume is some body of water in front of the stage. While my daughter thought the show was too "dark" in its theme, my son was through the roof that his Mickey ears did, in fact, sync with the show. I bet that's a cool effect when there's more than only a handful of such ears in the amphitheater, but there wasn't.

 

[BamaBrad]

Day 7: Magic Kingdom Part III

We spent our final park day back in the Magic Kingdom. Like the day before, my plan of making it to a popular attraction without a FP and before the crowd was not successful, and we missed Pirates of the Caribbean. We made it in time for our first FPs at Splash Mountain, and the ride was perfect until we got stopped near the end due to some technical issue. We were awarded with a paper FastPass to any ride or attraction in the park except the Mine Train, Meet Mickey at Town Square, and something else that I can't recall.

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But with Splash Mountain down, Big Thunder Mountain was overrun with prospectors. Seriously, just look at this photo. The FASTPASS line was 45 minutes.

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We let that FP expire and got Mickey Ice Cream Bars instead.

Both kids were covered in chocolate. I have no idea when or how eating ice cream went so terribly, terribly awry.​

Then we went to The Haunted Mansion and lunch at Diamond Horseshoe. Diamond Horseshoe is kind of an overflow restaurant. WDW calls it "seasonal", but what they really mean is that they'll open it when they expect the crowd level to reach a specific point. I checked for reservations probably every day for two months until January 16 when they opened it up for March reservations.

This reminds me of Lesson 4: TP's Reservation Finder is a godsend, especially for large parties and popular restaurants. Select any two restaurants, party sizes, dates, and times, and it will continually search for an open reservation and notify you via text and/or email when one becomes available.

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This worked for me on multiple occasions. (I would've used this for Diamond Horseshoe, but I was using the Reservation Finder to stalk for Be Our Guest and something else that I can't recall. It doesn't make the reservation for you--you still have to go online or call--but it sure does make it easy.

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But I digress. After lunch we went back to the hotel to rest change clothes before making our way to the Polynesian Resort for the Spirit of Aloha Luau! This show is a blast, and this trip and the last one we've done it on the last night as an end-of-vacation party. It's about three hours and showtimes are 5:15 or 8:15, so if you have little ones, get the earlier show.

My daughter, in the pineapple dress, and my niece, to her right, learning to hula


Hawaii seems nice.


Click for video of the Samoan Fire Twirler


Click for video of "Rock-A-Hula Baby"​

Before we left to go to the luau, I called and requested a late checkout time. I don't know what criteria are used to determine if you can have one, but apparently there is some automated application system that awards or denies such requests. Mine was granted, and we were given an 1 PM check out. Since MK was open until midnight, this allowed us to finish up some things we didn't get to do before calling it a night.

My son and I went to Big Thunder Mountain to cash in our free FPs. My FIL gave his free FP to my daughter, who went to Princess Fairytale Hall to meet Rapunzel. (They let my wife join her even without a FP.)

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We then reconvened in Rapunzel Village so my daughter could get her photo with a floating lantern.

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[BamaBrad]

Day 8: Farewell, Disney World

As is tradition, we finished our trip with breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Like I mentioned earlier, the idea of standing in line to get an autograph from a person pretending to be a cartoon character is my own personal hell. At Chef Mickey's I can gorge myself on a 5-star breakfast while the characters come to me. I figure this saved everyone in my party at least three hours of standing in a line somewhere.

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Lesson 5: As big a rip off as PhotoPass is, buying individual photos taken by Disney photogs or on rides is just astronomically expensive, especially considering the photogs couldn't get hired at a JC Penney portrait studio. Buy PhotoPass early enough to get the $30 discount (4 days before your arrival), and stop at every PhotoPass photographer you pass. Barely any of our posed photographs came out as good as we'd hoped.

Other observations:

• Disney needs to be able to make our accounts like travel agent accounts so we can manage multiple reservations at once. Making dining reservations for 14 people split across 4 rooms was a royal pain. I could barely do any of it online or through the app.
• Three years from now it's going to take two weeks to do even just the highlights at each park. We didn't get to do Pirates of the Caribbean, Rock N Roller Coaster, Astro Orbiter, or anything having to do with the Flower & Garden Festival. We're going to have to make some tough decisions about which rides are worth our time, which I suppose is the whole point of expanding.
• The monorail was not as smooth or fast as I remember it being, but it had been a minute since I had ridden it.

Thank you for reading my absurdly long trip report. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have.

 

[TronkoMouse]

Excellent question. TP does not make the reservation. I think you have to subscribe to TP to do this, but the $15 is probably the best money you'll spend on ANYTHING for your entire trip. Once you do that, you create a trip with a name, dates, reservation number, and number of guests. It doesn't do any good to request a specific room until a few days before your trip, so you'll have your resort reservation number months before you need to request a room.

View attachment 314398​

After you click Save, you'll see this screen: your trip dashboard. Click on Request Room.

View attachment 314403​

That will display a map of the resort with search criteria you can use to find the room you want.

We had a Courtyard View with Bunk Beds and I knew the trees and buildings would block our view if we were too low, so I picked Upper Floor. I didn't care about anything else. I checked the box for TP's picks then clicked Show Matching Rooms.

View attachment 314411​

You'll get some search results below the map, but ignore those and click on the building you want to stay in.

View attachment 314413​

Choose a floor. I chose 6 because I wanted a view of the bay and I knew from looking at various photos that the rooms in the blue polygon I've drawn below offered the best ones, and the rooms along that long section of my polygon don't exist on 7. Plus I think that's the club level and I wasn't paying for that.

View attachment 314415​

From here, click on any room, and TP will show you a user-submitted photo from that room or one nearby. When you find a room you like, click the link I've pointed to with the red arrow.

View attachment 314416​

Now that Reserve Room button from above is a Configure Fax button. Click it to make any changes, especially adding any reservations numbers in your party if you want adjacent, adjoining, or nearby rooms.

View attachment 314417

View attachment 314420​

TP automatically faxes your room request 5 days before your arrival date.

Because there are only four rooms like the one I requested, I didn't expect to get it, and perhaps our room would've been ready closer to our arrival time of 11 AM than the standard check-in time of 3 PM if I hadn't made the request, but the request was honored and we were thrilled.

I'm sorry for the long response. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the help with TP room request. I previously made a request for a room on the 5th floor, but looking at your room have changed our request. Fingers crossed.

 

[Toolulu22]

I'm sorry for the long response. Hope it helps.

This is really awesome, and you sold me on the Touring Plans. I love to plan and get into detail, so this is perfect. We like the Boulder Ridge Villas, because they come with laundry and kitchen so we can pack less and aren't forced to eat out every meal. However, the views are NOTHING like the views you've posted. Basically, you look at woods. Which is nice, but... Though, I think that may have changed anyway since the last time we stayed there. I think the view from the Lodge side may be worth a switch over though.

 

[sjrec]

What a great report-thank you for sharing-!
On the plus side, in a few years your kids will old enough to stay up later and you can take advantage of late nights.
Did you think LegoLand was worth the trip? And thanks for the heads up on Medieval Times-

 

[BamaBrad]

What a great report-thank you for sharing-!
On the plus side, in a few years your kids will old enough to stay up later and you can take advantage of late nights.
Did you think LegoLand was worth the trip? And thanks for the heads up on Medieval Times-

Unless you or your kids are brickheads or Ninjago fans or you really want to ride the VR coaster, I would skip Legoland. I wish we had gone to Animal Kingdom or spent another day split between Epcot and DHS instead. (If it was just me, I'd have gone to Cape Canaveral.) If you do go, before you get there, be sure to buy one of the cheap Lego sets with a Free Kids Admission voucher on the back. They come in plastic bags and usually cost $8-10.

 

[Cloe Colton]

You totally sold me on TP as well just for the room request!

Other than filling out the room request did you have to do anything else? Or do they take care of faxing it when necessary?

 

[BamaBrad]

You totally sold me on TP as well just for the room request!

Other than filling out the room request did you have to do anything else? Or do they take care of faxing it when necessary?

That's it! They faxed it for me. Easy peasy.

 

[fastzebra]

I love TP, but have not had luck on room requests. Happy for you that you did!

Going to Legoland this summer for a short trip for a child that is Lego obsessed. Also, Honest Kids juice has a Lego promotional code for Free Kids Admission.

 

[BamaBrad]

I've been back more than a month and I can't stop thinking about the 10-Hour Pulled Pork-Cheese Grits at Roaring Fork. Wonder if they do mail order...

 

[missjackiemcg]

I just enjoyed your entire trip report! I appreciate the information about Touring Plans, which we've never used but often heard about. Looks like everything was wonderful overall and you sure did a ton of things with such a great big group!! We are taking my 8 year old son to Universal and Legoland this summer and really looking forward to it. Is your son 8? I'm curious if you felt like Legoland was able to be completed in just one day or if two days would be better? I know they have a water park now, too, but still trying to figure out our plan of attack!

 

[BamaBrad]

I just enjoyed your entire trip report! I appreciate the information about Touring Plans, which we've never used but often heard about. Looks like everything was wonderful overall and you sure did a ton of things with such a great big group!! We are taking my 8 year old son to Universal and Legoland this summer and really looking forward to it. Is your son 8? I'm curious if you felt like Legoland was able to be completed in just one day or if two days would be better? I know they have a water park now, too, but still trying to figure out our plan of attack!

Yes, my son is 8, and you could totally do LegoLand in a day if you skip the water park. If you did the whole day there--like 9 to 9, I think you'd enjoy it.

They're building a Lego Movie World there soon--maybe 2019? Sounds fun.