She's Raising The Bar, a June 2025 Copper Creek Trip Report (Updated 7/23)

[Wood Nymph]

Ahh, the secret is out. We finished our meal pretty quickly by about 10:15 but hung out waiting for the check until 10:35.
First we stopped by Boathouse, where we got Allie her earrings.

I think we sat at the same table in Homecomin' when we ate dinner there.

That was a long time to wait for the check. There have been a few times when DH went looking for the waiter because they were taking too long for the check.

Disney Springs needs more shade.

 

[Disney102015]

Wow, beautiful sunrise photos!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Your kids have the cutest freckles. Looking forward to hearing what you guys did next!

Aww thanks. We think they’re kinda cute too.

I think we sat at the same table in Homecomin' when we ate dinner there.

Ahh cool. I don’t think we had this table before, but we did eat at one right next to it.

That was a long time to wait for the check. There have been a few times when DH went looking for the waiter because they were taking too long for the check.

Fortunately we weren’t in a big hurry and the meal had been really quick to that point. We were about ready to track her down though.

Disney Springs needs more shade.

Yes, some covered walkways and canopies would help in the rain too, which we had discovered earlier in the trip.

Wow, beautiful sunrise photos!

Thanks! It sure helps to have such a beautiful setting to take them in.

 

[Stasieki]

Catching up! I got a bit behind. I love that Marshall always wears his Pluto hat. And that shirt he got it perfect with it. Does he wear it at home too or is that only a Disney hat? Another random question... did Melissa want to be a vet with going to school for Animal Science?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Catching up! I got a bit behind. I love that Marshall always wears his Pluto hat. And that shirt he got it perfect with it. Does he wear it at home too or is that only a Disney hat?

His Pluto hat is a Disney thing for him. He picked it out on a WDW trip and holds on to it to bring each year, and now he got the shirt to match. He’s not even a huge Pluto fan, but he gets a kick out of the hat.

Another random question... did Melissa want to be a vet with going to school for Animal Science?

She didn’t. She was active in FFA in high school and considered being an Ag teacher before she decided to stay with the elevator company, and eventually recruited me to join her.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off we had just popped the bubble. We went to one Circle K but they didn’t have fountain drinks and Paul requires a fountain Diet Coke to do any sort of longish drive.


Lol that is true, and after being in the bubble it is nice to go out and celebrate with a big cheap coke. Besides, we had about a 40 minute drive to do, but at least this year we knew where we were going.

We ended up going to the Circle K that we stopped at last year on the way and got drinks for the road. We were headed to Forever Vintage. They are a pretty cool resale place that specializes in Disney surplus and resale. They have all kinds of stuff.

They are located about 45 minutes Southwest of the park in Lakeland Florida. We drove out there for the first time last year, and were super skeptical about it being worth it, but it turned out neat and we all wanted to check it out again this time.
We got there at 1:30 and we all started looking around.



There is so much to see and they have some really unique items.

It takes some time to absorb everything. It is kind of like a museum in that some things are cool to see, but aren't necessairly something we want to bring home.


There are hidden treasures here and there though. We didn't get anything huge, but did find a watch, a Rocket Rods Pin Set, a pair of ears for Allie, and a mickey Fan.

Marshall also found a Sprite bucket hat that he ended up wearing for the rest of the trip.


We left the store just before 3:00, having found enough fun stuff for one trip.

On the way back home we decided we needed a snack so we stopped at Culver’s for ice cream.


I wanted to stop somewhere that we didn't have at home, and Culver's fit the bill, plus ice cream is always a good idea.

Culver’s has great soft serve which Paul is a huge fan of. I love that they support FFA and every Culver’s I have been in has a jacket on the wall. FFA was a huge part of my life in high school and seeing the blue corduroy always makes me happy.


It was a good stop, then we were on our way back towards the bubble.


We popped in and were back at the hotel by 3:45. After heading up to the room, we got ready to swim and went down to the pool at 4:00. Allie decided not to swim, but to go grab a snack from Roaring Fork and take it up to the room while we swam with Marshall.

I don’t know what it is about kids and pools on vacation but that is truly the best part for them. He loved going down the slide over and over and over again.

While we watched him we sat and talked about the next day, and how appearantly the kids now wanted to ride Expedition Everest. We decided to look into Multipass Lightning Lanes when we got back to the room.

After we decided to stop Marshall's endless repeat slide cycle, we told him one more slide and then went up to the room. We got up there at 5:10 and Allie still had not taken a shower yet, so we had to wait for that and get ready ourselves. Hmm, the joys of having one bathroom.

Yeah that was a theme this trip. We started talking about the potential of different accommodations for next trip, or a bathroom schedule but we wanted to do something to ease some pinch points in the room.

More subtle foreshadowing. First though we had the AK planning to deal with. Since the kids now wanted to do rides at AK, and we knew they wouldn't want to get there for rope drop, I was able to book Multpass since we could get Everest for 8:20 AM, and since it was at AK it was only $16 a person.


It worked out so well, we were able to stack up Everest, Kali, and Safaris so we wouldn’t have to wait in line. Check out our evening adventures in the next update, coming up right now.

After everyone made it through the shower we headed out on an adventure.

We left the room at 5:56 with everyone all clean and ready. As we got to the dock there was a large Red flag boat on the MK side, and a blue flag boat waiting on the other side. They let us know that the big boat would be going to CR since a wheelchair needed to be transported over there. We hopped on at 6:05 and went straight to the Contempoorary.


Once we got there we stopped for photos at the metal Mickey ears.


This is such a cute photo spot. We got a couple cute pictures of the kids and then headed up to do some shopping and get some food.

We went upstairs and shopped around a bit at Bay View Gifts, the toy store in the middle, and the shop on the other side.


All were fun, and the kids were able to do some pin trading.


Then we went to grab food at Contempo Cafe. We could not mobile order there since we were not resort guests, so we waited in line and ordered our food.


Sadly, soft serve was no longer an option here, as they had removed one of the last remaining soft serve machines.


It was a little bit of a bummer we couldn’t mobile order, they don’t have that restriction at Roarin Fork that we know of.

Maybe they do, there wasn't a similar sign to what they had at Contempo Cafe.

I ordered loaded mini corn dogs, Marshall decided he wanted the same turkey sandwich that he had at Columbia Harbor House.



I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with fries.


It was decent, but nothing exceptional. We also got a cookie which had Captain Crunch cereal on it, and it was ok too but not great. We have had better meals here, but it was still a good first stop in our monorail loop.

I don’t think Allie ordered food because she had eaten while we swam. She had bites of my corn dogs and nibbles of cookie I’m sure though.

When we were done we went upstrairs to hop on a monorail, and to my delight it was my favorite, monorail Lime.


We rode through the TTC and got off at the Poly.


The Poly was bustling as usual. The lobby here is always busy with people checking in for Ohana or coming or going. There is always a ton of Stitch merchandise here too which is fun.


We shopped upstairs, then went downstairs and discovered that the big gift shop was mostly closed and under construction. (We heard it re-opened a few days later, but we missed it for our trip.)


We didn’t find anything we needed but we did go over to get a mug refill from Captain Cooks. The line to order food here was crazy long outside the restaurant and down the hallway. We just popped in filled our mugs though.

We went back upstairs and waited for the monorail, and again caught the Lime one.


We rode it to the Grand Floridian and checked it out as well.


He was so excited that he got to ride the lime monorail again. It truly is the little things. The Grand Floridian was beautiful as usual even with the lobby construction going on. We checked out the gift shop upstairs and I decided I needed the Disney Parks game of Life. I didn’t wanted to carry it though so I waited to pick it up later.


We shopped around upstairs, then rode the old style elevator down to the first floor to check out the stores down there. Allie found another set of ears, and despite having bought last year's GF ears she decided she liked the new ones better, and bought them with her gift card.


From there we walked around past the Grand Floridian Cafe and over to Gaspirilla's to search for more deserts. Unfortunately nothing caught our eye, so we just filled our mugs and sat for a bit.


Check out the rest of our night in the next update, coming up right now...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, we were done with a brief break at Gaspirialla's and continued on our way. We headed back up to the monorail, but did not get a monorail lime three-peat. We hopped on and went by the MK station on our way to complete the loop at the Contemporary.


At the Contemporary we stopped to pick up my Disney Parks Life game.

Which we all actually got to play a couple of weeks ago. It is cute and all four of us had fun.

We headed down to the boat dock and lucky for us the boat was sitting there waiting for us.


The MK fireworks started as we got on the boat, and the captain asked all of us if anyone was in a hurry. Since nobody was, he took a leisurely route to WL and circled around so that everyone on board got a good view.






It was a great impropmteau fireworks cruise, thanks to a friendly boat driver. I submitted a cast compliment for him.

It was a pretty special experience to see the fireworks from the water, he did a great job dragging his feet on the way back to the lodge.

Since we were still kinda owed dessert we stopped at Roarin Fork on the way back up to the room.


We stopped by Roaring Fork and got a couple of cupcakes to go with our final round of mug refills for the evening. We got a campfire cupcake and a smores mousse and took them up to the room to enjoy them.



As we sat around the table, we turned on Happily Ever After on the TV.


It was a fun way to round out the evening and see the fireworks a couple of different ways without having to fight crowds.

Yes, we got our fireworks fill without any crowds or extra cost. It was fun stuff, and we were all in bed by 10:35.

Check out our next update, as we have one more fun filled park day, where we actually park hop and make a fun purchase. All that and more to come...

 

[Wood Nymph]

When we left off we had just popped the bubble. We went to one Circle K but they didn’t have fountain drinks and Paul requires a fountain Diet Coke to do any sort of longish drive.

I prefer fountain drinks, too. I found out that you can get fountain drinks at the food booth next to Biergarten in the Germany pavilion.

We were headed to Forever Vintage. They are a pretty cool resale place that specializes in Disney surplus and resale. They have all kinds of stuff.

I had wanted to go there when I was staying off site in November. But it was closed when I was there. It looks like fun, though.

It worked out so well, we were able to stack up Everest, Kali, and Safaris so we wouldn’t have to wait in line. Check out our evening adventures in the next update, coming up right now.

The only MPLL that I have purchased recently has been for AK. We like to ride the safari a little later in the morning. More animals are out then.

It was a little bit of a bummer we couldn’t mobile order, they don’t have that restriction at Roarin Fork that we know of.

I know that Roarin' Fork lets non-guests do mobile order. I would guess that the monorail resorts get so many people stopping at them who aren't guests that they had to restrict it.

The MK fireworks started as we got on the boat, and the captain asked all of us if anyone was in a hurry. Since nobody was, he took a leisurely route to WL and circled around so that everyone on board got a good view.

That was really nice of the captain to stop for the fireworks. I also like watching them on the TV in the room.

 

[rdkeim]

Sounds like a relaxing non-park day! Even though you were busy it was a nice break from the parks. I can see where 1 bathroom could be a problem at times - especially with a teenage girl in the group Sounds like a fun AK day to come. As always, very much enjoying your TR!

 

[Zipadeelady]

Love Marshall's Sprite hat! I would've picked it out too!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Sounds like another great day! That Lakeside store looks really cool. And your trip around the monorail resorts looked like fun, we always do that on our off day too. You guys got an awesome captain, to allow you guys to really take in the fireworks. One of those pixie dust moments. We caught the MK fireworks on our boat ride back to WL on our last trip and it was really nice, although our captain didn’t slow down or acknowledge them at all. Cant wait to see your last park day!

 

[Stasieki]

I can't believe there's no more Pluto hat after I just commented on it - haha. Too funny. His bucket hat is just as cute. It's also funny Melissa's FFA came up right after I asked what her college aspirations were with Animal Science. Just an all around post of coincidences for me.

We got lucky one time like that when we were going from MK to WL for the Snow White dinner. We had a front row seat for fireworks. Probably a top 3 Disney moment for us.

 

[AliceNDinah]

More fun I really want to see Forever Vintage now, that looks like such an experience! And I love that Paul loves his fountain soda, I am right there with him. Something funny: in the photo where you are catching your second lime monorail, and Melissa has her back to the camera, did you catch the couple to her left? It looks like the lady is having some words with the guy. I'm sure it wasn't a big fight or anything, but just a photo that caught my eye, ha ha ha ha. I love "people watching" in Disney photos! Do you ever wonder if you all ever appear in anyone else's vacation pictures? Ok, looking forward to more report, so loving this one!!!!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I prefer fountain drinks, too. I found out that you can get fountain drinks at the food booth next to Biergarten in the Germany pavilion.

Those Cokes in Germany are some of my favorites. They have the large cups there too. Mmmm.

I had wanted to go there when I was staying off site in November. But it was closed when I was there. It looks like fun, though.

It is a fun place to check out, and there is a lot to see. It is a bit of a trek though, so it works out better if you have some other reason to be out that way.

The only MPLL that I have purchased recently has been for AK. We like to ride the safari a little later in the morning. More animals are out then.

We have enjoyed LL there for the last couple of trips. We really considered skipping the park entirely this trip, and were going to do without them, but it again worked out quite well. The later Safaris are better.

I know that Roarin' Fork lets non-guests do mobile order. I would guess that the monorail resorts get so many people stopping at them who aren't guests that they had to restrict it.

Yeah, that's what we thought, but then we started questioning ourselves. It is funny how quickly we came to expect mobile order and rely on it.

That was really nice of the captain to stop for the fireworks. I also like watching them on the TV in the room.

It was fun to get them from two different perspectives in one evening without any crowds.

Sounds like a relaxing non-park day! Even though you were busy it was a nice break from the parks.

It was a great day, and the only change we might do if scheduling a similar trip would be to move it up a day, so we got a break a little sooner in the trip. It was fun for everybody.

I can see where 1 bathroom could be a problem at times - especially with a teenage girl in the group

She does pretty well, but the bathroom was sometimes a point of contention, especially when they both had to shower. We used to only one bathroom at home, but I guess we are spoiled now.

Sounds like a fun AK day to come. As always, very much enjoying your TR!

Thanks for commenting and following along. It was a fun day to come, and we are getting it written as we type now...

Love Marshall's Sprite hat! I would've picked it out too!

It was so obscure, you just never know what you will find there.

Sounds like another great day! That Lakeside store looks really cool. And your trip around the monorail resorts looked like fun, we always do that on our off day too.

We are suckers for looking at deals on used stuff... The monorail loop is always a hit too, and this time it was great not to have a deadline to rush us while we did it.

You guys got an awesome captain, to allow you guys to really take in the fireworks. One of those pixie dust moments. We caught the MK fireworks on our boat ride back to WL on our last trip and it was really nice, although our captain didn’t slow down or acknowledge them at all. Cant wait to see your last park day!

Yeah, we have never had a captain go this much out of his way, and it was just perfect.

I can't believe there's no more Pluto hat after I just commented on it - haha. Too funny. His bucket hat is just as cute. It's also funny Melissa's FFA came up right after I asked what her college aspirations were with Animal Science. Just an all around post of coincidences for me.

Lol, it is kind of an interactive trip report I guess. Don't worry, the Pluto hat is still a favorite and I am sure it will reappear on trips. It doesn't take much to get Melissa talking about her FFA life...

We got lucky one time like that when we were going from MK to WL for the Snow White dinner. We had a front row seat for fireworks. Probably a top 3 Disney moment for us.

That's so great. I love it when things work out so perfectly. I also really love Disney boats in general.

More fun I really want to see Forever Vintage now, that looks like such an experience!

There is a lot to see there, and after going two consecutive years we are surprised at how much stuff turns over. We thought it might hang out there longer.

And I love that Paul loves his fountain soda, I am right there with him.

Yes, I am fueled by Diet Coke. I don't drink alcohol, but I do enjoy my Cokes way too much.

Something funny: in the photo where you are catching your second lime monorail, and Melissa has her back to the camera, did you catch the couple to her left? It looks like the lady is having some words with the guy. I'm sure it wasn't a big fight or anything, but just a photo that caught my eye, ha ha ha ha. I love "people watching" in Disney photos! Do you ever wonder if you all ever appear in anyone else's vacation pictures?

Lol, I hadn't noticed that one. We really do enjoy the people watching, and we have had some great conversations on the monorail. I like those random group shots, and maybe someday someone will see themselves. I wonder if we are photo bombing other's pics as well, and if anybody will notice a random kid in a Pluto hat being silly in the background of their pics.

Ok, looking forward to more report, so loving this one!!!!!

We really enjoy sharing the trips. It takes some time but is totally worth it.

 

[piglet1979]

On the way back home we decided we needed a snack so we stopped at Culver’s for ice cream.

Culver’s has great soft serve which Paul is a huge fan of. I love that they support FFA and every Culver’s I have been in has a jacket on the wall. FFA was a huge part of my life in high school and seeing the blue corduroy always makes me happy.

I daughter works at one. I never had it before then. Their custard is so good. She brings it home to me a lot.

I never knew about them supporting the FFA. I will have to look the next I am in the restaurant. I was not in the FFA but I was in 4-H and FFA was a big part of that. I just grew up a little more north where FFA wasn't big. I now live in an area that doesn't have any farm land at all in just about the whole county (just 1 county north of where I grew up).

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I daughter works at one. I never had it before then. Their custard is so good. She brings it home to me a lot.

I never knew about them supporting the FFA. I will have to look the next I am in the restaurant. I was not in the FFA but I was in 4-H and FFA was a big part of that. I just grew up a little more north where FFA wasn't big. I now live in an area that doesn't have any farm land at all in just about the whole county (just 1 county north of where I grew up).

Yeah, we had seen Culver's in Utah but they don't have them at home in California. It was a fun Florida thing to do, and anything that supports the FFA is good with us. We have less and less agriculture stuff around where we live, and Allie's High School does not have an Ag program, but we still enjoy it and support it where we can.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Sunday I got up the earliest I had all trip at 5:30, because everybody else wanted to get up at 6 to get closer to rope drop at AK. I still wanted my morning exploring time, so I was up and out of the room by 5:45. I got some more lobby pics, including this one that I really like.


I also got some courtyard pics once it was lighter outside.



Ya’ll are lucky he’s so ambitious about these pictures. I am totally the one that feels like I’ve taken all the pictures there is to take and wouldn’t get up extra early.

I really enjoy the quiet mornings, and taking pictures gives me a mission. I went back to the room at 6:00 but nobody was moving. I asked Melissa what she wanted to do, and she was willing to sleep in longer. We hung out for a while then I went out again just before 7 and got some Geyser pictures. I also got some outside courtyard pictures before I placed a mobile order for breakfast. Allie would be easier to wake up if I had Mickey Waffles in hand.

We are not morning people but we do our best.

We all sat and ate breakfast at the table about 7:30.


We talked about plans for next year and the year after and how we will have to skip one of them because of not having enough DVC points for the bigger room. This was not popular but we have been using more points than we get each year, so eventually we will run out.

I suggested another Hawaii trip or maybe Washington DC.

Allie liked the idea, but not if it was instead of WDW. We left the room ready for AK by 8:05 which really was not bad for us.


We didn’t get the best parking spot but at least we didn’t have to wait for the bus.



We made it in the park at 8:40 and picked up a stroller on our way over to Everest. We rarely start on that side of the park, normally we head to the safaris.




Our first Lightning Lane was for Everest from 8:25-9:25, so we timed it nicely. We got right on after walking across the park.


Our timing was perfect.

We all enjoyed the ride, it’s a favorite for everybody.



Allie was thirsty after we got off so we stopped for a drink for her at the bar right outside Everest. She got some fun fruity specialty drink. It was pretty sweet but she enjoyed it.


It was a Pink Lotus drink, and was pretty sweet but unique.


Our next stop was the Tiger Trail, where we got to see quite a bit. One tiger was in the fountain, and later we saw the new young tiger and watched him for a while.




There were so many animals out on the trail. I was surprised because it was pretty warm. The baby tiger was very very cute playing in the long grass and trying to climb trees.

After the Tigers we made our way into the aviary, where we watched the birds for a bit and met Joy, a really nice Cast Member who also happens to be diabetic and liked my shirt for the day. She also introduced us to a good sized bird who made "Woo woo" calls talking to his friends.


I guess he can be quite a character, but neither of us remember his name.

It’s fun to find Type 1 friends in the wild, there were several people who commented and liked your shirt that day. After the tiger trail we had a little time to kill before lunch and we were hot so we headed over to do some shopping.



The kids were in need of some more pins for trading, so I picked up another six pin set for them to split.


These are the best deal in pins at the parks, since it cost $27 after the DVC discount for six pins, making them less than $5 each. Since they were just ones to trade it didn't matter that we bought the same set three times.

Just as we were leaving the store Marshall spotted a cast member with the last pin he needed to finish the set he was working on.


He was so excited and the cast member was so sweet she just gave him the pin when she realized that it completed his set.


It was pretty cool he traded for every pin in the set and it took him two years to complete.

It was a fun special moment, and we did a cast memebr compliment for it as well. It is great that they give them the freedom to make special occaisions like that happen. After the last Mickey expressions pin was acquired, it was time for our early lunch ADR at Yak and Yeti at 10:45.


We often end up with later reservations here but it was really nice being on the early side. The lobby was quiet and we didn’t have to wait long for our table.

It was really nice to be early, and this is one of our longest running restaurant streaks. We started with fried green beans and calimari for appetizers.



We saw they had a new seasonal menu including some new choices including ribs with steak (which I got)and a beef noodle dish that Melissa tried. Both were excellent.



I can’t remember what Allie ordered but it looked delicious.


Marshall ordered noodles and corn off the kids menu and enjoyed his lunch.

My steak was pretty darn good, but the ribs were exceptional. They were super tender and fell right off the bone and had a great slightly spicy flavor. It was quite a meal.

It was definitely one of the better meals we’ve had here.

When it came time for dessert, we stuck with our usual favorites. I got the cream cheese wontons with ice cream and Melissa got her Mango pie.



I’m often willing to split desserts but here the Mango Pie is all mine. If you want Mango Pie you’re gonna have to order it yourself.

Marshall got his favorite, a blue bunny ice cream sandwich. They always seem so fancy sitting on a plate in the wrapper.


I was too full after steak and ribs to have many wontons and ice cream. It was great but no more would fit.

While we ate I used the points calculator to see how many more points we would need to keep doing this every year. I searched resale contracts and saw one 72 point contract that caught my eye. I saved a screenshot of it in my photo roll.

I remember you mentioning it to me but I’m pretty sure I just said yeah that’d be nice some day.

I also rearranged our Fastpasses slightly so that we could ride Kali first and then head over to the Safaris.


This would save us some walking in what was becoming a pretty hot park. Check out how it works out in the next update...

 

[Wood Nymph]

I can't imagine you skipping a year at Wilderness Lodge.

It was pretty cool he traded for every pin in the set and it took him two years to complete.

Marshall was very alert at spotting his pin. Two years is a long time to a kid.

This would save us some walking in what was becoming a pretty hot park. Check out how it works out in the next update...

I noticed that one of the disadvantages of the fp system was that it was sometimes hard to avoid the long walks.

 

[rdkeim]

Love the big smile on your DS's face when he scored the pin Nice both he and big sister enjoy that activity. Your meal looks so good! I'll be watching for the rest of your AK day and a picture of your shirt.....

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I can't imagine you skipping a year at Wilderness Lodge.

You can imagine how un-popular the idea was with us too.

Marshall was very alert at spotting his pin. Two years is a long time to a kid.

It is, and it all started when he found a couple of similar pins and realized they were part of a set. I resisted the urge to buy the set on eBay and let him try for them in the “wild” and it finally came together.

I noticed that one of the disadvantages of the fp system was that it was sometimes hard to avoid the long walks.

Yes! You get so excited to get a ride that you don’t wind up getting them in as logical of an order as when you used to pre-plan your fast passes. At least this time we were able to make it more logical and shorten the steps because it was pretty hot.

Love the big smile on your DS's face when he scored the pin Nice both he and big sister enjoy that activity. Your meal looks so good! I'll be watching for the rest of your AK day and a picture of your shirt.....

It was a cool moment, and to finally get the right last pin was pretty cool. He had thought she got it a couple of times but wound up with duplicates instead.
Yak and Yeti was excellent, actually better than it has been the last few years for us.
Oh yeah, we thought her had a picture of me and the shirt there, then didn’t find one. Anyway, here was the shirt I had on, it was one of my new ones for this year.