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

[Where'sPiglet?]

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!!!!!

That lady's expression also caught my eye! I was debating if she was angry or asking him to check her teeth for post-dinner debris.

I LOVE Culver's. We don't have them here, but they have heaps of them in Wisconsin, where my brother lives, so I always eat there while I'm visiting him.

I'm wondering about the foreshadowing of your Fun Purchase - I'm thinking it's more DVC points, especially with your latest installment, so you can upgrade to a two-bedroom. Alternatively, I'm thinking your next trip might be a Kidani one-bedroom, since you can park under the building, it has two bathrooms, and it's the same designer as WL.

And I agree - fountain drinks are far superior to bottled soda.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

That lady's expression also caught my eye! I was debating if she was angry or asking him to check her teeth for post-dinner debris.

There’s so many different potential stories we could come up with…

I LOVE Culver's. We don't have them here, but they have heaps of them in Wisconsin, where my brother lives, so I always eat there while I'm visiting him.

Yeah we don’t have them in CA but have gone in Utah and now Florida.

I'm wondering about the foreshadowing of your Fun Purchase - I'm thinking it's more DVC points, especially with your latest installment, so you can upgrade to a two-bedroom. Alternatively, I'm thinking your next trip might be a Kidani one-bedroom, since you can park under the building, it has two bathrooms, and it's the same designer as WL.

The next update will reveal more. You are on the right track…
We did look at purchasing some DVC points at AKL, as owning at both lodges would be cool. Having a car makes staying at AKL more appealing to us, but WL is still my favorite.

And I agree - fountain drinks are far superior to bottled soda.

I love all kinds of Diet Coke, but they are all different drinks. I enjoy a fountain Coke where I can eat the ice while driving, or working, or sitting around WL…

 

[Moonspinner]

There’s so many different potential stories we could come up with…


Yeah we don’t have them in CA but have gone in Utah and now Florida.


The next update will reveal more. You are on the right track…
We did look at purchasing some DVC points at AKL, as owning at both lodges would be cool. Having a car makes staying at AKL more appealing to us, but WL is still my favorite.


I love all kinds of Diet Coke, but they are all different drinks. I enjoy a fountain Coke where I can eat the ice while driving, or working, or sitting around WL…

I’ve got some bad news for you. In 3-5 years you’re going to want enough points for two bedrooms. Yes, I speak from personal experience lol.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I love reading your trip reports. They keep me from missing the parks as much.

The argus pheasant is also known as the "woo-woo bird." We have them at the San Diego Zoo, by the tigers too.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I’ve got some bad news for you. In 3-5 years you’re going to want enough points for two bedrooms. Yes, I speak from personal experience lol.

Believe us, it hasn't taken that long. We want more points for more trips AND a bigger room... Check out the next update.

I love reading your trip reports. They keep me from missing the parks as much.

The argus pheasant is also known as the "woo-woo bird." We have them at the San Diego Zoo, by the tigers too.

Thanks so much. Writing the reports helps us pass the time between trips as well, and it is fun to relive the parks fun while we are at home.

We absolutely love the San Diego Zoo. It is neat to see the ways in which it inspired AK, and it is one of the only other parks in the world that we enjoy like a Disney park.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, we had just finished stuffing ourselves with an early lunch at Yak and Yeti.


Next we were headed over to Kali River Rapids.


The queue for Kali is pretty cool, they did such an amazing job with the theming for both it and Everest.



It feels like you’re going on an adventure somewhere that is not a theme park in central Florida.

[/B]That is so true. They did a great job of theming this park. Thank you Joe Rhode and team.

Marshall was concerned about getting wet, silly kid and really wanted to wear his poncho. We convinced him that he would be wetter, and stinkier if he wore it.

It was a hot day, and I was looking forward to getting a little wet. The lightning lane saved us over an hour, nd once we checked in I booked another one, this time for Soarin since we would be headed to Epcot later.

We got on to Kali at 12:25 and nobody got too soaked and we all had fun.




We then walked over to Kilamanjaro Safaris and got in line at 12:50 after finding somewhere to park our stroller.


It turns out the Lightning Lane lines don't go through the nice stroller drop area that the main lines do.

It was a little tough to find a stroller parking spot but probably not any worse than finding a parking spot at Costco on a Saturday afternoon.

While we were waiting in line we decided to try and push back our dinner reservation. It gave us a chance to make our way over to Epcot at a more relaxed pace.


It was hot so most of the animals on the safari were snoozing.


It’s always a fun ride though and we did see giraffes and cheetahs.

There was a younger giraffe right by the truck, and then an actual rhino crossing right in front of the truck.





There was a lot of activity for it being the heat of the day. When we got off we went straight to Zuri's Sweet Shop to get some cold drinks, which we all needed.


We all got something to drink and hung out inside for a minute to cool off.

It was a nice break and the cold drinks felt sooo good. As we finished them we walked towards Pandora.


It is such a pretty trail walking along the river.


We remembered the Covid era pontoon parades that took place there.

Yeah those were fun, we stopped at the bathrooms over here, these ones are pretty quiet and out of the way.

We were headed to Pandora for more Allie photos.




We didn't need to ride either ride there, but we took some pics and moved on. Then we went shopping on the way out.


I just remembered that I wanted to stop and see the otter babies and we never did that.

Oh man, we just never walked that way. In the store we checked everything out while we enjoyed the air conditioning. I really liked the new Rob Kaz art section, which had some unique cool prints.


It was like a taste of festival of the arts year round.


He is one of our favorite artists. We didn’t buy anything here though although there was a super cute print with a highland cow.


Anyway, we were done with this park but we decided to investigate somewhere we’ve never been before.

In all of the times we have visited Animal Kingdom, we always walked right by Rainforest Cafe.


This time we walked in and checked it out.


It was just a typical Rainforest Cafe. Maybe we’re spoiled because we have one close and we’ve been many times. We also used to go to the one at Downtown Disney at Disneyland often, do you remember when they would have the macaws outside? I wonder where those birds are now.


Ahh, yeah. Those were cool, and we spent a lot of time there at Downtown Disney. Anyway, this Rainforrest Cafe was pretty big and fun to look around, but in the end we didn't buy anything and headed out the other entrance towards the parking tram.



We left the park at 2:09, got on the parking tram at 2:10, got off of it at 2:13, and were to our car by 2:16. It was a quick escape. We got parked at WL at 2:30, and were in our room by 2:36.



Marshall and I went down to Roaring Fork and got mug refills and picked up a couple of Magic Cookie bars.


I laid down on the bed to stretch out my back and ended up falling asleep.

It was one of those naps where you wake up drooling and forget where you are.

I need more of those in my life

Ahh yes. Before the nap we had talked a bit more about the possibility of getting more DVC points, and agreed it might be a good idea. Then as Melissa snoozed, I browsed DVC listings. I really liked how that one matched our use year and would be a perfect amount of extra points. We would be able to do the same length trip in a two bedroom, so Marshall would not have to sleep on the floor I researched the finance options and decided it could really be possible. I submitted the information form, and soon Linda from DVC resale was calling me back. We chatted for a few minutes and she let me know that a full price offer would be accepted, and asked If we were interested. I said we were, and they agreed to start the process.


So when I woke up from my nap he asked me how open I was to adding more points and I said that we could talk about it. Then guys he said, and I quote “That’s good because they accepted my offer”.

I’m pretty sure my response was They what?

I explained how it went, and we both were excited at the concept. In the mean time we had another park to get to. We changed our clothes and headed out from the room at 4:03.

We had other things to focus on so we headed off to Epcot. We had a plan for limiting the trekking across Epcot so this is the ONLY time we took a bus the whole trip.

We headed down to the bus stop and waited for the Epcot bus.


Check out our Epcot evening in the next update...
[/B]

 

[Moonspinner]

I can’t tell you how much you guys will love the 2 bedroom. When we first bought dvc we fit our 3 kids into the 1 bedroom unit. But by our third year with dvc we’d switched to the 2 bedroom. I know it’s not a necessity, but, if you can swing it, it’s a little slice of heaven. I think also as kids get to be older teens knowing they have more space keeps them excited about Disney. Whenever we go on other vacations the kids always comment that they wish DVC was in every other location we visit.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It was hot so most of the animals on the safari were snoozing.

I've heard that the animals love an afternoon rainstorm. They all come out then.

It is such a pretty trail walking along the river.

We love this trail. It is very peaceful. The bathroom is always empty, too.

In all of the times we have visited Animal Kingdom, we always walked right by Rainforest Cafe.

We ate dinner at this Rainforest Cafe and it was the worst meal we ever had. The service was extremely slow. The food was mostly terrible, except maybe the hamburger. We will never eat here again.

Before the nap we had talked a bit more about the possibility of getting more DVC points, and agreed it might be a good idea. Then as Melissa snoozed, I browsed DVC listings. I really liked how that one matched our use year and would be a perfect amount of extra points. We would be able to do the same length trip in a two bedroom, so Marshall would not have to sleep on the floor I researched the finance options and decided it could really be possible.

The two-bedroom villas are wonderful. It sounds like a real bargain, too.

We had other things to focus on so we headed off to Epcot. We had a plan for limiting the trekking across Epcot so this is the ONLY time we took a bus the whole trip.

It's nice that the Epcot bus stop for WL is the closest one. I'm not crazy about sharing with FtW, though. We had some very bad luck with the evening Epcot bus last time we stayed at WL.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

I love the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. I worked at the Zoo, transferring to the Safari Park last year, and just had my 36th anniversary. Animal Kingdom not only used the Safari Park for design, but also recruited several of our animal care staff members.

 

[rdkeim]

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


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.


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.


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.
View attachment 985349

Cool shirt! I bet it got a few comments. My son found out recently he has type 2 diabetes. He's handing it well - I didn't know much about it but I've learned a lot.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Fellow T1 here—cute shirt! Congrats to Marshall for completing his pin set. Two years is a long time! Very nice of the CM to gift it to him

 

[piglet1979]

I love the shirt. I am not diabetic (I have the opposite) but my Aunt is and my cousin's daughter was diagnosis about a year ago while in her second year of college. I need to send this to her.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I can’t tell you how much you guys will love the 2 bedroom. When we first bought dvc we fit our 3 kids into the 1 bedroom unit. But by our third year with dvc we’d switched to the 2 bedroom. I know it’s not a necessity, but, if you can swing it, it’s a little slice of heaven. I think also as kids get to be older teens knowing they have more space keeps them excited about Disney. Whenever we go on other vacations the kids always comment that they wish DVC was in every other location we visit.

We had the chance to share a 2 bedroom with some friends a few times and saw how great it can be. Now we are super excited about having one to ourselves. A bed for everyone, and two bathrooms, plus having the living room area in the middle open to sit and hang out, we can’t wait for next year. We passed right of first refusal and got our closing docs all signed, now we just have to wait for the points to load.

I've heard that the animals love an afternoon rainstorm. They all come out then.

I bet. It would have been a long wait this day though because it was dry all day.

We love this trail. It is very peaceful. The bathroom is always empty, too.

Yes! We even commented that we should take advantage of it while we were there.

We ate dinner at this Rainforest Cafe and it was the worst meal we ever had. The service was extremely slow. The food was mostly terrible, except maybe the hamburger. We will never eat here again.

We consider ourselves lucky that we made it through having two little kids at Disney and never had to eat here. We actually had some decent meals at the DLR one, but there are sooo many better options at WDW.

The two-bedroom villas are wonderful. It sounds like a real bargain, too.

Yeah, buying the points “resale” has some limitations but will work out well for us since our current points were purchased directly from Disney so we already get the direct benefits.

It's nice that the Epcot bus stop for WL is the closest one. I'm not crazy about sharing with FtW, though. We had some very bad luck with the evening Epcot bus last time we stayed at WL.

We do k no or like the bus back from Epcot, but we had a plan to avoid it and the walk across the park. I can’t believe this was our only bus ride of the whole trip, but it was a good one with no issues and a cute family to chat with.

I love the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. I worked at the Zoo, transferring to the Safari Park last year, and just had my 36th anniversary. Animal Kingdom not only used the Safari Park for design, but also recruited several of our animal care staff members.

That’s awesome, congratulations on a career at such wonderful parks. We truly enjoy both, and it’s always a tough call regarding which to go to, and we usually wind up planning a trip to the other one shortly after. It is interesting that Disney was able to recruit from you guys, but it doesn’t surprise me.

Cool shirt! I bet it got a few comments. My son found out recently he has type 2 diabetes. He's handing it well - I didn't know much about it but I've learned a lot.

It is an interesting challenge, and can be a very misunderstood disease. I was diagnosed as Type 1 as an adult, which is odd but more common than people realize. At least it is very manageable and just becomes part of life.

Fellow T1 here—cute shirt! Congrats to Marshall for completing his pin set. Two years is a long time! Very nice of the CM to gift it to him

Yay, I didn’t know that, but that’s kind of the point. We’re all just people living normal lives, dealing with our numbers. Technology sure has come a long way to help though.
The pin set was a great accomplishment and Marshall was so visibly excited that she wanted to add to it and give him a way to start the next collection. A very classy and thoughtful CM.

I love the shirt. I am not diabetic (I have the opposite) but my Aunt is and my cousin's daughter was diagnosis about a year ago while in her second year of college. I need to send this to her.

Ahh yeah. See, another adult diagnosis. Mine was just after college about 20 years ago. One great thing is how much technology is available to help now with continuous meters and pump technology.

I will look for the link to that particular shirt. My older one got small, so I found and ordered that one on Etsy before the trip. It was extra unique and got some comments.