She's Sleeping on the Top Bunk: An August 2017 WL TR with a Party of 10 (Updated 10/18)

[GrandCalifornian]

Sounds like a fun day other than the EMT's arriving! My youngest son had a few diving incidents and your son's bump/bruise looks all too familiar. I remember being told to watch for signs of concussion. Glad you were able to go on with your day!

Yes, besides that short block right after lunch it was a great day, and Disney even made that the best they could. Marshall did great, and with the ice on it quickly it looked a lot better than it did right at first.

Poor Marsh's little head. That was scary but sounded like he bounced back quickly. I love the EWP picture. So pretty!

Thanks! Marshall did well, and brought crash with him for most of the rest of the trip. It can be hard to get a good EWP picture, and we got lucky since it was from the boat.

Poor Marshall. So happy to hear Disney handled the way they did. Can I just say I love your relaxed approach to touring the parks. It seems you all balance the rides, and just enjoying the atmosphere very well. I did better this past trip, but I still feel I should slow down more. It's not like we aren't going back.

Aww, he's fine. That boy just has no fear... But yes, we were super happy with Disney. Thanks for complimenting our approach to the parks. It is probably too slow for most, but we realized that once we get home, we have just as much fun remembering things like shopping or exploring a new resort as riding the rides. At Disney anything we do is fun. It sure helps to be there for 9 days, and to know that we will be back. We love the relaxation that comes with not having to fit everything in. We experience the same thing at Disneyland, and feel sorry for the people who go once every few years for a single day and try to fit it all in. Our goal for this trip was to have more down time than last year, and while we succeeded we will try for more down time on our next trip too. We would be content if we only rode what we got Fastpasses for, and spent the rest of the time just enjoying the world.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Then I decided to go exploring out toward Fort Wilderness where I had seen the deer earlier in the trip. I walked past cabin 26 to the old trail along Bay lake. I was surprised to see that despite all the fencing separating the water from the guests, there was an opening in the fencing that led into the woods.

I'm glad to hear that the nature path is back to normal again. I've seen CM's riding a golf cart back and forth on that trail.

I followed the trail all the way to the back side of River Country, and then to the paved access road for Fort Wilderness. I was amazed that we can still get out in the woods there, and was careful to make sure there weren't any large predators looking for breakfast.

The first time we took the trail we sneaked down the CM only road to get a peak at River Country. It was mostly a bunch of maintenance buildings back there that look like they are still in use.

Then after switching the laundry to the dryer I checked out the cabins on the North side of the resort. The path leads from the boat dock along the shoreline beyond the old "otter pond".

We haven't explored this area yet. I would think that these cabins would get a lot of noise from the boat whistle. I would want to stay in one of the cabins near the new pool. The view would be gorgeous.

Our first stop was Laugh Floor, Allie was super excited about this. The wait was about 20 minutes. It is such a cute attraction and I ended up getting picked to talk because Marshall was on my lap and I was a "two headed monster".

That is so cute. Allie must have enjoyed seeing Mom in the show.

The master had a King bed, and there was a washer and dryer in the unit, which would be nice.

Did they show you a dedicated two bedroom villa? I'd like to know if the 2nd bedroom had two queens instead of a queen and a sofa bed.

On one side of the hallway is one bedroom with a big bed and a fold out bed similar to like at Port Orleans.

What did the second bedroom look like?

We asked about having privacy with the one wall being all glass, and he demonstrated the two stage power shades that cover the windows that face the lake. We were impressed with those as well.

I love the power shades. That is a great idea. It would be so much fun to stay in one of these cabins.

The tour and presentation were far better than we expected, with no pressure and lots of information, even if the information did exagerate the benefits of membership compared to the AP discounts we already get. It gave us plenty of material for number crunching in the days to come.

It sounds like you had a great tour without too much pressure.

There was a family with two boys ahead of us in line for the boat and one of them turned around and started talking to Marshall and gave him a sticker. I was very impressed with that kid. Marshall quieted right down and began eating said sticker but at least he was happy.

We had a little girl do this for our granddaughter when she was crying when we were riding the monorail. We were very grateful.

I got the Bison burger

My husband likes those and they have been good both times he had them.

Appearently Marshall was bored with the whole thing, so he launched himself head first off of his chair.

Marshall told everyone who came and asked him what happened "I crash".

It didn't take very long before the paramedics showed up. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I wasn't prepared for paramedics.

Poor Marshall. This is so typical of little kids, though. Whenever I see paramedics coming to a resort I think about an older person having a problem. But I wouldn't be surprised if they came more often for kids than for adults.

It's so hard when your kid gets hurt like that and you blame yourself, you know but he's a toddler and there's only so much we can prevent. It was really nice that no one seemed to think twice about blaming us for our crazy toddler and his tumbling antics.

I'm sure that most of the parents have had this happen to them. I still remember how guilty I felt when our son fell and got two big purple bruises on his forehead.

We stopped by the rooms, then got to the bus stop at 3:51. The MK bus headed to Fort Wilderness first, leaving there at 3:59 before arriving at MK at 4:07. This was our first experience with this detour, but it makes sense in the evenings when they are running buses to FW for Hoop De Doo.

We had the bus driver slow down so that we could see the deer on the way back to MK from FW. I'm not crazy about this detour, but it is understandable.

After that we went to do Enchanted tales with Belle. Brandy and Jon enjoy doing this just for the magic mirror that we get to walk through. They got video of the magic and are still impressed. Allie got to be a character, and while Marshall didn't participate in the play he still had his picture taken with Belle.

This is a really cute show. It is always fun when your child or grandchild plays a role. I like that they take photos of the kids with Cinderella. It makes a nice memory.

We were next to be seated, and got an awesome table in the West Wing, right in front of the rose. Allie was super excited by this.

Allie looks very happy.

We showed them the rose, then got in line for the Beast. Since we were all together, we decided to get a big group shot here and it worked out great.

It was nice that you were able to get a group shot. It takes the pressure off trying to find one out in the park.

After Small World it was almost time for fireworks, so instead of fighting the crowd we decided to watch them from where we were at, near the Rapunzel restrooms. It was actually a pretty neat location, since there were fireworks on two sides of us.

We watched the fireworks near Enchanted Tales with Belle and I couldn't believe how close some of the fireworks were. We enjoyed being able to sit down on the low wall and not have anyone near else.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'm glad to hear that the nature path is back to normal again. I've seen CM's riding a golf cart back and forth on that trail.

The first time we took the trail we sneaked down the CM only road to get a peak at River Country. It was mostly a bunch of maintenance buildings back there that look like they are still in use.

I was so tempted to go take a look, but it already felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. I am surprised that you can still get unobstructed access to the water. I am glad that they kept the nature trail.

We haven't explored this area yet. I would think that these cabins would get a lot of noise from the boat whistle. I would want to stay in one of the cabins near the new pool. The view would be gorgeous.

We think we would prefer a South side cabin too, especially for the sunrise view over Bay lake. The North side ones closer to the monorail are more secluded, and might have a chance at seeing fireworks from MK. I am glad that they opened up the stairway door to give the North side cabins direct access to Roaring Fork.

Did they show you a dedicated two bedroom villa? I'd like to know if the 2nd bedroom had two queens instead of a queen and a sofa bed.

We did not get to see a dedicated 2 bedroom, and the demo rooms were a 1 Bedroom / Studio lockout. We were curious abut the differences, and saw some pictures on another thread that show the different bathroom configuration in the second bedroom. Also it has two queens, instead of a Queen and sleeper couch. There also isn't a kitchenette in the second bedroom.

What did the second bedroom look like?

I love the power shades. That is a great idea. It would be so much fun to stay in one of these cabins.

The pictures we had were of the second bedroom, which has the Port Orleans style extra bed. The Master has a King and a door that leads out onto the L shaped patio. I didn't get a good picture of it, but there is a super cool virtual tour of the cabins here.

It sounds like you had a great tour without too much pressure.

It was our first timeshare tour experience, and nothing like we feared. It was done Disney right...

We had a little girl do this for our granddaughter when she was crying when we were riding the monorail. We were very grateful.

Poor Marshall. This is so typical of little kids, though. Whenever I see paramedics coming to a resort I think about an older person having a problem. But I wouldn't be surprised if they came more often for kids than for adults.

I'm sure that most of the parents have had this happen to them. I still remember how guilty I felt when our son fell and got two big purple bruises on his forehead.

It was a crazy ordeal, but fortunately everybody was ok. Disney is amazing, and so is the Reedy Creek Fire Department.

We had the bus driver slow down so that we could see the deer on the way back to MK from FW. I'm not crazy about this detour, but it is understandable.

That is a neat way of making the most of the extra time. It is a bummer to not have the super quick bus ride to MK all the time, but at least it still isn't too bad, and can have great nature scenery.

This is a really cute show. It is always fun when your child or grandchild plays a role. I like that they take photos of the kids with Cinderella. It makes a nice memory.

It is a great show and fun for everybody. Definitely a must do for us.

We watched the fireworks near Enchanted Tales with Belle and I couldn't believe how close some of the fireworks were. We enjoyed being able to sit down on the low wall and not have anyone near else.

That sounds like a neat place, we might have to give it a try next trip.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

On Thursday, I got up at 6:15 to be sure to see the whole sunrise. I went and got pictures from Geyser Point but had to get my mug refill from Roaring Fork because the Geyser Point beverage station wasn't open yet.



I also got some more pics of the lobby, because I just can't get enough of those.



Normal people would take the hint that you were up too early.

After taking pictures I grabbed some breakfast from Roaring Fork and took it up to the room. Marshall was up and happy, but Allie was still asleep.


Eventually we rousted Allie because we had a lunch ADR to get to.

She got up about 8:45 and got dressed. We texted Jon and Brandy and found they were running late too. We left the room about 9:10 and stopped by Roaring Fork for refills on the way to the bus.

We were headed to Epcot for the first part of the day. We had some things we wanted to get to before lunch.

We got on the Epcot bus at 9:22 and went by the TTC but made no extra stops before arriving at Epcot at 9:36.

Allie's fingers are super tiny and she had some trouble with the finger scan readers. This morning she had to have it reset.


We wanted to do some shopping, and at Gateway Gifts we found a present for Grandma Nancy and a mug for Melissa's Dad.

I momentarily panicked when I couldn't find my driver's license for my AP discount, but the CM was nice and I later found I had stuck it in another spot after buying breakfast.

It was for sure a moment of panic, I don't know what happens if you have to try and get on a plane without a drivers license. Although I'm sure Paul would have been just fine to stay at WDW forever.

Then Jon texted us and said they made it in, and since Melissa wanted Starbucks we decided to meet them there.
I waited outside with the kids, and it was HOT. I should have gone to the cool spot outside the Character Spot, but we sweated it out just outside Starbucks.

The line for Starbucks was crazy long and out the door but in my opinion worth the wait.

There is something super cool about being able to use a snack credit for it.

After Starbucks we had to cool Paul and the kids off so we headed over to the Seas. Marshall was konked out so Jon and Brandy offered to babysit.


They are great babysitters and Jon even held the fan so Marsh stayed cool.

In the Seas Allie just had to go to go get a picture in the shark's mouth. She calls this the "play area" and was willing to patiently wait in line to finally make it to the front and get a pic in his mouth.


I find it funny that she enjoys this more than the real sharks swimming in the tank.

I went back outside to check on Marshall and was catching up on things at home. There was apparently a car chase where the guy climbed one of the cranes at the port and jumped. It didn't end well for him. This is why I try to stay out of touch on vacation.


Next up Allie wanted to play in the fountains outside of Figment again, so we headed over there.


She caught a couple of streams of water, then we headed towards Test Track to use our leftover baby swap pass from a few days earlier.


It was my turn to ride! I went on with Jon and Brandy while Paul hung out with the kids. Brandy was surprised how similar the car I designed was to the one Paul had done a couple days earlier. We didn't talk about it, we just like the same stuff.

That was very cool. I had fun waiting with the kids, and Allie played games and took pictures while I pushed Marshall around in the stroller.


I picked up a couple of things at After Market (a shirt for my Dad and some toy cars for myself...) and we also found matching sweatshirts for me and Marshall so we got them too.

It was time to brave the heat and head over to Japan for lunch.


It was already after noon, and our reservation was for 12:30, so we had to move through World Showcase. We made it and checked in just a couple of minutes late. They told us to head upstairs, since the elevator was being refurbished.


I got a picture to remind Melissa of being at work.


Yeah I had sent a picture to my dad earlier in the trip but he never came and fixed it.

As soon as we got upstairs our pager went off, and we were seated at a table with a group of three other people from Seattle.

Our chef was great, and everyone had fun. Marshall ate pretty much all of my noodles, he will be getting his own meal next time.




She really was a great chef, and my favorite part was that she accidentally cooked a piece of filet for my steak and chicken instead of strip steak. She offered to cook up a piece of strip instead, but I was quite content with the filet. It was the best steak I have ever eaten, and will be my new must order item here. The chicken is good too, but not worth giving up the filet for.


I will be trading in my usual of the steak and shrimp combo for the filet next time too. I like shrimp but I can cook it at home. The steak I'm telling you was divine. I may have been slightly jealous it was "his steak" she made the mistake with. If I was sitting on the end it could have been mine.

It may have been a life changing piece of meat, because there's no way I would have ever ordered it before trying it and seeing how good it was. For dessert Allie really wanted the Adult Mango cake, but had to get the ice cream since she was a kid, so I just traded with her. I know the Mango cake is good, but I enjoyed the ice cream too, and she felt good getting the adult dessert.


He is such a good dad, I got the green tea cake which I love and would not have traded for vanilla icecream. Sorry kid.

I was still excited about that steak... Actually I would have probably preferred the ice cream to the green tea cake. Anyway, it was a great meal and we still had a great day ahead of us.

Check back and read about our busy afternoon in the next update.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Teppen Edo's elevator was out over the 4th of July too!!!!! I don't think it's ever working...

 

[dnllmz]

Teppen Edo always starts off on my ADR list but never manages to stay on it. We did take the kids to a hibachi place for my birthday in February. My son loved it but my daughter didn't like it that much. Oh well, we do plenty of princess dining so she can take one for the team once in awhile.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Teppen Edo's elevator was out over the 4th of July too!!!!! I don't think it's ever working...

With the walls up we figure they are doing a modernization or even a complete replacement. As we recall it was a pretty small elevator, perhaps it will be bigger when it is done.

Teppen Edo always starts off on my ADR list but never manages to stay on it. We did take the kids to a hibachi place for my birthday in February. My son loved it but my daughter didn't like it that much. Oh well, we do plenty of princess dining so she can take one for the team once in awhile.

We tried it last trip as something new for us, expecting a fun time but we had no idea how good the food would be. It made it on the repeat list for this trip, and with the fillet the food was even better. Now it is rapidly approaching must do status... It is a nice change of pace from a character meal, and we really like doing it in the middle of the day for a break from the heat.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Our chef was great, and everyone had fun. Marshall ate pretty much all of my noodles, he will be getting his own meal next time.

Once our son started to eat most of my entre, he started getting his own food, too. It's really nice that Marshall is such a good eater.

She really was a great chef, and my favorite part was that she accidentally cooked a piece of fillet for my steak and chicken instead of strip steak. She offered to cook up a piece of strip instead, but I was quite content with the fillet. It was the best steak I have ever eaten, and will be my new must order item here.

The filet sounds delicious. We've never eaten here. We've only done a restaurant like this once but it sounds like a fun meal.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Once our son started to eat most of my entre, he started getting his own food, too. It's really nice that Marshall is such a good eater.

Yes, I don't think we will have any problem getting Marshall to eat. Paying for it might be annother issue, but oh well.

The filet sounds delicious. We've never eaten here. We've only done a restaurant like this once but it sounds like a fun meal.

We haven't done a restaurant like this together anywhere else, but it really is fun at Disney. We expected fun, but both times were impressed with how good the food was.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

After lunch we continued shopping in World Showcase and stopped in France.



Then we headed out the International Gateway. I had my rescheduled work call from earlier in the week to take, so I figured I could stop by Beach Club and find a quiet place for a 30 minute call. We sent Jon and Brandy ahead on the boat, and we walked to Beach Club.


We got settled in the Solarium and I tried to keep the kids entertained while he was on the phone.


This time they called right on time and we had a good meeting. It was different to be walking around there thinking about work, but you do what you have to to hopefully be able to come back more often.
After that was done, we filled our mugs at the marketplace and went out to catch a boat to HS. It was HOT on the dock, but we hung out in the lighthouse.


The breeze was blowing just right so that it was about 10 degrees cooler in there in the shade. It was still HOT though.


We got on a boat at 3:24, and arrived at HS at 3:37.


We headed for Rockin Roller Coaster where our Fastpass was about to expire.


I hopped on and we got a baby swap pass in case anyone wanted to ride it later.

I waited with the kids in the dump shop and tried to keep Marshall contained. It started raining outside, I don't know why but it tends to do that when we are supposed to ride Rockin Rollercoaster

It was very reminiscent of last year. To keep up the similarity, we headed over to Tower of Terror as it was sprinkling. We didn't ride it, but we did pick up a T-shirt as a gift for Melissa's brother. Melissa had seen it in the Shop Parks app and since it was elevator themed we figured it would be perfect.
As the rain picked up we got a text from Jon and Brandy who were over at Star Tours saying that they were going to call it a day and head back to the resort.


I think we had worn them out. Our plans got changed after our Fastpasses for the Indiana Jones stunt show got cancelled because of the rain. We hung out in the shops for a bit while the rain came down and did some shopping.

We got some cookies for each of us, and Allie picked out one that was as big as her head.



We just took our time shopping and spent longer than we usually get to in the shops at HS.

As we migrated towards the exit we looked at magic bands in the photo shop, and they had one of the limited edition Cars 3 ones that I had seen earlier in the trip, and I decided to buy it. We had the sweetest Cast Member at the counter there, Shelby from Tennessee, and we wished we could take her home for Melissa's brother as well.

She was cute and perhaps it's odd but we both had the thought that she would be perfect for my brother.
Anyway we headed out of the park and decided to end our night at Disney Springs.


We were going to just take a direct bus there but the bus stop for Disney Springs is like stop 356 and the Port Orleans FQ bus stop was right in front of us.
We had our mugs with us so we thought we'd stop by there, get a refill and then hop on the boat to Disney Springs.

We hopped on the POFQ bus at 5:25, and arrived there at 5:41. It was raining, but we walked around the lobby and went to the food court to fill our mugs. We got to use the Freestyle machines that they have put in there. We use them a lot at home, but this was our first chance to use them at Disney.


Allie loves them at home and it really offered her more variety as we don't like her drinking a ton of soda and NOTHING with caffeine.

We walked towards the boats, and Allie posed for pictures with the statues. She likes having her picture taken when it is with funny things.


Then when we got to the boat dock we saw that they were closed due to lightning.


Oh well, it would have been a good idea. We made our way back to the front of the resort to wait for a Disney Springs bus.

It wasn't the shortest wait ever and when the first bus showed up it was full. I love starting with emptyish buses at Wilderness Lodge.

The first bus left full at 6:17, and the second one cam at 6:29. While we waited we chatted with a family from England about JoJo hair bows, since apparently they are the thing to have. Allie got hers on clearance, but loves it, and wore it a lot during the trip.


Now she has two JoJo bows and of course wants to collect them all.

The bus then went through Port Orleans Riverside, where it filled up and they announced we would go straight to Disney Springs after the West Depot, which saved us a couple more stops. We finally arrived at 6:52, which meant that saving the walk to the Direct Disney Springs bus resulted in about an hour and a half of transportation time, but the key is to have fun along the way and we did.

It definitely wasn't the most efficient route but we got our mug refills and were able to check out French Quarter. I hadn't ever been there despite having stayed at Riverside a couple trips prior. In any event the first mission once we were at Disney Springs was dinner.

Actually Allie's first mission as a potty, and because we missed the ones right next to where we were, we had to walk a long way to the next set...


As you may know from reading our reports, I am a burger guy. Cheeseburgers are pretty much my favorite food ever. During our last trip I had wanted to make it to D-Luxe burger, but we never had the chance. Well, I decided that tonight could be the night we gave it a try.
When we arrived at D-Luxe burger the line was out the door. I made sure there was a place to sit, and it looked ok, but I still offered to go to Wolfgang Puck instead if Melissa wanted to.


There was no way I was derailing the chance to try a burger here. Paul thought that it might just be your ordinary run of the mill burger but we stuck it out anyway because we just had to try it.

And I am so glad that we did. I ordered the Bacon BBQ burger and it was my favorite burger of the trip. I preferred it over Red Robbin or Islands or many other burger places that I enjoy. I even liked it more then the Kobe burger from Yak and Yeti not for the taste of the beef, but the overall experience with the toppings. It was great.


I had the Bacon and Blue Cheese burger, it was delicious. Allie also enjoyed her Southern Burger minus the fried green tomato.


Overall we had a great dining experience here.

As we were finishing up eating a lady noticed my dress. She said she loved my Carly and would I like a pair of free leggings. Of course I said yes! Turns out she sells Lularoe. What a great marketing technique and I love my new leggings.


That was really neat. After we were all stuffed we headed out for some shopping. We finally got to really explore the new stores in Disney Springs. I got a new rain jacket at the Columbia store.


Melissa checked out bags but didn't take one home from Vera Bradley.


My willpower was strong in that store for sure.

We bought the kids a bubble maker, and Allie got to pick it out so it was the little mermaid one. It works amazingly well, and will still fill our house with bubbles.


We walked the whole area, all the way to Cirque Du Soli, and then back along the shoreline to Boathouse. Allie and I watched the amphicars in awe, and got to see them launch and come back in.


I was checking out the Havianas store while they did that and I thought they got lost they took so long.

After we finally got our fill of that we headed to the Lego store. Allie again put together some custom mini-figures while Marshall and I found him a Roadster Racers Duplo set.


We managed to get out of the store without buying the whole place.

Which was tough, because there was plenty of stuff that I wanted, especially the remote control snow cat...
By then we were tired and done shopping, so we walked to the buses. We contemplated buying more headband bows, but instead continued on to the bus.


We got to the bus stop at 9:50 as a bus pulled up. It was quite full but we made it on, standing near the front. Some nice English people had their son stand so that Melissa and Marshall could sit. They were so polite, saying "He's 12, he will stand" in their proper English.

It was very nice of him to give up his seat and I had a much more pleasant ride back to the lodge. Marshall while young is already 30lbs and he's just darnned heavy.

We made it back to the Lodge very quickly, arriving at 10:10.


We headed upstairs and got the kids to bed, followed soon after by us. I stayed up for a bit looking at numbers for a potential bounce back trip and again looking at the DVC information.

Who's he foolin he crunched numbers for like an hour.

Well, they were some big numbers, and we had some thinking to do... Eventually I put the computer away and went to sleep, joining Melissa who was already out for the night.

Check out our next update where we sleep in and have another quiet resort morning.

 

[dnllmz]

We walked towards the boats, and Allie posed for pictures with the statues. She likes having her picture taken when it is with funny things.

She looks like she's having a ton of fun!

The first bus left full at 6:17, and the second one cam at 6:29. While we waited we chatted with a family from England about JoJo hair bows, since apparently they are the thing to have. Allie got hers on clearance, but loves it, and wore it a lot during the trip.


Now she has two JoJo bows and of course wants to collect them all.

I've never heard of JoJo bows. My dd5 likes the ideas of bows but usually takes them out 10 minutes in.

And I am so glad that we did. I ordered the Bacon BBQ burger and it was my favorite burger of the trip. I preferred it over Red Robbin or Islands or many other burger places that I enjoy. I even liked it more then the Kobe burger from Yak and Yeti not for the taste of the beef, but the overall experience with the toppings. It was great.

They look so good. I'm not sure if we'll make it out to Disney Springs next trip but if we do, we'd like to try D'Luxe. My son loves burgers.

She said she loved my Carly and would I like a pair of free leggings

That is awesome! And they look like a cute pair. Well they are rolled up but what's showing looks cute.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The bus then went through Port Orleans Riverside, where it filled up and they announced we would go straight to Disney Springs after the West Depot, which saved us a couple more stops. We finally arrived at 6:52, which meant that saving the walk to the Direct Disney Springs bus resulted in about an hour and a half of transportation time, but the key is to have fun along the way and we did.

You never know when it is going to work out and when it doesn't. At least you had a nice tour of POFQ.

We had a crazy long ride like this when we were at WL in March. We had a dinner ADR at Boma and as you know, there are several ways to get to AKL. Since we had plenty of time we decided to use Disney transportation to get to AKL and a taxi for the return trip. We could have taken the bus to AK then the bus to AKL - or - the boat to MK or CR then walk to the depot for the AKL. But since the MK bus was usually a very quick ride to MK, I suggested we go that route. That decision cost us about an hour and twenty minutes of our time. First the MK bus took about 20 minutes to get to the WL. Then it unloaded an ECV, then we went to FW, then we finally got to the bus depot at MK. We waited a relatively short time for the AKL bus, but it also had to load and ECV. In hindsight, I wish we had taken the boat. I hadn't known about the detour to FW for the dinner hour or I would have made a different choice.

Then we headed out the International Gateway. I had my rescheduled work call from earlier in the week to take, so I figured I could stop by Beach Club and find a quiet place for a 30 minute call. We sent Jon and Brandy ahead on the boat, and we walked to Beach Club.

I see that Allie hasn't forgotten about that dress. It is adorable.
The Beach Club Solarium usually has really cold air conditioning. It is a good place to cool off. And the Beach Club Villas building has a pool table in their Drawing Room. There are a lot of secret places to hang out there.

We got to use the Freestyle machines that they have put in there. We use them a lot at home, but this was our first chance to use them at Disney.

I used them for the first time at the YC and really liked having some great choices. They are installing them in the Beach Club Marketplace this week. I would think that they cost more to run than the odd dispensers, but maybe not?

Oh well, it would have been a good idea. We made our way back to the front of the resort to wait for a Disney Springs bus

The boat is a lot of fun, so I can see why you went that route. We will be staying at POR next month and plan to take the boat to DS several times.

Overall we had a great dining experience here.

The burgers look delicious. I bet DH would love it there.

As we were finishing up eating a lady noticed my dress. She said she loved my Carly and would I like a pair of free leggings. Of course I said yes! Turns out she sells Lularoe. What a great marketing technique and I love my new leggings.

That must have a been a nice surprise.

It was very nice of him to give up his seat and I had a much more pleasant ride back to the lodge. Marshall while young is already 30lbs and he's just darnned heavy.

That was nice of them. It is really hard to hold a baby on a moving bus.

Who's he foolin he crunched numbers for like an hour.

That's what I do, too! I am always crunching numbers before booking a Disney vacation. .

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I just stumbled onto your trip report and read the whole thing through. I know I'm quite late but really am enjoying it. Keep em coming.

 

[paradesintherain]

Your family is so cute; especially your brother, Melissa!

Haha, but seriously, those pictures of Marshall loving on the characters were too sweet. And I am loving all the pictures of Wilderness Lodge. It's making me kind of sad that we're staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and not WL on our next trip, even though AKL is my favorite.

Speaking of, do you guys have any interest in staying at AKL? Seems like it'd be right up your alley since WL and AKL have the same architect and all!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

She looks like she's having a ton of fun!

She was in a particularly good mood. That's just a sample of one of the multiple pictures.

I've never heard of JoJo bows. My dd5 likes the ideas of bows but usually takes them out 10 minutes in.

Allie did that when she was 5 too. She has more bows than we can count, but now these big JoJo bows are the thing. She will wear them all day no problem. They are big and obnoxious and cost way too much, but she loves them.

They look so good. I'm not sure if we'll make it out to Disney Springs next trip but if we do, we'd like to try D'Luxe. My son loves burgers.

Well now you have another reason to go to Disney Springs. We definitely go every trip, but we like shopping and hanging out more than most. This was our first chance to really get to explore the new stuff, and there is so much to see.

That is awesome! And they look like a cute pair. Well they are rolled up but what's showing looks cute.

They are neat, and Melissa is watching her site for more cute stuff. They remind her of the Main Street Electrical Parade, or Rivers of Light.

You never know when it is going to work out and when it doesn't. At least you had a nice tour of POFQ.

We had a crazy long ride like this when we were at WL in March. We had a dinner ADR at Boma and as you know, there are several ways to get to AKL. Since we had plenty of time we decided to use Disney transportation to get to AKL and a taxi for the return trip. We could have taken the bus to AK then the bus to AKL - or - the boat to MK or CR then walk to the depot for the AKL. But since the MK bus was usually a very quick ride to MK, I suggested we go that route. That decision cost us about an hour and twenty minutes of our time. First the MK bus took about 20 minutes to get to the WL. Then it unloaded an ECV, then we went to FW, then we finally got to the bus depot at MK. We waited a relatively short time for the AKL bus, but it also had to load and ECV. In hindsight, I wish we had taken the boat. I hadn't known about the detour to FW for the dinner hour or I would have made a different choice.

Wow, that is a long trip. We would have made the same choice you did though for getting to the MK quickly from WL. Sometimes your transportation luck just runs out. We had a race to Boma a couple of years ago, and are glad that they aren't super strict about reservation times.

I see that Allie hasn't forgotten about that dress. It is adorable.

She had to take Melissa to see it, but we couldn't bring ourselves to spend $50 on it. We got lots of pictures and it is on Melissa's list for when she gets the sewing machines out.

The Beach Club Solarium usually has really cold air conditioning. It is a good place to cool off. And the Beach Club Villas building has a pool table in their Drawing Room. There are a lot of secret places to hang out there.

We really do like Beach Club. We have hung out there for a nice mid day break a few times. It totally could be our home at Epcot when we finally try staying over there.

I used them for the first time at the YC and really liked having some great choices. They are installing them in the Beach Club Marketplace this week. I would think that they cost more to run than the odd dispensers, but maybe not?

We've heard that Coke makes the supplies for them pretty economical, and the variety is great. They also try to make it really easy to replace flavors, although some restaurants around here still seem to have a hard time with it.

The boat is a lot of fun, so I can see why you went that route. We will be staying at POR next month and plan to take the boat to DS several times.

Yay, your trip there is getting close. We loved the boats there, and that was one big advantage of POR over WL. They are just about as cool as the Blue Flag boats on Bay Lake.

The burgers look delicious. I bet DH would love it there.

I bet he would. The problem is they are competing with Wolfgang Puck Express and the meatloaf sandwich. Our solution will be having at least two Disney Springs meals.

That was nice of them. It is really hard to hold a baby on a moving bus.

They were so polite. You really do meet some great people at WDW, which is one of the things we love about it.

That's what I do, too! I am always crunching numbers before booking a Disney vacation. .

That's how we get ourselves into these wonderful vacations, and still have money for groceries...usually.

I just stumbled onto your trip report and read the whole thing through. I know I'm quite late but really am enjoying it. Keep em coming.

Thanks for joining in! It's never too late. We have people find our old trip reports all the time. We're glad that you're enjoying it, and there's still lots more to come.

Your family is so cute; especially your brother, Melissa!

And he's available! He's got it all, good looks, a Jazz musician, a dancer, and he's even gainfully employed.

Haha, but seriously, those pictures of Marshall loving on the characters were too sweet. And I am loving all the pictures of Wilderness Lodge. It's making me kind of sad that we're staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and not WL on our next trip, even though AKL is my favorite.

We just love taking pictures of Wilderness Lodge, and of the kids having a ball at Disney. I could do that all day. Wait, I did do that all day, for ten days!

Speaking of, do you guys have any interest in staying at AKL? Seems like it'd be right up your alley since WL and AKL have the same architect and all!

We were one vote away from staying there for our trip last year. When free dining came out we had the chance to book it there and didn't have it yet at WL. Jon convinced us to hold out for WL. We have visited AKL during most of our trips, and really like it. The architectural similarities are neat, and it has some plusses like the zero entry main pool and the great kids playground. Plus there's the animals! It is on our bucket list, but WL beats it out as my favorite due to its proximity to MK and the boat transportation options. Another funny thing about AKL for me is that the theming is so extreme that it actually feels more exotic while WL feels more homey, and maybe slightly more comfortable, but that might just be me being non-adventurous.

 

[paradesintherain]

And he's available! He's got it all, good looks, a Jazz musician, a dancer, and he's even gainfully employed.


We just love taking pictures of Wilderness Lodge, and of the kids having a ball at Disney. I could do that all day. Wait, I did do that all day, for ten days!


We were one vote away from staying there for our trip last year. When free dining came out we had the chance to book it there and didn't have it yet at WL. Jon convinced us to hold out for WL. We have visited AKL during most of our trips, and really like it. The architectural similarities are neat, and it has some plusses like the zero entry main pool and the great kids playground. Plus there's the animals! It is on our bucket list, but WL beats it out as my favorite due to its proximity to MK and the boat transportation options. Another funny thing about AKL for me is that the theming is so extreme that it actually feels more exotic while WL feels more homey, and maybe slightly more comfortable, but that might just be me being non-adventurous.

Well shoot, help a girl out, it's a rough world out there

For some reason AKL always edges WL out for me (could be that I'm obsessed with The Lion King), but your fantastic pictures really make me want to stay there soon. I'm sure there's many more pictures to come, and I can't wait. At least we'll get to visit WL this trip - can't complain about that

Looking forward to reading more, and seeing more spectacular pics of the WL!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Well shoot, help a girl out, it's a rough world out there

We're just trying to find a nice aunt for our kids. Perhaps some Disney obsession would be a good thing for him.

For some reason AKL always edges WL out for me (could be that I'm obsessed with The Lion King), but your fantastic pictures really make me want to stay there soon. I'm sure there's many more pictures to come, and I can't wait. At least we'll get to visit WL this trip - can't complain about that

We can definitely appreciate that AKL is an awesome resort. We have had some strange luck there too, like getting stuck there during a fire, but we definitely could see a lodge split stay in our future. Plus, we need some Zebra Domes.
Your trip sounds like it will be great, and it is coming up soon. Say hi to both lodges for us. We like Port Orleans too, it should be fun.

Looking forward to reading more, and seeing more spectacular pics of the WL!

We'll get on that. Hopefully we will have another update done tomorrow.

 

[Stasieki]

Great update. I spent our trip Labor day week hunting down those rose gold ears. I should have bought the interchangeable ones. They are so cute. I actually didn't really know what they were when we were there. I was so zoned in on those darn rose gold ones. Never did get my hands on one.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Great update. I spent our trip Labor day week hunting down those rose gold ears. I should have bought the interchangeable ones. They are so cute. I actually didn't really know what they were when we were there. I was so zoned in on those darn rose gold ones. Never did get my hands on one.

Thanks! We had a great afternoon. Too bad about the rose gold ears. We totally know how it is to be fixated on something like that though. Sometimes the coolest souvenirs are things you just stumble upon and fall in love with.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I got up at 6:45 and went out for a walk to take pictures.




I enjoyed a mug refill at Geyser Point and then went to take more pictures. I got some general resort pictures, but mainly focused on hallway pictures on the Copper Creek Villas side so that I could try to determine the room configuration on each floor.



This was something I had wanted to do since I saw that they were completely changing the floors, making the old room number map obsolete. I wound up with lots of similar pictures, but got the info I needed to piece together a map.

He got obsessed with revising his map.

But that was more after we got home. At least I had the info I needed from the trip and the few hundred pictures I took. We headed down to Geyser Point for breakfast about 9:30. On the way the kids stopped and took pictures with Humphrey, the bear on the totem pole.



We hadn't done breakfast there yet so we met Jon and Brandy there to discuss plans for a return trip. We all watched Marshall extra extra close at breakfast after our last incident here but he was fine. He was mostly interested in breakfast.



We really enjoyed the breakfast wrap and the pancakes with apple compote. It was nice to have the extra variety in QS offerings, and in general they seemed slightly fancier than what was available at Roaring Fork.

The sausage was particularly good. We did a LOT of talking about the possibility of booking a bounce back and the potential of DVC.

We all agreed that we wanted to come back and when we did we wanted to come back together.

We also all liked the idea of September, since Allie's school would be starting a couple of weeks earlier next year, meaning we would be into early August, which would be even busier. We all preferred the lower crowds of September, and decided that it would be worth Allie having to do homework.

As far as DVC, Brandy had been looking at numbers too, and we went over what a trip would cost by either booking the Free Dining bounce back offer or by joining DVC. We realized that going in September the total points required for the trip would be less, thus reducing the purchase cost and maintenance fees for DVC membership.

We came to the conclusion that it really made sense for them to do DVC if they wanted to do more of these vacations. They agreed, but wanted us to do it too.

We decided to think about it some more while we cruised Bay Lake and the Lagoon on a pontoon boat. Dave, Megan and the boys joined us and we filled the boat to capacity.

We got all of the paperwork and liability releases filled out, then went out on the dock at 11:20. The guys on the dock were nice, and soon we were on our way. They did tell us not to turn off the boat, and that if we needed the lake patrol we should wave with two hands, because if we wave with one they are trained by Disney to wave back and keep going. We made it about a hundred yards from the dock before Marshall saw the keys for the boat, and proceeded to turn it off.


Fortunately it restarted fine, and we went around Discovery Island counter clockwise and then crossed the water bridge. We saw a lake patrol boat making a water stop by the bridge.



It was pretty hot on the boat but the babies munched on ice and the older kids seemed ok. It was a nice day for a cruise.



We went by the Grand Floridian and saw the lighthouse statue in honor of little Lane Graves. My heart still aches for his parents.


After waiting for the big ferry boats, we crossed back over the water bridge and got some pictures of Wilderness Lodge. The cabins looked really neat, and the resort is beautiful from the water.




Allie and Jack had a fun time, and posed for a picture before we got back to the dock.


When we got off the lake we were all pretty hot so we decided to have lunch at Roaring Fork.


Amazingly we were able to push tables together and enjoy our lunch together.


The air conditioning felt really nice after being outside all morning. It was great to get to eat together. Melissa got a flatbread and I got another cheeseburger. I sat by Jon and we talked more about DVC. Could we actually do it? And what would it be like? Were we insane for even considering it?

I got to sit next to the kids, not as exciting but way more messy. We had fastpasses in the afternoon for the Navi river ride over at Animal Kingdom so we said our goodbyes to Dave, Megan and the boys, grabbed the stroller and got on the bus.

We got on the bus at 1:54, arrived at the Contemporary at 2:00, and then Animal Kingdom at 2:28. Since we had some time to kill on the bus, we gave Adarsh, our DVC Guide, a call to ask if we could arrange a meeting with him. We thought he would be at AKL that day, but it turns out he was again at Wilderness Lodge.

We had more questions than answers about DVC and we needed those answers. Brandy and Jon were super excited about the possibilities so we set up a meeting.

Check back for the answers to some of these questions, and some big decisions in the next update.