The Finished at Last Trip Report - Day 8 – “Do you mind?” Yes, I do!

[Poohshoney]

The Cast:
Roland (37, German) – World’s best husband.
Carol (42, British) – Trying to live up to him.

Sunday, 7 December. Day 8 – “Do you mind?” Yes, I do!

Today was the day we decided we’d eat at Trail’s End Buffet, over at Fort Wilderness. This dictated our whole day, really.

I have to tell you, to my shame, I don't know what I did with my babies today. I know I must have done something, I enjoyed it so much, but I've been relying on photos to jog my memory and I didn’t take one. My overtaxed (it doesn’t take much) brain has gone on strike, nothing’s coming back to me. Soo… dear reader, imagine your own creative pose today! Should anyone be as mad as me and post something brilliant, there could be the humungous prize of a postcard from glorious Heidelberg in it for you. There – you don’t get many trip reports with prizes in them, do you?!

For anyone who thinks I'm obsessed with the weather – it’s a British trait, in our genes, we’re born with it. That’s my way of saying you’re right – living with me in winter’s not easy! You’ll be pleased to know that the weather was a little better today. Still cool but gloriously sunny with it.

Knowing we didn’t have to rush to a park meant we had a lovely lazy slow start to the day. The plan was to check out Wilderness Lodge, then stroll over to Fort Wilderness. TE doesn’t take PSs so we didn’t have to work to a timetable. We caught the bus to MK and then the boat to WL. As most people were obviously heading for the parks, we and another couple had the boat to ourselves. I liked that. My subconscious, the bit that tries not to think about drowning, feels that the less we weigh, the less likely we are to be dragged down to the murky depths. Though if we ever did sink, I could maybe cope with doing a Johnny Depp onto the quay. Cool!

WL was pretty deserted – and gorgeous. That lobby was obviously designed with Christmas in mind, it’s so perfect for it. Roland decided what he really wanted to do was take lots of photos of the lobby. I decided I really needed to examine the shop in great detail. So that’s what we did and we were both happy! I loved the shop. I think it was my favourite shop in all of WDW, even more than the villains’s shop at MGM. I still didn’t buy anything though. Some people are born to shop, I was born to browse.

Once we’d exhausted all the Lodge’s charms, we went outside. And when we got there, we stopped. Why aren’t there any signs to the Fort Wilderness? And if we just didn’t see them, why don’t they make them bigger?! I know the cliché is that Americans don't walk anywhere but I also know it isn’t true. I really wish Disney would signpost its paths better.

We knew it was off to the right, so we headed that way. When Roland saw a sign for the WLVillas, he wanted to check them out. No, he wasn’t interested in DVC, (sigh), he just wanted to see the villas. And he wasn’t convinced we’d found them when we did. A villa in German is like a small mansion – these were appartments. Roland would like to know why appartments are called villas, please? We both thought the same about them – we preferred the Lodge. And though we haven’t really seen any DVC properties up close, just photos, I don't think the WLV will be the one we pick when we win the lottery. No offense meant, WLV DVCers.

Right, let’s get off to Fort Wilderness! Only we still couldn't find a path. With my in-built radar, I found an employee to ask but as usual, faulty radar. The one and only man I could find spoke almost no English. I did a good job of explaining what we wanted to do so I was a bit taken aback when he laughed at us. “Long way. Too far walk, go bus.” I stuck to my guns, we wanted to walk. He pointed over to the lake and to the right – he was still shaking his head and laughing when we left him. Oh dear.

We went the way he pointed but there still weren’t any signs. We ended up walking parallel to the lake, though there wasn’t much of a path. In fact, it got quite dodgy underfoot. Then we spied a man in a cart – our saviour! Only as I walked towards him, he held his hand up to his face so that we couldn’t see it. This unnerved me a lot! He peeked between his fingers, then held his hand up again. He didn’t seem very friendly at all. But I was worried we were lost… that we’d end up in quicksand… I had to bite the bullet. It turned out he was eating a sandwich and wasn’t best pleased at being disturbed. He sort of made a joke of it but his smile didn’t reach his eyes, if you know what I mean. But he didn’t act as if we were mad to want to walk, in fact he told us how to get to the proper path. He also told us where not to walk as it was marshy – I knew I'd been right to worry about quicksand!

The path turned out to be very pretty and next to a road that wasn’t at all busy so it was a pleasant and very green walk. Beautiful trees lined both sides of it. And it wasn’t far at all!

Oh oh, time to start worrying about Trail’s End being busy. I'd read such good things about this place, and all for a bargain (Disney) price, I was a bit worried its secret might be out. There were quite a few people waiting on the porch so I started to worry a bit more. I needn’t have. One family who were seated before us was a party of eight so I knew when they went in, we probably wouldn’t have a long wait. We didn’t. Our server was Ken and he was very sweet. He explained all about the buffet to us and how the plates were hard to find. The drinks he brought us were great – they were in preserving jars! I thought that was such a brilliant idea. Not to mention that mine seemed to hold about a gallon of milk – I love milk, pure bliss! The whole place reminded me of a TV programme I watched when I was little – the Beverley Hillbillies. Roland had never heard of it so I spent a happy five minutes telling him all about it!
The buffet really was great value for money. I'd very much like to go there for both dinner and breakfast some time. It had a good selection and we filled our boots till they were overflowing.

Course, we didn’t know what everything was. There were some slabs of yellow stuff I wasn’t sure were sweet or savoury. I asked the lady next to me what it was and she said, `corn bread´. I opened my mouth to ask for more details but she just turned her back on me! I'd just decided I'd leave it when she turned back and said, “Do you mind?” She reached RIGHT over my plate to get to the buffet. If I hadn’t moved quickly, I'd have had her sleeve and right **** in my food. If she’d waited long enough, I'd have told her, yes, I minded very much!

I was braver with the cake, despite the hideous frosting. Roland refused to eat anything THAT pink! But it was better than it looked and went down well with my milk – so I had another piece! We rolled out feeling very full and pleased with ourselves – there aren't many places in Disneyworld you can eat so nicely and so much for under $22 for two!

We’d originally planned on exploring Fort Wilderness afterwards. I loved the idea of a petting zoo and I'd read that some people decorated their plots for Christmas. However, the only exploring we did was of the shop. I liked this one too! I was surprised at how many groceries they carried. I know it’s a campsite and therefore self-catering, but I was still surprised. I enjoyed browsing that bit most. I love going round foreign supermarkets, seeing what they have that I've never heard of!

After that, it was back to the crowded boat – four other people this time. Roland asked what I fancied doing next – I think he was dumbstruck when I didn’t say MK, especially as we were right next to it! My suggestion was that we didn’t go to a park at all that day. I'd noticed that we were both feeling very mellow and it seemed a shame not to continue at the same leisurely pace. I can’t do that in a park, there’s too much to distract the eye. Now I know we stroll round Riverside every chance we get, but I suggested we do it again anyway. But do it more thoroughly. I even suggested we hire a surrey bike and pedal our way round. Roland said that, being as his legs are a foot longer than mine, he didn’t think that would be leisurely for him. (Sounded good to me though!)

We had a lovely surprise when we got to the room – Lisa the mousekeeper had entered into the stuffie-spirit! Moose and Little Twinnie were playing Blizzard Beach in the bath, watched excitedly by Mickey and Ghostie – fun!!!

As we weren’t going out of the grounds, I felt brave enough to leave the ponchos and gloves, hat, etc in our room. Wow… I hadn’t realised how much weight I'd been schlepping round with me till it wasn’t there any more. Shame I missed the qualifications for the olympics, I swear the weightlifting gold would have been mine.

Now I know I've said before how much we love Riverside but really, we LOVE Riverside! If we’d forgotten why, then that day would have brought it all back to us. The place was practically deserted, the sun was shining, the fountains were jumping. Everywhere we looked was a photo-opportunity in the making. Just beautiful. So peaceful. We took lots of photos last time but we took even more this time. There were poinsettias everywhere, cunningly replacing the rose bushes we’d had last time. I used a lot of the photos to make wallpaper for my computer – I just need to look at the photos and I'm instantly whisked back to the tranquility of the day. I can feel the stress dropping away.

Well, maybe not the pavillion one. Not that it isn’t beautiful, it is, it’s gorgeous. But that conjures up the lady who, when she saw me walking over with my camera, decided she’d go sit in it, quick. With her brightly coloured plastic bag. Held up at an angle that nobody would want in a photo. Eventually, she got tired of that game and moved on. And I got some nice photos and a memory to smile at!

Our Riverside photos are so deserted, inside and out. It makes it look as if we were the only people there. Hang on, wasn’t this meant to be the packed weekend? I'd forgotten about that. Oh well, maybe the parks were busy.

We were a bit surprised to not see any bunnies this time. Where’d they go? We saw loads last time. We saw squirrels this time – so where were they last time? Were they really animatronics, cleverly rotated by Disney, like the flower beds? Stepford wildlife?

Even more fascinating than that thought were the trees – we’ve never seen trees like them and we still don’t know what they were. They were surrounded by lots of little stumps – it looked to us as if their roots were growing back up out of the earth. There’s no prize for this one, but if anyone could tell us what they were, we’d be delighted. There you go – a chance to make us happy, a prize in itself!

Eventually, we went and collected our mugs, refilled them in the deserted food court and sat ourselves down to bask in the rays. Magic! And Roland kept telling me what an excellent idea I'd had when I said not to go to the parks, this was what he’d wanted to come back for. Happy wifey!

All good things must come to an end – the sun started disappearing over the yardarm. We thought about going to see Illuminations or Fantasmic but we were just too chilled – and I don’t mean cold this time! The idea of all those people after our secluded day just didn’t appeal. We decided we’d risk Downtown Disney again, hoping it wouldn’t be too busy. It wasn't!

To my surprise, Roland didn’t want to take the boat. I know he loved that last year but he explained he’d loved it when it was warm – which it wasn’t any more. So we caught the bus. The bus ride to DD seemed more boring than any other, don't know why. I could see why the boat ride is popular, I'm glad they reinstated it.

One thing I'd regretted last time was not getting myself a T-shirt. I'm not big on having T-shirts with stuff on them, I prefer plain. I decided before we came that this time, I was going to get one. I'd seen a couple I'd liked but couldn’t decide whether I'd liked them enough to buy them. I'm just no good at shopping! I'd seen a lovely one at AK with an Asian theme to it and hidden Mickeys. Unfortunately, I hadn’t liked the material or the long sleeves. Actually, I hadn’t liked the cuffs, they were shoddy. They’d wanted $25 for a T-shirt that would have been about $2 at a cheapy shop if it hadn’t been for the print. Baaad Disney!

Roland had been extremely patient about my browsing. He knew how disappointed I'd felt last time and he knows I'm not a shopaholic so he very patiently stood and watched me examine every T-shirt in every shop with no complaining. When you read this Roland, I'd just like to say thankyou!

I found a T-shirt in the magic shop that I thought might be the one. It was black, with a sort of metallic dragon on the back, very futuristic. The front and back also had a sort of moon, made like a hidden Mickey. I looked at it carefully, I held it up, I twirled. I wasn’t sure. I also knew that we’d get an AP discount at the World of Disney, so maybe we ought to have another look there before I made my final decision. I tell you, Roland was sooo patient that night!

Even WofD wasn’t too bad.crowd-wise. We bought a baseball cap for the littlest member of our extended family, Eliano. He’s Roland’s cousin's little boy and he is so cute, he’s to die for! Roland chose the cap, it’s a Sorcerer Mickey, almost as cute as Eliano. Unfortunately, he didn’t take to it when we gave it to him. As fast as his mum could put it on, he could take it off again. I'm hoping it grows on him before he can grow out of it!

I was beginning to get a bit despondent in the great T-shirt hunt. It was a lot harder than the great hat hunt. I could guarantee that if I liked the motif, I'd hate the T-shirt colour and it seemed a good idea to get a colour I'd wear! I thought I'd checked every one out and still not made a decision but then we checked the men’s section. And lo and behold, there was the dragon T-shirt! Well, that just showed that it was meant to be, didn’t it? The one I'd liked, with an AP discount – the hunt was over!

We had a close-shave when I tried it on. I wasn’t sure if I was an M or an L, I was an M. When I told Roland, he asked, a litle too doubtfully, “An M? Are you sure?” All ladies reading and all the astute men will recognise the danger in that question. It’s the dread F-word again, isn’t it?! That is definitely an implication that I couldn't possibly fit in an M! But I was in a more mellow mood so I let it pass - with no more than a heart-freezing look which had Roland staggering back. Then I went and paid! I found out later that Roland needed to know whether I was an M or an L for a good reason. At least, I hope that’s why he was asking…

An aside about the T-shirt. The first time I washed it, it came out funny. The print had come off in a thin straight line down through the middle. I think it was maybe where it had been folded in my case, but I'm not sure. I decided that wasn't right, it shouldn’t have come off like that. So I rang the number on the receipt. I was expecting a big battle, I even took photos to send them to show them the damage, but I was completely wrong. The CM was so nice about it, apologising profusely and telling me how much he liked it. I got a new one ten days later. Excellent service!

We thought we weren’t hungry at DD. I did, of course, manage a double-chocolate freebie square at Ghiradelli’s. No surprise there then! However, by the time we got back to Riverside, we were ravenous. Maybe it’s something they put in the bus air-conditioning? We had the nachos at the food court again. When I asked for them without tomatoes, the two Spanish-speaking servers had a chat about how strange a request it was. It’s amazing how much body language, facial expression and tone reveal about what’s being said, even if you don't understand the words!

The food was as nice as ever – wish we could get them here – but my eavesdropping was sad again. I need a T-shirt saying `only talk happy if you’re near me´! As it was, we were next to some grandparents with two little girls. They fawned all over one little girl, continually chatting to her and running to get anything she wanted, but completely ignored the other. And I mean completely. She looked so sad, I was dying to cuddle her. I hoped very hard that she was a granddaughter’s friend they’d brought along for company. It wouldn’t make it right of course, but I'd hate for that little girl to be faced with that second-best feeling all the time.

Our usual stroll was a brisk walk this time – too cold for dawdling! Back at the room, we thought a little about what we’d be doing the next day – for the first time! I guess it was beginning to show that we’d already been there a week. But such a happy week and that day, even though there were no parks in it, was one of the best. See, the magic’s everywhere!

 

[SusanEllen]

What a contrast this gently paced day was to the action-packed days that came before. I applaud you for not giving in to the feeling that you must "do" something every day at Disney. To "be" is a pleasure itself in a place so special, isn't it? And one, I fear, many people miss.
Only knowing Roland from what you tell us, I think you are a very lucky woman.

 

[Poohshoney]

Thanks SueEllen! I'm glad we can go for long enough to have the luxury of days like that - they make it even more special! And I AM a lucky woman, and a VERY happy one!!!

 

[KayleeUK]

Very chilled day

 

[WDWfan uk]

Wow - what a wonderful day! (Another one!!) In their own way, 'down' days are as special as park days.