Timandlesley’s how to win a dream in 10 days 11/15 NEW PTR UP!! pg. 94 has link!!!

[MegansMom]

At this rate, this thread will be closed down for too many pages before you get half way through your trip!! Hee Hee HEE!!! ;o)

 

[lmillercrew]

I followed you over and am excited to start reading your trip report

 

[timandlesley]

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I am so overwhelmed and flattered by everyone reading our first installment and all of the posts from those of you who have followed our family for years and those of you who are coming along for the ride for the first time DIS ROCKS!!! Thanks guys.
Instead of taking up 5 more pages of responding to everyone individual which for those of you who know us I typically do and when this gets going I will respond when people have questions, etc. I will just post a general message:
1). THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR READING and posting that is just so sweet, means a lot to us and motivates me to get this out there for you to read
2). Thanks for all the awesome comments about my children, I agree I think they are beautiful but of course I'm their mama so I'm gonna think that
3). Yes, the WL is an outstanding resort, WE LOVE it, this was our 3rd visit there and we fall in love with it more and more year after year, I took lots of pics and those are coming up as well as video of the lodge so stay tuned.
4). Yes, we did have a great trip and got tons in on that first day, we were having a major adrenaline rush and wanted to take everything in on the first day. In the moment I guess I didn't realize how much we squeezed in on such little sleep butlooking back now, WOW!!!

O.K., so in the future if you ask a question I will DEFINITELY respond back to each person but since I've only done installment one and we're on page 7 I'll keep it limited to this on this one occassion.

I'm gonna go now and work on installment #2 and have it posted for you all tonight since you are such great readers
See ya later, stay tuned!
Lesley

 

[timandlesley]

So where did I leave off…. Oh yes, Tim nodding off on the bus and insisting to perfect strangers he wasn’t sleeping. RIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTT!!!
We got off of the bus and into the glorious lobby. Here is a pic of the bridge I took as Tim went to the desk to see if our room was ready:

Tim came back and told us we had a room on the 3rd floor. He headed to the elevators right there by the lobby and I said “Tim, shouldn’t we just go down by Roaring Forks and head up?” He looked at me funny (elevator button already pressed) and I said “oh never mind, I’m sure we can get to our room this way too” . Well, this was a 3 hour tour and it didn’t end up connecting to our room. Oh well, we ended up going back down, walking by the pool to get to our room.
I snapped these shots along the way:

Man I just love the lodge, seeing those pics now makes me want to be back there right now, o.k. back to the report.
So, we finally get up to our hall and we are so excited to see the room:

Some Mickey’s on the carpet:

Here was our room number:

Luke wanted to do the honors:

Poor guy, little did he know he was using some Wilderness Lodge business card instead of the key, so Tim helped him out with the real key and WE WERE IN BABY!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhh,what a beautiful room:

We were greeted by luggage which was an awesome thing:

And one of these babies:

Here are the kids checking out the balcony:

After snapping that photo I turned around and saw a happy Tim enjoying his new bed:

After the excitement of being in the room and having luggage wore off we all got into bed and fell asleep, we slept HARD. Luke and Tim were snoring away in no time. I got a wake up call for myself and got up and took a shower and got ready for dinner and let the kids sleep. I woke Tim up so he could grab a shower and then we were headed for our dinner at Chef Mickey’s.
We took the boat to the Contemporary resort (one of the awesome perks of staying at the lodge) Here are Tim and Luke on the boat:

Here is our view from the boat, they are really making progress on that Contemporary DVC, I wanna own there!!!

The kids wanted to pose in front of this guy at the Contemporary:

As we walked in and were headed up the escalator this new restaurant was there and I had to snap a photo of it for you guys, doesn’t it look cool:

We had made ressie’s for there but cancelled them after looking over the menu, not too appealing to me which is a shame because it really looks like a nice place.

 

[timandlesley]

We headed up to Chef Mickey’s and got our photo taken:

Then we were handed a pager and told it would be a little while until we got called. Tim and Luke headed to the arcade to get a game in while Lauren and I waited for the table.
As I was sitting there a lovely mom and her two girls approached me who had read our Pre TR here on the Dis. Her name was Alice and her daughters were Abby and Sophie. They were so cute. Alice said that her daughter was more excited to see me than the characters, of course I gave her a big hug and told her I was flattered, then took this photo of us (good thing my arms are long):

Hi guys, it was nice to see you, hope you had a great trip, !!!!
As we were wrapping up our conversation Tim and Luke walked up and got to say hello and then our pager went off, we said good bye and headed to our table.
I remembered the lady making my reservation (180 days ago) asked if there were any special occasions during our trip and I mentioned my b-day but didn’t ask to put it on the reservation or anything, but this was a surprise for me on the table:

The character interaction was great as usual, here are some pics:

Lauren was so excited to be getting autographs this year, a first for her, can’t you just see it in her face:

Donald was a favorite:

Tim was getting REALLY fresh with Minnie:

It was funny. She came around and gave me a huge hug as if to say “sorry you have to put up with him”:

We had fun at this meal, the kids loved it. We are not a big fan of the food here, but do it for the kids for the characters.
After dinner the “plan” was to head to MK since we had napped and see WISHES. Well………… a friend of mine from work (hi Penny) and her family had arrived the day before. Tim said “give them a call and see what they are up to”. Well, turns out they were in Epcot. It was a beautiful night and we deviated from the plan and headed to Epcot to hang out with them. I talked her through finding a spot for Illuminations (they had never seen it) over the phone. So we met up with them in Italy.
When we got there she said her two girls, Lauren and Emily were over in Italy coloring masks at Kidcot. When Lauren and Luke heard that of course they wanted to get in on that action:

It was a BEAUTIFUL Epcot night:

After that I got an Italian Margarita, man are those YUMMY!!! They are cheaper than the ones they sell in Mexico and twice as good. I also got a hot pretzel and frozen lemonade (two snack credits) for the kids to enjoy for the show. Then headed back to our location in Epcot to hang out with Penny and her husband Wayne (it was his birthday this night) before the show began.
Here is me and my buddy Penny:

The kids watching the show:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, can’t you just hear the fireworks and hear that beautiful music:

After the awesome show we all headed to the exit, they headed to their POFQ bus stop and we headed to our very crowded WL and Fort Wilderness bus stop. It took a few loads for us to get on (about 30 min. total wait time). Then we were headed back to the lodge. We hit roaring forks for some late night snacks and to claim our 4 refillable mugs on the deluxe dining plan.
I called Bell Services for them to deliver the two cases of water I had ordered from Costco (if you didn’t hear about this in the pre tr it is a MUST do if you are flying. I am not even a Costco member and it only cost me about 15.00 to ship two cases of bottled water, they are getting from 2-3.00 on property per bottle. I ordered it a week ahead of time and it was there waiting for us, DEFINITELY DO THIS if flying and staying on property, it saved us a ton of money).
Then the kids climbed in bed with their snacks and watched some t.v. as I unpacked the suitcases. I called and scheduled a 7 a.m. wake up call for us tomorrow. As I was doing that Tim realized his cell phone charger was missing. I’ll fill you in on what happens with that later. A 10 day trip in Disney without a cell would be a terrible thing, can we solve that problem???

Next installment Click here:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1861757&page=10

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Great update- sounds like a perfect first day!

 

[shannon47142]

fun update!!

 

[KatGarcia]

You must tell me more about this Italian Margarita!! Where did you get it and how much??

 

[PittypatBR]

At least it feels as though we are old friends! I am addicted to your trip reports so I hurried on over and look at all these pages already!! I love your TR's because you take so many pics and tell us so many details, and your kids are the most photogenic and adorable pair around! Tim looks terrific! Tell him Congrats! And you always looks great, so what a fine family! I haven't been around much the last few months, but now I think we will be going back in the spring, so I can start to get excited. (Yes, of course, this far ahead!) That was a terrific (and VERY LONG) first day. I can't wait to see what happens next, but how are you managing to catch up with the laundry, the mail, the bills, the school work, and everything else and still find time to write this? I am impressed!

 

[PittypatBR]

Oh, and I want to hear more about that Italian Margarita also! I love Bellinis, so I already have a thing for Italian drinks!

 

[scottny]

great update and pics.

I have had that Italian margarita and it was good.

How great you were able to meet up with friends.

Chef Mickey's is fun but never tried it for dinner. maybe one day.

 

[Kristina]

Hi! I just want to say, like everyone else how much I am enjoying your report!! I had stumbled on your pre trip and that was written in such fine style with tons of detail but you guys were just expected home so I didn't get a chance to partake of the pre trip excitement with you all .

I love your kids, could they be any cuter?! I mean really, they are adorable ! I too am glad you had such a great first day, Wow! I can't wait for your next installment and to hear what you guys thought of Toy Story Mania. I am so excited to ride that and I don't even have a trip planned at the moment, poor me . We were supposed to go in Nov/Dec but that fell through and now I'm thinking February. Or May. Hopefully one or the other !

Oh yeah and happy belated !

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

The WL is really a beautiful resort.

How cool that you got to meet up with 2 sets of friends that first night. We enjoy chef Mickeys for the characters too, that picure of your daughter getting autographs is just adorable. Ds collected autographs for the first time last year and couldnt get enough, i think he even went to sleep with his book!

hmm may have to add italian magarita to my list of drinks to try in epcot!

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[Tanya90210]

What a great night at chef mickeys.... You guys look like you had a fabulous time there Isn't it nice running into friends from home at Disney

 

[CRSNDSNY]

AWESOME!!!

Tell me more about those Italian Margaritas! I'm a big fan of the ones in Mexico but always willing to try something new.

 

[IcePrincess467]

The WL is just a beautiful place Your room & view are beautiful!! Sounds like you had an amazing first day!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Susiev25]

I'm a first time poster on one of your TR and I must say it's great so far! Your kids are so cute! We're going next month and this is just what I need so keep it coming for me

 

[timandlesley]

You must tell me more about this Italian Margarita!! Where did you get it and how much??

Well, they are available in a cart in Italy, to the left of Tutio Italia. They were 7.50. I heard several people come up and say "Man, these are so much better than the one's in Mexico and they are getting 8.00 over there!" I couldn't agree more.

At least it feels as though we are old friends! I am addicted to your trip reports so I hurried on over and look at all these pages already!! I love your TR's because you take so many pics and tell us so many details, and your kids are the most photogenic and adorable pair around! Tim looks terrific! Tell him Congrats! And you always looks great, so what a fine family! I haven't been around much the last few months, but now I think we will be going back in the spring, so I can start to get excited. (Yes, of course, this far ahead!) That was a terrific (and VERY LONG) first day. I can't wait to see what happens next, but how are you managing to catch up with the laundry, the mail, the bills, the school work, and everything else and still find time to write this? I am impressed!

So glad you came back for more. Well, without teaching full time during the day I am finding more time to get these done. Tim uploaded the pics for me so that makes it easier. The mail is all caught up, laundry I must admit is still in a pile, bills are done online and are up to date, University of Phoenix is still done in the evenings after the kids are in bed which is why the update came out so late last night. Thanks for the kids compliments, I appreciate it.
Lesley

great update and pics.

I have had that Italian margarita and it was good.

How great you were able to meet up with friends.

Chef Mickey's is fun but never tried it for dinner. maybe one day.

Yes, it was a fun day and those margarita's are yummy. I recommend chef Mickey's for breakfast more than dinner, same characters, better food.

Hi! I just want to say, like everyone else how much I am enjoying your report!! I had stumbled on your pre trip and that was written in such fine style with tons of detail but you guys were just expected home so I didn't get a chance to partake of the pre trip excitement with you all .

I love your kids, could they be any cuter?! I mean really, they are adorable ! I too am glad you had such a great first day, Wow! I can't wait for your next installment and to hear what you guys thought of Toy Story Mania. I am so excited to ride that and I don't even have a trip planned at the moment, poor me . We were supposed to go in Nov/Dec but that fell through and now I'm thinking February. Or May. Hopefully one or the other !

Oh yeah and happy belated !

Thank you for the birthday wish. Thank you for the kid compliments, so sweet of you. I will tell you in detail about Toy Story in the next installment, I took A TON of pics. Hope you get back to the World soon, but for now you can live vicariously through us, enjoy!
Lesley

The WL is really a beautiful resort.

How cool that you got to meet up with 2 sets of friends that first night. We enjoy chef Mickeys for the characters too, that picure of your daughter getting autographs is just adorable. Ds collected autographs for the first time last year and couldnt get enough, i think he even went to sleep with his book!

hmm may have to add italian magarita to my list of drinks to try in epcot!

Looking forward to reading more.

I know, the WL is just so beautiful, it really is breathtaking. Yes, it was great bumping into Alice and her family and spending time with Penny and her family as well. Lauren looked at her autograph book on the way back to the resort on the bus constantly trying to memorize what each characters signature looked like, it was so cute.
Yes, add the italian margarita to your list, it is list-worthy!
Lesley

What a great night at chef mickeys.... You guys look like you had a fabulous time there Isn't it nice running into friends from home at Disney

We did, and yes, it was great running into friends.

AWESOME!!!

Tell me more about those Italian Margaritas! I'm a big fan of the ones in Mexico but always willing to try something new.

As I just posted above they are super yummy, sell for 7.50 and they are available to the left of Tuttio Italia in a cart there that sells drinks and pastries, you gotta try one!

The WL is just a beautiful place Your room & view are beautiful!! Sounds like you had an amazing first day!!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks, we really did. Thanks for reading.

I'm a first time poster on one of your TR and I must say it's great so far! Your kids are so cute! We're going next month and this is just what I need so keep it coming for me

Well welcome and thanks for posting. Glad you are enjoying the TR. I hope you have a wonderful trip next month!
Lesley

 

[DisneyFan06]

Another wonderful update. I can't wait to read more. Now I am set in a Disney mood for the entire day! Thanks

 

[nateryan]

What an awesome first day - very impressive! Great pics and report as always. I see you were wearing the Mickey necklace that I asked about in your PTR...I'm still planning on getting one. Not sure if it will be mentioned in your TR later but I'm curious if Luke was holding Pal Mickey. If it was Pal Mickey, can you tell me if Luke liked it and if it was worth the money. I want to get one for our 6 year old DS.