Toddler Tales ~ A Wilderness Lodge Vaca

[DISLOVE]

Cast:
Me, Kristy, 28 and obsessed Disney World fan
DH, Eric, 29 and a true enabler who loves our trips
DD, Allison, a 2 year old on her second trip to Disney World
12/10 thru 12/17 at the Wilderness Lodge

We left bright and early on the 10th as we always pick the earliest Southwest departure from Manchester. Allison is so excited about going to see Mickey Mouse and Buzz Light that she can barely stand it! The flight to Orlando leaves on schedule and despite a massive head wind, we make it only 10 minutes late. As usual, Southwest is dependable and fun to fly. We only had one issue and that was Allison's two year old frustrations venting on the seat in front of us. No matter what we tried, she continued to kick the seat in front of us. It was frustrating for all but Eric and I tried to manage her behavior as best we could. She did sleep but not for the entire flight (like last year! That was the just the beginning of how our trip differed from last year.)

We used Florida Tours for our town car service. I have to admit that I didn't particularly care for this company. The service was mediocre and I thought that the price was a bit much. We used Tiffany last year and the driver was talkative and seemed to be enjoying his job. I have issues with people using the cell phone while working and both of our drivers did this. And our return driver had trouble navigating Disney World while talking to her daughter. Although the service wasn't awful, I won't be using them again.

We got to the Wilderness Lodge at about 11:30 and our room was ready! We had room 4090 and it could be the best room in the place! The view out the slider was MK and although parts were hard to see through the trees, we saw WISHES throughout the trip and were thrilled! We also had a lobby view room and really enjoyed sitting outside and listening to the carolers and musicians. It was so magical! This was important to us because we were back in the room each night by 7 to bathe Allison and get her to bed. We spent a lot of time in the room.. The only thing I would have done differently, had we been able to swing it, would be to have a suite. We spent nights huddled in bed staring a tiny portable DVD player to amuse us while she slept!

To Be Continued...

 

[DISLOVE]

Once we were in The World, the trip kind of gets blurry. We enjoyed ourselves mostly but having a 2 year old in Disney World was more work than we bargained for. We tried to keep her on her schedule and feed her healthy foods, but I think that we expected more peace than was realistic. Allison is a great toddler but she is still a toddler. She didn't care for getting from place to place (except on the boat and monorail!) and often had meltdowns (even right after a nap!) because she didn't want to sit still.

We had wonderful experiences with meeting the Princesses. We met Ariel at the grotto first and Allison was so taken with her. She was so soft spoken and calm, Allison felt at ease with her and nodded intently while Ariel spoke. Their meeting was something I will not forget... She went on to meet the rest of the princesses in Toon Town. She walked right up to them and initiated a bit of conversation. It was pricesless and we have all the pictures on the photo pass website to prove it!

The rest of our trip can be summed up with the list of Good and Bad...

Good:
*The Wilderness Lodge will never lose its magic in my book. I'm calmed by the whole atmosphere and find it to be a place where I can really let my hair down and relax.
* Boat transport to the MK was a godsend. Allison loved being on the boat!
* Osbourne Light display was pretty but I liked it much better on the back lot where it decorated the houses. Seemed a little overkillish to me within such a seemingly small space. (But it was GOOD
* Whispering Canyon Cafe was great as usual. On our first day, Allison observed MT and for the rest of the trip she would watch for her and call her "The Loud Girl"
* The Crystal Palace lunch was amazing. Ally was still a little shy with the charachters but the food was incredible (better than I had remembered!). Allison ate a lot that day and it was all healthy! Yea us!
* The charachters all around who respected Allison's boundaries and watched for her cues. Because she wasn't pushed or scared, by the last day of the trip she decided to walk right up to Brer Bear (whoa! pick a tall one!) and begin her tour of the characters in MK. I think we met most and she gave out a lot of hugs. I was so excited to see her come around.

The Bad...
* We were so disappointed with the food at Teppanyaki. We have eaten here many times and have been thrilled but this time the chicken was way over cooked, the steak just so so, and the sauces minimal. I also had trouble convincing the staff that Allison would want to eat when she woke up. They thought I was nuts ordering food for a child sleeping in the stroller. Every single person we met up with questioned me more than once... I am still confused about that... Seemed strange.
* Eric and I went to WDW in September and were there for Hurricane Jeanne. Although we were stuck in the hotel for periods, we were amazed by the Disney style service. We had a great time. Sad to say, we had no such feelings this trip. The people were mediocre at best. We tried to look past it but it really affected our trip.
* The weather was cold! We have gone to Disney for the past few Decembers and have had typical weather in the low 70s. This trip I don't think it got to 70 more than once... we were unprepared for it so we ended up spending a ton of money on cold weather gear! But it was sunny the whole time so we can't really complain!

That's all I can recall at the moment... Feel free to ask questions and jog my memory!
I love to talk Disney!

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[kimwim8]

Did you stay in a room with bunk beds? We are planning on doing that in December 2005, and are interested in seeing pics of them.

Also, know that each & every trip gets better for children. Both of my kids were so much more "into it" this past October than the previous trips.

 

[Krispe]

Thanks for sharing! Still haven't made it out to the Wilderness Lodge myself!!! Hopefully our next trip!

 

[zalansky]

I FEEL YOUR PAIN! My DS Connor will be two years old tomorrow and we have made many trips to WDW with good intentions (though we don't have as far to travel as you do!).....and when we get there we wonder, WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?! I had to laugh at the part about watching your little DVD player in the dark. That is actually a great idea....we usually end up sitting in the dark whispering for what seems like an eternity. Traveling with a toddler is definitely a lot more work than one bargains for.
I also have to agree with you about Teppanyaki. We just ate there for the first time for our CP package, it was our first time, and we hated it. I cannot emphasize that enough. My best guess is that we have eaten at two excellent Japanese Steakhouses in Tampa and Teppanyaki can't even try to compare. The food was so bland, meat tough, and sauces just plain yucky...you couldn't pay me to go back!
It does sound like you did have some fun times though and that is what matters most! Thanks for sharing!

 

[lindaso]

Gotta love sitting in the dark. We usually lay in the quiet darkness for the kids to fall asleep and my DH is ALWAYS the first one to fall asleep!! Thanks for sharing your trip report.

 

[Majestic]

Great trip report. Thanks for sharing. We love WL! Going back in January and can't wait.

 

[catherines_mama]

Another mom who knows what you mean. I went to bed very early on our vacation. Granted.. we stayed out til after fireworks each night (the daily nap thing allowed for this), but a 9/10pm bedtime for me is EARLY! LOL

My DD too was not interested in what I thought she would be, and intererested in what I had no idea she would be. Kids! We went back in Oct for a day trip from Sarasota and she was a tad better, but not much. Glad you still enjoyed your trip!

 

[dandelion]

Did you stay in a room with bunk beds? We are planning on doing that in December 2005, and are interested in seeing pics of them.

Also, know that each & every trip gets better for children. Both of my kids were so much more "into it" this past October than the previous trips.

Photos of the bunk beds here http://allearsnet.com/acc/wl18.jpg

and of the WL in general here http://allearsnet.com/acc/g_wl.htm

My kids are now 5 and 8, but we had plenty of those early nights also. We now prefer to rent a vacation home so they can have their own bedrooms, but the larger suite accomodations would also let you stay up beyond 9 p.m.

 

[JCTigger]

i slept in the bunk beds as a kid they werent that bad not much head room on the bottom bunk... how about trying maybe the cabins at wilderness campground... youll have that second room for the kids to go to bed and so you guys can sit out front and watch tv or something or read with out worring about waking them....

 

[DISLOVE]

Did you stay in a room with bunk beds? We are planning on doing that in December 2005, and are interested in seeing pics of them.

We did not have bunk beds and this was Allison's first experience sleeping in a big bed. She is too big for a pack and play (we used one last year at POR and it was great!) so we opted for bed rails for the other queen bed. We talked to her about staying in bed, to call for us if she needed something, and we fell asleep thinking we would find her in bed in the AM. Boy were we wrong!

I awoke the first morning and was a bit disoriented. I heard Allison talking about "Bear, Tutter, Where's Treelo??" but she sounded strange. Far away. It took me a minute and then I was up and out of bed. She was not in her bed. I explored a little further and found her on the bathroom floor. Reading her Bear's White Christmas Book. We had left the light on in the bathroom and cracked the door. Se looked up at me and said, "My reading!" She was so proud of herself! I was amazed. She had gotten down from that high bed, found a book in the luggage (IN THE DARK!) and made it to the bathroom to read without waking us up.

Although that experience was funny and she wasn't hurt... Eric and I took turns sleeping with her for the rest of the trip.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Great report! You're brave to be going with a 2-yo! Sounds like she's a great little girl!