Up, down and all around...a trip we will NEVER forget - COMPLETE 1/19

[Lady Lallie]

Then you would have the foreign people who acted like they couldn't understand you so they wouldn't have to follow directions. They made me mad!

I noticed this quite bit on our last trip! Very frustrating.

Oh no about the stroller!! So nice about the fast passes though!

 

[thewesterberg]

Another cliffhanger!! I'll be obsessively checking back in all day to see what happens!!

I'm glad you got to experience Fantasmic. We liked it okay, but Wishes is much more my thing. The end of Fantasmic is my favorite. Like you said, it's nice Disney has options - something for every one!

Isn't fun to spread the magic and give away your fastpasses?! I've done it a few times and once people realize it's for real, it's cool to see their smiles!

And that DVC tour, sucking you in!! There must be something in the ice cream there that brainwashes a person into buying!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Something was amiss...

There was a pink flowered bib in our stroller basket.
And a cute orange Mickey bag with little girl clothes in it.

I looked at Joe.

“This is not our stroller.”

“WHAT?!”

“This is not our stroller!” We started to laugh and quickly headed back toward the park. What in the world were we gonna do?!

We went to Guest Relations, who sent us over to the Lost & Found counter. The CM working said no strollers have been reported missing, nor have any bags matching that description. Our stroller was not returned either. I asked him what we should do, hoping for some guidance, which he couldn't provide. It was totally up to us. Hoo boy.

Well, we couldn’t NOT have a stroller, so I had to take it with us. But I felt like we were stealing. So, I didn't want to do that. But...uh...Disney + 1 year old + no stroller = YA RIGHT!

After much talking, we finally opted to leave the bag with the clothing and we would write at note to the owner, apologizing profusely, leaving ALL our contact information-both at Disney and at home, and stick it in their bag, hoping they would come to the Lost & Found looking for it all.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was half laughing and half crying. The CM reassured me it happens many times a day and it usually works itself out.

As I was writing the note the CM suddenly interrupted and pointed at a family on the inside the park side of the desk. Joe got the connection instantly, the family who had our stroller was there!!!!!



What are the odds?! Seriously! It really is a small world after all!

We two Moms were laughing and near tears and apologizing about the mix-up. We quickly exchanged strollers, I handed them their bag and we were off again.

I was in shock, laughing and half crying all the way back to the bus stop. I was so relieved and thankful!

We boarded the bus and headed back to the WL. Upon stepping off the bus, all the lights leading up to the resort were on and flickering like they were candles. It was beautiful. I commented again about how much I loved it there.

We also decided we were hungry! This was the first time all day we were truly hungry. That has to be a good sign, right?

We went to Roaring Fork and Joe got a Pepperoni Flatbread Pizza (what else? ) and I got a Roast Beef Sandwich and Fries. I had a Gerber meal in the diaper bag for Henry, he had woken up, and was HUNGRY!, so I warmed it up in the microwave and we headed back to our room to eat.

Henry GOBBLED his dinner, I felt so bad-just because we weren’t hungry didn’t mean he wasn’t. But he hadn’t complained at all until we were warming up his dinner – he’s such a good boy. After he ate his entire Gerber dinner, he also ate a yogurt and some of Joe’s pizza. My little bottomless pit.

The food was VERY good. I don’t have pictures because the battery was still dead (though charging by this time), but I was too hungry to wait for it to have enough charge. Sorry folks!

After eating we laid Henry down and Joe and I again spent some time on the balcony until he fell asleep. It was a nice time to just relax and look out and enjoy the resort and eachothers company.

Henry fell asleep quickly and we headed back inside. The Electric Light Parade started and we watched it for a bit. Joe went down to the hot tub and I wrote my updates in my trip journal. I made notes in my journal this night about little things at the WL that I love:

I love seeing the light parade from our window.
I love the black granite counter at the bathrooms.
I love the square laterns that flicker outside.
I love the sound of the water.
I love the little fridge/dresser thing in the hallway of the room.
I really really like the WL!

Soon Joe was back, and the camera battery was charged, so I had to take pictures of the ADORABLE octopus towel animal we had gotten! I loved him and wanted to bring him home with us. He proudly sat on our sink all week long.

It was soon lights out for us. We were feeling a bit better after eating. Though, I will gently say, we both had a couple "not so pleasant" bathroom breaks that day. We planned to sleep in as long as our little boy would let us and then head to Animal Kingdom the next day.

Up next: I know where every bathroom at AK is

 

[thewesterberg]

Thanks for making me not have to wait too long!! Now maybe I can get some work done today!

Wow that you got the stroller situation figured out without much hassle! Perfect timing!! And two relieved families!

Wilderness Lodge seems so beautiful and serene. Thanks for sharing the little details that made it so wonderful.

And another cliffhanger, and not a good one it seems...

 

[brookelizabeth]

Working at Fantasmic was quite an experience- dealing with that many people (many of them being very rude) and then having to clean up after them. You wouldn't believe the things people left behind for us to pick up. (Poopy diapers!) Then you would have the foreign people who acted like they couldn't understand you so they wouldn't have to follow directions. They made me mad!

In my book, the good outweighed the bad by a million! It was one of the best times of my life and I miss it very much! Yes, I do have it memorized. I do the princess dances for G every now and then for entertainment.

POOPY DIAPERS! Ewwwwwwwwww! That is so rude. Oh my. I'm really glad to hear the good outweighed the bad though.

That is so cute that you do the princess dances for your DH!

I noticed this quite bit on our last trip! Very frustrating.

Oh no about the stroller!! So nice about the fast passes though!

Ya, I think someone that spoke NO English wouldn't really be able to get by at Disney at all. That would be very frustrating.

The stroller ordeal was very interesting.....

Another cliffhanger!! I'll be obsessively checking back in all day to see what happens!!

I'm glad you got to experience Fantasmic. We liked it okay, but Wishes is much more my thing. The end of Fantasmic is my favorite. Like you said, it's nice Disney has options - something for every one!

Isn't fun to spread the magic and give away your fastpasses?! I've done it a few times and once people realize it's for real, it's cool to see their smiles!

And that DVC tour, sucking you in!! There must be something in the ice cream there that brainwashes a person into buying!!

No waiting today! I'm a posting foooooool!

I loved giving away our Fastpasses! In 2006 we were given FPs for EE and were just amazed, so it's awesome being on the other end of it too!

I think it's actually the AKV bathtub and shower in the Master bedroom that suck you in to buying. (but the ice cream doesn't hurt either! )

 

[alan_renfroe]

I don't know why it has taken me so long to find this trip report, but it is WONDERFUL!!! I have just spent the last 2.5 hours reading the entire thing. You are an excellent story-teller, and Henry is just awesome! I'm subscribing and will be along for the rest of the ride!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Thanks for making me not have to wait too long!! Now maybe I can get some work done today!

Wow that you got the stroller situation figured out without much hassle! Perfect timing!! And two relieved families!

Wilderness Lodge seems so beautiful and serene. Thanks for sharing the little details that made it so wonderful.

And another cliffhanger, and not a good one it seems...

Your welcome! I hope to get a few more updates in today too!

Ya, the stroller ordeal was just crazy! I WAS SOOOOO happy they walked up at the same time we were there. I figured it would work itself out, but I knew it would take quite a bit of extra time to meet up with them/trade strollers/etc. And what would happen if they didn't have our stroller, but another family was involved too?! Oh man...

The WL is so awesome. We hope to stay there again sometime!

Ya, this cliffhanger, not so fun...

 

[brookelizabeth]

I don't know why it has taken me so long to find this trip report, but it is WONDERFUL!!! I have just spent the last 2.5 hours reading the entire thing. You are an excellent story-teller, and Henry is just awesome! I'm subscribing and will be along for the rest of the ride!

Hey there and welcome! Thank you for the compliments on the TR and Henry. I have to agree with you on Henry, he is awesome!! I love my little dude. He still loves his Mickey plush and gives it hugs and kisses daily. It's adorable. Last night we were at a store, Menards (kinda like Home Depot-not sure if they are all over or not?) and there was a giant Mickey dressed like Santa - he wanted it so, so badly! If it wasn't $85 I might have caved! Hee hee!

More coming soon!

 

[Mocharilla]

Oh, the stroller story! I was always worried that would happen to us! Good thing it all worked itself out!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Before I begin I will say three things:

1) AK is a beautiful park!
2) We took a ton of pictures at AK and this post covers the entire day, so this will be long and in several sections due to pictures.
3) Warning! While there is no Chef Mickey’s Incident in this update, we know where every bathroom at AK is for a reason...

We woke up to our little guy babbling and peering over the edge of the Pack & Play at us. It was slightly earlier than the morning before. (A trend that continues throughout the week until we were woken up at 6:40 am for our last day!)

The agenda had us for an ADR at Noon at Yak & Yeti at AK, the park closed at 5:00 pm that night and I hoped we would feel well enough to make it to DTD for WPE and some shopping that we didn’t do on our arrival day.

We both woke up feeling okay. I forgot to previously add that upon our return to WL the night before we stopped in the gift shop and bought some Pepto Bismol, which we had both taken before bed. We didn't feel great that morning, but not bad-better than yesterday morning. I felt well enough to make coffee in the room for the first time, so that was a positive sign.

A bit too much creamer-it wouldn't all mix in...but still good!

Joe was still a bit off. We both took some more Pepto before leaving the room.

We got ready and then went to Roaring Fork to grab some breakfast before heading out to AK. I got my favorite breakfast of yogurt, mixed berries and granola. At home I have yogurt, mixed berries with Fiber One cereal mixed in almost everyday. They were out of granola, so I opted for Raisin Bran on top.

Yummy breakfast!

Joe also got this, but with just strawberries and with Frosted Flakes.

We used a meal credit, so we each got two drinks and a side. It was more than enough for me, Joe and Henry to be very full and satisfied.

The bus arrived and we stopped at the GF first. I later commented to Joe that if I were staying at the GF I would not want to share a bus. The GF is so stinkin’ expensive, shouldn’t they get town car service to and from the parks?

Anyway, I digress. The bus ride was long, and kind of annoying for some reason. It was already getting late, and I just wanted to be at the park. We eventually arrived

Oh, I wanted you good coffee. But my stomach just couldn't take another cup already.

and slowly made our way into the Oasis. Last time we did not explore this area, so we walked around all the various paths and really enjoyed our time! It was very pretty.

Are we in Florida still?

As we entered the main park area, we continued to just walk around. No agenda, not knowing what we wanted to do. I suggested we get a FP for the Safari, so we were walked in that direction.

Which way should we go Mr. Bird?

AK was busyyyy that day.

I want you coffee! Stupid stomach.

AK is so cool. Incredible theming!

We got the FPs, and continued to walk. We saw DeVine for a VERY brief time, basically saw her taking her last steps to go backstage.

Hello and Good-bye DeVine.

I heard the CM mention she would be back out at certain times and made a mental note of it, just in case we were back in this area.

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post...

The park was VERY busy, so it was slow moving. We didn’t mind usually because our stomachs were still grumbling and we weren’t feeling the best, so our minds were kind of elsewhere, we weren’t organized or focused on what we wanted to accomplish for the day.

I love how they even theme the walkways.

I noticed it was getting near our lunch time, so we decided we would find Yak & Yeti. We still hadn’t done anything except wander around and take pictures. Which was fine, it was fun to admire all the incredible detail Disney has gone to with this park. It truly is amazing.

Found it!

We watched the monkeys here for just a bit

Our ADR time arrived and we were seated instantly, the place was empty. It filled up very quickly behind us.

The restaurant is so pretty! I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

The waiting area

The room we sat in

Light fixture love for LL

I like this picture-who would ever guess we were at a theme park restaurant?! Check out that lush greenery outside!

I like it here.

Henry loved the chopsticks. I feared he would poke his eye out, but he did just fine with them...

I LOVE THIS FACE! It was the "Disney face" from all week long. Big open mouth surprise and glee, "ooooooh"

The food was very, very good, the service was as well.

Prawn flavored crisps (that don't taste like prawn)

Beef & Broccoli with jasmine rice

Sweet & Sour Chicken with brown rice

Fortune cookies-yum!

We only were able to pick at our food, but enjoyed what we did manage to eat.

Joe refused dessert.

I knew something was really not okay with him at that point. I took the sorbet on the menu, it was light and refreshing, but even that did not appeal to him.

Raspberry, Lemon and Mango

He said he was cramping up and felt really awful, but wanted to keep going to enjoy the day.

Continued in next post

 

[heaven2dc]

That is great you met up with the other family and got your strollers exchanged! I always wondered when I'd see those masses of strollers outside attractions if anyone ever took someone else's. (We had ours "stolen" at Disneyland back in 1983 along with hubcaps from our car in the parking lot - never got either back . It wasn't funny then but is now.)

I was wondering - you had ADR's at Mama Melrose's but didn't go to dinner. Did you have the Fantasmic package with that ADR? Were you able to cancel the ADR in time?

I'm glad your DH got a seat close up. I have the Fantasmic package for my upcoming trip but it was going to be for my son and myself but now he's not going & I'm not on the dining plan so I'm going to cancel my Mama Melrose ADR and just head over to Fantasmic. Altho I may regret it by missing out on those reserved seats!

 

[LBelle0890]

Just wanted to say hey! I'm really enjoying reading your TR A month from today I will be at Wilderness Lodge and you are making me more and more excited to be there!

 

[OhMari]

We were at Animal Kingdom to that day.
The park was sort of crowded.
We were doing a slow leisurely day and I made my dh
take the train to where-ever it goes.
We walked around back there for about 20 minutes
My dh really isn't into learning about animals.
When we left, the Dream Team was standing in the pathway
leading to the Train.
We won Fast Passes.
So it made the day even quicker and we were done with the park by 2:00
We had an ADR for Yak and Yeti at 4:45, but my dh didn't want to wait around.
I wish we would of, the food looks really good.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

After lunch we both had a bathroom break inside Yak & Yeti. This started the not so pleasant trips to the restroom. I didn't think much of it at the time though, just kept going.

We walked back toward the Safari and I saw that it was about time for DeVine to arrive again! We stopped at her spot and waited. Pretty soon we saw her “foot” behind the wall and she came out just a few minutes later. It was really neat being in the front row and getting some fun shots of her.

Job Description: Wear fake leaves and lots of make-up and look beautiful.

We made our way over to the Safari. This was our first ride of the day and it was after 1:00 pm. AK closes at 5:00 pm. We really needed to step it up if we wanted to do anything else!

Since there weren't many animals out at this point, and we have all seen a million Safari pics here on the DIS, here are a few other Safari things for your enjoyment:

I took this with thewesterberg in mind.

Our driver - he was decent. Though he repeated himself a few times on somethings.

Magic Killer: The "rough road" you experience is really these chains. But how inventive of Disney!

We saved Little Red (that's his name, right?)! Go us!


While not a lot of animals were out, I enjoyed the Safari anyway. Joe, on the other hand, was feeling even worse after the ride.

Henry needed a diaper change, so we went to the Baby Center. I love the Baby Centers. They are cool and just a nice place to take a breather. After changing Henry, I also made another bathroom break. Immedaitly after we left the Baby Center I needed to go again. But I chose to save myself the embarassment in front of the Baby Center CM, "Hi me again, still need the bathroom!" and keep going, I'd find another bathroom.

Near the Baby Center we found the Discovery Island Trails and we decided to explore.

We saw birds

a giant turtle

and stumbled across a beautiful waterfall that is near the Tree of Life.

The backside of water. (Sorry, had to)

We spent quite a bit of time in this area, taking pictures and chatting, enjoying the beauty. The path ended where “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” lets out and we ended up in that area, just as a show was letting out.

How many animals can you see?

We hung out and waited until the crowd thinned and then decided to head back the same way we came!

Continued in next post

 

[Camster0307]

Great updates Brook - I'm all caught up!

Glad you got to see Fantasmic and I kind of agree with you. I don't think I'd care if I didn't see it again! But it's Lauren's "thing" so it's usually on our must-do list.

I'm glad you were accommodated with the seating too! Don't ever feel bad about using the GAC. As others have mentioned, if it helps to make sure you guys get the most out of your vacation, then you most definitely should use it!

Loved your descriptions of the WL - bringing back fond memories. And I thought the same thing about the bus sharing with the GF! We were there in June and many times our WL would pull into the GF bus stop and not be able to fit many people on. To be paying all that money to stay at that resort and then not be able to get on a bus - I'd be fuming!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

Earlier in the day I had mentioned the various shows, Flights of Wonder, Finding Nemo and the Lion King, to Joe. We thought we would go check out the Lion King, so we headed in that direction.

When we finally arrived (that’s a LONG walk!),

They had the Christmas decorations up! I love the snow cap!

the show had already started, and I suddenly was getting VERY cramped up. Almost to the point where I couldn’t stand. Joe nodded and said that is how he had been feeling the entire morning. It was awful! My poor husband had been trucking along, not complaining a bit. So, we sat down and I spent some time visiting the restroom.

Might I add, Disney has very clean bathrooms considering the sheer amount of people that use them.

Naturally, as I was doing my business the Lion King show let out and the place was flooded with people.

Warning – this isn’t pleasant, I almost didn't write a TR because of this very day. Now the type of sickness I had isn’t quiet. It’s embarrassing. And the entire female population of the Lion King show was now in the bathroom with me. Lovely!

I waited ‘em out and the flusher was my friend.

Soon it was quiet again in there, and I finished up and headed back out to find Joe and Henry. Henry had fallen asleep

and Joe was being entertained by a man singing songs he would make up on the spot about various children in the area. I told Joe about my experience in the bathroom and we laughed and shook our heads. Thankfully, despite feeling icky, we could still laugh about it.

Joe took his turn in the bathroom, which he reported was similar to mine (sans the Lion King Show attendees) and I watched the guitar man. He sang to all the little kids, it was so much fun to just watch and enjoy despite our true reason for lingering in this area for so long.

He sang for about 30 minutes to the various folks, then out came Timon and some other characters. What a nice touch for those waiting for the characters-makes that wait time much more bearable.

After we were feeling a bit better we wandered around the area a bit

and thought we’d go check out some rides. It was almost 4:00 pm and we had done a grand total of ONE ride!

We tried to go to Nemo, but the current show was full. I wanted to ride Dinosaur and EE (despite my stomach issues!), so we got FPs for EE

and headed to Dinosaur.

We got a bit turned around, but eventually found it and I rode first, getting a Baby Swap pass for Joe who said he would wait just to the right of the exit.

Oh man! I LOVED THIS RIDE! It was a total blast! I kind of knew what to expect from reading about it here on the DIS, but I still screamed almost the entire ride!


I came out and could not find Joe anywhere. Had I heard him wrong? He said he would be just to the right of the exit. Hmmm.... I walked all the way to Dinoland thinking he took Henry into that area. Nope. I walked back. I walked around and around and scanned the entire area about four times and evetnaully found him walking back to Dinosaur. Whew!


He had taken Henry to the Boneyard playground area, which he reported Henry loved. And proof of it:

Joe took his ride on Dinosaur, I waited in the gift shop for him so I could snag his picture. He he.

The logo was fuzzy. I liked it.

These look like hard plastic, but are really soft

And Henry loved it! A possible future purchase.


I was hoping for something like mine, mouth wide open in a scream, but I got this instead:

Closer up...

No reaction! None!



Well...he said he did react....after the picture.


Check out the reaction of the guy in the blue shirt though! Too funny!!


The ride had broken down on them, so they were stuck in the dark silence for about a minute part way through. Kinda freaky!

After Dinosaur we…


found another bathroom and took turns.


My gracious husband let me go first.

Continued in next post

 

[BellaSoleil]

What a day! You guys are troopers! Pooper Troopers! Sorry, I couldn't resist! I sure hope these tummy troubles go away.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

Then we went into Dinoland

Does this dino have a name?


and Henry and I rode TriceraTop Spin. We both enjoyed it!

Now, onto EE...

I had been cramping up a bit again, but wanted to ride anyway-I had no idea when we would be back to Disney and I just couldn't skip this ride! Thankfully everything went okay. I was in some pain during the entire ride, but still enjoyed it.

Joe opted not to ride. He was just feeling too icky and was fearful of a Chef Mickey’s Incident.

After EE the park was near closing. Ride count for me was a grand total of four. And just two for Joe. And most of them were in the last hour. We missed just about everythingYes, we hit all our rides pretty much in the last hour and and were preoccupied most of the day with cramping and finding a bathroom…which we also did on the way out.

They really take the theming to the ultimate level at AK. Since I had some time hanging outside the bathrooms I took notice to the fact that the Men's bathroom is in what looks like a shop that would be located in the foothills of Everest. There is even a sound track that comes out of the top windows that makes it sound like 2 people are chatting about their upcoming trip up Everest. I sat there for about 10 minutes and the sound track didn't even loop. All that for a bathroom!

Seriously Mom? ANOTHER bathroom break?!

The mens bathroom. You would never guess it was a bathroom!

Part of the womans bathroom

So pretty.

It was a nice day at AK, we saw many things we haven’t before, and I know there is a TON in this park –so many details! But we certainly wish we could have re-done this day and felt better.

At the gate was Mickey and company waving everyone good-bye, it was very cute. I've since learned this is the AK's "Kiss Goodnight".

I was thinking there was a direct bus to DTD and that was our plan, but there wasn’t one, so we went back to WL for a while.

When we got back we found turn down service again (we got it every night) and more chocolate mints that we wish we could have felt good enough to eat.

Native American Proverbs that were left on our bed from turndown service. There were only 2 different ones, it bccame a joke between Joe and I by the end of the week.

We also got a little decoration on our tub.

We relaxed for a bit, visited the porcelain , and Henry played on the bed some more and entertained his parents.

Soon we headed to DTD.

Our plan was to shop a bit, explore, eat at WPE and then get Goofy’s Candy Co.

And that is really what we did. Thankfully we didn’t need any restroom breaks during our entire time here-we really felt better than we had at AK earlier in the day.

We debated on riding the caraousel, but opted against it.

Earl, oh Earl. I wanted to eat here too...

A kids dream tree!

We went to the World of Disney Store in attempts to find a gift for new baby Lucia, her big brother and some friends’ kids. In addition to this, I wanted a magnet and an ornament with the year on it for us.

The World of Disney is just crazy. When we visited in 2006 it was very late at night and we only went in to meet a friends’ Grandma who worked there. We didn’t shop at all. This time we had an agenda and a list. After about 45 minutes of wandering and getting lost and running into a million people, I was hot and SO tired of it all. We couldn’t find anything we really liked, except a magnet and a cute Minnie hoodie for Lucia. I set down all the other random things we had accumulated and declared “I’m done!” to Joe. I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

Up next: Yum! Yum! Yum!

 

[ILuvCrush]

Wholly Smokes Brook... you were busy today!!!!

I'm sorry you guys are still sick.... booooo. I can realate to the factor about being that kind of sick, and nothing but public restrooms around. bummer.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Henry is THE PERFECT kid!! Never fusses, complains, always so cute and happy

I can't wait til Wednesdays post

Paula