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

[PNO4TE]

Loved your pictures, Brook. I am more than ready to head to WDW tomorrow morning!

 

[SoonerGirl]

STUNNING pictures of the WL! What a beautiful way to spend the evening!

 

[troobabiee7]

Hi Brook! I just found your trip report last night and spent the morning reading through it all. First I just have to say that you're an AMAZING photographer! Yours are some of the absolute best pictures I've ever seen in a trip report. Wow! Did you use your DSLR the entire time? Amazing!

Henry's such a cutie!!! I've heard some (pretty hilarious ) horror stores of people lugging around the parks with babies but he loved every minute of it. He has the cutest smile and I love those big eyes of his And congratulations on DVC!!! My friend's family bought into DVC years ago and drive down there every spring and love it. It's something I've thought about a few times but considering the fact that I'm a 21-year old broke college student, I have a while to go before I have to think about it seriously But congratulations again! That's so exciting, and now you and your DH will get to spend years and years of vacation memories with Henry at Disney

Sorry about the stomach bugs you guys caught Why do these things always seem to happen on vacation?! The same thing happened to me back in 2005. It's probably just the mix of heat, excitement and lots of different foods. I'm glad you're finally starting to feel better!

Are you originally from here in NY? I love all of your alluding to the city!

 

[disneydusted]

Hi Brook! Ok, you are a crack up about the big heads in your famliy!
Your WL pictures are really fun, I got a feel for the resort from your different angles. You can tell the vastness of the lobby from them.

 

[IluvXU]

We were in a room close to yours and loved the view. Fantastic pictures. glad that you were able to start to enjoy your food a bit more!

 

[MeMom]

Taking pictures around Wilderness Lodge is a very nice way to spend an evening!

You did get good EWP pictures, and you're right, that's not easy to do. Glad you lucked up on getting to see that.

Your steak looks awesome, by the way!

And to answer your question, my next trip is hopefully in March - with a very longtime friend. We've known each other since we were teenagers working at McDonald's, and we been friends through college, moves, husbands, kids, and now grandkids. She wants to go, but money, as always is the big factor. If we go, it'll be a budget trip, but we both know that by spring break, we'll be ready to reward ourselves with some fun after a long, work-filled winter.

The next family trip is in July, and yes, we'll be taking two little girls. Brooklynn will be almost three, and the baby will be about three months old. Jill will be the one who gets pampered on that trip. By then, she will have had no Disney trip in nine months and she'll be a mother of two - so she'll be ready for some fun by then, and she will surely deserve it!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Those are gorgeous Wilderness Lodge photos and WCC looks really good!

 

[luvfigment]

Hi Brook! I am just getting caught up on your TR. I am sorry I never made it back on after my trip to show you pictures and after seeing your mine don't look too hot. I am sorry you all were feeling so bad for the begining of the trip and hopefully it wasn't like that all trip.

Congrats on buying into DVC!!! I am so jealous and would love to own and at AKV also!!!!! I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Ooh, the wilderness lodge is so beautiful. I dream of being able to stay there someday.

WCC looks so fun. We had ADR's in June but ended up not going. This is on my must do list for the next trip! DS even promises to participate in the pony parade and ketchup ritual

Yes, you have to try the WL! I want to go back sometime, I loved it.

That will be so fun with your DS and the WCC anctics. I loved the pony ride around the main room, the kids were laughing and whooping it up! It would make for excellent photos and video!

Oh, your night time photography tour looks just lovely! I think I am going to have to steal that idea. The pictures are just beautiful.

WCC looks good, I think that is on the list for December 2009.

I think I am going to make a night photo tour a regular thing too. The resorts just look so different at night. I LOVE the pics I see on the DIS of the Boardwalk at night....so pretty!

WCC was really good. I was nervous because I've read some "eh" reviews, but am glad we did it!

great update! We will be dining at WCC in January - I love the skillet. It might not be the best barbecue, but when you come from a country that does not do barbecue, WCC is exciting ethnic food!!

It's so funny to think of the skillet as ethnic! But, makes sense for you! I want to try their breakfast skillet sometime...yum.

Beautiful pics!

Thank you!

Loved your pictures, Brook. I am more than ready to head to WDW tomorrow morning!

I'm so jealous! It would be lovely to escape Minnesota right now, we were stranded at my MILs last night due to the weather.

HAVE A WONDERFUL TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!

STUNNING pictures of the WL! What a beautiful way to spend the evening!

Thank you! It really was a great time exploring and soaking it in.

Hi Brook! I just found your trip report last night and spent the morning reading through it all. First I just have to say that you're an AMAZING photographer! Yours are some of the absolute best pictures I've ever seen in a trip report. Wow! Did you use your DSLR the entire time? Amazing!

Henry's such a cutie!!! I've heard some (pretty hilarious ) horror stores of people lugging around the parks with babies but he loved every minute of it. He has the cutest smile and I love those big eyes of his And congratulations on DVC!!! My friend's family bought into DVC years ago and drive down there every spring and love it. It's something I've thought about a few times but considering the fact that I'm a 21-year old broke college student, I have a while to go before I have to think about it seriously But congratulations again! That's so exciting, and now you and your DH will get to spend years and years of vacation memories with Henry at Disney

Sorry about the stomach bugs you guys caught Why do these things always seem to happen on vacation?! The same thing happened to me back in 2005. It's probably just the mix of heat, excitement and lots of different foods. I'm glad you're finally starting to feel better!

Are you originally from here in NY? I love all of your alluding to the city!

Hello! Welcome, glad you are enjoying the report and the pictures! And thank you for your nice words about the pictures-my DH has a great eye for photography as well, he did AWESOME with Wishes (which are coming soon!) We did use our DSLR the entire time, Joe has a great bag so it wasn't a bear to carry around the parks.

And thank you for the compliments on Henry as well! He really is a fantastic traveller, he is very mild mannered and overall a happy boy. We had our moments, but they were brief. There were only 2 meltdowns and that was because it just got to be too late for him (thankfully we were already back in the hotel room in the process of putting him to bed!).

I am actually orginally from a suburb of Chicago, but my family moved to Minnesota when I was still young. I lived/grew up in Minnesota until I was 4 years out of college and then moved to NYC. I lived in Brooklyn for a time, then Manhattan, and then Queens. In all-it was only about a year and a half that I lived there but I LOVED EVERY SECOND and I miss it sooooooo much. I only moved back to Minnesota to marry Joe. (He was worth it, but I still miss the City!) We have gone back to visit each year since we've been married, but I don't know if we'll make it this year or not....we'll see! Are you from there, or just going there for school? Which school? I am guessing you love in by your avatar and siggy. I miss so many things about it!

Hi Brook! Ok, you are a crack up about the big heads in your famliy!
Your WL pictures are really fun, I got a feel for the resort from your different angles. You can tell the vastness of the lobby from them.

It's true though! We are a big-headed family!!
I'm glad I was able to capture the size of the lobby with my pics-when I look back to my AKL ones from 2006 the pictures just don't even do the lobby justice. I don't think my WL ones really do either, but they are closer!

We were in a room close to yours and loved the view. Fantastic pictures. glad that you were able to start to enjoy your food a bit more!

Wasn't the view the best? I enjoyed sitting out on the balcony and soaking it all in.

Taking pictures around Wilderness Lodge is a very nice way to spend an evening!

You did get good EWP pictures, and you're right, that's not easy to do. Glad you lucked up on getting to see that.

Your steak looks awesome, by the way!

And to answer your question, my next trip is hopefully in March - with a very longtime friend. We've known each other since we were teenagers working at McDonald's, and we been friends through college, moves, husbands, kids, and now grandkids. She wants to go, but money, as always is the big factor. If we go, it'll be a budget trip, but we both know that by spring break, we'll be ready to reward ourselves with some fun after a long, work-filled winter.

The next family trip is in July, and yes, we'll be taking two little girls. Brooklynn will be almost three, and the baby will be about three months old. Jill will be the one who gets pampered on that trip. By then, she will have had no Disney trip in nine months and she'll be a mother of two - so she'll be ready for some fun by then, and she will surely deserve it!

It really was a great way to spend the evening-I hope to do that in January around SSR as well.

Ah! That is right, your March trip. I had forgotten about that one. I hope it works out, it would be so much fun to share it all with such a close friend.

Oh yes, Jill will need, and deserve, that pampering! My SILs new little girl is about 6 weeks old, and her DS is almost 3, we had our immediate family Christmas last night and I got a taste of what that was like. They are such a blessing-but a handful at the same time!!

Those are gorgeous Wilderness Lodge photos and WCC looks really good!

Thank you!! WCC was yummmmmmmy!

Hi Brook! I am just getting caught up on your TR. I am sorry I never made it back on after my trip to show you pictures and after seeing your mine don't look too hot. I am sorry you all were feeling so bad for the begining of the trip and hopefully it wasn't like that all trip.

Congrats on buying into DVC!!! I am so jealous and would love to own and at AKV also!!!!! I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

Hi there! Glad you could make it back on. I know how easy it can be to get pulled away with normal life, and no matter wanting to get onto the DIS, sometimes you just can't. No worries!

I still want to see your pics! All pics are good!!!

 

[CJsMom]

Great pics of the WL and the ELP! That's exciting that you are planning your late 2009 trip during the Christmas season - the decorations are so spectacular and it's really a fun time to go. Makes Christmas prep at home a bit rushed...but it's totally worth it! Sounds like your dinner at Whispering Canyon was lots of fun and I'll bet Henry can't wait to join in on the pony races! Your comparison of the steak to your head made me !

 

[Donald is #1]

Awesome pictures of WL!


On next December's trip: I think that I will be going back next December. All I need to do now is pick the dates. The trip will end with Mousefest but I need to figure out how much earlier I want to get there. Anyways, maybe our trips will overlap and we can meet up!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

First off, Henry is too darn cute! I love the pics of him at the balcony door!!!

Second, I'm glad you like WWC!! We're having dinner there on 1/3! DH will have a tought time deciding between that steak and the meatloaf!!

Third, I love, love, love your WL pics!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing them!! Their giving me a total warm fuzzy WL feeling and I'm soooo happy to be going back there in 12 days!!!!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Okay, I'm all caught up. Great updates! Those pictures from WL look so inviting, and Whispering Canyon seems like a cool place to eat.

Alan

 

[Camster0307]

Oh Brook - Your photos of WL are simply gorgeous! It really is a beautiful place! Great shots of the electrical parade also - we never did get to see that in June!

Brings back such memories................

 

[brookelizabeth]

When we left off I had done an evening tour of the WL and crept back into the room to a sleeping Joe.

The next morning, Henry woke up earlier than previous days, ready to hit the parks! He stood by his stroller and pulled on it a bit until we were finally ready to go.

Let's go, let's go!

This would be a day of first for us, we were off to MK and we haven’t ever seen Spectro or Wishes, and all the CS’ I had in mind, and our TS was new!

Our plans for today were:
Wake up and head to MK
Breakfast at Main Street Bakery
Henry’s first haircut at the Barbershop
No solid plans for lunch – just hit a CS (PVH, CHH, or Cosmic Rays)
At 3:40 pm GF Tea (which I was VERYYYY excited for!)
Back to MK
If we were hungry, dinner at a CS at some point.
Spectro
Wishes!

Eventually everyone was bathed and dressed and we were off to MK! We decided to take the boat, so down to the dock we went. Right outside the lodge we saw some ducks, which made Henry very happy.

"Duck! Duck!"

The view from the dock was beautiful.

Fairly soon, after about 5 to 7 minutes a boat arrived and the crowd that had gathered piled on. Henry enjoyed the boat ride and we enjoyed getting a closer glimpse of the BLT construction!

As we made our way to bag check and the entrance of the park, I was happy to see MK all dressed up for Christmas. It was very pretty!

We started our stroll down Main Street and I quickly made note of where the Barbershop was and noted how hugely long the line was,

A very long line...

so we opted to keep cruising to find the Bakery and come back to the Barbershop later in the day.

I was so excited to capture Henry’s reaction when his eyes first caught a glimpse of the Castle. I had gotten a great reaction at SE at Epcot, this should be even better! I was walking slightly backwards/sideways down Main Street, camera posed, waiting for that moment…

And here it is…

That’s not awe people, he’s YAWNING!

YAWNING!

AT THE CASTLE!

A boy through and through, eh?

And I’m not even kidding, this was his true reaction. He yawned at this exact moment as we caught our first full glimpse of the Castle. I was hoping his yawn would look like a big “ooooh!” for the TR, but well, no such luck.

All well!

Onwards we went.

We were on a breakfast mission to find Main Street Bakery and enjoy some of it’s finest delicacies.

We found the Bakery without a problem and the line was out the door. I didn’t really expect anything different since the DIS prepared me well for it’s popularity. I also knew the line moved pretty quickly, so waiting wasn’t an issue.

Giant cinnamon rolls & French Toast Loaf

After we got our meals we made our way to a table and a CM stopped and said hello to Henry, who immediately grinned and giggled at her. She was so sweet with him.

We sat down and prepared to eat, when the CM came back out with a GIANT cookie for Henry! She told him she thought he needed a cookie.

We thanked her many times over, what a wonderful surprise! Henry was THRILLED and wanted that cookie N-O-W. We were able to distract him and stored the cookie under the stroller.

Time to finally eat!

French Toast Loaf for me!

Apple Turnover for Joe

Strawberry Banana Smoothie for Joe

Henry enjoyed everything we had, and if I recall correctly, we also had packed him a banana from our room.

After breakfast we continued our walk down Main Street until we were directly in front of the Castle, we finally got a bit of a better reaction from Henry.

A bit confused maybe?

Our goal this morning was Fantasyland. I had read enough about getting to Fantasyland as early as you can. And while we were at least an hour past RD, I was still hoping it wouldn’t be a madhouse yet.

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post


As we rounded the path past Tomorrowland Henry started to get excited. Now this reaction is more what I like to see, pure glee!

We arrived in Fantasyland, and I was very happy to see it was not all that busy yet! We decided our first ride had to be the Teacups. I LOVE the teacups. Thankfully the spinning doesn't affect me all that much, and I just love the classic-ness of the ride. When I was a little girl and dreamed about going to WDW someday, I always thought of this ride (and BTMRR). I think, for this very reason, it’s one of my favorite rides in the park, and possibly in all of WDW. There wasn’t much of a line this morning and very quickly we were boarding our own teacup.

I purposely chose a non-pink teacup. I led my color blind husband directly to a pink one last time. Despite him not knowing until well after our trip that it was pink, I thought I would spare him that and pick a neutral color.

Everyone loved the ride-Henry didn’t have much of a reaction, other than wide eyes, but there was no screaming or crying, so I know he didn’t mind it too much!

After the Teacups, we went over to Mickey’s Philharmagic. We had never seen this before and I have read so many great things about it. Joe and I loved it! Henry…not so much. He was antsy and the loud noises startled him a bit.

Next up was….It’s a Small World! We knew Henry would love this ride. Much to my BLISS the clock was open when we entered the line!

Sure enough, Henry loved every second of this ride. He stared at the dolls in delight, little smiles on his face,

clapping hands, and The Disney Face (If you cannot recall from our meal at Yak & Yeti, the Disney Face is where he sucks all the air in and his mouth forms a little O. It was so cute.). I'll spare you the pictures, since I think you all know what the ride looks like inside.

We checked out Dumbo and Cinderella’s Carousel, but the lines were both VERY long. The Carousel line probably would have been quick, but we just opted against it. I was a bit disappointed about skipping Dumbo, I really wanted to take Henry on his first flying elephant ride. But, at least we had gotten a spin on a flying dinosaur at AK a couple days before. And this was where I also remembered, “We will be back. We now own a vacation home here!”

Onto Pooh!

Henry also loved this ride (and so did Joe and I!), but was becoming veryyyy sleepy. After Pooh we laid him down in his stroller and he was out in a matter of seconds.

So that means… it was Mommy and Daddy’s turn to hit the big rides!!

Up next: Another dorky picture of me

 

[brookelizabeth]

Great pics of the WL and the ELP! That's exciting that you are planning your late 2009 trip during the Christmas season - the decorations are so spectacular and it's really a fun time to go. Makes Christmas prep at home a bit rushed...but it's totally worth it! Sounds like your dinner at Whispering Canyon was lots of fun and I'll bet Henry can't wait to join in on the pony races! Your comparison of the steak to your head made me !

I hadn't really thought about the Christmas prep at home being rushed because of the trip...hmmm...still worth it though! We will probably go during the first week of December, at least that's what I'm thinking now.

Awesome pictures of WL!


On next December's trip: I think that I will be going back next December. All I need to do now is pick the dates. The trip will end with Mousefest but I need to figure out how much earlier I want to get there. Anyways, maybe our trips will overlap and we can meet up!

Are the Mousefest dates out yet? Or are they always pretty similar? It would be great to go during that time if we could! It would be great to meet up with you too!

First off, Henry is too darn cute! I love the pics of him at the balcony door!!!

Second, I'm glad you like WWC!! We're having dinner there on 1/3! DH will have a tought time deciding between that steak and the meatloaf!!

Third, I love, love, love your WL pics!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing them!! Their giving me a total warm fuzzy WL feeling and I'm soooo happy to be going back there in 12 days!!!!

Thanks so much!
We really enjoyed WCC! I thought the mashed potatoes were reallyyyy good. The deep dish apple pie (which we ate later) was AWESOME.

I bet the WL is fantastic when it's even cooler outside and you can sit by that fireplace. Ahhhhh...

Okay, I'm all caught up. Great updates! Those pictures from WL look so inviting, and Whispering Canyon seems like a cool place to eat.

Alan

The WL is very warm and welcoming, while the lobby is really large, it's also cozy. WCC really is fun! I heard one rumor that they were taking the anctics away, but I can't confirm if that's true. I sure hope not!

Oh Brook - Your photos of WL are simply gorgeous! It really is a beautiful place! Great shots of the electrical parade also - we never did get to see that in June!

Brings back such memories................

Glad I could bring back some memories for you! The parade isn't anything I would go out of my way to see, it's neat, but short (5 minutes, tops). There is a float of a dinosaur and that 80s song "Open up the door, get on the floor, everyone walk the dinosaur" is the tune that plays (without words) and it gets stuck in my head EVERY time.

 

[brookelizabeth]

My Photopass pictures have arrived! I will post all those I have missed so far to catch us up to where we are now.

Epcot

My new desktop wallpaper

Maybe next time Henry can meet them too...


DHS

Is it just me, or does it look like we have insanely long arms here?

Next are a series of pictures taken by a really fun CM who said "Let's make a little bit of photo magic"...

AK

"Act like your favorite animal"

I think we do look a bit "off" this day...

Continued in next post

 

[brookelizabeth]

Continued from previous post

MK

 

[ILuvCrush]

The update and photopass pics are great!!

I really loved the one at AK with Simba... Henry looks totally into playing with baby Simba!!

paula