VWL Lovers & Groupies thread: It all started with a Moose

[tea pot]

My wilderness themed surprise party was yesterday - and YES - my lovely bride was thoroughly surprised. Have a great day all!

Aw Stopher.....

Jimmy Great Game
Main St Bakery Hands down

How about
Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion

 

[stopher1]

Aw Stopher.....

Jimmy Great Game
Main St Bakery Hands down

How about
Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion hands down.

 

[franandaj]

Teppan Edo or Tokyo Dining?

 

[eliza61]

Hey, I'm loving this one.

Teppan Edo. We've always had pretty good meals there.

Ok, this might be a little harder since not every one does water parks but if you do,
Blizzard Beach or typhoon lagoon?

 

[Muushka]

RnR all the way with me (Still too chicken to try ToT as I was caught in a malfunctioning elevator and dropped 7 floors many years back - not a feeling I want to replicate.)

My son disagrees though and says ToT is the way to go. Last summer's final ride:

Let's calm it down a bit...
Starring Rolls Cafe or Main Street Bakery?

Where in the world (sorry for the pun) did you get that picture???? Love it!

Hey, I'm loving this one.

Teppan Edo. We've always had pretty good meals there.

Ok, this might be a little harder since not every one does water parks but if you do,
Blizzard Beach or typhoon lagoon?

Typhoon Lagoon.

I am leaving Attleboro tomorrow to spend the night in Boston with my cousin. I said my goodbyes to my sister today. I flying out of Boston and will be home on Wed. See Ya!

 

[blossomz]

Safe travels!

 

[stopher1]

Ok Groupies - so tomorrow is my DW's birthday, and yesterday I threw her a surprise party, as I've previously mentioned would happen. I've been planning this party for her for the past 7 weeks or so, and wow - it was fun. We had a fairly decent response rate, with 82 affirmative. Unfortunately due to various illnesses running rampant around town, our actual number in attendance was around 66 or so - but that's perfectly okay - my lovely bride felt very loved.

I hosted the party in one of the rooms at our church. It's a very non-descript room most of the time - and is used for all kinds of different functions like this, as well as classes, seminars, cheerleading practice, puppet shows, concessions sales for basketball games, etc, etc... so it pretty much needs to be non-descript. But I transformed it, as hopefully some of these pictures will attest.

The Lodge found its way in to the party in a variety of forms, including the background music that was playing the entire time. Thanks again for getting it to me, you wonderful Groupies (you know who you are )

I pretty much raided my house, my office and a friend's house (I've mentioned her before - she lives in a charming little log house in the woods, near the river that runs through my town) - as well as the church itself, borrowing several of their Christmas and ficus trees to create my own little woods.

I had 10 tables for our guests, and each one had a different and unique centerpiece - though each one was created using the same basic elements:

• a woodsy base fabric
• a pair of pinecones
• some enamelware dishes or cookware
• a landscape print of some sort
• a mason jar filled with grasses, twigs & wildflowers
• a framed wallet size picture of my DW at some point in her youth
• a table card with various FUN FACTS & TRIVIA about my DW - all 10 were completely different - no two cards had the same facts
• a mini lantern with flickering tea light

Here are pictures of the guest tables.

There were two large banquet tables made in to display tables, as well as one small table used as another display table. Here are a few pictures of the display tables.

I put this Half Dome puzzle together when I was a teenager. It hung framed in my mother's house for years, but she gave it to my DW about a decade ago. It now hangs over our mantle.

(that is a real deer hide too)

My wife loves, LOVES, LOVES to play Scrabble. Here I set it up with various woodsy, wilderness themed words. Do you see the Lodge here?

Here was the other smaller display table, with a collage print of about 28 shots of my DW throughout her life time... our moosy friend came out of hiding here too, in addition to a couple of the table centerpiece fabrics.

More to come in the next post...

 

[stopher1]

So here are a few more photos of my wilderness party for my DW...

This pair was found next to the food tables... watching over the festivities. While I didn't capture the words on the sign below in this shot (I wish I had) it read... The Lodge.

The food tables, with the Lodge featured right at the center of it all.

Here is a canvas print we have of Yosemite from the valley floor, with El Capitan right there in its glory on the left side.

Here's the cake table, and a close up of it

And the Guest Book that I created too, with some awesome artwork copied from something Jimmy created for me

There was a running slideshow featuring more than 900 shots from my DW's life from infancy through just last month, that just played the entire time. All of the pictures were picked completely at random by the computer. Everyone loved it. Here you can see (strain, but it's there) my family in front of the waterfall at the Lodge. (this was a bit of luck capturing this photo at that precise moment!)

And finally, a few shots of the party itself.

Finally, here's my DW after her initial "surprise" moment, taking it all in, surveying the room - seeing who was there.

It was a lot of fun.

 

[franandaj]

Wow! I don't mean this in a sexist way, but I have never known any guy to pull off something this spectacular and well planned! You are definitely an AMAZING husband and your DW and the rest of your family is so lucky to have you! I know you had a lot of help, but just the fact that you pulled off that planning and togetherness is truly wonderful! I was lucky enough to have a wonderful 40th B'day celebration that I didn't have to plan (completely) but I something different than a DH, most of my friends with DH's were jealous of me, so kudos to you! Sorry to any DH's that I might have offended in this post!

 

[Dizny Dad]

Stoph - WOW!

Did I mention that my birthday was coming up . . . . .

 

[Inkmahm]

Wow! I don't mean this in a sexist way, but I have never known any guy to pull off something this spectacular and well planned! You are definitely an AMAZING husband and your DW and the rest of your family is so lucky to have you! I know you had a lot of help, but just the fact that you pulled off that planning and togetherness is truly wonderful! I was lucky enough to have a wonderful 40th B'day celebration that I didn't have to plan (completely) but I something different than a DH, most of my friends with DH's were jealous of me, so kudos to you! Sorry to any DH's that I might have offended in this post!

I agree! Excellent job on planning and executing this party! I'm very impressed.

I've never had a surprise birthday party and I only had one surprise party ever- (people I worked with tricked me into a wedding shower when I thought we were going to lunch for another woman who was leaving the company). Did I mention that my birthday is in March?

 

[jimmytammy]

twinklebug and Stopher, love the pics. Looks like fun in both scenarios. We are an adventuresome bunch here, arent we?

Typhoon Lagoon(though Ive never been to BB, so cant say with all certainty)

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular vs. Lights, Motor, Action!

 

[horselover]

Great job on your DW's party Stopher! So glad it all turned out well.

 

[Granny]

Christopher....UNBELIEVABLE!! Great, great job.

Jimmy...I've got to go with Indy Stunt Spectacular. For whatever reason, we've never much cared for the stunt cars.

Next one....Beauty & The Beast musical or Voyage of the Little Mermaid?

 

[blossomz]

Wow! Very impressive...but of course..we would expect nothing less of one of our very own groupies!!!

 

[lilpooh108]

Hi groupies!

We're staying at VWL for the first time for a short 2 night stay in May 2011. We would LOVE some insider tips from the VWL groupies. We've only stayed at AKV (Jambo & Kidani) and so we're a little intimidated by the VWL stay. Here are my questions:

1) We'd like to be as close to the bus stop as possible, but would also like to have a relatively nice view on a quiet floor. (Too much to ask?) What type of room location should we request?

2) Is it faster to take the bus to Epcot from VWL, or faster to take the boat launch to MK then monorail to Epcot?

3) How long does it take to bus to DHS? How long does it take to bus to Epcot?

4) Do we check in at the Lodge or is there a separate check in for the Villas? Will DME drop us at the Lodge or at the Villas?

5) Is there a separate bus stop for the Villas, or is the bus stop at the Lodge?

6) Are the restaurants (sit down or counterservice) at the Lodge or at the Villas?

7) Is there a thread with a lot of pictures?! I love looking at the pictures of VWL.

8) We're staying in a studio---where are the laundry facilities?

Thanks groupies!!

 

[sleepydog25]

Hi groupies!

We're staying at VWL for the first time for a short 2 night stay in May 2011. We would LOVE some insider tips from the VWL groupies. We've only stayed at AKV (Jambo & Kidani) and so we're a little intimidated by the VWL stay. Here are my questions: I'll answer what I've seen or know, but I'm sure others will chime in later.

1) We'd like to be as close to the bus stop as possible, but would also like to have a relatively nice view on a quiet floor. (Too much to ask?) What type of room location should we request? The bus stop isn't really far from any of the VWL rooms unless you're at the end of a hallway. For my money, I don't find the hallways at VWL all that long, however. As for a room request, all rooms pretty much are woods views, but there are rooms that overlook Hidden Springs pool and from where you can catch glimpses of the lake. I request those.

2) Is it faster to take the bus to Epcot from VWL, or faster to take the boat launch to MK then monorail to Epcot? My experience has been the bus is faster, generally.

3) How long does it take to bus to DHS? How long does it take to bus to Epcot? I mostly drive anymore, but in my past life, I never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a bus, and from pickup, it's only another 10-15 mins. . .at least it was.

4) Do we check in at the Lodge or is there a separate check in for the Villas? Will DME drop us at the Lodge or at the Villas? Check-in is at the main lodge, and that's where DME will drop you off. Once checked in, it's a short walk next door to the Villas via a covered walkway. That walkway is part of the charm since the lanterns flicker as though real flames are inside them, and you can hear crickets chirping when the western-themed music isn't playing.

5) Is there a separate bus stop for the Villas, or is the bus stop at the Lodge? The bus stop is shared and sits between the main lodge and the Villas. Very convenient.

6) Are the restaurants (sit down or counterservice) at the Lodge or at the Villas? All restaurants are in the main lodge and located close to each other. Again, however, it's a short walk from the Villas to the main lodge via the walkway. The two buildings are literally 75-100 feet away from each other, though from side door of the main lodge to the entrance to the Villas is more like 200 feet.

7) Is there a thread with a lot of pictures?! I love looking at the pictures of VWL. I believe there are pics on this very thread at the beginning somewhere, and I know there are other threads that have them. Just do a search, though someone else may come in and provide a link.

8) We're staying in a studio---where are the laundry facilities? At the beginning of the hallway where you're located.

Thanks groupies!!

Have fun! It's a great place to stay! There's a pic of the entire Wilderness Lodge area on page 180 of this thread. You can see that the main lodge and the Villas section truly are close to each other and easily navigated.

 

[lilpooh108]

Have fun! It's a great place to stay! There's a pic of the entire Wilderness Lodge area on page 180 of this thread. You can see that the main lodge and the Villas section truly are close to each other and easily navigated.

Oh it looks beautiful!!! Thanks so much for your reply . . . I haven't been there but I love it already!

 

[sleepydog25]

Hi groupies!

We would LOVE some insider tips from the VWL groupies.

As I'm currently being underwhelmed by customers at my shop today, I thought it would be nice to pass along a few more tips to increase your enjoyment of VWL, our home.
1) After dinner, stroll along the lakefront beach located between the main lodge and the Villas. You'll be able to see the Electric Water Pageant and can catch glimpses of Wishes over the tops of the trees and buildings in the distance.
2) There is a paved walking trail that heads from the bus stop over to Fort Wilderness. It's about a mile one way. Or, take the unpaved nature trail leading behind the bike rental shop and follow the shore of the lake. It, too, leads to FW, though you can hook up with the paved portion about 1/3 of a mile down the trail--there will be a clearly defined path leading off to your right.
3) Sit in the porch rockers with a drink in hand and listen to the crickets and or music.
4) Grab a Hidden Mickey sheet from the front desk and do a scavenger hunt for them.
5) Take the boat over to MK. You can take it coming back, too, but if it's after MK closes, assume it will be a longer wait to board.
6) Sit in the main lobby and just take in the sights. I love to people watch there.
7) Watch the geyser go off, roughly every hour up until either 9 or 10 p.m., I think.
8) If you want a romantic meal, try Artist Point. Good food and service, though it is a signature restaurant so is a bit pricey. Whispering Canyon Cafe can be fun, but it tends to get boisterous and the food is just "mehh" for my tastes.
9) Look for the animal tracks in the sidewalks.
10) Relax poolside (I prefer the Hidden Springs pool to the main pool as it's quieter), catch a few rays, and enjoy your time at VWL!

 

[horselover]

Sleepydog you're making me homesick! Is it Dec. yet?