Wilderness Lodge Here We Come - June, Round 2 - with pics!

[vatchr]

After lurking for 1 1/2 years, and reading many pre and post trippies, I decided to start my own. We are heading back to The Lodge in June for our second trip to WDW.

Read at your own risk , remember this is my first attempt at this...here are the cast of characters for our June 22 - June 30 trip:

Me (Laura - DW) - fourth grade school teacher, mom, wife and fanatic planner of our Dis trip.

DH (Don) - fifth grade school teacher at same school, dad, and tolerant husband to fanatic disney planner

DD (age 7) - first grader at same school as mom and dad

DD (age 4- to be 5 on trip) - can't wait for Kindergarten next year, to be at school with everyone else.

Here are 2 pics from our June, 2006 trip:

We leave the day after mom and dad are done with school in June. Last June, Nana and Bubba went with us (the inlaws). This year Rina will be going (my mom). Through the next few months I'll share the highlights of our June, 2006 trip and share the planning chaos and highlights of our excitement as June 22 approaches.

We've already got the Disney chain going for the girls - only 82 days until we depart for sun, fun, crowds, and Mickey!!

More later....

-Laura

 

[mcarthur205]

Looking forward to hearing all about your trips Your daughters are beautiful!

 

[vatchr]

The beginning of my disney obsession began in December, 2005 when we made our first reservation at the Wilderness Lodge for June 18, 2006. I had been to WDW in fifth grade, but my husband and daughters had never been and we agreed that we might not get back for at least 4 or 5 years, so we were going to do it right. Little did we know that our obsession would begin and we would be returning the following year. So.. we got the dining plan, booked a deluxe resort, and started budgeting and saving money. We also discovered Ebay which also helped us get some extra money.

You have to understand that I am a very type A personality, everything is always planned to the last detail and my organization and preplanning drives most people around me nuts. So...I started by buying all of the planning guides that I could find. We booked our ADR's for last year's trip and probably changed them only 3 - 4 times before leaving. I kept sending my inlaws updated itineraries. They live in PA and were going to meet us down there for the week.

I became obsessed with the Disboards and started keeping a word document of tips and ideas that I came across. Our upstairs extra room became the store all for our Disney trip "stuff." The hard part for my husband and I was the waiting. He refused to get excited until we were nearing the end of school. We both had to finish teaching, clean our classrooms, close out our grades and report cards all while preparing for our departure. We would leave 2 days after we finished working.

I had the best time planning, but I was doing it all by myself and had to try to contain my excitement for the 6 months that we had to wait.

But soon, we were on our way and we finally arrived in Orlando on June 18, 2006 (the first plane trip for the girls) and took ME to the Wilderness Lodge and the dream began.

As I said before, little did we know that this dream would continue....and never end. We had no idea what we were getting into. We thought just a fun family vacation that everyone must experience at least once. We had heard and read about "The Magic of WDW," but didn't expect it to be as magical as it really was.


Here are the girls at the Wilderness Lodge - rubbing Humphrey's nose for good luck!

Our first meal upon arrival was dinner at Chef Mickey's - what a way to start our trip!

More later...
-Laura

 

[belle8306]

You are off to a great start!! Your girls are so cute ! I have never been to the WL but it looks really nice. I just finished watching the episode about it on Great Hotels. I am looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

 

[vatchr]

Having never been to WDW before (or at least not in recent memory), I really wanted to be prepared, especially with travelling in late June and all of the crowds that I had heard about. Prior to going, we researched the dining plan and planned an ADR for each day. I also researched the parks and which rides to get to first.

I knew travelling with the two girls would be a challenge, as well as with the inlaws. By challenge, I mean meeting everyone's needs and keeping everyone happy. Katie (age 4) quickly learned to dislike all of the 3D movies, and the fast rides. Carleigh (age 6) loved it all and wanted to do more. She was definitely 6 going on 12 - she pretended to not like It's A Small World, and wanted all of the fast rides.

We had a great week - the planning went perfectly - we woke early, back to the WL for an afternoon break - and back out for night events.

I planned a breakfast at the Grand Floridian - Park Fair because I wanted to see Mary Poppins - it was great! When I was growing up, the movie was one of my favorites.

Here I am with Mary, a highlight of the trip for me!

My DH was thrilled when we were at MGM and almost literally ran into Darth Vader and the storm troopers.

We left to go get lunch, while he waited in line with his father to "meet" Darth Vader.

So far, the week was great - there weren't even any big rain events to worry about. The pixie dust being sprinkled on us was evident everywhere! We had 2 - 3 magical moments for the girls and nothing but happiness and magic.

It was so nice to leave behind the stresses of the end of the school year, and all of that other "real life" stuff and escape for 7 days. By staying on site, we never left that feeling for the entire trip.

Did I overplan? Nope, even my husband said that it was "just right!" Let's hope the same happens for this trip - only 81 days left!

More later...
-Laura

 

[lazidazi07]

I love the picture with you and Mary Poppins! We chose 1900 Park Fare for that reason!

 

[Along4theRide]

Sounds magical!! I can't wait for our trip and stay at WL!! Great pre-TR so far, can't wait to hear more!!

 

[vatchr]

Sounds magical!! I can't wait for our trip and stay at WL!! Great pre-TR so far, can't wait to hear more!!

You are going to have the BEST time! The WL is great. We had so much fun there, that it wasn't even a question of where we would stay for round 2. Let me know if you have any questions or want ideas for fun stuff!

 

[Along4theRide]

You are going to have the BEST time! The WL is great. We had so much fun there, that it wasn't even a question of where we would stay for round 2. Let me know if you have any questions or want ideas for fun stuff!

It wasn't a question for us either. Once I saw all the places we could stay and came across WL, that was it!! It fits us to a tee! Anyway, this will be our first ever trip and are really getting excited!!! I've been reading and obsessing for the past 6+ months over this trip.

The only question that comes to mind is about the transportation. Do you know what time the boat starts running? Also does the boat go over to the Contemporary Resort early in the morning? We have a 9am ADR at Chef Mickey’s and would love to take the boat over! Thanks for your willingess to answer my questions! I'm sure I'll have more as time goes on! BTW, can't wait to see more pics in your pre-TR!! Your girls are adorable!!

 

[vatchr]

Do you know what time the boat starts running? Also does the boat go over to the Contemporary Resort early in the morning? We have a 9am ADR at Chef Mickey’s and would love to take the boat over!

The boat is definitely the way to go...We used it as much as possible. It might be a little bit longer than the bus to MK, but worth it for the kids. You'll have no problem getting to Chef Mickey's on time with the boat. The front Concierge desk at the WL was a great help for us with questions like this. I would go down every night and ask about times for boats, buses, ADR's, etc. for our next day plans and they were never wrong! We got on the boat for CR one morning before 8:00 - and then monorail to MK to get there before opening and were in front of the MK before 8:30 a.m. It was great!

Thanks for the kind words about my girls - they definitely are princesses. They had a blast last year, which is partly why we decided to "find" the money to return again this year.

Here they are in MK on our last day - we were celebrating my youngest's bday and the Mayor and his "friends" made a huge deal out of it.

Here they are again rubbing Humphrey's nose. If you're staying at WL, you've got to rub Humphrey's nose every day. They say it brings good luck, and I didn't question it....we definitely had our share of Pixie dust last year, whether it was thanks to Humphrey or not!

 

[Along4theRide]

Thanks for all the great information. I'll def take advantage of of the conceirge desk-I don't know why I never thought of doing that before!!

 

[csuzannet]

I love, love, love, love, love the Wilderness Lodge.

My favorite places on WDW property are the ones with complete (to me) theming and great story lines--ToT and EE are two attractions that come to mind. And for that reason, WL is my favorite resort!

Your girls are gorgeous (and brilliant, I assume). Can't wait to hear how the trip goes!

 

[vatchr]

Since I'm on spring break right now, I figure I'll try to add some more highlights from our trip last year while I have the time.

After months of planning, we were on our way and as stated above, had a great time. My youngest was turning 4 and wasn't so sure of the characters. We decided to start our trip with dinner at Chef Mickey's to ease her into the characters. She was TERRIFIED of Goofy at the beginning of dinner, but by the end...he was her best friend. Chip and Dale were never a question, they remain her favorite to this day. She can't wait to see them again.

Here are the girls with a surprise meeting with Chip and Dale at AK -

Both of my girls took autograph books with them and by the end of the trip we were having to double up on pages, because all the pages were full. Last year was definitely a "character" trip. If we saw a character, we were in line for it. The girls loved it - the big question was always if the character would actually sign, stamp or just pose for a picture.

JoJo and Goliath at MGM were another big hit! (JoJo stamped and Goliath just posed )

We've already started making a mental list of who we didn't get autographs of last year and I just ordered their new autograph books off of Ebay - so we are ready to go. The whole family loved getting the autographs and posing with the characters - my husband and I had as much fun as the girls did.

I think the character meals helped us get a lot of the autographs. Each meal had about 4 - 6 characters and it was a painless way to interact and have quality time with the characters. Even with the meals, we definitely spent LOTS of time in line at the parks waiting for autographs.

It was hot, and crowded...but it was late June and we went expecting it to be that way, so...we never complained, and actually very rarely did the girls complain either. (those midday trips back to the WL probably helped a little too! )

Again, that magical feeling was with us all week!

 

[IluvXU]

What darling girls you have... I have two dd and we are headed to the WL for the first time this summer. Your pictures make it seem even more real... what room location would you recommend?
Looking forward to hearing more about both trips...

 

[vatchr]

What darling girls you have... I have two dd and we are headed to the WL for the first time this summer. Your pictures make it seem even more real... what room location would you recommend?
Looking forward to hearing more about both trips...

Thanks again for the kind words about the girls. They are both princesses, and totally girly girls. Lots of dress up and dance classes, etc.

You'll have a great time at WL! We obviously love it. As for rooms, we were in room 6056. It was a standard room overlooking the service area, but high enough that we hardly had any noise. We LOVED our room. You could stand on our balcony and watch WISHES from the MK and also watch the castle change colors after dark. We had a great mousekeeper! We got towel animals every day. It was magical. We weren't there much during daylight hours, but it was great when the girls were asleep and we sat on the balcony and watched the fireworks show.

The daytime view was also great. We could see the castle and some of CR. To get that kind of view, I would request North Wing, MK View, higher floor.

Our disney chain is getting smaller - only 76 days to go. We started it at 98, so it really does feel like we are getting closer.

We made the chain out of construction paper and draped it across the mantle in our family room. It stretched the full length of the wall. It was fun last year to see it go from about 90 and then to a single piece of the chain right before we left. It is a great visual for the girls, and they enjoy tearing a piece off every day. It's really exciting when we forget a few days and get to tear off more than one.

Here's a picture of my youngest after a long night at Epcot. We went back for EMH and she shut down early. My six year old lasted until 11:30 pm - the afternoon naps and rest time helped a lot!

 

[sunlver]

I am enjoying your trip report Your girls are beautiful

We are going again in mid June with the 3 kids(12,7,2 ), I am so excited. I just love reading everybodys trip reports.

 

[vatchr]

I am enjoying your trip report Your girls are beautiful

We are going again in mid June with the 3 kids(12,7,2 ), I am so excited. I just love reading everybodys trip reports.

Thanks so much! We can't wait for our trip. We were just commenting tonight on how fast Feb. and March went by. I can only hope that April and May go just as fast!