Trip Report *Completed* We Got No Troubles, Life Is The Bubbles, Down at Disney

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my first ever trip report. I discovered this site about a year ago and have been reading trip reports ever since. I hope you enjoy following along with mine.

The Cast:

DH Paul and me, Lisa


DS Adam and DSGF Kara
They graduated from high school in May and will be attending the University of Kentucky this fall.
"What Team?"
"Wildcats!"
Sorry, couldn't resist the High School Musical reference!

DD Allie and DDF (DD friend) Sarah
Allie takes awesome photos and I plan to use lots of her pictures in my report.

When? July 13-21, 2014
Where? Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Why? Our 25th Anniversary and Family Vacation

Day 1
July 13, 2014
We usually take 2 days to drive to WDW. Since we had extra people with us on this trip and would need 2 hotel rooms, we decided to save the hotel money and do the drive in one day.
We planned to leave our home in Cincinnati at midnight, but Paul and I had last minute packing to finish and Kara and Sarah both forgot things that had to be picked up from their homes.




Allie decorated the van for the trip!



We took a quick selfie and we finally hit the road about 1 am. Sorry for the crappy photo quality, but I had to include it!

I thought it would be fun to pass out little treats themed to each state we would drive through on the way to Florida. One thing came to mind when I thought about items produced in Kentucky, unfortunately I didn't think bourbon was appropriate for all members of our group.



Luckily I found an alternative at the UK campus bookstore!



The next state was Tennessee. Moon Pies are made in Chattanooga!

Next up was Georgia. I debated between peaches and peanuts and finally decided on


Peanut M&Ms!!


PALM TREES!!! We finally made it to Florida! We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center for free orange juice.

The next several hours dragged by. Disney should invent some form of magical transportation that whisks you to WDW as soon as you cross the Florida state line!

Finally, we saw this beautiful sight!


We couldn't believe we were finally here!

Minutes later the excitement reached a new level as we saw this…..



One last turn and we had reached our home for the week…..

Disney's Wilderness Lodge

Up next, exploring the Wilderness Lodge!

 

[LisaBelle]

The crew emerged refreshed and ready for our first ride on



We enjoyed the ride, but we were a bit underwhelmed. I think Allie said, "Was that it?" It was shorter than I would have liked. I would have been bummed if I'd waited in line for over an hour to ride it. So glad we were able to use fp+ I loved the little cottage scene at the end. I read a lot of discussion on another thread about people not fitting in the SDMT cars very well. Just for reference, Paul is 6' 4 and weighs about 225. Adam is 6' 1. I warned them before we rode that it might be a tight fit for them. Neither of them had an issue with not being able to fit their legs in under the bar. Neither was super comfortable and would not want to be spend a long time on the ride, but both fit on the ride without any trouble at all.
We had some time before our next fp+ so we walked over to tomorrow land. Allie and Sarah were hot and decided to each have a strawberry fruit bar. I had my first and sadly, only , Mickey Premium Bar of the trip.
Soooooo yummy!
We wanted to ride Buzz, but several tour groups arrived at Buzz at the same time we did, so we passed on Buzz and went on

Paul, Adam, Allie and I always enjoy this attraction. Allie and I sing the song all the time. Kara and Sarah liked it, but I don't know that they enjoyed it as much as we do.
It was time for our fp+ for Space Mountain!


Adam loves this ride, but he looks miserable! Guess he forgot about the camera!

Hurtling through space in pitch black darkness is sooo much fun!
When we emerged from Space Mountain it started to rain. It was actually good timing, because we were planning to return to the hotel for a rest at this point any way. Kara and Adam had special ponchos (you'll see them later), but neither had brought them with them today. I meant to buy ponchos for the rest of us the night before, but I was having so much fun looking at all the fun Disney merchandise in the gift shop that I forgot all about the ponchos! Luckily it was only sprinkling and the rain helped cool us off so we didn't mind too much.
We were all exhausted, so we took a long nap. I think we grabbed a quick snack from Roaring Fork and headed back to MK about 8pm. This was later than I had planned on getting back, but it turned out okay in the end. I don't take good photos in the dark and it rained off and on all night so I don't have many photos of that night. I know that when we returned to MK everyone was already lined up for MSEP. We weren't sure if we wanted to watch the parade or take advantage of lighter crowds and ride more rides. We started walking through some shops to avoid the parade crowd. We were having fun browsing and suddenly it was time for the parade to begin. We were lucky enough to find a spot and decided that as long as we were there we should watch the parade. Allie took these parade photos.




After the parade we needed a pit stop. We went to the restrooms between the Plaza and Tomorrowland Terrace. While we were waiting on others to come out of the restroom we realized that we had a good view of the castle and decided to set up camp and watch Celebrate the Magic and Wishes from here. Adam and Kara went and got drinks for all of us and we got ready to enjoy the show.
Allie got a good shot of the castle

My favorite nighttime show at any park is Wishes. I have loved it since the first night of our first family trip in 2004. I cried that night because my dream of bringing my family to WDW had finally come true and I have cried almost every other time I have seen it ever since. In 2004 I even bought the CD of the Wishes soundtrack and I listen to it in my car whenever I feel sad or need to relax. It always transports me to my happiest place on earth, if only for a few minutes. Of course I cried. I was so happy to be back celebrating our anniversary, sharing the experience with my kids and introducing newbies to the magic that is WDW.
Allie's photos of Wishes


After Wishes we headed for some attractions we hadn't gotten to do earlier in the day. Allie and I cannot remember the exact order of rides for that night, but I know that we rode Haunted Mansion right after Wishes. We had a short wait for HM. HM is a family favorite and Kara and Sarah really liked it, too. After HM we tried to go on Pirates, but it was still down ! We were all starving and we were near Pecos Bills so in we went. Paul and I shared a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger and fries, Adam and Kara shared Chili cheese fries, Sarah had chili cheese fries, and Allie had onion rings. All 4 of the kids had a strawberry lemonade slushy drink. They loved them and had them several times throughout the trip. Sorry I don't have photos. After Pecos Bills we walked through Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. Walking through the treehouse our first night at MK is another family tradition. After that we rode Jungle Cruise. Our skipper was pretty good, but we were seated by the engine. It was super loud and the speakers weren't loud enough so it was hard to hear him. After Jungle Cruise I'm not sure what we did, but I know it was close to midnight and MK was closing. We may have browsed in a few shops on our way out and then headed back to WL for the night. One last photo by Allie before we left the park.

Love this shot of the Partners statue and the castle.

Coming up: Day 2 Animal Kingdom

 

[TheMouseFan]

Loving your report! Looking at your MK pictures is getting me even more excited about the day we will spend there in October! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[minnie2000]

Great report and brilliant photos! We stood in the same place for Wishes, and we had a great view, and a backstage shortcut out of the park.

Looking forward to the rest.

 

[LisaBelle]

Loving your report! Looking at your MK pictures is getting me even more excited about the day we will spend there in October! Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Thanks so much for reading. I've enjoyed reading your trip reports, so it is fun to have you reading mine ! I read every trip report while I waited for mine to roll around. It really does build anticipation and help the time go faster. Next installment is coming up!

Great report and brilliant photos! We stood in the same place for Wishes, and we had a great view, and a backstage shortcut out of the park.

Looking forward to the rest.

Thanks for reading. I've been enjoying your report, too. I think it is so funny that we stood in the same place for Wishes. We also ate at Kona on the same day that you did (that will be day 3 of my report). Getting ready to post the next part of our trip in a few minutes.

 

[coachwnh]

Looking forward to AK

 

[LisaBelle]

Day 2
Tuesday, July 15th. Our 25th Anniversary!

The plan for today was to go to Animal Kingdom during the day, have our anniversary dinner at Epcot and end the day at MK. Stay tuned to see if we get it all in!



We managed to get up and out of WL about the time we were hoping. We drove to Animal Kingdom and got there just as the park was opening. There was quite a back up at the turnstiles. Lots of issues with magic bands that morning. Luckily, we didn't have any trouble.
We started walking through Discovery Island and everyone in front of us suddenly came to a stop. We weren't sure what was going on and then Allie spotted Devine! We had never seen her before. Definitely a cool experience!

Hard to believe that is a person in there!

We had fp+ scheduled for Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids and Kilimanjaro Safari. Since we didn't have a fp+ for Dinosaur we headed there first.




Dinosaur is always a fun ride. I think this photo is funny. Paul isn't looking, I look calm, Allie and Adam look amused and Kara and Sarah look scared. Allie told me she was turning to tell Sarah something when they took the photo.
We had some time before our EE fp+ so we just kind of wandered around and looked at a few animals.


We weren't really sure what we wanted to do so we headed over toward Everest. On the way to the Forbidden Mountain, we passed the theater where they have the Nemo show. Sarah and Kara thought that sounded like it might be fun so we checked show times and planned to come back between EE and Kali River Rapids.
When we got over to Everest Adam saw that the stand by time was only 15 minutes. We decided to hop in line. We only waited about 10 minutes.



I love the view at the top of Everest. You can see so much before you plummet backwards down the mountain! I wish I could see the Yeti in full working order.


Everyone loved EE!
We spent a few minutes looking around in the gift shop. I love the stuffed Yeti's. I got one on a previous trip and I sleep with him all the time.

Here he is waiting for me back at the WL!
By the time we finished looking around the shop our fp+ window opened up so we got back in line to ride again.



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I was really glad we got to ride twice.
It was almost time for Nemo so we headed over to the theater. I know lots of people love this show, but we were not big fans. The puppetry was amazing, but we found the script to be a little too corny for our liking.
By this time we were starving. We decided to eat at Pizzafari. We arrived just ahead of the tour groups! Pizzafari was just okay. We've enjoyed it before and it seemed like they changed the pizza, but maybe we just weren't in the mood for it. Sorry, there aren't any pictures!
We like to have our picture taken with Everest in the background. We found the photopass photographer and he took these shots.



Look who was visiting Animal Kingdom!

 

[LisaBelle]

Next up was Kali River Rapids. We weren't thrilled with the timing of this fp+, because we didn't want to walk around wet for the rest of the afternoon. We tried several times to change it and none of the available times would work. So off to Kali we went. Paul HATES to get wet, so we always leave all of our stuff with him on the bridge and he waits for us to float around and takes our picture. While we were in line the lady in front of us saw my button and wished me a happy anniversary. About that time I saw that she was wearing an anniversary button, too. We talked while we were in line and ended up riding with them. They were laughing and joking about how unadventurous they were because they brought ponchos to wear on the ride.




We all got wet, but Allie and Sarah were soaked! In fact they were so wet, they "needed" to buy new shirts!

We still had about an hour until our safari fp+, so we decided to take in the sights while we walked.

Kara decided it was time to try to her first Mickey Premium Bar!


I love this picture of Kara's first bite! She was making a funny face because the ice cream was so cold it was freezing her teeth! I wanted a Mickey bar, but I was on a mission to find the spiked Dole Whips I had read about on these boards. We always take a picture of Adam and Allie playing these drums.



And just across the way I found what I had been searching for, Dole Whip with coconut rum!

OMG!!! I LOVE SPIKED DOLE WHIPS!!! I wish we had another day at Animal Kingdom just so I could have had another! In case you are wondering where to find this wonderful treat, it is at Tamu Tamu in Africa, not far from the safari.
Allie and Paul had some cinnamon almonds and we all sat down for a few minutes. We started to walk to the safari, but Allie wanted to look for a key chain she had seen in a shop when we were here 2 years ago. While we were in the shop, the skies opened and it began POURING rain, thundering and lightning. Everyone had started dragging a bit and the rain seemed to suddenly suck all of the energy out of everyone. After waiting about 10 minutes people were grumbling that we should leave. I really wanted Kara and Sarah to ride the safari, so Kara and I put on our ponchos and trudged over to the safari. They told us it running! By this time the rain was finally slowing down, so we went to get the rest of the crew.
Here's where some confusion happens! As we approached the loading area the CM directed to our rows. The people trying to load the truck in front of us couldn't all fit in the row he had sent them to. So part of their group had to unload and wait for the next truck. As we started to board our vehicle, I realized (too late) that the same thing was going to happen to our group. There wasn't enough room for Adam and Kara in the row to which they had been directed. As I realized this I was trying to tell Adam and Kara to just stay there and get in the next car, but I could tell Adam was done and he started to walk off and Kara followed him. They walked out of the line and didn't ride at all ! I was so upset because I knew Adam would immediately regret his decision to leave and I didn't want Kara to miss the safari. There were tons of animals out, but I didn't enjoy the safari as much as I would have because I was so upset about Kara and Adam not being with us. Paul and I talked as we rode and realized we didn't have enough time to get another safari in today, but knew we should have time to come back first thing in the morning on Saturday. Once we figured that out, I relaxed and enjoyed the safari.




Love this hippo shot that Allie took. In fact, she took all of these safari shots.





We called Adam and Kara and told them that we would come back and ride the safari with them on Saturday. They were glad they would get to ride it. The rain had slowed down while we were on the safari, but as we got off the ride it started to rain more steadily. Adam and Kara had headed for the car and were waiting for us there, but had no keys, so they ended up standing in the rain while they waited. No one was very happy as we headed back to the WL

Next up, our Anniversary Dinner at Epcot!

 

[LisaBelle]

Looking forward to AK

Thanks for continuing to follow. Our day at AK had a few bumps, but lots of fun, too.

 

[C.FERNIE]

Fantastic trip report! looking forward to the rest of it! Only stayed at the lodge once but loved it!

 

[LisaBelle]

Fantastic trip report! looking forward to the rest of it! Only stayed at the lodge once but loved it!

Thanks! I am having such a good time writing it. Ahhh, the WL, wish I was sitting by the pool right now! Getting ready to post more.

 

[LisaBelle]

So, when I left off we were all a bit worn down by rain and headed back to the WL for a rest. Paul and I weren't going to have too much time for rest because by the time we left AK it was close to 4 and we had a 6:50 ADR at Les Chefs de France. We wanted to leave plenty of time to drive to Epcot, park, and walk to France. We didn't want to have to sprint around the world because we wanted to browse in some shops and if the rain held off we wanted to get some photo pass pictures taken. MK was open until midnight that night, so we told the rest of the crew that we were planning to go to MK after dinner. If they wanted to take the boat over there while we were at dinner that was fine with us or we'd call when we left Epcot and they could meet us then. That is definitely a bonus of having older kids!
Kara took this picture of us before we left.
The rain had stopped while we were back at the resort so we were keeping our fingers crossed that the rain would stay away for a bit as we made our way to World Showcase.
The photographers were out so we stopped for several as we made our way to France. Allie thinks we look the same in most of them. I have to agree!




We relaxed and enjoyed our walk through Epcot on our way to dinner.
We made it to the restaurant and checked in. They told us to relax on the patio and someone would be right out to take us to our table. We waited less than five minutes before we were seated.

Some of you may be wondering why we chose Les Chefs de France. The answer is simple. I have wanted to eat here ever since our first family trip in 2004. There was just something about this place that made me want to eat there. I would look in the windows and wish I sitting inside. We don't book many table service restaurants for our trips so this one always got taken off the list and every year I would walk by this restaurant and say, "Next time we come back to Disney I want to eat here." I was so happy that we were finally here. Sadly, I only have a picture of Paul looking happy to be there, because I forgot to have Paul take a picture of me and we forgot to have our server take our
picture !

I did remember to take food pictures here ! We decided to order different things and share some of each dish. I love french onion soup, so I had been dying to try it here. It did not disappoint!

Paul had the lobster bisque! OMG we both LOVED that soup. I wanted to take my bread and soak up every last drop out of the bowl. It was that good. Luckily I remembered my manners! I would go back and just order this soup or maybe this soup and dessert ! The people at the table beside us ordered the cheese board for their appetizer. It looked delicious! They raved about it.

Paul ordered the roasted chicken with broccoli and potatoes. The skin on the chicken was very crispy and we liked the seasonings.
I had the macaroni and cheese. It was good, but not quite as good as I expected it to be. I still enjoyed it though. I think the sauce was a little bit sweeter than I thought it would be.

Dessert was delicious! Paul had the cream puffs! Loved all the chocolate sauce. Nom, nom, nom!


I had the creme brûlée. I LOVE creme brûlée. To me it was perfect!

I would definitely eat at Les Chefs de France again. We loved the bread and both soups, especially the lobster bisque. I would also like to try the cheese board appetizer. I would order a different entree next time. All the desserts looked great so I'd like to try all of those as well.

After our delicious and relaxing dinner we strolled through Epcot on our way back to the car. I was still ready to go to MK, but Paul wasn't as sure. The rain held off while we were at dinner, but it started to rain as pulled out of the Epcot parking lot.

Up next, "Girls just want to have fun!"

 

[SharonD]

A few hiccups at AK, but you still accomplished a lot before the rain. Thanks for the tip on the spiked DWhip!

 

[LisaBelle]

A few hiccups at AK, but you still accomplished a lot before the rain. Thanks for the tip on the spiked DWhip!

Definitely try the spiked Dole Whips if you get the chance!

 

[cfry06]

Yum! Will def be trying out one of those Dole Whips in Sept!! For as many times as we have been to WDW, we still haven't made it to Wilderness Lodge!! Your report has me itching to check it out!! I'd love to stay there someday.

Loving the report! Thanks for sharing your adventures!

 

[cfry06]

And Happy Anniversary! I so wish Remy was still at Les Chefs. My 3yo is randomly obsessed with Ratatouille these days. He would go nuts if we saw him!

Those desserts look fabulous!

 

[MerMom1981]

Really enjoying your report!

I am also a big fan of Chefs de France. Great choice for you anniversary dinner!

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[LisaBelle]

Yum! Will def be trying out one of those Dole Whips in Sept!! For as many times as we have been to WDW, we still haven't made it to Wilderness Lodge!! Your report has me itching to check it out!! I'd love to stay there someday.

Loving the report! Thanks for sharing your adventures!

The spiked Dole whips are a must do. Have one for me, too! You should definitely try Wilderness Lodge. Your 3 yo will love Whispering Canyon Cafe. They have stick horse races. Lots of fun.

And Happy Anniversary! I so wish Remy was still at Les Chefs. My 3yo is randomly obsessed with Ratatouille these days. He would go nuts if we saw him!

Those desserts look fabulous!

Thanks! The desserts were great. I would love to meet Remy. Wish he'd come back to visit Epcot.

Really enjoying your report!

I am also a big fan of Chefs de France. Great choice for you anniversary dinner!

Looking forward to the rest!

Thanks for reading. I am so glad we finally got to eat at Chefs de France and that I wasn't disappointed after waiting for so long. I have the pictures uploaded for the next post. Hope to get it posted later tonight.

 

[m3owbox]

And Happy Anniversary! I so wish Remy was still at Les Chefs. My 3yo is randomly obsessed with Ratatouille these days. He would go nuts if we saw him!

Those desserts look fabulous!

I think they only bring out Remy during Lunch.

 

[Tuvalu]

I think they only bring out Remy during Lunch.

Remy is no longer there at lunch

 

[m3owbox]

Remy is no longer there at lunch

Not lunch either? Wow what a bummer