Trip Report Jasmine Rice...(Hold the Aladdin) - January 2018 Trip Report

When: January 15-18, 2018
Where: Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Walt Disney World
Who? @MonorailRed and myself

Let's begin!

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The Wilderness Lodge is one of our favorite resorts on property and a bucket list resort for a long time, and fortunately were able to snag a good rate in January and had some time off as well. A perfect storm to get 3 nights at the Lodge. Magic Kingdom area is also our favorite location. I hadn't stayed at a resort in the Magic Kingdom Resort Area in 10 years and Red even longer - so we were very excited to begin the trip!

DAY 1- Morning
We requested an early check-in because my flight got in early that day. Overall, Check-in was extremely quick and easy, and we were given our room assignments, to our shock was in the main lobby!!

View from the room

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We were expecting to hoof it down one of the branching legs of the resort - but this location was a prime spot that offered us a great national parks inspired view to step out into.

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Plenty of seating and and scenery to look at, we could spend a whole day talking about the detail and design of the Wilderness Lodge - but we've got a lot to cover on the 3 day trip...

So sit back, relax, and enjoy this picture journey through the trip! More to come!

 

[amjt660]

Following along

Max

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 1 - Afternoon Part 1
Where? Geyser Point and Contemporary Resort

After dropping off the bags in the room and settling in to the cozy corner room in the main lobby, we perused down by Copper Creek Springs to have a little early lunch around 11am -- at the newest quick service location at the Wilderness Lodge - Geyser Point!

We have a bit of a personal attachment to it despite never eating there before. We both enjoy participating and brainstorming imagineering concepts as a hobby - frequenting the imagineer forum on this site, and back in 2016, we had designed a Wilderness Lodge quick service bar and grill called Timber Peak, with a similar aesthetic and design to what would be announced as Geyser Point a few months later! So sitting down in a quick service place we had thought of together was a pretty cool experience.

We both had the Bison Cheeseburger (unfortunately I did not plan ahead of time to take a picture of it before I scarfed it down (that'll be a theme of this trip report I feel) so you'll have to excuse the stock image of it from the Disney Food Blog.

There's cranberries on it Felt like a Thanksgiving burger haha - but it was delicious - and large too! One of the largest quick service burgers I've seen on property. They also had cheese glazed waffle fries included which was a nice touch to compliment it.

Next up we traveled on the boat to the Contemporary Resort - to make our way around to the Magic Kingdon via monorail (doors were closed throughout the whole trip)

'Resort hopping' is one of our favorite things to do at Walt Disney World. It's relaxing and you get to experience difference takes on a Disney vacation along the way. Where else can you go from the rustic wilderness and take a boat to a modern futuristic resort with a monorail running through it?

A nice Fantasia Mickey plant out front - and ironically by the end of the trip it had a tarp over it, possibly for transport to Flower and Garden?

Contemporary has such an iconic design to it -- the one thing we both always thought could use a bit of touch up was the pool area, and walking through it again, it could use some greenery.

@MonorailRed and myself tried this out with a new 'perfect park acres' pool concept, using a design similar to the spires of Tomorrowland 1975 as well as some greenery and waterfalls to accent the beautiful tower building. Maybe one day!

The Contemporary will come back up later in the trip report -- for now though, onto the Magic Kingdom via the Resort Monorail!

Day 1 Magic Kingdom adventures coming up next!

 

[spacemt354]

Following along

Max

Thank you! Hope you enjoy!

 

[Suchomimus]

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 1 - Afternoon Part 2
Where? Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom is probably the park we spent the most time in overall during the trip. Given the prime location about a 5-7 minute boat ride away, or a boat ride, then walk, or a boat ride then monorail ride -- we have a lot of ways to get to the park!

This trip we wanted to try and stroll around the parks, not race from one attraction to another. Going down in January I was figuring at least that the crowds would be less than when I usually go down in the summer. Ironically, they were pretty packed. And not just on MLK day -- Tuesday and Wednesday were also surprisingly crowded.

But nevertheless the stroll continued on our grand circle walking tour of the Magic Kingdom, with stops at a bench in Adventureland, a bench near Pinocchio's Village Haus in Fantasyland, and a bench near the Peoplemover in Tomorrowland, before meandering our way out to go on a boat ride through the Seven Seas Lagoon, back to the Wilderness Lodge for a little break in the action, and to grab another jacket as it was a bit chilly on Monday.

Returning via boat, our first attraction was the Hall of Presidents -- because we had to see it

And I must say, regardless of the political junk going on - Disney still can make a patriotic Walt Disney-style attraction that is very entertaining. We were both very impressed! Plus it was crowded, packed house, and everyone clapped at the end - really well done refurbishment.

Up next was the Swiss Family Treehouse.

This attraction I always felt gave great views of the Magic Kingdom, in particular Tomorrowland and the castle from the lookouts -- also a nice place for a photo!

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Continuing our second walking tour of the day (my pedometer was going nuts) a quick stop to see what the wait for Mine Train was, 120 minutes, and the quick decision to enjoy it from afar.

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Passing through Storybook Circus we then came across the back pathway from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland, where in my opinion - you have the best action shot of the Walt Disney World Railroad roaring past.

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In past trips, we tended to run from Fastpass to Fastpass, ride to ride, and sometimes miss the subtle treats of the WDW parks, which can be simple things as a walk-through attraction, to a certain viewpoint of a ride, to just sitting on a park bench - it was relaxing (plus the walking helped warm you up!)

In the next section we'll dive into the evening at the Magic Kingdom where we went on the 2 functioning mountain rides in the park, catch the fireworks, as well as head on over to a monorail loop resort for a nacho infused meal. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

 

[fractal]

I'm in! Nice pics!

 

[Rista1313]

In! and I'm not late! yay!

 

[spacemt354]

I'm in! Nice pics!

In! and I'm not late! yay!

Thank you both very much! Next part coming soon!

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 1 - Evening
Where? Magic Kingdom and Polynesian Resort

The last bit of the afternoon sun perched over the castle and Sir Mickey's before we continued to head into Frontierland for our Fastpass to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Having a while till the time, we paced ourselves walking through the various shops and through the Enchanted Forest just taking in the surroundings.

The afternoon has officially turned to evening as we walk back over from Fantasyland to Frontierland, facing west and watching as the sun sets over the horizon. We arrive just when the top most flair of the sun's rays hits Big Thunder, yet it's dark enough around the mountain for the night lighting effects to appear -- I always though Big Thunder was such a cool ride at night.

And cool it was (literally and figuratively) -- careening around those hills there was a crisp wind that hit your face that I wasn't used to going down to Disney in July/August most of the time.

Nevertheless still a great family friendly coaster!

Walking through Frontierland, Splash Mountain was closed for refurbishment, though given the temperature I doubt we would have ridden. Pics of Splash Mountain coming during the daytime in another part to the report!

Our Space Mountain Fastpass was next. Still my favorite Space Mountain of the bunch at Disney Parks, even though that might be the minority opinion! I just love the classic coaster vibe that it has, the Star Tunnel music, and that it's the original.

After turning our stomachs through the Magic Kingdom Mountain Range - it's time for something to eat! So we hopped back on the monorail for a stop at Capt. Cook's in the Polynesian Resort.

I have nostalgia for this place because this is where I used to go as a kid when we'd first get to Disney -- and I'd have a Mellow Yellow which we used to be able to only find in the south. And they've refurbed this place since then to a very reliable and delicious venue!

The pulled pork sandwich is our go-to selection - as well as a side of nachos

Both of these are equally filling so it's safe to say you won't need any dessert!

Next it was around 8pm and it was a long day of traveling (being up around 2am to get to the airport) so we figured it was time to head back -- so we boarded the monorail to the Contemporary, and tried to go in the back way to the Wilderness Lodge to avoid the fireworks crowds.

We rode the monorail around to the Contemporary - got off, and headed out towards the boat dock in the back for the boat to the Wilderness Lodge, and were able to catch the finale of the fireworks in between the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower! Very neat view!

Then it was back to the room for the night -- still can't believe that it was in the main lobby!

And that's it for Day 1!

Day 2 will be coming next with a trip to Epcot for the Festival of the Arts, as well as the namesake of this trip report - the Skipper Canteen mess hall...(which was pretty clean for a mess hall)

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for that later today!

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 2 - Morning Part 1
Where? Epcot International Festival of the Arts

Trying not to waste any daylight on the trip - got up nice and early and went to Roaring Fork, a small quick service place in the Wilderness Lodge, for some coffee and breakfast.

It was recently redone since the last time I had visited and they did a great job with it - very efficient service and good food! We are coffee drinkers so having a nice place downstairs a short walk away to grab a coffee and go was an excellent feature. At Coronado Springs, where we have stayed in the past, to get the coffee you have to walk 0.25-0.75 miles to El Centro to get the coffee....by that point, you're already awake

So the convenience factor was a nice option!

Hopped on a bus to our first destination of the day -- and arrived shortly after rope drop around 9:30am.

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Red - living in Florida, has seen all of the Festivals Epcot has to offer, but I had never been to one before! Maybe I am easily impressed but even for the smallest festival (compared to Food/Wine and Flower/Garden) I thought Festival of the Arts was fantastic!

A very welcome addition to bring a few more guests in during the supposed down time in January/February - with a ton of features and special events planned around the park. We got to see the extra food/beverage booths open around World Showcase, the Odyssey was open, parts of Innoventions were now in use for the festival, and there were several interactive painting zones for guests to paint Epcot murals by the start of World Showcase.

Again - maybe I'm easily impressed, but I really liked it.

First ride was Test Track!

We had a Fastpass for it - which really at least for this attraction - doesn't do much aside from have you skip the initial queue. I wish similar to the single rider line, Fastpass had their own design stations separate from the line, because for 15 minutes after designing your car, you then wait with the Stand-By line in another line before boarding.

That sounds like a first world problem, but what's the point of Fastpass if you're still in the Stand-By line for a while after tapping the Fastpass. It got me to thinking how many other attractions do this, and there tends to be a small end section of the queue that has both Stand-By and Fastpass on mostly every attraction -- for some reason this one felt longer though.

Anyway -- that's a small nitpick -- our car ended up being #1 in Capability (granted it was early in the morning - but woo!)

After that we strolled next door to a place I had never been - The Odyssey!

Inside we watched a Floridian artist instructor give lessons to folks on how to draw faces. It was neat listening to it as we browsed around the Odyssey Pavilion looking at eclectic attraction artwork from around the international Disney Parks.

For instance, this awesome Space Mountain poster from Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris!

The Odyssey is a great location for a restaurant, or at least a year-long special events pavilion -- I wish they'd keep it open because it actually helps Future World East in a way feel more 'lived-in' rather than abandoned which we will get to in the next part!

Exiting the Odyssey we walked into World Showcase with the goal of stopping in most of the nations and just admiring some hidden details, as well as grabbing some small food/beverage items along the way.

First stop was Mexico which has gained since I was last there a Margarita Bar and a Tequila Bar...perhaps going for the record for most about of bars in one pavilion. It was too early in the morning for any of that, but walking into the main lobby of the pavilion - it was decked out in Coco displays

If we had to take a guess -- get ready for Coco in the Mexico Pavilion attraction!

Walking through Norway they were still having the character breakfast going on as well as a 100 minute wait for Frozen Ever After...so moving on

China we walked through briefly because we had been there to eat last year at Nine Dragons, so we continued on to Germany where we always liked to stop and look at the miniature train set.

Growing up I helped build an HO model railroad so stopping here in the shade and watching the trains go around the miniature German villages is always a great sight. And it seemed like they had more trains on the rails today! Two long passenger trains, a freight train in the corner, and the alpine trolley train up top.

And it was at this time we were hungry so we made our first food stop in World Showcase - coming up in Part 2 as well as Festival of the Arts locations, and much more! Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 2 - Morning Part 2
Where? Epcot and Magic Kingdom

Sorry for the almost week long respite in between posts! Maybe it was subconsciously trying to extend the trip out longer if I spread out the posts

Either way - I've always found the best way to get back on track is with food - so here is a picture of a Napoleon from France which is where the Morning Part 2 begins!

After perusing past several of the pavilions of Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, we caved to get a small pastry since we hadn't eaten for a good 4-5 hours and were looking for a snack.

I had never been to the France bakery before but it had always been a bucket list item - and the Napoleon was spot on! Would highly recommend. Not too pricey ($3-4 I think) and filling for sure!

Following the quick pit stop, we were originally intending to meander out to Hollywood Studios via the International Gateway, but decided on continuing the lap around Epcot since we may or may not get back to it on Wednesday (the final day). So we continuing through the United Kingdom Pavilion and then we got to Canada, which I have to say may be one my new favorite pavilions even though they have done nothing new to it that wasn't already there (I had just never been to it)

If you walk up and around the stairs as if you're going to O'Canada, you'll find that there is a walking path near a rock formation with a big waterfall!

This is the type of experience where I can say to newcomers to WDW - especially at Epcot, you really don't need to jump from ride to ride to have a good time. Part of the exciting aspect of visiting Epcot, especially World Showcase, is finding these hidden places off the beaten path - that if you're racing around - you may never find! I've been to Disney at least two dozen times over my life and never even saw this before - so it just goes to show there is always something new!

As we went back into Future World - we stopped at one of our favorite places which is the Club Cool

Inside Club Cool you can try soda samples (for free) from a variety of different countries, expect for Italy because as long-time Disney fans know...it's gross.

Though Red and I do have a challenge and tradition that we have to swig one gulp of Beverly each time going in there.

The final thing we did before heading out of the park and heading north towards the Magic Kingdom for the afternoon and for dinner, was help paint a mural that they had guests paint for the Festival of the Arts. The mural we contributed to was a retro Figment head in a variety of different color pallets.

And after that we boarding the monorail to head towards the Magic Kingdom!

Thank you for reading - and stay tuned for the next installment which will take us to some of the quiet places of the Magic Kingdom and then the punniest places of the Magic Kingdom!

 

[LeighM]

My husband is addicted to the soda, Bibo, that's found at Club Cool (where he first discovered it), Harambe Market in Animal Kingdom, and Coca Cola Store at Disney Springs. I think our last trip in 2016, he had a total of 5. Our next trip is in 45 days and he's already planning how to get more Bibo

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I definitely need to check out that Canada secret pathway! What a great photo op! I enjoyed Festival of the Arts and hope it’s here to stay!!!

 

[spacemt354]

I definitely need to check out that Canada secret pathway! What a great photo op! I enjoyed Festival of the Arts and hope it’s here to stay!!!

Definitely! It's an awesome hidden spot!

And same - we both loved the Festival of the Arts (second year of it I think?) either way we hope it's around for many more too!

 

[spacemt354]

DAY 2 - Afternoon Part 1
Where? Epcot and Magic Kingdom

One thing I forgot to mention before continuing on -- we walked over to the Wonders of Life Pavilion just to see if it was open for the Festival. It wasn't, however we sat on a bench and looked at the closed Universe of Energy, the closed Wonders of Life, and how there was nobody in the area.

Then we heard something


Yes -- Inside Out music was playing in Future World?! Maybe for the Festival of the Arts...but still never heard that track being played before in Epcot. And to make it more interesting -- if you zoom in on the Wonders of Life as we did -- you can even see construction cones on top of the building. Our armchair imagineer heads began to spin -- is this a sign that Inside Out is coming to the Wonders of Life??

Well, it's probably just roof work and a coincidence lol -- but it was still an awesomely odd moment for sure.

Making our way to the front entrance of Epcot and heading towards the monorail, we took another look back at the neat display for the Festival of the Arts in the front of the park. Another reason why we liked this was because it gave a chance for Epcot to show off one of its most underutilized characters in Figment!

After boarding the monorail, riding it around to the TTC, and then the express monorail to the Magic Kingdom - we made a B-line for Frontierland and Adventureland.

First to take a look at Splash Mountain which was closed, however even if it was open it was still pretty chilly out so I'd doubt we'd want to get soaked in the middle of January.

After taking a few pics of Splash, we headed on over to a hidden gem in the Magic Kingdom - Tom Sawyer Island. I like the Island because it gives unique views of Frontierland and Liberty Square, the former being a great shot of Big Thunder Mountain from an angle we don't normally see given the Rivers of America in-between.

However, the bridge to the larger half of the island was closed, leaving us with a small portion of Tom Sawyer's Island to explore...which ended up with us sitting at the old Aunt Polly's Refreshment stand, now just used for seating.

And the seating gives great views to the east of the Magic Kingdom as well - with the Castle in the background, and the transition from Frnotierland to Liberty Square.

As well as the Haunted Mansion which we will get to in a later segment of the trip report!

After we took in the surroundings and began to walk back towards the rafts, we decided since dinner was at 5pm, that we would try to explore more things we might not do on every trip, either for time reasons or just overlooking it - nevertheless we decided on Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room!

I've always been a fan of the Tiki Room (not so much under new management though) and to be honest neither of us had been on it since the refurb back to the original. What a delightful show! And from the image above, on a Tuesday in January it was still decently crowded...so I sure hope this attraction remains.

By that point it was time for the Backside of Restaurants - Skipper Canteen

A picture of Albert Falls above - the Skipper Canteen was hilarious. I am all for good puns, and I have to say our waitress was full of them. She explained the menu and just rattled off about 35 puns it was tough to even keep track - and as you can tell from the title of the thread....this is one of the highlights of the trip

Safari you all doing? I don't wanna rush through the Skipper Canteen and I want to make sure I include as many puns as I can remember from it. I'll come back in the next edition to describe in more detail the Skipper Canteen experience...and I'll leave with a teaser...of Kungaloosh!

Thanks for reading and check back tomorrow for the next segment!

 

[LadyBelle]

You pics are amazing!

 

[spacemt354]

You pics are amazing!

Thank you very much!

 

[fractal]

How was the food at Skipper Canteen?

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Following along! We were there January 15-20!
I love the pulled pork nachos at Captain Cooks, so good choice!
Can’t wait to hear all about Skipper Canteen!