LeafsFan's Artisinal Cheese and Creme Brulee Trip Report March 31st - April 9th 2010

Well we got back from our trip very early Saturday morning, and now that a few days have passed I figured I’d begin the trip report. I am hoping to post daily. There probably will not be many pictures as I am technologically challenged. I’ll try to emphasize the positive aspects of the trip, but we had a few not so positive issues that will be addressed.

The Cast.

We have myself, a self described Disney Geek TouringPlans.com Len Testa type park commando, my DW of a similar type to myself, and my two 8 year old boys. As mentioned, one of my sisters in laws signed on about 3 weeks ago, and last week another sister in law, her husband, and their 11 year old son, and 13 year old daughter signed on last week. These people live in Ontario, and we do not get to see them often. Our resort was the Wilderness Lodge.





Day 1 March 31st

We woke this morning all ready to go to the airport, everything had been packed in advance and the kids just couldn’t wait to go. One worry was the weather. I could tell that where the airport was located might be foggy, which is a very common occurrence up here. As it turned out it was foggy enough that I was not confident that our flight would get out.

Luckily we did, leaving St. John’s at around 12:45 pm. The 3 ½ hour flight to Toronto was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that I was stuck in steerage with the boys, while DW was enjoying salmon, red wine and coffee with Baileys up front!! I did manage to watch “Up in the Air” which was interesting. Toronto airport is crazy busy, and the 1 ½ hour connecting time that we had is tight as US customs has to be navigated before you board your US flight. It went well though, and before long we are on an afternoon flight to Tampa, where once again I am in steerage with the boys while DW is hobnobbing with the elite up front. On this leg I got to see the first half of Avatar. We arrived at about 7:00pm and was met by my mother and father, and my aunt and uncle who have places in Largo. We picked up our rental car, and drove to Largo getting there about 8:00 pm. We managed to get the kids in bed by 9:30, and we headed to bed early to get rested for the next day. SIL #1 flew into Orlando this afternoon from Ottawa, and SIL #2 and her family came in early this same morning from Toronto. They all used Magical Express with no problems. I believe they stayed in the resort that evening eating at Whispering Canyon Café.

Day 2 April 1st

DW and I were up before dawn, due to the excitement and the 1 and ½ earlier time zone (6 am in FLA is 7:30 am in NL). We had the kids up, fed, the car repacked and the GPS unit figured out early enough so that we could be on the road for 8:00 am. The drive took just under two hours, and was a pretty good drive. DW is a nervous passenger, and she did as well as she can on such a busy road. We arrived at the Wilderness lodge right at 10:00 am, got our bags on a cart and parked the car, little did I know that the car would not move again for a week until we left.

I had mentioned several days in advance to the in-laws that they should get to EPCOT as early as they could manage, and that we would call them when we got there to see if we could meet up. When we got the WL they were just sitting down for breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe, and I began to be concerned that this would be the pattern for the week. My brother in law, who can be very stubborn, stated that it wasn’t necessary to get there early. We were not able to get into our room but put our stuff into one of the other rooms and got ready to head to EPCOT. My family’s plan for the day was really just to have our lunch and dinner at EPCOT and probably spend the rest of the day at the pool. Having spent the last three Easter weeks in the World we knew how crazy the park would be, and we tend not to fight such crowds. As mentioned in the pre trip report, we tend to be there fore rope drop, tour heavily until about noon or 1 pm and then leave for the day.


After everyone was ready we headed to the bus depot to get the EPCOT bus. It came within 5 minutes and off we went. A point should be made here; Disney transportation was exceptional for us the entire week. The few times we got a little hung up it was the fault of our travelling companions. One point is that it was hot. Highs for the whole week were mid to high 80’s. We all got to the park just about noon, and it was pure madness. Now an extra complication had happened not long before our trip. SIL #2 has slipped on some ice and reinjured some old injuries, and she wasn’t very mobile, we suggested that she get a wheel chair in each park. This of course slowed our admission to the park.

Here is DW waiting to get rolling

My two boys are heading over to see their aunt in the wheelchair




We went to Test Track to see how bad it was. Standby was 120 minutes, and Fastpasses were quickly running out. The Fastpass time for us was no good as it was the same time as our evening ADR at Le Cellier. The other family dithered about what to do until the Fastpasses had indeed all been issued. DW and I then decided that touring was done for the day for us. I have mentioned that one of the goals of this trip was to see as many of the things we have not seen in our previous trips, so with that in mind we all headed over to Club Cool.

As it was April 1st I suggested everyone should try the Beverly, and it worked!! Man that stuff is vile, all I could think of was the worst medicine I had when I was a kid. BIL suggested it was meant to be mixed with some type of booze, I can’t imagine ruining even the worst rotgut with this stuff, Bleech!! It was decided that the families would split up. Our family along with SIL #1 and 2 went to our lunch time ADR at the Coral Reef and BIL and his two kids decided to skip lunch and brave the standby line at Test Track and maybe some other rides. BIL mentioned that having only four full days in their trip, they were going to try to get as much out of each day as they could. Silently I thought, “ouch”
Our meal was good, I remember we shared an appetizer for two we both had a fish entrée, which IIRC was fish of the day and was good, I remember having the butterscotch Crème Brulee which was great. I’d eat there again.


After finishing Lunch the four of us took the MK monorail, switched to the express monorail, and then took the boat over to the Lodge. It was an interesting trip but not as quick as the bus. We were then able to get into our room; I spent time getting our stuff, and DW gooped up the kids with sunscreen before I took them to the main pool at around 3:30. The room was the typical WL standard room with the queen beds. In 2007 and 2009 we had stayed at the two Port Orleans resorts and had liked them very much. We found the moderate rooms quite nice. When we booked the WL we were looking forward to the bigger rooms, not that we needed them, but as a perq. We found after being in the room for a week that while the rooms are bigger on paper, the arrangement of the room is not as efficient at the WL. The actual living space the beds occupy seems to be no bigger than the Port Orleans rooms. Don’t get me wrong, the rooms were very nice, just no better than the Port Orleans rooms. We then spent two or three hours at the main pool. The pool was beautifully themed, and the kids loved it. I loved the number of Disney Lifeguards around it. It was crowded, and in many respects it reminded me of the Old Man Island pool at POR. I was pretty sure that for many of the afternoons to come we would be in the quiet pool. Just before we were to get out of the pool and get ready to go back to EPCOT for dinner at Le Cellier, the rest of our party returned from EPCOT. They had ridden Test Track, and Nemo, and Journey into Imagination. They then proceeded to go to the pool even though they were getting close to their ADR time at the Biergarten.

We headed back to EPCOT and made our ADR at Le Cellier. DW had the mussels followed by the Filet, and the Mousse. I had the Caesar salad, followed by the Filet and the Maple Crème Brulee. My meal was one of the highlights of the culinary week. We left the restaurant, just in time to catch Illuminations, which I love. After the show we were supposed to meet the others at the Canadian pavilion. I was unsure if the others had even come back, and our cell phone was dead. We hung around for a while, and then decided to leave as we were all exhausted. We had found out that it was an extra magic evening, so we decided to check out future world and do a ride, just to allow the hordes to leave before we headed out to the bus. As it turned out we got onto Nemo with no wait, went to see Turtle Talk for the first time, and got into Spaceship Earth for the first time. This left Test Track and Journey into Imagination on my “to do” list, and we were scheduled to come back to EPCOT two more times. The park had mostly cleared by now, and we had no trouble getting the bus. As a matter of fact one was there when we got the assigned areas. This was to happen many times. We ran into the others back at the lodge. They got to the Biergarten just before it closed, and they managed to get some food, but the entertainment had ended for the evening. We got back to our room and went to bed, after what was a pretty good day.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

We have talked about limiting family reunion style vacations to places where the pool and beach are the attractions, then these problems disappear. We have already began to look at the Carribbean for next April, probably some place in Varadero.

HB

 

[LeafsFanNL]

I was talking to SIL #2 last night, and my BIL is an airline pilot caught up in this issue in Europe. He is stuck at Heathrow.

HB

 

[LeafsFanNL]

love the trip report and the hat!!

Well here are more hat photos

Here is a picture from Easter 2009 after a breakfast at the Cape May Cafe

Here is me and my hat trying to figure out my video camera in EPCOT Easter of 2008

Here is my favorite Disney photo of all. A rainy morning in the Studios Easter of 2007

Here is my hat and I on the shore of Clode Sound summer 2007. My favorite holiday spot in Newfoundland is behind me, the Terra Nova Golf Lodge

This is nice photo from August 2005 at a friends cottage.

HB

 

[tiaragirl]

^ Dad played Terra Nova before I was old/good enough to play. Said it was beautiful. Hoping to get back someday and hit it up.

PS: That HS picture with you all in yoru hats in front of the BAH is epic.

 

[TakeMeThere81]

We have talked about limiting family reunion style vacations to places where the pool and beach are the attractions, then these problems disappear. HB

Ha! I love those hat pictures! The DHS one is really great! I don't think I ever want to do a multi-family vacation, they always sound so tough! I think DH and I would go nuts unless we went with another expert Disney family. Getting held back in the mornings would drive me nuts. My mom takes forever on her hair, for any and all occasions. We wake her up early. :drevil: Anyway, it still sounds like a really nice trip. And we've always wanted to stay at Wilderness Lodge so that in itself makes me jealous!!

BTW, my husband and I visited your country just a couple weeks back. Only it was Victoria, B.C.

 

[corey154]

thanks for the hat photos, i really like all of them, but i think my favorite hat pic is the family photo at HS, you're boys are so cute!

 

[LeafsFanNL]

April 4th Day 5

On this Easter Morning We got up about 8:00 am with the boys finding that the Easter Bunny had found us after all. DW had planned all along that this would be a relaxing morning. We had planned to have the boys participate in the Easter Activities at the lodge because in 2007 we did the same at POFQ and it was a highlight of the week.

Our original plan was to have breakfast at the Whispering Canyon Café, do the Easter activities then head off to EPCOT for a Le Cellier Lunch. After lunch we were planning to forgo Future World in its entirety so that we could spend the afternoon in the World Showcase. Like many people WS is my favorite part of all of WDW. After spending our afternoon at WS we would have dinner at Les Chef de France.

This would be the last day that the other family would have at the World as they were flying back to YYZ (Toronto) very early on Monday. BIL had mentioned that they were going to go to DHS on this day. DW and I talked about this for a while and she made the point that while she really did not want to totally drop our plans, she was more interested in staying with the group. We both realized that we would lose those ADR’s at EPCOT, but DW was more concerned about spending time with her family.

One thing that made our decision easier for her was that we were starting to suffer from something that we had never experienced in the past, food fatigue. Both of our previous trips were on the DDP, and we enjoyed the plan. This year we decided to try the DxDP. We were starting to get tired of the time eating a table service meal at lunch time takes. Besides we had already had Le Cellier, and Chefs de France was low on my list of places to eat. We have since decided while we like the DxDP a lot, we shouldn’t have made lunch and breakfast ADR’s

I was also rather surprisingly bone tired. We were not getting near enough sleep; this was largely due to my kids getting older, and their desire to play with their cousins. In past years I would have been hitting the hay no later then 10, sometimes as early as 8:30. This year it was 11:00 or later, every night. Not surprisingly a wall was getting closer that we would eventually hit.

On something of a positive note switching to DHS would put us in a park where we really only had only a few things to do for the first time. Star Tours and the Walt Disney film was the only things we hadn’t done. I figured we would have a very short DHS day and head back to the room try to get some rest

We started off with Breakfast at Whispering Canyon Café, which was where we had an ADR for this morning. I had the eggs benedict with beef brisket and it was great. DW had the skillet which she liked. I loved this place and the shtick was a hoot as well. I missed the Easter Activity at 9:00 am as I was doing a little laundry. DW said the kids had a great time, and they came back with about 10-15 pounds of candy. It actually filled up about ½ of a dresser in the room. Mickey and Minnie had showed up and were in the lobby of the Lodge for photos and autographs.

This is my boys and my nephew in the lodge


Everybody was pretty efficient getting ready for the busses and we were on the way quickly this morning about 10:15- 10:30 or so. Anyway needless to say, DHS was quite crowded upon arrival. We had to wait when we got through the entrance as several people had to have a bathroom break. Anyway we waited near guest service trying to stay in the shade as it was very hot, probably pushing 90. Finally everyone was ready to proceed.

Everybody headed off to TSMM to see how things looked. When we got there the standby lines were over an hour and Fastpasses were for about 6 PM. My family was not prepared to wait that long, but I didn’t care if we got fast passes or not, since nothing else we were likely to do that day needed Fastpass. Making little sense to me, no one in the other party wanted to get Fastpasses or wait so we headed off to Star Tours.

Lines at Star Tours were posted as 20 minutes here, but were closer to 10 minutes. After the ride, which was fun, we were in the store for quite a while as my boys have discovered Star Wars since our last trip. After leaving the store with some more of their money spent we watched the Jedi Training Academy. Any desire the boys had to wait around for another show so they could participate quickly melted in the heat. Our party discussed the matter and we decided that we would go to the Little Mermaid, eat lunch probably at ABC Commissary, and go to the Indy Stunt Show as the others have not seen this ever.

As we were about to head over, I noticed that my camera was missing. It’s a pretty small digital camera that I had been carrying in one of the pockets in my Tilley shorts. They have seven pockets, plus a pickpocket proof hidden pocket. I pretty much wear these things all summer and have for about 10 years. DW hates them. I used to wear a Tilley Shirt a lot until DW said I was beginning to look like Steve Irwin, so the shirt has been mostly retired


Anyway back to the story. I can shove a lot of things in the pockets of these shorts and I have never lost anything from them ever. I decided I must have put the camera down. The rest of the party decided to wait for a little while to finish watching the Jedi Academy and they then were going over to Little Mermaid I checked Star Tours and the cast member did a very thorough job in checking the car I had been in, but it wasn’t there. I then checked the store and was informed that the camera had been found and had been sent to guest relations. My party was still watching the Academy show, so I told them I was going over to guest relations and would catch up with them. They just had the camera show up and I quickly had it back. I was seriously impressed with the speed that guest relations had acted. Somebody at the store must have called guest relations and that individual must have retrieved it immediately as I was at guest relations within 15-20 minutes of laying it down. Good job Disney. Anyway, while I was there I got an extra day on our tickets. We had purchased six day non hoppers, and we were on our fourth day. We still had three full days after this with part of a fourth day, and the proposed Sea World day was starting to become something which might not happen, (more on this later) so for sure we would need an extra day. Anyway the tickets were only $12 for the four of us, so I got them. After picking up a Coke, as it was getting really hot, I went back to the Little Mermaid and from behind me I heard in several voices “Howie!!!!!” and turned around to see my party 20 or yards behind me. Everyone was impressed at how quickly guest services had fixed the problem, Disney magic at work.

We quickly got into the show which is a favorite of DW, and I was happy she had been able to see this as she had not seen a show at the AK two days earlier. When we came out the central area of the park was stinking hot, and we then proceeded to ABC commissary. DW and I had the chicken burger, which I thought was OK, DW really didn’t care for hers. She said something like, “not as good as Le Cellier”, where we should have been that lunch time, oh well.

After lunch we went over to the Indy Show about 20 minutes in advance of the show and was told that there was SRO. When SIL#2 showed up in her chair, the entire party was sent to a special area where people in chairs and their party were seated. We saw the show as we always did when we were in DHS. It was fun and we then exited into the central area of the Park. We actually split into two groups. BIL and his kids went over to ride Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roll Roller Coaster. Our half of the group did the Walt Disney Film and the Narnia attraction. By now it was really, really hot, and DW and the Kids were done. The Sisters in law decided to stay and shop, and we took the bus back to the Lodge, after deciding that seeing the parade which had just started was not that important to us.

When we were ready for the pool, we found it very full. There was as always the case before 6 pm, no shade. DW now decided it was time to find the quiet pool. It was only a short walk from the main pool, and it was shaded for a sizeable part of the day, pretty much after 2 pm. I went up to the room to take a nap, but couldn’t sleep. I came back down and let DW catch some sleep which she did. The other family returned and then proceeded to get as much pool time as they could manage on their last day. It was nice to let the kids enjoy the pool with no need to prepare for ADR’s.

As the evening progressed SIL #2 made a suggestion that they should take all the kids to Roaring Fork while DW, SIL #1 and I tried to get into Whispering Canyon Café. After having a little rest we got ready to go and try to eat. DW went over to the WCC while I ordered drinks at the Territory Lounge. She was able to get a table and we went over to the WCC. DW had the chips and dip which was very good followed by the Pork Tenderloin. She liked the pork as well. I had the pork spring rolls and the rib eye steak. Both were very good. All week I found WCC to be better than I had been led to expect by the reviews. We both ordered pie and took them to our room as it was getting late. I found our kids in the arcade and brought them upstairs quite late about 11:30. They fell asleep in about 30 seconds.

I then spent some time with the other family as they were packing. They were getting picked up at 5:30 am for their Magic Express trip to MCO. We had taken the same flight last year, and I did not envy them one little bit. After we said our goodbyes, DW and I headed back to our room.

I knew she was very tired, but I was really surprised to hear that she was too tired to talk about planning for our first day as a party of five. The only thing she wanted to mention was she didn’t want to go to Sea World the next day as planned. I was never really that keen on going in the first place and was fine with that. With that I hit the hay after midnight.

So now the party would be smaller and we had hit all parks, although only was the AK “done” in a manner with which we were accustomed. We had eaten at a lot of nice places, but we were in all fairness getting a little tired of the time required. Earlier this day we had agreed that we would not worry about getting to our breakfast and Lunch ADR’S from now on, and concentrate on the Dinner ADR’S. We now had two full days as a party of five, and a day and a half as a party of four. In my head I saw one more EPCOT and MK day, hopefully getting to both at something near rope drop. The third day would be a Downtown Disney morning/pool afternoon day. Our last morning was still my loose ends morning, hitting something early that we had not done well enough. I kind of expected that it would be one last visit to EPCOT to get the big attractions of Future World followed by a 1:00 pm departure on our last morning back to St. Pete on Thursday the 8th.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Just a note to let you know that I will be adding more pics to the posts soon as I am getting some camera issues resolved.

HB

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 6 Monday April 5th

This was the first day of our trip where the numbers in our Party were manageable. SIL #1 was still with us and would be until lunchtime on Wednesday. I haven’t mentioned this yet, but she had travelled with us on our trip to the Sheraton Vistana, during Easter of 2008. She had been a great addition to our trip that year, and she was really enjoying the differences between off site and on site accommodations.

For some reason we had all gotten up rather early, or early for this trip at least, probably 8 am and all got together at Roaring Fork to eat and plan the day. DW told me that the drive up on day two had been harder on her than she had let on, and she was already nervous about the drive to Pinellas Park that was still three days away. This nervousness and the fact that we were all fatigued had made her mind up that she wasn’t interested in a drive to Sea World. Surprising me to no end she also had ruled out an outlet mall shopping morning which had been on her to do list from the beginning. We were all pretty tired and I wasn’t going to argue. Besides, I had the feeling that we had been shortchanged so far in our trip, and still wanted another crack at the MK and EPCOT, and maybe a Downtown Disney morning, so I figured we would need all our time for Disney activities. After some thought, we decided to try to get to EPCOT as soon as we could. Our goals were Test Track, and Journey into Imagination, the only FW attractions that we had not done ever before. SIL #1 indicated that Soaring was something she might want to do. We would then tour WS for as long as we wished. DW suggested that we would try to get a walk up at a WS restaurant for lunch, she indicted she would try Le Cellier and Le Chef de France, restaurants that we had to skip the day before. I indicated I thought it wouldn’t happen, and she gave me the gears over being too negative. Of course, she was right, and I internally resolved to let the last few days go. We had ADR’s for dinner at San Angel Inn that fit our plans for the day. We got organized and off we went.

There were no delays this morning and we got to EPCOT about 9:15 am, pretty good I thought. Upon arrival we noted pretty heavy crowds. My boys and I had not done Test Track in the past, and SIL#1 had not seen Soarin’. DW and SIL #1 decided to head over to the Land to get 5 fastpasses for Soarin’. I decided to head over to Test Track with the boys figuring the standby line would be very short. We would ride Test Track and then head over to ride Soarin’ on the fastpasses. When we got in the standby line just at 9:30 am the board read 30 minutes, which quickly changed to 60 minutes. I couldn’t use Fastpass, as I didn’t have the Keys to the World, and the fast pass return was about an hour out anyway. I’ve got to say that I was really surprised that after getting into the park fairly early to see that kind of a wait. I have to give credit to the boys, they had really wanted to do this ride, and they waited with a lot of patience. I was getting concerned that DW would worry seeing how long it was taking for us show at the Land Pavilion, and I was concerned that whatever Fastpass she would get would expire by the time we arrived. Anyway there was no point worrying, so we relaxed in the line and talked to some nice people from Louisiana, Newfoundlanders are famous for their hospitality and their friendliness and taking to people is something I can’t resist. Soon enough our time to ride came, and while the ride is short that last bit is pretty intense!!

A comment has to be made here. This was our fourth year in a row in the World at this busy time of the year. Last year, the crowds had been noticeably light. This year they seemed higher than in 2007, 2008, or 2009.

After riding, I collected the kids and headed over to the Land Pavilion. I shouldn’t have worried. DW had seen right away on one of those boards how long the standby lines were at Test Track, so she wasn’t concerned. To top it off the return time on the fast pass for Soarin’ expired at 2:30!! Son #2 had seen an interesting activity on the evening of night #2 in Innoventions East, where the kids could star in a video game. We had promised to let him do this and after meeting DW and SIL #1 we did. We then messed around for a while inside, and then decided to check off the last thing on my Future World to do list, Journey into Imagination with Figment.

I had very low expectations of this as I had read how the two refurbishments had lessened the attraction. Anyway we got there with almost no one else around, It must be a quiet place to work, and then proceeded to have one of those unexpected Disney Magic moments. We all just loved it. I ended up singing “Imagination” for the rest of the trip, and still catch myself doing it now. What a lovely attraction. I cannot comment on how better it had been in the past, but I’ll never miss it again. Sometimes the smallest or lesser attractions can be very special. Journey into Imagination now joins Walt Disney, one Man’s Dream, and the Tiki Room as special places for me.

After leaving the Imagination pavilion we headed towards World Showcase. One thing that was dampening spirits a little bit was the heat. I would have loved to spend hours wandering the World Showcase, but I was now sure that this wouldn’t be happening. We were probably going to grab lunch and head out.

As we headed into World Showcase, DW headed over to Le Cellier see if there was any chance to get a table, it was a long shot but worth trying. While she was checking into that, I took the boys up to the merchandise store. Last year I scored a nice Toronto Maple Leafs shirt for a lot less than they were home. Son #1 was looking forward to see what they had. Sadly there was nothing in kids’ size. This made him somewhat unhappy, and was upset for a while, more than was usual for him. When we came outside we ran into DW and SIL #1, there was no joy at Le Cellier.

Our next choice was Le Chef du France. After stopping at a pin station in the UK to let the boys spend money, DW went to the front of Le Chef de France, and surprisingly got put on the list for lunch. I took son #2 over to Morocco to use the washroom and poked around for a while, buying a beer at the French counter, practicing my Francais. Anyway, when I came back they were inside. When I got inside I couldn’t see them. My intention was drawn to a camera crew and a young lady taking to people at a table. It turns out they were at our table! I went over sat down and talked to DW and she filled me in. It turns out that the crew was from a French travel show. They were in Orlando doing a show on the Restaurant, and how it fit into the World. It turns out that the fellows the Restaurant are named after are gastronomic celebrities in France. Among other things the crew wanted to film a family ordering, eating, etc. Lucky for the crew DW is functionally bilingual having lived in Quebec City for a couple of years. My sons in grade three are enrolled in an Early French Immersion program, and have been since Kindergarten. So they could order all their meals en Francais, SIL #1 is in the Canadian Armed Forces and is pretty good in French. The only schmuck they will have to translate was me. After we signed the required releases, they took down our address so that they could send us a DVD of the show, although they told it would be quite a while before it comes. They filmed us looking at the menu, ordering and eating, appetizers, entrees and deserts. They also chatted with us asking why we had chosen this restaurant, how was everything etc.

Early on the Maitre D’ came over, thanked us for inconveniencing ourselves going along with this, and brought us over a nice bottle of a Merlot called Pays d’oc, which was one of the cleanest French wines I have had. We usually have Chilean or Argentinean reds at home. This was very nice for what is essentially a table wine. The server would also come over and clean off the table between courses, and freshened things up for the TV. DW commented on how they were freshening up the table, but she said she looked like a mess and hadn’t had a chance to freshen up. Anyway, I told her she looked fine, and that I was not much better with my Tilley hat, Tilley shorts, beer and gangster sunglasses. Other families not knowing what was going on, sat down by us and were then taken aback by the camera crew and all of the French flying around. They also brought over Remy to the table and that was cute.











About the meal, DW had the flatbread a la flame Alascienne which was like a thin crust pizza with bacon onions and fresh cream, it was very good. SIL had a salad, and I had the nicest onion soup I have ever had. The cheese was lovely Gruyere, and the soup was a lot lighter in color and milder in flavor than any I have had before, Yum. SIL had the croque monsieur, which she liked. DW and I had the Plat de Cote de boeuf au cabernet avec pates. This was short ribs in red wine sauce over pasta. The meat was the tenderest I have ever had and the flavor. Yum. Now we ate at Le Cellier and four signature restaurants, but this was as good as anything. When they interviewed us on how was the meal, I didn’t have to lie. Desert was sorbet for DW and SIL, and for me ……….the vanilla Creme Brulee. By now whenever I would order this the boys would howl in laughter. This was actually the nicest one of the week.

All of this took time and we had missed our Fastpass time for Soarin’, but no one cared. It had been so much fun, and we were so full.

When we left Les Chef we knew that a trip around WS was not in the cards because it was very hot, so we poked around France. I bought some of the wine which we liked so much in the wine shop. It was $11 a bottle for it. If I could get it here I would spend more than that for it.

We decided to head out and walked slowly towards the front of Epcot. The Boys wanted to play in the playground between FW and WS but we convinced them that they could come back supper time. On the way out of the park I picked up the second pin of the week, an EPCOT pin with Figment to go along with my Canada EPCOT pin.

We took the bus back and I got the kids gooped up for the quiet pool. Four of our travelling companions were gone and with two less adults and two less kids our boys had a quieter afternoon. DW napped while I caught up on my reading.

This day was to have been our Sea World day, and we had planned to breakfast at Kona Café, and have supper at the San Angel Inn. We never considered schlepping over for breakfast but we decided to head back to EPCOT for the San Angel Inn ADR at 8:00 pm.

We got back with some time to spare. We headed over to the playground via a stop at the hat shop on the way to WS where I bought a hat for myself. I always find that as the week passes we tend to shop more. DW was indicating that she was not very interested to head to Downtown Disney to shop. I was noticing that the fatigue was really getting her down, so I was starting to think about picking up some T-Shirts soon, and not wait until the World of Disney as I didn’t think we would get to it.

Anyway we arrived in Mexico with time to spare. We did the Mexico ride, and then headed over to try Maelstrom, but the line was too long. We went back over to Mexico and shopped for a while. Everyone was starting to get cranky from the long day. I had a look into the Cava, but that would not have gone over well so I didn’t go in.

I can’t really say all that much about the meal. We were all very tired, and we had ordered various items from the menu DW and I had two different chicken dishes. We have a pretty good Mexican restaurant here in St. John’s and it was superior to the food at San Angel. Now the food wasn’t bad just not special. I would put at the bottom of the Table Service restaurants we ate at this week.

When we finished our meal, we came out into the typical post Illuminations exodus. We just decided to take our time and leave without being part of the masses. When we got to the bus depot there was a WL bus loading. I wasn’t sure we could get on but we got on leaving no one at the stop. Son #2 was a little upset about having to get on a bus that was so crowded while he was so tired. Pretty much everyone in the party was just about gone with fatigue.

We made it back to the lodge and the boys got ready for bed and headed over to SIL’s bunk room, which was where they would stay for as long as their aunt was with us.

All in all this was probably our most magical day, even with some things not going our way.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

I am going to spend a little time adding photos to the entries I have made before add more entries. I have added a few pictures to my day 1 & 2, and the day three entries.

HB

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 7 April 6th Tuesday.

DW and I woke up about 8:00 am this morning. We were very tired. We had a quick chat and both agreed that the boys were so tired the night before that we should let them have as much sleep as they needed. We weren’t really willing to plan anything until we were all up and fed. As I had some time I went off to the merchandise store and bought my yearly ritual 2010 Disney T-Shirt, and a Wilderness Lodge Pin for my lanyard.

I came back up to the room and was surprised to see everyone up and itching to get going, it was probably around nine am. No thought was given to try to make our breakfast ADR at Ohana as that time had long passed. SIL was keen to go back to the MK as this was her last day. The boys were keen as well. DW and I would have if given the chance put a halt to all activities and had a pool day if it had been our choice, as we all needed a day off. I was advocating a trip to Downtown Disney followed by a long pool afternoon, but it was decided that a short Trip to MK would take the place of Downtown Disney. Off we headed to the MK at 10:00am (yikes!!). On the way we discussed what we wanted to do, Haunted House, Mickey’s Philharmonic, Space Mountain, and a parade were mentioned. We also had an ADR for 1:00 at Liberty Tree Tavern. DW and I had in our minds to spend some time in the Main Street USA shops on the way out as we always rush through here, only stopping at Minnie’s Confectionary.

Anyway the boat dropped us off, and we entered. The crowds were as you would expect. We first rode Haunted Mansion after about a 5 minute wait. While waiting a friendly cast member suggested that the park would be nearly empty late at night, as it had been for the last couple of nights. DW must have filed that away for later use. After that ride we went to Fantasyland and experienced Philarmagic. After coming out of that we decided that the crowds were too crazy to proceed, and we all wanted Dole Whips. As we were heading towards Aloha Isle, the cast members were getting ready for the lunch time parade. The rest of the gang stayed by the entrance to Liberty Square waiting for the parade, while I went to Aloha Isle to get the Dole Whips. The parade was a lot of fun but when it was over everyone was ready to head out. No one was interested in eating at Liberty Tree Tavern. We spent some time in the Main Street Shops. SIL bought a few hats, and DW got some Mickey head rice crispie cookies with some of our snack credits.

Here is a little sample of the crowds as we exit

Before I go on, a note on the credits. By now we had budgeted out all our credits. We still had two signature meals to come, and had just enough credits to use them and buy our breakfasts and lunches. After getting the cookies we had 8 or 10 snacks left, so we had lots left without having a big surplus.

Another typical afternoon followed. DW insisted I try to sleep in the afternoon, but I am too high strung to do that unless I am unwell. I went back down and let her sleep instead.

Our evening meal was at Flying Fish café. When we went to go down to the bus depot to catch the bus to the MK, SIL broke off from the back and told us she was going to Roaring Fork to get a bottle of water and would meet us at the stop. We went down and waited. Of course, just as she was coming into sight, the MK bus which had jus gotten there left. She had seen this and she apologized. We waited about 10 minutes for another, and then rode up to the MK. We had about a 5 minute wait for the Boardwalk bus, and the ride to the Boardwalk was uneventful. We had never been to the Boardwalk before and while we were waiting for our table at the Flying Fish Café we had a chance to poke around, and enjoy the sights. We loved it here, and we initially thought that like the Yacht Club the Boardwalk might be a choice for a future visit.


When we got into the Café, we placed our order with a fellow from Houston named Dave who was probably our best server of the week. DW ordered the Lobster Salad, I had the crab cakes, SIL had the Clam Chowder, and all of the appetizers were wonderful. While we were waiting for our entrees, the food and entertainment manager for the Boardwalk came over and introduced himself. He was a fellow from Ontario, who had been working with the company for 20 years. I loved to talk and we had a grand chat about all kinds of things for quite a while. He was a real nice fellow. Anyway, the entrees came. SIL and DW had the salmon; I had the surf and surf. The meals were wonderful, probably hanging around in fourth place for dinners that week. I think that we are spoiled here in Newfoundland a bit as we have world class seafood up here, and we probably should rate this place a little higher if we were more objective. I can only remember my desert, it was a double chocolate crème brulee, and it was very good. After we left we had some to look around before getting the bus back to the MK. We couldn’t stick around too long as we would then get caught up in the post-wishes exodus. Anyway we spent some time looking around the resort.


We grabbed a bus back to the MK and took the boat to the WL. The boys headed over to SIL’s bunk room for one last night with her. DW then came over to me with a devilish look in her eyes, and told me she had a plan. She was going to tell her sister that we were going downstairs to the bar while we in fact would head back to the MK which was not closing until one am. In reality, I was pooped and wanted to sleep, but I could see how excited she was so I was in!!


She insured that the boys were settled in and that her sister had our cell phone number, and then we headed downstairs about 10:40 pm or so. We got on a deserted MK bus, and soon arrived at the gate. Throngs upon throngs of people were leaving the park. We entered like a pair of giddy teenagers just as Spectromagic had started. It was really fun watching this as people continued to exit in droves. I would have liked to take pictures or videos of this, but how would I explain this to the boys? Anyway, after a while we got a little restless, and decided to head further into the park. We had not made it to Tomorrowland this trip and decided to head over. It was about 11:15-11:30 pm by now and Space Mountain still had a 1 hour wait! We decided to ride the TTA, which we did.


We then had it in our minds to ride either Splash or Big Thunder or maybe something in Adventure Land, but the problem was the parade was still in the hub. We thought that we should try to head through Fantasyland and come out in Liberty Square. Crowds were mixed in FantasyLand, some rides were walk on but Peter Pan still had a 1 hour wait!!. Anyway when we got to Small World, DW said that we had to ride it. It was just about empty which a strange sensation as we rode it. When I came out I was starting to feel ill. I guess that the fatigue was catching up with me. We decided to walk over to Frontierland, and get the train back to Main Street. We walked through Liberty Square and Frontierland, which was nearly deserted. A cast member informed us that the railway was long closed for the night. We decided that we were out of gas, and exited through Adventureland, which was entirely deserted.


As we settled in for the night, DW suggested that we make the following plan for our last full day. She wanted to stay in the resort for the entire day, helping her sister check out around lunch time, and try to ensure that everyone had a chance to rest and get a nap, then we would go to dinner at Narcoosee’s which is a tradition on our Disney vacations, and then head into the MK for Wishes and the 11:00 pm Spectromagic. We would then do as much as we could until one am. We then would just get up and get ready and leave on the following day, doing nothing Disney. I didn’t mind the plan, but would have liked to visit Downtown Disney in the morning, DW wanted to see her sister off. I also didn’t think it was likely that we would get any meaningful rest when we tried.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 8 April 7th

We woke this morning without having made a plan for this day, other than to note that we would be saying goodbye to SIL #1, around 11:30 am. After last night clandestine visit to the MK we had it in our minds to get as much rest as we could get and try another late night visit to the MK, I however had doubts that this would happen. At Any rate, DW had made her mind up that she wanted to spend as much time with her sister as she could.

I spent a bit of time getting some photos from her bunk room before she checked out, and other photos of the resort. Here are a few;

We all ate at the Whispering Canyon, and as you can imagine I helped her move her bags to the lobby, and helped her get straightened away. It was now nearing 11:30 and her bus was due to arrive.

We then walked her out of the Lodge, and she got on the Magical Express bus and I thought to myself, I wish I was going on that bus, and I immediately felt bad about it. Later DW confessed to feeling the same day. In past years we would have been going all out on this day, but we now knew that we would just hang out for the day. I suppose this was sensible as the parks would be blocked by this hour, and we just didn’t have the energy for this. Now the kids had fun down by the quiet pool, but DW was beginning to pack bags, and later that day I check on the car which I hadn’t looked at in six days, and checked the GPS unit. In my mind were already done. This has never happened on a Disney trip to us before. We threw the idea around that we might enter the MK after our Dinner ADR’s at Narcoosee’s, as it would be just about Spectromagic time, and we had not seen Wishes from inside, but I knew we were pretty much whistling in the wind. The kids were beginning to get excited about seeing their grandparents, and the visit to the beach that would follow was also exciting them, and they were too keyed up to get a nap. I ended up by the pool all afternoon, while DW slept. About the only thing interesting I did was to get a WL shirt in the store.

By the time it was getting close to eating at Narcoosee’s, it was obvious to us that the boys were spent. We considered not going to Narcoosee’s, but it was something of a tradition for us so off we went. We grabbed a boat to the MK and saw that a yellow flag GF boat was about to dock, so we jumped on this boat. We made it in lots of time, and checked in at the desk.

This is a nice photo of us on the veranda.

DW had the crab cakes, followed by the surf and turf, I had the artisanal cheeses, surprise, surprise, followed by the halibut, we both had the crème brulee. I really liked my meal, DW was less impressed stating that the lobster was overdone. One thing I noted was the server was almost rushing us, everything came out very fast, almost before we were finished the previous course. I doubt we were sat much more than ½ hour. It was a little off putting if the truth is told. When we finished we took the same route back to the WL. When the kids were walking past the MK entrance they said they really wanted to go to bed. Thankfully we listened. We were not long heading off to bed after getting back to the room.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 9 and Day 10 April 8th and 9th

DW and I woke up before 7:00 am. In previous visits to the world my family and I would make as much use of a half day as we could. By this stage of our trip we were all ready to get going and to head out of the World. DW and I took an hour and a half quietly packing without waking the boys.

Before we started our holiday we had it in our minds that we would make this as much of a full day as we could in the Parks heading over to the Sunshine Coast probably 4 or 5 pm. For a while we were thinking leave around 1:00pm and enjoy the morning maybe shopping at Downtown Disney or at the pool, or maybe at the MK or EPCOT. By the evening before, we had, to put a point on it, had enough, and we were planning to hit the road at 10:00 am. This would put us at my Mom and Dads by noon, we had a trip to Madiera Beach planned, and DW wanted to shop.

As I write about these events two weeks on I don’t know what to think about this. I really can’t believe that we didn’t dash off to the MK and ride Splash two or three times, or dart down to the World of Disney. Looking back on it I chalk it up to a few factors;

1. We were dead tired. We just never got the sleep we would have got in past years. It would be easy to blame this on our large travel party, but I am now sure a lot of this is that the boys are starting to sleep more than they did in years past. No doubt the late nights were the biggest part of this. I can remember a couple of 9 pm lights out at POR last year.

2. I am trying to phrase this without being whiny, and probably not succeeding, but we both felt a certain sense of disappointment, which had been present pretty much all week. We had done a lot of planning, probably more so than what we had done in years past, and circumstances had dictated that a lot of plans had gone out the window. We always had rather limited goals in our touring, and had pretty much always met them. This year was very different. We would have needed about four days to do MK or EPCOT at the rate we were going. We just were not having as much fun as we had in years past. I find this odd as we did fun things all week. In trying to figure this out for myself the best I can come up with is that we always on past trips found that the first 3-4 days were very effective touring days, doing lots of fun stuff. Then when we started to unwind we would have done enough already so relaxing was fine with us. When the other four left after our fourth touring day, we were both unsatisfied, and bone tired, so we never had chance to make up for those first few days.


Anyway, the boys got up about 8:30 am , we finished packing, including about 10 pounds of candy in DW’s bag from the Easter festivities and went downstairs to Whispering Canyon Café, where we used the last four of our meals. Then we headed over to the Mercantile store. I had told the boys I would by them a T-Shirt each, DW wanted a Wilderness Lodge T-Shirt, like I had bought the evening before, and there was a really cool Mickey Mouse “Don’t Mess With Stress” that I got. We picked up some items for my three month old nephew as well. We still had four snacks left over so we picked up some juices. We then packed up the car, and left at 10:00 am exactly one week since we had arrived.

The drive was uneventful, and we arrived at noon. We spend a couple of wonderful hours at Madiera beach around 2:00-4:00, and then spent some time shopping at John’s Pass.

Me heading towards the water wearing my new WL shirt

Boys playing on the beach

This was a very hot but windy day. At my folks I had said that if it wasn’t for the breeze we would be melting. By the water the breeze made it feel like 70 degrees it was a nice afternoon. The rest of the evening was spent with my family, it was nice.

Not much to say about the last morning, other than it was somewhat wet and cooler, we could have used this cooler weather in the parks. The trip to the airport was uneventful, and the highlight of the flight home was I got to fly one leg in business class.

In a while I will post a few closing comments

 

[corey154]

Just want to say thank you for taking us on a family vaca ride with you, I've enjoyed following your post these past few weeks!

 

[LeafsFanNL]

You are very welcome!!

HB

 

[PhilharMagician]

Great trip report. Thank you for sharing. It was so detailed that it felt like I was there slowing you down with your family.:lol: Sometimes it can be so stressful when you don't accomplish your planned goals, but what you did accomplish was spending time with your family which in the end worked just fine. Now you will be better prepared for your next trip.


I would blame alot of that fatigue on the heat. We visited once in August and the heat crushed our typical touring plans for the parks. When we go in the cooler months of November and December we are noticibly less tired.

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

I enjoyed your trip report and the pictures were great! Especially the beach ones. How long did it take for you to rest up after you got home? We loved Wilderness Lodge and hope all of your family did as well. Our girls enjoyed the quiet pool because it was less hectic than the main one and yes "quiet".

It must have been tough for you to adjust your normal touring plan to accomodate the others in your family. I applaud your patience because I don't think I could have done it. Fortunately when we were there in January with some of my siblings we were all early risers and ready to hit the parks by 8:00am.

 

[LeafsFanNL]

I enjoyed your trip report and the pictures were great! Especially the beach ones. How long did it take for you to rest up after you got home? We loved Wilderness Lodge and hope all of your family did as well. Our girls enjoyed the quiet pool because it was less hectic than the main one and yes "quiet".

The funny thing is that after taking it easy on our last full day, we were pretty good on our last morning at the WL. We had a pretty full afternoon on the Sunshine Coast, and we were pretty good.

It must have been tough for you to adjust your normal touring plan to accomodate the others in your family. I applaud your patience because I don't think I could have done it. Fortunately when we were there in January with some of my siblings we were all early risers and ready to hit the parks by 8:00am.

We have discussed things, and we are taking a year or so break from Disney. We won't travel with a group again. DW and I would like to take a solo trip when the boys get older. I wouldn't be surprised if we go back in a couple of years, but it might be longer. I'm going to post a few final thoughts in a day or so.

HB

 

[LeafsFanNL]

Great trip report. Thank you for sharing. It was so detailed that it felt like I was there slowing you down with your family.:lol: Sometimes it can be so stressful when you don't accomplish your planned goals, but what you did accomplish was spending time with your family which in the end worked just fine. Now you will be better prepared for your next trip.

I think I would have found it a lot harder if we had not been there the last three years, and had done most of the attractions before.

I would blame alot of that fatigue on the heat. We visited once in August and the heat crushed our typical touring plans for the parks. When we go in the cooler months of November and December we are noticibly less tired.

I think you are dead on. We have it in our minds to plan our next trip around early November.

HB

 

[NewfieFan]

Great TR! Glad you had warmer temps than me (although, they sounded a little too warm for you)!

I find my husband and I are getting more tired at Disney as time goes on... and I chalk it up to the kids getting older too! They use to nap every afternoon when we first started going... even if my husband and I didn't nap we were guaranteed some downtime!

I've had to change our touring as well. The kids just can't last from morning until night anymore (before they had a nap to recharge). We have to mix up early mornings with some days where we sleep in!

What Mexican restaurant are you talking about in St. John's? We had a great one out here in Central NL but of course it closed down b/c the owners were going to Fort Mc to work (where else)! We might be on our way into the city next weekend to celebrate our anniversary... I could go for some good Mexican food. Heck, I could go for any restaurant... got to love living in Central NL!

I highly recommend the YC if you ever look into it in the future! We've booked a flight to go again now in September. This will the longest trip we've ever taken, 12 nights! We're hoping some good AP discounts will come out and we're going to break up our stay between ASMusic and the YC!

Love the Tilley hat!