Trip Report Melting! Wilderness Lodge in August

Hi friends!

We left the World a week ago, and spent a few days in St. Pete before getting back home Wednesday. I brought a nice little head cold back with me, so I've been lazy. I got all my pictures edited, so here we gooooooo!

Cast: Me & R (29 & 28)
Resort: Wilderness Lodge, standard view
Dates: August 9-13
Why?: R had a work trip from the 13-16th so we tacked on a WDW trip!

This trip was the first time we hired someone to come house/dog sit instead of taking Chipper to a family member's house. One of my student photographers stayed with him, and it went well (as far as I know...he is still alive and acting normal, so). This was right before we headed out to the airport.



I'm sure he didn't miss me making him take pictures.

We left the house at about 9:30am to head to Memphis. Our flight got delayed a bit. It was good because it gave us time to stop and get gas before we got to the airport (better than getting it when we're anxious to get home on the way back). We took off at 12:55. I was a little worried about making out Flight of Passage FP that evening, but I had my fingers crossed!

Flight was a little bumpy, but thankfully on time. We had our room text when we landed! Woot!

There was almost NO ONE at the Magical Express line, so I was worried there wouldn't be many busses. It took about 20 minutes to get on one and get going, so that's not terrible.



On our way!



We made it!



It rained all the way there, but it stopped by the time we arrived. We got there at 5:30 and headed to the room.









The room was nice enough. It wasn't spectacular, but we liked it! The best part was that we could see the castle from the balcony!



It's itty bitty in the picture, but it was a nice view! Unfortunately, we never got to watch the fireworks from the room. We almost made it the last night, but the bus was too slow (a theme on this trip).

The balcony was so tiny, and there was some kind of a truck bay outside so it was loud. I didn't spend much time out there because of those things and the heat, but it was still a cool view

Up next: Will we make FoP?

 

[sheriffwoody]

More photos











I love this show so much! It always moves me.

We decided to stop in at the Nomad Lounge on our way back to the room, and got a few things.




Spice Trader Classic, Jenn's Tattoo (WAAAAYYYYY too sweet) and to eat some vegetarian pad thai, which was tasty.

We sat at one of the couches and not long after we got settled in, R got a text that his granddad was in the hospital. This happened a few trips ago, so that was a weird coincidence. He was visibly upset, and since both of us are brooders, I knew to just let him be. Unfortunately, I wasn't looped into the texts from his aunts, so I had no idea what was even going on. Once R had more info, he told me granddaddy was at a dr. appointment when they found that his blood counts were way low, which meant he was bleeding internally. So they were trying to figure out where he was bleeding. I think that's all we knew at that point.

After a little while, and some reassurances from one of his aunts, he started to perk back up. I tried to get him talking and keep his mind off it. It worked for the most part. We decided to just wrap up at the lounge, so we didn't stay real long. Our server was lovely, and very personable. I hated to leave so quickly, but it was a nice break anyway.

I have no more notes from the trip, so I'm just going by pictures. I may miss some middle stuff, but I'll try hard! It started to rain on our way out of the park, but we made it without getting too wet. I wanted to swim, but obviously that wasn't happening. Sure enough the pool was closed when we got to the resort.

I don't remember what we did at the room, but probably just napped. R was still kind of quiet and worried. After a while, we got ready and headed by to AK for dinner. It was still raining, so we had our ponchos ready.




We were seated in the conservation section. It was pretty nice in there! We were in a booth that had barely any space between our table and the next one. It was kind of awkward. Also the server had like 10 minute conversations with both couples who sat in that spot while we were there, but barely talked to us. That was a little annoying, but oh well. Maybe we didn't look friendly



I don't remember much about this bread, but we ate it. I think that sauce was balsamic, which I usually enjoy. I can't remember for sure, but I think I ate most of this bread



I had the Wagyu Striploin and House-smoked Brisket. The wagyu beef was amazing. The brisket was just so-so. I'd rather them drop the price a little, take the brisket out and add a bit more of the veggies.

R had the venison. I tasted both types, and they were both great.


This was the South American Chocolate Ganache. Quite pricey for what it was, but hey, it's a signature restaurant. You pay for the atmosphere.

We were in dinner for quite a while, but it still wasn't dark when we we left. Our plan was to hang around and see Pandora at night. When we left, it was a steady rain. I'd picked up an Everest FP that was starting soon, so we went that way.



I was worried they would close it because I definitely saw lightning, but we got to ride! I kind of like it in the rain

After that, we headed back to Pandora. Even with it being rainy, it still wasn't completely dark, but it was getting close.

Up next. Pandora in the semi-dark.

 

[gdisneyfans]

Just catching up - awesome TR so far!!

watched Avatar before our trip, so we had some context. That probably helped us enjoy it more!

We decided to watch it too before our trip and I'm kind of glad we did! I know you can certainly appreciate the land and attractions without it, but there were things we recognized from the movie that we may perhaps not have known what they were. Having said that, I don't think I'll watch it again It was long and quite hard to follow!

we went to ride The Great Movie Ride for the last time

So happy you were able to ride GMR one last time. We missed it by just a few days so I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see it one last time

Loved your back pack at Epcot - it looked like you had a little Spaceship Earth attached to you!

Your photos are just stunning!! And love the WDWMagic meet and greet, how fun

 

[Tuvalu]

I had the Wagyu Striploin and House-smoked Brisket. The House-Smoked Brisket was amazing. The Wagyu Striploin was just so-so. I'd rather them drop the price a little, take the Wagyu out and add a bit more of the veggies.

Fixed that for you.

Here's a thought ~ we go to Tiffins together, order one Striploin & Brisket plate. You eat what you like and I eat what I like and we save big $$.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Fixed that for you.

Here's a thought ~ we go to Tiffins together, order one Striploin & Brisket plate. You eat what you like and I eat what I like and we save big $$.

Oh gosh, yes let's share!! I guess I've never been a big brisket person anyway. So as far as brisket goes, it may be THE BEST...but I still am just "meh" about it. I think it's the texture.

 

[sheriffwoody]

We decided to watch it too before our trip and I'm kind of glad we did! I know you can certainly appreciate the land and attractions without it, but there were things we recognized from the movie that we may perhaps not have known what they were. Having said that, I don't think I'll watch it again It was long and quite hard to follow!

100% agree! I think it helped to kind of know the vibe of the film and recognize some things. And yeah, I won't be watching it again. I somewhat enjoyed it this time, but it would be super boring on a rewatch.

Thanks for reading my trip report!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I'm hoping to update tomorrow! I've GOT to buckle down and finish some editing, so I'm not letting myself get on here much tonight.

I'm super close to finishing this thing up though

 

[PrincessL]

Have you been to Jiko as well? Just curious if you had an opinion on Tiffins vs Jiko? We currently have an ADR for Jiko but Tiffins would be more convenient to watch Rivers of Light afterwards.

I enjoyed all of your AK photos! Looking forward to the rest of your report!!

 

[sheriffwoody]

Have you been to Jiko as well? Just curious if you had an opinion on Tiffins vs Jiko? We currently have an ADR for Jiko but Tiffins would be more convenient to watch Rivers of Light afterwards.

I enjoyed all of your AK photos! Looking forward to the rest of your report!!

We have! It's been a while though, 2012. We really enjoyed it! I don't remember anything about the food, to be honest. I would say go ahead and do Tiffins. It'll be nice to already be in AK before Rivers of Light! Plus they have a dining package, I think. @Doc Disney has done it.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Pandora at (sort of) night!

Ok so I'm sitting here with aches and chills and a burning cough. Fun, right? Can't wait to shoot a wedding tomorrow!

But since I'm home and just sitting here, let's get back to my report!

We treked over to Pandora as it started getting darker. It was just barely starting to glow. I took pictures despite the steady rain. I had my poncho to tuck it under if I needed to, but the light rain wasn't bad.





Propped up on the railing to do a slightly long exposure, channelling @fractal. It was only 1/4 second....I told y'all, I'm impatient.













Here's a 1 second exposure. I really just wanted to people to be motion blurred so they wouldn't be as noticeable. I could have dropped the ISO and done longer, I guess....but again, impatient. Also, rain. Edited to add: I realized just now that this was an in camera HDR photo. I was just curious how it would look.



We really didn't say long. The rain wasn't letting up, and we didn't have any rides to do, so we just headed out. I don't think we waited too long for a bus. While we were leaving the park, I bought one last box of the Twenty Eight and Main mystery pins. I don't even want to tell you how many I bought trying to get the whole set...

Someone on Facebook asked if I'd get her one, so I got two. I also had one I'd bought earlier on the way to Everest. I opened that one and got two of the ones I needed!!! Yay! I left the other one for later. I kind of wanted to wait and send the one to the girl from FB just in case I opened mine and didn't get what I wanted. I was afraid I'd be tempted to open hers

I got all but one of the pins, and I ended up getting the last one on ebay. Here's the full set:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172817175279?chn=ps&dispItem=1

Thankfully I didn't spend that much

Ok so that's it for the night.

Up next: A portrait shoot! Yay!

 

[sheriffwoody]

I woke up bright and early at 6am on Sunday morning. I had an appointment to get to!

When @blgauger got engaged, I was so excited for them. It wasn't until later that the idea occurred to me that I could do engagement photos for them when we were down there! I wasn't sure if she'd be up for it, since we hadn't met yet, but she was totally game! We had to figure out a time on the weekend to do it, and since we didn't really have hard plans on our last morning, we planned for that. Plus is was Sunday so they could sleep in on Saturday after a long week



So I got ready pretty early and headed out the door at 6:30am. Saw an armadillo run across this space while I was sitting there. A cast member was walking in and trying to shoo it away. He was cutting his eyes over at me like "OMG does she see this filthy animal?!" Um yes, I see it. I also realize the Disney bubble is metaphorical and there's wildlife here

We didn't have a car, so I called a Lyft from the WL to the Grand. It took less than 10 minutes to get there, which I was thankful for. I needed a little time to let my camera and lenses acclimate to the humidity, which was 97%. Guys. That's madness. NINETY SEVEN PERCENT. Not ok, Florida! Needless to say, I was wiping fog off my lens for the next hour

You guys have seen some of the pictures, but here's a link to Brittany's TR just in case you missed them: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/meet-the-floridians.929591/page-12#post-7861004
Here's one of my favs:


We had such a great time! Dylan made fun of me for my weird Southern-isms I forgive him though. He was a really good subject. Most guys are a pain to photograph, especially during the engagement session! These two are just so sweet together You can tell they are meant to be!

After we finished up, we checked into the Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast. R decided not to join us because he needed to pick up the rental car and the timing wasn't going to work out. He's not much of a breakfast person anyway.

I got the Floridian Pancakes


I won't post Brittany & Dylan's since you've already seen them . I could barely eat half the pancakes! It was SO MUCH FOOD! My goodness. They were delicious too. You could totally share these, or just don't eat a biscuit so you can finish them

After a wonderful breakfast, we tried to get a picture in the lobby. Dylan couldn't get my camera to focus. I think it was focusing on something behind us, so I ended up just manually focusing and then telling him where to stand



My test shot to see if my camera was messed up. How adorable is she?!



5th or 6th time's the charm



There we go!

They headed out to change clothes then go to MK, and I went out front to wait for R to pick me up.

 

[sheriffwoody]

I sat out in front of the Grand Floridian for a while. I talked to Richard a couple of times, and watched a few people snap a picture with him. He's precious. He doesn't talk a lot, but he's so friendly and so modest when you tell him he's a celebrity. I love his outfit too! Dapper every day

Remember the armadillo? Well at the Grand, I saw an animal that actually did concern me.



Yikes!

This was such a bizarre experience. I was just sitting there and all the sudden heard a family exclaim a little. They'd spotted the snake. The kids started trying to go up to it, so the parents started hollering Thankfully, the kids listened. Richard went over to the snake, and basically just stayed right in front of it, tapping his foot every couple of seconds to get the snake to come toward him. He guided it across the path into the landscaping on the other side. My hero!

He said that was the biggest one he'd seen there. He also said something about calling animal control, but that by the time they got there, the snake would be long gone. Probably right. Hopefully the snake made it's way to a location away from people!

I finally got up the nerve to ask Richard for a picture


Look at that smile! My heart.

Sorry this post is text heavy! Since I did the engagement shoot, I was a little photographed out that morning. I was enjoying just being.

Earlier I had texted R to tell him I was outside, and to let me know when he had the car. Well about 10 minutes later he called and said he didn't realize he was supposed to pick me up I don't know why he didn't see the text till then! Whatever, I figured I'd just take the monorail over to the Contemporary, then hop on a boat.

When I was in line for security to get on the monorail, guess who walked up behind me?! Yep...Brittany and Dylan They couldn't get rid of me.

 

[sheriffwoody]

When I returned to the room, this is the conversation we had:

R: "You know we don't really have to go right to St. Pete. We have plenty of time, so what if we just loaded up the car and head to Magic Kingdom?"

Me: *big goofy grin on my face*

R: "I got us a FP for Buzz since we didn't get to ride it before."

Me: *heart melted. still grinning* (he has never even used the app...I couldn't believe he did that for me!)

R:"What do you think?"

Me: "UM YES PLEASE!"

So we packed up and headed to MK. I decided at the last second to grab one of the Frogg Toggs we'd brought. We hadn't been using them because I wasn't sure what to do with them when we didn't need them. Turns out, I should have been using them the whole time. It was very nice and cooling!

So the real reason for R wanting to go back to MK was for a hot dog. Since we had Be Our Guest reservations the other MK day, we hadn't had Casey's, his fav.

So when we got to MK, we headed there.



I didn't bring my camera, so these are all with my phone.



I wasn't even hungry after breakfast, but I got the mac n cheese dog anyway. It was ok, but I miss the BBQ slaw dog!



So happy to be enjoying this view again!

Unfortunately after lunch, R got another text from his aunt that just said "Dad's not doing well" meaning R's granddad. Seriously?! So this got him all worked up again. I hate seeing him like that. We weren't really sure what to do since we didn't know much. I started looking at flights, but everything was super expensive, and it wasn't really worth all that. It would be better to just hop in the car and drive up.

We made our way over to the PeopleMover. I enjoyed it, despite the circumstances.




After this, we got on CoP. I didn't take any pictures, but I loved it as usual! I'd skipped it the last couple trips, so it was good to see it again. The kid a few seats down from me was all laid out and messing with the seat next to me I couldn't be mad really....I wouldn't have liked that show as a 10 year old either (about how old he seemed).

Next we used our Buzz fastpass. While in line, I looked up the secrets to getting galactic hero. Unfortunately R saw what I was doing, so I had to share the intel




Unfortunately, my knowledge of the high point targets didn't help me, but R did get galactic hero. I wasn't bitter...



Earlier, I think while at lunch, I found a Splash Mountain FP. I was PUMPED! We'd get to ride it one more time for probably a while. It'll be closed when we're there next month. So we headed toward the hub. R had gotten a few calls from his more reasonable and practical aunt over the last little while, and he had more info now. The doctor that granddaddy had wasn't really doing anything for him, so Cindy (practical aunt, a nurse) got him moved to another doctor. Turned out the bleeding was from an ulcer, and then the meds they gave him for that were messing with his heart rate. So once they got that sorted out, things calmed down. Thank goodness! That man has been through his fair share of health scares. He actually died on the day R was born, but they brought him back. It's a crazy story!

With all that behind us, we felt a little better and we stopped to get a picture on main street.

We got up there and I smiled, then saw someone come up next to R. I thought it was a rando, but it was @blgauger! So crazy that out of all the people there, we ran into each other again! I told the photographer (who looked shocked) that we knew them.



I made them hop in a shot with us. I wish now that I'd switched with R. He looks so awkward in the middle



They said bye and I commented to the photographer that we kept running into them. She said "Is that a good thing?" I was like "of course!!" I hope I didn't put off vibes that it wasn't

Anyway, we got some by ourselves too



I love my overalls so much

Guess what was next?! Headed to the Laughing Place!



We did this photo the other day, but it never came through on the app. Basically R told me not to scream in his ear, and my solution was to cover my mouth. It wasn't staged the first time, but it was this time

I wasn't hungry, but there was something I needed for the trip to be complete



Always hits the spot!

We decided to hit up Pirates again next. We didn't have a FP, but the wait wasn't bad. I think it was about 30 minutes again. When we got almost to boats, I noticed the guy behind me was wearing a shirt by a Disney small shop that I love. I commented on it, and we chatted a bit. He is @thedisdude on instagram if you want to follow him. They are locals and he works there. I can't figure out what attraction he works on based on his posts, but I think it's somewhere in Epcot. Anyway he and his wife/girlfriend were nice! Helped pass the last little bit of time in the line.

We got a photo this time

I think I was looking at the new piece that I guess houses the camera and saying "hey that's new!" This is so unnecessary. TheDisDude and his lady are in the back row. He was wearing his Aloha Ears Design hat too! I love their mouse ears.

 

[sheriffwoody]

When we got out of Pirates it was pouring. We glanced at the radar and it was pretty solid on top of us. I can't remember what all we did, but we ended up going out and coming back in to use the restroom. I didn't realize the restrooms over there were accessible through the store

Anyway we hung out under the cover for a bit, but then we just took off. We had thrown our ponchos away the day because we'd had them for over a year. Once we got going, it slacked off and it wasn't raining too hard. We just walked on our of the park



Sad, sad day. But I was so grateful for that extra time in the kingdom! We would have stayed longer without the rain.



See you real soon!

Welp, that's it.

I can't remember if we took a bus or a boat, but we made it back to the Lodge and walked around a little bit. We used the restroom, then hit the road. Boo! We made it to St. Pete pretty quickly and I think we were checked into our hotel by like 4:30? The lobby was really pretty, but the room was "meh." And no balcony My favorite part of being at the beach is sitting on the balcony and reading.

We kind of hated our time at the MSS meeting. We should have done Disney AFTER the work thing. We couldn't this time because of my schedule, but maybe next time.

I did get to see one of my besties though! She picked me up tuesday and took me to breakfast on the beach. We hung out for a couple hours at the beach, then drove into the city so I could see her new apartment and the bay (I love Tampa bay for some reason...there's a park we always go to).



She took me to Bodega for a Cuban and it was phenomenal

And here's me and R at the dressy dinner event on the last night. I went home halfway through dinner not feeling well



I had a cold for about 5 days, and now it's back. UGH. Stupid.

Anyway, that's it! Hope y'all enjoyed it. 26 days till the next one! And 14 days until Rome I'm nervous as heck.

 

[fractal]

Pandora at (sort of) night!

Ok so I'm sitting here with aches and chills and a burning cough. Fun, right? Can't wait to shoot a wedding tomorrow!

But since I'm home and just sitting here, let's get back to my report!

We treked over to Pandora as it started getting darker. It was just barely starting to glow. I took pictures despite the steady rain. I had my poncho to tuck it under if I needed to, but the light rain wasn't bad.





Propped up on the railing to do a slightly long exposure, channelling @fractal. It was only 1/4 second....I told y'all, I'm impatient.













Here's a 1 second exposure. I really just wanted to people to be motion blurred so they wouldn't be as noticeable. I could have dropped the ISO and done longer, I guess....but again, impatient. Also, rain. Edited to add: I realized just now that this was an in camera HDR photo. I was just curious how it would look.



We really didn't say long. The rain wasn't letting up, and we didn't have any rides to do, so we just headed out. I don't think we waited too long for a bus. While we were leaving the park, I bought one last box of the Twenty Eight and Main mystery pins. I don't even want to tell you how many I bought trying to get the whole set...

Someone on Facebook asked if I'd get her one, so I got two. I also had one I'd bought earlier on the way to Everest. I opened that one and got two of the ones I needed!!! Yay! I left the other one for later. I kind of wanted to wait and send the one to the girl from FB just in case I opened mine and didn't get what I wanted. I was afraid I'd be tempted to open hers

I got all but one of the pins, and I ended up getting the last one on ebay. Here's the full set:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172817175279?chn=ps&dispItem=1

Thankfully I didn't spend that much

Ok so that's it for the night.

Up next: A portrait shoot! Yay!

Beautiful Photos!

 

[riverside]

I loved your trip report & your photos!! I can't wait for the next one!! 26 days--yay!! I'm at 18 days-I'll be leaving as you're getting there. Enjoy & have fun in Rome!!

 

[LSV]

Lovely photos. Adorable couple. Thanks for sharing!

 

[amjt660]

Another great Sheriff Woody report
I could have posted 5-10 times throughout saying how much I love your photography
You have a great eye and skills to go with it
Thanks Kristi for sharing with us

Your engagement shots are beautiful - of course having those two for your subjects helps out - too cute

Max

 

[Swissmiss]

As @amjt660 said, so many times I thought of posting "Wow! Amazing! Beautiful" after seeing your photos. Enjoy Rome

 

[fractal]

I woke up bright and early at 6am on Sunday morning. I had an appointment to get to!

When @blgauger got engaged, I was so excited for them. It wasn't until later that the idea occurred to me that I could do engagement photos for them when we were down there! I wasn't sure if she'd be up for it, since we hadn't met yet, but she was totally game! We had to figure out a time on the weekend to do it, and since we didn't really have hard plans on our last morning, we planned for that. Plus is was Sunday so they could sleep in on Saturday after a long week



So I got ready pretty early and headed out the door at 6:30am. Saw an armadillo run across this space while I was sitting there. A cast member was walking in and trying to shoo it away. He was cutting his eyes over at me like "OMG does she see this filthy animal?!" Um yes, I see it. I also realize the Disney bubble is metaphorical and there's wildlife here

We didn't have a car, so I called a Lyft from the WL to the Grand. It took less than 10 minutes to get there, which I was thankful for. I needed a little time to let my camera and lenses acclimate to the humidity, which was 97%. Guys. That's madness. NINETY SEVEN PERCENT. Not ok, Florida! Needless to say, I was wiping fog off my lens for the next hour

You guys have seen some of the pictures, but here's a link to Brittany's TR just in case you missed them: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/meet-the-floridians.929591/page-12#post-7861004
Here's one of my favs:


We had such a great time! Dylan made fun of me for my weird Southern-isms I forgive him though. He was a really good subject. Most guys are a pain to photograph, especially during the engagement session! These two are just so sweet together You can tell they are meant to be!

After we finished up, we checked into the Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast. R decided not to join us because he needed to pick up the rental car and the timing wasn't going to work out. He's not much of a breakfast person anyway.

I got the Floridian Pancakes


I won't post Brittany & Dylan's since you've already seen them . I could barely eat half the pancakes! It was SO MUCH FOOD! My goodness. They were delicious too. You could totally share these, or just don't eat a biscuit so you can finish them

After a wonderful breakfast, we tried to get a picture in the lobby. Dylan couldn't get my camera to focus. I think it was focusing on something behind us, so I ended up just manually focusing and then telling him where to stand



My test shot to see if my camera was messed up. How adorable is she?!



5th or 6th time's the charm



There we go!

They headed out to change clothes then go to MK, and I went out front to wait for R to pick me up.

Love this pic of @blgauger and Dylan. What a smile!

and the photo of Richard. great capture. You're portraits are terrific!

 

[12in12]

Thank you for sharing your trip, I love your photos and commentary.
Have fun in Rome!