Our crew of six consisting of my wife and me, along with our two children, each of whom brought a friend, arrived in Mickey land on Thursday night, April 8. Our “scheduled” Disney time had us arriving on Friday morning, but we were driving from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and made better time than expected, so we called from the road and found an opening for one night at the Ft. Wilderness cabins. I had stayed there back in the mid-90s when they were trailers, and was pleasantly surprised to find they have changed their appearance. They now look like little trailer-shaped log cabins. Much better!
After checking in, we made priority seating arrangements at Whispering Canyon Café at the Great Wilderness Lodge. The food was good, and more than we could eat – always a good sign! I recommend this restaurant for its fun atmosphere. The napkins are bandanas, and the wait staff brings extra bandanas for the kids, making them into headbands, decorated with straws or crayons in lieu of feathers. The wait staff is very involved and try to be funny (with good success).
This meal was a very good start to our trip, but the Great Wilderness lodge is not the best place to be at suppertime to catch the Wishes fireworks show. You are directed to the parking lot – not the front entrance, but the actual parking lot in order to gain the best view! Still, I love the GWL and Whispering Canyon Café is a super place to take a hungry family.
When we arrived back at the cabin, we were happy to find a dedicated Walt Disney cartoon channel on the television. Classic Mickey Mouse cartoons ran all the time on a continuous loop. Nice!
Friday morning came and we gathered our belongings and drove over to Coronado Springs Resort. Registration was a breeze and we left our belongings with the bellman, since we were way too early to get a room. The length of stay, ultimate park hopper tickets were printed on what would become our room keys. This was curious, because we were given the tickets/keys without being assigned specific rooms, and I was given a slip of paper with a number to call in the afternoon to learn my room numbers. We could then go directly to the room and the keys would work, without any need to return to the registration desk. I was impressed!
After grabbing a light breakfast, we were off to the Magic Kingdom! Because we are not the earliest of risers, we didn’t leave Coronado Springs until shortly after 9:00 a.m. The Coronado Springs bus runs directly to the park with no delays, so we made good time getting to the park, and went straight for fast passes to Big Thunder and stood in line for Splash Mountain, a 30 minute wait at 9:45. We knew Friday would be a heavy attendance day and the lines would get longer as the day went on and they did. We were able to get in Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Pirates, TTA and Astro-Orbiter and grabbed a fast pass to Haunted Mansion before our priority seating reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table.
While in Adventureland, I went out of my way to eat a Dole Whip in tribute to my college roommate who was assigned to the Dole Whip machine during the summer of ’86, Good as ever! The kids explored the Treehouse while I got the ice creams and by the time the whips were ready, they were back.
At Cinderella’s Royal Table, our waiter was “impressed” with my 11 year old son’s appetite for the pretzel bread and challenged him to a contest. As he explained, my son would have to answer three easy questions. If he did not like the question, he could pass and be given another question in its place. If he successfully answered three questions, our waiter would pay for our meal and give my son $100 in spending money. If he failed to answer any question correctly, he would have to do a specific chore for each other person in our party. Sound easy? I thought we had lucked into an unannounced promotional giveaway! To my disappointment, my son declined the challenge and would not be prodded. Later, after I had settled the check, the waiter told me that although his questions are easy, no person has ever won the free meal! Not a promotional give-away after all! Easy “trick” questions!
After lunch, we cashed in our HM fast pass. The stretching rooms are in fine condition – no noticeable wear and tear on the picture frames. At the point when the hitchhiking ghosts are in your car, just before you unload, I snapped a photo of my son and his friend in their doom buggy - the ghost was between them, but on the developed photo - no ghost! Spoooky!
We then returned to Tomorrowland and hit Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and Carousel of Progress. Yes, the curtain in one room is in disrepair, but the show went well and was enjoyable. Also, on Astro-orbiter, the planets definitely were not rotating, although the ride itself worked just fine.
We got ice cream in front of Space Mountain from a poor cast member who I doubt will make it through the Spring Break weeks. As a graduate of Outdoor Foods, I have great compassion for the ice cream and popcorn vendors, and go out of my way to encourage them as I have strong, fond memories of spending two summers in those positions. This poor girl who was obviously in her first day (her trainer stood alongside) couldn’t calculate the cost of three $3.00 Toll house cookie ice creams (demanding $12.00), and then couldn’t figure the change from a $20.00, and finally, the trainer had to tell her what I was owed back. Shame, shame!
By late afternoon, the crowds were outrageous, and we left around 6:00 and went over to the Polynesian for an early supper at ‘Ohanas. ‘Ohanas was great, and was more food than we could eat, but I took an extra helping of the pork. My 14 year old daughter asked me if I wasn’t being a pig, and I responded saying, “That’s right – whenever I come to the Magic Kingdom, the Big Bad Wolf always comes after me.” When you are the father of a 14 year old daughter, you have to say things like that so she can be EMBARRASSED, especially in front of friends.
After supper, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and rode pre-rehab Small World for the lat time, rode Teacups and Space Mountain again, then took our place in line for Wishes, which was a great show, later winning my crew’s award for best current firework show at WDW. Afterwards, we waded through the mob to Frontierland to wait for the Spectromagic parade. To my dismay, I was still too stuffed from supper to eat a turkey leg! This would be a recurring theme throughout our stay, and I learned that if we want to eat the popcorn, ice creams and turkey legs, we need to stay away from the big supper meals served so well throughout the resort.
During Spectromagic, what do you know, but the Big Bad Wolf spotted me, came over and shook my hand. Daughter was speechless! What a laugh. After the parade, we were all worn out from a big day, so we left the park without riding any more rides. We all were a little disappointed at something we didn’t get to do (primarily Philharmagic and Peter Pan).
On the way out, we made a convenience stop by Casey’s Corner, so while I was waiting for everyone, I wandered inside to check it out, since that is the location of the first place where I worked during my time on the college program. I met a very nice young lady from Wyoming, currently on the college program. She told me she would be there through the end of summer and was splitting her time between foods and entertainment, and was having a great time.
(Next – Day 2)
After checking in, we made priority seating arrangements at Whispering Canyon Café at the Great Wilderness Lodge. The food was good, and more than we could eat – always a good sign! I recommend this restaurant for its fun atmosphere. The napkins are bandanas, and the wait staff brings extra bandanas for the kids, making them into headbands, decorated with straws or crayons in lieu of feathers. The wait staff is very involved and try to be funny (with good success).
This meal was a very good start to our trip, but the Great Wilderness lodge is not the best place to be at suppertime to catch the Wishes fireworks show. You are directed to the parking lot – not the front entrance, but the actual parking lot in order to gain the best view! Still, I love the GWL and Whispering Canyon Café is a super place to take a hungry family.
When we arrived back at the cabin, we were happy to find a dedicated Walt Disney cartoon channel on the television. Classic Mickey Mouse cartoons ran all the time on a continuous loop. Nice!
Friday morning came and we gathered our belongings and drove over to Coronado Springs Resort. Registration was a breeze and we left our belongings with the bellman, since we were way too early to get a room. The length of stay, ultimate park hopper tickets were printed on what would become our room keys. This was curious, because we were given the tickets/keys without being assigned specific rooms, and I was given a slip of paper with a number to call in the afternoon to learn my room numbers. We could then go directly to the room and the keys would work, without any need to return to the registration desk. I was impressed!
After grabbing a light breakfast, we were off to the Magic Kingdom! Because we are not the earliest of risers, we didn’t leave Coronado Springs until shortly after 9:00 a.m. The Coronado Springs bus runs directly to the park with no delays, so we made good time getting to the park, and went straight for fast passes to Big Thunder and stood in line for Splash Mountain, a 30 minute wait at 9:45. We knew Friday would be a heavy attendance day and the lines would get longer as the day went on and they did. We were able to get in Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Pirates, TTA and Astro-Orbiter and grabbed a fast pass to Haunted Mansion before our priority seating reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table.
While in Adventureland, I went out of my way to eat a Dole Whip in tribute to my college roommate who was assigned to the Dole Whip machine during the summer of ’86, Good as ever! The kids explored the Treehouse while I got the ice creams and by the time the whips were ready, they were back.
At Cinderella’s Royal Table, our waiter was “impressed” with my 11 year old son’s appetite for the pretzel bread and challenged him to a contest. As he explained, my son would have to answer three easy questions. If he did not like the question, he could pass and be given another question in its place. If he successfully answered three questions, our waiter would pay for our meal and give my son $100 in spending money. If he failed to answer any question correctly, he would have to do a specific chore for each other person in our party. Sound easy? I thought we had lucked into an unannounced promotional giveaway! To my disappointment, my son declined the challenge and would not be prodded. Later, after I had settled the check, the waiter told me that although his questions are easy, no person has ever won the free meal! Not a promotional give-away after all! Easy “trick” questions!
After lunch, we cashed in our HM fast pass. The stretching rooms are in fine condition – no noticeable wear and tear on the picture frames. At the point when the hitchhiking ghosts are in your car, just before you unload, I snapped a photo of my son and his friend in their doom buggy - the ghost was between them, but on the developed photo - no ghost! Spoooky!
We then returned to Tomorrowland and hit Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and Carousel of Progress. Yes, the curtain in one room is in disrepair, but the show went well and was enjoyable. Also, on Astro-orbiter, the planets definitely were not rotating, although the ride itself worked just fine.
We got ice cream in front of Space Mountain from a poor cast member who I doubt will make it through the Spring Break weeks. As a graduate of Outdoor Foods, I have great compassion for the ice cream and popcorn vendors, and go out of my way to encourage them as I have strong, fond memories of spending two summers in those positions. This poor girl who was obviously in her first day (her trainer stood alongside) couldn’t calculate the cost of three $3.00 Toll house cookie ice creams (demanding $12.00), and then couldn’t figure the change from a $20.00, and finally, the trainer had to tell her what I was owed back. Shame, shame!
By late afternoon, the crowds were outrageous, and we left around 6:00 and went over to the Polynesian for an early supper at ‘Ohanas. ‘Ohanas was great, and was more food than we could eat, but I took an extra helping of the pork. My 14 year old daughter asked me if I wasn’t being a pig, and I responded saying, “That’s right – whenever I come to the Magic Kingdom, the Big Bad Wolf always comes after me.” When you are the father of a 14 year old daughter, you have to say things like that so she can be EMBARRASSED, especially in front of friends.
After supper, we went back to the Magic Kingdom and rode pre-rehab Small World for the lat time, rode Teacups and Space Mountain again, then took our place in line for Wishes, which was a great show, later winning my crew’s award for best current firework show at WDW. Afterwards, we waded through the mob to Frontierland to wait for the Spectromagic parade. To my dismay, I was still too stuffed from supper to eat a turkey leg! This would be a recurring theme throughout our stay, and I learned that if we want to eat the popcorn, ice creams and turkey legs, we need to stay away from the big supper meals served so well throughout the resort.
During Spectromagic, what do you know, but the Big Bad Wolf spotted me, came over and shook my hand. Daughter was speechless! What a laugh. After the parade, we were all worn out from a big day, so we left the park without riding any more rides. We all were a little disappointed at something we didn’t get to do (primarily Philharmagic and Peter Pan).
On the way out, we made a convenience stop by Casey’s Corner, so while I was waiting for everyone, I wandered inside to check it out, since that is the location of the first place where I worked during my time on the college program. I met a very nice young lady from Wyoming, currently on the college program. She told me she would be there through the end of summer and was splitting her time between foods and entertainment, and was having a great time.
(Next – Day 2)
