Trip Report Spoiler Alert. No Pandora, but Flowers and Gardens and Waves Galore.

Time for my first trip report!!! Exciting! First off going to tag some people in no particular order. @21stamps , @figmentfan423 , @Gabe1 , @betty rose , @littleroo, @Tony the Tigger , @donaldtoo, @Mr Ferret 88 , @Tuvalu , @TheMouseFan , @blgauger , @bee , @Cesar R M , @Songbird76 , @StarWarsGirl , @MinnieM123 , @MOXOMUMD , @ajrwdwgirl , @93boomer , @Courtney6682 , @amjt660 , @Doc Disney , @Goofyernmost @everybody

If you haven't read the ptr here is a link to it.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/our-hopefully-pandora-thrown-in-f-g-trip-2017.925406/

The planning for this trip May 19-27 started in November last year after I received a precious pin code in my email. I couldn't say no to that.

Eventually I ended up getting a better rate when the AP discounts came out(dh had an AP at the time), so I rebooked for the same resort, The Cabins at Fort Wilderness.

Who was going: me, dh, and the 4 kiddos(dd15, ds13, dd9, dd6). Who we were leaving at home(3 dogs, 3 cats, 1 cockatiel, and a dear SIL who was housesitting for a price. )

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

My horse crazy DD would love to check this out.

It is best to go when they are fully open during the day. We were there after 5 I think so we couldn't walk through the barn.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

We took a spin around some more loops and snapped a few pics of decorations some had put outside their RV's/ motor homes.

 

[fractal]

What everyone loved the most about TL was the wave pool. I stayed in the shallow end with dd6 at first and then the first wave came. Completely not knowing what to expect ds, dd15, dd9, and dh were pummeled by the wave. They loved it!! Dh could not stop laughing about it. I was just mesmerized by the size and color of the waves. Truly beautiful and my favorite color. I took loads of pictures of the waves.
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That is a great wave pool!

thanks for sharing the comments and pics of the horse stable.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

That is a great wave pool!

thanks for sharing the comments and pics of the horse stable.

The wave pool is incerdible!!!

I figured not too many had ventured to the horse stable. I found it all quite interesting.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Day 6
May 24
Another water park day for us. We decided to take to the slopes!!

First ones there!!!

Since we were first a CM asked dh and I if either of us wanted to officially open the park by sliding down Summit Plummet. After a "ha,no way" from me and dh saying he didn't want to get to know his bathing suit that well, she moved on to the next family. The dad in that family agreed to take the drop.

Before we knew it, it was time to enter.

Here is the the guy who agreed to open BB that day.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

We found a spot by Tike's Peak. Ds had informed us that he was not feeling well at all. Dh stayed with him while I took the girls to the lazy river and then to Melt-Away-Bay. The waves in melt away bay are way tamer than at TL.

Ds showed up after resting an hour or so later. He said he felt a bit better. I am thinking he was just dealing with a bit of exhaustion from the previous days. Dh did inform me that there were some nasty biting bugs where we had put our stuff. That area is near Winter Summerland and he had gotten a bug bite there the previous year that had left a huge red mark for a month. He moved our stuff by the wave pool.

I like that they have tubes for little kids in the lazy river. It is hard for little ones to climb on the big ones.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

About 2 o'clock the skies got overcast and some rain came our way. So we decided we were good and it was time to head on out.

We had eaten at Lotta Watta Lodge for lunch earlier. Dh and I had a sweet potato black bean burger. Kids had regular burgers and chicken nuggets. I preferred the plaintain burger from TL the day before.

We did check out the Beach Haus before we left. I needed to get aloe. Dd15 who refused to wear a long sleeve rash guard ended up getting sun poisoning on her arms. She had used sun block, but apparently it was not enough. She ended up wearing an extra long sleeve rash guard I had brought for ds when she went in the resort pool after this.

Coming back on this day Buttercup (Toy Story 3) was waiting for us by the window.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

When it came close to dinner time ds wanted to rest in the room and did not want to leave, so dh and I decided to head to The Settlement and pick him up something to eat. Passed these umbrella weilding wagon riders on the way.

Ok so here goes a long story about our adventure to get dinner this night. If you remember this was May 24th. It was the press event day for the opening of Pandora. It ended up being a rainy evening. There originally had been plans for an outdoor soiree for all the "important" people that evening. The rain put a damper on that apparently.

I said we could eat at POFQ. It was close to FW by car. WL was out of the question because Roaring Forks was closed. We had no problem parking but as soon as we walked in Sassagoula Floatworks we were met by hoards of people. Dh said there was no way he was waiting on line there because of course we would be splitting to different counters. So back in the car we went.

We headed to CR thinking we could eat at the Contempo Cafe. As we got closer we noticed a lot of police cars on the road leading to the resort. Then we noticed very large charter buses in the lot. Dh said this did not look good. That is when the whole Pandora opening flashed in my head. We get to the gate and asked the guard if we could eat there and were told that if we didn't have an ADR we were not getting in. He said there was a special event. We asked if it was because of Pandora and he said yes. The weather had caused a venue change and actually we would not be able to access The Poly or GF. Dh was ready to blow a gasket. By this point we had been out for close to an hour. The sun had started to go down.

I put on my Disney Resort thinking cap and came up with Artist Palette at SSR. I said to dh that no one would be there. Everyone goes to DS now. He had some choice words for what this evening was turning into but drove to SSR. I texted ds about what was going on. He just wanted us to bring back chocolate cake with Mickey sprinkles.

Luckily, I was right in my hunch. We had no problem getting into SSR to eat. We parked and made our way to Artist Palette. EMPTY!!!!

They have cool light fixtures.

I ended up getting a flatbread a.k.a. pizza and a chocolate cake for myself. Yes there was one for ds.

Some pics of SSR. Didn't take too many on the way in and during our long journey to get there.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Thursday May 25
Day 7
This was an Epcot day.

We headed to TT first since we had a FP for Frozen.

Afterwards we stopped by the Purple Martin houses since we did not see them earlier in the trip.

We were headed for some breakfast in France of course.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Some no people around shots on our way to World Showcase.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

It was nice and quiet still so the most difficult part of being here was deciding what to eat. But who is kidding who. This was me. One Pain au Chocolate. Like I was going to get something else.

Dd15 had the brie and apple sandwich.

Dd6 wanted macarons.

 

[MinnieM123]

When it came close to dinner time ds wanted to rest in the room and did not want to leave, so dh and I decided to head to The Settlement and pick him up something to eat. Passed these umbrella weilding wagon riders on the way.
View attachment 213339
Ok so here goes a long story about our adventure to get dinner this night. If you remember this was May 24th. It was the press event day for the opening of Pandora. It ended up being a rainy evening. There originally had been plans for an outdoor soiree for all the "important" people that evening. The rain put a damper on that apparently.

I said we could eat at POFQ. It was close to FW by car. WL was out of the question because Roaring Forks was closed. We had no problem parking but as soon as we walked in Sassagoula Floatworks we were met by hoards of people. Dh said there was no way he was waiting on line there because of course we would be splitting to different counters. So back in the car we went.

We headed to CR thinking we could eat at the Contempo Cafe. As we got closer we noticed a lot of police cars on the road leading to the resort. Then we noticed very large charter buses in the lot. Dh said this did not look good. That is when the whole Pandora opening flashed in my head. We get to the gate and asked the guard if we could eat there and were told that if we didn't have an ADR we were not getting in. He said there was a special event. We asked if it was because of Pandora and he said yes. The weather had caused a venue change and actually we would not be able to access The Poly or GF. Dh was ready to blow a gasket. By this point we had been out for close to an hour. The sun had started to go down.

I put on my Disney Resort thinking cap and came up with Artist Palette at SSR. I said to dh that no one would be there. Everyone goes to DS now. He had some choice words for what this evening was turning into but drove to SSR. I texted ds about what was going on. He just wanted us to bring back chocolate cake with Mickey sprinkles.

Luckily, I was right in my hunch. We had no problem getting into SSR to eat. We parked and made our way to Artist Palette. EMPTY!!!!

They have cool light fixtures.
View attachment 213340 View attachment 213342
I ended up getting a flatbread a.k.a. pizza and a chocolate cake for myself. Yes there was one for ds.
View attachment 213343
Some pics of SSR. Didn't take too many on the way in and during our long journey to get there.
View attachment 213344 View attachment 213345 View attachment 213346

Thank goodness you thought of SSR. You know, we all nuts here for WDW, and we all know different and helpful information. My non-Disney pals think I'm crazy (I am).

But, seriously, without a park veteran like yourself, who had all this Disney knowledge in her head--I can only imagine that your hubs would have flipped out, trying to figure out where the heck to go for dinner that night. So good for you--you saved the day!! Well done, fellow WDW fan!!!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

After our peaceful breakfast we headed back toward Future World because we had an upcoming FP for The Land. Passed by Urban Farm Eats on the way. Is it just me or did they cut down on kid activities this year for F&G? The previous years they could color flower pots and there were activities where in the end you were given a package of flower seeds. We still have some wacka wacka watermelon seeds from when they were advertising one of the last Muppet movies.

We had a few minutes before the FP opened up so we went into Imagination and rode the ride that had been broken the other day. Working today so far.

Snapped this pic of a shirt @figmentfan423 might have liked. I was tempted to buy it since it was on sale and I would get another 20% off with the AP discount.

I almost forgot. After breakfast we first went to the International Gateway Guest Services and upgraded our hoppers to an AP. Yay! Used our Disney Rewards to pay for them. Double yay! Our plan is to go back in July (this month) to celebrate our dd's 16th birthday. Plus 3 kids have birthdays within 6 weeks. So no birthday parties this year. No complaints from anyone.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Some farm ride pictures.

 

[amjt660]

Light fixture pics for @Doc Disney !

Glad the dinner work out in the end

Max

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

It had only been about 2 hours since breakfast so of course it was time for a snack. We hit Sunshine Seasons and saw these little beauties. Did I get one? Nope.

Got this healthy snack instead.

But did that because dd6 got this and she ended up not liking it. So dh and I shared it.

 

[amjt660]

AP upgrade you say?

Best. Disney Day. Ever

Max

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Snapped this pucture of SSE after we got out of The Land.

Then we went to the butterfly house which we had yet to visit this trip.

We didn't find all the different kinds of butterflies but we had fun trying. My only pet peeve with this are parents who see their kids touching a butterfly and not reprimanding them. There are signs that say not to touch them.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

We then headed back to World Showcase and took the Gran Fiesta Tour.

Our next FP was for Frozen. So we headed toward Arend..oops Norway.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

In all honesty, I like this ride. Everything was working. Last year when we had ridden, there had been issues.

The kids got accosted by some friendly vkings while waiting for dh to come out with dd6 from the Kringla bakery. She wanted a cream filled horn. Well she didn't like the Mickey shaped oreo cheesecake and too much sugar cannot hurt on vacation, right @21stamps?