Trip Report The Never-Ending Summer Of Disney *COMPLETED*

Seriously?!!

Can you believe it??

This is jaw-dropping news!!

If only.

Two things in life give me the blues ~ the end of summer and the end of a Disney vacation. A never-ending summer of Disney would be a dream come true! But I am certainly happy to “settle” for a WDW vacay in June....in July....and in August. And rather than write three separate trip reports (and annoy @amjt660 when my *COMPLETED* report really isn’t ) I decided to take @Rista1313 ’s suggestion and post an ongoing travelogue, à la @blgauger style.

So let’s get started!

Vacation #1
June 16-24, 2018
Tuvalu, Woody and Em get pampered at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

Was there rain? Any snarky Cast Members? Ridiculous guest behavior? A Magic meet-up? How many times did we watch Happily Ever After?

You’ll have to follow along to find out.

 

[Tuvalu]

I have to laugh because soon as we saw you I kept thinking oh no @Tuvalu is going to see the stroller lol. We have told Lenny this is her last trip in the stroller. Although she is five she only weighs 35lbs so does it make it seem better that she is basically the size of a 3 year old? But I totally agree we saw way too many kids in strollers. And I know that if the child needs a stroller due to a disability you get a tag. And we saw several of non tagged strollers.
Kelly.

No worries.

 

[Tuvalu]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....

.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!

Who’s ready for dessert?

 

[Rista1313]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)
View attachment 316673

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....
View attachment 316670

.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!
View attachment 316672

Who’s ready for dessert?
View attachment 316671

I wish they had delivery to the other resorts for this..it seems like the way to go!

 

[Tuvalu]

Soon we had twilight.

The only thing that could tear us away from this view (well me, I’m sure Woody would have been content to stay put) was the opportunity to watch HEA from the beach. I told Woody I was going to try the beach near Luau Cove and it was perfectly fine if he remained behind.

My prince chose to accompany me.

This was my favorite viewing of HEA this trip. The reflection of fireworks in the water is stunning.

The conclusion of possibly our best day yet!

 

[LeighM]

I'm determined to not go to 'Ohana next year and instead try something new, but these pictures are not helping LOL. It keeps calling to me

 

[Tuvalu]

I'm determined to not go to 'Ohana next year and instead try something new, but these pictures are not helping LOL. It keeps calling to me

Sorry.

 

[winstongator]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)


This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....


.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!


Who’s ready for dessert?

Good to know about all you get with the one adult portion!

 

[93boomer]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)
View attachment 316673

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....
View attachment 316670

.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!
View attachment 316672

Who’s ready for dessert?
View attachment 316671

Wow that was a great deal! Looks yummy!!

 

[93boomer]

Soon we had twilight.

View attachment 316674

The only thing that could tear us away from this view (well me, I’m sure Woody would have been content to stay put) was the opportunity to watch HEA from the beach. I told Woody I was going to try the beach near Luau Cove and it was perfectly fine if he remained behind.

My prince chose to accompany me.

This was my favorite viewing of HEA this trip. The reflection of fireworks in the water is stunning.

View attachment 316675

View attachment 316676

View attachment 316677

View attachment 316678

The conclusion of possibly our best day yet!

Nice!!

 

[rshell68]

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)

Whoa wait a minute...you mean we could have had potstickers delivered to our room when we were there for my birthday?? Dang it!! I kept hoping to catch an O'hana's cancellation

 

[MinnieM123]

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution

That looks DELICIOUS!!!

 

[amjt660]

You made me LOL @MinnieM123!


But my report would not be complete without some Max snark!

So I try to take the high road , to avoid controversy,

and I get taunting and peer pressure to sink to a (my) lower level of reply....

Max

 

[Songbird76]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)
View attachment 316673

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....
View attachment 316670

.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!
View attachment 316672

Who’s ready for dessert?
View attachment 316671

OMG!! I'm so happy to see the potstickers after the rumor that they had stopped serving them and had replaced them with spring rolls!! Yay!!! And that bread pudding looks soooooo good!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Whoa wait a minute...you mean we could have had potstickers delivered to our room when we were there for my birthday?? Dang it!! I kept hoping to catch an O'hana's cancellation

The More You Know......next time!

That looks DELICIOUS!!!

It ‘twas

So I try to take the high road , to avoid controversy,
and I get taunting and peer pressure to sink to a (my) lower level of reply....
View attachment 316730
Max

Now there’s the Max we know and love!

OMG!! I'm so happy to see the potstickers after the rumor that they had stopped serving them and had replaced them with spring rolls!! Yay!!! And that bread pudding looks soooooo good!!

My guess is the spring rolls were a temporary replacement for the potstickers. We had that happen at Le Cellier once.....no pretzel bread (Horrors!) and the replacement rolls were tiny and not good. When I asked our server what happened all she would say was “they’re new.” Well the original pretzel bread was back by the end of the week which leads me to believe there was a supply issue that day.

 

[Tuvalu]

Tuesday, August 28

Way back when, Woody and I decided we would leave this day open for relaxation ~ sleeping in, pool lounging, no ADRs scheduled, the ability to do whatever we wanted on a whim.

And then tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party went on sale....for parties in August(!), one of the nights coinciding with our trip. Despite my vow of never again purchasing tickets for MNSSHP (more on that later) I ran the idea of attending the party by Woody. He said he was okay with going, since the majority of our day would be spent chillin’ at the Poly.

And then our Fastpass day opened up....and the ONLY Fastpasses I could find for Slinky Dog Dash were at 2:45 pm TODAY. Of course I booked it! At the time I thought we could relax by the pool through lunch, visit Toy Story Land in mid-afternoon and then head to MK for an early dinner before MNSSHP.

And so our “whim” day went buh-bye......

But we did sleep in ~ me until 7 am, Woody until 8 am. We enjoyed breakfast on our balcony.

Woody made coffee and I got to finish the remaining POG juice with my coffee cake.

We made sure to be out of our room by 9 am, so as not to interfere with housekeeping. (Remember the Duty Manager scheduled our daily service between 9 am and noon.) We bypassed the Lava pool in favor of the Oasis pool, and practically had it to ourselves.

Oh how I want to be in this inviting water now!!!

We chose loungers that were currently in the sun but would provide shade later.
I see you, Woody!

The morning was a mix of clouds and sunshine which was unusual as there was ZERO percent chance of rain. The clouds weren’t the pretty, fluffy white variety but the wispy kind that produce rain. This made me nervous for our SDD FP, as the ride shuts down in the rain.

As we cooled ourselves in the water Woody made a shocking statement.

“I don’t need to ride Slinky Dog.”

“But you said you were looking forward to experiencing Toy Story Land!” I protested.

“We saw it on Sunday morning,” Woody replied.

“But we didn’t get to ride Slinky.”

“I can ride Slinky another time,” Woody continued. “What if we get all the way out to the Studios and Slinky is shut down, due to weather or mechanical problems? Then we will have wasted time that we could have spent hanging out here. And if we stay here, we won’t be rushed to get to the Halloween party.”

Woody was right. We could spend a lot of effort to get to DHS (oooh that awful walk from the bus stop!) only to ride Slinky (assuming it was operational) and then leave (another awful walk!) in a rush to get to MNSSHP. As much as I was looking forward to riding Slinky again....this time with Woody....I wasn’t sure it was worth it.

Besides, now I had the ability to make two people very happy. I got out of the pool, reached for my phone and cancelled our FPs.

So you’ll have to wait for a future trip report to find out what Woody thinks of Slinky Dog Dash.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Monday, con’t

During the time Woody and I sat on our balcony, the wood-smoky smell from ‘Ohana wafted towards us. If you are familiar with this odor, you know how enticing it is! For the last three afternoons/evenings we had been taunted by this smell.

Enough was enough!

Naturally my first course of action was to search for an ADR, hoping for the holy grail ~ a cancellation. No such luck! We could’ve tried going over to the restaurant as a walk-up, but that seemed like a lot of effort if only to be turned away.

So we had the next best thing. Which turned out to be THE best thing!

The Polynesian Twilight Feast (aka ‘Ohana room service)
View attachment 316673

This one adult portion came with bread and butter, a big salad, a hefty amount of noodles and veggies, 6 chicken wings, 6 potstickers, 8 chunks of beef (we requested extra beef as a substitute for shrimp), 6 chunks of chicken and a huge slice of bread pudding (minus ice cream).

And last but not least ~ a carafe of POG juice (straight up, no Sprite dilution @imahistorygeek & @lostpro9het.)

SO. MUCH. FOOD. We couldn’t eat it all. And it was less than half the price we would have paid at ‘Ohana.

Plus we got to dine al fresco.....
View attachment 316670

.....with a lovely view of a rainbow!
View attachment 316672

Who’s ready for dessert?
View attachment 316671

That is an insane amount of food for one person! Is it the same price as per person at the buffet?

 

[winstongator]

Despite my vow of never again purchasing tickets for MNSSHP (more on that later) I ran the idea of attending the party by Woody. He said he was okay with going, since the majority of our day would be spent chillin’ at the Poly.

Never say never is a recurring theme in trip reports.

After moving to Florida and becoming passholders, one of the changes in how we visited was not needing to fit everything in. If we miss it one trip, we'll be back. It removes a lot of stress from trips.

 

[Tuvalu]

With the pressure of having to ride SDD gone, I found myself in a true state of pool bliss. As it neared the lunch hour even those pesky wispy clouds disappeared. Things were looking up for a dry MNSSHP tonight and I couldn’t be happier.

Breaking my vow was gonna be okay after all!

The vow. The vow I made on September 25, 2015 as I stood in the pouring rain (without an umbrella) in the castle hub watching a delayed Hallowishes. An evening where the first Boo To You Parade had been cancelled due to weather and an announcement had been made that the second parade may not happen either. An evening of closed outdoor attractions and crowded indoor attractions and candy lines. An evening of stepping in puddles. An evening of major disappointment for my middle son and me, who had already experienced a total washout of our first MNSSHP together in 2012.

There wasn’t supposed to be any rain that night either.

My very first MNSSHP was with Woody and it rained some, but not the deluge I encountered during both parties with my son. At that moment during party #3, soaked to the skin, I declared “never again!”

I was getting hungry. After our less-than-satisfying experience at the Oasis Bar and Grill, I told Woody I’d be happy to pick up lunch at Capt. Cooks and bring it back for us to enjoy poolside. We really like the grilled chicken sandwich with pineapple salsa served there.

Woody had his with Poly chips

I had mine with fries

Ordering fries instead of chips was a HUGE mistake. The fries were undercooked and soggy. My bacon wasn’t crisp so I pulled it off.....and the chicken was dripping in teriyaki sauce, completely overpowering the pineapple salsa.

As usual, Woody had no complaints. He even offered to switch sandwiches with me. I declined. I figured I would have plenty of stuff to eat later.

As soon as I was finished I went back into the water.

Didn’t use the hot tub/pool spa.

 

[fractal]

What a great day at the Poly!

I think that was a good call by Woody to skip Slinky.

Never say never.

 

[jkl2000]

I've read all 56 pages of this thread in about two days! (Well, mostly Tuvalu's main entries). Really enjoyed it all - what a lot of work, and great writing!

I'm not nearly as much of a veteran as you can see from my SIG. So I'm learning a lot, and here's one question:

What does MPB stand for? As in Woody's shirt and the railroad? Can't figure that one out.