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Who: Durrett Family (Mom, Dad, Nathan - 8, Zachary - 7)
When: Thursday, October 14 - Sunday, October 17, 2004
Where: Wilderness Lodge
Pre-Trip Info: The Magic for Less Travel made my travel arrangements, including DH's transfer from the Orlando Airport to the Wilderness Lodge.
Stacy took care of making our P.S. arrangements, too. DH was in California all week, and since the boys had school out on Friday, DH made his return
flight go to Orlando instead of Tallahassee on Friday.
Thursday, October 14th:
Before picking the kids up at school, I used $20 in gift cards for Shell that I had earned through www.mypoints.com - so that was a "free" ride to
Orlando. We had an uneventful trip and arrived at the Wilderness Lodge around 8 p.m. I chose to valet park which was so easy and wonderful; you
just pull up and someone comes and takes your bags and puts them on a cart (which can also happen if you aren't valet parking and just need luggage
assistance). I sent the kids to sit on a bench while I took care of the valet parking stuff (which took less than 2 minutes). Then we went inside
and stood with our mouths gaping for several seconds! What a beautiful lobby.
There was just one family ahead of us in line, so check in went fairly quickly. The boys explored the lobby while I got us registered. I got on the
wait-list for Flag Family, which seemed kinda silly since there were 30 names ahead of us, and we picked up a Hidden Mickey paper. Then up to our
room where we waited for our bags - less than 10 minutes.
We went out to look for Hidden Mickeys and ended up down by the dock, so we decided to take a round-trip ride from W.L. to the M.K. and back via Ft.
Wilderness. It was about 8:30 p.m., so I made sure it was actually making a round-trip run (it was). The magical thing that happened is when we got to
the Magic Kingdom, it was almost 9 p.m. so the boat had to wait at the dock because the fireworks were going at 9:15 as part of Mickey's Not So Scary
Halloween Party. So we got to watch the fireworks (Fantasy in the Sky, no less) and that was cool. We could also see the fireworks at Epcot while we
were waiting. Then back to the lodge where we waited a few minutes to catch the Electrical Water Pageant, and then had a snack, and off to zzz-land.
Friday, October 15th:
Rise and shine early because the boys wanted to be at the M.K. to watch the opening. We got there in plenty of time, exchanged my voucher for a ticket,
and then went in where we ended up walking on to most of the rides. We started by taking the train from Main Street (Nathan's favorite) around to
Frontierland for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which we rode twice in a row. Then up to Fantasyland where we got Fast Passes for Peter Pan and then went
to ride Snow White, the Tea Cups and then saw Mickey's PhilHarmagic. Then we rode Peter Pan (the boys rode by themselves).
Around 10:30, it started to rain, so we dashed from Peter Pan to the Castle, then made a plan that took us to the Plaza restaurant without getting much
rain on us. We picked up Fast Passes to Buzz Lightyear on the way, too.
Zachary and I enjoyed lunch at the Plaza; Nathan didn't like his pb/j and acted like a toddler about it. Needless to say, I wasn't happy about that,
and he quickly adjusted his attitude (well, at least turned the whine off). After lunch, we did some rides as it had stopped raining. We got Fast
Passes for Pooh and then went back to do Buzz Lightyear, and the TTA. We followed that by going over to do Pirates, but the line was too long, so we
opted for ice cream for the kids and a Dole Whip float for me :) After we finished, the kids wanted to do the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, so I
checked with the Cast Member for the exit and let them go by themselves. I met them at the exit. Then we headed to Toontown for Goofy's Barnstormer
and then to Fantasyland where we were a few minutes early for our Pooh time, so we just waited til the clock said 2:10, and then went in. After Pooh, we
left for Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom was high on our list of things to do because Zachary is finally tall enough to ride Primeval Whirl. The only other things the boys
wanted to do there were the Boneyard and Dinosaur. We walked on at Primeval Whirl, but Zachary ended up not liking it :( So we did Triceratops Spin.
The Boneyard was closed and Dinosaur was experiencing "technical difficulties" so we left.
We took the bus back to the Contemporary because it came before the one for Wilderness Lodge, and from the Contemporary we caught a launch over to W.L.
It was my first time going out the back of the Contemporary, so that was really cool to see a new part of WDW. We got back to W.L. around 5:25 and
were expecting DH around 6. We stopped to look for a few Hidden Mickeys (found two) and then went up to rest and wait.
DH arrived about 10 minutes later, so after a quick round of hello's, we dashed out again. We ate dinner at Roarin' Forks at W.L. and then caught
the boat over to the Magic Kingdom as it was staying open til 11 p.m. We got DH's voucher changed to a ticket and then went in. I love the M.K. at
night - it's an entirely different feel than during the day. It was a little chilly, so I had bought sweatshirts for me and Nathan at the gift
shop in W.L. before heading out. We brought one for Zachary but he chose to not wear it.
So we got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and then went over to do the Haunted Mansion. We did the Jungle Cruise (walk on) and also did
the remote control boats for the first time. Then on up for Pirates (walk-on). We headed over to BTMRR but got stopped by parade crowds, so we
watched Spectromagic and then did BTMRR. The fireworks for Wishes started while we were on the ride which was cool, so we watched the rest of them and
then headed out through the massive crowd to get to the boat to go back to W.L. Amazingly, we didn't have to wait for the boat - it was there and
there was plenty of room. So we made it back and went to zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Saturday, October 16th
We didn't have to rise-and-shine quite so early as we had 9 a.m. P.S. for Whispering Canyon for breakfast. We'd eaten breakfast here one time before
with some friends and loved it, so we were looking forward to doing it again. We were not disappointed. The food was delicious, the kids ate
plenty, and we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast with some rowdiness around us (and no, we didn't ask for ketchup).
After breakfast, we headed for Epcot via the bus. Gary and I both dozed off - something about a full tummy and an exhausting day previously. At
Epcot, we got FPs for Mission Space and then let the kids play a couple of rounds of Toon Tag at Innoventions. Then we waited in line (can you believe
there was actually a line?) for Spaceship Earth. It was an 8 minute wait. I hadn't been on it in quite a while, so I was tickled to see some new
things, although I did start to doze off again :)
It was then time for Mission Space, so we headed over. Nathan was thirsty, so we stopped at the Electric Umbrella and I got him a cup of ice water
(free) which took care of him. Then we did Mission Space, which was just as great as always. We then went to Ice Station Cool where we saw some people
from our TKD Academy :) We rode Imagination and then headed up toward the World Showcase.
The Food and Wine Festival was going on, so there were lots of vendors out. We stopped at the one with Honey and got to watch some bees for a while. The
boys were really interested in them. Then we got a cold drink and headed over to MGM via the boat.
At MGM, we got fast passes for Rock-n-Roller-Coaster and then went over to ride Star Tours. It was a 20+ minute wait but it was fun to be slow through
the queue because we got to see and hear lots of the theming along the way. Zachary and Gary ended up not going on the ride because Zachary needed a
restroom stop. But they enjoyed just sitting on the curb waiting for us because there was a band playing just outside.
We took the bus back to W.L. around 3:30 so that Zachary could go for a swim while Nathan took a rest. He's enthralled with the show on channel 18 at
the resorts - the Top 7 things to do at WDW. He watches it over and over and over... and has for the last several times we've been to WDW. He was
the same way with the show that was on before the current one.
Around 4:30, we took the boys down to the Cub's Den which is the on-site kids-club. We checked them in for the night. They got to play video games,
make a craft, eat dinner, play with other kids and toys, etc. They had a blast and have requested that they get to do it when we go again. While
they were at the Cub's Den, Gary and I went back to MGM to use our FPs for RnRC. It was Gary's first time and he said it was too short... so we went a
2nd time as we had 6 fast passes (someone had given us a pair when we'd been there getting ours to start with). We didn't have time for a 3rd ride, so I
found a couple to give our extras to. Then we had dinner at the Prime Time Cafe - it was yummy as always, followed by Dad's Super Sundae for dessert!
We took the boat back over to Epcot so I could get another henna tattoo in Morocco, and then we walked around the World Showcase. It was nice to look
around and not have to worry about the kids breaking things. I was the kids weren't with us as we encountered more than a few people who'd had a bit too
much of the Food and Wine Festival, if you KWIM.
We made it back to W.L. around 9:30 and checked the kids out, then the boys and I went to watch for the geyser that goes off every hour until 10. We
saw the Wishes fireworks while we were waiting. Then back to the room for baths and packing as we wanted to be up early the next day.
Sunday, October 17th
Early entry at Magic Kingdom coupled with needing to check out of the resort meant an early wake up call from Mickey. I actually woke up at 5:40 - my
normal waking time during the work week, so I got up about 6 and got my shower and finished packing. The kids and Gary got up around 6:45. We were
all ready and called for baggage service a few minutes after 7. We walked down to the dock around 7:15 a.m. as the first launch was leaving at 7:30.
There were two other families down there, so we all chatted while waiting and watching the sun rise over Bay Lake.
We got over to M.K. about 15 minutes before 8, so we were there for the soft-opening which the kids enjoyed. Then we walked on Dumbo and Snow
White, followed by the Teacups and then had a bit of a wait at the Speedway. We walked on at Buzz Lightyear and then went over so Zachary could do Splash
Mountain and then we could all do BTMRR - which was a 30 minute wait by then (I had gotten FPs for Peter Pan so that blocked us out of BTMRR FPs). It
was the longest line of our trip, but it was Nathan's favorite ride, so we wanted to do it. We followed that up with Haunted Mansion (a near walk-on)
and then our FPs for Peter Pan. We would've had a 30 min. wait for Mickey's PhilharMagic, so we got FPs instead, and then went to see if we could get in
early for our lunch seating at Liberty Tree Tavern (we did).
After a wonderful (as always) lunch, we went to see Mickey's PhilharMagic and by then it was too late to make it home by 5:30, so we ended up doing
"just one more thing, just one more thing" to include the TTA, Carousel of Progress, train around the park, and Goofy's Barnstormer.
Then came the hard part - actually leaving the Magic Kingdom. We did a little shopping on the way out - looking for the Hidden Mickey book but
couldn't find it in the stores in the front of the park. So when we got back to the W.L., we stopped in at the gift shop to get Zachary a sweatshirt
and to see if they had it. The CM said they did but we couldn't find it... turned out it was Hidden :) Actually it was stuck behind some magazines and
Gary finally spotted it. Nathan hasn't put the book down since we got it - he's really studying up for our next trip.
So we collected our bags and had the car brought around and then drove home. The kids slept most of the way back.
And the following day I emailed Stacy for a price check for January :)
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